Agenda - 04-07-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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