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

Radioactive: The Women of Three Mile Island

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DEP's Follow Up Comments on the Proposed License Transfer at Three Mile Island Unit-2 to a Limited Liability Corporation, (Filed on April, 27, 2020)

By admin at Mon, 04/27/2020 - 11:55

Follow up on from the NRC to DEP Re: TMI-2 License Transfer

By admin at Sat, 04/25/2020 - 02:00

Environmentalists Petition to Block Vogtle 3 Nuclear Fuel Load

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Glenn Carroll, Nuclear Watch South, 404-378-4263, atom.girl@nonukesyall.org
 
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP FILES PETITION TO BLOCK VOGTLE 3 NUCLEAR FUEL LOAD
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Opportunity for Public Hearing on Vogtle
 
ATLANTA 4-21-2020  Late Monday evening, environmental group Nuclear Watch South docketed its Petition for Public Hearing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in opposition to Southern Nuclear/Georgia Power's request for license to load nuclear fuel into Vogtle 3 reactor in November 2020.
 
In the petition, which is supported by a civil engineer who worked on the team at Vogtle responsible for ITAAC (inspections, tests, analysis and acceptance criteria), the group  contends that the information submitted by Southern Nuclear/Georgia Power is grossly incomplete and insufficient to qualify for review by the NRC.
 
At issue is the NRC’s novel ITAAC review process which must establish that a new reactor conforms to its design prior to operation. The process provides for public hearing under the Atomic Energy Act and 10 CFR 52.99.
 
Nuclear Watch South focused on the nuclear island and the shield building in its filing. ITAAC #760 and #761, respectively, are extremely large ITAAC with many elements. They are critical paths to construction completion and the nuclear island walls and shield building provide the primary barrier to radiological releases from the risky reactors. They also contain massive amounts of concrete which requires civil engineer oversight and for which Nuclear Watch South’s expert witness had responsibility during his Vogtle tenure.
By admin at Wed, 04/22/2020 - 00:47

Press Release on Letter by More Than 120 Groups and Individuals to New Mexico U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich Requesting Additional Public Comment Time

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, April 21, 2020
Contact: Jay Coghlan, Nuclear Watch NM, 505.989.7342, jay@nukewatch.org
              Scott Kovac, Nuclear Watch NM, 505.989.7342, scott@nukewatch.org
 
Today, on behalf of more than 120 groups and individuals, Nuclear Watch New Mexico sent a letter to New Mexico Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich. It asks them to act upon their own words and demand that the public comment period be extended for plutonium “pit” bomb core production that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is fast tracking during the coronavirus epidemic. As sitting members of the Senate Appropriations and Armed Services Committees, Udall and Heinrich are in strong positions to make that demand of NNSA.

On April 8, 2020, at Senator Udall’s initiative, twenty-four senators (including Heinrich) wrote to the Office of Management and Budget asking that agency to:
“Instruct all federal agencies to indefinitely extend all open or announced upcoming public comment periods for rulemakings and administrative actions not related to the COVID-19 pandemic response… meaningful participation is an impossibility for tens of millions of Americans during this pandemic emergency period. We cannot reasonably expect the public to redirect attention from protecting themselves and families to comment on federal agency rules and proceedings that while important, are not related to the crisis at hand or its response.” [See Endnote #1]
Preceding the Senators’ letter, on April 1 more than twenty organizations and individuals wrote to DOE Secretary Dan Brouillette and NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty. They requested that the public comment period be extended to at least June 19, 2020 for NNSA’s Draft Supplement Analysis of the 2008 Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for the Continued Operation of Los Alamos National Laboratory for Plutonium Operations. In addition, the Santa Clara Pueblo made its own independent request. The underlying issue is the quadrupled production of plutonium “pit” bomb cores for new nuclear weapons to at least 80 pits per year, divided between the Los Alamos Lab and the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. However, new pit production at SRS is vulnerable to likely failure, possibly leaving the entire burden on LANL.
By admin at Wed, 04/22/2020 - 00:38

NRC Schedules Virtual Meeting to Discuss 2019 Safety Performance of Three TVA Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Press Release
No: II-20-011 April 21, 2020
Contact: Roger Hannah, 404-997-4417
 
NRC Schedules Virtual Meeting to Discuss 2019 Safety Performance of Three TVA Nuclear Power Plants
 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will discuss the 2019 safety performance of the Browns Ferry, Sequoyah, and Watts Bar nuclear power plants during a virtual meeting scheduled for April 30.
 
The three-unit Browns Ferry plant is located in north Alabama, and the Sequoyah and Watts Bar plants, both of which have two units, are in east Tennessee. All three plants are operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
 
The session will be held from 2-4 p.m., Eastern Time, with NRC employees responsible for plant inspections participating, including the resident inspectors based at the site. The meeting will be accessible via Skype. For individuals without access to Skype, the telephone conference number is 301-415-0333, passcode is 74672#.
 
The NRC determined that the Browns Ferry, Sequoyah, and Watts Bar nuclear power plants operated safely during 2019 and all three plants are currently under the NRC’s normal level of oversight.
 
The NRC Reactor Oversight Process, which requires thousands of hours of inspection each year, uses color-coded inspection findings and indicators to measure plant performance. The colors start at green and increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Inspection findings or performance indicators with more than very low safety significance trigger increased NRC oversight.
 
Inspections at the Browns Ferry, Sequoyah, and Watts Bar plants are performed by NRC resident inspectors and other inspection specialists from the Region II office in Atlanta.
 
The annual assessment letters for the Browns Ferry plant, the Sequoyah plant, and the Watts Bar plant, which include upcoming inspection plans for the plants, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information for Browns Ferry Unit 1, Browns Ferry Unit 2, Browns Ferry Unit 3, Sequoyah Unit 1, Sequoyah Unit 2, Watts Bar Unit 1, and Watts Bar Unit 2, is also available, updated on a quarterly basis.
 
By admin at Wed, 04/22/2020 - 00:14

NRC Schedules Virtual Meeting to Discuss 2019 Safety Performance of Brunswick and Harris Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Press Release
No: II-20-010 April 20, 2020
Contact: Roger Hannah, 404-997-4417
 
NRC Schedules Virtual Meeting to Discuss 2019 Safety Performance of Brunswick and Harris Nuclear Power Plants
 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will discuss the 2019 safety performance of the Brunswick and Harris nuclear power plants during a virtual meeting scheduled for April 29.
 
The two-unit Brunswick plant is located on the southeastern coast of N.C., and the single-unit Harris plant is in the central part of the state south of Raleigh. Both plants are operated by Duke Energy.
 
The session will be held from 3-4 p.m., Eastern Time, with NRC employees responsible for plant inspections participating, including the resident inspectors based at the site. The meeting will be accessible via Skype. For individuals without access to Skype, the telephone conference number is 301-415-0333, passcode 7352349#.
 
The NRC determined that the Brunswick and Harris plants operated safely during 2019. Both plants are currently under the NRC’s normal level of oversight.
 
The NRC Reactor Oversight Process, which requires thousands of hours of inspection each year, uses color-coded inspection findings and indicators to measure plant performance. The colors start at green and increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Inspection findings or performance indicators with more than very low safety significance trigger increased NRC oversight.
 
Inspections at the Brunswick and Harris nuclear power plants are performed by NRC resident inspectors and other inspection specialists from the Region II office in Atlanta.
 
The annual assessment letters for the Brunswick plant and the Harris plant, which include upcoming inspection plans for the plants, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information for Brunswick Unit 1, Brunswick Unit 2, and Harris is also available and is updated on a quarterly basis.
 
By admin at Tue, 04/21/2020 - 05:08

NRC Issues Report on Review of Indian Point Pipeline Issues; Reactors Remain Safe

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release
No: 20-023 April 15, 2020
CONTACT: Scott Burnell, 301-415-8200
 
NRC Issues Report on Review of Indian Point Pipeline Issues; Reactors Remain Safe

An expert team of Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and outside specialists has concluded the Indian Point Energy Center nuclear power plant would remain safe should there be a potential accident on a 42-inch natural gas pipeline near the plant. The team’s report also recommends several follow-up actions, including that the plant owner, Entergy, revisit the assumptions it made in its analysis.
 
The team’s safety conclusion is based on two factors. First, the Algonquin Incremental Market pipeline has a very small chance of rupture near Indian Point, due to the pipeline’s modern construction, quality control and additional “high consequence” requirements for inspection and an integrity management program. Second, Indian Point’s safety systems sit well outside the potential impact zones for postulated AIM pipeline accident effects such as heat, pressure and projectiles. The team’s analyses also determined that any pipeline-related increase in Indian Point’s risk fell below the NRC’s thresholds for prompting additional action.
 
The team’s report was submitted in response to direction from Margaret M. Doane, the NRC’s Executive Director for Operations, following an NRC Inspector General report on the agency’s handling of public concerns about the pipeline issues. The team reviewed how Entergy and the NRC analyzed potential hazards from the proposed AIM pipeline in 2014, as well as how the NRC processed a public stakeholder’s petitions for enforcement action related to the pipeline. The team recommended that Entergy update the assumptions used in its analysis with the new information the team developed during its review. The team also recommended several improvements to NRC processes related to the conduct of technical reviews, peer review, inspection support, interagency cooperation and public petition processing. The NRC intends to hold a public meeting near the plant regarding the report when the region has sufficiently recovered from the COVID-19 public health emergency.
 
The team included experts in NRC engineering reviews and probabilistic risk analysis, as well as a Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration safety expert. The team also incorporated important insights from researchers at Sandia National Laboratories with expertise on natural gas modeling and fire risk. All team members were independent of those performing prior reviews regarding the AIM pipeline and its potential effects on Indian Point. The team’s work was peer-reviewed by a mechanical engineering expert from the NRC’s independent Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards.
 
By admin at Wed, 04/15/2020 - 23:12

March 4, 2020, NRC Generic Fundamentals Examination Results for Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2 (Cover Letter Publicly Available, Enclosures Withheld from Public)

March 4, 2020, NRC Generic Fundamentals Examination Results for Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2 (Cover Letter Publicly Available, Enclosures Withheld from Public)
 
ADAMS Accession No.  ML20105A188
 
By admin at Wed, 04/15/2020 - 23:05

March 4, 2020, NRC Generic Fundamentals Examination Results for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2 and 3 (Cover Letter Publicly Available, Enclosures Withheld from Public)

March 4, 2020, NRC Generic Fundamentals Examination Results for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2 and 3 (Cover Letter Publicly Available, Enclosures Withheld from Public)
 
ADAMS Accession No.  ML20105A182
 
By admin at Wed, 04/15/2020 - 23:02

NRC Schedules Virtual Meeting to Discuss 2019 Safety Performance of Farley and Hatch Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Press Release
No: II-20-008 April 14, 2020
Contact: Roger Hannah, 404-997-4417

NRC Schedules Virtual Meeting to Discuss 2019 Safety Performance of Farley and Hatch Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will discuss the 2019 safety performance of the Farley and Hatch nuclear power plants during a virtual meeting scheduled for April 21.

The two-unit Farley plant is located in southern Alabama and the two-unit Hatch plant is in southern Georgia. Both nuclear power plants are operated by Southern Nuclear Operating Co.

The session will be held from 4-5:30 p.m., Eastern Time, with NRC employees participating who are responsible for plant inspections, including the resident inspectors based at the site. The meeting will be accessible to the public and media via Skype. For individuals without access to Skype, the telephone conference number is 301-415-0333, passcode 68905#.

The NRC determined that the Farley and Hatch plants operated safely during 2019 and all inspection findings and performance indicators had very low safety significance. As a result, both plants remain under the NRC’s normal level of oversight.

The NRC Reactor Oversight Process, which requires thousands of hours of inspection each year, uses color-coded inspection findings and indicators to measure plant performance. The colors start at green and increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Inspection findings or performance indicators with more than very low safety significance trigger increased NRC oversight.

Inspections at the Farley and Hatch plants are performed by NRC resident inspectors and other inspection specialists from the NRC Region II office in Atlanta.

The annual assessment letters for the Farley plant and the Hatch plant, which include upcoming inspection plans for the plants, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information for Farley Unit 1, Farley Unit 2, Hatch Unit 1, and Hatch Unit 2 is also available and is updated on a quarterly basis.

By admin at Wed, 04/15/2020 - 04:02

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