HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES-2008-048 Progress Energy Proposal–2 new Nuclear Reactors Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plantd~-ay-a~~
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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
A Resolution
In Opposition to the Progress Energy Plan and Permit Application to
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Opposition to any
Application.for aCertificate of Convenience and Necessity to the NC
Utilities Commission for the Expansion of the Shearon Harris Nuclear
Power Plant by the Construction of One or More Additional Nuclear
Reactors and Associated Storage Pools for Spent Fuel Rods
WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners has a long and well-
established practice of opposing activities that could prove harmful to the
public health, safety and welfare, particularly in regard to feasible threats to
that health, safety and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners has a long and well-
established record of concern regarding security and safety issues at the
Shearon Harris nuclear power plant and the potential magnitude and
catastrophic consequences of a nuclear power plant fire leading to an
airborne release of nuclear waste materials; and
WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, through the work of Dr.
Gordon Thompson and Diane Curran, Esq., has established to the
satisfaction of the scientific community the potential for combustion of
spent nuclear fuel rods during low water conditions in the spent fuel rod
storage pools; and
WHEREAS, the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant already has the largest quantity of
pool-stored spent nuclear fuel rods in the United States; and
WHEREAS, the expansion of the pool storage of fuel rods at Shearon Harris nuclear
power plant would be vastly increased by the addition of one or two new
reactors, and associated fuel rod storage pools at the facility would only
exacerbate the consequences of a fuel rod fire; and
WHEREAS, the vastly increased quantity of pool-stored spent fuel rods at Shearon
Harris nuclear power plant will serve to enhance the attraction of this
facility for terrorist attack; and
WHEREAS, regardless of the safety and security findings made by NRC inspections of
the plant, NRC and Progress Energy policies and procedures promote
inadequate security measures to protect the plant and spent fuel pool
storage area from terrorist activities culminating in ire and airborne release
of toxic nuclear waste materials; and
WHEREAS, absent terrorist attack, approximately 50 percent of the risks of
catastrophic nuclear plant failure (as calculated by the NRC) are
associated with fre-related accidents; and
WHEREAS, information has been presented to the community at large and the Orange
County Board of Commissioners as to ongoing problems with fire safety
practices at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant; and
WHEREAS, Progress Energy has indicated that it will take seven to ten more years to
bring the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant into compliance with the
NRC's adopted fire safety standards and regulations; and
WHEREAS, Progress Energy has indicated that it has or will apply to the NRC for a
twenty year extension of its operating license for the Shearon Harris plant
while the plant is not in compliance with existing fire safety standards and
regulations; and
WHEREAS, Progress Energy is in the process of evaluating, permitting, designing and
constructing two nuclear power reactors at the Shearon Harris nuclear
power plant while the existing plant is not in compliance with existing fire
safety standards and regulations; and
WHEREAS, The permanent storage facility for spent nuclear fuel rods and other high
level radioactive waste at the proposed federal Yucca Mountain facility in
Nevada appears to be no closer to fruition than it was twenty years ago
and will probably not be available for another twenty years, if ever; and
WHEREAS, the Orange County Board of Commissioners and the community have
grave concerns about the NRC's objectivity in evaluating the nuclear power
industry's proposals and programs related to the concerns outlined above;
and
WHEREAS, numerous technical reports and papers by environmental groups, the
utilities themselves and the NRC have shown that additional power
generation capacity in this region may be unnecessary for the foreseeable
future; and
WHEREAS, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has set a deadline of August 4,
2008 for submitting objections to the issuance of a permit for the
construction of two new reactors at the Shearon Harris plant, even though
the Westinghouse Model AP4100 reactor technology proposed for use is
not expected to be designed, reviewed and permitted by the NRC before
2011; and
WHEREAS, in the light of persistent drought conditions and demands for water, there
are serious concerns about the adequacy of cooling water available far
additional reactors at Shearon Harris.
NOW, THEREFORE, do we, that the Orange County Board of Commissioners, hereby
resolve to:
• Oppose in the strongest terms possible the issuance of a permit. by the NRC or
of a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity by the NC Utilities for the Progress
Energy plan to permit, design and construct one or more nuclear power reactors
at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant.
This is the 31 day of July, 2008.
Barry Jacobs, C air
. Orange County Board of Commissioners