Ohio Sierra Club Nuclear Free Committee. January 28, 2017 Pat Marida, chair

Transcription

1 Ohio Sierra Club Nuclear Free Committee January 28, 2017 Pat Marida, chair

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3 Davis-Besse The Reactor with the Hole in the Head

4 IGNORED When a delayed inspection was done in 2002, this is what they found. Boric acid had eaten through all but 1/8 inch of the reactor vessel.

5 Davis-Besse construction site floods in All nuclear power plants have regular radioactive releases. All nuclear power plants leak tritium (heavy water). Heat output & water intakes kill fish and invertebrates and promote algae blooms. Major destruction of wetlands.

6 CURRENT ISSUES AT DAVIS-BESSE Two new steam generators were installed in Not compliant with regulation mandating like for like. The outer concrete shield building cracking is worsening. Danger of collapse onto the reactor or onto critical components outside the building. On Dec. 8, 2015, the NRC granted a 20-year license extension until Intervenors delayed this rubber-stamp process for over 3 years. FIRSTENERGY HAD TO CLAIM SOLVENCY TO GET THIS LICENSE EXTENSION. In Oct., 2016, PUCO approved a ratepayer bailout of $200 M/yr. for the next 3-5 years. CLAIMED FINANCIAL WOES

7 FirstEnergy lobbied hard to get Ohio s renewable and energy efficiency law put on hold. NOW they want more bailouts for Davis- Besse, Perry east of Cleveland and for Beaver Valley in PA near the Ohio border.

8 Other issues in the Great Lakes Basin Fermi 1, a prototype fast breeder reactor, suffered a partial meltdown in 1966 (See the book We Almost Lost Detroit) and is now closed. Fermi 2 is the world s largest Mark 1 reactor, the same type as those in Fukushima. A 20-year license extension was approved in Dec In April 2015 the NRC granted DTE a license to build a new reactor, Fermi 3. The Sierra Club was one of 4 organizations that intervened, delaying the licensure for over 5 years.

9 Perry Nuclear Reactor East of Cleveland on Lake Erie, this reactor is on a fault line in one of Ohio s most frequent earthquake zones. Perry suffered a strong earthquake while under construction. Perry was named by Reuters as the most dangerous nuclear plant in the world in terms of danger to worker safety.

10 NewGreen Legacy Services On Lake Erie, East of Cleveland, next to Perry reactor Cleans and refurbishes radioactive equipment. Our committee has ongoing requests to the Ohio Dept. of Health for information on their inventory and disposal actions.

11 Canada s Deep Underground Dump Near the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station at Kincardine, ON Eight reactors are there. Proposed dump is 1/2 mile from Lake Huron, 1/2 mile deep

12 Proposed shipments of LIQUID HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE WASTE from Ontario to South Carolina Medical waste. Should be solidified and kept in Canada. Shipping liquid waste is unprecedented, could open the door to other liquid shipments. Sierra Club is one of 7 organizations intervening to stop the shipments Need EIS! DOE has volunteered to postpone shipments until Feb Judge will rule by Feb. 17, 2017.

13 The Portsmouth Nuclear Reservation covers 3,777 acres. Closed gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment buildings cover 93 acres.

14 The Portsmouth nuclear reservation is about 20 miles from the Ohio River in Piketon, OH.

15 URANIUM ENRICHMENT: Uranium has 2 isotopes Less than 1% is U-235, which is fissionable. The other 99+% is U-238, will not sustain a chain reaction. ENRICHMENT CONCENTRATES THE U-235 to: 3-5 % for power; 20-90% for weapons and submarines. FLUORINE IS ADDED TO URANIUM IN ALL 3 TYPES Gaseous diffusion (All now closed.) Complicated process. Separates U-235 (1%) from U-238 by weight, through membranes. Major plants: Oak Ridge, TN; Portsmouth, OH and Paducah, KY. Gaseous centrifuge Separates by weight, through spinning. Urenco USA facility near Eunice, NM is only one operating. Failed American Centrifuge Plant at Portsmouth. Laser (no full scale plant)

16 Cleanup of Gaseous Diffusion Uranium Enrichment Plant Dozens of contaminated buildings to be razed. Much is radioactive and will be buried on site. UNCERTAIN FUNDING: At current rate of funding, cleanup will take 40 years. DOE will not clean up all dumps. Contents of some: UNKOWN. Legacy of contamination and sickened workers.

17 Ongoing Operations at PORTS CONVERSION PLANT: removes fluorine from the enrichment waste, which is depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6). DUF6 is highly corrosive and chemically reactive waste. Plant has not operated for 2 years. New operator hired, will restart operations?? If the plant works round the clock, it will take 20 years to convert all DUF6. Twenty-four thousand 14-ton cylinders of highly-reactive DUF6 are stored at Portsmouth. Many are over 60 years old and rusting. AMERICAN CENTRIFUGE PLANT: Failed, never opened, cost over $2 billion, much paid by taxpayers. Still privately owned.

18 The Paducah Nuclear Reservation covers 3,556 acres near the Ohio River in Northwest Kentucky. A sister plant to Portsmouth, Paducah s gaseous diffusion plant operated until There are enormous cleanup issues.

19 Proposed Laser Uranium Enrichment Plant at Paducah Nuclear Site Laser enrichment footprint and heat signature is small. EXTREME NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROLIFERATION RISK due to undetectability. GE-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) wants to build this facility, where they would re-enrich DUF6 uranium enrichment waste currently stored at Portsmouth and Paducah. In Nov. 2016, DOE agreed to sell DUF6 to GLE over a 40-year period. Cylinders will be shipped from Portsmouth. Economics: GLE will not build a laser facility without enormous subsidies. Price of enriched uranium is low. More is not needed.

20 High-Level Radioactive Waste: Triple Whammy! #1 FUEL POOLS ARE DANGEROUSLY OVERCROWDED: some contain 5 times as many rods as they were designed to handle. #2 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS THIN-WALL STORAGE CANISTERS: No U.S. standard for waste casks or canisters. Thin canisters are designed to last only 20 years. Not inspectable, repairable, or monitorable. DOE continues to allow high-level radioactive waste to be put in these canisters. Over 1700 now in the U.S. #3 CONSENT BASED SITING: The government is trying to force unscientific solutions such as temporary or interim storage shipping across the country for no good reason. PRIVATE ENTITIES IN TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO HAVE VOLUNTEERED. Problem ignored for 70 + years. Complete containment of radioactivity is not possible. The only solution is to stop making it!

21 In January 2017 the US EPA passed a rule that increased the allowable radioactivity in safe drinking water. Some elements were allowed to be increased 1000 times. What are they expecting?

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23 Join us! Ohio Sierra Club Nuclear Free Committee Listserv Davis-Besse Shutdown Listserv Fiasco Three Listserv (stop Fermi 3 in Michigan) Contact Pat Marida patmarida@outlook.com Facebook: Like NoNuclear OhioSierraclub Check out FB Group Nuclear Free Campaign of the Sierra Club Twitter