[Sustain] Fwd: NRC RULING SUPPORTS MOTHERS FOR PEACE AND 23 OTHER GROUPS
Don Eichelberger
done7777 at sbcglobal.net
Tue Aug 7 16:06:32 PDT 2012
Yay, Jane and Mothers, congratulations!
Finally, I hope, the beginning of the end for nukes.
I am always amazed how long it can take to come up with such logical
decisions, when they do so at all.
I don't see San Onofre mentioned in the order, so this decision will not
affect a restart, I guess, although lots of other stuff should keep it down.
Still, this is a victory that has been long in coming, so Bask, for a
while, and prepare for the next round.
Thanks to all for their hard work,
Don
On 8/7/2012 2:30 PM, Lucy J Swanson wrote:
>
>
>> *From: *Swanson Jane <janeslo at kcbx.net <mailto:janeslo at kcbx.net>>
>> *Subject: **NRC RULING SUPPORTS MOTHERS FOR PEACE AND 23 OTHER GROUPS*
>> *Date: *August 7, 2012 2:27:01 PM PDT
>> *To: *Jane Swanson <janeslo at me.com <mailto:janeslo at me.com>>, Lucy
>> Jane Swanson <janeslo at kcbx.net <mailto:janeslo at kcbx.net>>
>>
>> Press Release, August 7, 2012
>>
>> San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
>>
>> For immediate release
>>
>> Contacts:
>>
>> Jane Swansonjaneslo at me.com <mailto:janeslo at me.com>
>>
>> (805) 595-2605
>>
>> Linda Seeleylindaseeley at gmail.com <mailto:lindaseeley at gmail.com>
>>
>> (805) 234-1769
>>
>> *NRC FREEZES ALL NUCLEAR REACTOR CONSTRUCTION & OPERATING LICENSES IN
>> U.S.*
>>
>> */Decision Follows 24 Groups’ June Petition in Wake of Major Waste
>> Confidence Rule Decision; Most Reactor Projects Already Stymied by
>> Bad Economics and Cheaper Fuel Alternatives/*
>>
>> *WASHINGTON, D.C. – August 7, 2012 –*The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
>> Commission (NRC) acted today to put a hold on at least 19 final
>> reactor licensing decisions – nine construction & operating licenses
>> (COLS), eight license renewals, one operating license, and one early
>> site permit – in response to the landmark Waste Confidence Rule
>> decision of June 8^th by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
>>
>> The NRC action was sought in a June 18, 2012 petition filed by 24
>> groups urging the NRC to respond to the court ruling by freezing
>> final licensing decisions until it has completed a rulemaking action
>> on the environmental impacts of highly radioactive nuclear waste in
>> the form of spent, or ‘used’, reactor fuel storage and disposal.
>>
>> In hailing the NRC action, the groups also noted that most of the
>> U.S. reactor projects were already essentially sidetracked by the
>> huge problems facing the nuclear industry, including an inability to
>> control runaway costs, and the availability of far less expensive
>> energy alternatives.
>>
>> Diane Curran, an attorney representing some of the groups in the
>> Court of Appeals case, said: *This Commission decision halts all
>> final licensing decisions -- but not the licensing proceedings
>> themselves -- until NRC completes a thorough study of the
>> environmental impacts of storing and disposing of spent nuclear
>> fuel. That study should have been done years ago, but NRC just kept
>> kicking the can down the road. When the Federal Appeals Court
>> ordered NRC to stop and consider the impacts of generating spent
>> nuclear fuel for which it has found no safe means of disposal, the
>> agency could choose to appeal the decision by August 22nd or choose
>> to do the serious work of analyzing the environmental impacts over
>> the next few years. With today’s Commission decision, we are hopeful
>> that the agency will undertake the serious work.” *
>>
>> San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace spokesperson Jane Swanson noted
>> that, *“Mothers for Peace in 1973, as part of its challenge of the
>> original operating license for the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant,
>> argued that the Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor of the NRC,
>> should not allow the generation of radioactive wastes without knowing
>> how to isolate those wastes from the environment. Now, 39 years
>> later, the NRC has been forced by the federal court to acknowledge
>> this necessity. Future actions by the agency will determine whether
>> public confidence is enhanced or further weakened. ”*
>>
>> Lou Zeller, executive director of Blue Ridge Environmental Defense
>> League, another petitioner to the Court, said: said: * “It appears
>> that the Commissioners have, at least initially, grasped the
>> magnitude of the Court’s ruling and we are optimistic that it will
>> set up a fundamentally transparent, fair process under the National
>> Environmental Policy Act to examine the serious environmental impacts
>> of spent nuclear fuel storage and disposal prior to licensing or
>> relicensing nuclear reactors.”*
>>
>> Former NRC Commissioner Peter Bradford said:*“It is important to
>> recognize that the reactors awaiting construction licenses weren't
>> going to be built anytime soon even without the Court decision or
>> today's NRC action. Falling demand, cheaper alternatives and runaway
>> nuclear costs had doomed their near term prospects well before the
>> recent Court decision. Important though the Court decision is
>> in modifying the NRC's historic
>> push-the-power-plants-but-postpone-the-problems approach to generic
>> safety and environmental issues, it cannot be blamed for ongoing
>> descent into fiasco of the bubble once known as ‘the nuclear
>> renaissance’.”*
>>
>> In June, the following groups filed the petition with the NRC:
>>
>> ·Beyond Nuclear, Inc. (intervenor in Fermi COL proceeding, Calvert
>> Cliffs COL proceeding, and Davis-Besse license renewal proceeding;
>> potential intervenor in Grand Gulf COL and Grand Gulf license renewal
>> proceedings);
>>
>> ·Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Inc. and chapters (“BREDL”)
>> (intervenor in Bellefonte COL proceeding and North Anna COL
>> proceeding; previously sought intervention in W.S. Lee COL proceeding);
>>
>> ·Citizens Allied for Safe Energy, Inc. (former intervenor in Turkey
>> Point COL proceeding);
>>
>> ·Citizens Environmental Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Inc.
>> (intervenor in Fermi COL proceeding and Davis-Besse license renewal
>> proceeding);
>>
>> ·Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination (intervenor in
>> Fermi COL proceeding);
>>
>> ·Don’t Waste Michigan, Inc. (intervenor in Fermi COL proceeding and
>> Davis-Besse license renewal proceeding);
>>
>> ·Ecology Party of Florida (intervenor in Levy COL proceeding);
>>
>> ·Eric Epstein (potential intervenor in Bell Bend COL proceeding);
>>
>> ·Friends of the Earth, Inc. (potential intervenor in reactor
>> licensing proceedings throughout U.S.);
>>
>> ·Friends of the Coast, Inc. (intervenor in Seabrook license renewal
>> proceeding);
>>
>> ·Green Party of Ohio (intervenor in Davis-Besse license renewal
>> proceeding);
>>
>> ·Dan Kipnis (intervenor in Turkey Point proceeding);
>>
>> ·National Parks Conservation Association, Inc. (intervenor in Turkey
>> Point COL proceeding);
>>
>> ·Mark Oncavage (intervenor in Turkey Point COL proceeding);
>>
>> ·Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Inc. (Petitioner in
>> Callaway license renewal proceeding; intervenor in suspended Callaway
>> COL proceeding)
>>
>> ·New England Coalition, Inc. (intervenor in Seabrook license renewal
>> proceeding);
>>
>> ·North Carolina Waste Reduction and Awareness Network, Inc.
>> (admitted as an Intervenor in now-closed Shearon Harris COL proceeding);
>>
>> ·Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Inc. (intervenor in
>> Calvert Cliffs COL proceeding and Levy COL proceeding);
>>
>> ·Public Citizen, Inc. (intervenor in South Texas COL proceeding;
>> admitted as intervenor in now-closed Comanche Peak COL proceeding;
>> potential intervenor in South Texas license renewal proceeding);
>>
>> ·San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, Inc. (intervenor in Diablo Canyon
>> license renewal proceeding);
>>
>> ·Sierra Club, Inc. (Michigan Chapter) (intervenor in Fermi COL
>> proceeding);
>>
>> ·Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Inc. (intervenor in Watts Bar
>> Unit 2 OL proceeding, Turkey Point COL proceeding, Bellefonte COL
>> proceeding; former intervenor in Bellefonte CP proceeding);
>>
>> ·Southern Maryland CARES, Inc. (Citizens Alliance for Renewable
>> Energy Solutions) (intervenor in Calvert Cliffs COL proceeding);
>>
>> ·Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (“SEED”) Coalition,
>> Inc. (intervenor in South Texas COL proceeding; admitted as
>> intervenor in now-closed Comanche Peak COL proceeding; potential
>> intervenor in South Texas license renewal proceeding).
>>
>> The 24 groups that sponsored the June 18^th petition will strategize
>> in September regarding next steps.
>>
>> On June 8^th , the Court threw out the NRC rule that permitted
>> licensing and re-licensing of nuclear reactors based on the
>> supposition that (a) the NRC will find a way to dispose of spent
>> reactor fuel to be generated by reactors at some time in the future
>> when it becomes “necessary” and (b) in the mean time, spent fuel can
>> be stored safely at reactor sites.
>>
>> The Court noted that, after decades of failure to site a repository,
>> including twenty years of working on the now-abandoned Yucca Mountain
>> repository, the NRC “has no long-term plan other than hoping for a
>> geologic repository.” Therefore it is possible that spent fuel will
>> be stored at reactor sites “on a permanent basis.” Under the
>> circumstances, the NRC must examine the environmental consequences of
>> failing to establish a repository when one is needed.
>>
>> The Court also rejected NRC’s decision minimizing the risks of leaks
>> or fires from spent fuel stored in reactor pools during future
>> storage, because the NRC had not demonstrated that these future
>> impacts would be insignificant. The Court found that past experience
>> with pool leaks was not an adequate predictor of future experience.
>> It also concluded that the NRC had not shown that catastrophic fires
>> in spent fuel pools were so unlikely that their risks could be ignored.
>>
>> *_MEDIA CONTACT:_*Alex Frank, (703) 276-3264 or
>> afrank at hastingsgroup.com <mailto:afrank at hastingsgroup.com>.
>>
>> */The NRC Memorandum and Order can be downloaded
>> at/*http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/licensing/wasteconfruling8712.pdf
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
--
Don Eichelberger
Occupy Bohemian Grove 2012
www.occupybohemiangrove.com
more info at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/03/01/18708527.php
Shut down nuclear power
www.nuclearfreecal.org/nfcnet/
www.energy-net.org
More about me at
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"The government of an exclusive company of merchants is, perhaps, the worst of all governments for any country whatever."
Adam Smith, "Wealth of Nations" Ch.7
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