In response to Peter S. Duncanís Oct. 26 letter, the Alliance for a Clean Environment (ACE) invites Mr. Duncan to review a body of facts and documents that confirm unprecedented harms and threats to drinking water from Limerick Nuclear Plant operations. Call 610-326-2387 for an appointment.
We agree, it is important to separate rhetoric from reality. ACE collected a body of evidence to support our conclusions from Exelonís own Limerick Radiological Monitoring Report to NRC, Limerickís PA DEP NPDES Permit Application, Limerickís Docket Requests to DRBC, other research, and Exelon, DRBC, DEP, and NRC documents collected by ACE through the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know and the Freedom of Information ACT.
Duncanís misleading sweeping generalities and hollow assurances are typical nuclear industry rhetoric, contradicted by facts and reality. Itís not surprising that Mr. Duncan, a Pennsylvania Energy Alliance Advisory Board Member, is either woefully uninformed or choosing willful blindness. The Pennsylvania Energy Alliance is a PR group for the nuclear industry.
Itís absurd to claim Limerick upheld its promise to the community. Remember ďToo cheap to meter?Ē That turned out to be almost $7 Billion paid by our regionís ratepayers from 1985 to 2010 in electric bills far higher than the national average, all for Limerickís construction. Now we pay for decommissioning each month.
Itís ridiculous to suggest Limerick is safe. ACEís preliminary review of NRCís Environmental Impact Statement analysis for Limerick relicensing shows serious concerns for corrosion, thinning, and many other worrisome impacts from aging, with Exelon fighting against paying for important safety upgrades at Limerick. Limerick is third on the U.S. earthquake risk list and faces potential meltdown from cyber attacks.
Environmental Steward? Hardly! That would require filtration of Limerickís discharges that transport dangerous radiation and cooling tower toxics into the drinking water for almost two million people, filtering intake water to reduce PM-10 air pollution for millions more, and filtering toxics from mine water that Exelon pumps into the river because Limerickís cooling towers deplete the river.
The fact is, Limerick Nuclear Plant is failing to meet Safe Drinking Water Standards for dangerous pollution that transports radiation and cooling tower toxics into the Schuylkill River, a drinking water source for almost two million people from Pottstown to Philadelphia. DEP plans to exempt this pollution in Limerickís permit, allowing circumvention of Safe Drinking Water Standards. This is regulatory malpractice. To review documents call (610) 326-2387 for an appointment.
ACEís October 2012 massive written testimony to DEP and DRBC reveals why monitoring is actually a deceptive tactic used by industry and people like Duncan to provide the illusion of protection. Monitoring is not prevention. It allows dangerous deception.
Limerickís impacts to water and health are additive, cumulative, and synergistic. Limerick should be required to filter its dangerous discharges into a vital drinking water source for so many people or itís water permits should be withdrawn and close. Beware! Exelonís relicensing would allow this poisoning of the river to continue until 2049. Exelon plans to ask for sizeable uprates to operate Limerick harder, causing more harm to water.
No agency or elected officials are demanding that Exelon pay for filtration to protect public health. Demand that elected officials value our water and health over their political contributions and Exelonís profits. Silence from our elected officials is unacceptable. We need their voices now, for safe water and a healthy future. For an overview of Limerickís unprecedented threats and harms to water, visit www.acereport.org.
DR. LEWIS CUTHBERT