Beyond Nuclear Bulletin
October 3, 2024
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HELENE FLOODS FL REACTOR
12-ft surge at Crystal River
Duke Energy reported to the state of Florida that its decommissioning Crystal River nuclear power plant on Florida’s Gulf Coast was inundated by Hurricane Helene’s 12-foot storm surge.
Duke’s filing cites, “The whole site was flooded, including buildings, sumps, and lift stations. Industrial Wastewater Pond #5 was observed overflowing to the ground due to the surge.” Crystal River, south of Cedar Key and closed in 2013, is being decommissioned rather than operational. Had it been operational, even in “hot shutdown,” the hurricane force wind, flooding and power outage might have caused a nuclear accident with far reaching radioactive consequences on top of the natural disaster. Helene sends a warning ahead of an accelerating climate crisis to still vulnerable nuclear power plants.
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FIGHTING CISFs
Resistance from US to Japan
The New Diplomacy Initiative (NDI) of Tokyo hosted a webinar focused on the fights against highly radioactive waste consolidated interim storage facilities (CISF) in Japan. NDI invited Beyond Nuclear's radioactive waste specialist, Kevin Kamps, to present about the many EJ victories against CISFs here, over decades, including at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and a large number of targeted Indigenous Nations' reservations, including Skull Valley Goshutes, Utah. Another American panelist, Camilla Feibelman, director of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, presented on the past decade of resistance in New Mexico and Texas to CISFs targeted there. Several Japanese speakers focused on struggles against CISFs targeted at the north and south ends of Japan's main island, as well against dirty, dangerous, and expensive reprocessing.
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NUKE RUST BUCKET!
Corrosion "far exceeds" expectations
A Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) summary of a conference call with Holtec, published October 2, reveals why NRC recently issued a rare Preliminary Notification of Occurrence at Palisades. NRC reports a recent inspection of tubes in Palisades' two steam generators (SG) revealed Stress Corrosion Cracking under Holtec “far exceeded” what occurred under previous owner, Entergy: 250 times more tubes were found to be damaged. Entergy operated Palisades from 2007-22; Holtec took over the reactor less than 2.5 years ago, under false pretenses to decommission it. Inspections uncovered “at least 700 additional tubes that must be plugged,” as many as had been plugged during the previous 20 years of operations. Palisades' unprecedented restart could be delayed years, despite massive bailouts.
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WATCH SAN ONOFRE SYNDROME
Free online at film festival
SOS, The San Onofre Syndrome: Nuclear Power's Legacy, is one of only 28 films to be shown at the 13th Global Nonviolent Film Festival 2024, and one of only 9 films in the feature documentary category. The films are free to watch (no registration or credit cards needed) until October 13, along with daily video presentations and an awards’ show on October 7.
SOS is an empowering story of successful community action to shut down leaking reactors. But then they discover horrific amounts of high-level radioactive waste lethal for millions of years are being placed in thin canisters only 108 ft. from the rising sea. Also see a webinar featuring the film makers, and moderated by Beyond Nuclear’s Cindy Folkers.
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