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ACTION ALERT:   Public comments in support of the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network citizens’ petition to the FDA are due September 11, 2013.  Please go to the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network to submit public comments.  http://ffan.us/?p=277  Or go to the Beyond Nuclear website and follow the instruction to submit comments.  http://www.beyondnuclear.org/food/  For more information, please read the CCNS News Update below.

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 9/6/13 through 9/13/13

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

• Petition to FDA Requests Sampling of Food for Radiation Resulting from Fukushima Catastrophe

In March, public health and environmental non-governmental organizations filed a citizens’ petition with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) demanding that the federal agency drastically reduce the amount of radioactive cesium allowed in food, nutritional supplements and pharmaceuticals and develop regulations to protect consumers from such pollutants.  Coalition members of the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network, including Beyond Nuclear and Citizens for Health, petitioned the FDA to lower the radiation standards from 1,200 Bequerels per kilogram to 5 Bequerels per kilogram.  http://ffan.us/  A Becquerel is a measurement of radiation.  They are asking that all food be tested and labeled with the amount of cesium contained in it.  The Network requests your support of their petition.   http://ffan.us/?p=277 and http://www.beyondnuclear.org/food/

The National Academy of Sciences determined that there is no safe dose of radiation.  http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11340  The petition states that consumers must have the necessary information in order to manage their own intake of cesium.  Currently the FDA standards allow 1,200 Becquerels per kilogram in food, an amount 100 times higher than that allowed in Japan.

The damaged Fukushima nuclear power reactors continue to leak more than 10 million Becquerels of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 per hour into the environment, with no sign of stopping.  Every day there is more news about how Tepco, the operator of the damaged reactors, does not have the ability to stop the leaking, nor the emissions into the air and contamination of the soil.  http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/18556-abe-at-ground-zero-the-consequences-of-inaction-at-fukushima-daiichi and http://truth-out.org/video/item/18661-record-radiation-levels-at-fukushima-nuclear-plant (interview with Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research).

Cesium is a gamma emitter and a good tracer for releases from the spent fuel pools.  Cesium-134 remains radioactive for 10 to 20 years, while Cesium-137 remains radioactive for 300 to 600 years.  Cesium mimics potassium in the body.  Over time, cesium bio-accumulates and bio-magnifies in the environment.

Contamination of the U.S. food supply has been found in grapefruits in Florida and oranges, prunes and almonds in California.  In 2012, Bluefin tuna found off the coast of California had levels of radioactive cesium 10 times higher than the amount measured in previous years.  They spawn off the Japan coast and swim 6,000 miles across the Pacific to school in the waters off the California coast.

The American Medical Association has called for testing of seafood.  http://ffan.us/?p=253  The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced late last month that it will begin testing fish off the coast of British Columbia.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/08/19/bc-salmon-radiation-testing.html

Alexis Lynn Baden-Mayer, Political Director of the Organic Consumers Association, a sponsor of the petition, said, “The threat of contamination in our food supply is a long-term issue that deserves immediate attention.”  http://ffan.us/

To support the citizens’ petition, please go to the Beyond Nuclear website and follow the instructions.  http://www.beyondnuclear.org/food/  Because the FDA has 180 days to respond, the Network requests your attention prior to September 11, 2013.   http://ffan.us/?p=277

This has been the CCNS News Update.  To learn more, please visit our website at http://www.nuclearactive.org.

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CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 8/30/13 through 9/6/13

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

•  Vermont Yankee to Shut Down in 2014

This week the owners of Vermont’s only nuclear power plant announced that they will close the 40-year old Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in 2014.  Entergy Corporation will close Vermont Yankee after its current fuel cycle is completed and move to shutdown mode in the last quarter of 2014.  The plant is a Mark I design, a twin design to those that melted down and exploded at Fukushima Daiichi.  It is located on the Connecticut River.

The announcement ends a legal battle over the future of the plant.  In 2010, the Vermont Senate voted down a bill that would have authorized a state board to give Vermont Yankee permission to continue operations for an additional 20 years.  The Vermont legislators were concerned about the age, stress corrosion cracking and safety record of the plant.

Nearly all of the nuclear power generated is shipped out-of-state.  The legislature had asked Entergy to provide lower priced power to Vermonters if the state granted the 20-year extension.  Entergy sued Vermont and won.  The state appealed the decision and earlier this month the court ruled mostly in Entergy’s favor.  But the court overturned a part of the lower court decision which said that Vermont had violated the U.S. Constitution by trying to obtain cut-rate power from Vermont Yankee if it granted a 20-year permit.

Leo Denault, Entergy’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement, “This was an agonizing decision and an extremely tough call for us.  Vermont Yankee has an immensely talented, dedicated and loyal workforce, and a solid base of support among many in the community.  We recognize that closing the plant on this schedule was not the outcome they had hoped for, but we have reluctantly concluded that it is the appropriate action for us to take under the circumstances.”  http://www.entergy.com/News_Room/newsrelease.aspx?NR_ID=2769

In the past year, five nuclear power plants have announced their closure.  In October 2012, Dominion Resources announced the closure of the Kewaunee Power Station in Wisconsin citing the price of natural gas; in February 2013, Duke Energy announced that it would close Florida’s Crystal River plant rather than pay for costly repairs; and in June 2013, Southern California Edison announced the closure of the two reactors at the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station, also citing repair costs.

Senator Edward J. Markey, of Massachusetts, said in a statement, “Closing Vermont Yankee reflects the growing realization in New England and around the nation that it is time to move towards a safer, more affordable clean energy future of wind, solar, geothermal, along with well-regulated domestic natural gas.  While nuclear energy was once advertised as being too cheap to meter, it is increasingly clear that it is actually too expensive to matter.”  http://www.markey.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=345599

This has been the CCNS News Update.  To learn more, please visit our website at http://www.nuclearactive.org.

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CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 8/23/13 through 8/30/13

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

• Seventeenth Annual Gathering for Mother Earth to be Held the Third Weekend of September

The seventeenth annual Gathering for Mother Earth, sponsored by Tewa Women United and community organizations of concern, is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, September 21st and 22nd, in Pojoaque. The two-day gathering is open to all cultures of all ages and seeks to honor Mother Earth for her lifegivingness.  The Gathering is a time for community unity to protect the most vulnerable people, including pregnant women farmers and infants, especially those living around nuclear production sites.  http://tewawomenunited.org/

Kathy Sanchez, of Tewa Women United, invited everyone to come together for a sharing of events, workshops, activities, and meals.  She said, “Let us all celebrate cultural ways of giving love and gratitude for our Earth Mother.  Her life givers need loving care to support us on our life journeys.  It is beyond critical time to stabilize energy with wisdom and unite for eco-systemic survival.  The time is now to awaken peace and stop the violent use of Mother Earth’s life giving energy.  We encourage all cultures, all ages, schools, communities and families to bring intergenerational thinking to this holistic event.” Both days will begin with a sunrise service at 6:30 and regular programming will start about 9.  Saturday’s scheduled program ends around 5 p.m. to be followed by a communal meal and evening entertainment.  On Sunday a scheduled program runs through the morning until the close of the Gathering around 1 p.m, when there will be a traditional distribution of gifts.  Food and drinks will be available and the organizers request that you bring your own plate, bowl, utensils, cup and water bottle.

Each year, Tewa Women United chooses special colors for the festivities. This year the color of peace, a rainbow of colors, will be celebrated.

Scheduled events include a children’s peace tent; health related information sharing; solar cooking and produce; healing tents; arts and crafts; and raffle prizes.  Attendees will enjoy performances of native songs and dances during the two days.  Invited guests include the Pacific Curls from New Zealand, Beverly Doxtator of Native Lifeways, Inc. in Canada, Yolanda Teran and Jose Males from Ecuador, and Katia Delgado and others from Peru.

The Saturday sunrise service includes the blessing for the relay run from Tsankawi, the ancestral Pueblo homelands near Los Alamos, to the Gathering site. The relay is open to runners between the ages of 18 and 30.

The Gathering will be held at Pojoaque Ben’s Gathering Grounds on Highway 502, 1.8 miles west of the interchange with Highways 285 and 84, near the Pojoaque High School.

Sanchez invites you, “To come prepared to revitalize beloved community energy to nurture all relations with water and sky.”  For more information, please visit http://tewawomenunited.org/programs/environmental-justice-program/gathering-for-mother-earth and the August 2013 edition of Green Fire Times.  See the  “Tewa Women United :  Indigenous Women United in Heart, Mind and Spirit” article at http://greenfiretimes.com/

 
This has been the CCNS News Update.  To learn more, please visit our website at http://www.nuclearactive.org.

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CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 8/16/13 through 8/23/13

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

*  Court Says NRC Violated Law and Orders Review of Yucca Mountain Application

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) must promptly continue its review of the 2008 Department of Energy (DOE) application for an operating license for the Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste site in Nevada.  The plaintiffs, including the states of Washington and South Carolina, each with large volumes of stored high-level waste, along with organizations and individuals, asked the court for a writ of mandamus requiring the federal agency to restart its application review.  A court may grant a writ in order “to correct transparent violations of a clear duty to act.”

In a 2 to 1 decision, the majority of the Court found that the NRC has been violating the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act that requires it to consider the license application and issue either a final approval or disapproval decision within three years of submission.  Congress has not provided the $200 million or more needed, so the NRC shutdown its review.

In the dissenting decision, Chief Judge Merrick Garland cited a 1936 case to support of the position that the NRC should not be made to review the application.  He wrote, “[c]ourts will not issue the writ to do a useless thing, even though technically to uphold a legal right.  [ ]  Unfortunately, granting the writ in this case will indeed direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to do ‘a useless thing.’”  Referring to the approximately $11 million in the NRC budget for the review, Judge Garland questioned whether any real progress could be made.  The NRC said it could not.  Judge Garland then wrote that using up the funds would amount “to little more than ordering the Commission to spend part of those funds unpacking its boxes, and the remainder packing them up again.”

This is an important time for New Mexicans to be involved.  Just as Nevadans rejected Yucca Mountain, New Mexicans have said no over and over again to proposed disposal of high-level waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).  Nonetheless, DOE has proposals to bring more waste to WIPP, and Representative Pearce has a bill in Congress to expand WIPP.  Other nuclear waste legislation also could result in high-level waste coming to WIPP even though existing law prohibits such waste.  The congressional summer recess is a good time to contact your senators and representative to let them know your concerns.

Don Hancock, of Southwest Research and Information Center, said, “Members of Congress need to hear again and again that New Mexicans still oppose bringing high-level waste to WIPP or anywhere else in the state.  No means No!”  http://www.sric.org

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information, please visit our website at http://www.nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook.

ACTION ALERT:  Please download the Tri-Valley CARES petition and gather signatures to stop the transportation of plutonium bomb cores from LANL to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (in Livermore, California) and back to LANL.  http://www.trivalleycares.org/new/PETITION-final.pdf  

CCNS NEWS UPDATE 

Runs 8/9/13 through 8/16/13

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

• DOE Plans to Truck Plutonium Bomb Cores from LANL to Livermore and Back

Despite the loss of the required high security categorization at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Department of Energy (DOE) is planning to transport plutonium bomb cores from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to Livermore for what has been called “Shake and Bake” diagnostic testing.  The cores would be transported by truck from New Mexico, through Arizona, through the Los Angeles area to the Livermore nuclear weapons facility, located 50 miles east of San Francisco.

The Shake and Bake diagnostic testing involves a shaker pit, a thermal chamber and a drop test that simulate conditions during the storage, transportation or use of the bombs.  Following the tests, the cores would be trucked back to New Mexico.

Recently the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board revealed that up to five kilograms of plutonium could be used in each test.  Therefore, a whole bomb core could be tested at one time because modern nuclear bomb cores contain two to four kilograms of plutonium.  http://www.trivalleycares.org/new/govdocs/dnfsb_20130621.pdf

In late 2007, after the Livermore facility failed its “force on force” security tests, it permanently lost the high security categorization to house and test plutonium bomb cores.  Livermore was then forced to remove all of its bomb-usable plutonium to more secure storage areas at other DOE sites.

On October 1, 2012, with the “de-inventory” completed and more than 100 security personnel let go, the government officially lowered the security at Livermore so that it is no longer authorized to handle, test or store nuclear bomb usable quantities of plutonium, including these bomb cores.  Nevertheless, DOE plans to conduct an assessment in December to determine if the Shaker unit is ready for tests.

The Livermore-based Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, or Tri-Valley CAREs, is urging DOE to cancel its plan and prioritize alternatives that would reduce or eliminate transportation risks.  They have created a petition, in both English and Spanish, which may be downloaded at http://www.trivalleycares.org/new/PETITION-final.pdf.

Marylia Kelley, Executive Director of Tri-Valley CAREs, said, “Government officials have told us that Livermore Lab plans to obtain ‘variances’ to the nation’s security regulations in order to receive the plutonium bomb cores from Los Alamos. This dangerous scheme puts us all at risk – in New Mexico, in California and every place in between. Therefore, I ask all New Mexicans to download and sign the petition at nuclearactive.org or trivalleycares.org. Working together, I am confident we can stop the weapons labs from putting deadly bomb cores on our highways. Moreover, with our ongoing activism, we can likewise stop the further development of nuclear weapons and the production of new bomb cores, which are the underlying reasons to perform ‘shake and bake’ testing.”

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information, please visit our website at http://www.nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook.

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f NPDES public comment 8-11-13

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CCNS NEWS UPDATE  and ACTION ALERT

Runs 8/2/13 through 8/9/13

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

* Public Comments about Major LANL Discharge Permit due August 13th

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to renew the major permit which allows Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to discharge pollutants into the waters of the United States from 11 industrial outfalls.  Public comments are due to EPA on Tuesday, August 13^th, 2013.

The EPA is proposing to renew the discharge permit for LANL for five years under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program, which is part of the Clean Water Act.  The permit covers discharges from industrial sites, such as cooling towers, sanitary facilities, the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, and the High Explosive Waste Water Treatment Plant, into the canyons of the Rio Grande Basin.  http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/publicnotices/nm/nmdraft.htm

The Communities for Clean Water attended the EPA public meeting about the draft permit in Los Alamos this week.  They asked the majority of questions to officials from the EPA, LANL and the state Environment Department.  The Communities for Clean Water have prepared sample public comments you can use to submit to EPA.  [Please see above.]  They may be downloaded at nuclearactive.org or at the Facebook page for Honor Our Pueblo Existence.  Public comments should be directed to Diane Smith, of EPA’s Permitting Processing Team, by email at smith.diane@epa.gov.

Further, under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, the State of New Mexico is required to certify to EPA that it agrees that the final permit will “reasonably ensure that the permitted activities will be conducted in a manner that will comply with applicable New Mexico water quality standards, including the antidegradation policy and the statewide water quality management plan.”  The Surface Water Quality Bureau of the Environment Department handles the certification process.  Last December the Environment Department wrote to EPA stating that a more protective laboratory analytical method was needed for the polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which are found at high-levels in the discharges.  Nevertheless, because there is no EPA-approved analytical method for PCBs, EPA included a less protective method in the draft permit.  The Communities for Clean Water ask for your support to submit public comments about this issue to the Environment Department.  They have prepared sample public comments for you to use.  [Please see above.]  Please download them at nuclearactive.org or from the Facebook page for Honor Our Pueblo Existence.

Written public comments about the Section 401 certification may be submitted to Bruce Yurdin, a manager with the Surface Water Quality Bureau, by email to bruce.yurdin@state.nm.us. The EPA will not issue the permit until after the Section 401 requirements have been met.

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information and to download sample public comments, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook.

Hi All,
Please take action on the EPA Wastewater Discharge Permit for LANL today.  Tell the EPA and NMED to make the wastewater discharge permit for Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) more protective.

f NPDES public comment 8-11-13

f 401 cert public comment 8-11-13

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for wastewater discharges at LANL.  The draft of the new permit does not require protective analytical methods for PCBs and would effectively allow for discharges 300 times over the New Mexico PCB water quality standard.  It allows for on-going impairment of most of the streams within LANL, which means that the streams are not meeting water quality standards, and does not protect intermittent streams, which do not carry flow year round.

Under the Clean Water Act, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) is required to certify that the new permit will reasonably ensure that the permitted activities will be conducted in a manner that will comply with the applicable New Mexico water quality standards.  Providing public comments to NMED will help make the permit more protective.

Please take a moment to email in comments – and email them to CCNS as well.  For more information, please see the Update below.  Together we are making a difference!
Best,
CCNS

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

•    EPA Public Meeting on July 30th about Major LANL Discharge Permit

A draft permit allowing for the discharge of 11 industrial outfalls at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) into the Rio Grande Basin will be the topic of an informal public meeting held by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday, July 30th.  The meeting will begin at 6 pm and take place at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites, 60 Entrada Drive, in Los Alamos.

The EPA is proposing to renew the major groundwater discharge permit for LANL for five years under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program, which is part of the Clean Water Act.  The EPA is proposing to allow effluent from industrial sources such as cooling towers, sanitary facilities, the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, and the High Explosive Waste Water Treatment Plant into the canyons of the Rio Grande Basin.  The impacted canyons are Los Alamos, Sandia, Mortandad, Ten-Site, Canada del Buey, and Canon de Valle.

LANL is proposing to eliminate six industrial outfalls that have operated for decades.  There are also proposed changes to some of the effluent limits for the discharges containing arsenic, copper, cyanide, selenium and zinc.  Nevertheless, the draft permit does not require the installation of green infrastructure and low-impact designs in order minimize the impact of the discharge into the canyons.  The draft permit also allows for the discharge of what is called “other waste water.”

EPA opened a 45-day public comment period on June 29th, 2013.  Written public comments are due Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 to Diane Smith, at EPA’s Permit Processing Team, by email at smith.diane@epa.gov.  The draft permit may be found on the EPA’s website at http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/publicnotices/nm/nmdraft.htm

Under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, the State of New Mexico is required to certify to EPA that it agrees that the final permit will “reasonably ensure that the permitted activities will be conducted in a manner that will comply with applicable New Mexico water quality standards, including the antidegradation policy, and the statewide water quality management plan.”  The certification process is handled by the New Mexico Environment Department, Surface Water Quality Bureau.  Written public comments about the Section 401 certification may be submitted to Bruce Yurdin, a manager with the Surface Water Quality Bureau, by email at bruce.yurdin@state.nm.us.  The EPA will issue the permit until after the Section 401 requirements have been met.

The public meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 30th, beginning at 6 pm at the Holiday Inn Express in Los Alamos.

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information, please visit our website at http://www.nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook.

Hi,  In the Update, we invited you to download sample public comments to use.  Unfortunately, they aren’t ready yet.  Please check back next week.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We hope to see you at the Pax Christi Santa Fe Sackcloth and Ashes event at Ashley Pond, Los Alamos on Sunday, August 4th between 2 pm and 4 pm to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  http://nuclearactive.org/pax-christi-santa-fe-to-commemorate-bombing-of-hiroshima-on-sunday-august-4th-in-los-alamos/

CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 8/2/13 through 8/9/13

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

* Public Comments about Major LANL Discharge Permit due August 13th

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to renew the major permit which allows Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to discharge pollutants into the waters of the United States from 11 industrial outfalls.  Public comments are due to EPA on Tuesday, August 13^th, 2013.

The EPA is proposing to renew the discharge permit for LANL for five years under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program, which is part of the Clean Water Act.  The permit covers discharges from industrial sites, such as cooling towers, sanitary facilities, the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, and the High Explosive Waste Water Treatment Plant, into the canyons of the Rio Grande Basin.  http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/publicnotices/nm/nmdraft.htm

The Communities for Clean Water attended the EPA public meeting about the draft permit in Los Alamos this week.  They asked the majority of questions to officials from the EPA, LANL and the state Environment Department.  The Communities for Clean Water have prepared sample public comments you can use to submit to EPA.  They may be downloaded at nuclearactive.org or at the Facebook page for Honor Our Pueblo Existence.  Public comments should be directed to Diane Smith, of EPA’s Permitting Processing Team, by email at smith.diane@epa.gov.

Further, under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, the State of New Mexico is required to certify to EPA that it agrees that the final permit will “reasonably ensure that the permitted activities will be conducted in a manner that will comply with applicable New Mexico water quality standards, including the antidegradation policy and the statewide water quality management plan.”  The Surface Water Quality Bureau of the Environment Department handles the certification process.  Last December the Environment Department wrote to EPA stating that a more protective laboratory analytical method was needed for the polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which are found at high-levels in the discharges.  Nevertheless, because there is no EPA-approved analytical method for PCBs, EPA included a less protective method in the draft permit.  The Communities for Clean Water ask for your support to submit public comments about this issue to the Environment Department.  They have prepared sample public comments for you to use.  Please download them at nuclearactive.org or from the Facebook page for Honor Our Pueblo Existence.

Written public comments about the Section 401 certification may be submitted to Bruce Yurdin, a manager with the Surface Water Quality Bureau, by email to bruce.yurdin@state.nm.us. The EPA will not issue the permit until after the Section 401 requirements have been met.

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information and to download sample public comments, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook.

mp3 – 072613

Hiroshima Commemoration Flyer – HIROSHIMA COMMEMORATION

CCNS News Update

Runs 7/26/13 through 8/2/13

(THEME UP AND UNDER) This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

* Pax Christi Santa Fe to Commemorate Bombing of Hiroshima on Sunday, August 4th in Los Alamos

Pax Christi Santa Fe will hold its annual Hiroshima Day Commemoration on Sunday, August 4th, 2013 from 2 pm to 4 pm in Los Alamos, New Mexico.  the event will include a march of peace and a sackcloth and ashes prayer vigil for peace in commemoration of when, near the end of World War II, on August 6th, 1945, the U.S. bombed Hiroshima, Japan with a nuclear weapon.  Pax Christi Santa Fe and its members seek the abolition of nuclear weapons.

From 2 to 4 pm the Peace March and Sackcloth and Ashes Prayer Vigil for Peace will begin and end at Ashley Pond in Los Alamos.  Pax Christi Santa Fe asks that you join them in the spirit of nonviolence to put on sackcloths and ashes, march for peace, and sit in silent meditation for 30 minutes to repent for the creation of nuclear weapons.  The sackcloths and ashes ceremony is taken from the Bible story found in the Book of Jonah.  In the Bible story, God was angry about how the people of Nineveh were behaving and asked that they repent from their sins.  The people sat in sackcloths and on ashes and prayed for forgiveness.  God accepted their prayers and granted them peace.  Pax Christi will supply the sackcloths and ashes.  Father John Dear will provide closing remarks.

Pax Christi Santa Fe is a part of Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, which seeks to promote the peace of Christ by exploring, articulating, witnessing and practicing Gospel nonviolence.  They work to abolish war, poverty, violence, injustice and nuclear weapons in New Mexico and the world and welcome God’s reign of peace on earth.

Bud Ryan, of Pax Christi Santa Fe, said, “We in Pax Christi Santa Fe and our members throughout New Mexico ask you to join us for our annual Hiroshima Commemoration on August 4th.”

He continued, “For me this has been an incredible way to say I’m sorry for being part of the collective violence we in the U.S. perpetrate on others around the world, as well as ourselves.  Afterward we ask you to join us to hear speakers talk about nuclear weapons and what we can do to work to abolish them.  We would hope that for all participants this becomes a lifetime pursuit, rather than just an afternoon, to rid the world of nuclear weapons and to get the nine nuclear weapon States to clean up their nuclear mess.”

For more information, please call Bud Ryan at 505 264-2838 or Ellie Voutselas at 505 474-8557.

This has been the CCNS News Update.  For more information and to download the flyer, please visit our website at nuclearactive.org and like us on Facebook.

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CCNS NEWS UPDATE

Runs 7/19/13 through 7/26/13

(THEME UP AND UNDER)  This is the CCNS News Update, an overview of the latest nuclear safety issues, brought to you every week by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.  Here is this week’s top headline:

• EPA Public Meeting on July 30^th about Major LANL Discharge Permit

A draft permit allowing for the discharge of 11 industrial outfalls at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) into the Rio Grande Basin will be the topic of an informal public meeting held by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday, July 30^th.  The meeting will begin at 6 pm and take place at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites, 60 Entrada Drive, in Los Alamos.

The EPA is proposing to renew the major groundwater discharge permit for LANL for five years under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program, which is part of the Clean Water Act.  The EPA is proposing to allow effluent from industrial sources such as cooling towers, sanitary facilities, the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, and the High Explosive Waste Water Treatment Plant into the canyons of the Rio Grande Basin.  The impacted canyons are Los Alamos, Sandia, Mortandad, Ten-Site, Canada del Buey, and Canon de Valle.

LANL is proposing to eliminate six industrial outfalls that have operated for decades.  There are also proposed changes to some of the effluent limits for the discharges containing arsenic, copper, cyanide, selenium and zinc.  Nevertheless, the draft permit does not require the installation of green infrastructure and low-impact designs in order minimize the impact of the discharge into the canyons.  The draft permit also allows for the discharge of what is called “other waste water.”

EPA opened a 45-day public comment period on June 29^th, 2013.  Written public comments are due Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 to Diane Smith, at EPA’s Permit Processing Team, by email at smith.diane@epa.gov.  The draft permit may be found on the EPA’s website at http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/publicnotices/nm/nmdraft.htm

Under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, the State of New Mexico is required to certify to EPA that it agrees that the final permit will “reasonably ensure that the permitted activities will be conducted in a manner that will comply with applicable New Mexico water quality standards, including the antidegradation policy, and the statewide water quality management plan.”  The certification process is handled by the New Mexico Environment Department, Surface Water Quality Bureau.  Written public comments about the Section 401 certification may be submitted to Bruce Yurdin, a manager with the Surface Water Quality Bureau, by email at bruce.yurdin@state.nm.us.  The EPA will issue the permit until after the Section 401 requirements have been met.

The public meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 30^th, beginning at 6 pm at the Holiday Inn Express in Los Alamos.

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