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Nuclear industry’s future has never looked worse

nuclear-costs3Flag-USA2013 Is Shaping Up To Be A Horrible Year For Nuclear Power http://www.businessinsider.com.au/vermont-yankee-nuclear-plant-shutting-down-2013-8 , 27 Aug 13, 

The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, which just two years ago had its licence renewed, will be decommissioned,
plant owner Entergy announced.

This is the fourth nuclear plant in the U.S. to go down this year.

In June, California utility Southern California Edison permanently shuttered the massive San Onofre nuclear plant outside Los Angeles.

A few weeks later, the Obama administration announced it was seeking to cut off construction funding for a plant near Aiken, S.C. designed to make fuel out of retired nuclear bombs.

And last month, Duke Energy said it would not go forward with plans to build a plant in central Florida.

The common thread for each: it has become prohibitively expensive to operate a nuke plant, especially when the cost of natural gas is so cheap.

Here’s the key part from Entergy’s statement on Vermont Yankee:

The decision to close Vermont Yankee in 2014 was based on a number of financial factors, including:

– A natural gas market that has undergone a transformational shift in supply due to the impacts of shale gas, resulting in sustained low natural gas prices and wholesale energy prices.

– A high cost structure for this single unit plant. Since 2002, the company has invested more than $US400 million in the safe and reliable operation of the facility. In addition, the financial impact of cumulative regulation is especially challenging to a small plant in these market conditions.

The company also cited the lack of subsidies going to nuclear compared with other sources in the area.

Also of note is that regulatory uncertainty in the wake of Fukushima is now a permanent of Entergy’s material risk statement (“nuclear plant re licensing, operating and regulatory risks, including any changes resulting from the nuclear crisis in Japan following its catastrophic earthquake and tsunami” it says).

The future of nuclear in the U.S. has never looked more uncertain.

August 28, 2013 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Turkey investigating 12,000 staff for nuclear power plant

Police, MİT to investigate nuclear plant employees http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=116106 27 Aug 13,  The General Directorate of Security will reportedly investigate 4,000 Turkish citizens, including interns, while MİT will look into 8,000 Russians to be hired to work at the plant  

Twelve thousand workers to be employed at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant will be investigated for security purposes by police and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) in the southern province of Mersin, according to media reports on Monday. The General Directorate of Security will reportedly investigate 4,000 Turkish citizens, including interns, while MİT will look into 8,000 Russians to be hired to work at the plant, set to be built in Mersin’s Gülnar district.

The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry demanded investigations into the Akkuyu power plant staff by the Interior Ministry, which initially rejected the energy ministry’s demand, stating it was against the relevant directives.

Later, the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry demanded a special article be added to a directive that allowed only for the investigation of public servants, seeking the inclusion of employees of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, stating that the facility has strategic prominence in terms of state security.

The Justice Ministry received the demand and stated its opinion that there should be a special regulation in the directives for issues related to national security, meaning the investigation of the nuclear power plant workers should be made permissible.

Interior Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Mustafa Demirer issued a new directive to the governors of the 81 provinces stating that employees, Turkish interns and subcontractors at facilities with strategic importance such as nuclear power plants require investigation.

Future requests for security checks under the directive will be carried out through the investigation of archives; Turkish employees will be investigated by the General Directorate of Security, while MİT will be in charge of looking into foreign personnel.

So far, the General Directorate of Security and MİT have investigated the records of over 200 Turkish and foreign employees employed for the project. It has been reported that Turkish employees found to have a criminal record that includes such offenses as terrorism and smuggling will be terminated. Russian citizens who work at the Akkuyu nuclear plant will be deported if they are found to have a criminal record.

August 28, 2013 Posted by | civil liberties, Vietnam | Leave a comment

See these great aerial photos of Chernobyl devastated Pripyat

see-this.wayVanishing Chernobyl: Aerial photos show how devastated town in radiation disaster zone is being reclaimed by nature  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2402589/Vanishing-Chernobyl-Aerial-photos-devastated-town-radiation-disaster-zone-reclaimed-nature.html#ixzz2dIk0FQsy 

  • Former power plant and neighbouring city of Pripyat are slowly becoming hidden from view by Red Forest
  • Ukrainian government evacuated 350,000 residents from Chernobyl and Pripyat following 1986 disaster

By ANTHONY BOND  27 August 2013 Devastated by the worst nuclear disaster in history, Chernobyl is now a barren ghost town slowly being forgotten.  (Below – Pripyat in 1990s – before forest took over)

Prypiat-1990s-before-forest

These astonishing aerial photographs of the former power plant and the neighbouring city of Pripyat show how they are becoming hidden from view as the surrounding forest closes in.

Following the disaster – which occurred during a systems test on April 26, 1986 –  the Ukrainian government evacuated 350,000 residents from Chernobyl and Pripyat.

Scroll down for video

An exclusion zone covering an area of more than 1,000sq miles around the abandoned plant was created to protect people from the effects of any lingering radiation.

These pictures of the zone – taken from a height of 10,000 metres, show how after 27 years of remaining largely uninhabitable, the surrounding Red Forest is slowly reclaiming the plant and the city.

Pripyat was founded in 1970 for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and grew to a population of 49,360 before it was evacuated a few days after the disaster. The pictures, as reported by EnglishRussia.com, show its residential buildings spurting out from the thick woodland below.

The secret Duga-1 complex can also be seen among the dense woodland. The radar system could detect launches of a potential enemy in North America. But despite its hi-tech capabilities, it is now left to ruin.

The accident on April  26,1986, created a huge explosion and fire which released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, spreading over western USSR and Europe.

Although tens of thousands of people evacuated the area, a few residents refused to leave. A handful of older residents moved back to be close to family graves.

Tourists may obtain day passes, and some workers who are rebuilding parts of the site are allowed in for limited hours only each month.  Scientists say the area will not be safe to live in for another 20,000 years.

Efforts to contain the contamination and prevent a greater catastrophe involved more than 500,000 workers and cost 18 billion rubles.

The official casualty count of 31 deaths has been disputed and there have also been numerous long-term effects such as cancers and deformities.

Important: Workers need to constantly help protect against any possible future radiation leaks

August 28, 2013 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | 1 Comment

If efficient, capable Japan can’t manage nuclear power, no-one else can, either

 I think most of us respect the efficiency and capabilities of the Japanese people. Coming out of WWII, they became a major power again very rapidly. And simply put, they cannot handle nuclear power. This calls into question whether anyone else can either.

Glowing Green with Outrage By  OpEdNews Op Eds 8/27/2013  “For 50 years, nuclear power stations have produced three products which only a lunatic could want: bomb-explosive plutonium, lethal radioactive waste and electricity so dear it has to be heavily subsidized. They leave to future generations the task, and most of the cost, of making safe sites that have been polluted half-way to eternity.”

-James Buchan

I suspect I might take some flak for this one but I support the above quote. Now don’t get me wrong. I like electricity. I like that this computer I’m typing on is not simply an inert piece of plastic and metals and whatever else makes up a computer. I like that my lights work and that my stove turns on and my fridge keeps the food from spoiling. I realize that there will necessarily be consequences and side-effects and pollution created in the pursuit of these conveniences. We gotta make power somehow and most people will agree with that sentiment.

But I’m still gonna say that we need to shut down these nuclear plants. Continue reading →

August 28, 2013 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Half of China’s new power plants will be renewable energy powered

China to double power capacity by 2030 as renewables rise http://www.watoday.com.au/business/carbon-economy/china-to-double-power-capacity-by-2030-as-renewables-rise-20130828-2sp1k.html   August 28, 2013

China’s generation capacity will more than double to 2030, with half of all new plants powered by renewable energy and coal remaining the most important fuel, analysts said.

China may add 1,583 gigawatts of capacity and attract $US1.4 trillion ($1.56 billion) in renewables investment by that year, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance report. Coal will still account for more than 50 per cent of power generation, the London-based researcher said.

China, the world’s largest carbon-dioxide emitter, is seeking to meet demand that will probably grow 5 per cent a year while forging a cleaner future after smog in Beijing in June surpassed hazardous levels. The government has boosted solar- power targets as it seeks to curb pollution that spurred unrest about dirty air and water resources.

“It is hard to underestimate the significance of China’s energy consumption growth and its evolving generation mix,” said Michael Liebreich, BNEF’s London-based chief executive officer. “The impacts will reach far beyond China and have major implications for the rest of the world, ranging from coal and gas prices to the cost and market size for renewable energy technologies.”

China will add 88 gigawatts of new power plants — the equivalent of the U.K.’s entire installed capacity — each year to 2030, BNEF said. Renewable plants such as large hydropower stations will account for half of the new capacity, it said.

Declining emissions

Carbon emissions from power generation could start to decline by 2027 as renewables are added, according to the researcher, which analysed China’s power industry based on four scenarios. Outcomes will hinge on factors such as the cost at which China extracts shale gas reserves, water constraints on drilling and power generation and the speed with which environmental policies such as a carbon price are enforced, BNEF said.

While coal-fired capacity will drop as renewables and gas generation rise, the fuel’s share in the power mix will remain highest at 58 per cent in 2030, down from 72 per cent last year, according to BNEF. China consumes half the world’s coal.

“Despite significant progress in renewable energy deployment, coal looks set to remain dominant to 2030,” said Jun Ying, Beijing-based country manager and head of research for China at BNEF. “More support for renewable energy, natural gas and energy efficiency will be needed if China wants to reduce its reliance on coal more quickly.”

August 28, 2013 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Talk of intervention in Syria – prelude to nuclear war with Russia?

No one seriously expects a nuclear war among the major powers, but we prepare for it anyway, and we pay the price in our budget, our strategic thought, and our diplomacy. While we wring our hands about whether we can handle Syria—which is remarkable given how much time we spend contemplating a far larger war in the Pacific with a near-peer like China—we continue to pour money and deep thinking into preparing for the coming nuclear war, the conflict we escaped during the Cold War but still plan for as if all of our tomorrows are yesterday.

The Coming Nuclear War with…the Soviet Union?, The National Interest, Tom Nichols August 25, 2013″………Calls for intervention against Syria, particularly in the United States, are met with grim warnings about the difficulties and complications of intervening against a third-string Middle Eastern power. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, for example, reportedly confronted Secretary of State John Kerry over striking Syrian air bases. Dempsey told Kerry such an effort would require some seven hundred sorties, and then, according to a report last June, “threw a series of brushback pitches at Kerry, demanding to know just exactly what the post-strike plan would be and pointing out that the State Department didn’t fully grasp the complexity of such an operation.”

One reason these missions might be too difficult is that the United States is still spending too much time, money and intellectual energy preparing to fight a far more important conflict with a far deadlier enemy: global nuclear war with the Soviet Union. We may not be able to suppress the air defenses of a weakened dictatorship in the middle of a massive civil war, but we’re certainly more than prepared to take on the old USSR.

Well, maybe it’s not a plan to fight the Soviet Union, exactly, but the U.S. defense budget and the overall approach to the defense of the United States from foreign nuclear attack still seems rooted somewhere in the 1980s, a relic from the time of Rubik’s Cubes, Rick Springfield, and Ronald Wilson Reagan…….. Continue reading →

August 28, 2013 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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