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NEWS
RELEASE
919-416-5077 June 20, 2002
NC Democratic Party Says Stop Nuclear Shipments,
Protect Plants
DURHAM, NC – The state Democratic Party has called for an immediate halt to shipments of high-level nuclear waste, and for measures to decrease the likelihood and consequences of an attack on North Carolina’s nuclear power plants. Also, Attorney General Roy Cooper’s general counsel met this week with representatives of environmental group NC WARN to discuss a legal petition calling for the AG to use his authority to stop nuclear waste transports and stockpiling by Carolina Power & Light.
Delegates from across the state passed the resolution on Terrorism and Nuclear Safety at their annual convention in Raleigh last week after the document made its way through precinct, county and district levels. On Tuesday, State Senator Ellie Kinnaird conveyed the party’s declaration to AG Cooper. Kinnaird’s district includes Chatham County, which is just across the county line from CP&L’s Shearon Harris. The plant is one of five commercial reactors in North Carolina, and the only U.S. plant importing nuclear waste fuel.
Jerry Markatos, Resolutions Chair for the Chatham Democratic Party, said today, “With the state budget in shreds, we must reduce our exposure to risk everywhere we can. Insurance requirements for the nuclear industry are capped and homeowner policies exclude nuclear releases. An accident could permanently damage the state economy.” He added that the resolution spells out specific steps that common sense and prudence, and the NC Democratic party, urge upon all responsible NC public servants.
The resolution calls for improved emergency planning around each nuclear plant, and for dry storage of waste fuel. Experts and environmentalists argue that thick steel canisters surrounded by earthen mounds would be far safer than the enormous cooling pools packed with waste. All the plants will be storing large amounts of waste for decades. Terrorists have threatened to attack U.S. nuclear facilities.
The party’s move adds to the growing pressure on Governor Mike Easley and U.S. Sen. John Edwards, both Democrats. Both have refused to support NC WARN’s insistence that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission suspend CP&L’s nuclear transports pending a first-ever evaluation of terrorism risks. However, Edwards and Easley were urged to take action again last month – this time by a Chatham official with an extensive military and airlines background who says CP&L’s unique transports are too risky. Chatham Commissioner Rick Givens’ action followed a serious security breach on a waste train recently bound for Harris.
Cooper, on the other hand, has expressed concern over the nuclear transports and the build-up of waste fuel rods at Harris, which already has one of the nation’s largest concentrations of nuclear material. On Tuesday, the AG’s general counsel, J.B. Kelly, held a 90-minute meeting with public interest lawyer Lewis Pitts and NC WARN Director Jim Warren. Cooper continues to review a legal petition from 18 citizen groups calling for him to stop the trains based on the state’s control over CP&L/Progress Energy’s corporate charter.
The legal complaint says CP&L/Progress Energy is placing the public at unnecessary risk in order to save the small marginal cost of hardened, onsite storage, and that it does so by corrupting the democratic process with tens of millions of ratepayer dollars spent annually to silence political and civic leaders. A new report by the Institute for Southern Studies chronicles the undue influence inflicted on public safety by the corporation.
“We are hopeful that, following his review, Mr. Cooper will acknowledge the state’s power and duty to reign in corporations that exceed or abuse their charters,” stated Pitts. “It’s an unequivocal legal principle embedded in our state constitution, and the Attorney General is uniquely positioned to protect the safety and economic security for all North Carolinians.”
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