NRC cites Exelon for emergency cooling and containment violations at Limerick 2

NRC file photo of Limerick; it does not indicate whether or not the flowers in the foreground are spiderwort, mutated by radioactivity.The Mercury (Pottstown, PA) reports that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a "white finding" of "low to moderate safety significance" at the Limerick nuclear powere plant's Unit 2, owned and operated by Exelon Nuclear, regarding faulty valves “resulting in one of the plant’s safety systems, known as the Reactor Core Isolation Cooling system, being inoperable from April 23 to May 23." The faulty valves also rendered a Primary Containment Isolation Valve inoperable during the same time period, which “would be used during an accident to close off the plant’s containment building during a significant event in order to prevent the release of radioactivity into the environment.” As mentioned in NRC's press release on the safety violations, regulatory inspections will be increased. “Because the valves in question failed to fully shut, the majority of the cooling water from one of the plant’s safety systems would have diverted to the condenser rather than flow to the reactor,” NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said.

On Nov. 22nd, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) submitted a petition to NRC to intervene against Limerick's proposed 20 year license extension. An NRC commissioned report from 1982 found that a major accident at Limerick Unit 2 could cause 74,000 "peak early fatalities," 610,000 "peak early injuries," 34,000 "peak cancer deaths," and $197 billion in property damage. However, in the past 30 years, the surrounding population has grown to a whopping 8 million within 50 miles. Those property damages, adjusted for inflation, would now top $434 billion.

Not on Our Fault Line calls on NRC to distribute KI within 20 miles of North Anna

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)Not on Our Fault Line, a group of concerned citizens which formed in response to the 5.8 magnitude earthquake of August 23, 2011 epicentered just 11 miles from the North Anna nuclear power plant, is calling on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to enforce a 2002 law requiring the distribution of potassium iodide (KI) tablets within 20 miles of U.S. atomic reactors. KI saturates the human thyroid gland, blocking uptake of hazardous Iodine-131, a viciously radioactive substance that escaped during the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, causing an epidemic of thyroid disease downwind in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Large quantities of I-131 also escaped during the Fukushima triple reactor core meltdown and radioactive waste storage pool fire that began in March 2011, leading the Japanese federal government to warn parents not to use Tokyo's tap water for infants during the early days of the catastrophe due to I-131 contamination. I-131 has an 8 day half life; thus, its hazardous persistence lasts 80 to 160 days.

Section 127 of the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 was sponsored as a successful amendment by U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA, pictured at left), a long time watchdog on the nuclear power industry. In May, 2011, Markey led a bipartisan letter of House Members addressed to President Obama, calling for implementation of the law. 9 long years after its enactment, NRC still had not enforced the law. Markey issued a press release about the letter to Obama, signed by 30 Members of Congress.

Kucinich: "FirstEnergy Tells Public One Thing, NRC Another; Nuke Plant Damage More than Previously Admitted"

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), long time watchdog on Davis-BesseAfter a Dec. 6 meeting between his staff and representatives of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) issued a strongly worded statement critical of nuclear utility FirstEnergy's public assurances about the problem of cracking recently discovered in the Davis-Besse atomic reactor's shield building, an essential layer of radiological containment. 

“In response to inquiries by my staff, the NRC provided a detailed description of the cracking at FirstEnergy’s Davis-Besse plant. That description revealed that the cracks in the Davis-Besse ‘shield’ building are more numerous and more widely distributed than FirstEnergy has publicly portrayed,” said Kucinich.

Congressman Kucinich's office has prepared a comparison of FirstEnergy statements with known facts, and calls on readers to decide for themselves how bad the situation is.

Beyond Nuclear, along with Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Ohio Green Party, has intervened against the 20 year license extension sought by FirstEnergy for Davis-Besse, a problem-plagued 35 year old atomic reactor. David Lochbaum at Union of Concerned Scientists has also submitted allegations about the cracked shield building to the NRC.

"Fukushima's U.S. Nuclear Nightmare"

An article by John Raymond posted at his ZSpace Page features Beyond Nuclear's "Freeze Our Fukushimas" campaign to shut down the 23 Fukushima Daiichi twins in the U.S. -- General Electric Boiling Water Reactors of the Mark 1 design. Paul Gunter is quoted extensively on reactor risks, and Kevin Kamps on high-level radioactive waste storage pool risks.

NRC approves Davis-Besse re-start despite cracked shield building

At 4:41 p.m. on Friday afternoon -- a traditional time to try to sneak controversial news past the public -- December 2, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) publicly announced its decision to allow the Davis-Besse atomic reactor to re-start, despite lingering questions about its cracked shield building. NRC did so with a press release, and an attached Confirmatory Action Letter addressed to FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company.

The Toledo Blade reported on this story. It quoted Michael Keegan of Don't Waste Michigan:

"Michael Keegan, one of several critics who have intervened in the re-licensing proceedings, called the Confirmatory Action Letter 'a big fat nothing' and repeated his doubts about the wisdom of re-starting Davis-Besse.

The NRC’s re-start approval, he said, is 'a promise to kick the can down the road and roll the dice one more time. The concept of ‘Use As Is,’ when it comes to operating a nuclear power plant, is a risky proposition.' "

Beyond Nuclear, along with Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio, has won standing and admission of several contentions against the 20 year license extension sought by FENOC for Davis-Besse. Terry Lodge of Toledo serves as the environmental coalition's attorney. Al Compaan, emeritus chair of the University of Toledo physics department, serves as the coalition's expert witness. A year ago, Beyond Nuclear published a backgrounder on the many close calls with disaster Davis-Besse has experienced in the past 35 years of operations.

Update on December 4, 2011 by admin

An NRC inspector examines cracks in Davis-Besse's shield buildingOn Nov. 21st, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) wrote NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko, putting forth a technical theory that could explain Davis-Besse's concrete shield building cracking, and calling for a public hearing on this vital safety issue before the atomic reactor is allowed to re-start. Kucinich wrote a related op-ed in the Toledo Blade.

The shield building is supposed to protect the reactor within from such threats as tornadoes. In June 1998, a tornado scored a direct hit on Davis-Besse, passing between the shield building and the cooling tower, knocking out the primary electrical grid, and causing a near-disaster when the back up emergency diesel generators didn't work properly. An NRC ordered study from 1982 (ironically entitled "CRAC-2") reported that a major radioactive release at Davis-Besse could cause 1,400 "peak early fatalities," 73,000 "peak early injuries," 10,000 peak cancer deaths," and $84 billion in property damage [$185 billion when adjusted for inflation].

Update on December 4, 2011 by admin

On November 4th, David Lochbaum, Director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission with questions regarding the cracking in the Davis-Besse shield building walls. He asked NRC to treat the questions as allegations, if they were unable to answer them before approving Davis-Besse's re-start.