A company called #HOLTEC wants to dump #NuclearWaste into a river that tens of millions live near, and that goes through #NewYorkCity, so of course U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas just decided that the law telling them to put the waste somewhere else doesn't exist anymore.
#News #HoltecInternational #IndianPoint #Waste #Radioactive #HudsonRiver #Law #NewYork #NewJersey
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/york-law-curbing-radioactive-indian-221304508.html
“Judge Allows Indian Point Discharges”
Wait for it…
“#Holtec says no wastewater releases imminent”
https://highlandscurrent.org/2025/09/26/judge-allows-indian-point-discharges/
Hyundai E&C emerges as potential game changer in US SMR market, leveraging nuclear power plant experience and global partnerships
#YonhapInfomax #HyundaiEC #SMRMarket #NuclearPower #Holtec #GlobalExpansion #Economics #FinancialMarkets #Banking #Securities #Bonds #StockMarket
https://en.infomaxai.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=62179
#FirstVoicesRadio Host #TiokasinGhosthorse, Cheyenne River #Lakota, Welcomes #LeonaMorgan, #Diné, '#HaulNo!'
By First Voices Radio, March 9, 2025
Kingston, NY: "This week’s program was inspired by 'Flagstaff ‘NO!’ To Radioactive Trucks', an article by our friend #BrendaNorrell in #CensoredNews on February 10, 2025. Returning guest Leona Morgan (Diné) is an #Indigenous organizer who has been fighting #NuclearColonialism since 2007. She is a cofounder of Haul No!, a campaign to stop a #UraniumMine near the #GrandCanyon and transport thru #NavajoNation. Recently, Leona helped to halt #Holtec in #NewMexico. Leona is also pursuing a Master of Community and Regional Planning at the University of
New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/03/first-voices-radio-tiokasins-guest-is.html
'Flagstaff ‘NO!’ To Radioactive Trucks', February 10, 2025: https://bit.ly/3F8Tzb5.
For more information, visit these websites: https://haulno.com/, https://www.genderandradiation.org/
and https://radioactivewastecoalition.org
#HaulNo #NoMoreFukushimas #NoMoreChernobyls #FourCornersToFukushima #NoNukes #NuclearWeapons #NuclearWaste #FukushimaIsntOver #RethinkNotRestart #WaterIsLife #StopNucléaire #Nucléaire #EnergiesRenouvelables #AntiAtom #NoNukes #NuclearIsNotCarbonFree #AtomkraftNeinDanke #PinyonPlain #WhiteMesaMill #NoUraniumMining #DefendTheSacred #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #ShutDownPinyonPlain #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#ReaderSupportedNews #DontNukeTheGrandCanyon #DontNukeThePlanet #WeAreTheFuture
#UteNation
#Palisades power plant will restart. Here's where on the #GreatLakes #NuclearPlants operate
Story by Sarah Moore, Lansing State Journal, 2/27/2025
"Owners of Michigan's Palisades nuclear energy plant this week announced a new five-year program aimed at restarting the power station while adding two smaller, modular reactors to the existing facility.
"Holtec has launched 'Mission 2030,' a program to build America’s first small modular reactors — Holtec’s SMR-300 — at the Palisades site in Covert Township, Michigan, with a target of 2030 for first commercial operation.' Holtec International said in a release. "The new SMR-300s will be co-located with the existing 800-megawatt Palisades plant, which is on track to restart after an extended outage following shutdown in 2022.'
"The program was discussed at a ceremony Feb. 25, at which #Holtec said it has joined forces with #Hyundai Engineering & Construction to build a 10-gigawatt fleet of SMR-300s in North America, the release said.
"Nuclear energy production is seeing growing interest for power generation because it requires no fossil fuels and can help reduce greenhouse gases. The systems, however, generate tons of highly #RadioactiveWaste that has to be stored. In #Michigan, waste is stored within a short distance of the #GreatLakes in some locations."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/palisades-power-plant-will-restart-heres-where-on-the-great-lakes-nuclear-plants-operate/ar-AA1zUV7D
#RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #Renewables #RenewablesNow #WaterIsLife #RadioactivePollution #HoltecLies
High tide for #Holtec
#Tritium dumped into #CapeCodBay will wash back onto community shores, says a new report
"The permanently closed Pilgrim nuclear power plant is now owned by Holtec, which wants to dump #RadioactiveWastewater into Cape Cod Bay. While waiting for a permit, so far denied, the company is quietly venting #tritium into the air."
by Linda Pentz Gunter, Posted on December 29, 2024
"Holtec, the company that has purchased a number of permanently closed #nuclear reactors in order to decommission them, has encountered yet another obstacle to its '#dilution is the solution to pollution' plans.
"One of the reactor sites Holtec has taken over is #PilgrimNuclearPlant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Cape Cod Bay, which closed permanently in 2019. Holtec’s not-so-little problem there is what do with what started out as at least 1.1 million gallons of radioactively contaminated #wastewater stored at the site.
"The company first suggested it would simply release the wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, assuring residents and the immediately alarmed fishing community not to worry because (a) the wastewater isn’t dangerous anyway (b) everyone does this all the time at reactor sites and no one has gotten sick so far and (c) it would quickly disperse into the wider ocean. Holtec chose this disposal method for one reason alone: it is the cheapest.
"The proposal was vigorously fought by citizens, the state, and powerful Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Ed Markey. The state of Massachusetts effectively banned the discharge option, a decision Holtec is contesting.
"That Final Determination to Deny Application to Modify a Massachusetts Permit to Discharge Pollutants to Surface Waters was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [#MassDEP] Division of Watershed Management on July 18, 2024. A month later, Holtec launched its appeal to reverse the decision, something that could take months or longer to find its way to court.
"In the meantime, help has come from a new quarter in the form of an in-depth study by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution [#WHOI], also, as it happens, based on the Massachusetts shoreline, near Falmouth.
"The study — Model-Based Study of Near-Surface Transport in and around Cape Cod Bay, Its Seasonal Variability, and Response to Wind — found that contrary to Holtec’s claims, the wastewater would not immediately disperse into the ocean, but would linger potentially for months, and wash up on the shores of area communities.
“'We found virtually no out-of-the-Bay transport in winter and fall and slightly larger, but still low, probability of some of the plume exiting the Bay in spring and summer,' said Woods Hole study leader and physical oceanographer, Irina Rypina.
"The radioactively contaminated wastewater stored at Pilgrim is contaminated with what Holtec and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have described as 'four gamma emitters — #Manganese54, #Cobalt60, #Zinc65 and #Cesium137 along with #Tritium, a beta radiation emitter'.
"While the Woods Hole Study did not look at the health outcomes of releasing the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay — only at the plume pathway — there are plenty of data that demonstrate the harmful effects of these #radioisotopes on human health, especially women and children.
"After acquiring the Pilgrim reactor, Holtec’s President and CEO, Kris Singh, assured surrounding communities that,
'the decommissioning of Pilgrim will replicate the superb record of public health and safety and environmental protection that typified the plant’s 47 years of operations.'
But since that acquisition, Markey observed, 'Holtec has fallen woefully short on this commitment.' He noted of the Woods Hole report that 'In light of these recent findings, I urge Holtec to develop a wastewater discharge plan that is informed and guided by scientific fact and community input.'
"Long-time #PilgrimWatch activist, #MaryLampert, welcomed the report’s initial findings and said that 'Holtec dumping Pilgrim’s radiological and chemically #contaminated wastewater into semi-enclosed CapeCod Bay is harmful to human health, the environment, and our marine economy.'
"In a handbook explaining Pilgrim’s decommissioning process on the Pilgrim Watch website, the authors note that 'Cape Cod Bay, #PlymouthBay, #DuxburyBay, and #KingstonBay are all protected #OceanSanctuaries. Cape Cod Bay is a critical habitat for right whales and other endangered or special species. Dumping this #radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into them would cause incalculable economic damage and would harm both the environment and public health.'
"Absent a liquid discharge permit, Holtec’s preferred solution since has been to quietly evaporate the wastewater into the air. It has done this, as revealed during a Pilgrim Nuclear Decommissioning Citizen Advisory Panel meeting, by installing submerged electric heaters to increase the plant’s ambient temperature, ostensibly in order to improve worker comfort and expedite the drying of plant components.
"But, as Markey noted in an April 30, 2024 letter to Singh, the consequence of installing the heaters in that location 'is an increased rate of wastewater evaporation above the pace at which it occurs naturally.' That 1.1 million gallons is now down to 880,000 gallons remain, according to Holtec’s own reports.
"As Lampert points out, 'Meteorology studies show 60% of winds blow offshore,' which means at least some of that evaporated wastewater is going to fall into the bay anyway.
"Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, Holtec has four disposal options: liquid discharge, evaporation, storage onsite, and shipping to a licensed facility. None of them are good solutions.
"In August, Holtec filed an appeal against the state’s ban on liquid radioactive discharges, in part claiming that the decision on whether or not to allow the discharge falls under federal not state jurisdiction.
"This, argue some opponents of Holtec’s discharge plans, is a stall and a distraction while it quietly gets on with the gradual evaporation of all the wastewater.
"'They’re using the appeal to buy themselves time,' Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, told radio station WBUR. 'And what they buy themselves, with time, is the ability to continue to induce evaporation of the wastewater, so that ultimately it’s gone, at minimal cost to them.'
"Lampert agrees. 'Holtec can evaporate all the water to meet its schedule to dismantle the reactor building,' she said.
"In October, Lampert, along with other citizens representing the fishing, environmental, real estate and medical communities traveled to Boston to meet with staff in Massachusetts Governor Mary Healy’s office to demand that Healy’s administration call a halt to the evaporation.
"'There are laws on the books already that prohibit #AirbornePollution,' Diane Turco of #CapeDownwinders told the local NPR station after the Boston meeting. “And we’re asking our governor to immediately enforce those laws… She’s been very strong about no dumping in the bay. And we see this as a parallel assault on our communities,' Turco said.
"So far the governor has not taken action."
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2024/12/29/high-tide-for-holtec/
#HoltecLies #PilgrimNuclear #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoRadioactiveDumping #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #RadioactiveWaterDumping #NewEngland #BeyondNuclearInternational
Risky Revival: How #Michigan’s #Palisades #NuclearPlant could impact agriculture
While state leaders champion the Palisades reopening as an energy solution, local farmers remain divided over the potential threats to their land and water.
by S. Nicole Lane, for Investigate Midwest December 10, 2024
COVERT, Michigan — "The Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, long synonymous with safety lapses and regulatory oversight, is poised for an unprecedented comeback under Michigan Gov. #GretchenWhitmer’s plan to reopen the shuttered plant by 2025 — the first attempt of its kind in U.S. history.
"However, in this robust agricultural region, there are fears about how reopening a problematic plant could impact area farmers and the food they produce.
"Approximately 6,362 farms are within 50 miles of Palisades. In Van Buren County alone, where the plant is located, there are 838 farms. Michigan’s southwestern corner, home to 80% of the state’s farms, is often called the 'blueberry capital of the world.'
"'A leak (and) this 150-year-old farm is done,' said Bill Adams, who runs Adams Blueberry Farms in Hartford, Michigan, 16 miles south of the plant. 'Why would they restart something that old and sitting this long?'
"Opened in 1971, Palisades, which is located along #LakeMichigan, once generated 5% of Michigan’s electricity, enough to power 800,000 homes. But a litany of mechanical issues plagued its operations for decades.
"In 2013, the plant leaked 79 gallons of diluted #RadioactiveWater into Lake Michigan, forcing a five-week shutdown — its ninth closure in just two years.
"Federal regulators repeatedly flagged the plant for safety concerns, from undetected #RadiationExposure among employees in 2008 to persistent cracks in its 300,000-gallon storage tank that leaked for over a decade. In 2012, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) described Palisades as having some of the worst cases of nuclear fuel container weakening in the nation.
"The plant was permanently shut down on May 31, 2022, with its owners citing financial and safety concerns. But just months later, Whitmer announced a plan to revive Palisades, reigniting debates over the risks and benefits of #NuclearEnergy in a state still grappling with its troubled legacy.
"Typically, after 40 years, a nuclear power plant is closed and undergoes a complex decommissioning process that can take up to 30 years to complete. Globally, the only plants that have reopened are in Japan.
"#Holtec Decommissioning International bought Palisades in 2022 with the goal of dismantling it. Now, with Whitmer’s support, they have since decided to reopen the plant, something Holtec has never done.
"Neither Holtec nor Whitmer’s office responded to multiple requests for comment. "
#NoNukes #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #RethinkNotRestart #RenewablesNow #Holtec #HoltecLies #USPol #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #NuclearPowerPlants
Just a little embezzlement. I'm sure they think only of your safety in their nuclear operations:
"New legal claims offer ‘warning signs’ about energy firm Holtec, critics say"
A long-read many decades brain-dump from my former @greenpeaceusa colleague Kevin Kamps on why #Holtec's attempts to resuscitate the #USA #Palisades #nuclear power station are ill-conceived. Nuclear distracts from urgent #ClimateAction.
https://www.powermag.com/blog/nuclear-renaissance-recalls-past-boondoggles-legacy-of-failures/
Amerikaanse overheid steunt heropening kerncentrale in michigan https://www.trendingtech.news/trending-news/2024/10/39872/amerikaanse-overheid-steunt-heropening-kerncentrale-in-michigan #kernenergie #Palisades #Holtec #klimaatdoelen #Biden-administratie #Trending #News #Nieuws
#Biden’s $1.5 Billion Deal To Resurrect A #NuclearPlant Is Facing Fresh Drama
Story by Alexander C. Kaufman
August 9, 2024
"The United States’ effort to reverse the permanent shutdown of a nuclear station for the first time hit a potential snag this week when an ex-employee at the facility went public with safety concerns about reopening the 53-year-old power plant.
"Now the company that owns the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station on Michigan’s southwest coast is hitting back at what it called a series of “assumptions” and “inaccurate statements” from Alan Blind, a former engineering director.
"Blind’s seven-year tenure overlapped with “a period when the plant performed poorly and required significant improvements” and ended nearly a decade before its closure two years ago, according to Florida-based #Holtec International, which bought the station from utility giant #Entergy following its shutdown in May 2022.
"In an unusually pointed 1,000-word rebuttal, Holtec said “significant investments, upgrades, and modifications were made by the prior owner to dramatically and measurably improve plant reliability” in the nine years after Blind’s departure. The company said the process is “on schedule” and announced at a public meeting this month that the plant is on track to reopen in October 2025.
"But Blind cast doubt on Holtec’s proposed budget and timeline for restoring #Palisades given that no U.S. reactor has ever come back online after ceasing operations ahead of a planned demolition.
[...]
"The money is going out. In January, the Biden administration put up $1.1 billion to keep California’s last nuclear power station [#DiabloCanyon] from closing. Two months later, the Department of Energy offered Holtec a loan worth $1.5 billion to make Palisades the first U.S. nuclear plant to ever come back online after shutting down in preparation for decommissioning.
"At least two other utilities are now considering restarting shuttered nuclear reactors, including the unit at the #ThreeMileIsland facility in Pennsylvania that did not melt down in 1979.
"On Monday, Reuters cited Blind saying the Palisades plant received waivers from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that exempted the facility from modern safety standards that prevent insulation on pipes from breaking down and clogging cooling systems, guard against #earthquakes and curb risks from #fires."
#RethinkNotRestart #RenewablesNow #NoNukes #PalisadesNuclearPlant #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies #Michigan #WaterIsLife
Closed #NuclearPlant’s readiness to restart focus of next public meeting
By Sheri McWhirter
Published: Jul. 26, 2024, 8:59 a.m.
BENTON HARBOR, MI – "Federal regulators, next week, will be part of a public meeting on the restart of the #Palisades Nuclear Power Plant.
"The chairperson of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently told Congress the nuclear plant along Lake Michigan near South Haven may be generating electricity again by August 2025. Officials with the agency are expected to talk more about that at a Thursday, Aug. 1 public meting in Benton Harbor.
"The meeting will be in Grand Upton Hall at Lake Michigan College, but there also will be online and telephone options to participate.
"This is the first time in American history that the repowering of a nuclear power plant is being considered after the facility began decommissioning.
"The nuclear plant restart effort recently received a $1.52 billion federal loan guarantee from the federal Department of Energy as part of national efforts to maintain the existing nuclear power fleet to provide carbon-free energy and ultimately fight climate change. Michigan contributed $300 million to the effort.
"The coming meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. and run until 9 p.m.
How to participate:
Attend in person at the Grand Upton Hall, Lake Michigan College, 2755 E. Napier Ave., in Benton Harbor.
Find the link to attend the virtual option [linked below].
Telephone into the meeting by calling 301-576-2978, using conference ID 110229600, and passcode 110229600#.
"Officials from #Holtec International, the company that owns the 1970s-era nuclear plant, also will make a presentation about ongoing restart-related efforts.
"The public will have an opportunity to ask questions and make comments following the presentations by the #NRC and Holtec. Those attending in person will be granted priority to speak."
https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg?do=details&Code=20240943
#PublicMeeting #RethinkNotRestart
#NoNukes #WaterIsLife
#PalisadesNuclearPowerPlant
HOLTEC to New York State: how dare you monitor our nuclear waste dumping in your state!
SOS - #SanOnofreSyndrome
A timely and urgent story with global implications
"This is the official trailer for SOS – The #SanOnofre Syndrome: Nuclear Power’s Legacy that is now getting enthusiastic screenings in communities around the country and the world.
"Thirteen years in production, SOS was begun by filmmakers Mary Beth Brangan and James Heddle in response to #Fukushima in their recognition that California had – and has - its own potential Fukushimas, right here at home. Morgan Peterson joined the SOS Team later on as co-director and principle editor.
"The film, which garnered a Grand Jury Award for Feature Documentary at its World Premiere in Hollywood’s Awareness Film Festival in October, tells the dramatic story of how local residents educated themselves, organized and evolved strategies and tactics that were successful in shutting down the plant’s pair of defective, leaking reactors, despite the utility’s plans to continue their operation.
"Then, to their dismay, they realized their work was not yet done. They had to continue their education and organizing efforts in opposition to plans by #SouthernCaliforniaEdison and #Holtec International to store xx tons of high level, #radioactive waste in thin-walled, corrosion-prone metal canisters located over active #earthquake faults in a #tsunami zone just yards from the rising sea.
#NuclearPower’s Legacy
"The film’s sub-title refers to the two aspects of #nuclear power’s legacy portrayed - The proven impact of the #PeoplePower of informed #CitizenAction; and The eternal challenge of responsible #NuclearWaste management.
"SOS – The San Onofre Syndrome is designed to alert and inform citizens in America’s seventy-plus existing reactor communities – and others around the world - about the empowering lessons learned in #California, and of how the recommended approach of ‘rolling stewardship’ can be applied to their unique circumstances."
Trailer by Josh Dinner - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2332434/
To Arrange a Screening - https://sanonofresyndrome.com/
Please visit our website - SOS - The San Onofre Syndrome https://sanonofresyndrome.com/
YouTube trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDF1bLN9K8c
#UraniumFilmFestival
#InternationalUraniumFilmFestival #WaterIsLife #NoNukes #NoWar #Activism
Remember -- what #Holtec doesn't spend, they get to keep! A good reason to cut corners!
Report: Holtec to receive $1.5B federal loan to restart [troubled] #Palisades #NuclearPowerPlant
January 31, 2024
"The information on the loan appears to have been leaked and wasn’t supposed to be made public until late February. That’s according to an unidentified official close to the matter."
#NuclearSafety #RethinkNotRestart #Michigan #NoNukes #LakeMichigan #WaterIsLife
"Oyster Creek power plant owners face fine after too much radiation detected in equipment shipment"
#Holtec #nuclear #NuclearPower #decommissioning #OysterCreek
For this week’s #FollowFriday, an updated list of my favorite #NoNukes / #NoWar accounts. Some of you from the bird site may recognize some familiar accounts! #FF
@NoelWauchope
Long term anti-nuclear activist #anti-nuclear #nuclear-Free #NoNukes Facebook Substack
@bojacobs
Nuclear historian at the #Hiroshima Peace Institute. Book - Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha - Yale 2022. I work on the global human & ecological harm from nuclear production, nuclear weapon tests, reactor accidents. I examine the impacts on communities, families & emotions; long-term ecological presence of fallout #radionuclides; the legacy of our #NuclearWaste to 1,000s of generations of our descendants.
#histodons #nuclear #Hiroshima #peace
@CNDuk
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Find out more: cnduk.org
@nukes_of_hazard
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Working to limit & eventually eliminate the nuclear threat through Congressional & public outreach.
@YourAnonRiots
(Has timely #Fukushima posts!)
In the name of all #digital warriors, we warriors promise to participate in the #Anonymous.CC3 #HackThePlanet #AnonOps #infosec #Antifa
@brianpjcronin
(Covers #IndianPoint and #Holtec)
#Environmental Reporter for The Highlands Current: An award-winning, non-profit, independent newspaper in New York's Hudson Valley. I also teach journalism at Marist College. Not actually a cat.
@ausgestrahlt
#Atomkraft? Nein Danke! Wir streiten für eine Welt ohne #Atomenergie.
Nuclear power? No thank you! We are fighting for a world without nuclear energy.
@AntiAtomNetzTrier
We, #AntiAtom #AntiAKW moving people from #Trier and the surrounding area, are committed to the decommissioning of all nuclear plants and an ecological #Energiewende (decentralized and democratic, i.e. in the hands of citizens!). We oppose the French repository project #Bure in Lorraine with the resistance house #BureZoneLibre and for the closure of the #AKW #Cattenom. In addition, we support the switch to #Ökostrom|providers without #Atom or #Kohle|corporations as well as to corresponding banks.
@Achim
Energy historian, with a focus on Soviet and Russian nuclear programmes. PhD candidate at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
@123456Moto
(My lifeline here on Mastodon. Posts Leilani Athenaire’s tweets and news from #Japan)
@bsmall2
Born in USA, PA. Living in Kyushu, Miyazaki. Graded Direct Method(GDM) teacher. DrRacket (Racket-Language) hobbyist. GNU/Linux Debian Gnome and emacs user. Learning from the 公害(Catastrophic Polluting of the Commons) in Minamata 水俣 and Toroku 土呂久.
@pandapanda
Peace of mind and acceptance of the unchangeable The courage to change what can be changed. May you have the wisdom and compassion to discern both
@fukumeltdowns
Fukushima #ELE #ClimateEmergency #NuclearCrimes
Stay UN-TUNA-ED! #Wigner
#RadBrain #NoMoreWars #NoNukes #AllTheSpentFuelPoolsAreCracked
#OpShutDownAllNukesNow
@SZKN29
Illustrator, picture book author, care worker. I mainly cover Futaba District, Fukushima Prefecture on foot. A total of 410 km was covered. Tokyo Shimbun "Drawing Invisible Radioactivity"
@armscontrolnow
The #ArmsControl Association, founded in 1971, is a nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies.
And the #BidenAdministration should give #Holtec more money to restart #PalisadesNuclearPlant? Ummmm...
#NRC Fines #Holtec Once Again - Red Flags for #OysterCreek
January 28, 2022
Media Contact: Anjuli.Ramos@sierraclub.org
"Holtec Decommission International was fined again by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Holtec agreed to pay a $50,000 fine after the plant’s armorer #falsified documents at the #OysterCreekNuclearPlant in #LaceyTownship. According to the NRC investigation, the agency found that the plant’s armorer failed to perform mandatory firearms inspections and falsified related records. This is the second fine in two months for Holtec. In December, the company agreed to pay a $150,000 penalty for security related violations, however this time neither NRC nor Holtec disclosed the details of the violation due to the sensitivity of it.
“This is the second time in two months that Holtec has been fined for security related violations for the former Oyster Creek #NuclearPlant. It's the latest red flag in a series of red flags when it comes to Holtec. These violations should be an alarm bell going off for NRC not just to hold Holtec accountable, but to intervene in Holtec’s security and management of the site. It’s good that NRC conducted investigations and penalized Holtec, however that is clearly not enough, as this continues to happen,' said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Director of the Sierra Club.
"The public is concerned about Holtec’s plan to move still-hot nuclear waste out of water pools and into dry cask storage in half the usual time, typically 5 years. They claim their casts are proprietary and have not disclosed details about their design to the public. Until the rods are out of the spent-fuel pools and put into dry cask storage, the plant is extremely vulnerable. If there is a power outage, storm surge, or flood, the rods could melt down and create serious public health and environmental damage.
“The NRC and New Jersey must make sure there is proper oversight and to ensure Holtec is following safety protocols. This area is impacted by sea-level rise and climate change. During Sandy, the floodwaters came up onto the site at Oyster Creek. Storing nuclear waste in a site that already presents safety flaws is incredibly dangerous. If Holtec isn’t storing nuclear rods correctly, it could lead to major public health and environmental problems. That is why we need to make sure Holtec is not cutting corners [because as we all know, Holtec gets to keep what it doesn't spend] and will ensure transparency,' said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Director of the Sierra Club."
https://www.sierraclub.org/new-jersey/blog/2022/01/nrc-fines-holtec-once-again-red-flags-for-oyster-creek
#NuclearPlants #Holtec #NRCViolations #RethinkNotRestart #HoltecLies #RenewablesNow
#Holtec under ‘criminal investigation,’ EDA says in since-redacted court filing
By Matt Friedman and Katherine Landergan, June 24, 2020
"Holtec International, which received one of the biggest #TaxCredits in #NewJersey history, is under criminal investigation, according to a legal brief filed Monday by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
"The brief was in response to a lawsuit Holtec — an #energy technology company — filed against the EDA in March for holding up a $26 million payment on its $260 million tax incentive to build a facility in Camden. The delay was because of an allegedly false answer Holtec gave on its 2014 tax credit application.
“Holtec’s #misrepresentations — which include its failure to disclose a prior government debarment by the Tennessee Valley Authority (the ‘#TVA’) for bribing an official of that agency — first came to light during an investigation conducted by the Governor’s Task Force on the Economic Development Authority’s Tax Incentive Program, and they are now the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation,” reads the June 22 brief by attorney Ricardo Solano."
#CorporationsLie #Corruption #Government #Nuclear #NuclearPlants #RethinkNotRestart
A timeline of incidents at #Palisades #Nuclear Power Plant since 2007
Published: May. 12, 2013
"COVERT TOWNSHIP, MI -- The leak that shut down Palisades Nuclear Power Plant May 5 is one of a series of incidents that have bedeviled the nuclear reactor in recent years.
"#Entergy Corp. bought Palisades from Consumers Energy in 2007 for $380 million. The one-reactor plant, which is located along #LakeMichigan in #CovertTownship, supplies about 20 percent of the utility's power. The facility came online in 1971 and its license runs until 2031 [it was decommissioned in 2022].
"Below is a timeline of incidents at Palisades since 2007, based on NRC reports and previous MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette articles.
2007 -- Palisades' head of security resigned amid revelations he had fabricated some of his credentials.
2008 -- An NRC safety assessment found Palisades failed "to recognize and assess the impact of radiological hazards in the workplace." The NRC found that Palisades failed to determine how much radiation employees were exposed to after radiation monitors worn by the workers warned of an exposure.
August 2008 -- Five workers were trapped for 90 minutes inside a high-temperature area when a hatch malfunctioned. The NRC launched a probe and found the plant did not take proper precautions to prevent such occurrences.
2009 -- During an inspection, the NRC found that workers failed to notice a problem in the pool where spent fuel rods are kept. The finding, labeled a "low to moderate safety" risk that did not endanger the public, kept Palisades on the NRC's list of plants that required additional regulatory oversight for a second year. The plant's 2009 safety assessment also found problems with human performance regarding "error-prevention techniques."
May 2010
-- A Palisades manager left the control room without following protocol and the event was not reported within 24 hours, the NRC found.
January 2011
-- Palisades operated at 55 percent power for eight days after a cooling-water pump lost power when an electrical bus failed. The event did not represent a threat to health and safety, the NRC said.
May 2011
-- While NRC inspectors were conducting a routine test of the plant’s auxiliary feed water system, a turbine-driven pump was tripped. Investigators found a component of the pump that was greased and should not have been. The NRC classified the event as a "low to moderate" safety significance.
August 2011
-- The NRC launched a special inspection after the failure of a coupling that holds pipes together. It found Palisades did not follow industry standards when choosing the coupling and the cracking was preventable. Palisades replaced all couplings.
September 2011
-- Palisades shut down between Sept. 16 and Sept. 20 for repairs, after workers discovered a leaking valve in the system that cools the reactor.
September 2011
-- Palisades shut down for a week after a breaker fault in the plant's electrical system Sept. 25, when a worker performing maintenance on an electrical panel when a piece of metal came into contact with another metal piece and caused an arc. There were no injuries reported. The NRC launched a special investigation, the second in two months. The investigation found that during the incident, which it named of "substantial significance to safety," Palisades did not follow proper safety protocols before the shutdown.
November 2011
-- The NRC bumped Palisades down a level to the Regulatory Response column as a result of the May 2011 incident.
January 2012
-- Palisades shut down for 3-1/2 days to repair a wearing seal on a control rod mechanism.
February 2012
-- The NRC downgraded Palisades to the third regulatory column, making it among the four-worst performing reactors in the U.S. The downgrade came as a result of the two special investigations launched in 2011.
June 2012
-- Palisades shut down for a month to repair a leak in its safety injection refueling water tank. Numerous cracks were found within the 300,000-gallon storage tank, according to reports. When the plant returned to service, the tank was still leaking, but due to its size, it did not pose a safety risk, the NRC found.
July 2012
-- An independent review of Palisades found "examples of a lack of accountability at all levels."
The study, conducted by Conger & Elsea Inc. in January and February 2012, looked at plant operations related to human performance, safety-conscious work environment, problem identification and resolution.
August 2012
-- Palisades shut down for 18 days to repair a leak in the control rod mechanism drive in the containment building. The NRC sent a three-inspector team and launched a special inspection of the pressure-boundary leak. During the 30 days before the location of the leak was discovered, up to 10,000 gallons of radioactive water leaked from the containment vessel. The water was contained and did not pose a safety risk to the public, the NRC found.
September 2012
-- An NRC inspector found what it characterized as a small leak in a valve in the service water system. The water was not radioactive and did not represent a health or safety risk, the NRC said.
November 2012
-- Palisades shuts down for three days to repair a steam leak inside the plant's auxiliary building.
November 2012
-- The NRC upgraded Palisades after an 11-day inspection in September found that Entergy had made improvements and addressed deficiencies. The NRC ordered an additional 1,000 hours of inspections in 2013, on top of the standard 2,000 hours.
February 2013
-- Palisades shut down for six days to repair a leak in the component cooling water system. It was leaking 35 gallons of non-radioactive water an hour before the shutdown, the NRC said. The leak did not represent a threat to the public or the plant, the NRC said.
March 2013
-- Palisades was one of three U.S. plants with significant safety events, or "near-misses" in the past three years, according to a report by the independent Union of Concerned Scientists. The near-misses at Palisades resulted from long-standing problems, the UCS said, and it charged the NRC with failing to enforce violations.
May 2013
-- On May 5, Palisades shut down after the leak in the safety injection refueling water tank accelerated from one a day to 90 gallons within a 24-hour period, the NRC said. On May 4, before the shutdown, some 79 gallons of radioactive water from the tank went down a drain into a capture basin, where it was extremely diluted, according to the NRC, and ended up in Lake Michigan. The NRC has sent an additional inspector to Palisades, and one of its health physicists is also investigating the incident. As of May 10, Palisades was still offline while workers and inspectors search for the source of the leak and make repairs."
Source:
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2013/05/palisades_nuclear_power_plant_14.html
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