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Agenda - 04-07-1999
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Agenda - 04-07-1999
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BOCC
Date
4/7/1999
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Special Meeting
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Agenda
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Minutes - 19990407
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PO Box 61051 <br />Durham, NC 27715-1051 <br />Phone: (919)490-0747 <br />Fax: (919)493-6614 <br />Email: NC-WARN@POBOX.COM <br />For Immediate Release <br />March 25, 1999 <br />Waste Awareness and Reduction Network <br />Contact: Jim Warren <br />919-490-0747 <br />r e ® it ra uclear sate x an~i®n <br />Study Shows ~-ccidents Could Surpass Chernobyl's Devastation <br />DURHAM, NC Citing new information by two top nuclear industry experts about the potential for catastrophic <br />accidents, NC WARN today called on Carolina Power & Light to withdraw its proposal to double its storage <br />pools for "spent" fuel rods at the Harris nuclear plant. WARN called on CP&L to pursue the proven method of <br />dry cask storage at its other three generating reactors instead of amassing the High-Level waste in central North <br />Carolina, noting that the marginal additional costs to the company are far outweighed by the potential <br />devastation of a severe accident at Shearon Harris. <br />At a news conference today, the group announced a new campaign to urge elected governments and other <br />organizations throughout the region to inform themselves on the issue and to take a stand, pointing out that <br />nuclear safety cuts across all political and social boundaries. <br />Since publicizing CP&L's plan in late October, NC WARN has focused on ensuring that all safety issues <br />regarding the proposal are identified and aired in an open process. But today, the Durham-based environmental <br />organization indicated it has completed its analysis of CP&L's proposal, and stated that it is undeniable that <br />severe accidents axe possible and that CP&L should take every available measure to decrease current risks at the <br />Harris facility -not increase them. <br />NC WARN released a comprehensive technical report prepared for Orange County by Dr. Gordon Thompson, <br />an internationally-known nuclear safety expert. Another top industry expert, David Lochbaum of the Union of <br />Concerned Scientists, is also providing technical analysis for WARN and the local governments; Lochbaum <br />backs Thompson's findings. <br />Thompson's detailed analysis concludes that a number of severe accident scenarios are credible, and that <br />accidents at ot~e or more of the Harris spent fuel pools could lead to offsite radiation exposure an order of <br />magnitude [10 times] larger than the exposure from the Chernobyl accident. He and Lochbaum both caution <br />that activation of pools C and D at Hams would significantly increase both the probability and consequences of <br />such accidents. <br />The Thompson report describes how CP&L's plan would pack the highly irradiated used fuel rods very densely <br />into the new pools, a situation which, combined with even partial loss of cooling water, could result in a <br />spontaneous fire or asteam-zirconium reaction. Such an accident could <br />release enough Cesium-137 - a powerful gamma emitter - to contaminate an area larger than the entire state of <br />North Carolina to radiation levels which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission assumes will require evacuation of <br />all rural areas. <br />over ~ <br />
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