Sierra Club pushes back on potential Duane Arnold restart, cites health concerns

As NextEra Energy inches closer to restarting its shuttered nuclear energy plant in Palo, environmental experts, lawyers and advocates urged caution this week, saying a revived plant could pose health risks for Iowans.

Joseph Mangano, executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project said that as discussions about reopening the Duane Arnold nuclear plant have unfolded, information about the impact the facility’s waste could have on human health has been omitted from conversations.

The Radiation and Public Health Project is a nonprofit organization that studies the relationship between low-level nuclear radiation and public health.

If the plant were to restart, Mangano said that more than 100 new isotopes — variations of a chemical element — would be created from the radioactive waste produced by the facility.

“People need to know if there is a health risk, an actual health risk to restarting the plant, and that should be a major part of the discussion,” said Mangano, one speaker at a press conference hosted by the Sierra Club on Monday. The discussion explored the health and environmental effects that could result from restarting the Duane Arnold plant.

If the plant restarts, Mangano said more people could be exposed to radioactive chemicals, which would affect young adults, children and fetuses more than older adults.

“Younger people are much more sensitive to a dose of radiation compared to older adults,” he said, adding that proximity to a nuclear power plant may affect infant birth weights, premature births and cancer rates.

Bill Orlove, spokesperson for the Duane Arnold Energy Center, said the health and safety of the public “is always our top priority.”

“All nuclear plants, including Duane Arnold, have rigorous monitoring protocols and layers of protection in place to ensure the safety of employees and the public, including radiation monitors,” Orlove said. “The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sets safety standards that are continuously reviewed and implemented at the facilities. Highly trained experts run America’s nuclear plants. With the NRC’s oversight and layers of safety precautions, a nuclear plant is one of the safest industrial environments in the United States.”

The Sierra Club’s press conference comes as NextEra continues to work toward restarting the nuclear energy plant.

In August, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved NextEra’s request for a waiver to allow the company to consolidate its grid interconnection rights. NextEra told the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission it is conducting an environmental report, which should be submitted this fall.

Duane Arnold, a single-unit boiling water reactor, entered service in 1975. It was decommissioned in 2020 amid unfavorable economics for nuclear power. The closure was hastened by the August 2020 derecho, which caused extensive damage to the facility’s cooling towers.

Orlove said a final decision has not been made on whether to revive the facility, but NextEra is “taking the steps necessary to restart Iowa’s only nuclear plant.”

He said those steps include completing a comprehensive engineering study, talking with potential customers and recruiting the employees who would be necessary for restart, like licensed nuclear operators.

Construction of data centers in the U.S. has been driving increased demand for electricity across the country. Iowa is home to more than two dozen data centers, and two are under construction in Cedar Rapids.

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Despite that increased demand, Wally Taylor, conservation and legal chair of the Sierra Club’s Iowa Chapter said, “nuclear power is not the answer to our 21st century energy needs.”

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“Nuclear power is not clean or renewable, as the nuclear industry claims,” Taylor said during Monday’s press conference. “Nuclear reactor fuel is made from uranium, which is mined from the ground, just like oil, gas or coal. No one refers to those energy sources as renewable, nor is nuclear clean.”

Taylor said that the uranium mined and processed to produce nuclear power leaves behind waste and harmful chemicals. At nuclear plants, he said a radioactive, hydrogen-based material called “tritium” can leak from facilities and remains radioactive for “hundreds of thousands of years.” There isn’t a way to dispose of it.

Restarting Duane Arnold “is a risky proposition,” Taylor said.

“I can't say how much of a mistake it would be, how ambitious it is and how unlikely that (NextEra) really will be able to get it going again,” said Don Safer, co-chair of the Sierra Club’s Nuclear Free Team and small modular reactor specialist. “If they do, it could have devastating consequences.”

Orlove said restarting Duane Arnold would contribute 600 megawatts of generation toward the Trump administration’s goal of adding 5,000 megawatts of nuclear energy by 2030.

“Restarting a nuclear power plant is a serious undertaking, and we have a dedicated team working diligently to pull together all the necessary pieces to return Duane Arnold Energy Center to service,” Orlove said. “The plant’s possible restart will bring millions of dollars in revenue to the county, the Cedar Rapids Community School District and other districts to fund critical programs and services for residents. It would also bring hundreds of permanent, high-quality, well-paying jobs to the area.”

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. She is also a contributing writer for the Ag and Water Desk, an independent journalism collaborative focusing on the Mississippi River Basin.

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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com