May 19th Benefit for "Shutdown Palisades Campaign," sponsored by Kalamazoo chapter of Michigan Safe Energy Future

Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor, 40 miles west of Kalamazoo on the Lake Michigan shore. Lake Michigan is a headwaters of the Great Lakes, 20% of the world's surface fresh water, drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations. Van Buren County, visible in the background, is one of Michigan's top agricultural producers.Kalamazoo Chapter-Michigan Safe Energy Future Sponsors

May 19th Benefit for "Shutdown Palisades Campaign"  

What:  

Great local musicians are donating their talents in support of this Campaign to Shutdown the Palisades nuclear reactor plant near South Haven on our Lake Michigan.  Palisades is a major threat to the Kalamazoo area which is within the 50-mile radius radioactivity fallout and ingestion zone.

Performers for the Benefit are:  Dunuya Drum and Dance; Duffield & Co.- Piano Blues-Boogie; Gypsy Sojourner- Folk and Blues (Catherine and Allen); Unusual Suspects-Blues; Wayfarers (Lynette & Tom).  There will also be an Open Mike ---"Your 1 Best Tune or Spoken Word."

Donation:  $5-$20+

Who:  

This Benefit is sponsored by the Michigan Safe Energy Future-Kalamazoo Chapter with support from the Shoreline Chapter and others

Why: 

To:

*Provide an opportunity for the public to learn more about this dangerous nuclear plant which could melt down and cause catastrophic damage to everything in its way.

*To continue to build the support for this Campaign

Background: 

Topping the public's concerns is Palisades’ reactor pressure vessel Embrittlement.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) conceded in February 2012 that Palisades has the worst embrittled reactor pressure vessel in the U.S.  Media has reported that Palisades will violate the NRC’s embrittlement safety regulations yet again by 2017.  It first did so in 1981, 10 short years into operations.  

There is major public concern, as well as from the Union of Concerned Scientists, that an activation of the Emergency Core Cooling System – the last line of defense against a reactor core meltdown at Palisades – could, ironically, invite catastrophe.  As it happens, suddenly-injected cold water could cause “pressurized thermal shock” in the aging pressure vessel - high pressure magnified by the sudden temperature decrease which would cause the pressure vessel, bombarded by neutrons for years, to fracture. This could lead to a Loss of Coolant Accident, core meltdown, and catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment.  

Kalamazoo is within the 50-mile radiation ingestion zone.  

A second major concern is the radioactive waste currently stored on site in older casks and on the shores of Lake Michigan.  To add to the threat, Palisades continues to generate high level radioactive waste without a repository for it. 

Palisades is owned by Entergy Corporation based in New Orleans.  Recent media reports have discussed Entergy's financial troubles as it operates several nuclear plants across the Country, including the controversial Vermont Yankee plant.  Entergy has not completed all the safety repairs necessary, and required, by the NRC for Palisades. Entergy has been under intense scrutiny from the NRC, with additional inspectors placed at the plant and increased monitoring.  We are also concerned that Entergy could simply walk away from its responsibility to the people of the Lake Michigan region and leave a radioactive legacy behind for us. 

Michigan Safe Energy Future calls for Shutdown Before Meltdown-2013 to avoid further risks.

Who Should Attend:

*Anyone concerned about safe energy for Michigan and about the devastating effects of a nuclear meltdown at Palisades.  

* Media from Kalamazoo, all Lake Shore Areas and any/all independent or other media 

When:    Sunday, May 19, 5-9 p.m. 

Where:  Old Dog Tavern, 403 Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo, MI; 269-381-5677, plenty of parking available 

Media Contacts:   

Catherine Sugas, 269-692-2827

Iris Potter, 269-271-4342   Email:  b.irispotter@gmail.com  

Facebook Event named:   Benefit for "Shutdown Palisades Campaign" sponsored by Michigan Safe Energy Future 

www.beyondnuclear.org

Entergy Watch: Environmental coalition challenges Entergy's financial qualifications to continue operating reactors

"Burning money" graphic by Gene Case, Avenging AngelsAs reported by E&E's Hannah Northey at Greenwire, an environmental coalition including such groups as Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE), Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Awareness Network (CAN), and Pilgrim Watch, has launched an emergency enforcement petition at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, challenging the financial qualifications of Entergy Nuclear to safely operate and decommission such reactors at FitzPatrick in New York, Pilgrim in Massachusetts, and Vermont Yankee. All three reactors happen to be twin designs to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4, that is, General Electric Mark I boiling water reactors. The coalition's petition cited financial analyses by UBS on Entergy's dire economic straits. Representatives from coalition groups, including Beyond Nuclear's Paul Gunter, testified today before an NRC Petition Review Board at the agency's headquarters in Rockville, MD. 

FitzPatrick, Pilgrim, and Vermont Yankee have each already recieved 20-year license extension rubber-stamps from NRC. FitzPatrick, even though it never installed a hardened vent in the early 1990s, to deal with its too small, too weak containment -- the only one, of 23 Mark I in the U.S., to not do so. Pilgrim became the longest contested license extension -- a proceeding lasting over 6 years -- thanks to the efforts of Mary Lampert at Pilgrim Watch. And the Vermont Yankee license extension was actually blocked by the State of Vermont -- this court battle between and involving the state, Entergy, and NRC rages on in multiple federal and state venues.

In a Feb. 8, 2013 interview with Reuters, Entergy's brand new CEO, Leo Denault, admitted that one of the main financial challenges Entergy faces is the high cost of making vital safety repairs on its age-degraded reactors.

More than 2,500 to call on NRC to revoke reactor licenses: Join May 2 call!

Representatives from 24 organizations from across the United States have petitioned the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to revoke the operating license of the General Electric Mark I and Mark II boiling water reactors like those at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear site in Japan. More than 2,500 co-petitioners are calling for the emergency closure. The NRC public meeting will be broadcast live in a webcast and toll-free telephone conference call by the agency on Thursday, May 2, 2013 from 1 to 3PM Eastern. 

“Anybody paying attention during the Fukushima disaster knows that if a nuclear accident happens here these same reactor designs very likely will not protect us from radiation releases,” said Paul Gunter, Director of the Reactor Oversight Project for Takoma Park, MD-based Beyond Nuclear. Read the full press release.

1 killed, 4-8 injured, offsite electricity lost due to drop of 500 ton load at Entergy's Arkansas Nuclear One plant

NRC file photo of Entergy's Arkansas Nuclear One twin reactor stationAs reported by Dow Jones Business News, a 24-year-old worker named Wade Walters of Russellville, Arkansas was killed when a crane dropped a 500-ton piece of equipment called a generator stator at Entergy's twin reactor Arkansas Nuclear One station (see photo, left), located six miles west-northwest of Russellville in London, Arkansas. Eight other workers were injured, one of whom remains hospitalized, the article reports.

In 2001, NRC rubber-stamped a 20-year license extension on top of Unit 1's 1974 to 2014 original operating permit, blessing its operation till 2034. In 2005, NRC followed suit at Unit 2, enabling it to run not from 1978 till 2018, but till 2038.

As the article reports: "When the generator stator fell, it damaged other equipment and a water pipeline used for extinguishing fires. Water spilled from the pipeline into the building that contains the power turbine, the NRC said. The water seeped into an electrical component, causing a short-circuit that cut off power to the plant from the electric grid, according to Entergy and the NRC."

Unit 1 was reportedly shut down for maintenance at the time of the accident, but Unit 2 was operating at full power. For a yet to be explained reason, Unit 2 "automatically" shut down after the accident. Emergency diesel generators are reportedly supplying electricity to emergency, safety, cooling, and other systems at both reactors.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) "Current Reactor Status Report" shows that both Arkansas Nuclear One reactors are at zero power levels. An Event Notification Report has been posted at the NRC's website. Note that the Event Notification Report filed by Entergy reports only four injuries. The extent of damage to Unit 1 facilities has yet to be determined.

Coalition of concerned citizens details concerns about Palisades with NRC Commissioner Magwood

NRC Commissioner William Magwood IVA coalition comprised of 20 concerned local residents and environmental group representatives, including from Beyond Nuclear, met with U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Commissioner William Magwood IV (photo, left) for three hours on Monday evening, March 25th, in South Haven, MI, detailing their many concerns about safety, security, public health, and environmental protection -- or lack thereof -- at Entergy Nuclear's Palisades atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Covert, MI (see the coalition's meeting agenda). NRC Commissioner Magwood toured the problem-plagued plant the next morning.

The coalition issued a press release.

The St. Joe Herald-Palladium has reported on the meeting, as did Fox 17 television Grand Rapids. Michigan Radio's "Environment Report" quoted Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps.

NRC Commissioner Magwood's career has been devoted to the promotion of nuclear power, first as an industry insider (including as a consultant to Tokyo Electric Power Company, infamous owner of the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant), and then as head of the promotional Office of Nuclear Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under both Democratic and Republican administrations. The Huffington Post has published exposés on Magwood's attempted coups against his bosses in order to take their jobs -- successfully at DOE, unsuccessfully at NRC. As also reported by HuffPost, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has vowed to block Magwood's aspirations for the NRC Chairmanship, due to Magwood breaking his promise to Reid to not advocate for the controversial Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste dump as an NRC Commissioner.

Due to his career promoting nuclear power, Beyond Nuclear led the environmental coalition effort to block President Obama's nomination of Magwood for the safety-regulatory NRC Commission in the first place, as well as the U.S. Senate's confirmation of Magwood for the position (the Project on Government Oversight launched a separate effort to block Magwood's confirmation). At the end of 2011, U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) cited Beyond Nuclear's coalition letter opposing Magwood's confirmation as she, too, criticized his broken promises to her about Yucca during his Feb. 2010 Senate confirmation hearing as an NRC Commissioner. Beyond Nuclear has also filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to NRC after receiving an anonymous tip that NRC Commissioner Magwood has been holding regular, secretive meetings with leaders of the industry's Nuclear Energy Institute, in violation of open meetings laws and regulations. However, despite filing the FOIA request on Dec. 3, 2011, NRC has not yet responded.

NRC has issued a notice and press release about its upcoming April 2nd "End of Cycle" annual performance review public meeting to be held in South Haven about Palisades. See more info. from NRC about the Apirl 2 meeting here, including its slideshow to be presented (note NRC has loaded its slides sideways).

On April 11th, Beyond Nuclear is co-sponsoring west Michigan presentations entitled "Preventing an American Fukushima" by David Lochbaum of Union of Concerned Scientists. He will present at 12 noon Eastern at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, and at 7 PM Eastern at the Beach Haven Event Center in South Haven, less than 5 miles north of Palisades. In his annual report of near-misses at U.S. atomic reactors, Lochbaum has included incidents at Palisades (two separate incidents in 2011 alone) for the past two years, making it one of the worst-run reactors in the country.