Greetings,
My name is Dianne Valentin and I would like to share information with you about a project that I am working on with Atlanta Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND). Prior to the end of the Cold War WAND’s acronym stood for Women’s Actions for Nuclear Disarmament. When the Cold War ended the organization thought it could take a new direction. We find ourselves still dealing with nuclear issues.
Atlanta WAND is a local grassroots organization and a chapter of the national WAND organization. Atlanta WAND’s mission is to empower women & men to work politically to reduce violence and militarism and redirect excess military spending towards unmet human & environmental needs.
I am working with Atlanta WAND on a community outreach project designed to increase the awareness of local communities and support their work on environmental and health issues around the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) nuclear weapons facility and Plant Vogtle which is a nuclear power plant owned by Georgia Power Company and others.
We are working on this project in Georgia and South Carolina, both of which are adversely affected by SRS and Plant Vogtle. Our organizing and outreach efforts will be occurring in Georgia and South Carolina, particularly in the Georgia counties of Richmond, Burke, Screven, and Effingham, and the South Carolina counties of Barnwell, Allendale, and Aiken.
It is important that we engage in these communities and share with them our outreach capacity and organizing efforts to help minimize the adverse impacts of the nuclear industry on their health and environments in ways that we hope might enhance the work that they may be doing currently.
My specific request is that you share the information below with any community partners, organizations, or individuals that may be interested in participating in or submitting statements to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board regarding blocking the issuance of a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) to Southern Nuclear Company for two new reactors at Plant Vogtle. Plant Vogtle already has two reactors.
I am aware that some of your organizations are based in areas outside the southeast region of the United States, but we are all adversely affected by the activities and procedures that permit this type of thing to go on. The Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission impact the entire United States with their policies.
We must all be aware that this “early site permit” process secures approval and issuance of a license to build and operate a new nuclear power plant even though submitting the application and securing approval does not commit the application to build new units right away. The licensing process allows them to use it anytime for up to 20 years with any future application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
If the early site permits are issued, the public will not be able to raise concerns about water issues, land issues, public health issues, or safety issues at Plant Vogtle. EVER.
With the concerns that we currently face, no matter what we find out after the permit is issued, even critical data that may emerge moments after the license is issued, our hands are tied, our voices silenced.
In an Information Notice to new reactor license applicants dated April 7, 2008, the NRC informs us that counterfeit parts are being used by the nuclear power industry. Fortunately, the early site permit has not been granted for reactors #3 and #4 at Plant Vogtle, so we can still raise this type of issue on that project.
This type of thing affects all of us regardless of where we live, regardless of which nuclear facility or issue we have to deal with.
Please consider sharing the information provided below and if you know anyone or any organization that would consider participating in the action in Augusta on April 27th and/or April 28th please have them email me or call me at the Atlanta WAND office; 404.524.5999.
I appreciate your patience in reading through this rather long message and I thank you for all consideration given to my request for assistance with this outreach effort.
I bid you peace and blessings,
Dianne Valentin
diannevalentin@gmail.com
404.524.5999
Please read the call to action, critical logistical information, and background information below.
Community Action is Needed
This is a Request for Your Support
Tell the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that you have concerns about the proposed expansion of Plant Vogtle from two nuclear reactors to four. Tell the Board that you are concerned about water use, accident risks, security, nuclear waste, and health impacts.
The Action: Email or fax the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board by noon, April 25th to register* to speak at the public hearing being held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Augusta on Sunday, April 27th or Monday, April 28th.
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel,
Mail Stop: T-3F23,
U.S. NRC,
Washington, DC 20555-0001
*Registration is encouraged if you wish to make sure that you have an opportunity to speak, it is not required.
Statements in Person:
Come to the DoubleTree Hotel and Convention Center located at 2651 Perimeter Parkway, Augusta, Georgia on
(Speakers will have five minutes.)
If you can’t be there, Submit Written Statements** and make sure that you reference “Vogtle ESP comments” Submit written statements by:
Statements by Postal Mail:
Office of the Secretary,
Attn: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff,
Mail Stop: O-16C1,
Statements by Email: hearingdocket@nrc.gov or
Statements by Fax: (301) 415-1101
**You must submit a copy of your written statement to:
Administrative Judge G. Paul Bollwerk, III,
Important Note:
Members of the public who pre-register will receive priority consideration to speak at the meetings. Written pre-registration requests must be e-mailed to the ASLB by noon EDT on Friday, April 25. Each request must specify the session (Sunday or Monday) at which the requester wishes to make an oral statement. The Board reserves the right to conclude a session ahead of the scheduled ending time if all speakers present have made a presentation.
The Atomic Safety Licensing Board (ASLB) strongly advises those attending the pre-hearing conference or comment sessions to arrive early to allow time for security screening. The Board also requests attendees avoid bringing unnecessary hand‑carried items, such as packages, briefcases, backpacks, or other items that might need individual examination. Attendees will not be able to store such items outside the rooms, and items requiring inspection could delay a person’s admission to a session. Items that could readily be used as weapons are banned from the room where these sessions will be held. The ASLB’s rules limit signs to 18 square inches, and signs may not be attached to sticks, held above one’s head, or moved about in the room. Attempting to disrupt the pre-hearing conference or the sessions will not be tolerated.
The first step Georgia utilities are taking to try to get federal approval to build new nuclear reactors along the Savannah River is to apply for an “early site permit.” If the permit is issued, concerns such as water, land, public health, and safety cannot be brought up again even if we learn new information. For example, the new reactors will require tens of millions of gallons of water above and beyond the tens of millions Vogtle is already pulling from the Savannah River—this issue cannot be revisited again if the “early site permit” is granted. If approved, this permit essentially allows the Southern Company and its utility partners in Georgia to use the permit at any time for up to 20 years in any future applications with the NRC. Together, Atlanta WAND, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Center for a Sustainable Coast, Savannah Riverkeeper, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy legally challenged the permit.
Please feel free to use this background information in your comments:
Water Use & Supply:
-Vogtle’s 2 existing reactors require huge amounts of water with only 1/3 of what was withdrawn being returned to the Savannah River [~64 million gallons per day (mgd) withdrawal with consumption of ~43 mgd]. That’s more water than many towns and cities in Georgia use!
-Doubling the number of reactors on site will only make this worse. This excess use of water threatens municipalities, industries, agriculture, recreation, and aquatic species. If there is an extended drought—even a drought 20 or 40 years from now, severe consequences could occur.
Water Quality
-The water discharged from nuclear Plant Vogtle is already hotter than what is withdrawn; more reactors will only make this situation worse. Temperature changes negatively affect the fish, plant, and animal life that depend on the river.
-The water intake systems at nuclear power plants can kill fish and fish larvae, among other organisms; having more reactors on site will only make this worse.
Nuclear Waste
-High-level radioactive waste created (used nuclear fuel) has no place to be stored or disposed, nor is it likely that a ‘solution’ will be found in our lifetimes; building more nuclear reactors will only make this situation worse.
-Existing and future projected waste will remain onsite at Plant Vogtle for generations and generations, threatening indefinitely the health of nearby communities and the environment. Yet the NRC in previous cases has refused to even address or consider this very important issue!
-Nuclear plants are vulnerable to terrorist attack and sabotage; building more nuclear reactors will only make this situation worse by providing more targets.
-Plant Vogtle is also very close to the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, which stores a large portion of the nation’s weapons grade plutonium and other dangerous materials. If an accident or successful terrorist attack occurred, the full impacts to human health and the environment in this region would be immense.
Human Health
-A 1982 Congressional report estimated that if a meltdown occurred at just one of Vogtle’s reactors it could cause 39,000 peak* early injuries, 4000 peak cancer deaths, and 200 peak early fatalities with costs over $60 billion; building more reactors will only worsen these terrible impacts and put more people’s lives and health at risk. These communities are already heavily burdened by pollution in the area. (*Peak means highest calculated value from the study – it does not necessarily mean worst case.)
For more information on nuclear power, see
http://www.cleanenergy.org/programs/programs.cfm?ID=4.
For the NRC’s information on the Vogtle application process, see
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/esp/vogtle.html
***Background information provided by Sara Barczak and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, www.cleanenergy.org.
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