Say NO To Limerick | The Alliance for a Clean Environment

Limerick Can Be Closed Now, Despite Relicensing

Posted on February 6, 2015 by The Alliance for a Clean Environment

Limerick Can Be Closed Now, Despite Relicensing

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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Limerick Steps On The Gas, Driving Recklessly Toward The Cliff

Posted on February 6, 2015 by The Alliance for a Clean Environment

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

Limerick Relicensing Is A Big Mistake

Posted on February 6, 2015 by The Alliance for a Clean Environment

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

URL: http://www.pottsmerc.com/opinion/20141022/op-ed-limerick-re-licensing-is-a-big-mistakeTop of Form

OP-ED: Limerick Re-Licensing Is A Big Mistake

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

We strongly object to NRC’s preparations for re-licensing Limerick Nuclear Plant (Mercury, Sept. 2, 2014) because public safety has been given a backseat to Exelon’s economic interests. This is especially worrisome because NRC has drastically weakened its own regulations to re-license Limerick, despite Limerick’s aging systems and equipment which are plagued by corrosion, thinning, pitting, fatigue, erosion, leaching, embrittlement and stress corrosion cracking. The list of opportunities for disaster is endless.

Exelon’s records show that some monitors have been out of service at Limerick for more than a year. Automated systems have failed, discovered only after accidents occur. Public statements by NRC and Exelon following such incidents have failed to provide timely, accurate disclosure to the public. The result is that impacted residents have received no more respect than the Schuylkill River which is being destroyed by Limerick operations and the air that it is being polluted for Exelon’s profits.

NRC and Exelon have gone through the motions required for re-licensing, but it’s all for show. The enormous risks that our region faces from Limerick’s ever-growing high-level radioactive waste storage threats have been ignored by NRC. The Continued Storage Rule does not stop the production of Limerick’s high-level radioactive waste which remains lethal, virtually forever.

Hollow evacuation plans, lack of meaningful regulation, perfunctory public inclusion, and NRC’s willful blindness to the consequences of our routine radiation exposure increase public risk. It’s a nightmare, affecting the health of our families and the environmental legacy we leave our children and grandchildren.

Back in the 1980s before Limerick construction was complete, a suit was filed when the public understood that Limerick operations would violate clean air standards and that design alternatives should have been considered. The suit was won in court, but successfully stalled until Limerick construction was complete. Back then, too many officials fell into the trap of weighing economic factors more heavily than public protection. Elsewhere, more enlightened thinking led to cancelled construction plans and closed plants.

We have learned that Limerick’s construction is substandard and that its reactors, fuel pools, control room, turbine building and radwaste storage building actually sit on top of open earthquake fault fractures, filled in with cement.

Exelon has made no secret of the fact that its first concerns are profits and investors. We have been reduced to pawns in a game of nuclear roulette. We get sick. Our drinking water supply is reduced and contaminated. Our air is polluted. And on top of that, we are forced to pay for Limerick’s business costs, as well as PECO/Exelon’s costly mistakes.

It would be the height of injustice for NRC to relicense Limerick Nuclear Plant and allow this corporate abuse to continue, when safer electric power has been proven to be viable and available.

The last step in relicensing depends on the decision of just one person, the director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. We strongly urge that before making a final decision on relicensing Limerick, NRC’s director carefully evaluate Limerick’s unresolved and unfixable issues including:

Security concerns like terrorism and cyber attacks
Catastrophic earthquake risks due to Limerick’s substandard construction directly on top of fault fractures
Unprecedented water pollution and depletion of our vital drinking water supply
Lax fire standards
Lack of adequate water to deal with potential multiple meltdowns
The legal challenge by the National Resources Defense Council related to Limerick’s outdated SAMA.

Our politicians need to open their eyes and see that the safety of millions of people and our environmental future hang in the balance of Limerick relicensing. There is no need to live with so many risks when safer, cleaner, cheaper alternatives are viable, available, and could replace Limerick Nuclear Plant now. We urge all officials to call for the closure of Limerick to protect public interests.

— Betty and Charlie Shank

Pottstown

Terrorist Threats At Limerick Pose Catastrophic Risks

Posted on October 25, 2014 by The Alliance for a Clean Environment

Terrorist Threats At Limerick Pose Catastrophic Risks

ACE wants a safer future for you and your family.

A 2013 Defense Department analysis said NO U.S. nuclear plant is protected against terrorist attacks, and all pose catastrophic risks.

We can avoid a Limerick Nuclear Plant catastrophe if our elected officials and government agencies stop dodging the harsh reality of risk and take action.

To insure a safer future we must transition to safer energy immediately, and close Limerick now before a terrorist attack triggers a meltdown which can be caused by loss of power and/or water.

Millions of people would suffer irreparable health harms from Limerick’s radioactive plume contaminating everything.

We would be financially ruined and permanently displaced. It’s insanity to allow that kind of unnecessary risk to continue.

After 9/11, ACE started investigating Limerick’s vulnerabilities to terrorism, plus security and evacuation problems. For details: www.acereport.org #13 “Terrorists Threats: Precaution Is Inadequate” and Video Blog Series 1-8. The reality is alarming. It’s not fear-mongering to report it in hope of prevention.

On July 30, 2014, the Mercury printed Evan Brandt’s article, “NRC Mum about Security Problem at Limerick Nuclear Plant”. It’s unacceptable for NRC to withhold information about risks from those who would be most impacted by the consequences.

For a year following 9/11, taxpayers paid for Limerick’s air defense. Since then, NRC refused to require Exelon to pay for that, despite extraordinary risks from terrorists’ planes or missiles.. If a plane or missile crashed into a fuel pool, it could result in loss of water, meltdown, and fire.

One expert reported that a fuel pool fire could cause fatal radiation-induced cancer in thousands of people as far as 500 miles from the site. “Spent fuel” rods (among the deadliest materials on earth) are jam packed in Limerick’s extremely vulnerable fuel pools, constructed with substandard cement and without extra containment walls. Like Fukushima’s, they’re directly above Limerick’s reactors.
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On September 24, 2014, a PBS documentary, “Cyber Security, Rise of the Hackers”, revealed the reality of high-stakes cyber attacks. For example: the Stuxnet virus targeted an Iranian nuclear plant in 2010, destroying over 1,000 centrifuges before detection. Stuxnet, capable of spreading, could be a blueprint for cyber attacks on U.S. nuclear plants. Even a cyber attack on the grid could lead to extended loss of power and water, triggering meltdowns at Limerick.

Limerick security and NRC oversight are so lax that an Al-Qaida suspect worked undetected for 5 years (2002-2007) during Limerick re-fueling.

Inexplicably, in 2012, even after lessons from Fukushima, NRC pared down emergency evacuation planning for radiation exposure after meltdowns.

Nearly 8 million people live within 50 miles of Limerick, the evacuation zone that NRC recommended after Fukushima. Millions of people, in all directions, would suffer health harms, financial ruin, and permanent displacement, while Exelon would be liable for only a tiny fraction of the estimated one trillion dollar cost.

We can’t evacuate safely! No workable evacuation plan exists. Escape routes would be completely gridlocked.

The Montgomery County Planning Commission and the Department of Safety both warned NRC about inadequate infrastructure to support safe evacuation. Where would everyone go, with Philadelphia just over 20 miles downwind and downstream from Limerick?

The price of ignoring the public’s health and financial risks are incalculable, yet almost all our elected and agency officials have displayed callous disregard for the extraordinary terrorist threats we face related to Limerick Nuclear Plant and our future.

We can’t afford to elect more politicians like Tom Quigley, who took contributions from Exelon and publicly supported Limerick relicensing until 2049, despite ACE repeatedly informing him of irrefutable catastrophic risks, including terrorism.

Before voting 11-4-14, ask each candidate if they will help close Limerick now to protect your family.

We also encourage you to review just released 2013-2014 environmental voting records of PA state senators and representatives at www.conservationpa.org.

Limerick Nuclear Plant Is Polluting Our Drinking Water

Posted on October 25, 2014 by The Alliance for a Clean Environment

OP-ED: Nuclear Plant Is Polluting Our Drinking Water
Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Clean safe water is not a luxury. It’s essential for survival, including personal hygiene, food preparation and cooking. Allowing the intentional destruction of a vital water resource supplying almost 2 million people, for the profit of a multi-billion dollar corporation, is a moral, ethical disgrace.

Why should one business, Limerick Nuclear Plant, be permitted to run the Schuylkill River dry and poison it to such a degree that it can become unusable for other businesses and residents?

It is infuriating and unacceptable that our politicians, agency officials, other leaders, and water companies would allow such injustice to continue. Deafening silence continues, while almost two million people from Pottstown to Philadelphia, face a water and public health crisis.

NRC and DEP might as well be working for Exelon.

• Instead of stopping Limerick’s unprecedented threats and harms to the Schuylkill River, NRC plans to relicense Limerick.

• DEP plans to issue an NPDES water pollution permit with dangerous exemptions and loopholes for Limerick’s radiation and cooling tower toxic discharges, and overheating the river.

PA DEP is allowing Limerick to violate federal protective water law and standards. DEP has the power to deny Limerick an NPDES pollution permit renewal. Instead, DEP plans to approve a permit with shocking exemptions.

Instead of exemptions from compliance, Exelon, Limerick’s owner, should be required to filter Limerick’s dangerous discharges to meet Safe Drinking Water standards.

Exelon is profiting and should be accountable to minimize damage.

Clean water is the law of the land since 1972. Why would PA DEP ignore protective federal clean water laws? Because it saves Exelon the cost of filtration.

Governor Corbett appointed Michael Krancer, a former Exelon attorney, to head DEP. Krancer stayed long enough to assure Limerick’s exemption from federal water laws.

DEP’s unethical negligence has health and financial consequences.

• Suffering and health care costs will increase. DEP plans to allow unlimited amounts of Limerick’s broad range of radionuclides and toxic cooling tower chemicals to be discharged into the river every day with up to 14.2 million gallons of wastewater.

• It’s cost prohibitive for water companies to monitor or filter Schuylkill River water intake for all Limerick’s cancer causing radionuclides and other toxics.

• Increasing costs to water companies for Limerick’s massive Total Dissolved Solids discharges will ultimately be passed on to their customers. Example: Norristown shut down water distribution for four days recently, resulting in costly plant upgrades. Limerick uses two chemicals that can cause brown water (NPDES Permit).

• Rather than requiring Exelon to slow operations when Limerick discharges overheat the river, DEP plans to eliminate river temperature restrictions that protect aquatic life, public health, and safety.

How can NRC relicense Limerick? There isn’t enough water in the Schuylkill River to sustain daily operations, much less for meltdowns.

• Limerick withdraws over two and a half times more water than the combined withdrawal for Pottstown and Norristown water customers, returning just one quarter to the river. The rest goes into the air as steam from the cooling towers.

• Limerick’s cooling towers depleted the river since the late 1980s. By 1999, DEP reported that it reached record low flows. It’s getting worse. Where you once needed a boat to cross, you can now walk across. Tributaries are even drying up.

If your water is coming from the Schuylkill River through PA American Water, Aqua PA, or your municipality, know your risks.

Visit www.acereport.org. Section #6 “Schuylkill River – Limerick’s Operations Threaten A Drinking Water Disaster” and Video Blogs Updates.

Safe drinking water must be the legacy we leave our children.

To save the Schuylkill River and restore an ample, safe water supply for almost two million people and other businesses, Limerick must close. Otherwise, unprecedented threats and harms will increase, expediting a drinking water disaster.

Final permits are pending. Contact elected and agency officials today. For more information: www.acereport.org. To join the fight: aceactivists@comcast.net or (610) 326-2387.

DR. LEWIS CUTHBERT
ACE President

The Mercury (http://www.pottsmerc.com)
URL: http://www.pottsmerc.com/opinion/20140917/op-ed-nuclear-plant-is-polluting-our-drinking-water

Higher Radiation Spikes Detected In Air near Limerick Nuclear Plant

Posted on January 29, 2014 by The Alliance for a Clean Environment

Video Blog 1-14

HIGHER RADIATION SPIKES DETECTED IN AIR NEAR LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT

The Alliance for a Clean Environment (ACE) documented radiation spikes in the air for several weeks, after being contacted by concerned residents November 22.

Because radiation is routinely released into the air from Limerick Nuclear Plant, ACE believes Limerick is the obvious source, but the precise cause is unknown.

Average levels of airborne radiation near Limerick Nuclear Power Plant were found to be 20 to 30% higher than normal for several weeks in late November and early December.

Measurement of airborne radiation levels January 6 showed elevated levels have continued.
All readings evaluated were taken at a site just four miles from Limerick.

ACE uses RadAlert 50 handheld devices made by International Medcom, to monitor airborne radiation levels on a per-minute basis.

This device is used by citizens near other U.S. nuclear plants.
A court ruling after the Three Mile Island meltdown ordered placement of 50 of the same devices at sites around Harrisburg to enable citizens to detect further meltdowns.

Joseph Mangano, MPH MBA, a radiation health expert, examined the data collected by citizens and determined:

11-22 to 12-4, 2569 minutes (nearly 43 hours) were recorded four miles west of Limerick.
Average radiation count per minute (CPM) was about 20 to 30% greater than 15, the typical average.
December 2-4, 90 of 300 minutes (30%) were over 20. Typically, only 2 to 3% reach 20 or more.
31 CPM, the highest count, was more than double the normal level.
Unusually high patterns continue; 60 minutes were recorded January 6, 2014. 28.3% showed a level of 20 CPM or greater.

ACE contacted NRC 11-22-13 about higher radiation readings.

After four days NRC finally responded, but failed to explain unusually high measurements.
NRC conducted NO MONITORING to attempt to examine citizen findings and to locate the source at Limerick.
Instead, NRC “reviewed” Exelon’s data and “looked” for a source of higher radiation levels.
The problem: NRC can’t see radiation and shouldn’t trust Exelon’s data. See: www.acereport.org, # 20 “Why We Can’t Trust Exelon”.

NRC’s negligent oversight on our radiation risks from Limerick!

36% margins of error allowed in Exelon’s reporting for Limerick’s radiation releases to air
Radiation monitoring equipment left inoperable for over one year
Radiation dose factors were omitted for the last five weeks of 2010.

NRC illogically attributed citizen radiation spikes in multiple locations to 1) natural radiation, and 2) electrical surges.

Naturally occurring radiation cannot account for weeks of radiation spikes, since natural radiation changes little over time.
Electrical surges were not to blame, since citizen Rad-Alerts use batteries.

ACE believes radiation spikes are from Limerick starting to use high burnup fuel, which can release 2 to 3 times more radioactive fission gas.

NRC has no credible evidence otherwise.

Limerick’s aging, corroding, and deteriorating reactors, (already operating 24 and 29 years), could be leaking.

Radioactive leaks have become more common as reactors age.

Limerick’s radioactive releases can have harmful health impacts.

Limerick produces over 100 radioactive chemicals.
Each is harmful to humans when ingested by breathing or via the food chain, raising the risk of cancer, infant mortality, birth defects, and other serious health disorders.
Since Limerick started operating in 1985, cancer rates skyrocketed around Limerick.

Childhood Cancer was 92.5% Higher Than The National Average by the late 1990s
Strontium-90 was found in our children’s baby teeth, at some of the highest levels around nuclear plants
Thyroid Cancer Increased by a shocking128%.by the mid 90s
For Detailed Information: www.acereport.org ACE Website Downloads

#1 – Radiation - Limerick’s Routine Releases

#2 – Cancer – Skyrocketing Increases: Links to Limerick

$3 – Radiation – No Safe Dose

Public Health Risks Could Be Reduced Through Awareness, With Minimal Costs.

The public has a right to know about higher radiation in their air. Residents could protect themselves with a radiation alert system, similar to the one for ozone:

Citizen radiation monitoring networks should be funded by state or independent grants.
Citizen data could be reliably analyzed by the Radiation and Public Health Project, which currently analyzes electronic data from citizen networks around other nuclear plants.
Montgomery and Chester Counties should establish county-wide alert systems to inform residents when radiation levels are higher.Ask All Elected Officials To Support Funding For Citizen Radiation Monitoring And County Reporting (Similar to Ozone Alerts).

We need and deserve reliable radiation warnings, including for Limerick meltdowns.
Radiation risks can be reduced – For details on water filtration and more: ACE Website Download – #4 Radiation – Reduce Risks

RECENT RAD-ALERT DATA ANALYSIS FROM RADIATION MONITORING BY CITIZENS WITHIN 4 MILES OF LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT

Appendix – Radiation Counts Four Miles West of Limerick Plant Since 11/22/13

Total Minutes % Mins. Highest

Date Minutes >19 CPM >19 CPM Reading

11/22 420 43 10.2% 30

11/23 — – — –

11/24 681 68 10.0% 31

11/25 — – — –

Elected Officials Must Take Action To Protect Us From Limerick’s Harms Or Be Voted Out of Office

Posted on January 29, 2014 by The Alliance for a Clean Environment

ELECTED OFFICIALS MUST TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT US FROM LIMERICK

NUCLEAR PLANT THREATS OR BE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE

WE ARE AT A CROSSROAD! AT STAKE:
PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND FINANCIAL INTERESTS

Limerick Is Destroying Vital Drinking Water Resources
Limerick’s Radioactive Air Releases Add To Cancer And Other Health Risks
Limerick Systems Are Rapidly Aging, Corroding, and Increasingly Dangerous
There Is No Safe Solution For Limerick’s Deadly Radioactive Wastes
There Is No Safe Way To Evacuate Our Densely Populated Region If Limerick Has A Major Radiation Accident or Meltdown
Meltdown Risks Are Increasing! Millions Could Lose Everything! That Can Be Avoided If Limerick Closes Now.
ACE REPEATEDLY INFORMED ELECTED OFFICIALS

In 2011, your officials failed to speak on the Limerick Relicensing public hearing record
In 2012, your officials failed to speak on the public hearing record to protect our drinking water
In 2013, your officials failed to speak on the record about Limerick’s environmental impacts
ELECTED OFFICIALS’ SILENCE IS UNACCEPTABLE:

SILENCE ALLOWS THREATS AND HARMS TO INCREASE
SILENCE CONDONES NRC REGULATORY NEGLIGENCE
SILENCE PROTECTS EXELON PROFITS AT OUR EXPENSE
ELECTED OFFICIALS WHO DON’T SPEAK UP NOW

SHOULD BE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE!

TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND FINANCIAL INTERESTS,

LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT MUST CLOSE NOW:

Stop Limerick’s Radiation Releases Into Our Air and Water
Stop Depletion and Overheating of the Schuylkill River, The Vital Drinking Water Resource For Almost 2 Million People, Pottstown to Philadelphia
Stop Deadly Radioactive Waste Production. There Is NO SAFE SOLUTION!
Reduce Need to Evacuate. We Can’t Evacuate Safely!
Reduce Meltdown Threats That Could Render The Entire Philadelphia Region Uninhabitable. Millions Could Lose Everything They Own
ELECTED OFFICIALS’ VOICES MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE!

NUCLEAR PLANTS ARE CLOSING WHERE ELECTED OFFICIALS SPEAK UP

Nuclear Plants In California and Vermont Are Closing, In Large Part Because Their Elected Officials, Including State and U.S. Senators, As Well As Governors Spoke Out Against Risks And Harms To The Public From Their Nuclear Plants

In New York, Officials, Including Governor Andrew Cuomo and State Senators Have Pushed For Closure Of Indian Point, Citing Its Location Near A Major Population Center
Only U.S. Senator Bob Casey Expressed Public Concern About Evacuation Feasibility
YOUR VOICE AND VOTE ARE NEEDED

TELL FAMILY, FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, AND ELECTED OFFICIALS WHAT IS AT RISK

FOR DETAILS ON LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT’S THREATS AND HARMS

WWW.ACEREPORT.ORG

TELL LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL ELECTED OFFICIALS YOU PLAN TO HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE IN THE VOTING BOOTH FOR THEIR FAILURE TO SPEAK UP TO PROTECT YOUR FUTURE.

DECADES AGO ELECTED OFFICIALS FAILED TO SPEAK UP

NOW WE FACE LIMERICK’S UNPRECEDENTED THREATS AND HARMS

PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY SERIOUSLY JEOPARDIZED!

Limerick Nuclear Plant’s Devastating Assault On The Schuylkill River Is Slowly Destroying This Vital Drinking Water Resource For Almost Two Million People From Pottstown to Philadelphia.

Elected Officials Knew Before Limerick Was Licensed That The Schuylkill River Could Not Sustain Limerick Nuclear Plant operations. They Also Knew Limerick Would Radiate and Overheat The River, Jeopardizing Public Health and The Ecosystem.

ELECTED OFFICIALS FAILED TO SPEAK UP IN THE 1970S AND 1980S TO STOP AVOIDABLE DESTRUCTION OF THIS VITAL PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY.

By 1999 The River Reached Record Low Flows. Limerick’s Cooling Tower Depletion Was A Major Factor. By 2003, Exelon Asked To Reduce and Eliminate Requirements In Place To Protect The River Water and to Pump Massive Amounts of Toxic Unfiltered Mine Waster Into The River To Supplement The Flow To Operate Limerick.

AT THE 2012 PUBLIC HEARING, ONLY ONE LOCAL OFFICIAL, MICHAEL MOYER, OPPOSED LIMERICK’S UNPRECEDENTED THREATS AND HARMS TO PUBLIC DRINKING WATER.RADIOACTIVE WASTES THREATEN UNTHINKABLE DISASTER

There Is NO SAFE SOLUTION.

Transporting It Offsite Is Too Dangerous Due To Accidents and Terrorist Attacks
Storing It In Limerick’s Corroded and Thinning Fuel Pools Makes It Vulnerable To Devastating Meltdowns From Accidents or Terrorist Attacks

The Only Solution – STOP MAKING IT.

Until That Happens, We Must Store Existing Wastes On Site SAFER – In Above Ground Casks

ACE Repeatedly Informed Elected Officials About Extreme Threats We Face From Limerick’s Radioactive Waste Storage and Transport. ACE Also Repeatedly Requested Officials To Comment to NRC In Support Of Recommended Actions For NRC’s Radioactive Waste Study

NOT ONE ELECTED OFFICIAL TOOK ACTION TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC’S HEALTH, SAFETY, AND FINANCIAL INTERESTS RELATED TO LIMERICK’S LETHAL HIGH-LEVEL RADCIOACTIVE WASTES.SAFE EVACUATION NOT POSSIBLE!

In 1980, Before Limerick’s Construction, NRC Admitted The Region Within 30 Miles Of Limerick Had Double The Population That Could Be Evacuated Safely.

IN 1980 ELECTED OFFICIALS REMAINED SILENT AND ALLOWED LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT CONSTRUCTION TO CONTINUE.

At The Same Time, In The 1980s, Based On Population Density and Impossible Safe Evacuation, New York Elected Officials Opposed Shoreham Nuclear Plant

NEW YORK OFFICIALS OPPOSED SHOREHAM NUCLEAR PLANT BASED ON INABILITY TO EVACUATE SAFELY. SHOREHAM WAS CLOSED.

By 2010, Population Density Around Limerick Nuclear Plant Skyrocketed Over 4 Times Higher Than Could Evacuate Safely.

OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS STILL REMAIN SILENT ABOUT OUR INABILITY TO SAFELY EVACUATE, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF U.S. SENATOR BOB CASEY.

Only Michael Moyer, an East Coventry Supervisor, had the courage and integrity to speak out on behalf of public interests at the public hearing to relicense Limerick Nuclear Plant.LIMERICK’S RADIOACTIVE RELEASES INCREASE CANCER RATES, INFANT MORTALITY, AND OTHER DISEASES AND DISABILITIES.
HEALTH THREATS WILL CONTINUE AND INCREASE AS LONG AS LIMERICK OPERATES

Since 1985 Limerick released unknown amounts of radiation into our air, water, soil, food, milk, fish and bodies.

Evidence of harm is clear. Skyrocketing cancers have been documented since Limerick started operating, especially in children. Infant and neonatal mortality rates became far higher than the state average, and even higher than Philadelphia and Reading.
The best way to reduce cancer rates and other health problems is to close Limerick to reduce radioactive releases into our air and water.

NOT ONE STATE OR FEDERAL OFFICIAL ATTENDED THE PUBLIC HEARING TO ASK NRC NOT TO RELICENSE LIMERICK, MUCH LESS TO CLOSE IT NOW TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND FINANCIAL INTERESTS. SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUES ARE BEING IGNORED BY ELECTED OFFICIALS

Earthquake Faults – Under Limerick site. 4 others within 17 Miles
Reactors May Not Be Able To Shut Down To Prevent Meltdowns
Limerick Follows Lax Fire Safety Regulations
Substandard Cement in Reactors and Fuel Pools
Fuel Pools Corroding and Thinning At Rates 10 Times Faster Than Anticipated
Fuel Rods Taken From Pools Years Before Sufficient Cooling Tim
CALL OR E-MAIL

ELECTED OFFICIALS TODAY

URGE THEM TO SPEAK OUT

TO CLOSE LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT

TO PROTECT

YOUR HEALTH, SAFETY, AND FINANCIAL INTERESTS

Contact as many elected officials as possible!

The list below does not include all elected officials who represent residents impacted by Limerick Nuclear Plant operations, but it is important for you to contact any elected official with constituents within 50 miles of Limerick Nuclear Plant.

Governor Tom Corbett (R)

225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120

Phone: (717) 787-2500     Fax: (717) 772-8284

governor@state.pa.us

High Street, Suite 100
U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R)
8 Penn Center
1628 John F. Kennedy Blvd. Suite 1702
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Phone: (215) 241-1090    Fax: (215) 241-1095

mitch_vidovich@toomey.senate.gov

U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D)

2000 Market Street, Suite 1870
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Phone: (215) 405-9660 Fax: (215) 405-9669

kurt_imhof@casey.senate.gov
U. S. Congressman James Gerlach (R)580 Main Street, Suite 4
Trappe, PA 19246

Phone   (610) 409-2780     Fax (610) 409-7988

scott.savett@mail.house.gov

U.S. Congressman Charles W. Dent (R) PA-15

701 W. Broad Street, Suite 200

Bethlehem, PA   18018

Phone (610) 861-9734            Fax (610) 861-9308

vincent.odomski@mail.house.gov

U.S. Congressman Pat Meehan   (R)

940 Sproul Road
Springfield, PA 19064

Phone: (610) 690-7323     Fax: (610) 690-7329

Andrew.Colket@mail.house.gov

U. S. Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz (D) PA-13

Montgomery County Office
706 West Avenue
Jenkintown, PA 19046

Phone–215/517-6572        Fax–215/517-6575

Michelle.Espinal@mail.house.gov

PA Senator John Rafferty (R) – Montgomery County

Montgomery County Office
3818 Germantown Pike, Suite B
Collegeville, PA 19426

Ph: 610-831-8830       FAX: 610-831-8837
jrafferty@pasen.gov

jmunera@pasen.gov

PA Senator Andrew E. Dinniman (D)– Chester County

One North Church Street
West Chester, PA 19380

(610) 692-2112           Fax (610) 436-1721

andydinniman@pasenate.com

MINDARS@pasenate.com

PA Senator Judith Schwank(D)   Berks County

1940 North 13th Street
Suite 232
Reading, PA 19604

(610) 929-2151   FAX: (610) 929-2576

Jschwank@pasenate.com

PA Senator David G. Argall (R)   Schuylkill County

One West Centre Street
Mahanoy City, PA 17948

(570) 773-0891

Dargall@pasen.gov

PA Representative Tim Hennessey (R)

Old Elverson Train Station
P.O. Box 255
Elverson, PA 19520

Phone: 610-286-9194               Fax: 610-286-1922
thenness@pahousegop.com

PA Representative Mike Vereb (R)

3950 Germantown Pike. Suite 101
Collegeville, PA 19426

Phone: (610) 409-2615      Fax: (610) 409-2619

mvereb@pahousegop.com

PA Representative Mark Painter (D)

600 Heritage Drive, Suite 102

Sanatoga, PA 19464

Phone (610) 326-9563   Fax (610) 718-5787

mpainter@pahouse.net
PA Representative Becky Corbin (R) 315 Gordon Drive
Exton, PA, 19341
Phone: (610) 524-5595 Fax: (610) 524-5667

bcorbin@pahousegop.com

NRC Shamelessly Lied About Limerick Nuclear Plant’s Radiation Releases and Alarming Cancer Rates in Communities Around Limerick

Posted on August 6, 2013 by The Alliance for a Clean Environment

NRC is mandated to protect public health from Limerick Nuclear Plant Operations. Inexplicably, NRC has not just minimized the consequences of radiation exposure in our region, but actually ignored and avoided the impacts of Limerick Nuclear Plant’s regular radiation releases into the environment of the Greater Philadelphia Region, in Limerick’s DRAFT Environmental Impact Statement.

Radiation exposure to the public is barely mentioned in NRC’s 585 page DRAFT EIS. On the very few pages with any reference, radiation releases and their effects on human health have been inaccurately characterized as minimal or small. Documented evidence of our health crisis refutes NRC’s unsubstantiated claims.

This is NRC’s most harmful lie yet, because it will allow Limerick’s threats and harms to health in the region to continue for decades.

ACE Video Blog Part 4 8-13

NRC IGNORED LIMERICK’S ROUTINE RADIATION RELEASES AND SKYROCKETING CANCER RATES

THE LINK IS CLEAR!

• LIMERICK RELEASES RADIATION

• RADIATION CAUSES CANCER

• CANCER RATES SKYROCKETED AFTER LIMERICK STARTED OPERATING

• CANCERS ARE DOCUMENTED TO BE ELEVATED AROUND MANY NUCLEAR PLANTS, ESPECIALLY IN CHILDREN

LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT’S HARMFUL ROUTINE RADIATION RELEASES INTO OUR ENVIRONMENT HAVE THREATENED OUR HEALTH SINCE OPERATIONS STARTED IN 1985.
YET NRC’S DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (EIS) DECEPTIVELY MINIMIZES THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF ROUTINE RADIATION EXPOSURE IN OUR REGION. NRC’S EIS CONCLUSIONS ARE NOT CREDIBLE.

NRC’s DRAFT EIS is not responsive to the concerns of residents in our region who are well informed about NRC’s tactics to hide the truth about our radiation exposures from Limerick. We have been exposed to the additive, cumulative, and synergistic impacts of Limerick’s routine radiation releases since 1985. We can’t see it, smell it, taste, it, or feel it. Limerick’s radiation is proven to be in our air, water, soil, vegetation, milk, food, and fish in the Schuylkill River. Research shows we have some of the highest radiation levels in the teeth of our children, even compared to other nuclear plant communities tested.

THE FACTS ARE CLEAR:
Limerick has been routinely and accidently releasing radiation for the past 28 years.
It must be concluded that there have been additive, cumulative, and synergistic harmful impacts from all Limerick’s radionuclides released and from all routes of exposure.
NRC does not acknowledge the large number of radionuclides or levels of them that have been released from Limerick over the past 28 years .
NRC has no accurate idea of the amount of radiation that Limerick is releasing into our environment, because NRC does NO RADIATION MONITORING or TESTING.
Exelon, the company with a vested interest in the outcome that has shown it can’t be trusted, controls the entire radiation monitoring, testing, and reporting process.
Limerick’s radiation releases into our air and water include a broad range of radionuclides that have never been continuously monitored or regularly tested independently by NRC or any other agency.
Some radionuclides released from Limerick have long half-lives, and their impacts are obviously enormous considering we are exposed from many routes of exposure.
Yet, NRC negligently ignores Limerick’s radiation impacts in Limerick’s DRAFT EIS .
Even Exelon’s own deceptive radiation self-testing for Limerick shows many different radionuclides are in our air, water, soil, sediment, milk, and fish.
According to the National Academy of Sciences there is NO SAFE DOSE of radiation exposure. Its BEIR VII report refutes NRC’s unsubstantiated claim that harms from Limerick are “small”.
ACE submitted substantial evidence in 2011 in written public hearing testimony to NRC for Limerick’s DRAFT EIS. We documented our region’s high cancer rates based on PA Cancer Registry data in communities around Limerick. Cancer rates are far higher than the national average.

This evidence of harm should have been alarming, even to NRC. Obviously NRC chose to ignore it.
NRC’s insistence on repeatedly dismissing obvious harms from Limerick’s routine radiation emissions is unacceptable.
NRC’s deceptions and denials lead to continued and increasing harms and threats to people from Limerick Nuclear Plant’s radiation and other toxic releases.

NRC routinely inaccurately claims that Limerick’s radiation releases are small and not harmful. But NRC’s claims are based on flawed and outdated theoretical models for radiation exposure.
NRC only measures external doses, and ignore internal doses.

”Permissible” radiation doses, as defined by NRC, does not mean they are safe. The National Academy of Sciences BEIR VII report said there is no safe dose.
Dr. John Gofman, once head of AEC’s Lab, raised dire warnings about permitted releases from nuclear plants. He published research showing an estimated 32,000 Americans would die each year from fatal cancers induced by “allowable” radiation releases.
Dr. John Gofman, once head of AEC’s Lab said, “the entire nuclear power program is based on a fraud, that there is a permissible dose that wouldn’t hurt anyone.

CANCER RATES

CANCER INCREASES IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY SKYROCKETED AFTER LIMERICK STARTED OPERATING IN 1985 AND ARE DOCUMENTED TO BE FAR HIGHER THAN THE NATIONAL AND TRI-COUNTY AVERAGES IN SIX COMMUNITIES STUDIED NEAR LIMERICK.

LIMERICK’S RADIATION RELEASES ARE UNDENIBLY A MAJOR FACTOR.
• LIMERICK RELEASES RADIATION
• RADIATION CAUSES CANCER
• CANCER RATES SKYROCKETED AFTER LIMERICK STARTED OPERATING!

ACE PROVIDED NRC WITH DETAILS OF OUR CANCER CRISIS IN 10-26-11 EIS TESTIMONY FOR LIMERICK, YET NRC’S DRAFT EIS FOR LIMERICK FAILED TO INCLUDE THE DATA.

A CANCER CRISIS AROUND LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT IS WELL DOCUMENTED BY:
• Four Cancer Reports Using PA Cancer Registry Statistics and CDC Data Show Alarming Increases in Cancer, With Cancer Data Far Above The National and Tri-County Averages, Especially In Children
• ACE Cancer Mapping From Heath Surveys Reveals An Alarming Cancer Crisis

UNDENIABLE LINK – UPWARD TREND IN CHILDHOOD CANCER RATES AFTER LIMERICK STARTED OPERATING IN 1985

Late 1980’s 30 % HIGHER than the NATIONAL AVERAGE
Early 1990’s 60 % HIGHER than the NATIONAL AVERAGE
Late 1990’s 92.5% HIGHER than the NATIONAL AVERAGE
Late 1990’s 100 % HIGHER than the TRI COUNTY AVERAGE

Strontium-90 – An Undeniable Link To Rising Childhood Cancer Rates
• Even Exelon’s 2009 Radiological Report to NRC shows Limerick’s Strontium-90 is in our water, soil, milk, and vegetation
• Strontium-90 testing of our children’s baby teeth shows SR-90 at some of the highest levels in the nation in the teeth of our children.
• Limerick has been releasing SR-90 into our air and water since 1985.
• Children around Limerick have some of the highest levels of SR-90 in their baby teeth.
• It is shameful for NRC to blame decades old bomb testing that was done in the Midwest for SR-90 in the teeth of these children.
• SR-90 evidence serves as a marker to prove Limerick’s radiation is in the bodies of our children.

Documented Cancer Data Provided To NRC By ACE 10-26-11, Should Have Alarmed Even NRC:

• Childhood Cancer Rates Skyrocketed To 92.5 % Higher Than The National Average In Six Communities Close To Limerick Nuclear Plant.
(Pottstown , West Pottrove, Lower Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgove, North Coventry, Douglass Township)

• There Was A 71% Increase In Childhood Cancer Deaths
In Montgomery County, Home of Limerick Nuclear Power Plant
(Deaths from Neoplasms in Children Ages 1 to 14 1981-89 vs. 1990-98)
• Childhood Cancer Deaths In Neighboring Counties, PA, and the U.S. Went Down:
Chester County 29.0% Decrease
Berks County 30.6% Decrease
Pennsylvania 17.1% Decrease
U.S. 21. 2% Decrease

• Cancer Rates In 6 Communities Close to Limerick Nuclear Plant (1995 to 1999) Are Far Higher Than U.S. and Tri-County Averages For 8 of 11 Most Common Cancers In The U.S. (Compared to U.S. and TriCounty Rates)
Lower Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgrove, West Pottsgrove, Pottstown, North Coventry, Douglass Berks

Type of Cancer Above U. S. Above Tri County
 Kidney/Renal Pelvis + 60 % + 42.7 %
 Rectum + 44 % + 13.5 %
 Uterine + 44 % + 38.7 %
 Breast (female) + 39 % + 24.5 %
 Brain/Cent. Nervous System + 38 % + 32.5 %
 Urinary Bladder + 35.5 % + 17.9 %
 Colon + 21 % + 3.3 %
 Lung + 11.8 % + 18.4 %
 Leukemia + 11.5 % + 14.9 %

Limerick’s routine radiation releases must be considered a major factor in these cancer rates which are so much higher than the national and tri-county averages. This refutes NRC’s claims that our cancer rates are high because of better detection methods or life-style choices.

• Cancer Rates In Montgomery County, Home of Limerick Nuclear Plant, increased Dramatically After Limerick Opened
Increases Mid 80s to 90s
 Prostate Increased 132%
 Thyroid Increased 128%
 Kidney Increased 96%
 Multiple Myeloma Increased 91%
 Hodgkin’s Disease Increased 67%
 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Increased 61%
 Breast Increased 61%
 Pancreas Increased 54 %
 Leukemia Increased 48%

THYROID CANCER LINK
After Limerick Nuclear Plant Started Operating in 1985 – In Montgomery County, Home Of Limerick Nuclear Plant
128% INCREASE – 1985-86 to 1996-97 Source: Pennsylvania State Cancer Registry
1998,1999, 2000 – Thyroid Cancer Rate Was About
75% HIGHER – Than U.S. Rate (Also Rising) Source: CDC Website

Thyroid Cancer Rates Are Far Higher Than National Average
In Counties Closest Most Impacted By Limerick Nuclear Plant’s Radioactive Emissions
Montgomery County 56.2 % Higher Than U.S.
Chester County 53.9 % Higher Than U.S.
Berks County 14.6 % Higher Than U.S.
While Berks County is Upwind – It is still higher than the U.S. Average
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov.
Rates adjusted to 2000 U.S. standard population.

Our region’s thyroid cancer rates are horrific, considering they’re above the U.S. average when, U.S. (1980 – 2006) Increased 154.7 % and PA (2001- 2005) Had The Highest Thyroid Cancer Rates In U.S.

THERE ARE UNDENIABLE LINKS TO LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT’S RELEASES OF RADIOACTIVE IODINE-131 INTO OUR AIR AND WATER FOR DECADES.
• Limerick Nuclear Plant’s routine Iodine-131 radiation releases into our air and water impact the thyroid.
• Counties Closest and Downwind From Limerick Have Highest Thyroid Cancer Rates.
• Philadelphia Water Had The Highest Iodine-131 Levels In The Nation – Philadelphia Is Only 20 Miles Downstream From Limerick’s Radioactive Discharges.
Research Links Thyroid Cancer And Radiation Emissions From Nuclear Plants.
• Nuclear plants, including Limerick, routinely release radioactive iodine.
• Radioactive iodine attacks the thyroid gland, a fact confirmed by the potassium Iodide pills issued to residents within 10 miles of a nuclear plant to protect the thyroid in case of an accident or terrorist attack.
• Thyroid cancer is one of the most radiation-sensitive cancers.
• Radioactive iodine released from nuclear plants seeks out the thyroid gland and destroys its cells.
THYROID CANCER – An “Epidemic” Around Nuclear Plants
• The 2009 scientific article reported a Thyroid Cancer Epidemic in a small 90-mile radius encompassing eastern PA, central New Jersey, and southern New York, where 16 reactors are located, including Limerick Nuclear Plant.
• The Alliance For A Clean Environment (ACE) is extremely concerned about the shocking thyroid cancer increases and rates above the national average around Limerick Nuclear Plant., Documented statistics show shocking thyroid cancer increases in Montgomery County, home of Limerick Nuclear Plant, since Limerick started operating in the mid 1980′s to the mid 1990′s.
BREAST CANCER LINK
Evidence shows at the same time Breast Cancer Rates were declining around a nuclear plant that closed in California, Breast Cancer Rates in our regions started increasing after Limerick started operating.
Breast Cancer Rates INCREASED 61% In Montgomery County, Home of Limerick Nuclear Plant, After Limerick Started Operating in 1985.
Source: PA Cancer Registry 1985-86 to 1996-97

BREAST CANCER RATES WERE FAR HIGHER THAN THE NATIONAL AVERAGE IN EVERY AGE GROUP IN SIX COMMUNITIES CLOSE TO LIMERICK
(Lower Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgrove, West Pottsgrove, Pottstown, North Coventry, Douglass Berks)

Breast Cancer By Age (diagnosed 1995-1999)
Compared to the National Average (Source: Pa Cancer Registry)

Age % HIGHER than U.S.
0-29 + 15.3 %
30-44 +51.4 %
45-64 + 39.3 %
65+ + 28.6 %

Breast Cancer is an epidemic nationwide, therefore these breast cancer rates near Limerick are so much more alarming because they are so much higher than the national average in every age group. They cannot be explained away by heredity, life-style choices, or better screening. Limerick’s radiation releases into our air and water are clearly a major factor.
Research Links Breast Cancer With Radiation Exposure
• Data from Chernobyl confirms that children exposed to radiation have a greater likelihood of developing breast cancer as adults. Source: Life Extension, 12/04
• John W. Gofman, M.D., Ph.D. “Our estimate is that about three-quarters of the current annual incidence of breast-cancer in the U.S. is being caused by earlier ionizing radiation… Source: “Preventing Breast Cancer” 1995
• “Life’s Delicate Balance” Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer. Janette Sherman, M.D. Analyzes Links Between Cancer and Radiation and Other Toxics.
• 350 Studies Link Half of Breast Cancers to the Environment. The studies show that half of breast cancers causes are not attributed to Genetic Risk or Lifestyle Choices. Limerick’s radiation releases must be considered a major factor in our region’s extraordinarily high breast cancer rates.

LEUKEMIA LINK

In Six Communities Studied Near Limerick Nuclear Plant
LEUKEMIA was documented to be ALMOST DOUBLE THE STATE AVEARGE (1985 to 1994). (Montgomery County Health Department Study on PA Cancer Registry Statistics).

Leukemia represented the largest number of childhood cancers among the 92.5% childhood cancers rates higher than the national average.
The 15 year leukemia rate is approximately about 40% above the other three county rate. This is a statistically significant difference (p Source: Pennsylvania State Cancer Registry
Research Linking Leukemia to Nuclear Plant Radiation Exposure:
• A review of 17 medical journal articles by researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina showed that child leukemia rates were elevated at all 17 reactors.
• Leukemia death rates in U.S. children near nuclear reactors rose sharply in the past two decades, according to a study published in the European Journal of Cancer Care in 2008.
• Documentation of high leukemia rates in Chernobyl children confirm this link.

BRAIN CANCER IN POTTSTOWN IS SIGNIFCANTLY HIGHERTHAN STATE AND NATIONAL AVERAGES OR MUNICIPALITIES WITHIN A 12 MILE RADIUS.

Statistics: PA Department of Health, Bureau of Health Statistics ( 2001, August)
Compiled by: Penn State – Graduate Student Research
Analysis of cancer incidence in PA counties 1994-1998 http://www.health.sate.pa.us/stats

BRAIN/CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM CANCERS
IN THE SIX COMMUNITIES STUDIES CLOSE TO LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT.
(Pottstown , West Pottsgrove, Lower Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgove, North Coventry, Douglass Berks Township)
 COMPARED TO NATIONAL AVERAGE: 38.3 HIGHER
 COMPARED TO TRI COUNTY AREA: 32.5 HIGHER
DISASTROUS UPWARD TREND
Brain/Central Nervous System cancer statistics since Limerick Nuclear Plant started operating in 1985.
 1985-89 15 cases
 1990-94 19 cases
 1995-99 23 cases

MANY OTHER CANCER STUDIES IN GERMANY AND ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE, AS WELL AS THE U.S., CONFIRM HIGHER RATES OF CANCER AROUND NUCLEAR PLANTS.
JUST ONE EXAMPLE: Cancer Near German Reactors http://www.oeconline.org/our-work/kidshealth/healthprofessionals/first-annual-nw-health-conference-pdfs/day 1/Nussbaum%202.6.09.pdf
THESE CANCER STUDIES PROVIDE ADDITIONAL CONFIRMATION THAT LIMERICK IS A MAJOR FACTOR IN THIS REGION’S ALARMING CANCER RATES.
CANCER STUDIES ALSO SHOW:
 CANCER RATES ROSE WHEN NUCLEAR PLANTS OPENED
 CANCER RATES DECLINED WHEN NUCLEAR PLANTS CLOSED

EVIDENCE BELOW SHOWS MORE HARM TO OUR CHILDREN AFTER LIMERICK STARTED OPERATING IN 1985.

INFANT and NEONATAL MORTALITY IS FAR HIGHER NEAR LIMERICK THAN THE STATE AVERAGE, AND EVEN HIGHER THAN PHILDELPHIA AND READING.
(State Data – Reported by EPA in 2003).
 Evidence shows when nuclear plants open infant mortality rates go up.
 When nuclear plants close, infant mortality rates go down.

• AUTISM INCREASED 310% (1990 to 2000)

• LEARNING DISABILITIES INCREASED by 94%, OVER DOUBLE THE STATE INCREASE OF 46%. (1990 to 2000)

THE FOLLOWING HEALTH HARMS WERE HIGHER THAN THE STATE AVERAGE, AND EVEN HIGHER THAN PHILADELPHIA AND READING
• Malignant Tumors
• Cerebrovascular Disease
• Lower Respiratory Disease
(2003 EPA Report Based on PA Data)

Limerick’s 2009 air pollution permit shows why Limerick’s cooling tower PM-10 air pollution can contribute to increases in cerebrovascular and lower respiratory diseases.

All this evidence shows that a health crisis occurred in our region after Limerick Nuclear Plant started operating in 1985.
• ACE compiled and presented all this evidence to the NRC 10-26-11 in public hearing testimony for NRC’s EIS on Limerick.
• This evidence of our health crisis and its links to Limerick operations should compel NRC to protect public health by closing Limerick now.

For the past 28 years, a broad range of radionuclides (some with long half-lives) have routinely and accidentally been released into our air and water from Limerick Nuclear Plant.

We have been, and will continue to be exposed to the additive, cumulative, and synergistic harmful impacts of Limerick’s radiation through several routes of exposure as long as Limerick operates.

RADIATION RELEASES ARE THE MOST DANGEROUS THREAT TO OUR HEALTH FROM LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT.NRC’S DRAFT ENVIORNMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FAILED TO ADDRESS LIMERICK’S RADIATION IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY.

NRC’S glaring omission of radiation and its enormous threat to our environment and health rises to the level of regulatory malpractice.
 It is shocking that NRC’s DRAFT EIS fails to address radiation exposure and human health impacts in any meaningful way.
Radiation exposure to the public is barely mentioned in NRC’s 585 page DRAFT EIS.
On the very few pages with any reference, radiation releases and their effects on human health have been shamelessly characterized as minimal or small, clearly an unsubstantiated claim, for which NRC has NO independent evidence. NRC’s claim is NOT CREDIBLE.
Even Exelon’s own radiological monitoring reports to NRC show that a broad range of radionuclides are documented to be in our air, water, sediment, fish, and milk.
Evidence from independent scientists suggest that NO level of radiation exposure is safe.

NRC is mandated to protect public health from Limerick Nuclear Plant Operations, yet NRC has not just minimized the consequences of radiation exposure in our region, but even ignored the impacts of Limerick Nuclear Plant’s regular radiation releases into the life-support system that impacts human health in the Greater Philadelphia Region, in Limerick’s DRAFT Environmental Impact Statement.

Exposure to Limerick’s radiation is an injustice. We can’t see, smell, taste, or feel it, but it’s everywhere. We can’t avoid it. As long as Limerick Nuclear Plant continues to operate, radiation and other dangerous toxics will be released into our air and water. The additive, cumulative, and synergistic harmful impacts of that will cause more people to suffer needlessly.

NRC could stop unnecessary radiation and other toxic exposures due to Limerick Nuclear Plant operations.

Associated suffering and health care costs due to Limerick operations would be dramatically reduced by closing Limerick if NRC would close Limerick now to protect public health.

AS LONG AS LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT OPERATES, RADIATION WILL CONTINUE TO BE RELEASED INTO OUR LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM.

NRC SHOULD REQUIRE LIMERICK TO CLOSE NOW TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH, ESPECIALLY FOR OUR CHILDREN.

HELP CLOSE LIMERICK NOW TO REDUCE RADIATION EXPOSURE AND MINIMIZE RISK FOR CANCER

CONTACT ACE
aceactivists@comcast.net

LEAVE CONTACT INFORMATION AND ANY INFORMATION ABOUT CANCER

NRC Negligently Ignored Massive Dangerous Air Pollution From Limerick Nuclear Plant Despite Health Harms

Posted on August 6, 2013 by The Alliance for a Clean Environment

NRC should have the courage and integrity to tell the truth about the health risks related to Limerick’s massive air pollution. Radiation, toxic chemicals, massive PM-10 from the cooling towers, and chlorine additives are all in our air. No problem according to NRC. Health crisis data around Limerick suggest otherwise.

To protect public health, Limerick needs to close now, and stop polluting our air.

VIDEO BLOG – PART 3 – AUGUST 2013

LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT’S DANGEROUS AIR POLLUTION IGNORED BY NRC

LIMERICK’S DANGEROUS AIR POLLUTION HARMS HEALTH.

10-26-11 ACE PROVIDED NRC WITH DOCUMENTED DETAILS FOR LIMERICK’S EIS PUBLIC HEARING COMMENTS.

• Our analysis of Limerick’s Title V air pollution permit and other documentation show why Limerick’s air pollution is a “major” threat to our region.

• NRC ignored this evidence in Limerick’s DRAFT EIS conclusions or NRC could not have concluded Limerick’s air pollution impacts are “small”.

• NO unbiased person could analyze the evidence and the reality and still come to that conclusion!

FACTS SHOW WHY NRC’S DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT IS ABSURD, WHEN CLAIMING LIMERICK’S AIR POLLUTION THREATS ARE “SMALL”

LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT’S AIR POLLUTION INCLUDES:
1. Radiation – from routine operations and accidental releases
2. Schuylkill River Toxics – from withdrawing 56.2 Million Gallons Per Day
3. Toxic Chemicals – from adding over 300 pounds per day to Cooling Towers
4. Greenhouse Gases, Combustion Chemicals & By-products – from Boilers, Etc.

• The National Academy of Sciences BEIR VII Report concludes that there is no safe level of radiation. Limerick routinely releases radioactive particulates, the most harmful kind of air pollution because inhaled radionuclides remain in your body causing long-term damage.

• There are additive, cumulative, and synergistic harmful health impacts from all the different radionuclides released into our air with other toxic air pollution. For example: Our region is at high risk for ozone. Ozone works synergistically with radiation to enhance to cancer-causing effects of radiation. Therefore, Limerick’s harmful air pollution impacts have been grossly underestimated.

• Limerick routinely releases a broad range of air pollutants released from 32 different air pollution sources. NONE have filtration.

Limerick’s air pollution contains PM-10, an air pollutant considered more dangerous than ozone, PM-10 is released from 4 different sources at Limerick and is massively released from Limerick’s cooling towers, yet PM-10 is not monitored, but only estimated by Exelon. No agency verifies Exelon’s estimates.

To avoid air pollution permit violations, in 2009, Limerick requested and received a 6-fold INCREASE in its Title V Air Pollution Permit limit for PM-10, dangerous cooling tower air pollution that is considered more deadly than ozone by the American Lung Association.
This was a legal maneuver to make it appear that Exelon complies with its air pollution permit for PM-10.

• Dr. Devra Davis compiled evidence from more than 1,000 air pollution studies in 20 countries showing the certain death rates for asthma, heart disease, and lung disorders were based on the amount of exposure to air pollution.

• Also, Limerick’s cooling towers host pathogens. Those infectious pathogens are transported into our air with the cooling tower plume. They can cause disease in humans and animals. NRC’s DRAFT EIS shows that Limerick’s cooling towers release microbiological organisms including SALMONELLA, LEGIONELLA, AND PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA, which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in immune compromised individuals.

IN 2009 LIMERICK ASKED FOR AND RECEIVED DRASTIC PERMIT INCREASES IN AIR POLLUTION FROM ITS COOLING TOWERS. THIS IS THE KIND OF AIR POLLUTION CONSIDERED MORE DANGEROUS THAN OZONE.

NRC’S 4-13 DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT IGNORED ALL THE EVIDENCE OF LIMERICK NUCLEAR PLANT’S DANGEROUS AIR POLLUTION WHEN FALSELY CLAIMING LIMRICK’S AIR POLLUTION IMPACTS ARE “SMALL”.

COOLING TOWER AIR POLLUTION CONTAINS ENOUGH CHLORINE ADDITIVES TO CORRODE STEEL
• Nuclear Industry Studies Show Cracks Can Occur In Stainless Steel In 4 to 52 Weeks.
• Chlorine is added to Limerick’s Cooling Towers as Sodium Hypochlorite
• Limerick Uses 16,000 to 58,000 POUNDS PER DAY of Sodium Hypochlorite

NRC DISMISSED CONCERN ABOUT CORROSIVE AIR FROM LIMERICK’S COOLING TOWERS BY ALLOWING EXELON TO SAY IT DOESN’T MATTER BECAUSE THE CORROSIVE AIR FROM THE COOLING TOWERS TRAVELS OFF-SITE.

NRC EXPRESSED NO CONCERN ABOUT IMPACTS TO THE LUNGS OF PEOPLE OFF-SITE WHO ARE FORCED TO BREATHE LIMERICK’S DANGEROUS CHLORINATED AIR POLLUTION.

LIMERICK’S MASSIVE DANGEROUS AIR POLLUTION WILL CONTINUE AS LONG AS LIMERICK CONTINUES TO OPERATE.

NRC SHOULD TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HEALTH RISKS OF LIMERICK’S AIR POLLUTION AND REFUSE TO RELICENSE LIMERICK. TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH, LIMERICK NEEDS TO CLOSE NOW AND STOP POLLUTING OUR AIR.

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

Posted on August 6, 2013 by The Alliance for a Clean Environment

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.