March 28, 2011

Pilgrim Watch sees Fukushima accidents as relevant to Pilgrim license renewal, Post-Hearing Memorandum filed with ASLB

February 27, 2007

Massachusetts Attorney General is confused if it thinks it might still be a party to Pilgrim or VY license renewal case, sez NRC staff

In January 2006, the Massachusetts Attorney General (MassAG) filed petitions to intervene in license renewal proceedings for Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee. MassAG contended at the time that alleged new information about spent fuel pool fires should be considered in the proceedings. Both ASLBs rejected MassAG's contention, and NRC affirmed those decisions. MassAG wants NRC to reconsider and clarify that affirmation. NRC staff urges the Commission to make it clear to MassAG that the decision to affirm the ASLBs was final and will not be reconsidered. The NRC staff legal brief, dated February 16, 2007, is available as ADAMS ACN ML070510132.

December 27, 2005

* RFK Jr's NIMBYism decried by Greenpeace activist (re: proposed wind farm off Cape Cod)

April 18, 2005

* Dollars of Terror
Rachel Ehrenfeld, FrontPageMagazine.com

Dr. Ehrenfeld is the director of the American Center for Democracy, and author of a book titled "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed Ð and How to Stop It". This article tells a particularly scary story about a Quincy, Massachusetts-based company named GoAgile. That's a new name. The company used to be known as Ptech. Ptech software is used primarily to develop enterprise blueprints at the highest level of US government and corporate infrastructure. ÊThese blueprints hold every important functional, operational, and technical detail of the enterprise. PtechÕs clients in 2001 included the Department of Energy, Customs, Air Force, the White House, the Department of Justice, the FAA, IBM, Sysco, Aetna, and Motorola. Examples of information gathered utilizing PtechÕs capabilities would include the following:
* A complete blueprint of a nuclear waste disposal site would detail the security procedures required to access military bases during transfer of nuclear waste materials. It would also include security rules, revealing where tight security searches vs. random searches exist for conducting detailed identity screening and security checks. These are typically noted in the architecture process, and surely, would be of interest to terrorists.
* A complete blueprint of food distribution patterns, which would include food suppliers, warehouse locations, distributors, vehicles and schedules. With this knowledge, fraudulent deliveries of contaminated food would not be difficult to accomplish.
* Product specifications in the blueprint for Smartcards as implemented in various defense facilities would include enough information to provide templates for duplication, and for unauthorized production of fake Smart IDs, which are a basic tool in the arsenal of criminals and terrorists alike.

Surely the type of company involved in such matters would be thoroughly secure, national security-wise? Would you be surprised to learn that among PtechÕs top investors and management in 2001 was Yassin Al-Qadi, who was listed as a specially designated global terrorist on October 12, 2001? ÊHis investment of $14 million in Ptech in 1998 made him PtechÕs major investor. ÊAl-Qadi was the Director of the Saudi-based Muwafaq Foundation ("Blessed Relief") that fronted for, and funded, Makhtab Al-Khidamat (MK), Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and the Abu-Sayyaf organization, to name just a few. ÊAccording to a Treasury Department letter to SwitzerlandÕs Attorney General in November 2001, there was "a reasonable basis to believe that Mr. Kadi has a long history of financing and facilitating the activities of terrorists and terrorist-related organizations, often, acting through seemingly-legitimate charitable enterprises and businesses."

The possibility that Al-Qaeda or other Islamist terrorists have taken advantage of our free market system to undermine our economy and national security seems quite real when you identify the connections and affiliations of PtechÕs management, investors and employees. ÊÊ So, how could a small, Saudi-financed company with questionable terrorist connections obtain significant government and business contracts, and who facilitated this? ÊWas Horizons, its Egyptian branch, ever investigated? ÊWhy wasnÕt Ptech shut down? ÊWhy is it still allowed to operate? ÊAnd even more importantly, are there other Ptechs around?

June 3, 2004

* Yankee Rowe License Termination Plan - public meeting (June 24)

March 15, 2004

* Massachusetts - exterior of package was contaminated, although P32 vials inside were clean

March 12, 2004

Pilgrim gets extended National Guard protection

If not for a supplemental budget bill signed into law in Massachusetts, the National Guard would have ceased protecting Pilgrim nuclear plant on March 8. Senator Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, chairs the Senate Committee on Ways & Means: "Safety and security at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant, the Mirant Plant in Sandwich and PAVE PAWS have always been a priority of mine," she said. "Given today's uncertain times, we should continue to be proactive in safeguarding these installations. I am pleased that my colleagues in the House and Senate and the Governor sought to support my efforts to keep the Guard stationed at Pilgrim." Murray has been active on other Pilgrim security fronts, too. She worked with the United States Coast Guard in restricting ocean access to Pilgrim, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to institute a no-fly zone over the plant, and pressed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to federalize security protecting Pilgrim. Murray also persuaded the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) to obtain Potassium Iodide from the NRC for all of the communities within the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone and led efforts for legislation that provides the pills to all communities within a 50-mile radius of the plant.

[Source: Kingston Mariner (Massachusetts), "National Guard remains at nuclear plant", March 12, 2004]

March 10, 2004

* Massachusetts - VA hospital sent something radioactive in clean waste shipment; alarmed landfill monitor

March 3, 2004

* Yankee Rowe - contaminated rubble spilled on road, when transport trailer broke about two miles away from plant

July 1, 2003