NEI Nuclear Notes

More than a few folks have passed along a news clip to us from The Chattanoogan detailing another " study " by Joseph Mangano of the Radiation and Public Health Project and the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) claiming that they've discovered higher mortality rates in populations living near the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant . We don't believe this study is credible. Mangano and company are making these claims despite the fact that nuclear power plants only account for .1% of the radiation that a typical American is exposed to over the course of a year . Meanwhile, exposures from life saving medical procedures like CT scans and X-Rays account for about 50% . Putting that aside, a number of third party experts and journalists have regularly taken turns debunking Mangano's research. In 2011, Michael Moyer of Scientific American said the following about one Mangano study that claimed Americans were suffering from severe health effects in the wake ...

The American Midwest and Southeast have been struck by tornadoes today . We just received the following statement from the Tennessee Valley Authority concerning the status of several nuclear power plants in their service: TVA has activated its Transmission Emergency Operations Center to assess the damage and manage the response to today’s severe storms. At this time, TVA reports 10 transmission lines are out of service, with the most severe weather reported in North Alabama and Southeast Tennessee. The transmission system is stable and secure. All TVA customer connections are in service with the exception of five connection points for Volunteer Electric in Hamilton and Bradley counties. Initial reports from Athens and Huntsville, Alabama, are that an estimated 44,000 customers are experiencing outages. We are aware of outages in other locations, but we do not have estimated customer numbers yet. All three nuclear sites remain safe following the recent storms. The three units at Bro...

While we expect to see some articles gleefully bid adieu to nuclear energy in favor of its renewable cousins – or natural gas, which for all its positive qualities, still generates greenhouse gasses – what tends to happen is that writers nudge the facts to fit the desired conclusion. For example, this story from NPR is fairly unremarkable in tracing nuclear’s long goodbye, but I was struck by its conclusion : Fukushima shows that there will always be some risk from nuclear reactors. For Philip Sharp at Resources for the Future, that presents the public with a big question: "To what degree [are] we as a people ... to accept that some of these things are high risk, and how far are we willing to go to tolerate those high risks?" I would not care to downplay the seriousness of the accident, but I would stress that the above paragraph is written in the context of an earthquake and tsunami now believed to have killed 27,000 people, a fair number of them in the vicinity of...

From the Huntsville Times : President Bush, speaking at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Athens, said the nation's energy policy "must include" the use of nuclear power and he called for the construction of new nuclear plants across the country. "It's time for our country to start building nuclear power plants again," he said. "It's one thing to restart one, and I congratulate you. It's another thing to build a new one." At the outset of his comments, Bush thanked TVA workers for bringing in the Unit 1 reactor restart "on budget and on time." The unit was restarted on May 22 after being dormant for 22 years. He announced his Nuclear Power 2010 initiative to remove "regulatory burdens" that might hold up the approval and construction of new nuclear power plants. TVA is looking to build a new plant at Bellefonte near Scottsboro, a nuclear plant that was never completed. More later.

From the Decatur Daily : Athens is to experience a first in its history when the nation's president visits Thursday. A White House spokesman confirmed that President Bush will be in Athens at 1:15 p.m. to tour the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant and make remarks. Limestone County archivist Philip Reyer said to his knowledge, a sitting president has never visited Athens. Although local officials could not say if Bush initiated the visit, it is part of an effort by Bush to push long-stalled energy legislation in Congress. Bills in both the Senate and House include provisions designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Bush has said nuclear power is one of the best ways to reduce such emissions, especially the carbon dioxide most scientists believe contributes to global warming. The restart of Unit 1 in May made Browns Ferry one of the largest nuclear plants in the country. The unit, shut down in 1985, is going through a gradual power increase and review process. You'll remember back ...

In the latest issue, we look at the restart of Browns Ferry 1, and what it means to an industry poised for growth. To get the PDF, click here (PDF).

From the TVA (release not yet online): The Tennessee Valley Authority restarted Unit 1 at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in North Alabama today, completing one of the most extensive recovery efforts in the nuclear industry for an operating plant. TVA received permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission May 15 to restart the reactor. TVA told the NRC on May 9 that it has the ability to operate and maintain all three units at Browns Ferry safely, that work to restart and operate Unit 1 is complete and that pre-start up testing was successful. The restart completes the recovery effort within the five-year plan approved by the TVA Board in 2002, and at the projected cost of about $1.8 billion. “Returning Browns Ferry Unit 1 to our nuclear fleet gives TVA another dependable, safe and emissions-free source of generation to help meet the growing demand for power in the Tennessee Valley,” said TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore. “The successful recovery of TVA’s third unit at Browns Ferry...

In the wake of NRC's decision to authorize the restart of Browns Ferry Unit 1 , USA Today is editorializing that nuclear needs to play a larger role in the nation's energy future .

From NRC : The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a request by the Tennessee Valley Authority to increase the generating capacity of Browns Ferry Unit 1 by 5 percent. The NRC staff's review of TVA's application has been part of the agency's intensive oversight of the proposed restart of Unit 1, which has been inactive since March 1985 and was reloaded with nuclear fuel in December 2006. The NRC staff concluded that, as long as all other issues related to restart were satisfactorily resolved, TVA could operate the reactor at a higher power level, primarily by upgrading major plant components such as turbines and transformers. NRC staff also reviewed TVA evaluations that showed the plant's design can handle the increased power level. There's been a lot of great news lately. Congratulations to the team at TVA on a job well done.