NRC has rubber-stamped license extensions and "power uprates" at 22 of 23 GE BWR Mark I reactors operating in the U.S.

Pat Birnie of the GE Shareholders Alliance has compiled U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) data on "power uprates" which the agency has approved at 22 of the 23 General Electric boiling water reactors of the Mark I design still operating across the U.S. (Nine Mile Point Unit 1 in NY is the only exception). Her chart is accessible here. The Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4 which exploded and melted down beginning in March 2011 are also GE BWR Mark Is.

The single biggest power uprate, as a percentage of heat output (measured as Megawatts-thermal, or MWt), was a 20% "extended" type power uprate, granted in 2006 to Entergy Nuclear at its 34 year old (at the time) Vermont Yankee atomic reactor. This amounted to a 319 MWt power uprate (MWt must be divided by three to determine the Megawatts-electric, MWe, generated, due to the fact that 2/3rds of the heat generated by splitting atoms is lost as waste). The vibrational stresses caused by Vermont Yankee's power uprate led to the collapse of its cooling tower (see photo at left), and even contributed to a separate fiery explosion, when the increased pressure of flowing steam picked up loose metallic slag that had lain dormant for decades and slammed it into an operational transformer.

However, even bigger power uprates have been rubberstamped by NRC. The single biggest, at an individual Mark I reactor, was the 547 MWt of power uprates, granted in two installments (one a "Measurement Uncertainty Recapture" type uprate), at the Hope Creek, New Jersey Mark I. However, both Brunswick Mark Is, Units #1 and #2 in North Carolina, have each enjoyed a total of 487 MWt of power uprates, including a "stretch" type uprate, for a whopping 974 MWt of power uprates at the Brunswick nuclear power plant.

NRC gave the newly formed Exelon Nuclear Corporation (formed by the merger of Commonwealth Edison of Chicago and Philadelphia Electric Company, the first and second largest nuclear utilities in the U.S.) an early Christmas gift in 2001: a 17.8% power uprate at both of its Quad Cities 1 & 2 Mark Is, worth 446 MWt each; and a 17% power uprate, worth 430 MWt, at each of its Dresden 2 & 3 Mark Is. All four approvals took place on a single day, December 21, 2001. The combined power uprates at the four Mark I reactors netted Exelon 1,752 MWt of additional output.

While the nuclear utilities enjoy increased profits from the additional electricity sales associated with power uprates, the public downwind and downstream bears the risks of running these Mark Is harder and hotter than they were originally licensed or designed for. To make safety risks even worse, 22 of the 23 operating Mark Is have already received NRC rubberstamps for 20 year license extensions; Fermi 2 is the only exception, and it plans to apply for one in 2014. Pat Birnie has also compiled a listing of the 23 operating Mark Is in the U.S., including the reactor units' names, locations, expiration dates for their original 40 year licenses, and expiration dates for their NRC-authorized 20 year license extensions.

Pat Birnie has succeeded in getting an anti-nuclear shareholder resolution, written in the aftermath of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe, onto the agenda of the General Electric annual shareholders meeting, to be held in downtown Detroit on April 25th.

Update on April 2, 2012 by admin

The GE Stockholders Alliance issued a press release about the upcoming April 25th annual meeting today.

NRC public mtg. on 3/21 in South Haven to review Palisades' dangerously troubled 2011

NRC file photo of Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor in Covert, MI on the Lake Michigan shoreline

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has announced its next very important public meeting regarding Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor's very troubled performance in 2011. Palisades (pictured left) is located in Covert, MI, less than 5 miles south of South Haven, on the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Date and Time: Wed., March 21st, 6 to 8:30pm Eastern

The meeting location is: Beach Haven Event Center, 10420 M-140, South Haven, MI 49090. If you can make it in person, please do so; otherwise, please call-in:

Phone number: 1-800-621-9524

Passcode:  2133121.

NRC has put out a press release about the meeting. NRC has also posted a meeting announcement, with a link to a more detailed notice.

In 2011 alone, Palisades had five "un-planned shutdowns": some of the accidents amounted to close calls with catastrophe. The most risky accident of all was a Sept. 25, 2011 loss of electricity to half the control room, which threw the plant into chaos, and came precariously close to injecting cooling water from the Emergency Core Cooling System into the hot, brittle reactor pressure vessel. This could have fractured it like a hot glass under cold water, leading instantly to a Loss of Coolant Accident and potential meltdown. Even the NRC, infamous for its regulatory rollbacks, acknowledged the incident was of "substantial significance to safety."

The 3/21 meeting includes a public open house from 5:30 to 6pm, followed by a formal business meeting from 6 to 8:30pm. After NRC concludes its business portion of the meeting with Entergy Palisades executives, it will then take questions from the public.

Don't Waste Michigan pleads with U.S. Senators Levin & Stabenow to address Palisades' embrittlement risks

Anti-nuclear watchdogs have long called for the shutdown of Palisades. Here, Don't Waste MI board members Michael Keegan, Alice Hirt, and Kevin Kamps speak out at the year 2000 Great Lakes Nuclear-Free Action Camp. Palisades' steam, as well as Lake Michigan, are visible in the background. In the foreground, crosses bearing the names of counties, cities, towns, and villages that would comprise the Dead Zone downwind of a catastrophic radioactivity release from Palisades, are planted into the beach sand.On March 9, 2012, board members representing various chapters of the statewide anti-nuclear watchdog coalition Don't Waste Michigan delivered a letter to U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow (both Democrats form Michigan) pleading with them to take action to address the very serious risks associated with the Palisades atomic reactor's worst embrittled pressure vessel in the U.S., dangerously vulnerable to a "Pressurized Thermal Shock" (PTS) Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA). The Emergency Core Cooling System at Palisades came precariously close to injecting cooling water into the hellishly hot reactor core on Sept. 25, 2011 during a chaotic incident of "substantial significance to safety," according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. If the ECCS had injected coolant into the badly embrittled reactor pressure vessel, it could have fractured it like a hot glass under cold water, testing NRC's repeated weakenings of PTS safety regulations in the real world.

Attached to Don't Waste Michigan's letter were a number of enclosures, including: Detroit Free Press articles, dated Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012; a Detroit Free Press editorial, same date; the Jan. 17, 2007 environmental coalition intervenors’ response to finalization of NRC rubberstamp of Palisades’ 20 year license extension; the first article in an Associated Press four part series, dated June 2011, entitled “Aging Nukes” -- this kick-off article is entitled “Nuke regulators weaken safety rules” (embrittlement regulatory weakening a featured case in point); a Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes 1993 backgrounder on embrittlement/PTS risks at Palisades (18 years earlier than AP article above), documenting that Palisades first violated NRC PTS regulations in 1981, just ten years into operations; an NRC Office of Inspector General Audit Report, dated Sept. 2007, on reactor license extensions, documenting that NRC staff “cut and paste” nuclear utility documentation, yet presented it as independent NRC safety, environmental, and audit work (aka plagiarism, in the company’s profit interest, but against the public interest in health, safety and environmental protection); an NRC OIG follow-up report, dated May 2008, documenting that NRC staff destroys its primary working documents once license extensions are rubberstamped; a large environmental coalition's March 20, 2006 letters to Senators Levin and Stabenow, requesting a GAO investigation on embrittlement/PTS risks at Palisades, and in fact nationwide, given NRC regulatory rollbacks (those letters were not even acknowledged, let alone acted upon).

Update on defending Great Lakes against risky atomic reactors

Satellite photo of the Great Lakes: 20% of the planet's surface fresh water; drinking water supply for 40 million people in the U.S., Canada, and numerous Native American/First Nations; and lifeblood of one of the world's biggest regional economies.Three weeks ago, we reported on Beyond Nuclear's efforts, in conjunction with environmental coalitions and concerned citizens, to shut down two especially risky atomic reactors on the Great Lakes shorelines that have been generating a lot of controversy recently: Palisades in southwest Michigan, and Davis-Besse in northwest Ohio.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a meeting on Feb. 29th in South Haven, on the Lake Michigan shoreline, in an attempt to calm public concern about a rash of accidents at Palisades in 2011 alone. It didn't work.Beyond Nuclear had spread the word about the meeting to its network in west Michigan, and provided background information. Before a large turn out of up to 200 people, in the room and on the phone, the NRC was forced to admit that Palisades has the most embrittled reactor pressure vessel in the U.S. NRC has repeatedly weakened its "Pressurized Thermal Shock" safety regulations in order to accomodate Palisades, to enable this dangerously degraded reactor to operate for over 40 years now. The most serious incident discussed, of "substantial significance to safety," was a Sept. 25, 2011 loss of electricity to half the control room during a light bulb changing operation. It activated the Emergency Core Cooling System, but fortunately the ECCS did not inject cooling water into the hot core. This would have tested NRC's risky regulatory rollbacks, and risked a fracture of the RPV like a hot glass under cold water. This would lead to a Loss of Coolant Accident and potential meltdown. The same incident also came precariously close to completely filling the pressurizer and one of the steam generators with water, which would have meant loss of control over core temperature and pressure, and could have broken pipes. Palisades' steam generators have long been in need of "major organ transplant" replacement, for the second time in the plant's history. A cascading rupture of steam generator tubes is another pathway to LOCA and meltdown. Beyond Nuclear prepared a summary of the meeting, including a compilation of media coverage and some of the statements delivered by concerned citizens.

At Davis-Besse, Beyond Nuclear and its environmental allies (Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio) filed a supplement on Feb. 27th to their Jan. 10th cracked containment contention. It was based on a Feb. 8th revelation by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) that NRC considered the outer layer of steel reinforcement rebar to be no longer functional, due to severe cracking over an extensive area of the concrete shield building, an integral part of Davis-Besse's radiological containment.On Feb. 28, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) published its long-awaited "root cause analysis" on the cracking. Incredibly, FENOC claims the Blizzard of 1978 is to blame, combined with the fact that they forgot to apply weather sealant to the exterior of the shield building for the past 42 years. When asked by media reporters why no sealant had been applied, FENOC responded that it hadn't been required to. When asked why sealant had been applied to other concrete buildings at the plant that are less safety significant, FENOC responded that they had a splotchy appearance, so sealant had been applied for aesthetic reasons only. The environmental coalition, which has been opposing Davis-Besse's 20 year license extension since Dec. 2010, replied that this amounts to a "snow job of convenience." FENOC is saying the damage was done over a three day blizzard in 1978, and has not gotten worse since. This would undermine the environmental coalition's claim that the cracking is aging related, and will grow worse over time, a serious challenge to Davis-Besse's coveted 2017 to 2037 extension permit from NRC.

Congressman Kucinich has long watchdogged Davis-Besse. He has been especially active on this cracked containment issue, releasing information to the public on the severity of the cracking which FENOC and NRC had kept concealed for weeks or even months. With the backing of NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko, Kucinich won a Jan. 5th NRC public meeting Davis-Besse, which drew 300 attendees and lots of media coverage. The environmental coalition joined with Congressman Kucinich on March 3rd for a media release to challenge FENOC's "snow job of convenience." Unfortunately, Congressman Kucinich lost his primary bid to return to Congress on March 6th.John Nichols of the Nation has written a tribute to Kucinich's stellar progressive career in Congress, advocating against war, for justice, and in defense of workers' rights and environmental protection. To Nichol's list should be added Kucinich's deep commitmet to protecting his constituents and the Great Lakes against one of the most risky reactors in the country. Beyond Nuclear was honored in December 2011, when Congressman Kucinich submitted for the congressional record at a hearing of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee, where he serves as a Subcommittee Ranking Member, a backgrounder written by Beyond Nuclear on Davis-Besse's problem-plagued history. 

"Living on Borrowed Time" & "U.S. Nuclear Power Safety One Year After Fukushima": UCS shines spotlight on 15 near-misses at U.S. reactors in 2011, examines Japan "lessons learned," or not, at NRC

David Lochbaum, Director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), recently published NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2011: Living on Borrowed Time, describing 15 near-misses at U.S. atomic reactors in 2011 alone. Note that 4 near-misses took place at reactors belonging to one nuclear utility, Entergy: 2 near misses at Palisades in Michigan, and 2 at Pilgrim in Massachusetts. (Yet another near-miss occurred at Cooper in Nebraska, owned by Nebraska Public Power District, but with support services provided, yet again, by Entergy.)

The Thom Hartmann Show interviewed Dave Lochbaum about his report.

On March 7th, Lochbaum and Edwin Lyman, senior scientist at UCS's Global Security Program, released a report entitled U.S. Nuclear Power Safety One Year After Fukushima. Lochbaum and Lyman summarized their findings in a special published by CNN.