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Shundahai
Network |
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Over
a Decade of Resistance - Dedicated to Breaking the Nuclear Chain
Shundahai is a Newe (Western Shoshone) word meaning "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" |
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Nuclear Power Nuclear Power Alert: The waste produced by the expansion of nuclear power affects us all. Please assist our friends at Atlanta WAND and participate in the NRC comment period for the Southern Nuclear Operating Company's proposal to add 2 reactors to the Plant Vogtle site. The deadline for written comments is December 4, 2006. Please read the alert and take action! TELL IDAHO POWER TO SAY NO TO NUKES AND COAL! As the prices for fuel oil and natural
gas rise, and concerns about global warming take hold, supporters
of nuclear power are taking the political opportunity to push
for licensing of more power plants, and the implementation of
new, and largely unproven reactor technologies. State legislatures,
Utah's among them, are considering legislation to encourage the
development of nuclear power plants. More nuclear power plants only increase the size of the waste problem, the risks to the environment and human population, and the threat of nuclear proliferation. Plants continue to experience safety violations and missing spent fuel, and the owners of aging plants are succeeding in getting 20 year license renewals. On this page we will focus on the licensing and safety issues of nuclear power plants, and present studies and news articles that suggest alternatives. October 16, 2006 Shundahai Network responds to NRC Commissioner Dale Klein's comments about the future of nuclear power in a Nebraska StatePaper.com article. October 12, 2006 Shundahai Network joins the dialogue with Dave Kraft from NEIS on mywebtimes.com in the debate over whether the La Salle County Generating Station (IL) should be re licensed for another 20 years. March 14, 2006 -
Shundahai
Network publishes Op-ed in Salt Lake Tribune : June 2006 - update Grassroots and Local Legislative Resistance to the Nuclear Industry Oyster Creek, Vermont Yankee, A landmark decision was made in federal court at the beginning of June. A number of groups including the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace challenged the environmental report that did not account for the threat of terrorism, should spent fuel be stored on site. The court found that this threat must be assessed. There have been far-reaching effects to this decision. Opponents of the re-licensing of Oyster Creek in New Jersey, and the proposed PFS dump in Utah both see this decision as a possible support for their opposition. In May, a federal court dealt another set-back to states wanting to have control over the shipping of nuclear waste within their borders. A Washington State law with overwhelming public support was successfully challenged by the Department of Energy. The court found it to violate the Atomic Energy act and the commerce clause of the US Constitution. Some local governments are starting to protest that there is no requirement for the NRC to review emergency and evacuation plants once a plant is licensed. Even if the population and traffic patters change significantly in the vicinity of a plant, the plant owner is not required to submit, and the NRC is not required to review updated plans. Pilgrim in Massachusetts and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania are among the locations where local governments are protesting. In early May, workers were contaminated during an accident at Prairie Island in Wisconsin. Power Plant Safety Issues There is an interesting trend on the Reuters wire service. They have been reporting every instance of a nuclear plant falling below 100% output, as well as all planned and unplanned outages. We have been collecting these reports on our Nuclear Power Plants page. They demonstrate beyond doubt that nuclear power does not operate 24/7, and that in fact some plants operate at consistently reduced efficiency, such as the 19 outages experienced by Palo Verde since February 2004, at increased cost to their ratepayers. At Three Mile Island in late May, a control room worker failed to notice the presence of an inspector, because he was too engrossed in his video game. A damning report released in late June by the Government Accountability Office noted problems with the " safety culture" of the nuclear industry, including the NRC, and calls its oversight of nuclear power plants " ineffective." There have been siren failures, more radioactive waterleaks, radioactive parts have gone missing, April 2006 - update Grassroots and Local Legislative Resistance to the Nuclear Power Industry There have been recent local victories. In Illinois, the senate has passed a bill requiring disclosure of all radioactive releases, at levels beyond those required by the NRC. Organizations like the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, the Duxbury Nuclear Advisory Committee (Ma) and the New England Coalition (VT) are garnering more media time, states like Illinois, New Jersey and Vermont are imposing state regulations on power plants, and state legislative candidates like Susan Zimet in New York are running on platforms to shut down nuclear power plants. Power Plant Safety Issues On March 2, the operators of Vermont Yankee received approval to raise the power output by 20 percent, in 5 percent increments. After raising the output on March 4, vibrations were detected, and output was frozen until the source of the problem was found and fixed. The problem was found to be the steam dryer, the very part of the plant machinery that activists had protested could not withstand the higher power production. The safety sirens at Indian Point in Westchester County, NY failed again in a test. This followed an incident where a contractor hit a power switch that cut off power to the reactor control rods. The warning sirens at North Anna in Virginia also failed this month. There have been several other incidences of radioactive leaks from power plants, usually of Tritium, but there has been one instance of Strontium-90, at levels three times higher than federally allowed levels. On March 31, the operators noted that a hole had been " drilled" into a pipe that is part of a system that helps maintain pressure. March 2006 - update Global Nuclear Energy Partnership The partnership with Russia to control the production and disposition of nuclear fuel and waste, forged in January has been expanded to include a select list of other nations. This policy defies the authority of the IAEA, and has foreign policy implications, especially regarding Iran, India and Ukraine. Grassroots Resistance to the Nuclear Power Industry There have been recent local victories. In Illinois, Senator Barak Obama is proposing legislation that would require nuclear power plant operators to notify local authorities of unintentional leaks of radioactive materials. In New Jersey, the NRC was pressured into hearing the testimony of a group of activists concerned about the corrosion on a steel radiation barrier. These activists may be the first group allowed this kind of hearing at the NRC . County officials in New York are demanding answers from Entergy about leaks and health risks. In Vermont, the New England Coalition is the only citizens group to achieve intervenor status before the NRC on a power uprate. Power Plant Safety Issues Plumes of radioactive water have been found near Palo Verde in Arizona. Indian Point 2 had to be shut down suddenly. There was a fire at the Byron Nuclear Generating Station in Illinois. An emergency was declared at the LaSalle County nuclear plant. In New Jersey there are fears that the radiation barrier in the reactor vessel at Oyster Creek has nearly corroded through. There have also been investigations at Turkey Point and Three Mile Island into security lapses. Both plants contract for security services with Wackenhut.
Alternatives to Nuclear Power Plants More information coming soon More information coming soon The nuclear chain and and indigenous people More information coming soon More information coming soon
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