State panel blasted for being inattentive to safety concerns at Oyster Creek

Jan 9 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Bob Vosseller Asbury Park Press, N.J.

Area environmentalists clashed Monday with a three-member state panel about key safety issues at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant.

"Gov. Chris Christie needs to use his bully pulpit and lead the charge to ramp up safety at Oyster Creek," said David Pringle, campaign director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation.

Pringle said the panel's first meeting should have been held a year ago and that it should have provided a presentation concerning the status of the Lacey plant and details of Sandy-related flooding and whether it caused any electrical system problems, or penetrated the dry casks storing radioactive waste on site.

The comments were made during a standing room only session held at the Ocean County Administration Building on Hooper Avenue. This was the panel's first meeting and was designed to gather public input.

Fourteen members of the public spoke during the 90-minute meeting and each were critical of either the power plant's operation or oversight procedures.

The Oyster Creek Safety Advisory Panel was formed to review the safety performance of the nuclear power plant on May 6, 2011, and to assist the state Department of Environmental Protection with the evaluation of the safe operation, decommissioning planning and cessation of operations at the nuclear plant, which will close in 2019.

The panel includes Bob Martin, the commissioner of the DEP, Edward Dickson, director of the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, and Adam Cohen, chief operations officer at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Each were present for the meeting.

Martin said the meeting was originally scheduled in November, but was rescheduled because of superstorm Sandy, and that the plant met all safety protocols and followed all safety procedures during the storm.

Oyster Creek spokeswoman Suzanne D'Ambrosio was present at the meeting Monday but did not make any comments.

"While Hurricane Sandy generated record-breaking storm surges, Oyster Creek Generating Station is a robust and well-fortified facility, designed to withstand such events," D'Ambrosio said Tuesday.

Environmentalists disagreed with Martin's conclusion.

"I beg to differ that everything went as planned," said Janet Tauro of Grandmothers, Mothers, and More for Energy Safety, or GRAMMES. She is also the chairwoman of the board of directors of NJ Environmental Federation.

She noted a failure with the plant's emergency siren system during Sandy.

"Hurricane Sandy was a wake up call on just how vulnerable this plant is," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

Pine Beach resident Joan Rubin said the plant was "two feet of water away from flooding (during Sandy), which would have created a major problem." She said the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which, regulates the power plant was "not taking into account our fears."

In the seven years left of the plant's operation, Martin said: "We will make sure that they (Exelon Nuclear, owner of Oyster Creek) are not cutting corners."

Bob Vosseller: 732-557-5623; Rvosseller@ njpressmedia.com