TMI Update: Jan 14, 2024

November 5, 2009

Series of cover-ups undermines faith in Exelon

By JANET TAURO

The radioactive tritium leak discovered at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in April, a scant eight days after federal regulators approved Exelon's application to continue operating the nation's oldest nuclear power plant for another 20 years despite a long history of safety issues, is infamous to the concerned residents of the Jersey Shore.

Last week, the public learned that another leak in August spewed tritium at 500 times the allowable levels into the environment.

But what has not been widely publicized is that Oyster Creek officials misrepresented facts to state and federal regulators about prior radioactive leaks between July 2006 and September 2008.

Hundreds of people and organizations have filed objections.

By Patty Henetz

The Salt Lake Tribune

Oct. 27, 2009

State water officials have decided to schedule a public hearing on a proposal that would transfer water rights amounting to billions of gallons from Kane and San Juan counties to a company that wants to build a nuclear power plant at Green River.

They're going to get an earful.

Official NRC News Release: 

Oct. 30, 2009

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has cited Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., with four violations concerning improper disposal and transfer of tritium exit signs at its stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

The violations, issued Oct. 28, concerned the improper transfer or disposal of 2,462 signs from Wal-Mart stores in states under NRC jurisdiction between 2000 and 2008, and the improper transfer of an additional 517 signs between various Wal-Mart facilities. The company also failed to appoint an official responsible for complying with regulatory requirements and failed to report broken or damaged signs as required.

http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/roundtables/the-future-of-the-nuclear-regulatory-commission

VICTOR GILINSKY | 25 JUNE 2008

Let's talk about something no one is happy with--citizen and state participation in Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing hearings on nuclear plants and facilities. The industry and commission's view is that those who are flat out opposed should express themselves somewhere else, instead of tying up NRC hearings with safety issues best left to government experts. But because of federal preemption of safety regulation, states have no say in these matters and there is no somewhere else. Citizens and states can influence nuclear construction only by participating in NRC hearings, which allow only narrow technical arguments.

October 24, 2009      by Eric Joseph Epstein

In a place far away, not long ago, atomic scientists predicted the 

dawn of a new day where automobiles would be powered by nuclear fuel 

and weather could be controlled by atomic clouds. Their high priest  

promoted nuclear energy as "electricity too cheap to meter.” 

(Admiral Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, 

September 16th, 1954, in a speech by National Association of Science Writers) 

A watchdog group opposed the license renewal, citing radioactive waste and the costs of dealing with the damaged Unit 2, but decided against a challenge.

Friday, October 23, 2009

BY MONICA VON DOBENECK mdobeneck@patriot-news.com

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved Exelon Corp.'s request for a 20-year extension to Three Mile Island Unit 1's original operating license, which would have expired in 2014.

The renewal was expected. The nuclear power plant is in the process of replacing its steam generators and making other improvements. Its new license expires in 2034.

Three Mile Island Alert, a nuclear watchdog group, questioned the license renewal because of the radioactive waste that nuclear plants produce, the costs of removing fuel from the damaged Unit 2, the amount of water the plant uses and other factors.

by Eric Epstein
 
PPL has declared that part of its strategy to cure global warming is to add another nuclear generating station. While PPL's nuclear  stations have less of a carbon "footprint" than their coal-generating  siblings, the company has failed to acknowledge the financial,  radioactive and aquatic "footprints" associated with adding on to  the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station.

From TMI Alert:

PPL has declared that part of its strategy to cure global warming
is to add another nuclear generating station. While PPL's nuclear
stations have less of a carbon "footprint" than their coal-generating
siblings, the company has failed to acknowledge the financial,
radioactive and aquatic "footprints" associated with adding on to
the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station.