State of Vermont makes its case against Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee at 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals

The fate of the State of Vermont's long struggle to shutdown Entergy Nuclear's Vermont Yankee atomic reactor now rests in the hands of a three-judge panel at the 2nd Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in Manhattan. Yesterday, oral arguments were heard regarding Entergy v. Shumlin et al.Vermont is seeking to overturn a Brattleboro lower court judge's ruling a year ago that state laws had improperly strayed into radiological safety matters, the sole jurisdiction of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as settled by the 1983 PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) U.S. Supreme Court ruling. In addition to a large turn out of journalists from Vermont and beyond, a number of long-time Vermont Yankee opponents sent representatives to witness the proceeding, including Beyond Nuclear, Conservation Law Foundation, Citizen Awareness Network (CAN), Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance (VYDA). By most accounts, the State of Vermont --represented by Attorney General William Sorrell, and David Frederick of the Washington, D.C. law firm Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, P.L.L.C. (see photo) -- more than held its own.

Richard Watts (who took the photo above), author of Public Meltdown: The Story of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, covered the oral arguments on his blog. The Vermont Digger reported on this story, including a link to the audio of the full 37 minute long oral arguments. Vermont Public Radio filed two stories: "At Stake in Yankee Appeal: State's Rights and a Big Legal Bill," and "Appeals Judges Focus on 'Legislative Intent' in Yankee Case." The Associated Press, Burlington Free Press, Brattleboro Reformer, and Bloomberg have also reported on this story.

Update on January 16, 2013 by admin

And, as reported by the Associated Press, Entergy was back in court on Wednesday, this time before the Vermont Supreme Court. The New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution requests that the Vermont Supreme Court order Entergy Vermont Yankee to shutdown, for lack of a Certificate of Public Good (CPG). Its old CPG expired, along with its original 40 year operating license, on March 21, 2012. The State of Vermont Public Service Board has yet to approve a new CPG for VY's continued operation.

Save the Dates: March 11-12, Symposium on Medical & Ecological Impacts of Fukushima, NY Academy of Medicine

Helen Caldicott, Beyond Nuclear's Founding PresidentSave the Dates:  March 11-12, 2013

Symposium on The Medical and Ecological Impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident To Be Held at the New York Academy of Medicine

A unique, two-day symposium at which an international panel of leading medical and biological scientists, nuclear engineers, and policy experts will make presentations on, and discuss the bio-medical and ecological consequences of the Fukushima disaster, will be held at the New York Academy of Medicine on March 11-12, 2013  the second anniversary of the accident. The public is welcome.

Chaired by Donald Louria, MD, Chairman Emeritus of the Department of  Preventive Medicine and Community Health of the University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey,  the symposium is a project of the Helen Caldicott Foundation and is open to the public.

Confirmed speakers include

Dr Hisaku Sakiyama, Doctor of Medicine, Former Senior Researcher at National Institute Radiological Sciences, Member of Fukushima Accident Independent Investigative Commission – Risk Asessment of Low Dose Radiation in Japan, What became Clear to the National Diet of Japan Fukushima Investigation Committee

Dr. Tim Mousseau, Professor of Biological Sciences , University of South Carolina – Chernobyl, Fukushima and other Hot Places, Biological Consequences

Ken Buesseler, Marine Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute – Radionuclides in Ocean, Fish and Seafloor

Dr David Brenner, Higgins Professor Radiation Physics, College Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University – Mechanistic Models for Effects of Ionizing Radiation on Living Systems

David Lochbaum, the Union of Concerned Scientists – Another Unsurprising Surprise

Arnie Gunderson, Nuclear Engineer, Fairewinds Associates – What Did They Know and When Did They Know It?

Dr Wladimir Wertelecki, Chairman Department of Medical Genetics and Birth Defects Center University South Carolina – Congenital Malformations in Rivne Polossia associated with the Chernobyl Accident

Dr. Marek  Niedziela, Professor of Pediatrics, Poznan (Poland) University of Medical Sciences – Thyroid Pathology in Children with Particular Reference to Chernobyl and Fukushima

Dr. Alexey Yablokov, Russian Academy of Sciences – Lessons from Chernobyl

Dr Steve Wing, Associate Professor Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina – Epidemiological Studies of Radiation Releases From Nuclear Facilities: Lessons From Past and Present

Dr Ian Fairlie, Radiation Biologist and Independent Consultant on Radiation Risks, Former Scientific Secretary to UK Government’s Committee Examining Radiation Risks From Internal Emitters – The Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima: Nuclear Source Terms, Initial Health Effects

Dr Herb Abrams, Emeritus Professor Radiology, Stanford University, Member of Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation Committee National Academy of Sciences (BEIRVII) – Beir VII, Relevance to Chernobyl and Fukushima

Akio Matsumura, Founder of Global Forum for Parliamentary Leaders on Global Survival – What did the World Learn from the Fukushima Accident

Robert Alvarez, Senior Scholar, Institute for Policy Studies – Management of Spent Fuel pools and Radioactive Waste

Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear, Specialist in High Level Waste Management and Transportation – Seventy Years of Radioactive Risks in Japan and America

David Freeman, Engineer and Attorney, Former Chairman TVA and Science Advisor to President Jimmy Carter – The Rise and Fall of Nuclear Power

To register and/or for further information about the Symposium, click on the following link:

Symposium: The Medical and Ecological Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident l March 11-12, 2013

You can also contact Mali Lightfoot, Executive Director of the Foundation, at MaliLightfoot@gmail.com or 617-650-5048.

NRC webinar on Entergy Palisades' "recent through-wall leaks," Sat., Jan. 12, 11 AM to 12 Noon Eastern -- please take part!

What may be Entergy's most dangerous reactor of all -- problem-plagued Palisades in southwest Michigan -- is receiving very well deserved public scrutiny. Responding to pressure from Beyond Nuclear and its allies living in the shadows of Palisades, NRC has agreed to hold its second public webinar in three months. This webinar -- like the first on October 1, 2012, which had 80 public participants -- will focus on "recent through-wall leaks" at Palisades. On August 12, 2012, a safety-critical control rod drive mechanism through-wall leak was announced. In September, 2012, another through-wall leak was admitted, this time on a safety-significant service water system valve. The 46 year old Palisades atomic reactor is suffering "a leak a week" and a "breakdown per month." Critics are calling for its shutdown, before it melts down.

Please help us hold NRC's feet to the fire, by attending the webinar on Sat., Jan. 12th from 11 AM to 12 Noon Eastern. You must register in advance by Fri., Jan. 11th. To do so, fill out the web form at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/202634264, or call NRC's Diana Betancourt at (630) 829-9617. A confirmation email will be sent to you with instructions on taking part in the webinar. Although questions to NRC can only be asked online, a toll-free phone number and passcode will also be provided, if you would rather listen-in by phone.

For more information, please click here.

2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan orders NRC to seek public comment before approving exemptions to fire safety regulations at Entergy's Indian Point atomic reactors

Entergy pressurized water reactors in New York, Indian Point Units 2 & 3 near New York City, suffered a legal setback, as challenges to their 20-year license extensions continue. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that NRC cannot rubberstamp exemptions to fire protection regulations at Indian Point without providing the public with an opportunity to comment.

Demos issued a press release on the legal victory. Marilyn Elie, President of Plaintiff WestCan (Westchester County Citizens Action Network, a long-time Indian Point watchdog and member of the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition, IPSEC) was quoted as saying "This is a victory for transparency in government and due process. It makes it possible for people to have a voice in important nuclear decisions in their community and helps hold the NRC accountable for protecting public health and safety, something it hasn't done in years."

Entergy Watch: Vermont Yankee, FitzPatrick, Indian Point, Palisades

Entergy Nuclear has been buffeted by financial misgivings and legal challenges, as well as leaks and breakdowns, at a number of its fleet of a dirty dozen atomic reactors in recent weeks, with much more to come in the days ahead.

UBS published a financial analysis on Jan. 2nd, reporting that Entergy's smaller-sized merchant atomic reactors --especially Vermont Yankee, and FitzPatrick on the Lake Ontario shoreline in upstate NY -- are vulnerable to "early retirement" due to crushing economic challenges. Fairewinds Associates nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen points out that the UBS conclusion did not even consider the nearly $250 million in repairs and safety upgrades needed at Vermont Yankee in the years ahead, including a $100 million condensor replacement. Thus, although Dominion's "domino" -- Kewaunee in Wisconsin -- was the first to fall in 15 years, numerous additional reactor shutdowns may be in the offing across the U.S.

Both VY and FitzPatrick are General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors, identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4. Mark Is, as well as closely related Mark IIs, are the top focus of Beyond Nuclear's "Freeze Our Fukushimas" campaign. Gundersen emphasized that U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) mandated safety upgrades, in light of "lessons learned" from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe, could run into the tens of millions of dollars.

Entergy pressurized water reactors in New York, Indian Point Units 2 & 3 near New York City, suffered a legal setback, as challenges to their 20-year license extensions continued. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that NRC cannot rubberstamp exemptions to fire protection regulations at Indian Point without providing the public with an opportunity to comment.

New York's Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, joined Vermont's Attorney General, William Sorrell, in filing joint comments to NRC regarding the agency's Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision and Rule. Schneiderman and Sorrell, joined by the AGs of NJ and CT, as well as a coalition of environmental groups, won a major ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in June which nullified NRC's Nuke Waste Con Game, and ordered NRC to carry out an environmental impact statement regarding the risks of long-term storage of high-level radioactive waste on-site at reactors. The NRC Commission has acknowledged that the finalization of 20-year license extensions (such as Entergy seeks at Indian Point 2 & 3), as well as new reactor licenses, will be delayed at least two years, in order to complete the EIS. Please consider attending an NRC call-in teleconference from 1:30 to 2:30 PM Eastern on Wed., Jan. 16th. NRC will be providing an update on the status of its court-ordered Nuclear Waste Confidence EIS. We need to show up in numbers, to hold NRC's feet to the fire. The call-in number and passcode are: 1-800-857-2553, passcode 3682386.

VT AG Sorrell's office will appear before the 2nd Circuit Court in Manhattan on Jan. 14th, for oral arguments on its appeal of a Brattleboro federal district judge's ruling in Entergy v. Shumlin et al. A favorable ruling on the appeal could empower the State of Vermont to order the shutdown of VY under state law. 

Meanwhile, New England Coalition is calling for just that, before the State of Vermont Supreme Court. NEC is demanding VY be shutdown immediately, given Entergy's lack of a Certificate of Public Good to do business in the state. The Brattleboro federal district court has not blocked NEC's lawsuit at the VT Supreme, so the hearing is set to take place in mid-January. The State of Vermont Public Service Board is taking public comment on whether, or not, it should grant Entergy a renewed CPG. Entergy, for its part, has sued the three commissioners on the PSB by name. Top public officials in VT openly refer to Entergy as a "rogue corporation," after top Entergy officials lied under oath to state officials concerning radioactively leaking underground pipes at VY.

Finally, what may be Entergy's most dangerous reactor of all -- problem-plagued Palisades in southwest Michigan -- is receiving very well deserved public scrutiny. Responding to pressure from Beyond Nuclear and its allies living in the shadows of Palisades, NRC has agreed to hold its second public webinar in three months. This webinar -- like the first on October 1, 2012, which had 80 public participants -- will focus on "recent through-wall leaks" at Palisades. On August 12, 2012, a safety-critical control rod drive mechanism through-wall leak was announced. In September, 2012, another through-wall leak was admitted, this time on a safety-significant service water system valve. The 46 year old Palisades atomic reactor is suffering "a leak a week" and a "breakdown per month." Critics are calling for its shutdown, before it melts down.

Please hold NRC's feet to the fire, by attending the webinar on Sat., Jan. 12th from 11 AM to 12 Noon Eastern. You must register in advance by Fri., Jan. 11th. To do so, fill out the web form at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/202634264, or call NRC's Diana Betancourt at (630) 829-9617. A confirmation email will be sent to you with instructions on taking part in the webinar. Although questions to NRC can only be asked online, a toll-free phone number and passcode will also be provided, if you would rather listen-in by phone.

For more information on this NRC webinar, as well as background on Palisades, please click here.

Update on January 10, 2013 by admin

NRC has posted its slide show presentation to be used on Sat., Jan. 12th during the webinar.

David Lochbaum, the director of the Nuclear Safety Project at Union of Concerned Scientists, posted an "All Things Nuclear" blog on 12/11/12 entitled "Palisades Reprises Davis-Besse," which sheds a lot of light on the high safety significance of Palisades' "recent through-wall leaks."