TMI Update: Jan 14, 2024

From the Burlington Free Press:

Vermont Yankee reported Friday afternoon that the radioactive isotope strontium has been located in the soil near where tritium had been discovered leaking at the Vernon nuclear power plant in January.

Strontium-90 was discovered in soil that had been excavated from the area of the leak, Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith said. It was noted in an analysis the company received Monday from a soil sample taken March 17, he said. The state Health Department and Nuclear Regulatory Commission were notified Thursday, he said.

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From the U.S. Energy Information Administration

The nuclear industry has expressed strong interest in continuing the operation of existing nuclear facilities, and no particular technical issues have been identified that would impede their continued operation. Recent AEOs had assumed that existing nuclear units would be retired after 60 years of operation (the initial 40-year license plus one 20-year license renewal). Maintaining the same assumption in AEO2010, with the projection horizon extended to 2035, would result in the retirement of more than one-third of existing U.S. nuclear capacity between 2029 and 2035. Given the uncertainty about when existing nuclear capacity actually will be retired, EIA revisited the assumption for the development of AEO2010 and modified it to allow the continued operation of all existing U.S. nuclear power plants through 2035 in the Reference case.

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PEACH BOTTOM ATOMIC POWER STATION, UNIT 2 - REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST FOR ONE-TIME FIVE-YEAR CONTAINMENT TYPE A INTEGRATED LEAK RATE TEST INTERVAL EXTENSION (TAC NO. ME2159)

ADAMS Accession No. ML101320059

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From Wired:

"Conventional wisdom holds that nuclear power stations don't leak enough radiation to create malformed organisms. But in some locations, Hesse-Honegger discovered mutations — curtailed feelers, misshapen legs, asymmetrical wings — in as many as 30 percent of the bugs she gathered. That's 10 times the overall rate of about 3 percent for insects found in the wild. "For me, the mutated bugs were like prototypes of a future nature," she says. A selection of Hesse-Honegger's work will be shown this fall in Berlin."

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From Blurt:

After a string of good luck, it seems Entergy Vermont Yankee has landed right back into its old bad habits of introducing Vermonters to a leak of the week.

This past Friday marked two straight weeks in which ENVY released bad news (and radioactive isotopes) to the Vermont media after regular business hours.

Late Friday Saturday, ENVY's top communications director Larry Smith issued a press statement (see below) claiming that a "new leak" had been found Friday at Vermont Yankee. And, as luck would have it, the leak is right near that pesky Advanced Off Gas (AOG)  system that was the subject of a months-long investigation into a massive leak of tritiated water that dumped tritium, cesium and strontium-90 into the nearby soils, groundwater and likely the Connecticut River.

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''If a Secretary of Agriculture endorsed better meat inspection, you wouldn't have a debate of near religious fervor about whether that person was pro- or anti-meat, whether he had sold out to the vegetarians.

You'd debate whether the stricter regulations made sense. It's somehow unique to nuclear power that, when one refuses to have nuclear power on the industry's terms, one gets chucked into a bin labeled 'anti-nuclear.' ''

-Peter A. Bradford, former Commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 3/9/82

From Beyond Nuclear:

In a May 25, 2010 joint letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from Beyond Nuclear, Eastern Environmental Law Center, Greenpeace, Natural Resources Defense Council, Riverkeeper and Union of Concerned Scientists, the environmental groups ask the federal safety regulator “to confirm in writing that the NRC recognizes that it is both legal and appropriate for the States to take legal action against licensees when drinking water is under threat.”

The groups’ request follows disclosure at the April 20, 2010 NRC public meeting regarding on-going groundwater contamination from nuclear power plants of a July 5, 2006 letter from the NRC Office of General Counsel (OGC) to the State of Illinois. The NRC attorneys threatened federal preemption if the State Attorney General pursued a lawsuit against Exelon Corporation’s for uncontrolled and unmonitored radioactive leaks from its nuclear power plants in the state that had polluted groundwater.  The groups admonished the NRC that since the agency “has chosen not to enforce its mandate to protect human health and safety with respect to multiple groundwater contamination issues, we strongly urge the NRC to cease any attempts to preempt state governments from exercising their authority to protect important economic and environmental resources within their borders.”

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From the Scranton Times-Tribune:

To avoid future pollution cleanup problems, a bipartisan consensus is emerging that Pennsylvania needs to significantly increase the bond amounts drillers post to cover the cost of plugging or closing natural gas wells.

Policymakers have yet to decide on a specific course of action.

The current bond requirements date to 1984, when the state tightened oil and gas laws in response to a short-lived drilling boom for shallow gas deposits in northwestern Pennsylvania. At that time, the technology wasn't available to reach the deep gas pockets of what is now called the Marcellus Shale formation underlying Northeast Pennsylvania and other regions.

Drillers are required to post a $2,500 bond for a single well and $25,000 blanket bond to cover any number of wells. The bonds are regarded as a financial incentive to ensure a driller will act responsibly and address any problems.

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July 4th weekend, 2010

At Maryville College, Maryville, Tennessee

 and the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

The Nuclear Resister, Nukewatch and the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA) invite you to join us for a national gathering, culminating with nonviolent anti-nuclear direct action, July 3-5, 2010, to declare our independence from nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The gathering will be held at Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee, with protest and action at the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in nearby Oak Ridge, where OREPA has sustained a nonviolent campaign for over 20 years.

At a critical time in the movement for a nuclear-free future, and to mark the 30th anniversaries of Nukewatch and the Nuclear Resister, we are coming together to increase awareness and action around nuclear issues, and advance the role of nonviolent direct action and civil resistance in this movement.  We will also be marking the 30th anniversary of the Plowshares movement and the inaugural Plowshares Eight direct disarmament action of September 9, 1980.

Come and meet with hundreds of activists from around the U.S., as we educate and energize ourselves throughout a weekend of networking, music, speakers, celebration, workshops, community, nonviolence training and nonviolent action.  Because long-lived radioactive waste makes this a multi-generational campaign, we envision a gathering where new and seasoned activists can meet and strategize for the future - a nuclear-free future!

We will gather two months after the 2010 Nonproliferation Treaty review conference and before the mid-term elections - a time when public attention needs to be focused on nuclear disarmament and a nuclear- and carbon-free energy future.  It will also take place on the eve of the 14th anniversary of the July 8, 1996 World Court advisory opinion on nuclear weapons.

Join us:

* Become a sponsoring or endorsing individual or organization

* Pre-register for the gathering

* Volunteer to help

* Help spread the word about the celebration

* Send us your photos of anti-nuclear actions over the years

This gathering is for people who advocate, practice and/or support nonviolent direct action, civil resistance and civil disobedience in the struggle to stop nuclear power and abolish nuclear weapons.

We hope to see you there!

For more information, or to make a donation, please visit http://nukewatch. com/30th/ index.htm

Check out our facebook page - Resistance for a Nuclear-Free Future.

The Nuclear Resister began in 1980 to chronicle anti-nuclear and anti-war civil resistance, with a focus on supporting the men and women imprisoned for these actions.  The newsletter publishes writings from prisoners, reports on actions, trials and sentencings, provides addresses of imprisoned activists and publicizes future actions.

Nukewatch has a foundation of investigating and divulging the truth about nuclear weapons and power since 1979.  The organization has a strong history of drawing people together - from the missile silo fields, to H-bomb trucks on the highways, to a decade-long campaign shutting down the Navy's Project ELF.

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance works to stop nuclear weapons production at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and to build nonviolent community to sustain a lasting movement for peace and justice.

Contact:
Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa
The Nuclear Resister
(520)323-8697
Email: nukeresister@igc.org

Website: http://nuclearresister.org/ 

Bonnie Urfer and John LaForge
Nukewatch
(715)472-4185
Email: nukewatch1@lakeland.ws

Website: http://nukewatch.com/