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Nuclear Watch South joins legal opposition to license for two new reactors in Georgia
Groups contend that NRC failed to fully consider Fukushima lessons before issuing license to construct and operate two new nuclear reactors
2/9/12: ATLANTA, GA The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) voted 4-1 today to issue the final license for two new reactors at the site of the currently operating Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia. NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko cast the only dissenting vote, effectively agreeing with nine national, state and regional groups who will file a challenge in federal court.
TELL OBAMA "NO TAX $ $ $ FOR VOGTLE!"
A major legal challenge will be filed soon to charge the NRC with violating federal law to issue the license without considering the important lessons of the catastrophic Fukushima accident in Japan and regarding the ways the Vogtle operation should be modified to protect public safety and the environment. The groups will ask federal judges to order the NRC to prepare a new environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Vogtle reactors that explains how cooling systems for the reactors and spent fuel storage pools will be upgraded to protect against earthquakes, flooding and prolonged loss of electric power to the site. The EIS must also detail how emergency equipment and plans for the nuclear plant will be revised to account for accidents affecting multiple reactors on the Vogtle site, as happened at Fukushima.
As part of the action, the organizations will also challenge the validity of the Westinghouse-Toshiba AP1000 design, on which the new Vogtle reactors are based.
"It is terribly irresponsible of the NRC to rush this risky reactor project through even as Japan continues to grapple with the unstable condition of the wrecked Fukushima reactors," says Nuclear Watch South Coordinator Glenn Carroll. "There are many concerns with nuclear energy even beyond those raised by the Fukushima catastrophe. We hold out hope that Southern Company and Georgia Power may yet come to their senses to recognize the tangible successes of wind and solar power and decide to abandon dead-end, out-moded nuclear power.
"After all, Southern Company has not invested a dime of its own money so far, so they have nothing to lose and everything to gain if they choose to install solar panels on all that land they've already cleared," Carroll concludes.
The organizations are preparing to file their lawsuit next week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The nine organizations taking the legal action are: Friends of the Earth, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Center for a Sustainable Coast, Citizens Allied for Safe Energy, Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions, North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Nuclear Watch South.
Although Southern Co. has already commenced extensive preliminary construction activities at the Vogtle site, the license would allow Southern to complete construction of the containment, reactor cooling systems, spent fuel storage pools, and other major reactor components.
The organizations charge that these major structures could change substantially if they are redesigned to take the lessons of the Fukushima accident into account, and therefore continued construction of the new Vogtle reactors could be wasting money and resources. And if the license is disapproved in the lawsuit or Fukushima-related retrofits make the project too expensive to finish, utility ratepayers in Georgia are likely to be stuck with the expense of a large and useless concrete mausoleum, similar to many other abandoned reactor projects across the U.S.
Separately, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has sued the Department of Energy for failing to disclose key information about the terms of DOE’s $8.3 billion loan guarantee for the new Vogtle reactors, especially the risk posed to U.S. taxpayers should the estimated $14 billion project default. The organizations remain very concerned that utility customers and taxpayers have been forced to put more “skin in the game” than Southern Co. and its utility partners and shareholders. With prices of natural gas very low, even the CEO of Exelon has said publicly that he wouldn’t build a nuclear plant today.
MEDIA CONTACT: Glenn Carroll, Nuclear Watch South, 404-378-4263, atom.girl@mindspring.com
COME ON IN! We're ramping it UP!
Power my future with clean energy, PLEASE!
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BE PART OF THE SOLUTION! Help lead the way from dirty coal and unsafe nuclear to a future powered by harvesting the sun and wind. Start by KNOWING ABOUT IT! Here are some good resources to help us figure out how to create a clean energy future for our planet:
HONEY, I SHRUNK THE RENAISSANCE:
Nuclear Revival, Climate Change, and Reality
by Peter Bradford, former Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner, October 2010
STATUS AND TRENDS of the World Nuclear Industry
by Mycle Schneider, WISE-Paris, September 2008
SOLAR AND NUCLEAR COSTS:
The Historic Crossover: Solar Energy is Now the Better Buy
by John O. Blackburn and Sam Cunningham, July 2010
CARBON-FREE AND NUCLEAR-FREE: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy
by Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D., August 2007
OFFSHORE WIND IN THE ATLANTIC: Growing Momentum for Jobs, Energy Independence, Clean Air, and Wildlife Protection
National Wildlife Federation, 2010
A PATH TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY BY 2030
by Mark Z. Jacobson and Mark A. Delucchi, November 2009
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REFERENCES
CLI-12-02
Memorandum & Order
VOGTLE COMBINED OPERATING LICENSE
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Petitioners' Motion for
HOUSEKEEPING
STAY
of Licensing Decision
for Vogtle Units 3 and 4
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