[NukeNet] APP, Oct 6 "Nuclear plant critics win NRC hearing" ( Front page)

[Edith]

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  From: Edith
  To: nukenet at energyjustice.net
  Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 10:58 PM
  Subject: APP, Oct 6 "Nuclear plant critics win NRC hearing" ( Front page)


  Nuclear plant critics win NRC hearing



  Environmentalists' questions about reactor deemed valid

  Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/11/06



  BY NICHOLAS CLUNN

  STAFF WRITER



  A coalition of six environmental and anti-nuclear groups opposed to the 
renewal of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant's operating license won a 
federal hearing Tuesday based on contentions raised about the safety of a 
steel vessel meant to contain radiation.



  The hearing was granted by a three-judge panel within the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, which will decide whether to issue the Lacey plant a 
20-year renewal.



  Without the renewal, the plant would close in 2009. Oyster Creek employs 
about 420 workers and provides enough electricity to power about 600,000 
homes.



  Lawyers for plant operator AmerGen Energy Co. opposed the coalition's 
request for a hearing. In their own brief, NRC staffers supported it.



  No date has been set for the hearing. Whether it will actually happen will 
depend on whether AmerGen will accept the panel's decision.



  "It's more than likely that AmerGen will appeal," NRC spokesman Neil 
Sheehan said.



  AmerGen spokeswoman Rachelle Benson said the plant's legal team will 
decide whether an appeal is appropriate after the lawyers have had time to 
review the 37-page order.



  According to the panel, the coalition raised a valid concern in 
questioning the frequency in which AmerGen plans to measure the thickness of 
the vessel beyond 2009.



  The vessel, called the drywell liner, is 100 feet tall and sur-rounds the 
chamber in which atoms are split to make heat. During a serious accident, 
the liner would contain highly radioactive steam and push it down into a 
water-filled cooling pool.



  Coalition members are more worried about the liner collapsing than its 
performance during an emergency. They're concerned because rust on a lower 
portion of the liner — called the sand bed region — had caused it to become 
thinner during the early 1980s.



  The coalition members are Sierra Club New Jersey; the New Jersey 
Environmental Federation; the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group; 
Grandmothers, Mothers and More for Energy Safety; Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch 
and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.



  According to Benson, Tuesday's decision meant the coalition met the 
threshold for a hearing. It doesn't mean the liner, or AmerGen's plan to 
monitor it, is deficient, she said.



  The liner is now under scrutiny by three different sections of the NRC. 
Staff members have yet to decide whether to approve AmerGen's plan to 
monitor the liner for aging. A committee that reviews NRC staff decisions 
also is undecided. That committee met last week and asked AmerGen to provide 
more information to back up the company's plan.



  ON THE WEB: Visit our Web site, www.app.com, and look on our home page 
under Special Reports for a link to Relicensing Oyster Creek: Is It Worth 
It? for past editorials and stories, related links, an interactive graphic 
that shows how the plant works, and more.



  Nicholas Clunn: (732) 643-4072 or nclunn at app.com

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