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NJPIRG Petitions To Close
Oyster Creek
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SAFETY THREAT—NJPIRG helped organize a legal intervention on the
safety of Oyster Creek’s containment liner, which 10 years ago was within
.1 inch of safety margins.
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Oyster Creek’s operating license
ends in 2009, but the owner, Exelon,
wants to extend the license
for twenty years—putting the
public health and safety of New
Jerseyans at risk for an additional
two decades.
This summer, NJPIRG continued
our longstanding effort to close
the plant on schedule by working
in a coalition that includes the
Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic
to legally intervene in the license
extension proceeding.
Our primary argument in the case
concerns corrosion of the plant’s
containment liner, a steel structure
surrounding the reactor that is
designed to prevent radioactivity
from contaminating the community
in the event of an accident.
According to the most recent tests
conducted in the mid-1990s, the
liner’s thickness is within 0.1” of
critical safety margins.
“As the oldest operating nuclear
plant in the country, Oyster Creek’s
time is up. We should not experiment
with safety measures at
Oyster Creek,” said Adam Garber,
NJPIRG’s consumer associate. “We
need Gov. Corzine to support retiring
the plant on schedule.”
NJPIRG participated in a series
of meetings with Gov. Corzine’s
policy advisors and the Department
of Environmental Protection
to raise our concerns.
In June, NJPIRG staff joined actor
and political activist Alec Baldwin
and nuclear security expert Bob
Alvarez in a meeting with DEP
Commissioner Lisa Jackson, urging
the DEP and Gov. Corzine to take
on the federal Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to ensure the plant
closes on schedule.
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