NWEA Joins in Petition to NRC Seeking New Rules to prevent Fires in Spent Fuel Pools.
Thirty-four organizations have petitioned the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeking new rules to ensure that all NRC licensing decisions address startling new information about the potential for fires in the spent fuel pools that house used reactor fuel. The post-Fukushima analysis was developed by the NRC Staff which found that even a small fire could render 9,400 square miles uninhabitable and displace 4.1 million Americans on a long-term basis. The analysis, in an unpublished study of spent fuel storage at the Peach Bottom nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, is the first time the NRC has acknowledged such dire pool fire risks in its reactor licensing decisions. NWEA joined the petition as part of its long history of opposing nuclear reactors including the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant (OR), the four abandoned WPPSS plants (WA), the Hanford N-Reactor (WA), and the Columbia Generating Station (WA).