BEYOND NUCLEAR
CITIZENS FOR
ALTERNATIVES TO
CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION
CITIZENS
ENVIRONMENT ALLIANCE OF SOUTHWESTERN
ONTARIO
DON’T WASTE MICHIGAN
SIERRA CLUB
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Contact: Kevin Kamps,
Beyond Nuclear, (240) 462-3216
Michael J. Keegan, Don't
Waste Michigan
(734) 770-1441
Ed
McArdle, Sierra Club, (313) 388-6645
Derek
Coronado, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, (519) 973-1116
Environmental
Coalition Files Fourteen Legal Contentions
against Fermi 3
Atomic Reactor
Groups
Cite Radioactive Waste Risks, Harms to Lake Erie
Monroe,
Michigan – An environmental coalition
comprised of Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical
Contamination, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario,
Don’t Waste Michigan, and the Sierra Club has filed fourteen legal
contentions with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), intervening
against Detroit Edison’s proposed new Fermi 3 atomic reactor in Newport, Michigan.
The contentions against Detroit Edison’s application for a Combined
Construction and Operation License were due March 9. The coalition objected to
Fermi 3’s radioactive, toxic, and thermal impacts on Lake Erie’s
vulnerable western basin, especially considering the cumulative damage already
occurring in the Great Lakes due to the
presence of 33 operating atomic reactors, and dozens of additional coal fired
power plants. These include Detroit Edison’s Fermi 2 atomic reactor and
Monroe (Coal) Power Plant, one of the largest in North America, Consumers
Energy’s Whiting Coal Plant, and First Energy’s Davis-Besse atomic
reactor and Bay Shore (Coal) Power Plant, all located on Lake Erie’s
shallow western basin.
"Efficiency
and renewable, such as solar and wind, could readily replace the dirty, dangerous,
and expensive Fermi 3 proposal," said Terry Lodge, the Toledo-based legal
counsel to the coalition. “And they could do so much more cleanly,
safely, and affordably,” he added.
"The
track record of the Detroit Edison Company is abysmal. The partial core-melt accident
at Fermi 1 in October, 1966 and the 1993-94 Holiday dumping of millions of
gallons of radioactively contaminated water into Lake Erie
by Fermi 2 speaks to this record," said Michael Keegan of Don’t
Waste Michigan. "The proposed Fermi 3 would represent another half-century
of safety and security risks for the Great Lakes
shoreline. Many concerned local residents don’t want to play yet another
round of radioactive Russian roulette," Keegan added. Michael Keegan
resides in Monroe
and has been following the Fermi reactors for three decades.
"It
is incomprehensible that the NRC failed to notify Walpole Island First Nation
in the St. Clair River, or other First Nations whose lands or fisheries lie
within 50 miles of the proposed reactor, about their right to take part in this
proceeding," said Kay Cumbow of Brown
City, speaking for
Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination. "Great
Lakes waters are protected both by treaties and by the Great Lakes
Water Quality Agreement. We share the obligation to protect these waters with
other nations. Indigenous Peoples' land and fisheries in Lake
Erie would be harmed by Fermi 3's radioactive, toxic, and thermal
discharges," she added.
"As
Fermi 2’s storage pool is full to the gills, and vulnerable to accident
or attack, Detroit Edison proposes to generate yet more radioactive waste it
doesn’t know what to do with," said Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear, a
national watchdog group in Takoma Park,
Maryland. "With President
Obama indicating the end of the Yucca Mountain dumpsite proposal in Nevada,
forever deadly radioactive wastes generated by Fermi 2 and 3 would continue to
pile up on the Lake Erie shoreline with
nowhere to go," he added.
“Taxpayers
and ratepayers should not be forced to further subsidize the already heavily
subsidized nuclear power and coal industries,” said Ed McArdle of the
Sierra Club. "We believe the electricity from Fermi 3 will not even be
needed," he added. McArdle resides in Melvindale, Michigan,
less than 25 miles from Fermi nuclear power plant.
“We
need to implement a 21st century action plan for our energy and environmental
needs in the Great Lakes basin. Nuclear and
coal are the dirty siblings of a previous century and we can no longer afford
to live in an environmentally destructive manner,” stated Derek Coronado
of the Citizens Environment Alliance in Windsor,
Ontario.
A copy of
the 150 page contentions filing is available upon request from Kevin Kamps at
Beyond Nuclear, (240) 462-3216 or kevin@beyondnuclear.org.
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