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Oyster Creek nuclear plant will close, despite pro nuclear court ruling about Vermont

jurisdictional issues over safety and water quality mean the Vermont Yankee ruling has little impact on the agreement to close Oyster Creek. 

Every day Oyster Creek strains 1.4 billion gallons of bay water through its cooling system, he said. The bay only has 60 billion gallons of water. The strain Oyster Creek puts on the bay is equivalent to 2.4 percent of the bay’s water each day and 800 percent each year.

“It’s just a gargantuan death machine as far as fish eggs and plant larva,” 

Oyster Creek Stands By Closure Plan Despite Federal Court Ruling ‘No similarities’ between Vermont ruling and Lacey nuclear plant’s planned shutdown, DEP says Lacey Patch, By Elaine Piniat, 23 Jan 12,  Oyster Creek will stick to the plan to close in 2019 after a federal judge ruled that the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant could remain open beyond its scheduled shutdown date, plant spokesperson Suzanne D’Ambrosio said.

“We made a commitment to our regulators and to the public,” she said. “Our commitment and our plan is to retire Oyster Creek in 2019. That’s the plan.”
A U.S. district judge in Brattelboro, Vt., ruled Thursday that the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant could remain open beyond its scheduled shutdown date this year, the Washington Post reported. The state had originally ruled against Vermont Yankee’s federal operating license, which gives the plant 20 more years to operate.

Advocates opposed to Oyster Creek have showed concerns that this federal decision could impact the Forked River-based nuclear plant’s closure date. Continue reading →

January 24, 2012 Posted by | USA, water | Leave a comment

Vermont has a good case to appeal federal court’s pro nuclear decision

 Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont pronounced the decision “ripe for appeal.’’ “I believe the law is very clear, and that states have the right to reject nuclear power for economic and other non-safety reasons,’’ he said.

 First Round: Entergy 1, Vermont 0 NYT By MATTHEW L. WALD  January 20, 2012, As I wrote in Friday’s New York Times, the first round in federal court has gone to Entergy, the electrical power production company that does not want to shut down its Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The state of Vermont has been seeking to close the plant when its initial 40-year federal operating license expires on March 21.

Had the court decision gone the other way and the state had prevailed, it conceivably could have ended there. That’s because the cost of maintaining a reactor and paying the plant’s staff are roughly the same whether it is running or not. If the judge, J. Garvan Murtha in Brattleboro, had sided with the state, Entergy would have faced a painful decision on whether to keep the plant on standby after March 21 while waiting for the issue to work its way through the courts.

Entergy had already rolled the dice by buying fuel in anticipation of a favorable decision.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted a 20-year extension, but Vermont lawmakers had passed a law that effectively gave themselves veto power over renewal of the license. Judge Murtha ruled that federal law trumps the state’s action because “radiological safety” is solely the province of the federal government.

Entergy could still lose on appeal. Continue reading →

January 24, 2012 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Vermont Public Service Board to consider Vermont Yankee nuclear plant

Vermont Yankee foes ponder next moves, Boston Globe, MONTPELIER, January 21, 2012 Lawmakers supporting the shutdown of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant appear to be pinning their hopes on the state Public Service Board.

But lawmakers say they are uncertain of their own strategy now that US District Judge J. Garvan Murtha has ruled against the state’s efforts to close the plant. Vermont had a law saying the plant must get legislative approval to operate for another 20 years, but the judge
rejected that.

He also said the state cannot shut down Vermont Yankee based on a lack of legislative approval for storage of high-level radioactive waste. The judge sent the case back to the Public Service Board, and the three-member panel is expected to reopen its review on
whether to grant the certificate. (AP) http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-21/metro/30648299_1_vermont-yankee-legislative-approval-plant

January 24, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

France’s General Assembly likely to block the return of Pacific atolls to indigenous people

FRANCE EXPECTED TO BLOCK RETURN OF NUCLEAR ATOLLS , Pacific Islands Report Test veterans concerned about condition of sites WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Jan.20, 2012) – French Polynesia’s nuclear test veterans organisation says it expects France’s centre-right majority in the National Assembly to block a bill seeking the return of the nuclear weapons tests sites to French Polynesia.

The leftist majority in the French senate approved the bill by Richard Tuheiava who wants Paris to return Moruroa and Fangataufa in 2014 in line with an undertaking that France would only keep the atolls for the duration of the tests.

However, the French government claims confidential defence issues remain.

The head of Moruroa e tatou veterans group, Roland Oldham, says this prevents an independent assessment of the atolls which are feared to collapse with the release of radioactive plutonium.

“For Moruroa e tatou it is very important. In fact right now Moruroa and Fangataufa are forbidden places for the public; it is a military place. And because it is a military place we don’t have much information about the situation of Moruroa.”

[PIR editor’s note: Veterans groups are also concerned that France does not allow independent inspectors to visit the atolls.]

Roland Oldham says he expects the ruling UMP to block the bill once it gets to the French National Assembly. Radio New Zealand International: www.rnzi.comhttp://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2012/January/01-23-15.htm

January 24, 2012 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

Virginia citizens want permanent ban on uranium mining

Virginia Conservation Network works on a broad range of environmental issues all across the state, but never have I seen such an issue galvanize people like the prospect of uranium mining,” said director Nathan Lott. ”Black and white, urban and rural, Republican and Democrat – Virginians agree that mining is just too risky.”

Citizens expressed deep concerns about the potential contamination of water sources in the Roanoke River watershed

Citizens pack General Assembly offices to voice opposition to uranium mining,Star Tribune,  January 23, 2012   RICHMOND – Citizens from across the state converged in the Capitol Monday to call on their elected representatives in the General Assembly to keep Virginia’s 30-year ban on uranium mining.

Following significant warnings from the National Academy of Sciences, the ban will now remain in place for 2012. Citizens are seeking to make that victory permanent.

To highlight their message, they offered legislators “yellowcake” cupcakes with the message: “These yellow cakes are not harmful – but making uranium yellowcake and leaving behind radioactive waste in Virginia is. Protect our health, our
heritage and our future. Keep the Ban on Uranium Mining in Virginia.” Also, the Keep the Ban Coalition announced that over the last year, more than 10,000 citizens have signed an online petition or sent emails to Virginia legislators urging them to keep the ban, and 102 organizations and government entities – from the cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Roanoke to the state chapter of the NAACP and Halifax County Chamber of Commerce – have either passed a resolution or taken other action expressing deep concerns about impacts that would result from lifting the ban.
“Virginia Conservation Network works on a broad range of environmental issues all across the state, but never have I seen such an issue galvanize people like the prospect of uranium mining,” said director
Nathan Lott. ”Black and white, urban and rural, Republican and Democrat – Virginians agree that mining is just too risky.”
Citizens expressed deep concerns about the potential contamination of water sources in the Roanoke River watershed Continue reading →

January 24, 2012 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

French nuclear company warns on safety of Scottish nuclear reactor

New safety fears for Ayrshire nuclear power station, Herald Scotland, 22 Jan 12 By Rob Edwards, The company that runs the nuclear reactors at Hunterston in North Ayrshire is warning that their safety could be jeopardised by plans to build a huge coal-fired power station next door. EDF Energy says that the construction and operation of the controversial new plant could block the evacuation routes of staff and deprive its site of electricity and vital cooling water in an emergency.

It is also worried that discharges from the coal plant could compromise reactor cooling systems.

The French nuclear company has lodged a formal objection to an application by Ayrshire Power to build a £3 billion coal station at Hunterston. Following rejection of the application, which attracted more than 20,000 objections, by North Ayrshire Council in November,
the Scottish Government has now confirmed that it will go to a public inquiry later this year…… http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/environment/new-safety-fears-for-ayrshire-nuclear-power-station.1327201596

January 24, 2012 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Radioactive water leak reported from Fukushima’s No 2 nuclear reactor

Fresh Radioactive Water Leakage Reported at Fukushima Nuke Plant, MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) About two liters of radioactive water leaked from the turbine building of the second reactor at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.
TEPCO, which operates the nuclear plant, issued a statement on Saturday saying the leak was from a pipe there that transfers highly radioactive water in the basement of the No. 2 reactor’s turbine building to the plant’s waste disposal facility……http://en.ria.ru/world/20120122/170887389.html

January 24, 2012 Posted by | incidents, Japan | Leave a comment

Kuwait would be first victim of Iranian nuclear disaster

Kuwait, GCC not ready to face nuclear crisis’ – Government playing politics, Kuwait Times, By Ben Garcia, 23 Jan 12 KUWAIT: Neither Kuwait nor the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] countries are prepared for any incident of nuclear disaster in the Middle East, says environment activist Dr Khaled Al-Hajery.  Speaking with the Kuwait Times, Al-Hajery, Greenline chairman, said his group had advised and urged the Kuwaiti authorities and other GCC countries many years ago to act and be ready for any nuclear disaster but still
no one seems to listen. “The nuclear problem has started way back from the beginning of the Bushehr nuclear operation in September 2011.

Since then, there had been nuclear waste coming out from the nuclear facility but do we really care? We are dealing and have been talking about nuclear issue since the operation of the Bushehr Plant, but the government didn’t do anything,” he said.  Yesterday reports from
several Arabic dailies mentioned the GCC’s  ‘rapid deployment team’ to face repercussions of a possible accident at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant which is located just across the Gulf water, or around 236 km from Ras Al Zour in Kuwait.

Aleqtisadia Arabic language daily said, quoting Tariq Al-Obaid, secretary general of the Geneva-based Euro-Arab Environment Organization (EAEO), GCC countries could be the
first victims of any nuclear radiation from the Iranian plant….. Continue reading →

January 24, 2012 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, safety | Leave a comment

TEPCO nuclear company to be nationalised, saved from bankruptcy

TEPCO ‘to be nationalised’ for 10 years, SKY News,  January 21, 2012 The operator of Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant will be effectively nationalised for at least 10 years under a plan to provide it with money to fund compensation payouts, a report said Saturday.

The funding from a public body is expected to inject Y1 trillion yen ($A12.48 billion) into Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), effectively putting it under state control, Kyodo reported quoting sources close to the matter.

The scheme is expected to be included in a comprehensive business plan to be finalised in March by TEPCO and the fund, named the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund, the report said.

Under the plan TEPCO will remain as a listed company, it added.

The funding body will receive money from special government bonds and contributions from other utilities which have nuclear power plants in Japan.

The business plan is aimed at preventing TEPCO from becoming insolvent due to the heavy costs stemming from the world’s worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster…..
A government panel has estimated claims from victims affected by the Fukushima crisis could reach 4.5 trillion yen by 2013…..
(TEPCO) will aim to get into the black in the year to March 2014 by raising household electricity charges and reactivate its idle nuclear reactors from early 2013, the news agency added. It is hoped that TEPCO would be able to exit effective state control
as early as in March 2022.

Commenting on the report, TEPCO spokeswoman Megumi Iwashita said: “Nothing has been decided up to date.” http://www.skynews.com.au/businessnews/article.aspx?id=709835&vId=

January 24, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Davis-Besse nuclear plant an issue in USA election

Ohio nuclear plant woes in middle of US House race  CBS News January 22,  PORT CLINTON, Ohio — The debate over a nuclear plant where small cracks were discovered in a concrete shell is revealing another split between two Democrats who are veteran members of Congress and opponents in the March 6 primary.

It’s one of the first noticeable divides to surface in the race since Ohio’s new congressional map lumped Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich into the same northern Ohio district that stretches from Cleveland to Toledo.

Kucinich, who’s long been a critic of nuclear power, is calling for shutting down the Davis-Besse nuclear plant if major repairs aren’t made……. Both Kucinich and Kaptur have been highly critical of the plant’s operator and regulators in the past. Kaptur suggested Davis-Besse should be shut down, and Kucinich asked that its operating license be pulled about 10 years ago when an acid leak resulted in the most extensive corrosion found at a U.S. nuclear reactor…..
He agreed that the jobs are important, but also said that the workers’ “lives are important as well.”  “This is about the safety of millions of people and our drinking
water,” he said……..http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57363543/ohio-nuclear-plant-woes-in-middle-of-us-house-race/

January 24, 2012 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Continuation of Vermont Yankee Nuclear facility is far from certain

In fact, Vermont has the authority to make the standards even stricter if it so desires, which could prove to be a serious monkey wrench in Entergy’s plan to continue operation of Yankee.

The fat lady, Brattleboro Reformer, January 21, 2012 http://www.reformer.com/ci_19788006?source=most_viewed Though Federal District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha came down emphatically on the side of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, we don’t expect to be hearing the song of the fat lady any time too soon.

Murtha threw out Act 160, in which the Vermont Legislature gave itself the authority to forbid the Public Service Board from issuing a certificate of public good, which Yankee needs to continue operation past March 21.

By removing the Legislature from the equation, he remanded the case back to the PSB, which now will have the opportunity to reinitiate its deliberations over whether the CPG should be issued.
In another setback to the state, Judge Murtha also ruled that the reliability audit required by the Legislature to inform its decision on whether to allow the PSB to issue a CPG, was actually a radiological safety report. Therefore, the PSB can’t consider the audit in its review.

So while the PSB can’t base its decision on radiological health and safety, it has the authority to deny the CPG based on economics, land use and trustworthiness of the plant’s owner. Continue reading →

January 24, 2012 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear weapons and the race between cooperation and catastrophe

Sam Nunn tackling ‘global problem’ of nuclear weapons Former senator also discusses military, current politics, midstate Macon.com By JIM GAINES, 22 Jan 12 Nunn, a Democratic senator for 24 years, is one subject of a new book by former New York Times reporter and editor Philip Taubman.

“The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and their Quest to Ban the Bomb” chronicles the effort to control nuclear materials worldwide. Nunn joined former secretaries of state Henry
Kissinger and George Shultz, former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry and Stanford University physicist Sidney Drell to write a 2007 Wall Street Journal article calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons,and they’ve traveled the world in quest of that goal ever since….

“He says if there’s a 10 percent chance of having a nuclear catastrophe — a city goes up — in a given year, and that persists for 50 years … there’s only one-half of a 1 percent chance of
avoidance,” Nunn said. “In other words, 99 and one-half percent chance it’s going to happen over 50 years, somewhere. If you can move that 10 percent to one percent … then over 50 years, you’ve got a 60 percent chance of avoidance. That’s what threat reduction’s all about. It’s a global problem, but as I say often — and it’s true — we’re in a race
between cooperation and catastrophe.”…..
“It’s not simply weapons. You’ve got to control nuclear material, and you’ve got to stop producing the stuff. You could get rid of every nuclear weapon in the world, and the world would still be a very dangerous place if a terrorist could make a weapon. Nobody’s saying
this is going to be easy. But the other way to go is to say ‘We’re going to have them forever.’….. http://www.macon.com/2012/01/22/1873859/former-senator-also-discusses.html

January 24, 2012 Posted by | resources - print | Leave a comment

Continuing radiation fallout danger from Fukushima nuclear disaster

Radiation used to be a word that evoked serious concern in a lot of people. However, the nuclear industry and its supporters have done a masterful job in allaying public fears about it. They do this in significant part by relying on outdated and highly questionable data collected on Japanese atom bomb survivors, while at the same time ignoring and dismissing inconvenient but much more relevant evidence that shows the actual harmful effects of radiation exposure from nuclear accidents. 

neglecting to monitor the fallout will not make it go away. In fact, another enormous problem with radioactive contamination is that it bioaccumulates in the environment, which means it concentrates as it moves up the food chain. (Think of mercury in fish.) Because many radionuclides are so long-lived, this can be a problem for a very long time.

Fukushima Update: Why We Should (Still) Be Worried Business Insider, Russ Baker, WhoWhatWhy | Jan. 20, 2012,  After the catastrophic trifecta of the triple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in Japan last March—what the Japanese are referring to as their 3/11—you would think the Japanese government would be doing everything in its power to contain the disaster. You would be wrong—dead wrong.
Instead of collecting, isolating, and guarding the millions of tons of radioactive rubble that resulted from the chain reaction of the 9.0 earthquake, the subsequent 45- to 50-foot wall of water that swamped the plant and disabled the cooling systems for the reactors, and the ensuing meltdowns, Japanese Environment Minister Goshi Hosono says that the entire country must share Fukushima’s plight by accepting debris from the disaster……

The enormous volume of waste is much more than the disaster areas can handle. So, in an apparent attempt to return this region to some semblance of normal life, the plan is to spread out the waste to as many communities across the country as will take it. Continue reading →

January 21, 2012 Posted by | environment, Japan, politics | 1 Comment

Global warming shown in meteorological records over past 10 years

Globally, 9 of the 10 warmest years on record occurred since 2000 Environmental news Network,  From: Reuters January 20, 2012 The global average temperature last year was the ninth-warmest in the modern meteorological record, continuing a trend linked to greenhouse gases that saw nine of the 10 hottest years occurring since the year 2000, NASA scientists said on Thursday.

 A separate report from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the average temperature for the United States in 2011 as the 23rd warmest year on record.

The global average surface temperature for 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 degrees C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline temperature, researchers at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies said in a statement. The institute’s temperature record began in 1880.

The first 11 years of the new century were notably hotter than the middle and late 20th century, according to institute director James Hansen. The only year from the 20th century that was among the top 10 warmest years was 1998.

These high global temperatures come even with the cooling effects of a strong La Nina ocean temperature pattern and low solar activity for the past several years, said Hansen, who has long campaigned against human-spurred climate change.

The NASA statement said the current higher temperatures are largely sustained by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is emitted by various human activities, from coal-fired power plants to fossil-fueled vehicles to human breath.

Current levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceed 390 parts per million, compared with 285 ppm in 1880 and 315 by 1960, NASA said. http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/43880

January 21, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change, Reference | Leave a comment

UK’s nuclear expansion could be derailed if nuclear subsidies found to be unlawful

The European Commission could take up to 18 months to consider the complaint A finding in Fair Energy’s favour could potentially derail the UK’s nuclear expansion plans – and those of other countries.

UK ‘subsidising nuclear power unlawfully’, By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News. 21 Jan 12,  Green energy campaigners are attempting to block new nuclear power stations in the UK by complaining to the European Commission that government plans
contravene EU competition regulations.

They say financial rules for nuclear operators include subsidies that have not been approved by the commission. These include capping of liability for accidents, which they say at
least halves the cost of nuclear electricity…..
Although most of the complaint concerns the UK, some of its ingredients would apply to other EU nations as well, especially the capping of nuclear liability. Continue reading →

January 21, 2012 Posted by | Legal, UK | Leave a comment

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