150 protesters rally against nuke plant

Apr 2 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Peter Roper The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

It had all the trademarks of a protest rally Friday afternoon -- a crowd carrying hand-lettered signs against nuclear power, guitar players singing folk songs and people gathering signatures on petitions.

Call them Puebloans for Smart Energy -- the impromptu coalition of area residents who do not want the Pueblo County commissioners to rezone land in the eastern county as a possible site for a nuclear power plant. That request has come from local attorney Don Banner and if Banner's zeal for nuclear energy has accomplished anything in the past month, it has sown the seeds of a fast-growing opposition movement.

"I do not want a nuclear power plant in my backyard," retired teacher Carole Partin told the crowd of about 150 people on the steps of the Pueblo County Courthouse late Friday afternoon. "Not here, not now and not ever."

The crowd repeated Partin's phrase with delight and it became the recurring cheer from the rally crowd during other speakers, too

Pueblo County's flirtation with nuclear power has a surreal quality to it. The issue is here only because of one man's plan to create a Colorado Energy Park on 24,000 acres in the eastern part of the county, and that plan has attracted the lightning of controversy only because Banner has made the central feature a nuclear power plant.

The plant exists only in his vision at the moment, but the commissioners listened to his land-use request two weeks ago during three days of emotional public hearings. They've scheduled a meeting April 25 to give him their answer.

As one man at Friday's rally said with some disbelief, "I can't believe anyone would even be suggesting this given what we've all seen happen in Japan over the past few weeks."

That's one view, but opponents of the power plant idea are taking Banner's proposal very seriously.

Dr. Bob Kinsey of the Colorado Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility said it would take constant political pressure to make certain the commissioners do not approve Banner's request. He said every nuclear power plant is a source of deadly radiation and contamination.

"There are 50 workers in Japan right now who know they are going to die," Kinsey told the crowd, referring to the efforts to control the radiation leaks at the damaged reactors in Fukushima. "They know they've had enough radiation, but they keep on working anyway, trying to stop that disaster.

"You have to make sure the county commissioners say 'no' to this, because Pueblo is just like everywhere else. Just like Fukushima is everywhere."

Paul Wright of Avondale said the commissioners only need to focus on the fact that the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires all power plants to keep the highly radioactive spent fuel rods on site.

"So the question is, do you want a nuclear waste site in Pueblo County? Because if you asked most people that question, they'd say 'no,' "? Wright told the crowd. "I'm old enough to remember when Japan wouldn't even let a nuclear-powered (U.S. Navy) ship in its harbors. But those poor people have had to accept nuclear power because they don't have the resources and look what's happened."

Chris Nicoll, who led the voter campaign to ban public smoking in Pueblo, said he was investigating whether county residents could force a public vote on the question -- especially if the commissioners should approve Banner's request.

"I'm hoping that doesn't happen. I'm trusting them to make the right decision," he said. "But we need to be ready."

Nicoll also noted that the nuclear power plant closest to Colorado -- the Wolf Creek plant in Burlington, Kan. -- has been cited as an example of a community enjoying the financial benefits and high tax revenues.

Nicoll challenged that picture, saying the plant is being targeted by the NRC for safety problems.

The Wolf Creek plant was mentioned in a congressional hearing Friday where NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the nation's 104 reactors operate under close oversight. The NRC has a five-step scale of oversight -- from one to five -- and three plants nationally are at the third level, requiring increased NRC supervision. The fifth level requires a mandatory shutdown.

According to the NRC website, Wolf Creek is at level three because it has had six incidents in the past year where the plant reactor had to be taken off-line for operational or mechanical problems.

"A reactor does not have to operate perfectly to operate safely," NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said Friday. "The purpose of the increased supervision at Wolf Creek is to eliminate any problems."

Organizers of Friday's rally said they intend to have another community meeting in Avondale at 6 p.m. Thursday at the McHarg Community Center.