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Small scale renewable energy for millions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Solar energy enterprise to provide 10 million with access to renewable energy, PR Wire 24 May 12 The BCtA is a global initiative that encourages private sector efforts to fight poverty, supported by several international organizations including the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Ten million low-income people living in rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, will gain access to low-cost solar energy by 2015, in part due to a commitment made by solar energy provider Barefoot Power   to the Business Call to Action  (BCtA).

The BCtA is a global initiative that encourages private sector efforts to fight poverty, supported by several international organizations including the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Continue reading →

May 24, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, decentralised | Leave a comment

Fire on nuclear submarine

Nuclear sub catches fire in Maine Naval shipyard By Ros Krasny BOSTON May 23, 2012   (Reuters) – Fire broke out on Wednesday evening on a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine docked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine, injuring four firefighters, officials said.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, but the vessel’s nuclear reactor was not involved. There were no weapons aboard the sub, which is at the shipyard for system upgrades and maintenance.

The fire started in the “forward compartment” of the U.S.S. Miami, an attack submarine docked at the Kittery, Maine, shipyard shortly before 6 p.m. ET Firefighters were still battling the blaze after 10 p.m., with equipment brought in from as far away as Boston’s Logan International Airport, about 60 miles away…..
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/24/us-usa-submarine-fire-idUSBRE84N04I20120524

May 24, 2012 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Iowa wise to stop dead a plan for Small Modular Nuclear reactors

 “The still substantial economic, technical and regulatory uncertainties surrounding Small Modular Reactors make their future role as a competitive, safe, clean electricity source only speculative, and given the track record of nuclear power there are reasons for pessimism.”

Experts: Nuclear Power Industry Woes Spreading Across Nation From Florida To Iowa Market Watch  WASHINGTON, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -“…….Steven Falck, senior policy advocate, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Iowa, said: “Common sense prevailed in Iowa to stop the advance financing of a small modular reactor. Continue reading →

May 24, 2012 Posted by | politics, technology | Leave a comment

Illegal export of nuclear-related materials

U.S. charges Chinese man with illegal nuclear-related exports, By Lily Kuo WASHINGTON | Wed May 23, 2012 (Reuters) – A Chinese national was charged with illegally exporting to China U.S.-made sensors used to produce weapons-grade uranium, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday.

Qiang Hu, 47, a sales manager for a Chinese subsidiary of MKS Instruments, was arrested at his hotel in North Andover, Massachusetts and charged with conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws. He allegedly allowed thousands of pressure measuring sensors, known as pressure transducers, to be exported from the United States to unauthorized users in China, the department said…. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/24/us-usa-china-arrest-idUSBRE84N00220120524

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

Probability of severe nuclear accidents every 10 – 20 years

The computer simulations revealed that, on average, only eight percent of the 137Cs particles are expected to deposit within an area of 50 kilometres around the nuclear accident site. Around 50 percent of the particles would be deposited outside a radius of 1,000 kilometres, and around 25 percent would spread even further than 2,000 kilometres.
These results underscore that reactor accidents are likely to cause radioactive contamination well beyond national borders.

If a single nuclear meltdown were to occur in Western Europe, around 28 million people on average would be affected by contamination of more than 40 kilobecquerels per square meter. This figure is even higher in southern Asia, due to the dense populations. A major nuclear accident there would affect around 34 million people, while in the eastern USA and in East Asia this would be 14 to 21 million people.

Severe Nuclear Reactor Accidents Likely Every 10 to 20 Years, European StudySuggestshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120522134942.htm ScienceDaily (May 22, 2012)— Western Europe has the worldwide highest risk of radioactive contamination caused by major reactor accident. Catastrophic nuclear accidents such as the core meltdowns in Chernobyl and Fukushima are more likely to happen than previously assumed.

Based on the operating hours of all civil nuclear reactors and the number of nuclear meltdowns that have occurred, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz have calculated that such events may occur once every 10 to 20 years (based on the current number of reactors) — some 200 times more often than estimated in the past.

The researchers also determined that, in the event of such a major accident, half of the radioactive caesium-137 would be spread over an area of more than 1,000 kilometres away from the nuclear reactor. Their results show that Western Europe is likely to be contaminated about once in 50 years by more than 40 kilobecquerel of caesium-137
per square meter. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, an area is defined as being contaminated with radiation from this amount onwards. In view of their findings, the researchers call for an in-depth analysis and reassessment of the risks associated with nuclear power plants. Continue reading →

May 23, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

UK government’s folly in persisting with nuclear power plans

the UK, where the nuclear industry is so embedded in government it supplies staff free-of-charge to work within the energy ministry. Perhaps it’s no wonder that even when half of the UK’s big six energy companies bale out of nuclear on cost grounds, ministers plough on regardless.

while mass-produced renewable energy technologies are pushing the costs downwards, nuclear energy is completing the journey from “too cheap to meter” to “too expensive to count”

Only renewables – not nuclear – could be too cheap to meter  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2012/may/22/energy-nuclear-renewables  Damian Carrington, The Guardian UK, 22 May 12,  Germany’s long support for wind and solar energy is delivering zero-cost electricity at times. In contrast, the UK’s new energy policy seeks to underwrite the rising cost of nuclear  “Too cheap to meter”: that was the infamous boast of the nuclear powerindustry in its heyday. It has been catastrophically discredited by history. Continue reading →

May 23, 2012 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Government’s nuclear dream will cost British householders

Electricity bills up £200 to pay for nuclear dream: Families hit to ensure profits for firms who build reactors Daily Mail By SEAN POULTER, CONSUMER AFFAIRS EDITOR  , 22 May 2012 Electricity bills could rise by up to £200 a year for each home under plans to guarantee high prices for firms building nuclear power stations  Details emerged yesterday as the Government unveiled a revolution in the way the nation produces its electricity.
Consumers will have to pay more to ensure companies make a profit on their multi-billion-pound investment….. the news has alarmed consumer groups who are worried about the impact on struggling householders.
At the same time, green campaigners are furious that the UK is backing nuclear power while other wealthy nations such as Germany are turning their backs on it……  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2148381/Electricity-bills-200-pay-nuclear-dream-Families-hit-ensure-profits-firms-build-reactors-wind-farms.html#ixzz1vjj1MY6a

May 23, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

New book documents the nuclear power nightmare

“At the heart of the nuclear nightmare,” she writes, “is something no one wants to talk about: birth defects, a whitewash word for children born without the attributes we recognize as human.”

Fukushima Tour de Force: New Book Chronicles Nuclear Devil’s Tango HUFFNGTON POST, Jeff Biggers, 22 May 12, With Japan now only weeks into its temporarymoratorium on nuclear power  plants, a chillingly prescient chapter in Cecile Pineda’s new

tour de force, Devil’s Tango: How I Learned the Fukushima Step by Step , foretells the lasting impact of a “planetary catastrophe” in the time of powerful energy lobbies…..  ”It’s not easy for you, or me, or anyone to pay attention to the consequences of the nuclear energy cycle,” Pineda tells the reader in her foreword. “Why? Because you can’t see radiation.”

Unfolding through a series of beguiling, passionate and often revelatory entries in a daily chronicle, at times with a flair for scintillating satire, Pineda’s masterful framing of the urgency for readers to learn from the Japanese nuclear disaster and the machinations of its industry handlers makes Devil’s Tango one of the most important and required reads this year. She writes:

“You can’t see fallout, you can’t tell when you’re eating strontium by the spoonful. It’s invisible, you can’t see it, feel it, touch it, hear it; you can taste it only in your mouth — when the fallout is particularly dense — as a metallic taste in your mouth, which any number of people reported this past year in places as far apart as Seattle and Arizona. In a world that enshrines surfaces, the industry thinks invisibility is a sure bet you won’t ever find out.”…. Continue reading →

May 23, 2012 Posted by | resources - print | Leave a comment

Promote clean energy, don’t subsidise nuclear – says Scotland

”  the UK Government must recognise that the purpose of this reform is to support renewable energy, not to provide subsidies for nuclear energy.” 

Government: Renewables not nuclear Google News(UKPA) – 23 May 12, Planned reforms to the electricity market must focus on renewable energy rather than nuclear subsidies, according to the Scottish Government.
The comment follows publication of the draft UK Energy Bill which the British Government hopes will deliver the £110 billion investment needed to build new low-carbon capacity. Continue reading →

May 23, 2012 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

UK will make consumers fund nuclear energy

UK wants consumers to fund nuclear through higher utility bills, Smart Planet,  By Mark Halper | May 22, 2012, The UK government will today propose legislation that would guarantee profits to nuclear power providers by permitting them to charge more on consumers’ bills, BBC radio is reporting….  By putting the financial burden on consumers, the UK would attempt to sidestep a European regulation that prohibits direct state subsidies of nuclear power, BBC presenter John Humphrys pointed out while interviewing Energy Secretary Ed Davey on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4  (audio link expires May 29)……

Even if the Government passes the draft bill, there’s no certainty that nuclear companies would invest in new plants. David Toke, senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, told the radio program that British nuclear would still remain “a dead duck.”  (Audio link expires May 29).

The UK’s existing nuclear fleet was built decades ago, when the British power industry was still nationalized. Meanwhile, several media outlets are reporting that the UK’s nuclear regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation, now wants to extend the life of those reactors.  http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/uk-wants-consumers-to-fund-nuclear-through-higher-utility-bills/16133

May 23, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Britain setting up huge subsidies for nuclear industry, poorly hidden in consumers’ costs

Britain’s proposals appear to be drafted to sidestep E.U. restrictions on state aid that might prevent direct subsidies for the construction of new nuclear power plants.

Britain hopes that this guaranteed price, to be paid by businesses and consumers, will secure the financial commitment from energy utilities to construct nuclear reactors

This proposal has distorted policy in order to try to disguise the massive subsidies nuclear will need, but they remain so huge that the policy will fail anyway,” 

Britain Charts Way to Wider Nuclear Investment, NYT, By STEPHEN CASTLE, May 22, 2012 LONDON — Britain  announced plans Tuesday to finance a new generation of nuclear power plants and renewable energy facilities in a move that illustrates divergent energy policies within the European Union  as it grapples with the challenge of reconciling economic and environmental objectives. While Germany intends to phase out nuclear power and France’s new president, François Hollande, aims to reduce his country’s reliance on it, the British government appears to be moving in the opposite direction with its proposals, aimed at luring investment of £110 billion, or $175 billion, to build new reactors and renewable energy plants. Continue reading →

May 23, 2012 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

USA govt and nuclear industry have got rid of too-thorough nuclear regulator Jaczko

the pressure became too great from both, several industry and government officials say. Both parties wanted to expand the use of nuclear facilities and further explore options for storing nuclear waste. Jaczko had largely put the kibosh on both

members of Congress, mostly senior Democrats, have defended Jaczko as a thoughtful and thorough regulator

Jaczko’s resignation still illustrates the influence of the nuclear industry. 

Nuclear Commission Gregory Jaczko Calls It Quits, The Daily Beast,  May 21, 2012 After a long campaign to drive the nation’s top nuclear regulator from office, NRC commissioner Greg Jaczko resigned Monday. Daniel Stone reports on how the industry claimed its casualty. Continue reading →

May 23, 2012 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear industry lobbying hard to get Pilgrim plant relicensed

 the nuclear industry has been busy making its concerns known in Washington about the Pilgrim delays and what they could mean for other contentious relicensing cases.

Delays in Pilgrim nuclear plant’s relicensing draws the ire of some GOP leaders in Congress Mass. Market, 2012 May 22 by Jon Chesto Massachusetts politicians aren’t the only ones closely watching the fate of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth. A group of GOP congressmen, led by energy committee chairman Fred Upton, sent a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission  on Monday, essentially scolding the NRC for taking so long with its review of Pilgrim. Continue reading →

May 23, 2012 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Plutonium’s deadly history

The Manhattan Project’s Fatal “Demon Core”, Physics Central, May 21, 2012 Sixty six years ago today, Louis Slotin saw a flash of blue light in the depths of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Seconds before, all that separated the young scientist from a lethal dose of radiation was a thin screwdriver.

The screwdriver supported a reflective covering that encased a sphere of plutonium, and if the reflector fell into place, a nuclear chain reaction would commence. When Slotin’s hand slipped, a lethal burst of radiation hit him, and he died nine days later. Continue reading →

May 23, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, history, Reference | Leave a comment

Baghdad nuclear talks offer real hope of progress between Iran and world powers

Iran nuclear talks: why optimism could be different this time, Christian Science Monitor, By Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer / May 22, 2012 The meeting in Baghdad will discuss Iran’s nuclear program. The US and some of its partners are speaking more hopefully about prospects for these talks than at almost any point in the past.

The talks that open in Baghdad Wednesday between Iran and six world powers on curbing
Iran’s nuclear program may well determine whether Israel or the US launches airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. The talks will also be a factor in the US presidential election this year.

But no one should expect to see Wednesday either a comprehensive agreement addressing more than a decade of concerns about Iran’s nuclear development, or a throwing in of the towel (by either side) that paves the way to war.

The more likely scenario, if the talks go well, is the launching of intensive, virtually constant negotiations, which would suggest that agreement on the key issues important to each side is possible and indeed achievable in some reasonably short time frame, some regional
experts say….. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2012/0522/Iran-nuclear-talks-why-optimism-could-be-different-this-time

May 23, 2012 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

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