The crown jewel in Nuclear Watch South's recent advertising program to alert the public to the threat of flooding at Oconee Nuclear Station was placed in the Clemson University Tiger campus newspaper's popular April Fools edition.
CLEMSON 4/1/22 On March 11, 2011, the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami devastated northern Japan. Three nuclear reactors in Fukushima Prefecture melted down and exploded on March 12, March 14 and March 15, 2011, because flooding destroyed the power supply necessary to cool the reactors. More than 30,000 people in a 12-kilometer radioactively contaminated zone are still displaced 11 years later. Of 54 reactors in Japan at the time of the earthquake, only nine have been restarted. As a result of the radiological disaster, Japan has committed to decommission a total of 21 reactors.
Duke Energy’s Oconee nuclear complex is almost 50 years old, as is the upstream Jocassee Dam. The risk of Jocassee Dam failure and flooding of Oconee’s safety equipment is unacceptably high. Dam failure could deliver a wall of water 19 feet high that would overtake the reactor complex and disable the Standby Shutdown Facility. Reactor meltdowns and radiation releases similar to what happened in Japan are predictable. The impact on Clemson University, 10 miles downstream, would be catastrophic.
This dire scenario should be unimaginable. In actuality, the abysmal flood risk is known to both regulators and Duke Energy. Earlier this year, Duke’s 20-year license extension application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was put on hold until an environmental impact statement of the flooding risk is completed. Only Godzilla knows when that will be as no deadline has yet been established. The three aging reactors at Oconee threaten not only people and property but also a region beloved for beautiful mountains and rivers, forests, streams, lakes and wildlife. The risk is significant and the stakes are high.
CLEMSON, SC 3/12/22: Beyond Nuclear, Nuclear Watch South and Sierra Club, represented by the Foothills Group of the South Carolina Chapter, presented experts Jeff Mitman, Paul Gunter, Diane Curran and Linda Pentz Gunter in a public education program at the Osher Lifelong Learning Center at Clemson University on the 11th anniversary of the triple meltdowns in Fukushima, Japan. The Oconee Nuclear Station, a mere 10 miles from Clemson campus, is threatened by flooding if the upstream Joacassee Dam were to break, a real risk according to former Nuclear Regulatory Commission safety engineer Jeff Mitman. If the 19' wall of water from Lake Jocassee, the equivalent of five Mississippi Rivers, were to engulf the Oconee Nuclear Site, it is a certainty that three nuclear meltdowns would occur with massive radiation releases to the public.
Presented here are recordings ofthe two-hour educational program which was live-streamed on March 12. Please stay tuned to this important nuclear safety issue!!!
TWO SPECIAL EVENTS IN GEORGIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA
WILL OBSERVE FUKUSHIMA 11
Duke Energy’s Oconee nuclear complex is almost 50 years old, as is the Jocassee Dam upstream. Beyond Nuclear’s Linda Pentz and Paul Gunter with Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) whistleblower Jeff Mitman will highlight the risk of meltdowns and radiation releases to the public from neighboring Oconee nuclear reactors if the Jocassee Dam fails, an unacceptably high probability known to both NRC and Duke Energy.
The three aging nuclear reactors threaten not only people and property values but also a region beloved for its beautiful mountains and rivers, forests, lakes, streams, hiking trails, flora and fauna. The risk is great and the stakes are high.
Friday, MARCH 11, 7PM
DINNER AND A MOVIE: A very special evening with Beyond Nuclear
ALONE IN THE ZONE
Four years since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant went into full meltdown and a 12-mile evacuation zone was enforced,
one cattle farmer still remained, braving high levels of radiation and loneliness to tend to abandoned animals. His name is Naoto Matsumura, the last man standing in the ghost town of Tomioka. VICE Japan documents his views on TEPCO, government inaction, and life in this post-nuclear landscape.
Special guests Linda Pentz and Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear join nuclear risk analyst Jeff Mitman to lead an informative discussion about the risk to the public from Oconee nuclear station should the Jocassee Dam upstream fail.
A light supper and live music will be served.
The event is free but RSVP is required by calling 404-378-4263
before March 8, 2022.
Sautee Nacoochee Center, Community Hall
283 Hwy 255 North, Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia 30571
SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1:30PM
FUKUSHIMA IN THE FOOTHILLS?
Duke Energy is asking the NRC for approval to keep the three Oconee
reactors operating until 2053. Nuclear attorney Diane Curran will join Linda Pentz and Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear and NRC whistleblower Jeff Mitman
to discuss the Beyond Nuclear / Sierra Club legal intervention and to present evidence that Duke Energy has failed to ensure the safety of the Oconee nuclear reactors from the possibility of Jocassee Dam failure, flooding of key safety equipment and the real likelihood of core damage and radiation releases
to the public.
The program will be live-streamed.
LINK TO WEBINAR
LINK TO PRESS RELEASE
Osher Center, Clemson University
100 Thomas Green Boulevard, Clemson, SC 29631
EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
SOCIAL DISTANCING PROTOCOLS WILL BE OBSERVED
CO-HOSTS Beyond Nuclear • Nuclear Watch South • Sierra Club
For more information contact Nuclear Watch South, 404-378-4263
www.nonukesyall.org
CLEMSON, SC 3/11/15: Several local organizations sponsored a talk entitled “Oconee Nuclear: Fukushima on the Savannah River?” at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clemson at 7PM on March 11, 2015. The main presenters will be Mary Olson of Nuclear Information and Resource Center and Buzz Williams of Chattooga Conservancy. Other organizations sponsoring the talk with Nuclear Watch South were the Foothills Group of the South Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
According to federal regulators, Duke Energy’s Oconee Nuclear Station has three reactors which are at certain risk of a meltdown if the upstream earthen dam at Jocassee were to break. Regulators and Duke Energy have not yet addressed the threat of flooding to the nuclear plant’s safety systems. In addition, this past summer the Nuclear Regulatory Commission further increased its scrutiny of the Oconee Plant after the plant was issued a violation for failure to identify and correct a leaking crack in a weld on a key safety system.
The nuclear information program also coincided with the itinerary of a trio of kayakers who are paddling the entire length of the Savannah River in a project called “Source to Sea ~ Savannah River Pilgrimage 2015.” The project’s mission is “to explore the Savannah River from ‘source to sea,’ connecting people and communities along its 400-mile length; celebrate and document the river's beauty and diversity; and, inspire action to address the threats affecting its health.” The Savannah River was designated the third most polluted river in the U.S. in 2014.
READ THE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS REPORT ABOUT OCONEE
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (4/6/11) This harrowing car trip through the earthquake, tsunami and reactor-ravaged Japanese coast is a must-see to begin to appreciate the magnitude of the radioactive releases and the actuality of the mass exodus of 300,000 Japanese from their homes, possibly forever.
Breakthrough study by IEER proves we can get off coal, oil and nuclear by 2040
Worldwatch Institute report finds renewables output surpasses nuclear in 2010
draft
World Nuclear Industry
Status Report 2010–2011
by
Mycle Schneider,
Antony Froggatt,
Steve Thomas