Reactor Reax Top Stories - Media Calls Out Nuclear Industry Front Groups

"Reactor Reax" is featured on www.NuclearBailout.org, a Web site maintained by Physicians for Social Responsibility

(WASHINGTON DC) - Media calls out nuclear industry front groups, Green World, May 6, 2014. "Nuclear Matters, the Exelon-formed front group created earlier this year to try to prevent more reactor shutdowns, has been continuing its unprecedented public relations blitz in recent days. But now there's a difference: the media has caught on to who they are, and is beginning to reveal their self-serving bias. In the long run, that's going to substantially reduce their effectiveness. After all, astroturf groups like Nuclear Matters, with its stable of 'celebrity' spokespeople, like to pretend that they are independent and perhaps even have some popular support. But when the pretense is broken and their industry backing exposed, they might as well be issuing statements on utility letterhead."

Senators take stand on nuclear zones, The (Barre Montpelier, VT) Times Argus, May 4, 2014. "Five U.S. senators, including Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernard Sander of Vermont, have sent a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to protest what they called the 'unwise policy' of allowing decommissioning nuclear reactors to be exempt from emergency response regulations. Also signing the letter were Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who is the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Vermont Yankee is slated to shut down in December 2014, and after that time would be exempt from much of the emergency planning required of nuclear reactors by the NRC. It is one of five nuclear reactors that either have shut down this year or will do so in the near future. The senators noted that in most cases decades of high-level radioactive waste still remained in the spent fuel pool at the nuclear reactors, and posed a significant risk."

Group again knocks nuclear cost law as it seeks hearing on FPL's St. Lucie plant, The Florida Current, May 6, 2014. "The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is continuing to criticize the state's nuclear cost recovery law as it requests a hearing on design changes at Florida Power & Light Co.'s St. Lucie 2 nuclear reactor steam generator. The Nuclear Energy Institute and FPL are urging the NRC to reject the request. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy now saysNuclear Regulatory Commission staff secretly approved design changes that contributed to wear that could cost FPL customers hundreds of millions of dollars. And the group continues to accuse the Public Service Commission of rubber-stamping cost recovery for nuclear projects under a 2006 law. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in 2012 challenged the law, saying it was too vague to enforce in violation of the state constitution. The Florida Supreme Court rejected the group's arguments and instead sided with the PSC."

FPL St. Lucie nuclear reactor not run by the book, group alleges, Palm Beach Post, May 6, 2014. "Florida Power & Light is operating its St. Lucie Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside the bounds of its license because a replacement steam generator was not properly approved, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy asserted Tuesday. In a conference call with reporters, Stephen Smith, SACE's executive director, said, 'If Florida Power & Light is going to run a nuclear reactor, they must run it by the book. Nuclear technology is inherently unforgiving, and there are clear guidelines for how to run a nuclear reactor safely.'"

Toshiba writes down value of stake in Texas nuclear project, Reuters, May 7, 2014. "Toshiba Corp said on Wednesday it wrote down by more than $300 million the value of its stake in a company planning to extend a nuclear power plant in Texas, amid uncertainty over the award of licenses for reactors in the U.S. Toshiba had only last month scored a victory in a dispute with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission over foreign ownership rules, when the watchdog's judicial arm ruled in the Japanese company's favour. But the NRC also said it will not make any final reactor license decisions anywhere in the U.S. until late 2014 at the earliest due to issues surrounding the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 has forced a reassessment of atomic power, and cheap shale gas and coal has led to the closure of several older plants in the U.S."

"Reactor Reax" is featured on www.NuclearBailout.org, a Web site maintained by Physicians for Social Responsibility.