nuclear-news

Aging Palisades Nuclear Power Plant a worry to Chicago area residents

Residents Express Concern Over Aging Nuclear Plant  Feds increase inspections at 42-year-old Palisades Nuclear Power Plant by 1,000 hours this year Chicago-area residents with property at a popular nearby vacation spot are growing increasingly concerned about one of their neighbors: The Palisades Nuclear Power Plant.

The South Haven, Mich., plant is a 42-year-old facility that many seasonal neighbors said is showing its age.

“It is a socio-technical system that has failed. That’s extremely dangerous,” said Ann Scott, an Oak Brook resident who also owns a cottage near the power plant.  The plant has reported seven leaks since 2012, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Six leaks caused plant shutdowns. A leak in May spilled about 80 gallons of radioactive water into Lake Michigan.

Gail Snyder is another Chicago-area resident who owns property near the power plant.

neighbors are concerned by the recent shutdowns and startups at the plant. Critics said that can stress equipment at a nuclear power plant. “It’s just too old to keep going,” said Dillon Reed, a resident of Darien who also owns a cottage near the plant.

“It takes a lot of steps or a lot of things to go wrong for a nuclear disaster to occur, but the more pre-existing failures you have, the shorter that path becomes,” Lochbaum said…..

“They have allowed radioactive waste to leak into the water and there is no guarantee that today it isn’t going to happen again on a much greater scale,” Scott said.  http://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/palisades-nuclear-power-plant-chicago-219870131.html#ixzz2cG5OCRl1

August 17, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA