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January 2012
Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery Rallies
Environmental Justice Campaigners in Georgia
 Dr. Joseph E. Lowery |
Jan. 7, 2012: Today at a church within view of Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant, civil rights veteran Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery spoke about the issues currently affecting the people this region. In attendance were many local residents from the rural Shell Bluff community in Burke County and many people from the Atlanta area who arrived in a bus chartered by Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions.
More Details: Concerned Citizens of Shell Bluff/BREDL Press Release | Event Flyer
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League
files contention with NRC
On
August 11, 2011, the League launched a new initiative to halt the
expansion of nuclear power in Georgia. The campaign is based on
the testimony in the documents filed with the Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Our major
points are: 1) The lessons of the nuclear disaster in Japan, 2)
River floods caused by distant earthquakes and 3) The violations
of environmental justice by the NRC.
BREDL
Contention filed with NRC | Expert affidavits from Dr.
Ross McCluney and Rev. Charles Utley |
Fact sheet: Vogtle
Fukushima?
League appeals Plant Vogtle decision
Dec. 9, 2010: On November 30, 2010 The Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected our
latest petition on Plant Vogtle. In their ruling, the ASLB said
that a statement by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards,
the committee with principal responsibility for reactor safety at
the NRC, was irrelevant. The ACRS statement was at the heart of
our argument. Incredibly, the ASLB said that we should have
realized and acted upon the relevant statement by the ACRS
Chairman two months before he said it. This appeal to the full
Commission is lodged in hope that clearer thinking may prevail.
Read BREDL Appeal
Action
Alert
Write to President Obama
Let him know why you oppose
Georgia Power’s plans to expand Plant Vogtle
December 2010: Shell Bluff Concerned Citizens who live
in the shadow of Plant Vogtle ask that all residents of Burke
County let the President know about this injustice.
View Action Alert
Groups send Plant Vogtle
Reply to NRC
Sept. 22, 2010: Today in the continuing campaign against the
expansion of nuclear power in Georgia and the Souteast, the
Center for a Sustainable Coast, Georgia WAND and the Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League sent the US Nuclear Regulatory
Commission a point-by-point argument as to why the Atomic Safety
and Licensing Board should take a closer look at the problems
with the proposed addition of two nuclear reactors at the Vogtle
nuclear power station near Waynesboro, Georgia.
View Plant
Vogtle Reply
PUBLIC HEARING - Plant
Vogtle Environmental Impacts
ATTEND THE PUBLIC HEARING
October 7, 2010
7:00 PM
Augusta Technical College
Waynesboro Campus Auditorium
216 Hwy 24 South
Waynesboro, Georgia
More info: Public
Hearing Factsheet | Environmental Injustice
Factsheet |
Why we oppose expansion
Groups File New Legal
Challenge at Plant Vogtle
Aug. 17, 2010: League files new contention with
nuclear licensing board regarding inadequacy of
containment/coating inspection program for Vogtle Units 3 and 4.
Louis Zeller, Science Director for the Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League, explained why the groups took this
action. "Southern Nuclear Company has overlooked a major
problem which we simply cannot allow to go unchallenged. The
fundamental requirement of the operator is to protect public
health and safety. Southern Nuclear Company is not doing its job.
View Press
Release | BREDL
Supplemental Contention
League Files Unprecedented
Air Pollution Challenge at Plant Vogtle
Aug. 12, 2010: This week in a bold move, the Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League filed a legal challenge to the
proposed air pollution permit at Plant Vogtle. The August 10th
filing was one of the first in the nation under the federal Clean
Air Act challenging excessive radionuclide emissions from nuclear
power. In a petition to the US Environmental Protection Agency,
the League called for rejection of the permit issued by the State
of Georgia because it failed to limit radioactive air pollution,
failed to protect public health and failed to prevent
environmental injustice.
BREDL Press Release
| View BREDL
Petition
BREDL comments on permit amendment for
Vogtle plant
April 6, 2010: BREDL and our chapter Shell Bluff Concerned
Citizens comment on the Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Environmental Protection Division’s operating permit
amendment for Georgia Power Company’s two additional
pressurized water reactors at Southern Nuclear Operating Company
Vogtle Electric Generating Plant.
Read
BREDL Comments
Groups file Petition for Review
regarding Vogtle Units 3 and 4
Oct. 29, 2009: Today organizations concerned with the high costs and environmental risks posed by Southern Company’s plan to build two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Ga. announced their filing of an appeal in federal court to stop the proposed expansion.
| Our appeal calls upon the court to
review the site permit and the work authorization issued
by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for Vogtle Units 3
and 4. In the petition for review, filed in the US Court
of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit, we contend that
the NRC violated the Atomic Energy Act, the National
Environmental Policy Act, and other relevant laws. The
appeal states, "Petitioners seek review and reversal
of the issuance of the ESP and the LWA for the Vogtle ESP
site." The appeal was filed by attorneys for the
Center for a Sustainable Coast, Savannah River Keeper,
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Georgia Women’s
Action for New Directions and the Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League. |
Read Press Release | Download Petition
for Review
July 2009: Since 1987 Plant Vogtle has generated
electric power. Today, two nuclear reactors operate at the site
on banks of the Savannah River in Burke County, Georgia. Now
Southern Company wants to add two more nuclear reactors. But the
two existing reactors have placed an unfair burden on residents.
More would be an environmental injustice. Here’s why. BREDL Factsheet
BREDL's Comments on Draft EIS for Vogtle Nuclear Power
Plant - Dec. 28, 2007: Major problems we identified in the
Plant Vogtle draft Environmental Impact Statement:
1) It dismisses the mounting evidence of negative impacts on the
health of people living around nuclear plants;
2) The assessment of radiological releases to the public is
fatally flawed; and
3) Radionuclide emissions data indicates harm to public.
The public record contains evidence that Vogtle has not and will
not meet the requirements under federal law 10 CFR § 100.21
(c)(1). Test results for Vogtle indicate the existing nuclear
power plant is the source of a variety of radionuclides which
contaminate sediment, river water, fish and drinking water. There
is an increase in negative health impacts in proximity to and
contemporaneous with Plant Vogtle operations. Southern Nuclear
Operating Company seeks to add two new nuclear reactors to the
two already in operation at its Plant Vogtle power station near
Waynesboro, Georgia. The company submitted an application for an
early site permit in 2006.
View BREDL's
Comments
PUBLIC HEALTH RISK OF NEW VOGTLE
REACTORS
June 20, 2007: The data presented in this report detail the increases in
environmental radioactivity and local rises in cancer
rates since the Vogtle reactors began operating. The
parallel between these two trends is to be taken
seriously, as radioactive fission products are
carcinogenic, and are especially toxic to the young. The
addition of two new reactors at Vogtle would double the
capacity of the plant and presumable double the
radioactive emissions. Assuming there is no major
reduction in health risk to the local population –
such as an influx of new medical services or a large
reduction in poverty – the local population will be
at increased risk of cancer, based on the findings in
this report.
Report: Health
Risks of New Reactors at Vogtle, June 2007
Vogtle
- child cancer mortality change
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Bio: Joseph J.
Mangano, MPH, MBA, is Director, Secretary, and
the National Coordinator of the Radiation and Public
Health Project.
Mr. Mangano is a public health administrator and
researcher who has studied the connection between
low-dose radiation exposure and subsequent risk of
diseases such as cancer and damage to newborns. He has
published numerous articles and letters in medical and
other journals in addition to his book Low Level
Radiation and Immune System Disorders: An Atomic Era
Legacy which examines the connection between radiation
exposure and widespread health problems.
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October 31, 2006: Help Stop Nuclear Power in Georgia -
Southern Nuclear Company of Georgia wants to build additional
nuclear power plants near Waynesboro. This would increase the
negative health impacts on nearby residents and increase the cost
of electric power. The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League is
joining with other groups who oppose this expansion. Will you
help us?
(Declaration of Standing
Deadline was December 8, 2006)
How you
can help | 40 mile radius map (1MB)
Declaration
of Standing
Legal
Declaration/Standing Q&A Fact Sheet
March 16, 2006: Nuclear
Power Licensing Factsheet - One-Step Licensing of
Nuclear Plants Short-circuits Safety
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