U.S. Environmental and Labor Groups Team Up to Demand COVID-19 Relief
Environmental and Labor Groups Team Up to Demand COVID-19 Relief, Candice Bernd,
Truthout, 22Apr 20
This story is published as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate the U.S. economy, national environmental organizations are stepping up to support labor unions and frontline workers across the country in their push for personal protective equipment, sick and hazard pay, safe working conditions, and other forms of relief as the crisis intensifies.
The Labor Network for Sustainability (LNS), which partners labor and environmental groups, is facilitating a loose coalition of more than 100 unions and environmental organizations working to pressure the Trump administration to do more to protect frontline workers. The groups are also supporting nine days of action from Earth Day to May Day to demonstrate the interconnection of climate justice and worker justice……… This story is published as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate the U.S. economy, national environmental organizations are stepping up to support labor unions and frontline workers across the country in their push for personal protective equipment, sick and hazard pay, safe working conditions, and other forms of relief as the crisis intensifies.
The Labor Network for Sustainability (LNS), which partners labor and environmental groups, is facilitating a loose coalition of more than 100 unions and environmental organizations working to pressure the Trump administration to do more to protect frontline workers. The groups are also supporting nine days of action from Earth Day to May Day to demonstrate the interconnection of climate justice and worker justice…… https://truthout.org/articles/environmental-and-labor-groups-team-up-to-demand-covid-19-relief/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=de9b2e7e-e70c-405a-830f-e0ea3203ca88
16 hour days, 86 hour weeks for nuclear workers, amid pandemic panic?
Nuclear agency clears way for long days, weeks for Palo Verde employees, azfamily.comMorgan Loew 22 Apr 20, PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given the operator of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station permission to work its employees 16 hours per day and as many as 86 hours in a week, according to a letter from the NRC obtained by CBS 5 Investigates.
“Palo Verde Generating Station requested and received this exemption from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission early and proactively so that the option to modify work hours is immediately available in response to an extreme circumstance. Work schedules are not changing at this time, nor is a change imminent,” stated Jill Hanks in an email. She is a senior communications consultant at APS…..
environmentalists, like Steve Brittle from Don’t Waste Arizona, say they don’t think exemptions like these are a good idea. “All of the money this industry has, this is the best they can do?” said Brittle.
He said he only found out about the changes because of a standing records request he has on file with the NRC. “Government agencies as well as potential polluters – they all need to have somebody watching over them,” said Brittle.
The NRC has granted similar exemptions to other nuclear reactors across the country and allowed some facilities to postpone scheduled maintenance. Environmental groups warn that reducing maintenance, worker’s protections, and oversight could lead to accidents.
Morgan Loew’s hard-hitting investigations can be seen weekdays on CBS 5 News at 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.https://www.azfamily.com/news/investigations/cbs_5_investigates/nuclear-agency-clears-way-for-long-days-weeks-for-palo-verde-employees/article_116ace1e-844a-11ea-890d-b3c0d57fab8c.html
Fitch downgrades EDF’s Outlook to Negative
The Outlook revision mainly reflects a large production cut in nuclear generation in France related to the coronavirus pandemic, and ongoing problems with new nuclear, adding to an expected increase in leverage to slightly above our rating sensitivity on average for 2020-2022. It also reflects growing uncertainties about the nuclear-market reform in France – which we still expect to be finally implemented – in terms of timing and final impact.
KEY RATING DRIVERS
Production Cuts due to Pandemic: The pandemic and the lockdown have caused daily electricity demand to fall up to 20% yoy and depressed both spot and forward electricity prices. EDF has announced a cut of French nuclear production to 300TWh in 2020 and to 330TWh-360TWh for 2021-2022 (from our earlier assumption of 385TWh annually for the whole period), due mainly to the operational impact of the pandemic on the outages scheduled for these years and, to a lesser extent, to the drop in demand. While the announcement led to a rebound of forward prices 2021-2022 to around 45EUR/MWh, we do not expect EDF to fully benefit from it due to the ARENH reference price of 42EUR/MWh. For 2020, EDF is largely protected from the low price environment through hedging.
Large Working Capital Outflows: Another immediate consequence of the pandemic has been an increase in the number of end-customers struggling to pay their bills. In this respect, EDF will continue to supply power to households and small companies with overdue bills without penalties. ,……..
Company’s Reaction Uncertain: EDF has not yet communicated revised financial targets to the market, and we do not know what actions it will focus on to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. …….
Problems with New Nuclear: At Flamanville, fuel loading would occur at best at end-2022 (compared with the previously estimated late-2019), implying an increase of construction costs by EUR1.5 billion (in 2015 real terms and excluding interests during construction) compared with previous estimates. HPC – the other key nuclear project of EDF – following another cost review in September 2019, sees an increase in construction costs of GBP1.9 billion-GBP2.9 billion (2015 real terms) compared with previous estimates. It remains to be seen if the pandemic will further increase the delay and cost overrun for these projects…….. https://www.fitchratings.com/research/corporate-finance/fitch-revises-edf-outlook-to-negative-affirms-idr-at-a-22-04-2020
Georgia’s Nuclear Plant Vogtle, workforce cut due to coronavirus, costs increase, and costs flow through communityflow
 Georgia Power cuts nearly 2,000 Vogtle workers as coronavirus spreads, AJC, Georgia Power is cutting nearly 2,000 workers from its multibillion-dollar nuclear expansion of Plant Vogtle as the new coronavirus continues to spread, absenteeism grows and more than 400 workers have self isolated.
The 20% reduction in the project’s 9,000-person workforce was announced in a Thursday morning regulatory filing by Georgia Power’s parent, Atlanta-based Southern Company. The cuts are expected to last into the summer, according to Southern’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. …….
The expansion, which the company said is the largest construction project in the state, is already years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget as a result of numerous problems that began long before the pandemic. Staff and consultants with the Georgia Public Service Commission warned last year of continued challenges for the state’s largest utility to complete the project by its latest approved schedule.
Overruns and delay costs are likely to be passed along not only to Georgia Power customers but also to consumers, businesses, schools and others served by many utilities throughout the state that are contractually tied to the project……. https://www.ajc.com/news/state–regional/georgia-power-cuts-nearly-000-vogtle-workers-coronavirus-spreads/TDwlZkUTBP2e6KzMNbHLZO/
|
|
|
Covid 19 outbreak causes EDF to extend outages of nuclear reactors for several months
EDF extends nuclear reactor outages as virus outbreak hit maintenance plans PARIS (Reuters) 17 Apr 20, – French utility EDF on Thursday extended outages at three nuclear reactors including the Flamanville 1 and 2 facilities by several months as it adjusts its maintenance schedule due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The utility said earlier on Thursday that it expected a sharp drop in its domestic nuclear power output to a record low in 2020 as a result of the fall in business activity caused by the coronavirus.
EDF extended the outages at the 1,300 megawatt each Flamanville 1 and 2 reactors in the north of France by five months until the end of October.
It had already reduced staffing at the nuclear power plant to around 100 from 800 because of a cluster of coronavirus outbreaks in the area.
The reactors have been offline since September and January 2019 respectively for maintenance and had been scheduled to resume production at the end of May.
The company said that the outages could be extended due to complex maintenance activities.
It extended the production shutdown at its 1,300 MW Paluel 2 reactor by four months until Dec. 31, saying the “duration of the outage maybe be longer due to technical issues requiring the implementation of a new and complex process”.
The Paluel 2 reactor was halted in October for refuelling and maintenance and had been expected to resume on at the end of August.
Reporting by Bate Felix; Editing by Jan Harvey AT TOP https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-nuclearpower/edf-extends-nuclear-reactor-outages-as-virus-outbreak-hit-maintenance-plans-idUSKCN21Y28P
Impacts of coronavirus on the technical, financial and legal mess that is the Vogtle nuclear project in Georgia, USA
 Work continues on Georgia nuclear reactors as coronavirus hits, The Bond Buyer, By Shelly Sigo
April 15, 2020, Construction continues on new nuclear reactors in Georgia as COVID-19 impacts workers, and as a Florida city tries in court to vacate its contract with a public power agency that has a stake in the nuclear project.
Georgia Power Co., the investor owned utility heading up construction, reports that 35 employees have tested positive for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, which has killed more than 26,000 people in the United States since late February. More than 9,000 workers are on site at Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro, Georgia, about 25 miles from Augusta. GPC owns 45.7% of the reactor project, while three public power agencies have a majority stake and combined ownership of 54.3%. …… The Georgia Department of Health reported 14,987 positive cases of the virus, 552 deaths, and 2,922 hospitalizations across the state Wednesday….. The impacts from the virus “could disrupt or delay construction, testing, supervisory and support activities at Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4,” the notice said. “It is too early to determine what impact, if any, the COVID-19 outbreak will have on the current construction schedule or budget for Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4,” the notice concluded. With the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, S&P Global Ratings revised the North America regulated utility industry outlook to negative from stable on April 2. Southern’s A-minus long-term rating was placed on creditwatch negative, though it already had a negative outlook due to the Vogtle project’s construction and financial risks….. While GPC is overseeing construction and owns a minority stake in the nearly $30 billion project, three public power agencies hold a majority interest. Those are Oglethorpe Power Corp. with 30%, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (or MEAG Power) with 22.7% and Dalton Utilities with 1.6% of the ownership. MEAG remains locked in a federal lawsuit with the city of Jacksonville, Florida, and its utility, JEA. JEA has a 20-year, take-or-pay power purchase agreement to pay debt service on a portion of bonds MEAG issued to finance part of its stake in the Vogtle project. Under the agreement, JEA is paying 41% of MEAG’s cost to finance the new reactors, and will also receive power from the units when completed. In a limited public offering memorandum last year, MEAG said the capital requirements for JEA’s PPA were estimated at about $2.9 billion, most of which were financed with $2.004 billion of long-term Project J bonds and $575.7 million of U.S Department of Energy loan guarantees. As project costs rose, JEA and MEAG sued each other in September 2018 over the PPA, with JEA and Jacksonville contending that the agreement was improperly approved and should be vacated. The legal challenge landed in the Atlanta Division of the United States District Court Northern District of Georgia. In December, MEAG filed a motion for a declaratory judgment in an attempt to enforce the PPA. JEA opposed MEAG’s motion and filed its own for a declaratory judgment stating, in part, that neither JEA nor the city can be bound by Georgia’s bond validation proceedings…….. In other arguments in the case, JEA and Jacksonville have cited increased costs from the delayed nuclear reactors, most of which occurred when the first primary contractor, Westinghouse, filed for bankruptcy. After that, GPC and the public utilities sharing costs in the project voted to continue construction. JEA said it complained about what it considers a subsequent “new uncapped cost-plus construction contract.”…… https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/work-continues-on-georgia-nuclear-reactors-as-coronavirus-hits |
|
|
EDF cutting back on its nuclear energy goals
EDF pulls financial targets in response to pandemic, WNN, 15 April 2020 EDF said on 23 March it would lower its 2020 nuclear power production target of 375-390 TWh, but did not say by how much. On 8 April French transmission system operator RTE said that electricity demand in the country had fallen between15% and 20% since the lockdown.
“The economic turmoil that follows from the current health crisis is causing a drop in power demand and is significantly impacting many of the group’s businesses, namely nuclear generation (which EDF indicates is currently under review and will be adjusted significantly below the initial assumption), new-build projects and services,” EDF said. “Consequently, the EDF Group withdraws all its financial targets for 2020, including the lower end of the EBITDA range of EUR17.5 billion, as well as for 2021.”…….
A new decree – published in the Official Journal on 27 March – postponed the deadline for loading of first fuel at EDF’s EPR unit at its Flamanville site in Normandy by four years, to April 2024. Under the currect schedule, the loading of fuel is planned by the end of 2022. …… https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/EDF-pulls-financial-targets-in-response-to-pandemi
Bankrupt FirstEnergy Solutions is resuscitated as Energy Harbor, House Bill 6 subsidises Perry and Davis-Besse Nuclear Power plants
In March 2018, the owner of both plants, known then as FirstEnergy Solutions, announced that it would close both plants if subsidies were not approved. ……..
In addition, FirstEnergy Solutions filed for bankruptcy.
While H.B. 6 went into effect in October, it was announced on Feb. 27 that the former FirstEnergy Solutions, under the new name of Energy Harbor, emerged from bankruptcy……
Perry area government leaders recently offered their views on how the Perry Nuclear Power Plant staying open will impact the future financial outlook for their respective towns or entities, as well as the community as a whole. ……
Under terms of House Bill 6, charges paid by residential, commercial and industrial customers on their electric bills will generate an estimated $170 million a year. Of that total, $150 million annually will go to the Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants. The other $20 million is earmarked to support six solar energy projects in Ohio.
The nuclear plants will receive money between 2021 and 2027. …… https://www.news-herald.com/news/perry-leaders-assess-impact-of-perry-nuclear-power-plant-staying-open/article_ac6bb456-78f5-11ea-ba51-d72a1e490038.html
More delay in planning application for UK’s Wylfa Newydd nuclear project
Wylfa Newydd planning decision delayed again, NEI, 6 April 2020 A planning decision over the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant in Anglesey has been deferred, the UK Government has confirmed.
The Wylfa Newydd project, which envisaged the construction of two UK advanced boiling water reactors (ABWRs), was suspended in January 2019 after Hitachi, failed to reach a funding deal with the UK government. However, the government had been expected to grant a Development Consent Order to construct the £12 billion power station on 31 March…… The Secretary of State (Alok Sharma) has decided to re-set the statutory deadline for this application to 30 September 2020….'”
…..EDF Energy announced last month that it was delaying submission of its planning application for Sizewell C by a “few weeks” due to the coronavirus crisis. Construction work at Hinkley Point C has also been scaled back. https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newswylfa-newydd-planning-decision-delayed-again-7859280
Covid 19 and government responses are affecting nuclear construction world-wide
|
The restrictions on travel, public gatherings and certain business operations introduced by the USA and other jurisdictions in response to the novel coronavirus have significantly disrupted economic activity in the service territories of Southern Company’s utility subsidiaries and have caused volatility in capital markets, it said in its 1 April financial filing. “The effects of the continued outbreak of COVID-19 and related government responses could include extended disruptions to supply chains and capital markets, reduced labour availability and productivity and a prolonged reduction in economic activity,” it said. “These effects could have a variety of adverse impacts on the company and its subsidiaries, including reduced demand for energy, particularly from commercial and industrial customers, impairment of goodwill or long-lived assets and impairment of the ability of the company and its subsidiaries to develop, construct and operate facilities and to access funds from financial institutions and capital markets. In particular, these effects could disrupt or delay construction, testing, supervisory and support activities at Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4.” The units’ licensee, Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc, has implemented policies and procedures designed to mitigate the risk of transmission at the construction site, including worker distancing measures, isolating individuals who are showing symptoms consistent with COVID-19, being tested for COVID-19 or who have been in close contact with such persons, requiring self-quarantine and adopting additional precautionary measures, the company said. “It is too early to determine what impact, if any, the COVID-19 outbreak will have on the current construction schedule or budget for Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4,” it added. Rosatom General Director Alexey Likhachov said on 1 April the company was working to give Rosatom personnel working on construction sites abroad the chance to return home. “Everyone will be given the opportunity to return in the very next few days,” he said. According to World Nuclear Association, seven Russian-designed reactors are currently under construction in Belarus, India, Bangladesh and Turkey. Likhachov also said that the entire operational staff working in the control rooms at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant have been isolated after an employee fell ill with coronavirus. All employees from the five duty shifts now living separately from families in a local clinic, and travel to the plant by special transport, he said. |
|
Nuclear Plant Transfer to go on Despite Coronavirus Concerns
Nuclear Plant Transfer to go on Despite Coronavirus Concerns https://www.capecod.com/newscenter/nuclear-plant-transfer-to-go-on-despite-coronavirus-concerns/April 5, 2020 PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Plans to transfer radioactive spent fuel at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth to steel-lined dry casks will go on as scheduled despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Pilgrim permanently shut down last May and was subsequently sold by Entergy Corp. to Holtec International for decommissioning.
There have been concerns about moving the fuel during the pandemic because some of the workers brought in to do the job were from out of state.
A Holtec spokesman says the company understands the concerns and in response, some workers were sent home and requested to self-quarantine for two weeks prior to beginning the work.
Sizewell C nuclear project: community has lost faith in the integrity of EDF
 East Anglian Daily Times (not on web) 3rd April 2020, John Rea Price: Community has lost faith in the integrity of EDF.So EDF has generously agreed to defer their application for planning consent “by a few weeks”, actually for just a month the website of the Planning Inspectorate suggests.
Mr Cadoux Hudson of EDF goes on to promise that more
time would be given for people to register as participants in the public examination. What he didn’t say is that this will be an extremely formal and legalistic process with very little opportunity for genuine engagement by members of the community and is thus a meaningless concession. He goes on to say that over eight years of public consultation EDF has tried hard to be transparent. He doesn’t seem to appreciate that the community has experienced its efforts as truculent and dismissive.
Despite repeated demands at each of the four stage of public consultation it has, in particular, failed to provide any evidence of substance and quality on the probable cumulative environmental impact of its development on this
uniquely sensitive landscape and coastline. The consequence has been that communities that were not in principle opposed to Sizewell C have become its bitterest opponents. Such is the loss of any faith in the integrity of EDF that many now believe that it will exploit the opportunity of this grave national crisis to drive its application forward as aggressively as possible.
It will thus seek to minimise the depth of scrutiny that its very
complex proposals demand at a time when statutory agencies, county, district and parish councils, conservation bodies and community groups have the least capacity to undertake this. https://www.eadt.co.uk/news |
|
Russia’s response to coronavirus risk for nuclear stations – isolate the nuclear workforce
Russia’s nuclear workers isolated onsite as coronavirus spreads, Bellona, April 3, 2020 by Charles Digges, charles@bellona.no
Workers at Russia’s nuclear power plants will be isolated from the general public and required to live in onsite clinics at their respective stations as nuclear authorities tighten their response to the coronavirus after a number of industry infections.
The order came Tuesday from Rosenergoatom, Russia’s nuclear utility, and specified that both primary and back up crews of nuclear technicians, who “facilitate process continuity” would now be required check in to dispensaries at their plants, where they would be provided with daily living essentials and isolated from outside contact.
Rosenergoatom, which is a subsidiary of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, is responding to a Tuesday video address by Andrei Likhachev, the corporation’s CEO, which outlined the isolation measures.
Earlier this week, Likhachev confirmed that four Rosatom employees had tested positive for the coronavirus, the spread of which has all but ground the world economy to a halt as the number of those infected worldwide surpasses 1 million.
Russians have been told to stay home through next week on a government ordered holiday. There have been 4,149 cases of coronavirus reported by Moscow as of Friday, 34 of which have resulted in death. In his address, Likhachev asked all Rosatom employees who could feasibly work remotely had been asked to do so, though he said the corporation’s overseas reactor building projects would continue.
Rosenergoatom’s unprecedented steps to protect highly skilled nuclear specialists from falling ill from the virus mirror measures other countries are taking for their own workers to avoid power interruptions or outright plant shutdowns.
In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering isolating its own workers from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, while France – the world’s most nuclear-dependent nation – is weighing staff cuts of its own. Both France and the United Kingdom have shut down a number of their nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities in response to a spike in local infections
Rosenergoatom didn’t make clear precisely how many of Russia’s nuclear workers have been put in isolation, but its parent company Rosatom controls a sprawling network of reactors, laboratories, commercial structures and fuel fabrication facilities that employ some 250,000 people…….
Workers at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant, 1,800 kilometers to Moscow’s east, have already been working in isolation for more than a week, after the wife of one of the plant’s technicians tested positive for the virus. https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2020-04-russias-nuclear-workers-isolated-onsite-as-coronavirus-spreads
Sailors on nuclear aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt applaud their fired captain
Videos have emerged on social media showing sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt giving their fired captain a rousing sendoff as he left the ship.
Capt. Brett Crozier was relieved of duty for a “loss of confidence” following the leak of a letter in which he advocated for stronger measures to protect his crew from an outbreak of coronavirus aboard the ship.
The videos show hundreds of sailors gathered in the ship’s hangar clapping and cheering loudly for Crozier as he walked down a ramp towards the pier in Guam where the ship is docked. ……
In one of the videos capturing that moment, voices can be heard saying “We love you, too!” and “Thank you skipper!”
Later, the ship’s crew is heard rhythmically clapping and chanting, “CAPTAIN! CROZIER!”
Earlier on Thursday, Crozier was relieved of duty by acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly who said he had lost confidence in his leadership abilities following the leak of a letter where Crozier advocated for stronger measures to protect his ship’s crew from further infection by the coronavirus.
Modly said Crozier had expressed valid concerns for the safety of his ship but had exercised “poor judgment” in distributing the letter to senior commanders to a broad group of people when he could have expressed his concerns to the admiral aboard the carrier.
In the letter Crozier advocated Navy leaders to speed up the removal of the nearly 5,000 sailors aboard the carrier to appropriate accommodations on Guam that met social distancing guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The day after the letter appeared in the San Francisco Examiner the Navy announced that 2,700 of the ship’s crew were being brought ashore and that suitable housing would be found in hotel rooms on the island. …..https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sailors-aircraft-carrier-give-fired-captain-rousing-sendoff/story?id=69957655
Work at Limerick nuclear plant threatened by rising Coronavirus death toll in Montgomery County
Montco coronavirus deaths at 12; officials  ‘concerned’ about work at Limerick nuclear plant, The Mercury, By Carl Hessler Jr. chessler@21st-centurymedia.com 4 Apr 20, EAGLEVILLE — The coronavirus death toll in Montgomery County rose to 12 on Thursday as officials reported the deaths of two more people, residents of Upper Providence and Springfield townships…..
Officials said there were 113 new positive cases of the virus reported on Thursday, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 707 since March 7. The new cases included residents from 35 municipalities, two of which reported their first cases – Bridgeport Borough and Red Hill Borough. To date, 55 of the county’s 62 municipalities have reported coronavirus cases. The new cases in the county included at least 48 men and 62 women whose ages ranged from 1 month to 94. Six of the individuals are hospitalized, officials said Arkoosh said county officials continue to be in contact with Exelon representatives regarding the county’s concerns that social distancing measures were “perhaps not being adhered to” during a maintenance refueling project involving more than 1,000 workers that began last month at the Limerick Generating Station operated by Exelon near Pottstown. The county’s Office of Public Health is currently reviewing information that it received from Exelon in response to questions the commissioners posed to company officials on Wednesday. The information is helpful and I remain deeply concerned that this maintenance refueling will ultimately contribute to the number of people that are exposed to the coronavirus in our region,” said Arkoosh, who was joined at the news briefing by fellow commissioners Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. and Joseph C. Gale, and Dr. Alvin Wang, regional EMS medical director, and Dr. Brenda Weis, administrator of the Office of Public Health. Without being specific, Arkoosh said the information provided by Exelon generated more questions by the county and officials are awaiting answers to those questions….. On Wednesday, Exelon officials confirmed two cases of COVID-19 among the workforce at the Limerick plant, adding the full-time employees were sent home and were receiving care and that neither employee had been onsite since March 20. Company officials added that any employees who came in close contact with the affected persons or worked at that reporting location were notified, and that an additional deep cleaning occurred at all areas that potentially were exposed. Arkoosh said officials believe they were misled about the start date of the refueling project. “We were always told March 30. An (event of public interest alert) went out on March 27 saying that they were starting that evening. We’ve also been told by others that there were quite a large number of people here for a number of days before that,” Arkoosh said. County officials have requested the permanent address and the lodging information for all of the contractors hired to work on the refueling project. “We received information back from Exelon on about 950 of those individuals. They are staying all over the area…some people are driving from other states every day. It’s quite a lot,” Arkoosh said. Officials said the contractors, many of whom travel from one generating plant to another to work on refueling projects, are staying locally at AirBnBs, private homes, campsites, hotels and other rental units. “I believe that they have an obligation to not only the families of these workers but to whatever community they’ll be going to next to do a refuel, that these individuals should be sequestered for 14 days before they leave here so that at least when they leave they can be fairly assured that they have no disease,” Arkoosh explained. County officials said they are concerned that contractors where coming from other states into the county which was an area of community spread of COVID-19. Arkoosh said that situation could put the workforce at the Limerick plant at risk as well as local first responders…….. https://www.pottsmerc.com/news/montco-coronavirus-deaths-at-12-officials-concerned-about-work-at-limerick-nuclear-plant/article_dd37f986-7522-11ea-8daa-73c6d383e3e3.html |
|
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- April 2026 (338)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (268)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (257)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
- June 2025 (348)
- May 2025 (261)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 