ML072890319

Y020070238 - Letter Expressing Concern About the Storage of the Waste Spent Fuel Rods at Kewaunee Power Plant

ML072890319
Person / Time
Site:	Kewaunee
Issue date:	09/27/2007
From:	Lacrosse S - No Known Affiliation
To:	Milano P Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML073020317	List: ML072890319 ML073020298
References
TAC MD6967, Y020070238
Download: ML072890319 (40)

Text

Original Due Date: 11/16/2007 Ticket Number: 020070238 Document Date: 09/27/2007 NRR Received Date: 10/11/2007 From:

TACs:

MD6967 Stanley LaCrosse To:

• • • YELLOW ***

Pat Milano For Signature of:

==

Description:==

Letter expressing concern about the storage of the waste spent fuel rods at Kewaunee Power Plant.

Assigned To:

LPLE Routing:

Dyer Wiggins Grobe Boger NRR Mail Room

Contact:

MILANO, PATRICK D

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SEP-27-2007 03:17P FROM:L & L ONE STOP 192077GI009 TO:1301q1t>eiwc Thursday September 27, 2007 To: Pat Milane 1-301-415-2102 From: Stanley H. LaCrosse 1-920-776-1009 Former Town of Carlton Chairman Kewaunee, Wisconsin N 1460 Highway B Kewaunee, WI 54216 Home phone: 1-920-388-2910 (if no answer please leave a message, thank you)

SEP-27-2007 03:17P FROM:L & L ONE STOP 19207761009 T0:13014152102 P.2/16 September 27, 2007 Mr. Pat Milane, I am sending you this short letter in regard to our telephone conversation yesterday. I am also sending you the information and materials we discussed which I would like to share with you. The Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant was built in 1974, and all the spent fuel rods since its operation began are stored in a waste pool right in the plant. We were informed the facility at Yucca Mountain will not be ready to accept and store spent fuel until approximately 2017 and that the possibility exists that there may not be enough space available for the quantity of waste from the entire nation once it is operational. Therefore, the waste currently kept in the town of Carlton may continue to be stored here indefinitely. The Dominion Resources Services, Inc. representative(s) "convinced" select members of our Town Board into issuing them a building permit to construct dry cast storage against the wishes of the townspeople and from my understanding with limited outside knowledge.

The town of Carlton lost the valuation of the land where the plant stands when it was purchased all those years ago. There had been thirteen sets of farm buildings and/or homes and one thousand acres of land which were on the towns tax roll until that time. Right now our property taxes are higher than surrounding townships, and I am told that Wisconsin is the only state in which the utility tax leaves the municipality where the utility plant is actually located.

If it is in your power at all to help out town in any way it would be appreciated. Our town has stored the spent fuel rods for over thirty years and who knows for how much longer. If the Department of Energy does pay any money to Dominion (Kewaunee plant) would there be any way to "freeze" that action until some understanding is reached as to sharing said compensation with the residents of Carlton.

SEP-27-2007 03:17P FROM:L & L ONE STOP 127609T:184512P31 19207761009 TO:13014152102 P.3/16 Tuesday July 10, 2007 Fax: 920-776-1009 I have sent this letter to our officials on behalf of the citizens and taxpayers from the Town of Carlton, in Kewaunee County. State and Federal officials need to take a good look at an alternative storage facility in order to keep the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant in operation. The storage the plant has in existence will soon be depleted; by the year 2011 operation may have to be suspended until a suitable solution is found. We have come to know that nuclear energy is the most affordable, cleanest, most reliable, and safest way to achieve the emission savings that our nation has to strive for. That is why it is important to address this matter with. the attention it deserves.

The nuclear plants new owners, Dominion, recently came to the town meeting seeking approval to construct a dry storage facility for spent fuel rods on site. This is due to the fact that the pools which currently store the spent rods are reaching their maximum capacity. It had been promised by the Wisconsin Public Service that the rods were to be moved to Yucca Mountain, yet they are unfairly being forced to be stored in the town without being fully compensated. The nuclear plant has paid millions, if not billions,

.of dollars to the Federal Government over more than a 30 year span for a

.place to store the spent rods.. And yet, regrettably, nothing has ever happened. Every spent rod since operation began in 1974 is still stored at the plant site.

The nuclear plant also pays over $6 million in utility taxes to the state of Wisconsin every year. Wisconsin is the only state in which that utility tax does not stay in the municipality where the plant is located. Why is that?

All property owners in the town of Carlton are currently paying full taxes as well, and deserve to be compensated.

The dry storage location needs serious consideration. If nuclear power is less expensive than coal or natural gas, as well as cleaner, all the more important to work our hardest to maintain operation of the Kewaunee nuclear plant. We need our State and US Senators as well as Representatives to help do what is necessary and fair for the property owners here in the town of Carlton. The need for this dry storage is present and understood; let us work together for the benefit of everyone to create a workable solution.

A concerned citizen, Stanley H.L LaCrosse Former Town Chairman

SEP-27-2007 03:18P FROM:L & L ONE STOP 19207761009 T0:13014152102 P.q116 Wednesday July 11th 2007

Dear Mr. Hipp,

On behalf of the taxpayers and residents in our town, thank you for your form letter "from the President". We are very disappointed, and quite sure the President himself never read our letter or even heard about the situation. Telling us it's simply a state issue is hard to swallow with the information we have been given. The Federal government received $1.7 million each year over the last 30 years to find and construct and place to store the spent fuel rods from not just this but many nuclear plants, we believe that would qualify the Federal government as involved in this matter. Promises were made about moving the waste to Yucca Mountain, empty promises, which leads to the question, where does that money go? The waste is still on site with little hope of being moved any time soon.

Dominion Resources Services, Inc., the owners of the nuclear plant, will need to put up a dry storage facility for the spent rods, the current space is running out. Every spent rod produced since operation began in 1974 is still stored in a pool within the plant in our small town of Carlton in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. All the people in our town are now fed up! Our population may only be 1013, but that does not mean anyone can just push us around or walk all over us without a fight. It is not fair at all! The focus needs to be shifted back to where it belongs within our government, not overseas, but right here at home.

The President has been campaigning for more nuclear plants because it is the safest, cheapest, most efficient power source, he fails to mention that the people who live near these plants will always live with their waste next door as well. People need to be educated about the benefits of nuclear power as well as the real world situations that can and will arise surrounding such plants. It shouldn't be a huge problem to move the spent rods, the safety procedures around the nuclear plants are very strict and there shouldn't be such resistance to the waste being shipped through any one place.

Our town cannot afford attorneys like the ones utility companies have, so we can only do all that we can with what we've got and hope someone listens and cares enough to help us out where they can. We just want to be property tax-free. You can compare the Town of Carlton in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin to other municipalities in all other states which have nuclear power plants to find out what we are telling you is indeed true.

No one wants to listen, so we are contacting local and national television stations to expose our senators and representatives who are not helping or even listening to us. Their negligence is disgusting and will not be ignored! We need our President to see and understand our concerns, we look forward to an answer from you-Respectfully, Stanley H. LaCrosse Former Town Chair and Concerned Citizens Group Advisor

SEP-27-2007 03:18P FROM:L & L ONE STOP 19207761009 TO:13014152102 P.5/16 We the undersigned believe that if Dominion (Kewanee Nuclear Power Plant) is allowed to construct the dry storage facility on site which is being proposed th land owners of the town of Calton should be compensated accordingly. Meaning until the spent rods an moved to an altrate location, only then would it be fair if compesation were to cease.

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SEP-27-2007 03:21P FROM:L & L ONE STOP 19207761009 TO:13014152io2 P.8/16 We the undersned believe that if Dominion (Kewunee Nuclear Power Plant) is allowed to construct the dry storage facility on site which is being prposed the land ownezu of the town of Carton should be compensated accordingly. Meaning until the spent rods ane moved to an alternate location, only then would it be fair if compensation were to cease.

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SEP-27-2007 03:22P FROM:L & L ONE STOP 19207761009 TO:13014152102 P.10/16 We the undersigned believe that if Dominion (Kewamee Nuclear Power Plant) is allowed to construct the dry storage facift on site which is being proposed the land owners of the town qf Carlton should be compensated accordingly. Meaning until the spent rods are moved to an altmcnat location, only then would it be fair if compensation were to cease.

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SEP-27-2007 03:24P FROM:L & L ONE STOP 19207761009 TO:13014152102 P.13/16 We the undersigned believe dth if Dominion (Kewaunce Nuclear Power Plant) is allowed to construct the dry storage facility on site which is being proposed the land owners of the town of Calton should be o ea accordingly. Meaning until the spent rods am moved to an alternate location, only then would it be fair if compensation were to cease.

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Page 1 of I Stewart Brown - response to Mr Weber's letter aatn: Stewart Brown From:

Stanley LaCrosse <silver-bfarmn@yahoo. com>

To:

<swb I @nrc.gov>

Date:

09/05/2007 5:59 PM

Subject:

response to Mr Weber's letter aatn: Stewart Brown Mr Brown, I received a letter from Mr Michael F. Weber in regard to our concerns surrounding the power plant owned and operated by Dominion Resource Inc. and believe some things were misunderstood. I, along with many other members of our community, would like to know as much as we can about the proceedings involving the power plant and any action being taken legally against the federal government. If you have any such pertinent information or can direct me to the correct channels to learn more it would be greatly appreciated. The permit the plant obtained recently was gotten through questionable actions by certain parties and we are simply trying to get all the facts. The lawyer(s) for Dominion seem to think we, the taxpayers of the town, are not entitled to be compensated the money paid over the years since the plant opened, while they are attempting to possibly get back money themselves paid over the years. Our taxes are higher than surrounding areas, and will likely not get any "better" any time soon, it is simply an inquiry on our behalf to try and resolve things, which is not far from

-what they appear to be doing also.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Stanley H. LaCrosse N1460 Highway B Kewaunee WI 54216 920-388-2910 home 920-776-1009 fax Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers, not web links.

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response to Mr Weber's letter aatn: Stewart Brown 09/05/2007 5:58:44 PM Stanley LaCrosse <silver bfarmr(avahoo.com>

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Press-Gazette Estimated printed pages: 3 April 13, 2007 Section: Business Page: 01B Residents OK with dry-cask storage Richard Ryman rryman @ greenbaypressgazette. corn Green Bay Press-Gazette CARLTON -

The details of Dominion Inc.'s plan to begin above-ground storage of spent nuclear fuel at Kewaunee Power Station bothers local residents less than the need to do it in the first place.

"I'm not happy it's going to be out here, but it's not Dominion's fault," said Dave Zellner, Carlton town chairman Thursday during an open house at the Town Hall. "Am I worried about it? No."

Dominion Resources would like to begin construction on a dry-cask storage system by the end of the year. Currently, used nuclear fuel is stored in the power plant's spent-fuel pool, but the pool is running out of room.

Zellner, as did others at the event, criticized the federal government for not helping foot the bill for the additional storage and for not providing a permanent storage location as it pledged to do in 1982. The planned Yucca Mountain nuclear storage site is at least another 10 years from completion, and some question whether it will ever be used.

Rick Philipps, a Carlton resident, said he is concerned that used fuel stored at the site could outlast the plant.

"My concern is what assurance do I have when this plant is decommissioned or Dominion goes out of business?" he said.

"Let's say they go out of business. Who's going to pick up when they are not here?"

Francis Wojta of Carlton had a similar concern.

"Sometimes, when you build something, it stays," he said.

Philipps said he has no problem with nuclear power or with Dominion as neighbors, and would not oppose issuing the plant a building permit for the storage facility.

Dave Lohman, project manager for Dominion, said the company soon will apply for a'building permit from the town and zoning approval from Kewaunee County.

Bill Matthews, senior vice president of nuclear operations for Dominion, said citizens need to pressure the federal government to provide permanent storage.

"I advise them to keep up the political pressure," he said. "All we can do is propose the solution to store it safely (temporarily)."

Zellner said the cost of building the facility will have to be passed on to consumers by Dominion.

"The federal government should return some of that money they've got," he said.

Zellner predicted the effort to secure a building permit will result in "an interesting couple of months."

Initially, the 3-acre storage facility will house 10 modules, each of which can hold a 75-ton fuel rod storage cask. Each cask will hold 32 fuel assemblies.

The Kewaunee reactor has 121 assemblies, with ahout one-third being replaced every 18 months. All 121 assemblies are placed into the pool during refueling and those in use for three refueling cycles are permanently removed.

The spent nuclear fuel is radioactive and placed in welded steel canisters designed to be leak-tight. They will be kept in a dry-storage facility consisting of a series of reinforced concrete horizontal storage modules measuring 8.5 feet wide by 14 feet I

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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved storage system is designed by Transnuclear Inc. Its Web site is www.transnuclear.com.

Copyright (c) Green Bay Press-Gazette. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.

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Kewaunee County Page I of 2 Kewune-Con9 9icni RECORD -YHERALD Til~e i*eivannee Enterprise The Kewaunee County Star Tue, Aug 22, 2006 Tritium detected in groundwater at Kewaunee nuclear plant By Kevin Boneske The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a notice about the presence of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, being detected Aug.

9 "in small amounts" in groundwater beneath the auxiliary and turbine buildings at the Kewaunee Power Station nuclear plant.

Although the levels detected in four shafts used to measure possible settling beneath the two buildings did not meet the threshold for reporting to the NRC, the plant licensee, Dominion, informed state and local agencies of the situation.

According to the NRC's notice, Dominion also reported no detectable levels of tritium had been found in environmental monitoring wells, both on and off the plant site.

A statement issued by Dominion noted "an enhanced voluntary monitoring program initiated by the nuclear industry" had been used to detect the tritium, which poses no threat to the plant employees or the general public, while the monitoring also found no indication of "that minor level" of tritium beyond "a small area" underneath the plant.

The NRC's on-site inspectors and a radiation specialist have been monitoring the activities of Dominion, which has been investigating possible sources of the tritium.

According to an NRC "fact sheet," tritium can be produced as a by-product of nuclear reactor operations. It is also produced in the atmosphere when cosmic rays collide with air molecules, and is found in "very small or trace amounts" in groundwater throughout the world.

Like normal hydrogen, tritium can bond with oxygen to form water, although the resulting combination, known as "tritiated water," is radioactive.

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Wisconsin Radio Network: Nuke plant water leak poses no threat Page I of 2 WRNIDOM WISCON SIN 2ADIe PISTWOEK Green campalan says report Is a revelation A published report showing an attorney with Governor Jim Doyle's campaign lobbied the State Elections Board is being called a "revelation" by his Repu...

Thursday, September 21, 2006, 10:29 AM Ho e pot ae*Radio, ttos'~iki'Adc HSttn*Mports PageL Audo Archiveal?,Contact Us Newscast - 8:30 a.m. I Sports Report - 7:15 a.m.

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Nuke plant water leak poses no threat NRC investigates tritium laced water at Kewaunee by Jim Dick The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says small amounts of tritium in a water leak at the Kewaunee Nuclear Power plant do not pose a health hazard.

The NRC's Jan Strasma says the leak was detected underneath the nuke plant. He says there is measurable tritium, the radio active form of hydrogen, in the water but it's only been found directly beneath the plant and it does not pose as health hazard to the general public, plant workers or the enviornment.

But Strasma does say they haven't found the source of the leak yet which seems to have subsided. A spokesman for the plant's owner, Dominion in Virginia, says they are going over their records to see if there were any thing unusual in the past that would indicate why the tritium-laced water is there.

Both the NRC and Dominion says no contamination has been found outside of the plant where it seems to be confined. Investigators continue to search for the source of the water. Dominion says the amounts of tritium in the water were small and were not found in any source of drinking water.

AUDIO: Jim Dick reports (:58 MP3 See other items about f(choose a keyword...) j Tuesday, August 15, 2006, 12:19 PM

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Tritium found in water under nuclear power plant Isotope likely isn't dangerous By Richard Ryman rryman@greenbaypressgazette. com CARLTON -

Dominion Inc. says it found a small amount of tritium in samples of water taken from under the Kewaunee Power Station, and that the discovery poses no threat to public health.

Rick Zuercher, manager of nuclear public affairs for Richmond, Va.-based Dominion, said a cup of water a day containing the concentration of tritium found in the sample would be equal to eating a banana a day.

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• Research On Sale Loa CouponslA Tritium is a naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen and is also produced by nuclear reactor operations. It is commonly found in Find a date water and generally is not considered hazardous. According to the Your profile U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, tritium is one of the least dangerous radionuclides because it emits very weak radiation and leaves the body relatively quickly.

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' New Homes Classifieds Find Stuff e Place Ad Zuercher said the company has a team on site looking for the source of the tritium, which was found in water under the plant. He said the plant is routinely checked for settling and, as part of a voluntary program by the nation's nuclear industry, water found there was checked.

"It could be a number of sources," he said. "It was a very small amount. We reported this to the state and to Manitowoc and Kewaunee counties."

Kewaunee Power Sti

• Location: Carlton, 9 miles Kewaunee 9 Generation: One reactor, megawatts

• Reactor type: Pressurize(

• Employees: About 550 o Date of commercial operý 1974

• License expires: 2013

" Ownership: Dominion En, subsidiary of Dominion Rest Wisinfo

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Oshkosh Northwestern - Tritium found in water under nuclear power plant Page 2 of 3 Zuercher said tritium had not migrated to drinking water sources, which are monitored.

"We do know what we have that goes off site," he said.

The Nuclear Energy Institute, the policy organization of the nuclear industry, adopted proactive tritiui elevated levels of the isotope were found at nuclear plants in Illinois and New York.

"The tritium was not a dangerous situation. It was the fact it went unreported and it surprised people:

incidents that prompted the guidelines.

He said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not have tritium monitoring rules.

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Kewaunee Plant Shut Down. Platts Commodity News (9/5) reported, "Dominion's 574-MW Kewaunee nuclear power plant is shut down, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday morning in its reactor status report. The plant near Green Bay, Wisconsin, was at full power Friday morning but was shut down over the weekends and remains out of service Tuesday morning. There is no event report filed with the NRC giving a cause for the outage."

2.

Printer-friendly article page Page I of 3 This is a printer friendly version of an article from the Green Bay Press-Gazette Niack_

Neighbors weather nuclear plant leak Trace radiation poses no threat, officials say By Pau Bwrinkmaan pbrinkma@..qreentaypressQazette.com August 26, 2006 Louise Ihlenfeldt, a retired dairywoman, lives just down the road from the Kewaunee Power Station. Over the years, she has been such a good neighbor that she was photographed for the nuclear industry's advertisements.

So when she learned about a radiation leak under the plant, lhlenfeldt gave her usual answer: "I haven't had any problems. That doesn't bother me."

But even lhlenfeldt stopped short when considering the possibilities of radiation moving off the site. She drinks well water.

"How come they haven't come to test my well?" Ihlenfeldt said.

The plant announced last week it found an elevated level of radioactive particles called tritium in the ground near the building foundation. The radiation is higher than the level deemed OK for drinking water by the U.S* Environmental Protection Agency, but plant employees and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission say it doesn't pose'a risk to human health. There is no evidence the radiation has moved off the site.

Some neighbors and industry watchers think the leak could be a sign of the plant's age. Others say they aren't worried.

The plant has a safe record since opening in 1974. It has received top ratings in all categories from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But it has encountered trouble, including a 261-day shutdown in 1995 for corrosion in generation tubes.

This April, the plant was put on an alert status for the first time in 20 years for a small water leak in a non-nuclear, service water system. But plant officials insisted there were no emissions of radioactive materials beyond normal levels r2buyphoto ()zoonf Louise thienfeldt sits Friday in her home near the Kewaunee Power Station. thlenfeldt is so sure of the safety of nuclear energy that she participated in an industry national campaign. B A. RuperLtPress Gazette Adveriisemenr Multimedia 5 Graphic: Nuclear plants cited for tritium contamination What's' happening?

The Kewaunee Power Station discovered radioactive water (tritium) below the building foundation. A handful of other nuclear facilities have reported similar problems after a new testing program started this year. The plant found a radiation measurement of 103,000 picocuries per liter. (A curie is a unit used to measure radioactivity. A picocurie is one-trillionth of a curie.) The federal standard for drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter.

What's the issue?

Plant officials and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission say the leak is a serious concern and they are investigating the cause, but it doesn't pose a risk to human health and hasn't been detected in monitoring h ttp :,iww-w.greenbaypress.azete.corrmaapps/,pbcs.dllarticleA.ID=,!.G0060.6,GPGOO101/i6..860,-12&tem...

09/2 1/2006

Printer-friendly article page Page 2 of 3 associated with plant operations.

Donn Nygaard bought his home three miles away after the nuclear plant was built. His home has a commanding view of the reactor dome.

"You look at it every day. Of course, you think about it sometimes, how safe it is," Nygaard said.

He said the recent announcement of tritium leakage makes him think about the plant's age. It is licensed until 2013.

"At least they're monitoring and staying on top of it," Nygaard said.

The radiation discovery is part of a national sweep of nuclear plants prompted by trouble at the Braidwood Nuclear Plant in Illinois. In that case, tritium contaminated groundwater and drinking water. In Kewaunee, however, no drinking water is believed to be involved.

wells around the area. Some neighbors and industry watchers think the leak could be a sign of the plant's growing age. Others say they aren't worried.

What is tritium?

Tritium is basically a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. It occurs in nature in low concentrations. Lower-energy beta radiation from tritium cannot penetrate human skin, so tritium is only dangerous if inhaled or ingested.

Related news from the web Latest headlines by topic:

Nuclear E.nrgy Powered by T Ihlenfeldts have farmed in the town of Carlton since 1859. Louise Ihlenfeldt and one of her cows were pictured in a 1993 ad for the U.S. Council for Energy Awareness.

She no longer milks cows. But when she did, the plant owners would test the milk regularly for radiation.

The current owners, Dominion Resources Inc. of Virginia, still test her tap water every three months. They also test soil, crops, air, lake water and fish in Lake Michigan in a 10-mile radius around the plant. The facility regularly discharges low levels of radioactive particles into the air and lakewater.

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, none of the environmental tests have ever shown a level of concern for off-site radiation.

The power plant is a big employer for Carlton, six miles south of Kewaunee on the Lake Michigan shoreline. lhlenfeldt's children have worked at the plant.

Town Chairman David Zellner dismisses any real concern about the tritium leak.

"It seems like people in Green Bay are more worried about this plant than we are," Zellner said. "The people I've talked to have no problems with what was found underneath the plant."

The plant took several measurements of underground water from holes that are normally used to measure settling in the foundation.

When the plant announced its discovery of radiation Aug. 11, Dominion officials strove to put the radiation level in context to ease public fears. The resulting comparison: Drinking a cup of water a day with the concentrations discovered would be equal to eating a banana a day. Bananas have some natural radiation because they contain potassium.

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Printer-friendly article page Page 3 of 3 Jan Strasma, a commission spokesman in Chicago, confirmed that tritium is naturally occurring, but he said levels found at Kewaunee can only be attributed to the plant.

"There was a leak. Certainly, we can conclude it's not a major leak," Strasma said.

Other plants have found higher levels of radiation than Kewaunee. Tests at the closed San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California showed levels 16 times higher than allowed in drinking water.

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JS Online:Doyle aide met utility executives Page I of 3 JSOnline JOURNAL SENTINEL wwwjsonline.com I Return to regular view Original Story URL:

hrnp://www Jsonline.com/storv./index. aspx-?id=487706 Doyle aide met utility executives Nuclear plant sale inquiry to include discussion By THOMAS CONTENT t.connt nt @iJourn alsenlt.nel.com

'Posted: Aug. 24, 2006 Gov. Jim Doyle's chief of staff met with executives of a utility that was seeking state approval for the purchase of the Kewaunee nuclear power plant, a utility spokesman confirmed Thursday - a disclosure that is to become part of an investigation into whether politics played a role in the eventual sale of the plant.

Advertigemeft It's the first time that the name of Susan Goodwin, Doyle's top aide, has surfaced in connection with the controversy over the sale, which state regulators initially rejected. State and federal investigators are reviewing whether campaign contributions to Doyle led to a reversal of that decision.

A Doyle aide said there was nothing improper about the meeting with Goodwin.

Rick Zuercher, a spokesman for Dominion Resources of Richmond, Va., confirmed that Dominion executives met with Goo-,dwin whil1. t, the utiity',s request to buy the plant was pending. But they were careful t not violate procedural, rules of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, the agency that was considering whether Dominion should be allowed to buy the plant for more than $200 million, he added.

Zuercher said that all rules prohibiting direct contact between company representatives and commission members while cases are pending were followed.

"We respected the Wisconsin process, and we did follow the proper protocol with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission on all this. But we were new to the state, and when we were buying Kewaunee, we wanted to put a name on a face," Zuercher said.

Doyle spokesman Matt Canter said Goodwin was not available for comment Thursday.

Canter said there was nothing improper about the meeting involving Dominion officials and Goodwin, as Doyle has made energy reform a centerpiece of his term.

"The bottom line is anything that was discussed was in the public record - it was not anything about deliberations or anything like that," he said.

http ://ww-w.j soniine.com/story/index.aspx9 1d=4877/u06&fnnat=print 9/ 11 006

JS Online:Doyle aide met utility executives Page 2 of 3 It would be the "sorriest attempt at a political hack job I've ever seen" for anyone to imply that politics played any role in the meeting, Canter added.

Eric Callisto, a lawyer and the executive assistant at the commission, said the meeting was "absolutely proper" because Dominion was trying to buy one of Wisconsin's two nuclear power plants - a purchase of "major proportions" for the state's energy future.

"1 think (Dominion officials) would be remiss not to meet with state officials on a decision of this consequence," he added.

$43,650 in donations The controversy stems from a chain of events in which the commission first rejected, then reconsidered and finally approved the plant sale.

State and federal officials are investigating whether $43,650 in donations from utility executives to Doyle's re-election campaign in 2004 and early 2005 played any role in the commission's process.

Also under review is a November 2004 fund-raising event for Doyle. The morning after the fund-raiser, the commission voted 2-1 to reject the plant sale, with Doyle's two appointees on the commission voting against it.

After Dominion and the two plant owners, Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and Wisconsin Power & Light Co., made changes to the proposed sale in response to concerns that the Doyle appointees - then-Chairwoman Bumie Bridge and Mark Meyer - raised, the commission voted several months later to approve the sale.

The meeting involving Goodwin and Dominion Resources officials is part of the investigation or will become part of it, a source familiar with the inquiry said Thursday.

Mike McCabe, executive director of the political watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, called the disclosure significant because Doyle has always tried to distance himself from approval of the plant sale.

"The governor's office has continually said the Public Service Commission is an independent agency, and this company's business was before the PSC," he said. "Why was the company meeting with the governor's chief of staff, and why was the company donating so heavily to the governor when they had business before the PSC?

"1 think, at best, it raises legitimate suspicions about the extent to which the PSC was truly independent in its deliberations on the Kewaunee nuclear power plant."

Early in 2004 The exact date of the meeting could not be learned Thursday, but one official said it was early in 2004 - close to when four Dominion executives donated a total of $2,000 to Doyle's re-election campaign.

Zuercher characterized the meeting as introductory.

"It's not unusual for us to send Dominion representatives to introduce ourselves in regions where we are not known," he said.

For example, he said, when Dominion bought a.Connecticut nuclear power plant, the Millstone Power Station, several years ago, executives met with officials of that state.

http://ww.j son lin e. co /stor y/i nd ex. aspx ?id=487706 & form at=print 09112 1i12006

JS Online:Doyle aide met utility executives Page 3 of 3 "This was just the normal course of busifiess," Zuercher said. "We were not doing anything that was improper."

Scott Smith, a spokesman for Wisconsin Power & Light, said his company's officials didn't meet with anyone from Doyle's office in 2004. But representatives of all three companies met with Doyle representatives in November 2003, soon after the proposed sale was announced, said Smith and Kerry Spees, a Wisconsin Public Service spokesman.

Smith, who worked at the commission under Chairwoman Ave Bie, said there was no mystery to the commission's change of heart in the Kewaunee case, given that the utilities revised, the deal to address concerns that Bridge and Meyer had raised about the initial sale agreement.

"The process at thecommission is an open process that was followed," Smith said. "There was a decision, there were changes that were made, and then there was a different decision."

Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel staff reported from Milwaukee. Steven Walhers, Stacy Forster and Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel's Madison bureau contributed to this report.

From the Aug. 25, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Have an opinion on this story?.Wri'e a letter to the editor or start an online forunm.

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Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter - Terrorism takes higher priority in County planning Page I of 3

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" More career resources Apartments Rentals Place Ad Posted September 9, 2006 Terrorism takes higher priority in County planning By Kristopher Wenn Herald Times Reporter MANITOWOC -

The Sept. 11 attacks changed the way Nancy Crowley views preparing Manitowoc County for an emergency.

"I think that the thing that I have noted, whether you're in an emergency management field or any other field since then, is that we have all lost a certain naivete," said Crowley, the county's emergency services coordinator said. "It's a shame that in the past you could trust people, you weren't looking to see they are up to any mischief... That's the part that has bothered me the most is that we have become so much more distrustful of each other."

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" Local Coupons Dalitng e Kafrioi'y Find a date Your profile Homes HP For Sale New Homes Crowley said planning and preparing has shifted to a focus on terrorism rather than preparing for other emergencies. The county has received nearly $1 million in c terrorism-related programs since Sept. 11, she said.

Just after Sept. 11, there was a rush by the federal government to send money to local governments equipment. As time past, the focus shifted to training, she said.

"There is no doubt about the fact that it has changed some of our planning and preparedness efforts gotten a significant amount of money into the county which has been spread to all across all of the rr equipment. This was for training that we certainly wouldn't be able to afford had we had the support Crowley said one example of changes after Sept. 11 is security efforts at the Point Beach and Kewa plants. Both plants established restricted zones on Lake Michigan in order to meet new regulations f Regulatory Commission after Sept 11.

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JS Online:Tritium in water under nuclear plant Page lof3 JSOnline JOURNAL SUNTINEL wwwi*sonlinecorm I Return to reguiar view Original Story URL:

litp://ww%.isonIine.com/story/iiidex.aspx?id=484527 Tritium in water under nuclear plant Kewaunee owner, regulators say radioactive isotope doesn't pose health threat By THOMAS CONTENT teg on-i te.(q )j oQu~r n~aIse n tij.ne.e.!co._m Posted: Aug. 15, 2006 The release of tritium underneath the Kewaunee nuclear plant doesn't pose a health risk because the radioactive substance hasn't been found in drinking water, federal nuclear regulators said.

Advertisement The radioactive isotope of hydrogen was found in four groundwater samples taken from narrow shafts underneath the nuclear plant, located in the Kewaunee County Town of Carlton, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Dominion Resources Inc., which owns Kewaunee, stressed that no unsafe levels of tritium have been detected at monitoring wells near the plant or outside the plant's boundary.

Kewaunee is one of 10 plants around the country where tritium leaks have been found. The nuclear industry is stepping un testing fnr tritium after a series of leaks at several plants. Testing at Exelon Corp.'s rnaidrooA aInt in Ill;no,*s detected tritium in a nearby homeowner's well.

State and local authorities in Kewaunee and Manitowoc counties were informed last week of the discovery, which Dominion revealed on Friday.

Tritium is released naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere. It is also released as a byproduct of power production by nuclear reactors. While it's a low-level source of radiation, people who drink water that contains high levels of tritium are at higher risk of developing cancer, and pregnant women drinking tritium-tainted water are at higher risk of their babies developing abnormalities, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA allows up to 20,000 picocuries per liter of tritium in drinking water. In one of the four shafts measured beneath the Kewaunee reactor basement, tritium was measured at 103,000 picocuries per liter, the NRC said.

"They've found a small amount of groundwater seeped into these shafts, and when they collected and measured these samples last week, they found three of them with relatively low levels of tritium and one case that was above the EPA drinking water level," said NRC spokesman Jan Strasma.

http://ýwvi-x.j son! ine.corn/story/index.aspx9 id=484 527&5orrnat-prini 92120 0 9/2 1/2100 6

JS Online:Tritium in water under nuclear plant Page 2 of 3 Dominion detected the tritium while conducting tests as part of a voluntary program launched by the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade group. The tests were conducted in shafts that are generally used to measure whether the plant's buildings have settled.

"This is not a threat to anyone's health," said Richard Zuercher, a spokesman for Dominion, stressing that the water in which tritium was found is not drinking water.

"This is directly under the station," he said. "Right now we have a team of individuals up there who are evaluating this, trying to determine where the possible source of this tritium might be."

Strasma said possible sources of the leak include the reactor's spent fuel pool, a leaking underground pipe, or a spill of water that drained into an area where the shafts are located.

Zuercher said there wouldn't be any health risk posed by the amount of tritium found at Kewaunee.

"If you were to drink a cup of water that contained the highest level, that would be the same as the naturally occurring radiation you would receive by eating one banana," he said.

Nuclear opponent concerned Bonnie Urfer ofNukewatch, a Luck, Wis.-based group that is critical of nuclear power, said she thinks the concerns are being minimized by both theenergy company and the NRC.

"Groundwater is not stationary, it doesn't stay in one place, and they still don't know where this leak is coming from,"

she said. "They can't know at this point how it's going to affect the environment or drinking water in the area."

Tests are conducted weekly of wells near the plant, and "we have seen no tritium in any of those tests," said Amy Wergin, public health nurse manager at the Manitowoc County Health Department.

More and more nuclear plants across the country are disclosing findings about tritium as a result of an industrywide response to leaks at several nuclear plants.

On Tuesday, Edison International, owner of the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant north of San Diego, told the NRC it had detected tritium beneath the reactor.

Including Kewaunee and San Onofre, 10 nuclear plants have announced tritium findings, with four leaks disclosed in the past week, David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Bloomberg News.

Southern Co. told regulators last week of tritium at its Hatch site in Georgia, and Xcel Energy Inc. reported a low level of the substance at the Prairie Island reactor in Minnesota on Aug. 8, said Lochbaum. Xcel, based in Minneapolis, serves western Wisconsin through its Eau Claire utility.

Lochbaum said that, by some estimates, "about a fourth" of the 65 U.S. nuclear plant sites will find some level of tritium on site.

"The final total is riot in," he said. The reason for the increase in tritium-leak reports is because "people are now looking, and the reporting threshold is lower."

Urfer said the leak is a cause for concern, given Kewaunee's location on the shore of Lake Michigan.

http :,/www'.jsonline.corm/story/index.aspx?id-48452 7& format=print 09/21/2006

JS Online:Tritium in water under nuclear plant Page 3 of 3 "They don't know how many of these reactors are leaking," Urfer said. "For a reactor that's sitting on Lake Michigan, one of the best freshwater supplies in the entire world, it should be a serious issue."

The Point Beach nuclear plant, a few miles south of Kewaunee, is planning to participate in the "groundwater reassessments" taking place, said plant spokeswoman Sara Cassidy.

Both Kewaunee and Point Beach do regular testing and have been in compliance with federal standards that permit tritium to be released at low levels, officials said.

In 1975, Point Beach, which is owned by Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Energy Corp., experienced a low-level radioactive release, which included tritium. The area was cleaned up to levels significantly below the EPA's drinking water limit.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

From the Aug. 16, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Have an opinion on this story? Write a letter to the editor or start an online fonim.

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Printer-friendly article page Page I of 2 This is a printer friendly version of an article from the Green Bay Press-Gazette Back Nuclear disaster drills staged Advertisement Facility housed at Interstate 43 Business Center By Nath_4ari.Pbe*hp_

nphetpos,.~qreenbaVpressqazette.com June 3, 2006 The building looks like most of the others in the Interstate 43 Business Center, but it houses a facility most people in Northeastern Wisconsin may not know exists.

Nestled among other buildings sporting names of the businesses inside, the unmarked building on Voyager Drive houses the Emergency Operations Facility for Dominion Resources Inc.

Dominion is the owner and operator of the Kewaunee Power Station, a nuclear plant located on Lake Michigan in the town of Carlton.

On Thursday, about a dozen plant employees sat in front of four large screens on the wall showing simulated data from the plant.

It was part of an emergency exercise in which operators dealt with several simulated issues simultaneously -

ranging from a control rod/reactor fuel problem to ways to keep the reactor cool after three feed-water pumps were rendered unavailable following an earthquake and other events.

In another part of the 10,000-square-foot building, other employees were busy gathering information about the event and preparing statements for the media as part of the exercise.

"It'll be our headquarters for dealing with anything that has to do with an emergency out at the station,"

said Joe Reid, local affairs manager with the Kewaunee Power Station.

The building, a $1.8 million investment for Dominion required by federal regulations, is designed to be a central gathering point for plant emergency teams, federal, state and local emergency officials, and the media.

Part of the facility is leased to Point Beach Nuclear Plant -

which falls under the umbrella of different owners and operators -

to provide a known gathering point for both facilities in case of an emergency.

Reid said Dominion anticipates having the facility operational by the end of the month. It has been renting space from Wisconsin Public Service in downtown Green Bay for its existing emergency facility.

Leslie Hartz, vice president of the Kewaunee Power Station, said the building is part of the company's fundamental responsibility to protect the health and safety of the public.

"Before we even closed on the plant (last summer) we bought this building because we knew we were going to need something like this," she said. "You can't take it for granted, which is why we spent $1.8 http://wwwý.greenbaypressgazette.conmapps/pbcs.diliarticie'?AID=/20060603/GPG03/606030471/11247IG...

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Printer-friendly article page Page 2 of 2 (million) on something we may never use -

because it's that important."

Hartz said the primary function of Thursday's exercise was to make sure the facility is ready to go live in about three weeks when staff activates the facility.

Bob Host, an emergency planner with the state, was on hand for the drill. He said having all of the players from different agencies in one building helps communication, which in turn provides a smooth flow of information to the public.

In late April the plant declared an alert -

the first in about 20 years -

while shutting down the reactor for planned repairs.

That level of emergency is the second-lowest tier of emergency events. There was no radioactive release from the plant, and federal regulators said the company handled the situation properly.

In training, situations can be pushed as far as in a general emergency, which is the highest-level emergency at a plant.

Tom Webb, the power station's director of safety and licensing, said staff practices those situations to get people used to handling the decisions they could have to make in a real-time event.

"We need to do that so people train for the worst and people have to get comfortable making protective active recommendations," he said. "The state and us don't really start communication heavily until we get into a general emergency where we're going to make recommendations to the state."

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Printable VersioPe Page I of 2 Tom Sheehan: Nuclear power still a heated topic in Wisconsin By Tom Sheehan MADISON - You'll get a chance this fall to vote in an advisory referendum on the death penalty and on a constitutional-ban on gay marriage and civil unions.

But the gubernatorial race between Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle and Republican challenger Mark Green could be viewed as a referendum on another hot topic - nuclear power.

Thanks, in part, to a conditional moratorium on nuclear power plants signed into law in 1983, the state hasn't approved construction of a nuclear power plant in 30 years. The law forbids construction of a nuclear plant unless it's deemed beneficial to utility ratepayers and the federal government has approved a repository for holding spent nuclear fuel rods.

But if Green's elected, and a few other political stars line up, nuclear power could quickly get a boost.

"He thinks nuclear power needs to be part of our energy mix, and I guess by virtue of that, he's in favor of lifting the moratorium," said Luke Punzenberger, a spokesman for Green's campaign.

Doyle, on the other hand, remains opposed to any expansion of nuclear power plants, said Dan Leistikow, a spokesman for the governor.

Doyle likely would veto bills that would lift the moratorium, but that hasn't stopped Assembly Majority Leader Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, from introducing billsthat would do so during each of the last two legislative sessions.

Huebsch wants nuclear power, which now accounts for about 20 percent of the state's energy production, to be an option to meet the state's growing energy demands.

Huebsch is a top contender for Assembly speaker in the next legislative session, so his support may bode well for the nuclear option. A Legislative Council study committee also has been assigned to the topic this fail, which means proposed legislation is likely, no matter who's in control of the governor's office or the Legislature.

Now, about those other stars...

First, the fate of the moratorium may hinge on Huebsch being re-elected and Republicans retaining control of the Assembly. Huebsch also will have to remain popular enough with fellow Assembly Republicans to be elected Speaker over other contenders.

Given Republican dominance of the Assembly, those scenarios seem quite plausible.

Then, assuming the nuclear issue breaks down along party lines, the question remains of which party will control the Senate. Political observers suggest Democrats have a shot at adding three swing seats, which would put them in control if they don't lose any other seats.

On top of that, Huebsch and other supporters may have to overcome controversial environmental and public health questions about disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Opponents contend a typical nuclear power plant produces 20 to 30 tons of high-level nuclear waste per year, and waste already is stacking up.

http :iiw-ww.joumaltimes.comiarticles/2006/08/29ilocalicolumnsiiq_4182740.prt 09/21/2006

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• Nuclear proponents say coal, which produces most electricity in the state, presents its own set of health hazards, including 26,000 deaths a year caused by pollution, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates.

So, will more nuclear power be part. of the mix in helping Wisconsin meet its future energy demand, which is expected to increase about 50 percent in the next 15 years? That may be as tough a question as whether or not Wisconsin should re-instate the death penalty or ban gay marriage. Nuclear power's, not on the ballot, but your vote may make a difference.

Tom Sheehan is the state Capitol reporter for Lee Newspapers. He can be reached by e-mail at; tsheehanmadison.com or by phone at (608) 252-6198.

http://ivw.joumaltimes.corr/articles/2006/i0/29/local/columns/iq_4182740.pr0 09i2 i./2006