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3~ Shearon Harris Update <br />County Engineer Paul Thames said that at the last AOG meeting in September 2006, <br />there was discussion about the latest problem with Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, which <br />has to do with insufficient fire prevention. The County Commissioners and some of the other <br />boards supported a petition with some other groups to try and convince the Nuclear Regulatory <br />Commission to order immediate shutdown of Shearon Harris until it is brought into compliance <br />with existing fire prevention standards, and to also order Shearon Harris to bring itself into <br />compliance with existing fire regulations. The resolution also asked that the NRC expand the <br />emergency planning zone from the ten miles immediately around Shearon Harris to a 50-mile <br />radiation ingestion zone, which includes the entirety of Orange County. Over the past six <br />months, the NRC responded that it has denied the emergency petition and ten miles is <br />sufficient. The NRC will also be taking its time on making a decision on the fire protection of <br />Shearon Harris. He said that he thinks that the decision that the NRC is trying to make is not <br />whether fire protection is adequate or inadequate. By the rules, it is proven to be inadequate. <br />He thinks that the decision is whether it has the authority to hold its own regulations in abeyance <br />for 20-30 years. <br />Upcoming issues are that Shearon Harris is probably going to ask to build one or two <br />additional reactors. This will be a very tang process. He said that he thinks that the NRC has <br />decided, through design basis accidents, that nuclear power plants are safe against crashing <br />fuel-filled planes. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that Shearon Harris does not seem swayed to participate in <br />any kind of forum or any kind of public information event, despite coming to meetings and <br />saying that they would participate. <br />Joal Hall Broun asked if there could be a hook-up with other areas nationally to protest <br />the concerns and to increase the grassroots base. She said that this is a billion dollar industry <br />and we need to group with like people. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that there are representatives from NC Warn, and they are <br />hooked into other national groups. <br />Paul Thames said that in most of the things he read, it is not governments that usually <br />take on the NRC and individual plants, but there are usually grassroots citizens that get <br />involved. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that now that Chatham County has changed leadership, it <br />might be good to work with them since they are within the ten-mile limit, and therefore Chatham <br />County could demand more from Progress Energy. We should explore this further. <br />Mark Kleinschmidt said that there are other potential allies and they could go up against <br />Progress Energy. He said that there are opportunities in the local community to undo this <br />partnership and to isolate Progress Energy in our business community. He suggested finding <br />members of the Chamber that share these values and getting friends on the committees to let <br />Progress Energy know that it is not welcome here and neither is its money. <br />Jim Warren, Executive Director of NC Warn, said that the NRC is abusing its authority, <br />the plant has been in violation for many years, and the NRC is allowing this to happen under its <br />"enforcement discretion authority." He said that fire is the major threat to a nuclear meltdown. <br />He said that Progress Energy is relying an compensatory measures and stopgap measures. <br />These measures were rejected years ago by the NRC after a major fire in Alabama. The <br />measures were rejected again last year, but the agency continues to allow the plant to operate. <br />The measures have never been approved or tested for reliability. He said that what has <br />changed since they filed legal action in September, is that in January the NRC voted <br />unanimously to not require defense of nuclear power plants against aircraft or against mare than <br />a handful of ground attackers. He said that the NRC misled the national media and public about <br />this issue in saying that plants can withstand aircraft attack. Numerous federal studies show the <br />