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BLUE RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE LEAGUE
PO Box 88 ~
Glendale Springs, North Carolina 28629 ~ Phone
(336) 982-2691 ~ Fax (336) 982-2954 ~ Email:
BREDL@skybest.com
PRESS
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 10, 2009
CONTACT:
Louis Zeller (336) 982-2691 or (336) 977-0852
GROUP CHARGES NEW NUKES MUST WAIT FOR RADIOACTIVE WASTE SOLUTION
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.
The League contends that the NRC is ignoring both its own rules
and the intractable problem of storage of irradiated fuel rods
nuclear plats sites and at a proposed waste dump at Yucca
Mountain in Nevada. The League maintains that with no solution to
radioactive waste, no new reactors can be licensed.
Louis Zeller, the organization’s legal representative, said,
“The NRC promised that it would halt its reactor licensing
if it did not have reasonable confidence that radioactive wastes
would be disposed of safely. But the agency is ignoring
government reports showing that irradiated fuel storage pools are
vulnerable to catastrophic fires caused by accidents or
intentional attacks. We cannot sit idly by and allow the NRC to
shroud its illegal decisions in secrecy.”
Zeller pointed to the fact that NRC has not even attempted to
comply with the basic requirements for its waste decisions, such
as preparing an environmental assessment that addresses the
purpose of and need for the proposed action and evaluates
alternatives.
In the briefs filed on March 9th, the League stated, “The
NRC’s secrecy is unnecessary, corrosive to the NRC’s
system of accountability through open decision-making, and
potentially dangerous because the decision-making process was not
only secret but was restricted to the NRC and a limited group of
individuals with a vested interest in minimizing the cost of
mitigative measures, i.e., reactor licensees”
The League noted that President Obama’s 2010 budget has no
funding for development of the Yucca Mountain repository project.
Other organizations filed similar challenges at other proposed
reactor sites.
-end-
Legal Contentions filed:
Tennessee
Valley Authority's Bellefonte 3 and 4
Duke
Energy Carolina's William States Lee III
Dominion
Virginia Power's North Anna Unit 3
Attachments: Exhibit A | Exhibit B
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