Sep 29, 2024: The case against restarting Three Mile Island’s Unit-1


Radioactive: The Women of Three Mile Island

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Subject:  Summary of November 4, 2020, Meeting with Exelon Generation Company, LLC Regarding A Planned Request for an Alternative to Reduce the Frequency of Updates to Its Inservice Testing and Inspection Programs
 
ADAMS Accession No. ML20323A033
 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release
No: 20-058 December 2, 2020
CONTACT: David McIntyre, 301-415-8200
 
NRC Approves License Transfer for Three Mile Island, Unit 2
 
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the transfer of the license for the Three Mile Island Generating Station, Unit 2, from FirstEnergy Companies to TMI-2 Solutions.
 
FirstEnergy Companies, comprising Metropolitan Edison Co., Jersey Central Power and Light Co., Pennsylvania Electric Co. and GPU Nuclear Inc., requested the transfer for TMI-2 Solutions to complete the decommissioning of the unit. TMI-2 Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of EnergySolutions, a Utah-based radioactive waste disposal company.
 
The TMI-2 reactor, located approximately 10 miles southeast of Harrisburg, Pa., operated for approximately six months before suffering reactor core damage on March 28, 1979. Subsequently, about 99 percent of the fuel and damaged reactor core material was removed and shipped to the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, and in 1993 the plant was placed in a Post-Defueling Monitored Storage status. The license currently authorizes only possession of byproduct and special nuclear materials remaining at the reactor.
 
The NRC review determined that the proposed transfer complies with NRC regulatory requirements, provides reasonable assurance that public health and safety will be protected, and is not detrimental to the common defense and security.
 
The approval is effective immediately, and the license will be amended to reflect the new ownership once the sale of Unit 2 is completed.
 
Dave Marcheskie
Three Mile Island Generating Station
717-579-0229
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
 

 

THREE MILE ISLAND GENERATING STATION EMERGENCY SIREN TEST SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 3
Sirens to sound for three minutes at 12:15 p.m.
 
LONDONDERRY TWP, Pa (November 30, 2020) — Exelon Generation will conduct its semi-annual, full volume test of the emergency warning sirens surrounding Three Mile Island (TMI) Generating Station on December 3 at approximately 12:15 p.m. 
 
This will be the final siren test for TMI Unit 1. Although TMI Unit 1 permanently shut down on September 20, 2019, the siren system remains in operation in accordance with local, state and federal emergency planning requirements. In January 2021,  those emergency procedures and processes will be discontinued as part of the decommissioning process.
 
The emergency warning siren system consists of 96 sirens located in parts of Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties within a 10-mile radius of TMI. The sirens are not a signal to evacuate, but a warning to tune to a local emergency alert broadcast television or radio station. County emergency management authorities activate the sirens, which can be used in the event of any emergency, including severe weather.
 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release
No: IV-20-024 November 18, 2020
Contact: Victor Dricks, 817-200-1128
 
NRC Issues Confirmatory Order to Arizona Public Service Company
 
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued to Arizona Public Service Co. a Confirmatory Order, documenting mutually agreed upon actions to implement programs designed to address regulatory compliance issues that contributed to two apparent violations of NRC requirements. APS operates the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Tonopah, Ariz.
 
The apparent violations involved the company’s failure to (1) perform a written evaluation for a change to a dry cask storage system used for spent nuclear fuel and obtain a license amendment for the way they performed accident calculations and (2) adequately analyze the consequences of a hypothetical accident involving a cask tip over on the independent spent fuel storage installation pad. The apparent violations of NRC requirements are described in a July 6 NRC inspection report.
 
Company officials requested the Alternative Dispute Resolution process with the NRC to discuss corrective actions. The process uses a neutral mediator with no decision-making authority to assist the NRC and its licensees in reaching an agreement.
 
Following a Sept. 16 meeting with company officials, the NRC issued the Confirmatory Order documenting actions that the company has agreed to take.
 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release
No: 20-054 October 27, 2020
CONTACT: Scott Burnell, 301-415-8200
 
NRC Fines TVA More Than $900,000 for Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant Violations; Cites Three Individuals for Their Roles in the 2015 Incident
 
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued notices of violation and three civil penalties totaling $903,471 to the Tennessee Valley Authority, and issued violations to two managers and a plant operator for their roles in a 2015 incident.
 
The enforcement actions are the result of an NRC investigation into events that occurred during and after the startup of Watts Bar Unit 1 following a maintenance outage in November 2015. During the startup, operators failed to follow plant procedures and subsequently failed to properly document their actions in the control room log. Shift managers also failed to review the logs to ensure their accuracy.
 
Through numerous inspections, interviews, and predecisional enforcement conferences over more than four years, the NRC identified five TVA violations associated with non-conservative decision making, procedural violations, and incomplete and/or inaccurate information regarding the events provided by the utility to the NRC.
 
TVA and the three cited individuals have 30 days to respond to the NRC’s enforcement actions.
 
Footnote: Supporting documents will be available through the NRC’s electronic document database, ADAMS.
 
Exelon Generation Company, LLC - Review Of Quality Assurance Program Changes (EPID L-2019-LLQ-0003)
 
ADAMS Accession No. ML20287A130
 
Three Mile Island:  Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1 – NRC Inspection Report No. 07200077/2020001
 
ML20307A598
 
This is nuts:  @NRCgov cited the Susquehanna #nuclear plant in #Pennsylvania after discovering that part of a barrier in place since 1982 intended to protect a diesel-powered fire pump from a 3-hour fire was actually composed of a combustible material (!) https://nrc.gov/docs/ML2030/ML20301A482.pdf

Hi all – 

NIRS authored a blog for Beyond Nuclear this week about the climate policy implications of a new study on the impacts of nuclear power vs. renewable energy.

The science is in: Nuclear is out

https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2020/10/25/the-science-is-in-nuclear-is-out/

We show how the study bolsters the positions taken in USCAN’s Vision for Equitable Climate Action and other justice- and equity-based climate platforms, in favor of a path to zero GHG emissions through 100% clean, renewable energy and phasing out nuclear power. 

We also make the case for the Green New Deal to follow the demands of equity, justice, and science to do the same.


Tim Judson
Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
W: www.nirs.org

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