Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
So I had to go over to her senate.gov web site and send my response from there.
It really should be this difficult to communicate with our elected officials.
It appears that her main point is to state that the Federal Government has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to review the situation.
If researched you can see that there is conflicting information from within the NRC on whether or not safety precautions taken after September 11th are even effective. Due to the lack of action they have taken it's apparent the service they are providing is not adequate.
Feel free to check out some of the sources I included for her below as well as her entire response to my original E-Mail. Hopefully I will get a reply that isn't so.... generic.
E-Mail Response to Senator Patty Murry
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I agree with most of what you are saying but we need to do something else besides just asking the NRC to do their job because it's apparent they aren't great at completing tasks.
Our back up battery systems don't last long enough ( 4 - 8 hrs), they aren't hook up to our national power grid system in case the batteries and generators fail, our spent fuel pools have 4 to 5 times the amount that should be stored in them and are often housed in thin metal warehouses not capable of containing or protecting the public in a disaster.
The NRC is not adequately doing their job and can be seen by the lack of action on their part since September 11th.
Please read some of the research that I have done and included below on this matter.
I know you're busy and appreciate your time, please take the time to quickly read this information.
Sincerely,
Mr. Reeves
University of Maryland - Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Science
Nuclear fallout, levels, and trajectory models calculated using the NOAA HYSPLIT model
NYTimes
"For unfathomable reasons, reactor fuel is considered benign after it is taken out of a reactor but before it is placed in a repository," said David Lochbaum, head of the nuclear safety program for the Union of Concerned Scientists. While irradiated fuel inside reactors is protected by multiple layers of shielding and redundant systems for preventing the overheating of fuel rods and release of radioactive contamination, spent fuel pools are typically covered with sheet metal roofs, "like that in a Sears storage shed," he said.
CNN
"That plant owners could have avoided nearly all 14 near-misses in 2010 had they corrected known deficiencies in a timely manner suggests that our luck at nuclear roulette may someday run out," the report concludes.
NYTimes
"Most of our plants have far less than what the Japanese had," said David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists who has long criticized U.S. nuclear protections as inadequate. "So, we're more vulnerable to a situation where we lose primary power and the backup."
U.S. regulators also allow plants to operate without backup power for the controls monitoring spent nuclear fuel. These ponds often do not have containment, and in the United States they contain more of the highly radioactive material than in Japan.
As an island nation on the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire," a zone of active volcanoes, Japan appears particularly vulnerable to the earthquake-tsunami combination that killed thousands and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The earthquake cut off-site power to the plant, and the tsunami flooded its generators. That constitutes what nuclear experts call "station blackout." Eight hours of backup power proved woefully inadequate.
"Many of our reactors are in situations where earthquakes or hurricanes in the Gulf or ice storms in the Northeast or a tree in Cleveland can cause an extensive blackout that puts us in a very similar situation," Lochbaum said.
"So, I think battery capacity and ... what we do when the batteries go dim may be an area that we need to shore up, so that our plants aren't as vulnerable as Japan was."
For example, a 1998 tornado knocked out power to the Davis-Besse plant near Toledo, Ohio, for more than a day. An NRC analysis (pdf) of the event said that the outage brought the plant perilously close to meltdown.
Propublica.
There is $24 billion sitting in a "nuclear waste fund" that can't actually be used to pay for a safer way to store the waste at reactors.
E-Mail from Senator Patty Murry
rom Senator@murray.senate.gov
to reeves360
date Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 2:51 PM
subject Response from Senator Murray
mailed-by murray.senate.gov
signed-by senate.gov
Dear Mr. Reeves:
Thank you for contacting me regarding nuclear energy sources. It was good to hear from you. Nuclear energy has been brought to the forefront of energy policy discussions because of the recent tragic events in Japan. Like you, the people of Japan are in my thoughts as the recovery and cleanup efforts continue.
While our country's nuclear power industry is one of the safest in the world, a number of problems need to be solved. Disposing of highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants across the country is a prominent issue facing Congress. Locating a long-term area to store nuclear waste storage has been a perennial and contentious problem.
I believe we need to focus more of our efforts on energy conservation and research and development of alternative energy sources. I am not opposed to nuclear power, but there are a number of issues we need to resolve, particularly how to manage high-level nuclear waste. As the human population grows, and energy demand increases, we need to look at a wide range of alternatives to find safe, economical, and environmentally friendly energy sources.
In light of the events unfolding in Japan, President Obama has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), an independent federal agency, to perform a comprehensive review of all U.S. nuclear reactors. The federal government has also addressed questions surrounding radiation from Japan reaching U.S. soil, stating there is no expectation harmful levels of radiation will reach the United States. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommended the public not take any precautions beyond being fully informed of the situation in Japan.
I am working with my colleagues and leaders in the Obama Administration, and Washington state agencies to closely monitor the events unfolding in Japan and any threats to residents of Washington state and the United States. I will continue to make sure Americans get clear information about the impact of the crisis in Japan and findings from the review of U.S. nuclear power plants.
Once again, thank you for contacting me regarding this important issue. Please know that I will continue to work with my colleagues to create comprehensive energy policies that will diversify our energy sources and help America become more energy independent. As the Senate continues to address these issues, I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind. If you would like to know more about my work in the Senate, please feel free to sign up for my updates at http://murray.senate.gov/updates. Thank you again for writing, and please keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Patty Murray
United States Senator