Nuclear Regulatory Commission came to Wilmington DE. Concerning the matter of Emergency Evacuation in case of an accident at Salem and Hope Creek.
One of the first statements by NRC was to emphasize the need for “Public Participation” “The need for the public to know” to avoid “Shadow evacuation” a dangerous development indeed .
BINGO !! I immediately invited them to come and speak to our Delaware Legislature where I have been trying for 10 years to get them to introduce a bill for public hearings, similar to that of New Jersey.
July 19, 2010
My name is Frieda Berryhill
I am from Wilmington Delaware
My experience with your agency started when I filed for
intervention in the TMI restart and ended with testimony
November 2009 and April 6, 2010 in the case of License extension
for 20 years for Salem and Hope Creek
Thank you for coming to Wilmington , the most impacted area with
nuclear power plants any where in the Country. Even the
Wilmington News Journal printed a huge article on Sunday July 11
and recognized that “Nuclear Growth puts this Region at risk.”
Indeed , more then 40.000 people in Delaware live in the EPZ,
with crowded I-95 being the only escape route North or South.
Just this week, again according to the New Journal, a minor
accident at I-95 caused a gigantic tie-up. It is not unusual to
see long lines of traffic at a standstill on I-95
I would like to submit to you a map, published by the News
journal to show many other plants are in the area ; and another
map I produced 30 years ago and still use. Nowhere in the
country is this concentration of nuclear power plants
duplicated.
Dangers not duplicated anywhere else:
Let me repeat here, from my Statement to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, a statement I have repeated on many other occasions
Nov. 5, 2009
Re: License Renewal for Salem and Hope Creek
Salem and Hope Creek are built on swamp land. AERIFICIAL ISLAND
, is so named because is was built from dredge spoils from the
Delaware River . The documents describe the ground in 35 ft
increments roughly as follows:
First 35 ft essentially mud
Next 35 ft mud and gravel
The last 35 ft they call “Vincentown formation” (sandy quarts
and gravel)
Borings up to 100 ft reveal no rock bottom.
These plants, spent fuel pools and auxiliary buildings are now
perched on cement pilings dug 70 ft into the sandy soil.
Liquefaction in case of an earthquake is a grave concern in this
case, was debated during the hearings. But was finally dismissed
This was the basis of my objections to build these plants and is
the basis of my objection to build a 4th reactor on ARTIFICIAL
ISLAND,
What transpired at the New Jersey Evacuation Hearings last week
on July 14th was a very disappointing experience which the
Commission should be looking at, if public participation is
indeed encouraged. (Which was repeatedly emphasized at this
meeting)
PLEASE NOTE first :
Transcripts of hearings in Cumberland and Salem County reveal a
pattern:
When questioned about my repeated siting of these documents the
standard answers is “Well look into it “ even thought these
documents are in the files and have been for almost 40 years.
The second answer used repeatedly is “ We’ll get back to you on
that” The pretence of ignorance by these appointed officials is,
to me, to be astounding.
In one instance I know that a promise “to get back” was kept and
indeed confirmed that my statement was correct. However, again,
OFF THE RECORD.
Back to the meeting last week:
Mr Delmar of PSEG said nothing during the meeting ON RECORD but
told the Salem County “Sunbeam” after the meeting:
"The statements that the plants are built on unstable ground
have been disproven time and time again," said PSEG Nuclear
Spokesman Joe Delmar after Wednesday night's meeting.
Gentlemen, the only way you could “disprove” such a statement is
by purging the documents and I am confident that this is not the
case.
Since I can not physically carry these documents it was
necessary for me to obtain a letter from NRC to confirm my
contention which I now have.
As to the matter of liquefaction.
Morris County New Jersey had a 3.0 earthquake on 1/3/09.
Wednesday, July 1st 2009 at 12:41 PM a 2.8 magnitude earth quake
hit Salem County.
And a 3.6
magnitude earthquake hit the Gaithersburg-Rockville area early
Friday of last
week. ( Calvert Cliffs is also at issue here)
So far so good, a big one could hit any day
Clearly these plants should have never received a building
permit and should not be granted a 20 year extension to operate.
As to the proposal by PSEG to build a 4th reactor, this could
almost be interpreted as a hoax. They do not even own the swamp
to build it on.
“PSEG Nuclear is now seeking to purchase 84 acres from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers and then hopes to find enough dredge
spoils to “BIULD” the land upon which to build the new reactor.
To quote Mr. Delmar of PSEG”
“The land we are currently looking to purchase is used right now
for the dumping of dredge spoils,” Delmar said. “We believe a
more appropriate use would be to use this parcel for possibly
building an additional nuclear plant.”
I would like to submit to you a copy of a letter from the State
of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection requesting
a “Public Response Document “ to the serious issues I have been
addressing.
The last paragraph makes this extraordinary statement:
“ It was concluded that the power block intake structure are
safe from sliding even if the surrounding soil is completely
liquefied“
Where does that leave the already filled spent fuel pools, the
dry casks which will soon be standing there like monuments to
man's folly for future generation.
In conclusion, Hope Creek could become only the second
commercial nuclear power plant in the country to produce
Cobalt-60 under a proposal now being review by the Commission.
Why introduce another danger into this area? The project
involves inserting rods containing cobalt-59 into the plants
reactor where they will remain to become cobalt-60 . Inserting
Cobalt 50 rods with the same bundle of rods that produce nuclear
power is a new challenge with all its unplanned possibilities
for accident.
On January 19,2010 the Clinton nuclear power plant was chosen
for this radioisotope pilot project. This is a project between
Exelon and GE Hitachi Nuclear . Why not proceed with this
project at Clinton , find the problems, particularly during
refueling instead proceeding with Hope Creek in this already
very troubled area. I became most concerned when I received the
News from NRC that PSEG had requested “withholding information
from public disclosure” producing Cobalt-60 makes the PSEG a
PRIVATE , profit making corporation, which protects the Company
from disclosing “proprietary information “How can we be sure the
Company will adhere to the line between what is the publics
right to know when producing electricity and what is proprietary
information .
Thank you for coming
Frieda Berryhill