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Protesters Want NRG Energy to Halt Nuclear Reactor Licensing

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No More Chernobyls, No More Fukushimas, No More Nuclear Reactors

Media Release
April 26, 2011 – For Immediate Release

Contacts:
Susana Almanza, PODER 512-590-2111
Marion Mlotok, Sustainable Energy & Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, 512-470-8878

Austin, TX Last week NRG Energy announced that they will halt further investment in two proposed South Texas Project nuclear reactors, a strong step in the right direction. However, protesters demanding crucial further steps took to the streets today, urging NRG to halt reactor licensing.

"NRG was right to protect the financial health of the utility by pulling out of investment in the $18.2 billion reactors," said Marion Mlotok, spokesperson for the SEED Coalition. "But it is crucial that NRG fully halt the licensing of the proposed reactors and withdraw their federal loan guarantee application, since approval would allow billions of taxpayer dollars to go toward building more nuclear reactors. Another company could come in and buy out the reactor project, which should instead be halted entirely. These reactors should not be built by NRG or any other company."

Reactor opponents have a strong legal case addressing the risks of co-locating multiple reactors at the same site and contend that NRG’s plan to deal with fires and explosions is inadequate. The groups recently wrote to the NRG Board, urging that the reactor license application and federal loan guarantee application be withdrawn and that the company stop pursuit of adding 20 years of operating life for existing aging reactors. STP Nuclear Operating Company estimates an $18.2 billion pricetag for two reactors. If the financially shaky project somehow moves forward, a loan default would fall on the shoulders of already burdened taxpayers.

"Nuclear power comes with significant health risks, since radioactive exposure is linked to cancer and birth defects. Radionuclides routinely released in nuclear reactor operations have been linked to developmental problems, birth defects, reproductive problems, cardiovascular disease, leukemia and other cancers," said Trish O’Day, a nurse and board member of Austin Physicians for Social Responsibility. "Epidemiological studies of children living near nuclear reactors show a positive association between leukemia and proximity to nuclear reactors. Pollutants from nuclear power such as tritium, which acts like water in the body, can enter fetuses through the placenta. Tritium is linked to cancer and genetic abnormalities."

"Due to health and safety concerns and the increasing risks that come as reactors age, NRG should halt re-licensing of the two existing South Texas Project reactors," said Susana Almanza, Director of PODER. "Re-licensing would allow another 20 more years of operation for the reactors, which are now set to retire in 2027 and 2028. The nuclear disaster in Japan is teaching the world lessons the hard way about the increased risks of aging reactors. Japan’s Fukushima’s Reactor No. 1, the oldest reactor at Daiichi site, had just been given a 10-year extension despite safety warnings a month before the March nuclear disaster." Reactor No. 1 exploded and has the most seriously damaged fuel rods, which may not be fully covered with water until July despite the pumping of six tons of water every hour.

"In 1993-1994 both South Texas Project 1 & 2 had year-long outages in order to bring them back to even basic safety levels, at a cost of roughly a billion dollars each," said Susan Dancer, Director of the South Texas Association for Responsible Energy, who lives only eight miles from the site. "There have been recent problems at the reactors as well, which are getting nothing but worse. Unit One is currently having an unplanned extended outage. The only safe path is to transition away from aging nuclear reactors." Dancer spoke in Houston at a protest being held in conjunction with the Austin event.

A Union of Concerned Scientists report notes that in 27 years following the Three Mile Island meltdown, "38 U.S. nuclear power reactors had to be shut down for at least one year while safety margins were restored to minimally acceptable levels…Safety restoration outages result from cumulative, systemic degradation of reactor components. A year-plus outage of this kind is not needed to fix damage caused by an accident or to replace or repair a major component, but to fix dozens or even hundreds of equipment problems that have accumulated over time." The protest was held on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, a level 7 nuclear disaster, which some researchers now say cost 985,000 lives, mostly cancer related deaths. The ongoing Fukushima nuclear disaster is now also rated level 7. A 1982 NRC study (CRAC-2) found that 18,000 early deaths could result from an accident at the South Texas Project site.

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No More Chernobyls, No More Fukushimas, No More Nuclear Reactors

Download this press release in pdf format for printing

Media Release
April 26, 2011 – For Immediate Release

Contacts:
Zac Trahan, 713-337-4192 Texas Campaign for the Environment
Karen Hadden, 512-797-8481 Sustainable Energy & Economic Development (SEED) Coalition
Susan Dancer, 979-479-0627, South Texas Association for Responsible Energy

Houston, TX Last week NRG Energy announced that they will halt further investment in two proposed South Texas Project nuclear reactors, a strong step in the right direction. However, protesters demanding crucial further steps took to the streets today prior to an NRG shareholder meeting.

"NRG was right to protect the financial health of the utility by pulling out of investment in the $18.2 billion reactors," said Karen Hadden, Director of the SEED Coalition. "But it is crucial that NRG fully halt the licensing of the proposed reactors and withdraw their federal loan guarantee application, since approval would allow billions of taxpayer dollars to go toward building more nuclear reactors. Another company could come in and buy out the reactor project, which should instead be halted entirely. These reactors should not be built by NRG or any other company."

Reactor opponents have a strong legal case addressing the risks of co-locating multiple reactors at the same site and contend that NRG’s plan to deal with fires and explosions is inadequate. The groups recently wrote to the NRG Board, urging that the reactor license application and federal loan guarantee application be withdrawn and that the company stop pursuit of adding 20 years of operating life for existing aging reactors. STP Nuclear Operating Company estimates an $18.2 billion pricetag for two reactors. If the financially shaky project somehow moves forward, a loan default would fall on the shoulders of already burdened taxpayers.

"Due to safety concerns and increasing risks that come as reactors age, NRG should halt relicensing of the two existing South Texas Project reactors," said Zac Trahan, Program Director for Texas Campaign for the Environment. Re-licensing would allow another 20 more years of operation for the reactors, which are now set to retire in 2027 and 2028. The nuclear disaster in Japan is teaching the world lessons the hard way about the increased risks of aging reactors. Japan’s Fukushima’s Reactor No. 1, the oldest reactor at Daiichi site, had just been given a 10-year extension despite safety warnings a month before the March nuclear disaster." Reactor No. 1 exploded and has the most seriously damaged fuel rods, which may not be fully covered with water until July despite the pumping of six tons of water every hour.

"In 1993-1994 both South Texas Project 1 & 2 had year-long outages in order to bring them back to even basic safety levels, at a cost of roughly a billion dollars each," said Susan Dancer, Director of the South Texas Association for Responsible Energy, who lives only eight miles from the site. "There have been recent problems at the reactors as well, which are getting nothing but worse. Unit One is currently having an unplanned extended outage. The only safe path is to transition away from aging nuclear reactors."

A Union of Concerned Scientists report notes that in 27 years following the Three Mile Island meltdown, "38 U.S. nuclear power reactors had to be shut down for at least one year while safety margins were restored to minimally acceptable levels…Safety restoration outages result from cumulative, systemic degradation of reactor components. A year-plus outage of this kind is not needed to fix damage caused by an accident or to replace or repair a major component, but to fix dozens or even hundreds of equipment problems that have accumulated over time."

The protest was held on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, a level 7 nuclear disaster, which some researchers now say cost 985,000 lives, mostly cancer related deaths. The ongoing Fukushima nuclear disaster is now also rated level 7. A 1982 NRC study (CRAC-2) found that 18,000 early deaths could result from an accident at the South Texas Project site.

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• Protest of NRG’s Nuclear Reactors – April 26, 2011

April 18, 2011

David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy, Inc.
211 Carnegie Center
Princeton, NJ 08540-6213

Phone: 609-524-4500
Fax: 609-524-4501

Re: Proposed South Texas Project Reactors 3 & 4, Relicensing of Reactors 1 & 2

Dear Mr. Crane and NRG Energy Board of Directors:

In light of the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan, rising awareness of safety concerns, increasing costs for proposed reactors, potential design change requirements, an investor gap and regulatory and economic uncertainty, we respectfully urge NRG to formally withdraw its Combined Operating License application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for proposed South Texas Project reactors 3 & 4. We ask that you withdraw the related DOE federal loan guarantee application as well.

Existing South Texas Project reactors (1 & 2) are set to retire in 2027 and 2028, but NRG’s relicensing application seeks to add another twenty years of operation for both units. Safety risks increase as reactors age and we urge you to withdraw the relicensing application for Units 1 & 2 and seek to replace the power generated by safer, cleaner energy technologies. We encourage you to pursue Texas projects like your Agua Caliente solar facility that will soon generate 290 MW of power in Arizona.

In an April 13th Reuters article you were quoted as having told the Gulf Coast Power Association that "the project’s odds of success have dropped substantially" and that "TEPCO’s mounting financial problems in the wake of the Fukushima crisis leave the STP expansion with a huge potential gap in ownership." Austin Energy does not appear to be interested in purchasing power from the proposed reactors. CPS Energy does not appear to be interested in investing further or pursuing a power purchase agreement. We question whether there are any investors capable of filling the financing gap.

As you stated in a March Reuters interview, "The economics related to the capital budget are right on the edge of viability." In light of these concerns, why continue to pursue licensing and loan guarantees? When NRG and Toshiba announced minimizing NINA spending towards new reactors, NRG stock value increased. Fully withdrawing from project licensing and the pursuit of loan guarantees could be of financial benefit to NRG.

No doubt you are aware that our organizations, along with the South Texas Association for Responsible Energy, continue to legally contest reactor 3 & 4 licensing. As intervenors we have raised many crucial safety issues, and have anticipated a hearing in August by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel regarding risks of co-locating multiple reactor units at the site. There is no indication that STP reactors 1 – 4 could adequately deal with fires and explosions and simultaneously maintain core cooling, containment and spent fuel cooling. An April 15, 2011 NRC order extends time for Commission review of Staff’s petition regarding the contention.

We intend to continue pursuing our contention regarding fires and explosions, which is presently before the Commission in a petition for review in the Comanche Peak case. In that case, the Commission issued a March 29, 2011 order indefinitely suspending its timeline for review. Again, we interpret this as indicative of the Commission’s interest in the fires and explosions contention, especially in light of the Fukushima disaster. If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does grant the STP 3 & 4 reactor license, we intend to continue our legal fight and appeal to federal court.

Additional concerns regarding expansion of South Texas Project include the following:

• The proposed nuclear reactors would consume vast quantities of increasingly precious water, in a time when drought is expected to increase in Texas. Reactors 3 & 4 would use
  23,000 gallons of water every minute, which equates to filling a backyard swimming pool every single minute of every day – 1440 swimming pools a day. The two existing reactors have used up to 49% of the flow of the Colorado River. With projections of increasing drought and in a time of raging wildfires in Texas, it is questionable as to whether there will be enough water to supply nuclear reactors and the many other users that need it. It is also questionable as to whether the water we do have will be cool enough to adequately cool the reactors. Brown’s Ferry in Tennessee has had to shut down in the recent past because the river water was too hot.

• The operating history of the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) design has not been stellar. The few ABWR’s that exist in Japan have had significant technical problems. All seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa site, including two ABWR’s, had to be shut down in 2002 when deliberate falsification of safety data was discovered. A major earthquake in July of 2007 caused the two ABWR reactors to remain shut down for an extended length of time. Radioactive water reached the Sea of Japan and the two reactors didn’t come back online until 2009.

• Radioactive waste remains a problem that has not been solved, so the time has come to stop generating more or it. After decades of trying, the U.S. still has no disposal site for the highly radioactive spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors, the "high-level" waste. Reactor containment vessels and other reactor wastes that remain radioactive for up to millions of years have been deemed "low-level" waste. These radioactive materials would be shipped on our highways and rails to a West Texas site that was approved despite the fact that all eight TCEQ staff members who reviewed the license unanimously recommended denying it. They raised concerns about water contamination since they believe the site will not adequately isolate the radioactive waste from water and they stated that the license did not meet legal requirements.

• There is not a good market for nuclear power. New nuclear reactors would produce energy at far higher costs than the market price of power in Texas, an unwise investment. Potomac Economics recently reported to Texas’ main grid operator, ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, in a State of the Market report that "Estimated net revenues for nuclear and coal resources were insufficient to support new market entry in 2009." This trend is continuing in 2010 because natural gas prices and wholesale market prices
  remain very low.

We look forward to working with you on projects in Texas that we can and will support, such as solar, wind or energy efficiency projects. We would greatly appreciate hearing that NRG has decided to withdraw its combined operating license application (COLA) for STP 3 & 4 and request for federal loan guarantees, as well as the re-licensing application for STP 1 & 2. Thank you and please reply to our request in writing.

Sincerely,

Karen Hadden
SEED Coalition
1303 San Antonio St., #100
Austin, Texas 78701
512-797-8481

Tom "Smitty" Smith
Public Citizen
1303 San Antonio St.
Austin, Texas 78701
512-477-1155

Susan Dancer
South Texas Association for Responsible Energy
PO Box 209
Blessing, Texas 77419

Robert Singleton
Solar Si Nuclear No
2048 W. Stassney, #234
Austin, Texas 78745

Cindy Weehler
Energia Mia
2411 W. Magnolia
San Antonio, Texas 78727

Robin Schneider
Texas Campaign for the Environment
611 S. Congress Avenue, #200
Austin, Texas 78704

Amanda Haas
Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
922 San Pedro
San Antonio, TX 78212

Diana Lopez
The Southwest Workers’ Union
P.O. Box 830706
San Antonio, TX 78283

Cyrus Reed
Lone Star Chapter Sierra Club
1202 San Antonio
Austin, Texas 78701

Russell Seal
Consumers’ Energy Coalition
202 E. Park Avenue
San Antonio, Texas 78212

Peggy Day
Alamo Group of the Lone Star Chapter Sierra Club
P.O. Box 6443
San Antonio, Texas 78209

Media Release:
For Immediate Release

March 15, 2011

Contact:
Karen Hadden, SEED Coalition 512-797-8481

Download this release in pdf format for printing.

Austin, Tx The Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition filed a petition yesterday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to intervene in the relicensing of South Texas Project nuclear reactors – Units 1 & 2. The petition asks for a hearing regarding the issues that were raised in the contentions. Citizen comments to the NRC on re-licensing can be submitted until April 1st.

"We are learning the lessons of nuclear disaster the hard way right now, watching the meltdown of nuclear reactors in Japan unfold. Protecting public health and safety and the environment must be prioritized in the U.S. and reactor accidents must be prevented," said Karen Hadden, Executive Director of the SEED Coalition. "No existing U.S. reactors should be relicensed at this time, since metal becomes fatigued over time and aging reactors are more at increasing risk for accidents."

"The NRC should deny relicensing of the South Texas Project reactors, which would allow them to operate an additional 20 years after their retirement dates of 2027 and 2028. The aging reactors were originally meant to run for about 40 years. Running them another 20 years was not in the original plan and may not be safe," said Hadden. The troubled reactors now melting down in Japan are aging reactors, commissioned in the 1970’s. Between 1979, the year of the Three Mile Island accident, until 2006, thirty-eight U.S. nuclear power reactors were shut down for at least a year for safety reasons, according to a Union of Concerned Scientists report. The two existing South Texas Project reactors both had year-long outages in 1993-1994.

SEED Coalition contends that the applicant failed to prove in its relicensing application that it meets the needed safety requirements and failed to take into account the energy savings likely to occur as a result of energy efficiency when they examined the need for power and alternative options.
Summary of Contentions – The license renewal application is inadequate because it:

• Fails to adequately address the Applicant’s capacity to deal with fires and explosions that cause a loss of large areas of the plant. The mitigative strategies for addressing fires and explosions are inadequate to address the consequences of events such as the impacts of large commercial aircraft crashing into the reactors or related facilities.

• Fails to describe the means that would be used to determine radiation exposures to fire and explosion responders.

• Fails to describe the means that would be used to protect fire and explosion responders from excessive radiation exposures.

• Fails to determine the projected decline in demand for electricity attributable to adoption of energy efficient building code in Texas. According to a study by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, building codes that increase energy efficiency may result in an energy savings of approximately 2362 MW by 2023. Such savings would nearly offset the net electrical output of 2500 MW from STP Units 1 & 2.

The applicant for license renewal is STPNOC – the South Texas Nuclear Operating Company. The Matagorda County nuclear reactors are owned by NRG South Texas LP, CPS Energy and the City of Austin. Austin gets 16% of its power from the two units.

For information on how citizens can comment on re-licensing of the reactors call Carmen Fells at 1-800-368-5642, ext. 6337.

Related documents are online at www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/south-texas-project.html.

Download and read SEED’s Petition to Intervene Filed With the NRC

Statement by Karen Hadden

March 12, 2011

Director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition
NukeFreeTexas.org
512-797-8481

The nuclear crisis in Japan, on top of the devastating earthquake and loss of lives, is absolutely horrifying and our hearts go out to all involved. Reports of radiation victims are starting to come in and it is hard to say what will come next.

Any nuclear reactor can have a loss of coolant accident. Any reactor can have a meltdown. This is the reality of the risk of nuclear power, and we shouldn’t have to keep learning this lesson after the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and the horrible scenario now unfolding in Japan. It is time to halt all nuclear investment and relicensing.

At the South Texas Project site in Bay City, a hurricane or floodwaters could knock out power and back up diesel generators. An earthquake is more likely at the Comanche Peak site than at the South Texas Project site, but both locations are also at risk for terrorist attacks that could release radiation.

There could be 18,000 early deaths from an accident at the STP site – followed by thousands of cancers, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 1982 CRAC-2 study.

SEED Coalition has filed legal opposition to proposed new reactors at both the Comanche Peak and South Texas Project sites, and we raised the issue of fires and explosions. We have gotten traction on these contentions and expect to have full hearings on these serious issues.

The risk of serious accidents is prime among the reasons our organization opposes the new reactors proposed for South Texas Project and Comanche Peak. We oppose the power purchase agreements that NRG Energy is peddling, trying to get San Antonio and Austin to buy into the STP reactors in order to prop up the federal loan guarantees for the project.

The South Texas Project Units 1 & 2 are now up for relicensing, and public comment is accepted until April 1st, with a legal opposition deadline of March 14th. It is time to look at whether relicensing nuclear reactors makes sense, especially when affordable cleaner, safer options for generating electricity are available.

There have been many close calls. In 2002 a hole was found in the Davis Besse reactor head, about the size of a basketball, with only 3/8″ of bowed steel left. Acid had corroded away nearly 6″ of the reactor head. The US is lucky that this didn’t lead to a major accident due to loss of coolant.

In 2006 in Sweden, the Forsmark reactor came close to a meltdown. They got lucky since one of the diesel generators that was expected to fail actually held and Stockholm was saved.

A study called the Nuclear Tightrope, by David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists, talks about 46 year-long reactor outages in the US that have been the result of very poor reactor maintenance, creating increased risk of accidents. The report is available online on the home page of this site.