Conservation Groups, Experts Discuss Concerns with TVA’s Proposal for Risky New Nuclear Power Technology at Clinch River Site in Tennessee
Small modular reactor technology expensive, water-intensive and not needed
Contact: Jennifer Rennicks, SACE, 865-235-1448, [email protected]
Knoxville, Tenn. – Join us Thursday, June 15 at 12:00 p.m. EDT, for a telepress conference with a panel of speakers that includes local, regional and national experts discussing concerns about safety and environmental risk posed by Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) proposal to site an untested, new nuclear power technology — small modular reactors (SMRs) — at the abandoned Clinch River Site near Kingston, Tennessee. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has begun reviewing TVA’s application for an early site permit (ESP) to determine if the site is suitable for two units generating up to 800 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power generation from SMRs.
Yesterday, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) and the Tennessee Environmental Council (TEC) petitioned NRC to intervene in the agency’s review process. See their filing here. The two environmental groups argue that TVA has failed to justify its bid to reduce the size of the emergency planning zone (EPZ) around the proposed reactors from the standard ten miles to the site boundary or at most two miles, thereby exempting state and local governments from emergency planning requirements and reducing the level of preparedness for an accident at the reactors. The groups contend TVA has not demonstrated it has taken into account the safety and environmental risks of spent fuel pool fires, which could have far-reaching and catastrophic consequences.
SACE and TEC also criticize TVA for making inflated claims regarding the superiority of SMRs as an energy technology in comparison to alternatives energy choices such as renewables, including wind and solar. Observing that TVA shielded its application from public criticism of the relative merits of SMR technology by stating that it would not compare SMRs to other energy alternatives at this site selection stage, SACE and TEC demand that TVA’s claims regarding the benefits of SMR technology should be stricken from TVA’s application, and that the NRC should avoid repeating TVA’s claims in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that NRC is preparing for the proposed ESP.
WHAT: Telephone press conference on Thursday, June 15, 2017
WHEN: Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 12:00 p.m. EDT
WHERE: Dial 727-258-5789 and enter PIN 97609
WHO:
Dr. Ed Lyman, Senior Scientist, Global Security Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
Dr. M.V. Ramana, Professor and the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Diane Curran, Attorney, Harmon Curran Spielberg & Eisenberg LLP
Sara Barczak, High Risk Energy Choices Program Director, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Don Safer, Board Member, Tennessee Environmental Council
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