Interesting story here by the Tennessean newspaper:
ROCKWOOD, Tenn. — Activists and whistle-blowers who first fought efforts 40 years ago to build nuclear power plants are re-emerging for a new fight as momentum for more reactors grows in what is being called a “nuclear renaissance.”
Joining them is a new era of activists, many brought to the anti-nuclear battle from conservation arenas that include solar power and other renewable resources.
One of those returning veteran activists is Ann Harris, the 68-year-old mother of all TVA whistle-blowers, who came forward in the 1980s and 1990s with complaints about what she saw as safety problems at the agency’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant.
Over the years, she has suffered harassment and filed numerous lawsuits against TVA. She also uncovered a document in which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had agreed to turn names of whistle-blowers over to TVA.
Now, as the move toward more nuclear construction takes hold, her activism is being rekindled. And her message is that nuclear is a problem dressed up as a solution.
“This is not a nuclear renaissance,” she said last week, her large frame filling a chair in the living room of her one-story rural home. “This is a nuclear relapse. It’s dangerous and it’s expensive.”
Energy-related documents were stuffed in boxes that lay near photos of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Books with titles such as Nuclear Waste Disposal Crisis dotted bookshelves.
“The South is targeted to be dumped on,” she said.
To be sure, nuclear activity, particularly in the southern United States, is increasing dramatically. Completion of a second reactor at Watts Bar, about 30 miles from Harris’ home between Knoxville and Chattanooga, is under way for $2.5 billion, on top of billions already spent. TVA and its partners have requested a license to build two nuclear reactors at TVA’s Bellefonte site, 20 miles south of Tennessee’s border in Alabama.
Utilities around the country have requested dozens of licenses to build plants, and one company is trying to get permission to bring radioactive waste from Italy and possibly elsewhere to Tennessee.