N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, a Durham-based anti-nuke group, is pushing ahead in its longshot effort to block Progress Energy's application for a federal license to build two new nuclear reactors at the Shearon Harris site in Wake County.
N.C. WARN, as the watchdog group is called, today asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to keep alive its case opposing the licensing application. N.C. WARN's case was tossed last month by the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, and the group wants the NRC to reconsider.
If the NRC agrees with the licensing board, N.C. WARN will likely appeal to a federal court, said N.C. WARN director Jim Warren.
N.C. WARN has filed 11 objections to the license application by Raleigh-based Progress. The group says that the design of the nuclear reactor is still being modified, that Progress low-balled the cost of the project, that the existing reactor at the site violates fire safety standards, that the site is vulnerable to terrorist air attack, and that local authorities lack an adequate emergency evacuation plan for the highly populated area in Southwestern Wake County, among other allegations.
John Murawski has been a full-time newspaper reporter since 1991, with stints at Legal Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy (both in Washington, DC), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Palm Beach Post (in South Florida) before arriving at the N&O in December 2004. At the N&O he covers energy (nuclear, coal, renewable, efficiency), hydralic fracturing (or "fracking"), public utilities (both electric and natural gas) and health care. His beat includes Progress Energy, PSNC Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, PowerSecure International, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Biogen Idec and others. You can reach him at 919-829-8932 or
Comments
Relevance
Thu, 07/23/2009 - 17:39 — jwbikesNow ya'll back off. Jim does a great service for the community. He manages to keep himself in the forefront of all energy issues. Just think, if he is made irrelevant, then how is he going to support himself? People don't donate money to quiet causes. It is the ones who advertise the most that get the CASH. Besides, the N&O would have no guaranteed, go to mouthpiece if he were out of the loop. Ever notice how there is no article on nuclear power without a comment from Jim? Maybe the "author" of these pieces could do some real reporting instead of calling Jim and filling his articles with his statements. Maybe have a few quotes from the unwashed masses from time to time. You know, the man on the street. The person who expects the lights to come on when they flip the switch. EVERY TIME. Not just when the wind is blowing or the sun is out. I wonder how that solar powered computer that NCWARN uses is working out for them? Oh, that's right, they get the same power everyone else does.
NC WARN
Thu, 07/23/2009 - 05:36 — Prn13NormYou tree hugging, stuck in the sixties, environmental terrorists are as much to blame for the economy tanking as Frank, Dodd, Pelosi and Obama. You offer no solutions only criticism for any type of energy production. Lead , follow or get out of the way. Your hippie mentality is costing jobs and hurting the American Way of Life.!
NC WARN, then what kind of
Thu, 07/23/2009 - 00:29 — chfdcptNC WARN, then what kind of options can you bring to the table? Or would you feel safer if every nuclear power plant had a Patriot SAM battery to protect it against a terrorist air attack?
If you cannot offer realistic and reasonable solutions, then you are a part of the problem. The plant has been here long before you folks moved to this area. Or did you not notice that big cement chimney on the skyline when you moved?