# News – Fukushima Fallout – 21 US Reactors/Licensing Halt – 45 Groups Seek ‘Credible’ NRC Safety Investigation Based on 3 Mile Island Precedent

- Link: https://greenlivingguy.com/2011/04/news-fukushima-fallout-21-us-reactorslicensing-halt-45-groups-seek-credible-nrc-safety-investigation-based-on-3-mile-island-precedent/
- Published: 2011-04-14T15:29:26-04:00
- Author: greenlivingguy

A total of 45 groups and individuals from across the nation are formally asking 
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to immediately suspend all licensing
and other activities at 21 proposed nuclear reactor projects in 15 states until 
the NRC completes a thorough post-Fukushima reactor crisis examination comparable
to the process set up in the wake of the serious, though less severe, 1979 accident
at Three Mile Island.

 The petitioners also are asking the NRC to supplement its own investigation by 
establishing an independent commission.

 The petition seeks suspension of six existing reactor license renewal decisions(
Columbia, Davis-Besse, Diablo Canyon, Indian Point, Pilgrim, and Seabrook); 13 new
reactor combined construction permit and operating license decisions (Bellefonte
Units 3 and 4, Bell Bend, Callaway, Calvert Cliffs, Comanche Peak,Fermi, Levy County,
North Anna, Shearon Harris, South Texas, Turkey Point, Vogtle, and William States
Lee);a construction permit decision (Bellefonte Units 1 and 2); and an operating
license decision (Watts Bar).   In addition, the petition asks the NRC to halt proceedings
to approve the standardized AP1000 and ESBWR reactor designs.

 Available online at [http://www.nuclearbailout.org](http://www.nuclearbailout.org),
the petition explains that the action is needed to review “the safety and environmental
implications of the ongoing catastrophic radiological accident at the Fukushima 
Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Units 1-6 (“Fukushima”), in Okumu, Japan.”  According
to the petition, the needed NRC review should include a close look at “whether the
March 11, 2011 Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyo-Oki earthquake and ensuing radiological accident
poses new and significant information that must be considered in environmental impact
statements to support the licensing decisions for all new reactors and renewed licenses.”

 Emergency action by the NRC is necessary because a number of the pending licensing
proceedings are approaching completion, including for Pilgrim, Vogtle, and the AP1000
design certification proceeding. The NRC was subjected to extensive criticism when
it extended the license for the controversial and problem-plagued Vermont Yankee
reactor just days after the Fukushima reactor disaster.

 An attorney for the petitioners, Diane Curran of Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg,
LLP, said:  “NRC violated the law by re-licensing the Vermont Yankee reactor at 
the same time it launched an investigation into whether U.S. safety and environmental
standards are strong enough in light of the Fukushima accident. The National Environmental
Policy Act requires the NRC to learn and apply the lessons of Fukushima before it
allows another reactor to operate.  By establishing a Task Force and ordering the
investigation of the regulatory implications of the Fukushima accident for U.S. 
reactors, the NRC has obligated itself to consider those implications in all prospective
licensing decisions.  We demand that the NRC establish a credible process for studying
and applying the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident, in keeping with the
precedent created after Three Mile Island.”

 Curran also said:  “Suspension of licensing decisions pending investigations of
lessons learned also would be consistent with the course followed by the Commission
following the Three Mile Island accident, when the Commission delayed new licensing
actions for a year and a half while it studied the implications of the accident 
for reactor safety.”   In addition, Curran said, the Commission should request the
appointment of an independent Presidential Commission, as was done after the Three
Mile Island accident.

 Sara Barczak, high risk energy director for petitioner Southern Alliance for Clean
Energy, a regional organization, , said: “Utilities across the Southeast have aggressively
pursued building costly new reactors in spite of the risks that poses to ratepayers
and taxpayers.  It’s of paramount importance that federal regulators take the time
needed to carefully reassess the concerns the Fukushima disaster raises here in 
the U.S. and not yield to the nuclear industry’s unreasonable timelines. It is important
to take a step back before billions of more dollars are spent.”

 Jane Swanson, spokesperson for petitioner San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, San
Luis Obispo, CA, said:  “Fukushima has given the NRC a clear warning. The agency
is obligated by its responsibilities for public safety to hit the pause button on
all licensing applications until all the lessons to be learned are thoroughly understood.”

 Mary Lampert, director of petitioner Pilgrim Watch, Duxbury, MA, said: “Pilgrim,
located in America’s Hometown, is the same design as the Fukushima plants, is older
than most of them, and has even more spent fuel in its single spent fuel pool. The
major cause of the Fukushima disaster was the loss of off-site power; but it doesn’t
take a tsunami to cause that. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission told all Americans
within 50 miles of Fukushima to evacuate; several million people live within a 50
mile radius of Pilgrim.”

 Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research(
IEER), said:  “The Fukushima Daiichi plant is rewriting the book on nuclear reactor
accidents.  There are multiple major sources of emissions from the same site at 
the same time, including more than one reactor and more than one spent fuel pool.
For the first time, major portions of three reactor buildings have been blown away
by hydrogen explosions.  Backup power arrangements have been shown to be grossly
inadequate.  Freshwater was not available for essential cooling functions for an
extended period.  The situation is far from being under control more than one month
after the start of the accident.  Continuing business as usual in licensing and 
reactor certification in the face of the unprecedented, hugely complicated, and 
ongoing Fukushima accident would be rash and contrary to the mandate of the NRC 
to ensure safety and protect public health.”

 Among the groups and individuals seeking the emergency action on the part of the
NRC are:  Beyond Nuclear; Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL); Center
for a Sustainable Coast; Citizens Allied for Safe Energy; Don’t Waste Michigan; 
Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions; Mothers Against Tennessee River Radiation;
Missouri Coalition for the Environment; Missourians for Safe Energy; National Parks
Conservation Association; North Carolina Waste Reduction and Awareness Network; 
Northwest Environmental Advocates; Nuclear Information and Resource Service; Nuclear
Watch South; Public Citizen; San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace; Savannah [Riverkeeper](https://greenlivingguy.com/2012/04/gulf-of-mexico-program-new-director-announcement/);
Seacoast Anti-Pollution League; Sierra Club (Michigan and South Carolina chapters);
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE); Sustainable Energy and Economic Development(
SEED) Coalition; and the Village of PInecrest, Florida.

 The petition calls for the following:

 * The Commission should suspend all decisions regarding the issuance of construction
permits, new reactor licenses,  combined construction permits and operating licenses(
COLs), early site permits (ESPs), license renewals, or standardized design certification
pending completion by the NRC’s Task Force  of its investigation of the near-term
and long-term lessons of the Fukushima accident and the issuance of any proposed
regulatory decisions and/or environmental analyses of those issues;

 * The Commission should suspend all proceedings with respect to hearings or opportunities
for public comment, on any reactor-related or spent fue
 l pool-related issues that
have been identified for investigation in the Task Force’s Charter of April 1, 2011,
including external event issues (i.e., seismic, flooding, fires, [severe weather](https://greenlivingguy.com/2019/03/resilience-in-action-get-severe-weather-protection-from-closed-cell-spray-foam-insulation/));
station blackout; severe accident measures (e.g., combustible gas control, emergency
operating procedures, severe accident management guidelines); implementation of 
NRC regulations regarding response to explosions or fire; and emergency preparedness.
The Commission should also instruct hearing judges who are considering contentions
to permit the parties an opportunity to make arguments regarding the relevance of
their concerns to the Fukushima accident.

 * The Commission should suspend all licensing and related rulemaking proceedings
with regard to any other issues that are identified by the Task Force as the subject
of its investigation.  The proceedings should be suspended pending completion of
the Task Force’s investigation into those issues and the issuance of any proposed
regulatory decisions and/or environmental analyses of those issues.

 * The Commission should conduct an analysis, as required by the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), of whether the March 11, 2011 Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyo-Oki earthquake
and ensuing radiological accident  poses new and significant information that must
be considered in environmental impact statements to support the licensing decisions
for all new reactors and renewed licenses.  All environmental assessments should
be published in draft form for public comment.

 * The Commission should conduct a safety analysis of the regulatory implications
of the March 11, 2011 Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyo-Oki earthquake and ensuing radiological
accident.  While emergency safety measures that arise from that analysis may be 
issued as enforcement orders, any long-term requirements should be issued as proposed
rules, with appropriate opportunities for comment.

 * The Commission should establish procedures and a timetable for raising new issues
relevant to the Fukushima accident in pending licensing proceedings.  The Commission
should allow all current intervenors in NRC licensing proceedings, all petitioners
who seek to re-open closed licensing and relicensing proceedings, and all parties
who seek to comment on design certification proposed rules, a period of 60 days 
following the publication of proposed regulatory measures or environmental decisions,
in which to raise new issues relating to the Fukushima reactor accidents.  The Commission
should suspend requirements to justify the late-filing of new issues if their relevance
to the Fukushima accident can be demonstrated.