And the #BidenAdministrtion should give #Holtec more money to restart #PalisadesNuclearPlant? Ummmm...

#NRC Fines #Holtec Once Again - Red Flags for #OysterCreek

January 28, 2022

Media Contact: Anjuli.Ramos@sierraclub.org

"Holtec Decommission International was fined again by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Holtec agreed to pay a $50,000 fine after the plant’s armorer #falsified documents at the Oyster Creek #NuclearPlant in #LaceyTownship. According to the NRC investigation, the agency found that the plant’s armorer failed to perform mandatory firearms inspections and falsified related records. This is the second fine in two months for Holtec. In December, the company agreed to pay a $150,000 penalty for security related violations, however this time neither NRC nor Holtec disclosed the details of the violation due to the sensitivity of it.

“This is the second time in two months that Holtec has been fined for security related violations for the former Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant. It's the latest red flag in a series of red flags when it comes to Holtec. These violations should be an alarm bell going off for NRC not just to hold Holtec accountable, but to intervene in Holtec’s security and management of the site. It’s good that NRC conducted investigations and penalized Holtec, however that is clearly not enough, as this continues to happen,' said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Director of the Sierra Club.

"The public is concerned about Holtec’s plan to move still-hot nuclear waste out of water pools and into dry cask storage in half the usual time, typically 5 years. They claim their casts are proprietary and have not disclosed details about their design to the public. Until the rods are out of the spent-fuel pools and put into dry cask storage, the plant is extremely vulnerable. If there is a power outage, storm surge, or flood, the rods could melt down and create serious public health and environmental damage.

“The NRC and New Jersey must make sure there is proper oversight and to ensure Holtec is following safety protocols. This area is impacted by sea-level rise and climate change. During Sandy, the floodwaters came up onto the site at Oyster Creek. Storing nuclear waste in a site that already presents safety flaws is incredibly dangerous. If Holtec isn’t storing nuclear rods correctly, it could lead to major public health and environmental problems. That is why we need to make sure Holtec is not cutting corners [because as we all know, Holtec gets to keep what it doesn't spend] and will ensure transparency,' said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Director of the Sierra Club."

https://www.sierraclub.org/new-jersey/blog/2022/01/nrc-fines-holtec-once-again-red-flags-for-oyster-creek

#NuclearPlants #Holtec #Violations #RethinkNotRestart

#Holtec under ‘criminal investigation,’ EDA says in since-redacted court filing

By Matt Friedman and Katherine Landergan, June 24, 2020

"Holtec International, which received one of the biggest #TaxCredits in #NewJersey history, is under criminal investigation, according to a legal brief filed Monday by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

"The brief was in response to a lawsuit Holtec — an #energy technology company — filed against the EDA in March for holding up a $26 million payment on its $260 million tax incentive to build a facility in Camden. The delay was because of an allegedly false answer Holtec gave on its 2014 tax credit application.

“Holtec’s #misrepresentations — which include its failure to disclose a prior government debarment by the Tennessee Valley Authority (the ‘#TVA’) for bribing an official of that agency — first came to light during an investigation conducted by the Governor’s Task Force on the Economic Development Authority’s Tax Incentive Program, and they are now the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation,” reads the June 22 brief by attorney Ricardo Solano."

Read more: https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2020/06/24/holtec-under-criminal-investigation-eda-says-in-since-redacted-court-filing-1294345

#CorporationsLie #Corruption #Government #Nuclear #NuclearPlants #RethinkNotRestart

A timeline of incidents at #Palisades #Nuclear Power Plant since 2007

Published: May. 12, 2013

"COVERT TOWNSHIP, MI -- The leak that shut down Palisades Nuclear Power Plant May 5 is one of a series of incidents that have bedeviled the nuclear reactor in recent years.

"#Entergy Corp. bought Palisades from Consumers Energy in 2007 for $380 million. The one-reactor plant, which is located along #LakeMichigan in #CovertTownship, supplies about 20 percent of the utility's power. The facility came online in 1971 and its license runs until 2031 [it was decommissioned in 2022].

"Below is a timeline of incidents at Palisades since 2007, based on NRC reports and previous MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette articles.

2007 -- Palisades' head of security resigned amid revelations he had fabricated some of his credentials.

2008 -- An NRC safety assessment found Palisades failed "to recognize and assess the impact of radiological hazards in the workplace." The NRC found that Palisades failed to determine how much radiation employees were exposed to after radiation monitors worn by the workers warned of an exposure.

August 2008 -- Five workers were trapped for 90 minutes inside a high-temperature area when a hatch malfunctioned. The NRC launched a probe and found the plant did not take proper precautions to prevent such occurrences.

2009 -- During an inspection, the NRC found that workers failed to notice a problem in the pool where spent fuel rods are kept. The finding, labeled a "low to moderate safety" risk that did not endanger the public, kept Palisades on the NRC's list of plants that required additional regulatory oversight for a second year. The plant's 2009 safety assessment also found problems with human performance regarding "error-prevention techniques."

May 2010
-- A Palisades manager left the control room without following protocol and the event was not reported within 24 hours, the NRC found.

January 2011
-- Palisades operated at 55 percent power for eight days after a cooling-water pump lost power when an electrical bus failed. The event did not represent a threat to health and safety, the NRC said.

May 2011
-- While NRC inspectors were conducting a routine test of the plant’s auxiliary feed water system, a turbine-driven pump was tripped. Investigators found a component of the pump that was greased and should not have been. The NRC classified the event as a "low to moderate" safety significance.

August 2011
-- The NRC launched a special inspection after the failure of a coupling that holds pipes together. It found Palisades did not follow industry standards when choosing the coupling and the cracking was preventable. Palisades replaced all couplings.

September 2011
-- Palisades shut down between Sept. 16 and Sept. 20 for repairs, after workers discovered a leaking valve in the system that cools the reactor.

September 2011
-- Palisades shut down for a week after a breaker fault in the plant's electrical system Sept. 25, when a worker performing maintenance on an electrical panel when a piece of metal came into contact with another metal piece and caused an arc. There were no injuries reported. The NRC launched a special investigation, the second in two months. The investigation found that during the incident, which it named of "substantial significance to safety," Palisades did not follow proper safety protocols before the shutdown.

November 2011
-- The NRC bumped Palisades down a level to the Regulatory Response column as a result of the May 2011 incident.

January 2012
-- Palisades shut down for 3-1/2 days to repair a wearing seal on a control rod mechanism.

February 2012
-- The NRC downgraded Palisades to the third regulatory column, making it among the four-worst performing reactors in the U.S. The downgrade came as a result of the two special investigations launched in 2011.

June 2012
-- Palisades shut down for a month to repair a leak in its safety injection refueling water tank. Numerous cracks were found within the 300,000-gallon storage tank, according to reports. When the plant returned to service, the tank was still leaking, but due to its size, it did not pose a safety risk, the NRC found.

July 2012
-- An independent review of Palisades found "examples of a lack of accountability at all levels."
The study, conducted by Conger & Elsea Inc. in January and February 2012, looked at plant operations related to human performance, safety-conscious work environment, problem identification and resolution.

August 2012
-- Palisades shut down for 18 days to repair a leak in the control rod mechanism drive in the containment building. The NRC sent a three-inspector team and launched a special inspection of the pressure-boundary leak. During the 30 days before the location of the leak was discovered, up to 10,000 gallons of radioactive water leaked from the containment vessel. The water was contained and did not pose a safety risk to the public, the NRC found.

September 2012
-- An NRC inspector found what it characterized as a small leak in a valve in the service water system. The water was not radioactive and did not represent a health or safety risk, the NRC said.

November 2012
-- Palisades shuts down for three days to repair a steam leak inside the plant's auxiliary building.

November 2012
-- The NRC upgraded Palisades after an 11-day inspection in September found that Entergy had made improvements and addressed deficiencies. The NRC ordered an additional 1,000 hours of inspections in 2013, on top of the standard 2,000 hours.

February 2013
-- Palisades shut down for six days to repair a leak in the component cooling water system. It was leaking 35 gallons of non-radioactive water an hour before the shutdown, the NRC said. The leak did not represent a threat to the public or the plant, the NRC said.

March 2013
-- Palisades was one of three U.S. plants with significant safety events, or "near-misses" in the past three years, according to a report by the independent Union of Concerned Scientists. The near-misses at Palisades resulted from long-standing problems, the UCS said, and it charged the NRC with failing to enforce violations.

May 2013
-- On May 5, Palisades shut down after the leak in the safety injection refueling water tank accelerated from one a day to 90 gallons within a 24-hour period, the NRC said. On May 4, before the shutdown, some 79 gallons of radioactive water from the tank went down a drain into a capture basin, where it was extremely diluted, according to the NRC, and ended up in Lake Michigan. The NRC has sent an additional inspector to Palisades, and one of its health physicists is also investigating the incident. As of May 10, Palisades was still offline while workers and inspectors search for the source of the leak and make repairs."

Source:
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2013/05/palisades_nuclear_power_plant_14.html

#Michigan #NuclearPlants #PalisadesNuclearPlant #Holtec #Entergy #NRC #Violations #RethinkNotRestart

#PalisadesNuclearPlant has a long history of problems. And #Holtec a long list of violations. They were made for each other [sarc]

#Palisades #nuclear plant gets $150 million in #Michigan budget

By Sheri McWhirter, Jul. 03, 2023

"Michigan lawmakers included $150 million toward the effort to restart the Palisades nuclear plant as part of a record $81.7 billion state budget passed last week.

"State officials contributed the millions in taxpayer dollars toward #Holtec International’s effort to get the nuclear plant upgraded and fired back up to provide 800 megawatts of carbon-free, base load power as the energy sector transitions away from fossil fuels. If it happens, it would be the first nuclear plant nationwide to return to generating power after being decommissioned.

"The plant was closed last year when its fuel ran out and the owner sold the facility to Holtec. The new owner has now twice applied for federal money to help get the plant operational again.

"The Biden administration has a $6 billion fund within the U.S. Department of Energy intended to preserve the U.S. nuclear reactor fleet and energy sector jobs.

"[...] Power generation at nuclear plants does not generate greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change, like burning fossil fuels does. However, some #environmental advocates remain concerned about ecological #degradation from needed #uranium #mining and #radiation risk from #ToxicWaste nuclear plants produce."

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2023/07/palisades-nuclear-plant-gets-150-million-in-michigan-budget.html

#UraniumMining #NuclearPlants #NuclearWaste

"It was noted a similar scenario is playing out in Massachusetts as local, state and federal officials, local organizations and government agencies there have been voicing strong objections to #Holtec discharging radioactive wastewater..." https://theexaminernews.com/health-experts-raise-concerns-over-indian-point-wastewater/ #FukushimaWater ☢️ #law

As promised, this week's #FollowFriday list are my favorite #NoNukes / #NoWar accounts. Follow them if you want news about #Fukushima, #NuclearDisarmament, and other #Nuclear news!

@123456Moto
(My lifeline here on Mastodon. Posts Leilani Athenaire’s tweets and news from #Japan)

@SZKN29 x
Illustrator, picture book author, care worker. I mainly cover Futaba District, Fukushima Prefecture on foot. A total of 410 km was covered. Tokyo Shimbun "Drawing Invisible Radioactivity"

@YourAnonRiots
(Has timely #Fukushima posts!)
In the name of all #digital warriors, we warriors promise to participate in the #Anonymous.CC3 #HackThePlanet #AnonOps #infosec #Antifa

@brianpjcronin
(Covers #IndianPoint and #Holtec)
#Environmental Reporter for The Highlands Current: An award-winning, non-profit, independent newspaper in New York's Hudson Valley. I also teach journalism at Marist College. Not actually a cat.

@ausgestrahlt
#Atomkraft? Nein Danke! Wir streiten für eine Welt ohne #Atomenergie.
Nuclear power? No thank you! We are fighting for a world without nuclear energy.

@AntiAtomNetzTrier
We, #AntiAtom #AntiAKW moving people from #Trier and the surrounding area, are committed to the decommissioning of all nuclear plants and an ecological #Energiewende (decentralized and democratic, i.e. in the hands of citizens!). We oppose the French repository project #Bure in Lorraine with the resistance house #BureZoneLibre and for the closure of the #AKW #Cattenom. In addition, we support the switch to #Ökostrom|providers without #Atom or #Kohle|corporations as well as to corresponding banks.

@bojacobs
Nuclear historian at the #Hiroshima Peace Institute. Book - Nuclear Bodies: The Global Hibakusha - Yale 2022. I work on the global human & ecological harm from nuclear production, nuclear weapon tests, reactor accidents. I examine the impacts on communities, families & emotions; long-term ecological presence of fallout #radionuclides; the legacy of our #NuclearWaste to 1,000s of generations of our descendants.
#histodons #nuclear #Hiroshima #peace

@CNDuk
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Find out more: cnduk.org

@nukes_of_hazard
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Working to limit & eventually eliminate the nuclear threat through Congressional & public outreach.

@AtomicAnalyst
Editor and co-author, "Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of US Nuclear Weapons Since 1940" • Nonresident Senior Fellow, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. I write primarily about nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons history and policy, and the nuclear "Football."

@Achim
Energy historian, with a focus on Soviet and Russian nuclear programmes. PhD candidate at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

@RosannaFarboel
PhD in History, Researcher at Lund University
Interests: #coldwarhistory #nuclearculture #nuclearhistory #nuclearhumanities #mediahistory #urbanhistory #memorystudies #historyofscienceandtechnology #digitalhistory #architecture #ruins #shelters #imaginaries #environmentalhistory #transnationalhistory

@armscontrolnow
(bot)
The Arms Control Association, founded in 1971, is a nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies.

@joshuafrank
Journalist. Montana kid. Editor at #CounterPunch.org. #𝘼𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙘𝘿𝙖𝙮𝙨, published by Haymarket Books, out now!

@brianpjcronin #Holtec doesn't need to cut jobs. Greedy corporations (and this one has all sorts of government subsidies) like to use scare tactics to preserve obscene profits. That being said, maybe 100 folks will lose their jobs -- but maybe they should find another line of work!

#KirstenGillibrand: "The lack of transparency and inadequate communications with the public about this plan have been unacceptable, and our constituents’ concerns about the composition of the water cannot be overlooked. I expect #Holtec, the #NRC and other regulators to provide comprehensive and thorough answers to our questions about the oversight of Holtec’s decommissioning of IPEC."

#HoltecLies #TEPCOLies #Fukushima #FukushimaWater #Nuclear #NuclearWaste

NY Senate Bill S5181

Prohibits the discharge of any radiological agent into the waters of the state

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2023/S5181

#NewYork #HudsonRiver #Holtec #Fukushima #TEPCO #NoNukeDumping #RadioactiveWater

KEEP PUTTING ON THE PRESSURE on #Japan/#TEPCO

#HudsonRiver Spared Radioactive Dump From Defunct NY Nuclear Plant

The plan to reportedly dump upwards of 1 million gallons into the Hudson River was scrapped this week after thunderous pushback

by NBC New York Staff and The AP, Published April 14, 202

“Following conversations with key state stakeholders, who wish to allow for additional public education, we have decided not to go forward with the planned discharge in early May,” the company's communications director, Patrick O'Brien, wrote to plant's decommissioning board on Thursday."
#NoNukes #NoDumping #Fukushima #FukushimaWater #IndianPoint #NoNewNukes #WaterIsLife #Holtec #HoltecLies #TEPCOLies

Read more:
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/hudson-river-spared-from-radioactive-dump-at-defunct-ny-nuclear-plant/4241535/

Additional violations by #Holtec cited in #IndianPoint decommissioning

by Luke Dougherty, 4-4-2023

"In a March 2023 letter, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released a notice sent to Holtec International, providing details of two additional violations during their decommissioning of the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Although these violations were rated low safety significance by the NRC, we believe all violations are significant because they expose weaknesses in Holtec’s management of the decommissioning.

"These violations include a failure by Holtec to identify overflows of radioactive liquids from storage tanks, and after identifying the spills, failing to test the radiological levels in required areas within the plant. These overflows were first discovered in the spring of 2022, but went unreported to the public until March of 2023 because #NRC inspections happen infrequently."
#HudsonRiver #HoltecLies #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #WaterIsLife #NoDumping

Read more:
https://www.riverkeeper.org/blogs/indian-point-blogs/additional-violations-by-holtec-cited-in-indian-point-decommissioning/

NIRS: "Indian Point Unit 1's spent fuel pool was known to be leaking since 1992, and leaks from the plant have been leaching into the river. The radioactive isotopes that have been identified include hydrogen-3 (tritium), strontium-90, cobalt-60, cesium-137, and nickel-63."

#NoNukes #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #NewYork #HudsonRiver #IndianPoint #HoltecLies #Holtec

PDF link:
https://www.nirs.org/wp-content/uploads/closeindianpoint/water-and-indianpoint.pdf

What #Holtec isn't telling us is that the water contains more than just #Tritium and Boron... Lots of other radioactive "goodies," including Cobalt!

Holtec Says It Will Discharge #IndianPoint Water in May

By Brian PJ Cronin, April 7, 2023

"Holtec said that the water would be sampled, monitored and filtered before it was released, although it will still contain boron and tritium. That will leave 265,000 gallons in Unit 2, which has been emptied of spent fuel rods, and 310,000 gallons in Unit 3, which is scheduled to be emptied of rods by November. Unit 1’s wastewater was released into the river in 2009."

#NoNukes #NewYork #HoltecLies #WaterIsLife #HudsonRiver #HudsonRiverWatershed #HudsonRiverValley

Read more: https://highlandscurrent.org/2023/04/07/holtec-says-it-will-discharge-indian-point-water-in-may/

Well, well, well -- guess what -- there's more than just #Tritium in that water -- just like with #Fukushima! #Corporations like #TEPCO and #Holtec LOVE to DOWNPLAY what's really in the water they want to dump!

#RocklandCounty Passes Resolution Against Dumping #RadioactiveWater in the #HudsonRiver; Second This Week

Published Mar 9, 2023 Categories

"In a 16-0 vote, the Rockland County Legislature unanimously approved a resolution calling on Governor Hochul and relevant agencies to stop Holtec International from dumping #toxic waste into the Hudson River. Rockland became the second county in the Hudson Valley region to oppose Holtec’s polluting plan, just two days after the #Westchester Board of Legislators took similar action.

"Holtec International, the company in charge of decommissioning the #IndianPoint Nuclear Plant, wants to dump one million gallons of toxic wastewater from the plant’s spent fuel pools into the Hudson River. The company’s waste has several contaminants [NOT JUST TRITIUM LIKE HOLTEC KEEPS SAYING] including #tritium, a radioactive isotope that can lead to cancer when inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin in large quantities. Seven communities and over 100,000 people rely on drinking water from the Hudson River.

"Santosh Nandabalan, Senior New York Organizer with Food & Water Watch issued the following statement: 'To allow the immense discharge of toxic, radioactive waste into New Yorkers’ drinking water is to privilege corporate expediency over public health. One by one, Hudson Valley authorities are taking a stand against Holtec’s ludicrously dangerous proposal. Governor Hochul must take immediate action to safeguard public health and stop Holtec’s scheme.'"

#HudsonRiver #HudsonRiverValley #HudsonValley #Fukushima #NewYork #Japan #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #StopTEPCO #NoNukes #TEPCOLies #HoltecLies

Read more: https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2023/03/09/rockland-county-passes-resolution-against-dumping-radioactive-water-in-the-hudson-river-second-this-week/

#Holtec plans to dump [#radioactive] water into #HudsonRiver this summer

February 13, 2023

"Although filtered, the water will contain #tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen difficult to remove. The firm says the release will cause minimal problems because the water will disperse...

"At the meeting of the oversight board, Rich Burroni, a Holtec representative, said that the company plans to release the water in late August or early September, although he would not rule out dumping it sooner.

"Throughout the evening, members of the oversight board repeatedly said that members of the public concerned with Holtec’s plans should contact the #EPA or #NRC. In #Massachusetts, the EPA has put a hold on a Holtec plan to discharge radioactive water from the #PilgrimNuclear Power Plant into #CapeCod Bay until a third-party can verify that the release would be safe."

#HudsonRiver #NoNukes #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #HudsonValley #NoMoreNukes

Read more:
https://peekskillherald.com/6864/environment/holtec-plans-to-dump-water-into-hudson-this-summer/

If you live in NY state, there’s an important bill in the Senate, S5181, prohibiting the discharge of radioactive substances into waters of the state.

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2023/S5181

Please contact your state rep’s immediately! Holtec has told us they won’t give much notice when they dump 1M gallons of radioactive tritium into the Hudson River. 😱

#Holtec #S5181 #NYstate #radioactivewaste #indianpoint

WAKE UP WESTCHESTER: For Pete’s Sake, Don’t Let Indian Point Dump 1 Million Gallons of Nuclear Waste Into the Hudson

by Dan Murphy, February 23, 2023

One of the options #Holtec could pursue is: "Hold the wastewater on site. Although no definite holding time was discussed at the meeting, storage on site was. We believe an initial 12 year period would be appropriate. After 12 years, tritium’s half-life (the radioactive isotope) will have cut its activity by 50%. During this 12-year period we would like Holtec to explore separation of the tritium, solidification, and any other options that emerge."
#NoNukes #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #NewYork #HudsonRiver #Riverkeepers

https://yonkerstimes.com/wake-up-westchester-for-petes-sake-dont-let-indian-point-dump-1-million-gallons-of-nuclear-waste-into-the-hudson/

@Davi_Dblees Tritium "it gives off radiation in the form of a beta particle. Tritium will bind anywhere hydrogen does, including in water, and in plant, animal and human tissue. It cannot be removed from the environment once it is released. Tritium can be inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through skin." It is a big deal. #Holtec claims it's fine because it will be "dispersed" -- but #bioaccumulation, moving up the food chain, is a real consequence of dumping radioactive water!

https://www.nirs.org/wp-content/uploads/factsheets/tritiumbasicinfo.pdf

@brianpjcronin #Holtec: "Says it will not wait for state endorsement". WTF!

Assuming that there's ONLY tritium in the water, it can be stored in a closed-loop system until it becomes harmless (it has a half-life of 12 years, and turns into helium in 24 years). Unless #Holtec is lying about what's in it. And by the way, there's a helium shortage, so why not capture it, rather than dumping it and harming the ecosystem!

Dumping 1M gallons of radioactive water in #HudsonRiver is ‘best option,’ per #IndianPoint nuclear plant owner (Holtec)

By Rosemary Misdary, Feb 17, 2023

"Environmental groups and residents are also concerned this could harm their community, as the Hudson River is already a federally designated toxic Superfund site. Rich Burroni, Holtec’s site vice president for Indian Point, agreed to give the community at least a month's notice before any radioactive discharge into the Hudson River begins."
#WaterIsLife #NoNukes #NoDumping

https://gothamist.com/news/dumping-radioactive-water-hudson-river-best-option-indian-point-nuclear-plant-owner-holtec