August 2017 - Science magazine (the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) reported on 5/26/17 that US spent nuclear fuel pools are much more threatening than those in Fukushima. The reason is that US pools are stocked almost 4 times as tightly as those in Japan—far beyond their design. This increases the likelihood of a fire that would spread nuclear contamination far and wide, as well as the amount of that contamination. For example, a spent fuel pool fire at the Peach Bottom reactor in Pennsylvania, with the wind in the predominant direction, could require the long-term abandonment of all of New York City!!!
There is a solution that would greatly reduce this danger at a cost of $5 billion for all US nuclear plants combined. Compare this to the estimated cost of $2 trillion following a spent fuel pool fire at the Peach Bottom plant alone. Simply put: after 5 years in the spent fuel pools to cool off, spent fuel assemblies would be placed into much safer "dry cask storage." This vastly reduces the likelihood of fire and catastrophic long-term radioactive contamination and also reduces the susceptibility of our nuclear power plants to terrorist attack.
Take Action: Urge your Senators to co-sponsor Senator Markey's "Cask Storage Act" S.1265. This bill calls for dry cask storage of all fuel rods and expands the Emergency Planning Zones surrounding each nuclear power plant. In the event of a nuclear fuel pool fire, this would increase the size of the area surrounding the plant from which the sale of local agricultural products would be banned. A lesson we need to learn following the accident at Fukushima.
Contact Your Senators:
Web: www.senate.gov
Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard)
Mail: Senator (first & last name), U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510
Multiply this Message: Use this information to write a letter to the editor about this important & timely issue. This is a powerful way to educate and mobilize others—our job in the coming years!
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