ML24201A016

Comment (40) E-mail Regarding Palisades Restart Scoping

ML24201A016
Person / Time
Site:	Palisades
Issue date:	07/11/2024
From:	Public Commenter Public Commenter
To:	NRC/NMSS/DREFS
NRC/NMSS/DREFS
References
89FR53659
Download: ML24201A016 (3)

Text

From: honesteffort1@aol.com Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2024 4:14 PM To: PalisadesRestartEnvironmental Resource

Subject:

[External_Sender] Just don't restart the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant

In 1973, I was truly hoping that the Three Mile Island meltdown would be the end of Nuclear Power. At that time, the power being generated by nuclear was way more expensive than generating by other means (remember the promise of "electrical power too cheap to meter"),

we still didn't know where the radioactive waste was going to be stored, and at the age of 15, I was hand cutting a wind generator blade from a piece of wood, knowing I could power two lights and a 12 volt car radio (FM no less!) in my father's garage, where I was learning to work on cars.

In 1989, I was truly hoping that the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant meltdown would be the end of Nuclear Power. People in Germany were using Giger-counters to check for radiation before picking plants out of gardens. Home-sized wind generators were now available for some of us on the very outer fringes (if you had the room and the local zoning ordinances would allow for such things), and solar panels were down to $8 a watt.

In 2017 I was truly hoping that the Fukushima Nuclear Power accident would be the end of Nuclear Power. Solar panels are now down to $0.60 a watt, and wind farms are producing 6% of the nation's energy. Commercial wind turbines are up and running in the US at the Block Island offshore wind farm supplying power to Rhode Island (but way behind power generation of offshore wind farms in the EU).

In 2022, I was truly hoping that the Palisades Nuclear Power plant shutdown would be the end of Nuclear Power on the west side of the state of Michigan. By now, I'm driving an electric car and an electric motorcycle. US wind capacity is at roughly 122 gigawatts, and US solar capacity is at 23.6 gigawatts. After starting up in 1973, Palisades had one of the worst safety records (remember the 5 unplanned shutdowns in 2011, then 3 more shutdowns for water leaks after that) before turning itself around and doing fairly well for the remainder of its career. By this time, 24 percent of the US electrical energy production in 2022 is from renewable sources.

So now, it's 2024. The power being generated by nuclear is still way more expensive than generating by other means, and we still don't have a permanent place to store the nuclear waste. 42 gigawatts of renewable electrical energy generation is added in the US, 7.2 gigawatts of electrical battery storage is here in the US and operational. Wind and solar energy in the US exceed 20% of the nation's electrical power, approaching 30% if you include all forms of renewable energy. California has had days of producing more than 100% of its power with renewable sources this year. 6 GW of battery storage has been added to just California.

And here in Michigan, Holtec wants to restart a 50-year-old nuclear reactor, with a reactor vessel embrittlement issue that was reported back as far as 2014, using 50-year-old nuclear technology (pressurized water reactor) similar to what was used at Three Mile Island. This is Holtec, who never ran a nuclear plant and was just sited by the NRC for using language in their severance agreements to Indian Point employees to discourage them from testifying as a witness in a proceeding that could damage Holtec.

Restarting the Palisades Nuclear Plant is a really bad idea. I know Holtec is trying their best with their PR about bringing back former employees and what a happy family they were but that doesn't make this project any safer does it? And now they want to build two SMR-300 units on the site, except that those units don't exist yet, and they're talking about maybe operational by mid 2030. By the time that's running, battery storage and solar could easily replace the.8 gigawatts that the plant used to make.

Restart Palisades? Don't...just don't. Use Palisades for a battery energy storage site and use the existing grid wiring? Absolutely.

Respectfully,

Terry Richards 8700 Silver Drive Pinckney, Michigan 48169

Federal Register Notice: 89FR53659 Comment Number: 40

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Subject:

[External_Sender] Just don't restart the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant Sent Date: 7/11/2024 4:14:12 PM Received Date: 7/11/2024 4:15:32 PM From: honesteffort1@aol.com

Created By: honesteffort1@aol.com

Recipients:

"PalisadesRestartEnvironmental Resource" <PalisadesRestartEnvironmental.Resource@nrc.gov>

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