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Our Work to Protect the Public from the Cost and Public Health Threats Posed by Nuclear Power

• Building a Citizens Movement: Calling for a Nuclear Free Future
 
• NYPIRG: Campaign to Stop Indian Point
 
• VPIRG: Campaign to Retire Vermont Yankee

• NJPIRG: Campaign to Close Oyster Creek
 
• Maryland PIRG: Campaign to stop Calvert Cliffs III
 
• U.S. PIRG Research: The High Cost of Nuclear Power

• A Track Record of Success 

Nuclear power is inherently dangerous, potentially catastrophic and a lousy investment for our country.  The Student PIRGs' have worked for more than 30 years to protect public health and safety from the dangers posed by nuclear reactors and storage of nuclear waste.  In state after state, we've also worked to make sure that American consumers are protected from the enormous costs of building and operating nuclear power facilities.

Building a Citizens Movement: Calling for a Nuclear Free Future 

The near-meltdown at Three Mile Island in March 1979 convinced millions of Americans that nuclear power plants posed a threat to their health and safety and that nuclear power had no place in the nation’s energy portfolio. The state PIRGs played a critical role in turning these concerns into a broader, politically powerful movement.

In May 1979, NYPIRG helped organize one of the largest protests of the 1970s: a “No Nukes” rally that drew 100,000 people to Washington, D.C. President Jimmy Carter viewed the demonstration from a helicopter and convened a meeting the next day with then NYPIRG Director Donald Ross and five other activists. Four months later, Ross led a team of NYPIRG staff and other volunteers who staged a second rally in New York City that attracted 250,000 people. The rally complemented a five-night series of “Musicians United for Safe Energy” (MUSE) concerts at Madison Square Garden organized by musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash. In December 1979, MASSPIRG, led by Doug Phelps, launched the Campaign for Safe Energy (CSE) – a grassroots effort designed to make nuclear power an issue in the following year’s presidential election.

Setting their sights first on the all-important New Hampshire primary, CSE staff and volunteers fanned out to campaign events across the Granite State to question the candidates on their positions on nuclear power. Two candidates – Democrats Edward Kennedy and Jerry Brown– endorsed the campaign’s platform, and the drumbeat of tough questions caught the attention of many others. The effort received national media attention, with then-Washington Post reporter David Broder labeling CSE activists “polite, but persistent.”

Following the New Hampshire campaign and similar PIRG-backed efforts in other states, CSE pushed to insert safe energy provisions into the platforms of the two major parties, working with convention delegates such as U.S. Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and the then obscure governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton, to garner support. The Democratic Party adopted a weakened version of CSE’s proposal, and the campaign succeeded in raising the profile and legitimacy of the anti-nuclear movement nationwide.

NYPIRG: Campaign to Close Indian Point

NYPIRG has worked for a number of years to close the Indian Point nuclear plant.  The plant is located about 25 miles north of New York City and is situated in the most densely populated region in the nation. The evacuation zone includes about 292,000 people.  Until recently, the second of three reactors had the worst safety rating of any reactor in the United States.  Both of the reactors in use continue to be plagued with unscheduled shutdowns due to emergencies and gallons of radioactive water regularly leaks from the spent fuel pool.  

A 1982 NRC study found that a meltdown at the second reactor would result in 46,000 dead in the short term while a meltdown at the third reactor would result in 50,000 deaths.

NYPIRG started its work against the plant before construction by organizing citizens and lobbying decision makers.  Shortly after September 11th, NYPIRG joined with other environmental, community, activist and faith-based organizations in the region to start the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC),  the leader in the efforts to close down the plant, education the public, decision-makers and municipalities of the dangers of Indian Point and the need for its closure.

The 40 year licenses to operate Indian Point #2 and #3 expire in 2013 and 2015 respectively. NYPIRG is working to make sure the reactors are retired on that time.  

VPIRG: Campaign to Retire Vermont Yankee

Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is scheduled to close in March of 2012. It is one of the oldest reactors in the country but its owners, Entergy Corporation, wanted to run it for 20 years past its expiration date. Poor management and old age have lead to a string of accidents and safety concerns.  Entergy has refused to add money to the reactor’s clean-up fund, potentially leaving Vermonters with most of a $1 billion dollar clean-up bill in addition to the nuclear waste that is being stored on the banks of the Connecticut River.

Fortunately, the Vermont Senate voted to retire the aging Vermont Yankee plant as scheduled. This historic vote marks the first time a state legislature has been able to deny a nuclear plant a 20-year life extension. 

VPIRG worked with a broad coalition to make sure that literally thousands of Vermonters contacted their legislators in lead up to this vote expressing concern about the reliability of the plant and lack of trust in its out-of-state corporate owners. Vermonters spoke out in hundreds of letters to the editor in papers across the state. Finally, on the day of the vote, braving one of the few snowstorms this winter, more than 250 Vermonters crowded the State House to witness this historic moment. 

NJPIRG: Campaign to Close Oyster Creek

Oyster Creek, the oldest nuclear power plant in the country, is located in the fastest-growing region in the state. The plant is a detriment to the public health, safety and environment of communities throughout New Jersey. 

Ignoring public opinion and motivated by profits, Exelon Corporation applied to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a 20-year license extension. 

NJPIRG worked with a coalition of local, state and national organizations, including the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, to intervene in Oyster Creek’s license extension proceeding. Thanks to our efforts, a bi-partisan group of NJ Congressmen (Representatives Saxton, Smith, Holt, Andrews, Pascrell, and Pallone) signed a letter questioning the NRC’s ability to ensure the plant’s safety and served as leading advocates during the four year campaign to fight the license extension. 

The NRC had a long history of rubber stamping decisions to relicense plants so NJPIRG along with Environment New Jersey and numerous local groups fought to bring safety concerns about the plant to the forefront of the debate. Through our work, the NRC agreed to hear about safety concerns from a coalition of local, state and national organizations and New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection is the first ever to file a petition opposing the relicensing of a nuclear plant.

Despite numerous safety concerns, in 2009, the plant was granted a 20 year license extension. The week after the extension was approved, workers at the plant found tritium leaks from buried, improperly insulated pipes, that were leaching into the groundwater and Barnegat Bay. 

Despite losing the battle on the license extension, the coalition opposing Oyster Creek continued to push for closing the plant, appealing the decision in court and spotlighting the continuing safety concerns about the plant as they came to light.

In December, Governor Christie announced that the plant will be closing in 2019, despite its license being extended until 2029.

Maryland PIRG: Campaign to stop Calvert Cliffs III

Maryland PIRG ran a multi-year campaign to stop a new nuclear reactor in Maryland, Calvert Cliffs III.  The planned reactor would have harmed public health in the state while also shifting the risks of a reactor onto taxpayers.  

Over the past four years, Maryland PIRG Foundation highlighted the safety and cost concerns posed by nuclear energy. We educated opinion leaders, the environmental community, and the public about the viability of a truly clean energy future that does not include nuclear power.  Throughout the campaign we met with the CEO of Constellation Energy, Mayo Shattuck III, the director of the Maryland Energy Administration, Malcolm Woolf, members of Gov. O’Malley’s policy team, and state regulators to challenge the notion that nuclear power was the best way to meet Maryland’s energy needs.  

Throughout the campaign, Maryland PIRG also generated more than 80 news stories on the problems with nuclear power and the availability of better energy sources in major statewide and national media outlets and helped found and coordinate the Chesapeake Safe  Energy Coalition, a statewide alliance of environmental, consumer, and religious organizations whose mission is to challenge the construction of a new nuclear reactor in Maryland and promote safer alternatives. 

In 2010, Constellation Energy decided to abandon Calvert Cliffs III, a major victory for public safety and health in Maryland.  Moreover, this decision helped to deal dangerous nuclear power in the United States a major blow.  Three years ago, there were six active proposals to build EPR reactors in the U.S. Today there are none.

U.S. PIRG Research: The High Cost of Nuclear Power

U.S. PIRG released “The High Cost of Nuclear Power” demonstrating that renewable energy sources can produce far more electricity than nuclear plants for less money. The report reveals that the nuclear industry has proposed thirty new reactors across the country at an estimated cost of $300 billion.

“Not only is $300 billion an exorbitant price-tag, but to add insult to injury, the nuclear power industry expects taxpayers and ratepayers to help foot the bill. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing nuclear power when there are faster, cleaner, cheaper alternatives to meet our energy needs,” said Janet Domenitz, Executive Director of MASSPIRG.

The report found that nuclear power is among the most costly approaches to solving America’s energy problems and that per dollar of investment, energy efficiency and renewable energy sources deliver far more energy than nuclear power. Per Dollar of Investment:

• Energy efficiency measures can deliver greater than five times more electricity than nuclear power.

 • Combined heat and power (which generates both useful heat and electricity for a factory, a school campus or an office building) can generate nearly four times more energy than nuclear power.
 
• Wind farms can produce as much as 100 percent more electricity than nuclear power.
 
• A solar thermal power plant in the southwestern U.S. — capable of storing heat to generate electricity even when the sun isn’t shining — can deliver as much as one-third more energy than a nuclear reactor.

A Track Record of Success

In addition to those campaigns and successes, many of our states have worked for years to make sure that public health and American taxpayers are protected from the costs of nuclear power:

• CoPIRG lawsuit requires EPA to monitor radioactive waste at Rocky Flats (1973)

• OSPIRG helps stop Cape Kiwanda nuclear plant siting on Oregon’s coast (1973)

• MASSPIRG campaign results in county-wide referendum to cancel construction of a nuclear energy plant in Montague (1974)

• VPIRG helps win nation’s first law requiring legislative approval for nuclear plant construction (1975)

• VPIRG wins 35 municipal bans on nuclear power and nuclear waste transport within town borders (1977)

• VPIRG sponsored law passes, requiring legislative approval for establishment of a radioactive waste dump in Vermont (1977)

• MASSPIRG launches Campaign for Safe Energy, raising issue of nuclear power in presidential race (1979)

• PIRGIM sponsors largest rally against nuclear power in Michigan’s history (1979)

• State PIRGs win inclusion of safe energy plank in Democratic Party platform (1980)

• MASSPIRG helps prevent utilities from getting $115 million subsidy for canceled nuclear power plant costs (1982)

• INPIRG helps stop utilities from charging consumers in advance for nuclear power plant construction (1980s)

• Iowa PIRG files complaint, halting Cedar Falls nuclear plant construction (1983)

• MASSPIRG wins nine-year campaign to stop the Pilgrim II nuclear power plant construction (1983)

• MoPIRG helps defeat Union Electric’s effort to pass costs of nuclear plant to Missouri ratepayers (1983)

• MoPIRG helps stop $500 million nuclear plant bailout (1983)

• VPIRG report leads to local bans on radioactive waste transport within town limits (1983)

• WashPIRG exposé of mismanaged nuclear power plant construction helps Washington state taxpayers avoid $7.5 billion in bond debt (1983)

• VPIRG leads charge defeating DOE plans to site national nuclear waste dump in Vermont (1985)

• MPIRG mobilizes 10,000 citizens, stopping proposed federal radioactive waste storage site in Minnesota (1986)

• WashPIRG spearheads referendum enabling citizens to veto Hanford as nation’s nuclear dumpsite, if proposed (1986)

• MASSPIRG wins precedent-setting settlement tying utility compensation for Pilgrim nuclear plant to safety and reliability performance (1989)

• CALPIRG staff and volunteers help to shut down the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant owned by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District by winning a vote of the utilities rate payers (1989)

• VPIRG helps win Vermont ban on unregulated disposal of nuclear waste (1990)

• WISPIRG helps win ban on low-level radioactive waste dumping in state landfills (1991)

• CALPIRG helps win public hearing process for Ward Valley radioactive waste site.  After years of campaigning, the waste dump is eventually stopped (1992)

• MASSPIRG backed Massachusetts Citizens for Safe Energy wins shutdown of Yankee Rowe nuclear plant (1992)

• U.S. PIRG helps kill plan to deregulate nuclear waste (1992)

• MPIRG advocacy helps win phase-out of in-state nuclear power and also wins new investments in wind (1993)

• U.S. PIRG successfully lobbies to cut funds for wasteful oil and nuclear programs (1994)

• U.S. PIRG helps eliminate subsidies for nuclear research and development(1997)

• U.S. PIRG helps stall plan to ship nuclear waste across country (1998)

• U.S. PIRG works to stop plans to open a nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain.  While Congress approved the repository in 2002, the Obama Administration has since canceled the plan (2002)

• WashPIRG helps pass I-297, which prevents more nuclear waste from being dumped at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation (2004)