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Vermont’s comprehensive plan for renewable energy and energy efficiency

Vt. to seek 90 percent renewable energy by 2050 Bloomberg, By DAVE GRAM, 18 Dec 11 MONTPELIER, VT. Gov. Peter Shumlin wants the state to satisfy 90 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2050, largely eliminating its reliance on fossil fuels.

Shumlin joined Public Service Commissioner Elizabeth Miller and other officials on Thursday to unveil a comprehensive energy plan that lifts what had been a moratorium on construction of renewable energy projects on state land; calls for more use of electric vehicles coupled with energy efficiency in the electric sector; says large-scale hydroelectric power like that imported from Canada should be considered renewable; and calls for expansion of piped natural gas
in the state. Continue reading →

December 19, 2011 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

French and Japanese governments have vested interest in the nuclear industry

Many question whether the Japanese or French governments are telling the whole truth. After all, they’ve invested heavily in nuclear power.

Any bad publicity could turn the tide against building new plants, or even launch protests against keeping the existing ones running. So estimates of radiation, damage, and long-term effects are kept small, often hidden from the public.

California, a state just waiting for a major earthquake to occur, doesn’t need any more nuclear power plants.

Oil pipeline beats more nuclear power plants, Whittier Daily News, By Steve Scauzillo 12/17/2011  Environmentalists are against the building of a pipeline that would move crude oil from Canada to refineries in Texas because it will add to global warming. They have a point. More oil refining adds to the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere, or greenhouse gases, which exacerbates the crisis of climate change that is already under way. Plus, the process of separating the oil from the tar sands is more polluting than previous extraction methods…..
I have to look at the alternatives and wonder which is the lesser evil. One of those – more nuclear power plants – is an energy option that should not be pursued. Continue reading →

December 19, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

two year continuing fall in uranium companies’ share prices

Fukushima affects uranium stocks, Star Tribune, 18 DecShare prices of global uranium majors continue to suffer the aftereffects of an earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant last March.
That’s the assessment of Sydney, Australia-based Resource Capital Research, which noted share prices for selected companies have declined substantially.
An analysis noted that Cameco shares declined by nearly 50 percent over the past year, while Uranium One shares had dropped by nearly 45 percent. Energy Resources of Australia stock fell by 82.1 percent.
“The Merril Lynch Uranium Equity Index (a global basket of uranium equities) is down 2 percent over the past month, down 7 percent over three months and down 54 percent over the past 12 months,” the firm said in a report earlier this month. …..
The uranium spot price was pegged at $52.25, down from $67.75 prior to the Fukushima disaster. In the near-term, Resource Capital Research said Fukushima will continue to weigh on the market, “including Germany’s decision to
close reactors and the potential for disposal of surplus utility inventory.”…..

December 19, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Financial vested interests in nuclear weapons and war

No more bombs’ says anti-nuclear advocate Smart Planet By  | December 15, 2011, MELBOURNE 

“…… Smart Planet: What can we do to get closer to achieving a global treaty on nuclear disarmament?

Tim Wright : We need to look at financial vested interests in maintaining nuclear weapons. Governments spend about US$105 billion every year on maintaining and modernising their nuclear forces. Much of this goes to private enterprises. We need to discourage banks and other financial institutions from investing in companies that are involved in such work. Divestment is something that anyone can work on — encouraging people to invest their superannuation in funds that refuse to support nuclear weapons production. People can also take part in our Bombs No More community campaign, transforming images of nuclear bombs into something peaceful. We call it citizen disarmament. Continue reading →

December 17, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear bombing of Hiroshima immoral and unnecessary

the Americans and British had long crossed the moral frontier about terror-bombing civilians…

The Americans didn’t want the Japanese to surrender before they had a chance to drop the bomb.

Weapon of choice, Review By Hamish Mcdonald,December 17, 2011 “……. Now Paul Ham, already established as the best of Australia’s popular war historians, has painted more detail on a wider canvas. Through individual stories, he doesn’t spare us the horrifying reality on the
ground. Almost as excruciatingly, he takes us through the practical and moral decisions about using the bomb……..
Many of the scientists who had urged the development of the atomic bomb to pre-empt Hitler became opposed to its use against Japan. Some petitioned for a demonstration explosion instead. ….. Continue reading →

December 17, 2011 Posted by | history, Religion and ethics, resources - print, USA | Leave a comment

Fukushima nuclear plant nowhere near ‘under control’ despite govt’s claims

The nuclear power lobbyists are the ones who can claim credit for stabilizing their own situation and getting the government under control.

 Fukushima power plant is far from ‘cold’,Deutsche Welle, Alexander Freund , 16 Dec 11 http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6682457,00.htm The Japanese government has claimed to have reached a cold shutdown in Fukushima. But experts are skeptical and believe it could take another 40 years to get the situation under control. Headlines from Japan surely sound good: Fukushima is under control, the dilapidated nuclear power plant is stable.

But these headlines are nothing more than a euphemism. The situation at Fukushima is nowhere near under control. Continue reading →

December 16, 2011 Posted by | Japan, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Unreliable claim that Fukushima nuclear plant is now ‘stable’

TEPCO has not been able to take direct measurements of the temperatures at the bottoms of the containment vessels, and the site is still too radioactive for the fuel rods’ status to be visually confirmed.

Radiation levels are too high for people to get close to the reactors, leaving engineers and scientists to make important judgments using computer simulations, scattered bits of data and guesses.

Skeptics cast doubt on Fukushima status, even as Japan declares nuclear reactors ‘stable’ Christian Science Monitor, By Arthur Bright, December 16, 2011 Japan’s government declared that the damaged reactors from the Fukushima disaster were ‘stable.’ Not everyone is convinced.   The Japanese government announced that the Fukushima nuclear complex, heavily damaged by the March 11 tsunami in the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, is now stable.  But serious doubts remain about Fukushima’s status, as officials remain unable to confirm the status of the reactors’ fuel and an undercover report impugns the clean-up efforts’ efficacy.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told a government nuclear emergency meeting that “The reactors have reached a state of cold shutdown” and are “stable,”
reports Reuters.  Mr. Noda and his environment and
nuclear crisis minister, Goshi Hosono, both said that the situation at
the plant is under control , though the clean-up may still take decades.  The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which operates the reactor and has been leading the clean-up, had been attempting to achieve cold shutdown before the end of the year. Continue reading →

December 16, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, Japan, spinbuster | Leave a comment

New nuclear plants wildly over-priced. Calvert Cliffs plan for new unit is dead

Report: EDF may drop plans for Calvert Cliffs reactor, Baltimore Sun DECEMBER 16, 2011 This is the brilliant-report-of-the-painfully-obvious headline of the day: “EDF Considers Dropping New Nuclear in Maryland,” from Dow Jones. The French EDF’s plans for a third nuclear unit at Calvert Cliffs have been deader than Lehman Brothers for more than a year.

The French company’s partner, Constellation Energy, pulled out of the deal. They couldn’t reach an agreement with Washington on subsidies to build the plant. With the plunge in natural gas prices and the failure of federal climate-change legislation, new nuclear plants, with all their complexity and financial risk, are wildly overpriced. The Fukushima disaster in Japan has made nuclear energy politically incorrect again…. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/hancock/blog/2011/12/report_edf_could_drop_plans_fo.html

December 16, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Sanctions against Iran’s central bank may bring about global economic repercussions

What Happened to Obama’s Nuclear Option? In a showdown over how to deal with Iran, it appears that the president has bowed to Congress. Mother Jones. By Hamed Aleaziz  Dec. 16, 2011 Now that the essential Defense Authorization Bill has
passed through the House and Senate, it carries with it a hard-line amendment that would level sanctions against Iran’s central bank. The policy, experts say, could not only inflict pain on Iran for its nuclear weapons ambitions, but also potentially cause global economic
repercussions. The White House has been against the amendment. Congress overwhelmingly voted for it.

If signed into law by President Obama, the new sanctions will be enforced against foreign institutions in Europe and around the world that do business with the Central Bank of Iran. Continue reading →

December 16, 2011 Posted by | Iran, politics, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Three major companies stepping back from uranium mining

After Fukushima, suddenly the expected darling of local mining investment, has turned into a pariah. Both the Areva and Marenica statements refer to events after Fukushima, highlighting the uncertainty that has entered the industry since the nuclear disaster in Japan……

Perhaps it is a case of both Kalahari Mineral and Extract Resources taking what they can get and opting out of an industry that is fast turning into a lame duck.  [or a dead cat – I haven’t got a picture of a lame duck]

Namibia Economist 16 Dec 11 When three major players in one industry, all announce substantial shifts in strategy and/or focus in a very short span, it signals a fundamental change in the underlying assumptions. These past two weeks saw one surprise after another as first Extract Resources, then Marenica, and finally Areva announced a dramatic turn in their strategies which probably points to a change of heart and a significant reappraisal of prospects and strategies. Continue reading →

December 16, 2011 Posted by | AFRICA, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium in surplus, prices to stay low

Resource Capital Research — December Quarter 2011: Global Uranium Companies Equity Research Report , Dec 16, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Key Points
…Uranium Market:  The dynamics driving the near term outlook remain
dominated by the
flow-on effects of Fukushima, including Germany’s decision to close
reactors.
—  Uranium traders suggest caution going into 1H12, with potential for
utility surplus inventory dispositions to remain a feature of the
market. The spot uranium price is expected to trade around the low
US$50s/lb 1Q12 and possibly dip below.

December 16, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Company pulls out of uranium milling project in Colorado

Cotter Corp. won’t try to rebuild uranium milling program in Cañon City, must move toward final clean up 12/16/2011  By Bruce Finley The Denver Post Cotter Corp. has decided it is “no longer economic” to process uranium at its contaminated Colorado uranium mill and will move toward clean-up of the site next to Cañon City along the Arkansas River.

A letter from Cotter president Amory Quinn says Cotter “will not seek to renew” the radioactive materials license Cotter has from the state health department. Cotter plans to decommission and decontaminate the mill site and to request license termination, Quinn said in the Dec. 12 letter. http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_19562999#ixzz1gp8Ndp4u

December 16, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

White polyester box covers Unit 1 of Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

A Circus Tent for Fukushima Daiichi? WSJ, DECEMBER 15, 2011, The polyester cover erected over Unit 1 of Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station was fashioned in the shape of atight-fitting, non-descript, white box. Continue reading →

December 16, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | 1 Comment

USA’s sorry nuclear record of recent safety violations and “near misses”

Risk of nuclear energy too high, Syracuse.com, By Jessica Maxwell , December 15, 2011, The Post-Standard  Marvin Fertel’s letter on behalf of the Nuclear Energy Institute (Dec. 11) paints a rosy picture of the U.S. nuclear industry.

It’s reMarkable, given the report released Friday, Dec. 9 by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., detailing collusion on the part of four Nuclear Regulatory Commission members — with strong nuclear industry ties and backing — to impede the work of the NRC Near-Term Task Force on Fukushima and delay or prevent NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko’s attempts to strengthen safety regulations post-Fukushima.
Just a few days earlier (Dec. 6), Jaczko voiced strong concerns that “U.S. nuclear plant operators have become complacent” in the wake of Fukushima. The source of his worries? A series of incidents this year at multiple U.S. reactors related to human error, botched repairs and inadequate preparedness for natural disasters: workers exposed to higher than normal levels of radiation at Cooper Nuclear Station in Nebraska and Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Ohio; the Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida remains closed after a series of failed repairs and upgrades (and is likely to remain closed for a total of at least five years); Fort Calhoun in Nebraska remains shut down following severe flooding; and the North Anna plant in Virginia only recently reopened after being shut down for three months due to damage sustained during the Northeast earthquake that exposed it to seismic activity reportedly twice what it was designed to withstand.
The NRC has conducted 20 special inspections this year (prompted by site-specific concerns) — more than at any point in recent memory. For the first time in over a decade, several U.S. nuclear plants were shut down at the same time. In 2010, the NRC documented 14 “near-misses” (significant safety- and security-related events) at U.S. reactors. None of these facts bode well for the nuclear industry’s ability to provide safe and reliable energy.

The nuclear industry isn’t willing to accept the most basic lesson of Fukushima — best expressed by former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan who, in July, announced Japan’s transition to conservation andrenewable energy, concluding simply, “the risk of nuclear energy is too high.” http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2011/12/risk_of_nuclear_energy_too_hig.html

December 16, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

High renewable energy start up costs, later fall, because sun and wind are free

converting to a lower-carbon economy would increase electricity prices until around 2030, because renewable energy technology requires high start-up costs. They would fall after that, because fuel sources such as sun and wind are free.

Renewables need not cost more: EU energy chief By Barbara Lewis, BRUSSELS Dec 15, 2011  (Reuters) – A shift to renewable energy would ultimately cost around the same as business as usual and the EU needs to make progress on setting a 2030 target for greener fuel soon, the bloc’s energy commissioner said.

Guenther Oettinger was laying out the European Union’s latest road map for mostly eliminating carbon from the fuel mix by 2050 and guiding investors beyond the Commission’s existing set of energy goals. Continue reading →

December 16, 2011 Posted by | EUROPE, renewable | Leave a comment

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