[Please share this invitation with colleagues who teach courses about
climate change, climate policy, environmental policy, environmental
science, energy policy and/or economic development]
Dear Colleagues,
If
you are teaching a course in spring 2016 that includes content on
climate change, climate policy, environmental policy and/or energy
policy, you and your students are invited to participate in the PA Power
Dialog in Harrisburg on April 4, 2016. The PA Power Dialog, which is
being organized by the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium
(PERC), will engage Pennsylvania college and university students in
meaningful dialog with state regulators, legislators and peers about the
Clean Power Plan and its implementation in Pennsylvania.
Please contact Neil Leary (learyn@dickinson.edu) for more information or to reserve places for you and your students.
The
program for the Dialog is still being developed (draft appended at end
of this email), but will include a keynote talk by DEP Secretary John
Quigley (confirmed), student panels in which students will share their
work and viewpoints, small group roundtable discussions and
opportunities for dialog. Topics for student panels will be decided in
consultation with participating faculty.
We will also provide
opportunity for student organizations to participate and will provide
more information about this option in coming days.
The PA
Power Dialog is one of a number of state-level dialogs that are being
organized across the country by the Bard Center for Environmental
Policy. Bard CEP is developing and sharing resources for teaching about
the Clean Power Plan. PERC will assemble complementary resources that
are Pennsylvania specific, which we will make available for your use.
We
are working to make the conference free of charge. But there may be a
small registration fee to pay for the venue and possibly food depending
on whether we decide to provide lunch or have everyone get lunch on
their own.
Draft Program:
9:30 – 9:45 Welcome & Overview
9:45 – 10:30 Student Panel 1
10:30 – 11:15 Student Panel 2
11:15 – 12:00 Student Panel 3
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch and keynote talk from DEP Secretary John Quigley
1:30 – 2:15 Implementation of the Clean Power Plan in PA: Status, Opportunities and Challenges
· Invited DEP official
· Invited Republican legislator
· Invited Democratic legislator
2:15 – 3:00 Open Q&A
3:00 – 3:45 Student Roundtables – small group discussions on selected topics
3:45 – 4:00 Closing Session
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2 - Issuance of Amendments Re: Revisions to Technical Specification 3.4.10, "Reactor Coolant System Pressure and Temperature (P/T) Limits" (TAC Nos. MF4597 and MF4598)
Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2 - Issuance of
Amendments Re: Revisions to Technical Specification 3.4.10, "Reactor
Coolant System Pressure and Temperature (P/T) Limits" (TAC Nos. MF4597
and MF4598)
Download ML15243A140
Download ML15243A140
Truck Watch to Alert Public to Radioactive Dangers: Fall Newsletter
Nukewatch Plans Truck Watch to Alert Public to Radioactive Transport Dangers
This fall, Nukewatch staffers will hit the road with our Geiger counter and begin tracking private contractors hauling low-level waste, checking for radiation leaking near our public highways. Nukewatch will use the results of their research to alert the public and inform a campaign against upcoming consolidated waste storage proposals that would require a massive increase in the cross-country transport of decades’ worth of waste or “spent” reactor fuel rods.
Read Article
Download PDF
This fall, Nukewatch staffers will hit the road with our Geiger counter and begin tracking private contractors hauling low-level waste, checking for radiation leaking near our public highways. Nukewatch will use the results of their research to alert the public and inform a campaign against upcoming consolidated waste storage proposals that would require a massive increase in the cross-country transport of decades’ worth of waste or “spent” reactor fuel rods.
Read Article
Download PDF
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
NRC Announces Management Changes, Streamlining
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced senior personnel
changes that help streamline agency management and broaden the scope and
diversity of its leadership at the top as the agency works to reduce
its size in the coming years.
The most senior changes – which required Commission approval and will occur in early November – include:
Deputy Executive Director for Material, Waste, Research, State, Tribal and Compliance Programs Mike Weber will become director of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research;
Jennifer Uhle, currently deputy director for engineering in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, will become director of the Office of New Reactors;
Director of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards Catherine Haney will become the
Region II regional administrator in January, succeeding Victor McCree, who just assumed the agency’s most senior career position, Executive Director for Operations (EDO).
Download PDF
The most senior changes – which required Commission approval and will occur in early November – include:
Deputy Executive Director for Material, Waste, Research, State, Tribal and Compliance Programs Mike Weber will become director of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research;
Jennifer Uhle, currently deputy director for engineering in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, will become director of the Office of New Reactors;
Director of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards Catherine Haney will become the
Region II regional administrator in January, succeeding Victor McCree, who just assumed the agency’s most senior career position, Executive Director for Operations (EDO).
Download PDF
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Markey: Filtered Vent Vote Adds to Litany of NRC Post-Fukushima Safety Failures
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Giselle Barry (Markey) 202-224-2742
Markey: Filtered Vent Vote Adds to Litany of NRC Post-Fukushima Safety Failures
Boston (August 21, 2015) – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) yesterday announced by a vote of 3-1 that it will not even put out for public comment the question of whether to upgrade America’s Fukushima-style reactors with a commonsense safety measure to prevent radiation exposure when vents are used to prevent hydrogen explosions during a meltdown. Commissioner Jeff Baran was the dissenting vote. In 2013, then-Rep. Markey and a group of House committee leaders called on the NRC to require that all U.S. nuclear reactors of the same design as the ones that melted down at the Japanese Fukushima nuclear facility install such vents in order to reduce exposure to radiation when the vents are used. Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Massachusetts has a reactor design that would utilize a filtered vent.
Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement:
“Yet again, the NRC has missed another opportunity to take the lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster and upgrade America’s nuclear fleet to make it safer in the face of a severe nuclear accident. The NRC has yet to require the nuclear industry complete implementation of a single Fukushima Task Force recommendation. It’s irresponsible, inexplicable and an abdication of NRC’s duty to protect public safety. Instead of following its top experts’ safety recommendations, the NRC chose to do nothing, leaving the people who live around these vulnerable nuclear facilities without an important protection. ”
Contact: Giselle Barry (Markey) 202-224-2742
Markey: Filtered Vent Vote Adds to Litany of NRC Post-Fukushima Safety Failures
Boston (August 21, 2015) – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) yesterday announced by a vote of 3-1 that it will not even put out for public comment the question of whether to upgrade America’s Fukushima-style reactors with a commonsense safety measure to prevent radiation exposure when vents are used to prevent hydrogen explosions during a meltdown. Commissioner Jeff Baran was the dissenting vote. In 2013, then-Rep. Markey and a group of House committee leaders called on the NRC to require that all U.S. nuclear reactors of the same design as the ones that melted down at the Japanese Fukushima nuclear facility install such vents in order to reduce exposure to radiation when the vents are used. Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Massachusetts has a reactor design that would utilize a filtered vent.
Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement:
“Yet again, the NRC has missed another opportunity to take the lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster and upgrade America’s nuclear fleet to make it safer in the face of a severe nuclear accident. The NRC has yet to require the nuclear industry complete implementation of a single Fukushima Task Force recommendation. It’s irresponsible, inexplicable and an abdication of NRC’s duty to protect public safety. Instead of following its top experts’ safety recommendations, the NRC chose to do nothing, leaving the people who live around these vulnerable nuclear facilities without an important protection. ”
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Exelon News Release
EXELON DEFERS DECISIONS ON ITS QUAD CITIES AND BYRON NUCLEAR PLANTS FOR ONE YEAR
Deferral follows outcome of third PJM capacity auction
CHICAGO (Sept. 10, 2015) — Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) today announced that all of its nuclear plants in the PJM market cleared in the transition capacity auction for the 2017-18 planning year and that the company will defer any decisions about the future operations of its Quad Cities and Byron nuclear plants for one year. As a result, the company plans to continue operating its Quad Cities nuclear power plant through at least May 2018. The Byron plant is already obligated to operate through May 2019.
Exelon intends to bid Quad Cities, Byron, Three Mile Island and all eligible nuclear plants into the 2019-2020 PJM capacity auction next year. The decision to defer retirement decisions comes after rigorous analysis of the present and future economics of the plants, taking into consideration the constructive market trends stemming from the PJM capacity auction reforms.
Download PDF
Deferral follows outcome of third PJM capacity auction
CHICAGO (Sept. 10, 2015) — Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) today announced that all of its nuclear plants in the PJM market cleared in the transition capacity auction for the 2017-18 planning year and that the company will defer any decisions about the future operations of its Quad Cities and Byron nuclear plants for one year. As a result, the company plans to continue operating its Quad Cities nuclear power plant through at least May 2018. The Byron plant is already obligated to operate through May 2019.
Exelon intends to bid Quad Cities, Byron, Three Mile Island and all eligible nuclear plants into the 2019-2020 PJM capacity auction next year. The decision to defer retirement decisions comes after rigorous analysis of the present and future economics of the plants, taking into consideration the constructive market trends stemming from the PJM capacity auction reforms.
Download PDF
Cancer risks at nuclear plants to be concealed from public
Agency to leave children unprotected and public in the dark on cancer risks around nuclear power facilities
Vital cancer study canceled as nuclear industry moves in to offer end-run cover-up
TAKOMA PARK, MD, September 8, 2015 — Beyond Nuclear, a leading U.S. NGO of record on the health, safety and environmental dangers of nuclear power facilities, today decried the outrageous decision by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to cancel a study that would have examined cancer incidence and mortalities and the connection to U.S. nuclear facilities.
“Study after study in Europe has shown a clear rise in childhood leukemia around operating nuclear power facilities, yet the NRC has decided to hide this vital information from the American public,” said Cindy Folkers, radiation and health specialist at Beyond Nuclear. The study, initiated in 2009 and carried out under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), had completed Phase 1 and was looking at seven pilot nuclear sites around the country, a project that was estimated to cost $8 million.
“An $8 million price tag for the next phase of this study is a drop in the bucket for an agency with a $1 billion annual operating budget,” added Folkers. The NRC identified the “significant amount of time and resources needed and the agency’s current budget constraints” as its excuse for terminating the study.
Folkers noted that, in reality, nuclear industry manipulation, rather than budget constraints, could be behind the NRC’s sudden decision to abandon the NAS study.
In documents obtained by Beyond Nuclear it was revealed that NRC staff had been approached by the president of U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), John Boice, offering a cheaper, faster and less sensitive study design to replace the NAS study, although the NRC has not yet agreed to accept the NCRP bid.
“NCRP is not only funded in part by the nuclear industry but its decision-makers also have strong pro-nuclear ties,” said Folkers, who has been leading a six-year effort by Beyond Nuclear and other groups to ensure the NAS cancer study went forward with scientific integrity.
“John Boice has repeatedly taken industry funding for health studies and has testified against plaintiffs in radiation exposure cases,” Folkers continued. “The public will have absolutely no confidence in any conclusions reached by such a study and would recognize it as an attempt by the NRC to, yet again, bury public concerns about radiation exposure,” Folkers added.
What’s also behind the cancelation, Folkers alleges, is the incontrovertible evidence of negative health impacts caused by the routine operation of nuclear power reactors and especially on children, that such a study would have made public.
Last year, Dr. Ian Fairlie, a noted British radiation biologist, conducted a meta-analysis of cancer studies around nuclear plants in the UK, Germany, France and Switzerland and found “a highly statistically significant 37% increase in childhood leukemias within 5 km (3 miles) of almost all nuclear power plants” in those countries.
Reacting to the NRC’s decision, Fairlie said it was “highly regrettable and inexplicable given the large amount of good evidence from countries outside the U.S. which strongly pointed to increased leukemias near nuclear power plants.”
The influence of the nuclear industry over the NRC is no surprise, given the agency receives 90% of its funding from the nuclear industry itself. But a recent pattern of dismissing public engagement and canceling minimal safety measures at U.S. nuclear plants is a worrying trend.
“Funding a cancer study around nuclear power plants is a legitimate cost of doing radioactive business that the NRC could have collected through its licensing fees,” said Paul Gunter, Director of Reactor Oversight at Beyond Nuclear and an NRC watchdog. “Instead, the NRC has decided to pass along another cost savings to the nuclear industry at the expense of public health and safety.”
Read Article
Visit www.beyondnuclear.org
Vital cancer study canceled as nuclear industry moves in to offer end-run cover-up
TAKOMA PARK, MD, September 8, 2015 — Beyond Nuclear, a leading U.S. NGO of record on the health, safety and environmental dangers of nuclear power facilities, today decried the outrageous decision by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to cancel a study that would have examined cancer incidence and mortalities and the connection to U.S. nuclear facilities.
“Study after study in Europe has shown a clear rise in childhood leukemia around operating nuclear power facilities, yet the NRC has decided to hide this vital information from the American public,” said Cindy Folkers, radiation and health specialist at Beyond Nuclear. The study, initiated in 2009 and carried out under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), had completed Phase 1 and was looking at seven pilot nuclear sites around the country, a project that was estimated to cost $8 million.
“An $8 million price tag for the next phase of this study is a drop in the bucket for an agency with a $1 billion annual operating budget,” added Folkers. The NRC identified the “significant amount of time and resources needed and the agency’s current budget constraints” as its excuse for terminating the study.
Folkers noted that, in reality, nuclear industry manipulation, rather than budget constraints, could be behind the NRC’s sudden decision to abandon the NAS study.
In documents obtained by Beyond Nuclear it was revealed that NRC staff had been approached by the president of U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), John Boice, offering a cheaper, faster and less sensitive study design to replace the NAS study, although the NRC has not yet agreed to accept the NCRP bid.
“NCRP is not only funded in part by the nuclear industry but its decision-makers also have strong pro-nuclear ties,” said Folkers, who has been leading a six-year effort by Beyond Nuclear and other groups to ensure the NAS cancer study went forward with scientific integrity.
“John Boice has repeatedly taken industry funding for health studies and has testified against plaintiffs in radiation exposure cases,” Folkers continued. “The public will have absolutely no confidence in any conclusions reached by such a study and would recognize it as an attempt by the NRC to, yet again, bury public concerns about radiation exposure,” Folkers added.
What’s also behind the cancelation, Folkers alleges, is the incontrovertible evidence of negative health impacts caused by the routine operation of nuclear power reactors and especially on children, that such a study would have made public.
Last year, Dr. Ian Fairlie, a noted British radiation biologist, conducted a meta-analysis of cancer studies around nuclear plants in the UK, Germany, France and Switzerland and found “a highly statistically significant 37% increase in childhood leukemias within 5 km (3 miles) of almost all nuclear power plants” in those countries.
Reacting to the NRC’s decision, Fairlie said it was “highly regrettable and inexplicable given the large amount of good evidence from countries outside the U.S. which strongly pointed to increased leukemias near nuclear power plants.”
The influence of the nuclear industry over the NRC is no surprise, given the agency receives 90% of its funding from the nuclear industry itself. But a recent pattern of dismissing public engagement and canceling minimal safety measures at U.S. nuclear plants is a worrying trend.
“Funding a cancer study around nuclear power plants is a legitimate cost of doing radioactive business that the NRC could have collected through its licensing fees,” said Paul Gunter, Director of Reactor Oversight at Beyond Nuclear and an NRC watchdog. “Instead, the NRC has decided to pass along another cost savings to the nuclear industry at the expense of public health and safety.”
Read Article
Visit www.beyondnuclear.org
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