* About half the electricity used in New Jersey is generated by nuclear power.
Source: Bob Ivry, "State presses nuclear concern", The Record (NJ), Feb 21, 2006

March 25, 2011

New Jersey - NRC considers relinquishing regulation of Shieldalloy decommissioning to the state
More info here

February 24, 2008

This is from the front page of today's Asbury Park Sunday Press, of New Jersey.

February 11, 2008

This is from the front page of today's Asbury Park Press, of New Jersey.

See full text of this story via the web version of this article.

February 27, 2007

New Jersey - Shieldalloy is wrong about nature of the settlement agreement, sez NRC Commissioner Merryfield

NRC Commissioner Jeffrey Merryfield visited the Shieldalloy facility in Newfield, New Jersey recently. After hearing Shieldalloy Preident Eric Jackson's presentation that day, the Commissioner reviewed the "Settlement Agreement of Environmental Claims and Issues By and Between Debtors and the United States of America and the State of New Jersey". Mr. Jackson had made a claim that the settlement agreement was a binding document in which the NRC had agreed both that the slag pile could be left onsite and that the cost to the company of decommissioning would not exceed $5-million. Commissioner Merryfield's reading of the agreement is quite different. Commissioner Merryfield's letter to Mr. Jackson, dated February 22, 2007, quotes from various paragraphs of the agreement, and is available as ADAMS ACN ML070530666.

New Jersey - Borough of Newfield's petition for Shieldalloy ASLB hearing doesn't meet specificity requirements, sez Shieldalloy's lawyers

The Borough of Newfield is concerned about the decommissioning of Shieldalloy's Newfield facility. The Borough has concluded that Shieldalloy has not complied with a Consent Order issued by the New Jersey state Department of Environmental Protection, and that this failure has placed the Borough and its residents at significant risk for continued environmental harm which will cause significant health, safety and welfare concerns to the Borough's residents and will otherwise significantly impact upon property values and the ability to use over seventy acres of property available within the Borough. A formal resolution opposing Shielalloy's plans has been adopted by the Mayor and Borough Council. These points were expressed in a petition to the Shieldalloy ASLB for a hearing. Shieldalloy's reply to the petition notes that if a hearing is held about Shieldalloy site, the Borough could certainly participate as an "interested state". But, Shieldalloy argues, the ASLB can only hold a hearing if some intervenor has submitted an admissible contention. The Borough's petition does not contain any such contention, because the points it raised were too vague. Shieldalloy's legal brief, dated February 13, 2007, is available as ADAMS ACN ML070520696.

New Jersey - Cumberland County's petition for Shieldalloy ASLB hearing doesn't meet specificity requirements, sez Shieldalloy's lawyers

Cumberland County is concerned about the decommissioning of Shieldalloy's Newfield facility. In a petition for hearing by Shieldalloy ASLB, the County said "the slag materials should be removed from the site in an environmentally sound manner and taken to an approved landfill for disposal thus eliminating and alleviating the prospective and potential health impacts on the public." The County also said that "proposals to decommission the site and allow it to sit unremediated for hundreds, if not thousands of years is the inappropriate manner in which the site should be handled because of concerns to the health, safety and welfare of the general public in the area surrounding the site and in the area impacted by the site." Shieldalloy's legal brief opposing the petition notes that these points made by the County do not raise any genuine dispute with Shieldalloy on any material issue of fact or law relating to the Decommissioning Plan, and thus the petition does not contain any admissible contentions. Shieldalloy's legal brief, dated February 13, 2007, is available as ADAMS ACN ML070520445.

October 25, 2006

* Nuclear role unclear in state's energy plan
Richard Pearsall, Cherry Hill Courier Post (NJ)

Nuclear power is likely to be on the agenda as the state looks for ideas for an 'energy master plan' at public hearings this week. ...

August 23, 2005

LNG terminal dispute between states of NJ and Delaware

New Jersey recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Delaware from standing in the way of plans by New Jersey and BP Crown Landing LLC to build a liquefied natural gas import terminal in Logan Township, across the [Delaware River] from Claymont.

A boundary quirk from Colonial days gave all of the waterway from Claymont to the northern tip of Artificial Island to Delaware. Because most of the proposed 2,000-foot delivery pier at the LNG site would stand in Delaware, the state has argued the LNG project would violate its Coastal Zone Act ban on new bulk delivery docks in the river.

If built, the terminal would receive up to three tankerloads of LNG weekly, each carrying as much as 50 million gallons of the superchilled fuel. The terminal would be capable of storing enough natural gas to meet the daily energy needs of 5 million homes.

[Source: Victor Greto (delawareonline.com) , "How much industry can a river take? South of Trenton, the Delaware is a commercial hub, tainted by pollution", The News Journal (DE), August 23, 2005]

April 16, 2005

* Enriched uranium missing from company; Possibly thrown in trash
Tom Baldwin, Gannett/Asbury Park Press (New Jersey)

Approximately 3.3 grams of enriched uranium, a uranium aluminum powder, is missing from Ledoux and Co. lab near the George Washington Bridge in Teaneck, New Jersey, according to NRC spokesperson Neil Sheehan. "The shipment from a factory in Virginia arrived March 30. The lab discovered on April 12 that this material was missing. They notified us the next day," Sheehan said. NRC dispatched investigators to the site. The amount involved compares in size to about one-tenth of a small paper clip, or one-tenth of an ounce. "The idea is the material may have been inadvertently disposed of in trash," Sheehan said. "The trash goes to a waste-transfer station. . . . From there to five different landfills, four in Pennsylvania and one in New York State." "The material is so small and the radioactive level is so low, it would not pose a hazard to public health. . . . We are continuing to get to the bottom of what happened," Sheehan said. "Our concern is that radioactive material in the post-9/11 environment is properly controlled," Sheehan said. He added later, "The concern is, this is material that is supposed to be tightly controlled, and it went to this laboratory, and now they cannot account for it."

March 24, 2004

* Salem - 100-gal ethylene glycol spill

March 13, 2004

* New Jersey - prostate patient required second implant as swelling caused underexposure (Hoboken)

March 10, 2004

* New Jersey - prostate patient records seemed to show that he received 5000 rad instead of 10,000; but further review showed the I-125 seed implant went as planned

February 22, 2004

Upgrade in transmission line - from 69 kV to 230 kV - from Oyster Creek needed

Conectiv has asked the state Board of Public Utilities for permission to replace existing 69-kilovolt lines that are more than 40 years old with 230-kilovolt lines. The lines connect the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Ocean County with a substation in Galloway, Atlantic County. The company says it desperately needs to build a new primary transmission line or the region could face electricity delivery problems as early as this summer. Over the past several years, Conectiv has moved portable generators, about the size of tractor-trailers, into Ocean City and onto Long Beach Island to help meet summer demand. "These are only stop-gap measures," Conectiv spokeswoman Betty Kennedy said. "We are literally reaching the point where we will not be able to move power to this area, perhaps as early as this year," Kennedy said. "There has been tremendous growth all along the coast in southern New Jersey," Kennedy said. Conectiv's peak demand this summer is expected to reach 2,700 megawatts, a nearly 31 percent increase compared with 2,068 megawatts 10 years ago.

Conectiv has been planning the new transmission line since 2001. Problem is, many people along the 47-mile line between Ocean and Atlantic counties don't want it in their back yards. Homeowners worry it will expose them to electromagnetic fields, which they fear could harm their health. They also worry the lines will significantly diminish their property values. Environmentalists, meanwhile, argue the line should be rerouted to avoid a portion of the Pinelands National Reserve in southern Ocean County. Even the state authority that runs the Garden State Parkway has expressed concerns that the line could sully the experience of driving on the parkway as it traverses picturesque marshes and forests.

[Source: Lawrence Hajna (Courier-Post staff), "Power line plan stirs opposition; Conectiv says shore region desperately needs upgrade", Cherry Hill Courier Post (NJ), February 22, 2004]

February 19, 2004

Oyster Creek announces intent to extend license for 20 years

After gauging the safety, economics and public opinion, Amergen decided late last year to apply for 20-year renewal of operating license. Lacey Township, home to the plant, is enthusiastic that its biggest corporate citizen wants to stay an extra twenty years. Some other groups would prefer the plant to shut down, the sooner the better. See complete coverage at nuclear.com's Oyster Creek - local Township Committee (Ocean NJ) and Township Council (Berkeley NJ) pass resolutions requesting April 2004 decommissioning, citing plant age and other factors. NRC demurs.

August 13, 2003

Cape May County Emergency Management Director Frank McCall updated the board and public on emergency evacuation routes out of Cape May County. Residents have criticized the county for having evacuation routes through Salem County, where three nuclear plants operate.

While McCall maintained that federal and state officials control the evacuation routes, he also challenged claims that the county would need to evacuate if a nuclear accident occurred at Salem. The emergency management director said that the county was well beyond the 10-mile radius around the plants where evacuations would have to occur.

He also said that a nuclear plume would dissipate before reaching Cape May County in all but extreme circumstances. The extreme circumstances? A northwest wind of no more than 4 mph, high humidity and cloud cover, he said.

"And in that case, we'd have 15 hours notification," he said.

[Source: W.F. Keough, "Cape May News", The Press of Atlantic City, August 13, 2003]

June 11, 2003

New Jersey having tough time balancing parkway asthetics with such things as affordable electricity and avoiding brownouts

New Jersey, at risk of electrical brownouts by next year, is having problems siting a needed power line upgrade from Oyster Creek nuclear plant. The utility wants to run above-ground line along Garden State Parkway, but highway authority wants only underground lines, which cost 6X more. The only other alternative is to traverse residential areas, which public opposes.