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There is a diplomatic avenue that would prevent war with Iran

Now, the West is all but isolated. Most non-Westerners would prefer to see Iran treated like other treaty parties – allowed to enrich uranium in return for intrusive monitoring by IAEA inspectors.

 this gathering crisis could be avoided by a deal along the following lines – Iran would accept top-notch IAEA safeguards in return for being allowed to continue enriching uranium. In addition, Iran would volunteer some confidence-building measures to show it has no intention of making nuclear weapons.

Iran deal would allow West to make U-turn on highway to war, The Age, January 25, 2012 There is little realism behind the demand that Tehran give up its capacity to enrich uranium, writes Peter Jenkins.

The Iranian nuclear controversy is reaching a critical juncture. On Monday, the European Union agreed on an oil embargo as part of sanctions against the country. On Sunday, Britain, the US and France sent warships through the Strait of Hormuz. Recent months have seen a big rise in the twin risks of military action and grave damage to the world economy. This is the consequence of what I believe to be a great diplomatic overbid – the West’s demand that Iran surrender its capacity to enrich uranium. Continue reading →

January 25, 2012 Posted by | Iran, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The search for bodies near Fukushima can at last begin

Falling radiation permits search for bodies near Fukushima, ABC Radio News,  January 24, 2012 Reporter Mark Willacy reports from Fukushima TONY EASTLEY: With radiation levels near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant slowly falling Japanese police are only now carrying out detailed searches for bodies near the facility. About 200 people from communities around the plant remain missing after a tsunami slammed into that stretch of coastline in March last year. Continue reading →

January 25, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

USA’s practically unsolvable dilemma about nuclear wastes

 The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future’s report is arriving in an election year, a time when Congress has traditionally been unwilling to take decisive action. And the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, which instructed the Energy Department to pursue a repository, has historically been interpreted to forbid establishment of an interim storage place until a final site is established.


But with a final resting place more elusive than ever, the three groups believe that Congress or the Energy Department should be moving in that direction.

Wanted: Parking Space for Nuclear Waste  http://green.blogs.nytimes com/2012/01/24/wanted-parking-space-for-nuclear-waste/   NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD,  January 24, 2012,   When the Obama administration killed a plan to create a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the government established a “blue-ribbon commission” to study what to do next. Its final report is due on Sunday, and this week three organizations began a public lobbying campaign for several of the recommendations that they assume the commission will make.  Yucca was supposed to store nuclear waste, but the emphasis now is on “managing” it, especially the waste at scattered locations where reactors no longer operate.

At places like Maine Yankee, Connecticut Yankee andRancho Seco in California, reactors have been torn down, but the fuel remains in small concrete-and-steel silos that require maintenance and monitoring by a guard force. Sometimes the presence of nuclear waste prevents re-use of the sites by industry.  Continue reading →

January 25, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Florida lawsuit challenges upfront payments for nuclear power reactors

Energy advocates: State nuclear cost recovery bill is unconstitutional, Miami Herald, 24 Jan 12,  The state law that has allowed Florida Power & Light and ProgressEnergy to charge customers $1 billion so far for speculative nuclear power plants is unconstitutional, a group of energy advocates claims in a lawsuit before the state’s highest court.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is asking the Florida Supreme Court to throw out the 2006 law and reverse a decision by state regulators who have allowed the companies to charge customers for upgrading existing nuclear power plants and for the pre-construction
costs of building new nuclear power plants that may never be built. Continue reading →

January 25, 2012 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

A decision with vision – ban on uranium minng near Grand Canyon

the 20-year ban is supported by an unprecedented coalition of tribal leaders; hunting, fishing, ranching and conservation groups; municipal water suppliers; wildlife advocates; and nearly 300,000 individuals who commented favorably on the proposed moratorium. Chambers of commerce, community leaders and elected officials are also among those mainstream voices speaking out against a handful of politicians now defending industrialists’ demand to exploit our treasured landscape.

At risk are the Grand Canyon’s watersheds. These interconnected surface and groundwater systems extend many miles beyond the park’s boundary.

Uranium-mining ban was a grand decision, The Arizona Republic,  by Roger Clark – Jan. 22, 2012   Arizonans and all Americans won a major victory on Jan. 9 when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed a “record of decision” for a 20-year ban on new uranium claims on 1.1 million acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park.

The decision reduces the risk of permanent harm to wildlife, water, our economy and sites sacred to Havasupai and all native people in ourregion. It also best serves our nation’s interests. Continue reading →

January 25, 2012 Posted by | environment, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Cameco uranium company talks big, but future is doubtful

Uranium miners still waiting on that rebound, TIM KILADZE, Globe and Mail , January 24, 2012 When stocks of uranium miners plummeted after last March’s traumatizing Japanese earthquake, some people expected a rebound once the market’s initial shocks and fears subsided.

They’re still waiting.

Close to a year after the earthquake, shares of Cameco Corp. (CCO-T23.54-0.25-1.05%) are still down 40 per cent and smaller rivals are faring just as badly, with Denison Mines (DML-T1.89-0.12-5.97%) down about 50 per cent. The death knell apparently came when Germany declared a retreat from nuclear energy.

Are these miners doomed for good? Depends on who you ask. Investors are clearly too scared to go near the industry, considering the stocks have moved very little since their initial free fall. (Check out a stock chart for the past year.
Quite scary.) But the companies themselves keep saying that everyone has it wrong.

Cameco chief financial officer Grant Isaac repeated this view when he sat down at CIBC World Market’s Whistler conference last week….. there’s still a major problem. Even if Cameco is bullish over the next decade, its consumers, particularly utilities, like to secure long-term supply contracts, and Cameco can’t talk long-term contracts when they would have to lock-in at today’s prices.

So for now, Cameco is touting plans to increase production. Mr. Isaac said Cameco is sitting on 1 billion pounds of reserves and resources, and the firm wants to bump production from 2 per cent of this a year to 4 per cent.

On this front, investors are cautious. Much of this growth centres on developing the second shaft of Cameco’s Cigar Lake project in northern Saskatchewan, and it’s been plagued with problems…..
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/streetwise/uranium-miners-still-waiting-on-that-rebound/article2313513/

January 25, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Canada, Uranium | Leave a comment

Pakistan causing an impasse at UN nuclear disarmament talks

The UN chief lamented that the practice of deciding by consensus “is currently used as a de facto veto power to stall every attempt to break the impasse.”

Pakistan’s stonewalling could sink UN nuclear disarmament talks: Ban Ki-moon National Post, Agence France-Presse  Jan 24, 2012 GENEVA — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday that the UN Conference on Disarmament could fail because of a three-year stalemate over Pakistan’s reluctance to discuss nuclear power. Continue reading →

January 25, 2012 Posted by | Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Houston, Texas, to be world leader in renewable energy?

How Houston can remain the world’s energy capital: Embrace wind and solar now, Culture Map, 24 Jan 12, BY  MICHAEL SKELLY, When I first moved to Texas in the late 1990s,renewable energy was considered a quaint notion which would never amount to much of anything. Around that time in Houston, wind and solar energy weren’t really on anyone’s radar. It seemed like everyone in town was either working for Enron or wanting to work there, and everyone else was focused on a new dot.com. In our generally wide-open city, there was no particular aversion to clean energy, just more of a “huh?” factor.

But over the past decade, Houston has emerged as one of the leading cities for the renewable energy industry. Almost every major wind company in the U.S. has a significant presence in Houston, includingDuke, Shell, BP, NextEra, Pattern, and EDPR (formerly Horizon Wind). These companies account for well over half of the of the wind turbines installed in the United States. ….

As it turns out, Texas now leads the country in wind energy, and is moving along in solar. In 2011, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas(ERCOT), 8.5% of the electricity consumed in the state came from wind energy. And as everyone knows, with our hot, muggy summers, we are voracious consumers of electricity, making 8.5% a LOT of electricity.

On a really blustery day, we get almost 30% of our electricity from wind. This is up from right around 0% a dozen years ago.  We got here through a combination of a slight push from the state that started with Gov. Bush, federal tax incentives, tremendous wind resources along our coast and in West Texas, and a business friendly environment. Houston companies were a big part of this multi-billion dollar build-out….. http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/01-24-11-how-the-worlds-oil-capital-can-be-a-center-for-renewable-energy/

January 25, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Solar and wind energy investment by Warren Buffett

Buffett’s MidAmerican Starts Renewable-Energy Business, Fox Business By Cassandra Sweet  January 24, 2012 The MidAmerican Energy unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB) said Tuesday it has started a new company to oversee a growing stable of solar, wind and other renewable-energy projects.
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., of Des Moines, said it has placed solar and wind farms, geothermal power plants and its interest in a small hydroelectric project into a new company called MidAmerican Renewables LLC.

MidAmerican’s president and chief executive, Greg Abel, said the company expects U.S. demand for renewable energy to continue growing and that the company wants “to be a leader in this area.”

On Monday, MidAmerican said it plans to buy an 81-megawatt wind farm in Illinois from Invenergy Wind LLC as part of the company’s growing wholesale renewable-energy business. ……. MidAmerican Renewables said it is considering acquiring more renewable-energy projects that would generate electricity for the wholesale power market to meet growing demand for clean energy.
“We’ll be looking for opportunities to grow this business,” said Tina Potthoff, a spokeswoman for MidAmerican. “We think there’s a growing desire by utilities and other companies to green up their business.”
http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/01/24/buffetts-midamerican-starts-renewable-energy-business/#ixzz1kVVVLdW0

January 25, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Renewable energy development for Karnataka, India

Renewable energy potential 28GW+ in Karnataka, Construction Week online India,  Jan 24, 2012 Karnataka’s renewable energy potential is more than 28 GW, says Pune based World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE). Karnataka is one of the pioneers where states in India are concerned to draft an RE Policy for the state for the period of 2009-14.

The policy envisions a generation of 6600 MW of renewable electricity by 2014 and about Rs.23,890 crore of investments during the said period. Studies by the World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE), Pune, suggest that Karnataka has much more RE potential
than envisaged, which is more than 24 GW, out of which currently, only 3.45 GW has been tapped so far (as on Nov 2011). This includes 1929 MW of wind, 86 MW of biomass, 782 MW of bagasse cogen, 646 MW of small hydro, and 9 MW of solar. Wind offers the maximum potential with an untapped potential of 11 GW. Obviously the huge untapped potential also creates a huge investment opportunity…..
http://www.constructionweekonline.in/article-7672-renewable_energy_potential_28gw_in_karnataka/

January 25, 2012 Posted by | India, renewable | Leave a comment

Renewable Energy Event for Africa

On-site renewables to feature prominently at Africa-based power event, 24/01/201 Cogeneration By Diarmaid Williams On-site power will comprise part of the agenda for Renewable Energy World Africa, which will be launched alongside POWER-GEN Africa 2012 in Johannesburg in November.

The three day event will feature presentations and debate about the strategic challenges and technical solutions for expanding renewable energy power generation across sub-Saharan Africa.

The event will also involve discussion of the future of on-site renewable power in Africa and how that form of energy relates to the major industries in the region, and in relation to rural electrification.

Exhibitors will have a dedicated Renewable Energy World Africa pavilion on the show floor which will be a focus of expertise and global technological excellence in the green energy sector.

“Countries in sub-Saharan Africa today face a collective power deficit with the prospect of fast growing future demand. Renewable power generation offers huge potential to help close this gap in a continent with abundant renewable resources and space. With technology advancing quickly and manufacturing costs lowering, renewable power generation will play a big role in a new energy infrastructure in Africa offering solutions in both rural distributed applications and large-scale projects such as hydropower, CSP, wind and biomass,” said Nigel Blackaby, Renewable Energy World Africa Event Director & Director Conference for PennWell’s International Power Group.

This exciting new industry forum will feature leading renewable energy industry professionals from around the world who will share their expertise and experiences to help define Africa’s renewable energy sector of the future.

Renewable Energy World Africa, and POWER-GEN Africa conference & exhibition will take place in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa on 6-8 November 2012.http://www.cospp.com/articles/2012/01/on-site-renewables-to-feature-prominently-at-african-based-power-event.html

January 25, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

A cheaper alternative to rare earths, for electric cars

Toyota Finds Way To Avoid Using Rare Earth: Report, Planet Ark,  24-Jan-12,  JAPAN by Chang-Ran Kim and Risa Maeda Toyota Motor Corp has developed a way to make hybrid and electric vehicles without the use of expensive rare earth metals, in which China has a near-monopoly, Japan’s Kyodo News reported.

Toyota, the world’s top producer of fuel-saving hybrid cars such as the Prius, could bring the technology to market in two years if the price of rare earths does not come down, Kyodo said, citing a source familiar with the matter.

A Toyota spokeswoman said the company continues to research ways to reduce rare earth usage and has no time frame yet for commercialization.

Rare earth metals like neodymium and dysprosium are used in the powerful magnets in motors that power hybrid and electric cars, and demand is expected to surge as more of the environmentally friendly cars hit the market.

China produces more than 95 percent of the world’s rare earth metals. Its efforts to limit exports, citing resource depletion and environmental degradation, have alarmed its customers and trading partners and have sent prices soaring.

Japan accounts for a third of global rare earth demand and is aiming to cut consumption, providing subsidies for recycling and investing in new ways to limit their use. http://www.planetark.org/enviro-news/item/64496

January 25, 2012 Posted by | Japan, technology | Leave a comment