Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
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Mock Nuclear Waste Cask



 
NUKE NEWS
for a chronological listing of archives

SOUTHERN ANTI-PLUTONIUM CAMPAIGN

LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE

Reports and Resources

BREDL letters and comments


Facilities, Licensing, New Plants:

Savannah River Site

Dominion Nuclear North Anna: Info on early site permit for 2 new nuclear power plants at North Anna in Louisa Co., VA

Southern Nuclear Company of Georgia Vogtle: Info on early site permit for new nuclear power plants at Vogtle in Burke Co., GA

TVA: Info on proposed two new nuclear power plants at Bellefonte in Jackson Co., AL

Duke Energy proposed nuclear power plant units at W S Lee in Gaffney, SC

Does America Need A New Atomic Bomb Plant?
(Nov. 22, 2002)(.pdf)

Yucca Mountain

Re-licensing of Duke Energy's McGuire & Catawba Nuclear Power Plants


Taking Precautionary Action: Roadmap for Success
The Southeast Regional Conference on Mega-Dumps, Nuclear Power & Sewage Sludge November 16 – 18, 2007 The Proximity Hotel, Greensboro, NC


Southeastern HLNW Roadshow
May - June 2002

Nuclear Insecurity Conference
Feb. 8 - 9, 2002


2000 G-8 Summit
July 17 - 24, 2000

American Delegation on Plutonium Fuel
May 21 - June 11, 2000

Plutonium: The Last Five Years
(Feb. 6, 2001)


Plutonium Fuel Transportation: More Uncertainties , Higher Costs ,Increased Risks Overrated Records
(May 3, 2001)(.pdf)

Dangers of Plutonium Transportation (re-released on
May 3, 2001)


Ten Commandments of Radioactive Waste

BREDL and SEER hosts French Delegation on Plutonium fuel
Oct. 15, 1999

NIX-MOX Day


Nuclear: Recent Postings



Joint Petitioners' Respond to TVA's Motion to Strike Supplemental Basis for Contention 6 regarding Bellefonte Nuclear facility

Jan. 25, 2010: Read the Petitioners' Response to TVA filed before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.


Rust Never Sleeps: Bellefonte Nukes Would Threaten Tennessee Valley

Jan. 11, 2010: Joint Petitioners file Supplemental Basis for Previously Submitted Contention 6 - TVA has not and cannot meet the NRC's Quality Assurance and Quality Control Requirements.

The accident in the nuclear reactor's containment area and the history of prior failures all point to further problems if the Commission were to allow the completion of the virtually moth-eaten 35-year old reactors following years of salvage operations and lack of maintenance and oversight.

View BREDL's latest legal filing. | Read BREDL Press Release


BREDL files Brief regarding Dominion-Virgina Power's Appeal of North Anna Decision

Jan. 26, 2010: BREDL's brief filed on Jan 19 regarding Dominion-Virginia Power's appeal in Circuirt Court. The Dominion-Virginia Appeal is of the February 2009 Virginia Circuit Court's decision that ruled state agencies violated federal law and revoked the water quality permit for the North Anna nuclear station.

Two-thirds of the energy generated at every nuclear power plant is not converted into usable electricity. Rather, it is wasted and discharged to the environment. This waste heat can be discharged directly to the air via cooling towers, or it can be discharged to a body of water. Heat discharged to waterways poses a special environmental threat and is subject to the Clean Water Act. For decades Virginia’s State Water Control Board has declined to limit thermal discharges from the North Anna nuclear power plant.

BREDL Answer Opposing Dominion Motion to Reconsider

Dec. 19, 2009: For over a year, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board judges have allowed our intervention to proceed. Our argument that the power company has little or no plan for what to do with its radioactive waste is still not adequately addressed. In November the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board agreed that Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League’s position that Dominion-Virginia Power’s radioactive waste storage plan needs further study. Unhappy with the ruling, Dominion filed a motion for the Board to take a second look, called reconsideration. But Dominion’s Motion for Reconsideration sets up a straw man argument. Our answer to Dominion was filed on December 17. The judges could rule at any time.

Dec. 17 BREDL reply to Dominion-Virginia Power's motiion to dismiss our case against the third reactor at North Anna | Nov. 25 judges' ruling contested by Dominion


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


"Love the Bay" Concert - Saturday, October 10

PAARC Concert Flyer
People Against A Radioactive Chesapeake (PAARC) is holding its first "Love the Bay" Concert on Saturday, October 10 from noon to 5:00 p.m. on the Boardwalk on the Chesapeake Bay in North Beach, Maryland.

Free admission ~ Donations Appreciated!

Contests and Prizes for kids of all ages!

More info:
View Concert Flyer


Oct. 6, 2009: The Tennessee Valley Authority operates the Watts Bar nuclear power plant 50 miles northeast of Chattanooga. TVA has one nuclear reactor in operation there and seeks to open a second. The fundamental weakness of these plants is the "ice condenser" containment system which relies on baskets of ice to reduce temperature and pressure during an accident. If the ice systems fail, the relatively weak concrete structure is no match for the pressures created during a meltdown.

BREDL comments to US NRC


Aug. 6, 2009: Citizens Groups Claim Victory - Commission Delays Nuclear Plants at Bellefonte: Today citizens’ groups claimed a victory in their fight against Tennessee Valley Authority’s drive to build four nuclear power plants in northeast Alabama. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, further action on TVA’s proposal is halted until at least 2011. Spokespersons for the citizens’ groups see the two-year delay as vindication of their stand against TVA’s plan to complete two nuclear power reactors and to add two more at its Bellefonte site near Scottsboro.
BREDL Press Release | NRC Letters regarding delay


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 comments to TDEC-DRH on the proposed license amendment to the IMPACT Services incinerator
July 7, 2009: BREDL comments to Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation - Division of Radiological Health on the proposed license amendment to the IMPACT Services incinerator. Amendment is to their Tennessee Radioactive Material License to "authorize a pyrolytic volume reduction process for wastes contaminated with radioactive materials at the licensee's facility at the U.S. Department of Energy ETTP Complex on the Oak Ridge Reservation." BREDL comments


BREDL files amended Contention Ten regarding the North Anna application
June 26, 2009: BREDL files amended Contention Ten regarding the application for a combined operating and construction license filed by Dominion Virginia Power. In order to meet its goal to assure NRC that there is space to store Class B and C radioacive waste material for ten years, Dominion Virginia Power has reduced its capacity for storage of Class A material from 6 months to 3 months. This is simply "Robbing Peter to pay Paul." View BREDL Amended Contention Ten


June 3, 2009: BREDL files legal brief with NRC. In short, the law does not authorize the NRC to reinstate a construction permit that has been terminated. Therefore, the Commission should vacate its decision and void TVA’s construction permits for Bellefonte Units 1 and 2. BREDL Legal Brief


May 14, 2009: GROUPS TAKE AIM AT BELLEFONTE 1 AND 2 - Today three citizens’ groups announced a new lawsuit against TVA’s Bellefonte nuclear site in Alabama. The groups’ effort centers on the mothballed nuclear reactor units 1 and 2. They based their opposition on 14 separate flaws in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s recent approval of a construction permit. The lawsuit was filed by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, the Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

"NRC’s got the cart before the horse. Contrary to their own procedural requirements, they’re handing out construction permits for reactors on a 40 year old gutted plant site before new reactor designs have been approved and before environmental impacts have been determined."   - Sandra Kurtz, a member of BREDL's Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team.

BREDL Press Release | BREDL Petition


April 22, 2009: Nuclear Power in Hot Water - BREDL Earth Day update


April 17, 2009: BREDL Reply to Answers of Duke Energy and NRC Staff regarding new Contention Eleven on proposed W S Lee Nuclear Plants


GROUP TAKES BELLEFONTE FIGHT TO A HIGHER COURT

March 31, 2009: Yesterday the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed a Petition for Review in the US Court of Appeals of the Bellefonte nuclear power plant in Alabama. The League seeks judicial review of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s reinstatement of construction permits for two nuclear reactors, the so-called Bellefonte 1 and 2. BREDL Press Release | Petition for Review | NRC's voting record


GROUP CHARGES NEW NUKES MUST WAIT
FOR RADIOACTIVE WASTE SOLUTION

March 10, 2009: Yesterday in a flurry of legal activity the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed new arguments opposing nuclear reactor licenses in Virginia, South Carolina and Alabama. The League acted because of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's failure to recognize that high-level radioactive waste storage would pose significant environmental risks at proposed nuclear power plants at TVA's Bellefonte, Duke Energy's WS Lee and Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna stations. Read BREDL Press Release (includes links to filing documents)


Victory in Landmark Clean Water Act Challenge
League and Lake Residents Overturn Dominion Nuke Permit


Feb. 20, 2009: Today a Virginia court in Richmond ruled that state agencies violated federal law and that the water quality permit for Dominion-Virginia Power's North Anna nuclear station is revoked. Read BREDL Press Release | Background information | Transcript of Judge's Ruling

BREDL members and chapters in Virginia and supporters of the federal Clean Water Act everywhere hail landmark court victory.

On September 14, 2009 the Virginia Circuit Court judge issued her Final Order stating that Virginia's State Water Control Board wrongly allowed Dominion-Virginia Power to use part of Lake Anna as it's private waste lagoon. The Order finalizes the court's February 20 oral ruling and enters it into law. The decision means that the company's North Anna nuclear power plants may not continue to dump heated water into the lake unregulated and the state must now develop a permit which complies with the federal Clean Water Act. The Order Denying Appellees Joint Motion for Stay is another win for BREDL because the judge rejected the motion by the state and the company to suspend, or "stay," the effect of judge's ruling. The filing of the Final Order also sets the clock in motion for appeals. Stay tuned!



Jan. 2, 2009: BREDL's reply to NRC and TVA regarding the Amended Contention NEPA-N at Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant


Feb. 22 , 1999 People's Hearing



Nuke News: for a chronological listing of archived comments, letters, reports & resources.

Taking Precautionary Action: Roadmap for Success

Conference Proceedings and Precautionary Action Resource Guide from The Southeast Regional Conference on Mega-Dumps, Nuclear Power & Sewage Sludge November 16 – 18, 2007, The Proximity Hotel, Greensboro, NC


March 16, 2006: Nuclear Power Licensing Factsheet - One-Step Licensing of Nuclear Plants Short-circuits Safety

Factsheet: New Nuclear Plant Sites on the Yadkin River, NC? (posted 8/24/05)

Jan. 12, 2004: Plutonium Fuel Factsheet (in .pdf)

Nov. 22, 2002: BREDL releases Don Moniak report: "Does America Need A New Atomic Bomb Plant?: A Preliminary Review of DOE's Plans to Restore Large-Scale Plutonium Pit Production" (in .pdf)

Fact Sheet: Immobilization vs. Pu/MOX fuel (in .pdf)

BREDL info on nuclear issues in Eastern Tennessee

Oct. 12, 2002: BREDL factsheet on Savannah River Site (in .pdf)

July 2, 2002: Sample HLNW Ordinance to prohibit transportation in your community

June 5, 2002: Nuke Transportation - Crystalline Respository Project map (in .pdf).

June 4, 2002: Radiation Hazards from High-Level Nuclear Waste Transportation from the Charlotte area to Yucca Mountain, Nevada. (in .pdf).

May 30, 2002: Lou Zeller's report - High Level Nuclear Waste Shipments: Radioactive and Deadly (in .pdf)

April 24, 2002: High-level Nuclear Waste Transport Fact Sheets for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia , Tennessee, and Virginia.

Plutonium Fuel Transportation: More Uncertainties , Higher Costs ,Increased Risks Overrated Records (Released May 3, 2001) - by Don Moniak (.pdf file)

The Dangers of Plutonium Transportation: (.pdf file) <<REVISED! (Revised and Re-released on May 3, 2001) a report by Louis Zeller
The Dangers of Plutonium Transportation (html file)

Plutonium: The Last Five Years. - a report, by Don Moniak, released on February 6, 2001 to commemorate the 5th Anniversary of former Secretary of Energy Hazel O’Leary’s last “openness” press conference at which DOE released its publication “Plutonium, The Last 50 Years.” Download .pdf file or view html files of report.

Reports from BREDL's Lou Zeller in Okinawa, Japan at the G-8 Summit.
July 17 - 24, 2000


<Reports from  BREDL' s Lou and Janet Zeller in Russia as they travel with the American Delegation on Plutonium Fuel. May 21 - June 11, 2000


Map of transport routes analyzed for shipments toYucca Mountain through North Carolina and South Carolina.

NRC MOX Environmental Review website



Nuclear : Comments/Letters

Nuke News: for a chronological listing of archived comments, letters, reports & resources.




Nuclear : NIX MOX DAY

September 28, 2000 - NIX MOX Day

ACTION ALERT : International NIX MOX DAY - MAY 17, 1999 TO OPPOSE PLUTONIUM FUELED NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS. This is the second annual NIX MOX DAY, an opportunity to educate the public, the news media,  decision makers, and our elected officials.




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