Nuke Waste Con Game? Urge NRC to "STOP MAKING IT!"

An illustration of "robust storage" by Dr. Gordon Edwards, in a 2003 study commissioned by Citizens Awareness NetworkThe U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is under court order to undertake an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the risks of long-term storage of high-level radioactive waste in water-cooled indoor pools and air-cooled outdoor dry casks at atomic reactor sites. This landmark victory was won by a coalition of states (CT, NY, NJ, VT) and environmental groups (BREDL, NRDC, Riverkeeper, SACE). The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals nullified NRC's Orwellian "Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision," which, since 1984, has been used to block any environmental challenge to reactor licensing having to do with irradiated nuclear fuel. Critics have long dubbed this NRC's "Nuke Waste Con Game."

NRC had expressed "confidence" that wastes could be stored safely on-site for up to 120 years (and the agency was considering declaring 200-300 years as safe!), and that a permanent repository would be opened someday, somewhere, somehow, "when needed." The Court chided NRC for "merely hoping" for a repository.

But now, under pressure from industry which wants new reactor licenses and old reactor license extension rubberstamps ASAP, NRC is rushing the EIS proceeding. On October 26th, it published a half-baked, legally deficient Federal Register Notice, announing an environmental scoping public comment opportunity lasting only till an absurdly short January 2, 2013 deadline. The environmental attorneys who won the landmark ruling (now speaking on behalf of an environmental coalition of two dozen groups, engaged in three dozen reactor licensing proceedings) pushed back on Nov. 8, warning NRC that it needed to withdraw, correct, and re-issue the notice, and certainly extend the public comment opportunity. NRC has yet to respond.

PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITY: NRC WEBINARS DECEMBER 5TH AND 6TH

In the meantime, NRC plans two webinars next week, on December 5th and 6th (see instructions below for how to access the webinar), to accept environmental scoping comments from the public. Please take part!

Urge NRC to include in its EIS scope the preferred alternative of not approving any more new reactor combined Construction and Operating License Applications (COLA), nor approving any more old reactor 20-year license extensions. That way, no more high-level radioactive waste, for which there is no solution after 70 years of splitting atoms, will be generated. In short, STOP MAKING IT! The only safe, sound solution for high-level radioactive waste is to not make it (or, in NRC's case, allow it to be made) in the first place!

For wastes that already exist, urge NRC to include Hardened On-Site Storage (HOSS, a phrase coined by Dr. Arjun Makhijani of IEER in 2002) as the preferred alternative. High-level radioactive waste must be transferred out of water pools, at risk of catastrophic radioactivity releases in the event of a loss of cooling and consequent radioactive waste inferno. But on-site dry cask storage must be significantly upgraded. Dry casks must be designed and fabricated well, with full quality assurance. They must be designed to withstand terrorist attack (as by camouflage, fortifications, and adequate spacing in between casks), to safeguard against accidents, and to prevent radioactivity leakage into the environment for the decades or centuries the wastes will be stuck at the reactor sites. (In 2003, Dr. Gordon Edwards of IRSS published a report, commissioned by Citizens Awareness Network, entitled "Robust Storage." See the illustration of a "robust storage" design for dry casks, above left.)

Beyond Nuclear has prepared additional suggested talking points and background information.

INSTRUCTIONS FROM NRC WASTE CONFIDENCE OUTREACH DIRECTORATE FOR TAKING PART IN WEBINARS:

"Greetings,

The Waste Confidence Directorate received feedback that the webcast for the November 14 afternoon scoping meeting cut off at 4pm EST.  We were able to get the webcast running again after a short delay; however, if you missed the end of that meeting, you can view archived video of the meeting at http://video.nrc.gov/.  After you open the webpage, scroll down to the table of Archived Videos.  The afternoon scoping meeting is titled: Waste Confidence Scoping Meeting for the Environmental Impact Statement (Part 1).  The evening meeting (Part 2) is also available for viewing.

Transcripts for the November 14 meetings are now available in ADAMS:

Afternoon meeting transcript (ADAMS Accession No. ML12331A347): http://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber='ML12331A347

Evening meeting transcript (ADAMS Accession No. ML12331A353): http://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber='ML12331A353

If you missed the November 14 meetings, please join us for our December 5 (1pm-4pm EST) and December 6 (9pm-12am EST) webinars.  The information presented and format of the webinars will be the same as the November meetings.  The NRC staff will start each webinar with a short presentation (view the slides here), and then we’ll open the phone lines for your questions and comments.  The webinars will be identical, and both will be transcribed so any comments presented over the phone will be included in the Waste Confidence docket.

To register for the December 5 or 6 webinars, please see our meeting notice (ADAMS Accession No. ML12326A911): http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1232/ML12326A911.pdf

[To access Dec. 5th webinar:

Computer link for GoToMeeting registration:

https://www.1.gotomeeting.com/register/892474769

Telephone: 1-800-475-8385; passcode: 3682386

To access Dec. 6th webinar:

Computer link for GoToMeeting registration:

https://www.1.gotomeeting.com/register/619582928

Telephone: 1-800-475-8385; passcode: 3682386]

You can also call Ms. TR Rowe at 1-800-368-5642, ext. 492-3133 or Ms. Susan Wittick, ext. 492-3187 if you have questions about the webinars.

And finally, we have updated our Waste Confidence website with some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): http://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/wcd/faq.html 

Sincerely,

Staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Waste Confidence Directorate"