For Immediate Release
Contact: Giselle Barry 202-225-2836
August 19, 2011                                                                  
 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee and a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) directed its staff to complete several actions within the next 45 days in response to recommendations from the NRC’s Near-Term Task Force.
 
“I am encouraged that all the NRC Commissioners have agreed with Chairman Greg Jaczko to act within 90 days on 11 of the 12 safety recommendations of the Near Term Task Force. It is urgent that the NRC address vulnerabilities to America's nuclear fleet that were starkly revealed by the Fukushima meltdowns.
 
“Unfortunately, Commissioners Magwood, Svinicki, and Ostendorff did not agree even to a prompt up-or-down vote on the very first, common-sense recommendation of the Task Force - to replace the current patchwork of safety regulations with a logical, systematic, and coherent regulatory framework. Now is not the time for 18 additional months of redundant study of the first recommendation, which was made by a Task Force with 135 years of collective experience at the NRC and with full access to NRC staff.
 
“The Task Force’s recommendations, if adopted, would go a long way towards ensuring the safety of America’s 104 nuclear reactors if the rest of the Commissioners also agree to support Chairman Jaczko on the substance of all 12 recommendations of the Task Force. I urge them to do so.”

Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Unit 3 – Individual Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment to Facility Operating License, Proposed No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination and Opportunity for Hearing and Order Imposing Procedures for Document Access to Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information (TAC No. ME6391)
 
Download ML111860054

Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1 – Proposed Alternative RR-10-02 Regarding Weld Overlay of the Pressurizer Spray Nozzle to Safe-End and Safe-End to Elbow Dissimilar Metal Welds (TAC No. ME4795)
 
Download ML112140397
 

From Reuters:

Japan is considering joining a U.S.-led global nuclear compensation treaty in a bid to fend off excessive overseas damage claims related to nuclear accidents, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday, without citing sources.

The U.S., Morocco, Romania and Argentina have agreed to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, but the treaty needs at least five countries in order to go into effect.

 
PEACH BOTTOM ATOMIC POWER STATION, UNIT 3 - REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING LICENSE AMENDMENT REQUEST FOR SAFETY LIMIT MINIMUM CRITICAL POWER RATIO CHANGE (TAC NO. ME6931
Download ML111860025

The US government’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) will be hosting public meetings to solicit feedback on the draft commission report, in association with state regional groups that work on high-level radioactive waste policy.

Whilst much of the testimony to the BRC was given in Washington, DC, now the BRC is going on tour with a series of one-day meetings to present the draft BRC report (issued on July 29, 2011), and to hear feedback.

The current schedule is:

• September 13, 2011: Denver, CO (Embassy Suites, 1420 Stout Street)
• October 12, 2011: Boston, MA (Harvard Medical School Conference Center, 77 Louis Pasteur, Longwood Harvard University, Cambridge)
• October 18, 2011: Atlanta, GA (Marriot Marquis, 265 Peachtree Center Avenue)
• October 20, 2011: Washington, DC (Hilton Garden Inn, 815 14th Street NW)
• October 28, 2011: Minneapolis, MN (Hyatt Regency, 1300 Nicollet Mall)
• Other dates and locations are to be determined.

The meetings will begin with a briefing from Commission staff on the draft report, followed by comments from elected and appointed state and regional representatives. The latter portion of the meeting will be devoted to a facilitated and interactive breakout opportunity for all who attend, and will conclude with a public comment period.

All public are welcome to attend. Pre-registration will be strongly encouraged but not required. Transcripts (not webcasts) of the meetings will be made available on the website, along with all written comments anyone chooses to offer.

The draft full commission report has been published for comments (see file attachment) until 31 October 2011. Directions on how to comment are contained in the document.

The draft commission report , commission activity details, and pre-registration details are available at WWW.BRC.GOV

A CALL TO JOIN THE ORGANIZING OF A REGIONAL CAMPAIGN OF NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION TO SHUT DOWN VERMONT YANKEE, Sunday, August 28, 2011, 11:30 am - 5:30 pm, Norwich, VT. A People's Campaign to Close Vermont Yankee. Signed by: Randy Kehler, Bob Bady, Nancy Braus for Safe and Green Campaign; Debra Stoleroff, Chris Williams, Robin Cappuccino, David Detmold for the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance; Deb Katz and Chris Williams for VT Citizens Awareness Network; Hattie Nestel for the Shut it Down Affinity Group. Registration and more information link: http://www.clamshellalliance.org/action/?p=196
 
 
CLOSE IT DOWN! ACTION CAMP at Wheelock Mountain Farm, on the evening of Friday, Sept. 9th and all day Saturday Sept. 10th to develop and prepare a response to any effort to keep Vermont Yankee operating beyond March of next year. Sponsored by the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance, Safe and Green Campaign and the Citizen’s Awareness Network, the Shut it Down Affinity Group.  To register and for more info - Robin Cappuccino at 533-2296, Debra Stoleroff at 476-3154, or Wmtnfarm@together.net. For a poster and More information link to: http://www.clamshellalliance.org/action/?p=190

N   E   W   S       R  E  L  E  A  S  E
 
Date: August 11, 2011                                                Contact: Dave McCoy, Director

From the Daily News of Newburyport:

Anti-nuke protesters gathered outside the north gate of NextEra Energy Seabrook yesterday, hoping their presence would resonate amid heightened concern over the safety of nuclear power worldwide.

Around lunchtime, 20 protesters armed with bongos, guitars, Hula-Hoops and banners spent about 30 minutes singing and demanding an end to nuclear power before marching toward the main gate area off The Provident Way.

The protest came 35 years to the day after 18 people were arrested for protesting the groundbreaking of the Seabrook nuclear power plant. One of those arrested in 1976, Renny Cushing of Hampton, N.H., spent a few minutes addressing the crowd.

Cushing called nuclear power an "unforgiving technology" and said it was heartening to see that people were still concerned enough to protest.

In a separate interview, Cushing said what he and others were protesting 35 years ago is still valid today: Nuclear power is an energy option the world can live without.

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From Wicked Local:

Here’s the good news. The nuclear plant’s equipment did what it was supposed to do and there was no release of radiation or damage to the containment vessel.

“This event had no impact on the health and/or safety of the public,” according to the Licensee Event Report (LER) Entergy filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The report also states, however, that back on May 10, inside the control room at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant – just hours before Entergy officials were scheduled to reassure the community that the plant was safe and that events at the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors in Japan had no special relevance to Plymouth – more than a half dozen highly trained engineers significantly messed up a routine restart of the reactor.

The plant was restarting the reactor after it had been offline for the better part of a month for its bi-annual refueling operation, a process Pilgrim has undertaken perhaps 20 times since the plant first began generating electricity in the early 1970s.

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