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Groups file appeal against Michigan nuclear power plant
Two nuclear energy watchdog groups have filed an action with a federal appeals court that says the storage pads where spent nuclear fuel is kept at the Palisades Nuclear Plant violate earthquake-safety regulations established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
By JAMES PRICHARD - The Associated Press
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Two nuclear energy watchdog groups have filed an action with a federal appeals court that says the storage pads where spent nuclear fuel is kept at the Palisades Nuclear Plant violate earthquake-safety regulations established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The 3-foot-thick concrete pads rest upon loose sand amid the dunes of the Lake Michigan shoreline in western Van Buren County's Covert Township, about 55 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. Some containers of spent, irradiated nuclear fuel sit 150 yards from the water, the organizations said Thursday in a joint written statement.
Palisades' two pads now hold more than 30 concrete-and-steel casks, each of which weighs about 150 tons when fully loaded with nuclear fuel rod assemblies.
The groups — Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Don't Waste Michigan — want the plant closed and turned to the federal courts for relief after exhausting all administrative remedies at the NRC, they said. They filed the appeal June 15 in Washington and are represented in court by attorney Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio.
"Underwater submersion could lead to inadvertent nuclear chain reactions in the fissile materials still present in the wastes," said Kevin Kamps, a nuclear-waste specialist at NIRS. "Burial under sand could cause the wastes to dangerously overheat. Either way, a disastrous radioactivity release could result."
Mark Savage, a spokesman for plant owner Entergy Corp., said Palisades' spent nuclear fuel is being properly stored at the site.
"Palisades has been in the past — and continues to be — in full compliance with all federal regulations and requirements associated with the dry-fuel storage facility, he said. "Our dry fuel storage containers are monitored daily and are in a safe condition, and Palisades will continue to store its used fuel until the federal government takes ownership of it for storage at Yucca Mountain, Nevada."
In April, Entergy, a New Orleans-based utility holding company, completed its $380 million purchase of the plant from Consumers Energy Co., a subsidiary of Jackson-based CMS Energy Corp. Under the terms of the sales agreement, Entergy will sell 100 percent of the 798-megawatt plant's output to Consumers for 15 years.
Palisades has been producing power commercially since December 1971
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On the Net:
Entergy Corp.: http://www.entergy.com
Nuclear Information and Resource Service: http://www.nirs.org
Don't Waste Michigan: http://www.dwmi.homestead.com
CMS Energy Corp.: http://www.cmsenergy.com
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