Legal moves against nuclear power in Japan
Opposition to nuclear power plants grows in Japan , People’s World, 8 June 11 Japan Bar Assn. calls for end to nuclear power plants The Japan Bar Association at its general meeting in Tokyo on May 27 adopted a declaration calling for the phasing out of existing nuclear power plants in Japan and a stop to the program to construct more nuclear reactors.
The declaration requests that the government separate the nuclear safety regulatory body from the nuclear promoting ministry and agency, and promote renewable energy sources as a main pillar to energy policy based on the principle of sustainability.
Residents near Hamaoka plant file lawsuit Residents living near the Hamaoka nuclear power station in Shizuoka’s Omaezaki City on May 27 filed a lawsuit against Chubu Electric Power Company with the Shizuoka District Court, seeking a permanent shutdown of all reactors at the plant.
The group of plaintiffs consists of 35 residents, including two Japanese Communist Party members of the Kakegawa City Assembly, in Omaezaki, Kikukawa, and Kakegawa cities located within a 30km-zone of the plant. JCP member of the Omaezaki City Assembly Shimizu Sumio heads the group of plaintiffs.
They aim for the decommissioning of the reactors at the earliest possible date, arguing that the Hamaoka plant is located at the focal region of an inevitable Tokai earthquake…http://peoplesworld.org/opposition-to-nuclear-power-plants-grows-in-japan/
Nuclear worker falsified safety documents
| A Hixson man pleaded guilty in Federal Court on Wednesday morning to falsifying documents related to an inspection at the TVA Watts Bar facility. The Chattanoogan.com 8 June 11, Matthew David Correll, 31, faces up to five years in prison. He will be sentenced by Judge Curtis Collier on Oct. 6 at 2 p.m….. Prosecutor James Brooks said Correll made false statements that he had measured cables for a safety system at the plant.The plea agreement says Correll was working for Williams Specialty Services, a sub-contractor of Bechtel Corp. |
As part of the plea agreement, Correll stipulated that in August 2010 in Spring City, he completed TVA forms purporting to state micrometer readings of cables that had been installed to provide energy to equipment, including to safety equipment, inside the containment structure at Unit 2 of the Watts Bar nuclear plant. The defendant made approximately 200 entries. After the entries were submitted, it was discovered that the entries were either inaccurate or purported to be measurements of cables that did not in fact exist. The defendant was questioned and admitted that he had falsified all of the entries….
Sheep Mountain Alliance has legal win in its battle against uranium milling
Denver District Judge Brian Whitney sided with the Telluride-based Sheep Mountain Alliance, which contends the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) may have violated various state and federal laws in issuing a permit for the mill. The lawsuit can now move forward…...
Denver district judge allows uranium mill lawsuit to move ahead, The Colorado Independent, By David O. Williams | 05.27.11 A Denver district judge this week rejected motions by the state of Colorado and a Canadian uranium mining company to throw out a lawsuit challenging the proposed Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill in Montrose County. Continue reading
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission faces lawsuit from Vermont
Vermont, nuclear watchdog group file lawsuit against NRC, SentinelSource.com, State, group file suit against NRC May 25, 2011, By Kyle Jarvis Vermont state officials are asking a federal court to have the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant’s recently renewed operating license temporarily revoked and reviewed by the court, according to court documents filed by state officials last week.
The state and the New England Coalition, a nuclear watchdog group, are suing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in federal court for what they say was a mishandling of the Vermont Yankee renewal process in March. n the lawsuit, Vermont Department of Public Service officials said the commission “acted arbitrarily, abused its discretion, and violated the clear mandate of the Clean Water Act.”State officials argue the commission should not have granted the 20-year license renewal without also requiring a new water quality certification, which they say the Clean Water Act mandates, according to court documents…….. Vermont, nuclear watchdog group file lawsuit against NRC – SentinelSource.com: Local News
A legal win for Namibia’s groundwater against uranium mining
issue is the question of who has the legal standing to go to court to ask for protection for the environment, which is unable to speak for itself…plan to extract large quantities of water from an underground water source in such a dry, environmentally sensitive and hitherto unspoilt area.
Uranium company loses desert water plan appeal, the Namibian, 20 May 11, By: WERNER MENGES A LEGAL challenge to a Canadian-owned mining company’s plan to use underground water to set up a uranium mine in the Namib Desert south-west of Usakos is heading back to the High Court after an appeal judgement that was given in the Supreme Court yesterday.
An issue that has never before had to be decided by a Namibian court is expected to be at the core Continue reading
Tribunal raps Indian govt over Jaitapur health and safety issues
Jaitapur public tribunal gives govt a rap on the knuckles, May 20, 2011, By Alok Deshpande Mumbai : DNA As around 20 fisherfolk, men and women from Sakhri Nate village, situated around the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) site appeared before a People’s Tribunal for the second day to blow the lid off police atrocities, the government’s nuclear agencies were for the first time ever, forced to submit their depositions to the panel of two retired high court judges. Justice AP Shah, however, reacted sharply, calling it a “half-hearted attempt” from the government to answer people’s grievances over the JNPP.
“The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has submitted its deposition to the tribunal, which has no answer to the questions raised by the people. Even Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has sent large number of documents, but strangely no-one is appearing, in person, before the people’s court and is not ready to face cross-examination,” said Shah.
He added that the documents are related to radiation, health and safety and seemed to be regular brochures. “I have asked the experts to study them and tell us what was not mentioned in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report,” said Shah. The judges have however, noted that this is the first time that a full-fledged discussion over nuclear energy is taking place in a free environment, which is a good sign…..Jaitapur public tribunal gives govt a rap on the knuckles – Mumbai – DNA
Japan: collusion of govt, nuclear regulators, plant operators, courts
The lawsuits reveal a disturbing pattern in which operators underestimated or hid seismic dangers to avoid costly upgrades and keep operating. And the fact that virtually all these suits were unsuccessful reinforces the widespread belief in Japan that a culture of collusion supporting nuclear power, including the government, nuclear regulators and plant operators, extends to the courts as well.
Japanese Officials Ignored or Concealed Dangers, New York Times, By NORIMITSU ONISHI and MARTIN FACKLER, May 16, 2011 OMAEZAKI, Japan — The nuclear power plant, lawyers argued, could not withstand the kind of major earthquake that new seismic research now suggested was likely.
If such a quake struck, electrical power could fail, along with backup generators, crippling the cooling system, the lawyers predicted. The reactors would then suffer a meltdown and start spewing radiation into the air and sea. Tens of thousands in the area would be forced to flee.
Although the predictions sound eerily like the sequence of events at the Fukushima Daiichi plant following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the lawsuit was filed nearly a decade ago to shut down another plant, long considered the most dangerous in Japan — the Hamaoka station. Continue reading
Supreme Court upholds State’s rights over water intake at nuclear plant
SJC upholds state’s right to regulate water intake at Pilgrim nuclear – Boston Globe , by Beth Daley, 12 April 11, The state Supreme Judicial Court has upheld Massachusetts’ right to regulate the intake of vast amounts of water by the Pilgrim Nuclear Station and other power plants, which can harm fish and other marine organisms.Power plants use the water to cool equipment then discharge it later — and hotter — into waterways. Environmental studies show the heated water can harm aquatic life. The state and environmentalists have also long argued that the sucking in of water can kill vast amounts of fish larvae, eggs, shellfish, and other aquatic organisms – larger creatures become trapped on screens covering the intake pipes, and smaller ones are sucked into the cooling system. Continue reading
Huge civil damages claims looming from Fukushima disaster
“If the government nationalises TEPCO then they take on TEPCO’s debts, and if TEPCO remains private it will probably need government support for its obligations to pay damages, so whichever way you look at it the government will be taking on responsibility
Japan nuclear crisis to trigger huge civil damages claims | Reuters, Mon Apr 4, 2011 * TEPCO and government to handle claims* Hundreds of thousands of claims expected* Claims could top $130 bln in worst case – BofA-ML* Government likely to set up central compensation fund By Rachel Armstrong – Japan’s nuclear crisis is likely to lead to one of the country’s largest and most complex ever set of claims for civil damages, handing a huge bill to the fiscally strained government and debt-laden plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co . Continue reading
Ontario Power Generation’s flawed statement on nuclear power
the province has never completed an integrated power system plan that would establish the need for new generators…… The environmental impact statement submitted by OPG also fails to consider alternatives to a major nuclear project,
Law association argues nuclear approval process flawed – thestar.com, 4 April 11, John Spears Ontario Power Generation has failed to consider alternatives to building new nuclear reactors at Darlington, the Canadian Environmental Law Association argued Monday.That means it hasn’t submitted an adequate environmental impact statement under federal law, the association told a panel reviewing the proposal for new reactors.And that in turn means the panel isn’t in a position to recommend giving the go-ahead for OPG to proceed with preparing the site for construction, Continue reading
U.S. Energy Dept sued over failure to provide nuclear waste dump
it could be several years before a repository is constructed and the federal government can begin accepting waste from nuclear power plants. Until then, the association wants to halt the nuclear waste fund fees that the Energy Department collects for that purpose…….
Utility Commissioners Sue To Suspend Annual Nuclear Waste Fees By Tennille Tracy NEWSWIRES,WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones) 8 march 11, A group representing state utility commissioners sued the U.S. Energy Department Monday to try to prevent it from collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in fees to build a nuclear waste dump. Continue reading
Lawsuits express no confidence in nuclear “Waste Confidence Rule”
For many, the separate suits by state attorneys general and environmental groups raise fresh questions over why America is pouring billions into a nuclear renaissance with no long-term strategy for handling waste from the nation’s existing facilities. ….The lawsuit targets NRC’s recently updated “Waste Confidence Rule.”
As U.S. Moves Ahead with Nuclear Power, No Solution for Radioactive Waste, Solve Climate News, By Abby LubyMar 3, 2011 A pair of legal actions against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission raises fresh questions over how and where to store the nation’s growing nuclear waste, Continue reading
A spate of legal challenges to nuclear waste storage rules
address the question of whether there are more cost-effective energy alternatives that would avoid saddling future generations with the costs and risks of disposing of highly radioactive waste generated by nuclear reactors,”
Environmental groups fight nuclear storage rules – SmartPlanet, David Worthington 25 Feb 2011, A coalition of environmental groups has let loose a spate of legal challenges against the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) 2010 findings that spent reactor fuel and highly radioactive nuclear waste can be safety tucked away for the long term. Continue reading
UK Nuclear veterans dying as they await legal procedings
“Claimants are dying at a rate of three each month, so the sooner the government stops wasting time and money on procedural issues and allows a judge to finally decide the matter, the happier the claimants will be.”
Veterans want court fight after exposure to nuclear radiation Bournemouth Echo, 27th February 2011 By Fiona Pendlebury » VETERANS fighting to be allowed to sue the government after being exposed to nuclear radiation in the 1950s and 1960s are awaiting a key ruling from the Supreme Court. Continue reading
Natural Resources Council challenges NRC’s WASTE CONFIDENCE RULE
In absurdist fashion, the new Waste Confidence Rule contains a “predictive” safety “finding” that simply stipulates spent reactor fuel can be disposed of safely at some unspecified time in the future, whenever it becomes “necessary” to dispose of it. The Rule also concludes that for at least sixty years after the cessation of reactor operations, spent fuel can be safely stored at reactor sites or in “special” facilities.
Sixty Thousand Tons of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Stored at U.S. Reactors for 60 Years? Natural Resources Defence Council, Matthew McKinzie February 23, 2011 Why NRDC has Challenged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Waste Confidence Rule Last week my colleague and NRDC Senior Attorney Geoffrey Fettus filed a legal challenge to two final rulemakings by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: the “Waste Confidence Decision Update” and the “Consideration of Environmental Impacts of Temporary Storage of Spent Fuel After Cessation of Reactor Operation.” What does the Federal Government want to do with these new Rules, and why is NRDC opposing them?…….. Continue reading
1 This Month
26 September – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
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