Limerick Can Be Closed Now, Despite Relicensing

Limerick Can Be Closed Now, Despite Relicensing

The Mercury (http://www.pottsmerc.com)

URL: http://www.pottsmerc.com/opinion/20150127/relicensing-limerick-nuke-plant-ignores-safety-risks Top of Form

Relicensing Limerick Nuke Plant Ignores Safety Risks

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

It’s insanity for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow Exelon’s Limerick Generating Station to operate a total of 60 years, yet that’s the result of NRC’s reckless rubberstamp relicensing. To relicense Limerick, NRC negligently weakened its regulations reducing public protections and long term plant stability.

NRC rigged the game and dangerously tilted the playing field. NRC makes the rules, breaks them, then weakens and remakes them to let Exelon slide to save money, despite potentially devastating consequences to millions of people in the Greater Philadelphia Region. This constitutes regulatory malpractice. We need and deserve a Congressional investigation on NRC’s negligent relicensing of Limerick.

Though Limerick is a radioactive time bomb, NRC allowed dangerous loopholes, exemptions, delayed actions, and license amendments. NRC irrationally allowed Limerick to operate another 30 years, despite Limerick’s profound vulnerability to accelerated corrosion and age-related deterioration of its systems and equipment. For decades taxpayers and ratepayers subsidized this fault-riddled nuclear plant, with its defective reactors and substandard construction, none of which can be fixed.

Limerick cannot be completely protected from a cyber or other terrorist attack that can cause Limerick to spew enough radiation into our air to cause us to lose everything. Yet, Exelon, profiting from this insane gamble, is almost entirely shielded from liability for the public’s health and financial losses resulting from Limerick meltdowns.

Instead of protecting our health, safety, and the environment, NRC denies reality to defend this dangerous, dirty, risky, deteriorating, corroding nuclear plant. For another 30 years we will have no real protection from:

• Radioactive poisoning of our air and water

• Massive dangerous PM-10 air pollution from the cooling towers

• Schuylkill River depletion

• Pumping toxic mine water into the river for Limerick operations

• Producing deadly radioactive wastes for which there is no safe solution

• Meltdown threats from cyber, air, and missile attacks by terrorists

• Earthquake fault fractures under Limerick’s reactors and fuel pools

The good news is, like Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant, Limerick can still be closed now. Even though relicensed, Vermont Yankee was closed December 29, 2014. Vermont elected officials and dedicated activists worked together to get Vermont Yankee closed in order to protect public health, safety and the environment. Now, one less nuclear reactor threatens the U.S. with a Fukushima-like catastrophe.

If Exelon was compelled to comply with original NRC safety regulations, we believe Exelon may have closed Limerick due to costs required for meeting original NRC safer standards. In 2013, high equipment repair costs apparently led to the shutdown of two San Onofre reactors.

NRC’s middle management went to extraordinary lengths to nullify NRC staff’s own post-Fukushima safety recommendations and safety upgrades recommended for Limerick relicensing.

Our elected officials need to look at reality and stand up now to protect their constituents. Despite years of repeated ACE efforts to inform elected officials of Limerick’s unprecedented threats and harms, to date, our officials have chosen to ignore reality. We believe the lure of political contributions effectively silenced opposition to Limerick, despite undeniable unprecedented threats to the future of millions of people.

Silence protects Exelon profits, but allows us to continue to be victimized by Limerick Nuclear Plant operations. Our elected officials need commitment and courage to protect us like officials in Vermont and California, who had the political will to help close their nuclear plants.

Limerick must be closed now to minimize health threats, harms to the environment, and to prevent an avoidable catastrophe that would be devastating to all who live and work in the Greater Philadelphia Region and beyond.

We need our local, state, and federal PA officials to help close Limerick now. They need to hear from you. Ask them to review evidence compiled at www.acereport.org or call (610) 326-2387 for a presentation.

In reality, Limerick’s electric can be replaced now with cleaner, safer, and cheaper electric that won’t threaten our health and lead to a catastrophe.

Dr. Lewis Cuthbert

President, Alliance for a Clean EnvironmentTop of Form

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© 2015 The Mercury (http://www.pottsmerc.com)

Limerick Steps On The Gas, Driving Recklessly Toward The Cliff

Limerick Steps On The Gas, Driving Recklessly Toward The Cliff

The Mercury (http://www.pottsmerc.com)Top of Form

Limerick Plant Heading Over Catastrophic Nuclear Cliff

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Instead of relicensing Limerick Nuclear Plant, the NRC should have revoked its licenses to slow Limerick’s speed as it drives toward a potentially catastrophic nuclear cliff. But from the start, NRC bent its own rules and regulations so it could license Limerick, enabling PECO/Exelon to profit from Limerick’s nuclear energy at the public’s expense.

Limerick’s relicensing has been one of the most heavily contested in the nation. Limerick’s history has included a judicial ruling in favor of public safety concerns, local and national petitions, and individual objections leveled against Limerick, but all have fallen on NRC’s deaf ears. Although NRC claims it “considers” public concerns, in reality NRC just tosses aside evidence of deficiencies and threats to public safety and the environment.

NRC and Exelon don’t really have an incentive to stop Limerick from threatening the public because even if Limerick melts down, the Price Anderson Act caps Exelon’s liability to a miniscule fraction of the estimated trillion dollar cost for a Limerick catastrophe. Taxpayers will end up paying the lion’s share of the costs if Limerick melts down.

Taxpayers will also end up paying for storing Limerick’s massive amount of high-level radioactive waste, unfairly burdening future generations of taxpayers forever. Closing Limerick would end the production of this deadly waste.

Reports show that Limerick’s equipment is aging faster than hypothetical models calculated. Yet, NRC allows Limerick to continue speeding toward potential catastrophe, bending and eliminating inconvenient regulations that the public believes are the “rules of the road”. For instance:

∙ Despite Limerick’s already accelerated reactor aging, NRC irresponsibly approved a Limerick “power uprate”, the packing of its reactors with extra fuel rods, which means the reactors run hotter and as a result, degrade faster. This accelerates Limerick’s speed toward the nuclear cliff.

· The first of Limerick’s reactor components arrived on-site starting in 1972. They were defective upon delivery: earlier that year the same reactor design had caused a nuclear accident at another nuclear plant, exposing the design defect.

· Many of Limerick’s deteriorating systems, structures and components will be half-a-century old by the time its original licenses expire in 2024 and 2029. Limerick could go over the nuclear cliff before then.

When an NRC safety inspection report revealed accelerated corrosion in Limerick’s suppression pools, NRC staff recommended immediate recoating, but Exelon preferred not to. So in deference to Exelon, NRC irresponsibly allowed a delay of 10 years for recoating. This saved Exelon money in the short-term, but increased public safety risks.

NRC’s initial post-Fukushima recommendation to install vents with filters on both of Limerick’s defective reactors was meant to minimize public radiation exposure in a Limerick accident or meltdown. Filtered vents should have been imperative for Limerick from the start. NRC eliminated the requirement for filters from its recommendations to save Exelon money, even though vents without filters become a fire hose of radiation into the sky during a meltdown, exposing the public to massively increased radiation doses. Over eight million people live within 50 miles of Limerick, the second most densely populated evacuation zone in the nation. There have never been workable evacuation plans.

NRC even allowed Exelon to remove a critical safety test of its aging equipment from Limerick’s license renewal application, in spite of the fact that NRC told Exelon how dangerous it would be. Amazingly NRC relicensed Limerick untested.

It is worrisome that Exelon and its nuclear industry lobbyists control the NRC. The NRC should be in control of Exelon, not the other way around. However, it’s not too late for NRC to close Limerick, fulfilling its stated mission “to protect people and the environment.”

NRC could and should revoke Limerick’s licenses now, before Limerick runs off the nuclear cliff, taking the greater Philadelphia Region and beyond with it.

Betty and Charlie Shank

Pottstown

NRC’s Failure to Acknowledge Limerick Nuclear Plant’s Unprecedented Threats and Harms to Water Across Six Counties Can Result in a Drinking Water Disaster

Radioactive groundwater and drinking water threats from Limerick will increase as long as the nuclear plant operates. Limerick should be required to close early. Instead of providing protection to the environment and public, NRC displays astounding willful blindness as it ignores, denies, and dismisses documented threats and harms.

VIDEO BLOG – PART 2 AUGUST 2013

NRC HAS NEGLIGENTLY DISMISSED LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT’S UNPRECEDENTED THREATS AND HARMS TO OUR DRINKING WATER

THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER -
LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT IS SLOWLY BUT SURELY DESTROYING THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER, THE VITAL DRINKING WATER RESOURCE FOR ALMOST TWO MILLION PEOPLE FROM POTTSTOWN TO PHILADELPHIA.

LIMERICK THREATENS A DRINKING WATER DISASTER, YET NRC IRRATIONALLY CLAIMS HARMS ARE “SMALL”

INDISPUTABLE FACTS PROVE LIMERICK IS CAUSING UNPRECEDENTED THREATS AND HARMS TO THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER, INCLUDING:

EXTREMELY DANGEROUS DISCHARGES

• Radiation

• Cooling Towers Toxics – including Extremely Dangerous Chemicals and Pathogens

• Heated Discharges – 110 Degrees (Over 20 Degrees Higher Than River Heat Limit)

• 14.2 Million Gallons Discharged From Limerick Into The River Each Day.

• In 2013 Limerick Was Given A Pollution Permit Without Limits (A Free Pass To Poison The River) Because Limerick Can’t Meet Safe Drinking Water Limits For The Kind of Pollution (TDS) That Transports Radiation and Other Toxics Into the River. Exelon Could Filter, But Won’t.

DANGEROUS DEPLETION

• Limerick’s Cooling Towers Are An Effluent Stream From The River To The Sky -Discharging Up To 42 Million Gallons Of Toxic, Highly Corrosive Steam Into Our Air Each Day

• Limerick Withdraws 58.2 Million Gallons of Water From The Schuylkill River Each Day – More Than Double Total Withdrawn For Norristown, Pottstown, and Phoenixville Water Customers

• Limerick Returns Only 1/4 of The Water It Withdraws – Billions Of Gallons Are Depleted From The Schuylkill River Each Year, Even After Supplementation.

• Limerick Started Operating in 1985. By 1999, The Schuylkill River Had Record Low Flows. Now You Can Walk Across The River Where You Once Needed A Boat.

TOXIC MINE WATER PUMPING TO OPERATE LIMERICK

• Exelon Pumped Billions of Gallons of Unfiltered Toxic Mine Pit Water Into the Schuylkill River (Up to 80 times Safe Drinking Water Standards) to Supplement the Flow for Limerick Operations.

• As Long As Limerick Operates, Billions of Gallons More Toxic Mine Water Will Continue to be Pumped Into This Vital Drinking Water Source.
LIMERICK THREATENS THE WATER SUPPLY ACROSS SIX COUNTIES

• Extraordinary Water Use Caused By Limerick’s Cooling Towers and The Potential For An Endless Water Supply For A Limerick Meltdown Threatens Water Availability From Schuylkill County to Philadelphia, And From The Delaware River.

RADIOACTIVE THREATS TO PUBLIC HEALTH, WILDLIFE, AND FISH

A BROAD RANGE OF DANGEROUS RADIONUCLIDES ARE IN SCHUYLKILL RIVER WATER, FISH, AND SEDIMENT. (Confirmed by Exelon’s Radiological Monitoring Reports to NRC)

RADIATION WAS FOUND IN PHILADELPHIA’S WATER (20 miles downstream from Limerick) AT SOME OF THE HIGHEST LEVELS IN THE NATION.

WATER COMPANIES WITHDRAWING SCHUYLKILL RIVER WATER ARE NOT REQUIRED TO DO REGULAR RADIATION TESTING OR FILTRATION.

NRC’S DRAFT EIS FOR LIMERICK FAILED TO ACCURATELY REFLECT LIMERICK’S UNPRECEDENTED THREATS AND HARMS TO VITAL DRINKING WATER RESOURCES FOR MILLIONS. LIMERICK’S TREATS TO WATER ARE CLEARLY ENORMOUS, NOT SMALL, AS FALSELY CLAIMED BY NRC.

10-26-11 ACE provided NRC with a vast body of evidence in written testimony for Limerick’s EIS, including detailed analyses of Limerick Nuclear Plant’s water pollution permits and Limerick’s water use docket.
• ACE’S Detailed Analyses Of Limerick’s Water Pollution Permits, Water Use Docket, AND Documents Obtained Through FOIA and PA Right-To-Know, As Well As Other Information Provided to NRC Should Have Led NRC To A Clear Understanding Of The Grave Threats and Harms To The Schuylkill River And The People Using The Water As A Result Of Limerick Nuclear Power Plant Operations.

FACTS SUGGEST THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER CANNOT SUSTAIN LIMERICK’S USE AND ABUSE UNTIL 2049.

LIMERICK SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO CLOSE NOW TO SUSTAIN A SAFE, USABLE WATER SUPPLY FOR MILLIONS OF RESIDENTS AND MANY OTHER BUSINESSES.

Historic evidence proves it was clear even before Limerick Nuclear Plant was constructed, that the Schuylkill River was unable to sustain Limerick’s insatiable water use and abuse. It is not clear the river can continue to sustain the wide range of damages caused by Limerick operations even until Limerick’s current licenses expire in 2029.
• There may not be enough safe usable water for the almost two million people and other businesses that need the Schuylkill River for their water supply until 2029.
• A meltdown requiring massive amounts of water could cause millions to lose access to safe water

Detailed evidence below in this video blog supports ACE’s concerns about Limerick’s indisputable threats and harms to vital drinking water resources and ACE’s conclusion that Limerick should close now to protect these vital water supplies.

LIMERICK’S RADIOACTIVE GROUNDWATER

• Decades of Limerick’s leaks and spills have contaminated the groundwater under the Limerick site.

• Radiation from Limerick’s leaks and spills was never cleaned up.

• Monitoring is completely controlled by Exelon, the company with a vested interest in the outcome that has shown here and elsewhere that it can’t be trusted to provide full and accurate disclosure related to radioactive water contamination.

• Even Exelon’s monitoring has confirmed radiation in 15 of 15 monitoring wells.

• Monitoring is woefully inadequate to determine the full extent of the spread of underground radioactive contamination in this fractured bedrock aquifer. Only 15 monitoring wells are placed by Exelon on Limerick’s 600 acres.

• Testing confirms many radionuclides in groundwater (at least 12), proving it is not just tritium as claimed by Exelon and NRC.

• There is no guarantee that Limerick’s radioactive contamination has not traveled into nearby residential and commercial wells.
WELLS WITHIN 1 MILE From The Center Of The Limerick Nuclear Plant Site
46 Domestic Withdrawal Wells
13 Residences LESS Than 1 Mile From Reactor Building
3 Homes 1 Mile From Reactor Building
2 Commercial Wells
175 Feet From Reactor – 1 Potable Water Supply Well

• Health threats associated with the kinds of radionuclides detected in groundwater include:
Cancer – Birth Defects – Mutations – Miscarriages – In 1st and/or Successive Generations

 RADIOACTIVE GROUNDWATER AND DRINKING WATER THREATS WILL INCREASE AS LONG AS LIMERICK OPERATES. LIMERICK SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO CLOSE EARLY TO MINIMIZE RISKS FROM RADIOACTIVE WATER.

• There Are Countless Opportunities For Breakdowns and Leaks Under Limerick Nuclear Plant Which Will Increase Radioactive Groundwater Contamination.

Miles of hard to inspect aging buried pipes under Limerick transport highly corrosive and radioactive fluids.
Evidence shows pipes and fittings are already corroding and deteriorating.
Leaks can go long periods of time without being detected.
Earthquakes can cause leaks by shaking and breaking in Limerick’s miles of underground pipes

Detailed evidence in this video blog supports ACE’s conclusion that Limerick should close now to prevent increased radioactive groundwater contamination under Limerick that can spread into nearby wells.