Did you catch "The Meltdown: Three Mile Island" on Netflix? TMI remains a danger and TMIA is working hard to ensure the safety of our communities and the surrounding areas. Learn more on this site and support our efforts. Join TMIA. To contact the TMIA office, call 717-233-7897.
A glimpse behind the scenes in Georgia. This isn't all of the story. One particularly wicked aspect is that the PSC staff which is supposed to advocate for the public and balance against Georgia Power's self-interest filed a stipulated agreement at the same time as Georgia Power filed for $7.56 billion in cost overruns for Vogtle 4. To add to the pain, several public interest groups also signed on to the stipulation. It is absolutely unprecedented for a stipulated agreement to be formed before any public hearings or presentation of evidence. Further, the 180-day hearing process was slashed to 90 days with a vote scheduled for December 19, effectively cutting the Georgia legislature out of the process. We were really blind-sided and unsure how to proceed. Nuclear Watch South and Georgia WAND's Petition to Hold in Abeyance is well timed as PSC elections wend through the courts. The Open Letter process has engaged an ever-widening circle and ads placed around the state is helping build awareness of all of it. PSC reform is sorely needed in Georgia!!!
Wish us well! May Vogtle be the last reactor ever built!
Cheers, Glenn
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CALL FOR PUBLIC WITNESSES VOGTLE 4 PRUDENCY HEARINGS ON $7.56 BILLION IN COST OVERRUNS MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 9:30AM GEORGIA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 244 WASHINGTON STREET SW, ATLANTA
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Dear Faithful Vogtle Watchers,
Thank you so much to all who endorsed Nuclear Watch South and Georgia WAND's open letter to PSC Chair Jason Shaw and Georgia Power CEO Kim Greene. Please see the sample full-page ad attached.
The letter calls for postponing upcoming hearings (December 4-6) on $7.56 billion in cost overruns for still-unfinished Vogtle 4 until after PSC elections for two expired terms can be held. Just this past Friday, the 11th circuit ruled that Georgia could continue its previous practice of holding statewide elections for district seats. At this time, no elections have been scheduled. News reports say there could be a special election in March. The original plaintiffs who brought the Voting Rights Act of 1965 challenge to Georgia's practice may still file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Who knows when Vogtle will be finished? Who knows when there will be a PSC election? WHAT'S THE RUSH??
To ramp up the pressure, we placed full-page ads showcasing the Open Letter in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Valdosta Daily Times, Northeast Georgian (Cornelia), Marietta Daily Journal, Athens Banner-Herald and Waynesboro (Burke County) True Citizen. Additionally we have digital banner ads running on ajc.com, Athens Banner-Herald, Valdosta Daily Times and a dozen small town papers affiliated with Marietta Daily Journal which are continuing to garner sign-ons. Deep gratitude to special donors who helped make this strong effort possible! And it is not too late to sign the letter! SIGN HERE
Significantly, AJC's stringent fact-checking approval process accepted our assertion that Georgia Power made $17 billion in profit during Vogtle construction years!!
This is the key point to make in your testimony on Monday morning.
LET GEORGIA POWER PAY FOR ITS OWN CONSTRUCTION MISTAKES, DELAYS AND COST OVERRUNS!!
Other points you may want to make can be garnered from the Open Letter such as highlighting that two of the five commissioners' terms expired over one year ago. One of the commissioners, Johnson, is serving out an appointment and has not ever been elected. The other, Echols, is a shameless nuclear advocate gallivanting around the globe trying to get anyone else to join Georgia in building bloated, antiquated and incredibly expensive, dangerous and unneeded nuclear technology.
Vogtle 4 is having to replace a reactor coolant pump and is far from finished. This most recent of delays was announced shortly after Georgia Power filed its rate request which launched this hearing process. The same problem happened in China and it took a year to replace the pump. WHAT'S THE RUSH?
You are a very savvy group and you can name any of the gross errors that were made during 14 years of the Vogtle construction fiasco. You may find inspiration at nonukesyall.org Scroll down. There's a whole lot there!!! You may wish to sing a couple of verses of Georgia Power Choo Choo :)
You may testify that green, renewable technology is mature and cheap and we never need to use poison power again!! Google Mark Z. Jacobson with Stanford University and study up on NO MIRACLES NEEDED. Let it be known!
We are putting out this call for public witnesses on Monday because we have not yet heard from the PSC on Nuclear Watch South and Georgia WAND's formal Petition to Hold in Abeyance filed in October. Chairman Shaw did respond to our Open Letter dated 11/14/23 prior to Thanksgiving in a zoom meeting with Georgia WAND's Kim Scott, PSC staff attorney Preston Thomas and me. Thomas re-presented his opposition to our Petition and Shaw informed us that the staff would formally docket its response to our Petition before the holidays. I asked whether he was deferring to staff's opinion and he said he was not so we do expect to hear a final decision from him. In the meeting, we presented Chairman Shaw, who has sole discretion to honor our petition, with a precedent from 2017, the year before he was first appointed. In 2017 an instant order by then-chairman Stan Wise radically changed the hearing calendar with one week's notice and AFTER four days of public hearings had gone down. It resulted in a unanimous vote for Vogtle construction to go forward despite the bankruptcy of the main contractor and multiple experts, including PSC staff, saying Vogtle should not be finished. Our Petition to Hold in Abeyance is far less drastic and would provide a remedy to an unfortunate situation instead of 2017's example which was an abomination to public process.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR WITNESS!! THIS MIGHT BE YOUR LAST CHANCE TO STAND UP AGAINST PLANT VOGTLE!!
See you Monday morning, December 4 at 9:30AM unless, of course, WE WIN!! IT COULD HAPPEN!
We Stopped the Dumping into the Hudson River! Now Help Us Pack the Room at NYS Decommissioning Oversight Board Meeting -- Demand NO RADIOACTIVITY IN OUR AIR AND WATER
We stopped radioactive waste from being dumped into the Hudson River! Now let's make sure that waste doesn't end up in anyone's air or water.
Join us on December 6 at 5PM at Cortlandt Town Hallbefore and during the New York State Decommissioning Oversight Board (NYS DOB) to tell Governor Hochul's agencies and decision-makers to safely store the radioactive waste from Indian Point on site, out of our air and water!
The NYS DOB is tasked with figuring out how to close the Indian Point plant safely, and it includes Holtec International, the company in charge of decommissioning the plant. The DOB meetings are the best opportunity we have to get our message to Hochul's administration and local officials.
Gather with us at 5 p.m. in Cortlandt before the meeting so we can grab seats and pack the room. Bring a sign in support of keeping waste on site and out of air and water! If you can, please stay for the meeting to give a comment in support of onsite storage of the radioactive waste at Indian Point!
Sent via Action Network, a free online toolset anyone can use to organize. Click here to sign up and get started building an email list and creating online actions today.
NRC Issues Confirmatory Order to ProTechnics Division of Core Laboratories
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a Confirmatory Order to ProTechnics Division of Core Laboratories, documenting mutually agreed upon actions to address regulatory compliance issues identified during a routine inspection at the company’s headquarters in Houston, Texas. ProTechnics uses radioactive materials licensed by the NRC to perform diagnostic studies in oil, gas and geothermal wells.
NRC inspectors cited six proposed violations involving the company’s failure to notify and seek NRC approval for the abandonment of a well logging source, to request an extension for a well logging source in temporary storage, to maintain records or calculations demonstrating compliance with federal limits on the disposal of radioisotope tracers in the Gulf of Mexico, and to monitor a group of exposed workers following the loss of their dosimeters, among other proposed violations.
The proposed violations are described in detail in NRC’s July 7 inspection report.
Before making a final enforcement decision, the NRC provided the company with an opportunity to request a predecisional enforcement conference or seek alternative dispute resolution. ProTechnics requested ADR mediation and met with NRC officials in October to discuss corrective actions. A preliminary settlement agreement was reached at the session, and the issues agreed upon were incorporated into the Confirmatory Order.
"The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a final rule and associated regulatory guide providing an alternative avenue for small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced reactors to satisfy emergency preparedness requirements. The long-anticipated rulemaking allows SMRs and advanced reactor license applicants to develop performance-based emergency preparedness programs instead of using the current prescriptive offsite radiological emergency planning requirements originally designed for large light-water reactors (LWRs)."
We have worked hard to get to this point, and thanks to YOU and everyone who stood up to say No to the Permit to Pollute and hold DTE accountable - there is a public hearing TODAY November 28th at 6pm.
This hearing is our chance to pack the halls and let DTE and the state of Michigan know that the people are watching - that we will show up to protect our Great Lakes and public health! Please show up and give comments if you can!
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has issued a draft permit for the Fermi 2 reactor to use and abuse Lake Erie water.
This proposed permit:
Lists pages of dangerous and carcinogenic chemicals Fermi is discharging into Lake Erie, and gives DTE until 2028 to stop this devastating pollution.
Gives no limits on thermal pollution, allowing Fermi to continue to heat Lake Erie and contribute to toxic algae blooms.
Does not have the EGLE using its authority to adequately test or regulate the radioactive elements (radionuclides) that can pollute drinking water around Fermi 2 and threaten our safety.
Anyone interested to le, you can watch the recording here. During the meeting, we got some great training on how to compose a comment for a public hearing, including examples of good vs bad comments, and practicing in front of an audience.
We have the chance to speak out together!
Here's something to remember: you don't need to be a nuclear expert to speak out against this dirty industry and the impact it has on our communities. We want to honor the wide range of experience, education, and bandwidth of our community showing up. All of us do not need to be experts on the topic. It is completely fine to step forward at the hearing and state: "This is who I am, these are our demands, and this is why this is important to me." What's important is that we are unified in saying NO to the pollution of our Great Lakes.
We have resources to make the process of making a public comment as easy as possible, you can find them here:
Again, it is not only fine but encouraged for there to be a variety of levels of experience and education among those of us speaking out. We will all find our place in the broad scope of who is willing to stand for our waters and for public health.
The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, November 28th, at 6pm ET. Use the link below to register. We encourage you to indicate that you would like to make a comment in the registration but it is not necessary. You can opt to comment at the meeting, but you will be added to the back of the queue.
If you are not able to attend, EGLE will still receive written comments after the hearing and we will follow up with those instructions next week.
Citizen's Resistance At Fermi Two (CRAFT) is an Indigenous-led, grassroots, organization, committed to an accessible, fair, and just energy future for all! CRAFT originally formed after the Christmas Day 1993 incident at the Fermi2 nuclear reactor that dumped 1.5 million gallons of untreated toxic, radioactive water into Lake Erie. We will continue to push for the closing of Fermi2, and for a safer world powered by renewables.
An equipment issue at the Prairie Island plant near Red Wing hasn’t impacted electric service, but it could lead to higher fuel costs that are passed down to Xcel’s customers on their m…
A radioactive threat found in the middle of America's fourth largest city raises alarm
A Houston Police Department officer driving to work last month felt the buzzing vibration alert of a cell-phone sized device provided by the federal government as part of a grant program.
The buzzing was no phone call. It was a warning, about dangerous levels of radiation, right in the midst of the fourth largest city in America.
And the detector that found it was one of 2,000 carried in Houston – and 56,000 nationwide – aimed at preventing terrorists from slipping a radiation-spewing “dirty bomb” onto American streets.
Now, budget fights in Congress and a House majority seeking major spending cuts mean the office that supplied those detectors is on the chopping block.
During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last week, representatives questioned the work of – and funding for – huge swaths of the federal security agencies, often focusing on border security.
But testimony that day from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas brought to light the work of one lesser-known arms of anti-terror work: the agency’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office.
He offered it as an example of where the system worked as intended, supporting a local agency to ward off disaster before it happened.
How 'hot' material ended up in a Houston scrap yard
As the detector buzzed Oct. 16, the Houston officer first suspected a false alarm. He circled his car back around to the same street. It went off again.
The detector, similar to a Geiger counter, was built to pick up gamma radiation. Soon, larger units arrived to help triangulate the radiation’s source.
DHS provides some officers backpack-sized devices. The agency says they can detect material as far as a mile away. It also provides truck-sized devices that can scan for radiation near major events like the Super Bowl and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Houston’s sensors led them to a recycling yard on the city’s northwest side. There, the bomb squad isolated containers the size of paint cans. Officers only needed to wear specialized protective gear when they were closest to the material, past a “turn-back line” alerted by their detectors.
The radiation was not coming from a dirty bomb. It was only harmful within a few feet. But it was real radiation.
The source was Cesium-137, a material used in commercial and industrial settings. It is found in medical radiation therapy devices to treat cancer. As the byproduct of nuclear fission, it’s also found at the scene of nuclear reactor disasters — think Chernobyl.
In Houston, the radiation-emitting canisters had been used as flow gauges at a chemical plant. Instead of being properly stored, they had ended up at the scrap yard.
A crew carefully recovered four radioactive sources and transferred them to a U.S. Department of Energy storage facility near San Antonio.
Texas authorities are investigating the chain of custody of the material to determine how it ended up in the scrap yard and how long it had been there. Owners of the yard, which police have not named, will not face penalties because they cooperated with authorities, said Sgt. James Luplow, a member of the HPD bomb squad.
“This is not a very common occurrence. We routinely encounter radioactive material, but nothing at this level,” Luplow said. “It’s a textbook example of having a lot of people cruising around with these detectors.”
The ongoing threat of radioactive waste
Radioactive material ends up in scrap yards and causes major headaches for workers and those called to dispose of it.
In 1984, a scrap metal sale in Mexico led to one of the largest radiation disasters in U.S. history. About 600 tons of radioactive steel from Juarez ended up in 28 states. In that case, Cobalt-60 pellets caused radiation poisoning where junkyard employees became nauseated, had their fingernails turn black and suffered sterilization.
With a 30-year half-life, cesium isotopes can present a long-lasting threat if not properly disposed of at a storage facility.
Radioactive contamination of scrap materials happens far more frequently than people realize, said Jessica Bufford, a senior program officer at the non-profit global security organization Nuclear Threat Initiative.
“We’re concerned that a determined adversary like a criminal group or terrorists or lone wolf actor could steal a cesium device and use it as part of a dirty bomb to cause panic,” Bufford said. “It could be transported in powder form easily through water or air and spread over a large area.”
The material found in the Houston scrap yard was discarded waste, not a dirty bomb. But authorities say the need for detecting the radiation is the same in either scenario.
“You’d be detecting bombs,” said Luplow, the Houston sergeant. “But we’d much prefer to find it just in the material form, and it’s a lot easier to deal with.”
'No border security, no funding'
The Houston incident first came to light when Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified last week in front of the House panel.
Without naming the location, agency or date of the incident, Mayorkas said cryptically: “a local law enforcement officer equipped with some of the equipment we provide to detect radiological and nuclear material was wearing a device that detected abandoned material in a very unsafe location that could have caused tremendous harm to the people in the surrounding community.”
A DHS official referred further questions about details on the incident to Houston police.
The Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office within DHS, created in 2018, had a five-year sunset clause and will shutter without reauthorization by Congress.
The Biden administration specifically lobbied key committees to save the DHS office and the jobs of roughly 230 employees plus 400 contractors. DHS officials want to see the office permanently funded. With a budget of $400 million a year, the staff works to detect chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.
The office works with 14 “high-risk” urban areas: New York City; Newark and Jersey City; Los Angeles and Long Beach; the Washington, D.C. area; Houston; Chicago; Atlanta; Miami; Denver; Phoenix; San Francisco; Seattle; Boston; and New Orleans.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and 14 other Republicans signed on to a letter seeking no DHS funding until the changes: “No border security, no funding,” he wrote in a letter to colleagues.
Nick Penzenstadler is a reporter on the USA TODAY investigations team. Contact him at npenz@usatoday.com or @npenzenstadler, or on Signal at (720) 507-5273.
