Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Tell NRC & Congress: Strengthen or Close GE reactors


12/12/12
The nuclear reactors that exploded at Fukushima in March 2011 and released toxic radiation across our planet were designed and manufactured by General Electric. There are still 23 nearly-identical GE Mark I reactors operating in the U.S., and eight more very similar GE Mark II reactors. All suffer from fundamental design flaws. All are dangerous to all living beings.

Nearly two years after Fukushima, the NRC has yet to require any safety improvements to these reactors. The NRC staff, through its Fukushima Task Force, has recommended installation of filtered containment vents to make hydrogen explosions less likely and radiation releases smaller than they otherwise would be. The NRC Commissioners are expected to vote before Christmas on whether they will implement that recommendation. But the nuclear industry has been lobbying hard in favor of rejection and the status quo.

Our position is that all of these reactors should be closed permanently. Taken together, they supply only about 5% of the nation's electricity; there is ample--and much safer--reserve capacity. But we also believe the Commissioners need to make a statement in favor of public protection by voting to require these filtered containment vents.
We encourage you to send a letter to the NRC below in support of requiring filtered containment vents. Letters will go to your elected officials at the same time urging them to contact the NRC in support. This will help raise the profile of the issue, which seems to have been dropped entirely by the mass media.

Note: the letters also call for the preferred course of permanent shutdown of these unnecessary and dangerous reactors. As always, you may edit the sample letters to reflect your own concerns.

Our friends at Pilgrim Watch in Massachusetts have submitted detailed comments to the NRC on the containment venting issue. You can read their comments here.


GO: Tell NRC & Congress: Strengthen or Close GE reactors

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