More Bad News For Nuclear Renaissance Leaking Out of Tokyo electric Power

Interesting Article, with several crucial pieces of new information:

1. The Tokyo Electric Power Company confirmed today that 2,000 tons of water flooded the basement of the building that houses the facility's No. 1 reactor.

This is the first time this piece of information came out, and why put it in tons? Could it be, that TEPCO is hoping not to have to admit publicly that the basement of the building housing reactor number one got flooded with almost half a million gallons of water?

2. An estimated 1.2 cubic meters of radioactive water flowed into the sea, but the company said it is still not certain about the total amount of water that flowed from the pool.

Curious here...how can they claim a release of 1.2 cubic meters of radioactive water into the sea, while claiming they have no idea how much irradiated water leaked from the pool? Especially since their own report admits their low spent pool water sensors went off for all seven spent fuel pools.

3. TEPCO says that during the incident, radioactive material was twice vented into the air.

Seeing as one of these leaks went undetected for three days, shouldn't we be told HOW MUCH leaked into the air? Shouldn't the citizens of Japan be told this?

4. TEPCO has started on repairs of minor damage at the plant, and the company will soon prepare a plan for the detailed check of safety-significant equipment such as the reactor internals, said the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. A detailed inspection of the reactors will be conducted based on that plan.

I am a betting man here, and guessing there is a reason no reactor internal investigations have been done yet...TEPCO wants to let the uproar die down first, then after people have settled down, release the bad news findings a bit at a time so that it does not grab world wide headlines.

5. Minister Amari acknowledged today that the government failed to carefully examine fault lines near nuclear power plants, and said a stricter review system is needed, the Kyodo news agency reported.

Any one care to bet that the NRC could state the same fact about Indian Point, Diablo Canyon and other reactors near seismic faults here in America?

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Reactor Accident Worse Than Three Mile Island

With each passing hour, with each passing day, the reports coming out of Japan make it clear that the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant accident is in some ways far worse than the accident at Three Mile Island, and citizens in the area surrounding the reactors are in grave peril as long as these seven reactors owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Company are in operation. As information comes streaming in, as the damage estimates and contamination amounts grow, one thing is obvious...all seven Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors are in serious trouble, and need to be decommissioned in the name of public health and safety. To do other wise exposes the citizens of Japan to a nuclear disaster potentially far more devastating than Hiroshima ever was.

In the early hours following the 6.8 on the richter scale earthquake, officials at Tokyo Electric Power knew they were in trouble, but refused to sound the alarm, waiting hours to inform the authorities that they were in trouble. Instead, they down played both the damage at the facilities, and the risk to human health and the environment, claiming the only damage suffered was a small transformer fire...suppose they (company management) were blinded to the obvious, which included buckled sidewalks, huge cracks and heaves in the plants road system, and concrete barriers tossed about like a child's Lego set.

With each passing hour, the reports have grown more severe, the contaminant issues growing expodentially. For instance, the tipped barrel of radioactively contaminated materials went to a few, to fifty, then to 100, and now the count is 400 barrels of spilled contents. A leak of materials into the environment was originally stated as being less than two liters now stands at almost 400 gallons of highly toxic waste savagely dumped into the Japanese Sea, potentially threatening the fishing industry of the area. Additionally, we now know that an undisclosed amount of Cobalt 60, and other highly dangerous, cancer causing radioactive contaminants escaped into the air...with NO WARNING TO THE CITIZENS!

The Mayor of Kashiwazaki, Hiroshi Aida tired of the lies and coverup by TEPCO has acted both quickly and decisively in ordering the entire facility closed until it can prove to the citizens it is a safe site that can be operated safely. If the mayor sticks to his guns, it may be impossible for TEPCO to prove these seven reactors are safe. New geographical information coming out into the light of day shows A) that the quake far exceeded the design basis criteria for the plants, which were only designed to survive a quake of a magnitude of 6.5, instead of the 6.8 quake that demolished much of the reactor site, and B) it is now believed that at least one of the reactors actually sits directly atop a fault line.

In an attempt at damage control, in their drive for a Nuclear Renaissance, the heavy hitters within the nuclear industry are out in force downplaying the significance of the event, and offering Tokyo Electric Power whatever help is needed in getting the reactors back up online. Sad to think that political and financial agendas are taking a front seat to human health and safety, but if some of the remarks on the NEI Blog are any example, that is just what we are seeing. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei was quick to offer aid, saying he would be more than willing to put together a team of foremost experts from around the world, but then discredited himself and the IAEA by being quick to point out (without even having seen the damage) that he was sure the basic structural stability of the reactors was probably fine.

The NRC was/is not much better, caring more about political spin, and keeping the GNEP, Nuclear Renaissance ball moving down the field than seeing to the safety of almost 100,000 Japanese citizens, even if it means losing seven of their precious reactors. Expecting Entergy to trot out any minute to the press to announce they are sending Paul Newman over to take a personal tour of the site, and give it a clean bill of health to resume operations. In a perfect Bill Clinton, George Bush tag team, Entergy could also snag Patrick Moore...after all, he never met a corporate jet and a $15,000 check he did not like. Entergy could make it the Three Musketeers by rounding off the group with Christine Todd Whitman. We'll call it the CASEnergy Nuclear Diplomatic Tour.

Face it folks...the longer reactors are up and running, the closer we are getting to a disaster of Biblical Proportions, and try as they might, the Nuclear Energy Institute and the trouble plagued industry they represent cannot hide the horrid truths forever. A perfect example of the twisted lies told to protect the industry can be found in the differing views offered to the Press from a TEPCO spokesman, and a spokesman for Japan's Meteorological Agency. To mitigate public image damage, and the very real risk of having their reactors permanently shut down and decommissioned, TEPCO spokesperson Hiroshi Itagaki said aftershock data indicate a fault under the ocean floor near the plant. Meteorological Agency official Osamu Kamigaichi paints a far more troublesome picture though when discussing the EXACT SAME DATA when he stated to the press that the fault line runs directly under the plant, and that one reactor may actually sit directly on top of the fault line.

Entergy's Indian Point and numerous other aging and brittled reactors also sit on or near MAJOR earthquake fault lines, and a quake of similiar numbers to the one in Japan would more than likely split the cores like an over ripe mellon. Our own reports from various people we have spoken with who are familiar with Entergy's problem plagued Indian Point reactors, which are leaking tritium and strontium 90 into the Hudson River lead us to believe that most of the sensors installed over 30 years ago to detect and record earthquake activity at the Indian point site are not only outdated and obsolete, but in too many cases are no longer functioning. One thing is certain...a earthquake of significant proportion at a site such as Indian Point, or California's Diablo Canyon would cause catastrophic harm, and financial damages would run into the hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars. If New Orleans is any example, such and event would all but destroy New York City as we know it today.

Hideyuki Ban, director of the civil group Citizen's Nuclear Information Center was quoted by the press"Japan has a dense population so the human damage would be major here. There would be many deaths," and "I think that a quake-prone country should phase out its use of nuclear power." He is absolutely correct. Neither America or Japan needs another Chernobyl or Hiroshima on their shores, yet the IAEA, NRC and the NEI seem willing to risk just that in their push to revitalize a failing industry. The NRC's rubberstamping of license renewal applications to maintain the nuclear industry's market share has got to come to a screeching halt. Here in New York we have 21 million people living within 50 miles of the crumbling Indian Point nuclear reactors, and a quake similiar to the one in Japan could potentially kill hundreds of thousands of those innocent people.

Nuclear energy is neither safe, nor green, and the time to seek a different pathway to energy independence without nuclear is upon us.

Important Petition For Rulemaking Accepting Co-Signers

The Petition For Rulemaking below has been written in such a fashion as to make all citizens living within 50 miles of ANY REACTOR in America a stakeholder for said petition. Because we are on a tight time line here around Indian Point, we need those wishing to co-sign onto this Petition For Rulemaking ASAP (We are closing off the petition this coming Monday). Please share this with your email trees, and list serves. To be added to the Petition simply email your name and address to roycepenstinger@aol.com If you are a part of an organization, and want to include said organization as well, include that. Politicians, such as our own Andrew Spano, or Congressman John Hall are encouraged to sign on as well, and we encourage them to get other politicians they know on board as well. This petition co-created with Susan Shapiro, a Clearwater Board Member.

To: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555

Dear Chairman
Office of License Renewal
Michael T. Lesar
(Rulemaking, Directives and Editing Branch-Division of Administrative Services)

Formal Petition For Rulemaking (PRM under 10 CFR 2.802) seeking to have Entergy's License Renewal Application for Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 2, LLC and Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 3, LLC, dismissed immediately for being defacto inadequate, invalid and improperly filed application that has co-mingled and/or joined applications for two very unique and distinct reactors which are/have:

1. Owned by legally filed, two separate and distinct Limited Liability Corporations(“LLC”)
Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 2, LLC
Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 3, LLC,
governed by the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) and other state and federal statutes and government agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission” (“SEC”). The two separate and unique LLCs both have legal and moral obligations to run and operate their business enterprises in a fashion best suited to their separate and distinct company goals.

2. Fully separate legal liabilities, duties and responsibilities. The Price Anderson Act, and the Federal Courts treat each of the LLC's as a unique and separate entity. For example, either Indian Point 2 or Indian Point 3, as a separate legal entities, could file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and the protections it affords, with there being no legal bearing and/or effect on the other LLC's business dealings and/or day to day operational and business readiness. Further, under 10 CFR rules and regulations permit either LLC's reactor to continue operation, even if a significant nuclear incident required IMMEDIATE SAFSTOR and/or decommissioning of the other.

3. Separate NRC licenses are individually, not jointly, issued to and held by each separate and unique, legally separate LLC. Each of these separate and unique NRC licenses is held separately accountable to the standards found in the 10 CFR rules and regulations.

In fact and deed the NRC itself clearly defines the separateness of the licenses/licensees in their public meetings held with members of the stakeholder community. Separate inspectors from the individual reactors give SEPARATE REPORTS.

Regional Director Sam Collins points out that each reactor has separate and unique difficulties. Simply put two identical cars are licensed individually and are not alike, have distinct VIN numbers do not perform identically, and have separate issues dependent upon the separate vehicle owners that drive and maintain said cars. Like cars each reactors is distinct when owned by different LLC, are different ages and are operated by different staffs.

4. Each separate LLC/License holder, and their UNIQUE and separate reactor are very different, with different managing styles and teams, as has been acknowledged by both the NRC and Entergy. Each reactor and LLC have different infrastructure problems and aging issues, and even different labeling and use criteria for the same and/or similar individual component hardware parts that make up the whole of their separate reactors.

Request For Action

Sherwood Martinelli, stakeholder in the Indian Point 2 and 3 License Renewal Process and living within three miles of the aging [1], brittling [2] and fatally flawed reactors [3] known as Indian Point Reactors 1, 2 and 3 and the individual, organizational, and governmental petitioners (co-signers/interveners) identified on the attached page(s) (collectively, Petitioners) who live and/or work within the 10 or 50 mile radius Evacuation Zones established for Indian Point and/or other reactor communities hereby respectfully request, pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 and 2.202 and 2.802, that the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission take the following immediate actions as their governance allows:

1. For the reasons stated above, reject and deny, on its face, the jointly filed and combined License Renewal Application for Indian Point Reactor's 2 and 3, as they are separately owned, operated and licensed reactors held by separate and independent Limited Liability Corporations (LLC's).

2. Instruct each separate and independent LLC/License holder that they will need to file completely separate stand alone License Renewal Applications that prove on its own merits, and with the infrastructure of the individual plant, conclusively meets all necessary requirements of local, state and federal government rules and regulations necessary to operate their stand alone nuclear reactor as a fully independent facility for the 20 year period they would seek for license extension/renewal.

LLCs cannot pick and choose when they will use benefit from being separate LLC'S,† and when at their sole discretion and convenience† they would rather benefit from co-mingling the two LLC's to act as one corporation.† It is unequitable to consolidate the relicensing process for two distinct reactors with distinct issues.

3. To avoid the appearance and/or actual fact of collusion between NRC and the nuclear industry, to eliminate the appearance/reality that the nuclear industry was allowed to write/create its own license renewal rules and regulations, abandon use of the NEI's NEI 95-10 which, almost word for word, was adopted into NRC's guidelines as the standard by which license renewal applications would be judged. This biased and skewed set of Industry Guidelines adopted by the NRC is prejudiced in favor of licensees, leaving host communities powerless in the process, and forced into a position of servitude for 20 years while serious safety and security concerns do not even get addressed in the license renewal process.

Justifications

1. Each license is held by a separate LLC. As such, each reactor and its licensee is a unique and separate issue, owned by a unique and distinct LLC, with each having its own unique set of legal rights, and legal responsibilities. A joint license renewal application clouds the legal rights, duties and responsibilities for both the LLC, and for the stakeholders, should it become necessary to pursue legal remedy.

2. A co-mingled and jointly filed license renewal application creates and onerous situation for public stakeholders. Minor distinctions and issues between the licenses and their respective reactors, are quite complex. Only by separating the license applications can stakeholders adequately understand, and thus adequately address concerns about each unique license and reactor.

3. By the NRC Embracing the industry (N.E.I.) standards for license renewal, with inadequate public input into the creation of the rules regarding the process has defacto abridged the rights of host communities, and violates due process and equal protection rights.

4. The NRC cannot abridge stakeholders rights, due process and equal protection rights, in rushing to accept a legally improper license application that co-mingles two LLC renewals into one, in order to save the licensee time and money.

5. Further the NRC must consider in any license application that NEPA considerations, including but not limited to, the public right to have security issues fully addressed, including planes flying into spent fuel pools, and terrorists attacking key components of the reactor itself.

In light of the recent foiled terrorist attack on Fort Dix, wherein the terrorists were in the processing of securing one of the very weapons that the NRC itself wrongfully removed from the DBT, at the request of the NEI, against staff advice, under the guise of saving licensees money.

The constitution protects our rights to redress. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals requires the NRC included terrorist attacks in it's siting and relicensing standards. To date, the NRC has ignored the court decision. We hereby request that all NEPA consideration and terrorism and evacuation capabilities by included as considerations in the relicensing process.

Respectfully Submitted,


Petitioners/Interveners

Sherwood Martinelli
351 Dyckman
Peekskill, New York 10566

Susan Shapiro
21 Perlman Drive
Spring Valley, NY 10977

Remy Chevalier
25 Newtown Turnpike

Weston, CT 06883

Samuel E. Davis
185 Lake Drive
Lake Peekskill, NY 10537

Barbara Jacobs
76 Dimond Ave.
Cortlandt Manor, NY 10567

Judy Allen
24 Seifert Lane
Putnam Valley, NY 10579

Sally Shaw
100 River Rd.
Gill, MA 01354
acer8sac@comcast.net

Maureen Ritter
46 Campbell Ave
Suffern, NY 10901

Dorice Madronero
Regis Ct.
Suffern, NY 10901

Pamela Slater
7 Kensington Rd.
Scarsdale, NY 10583

Dan Doniger
53 W. 111th Street, Apt. 4W
New York, NY 10026

Gary Shaw
9 Van Cortlandt Place
Croton on Hudson, NY 10520

Lucillen Weinstat
8 Halfmoon Rd.
Beacon, NY 12508

CrotonCIP
PO Box 134
Croton on Hudson, NY

Individuals CrotonCIP Steer
signed on as individuals are:

Mary Cronin
Christine Puente
Batya Halpern

Rockland FUSE (Friends United for Sustainable Energy)
21 Perlman Drive
Spring Valley, NY 10977

Ann Harbeson
5 Valley Trail
Croton on Hudson, NY 10520

Mary Cronin
201 Cleveland Drive
Croton on Hudson, NY 10520

Christine Puente
31 Battery Place
Croton on Hudson, NY 10520

Joseph Biber and Batya Halpern
204 Cleveland Drive
Croton on Hudson, NY 10520

Michel Lee
265 Madison Rd.
Scarsdale, NY 10583

Elise Levine Cooper
62 Taylor Road
Mt. Kisco, NY 10549

Mark Jacobs
46 Highland Drive
Garrison, NY 10524

Mary Cronin
201 Cleveland Drive
Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520

Batya Halpern
204 Cleveland Drive
Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520

Joe Biber
204 Cleveland Drive
Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520

Ann Harbeson
5 Valley Trail
Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520

Christine Puente
31 Battery Place
Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520

Allegra Dengler
60 Judson Avenue
Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522

Preparing For Battle-Indian Point's License Renewal

We cannot allow an American Host Community to Become the next Chernobyl

Last week, some important information came out of the Annual Assessment meeting, including a statement, that Entergy needs to submit their license renewal application by the end of the month. If the source (Sam Collins of the NRC) is correct, then the clock starts ticking on Wednesday, May 1st, 2007. NRC gives a 24-30 month time line for license renewals, but have accomplished the task with another Entergy reactor in as little as 17 months. There are hundreds of reasons to deny Indian Point's license renewal application, but if other reactors serve as example, the NRC is unwilling to consider any of them, which means we as a community need to make hard decisions, and depending on what they are, draw the proverbial line in the sand as we prepare our battle strategy.

With this reality before us, there was a second very important fact that came out in the NRC's Annual Assessment meeting. After Mark Jacobs delivered his impassioned condemnation of both Entergy's Indian Point facility, and NRC for their lack of any meaningful regulatory control, Sam Collins again spoke on behalf of his agency. Some may have missed two crucial admissions as he spoke. In case of a FAST MOVING EVENT, evacuation will not work, the NRC, Entergy and FEMA will have no choice but to rely on sheltering in place.

First, we have a key employee of the NRC admitting publicly in and open meeting that the evacuation plan will not work, cannot be implemented in the case of a fast moving event or terrorist attack at the Indian Point facility...within that admission is the cold tacit truth that none of the evacuation plans for every reactor in America are workable in the case of a fast moving incident or terrorist attack. If you look at the action plan, the only kind of event that would elevate to a level that the sirens and evacuation plan would come into play, is a fast moving event.

Secondly, Sam admitted that the Emergency Response teams would rely on sheltering in place in the case of a fast moving event. Being blunt, sheltering in our homes in the case of a fast breaking significant event will sentence many of us to death. The State Department's website envisions a scenario wherein citizens could be sheltered in place for a period of up to two weeks, perhaps longer. Without an adequately supplied and equipped shelter, we as citizens are vulnerable to the ravages of the radioactive fallout from a significant radiological event. The NRC attempts to mitigate this reality, by mitigating the odds of such an event occurring.

I've alienated some with my blunt assessments, with my in your face approach to this battle as it looms ever closer. Apologize for that, but we do not have time on our side, do not have the luxury of hammering out and reaching consensus between the various groups and factions in this fight...the leaders have to step up with a battle plan, or plans, and the foot soldiers need to be ready for deployment where and when needed, or we are doomed to failure, in this case failure being saddled with Indian Point for a period of forty more years.

So, what is a workable strategy? Sadly, I do not have a crystal ball, no soothsayer with whom to consult. However, do have some hunches, do feel we can greatly weaken the entire license renewal process by attaching the NRC's flanks, using their own bureaucracy to slow them down, if not stop it in its tracks. For the strategy to have a chance, we need volunteers, not just here in our own community, but in every reactor community in America.

The NRC's 10 CFR Rules and Regulations provide numerous avenues for citizen stakeholders to get involved in the process. There is the NRC's Office of The Inspector General, there is the ability to file for intervenor status, and there is the ability to file a petition for rule change. With these access tools, we have the ability to swamp if not collapse the NRC's regulatory process. Yes, we use their own rules and regulations to strangle them, we barage the agency with hundreds of thousands of pages of paperwork they have to deal with and address.

Magaret Mead stated, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, devoted citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that has" , and my idea takes that truth and multiplys it across America as Aging Reactor host communities join together as one to take on the entire nuclear industry. 104 reactors in 67 American communities, and almost every community hosting a reactor wants them shut down...it can happen if we use our grassroots organizations, and numbers to our favor and advantage.

In our own area of Westchester, Rockland, Orange and Dutchess counties how many individual citizens want Indian Point shut down? How many members can Riverkeeper, IPSEC and Clearwater rally to our cause? Multiply that times 67 reactor communities, and how many others around other dangerous sites such as Barnwell would join in the fight? Nationwide, we could have a veritable Army of activists waiting on their marching orders. So, what do we do?

We use the regulatory process to our advantage by having this citizen army file individual separate petitions for rule making. We have these citizens write up and mail in allegations to the NRC's Office of The Inspector General. We have this citizen army of activists all across the nation mailing in letters demanding intervener status for their own reactor sites. Imagine for a moment even 67,000 citizens (1000 from each reactor community) each mailing in one petition for rule making, one letter of allegation, and one letter demanding intervener status. That's 201,000 documents that the NRC has to deal with! With three simple letters from each activist, we have a great chance of bogging down the NRC, forcing them to come to the negotiation table, forcing them to end a re licensing process that is corrupt to its core.

NRC does NOT consider:

Fatally Flawed Emergency Evacuation Plan

Population changes/density of surrounding area,

Ongoing leaks of strontium 90 and tritium

Terrorism, or Plant security

The hour grows late, and our communities are running out of time. The call for and ISA is non-workable, and is not going to occur. Desperate times call for bold and decisive actions. If others have ideas, lets hear them now, and map out our plan. One thing is certain...we need a miracle, and most miracles come from a lot of hard work, and the willingness to take risks.

Co-Sign Green Nuclear Butterfly's Open Letter To Bill Maher

Dear Bill:

As a fan of yours for decades, have to admit my deep sadness at hearing you endorse nukes as a part of the solution for Global Warming. The only conclusion/excuse I can come to, is that you have bought into the industry's $100's of million dollar propaganda campaign, without doing due diligence when it comes to doing your research on the topic. Just a few points for your consideration:

1. America's aging fleet of 103 reactors are not safe. Failing/breaking welds even in the reactor cores themselves, leaking spent fuel pools at most sites top the list.
2. Many reactors now have unknown/un-traceable leaks that are leaking tritium into the environment, where it is slowly finding its way into our drinking water supplies. Some reactors (such as Indian Point) are also leaking strontium 90, a known cancer precursor that finds its way into the human skeletal system.
3. The evacuation plans in the case of a major incident at a nuclear incident will not work, and without building adequate sheltering facilities, the concept of sheltering us in place in our homes will not work...this is especially true in the Northeast if the incident occurs during the winter months.
4. The Achilles Heel of American reactors in the case of a terrorist attack are the water intake systems, which in almost every attack could be severely compromised without having to go through plant security.
(http://greennuclearbutterfly.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-vulnerable-is-indian-point-are-we.html )
5. The licensing renewal application process has been rigged, as the DOE, NERAC, NRC and the nuclear industry decided back in the late 90's that the only way forward to a nuclear renaissance, was to keep everyone of our current reactors operating at full capacity through 2050 while the new generation (AP1000) reactors were being brought online...with all due respect, our government should not pave the way into a nuclear tomorrow by playing Russian Roulette with host communities health and safety.
6. Why has the NRC refused to do studies that measure the contributions to global warming that water discharge from nuclear reactors play? As one example, Indian Point daily discharges 2.4 BILLION gallons of 100 degree water into the Hudson River.

Lastly, if nuclear reactors are so safe, why can't we get insurance coverage for our losses in the case of a major incident, while the Price Anderson Act shields reactor owners from financial liability? It is my sincere hope, that you will do more research into this issue, and reverse your position on supporting the nuclear industry's rancid agenda...we do not need yet another Patrick Moore playing the part of Judas in this important fight.


Sherwood Martinelli
AKA Royce Penstinger-publisher of Green Nuclear Butterfly

Co-Signers

Susan Corbett
Conservation Chair,
SC Sierra Club

Mothers For Peace 1 :: Diablo Canyon 0

On January 16, 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled against Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E's) petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of the June 2, 2006 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace v. NRC, 449 F.3d 1016. The Supreme Court's rejection of PG&E's petition means that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) must carry out the Ninth Circuit's mandate to consider the environmental impacts of intentional attacks on the proposed dry cask storage installation at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in California.

PG&E had asked the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit's ruling that, in order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the NRC must consider the environmental impacts of terrorist attacks before it licenses the new facility.

The San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, a local group that has actively opposed the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant since 1973, is extremely pleased that logic prevailed in this important court ruling, which sends the NRC back to the drawing board to complete the Environmental Impact Statement. The group hopes that effective mitigations will be put in place to provide defenses against possible air attack. MFP spokesperson, Jane Swanson, is elated with the Court's decision. "After the events of September 11, 2001, it is only reasonable that the significant health and environmental risks of terrorist attacks be considered when designing and building nuclear facilities. Now, after years of resistance, the NRC and PG&E are forced to address these concerns."

MFP's attorney, Diane Curran, said that she expects the NRC to issue a new environmental review document that addresses the impacts of an intentional attack on the proposed facility. In the meantime, PG&E is precluded by law from loading fuel into the new facility.

San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
http://mothersforpeace.org