NEW NUKES for Georgia???

NO THANKS!!!

CLICK HERE

Educating and activating the grassroots to create a
nuclear-free future

~

PO Box 8574
Atlanta, GA 31106
404-378-4263
nukewatchsouth@mindspring.com

NO NUKES Y'ALL!

ACTION CENTER | blue ribbon commission comments

Tell the BRC: "Put Risky Radioactive Fuel into Hardened On-Site Storage"

Your comments needed on the draft report from President Obama's "Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future"
COMMENT DEADLINE DECEMBER 2, 2011

>> CLICK TO GO STRAIGHT TO THE ACTION <<

BACKGROUND The nuclear industry is 60 years old and still does not have a viable radioactive waste program. Obama cancelled the controversial geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada and created a Presidential Blue Ribbon Commission to get the radioactive waste program on track. Fukushima shows the danger of the current practice of spent fuel pool storage. When the earthquake and tsunami hit the Fukushima reactors on March 11, 2011, the spent fuel pool fire spread highly radioactive contaminants and deadly plutonium throughout the Japanese countryside.

The historic Blue Ribbon Commission was already underway when the catastrophic radiological disaster began at Fukushima and it id in an unprecedented position to lead the way in immediately transfering risky spent fuel rods to HARDENED ON-SITE STORAGE. Estimates to secure the nation's spent nuclear fuel inventory are affordable, ranging from Electric Power Research Institute's estimate of only $3.5 billion to former DOE senior policy advisor Bob Alvarez' estimate of $7 billion. All proposals for future storage or use of spent nuclear fuel would require this first step. It is urgent that we secure the nation's vulnerable high-level radioactive spent fuel.

THIS IS AN HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO ENTER THE NATIONAL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DEBATE. You may comment via email or send the handy email letter researched and written by experts below. Edit the letter as you wish. Resources and links for more information are listed to the right.

December 2, 2011

To the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future:

You are faced with the urgent task to recommend future direction for the safety of the United States' high-level nuclear waste. Current spent reactor fuel storage in cooling ponds is inherently risky — the pools are densely packed, are dependent upon pumps to circulate the cooling water, and are housed in flimsy warehouse-type buildings. The spent fuel pool fire at Fukushima is still a threat and has spread radiation and plutonium far from the reactor sites. U.S. pools are packed 4 to 7 times more densely than Japan's and are even more dangerous. The hard lessons of Fukushima were delivered during your tenure and you must bring a response of the highest order to help define a productive path to radioactive waste storage safety for our country.

The BRC should strongly recommend the immediate transfer of all fuel cool enough for dry cask storage for Hardened On-Site Storage (HOSS) at or near the site of generation. The casks should be multi-use for both storage and transport and the fuel should be retrievable. Dry storage is a fundamental first step for all spent reactor fuel concepts and would make U.S. radioactive waste storage immediately and vastly more safe.

Money from the Nuclear Waste Fund should be made available to utilities for hardened dry cask storage for all eligible fuel on the sites. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should be responsible for rulemaking to require and enforce this crucial upgrade to on-site spent fuel storage.

In addition, fuel pools which are currently in Sears®-type storage buildings should be hardened and given defense-in-depth safety systems and back-up power to ensure circulating water to cool the fuel that remains in the pools. Relieving the pool density will provide a large measure of additional safety.

The cost to safeguard the nation's spent nuclear fuel in HOSS is estimated at only $3.5 billion by the Electric Policy Research Institute, and at up to $7 billion by Robert Alvarez, former DOE senior policy advisor. The use of collected waste funds, plus open-ended future storage and/or use options, should make this important nuclear waste storage safety step attractive to utilities, the nuclear industry, the states, and regulators alike. It will certainly be of fundamental benefit to public health and our environment while we continue to debate more controversial and difficult issues of centralized storage, reprocessing, and repositories.

I am opposed to the consolidated interim storage of spent fuel which was recommended in the draft, and believe that in the final report that emphasis should be placed instead on the prompt removal of spent fuel from spent fuel pools for placement into HOSS. Consolidated interim storage would mean more handling and transport of spent fuel which must be avoided as it leads to more worker and public radiation exposure risk. Consolidated interim storage would drain the Nuclear Waste Fund and serve as a diversion to finding long-term management options. Consolidated interim storage would use the same technology as HOSS but add negative layers of risk and expense.

For environmental, cost and non-proliferation reasons, I oppose the reprocessing of spent reactor fuel as a spent fuel management option and urge the BRC to affirm in a stronger way that pursuit of reprocessing in any form must be rejected by the U.S. as national policy.

The BRC should not take up the issue of the cancelled Yucca Mountain repository as some narrow interests suggested in recent hearings. The BRC will best serve its mission by focusing on process recommendations to develop a community-based, science-based search for deep geologic repository storage. HOSS will make the nation's spent nuclear fuel safer while we undertake the vital and over-due mission of finding permanent storage for spent nuclear fuel.

Thank you for including this comment for the record.

Respectfully submitted,

Your comments will be signed with the information you provide below:

* = Required

* First Name:

* Last Name:

* Address #1:

Address #2:

* City:

* State: * Zip:

* Email Address:

NO NUKES Y'ALL!

"To the village square
we must carry the facts
of atomic energy.
From there must come America's voice."

ALBERT EINSTEIN

~~~~~~

FREE STICKERS!

Cool stickers FREE with FREE membership in
Nuclear Watch South!

~~~~~~

REFERENCES

SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL POOLS IN THE U.S.:
Reducing the Deadly Risks of Storage
by Robert Alvarez

H.O.S.S.
Hardened On-Site Storage
Nuclear Waste Management Plan
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

Principles for Safeguarding Nuclear Waste at Reactors
signed by over 150 organizations

COMMENTS TO THE BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION
Physicians for Social Responsibility

BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION ON AMERICA'S NUCLEAR FUTURE
Draft Report to the Secretary of Energy
July 29, 2011

NEW NUKES for Georgia???

NO THANKS!!!

CLICK HERE

Educating and activating the grassroots to create a
nuclear-free future

~

PO Box 8574
Atlanta, GA 31106
404-378-4263
nukewatchsouth@mindspring.com

NO NUKES Y'ALL!

ACTION CENTER | blue ribbon commission comments

Tell the BRC: "Put Risky Radioactive Fuel into Hardened On-Site Storage"

Your comments will be signed with the information you provide below:

NO NUKES Y'ALL!

"To the village square
we must carry the facts
of atomic energy.
From there must come America's voice."

ALBERT EINSTEIN

~~~~~~

FREE STICKERS!

Cool stickers FREE with FREE membership in
Nuclear Watch South!

~~~~~~

REFERENCES

SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL POOLS IN THE U.S.:
Reducing the Deadly Risks of Storage
by Robert Alvarez

H.O.S.S.
Hardened On-Site Storage
Nuclear Waste Management Plan
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

Principles for Safeguarding Nuclear Waste at Reactors
signed by over 150 organizations

COMMENTS TO THE BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION
Physicians for Social Responsibility

BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION ON AMERICA'S NUCLEAR FUTURE
Draft Report to the Secretary of Energy
July 29, 2011

ROCK SOLID?
A scientific review
of geological disposal
of high-level
radioactive waste

by Helen Wallace for Greenpeace International

~~~~~~

NEW NUKES for Georgia???

NO THANKS!!!

CLICK HERE

Educating and activating the grassroots to create a nuclear-free future

~

PO Box 8574 Atlanta, GA 31106 404-378-4263 nukewatchsouth@mindspring.com

NO NUKES Y'ALL!

ACTION CENTER | blue ribbon commission comments

Tell the BRC: "Put Risky Radioactive Fuel into Hardened On-Site Storage"

Your comments will be signed with the information you provide below:

NO NUKES Y'ALL!

"To the village square we must carry the facts of atomic energy. From there must come America's voice." ALBERT EINSTEIN

~~~~~~

FREE STICKERS!

Cool stickers FREE with FREE membership in Nuclear Watch South!

~~~~~~

REFERENCES

SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL POOLS IN THE U.S.: Reducing the Deadly Risks of Storage by Robert Alvarez

H.O.S.S. Hardened On-Site Storage Nuclear Waste Management Plan Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

Principles for Safeguarding Nuclear Waste at Reactors signed by over 150 organizations

COMMENTS TO THE BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION Physicians for Social Responsibility

BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION ON AMERICA'S NUCLEAR FUTURE Draft Report to the Secretary of Energy July 29, 2011

ROCK SOLID? A scientific review of geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste

by Helen Wallace for Greenpeace International

~~~~~~

Educating and activating the grassroots to create a
nuclear-free future

PO Box 8574
Atlanta, GA 31106
404-378-4263
nukewatchsouth@mindspring.com

"To the village square
we must carry the facts
of atomic energy.
From there must come America's voice."

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Cool stickers FREE with FREE membership in
Nuclear Watch South!

SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL POOLS IN THE U.S.:
Reducing the Deadly Risks of Storage
by Robert Alvarez

H.O.S.S.
Hardened On-Site Storage
Nuclear Waste Management Plan
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

Principles for Safeguarding Nuclear Waste at Reactors
signed by over 150 organizations

COMMENTS TO THE BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION
Physicians for Social Responsibility

BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION ON AMERICA'S NUCLEAR FUTURE
Draft Report to the Secretary of Energy
July 29, 2011

ROCK SOLID?
A scientific review
of geological disposal
of high-level
radioactive waste