BREDL SAPC
Press Releases
April 7, 2005:
GROUPS CALL ON GOVERNOR TO DEMAND TERRORISM
SAFEGUARDS - Today at a press conference in
Columbia, citizens groups called on Governor Mark
Sanford to halt the impending plutonium fuel
shipments through South Carolina and to demand
terrorism safeguards at the Catawba nuclear
station.
BREDL Press Release | Letter to SC Governor Mark
Sanford
March 09, 2005: BREDL Press
Release: BREDL CHALLENGES DUKE’S
PLUTONIUM LICENSE - Today the Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League filed a petition
before the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to
revoke the license amendment issued by the staff
of the NRC to Duke Energy Corporation for
plutonium fuel tests. BREDL Petition | Cover Letter | Exhibit 1 | NRC
Original Order
April 27, 2004: Read
Press Release and Lou Zeller Statement - Citizens
Charge US With Nuclear Treaty Violation
: Today at a press conference at the United
Nations, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense
League charged the United States with violation
of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and
called for international inspections of weapons
facilities in South Carolina.
March 8, 2004: BREDL’s
Lawsuit Against Duke’s Plutonium Fuel Tests
Wins Full Hearing. In a ruling by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing
Board, the three-judge panel agreed to hear three
specific objections to the experimental project. Read Press
Release | Read NRC Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board ruling (.pdf)
February 19, 2004:
Post-9/11 Terrorism Measures Not
Applicable to Duke’s Plutonium Fuel | NRC
Chooses Secrecy Over Security:
Yesterday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
announced that confidential NRC upgrades to the
security requirements for nuclear power plants
and plutonium processing facilities, imposed
after the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001, have “nothing to do” with a
proposed license amendment that would allow Duke
Energy Corporation to use bomb-grade plutonium at
the Catawba nuclear power plant. Read
Press Release
Jan.14, 2004: On
Thursday, January 15th,
representatives of the southeastern regional Blue
Ridge Environmental Defense League will argue
against plutonium fuel testing at Duke
Energy’s Catawba nuclear plant at a second
hearing before the Atomic Safety and Licensing
Board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Read Press
Advisory
Dec. 03, 2003: BREDL's second
supplemental petition before the Atomic Safety
and Licensing Board to intervene to set forth
contentions. (in .pdf)
| Dr. Edwin Lyman's
Declaration in support of BREDL contentions.(in .pdf)
Dec. 02, 2003: On
Wednesday, December 3rd,
representatives of the southeastern regional Blue
Ridge Environmental Defense League will argue
against plutonium fuel testing at Duke
Energy’s Catawba nuclear plant at an
ajudicatory hearing before the Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. Read Press
Advisory
June 3, 2003: G-8
FAILS TO FUND PLUTONIUM FUEL
INTERNATIONAL ANTI-PLUTONIUM CAMPAIGNERS
ARRESTED IN RUSSIA
Today at a press conference in Augusta, Georgia,
the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
announced that the international campaign to stop
plutonium fuel has succeeded in delaying funding
but at the cost of an erosion of civil rights. Read
BREDL Press Release | May 30,
2003: Letter to Heads of State of the Group of
Eight Nations from Non-governmental Organizations
opposing Plutonium Fuel | On May 27, 2003, twelve Russian
activists were arrested near the Ministry of
atomic power in Moscow for speaking out in
opposition to plutonium fuel (MOX)
Oct. 23, 2001: Today
at a press conference in Rock Hill, SC, the Blue
Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL)
announced the filing of a legal petition to block
the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's
proceedings for the extension of licenses for
Duke Energy’s Catawba and McGuire nuclear
power plants. BREDL
Press Release ; Petition to NRC
Aug. 30, 2001: Groups Warn South
Carolina Governor Jim Hodges not to fall for MOX.
Press
Release
Aug. 29, 2001: A Report on the Plutonium (Pu)
Situation, Promise To "Delay" Made In
Bad Faith - The decision this week by the
Department of Energy (DOE) to "delay"
plutonium shipments to the Savannah River Site
(SRS) involved several omissions of information
and was another act of bad faith by an Agency
with a long tradition of bending federal law and
misleading the public. Read
Media Advisory
Aug. 23, 2001: PLUTONIUM FUEL FUNDING NEARLY
EXHAUSTED , BAD COST ESTIMATES PLAGUE PROGRAM -
Documents obtained this week by the Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League (BREDL) indicate
that funding for the Department of Energy’s
(DOE) Plutonium/MOX fuel program contract is
nearly exhausted. BREDL
Press Release , Plutonium Fuel Factory facts
May 24, 2001: BREDL May 17, 2001 letter
requesting NRC to hold hearing on Construction
Authorization Request (CAR) for a Mixed Oxide
Fuel Fabrication facility at Savannah River Site
in South Carolina. (.pdf file) | BREDL
Press Release
April 16, 2001: GROUP REPORTS
LITANY OF IRREGULARITIES IN PLUTONIUM FUEL
FACTORY LICENSE APPLICATION AND REVIEW:
Today, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense
League (BREDL) released documents challenging the
plutonium fuel factory proposed for the
Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River
Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. In a
letter written to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC), BREDL contends that the Duke
Cogema Stone and Webster (DCS) plutonium factory
license application is fatally flawed and should
be rejected. The group also contends that DOE
must complete a supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement. read BREDL Press Release
March 22, 2001 - GROUPS PETITION
NRC FOR A FULL HEARING ON PLUTONIUM FUEL FACTORY:
An international coalition of environmental,
social justice, and nuclear weapons groups have
petitioned the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
to hold a formal licensing review of government
plans to build a factory to make nuclear fuel
from plutonium. Today, Georgians Against Nuclear
Energy (GANE) and the Blue Ridge Environmental
Defense League (BREDL) released a letter signed
by 142 organizations requesting a full public
process including testimony, written comments,
discovery, subpoena, cross-examination, appeals,
and the possibility of a hearing before the
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. More info: BREDL
Press Release , February
22, 2001 letter to NRC Chairman Richard Meserve
Feb. 6, 2001 - Aiken, SC: The Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League will 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.” More info: BREDL Press
Release, BREDL
MEDIA ALERT, Download .pdf file or view html
files of report.
Jan. 24, 2001 - GROUPS
URGE SUSPENSION OF PLUTONIUM FUEL EXPERIMENT IN
CANADA - Yesterday in a letter to the
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC),
twenty-five organizations from three countries
urged the CNSC to take immediate action to
suspend a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
test--called Parallex--of mixed oxide (MOX)
plutonium fuel planned in Canada’s National
Research Universal (NRU) reactor. BREDL Press
Release, Groups'
letter to CNSC
Jan. 10, 2001 - Today in a letter
to US Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Bill
Richardson, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense
League (BREDL) urged immediate action to halt the
plutonium fuel factory project at the Savannah
River Site. The group charged that the recently
released Environmental Report reveals that the
project’s Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) was incomplete and incorrect. BREDL
Press Release, BREDL letter to US
Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Bill
Richardson, DOE reply to letter
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