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California moves toward efficiency and clean energy to replace San Onofre nuclear power

energy-efficiency-manIt’s Official: Efficiency, Clean Energy to Help Fill California’s Nuclear Generation Gap Switchboard, Switchboard 13 Mar 14 Sierra Martinez, California took another major and symbolic step today with its decision to rely significantly on energy efficiency and other clean energy resources to help replace electricity once generated by the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS) serving San Diego and the greater Los Angeles area.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today made official its strategy to address the loss of the huge nuclear plant, which had been offline since January 2012 and was officially retired last year. Fortunately, it closely resembles its proposal released last month.

The final plan uses efficiency and other “preferred resources”—those resources with lower environmental impacts—like demand response (ways customers can consume less energy at key times during the day) and renewable energy such as wind and solar, as well as some upgrades to the electric system, to replace the vast majority of the lost SONGS generation. Continue reading →

March 14, 2014 Posted by | renewable, USA | 1 Comment

Plans for replacing energy after closure of San Onofre nuclear plant

New power sources planned to replace nuclear plant MODESTO  BEE BY MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated PressMarch 13, 2014 LOS ANGELES — California regulators Thursday approved a plan for two utilities to develop replacement power to help fill the void left by the closure of the San Onofre nuclear power plant, but environmentalists warned it could open the way for more dirty energy.

The nuclear plant between San Diego and Los Angeles, which stopped producing power in January 2012, once generated enough electricity for 1.4 million homes. The unanimous vote by the California Public Utilities Commission opened the way for Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric to find ways to plug that gap.

Under the order, the utilities must obtain at least part of the power from renewable sources, conservation and storage. Commission President Michael Peevey said he would have preferred electricity that did not include natural gas-fired generation, but it wasn’t yet possible to rely only on solar and wind power, customer conservation and other alternative sources.

California has been at the forefront among states in moving away from fossil-fuel generation, but solar, wind and other green energy make up only a fraction of overall production in the state.

Environmentalists say the decision increases the odds of seeing more polluting energy as California seeks to address climate change, but Commissioner Mike Florio said no one in the world has managed to run a complex electricity grid without some fossil-fuel energy to handle unexpected shortages………http://www.modbee.com/2014/03/13/3237078/california-vies-to-replace-closed.html

 

March 14, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Global anxiety over risks of nuclear terrorism

Our nuclear insecurity Preventing terrorists from seizing bomb materials is still an ad-hoc global effort By Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Staff Writer 13 Mar 14

As the intense conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, and talk of a return to Cold War-style politics heats up, top world leaders, including President Vladimir Putin and President Obama, are slated to meet later this month to discuss how best to contain what all agree is a significant and growing international threat: nuclear terrorism.

While nuclear arms control and disarmament talks between nations have long been a cornerstone of diplomacy, making sure nuclear materials don’t fall into the hands of individuals or groups bent on harm has not received that same level of attention from the international community until recently. Continue reading →

March 14, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Britain expects to keep nuclear missile base in Scotland

Britain says Scottish independence vote not forcing nuclear base rethink Yahoo News 7,  March 14, 2014, BARROW-IN-FURNESS, England (Reuters) – Britain is making no contingency plans for moving its nuclear forces out of Scotland because the government does not expect Scots to vote for independence on September 18, Defence Minister Philip Hammond said on Thursday.

Britain’s submarines armed with Trident nuclear missiles are based at the Faslane naval base northwest of the Scottish city of Glasgow, so a vote to break the 307-year union could cost the government billions of dollars to move the naval base………

Scottish nationalists have said they would want to remove all Britain’s nuclear missiles from Scottish soil in the first term of a Scottish parliament after a vote for independence.http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/21969523/britain-says-scottish-independence-vote-not-forcing-nuclear-base-rethink/

March 14, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

‘unprofessional’ culture of nuclear weapons officers

US air force documents reveal ‘rot’ in culture of nuclear weapons officers Launch officers barely passed inspection at North Dakota base as evidence grows of cheating and ‘unprofessional’ behaviour  Associated Press in Washington theguardian.com, Friday 14 March 2014 Failings exposed last spring at a US nuclear missile base, reflecting what one officer called “rot” in the ranks, were worse than originally reported, according to air force documents obtained by the Associated Press. Continue reading →

March 14, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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