Watchdogs Call for Salem Retirement

[Michael Grynberg <grynberg@Citizen.ORG>]

  PRESS RELEASE
  
  For Immediate Release:			For More Information Contact:
  March 12, 1996				Rebecca Stanfield,  (609) 394-8155
  					Paul Gunter,        (202) 328-0002
  					Matt Freedman,      (202) 546-4996
  
  
  WATCHDOGS CALL SALEM NUCLEAR PLANT "AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN"
  Call for Permanent Retirement of the Salem Nuclear Generating Station
  
  	Three public interest watchdog groups, NJPIRG Citizen Lobby, the 
  Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and Public Citizen's Critical Mass 
  Energy Project, joined today in calling for the permanent closure of the Salem 
  Nuclear Generating Station.  Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G), the 
  utility that owns and operates the two reactors at Salem, has revealed that 
  critical components of the generators at Salem are disintegrating, drastically 
  increasing the chances of a radioactive release or, in the worst case, a core 
  meltdown.  This discovery is the latest in a long series of problems at Salem, 
  which resulted in PSE&G temporarily closing Salem 1 and Salem 2 in May and 
  June of last year, respectively.      	
  
  	"PSE&G should act now to put the Salem reactors to bed for good," said 
  Rebecca Stanfield, Energy Advocate, NJPIRG Citizen Lobby and coordinator of 
  the R.E.A.L. Energy Coalition which is supported by over 60 New Jersey 
  environmental and consumer groups and businesses.  "PSE&G acted prudently 
  in closing Salem last spring.  However, public safety and sound economic 
  policy requires permanent retirement of both reactors," she continued.
  
  	Over their lifetimes the two Salem reactors have operated only 58% of 
  their intended operating time and have drawn three of the top seven fines 
  ever levied by the NRC.  In the past three years alone Salem has experienced 
  over 20 shut-downs and has incurred $2 million in fines.  However, the new 
  revelation of deterioration within the plant has prompted increased concern 
  from national nuclear safety experts.
  
  	"The combination of the deteriorating material that fabricates the 
  steam generators, inadequate inspections and accelerated cracking between 
  inspections adds up to an accident waiting to happen," said Paul Gunter, 
  Director of the Reactor Watchdog Project at the Nuclear Information and 
  Resource Service.  "The cracking and corroding along nearly 350 miles of 
  Salem's steam generator tubes is the most serious challenge that the utility 
  has faced to date," he continued.
  
  	Gunter explained that the tubes that carry hot radioactive water 
  throughout the plant are made of material that eventually deteriorates after 
  being exposed to radioactivity.  If these tubes were to rupture, radioactive 
  steam would be released into the environment.  Multiple tubes rupturing 
  would result in a dramatic loss of cooling water, which could lead to a core 
  meltdown.  
  
  	Identical problems in many U.S. nuclear power plants who, like Salem, 
  were built by Westinghouse, have resulted in fourteen separate suits by 
  utilities against Westinghouse.  In addition, three of those plants have been 
  retired before the end of their operating licenses because the owners found 
  that early retirement would be more economical than paying the high costs of 
  repairing or replacing the deteriorating tubes.  Repairing the tubes would cost 
  at least $40 million while replacing the generators would cost an estimated 
  $500 million.  However, neither option is predicted to secure safe and 
  economical operations at Salem.
  
  	"Even if PSE&G replaced Salem's generators, the plant is not economical 
  to operate compared with the costs of replacing Salem with other sources of 
  power," said Matthew Freedman, Energy Policy Analyst with Public Citizen's 
  Critical Mass Energy Project (CMEP).  CMEP is the energy policy arm of Pubic 
  Citizen, a national consumer advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader.  "If 
  PSE&G invests hundreds of millions of dollars into repairing or replacing the 
  steam generators, utility stockholders will profit at the expense of New Jersey 
  electric customers."
  
  	According to a 1995 Public Citizen study, the operations and 
  maintenance costs of Salem, not including fuel, were higher than the price of 
  available replacement power in the region.  In addition to the huge costs of 
  steam generator repairs or replacement, Salem is scheduled to run out of 
  storage space for its spent nuclear fuel in 2002 and will be forced to pay for 
  expensive radioactive waste storage in order to continue operating," continued 
  Freedman.
  
  	Salem has drawn criticism from federal legislators as well.  United 
  States Senator Joseph Biden blames Salem's long-standing problems on lax 
  regulatory oversight by the NRC, and has petitioned the General Accounting 
  Office for an audit of the NRC's oversight of Salem.  "Despite [Salem's] 
  checkered past, NRC repeatedly avoided taking aggressive action," stated 
  Senator Biden in a letter to the Comptroller General.  "Thus I am interested in 
  determining the extent to which human health and safety were placed in 
  jeopardy by NRC's inaction."
  
  	The groups are calling for immediate action by PSE&G and the state 
  Board of Public Utilities to retire the Salem reactors permanently.  "Although 
  Salem has been identified as a problem plant by federal regulators and 
  legislators, state and national public interest groups, and even PSE&G itself, 
  we have not yet heard a peep from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities 
  (BPU)," stated Stanfield.  "The BPU can no longer ignore Salem.  It should 
  begin immediate proceedings to retire this nuclear lemon," she continued.
  
  	NJPIRG Citizen Lobby is a non-profit, nonpartisan consumer and 
  environmental watchdog group.  The R.E.A.L. Energy Coalition consists of over 
  60 groups who support a shift away from fossil fuels and nuclear power, 
  toward renewable energy and energy efficiency.