B.E.S.T.

  
 
 
 

Bellefonte Efficiency & Sustainability Team
 Chapter of BREDL: Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League

  
           


All about RADIATION: www.nirs.org/radiation/radiationhome.htm Please do not leave our children and grandchildren a radioactive legacy in remembrance of our generation!
Join the team working to avoid construction of two, maybe four, proposed Bellefonte, AL nuclear reactors, the addition of a second reactor at Watts Bar, and urge
TVA to adopt more sustainable energy options.
    
Blend your voice with BEST to have your concerns heard. Assure that these units are not    built.

                If you live within the circle at right -->  
                you're within 50 miles of Bellefonte

$INKHOLE

DANGER

  
Who are BREDL & BEST?
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
(BREDL) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, regional, community-based, environmental organization. Their founding principles are earth stewardship, environmental democracy, social justice, and community empowerment.
 
Under the BREDL banner, thousands of concerned citizens have made their mark for environmental justice. Local BREDL chapters have raised public awareness and have won numerous battles against environmentally damaging projects and proposals throughout the southeast, ranging from landfill expansion, high & low-level nuclear dumps, corporate hog farms, four-lane highways, and clear-cut logging in our national forests. BREDL has chapters in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee and Alabama.
 
Citizens concerned with TVA's proposed re-start of the 1970's Bellefonte Nuclear Reactor, joined BREDL and formed BEST, Bellefonte Efficiency & Sustainability Team.
 
With the support of BREDL plus other regional and national groups and experts, BEST will represent the concerns of people who wish to say NO! to these nuclear reactors. Your BEST membership is important. The more people BEST represents, the stronger our voice. Yes! Please join together with BEST because building more nuclear units at Bellefonte is not the answer for our future.

 BEST/BREDL/SACE File Lawsuit Against TVA Nuclear Plant in AL
June 6, 2009 -- Citizens groups announced their legal challenge to stop the proposed Bellefonte nuclear power plant. The groups filed a lawsuit which lists 19 major arguments against nuclear power at a proposed TVA site near Scottsboro, AL.
 
The 176-page petition to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) detailed serious concerns: the emission of radioactive air and water pollution during routine operations and negative impacts on human health, the effects of hot water discharges Tennessee River's fish and other wildlife, the large number of sinkholes and caves near the Bellefonte site indicating unstable terrain, the unsolved problems of nuclear waste, the uncertainties about uranium fuel supply and the potential for terrorist attacks.
 
Recent droughts in the Tennessee Valley have called into question TVA's ability to produce electricity while safeguarding water supply. "We are incredibly concerned about the impacts two more nuclear reactors could have on the Tennessee River, which is already stressed," said Sara Barczak, safe energy director with Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, partnering organization in the intervention. "More reactors mean more water will be wasted along with ratepayer and taxpayer dollars." The petition is posted at www.BREDL.org.

 How BEST to SUPPORT:
If you live within a 50-mile radius and/or are concerned about the proposed Bellefonte AL nuclear reactors, please contact SandyKurtz@comcast.net for connection to the local BEST group, and consider becoming an official BEST member by joining BREDL. BEST conduct regular meetings and plans numerous actions in the upcoming year. Your energy is needed to encourage others (including TVA) to take the sustainable path.
  
How to JOIN:
 www.bredl.org/membership.htm
All donations are tax deductible.
$20 recommended, however any donation
for membership accepted. Make checks
payable to BREDL/BEST and mail to
BREDL, P.O. Box 88,
Glendale Springs, NC 28629.
 
 Contact BEST:
 
Chattanooga Reps:
Bill Reynolds: Cisland@aol.com, or SandyKurtz@comcast.net  423-892-5237

Alabama Rep:
Garry Morgan, gmorg50@hotmail.com
 
For More Info:
BREDL web: www.bredl.org
  

 

   
1) $$$$$$$--RADIOACTIVE MONEY
         $INKHOLE--$$$$$$
 The cost of one 1200 mega watt Westinghouse Nuclear Reactor at Bellefonte is estimated to cost between $8 and 12 billion dollars. Exact costs are unknown as the TVA, Tennessee Valley Authority, refuses to release cost information, even though these have been requested through the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA. TVA is claiming a commercial proprietary privilege. However, this link lists costs as high as $12 billion per reactor, that's $24 billion dollars for two Westinghouse AP1000 Radioactive Nuclear Plants:
 http://scitizen.com/stories/Future-Energies/2008/11/How-Much-Will-New-Nuclear-Power-Plants-Cost
 
  What would YOU do with $82,000?
That is the amount TVA has spent on every man woman and child (55,000 residents) in Jackson County Alabama without generating 1 kilowatt of electric power at the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant $inkhole. Total amount: $4.5 billion dollars without producing 1 watt.
      
2) ACTUAL SINKHOLES NEARBY,
    POROUS LIMESTONE, and
    EARTHQUAKE FAULT LINE
 
 You will notice on the right side of the above picture the
two proposed AP1000 radioactive nuclear reactors. The proposed radiation producing plants are to be located dangerously close to large sinkholes. The entire nuclear site
is located over porous limestone rock which contains caves and sinkholes, this terrain is called Karst Terrain. The Sequatchie fault line, earthquake zone, is located approximately 1 mile west of this radiation-producing site.

3) WATER $INKHOLE
Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama faced a devastating drought in 2007-2008. During this time, Lake Lanier, just outside of Atlanta was nearly drained dry for Atlanta's water needs; Georgia sued TN to move the state line, seeking access to the Tennessee River; and Georgia was involved in water lawsuits with Florida and other states.
 
Lake Lanier Drought 2007-2008
  
Nuclear Reactors threaten our water supply.
All reactors must be located next to large bodies of water to create steam to power the turbines and to continuously cool the fuel rods in the reactor core to prevent meltdown. Plant Hatch, along the Altamaha River in Georgia withdraws 60 million gallons of water per day, returning less than one half, some radioactive, and most very hot, to the water where the plant is situated. Thirty plus million gallons leave the area every day in thermal plumes called the "thermal discharge." This leaves the river and area stressed, and with much less water. The plumes also affect the surrounding environment.
 
4) Private Business & Insurance Won't Pay = can we afford radioactive power?
Nuclear reactors are very expensive and the financial risks are extremely high. Private financial institutions will not build these risky radiation producing power plants; they rely on the taxpayers (U.S. Government) to provide insurance and/or funds for nuclear's radiation-producing reactors:
http://scitizen.com/stories/Future-Energies/2008/11/How-Much-Will-New-Nuclear-Power-Plants-Cost/
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) said advertising which says nuclear energy is "environmentally clean" is inaccurate. The decision by the BBB concluded that nuclear plants cause thermal water pollution and that production of nuclear fuel causes air pollution. BBB told the nuclear industry to stop making such claims.

5) 30,000-YEAR RADIOACTIVE
 WASTE $INKHOLE
     (also a huge DANGER)
 
One radioactive nuclear reactor contains 100 tons of radioactive uranium pellets which are placed in the core of a 1000 mega watt nuclear reactor for its operation. The amount of long-life radioactive material in a 1000 mega watt nuclear power plant is equivalent to the explosion of 1000 Hiroshima sized bombs. (Reference: "Nuclear Power Is Not The Answer" pg 53-54 by Helen Caldicott, New Press)
  
Radioactive spent fuel (nuclear waste) is dangerous and remains radioactive for thousands of years. Exposure to any unshielded radioactive spent fuel could result in instant death. More reactors would mean more radioactive nuclear waste. We still do not have a safe place to store this waste, so right now it is piling up next to reactors. Even if the U.S. could ever decide on a permanent storage site for the radioactive waste, getting it there would require trains loaded with radioactive waste traveling through cities across the United State. One train derailment could place millions of lives at risk. One terrorist attack on such a train could kill millions...
  
France is the biggest user of nuclear power in the world and still has not found a way to deal with all of its waste. Its own government admits it is dumping radioactive nuclear waste in the ocean. Even the newest reactors in France have proven unsafe - last summer radioactive uranium waste leaked from a French nuclear plant into nearby water supplies and the government had to shut down access to two French rivers.
  
Nuclear plants create millions of tons of radioactive waste, some potentially leaching into the environment. The rest of the radioactive waste requires storage until no longer radioactive (estimated at 30,000 years). Often that storage is in containers lasting only 100 years, and at every stage, potential for harmful environmental impact. The great Clean Energy solutions below would be more than competitive and all could be completed long before Bellefonte proposed completion in 2021.
   
Problems plague TVA...
 
1) TVA SPILL ACCIDENT,
        Kingston Coal Ash Spill
 
Stephen Smith, executive director for the Southern Alliance
for Clean Energy says, "There is no room for error
in running a nuclear plant." 
  
A 1982 Congressional report estimated that if a meltdown occurred at the Sequoyah nuclear plant near Chattanooga, it could cause up to 29,000 immediate deaths.

2) poor engineering & design
    flaws at TVA Radioactive
    Nuclear Facilities:
 http://blog.al.com/live/2009/11/tva_nuclear_plant_has_fire_res.html
Chattanooga TN, AP Nov. 12, 2009 - The Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in north Alabama has a fire response problem that could lead to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission civil penalty. In a letter to TVA, the NRC said inspectors this year found that the plant near Athens, Ala., potentially violated four safety standards, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported Thursday (Nov. 12, 2009)...Nuclear critics said the lingering fire safety violations raise questions about the way TVA operates its oldest nuclear facility.
 
Edwin Lyman, senior scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, told the newspaper that most of America's 103 reactors were designed before the NRC adopted its current fire safety standards. He said most don't have the desired cable separation and firewalls between parts of the plants. "For a long time, the NRC was not issuing violations for fire safety issues. But lately the commission seems more determined to enforce these rules, which we believe is long overdue."

 3) ??? MUTANT FISH ???
 

4) CANCER IN CHILDREN
  
Children living near nuclear facilities
face an increased risk of cancer
 
Global Research, April 24, 2008 New Scientist
 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8785
 
AMONG the many environmental concerns surrounding nuclear power plants, there is one that provokes public anxiety like no other: the fear that children living near nuclear facilities face an increased risk of cancer. Though a link has long been suspected, it has never been proven. Now that seems likely to change.
   
Studies in the 1980s revealed increased incidences of childhood leukaemia near nuclear installations at Windscale (now Sellafield), Burghfield and Dounreay in the UK. Later studies near German nuclear facilities found a similar effect. The official response was that the radiation doses from the nearby plants were too low to explain the increased leukaemia...
 
There the issue rested, until a recent flurry of epidemiological studies appeared. Last year, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston carried out a meta-analysis of 17 research papers covering 136 nuclear sites in the UK, Canada, France, the US, Germany, Japan and Spain. The incidence of leukaemia in children under 9 living close to the sites showed an increase of 14 to 21 percent, while death rates from the disease were raised by 5 to 24thr percent, depending on their proximity to the nuclear facilities
 (European Journal of Cancer Care, vol 16, p 355).
  
This was followed by a German study which found 14 cases of leukaemia compared to an expected four cases between 1990 and 2005 in children living within 5 kilometres of the Krümmel nuclear plant near Hamburg, making it the largest leukaemia cluster near a nuclear power plant anywhere in the world (Environmental Health Perspectives, vol 115, p 941).
   
NOTE: According to the normal statistical values, there should have been 48 cases of cancer and 17 cases of leukemia within the above mentioned circle of 5 km around the atomic power plants in Germany. However there were 77 cases of cancer (60% more than expected) and 37 cases of leukemia (117% more than expected)... Although Germany has already decided to phase out nuclear power plants by 2020, this study is now heating up the discussion whether the phase-out of nuclearshould be accelerated.

 5) Terrorist attack
After Katrina hit New Orleans, we heard that National Geographic had featured the most vulnerable U.S. locations in a 1998 issue, with level 4 or stronger hurricane to New Orleans listed number one. Today was face the same situation with potential terrorist attack of nuclear reactors, nuclear waste storage or at almost unlimited locations with the transport of nuclear waste across the country.  Nuclear power reactors create plutonium during their operating cycle - plutonium from which nuclear bombs can be made. Plutonium is one of the most toxic man-made substances known, with a radioactive life of more than 240,000 years.
 
Nuclear Power Invites Terrorism - FBI director Robert S. Mueller said, before the Select Committee on Intelligence in the US Senate in Feb. 23005, "Another area we consider target rich and vulnerable is the energy sector, particularly nuclear power plants." Storing dangerous, highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel outside at the reactors in casks or transporting it across the country presents an inviting terrorist target and puts all affected communities at risk. Nuclear power is the only form of energy that could cause millions of deaths. Every nuclear plant stores radioactive waste, and trains or transports carrying radioactive waste becomes terrorist targets. This is the number one vulnerability in America right now.   

(rather than Nuclear):

B.E.S.T. OPTIONS:

   
 Nuclear Power plants suck up valuable dollars available for Sustainable Energy projects.
 New technology is on our doorstep and knocking to enter. These include:

ENERGY CONSERVATION,
& ENERGY EFFICIENCY... money spent on Energy Efficiency has been proven to equal or better money spent on new nuclear and coal power plants (without the radioactive emissions, radioactive waste, coal ash ponds, climate change pollutants, etc). TVA says that reductions in demand and energy consumption could be achieved through four key action areas -- energy efficiency programs, demand response, end-use generation and internal reductions. TVA says they recognize the
need to make a strong, long-term commitment to implement cost-effective energy efficiency improvements along with a broad education
and outreach effort on benefits and opportunities
for energy efficiency: www.tva.gov/news/releases/aprjun08/draft_plans.htm  		 COMBINED CYCLE NATURAL GAS PLANT... an easy to implement (right away) and
good answer for sustainable energy is Combined Cycle Natural Gas, converting the abundant natural gas into electricity and providing a temporary solution while other sustainable energy solutions are developed.  TVA studied conversion to Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) Units, and this was TVA's preferred option, see Executive Summary: www.tva.gov/environment/reports/bellefonte
The Natural Gas plant is much less expensive with considerably fewer risks than radioactive nuclear reactors. And the Combined Cycle Natural Gas plant costs are less than $900 million vs. $9-12 billion for similar energy output:  www.allbusiness.com/energy-utilities/utilities-industry-electric-power/12609408-1.html
Largest Solar Power Plant Opens In FL... The Desoto Utility project cost
$150 million to build, providing
25 megawatts, supplying power
to just 3,000 homes, a sliver of the 4 million-plus accounts served by the state’s largest electric utility. Overall, the U.S. still trails other nations in building photovoltaic plants.
 
NOTE: A 1200 mega watt solar plant of a larger but similar design would cost only $7.5 billion dollars (vs. $9+billion) and with no worry of nuclear waste.
 
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/largest-solar-power-plant-opens-in-fl

IN THE NEXT 5 - 10 YEARS... (long before Bellefonte is finished)
ALGAE (not Corn) FOR BIO-FUEL while
REVERSING GLOBAL WARMING... Algae multiplies so quickly and produces so much oxygen per square foot that ponds with a total surface area five times the size of Colorado (1994 data) would be enough to start reversing our growing CO2 problem. Corn nets 81 gallons bio-diesel / acre. Soy nets 41 gallons / acre. Algae yields as high as 20,000+ gallons / acre. Enough biodiesel to replace all petroleum transportation fuels could be grown in 9.5 million acres - far less than the 450 million acres for US crop farming, and over 500 million acres for farm animal grazing. Approx. $308 billion would build sufficient algae farms to move the US from dependence on foreign oil. Thereafter, the operating costs would equate to $46.2 billion per year to replace the $250+ billion we spend yearly on crude oil from foreign  countries. Not counting the annual $40 billion the US government spends in defense of mideast oil. And Algae REVERSES
Global Warming!!!  See website: www.Algae4oil.com   www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html 		Solar Power Plant to
Orbit Earth... Capturing sunlight via an orbiting platform and beaming electrical power to Earth has the potential to supply endless energy, help stave off climate change and avoid future conflicts over oil, according to a new study led by the National Security Space Office, Department of Defense. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin chairs the spaceflight advocacy group ShareSpace Foundation. The consensus of 170 collaborating experts worldwide estimates that in a single year, satellites in a continuously sunlit orbit could generate an amount of energy nearly equivalent to the total energy available in global oil reserves. Mark Hopkins, senior vice president of the National Space Society, maintains that making this one move could transform the United States into an energy-exporting nation. “It is the largest energy option available to us today…more power potentially than all of the other power sources combined,” says Hopkins. For years, technology and cost hurdles stood in the way. Now Charles Miller, director of Space Frontier Foundation, believes that with the proper public and private support, the space-based solar power industry could take off within 10 years.  
Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists...
A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim.
 
The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot, about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways around the globe. Systems could be sited on river beds or suspended in the ocean. The scientists behind the technology, which has been developed in research funded by the US government, say that generating power in this way would potentially cost only around 3.5p per kilowatt hour, compared to about 4.5p for wind energy and between 10p and 31p for solar power. The technology would require up to 50 times less ocean acreage than wave power generation…. "If we could harness 0.1 per cent of the energy in the ocean, we could support the energy needs of 15 billion people." Because the parts only oscillate slowly, the technology is likely to be less harmful to aquatic wildlife than dams or water turbines, and there's less interference with shipping, fishing and tourism.  
www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/renewableenergy/3535012
 /Ocean-currents-can-power-the-world-say-scientists.html
  
Robert Kennedy TOUTS NATIONAL SMART ELECTRIC GRID WITH WIND AND SOLAR FOR 100% U.S. ELECTRIC.. Robert Kennedy Jr. at UTC, February 2009, synopsis: 
 
Wind now is competitive with coal. With a national electrical grid in place, there's enough wind in 4 states, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Texas, to replace all electric power in America including electric cars (which charge overnight during off-peak hours). And there's enough sun coming into the American Southwest to replace all electric power in America including electric cars. (One "Solar Farm" or "Mirror Farm" in the desert heats turbines and can equal energy output of a nuclear power plant).  With a U.S. national SMART GRID ($180 billion) to both transport nationally and store electricity when needed, we could totally eliminate COAL and NUCLEAR - plus electric cars charged overnight from clean electricity created by wind / sun would have NO CO2 emissions at all) eliminating much of the current oil usage.  Entrepreneurs would pay for the Wind Farms and Mirror/Sun Farms
IF the U.S. government is smart enough to see this opportunity and create a national smart electrical grid.


For more Smart Answers - plus ongoing information about TVA's policies and nuclear activities,
please see BEST member Garry Morgan's amazing blog: http://arklite.blogspot.com
  

The FUEL Film
The FUEL Film has ALL the answers we need to replace oil - AND solve global warming. Watch these YouTube previews! Then SHARE!!!
  

The FUEL Film Official Trailer
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsP5EmMrTqk

The FUEL Film - Cancer Alley
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzCp8hla6Vg

The FUEL Film - Louisianna
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Pzz44fAoE

The FUEL Film - Wind & Solar
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmcm-fKXs2k

The FUEL Film - Algae
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz3ruTj0KYw

The FUEL Film website
http://www.thefuelfilm.com/

  

 We need SMART, SUSTAINABLE and CLEAN Energy Answers placed on line to serve
 the citizens of the Tennessee River Valley area with safe, efficient, electrical power.

 Encourage the TVA and your elected representatives to support Energy Efficiency and true  
 Sustainable Energy Solutions for our future. Our children and grandchildren deserve safe, 
 clean energy, not 30,000-year radioactive poisons.
 


 
B.E.S.T.

Bellefonte Efficiency & Sustainability Team
 Chapter of BREDL: Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League