Jan. 28, 2015: Contrary to federal law, the required environmental reviews for nuclear power stations proposed by Dominion in Louisa, VA, Duke Energy in Gaffney, SC and a half dozen others omit any reference to the NRC’s recently issued irradiated nuclear fuel storage analysis. Instead, they are directed to environmental analyses that have been outdated; or worse, vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. Our petitions call for a full environmental assessment of the safety and public health risks of long term storage at the reactor sites.

View Petition to NRC

April 9, 2014: From the reply of BREDL to the NRC and the power company, quoting Emerson:

"What is the use of courts, if judges only quote authorities, and no judge exerts original jurisdiction, or recurs to first principles?" In this matter, first principles require a power plant not inimical to public health and safety.

View BREDL Reply

March 2014: After the Virginia earthquake in 2011, BREDL filed new objections to a third nuke at North Anna. After two-years of additional analysis, Dominion-Virginia Power still seems to be unable to build a new plant without departures, exemptions and variances from federal environmental and safety regulations. The company’s inability to meet standards is at the crux of our motion to reopen the license challenge.

BREDL New Contention

March 2014: The League has requested Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality hold a Public Hearing on the Draft VPDES Permit. Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit is a permit that is required to discharge pollutants into surface waters from a point source.

BREDL Comments | Appendix A | Appendix B

Feb. 27, 2014: Our motion to stay petitions the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend reactor licensing decisions while the agency considers new information on the environmental impacts of used radioactive fuel storage in reactor pools.  This new information was detailed in the Consequence Study of a Beyond-Design-Basis Earthquake Affecting the Spent Fuel Pool for a U.S. Mark I Boiling Water Reactor, Oct. 9, 2013. The NRC Staff found that if even a small fraction of the inventory of the Peach Bottom reactor pool were released to the environment in a severe spent fuel pool accident, an average area of 9,400 square miles would be rendered uninhabitable, and that 4.1 million people would be displaced over the long-term. And the NRC concluded for the first time that the likelihood of spent fuel pool fires could be affected by reactor accidents.

Sequoyah Petition | Bellefonte Petition | North Anna Petition

Feb. 27, 2014: Today the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed a legal challenge to require a full federal analysis of storage of irradiated fuel at the North Anna nuclear power plant. The petition demands that NRC do a complete environmental impact statement on the effects of accidents and leakage on public health and environment. The League also filed challenges at two other power plants in Alabama and Tennessee.

BREDL Press Release

July 13, 2012: Quoting the Japanese investigation: Although triggered by these cataclysmic events, the subsequent accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant cannot be regarded as a natural disaster. It was a profoundly manmade disaster – that could and should have been foreseen and prevented.

Read BREDL Letter

The July 9 motions to reopen and motions for leave to file a new argument (or “contention”) are legal steps necessary to hold certain electric power company’s feet to the nuclear fire. These actions follow the recent federal Court of Appeals order striking down the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s patently ridiculous “Waste Confidence Decision,” which should now be enshrined in Blackstone’s dictionary along with other “legal fictions.”

North Anna Motion | W.S. Lee Motion | Bellefonte Motion

June 22, 2012: The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and its chapter Peoples Alliance for Clean Energy petition the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for review of its decision to close the record for the North Anna Unit 3 license proceeding.

View Groups' Petition

Oct. 31, 2011: The glacial pace of the NRC’s safety and security procedures appears to be wholly unresponsive to reality, which threatens to undermine both the agency’s authority and the safety of the plants it licenses. During the last three years we have seen both nuclear and financial meltdowns. Heedless of events, the NRC continues to gamble with sub-prime safety codes and horizontal acceleration default swaps.

Read BREDL's Comments

Oct. 31, 2011: Today the Virginia Supreme Court will hold oral arguments on Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League’s appeal of an environmental permit for Dominion-Virginia Power’s North Anna nuclear power station.

The case centers on a Clean Water Act permit for the North Anna nuclear power station. The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League first challenged the permit in 2008 and won; the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond concluded that the State Water Control Board’s NPDES wastewater permit for the North Anna electric power plant was “not in accordance with the law.” However, Dominion-Virginia Power and the state Department of Environmental Quality obtained a reversal in the Court of Appeals. Early this year the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League was granted the right to take its case to the state Supreme Court.

View BREDL Press Advisory

Oct. 20, 2011: Shirking and sharking, in all their many varieties, have been sown broadcast by the ill-fated cause; and even those who have contemplated its history from the outermost circle of such evil, have been insensibly tempted into a loose way of letting bad things alone to take their own bad course, and a loose belief that if the world go wrong, it was, in some off-hand manner, never meant to go right.

Read BREDL's Reply

The North Anna nuclear power plant is on unstable ground. The potential danger of an earthquake in central Virginia was brought to the attention of regulators by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League in 2005. Our investigative report reveals the events which led to the building of nuclear reactors in an active earthquake zone.

Download our report

Related - BREDL in the NEWS:
Earthquake's Nuclear Red Flag - from The Daily Beast
Earthquake near North Anna nuclear reactor! - from Daily Kos
DC earthquake shuts down nuclear power plant - from Red, Green, and Blue

March 18, 2011: Dominion’s Federal Consistency Certification application asserts that the addition of a third water-cooled nuclear reactor would have no impact on Lake Anna. This is pure nonsense.

View BREDL's comments

Dec. 15, 2010: Today the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League announced that Virginia’s highest court has agreed to hear their appeal of a Dominion-Virginia Power permit.

BREDL Press Release | View Virginia Court of Appeals Ruling

Nov. 4, 2010: Contentions One and Two present significant public safety and environmental impact issues to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. As detailed in this legal brief, there is a significant and genuine dispute between Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and the NRC Staff and Dominion.

BREDL Nov. 4 reply to Dominion and NRC Staff

Change in reactor design forces new hearings

The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League’s ongoing intervention in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing of Dominion-Virginia Power’s North Anna Unit 3 has reached a major turning point. On June 29, 2010, Dominion submitted a new license application, substituting a US Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor design for the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor.

BREDL Action Alert

June 18: Lou Zeller, representative for the League, said, “Dominion’s switching of reactor technology is like altering the foundation after the walls are up.” He said that the switch this late in licensing the plant would make it difficult to regulate. Zeller added, “The Commission may lack the regulatory duck tape to piece it together.” He drew a comparison of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission with the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, the agency which oversees offshore oil drilling and which became too accommodating to its licensees.

View Contention Eleven filed June 17 | Read BREDL Press Release

Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League v. the Commonwealth of Virginia
Upcoming April 22 Court Date
Read Update

Jan. 26, 2010: BREDL's brief filed on Jan 19 regarding Dominion-Virginia Power's appeal in Circuirt Court. The Dominion-Virginia Appeal is of the February 2009 Virginia Circuit Court's decision that ruled state agencies violated federal law and revoked the water quality permit for the North Anna nuclear station.

Two-thirds of the energy generated at every nuclear power plant is not converted into usable electricity. Rather, it is wasted and discharged to the environment. This waste heat can be discharged directly to the air via cooling towers, or it can be discharged to a body of water. Heat discharged to waterways poses a special environmental threat and is subject to the Clean Water Act. For decades Virginia’s State Water Control Board has declined to limit thermal discharges from the North Anna nuclear power plant.

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Dec. 19, 2009: For over a year, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board judges have allowed our intervention to proceed. Our argument that the power company has little or no plan for what to do with its radioactive waste is still not adequately addressed. In November the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board agreed that Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League’s position that Dominion-Virginia Power’s radioactive waste storage plan needs further study. Unhappy with the ruling, Dominion filed a motion for the Board to take a second look, called reconsideration. But Dominion’s Motion for Reconsideration sets up a straw man argument. Our answer to Dominion was filed on December 17. The judges could rule at any time.

Dec. 17 BREDL reply to Dominion-Virginia Power's motion to dismiss our case against the third reactor at North Anna | Nov. 25 judges' ruling contested by Dominion

June 26, 2009: BREDL files amended Contention Ten regarding the application for a combined operating and construction license filed by Dominion Virginia Power. In order to meet its goal to assure NRC that there is space to store Class B and C radioacive waste material for ten years, Dominion Virginia Power has reduced its capacity for storage of Class A material from 6 months to 3 months. This is simply "Robbing Peter to pay Paul." View BREDL Amended Contention Ten

March 10, 2009: Yesterday in a flurry of legal activity the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed new arguments opposing nuclear reactor licenses in Virginia, South Carolina and Alabama. The League acted because of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's failure to recognize that high-level radioactive waste storage would pose significant environmental risks at proposed nuclear power plants at TVA's Bellefonte, Duke Energy's WS Lee and Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna stations. Read BREDL Press Release

Feb. 20, 2009: Today a Virginia court in Richmond ruled that state agencies violated federal law and that the water quality permit for Dominion-Virginia Power's North Anna nuclear station is revoked. Read BREDL Press Release | Background information | Transcript of Judge's Ruling

On September 14, 2009 the Virginia Circuit Court judge issued her Final Order stating that Virginia's State Water Control Board wrongly allowed Dominion-Virginia Power to use part of Lake Anna as it's private waste lagoon. The Order finalizes the court's February 20 oral ruling and enters it into law. The decision means that the company's North Anna nuclear power plants may not continue to dump heated water into the lake unregulated and the state must now develop a permit which complies with the federal Clean Water Act. The Order Denying Appellees Joint Motion for Stay is another win for BREDL because the judge rejected the motion by the state and the company to suspend, or "stay," the effect of judge's ruling. The filing of the Final Order also sets the clock in motion for appeals. Stay tuned!

On Thursday morning, December 18th, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League’s appeal of the Dominion-Virginia Power North Anna permit will be argued in Richmond Circuit Court. More Details: Read BREDL Press Advisory

On August 25, 2008, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed a motion to reconsider with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the Dominion Virginia Power licensing case. We have one legal argument, or contention, which has been accepted by the judges, but we think the NRC should do more. Hence, this motion. Also, we have formalized our opposition to oral arguments which were held on the telephone. BREDL Motion

The judges of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board have granted a hearing to the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League on CONTENTION ONE: Dominion Lacks a Realistic Low-level Radioactive Waste Plan. The ASLB order issued August 15, 2008 states:

"We find that one of the Petitioner's contentions (Contention One) is admissible in part, and the Petitioner has therefore met the necessary prerequisite for the Board to grant a hearing request....BREDL has met the requirement to identify the specific deficiency in the Application and the reasons for its belief. We therefore conclude that Contention One satisfies the requirements of Section 2.309(f)(1). Dominion and the NRC Staff do not contend that Contention One, construed as a safety contention, was resolved in the [early site permit] proceeding....We therefore admit Contention One as a safety contention based on the omission of necessary information from the [final safety analysis report]."

Read ASLB Memorandum and Order

On April 28, 2008 the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League requested that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission grant a new deadline for the filing of petitions for leave to intervene. (BREDL request) This motion is based on an inadequate Notice of Hearing and Opportunity to Petition for Leave to Intervene published in the Federal Register. Dominion-Virginia Power responded to us two days later (Dominion Reply) and the NRC held to its deadline.

The June 3 replies from NRC and Dominion respond to our May 9th petition and uniformly oppose all our arguments. (NRC response | Dominion response ) In turn, we sent our reply to Dominion and NRC on June 11th. (BREDL Response)

On June 20th, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board issued an order directing BREDL, and other the parties to focus the argument upon BREDL’s first, second, and third contentions. The Board said they were "not interested in hearing argument concerning the remaining contentions." (ASLB Order) BREDL objected and replied to the judges' order on June 30. (BREDL Reply) The Board was unresponsive and held the hearing via telephone conference on July 2nd.

July 1, 2008: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding oral arguments for the nation's first adjudicatory hearing on a nuclear power plant construction and operating license behind closed doors. The nuclear plant is the proposed North Anna Nuclear Power Station Unit #3 in Virginia. Despite our request for a face-to-face hearing in Charlottesville, the judges are holding the oral arguments via telephone conference call. The judges' decision has implications for the licenses to follow in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and nationwide because this is the first permitting process for new nuclear power plant license since the rules were re-written in 1989. We think it sets a bad precedent. In the past, such hearings were held near the community where a proposed facility was to be located, at a place where residents, officials and the media could attend. Read BREDL's Complaint

May 16, 2008: BREDL scoping comments on EIS for third nuclear reactor at the North Anna nuclear power plant. BREDL Comments

May 2008: The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and its Virginia chapter the People’s Alliance for Clean Energy have filed to halt construction of a third nuclear reactor at the North Anna nuclear power plant. The petition raises eight major issues: Dominion lacks a realistic radioactive waste plan, Unit 3 would be located on top of a geological fault, the plant’s cooling system will violate water quality standards, the plant will not adequately limit radioactive emissions to the atmosphere, uranium is an unreliable fuel source, the license would violate the protections of due process and equal protection, irradiated fuel would remain on site, and the plant would be a target for terrorist attacks.

Lou Zeller, the League’s legal representative, said that Dominion covered up evidence of a geologic fault in the 1970’s and now they want a variance because they cannot meet safety standards. Zeller said, “Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us.”

The League plans to press the seismic issue and other safety and environmental problems created by the proposed third reactor.

Elena Day of PACE said, “New nuclear reactors at North Anna would be irresponsible because the water situation is critical. The growing population in this area and the ongoing drought will only exacerbate the situation.”

The petition to intervene was filed on May 9th with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Read the Petition | Read Press Release

Do You Live 50 miles from the North Anna Nuclear Plant?

Dominion-Virginia Power has submitted an application to add a third nuclear power plant at its North Anna Nuclear Station in northern Virginia. The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League is challenging this permit for health and safety reasons. If you are within the 50-mile zone, you may join in this effort.

Deadline: May 9, 2008

North Anna 50-mile map and factsheet | Declaration of Standing
FAQs about Legal Declaration of Standing | BREDL Membership Form

On April 28, 2008 the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed a legal motion with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to postpone deadlines for the North Anna Power Station construction and operation license. Dominion Virginia Power plans to add a third nuclear reactor at its plant in central Virginia.

Unless a new deadline is granted, the public will have had only three weeks to review the necessary documents to intervene in the licensing process.

Federal administrative procedures require that the time be no less than 60 days. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is ignoring its stated goal of providing "ample opportunities for members of the public." We know that there are fundamental safety questions which must be addressed. A previous Atomic Safety and Licensing Board decision on North Anna said these safety issues are "unresolved." The public needs time to investigate. For these and other reasons, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed this motion.

Read April 28 Legal Motion

Jan. 2, 2008: On Friday, December 28th, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed a petition against the Virginia's approval of a water permit for the North Anna nuclear power station (NAPS) located near Charlottesville.

The League's petition states:

The Board's re-issuance of this Permit was in violation of Virginia's State Water Control Law, the federal Clean Water Act, and the Virginia Pollution Discharge Elimination System, as well as other laws and regulations governing water quality. Specifically, state and federal laws and regulations require regulation of and limitations on thermal pollution discharges into Virginia's waters. There was ample evidence presented to the Board and DEQ as contained in the record which demonstrated that thermal pollution discharges from NAPS into Lake Anna are causing and contributing serious harm to the lake and to Virginia citizens' use and enjoyment of that natural resource. Despite the mandate under state and federal law and the record evidence of the thermal pollution problem in Lake Anna from NAPS, this Permit contains virtually no limits at all on thermal pollution. For the reasons stated in this Petition for Appeal, BREDL asks this Court to suspend and set aside the Permit and to remand the Permit to the Board and DEQ for further proceedings consistent and in compliance with federal and state water laws and regulations.

BREDL Press Release | View Appeal

Dec. 5, 2007: Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and the People’s Alliance for Clean Energy have filed a Notice of Appeal to Virginia Department of Environmental Quality regarding reissuance of VPDES (Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit for Dominion-North Anna Power Station. BREDL Press Release | Notice of Appeal

Aug. 02, 2007: BREDL comments to Virginia Department of Environmental Quality on the NPDES permit for North Anna nuclear power station. Excerpt: "Unless and until the DEQ can assure that thermal discharges from Dominion-Virginia Power’s North Anna plant will not exceed the maximum hourly temperature changes in Lake Anna, it cannot issue a VPDES permit." Read Lou Zeller's Comments

April 19, 2007: BREDL Limited appearance statements before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of the Dominion Nuclear North Anna, LLC Early Site Permit. - The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Unless must assess the impact of terrorist attacks on radioactive fuel storage at Dominion-Virginia Power's North Anna nuclear power plant and provide for protective measures. Recent decisions by the US Court of Appeals and the US Supreme Court hold that environmental impact statements for nuclear facilities should explicitly address potential environmental consequences of intentional destructive acts; that is, acts of sabotage and terrorism.

July 25, 2006: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has posted a national forecast of new nuclear reactor licensing activities for 2006 - 2008. The NRC issues updates on nuclear power reactor licensing issues every six months.

March 16, 2006: Nuclear Power Licensing Factsheet - One-Step Licensing of Nuclear Plants Short-circuits Safety

Oct. 25, 2005: Read BREDL's Oct. 25 letter to Virginia DEQ | View Map Attachment to letter Dominion-Virginia Power is attempting to mischaracterize the permit in an attempt to limit the scope of the state's required coastal zone review. Dominion states that the existing power plant and the proposed nuclear site permit (ESP-Early Site Permit) are not located within Virginia’s Coastal Zone. However, North Anna Power Station is, indeed, within the Virginia coastal zone which includes Spotsylvania County‘s portion of Lake Anna. Dominion downplays the permit's impacts. But activity permitted by the ESP would include major construction including clearing and grading for roads; construction of warehouses, utilities and concrete mixing plants; excavations for facility structures; sewage treatment plants; and intake and discharge structures, water lines, and cooling towers. Finally, Dominion’s certification is inconsistent with the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires consideration of cumulative impacts and connected actions. The ESP permit and the pending Combined License are “connected” actions as defined in the Council on Environmental Quality regulations at 40 CFR 1508.7.

Sept. 01, 2005: Read BREDL letter to Nuclear Regulatory Commission On February 17, 2005 at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission public hearing, a man who identified himself as an employee of Dominion-Virginia Power falsely accused the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League of misusing public health data. His allegations not only have no basis in fact, they do nothing to alter our conclusion that deaths increased significantly after Dominion's nuclear reactors began operation. In this letter the League demonstrates why the allegations are false and asks the NRC for further investigations into death and disease in the communities around the North Anna nuclear power station.

March 01, 2005: BREDL comments on Draft Environmental Impact Statement for North Anna Early Site Permit

Feb. 17, 2005 Rally and NRC Public Hearing: Action Alert and more details. RALLY AGAINST NEW LICENSING for NUKES at NORTH ANNA, Thursday, February 17, 2005, 6:00 pm Louisa County Middle School, 1009 Davis Highway, Mineral, VA. This rally precedes the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) hearing scheduled for 7:00 pm concerning a site permit for two new reactors at North Anna nuclear power station in Louisa County in Central VA.

October 5, 2004: Table slides (in 2 .pdf files below) detailing actual radioactive releases to the air and water from Dominion/Virginia Power's North Anna nuclear station, and the high rates of mortality in the area within 30 miles of the North Anna reactors located near Charlottesville, VA.

Radioactive Materials Released from North Anna Nuclear Reactors from 1978-1987

Changes in Death Rates in nine counties closest to North Anna Nuclear Plant after startup of reactors

BREDL Press Release: DEATH RATES INCREASED AFTER NORTH ANNA STARTUP - Group Calls for Comprehensive Health Study

June 26, 2004: North Anna information slides (First new reactors in 25 years, Facts about North Anna, What's wrong with nuclear power and proposed expansion?, Timeline for expansion)

May 03, 2004: BREDL, NIRS, Public Citizen contentions filed before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board regarding Early Site Permit application for North Anna Nuclear Power Plant site, Louisa County, VA

April 9, 2004: Pictures taken at the March 25, 2004 rallies in Louisa County and Charlottesville, Virginia which were held in support of the BE SAFE Anti-nuclear Days of Action. PACE, People's Alliance for Clean Energy, organized the events with help from the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown and to prevent new nuclear plants from being constructed by Dominion Virginia Power on Lake Anna. View Pictures

March 24, 2004: Factsheet: Three Mile Island 25 years later, TMI facts - Three Mile Island VA?

March 24, 2004: Factsheet: Nuclear Waste transport to Nevada? - Don't Bet the Farm on it

Feb. 27, 2004: Factsheet: North Anna - New Nuclear Power Plants in Virginia?

Jan. 26, 2004: BREDL, NIRS, Public Citizen Opposition to Dominion Nuclear's Application for new Adjudicatory Process filed before NRC

Jan. 02, 2004: BREDL, NIRS, Public Citizen Hearing Request and Petition to Intervene filed before NRC