Successful event raises funds and awareness on Entergy Palisades atomic reactor's dangerously brittle pressure vessel

Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor, located in Covert, MI on the Lake Michigan shoreOn April 19, a fund- and awareness-raiser,  “Pull the Plug on Palisades for Earth Day,” was held at the Old Dog Tavern in downtown Kalamazoo, MI.

The event, focused on the Entergy Palisades atomic reactor's (see photo, left) dangerously brittle pressure vessel, was sponsored by  Michigan Safe Energy Future-Kalamazoo Chapter’s “Palisades Shutdown Campaign,” in support of an environmental coalition's (Beyond Nuclear, Michigan Safe Energy Future-Shoreline Chapter, Don’t Waste Michigan, Nuclear Energy Information Service of Illinois) legal interventions before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. The interventions seek the long overdue, permanent shutdown of Palisades due to major safety risks.

See links to a video by Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy Education about pressurized thermal shock risks at Palisades, a slide show of images prepared by Beyond Nuclear for the April 19th event, as well as photos and audio/video of the music performed: More.

"FERC Rejects Ginna Rates, Orders Settlement Proceeding"

The Ginna atomic reactor, on the Lake Ontario shoreline in upstate New YorkAs reported by William Opalka in RTO Insider, "The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday rejected the rate schedule proposed for a struggling nuclear power plant needed for reliability in western New York and ordered hearing and settlement proceedings (ER15-1047)."

The R.E. Ginna atomic reactor, owned and operated by Exelon Nuclear of Chicago, is one of the very oldest still-operating in the U.S. It fired up in 1969. It is located in Ontario, New York, on the Lake Ontario shoreline.

Exelon's scheme for keeping Ginna operating -- despite losing tens of millions of dollars per year, for the past three years -- is to gouge ratepayers in Rochester, NY.

From Midwest to Mid-Atlantic, ratepayer resistance to nuclear bailouts intensifies!

"Burning money" graphic art by Gene Case and Avening Angels appeared on the cover of Nation Magazine, accompanying an article by Christian Parenti about the nuclear power relapseNuclear utilities, like Exelon of Chicago and FirstEnergy of Ohio, are seeking multi-billion (yes, billion with a B!) dollar bailouts for their dirty, dangerous, and uncompetitive atomic reactors. Exelon is also trying to take over the Mid-Atlantic utility Pepco, in a thinly veiled attempt to gouge ratepayers to prop up its failing nukes, while gutting clean energy competition: efficiency, renewables, and distributed energy. But a growing coalition of residential and business ratepayers, nuclear watchdogs, and even state agencies, are pushing back, with creative street theater, community educational forums, and legal interventions before Public Service Commissions. More.