Energy Solutions (ES) bought the decommissioned Illinois Zion Nuclear Power Plant for $1.00. ES plans to "RIP & SHIP" the plant to its "low-level" nuclear dump in Clive, Utah and/or sell parts for scrap. See below for the NRC Rip & Ship information.
Here's the KSL news story and statement by ES representative:
"Concrete, soil, debris, clothing, furniture, tools, the kinds of things that are extremely low in radioactivity." No mention is made about HUGE chunks of power plants being shipped across country to Clive, Utah.
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RIP & SHIP
From the NRC April, 2011 Report entitled Fact Sheet on Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants
Zion (Energy) Solutions intends to use a “rip and ship” process that will reduce the labor-intensive separation of contaminated materials and transport the materials in bulk to the EnergySolutions disposal site in Utah.
HOLD ON JUST A MINUTE! Rip & Ship and REDUCE LABOR-INTENSIVE SEPARATION OF CONTAMINATED STUFF. Isn't this need to SEPARATE the stuff the manner that the low level waste is set aside? Otherwise, how can it all be low level waste?
Here's a picture of the 225,000 pound piece of the nuke plant beginning its road trip from Illinois to Utah today:
The NRC DEFINES LOW LEVEL NUCLEAR WASTE
The radioactivity can range from just above background levels found in nature to very highly radioactive in certain cases such as parts from inside the reactor vessel in a nuclear power plant.
Wait a minute! How can low level waste range to "very highly radioactive in certain cases?
The reactor head is too large to ship by rail:
The reactor head is 17 feet in diameter and weighs 225,000 pounds. In this article Daly is Pat Daly, Zion Solutions plant manager.
The reactor head was a cover that could be removed from the reactor pressure vessel for refueling.
The reactor head is packaged in a specially designed steel shipping container. The container is 17 feet in diameter and 14 feet tall. It will be shipped on a special truck with 18 axles and a bed 18 feet wide and nearly 177 feet long. The truck is equipped with satellite tracking equipment.
Wiskerchen said the truck will travel west on Shiloh Boulevard to Sheridan Road to the state line. In Wisconsin, it will travel on Highway 50 to Highway 12 and then to Interstate 90. It has an extra tractor in the rear to help move the truck uphill.
Transport is expected to take two to three weeks, depending on weather, to reach Clive, Utah (which is 70 miles directly west of Salt Lake City, my addition).
All shipments will have placards indicating it is radiological material and all shipments will be have permits for each state they pass through.
Smaller items will be shipped by rail.
Because ES now owns the plant, ES will be responsible for removing the spent fuel, putting it in casks, storing onsite, and guarding it.
Zion nuclear plant being shut down - Article dated Monday, April 04, 2011
There are over 2,200 nuclear fuel assemblies submerged at the plant.
It will take four years to move the spent fuel to its dry storage at Zion after which the plant will come down.
Energy Solutions will sell a good bit of it for scrap, and when done in seven to 10 years, the lakefront land is to be returned to its original state. And that won't come cheap.
Giant truck and 30-car trains will be shipping this stuff over hill, over dale, and will cross over 6 state lines. Can your town or state afford an accident?
Utah can't afford an accident. The average cost of clean up for a city area accident is 47 times Utah's entire state budget.
The estimated economic costs for a transportation accident in a metropolitan area ranges from $9 to $330 billion dollars. Just to put this into local perspective, $330 billion is nearly 47 times Utah's state government's annual budget.
Price-Anderson Act: The Billion Dollar Bailout for Nuclear Power Mishaps
What recourse will citizens have if Price Anderson Act does not cover nuclear waste.
Price-Anderson does not require coverage for spent fuel or nuclear waste stored at interim storage facilities, transportation of nuclear fuel or waste that is not either to or from a nuclear reactor, or acts of theft or sabotage occurring after planned transportation has ended.
What insurance does Energy Solutions have that would cover up to $300 billion in damages? Or, how much insurance does Energy Solutions have for any liabilities?
Is it really a great idea in todays world to be transporting radioactive materials across the country.
Zion Nuclear Plan is over 1,500 miles away from Clive, Utah. This article says they will be taking Route 90. Why? Route 90 lands far north of Utah. Route 80 would be a direct route. If Route 90 is taken, then the miles on the road will far exceed 1,500.
The Zion reactor head is too large to ship by rail:
The reactor head is 17 feet in diameter and weighs 225,000 pounds. In this article Daly is Pat Daly, Zion Solutions plant manager.
The reactor head was a cover that could be removed from the reactor pressure vessel for refueling.
The reactor head is packaged in a specially designed steel shipping container. The container is 17 feet in diameter and 14 feet tall. It will be shipped on a special truck with 18 axles and a bed 18 feet wide and nearly 177 feet long. The truck is equipped with satellite tracking equipment.
Wiskerchen said the truck will travel west on Shiloh Boulevard to Sheridan Road to the state line. In Wisconsin, it will travel on Highway 50 to Highway 12 and then to Interstate 90. It has an extra tractor in the rear to help move the truck uphill.
Transport is expected to take two to three weeks, depending on weather, to reach Clive, Utah (which is 70 miles directly west of Salt Lake City, my addition).
All shipments will have placards indicating it is radiological material and all shipments will be have permits for each state they pass through.
Smaller items will be shipped by rail.
There are two reactors at the Zion Nuclear Plant.
Can we anticipate a second reactor head to be shipped as well?
In addition to RIPPING & SHIPPING and because ES now owns the Zion Nuclear Plant, ES has taken on the responsibility for removing the spent fuel from the spent fuel pond, putting it in casks, storing onsite FOR NOW, and guarding it forever. This is a HUGE undertaking.
Zion nuclear plant being shut down - Article dated Monday, April 04, 2011
There are over 2,200 nuclear fuel assemblies submerged at the plant.
It will take four years to move the spent fuel to its dry storage at Zion after which the plant will come down.
Energy Solutions will sell a good bit of it for scrap, and when done in seven to 10 years, the lakefront land is to be returned to its original state. And that won't come cheap.
You may recall the efforts to store spent fuel caskets on the Goshute Indian Reservation that was nixed.
You may be interested in reading all the reasons the Utah Department of Environmental Quality opposed high level nuclear waste disposal. Click to read
Opposition to High-Level Nuclear Waste: Testimony of Governor Michael O. Leavitt, State of Utah
One of the reasons is the high probability of earthquake activity. Salt Lake County is deemed overdue for a big earthquake.
SLC is only 70 miles east of the Energy Solutions Nuclear Waste dump. Watch the Google Earth demonstration:
Here's a picture of a reactor demolition from the NRC Decommissioning site. Yes, that's a steel ball smashing into the structure. I am sure that's code.
Zion nuclear plant being shut down - Article dated Monday, April 04, 2011
The spent fuel has been placed a cooling pond in a separate building. At some point, the rods will be removed and placed into casks.
What will happen to that building once it is emptied of fuel? Will ES Rip & Ship this contaminated building to Utah, too?
There are over 2,200 nuclear fuel assemblies submerged at the plant.
It will take four years to move the spent fuel to its dry storage at Zion after which the plant will come down.
Energy Solutions will sell a good bit of it for scrap, and when done in seven to 10 years, the lakefront land is to be returned to its original state. And that won't come cheap.
This raises so many questions.
CONTAMINATION LEVELS OF MATERIALS ??
1. If ES is Ripping & Shipping, and is self-reporting to the NRC, who is monitoring debris for the actual levels of radioactivity before it is loaded for shipment?
2. What agency in Utah is checking this material before it enters the state to make sure the levels of radioactivity fall in the range of low-level? Are the states through which these shipments will pass monitoring exposure?
3. What will be sold as scrap, and Where is the scrap going to be "sold for scrap"? In Illinois? or Utah?
4. Who, besides ES, is going to check the levels of radioactivity for materials sold for scrap?
5. Are there notification rules to warn people that they are buying scrap that "was taken from a nuclear reactor site"?
6. How are these giant pieces being disposed of at the nuclear waste site?
SHIPMENT ??
From Zion-Benton News:
...waste will be transported in intermodal (large boxes) and sealand (larger) boxes. He said the rail cars are gondola cars and high-sided gondola cars. The high-sided cars are 9 feet longer and five feet higher than standard. Both types of cars are fitted with lids and gaskets and certified strong and leak tight.
He said the majority of containers and gondolas will be washed, surveyed and put back in service.
He said highly radiated waste containers will be disposed of.
HOLD ON! How can low level waste cause a shipment container to become highly radiated?
Who will answer these questions?
PROFITS ??
Energy Solutions is a publically traded company. It has responsibilities to its shareholders to make profits. This seems like an incredibly expensive endeavor, especially the security required to protect the spent fuel LIKE FOREVER.
Is this one of the instances where the US Military can be hired to step in under Department of Defense DIRECTIVE NUMBER 3025.18 December 29, 2010?
And, if this is all not enough, from San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant in California:
Four spent nuclear steam generators will be shipped, one at a time, to Energy Solutions, located in Clive, Utah.
A massive truck hauling spent nuclear machinery will be passing through Inyo County on a 21-day journey from San Onofre to Clive, Utah.
The super load measures 399 feet long, 20 feet wide and more than 16 feet tall with 200 or so tires, consisting of a trailer weighing more than one million pounds and three trucks.
The loads are reportedly the heaviest in California history.
This trip is the first of four scheduled for this year.
....the project has been two years in the making.
UTAH IS BECOMING THE PLACE WHERE DEAD NUCLEAR PLANTS GO TO REST.
GO UTES!
DING! DING! DING!
I wondered why I received one of those Insurance Riders in the mail that said
"Your homeowners policy does not cover nuclear contamination"
There are no nuclear power plants in or near Utah....yet.
IN CONCLUSION:
1. Every state creates low level radioactive waste via medical and research. Every state should be required to situate a low level waste facility.
The States will have to be very careful.
I can find no evidence that the Residents of Utah signed off on having GIANT CONTAMINATED PIECES of nuclear power plants from around the country shipped in.
This CLEARLY DEMONSTRATES, that once the Camel's Nose is in the tent, the next thing you know Des Moines, Omaha, Cheyenne, Pocatello, Salt Lake or any major city could be destroyed because of the LAME IDEA OF SHIPPING THIS STUFF TO A PROFIT- DRIVEN PRIVATE DUMP just west of Salt Lake City.
Energy Solutions will keep pushing. The NRC wants all the nuclear waste to be in a couple of locations, like this makes sense.
2. It is possitively reckless, especially now that our weather has become so severe so often, to transport nuclear waste cross state lines. Imagine the joy of being snow bound with a 30 car train loaded with hot waste. Or a tornado? Wicked wind event. Utah just had one of those.
3. Nuclear waste must be stored within the state that creates the waste. There are $Billions stored away for "decommissioning" nuclear plants. Each state with nuclear energy should set up a Public Utility, not a privatized, traded on Wall Street Corporation, to design, install, manage, and operate the State Owned High Level Nuclear Waste.
If it's "safe" to load up trucks and trains and ship this stuff around the country, through neighborhoods, towns, and cities, it's safe enough to have a State Facility.
Each State can enlist their National Guard Unit to guard it.
I'll close with this report performed by European Entities. They got tired of waiting for an independent review on the conditions of the US Nuclear Plants. You see, the winds from US nuclear disasters waft to the UK and Europe.
Whistleblower Expose' of GE Inspection Coverup & RARE EU Authored US BWR Damage Report -