Members of the Transportation and Storage Subcommittee of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future offered little response to strident criticism at a Tuesday, August 10 meeting at The Chewonki Foundation.
According to a notice for the meeting, the Obama administration formed the Blue Ribbon Commission in order to “conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing used nuclear fuel and recommend a new plan.”
The Transportation and Storage Subcommittee, according to the notice, “was established to address the question: ‘Should the U.S. change the way in which it is storing nuclear fuel and high level waste while one or more final disposal locations are established?'”
The issues are particularly sensitive for Wiscasset and the surrounding area due to the storage of spent fuel at the site of the decommissioned Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.
A wide spectrum of concerned citizens, public officials and representatives of non-profit organizations leveled criticism at the commission as the envoy of the federal government.
Marge Kilkelly, Chair of the Maine Yankee Community Advisory Panel on Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage and Removal, or CAP, outlined a brief history of the CAP in her opening remarks.
Kilkelly set an optimistic tone through much of her presentation, praising Maine Yankee and the CAP. According to Kilkelly’s 11-page written statement, “The Community Advisory Panel model builds trust among stakeholders and leads to project success if you have the courage to take the risks inherent in an open process.”
Kilkelly did not hesitate to prompt action on the part of the federal government, however.
According to Kilkelly’s statement, “Five years after the end of decommissioning we are left with a facility that costs electric ratepayers $6-$8 million per year to operate and valuable real estate that can not be reused… A site that only stores waste is the most inefficient method of storage.”
Richard Meserve, Co-Chairman of the subcommittee, President of the Carnegie Institution for Science, and former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, commended Kilkelly for the panel’s work.
“We’ve been very impressed with the relationship Maine Yankee has with the local community,” Meserve said.
Wayne Norton, Chief Nuclear Officer at Maine Yankee and Chairman of the Decommissioning Plant Coalition, addressed the panel on behalf of both organizations. Norton said Maine Yankee sued the Department of Energy for failure to meet its obligations under federal law.
According to Norton’s written statement, “for every year that the government delays in fulfilling its obligations to remove our fuel, it will be required to repay us millions of dollars for our annual costs for the safeguarding and storage of the material… costs that bring us no closer to moving the used fuel.”
Subcommittee member Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower and President of Eisenhower Group Inc., a prominent consulting firm, asked Norton “for how long and at what cost” Maine Yankee could continue to “assure the safety and security” of Maine Yankee.
Norton did not provide a definite estimate. Maine Yankee wants to go out of business, he said, and make the company’s land available for future redevelopment.
John Kerry, the Director of the state Office of Energy Independence and Security, read a brief joint statement from his office and from Governor John Baldacci.
According to the statement, “We believe that good economic, national security and energy policy warrants removal of the waste from these ‘stand-alone’ ISFSIs [Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations] to a consolidation site which can be operated at a lower cost per unit of stored waste, be better protected from terrorist actions or other risks and relieve Maine ratepayers of a cost that could be better spent on renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.”
Brian Whitney, Director of Outreach and Economic Development for U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, read a statement from Snowe’s office. “The current impasse must be addressed expeditiously,” Whitney said.
Snowe’s statement criticized the Obama administration’s decision to eliminate Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as an option for long-term storage of spent fuel.
Eisenhower asked Whitney for advice on how to remove the issue from “the current political process.”
“I assume that’s why you’re here,” Whitney replied. “That’s your job.”
A representative of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins read a statement from Collins’ office. According to the statement, Collins shares many of the concerns of other officials. “I urge you to give the utmost priority to removal of waste from shutdown reactors,” Collins wrote.
Redevelopment of the Maine Yankee site “could create much-needed jobs and government revenues to help communities recover from the economic recession,” Collins added.
John Graham, Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, delivered Michaud’s statement. “It is imperative that the commission take swift action,” Graham said.
Nick Batista delivered a statement from U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree. According to a press release from Pingree’s office, “The federal government was supposed to have started removing the spent fuel in 1998 but it is still stuck in Maine at considerable expense to us.”
Local officials spoke, too, including Wiscasset Selectman Ed Polewarczyk. Polewarczyk pointed out that the valuable spent fuel accounts for seven percent of Wiscasset’s tax base, a “very real” financial incentive that leads some residents to question the necessity of removal.
“The argument is being made that the tax base would actually be enhanced,” Meserve said. Despite concerns about groundwater pollution at Bailey Point, redevelopment could potentially lead to higher property valuation, he said.
Polewarczyk, a former NASA contractor, warned the commission about non-conformance with federal guidelines. “We learned some very hard lessons on the shuttle program,” Polewarczyk said. “Acceptance of deviation is a bad thing.”
In the next portion of the meeting, the commission heard testimony from the State/Regional Panel on Storage and Transportation in the Northeast.
Sen. Deb Simpson (D-Auburn) said the government needs to designate a central storage facility. “Decommissioned plant fuel should be first to move into this facility,” she said.
“This first phase is taking a little too long,” Simpson said. “We need a path forward.”
Jay Hyland, Manager of the Maine Radiation Control Program, said rising sea levels could devastate Maine Yankee. “A sizable chunk of Bailey Point is 20 feet above sea level,” Hyland said.
Uldis Vanags, the State Nuclear Engineer at the Vermont Department of Public Service, said Vermont Yankee, a still operative plant in Vernon, Vt., needs a 20-year license renewal in 2012.
The storage issue, however, “places at risk the continued operation of Vermont Yankee,” Vanags said. “There is no plan for the fuel. It’s stockpiling there. Vermonters are very concerned,” he said.
Brian O’Connell, Director of the Nuclear Waste Program of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, recommended “early action” by the Department of Energy to “consolidate storage” and “return nine [decommissioned] sites to productive use.”
Lewis Curtis, a CAP member and former Deputy Director of Emergency Management for Boothbay Harbor, also recommended “less costly and more efficient” centralized storage.
According to his written statement, Curtis, a retired Major General, specialized in nuclear munitions for part of his 34 years in the Air Force and “provided the structure for the Emergency Response Plans for three towns and the county after Maine Yankee ceased operations.”
Before the government can undertake the sensitive work of transportation, however, they need to address “deteriorating infrastructure and the need to strengthen the shipment tracking system,” Curtis wrote.
Meserve questioned the wisdom of establishing a central, interim storage site before the development of a long-term storage site. If a storage site is a temporary solution, the government will need to transport the spent fuel twice – once from the reactors to the storage site and again from the storage site to a more permanent location.
“I don’t think that’s an insurmountable concern,” O’Connell said.
Other issues, including public trust in the wake of the government’s inability to find storage solutions, might hamper the search for a storage facility, Meserve said.
After a question and answer session between the panel and the subcommittee, several citizens took the podium.
Mariah Holt, a former legislator, said her research group has studied nuclear power for 30 years. “Even the lowest [radiation] doses can cause cancer,” she said. “Couldn’t we just stop making it?”
Matt Marston, a former Maine Yankee employee, said the federal government’s right to ban further storage at Yucca Mountain is in question.
Michael Mayhew, who described himself as a professional engineer and environmentalist, said he “was very active on the referendums to shut Maine Yankee down.”
“Nine of the ten communities in the Wiscasset area overwhelmingly voted to shut down the plant,” Mayhew said. “We’ve got plenty of energy. We’ve got tidal power… We don’t need nuclear power. It is the most expensive commercially available power,” he said.
Roger Jones said he lives on Rt. 144. The state road is the “only evacuation route for Westport Island residents” in case of an emergency at the plant, which, he said, is “no more than a dirty bomb waiting to go off.”
The deterioration of the road has been a persistent complaint from Westport residents in recent months. Jones asked the subcommittee to pressure the state to fix the road.
Clark Jones said he “can look right over and see Maine Yankee” from his home.
“I don’t think nuclear power causes cancer,” Jones said. Jones’ mother died of cancer before the plant was built, he said. “I’d like to see another nuclear power plant,” he said.
Margaret Schuler listed a variety of complaints with Maine Yankee and other energy providers, nuclear and otherwise. Referring to BP, Margaret Schuler said, “Apparently a lot of those people are watching pornography instead of doing their work, because it’s taking all summer to clean up the oil spill.”
“I don’t think tourists really like industrial sites,” Margaret Schuler added. She also said that business owners, like Maine Yankee, should “be more responsible for the waste that was created,” regardless of the government’s commitments.
“Who’s protecting this site from terrorism?” Margaret Schuler asked. Maine Yankee doesn’t have security, She claimed, and sometimes people hunt deer on the property.
Kenneth Schuler said the government “can find someone who wants [the spent fuel] if they have no morals – if the price is right.”
“If this thing melts, we all might as well sit down and have a beer,” Kenneth Schuler said. Kenneth Schuler said a Maine Yankee employee once gave him a code word – martini – in case of a meltdown.
Deb Katz of the Citizens Awareness Network said she “drove over five hours” from her Vermont home to attend the meeting. “I live four and a half miles from Yankee Rowe, 16 miles from Vermont Yankee,” Katz said.
Katz referred to the plants as “pre-deployed weapons of mass destruction” and called on the government to “acknowledge that it has abdicated its responsibility and neglected nuclear communities.”
In closing comments, Meserve thanked The Chewonki Foundation for hosting the meeting, thanked the CAP and said the meeting was “interesting and productive.”
Subcommittee member Vicky Bailey, a former Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said “The public comments are quite helpful” and “underscore the passion” surrounding nuclear issues.