FUKUSHIMA NEWS

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ACTION CENTER | STOP MOX in columbia reactor

Tell Energy Northwest ~ "STOP MOX PLUTONIUM
FUEL in Washington's public nuclear reactor!"

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH uncovered secret plans by Washington State's public utility, Energy Northwest, to put MOX plutonium reactor fuel from U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) failing MOX program in the old Columbia Nuclear Generating Station. Washington State already sent its plutonium inventory from Hanford to South Carolina where it is in makeshift storage in the now-defunct K reactor at Savannah River Site (SRS). Although DOE trumpets its taxpayer boondoogle MOX plutonium fuel program, it is simultaneously pursuing plutonium immobilization for dirty plutonium such as the plutonium shipped from Hanford in the glassification program for highly radioactive liquid waste at SRS.

TAKE ACTION!

DOE'S MOX plutonium fuel tests have already failed in Duke Power reactors and Duke subsequently chose to quit the MOX program. In public hearings conducted by DOE during the summer of 2010, residents in the Tennessee River Valley stated their vigorous opposition to MOX plutonium fuel in TVA reactors. Public pressure can help Energy Northwest avoid taking the unnecessary MOX risk, too. MOX is a U.S. taxpayer funded program affecting every taxpayer and plutonium transportation affects everyone along the transportation route. So, even if you are not an Energy Northwest customer, you can send a message to the managers of Energy Northwest to retreat from the miserable MOX boondoggle now. There are better ways to make energy, and better ways to dispose of plutonium.

USE THIS HANDY EMAIL ACTION LETTER!

Experts researched and wrote this handy email action letter for YOU to send and make a difference! Tell Energy Northwest (formerly Washington Public Power Supply System, WPPSS) management to keep plutonium out of the Columbia Nuclear Generating Station.

You may edit the letter as you wish or send it as it is. There are many resources and links on nonukesyall.org to help you get more information about plutonium and plutonium disposition options.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO SIGN YOUR NAME AT THE END OF THE MESSAGE

Mark Reddemann
Chief Executive Officer
Energy Northwest
P.O. Box 968
Richland, WA 99352-0968

HALT PURSUIT OF TECHNICALLY CHALLENGING AND POLITICALLY CONTROVERSIAL PLUTONIUM FUEL (MOX)

Dear Mr. Reddemann:

I am writing to you to request that you direct company officials to terminate planning for Columbia Generating Station to use nuclear fuel made from weapons-grade plutonium. Use of plutonium mixed oxide fuel (MOX) will pose a host of political, technical and licensing problems that should preclude further consideration of its use.

Energy Northwest and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have kept the company’s interest in use of plutonium a secret and so you have not been able to hear what the public has to say about MOX plutonium fuel. Now that the news is coming out, it is high time for Energy Northwest to reflect on DOE's unsound plans to test and use MOX fuel made from weapons-grade plutonium. Weapons-grade plutonium has never been tested before in a boiling water reactor, like the Columbia Nuclear Generating Station.

MOX use by Energy Northwest will require a lengthy licensing process by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission both for testing the plutonium fuel and again if MOX were to be used to meet DOE's ill-considered demands. MOX use would expose the Columbia Generating Station to technical problems during operation and the public to greater health risk in the increased likelihood of an accident involving MOX plutonium fuel. Further, Washington State residents do not want weapons-grade plutonium being brought back to Hanford after successfully removing it from the Hanford Nuclear Weapons Reservation which is scheduled to close forever in 2035.

The DOE’s MOX program is in trouble as no other utilities in the country are willing to risk their reactors for MOX irradiation and so DOE is pressuring captive federal and state agencies. The fact that no customers have stepped forward and that Duke Energy dropped out of the MOX program after a failed MOX test in one of the company’s pressurized water reactors should be very instructive to Energy Northwest. Choosing to make the Columbia reactor the guinea pig for an experimental DOE program is risky from both technical and business perspectives and Energy Northwest should reconsider placing itself in this questionable position.

DOE has chosen to proceed with construction of the $5 billion MOX plant by Shaw AREVA MOX Services at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina without determining if there would be reactors to use MOX. DOE made the mistake to blindly pursue MOX and Energy Northwest need not let itself be drawn in to DOE's faltering program.

Energy Northwest should not fall for DOE claims that its services are needed to secure the nation's surplus weapons plutonium. DOE is simultaneously pursuing the preferred alternative to MOX, and is securing some of the Hanford plutonium in the quicker, safer, cheaper and less controversial option of plutonium immobilization, that is, emplacing plutonium directly into the high-level radioactive waste glassification program at SRS. Introduction of weapons plutonium into commerce as MOX fuel presents proliferation risks in production, transport and handling at the reactor site and Energy Northwest should have no part of such a misguided and costly program.

I thank you very much for considering the views expressed in this letter. You will have the support of the public and many environmental and non-proliferation organizations upon your termination of pursuit of weapons-grade MOX plutonium fuel in the Columbia Nuclear Generating Station.

Respectfully,

cc: Energy Northwest Public Affairs
    Susan Barwick, Executive Board/Board of Directors Support
    Tom Krueger, Manager, Project Development
    Lisa Ferek, Lead Fuel and Core Manager
    Cheryl Thornhill, Fissile Material Disposition Program Manager, Pacific Northwest National Lab

PLEASE REMEMBER TO SIGN YOUR NAME AT THE END OF THE MESSAGE

Your letter will be signed with the information you provide below:

* = Required

* First Name:

* Last Name:

* Address #1:

Address #2:

* City:

* State: * Zip:

* Email Address:

NO NUKES Y'ALL!

"To the village square
we must carry the facts
of atomic energy.
From there must come America's voice."

ALBERT EINSTEIN

~~~~~~

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Nuclear Watch South!

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REFERENCES

FOIA documents from Energy Northwest
partial
final

DOE Presentation on Status of MOX Plant, January 6, 2011

Duke Energy Abandons Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Testing Program in South Carolina Reactor

Plutonium Disposition Remains In Disarray

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PLUTONIUM FACTS

Year plutonium was discovered by Glenn Seaborg and others
1941

Minimum amount of plutonium required for bomb
1 kilogram (2.2 pounds)

Amount of plutonium used in Nagasaki bomb
6.5 kilograms

Average amount of plutonium used in modern atom bomb
3 kilograms

Estimated amount of U.S. weapons-grade plutonium
85,000 kilograms (93.5 tons)

Estimated amount of Russian weapons-grade plutonium
160,000 kilograms (176 tons)

Hazards associated with plutonium
Radiation, fire, inhalation, ingestion, criticality, reactivity, decay

Length of time that
plutonium 239 (weapons-grade) remains hazardous
240,000 years
(Ten 24,000-year half-lives)

Form of plutonium most hazardous to life
Plutonium oxide powder

What happens to plutonium metal when exposed to air
Gradually turns to
plutonium oxide powder

Lethal amount of plutonium oxide powder (inhaled)
2000 micrograms

Lethal amount of plutonium oxide powder (ingested)
500,000 micrograms

Amount of sugar substitute in average 1 gram package
1,000,000 micrograms

Excerpted from Stop Plutonium Fuel: Plutonium Index, compiled by Don Moniak. Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, www.bredl.org

FUKUSHIMA NEWS

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Help the NO NUKES Y'ALL campaign y'all

Nuclear Watch South is a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible charitable organization.

{ thanks }

PayPal It's your safe and secure way to donate on-line

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Educating and activating the grassroots to create a nuclear-free future

~

PO Box 8574 Atlanta, GA 31106 404-378-4263 nukewatchsouth@mindspring.com

NO NUKES Y'ALL!

ACTION CENTER | STOP MOX in columbia reactor

Tell Energy Northwest ~ "STOP MOX PLUTONIUM FUEL in Washington's public nuclear reactor!"

TAKE ACTION!

USE THIS HANDY EMAIL ACTION LETTER!

PLEASE REMEMBER TO SIGN YOUR NAME AT THE END OF THE MESSAGE

PLEASE REMEMBER TO SIGN YOUR NAME AT THE END OF THE MESSAGE

NO NUKES Y'ALL!

"To the village square we must carry the facts of atomic energy. From there must come America's voice." ALBERT EINSTEIN

~~~~~~

FREE STICKERS!

Cool stickers FREE with FREE membership in Nuclear Watch South!

~~~~~~

REFERENCES

FOIA documents from Energy Northwest partial final

DOE Presentation on Status of MOX Plant, January 6, 2011

Duke Energy Abandons Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Testing Program in South Carolina Reactor

Plutonium Disposition Remains In Disarray

~~~~~~

PLUTONIUM FACTS

Help the
NO NUKES Y'ALL
campaign
y'all

PayPal
It's your safe and secure
way to donate on-line

Educating and activating the grassroots to create a
nuclear-free future

PO Box 8574
Atlanta, GA 31106
404-378-4263
nukewatchsouth@mindspring.com

Tell Energy Northwest ~ "STOP MOX PLUTONIUM
FUEL in Washington's public nuclear reactor!"

"To the village square
we must carry the facts
of atomic energy.
From there must come America's voice."

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Cool stickers FREE with FREE membership in
Nuclear Watch South!

FOIA documents from Energy Northwest
partial
final