"Making the southeast better one community at a time." The motto of Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, http://www.bredl.org/ . They are opposing the start up of the Bellefonte nuclear power plant. There are several issues this group brings to the "community table" that needs discussing and some answers provided: http://www.bredl.org/pdf2/BEST-factsheet.pdf
(Pictures: 1. TVA proposed Nuclear Facility; 2. Radioactive Material Hazard Placard; 3. TVA photo of existing non-operable Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, billion dollar tax waste facility.)
I think the biggest question that all of us that live in the area should be willing to ask ourselves, are we willing to take the risk? A risk of an accident or disaster that results in the release of radiation that could end life as we know it in Hollywood, Scottsboro and a large portion of Jackson County, not to mention the destruction of the Tennessee River. Are you willing to take the gamble? Do you want to expose your children and grand children to the risk? Are you willing to spend several more billions of dollars in our already broke country for a nuclear hazard?
An article in the "Atlanta Progressive News" outlined the dangers of Nuclear Power: I. NUCLEAR POWER DANGERS
Nuclear power is inherently dangerous.
More than a half-century of accidents, leaks, and fires - including several in Georgia - have proven humans are fallible and mishaps inevitable.
"We have studies going back to the beginning that show in every community where these facilities are sited, there are higher incidents of cancer, leukemia, birth defects," Alice Slater, President of Grace Policy Institute (GPI), warned during a panel discussion hosted by the institute, on July 6, 2006.
"The risk associated with this kind of all out political muscle support for nuclear power is that regulatory process gets skewed... And it's under those conditions you get events like the very disturbing accident at (David Bessey) in 2002 in which the hole in the top of the pressure pistol had essentially occurred through a rusting process, leaving only the stainless steel liner between the plant and a significant loss of cooling accident, of a type for which the safety systems are not designed," Peter Bradford, former chair of the New York Public Service Commission and Maine Public Utilities Commission, former Commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said during the GPI Panel.
Nuclear power plants release radioactive contaminants, such as tritium, along with hazardous chemicals and heavy metals during routine operation.
"These emissions cause leukemia and cancer over extended periods. It can be a slow, tortuous death," Jeanine Honicker, WAND activist, told Atlanta Progressive News. "That's enough to oppose nuclear power, if for no other reason."
Indeed, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has a "Quarterly Worker Injury/Illness Rate Chart" for the Office of Nuclear Energy which shows incidents occurring every quarter.
On October 29, 2005, fire broke out at Georgia Power's Edwin I. Hatch nuclear plant located near Baxley. Although the reactor was not affected, mineral oil from the transformer leaked into the Altamaha River as a result of the firefighting effort. Absorption booms were placed in the river and the company said no adverse environmental impact was expected.
Soon after the fire, the Southern Company (Georgia Power's parent) discovered 5 feet, 8 inches of spent nuclear rods missing. These rods are highly radioactive and extremely dangerous. On August 22, 2006, the company announced they still couldn't account for the location of 18 inches.
"The company said the fragments were the result of a corrosive water problem at Plant Hatch that broke down fuel rod casings for a period in the 1980s, allowing the fuel rod pieces to fall out," The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
August 15, 2006, radioactive, cancer-causing tritium leaked into the groundwater beneath the San Onofre, California, nuclear power plant causing San Clemente officials to shut down their drinking-water well.
"In recent years, tritium leaks have been found at more than a dozen nuclear plants across the nation, prompting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to form a task force this year to study the cause of the contamination" according to The Los Angeles Times.
In March, a tritium leak contaminated millions of gallons of groundwater near a nuclear power plant in Illinois.
Nuclear power is inherently dangerous.
More than a half-century of accidents, leaks, and fires - including several in Georgia - have proven humans are fallible and mishaps inevitable.
"We have studies going back to the beginning that show in every community where these facilities are sited, there are higher incidents of cancer, leukemia, birth defects," Alice Slater, President of Grace Policy Institute (GPI), warned during a panel discussion hosted by the institute, on July 6, 2006.
"The risk associated with this kind of all out political muscle support for nuclear power is that regulatory process gets skewed... And it's under those conditions you get events like the very disturbing accident at (David Bessey) in 2002 in which the hole in the top of the pressure pistol had essentially occurred through a rusting process, leaving only the stainless steel liner between the plant and a significant loss of cooling accident, of a type for which the safety systems are not designed," Peter Bradford, former chair of the New York Public Service Commission and Maine Public Utilities Commission, former Commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said during the GPI Panel.
Nuclear power plants release radioactive contaminants, such as tritium, along with hazardous chemicals and heavy metals during routine operation.
"These emissions cause leukemia and cancer over extended periods. It can be a slow, tortuous death," Jeanine Honicker, WAND activist, told Atlanta Progressive News. "That's enough to oppose nuclear power, if for no other reason."
Indeed, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has a "Quarterly Worker Injury/Illness Rate Chart" for the Office of Nuclear Energy which shows incidents occurring every quarter.
On October 29, 2005, fire broke out at Georgia Power's Edwin I. Hatch nuclear plant located near Baxley. Although the reactor was not affected, mineral oil from the transformer leaked into the Altamaha River as a result of the firefighting effort. Absorption booms were placed in the river and the company said no adverse environmental impact was expected.
Soon after the fire, the Southern Company (Georgia Power's parent) discovered 5 feet, 8 inches of spent nuclear rods missing. These rods are highly radioactive and extremely dangerous. On August 22, 2006, the company announced they still couldn't account for the location of 18 inches.
"The company said the fragments were the result of a corrosive water problem at Plant Hatch that broke down fuel rod casings for a period in the 1980s, allowing the fuel rod pieces to fall out," The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
August 15, 2006, radioactive, cancer-causing tritium leaked into the groundwater beneath the San Onofre, California, nuclear power plant causing San Clemente officials to shut down their drinking-water well.
"In recent years, tritium leaks have been found at more than a dozen nuclear plants across the nation, prompting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to form a task force this year to study the cause of the contamination" according to The Los Angeles Times.
In March, a tritium leak contaminated millions of gallons of groundwater near a nuclear power plant in Illinois.
Alabama Browns Ferry has been plagued with problems from fires and leaks in pipes as a result of sub-standard welds. There is the issue of storage of waste. The waste will be required to be stored on site for an indefinite period of time. Are you willing to assume the risks of Nuclear Power at Bellefonte for our future generations?
NRC's information on Bellefonte: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/col/bellefonte.html
The citizens of Jackson County deserve to hear all of the truth and all of the issues concerning nuclear power, the positives, the negatives and the risks. Once we have all the information we the citizens should make the decision whether we want the plant to be located at Bellefonte. Do not allow the politicians to "shove" this project down our throats in the pretext of making them look better by saying, "see what we have done for you." It is our lives and that of our children and future grand children that is at stake.
Memership information for the Blue Ridge Enviromental Defense League: http://www.bredl.org/membership.htm