“Nuclear Matters” the front group for nuclear industry shills
neither Nuclear Matters or the CASEnergy Coalition are bona fide organizations with staffs and brick and mortar offices. They are nothing more than PR agency-managed websites with high-profile paid spokespeople in tow.
columnists and other commentators fail to reference Exelon or misrepresent Nuclear Matters to enhance its credibility.
Nuclear Giant Exelon Launches Front Group to Cover 
Its Assets Elliott Negin HUFFINGTON POST 2 June 14, Nuclear power, which accounts for 19 percent of the nation’s electricity generation, is facing some serious challenges. Not only did its hoped-for renaissance fizzle out, four reactors shut down last year, another is closing this fall, and the nuclear giant Exelon says it will announce plant closings by the end of this year if market conditions don’t improve.
Indeed, market conditions have not been good for Exelon, which owns 23 reactors at 14 plant sites, making it the largest nuclear plant operator in the country. Although the company netted $1.16 billion on revenues of $23.5 billion from all of its energy holdings in 2013, none of the Chicago-based company’s six Illinois nuclear plants turned a profit in the last five years, according to a recent Chicago Tribuneinvestigation. At least three of those plants are reportedly on the chopping block……
To try to stanch the bleeding, Exelon recently launched a front group, Nuclear Matters, to sell the public on the need to keep the remaining U.S. fleet of some 100 reactors running. According to its website, the group rests its argument largely on the fact that nuclear plants run 24/7 and don’t emit carbon or traditional air pollutants, and insists that efforts to address global warming will be foiled if any reactors close. The website also lists some of the commonly cited reasons for the industry’s current plight, but, echoing Exelon, also blames federal and state policies that support wind and solar power, which it claims “distorts” electricity markets. Not only is that a dubious assertion, it’s especially ironic given the nuclear industry would not be economically viable without more than 50 years of federal subsidies, many of which continue to this day.
A New York public relations firm, Sloane & Company, is managing Nuclear Matters for Exelon. Since the group’s launch in March, the agency has placed full-page ads and op-eds in a range of publications and recruited an impressive array of former public officials to plead the company’s case. Former Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) were on board at the beginning as co-chairs. They were soon joined by former Secretary of Commerce and White House Chief of Staff William Daley, former Energy Secretary and Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), former Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), and former Clinton Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Carol Browner, who served as the Obama administration’s climate adviser and is board chair of the League of Conservation Voters.
Why start a front group? For the same reason the industry trade association Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) hired the Hill & Knowlton PR agency eight years ago to create the faux grassroots Clean and Safe Energy Coalition and tap former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to be its primary spokesperson. Who is the public going to believe? A former EPA administrator or NEI CEO Marv Fertel? A former U.S. senator or Exelon CEO Christopher Crane? More than likely the former government officials, especially if they don’t disclose the fact that the nuclear industry is paying them to advance its agenda. Continue reading
Shilling for nuclear industry intensifies, but the industry still stinks in America
the nuclear business stinks in the United States. It’s gotten so bad that French nuclear giant EDF inked a deal last year to gradually dump its U.S. nuclear operations thanks to dwindling profits and dimming prospects that it will get to build new reactors.
There are far better, more sustainable alternatives that will keep the lights on. Among the best is wind power. Believe it or not, wind is quickly gaining market share in Texas. According to government projections, plummeting costs for solar panels could make sun-powered utilities more competitive than natural gas within a single decade,
Sorry Carol Browner, and your new friends in the nuclear industry. In terms of safety and money, building new reactors amounts to a lose-lose proposition.
A gust of nuclear-powered hot air from the industry
http://bristolpress.com/articles/2014/05/31/opinion/doc538a72d3949cd339945913.txt May 31, 2014 By EMILY SCHWARTZ GRECO and WILLIAM A. COLLINS Have you heard how nuclear power is a low-carbon solution that could ratchet down climate change? Even former Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner is touting the industry for its supposed reliability, low-cost and diminutive carbon footprint.
For years, including when she served as President Barack Obama’s climate czar, Browner shared the widespread green view best summed up by this slogan: No nukes is good nukes.
Now, she’s shilling for Nuclear Matters. This atomic lobbying outfit, funded by industry giants like Exelon, is trumpeting nuclear reactors as a climate panacea in full-page New York Times ads and any media outlet willing to listen to members of its “leadership council,” which includes a gaggle of senators-turned-lobbyists like Judd Gregg, Evan Bayh, and Blanche Lincoln. As the saying goes, everything has its price. But what’s driving this nuclear-powered media shopping spree? After decades without any new construction, a total of five new reactors are slated to open by 2018 in Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia.
Those projects were supposed to usher in a nuclear construction boom that’s not materializing for several reasons. One is safety. Another is the rise of fracking. A gusher of natural gas offers another dangerous alternative to coal-fired power plants that’s exposing the myth of nuclear energy’s so-called affordability as a flat-out lie.
For more than three years, the global media has tuned in with varying degrees of intensity to the steady drumbeat of fallout (literally) from Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe. After other ideas failed, the government over there is shifting into sci-fi overdrive with a plan to create a mile-long underground frozen wall to contain the destroyed power plant’s radiation.
Hey, if that doesn’t pan out, Japan can order its scientists to genetically engineer a Godzilla creature that guzzles radioactive seawater. The fact is that safety concerns have made Japan go nuclear-free, at least for now, by shuttering the reactors that used to generate 30 percent of the country’s electricity. Continue reading
America’s plans for pre-emptive nuclear attack on Russia or China
US Plans ‘First Strike’ Nuclear Attack on Russia or China By Richard Cottrell, Rick Rozoff, and Bruce Gagnon Global Research, June 01, 2014RT the TruthSeaker Star Wars tested for Eastern Europe; US space weapons “unofficial declaration of war”; “soft assassinations” planned for last weekend’s EU election winners.
Seek truth from facts with Gladio, NATO’s Dagger at the Heart of Europe author and former European MP Richard Cottrell; Stop NATO newslist’s Rick Rozoff; and Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.
This is a rush transcript.
RT: US revives plans for a nuclear first strike on Russia. Coming up.
Announcer: “Soft assassinations” of anti-NATO leaders.
Star Wars tested for Eastern Europe.
And US space weapons quote an “unofficial declaration of war.”
RT: Secret clauses of NATO membership state, the US can and will depose Europe’s governments on the orders of the White House.
Giuseppe De Lutiis, NATO author: Even if the electorate were to show a different inclination, secret protocols guarantee alignment by any means.
RT: “By any means” means exactly that. Early NATO whistleblower Hans Otto exposed ‘”kill lists” of leading European politicians that defied investigators’ belief, but were subsequently confirmed by police.
Officers found 15 pages of members of the German Communist Party to be assassinated, and 80 pages on Germany’s Social Democrats, one of the two major parties in the country.
The documents state these assassinations would take place “in case of X”. X may refer, writes NATO scholar Dr. Daniele Ganser, to mass protests against a US-backed government, or an election victory of a genuinely left-wing party.
Instructions for such operations were kept at NATO military headquarters south of Brussels.
Der Spiegel reveals a quote “a strictly secured wing of the building. A grey, steel bank vault door prohibits trespassing to the unauthorized.” Papers on NATO operations in Europe are marked “American eyes only.”
When the EU Parliament officially demanded NATO stop these operations, which have become known by the codename Gladio, the US simply ignored it……http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-plans-first-strike-attack-on-russia-or-china/5384799
Canada’s nuclear industry plans propaganda campaign, especially in schools
Canada’s uncertain nuclear future article is based on Canada’s Nuclear Energy Sector: Where to from here? published by Canada’s Public Policy Forum. 2 June 2014“……One approach to address the concerns of the anti-nuclear movement is to work with environmental NGO leaders, to foster trust and a less-polarised dialogue. Such dialogues will be difficult and will take time: workshop participants said this approach was successful in the forestry sector, but it required much time and effort over two decades. To gain social license and broader acceptance, groups outside the sector will need to initiate the discussions. The start of this dialogue can be seen in the US, with recent efforts by some prominent environmental NGO leaders, who had once been opposed to nuclear.
The often passionate public reaction against nuclear power is a significant challenge. Extensive media coverage of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan, bad memories of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, and common misunderstandings around radiation mean the public is often reluctant to embrace nuclear power plant construction or to view nuclear as a viable energy source. A key to success in both the UK and France has been including information about nuclear energy in school curriculums.
By educating students about nuclear energy, both countries have been successful in helping to dispel myths around safety and security that persist elsewhere. These countries have shown that education could be a useful first step to engaging citizens in a more enlightened discussion on nuclear energy. Given the diverse energy sources in Canada, school boards would be wise to develop science programmes that explore all types of energy and allow students to be exposed to and learn about the positive and negative aspects of all of them.
Amid serious doubts, the Fukushima ice wall construction starts
Japan builds underground ice wall at Fukushima nuclear plant http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-02/japan-builds-fukushima-underground-ice-wall/5495358 Japan has started work on an underground ice wall at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, freezing the soil under broken reactors to slow the build-up of radioactive water. The wall is intended to block groundwater from nearby hillsides that has been flowing under the plant and mixing with polluted water already there.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority, the national watchdog, last week authorised construction of the ice wall at Fukushima Daiichi, owned and operated by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO).
“We started construction of the frozen earth wall this afternoon,” a TEPCO official told a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
The government-funded scheme will see 1,550 pipes laid deep in the soil through which refrigerant will be piped to create the 1.5-kilometre frozen wall that will stem the inflow of groundwater.
“We plan to end all the construction work in March 2015 before starting trial operations,” the company official said, adding that the ice wall could be fully operational several months after construction was completed.
The ice wall is the latest in a series of clean-up operations being carried out after the worst nuclear disaster in a generation, in which three reactors went into meltdown.
The idea of freezing a section of soil, which was proposed for Fukushima last year, has previously been used to build tunnels near watercourses.
However, scientists point out that it has not been done on this scale before nor for the proposed length of time.
Coping with the huge – and growing – amount of water at the tsunami-damaged plant is proving to be one of the biggest challenges for TEPCO.
As well as all the water used to keep broken reactors cool, the utility must also deal with water that makes its way along subterranean watercourses from mountainsides to the sea. Last month TEPCO began a bypass system that diverts groundwater into the sea to try to reduce the volume of contaminated water.
Full decommissioning of the plant at Fukushima is expected to take several decades.
An area around the site remains out of bounds, and experts warn that some settlements may have to be abandoned because of high levels of radiation following the March 2011 accident.
Nuclear company Exelon spends $millions buying support in Washington
Nuclear Giant Exelon Launches Front Group to Cover Its Assets Elliott Negin HUFFINGTON POST 2 June 14,
“……..Exelon Already Holds Sway in Washington
Nuclear Matters is just the latest gambit of a very powerful political player. Over the last five years, Exelon has spent millions on political candidates and tens of millions on lobbying, and has taken advantage of its close ties with the Obama administration to weaken or stymie stronger nuclear plant safeguards.
According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Exelon has spent nearly $8 million on political campaigns since 2008, more than any other private electric utility. Over that same time period, Exelon also spent $34.6 million on lobbying, putting it in the top 10 among electric utilities. In addition, Exelon is one of the biggest corporate donors to trade associations, pro-business alliances and other politically active nonprofits, according to a January report by the Center for Public Integrity. In 2012, Exelon gave $13.6 million to approximately two dozen nonprofits, the second-largest amount voluntarily disclosed among the Fortune 300 companies CPI reviewed.
Exelon’s lobbyists also have enjoyed unparalleled access to the Obama administration, according to an August 2012 New York Times exposé. The Times provided several examples of how the company exerted its influence, including delaying and weakening a proposed EPA rule to prevent power plant water intake systems from killing fish and other aquatic life.
The Times also reported that Exelon joined with NEI and other plant owners to challenge the NRC’s post-Fukushima safety recommendations. Specifically, they opposed a proposed requirement that they install filters on hardened vents at 31 boiling water reactors to help prevent radiation discharges into the environment in the event of an accident. Those reactors are similar in design to the six at the Fukushima facility.
Filtered vents are now required in Japan and much of Europe, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission technical staff recommended they be installed here. But Exelon and the rest of the U.S. nuclear industry, loathe to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on filters, insist there are other ways to achieve the same result and lobbied hard to avoid the upgrade.
In early 2013, more than 50 of the industry’s friends in Congress sent letters to the NRC requesting that the commissioners reject the filtered vent recommendation and slow down the implementation of other post-Fukushima safety reforms. A number of the signatories have reactors in or near their districts, and most have received sizeable campaign contributions from the nuclear industry. Two sign-on letters, for example, came from House members, one from 21 Republicans and the other from 26 Democrats. Since 2008, the nuclear industry gave more than $3.32 million to the 41 of the letters’ 47 signatories. Roughly 30 percent of that funding came from Exelon.
The industry prevailed — for the time being. Despite the fact that the NRC technical staff provided ample evidence that filtered vents are a sensible, cost-effective measure that would protect nearby communities, NRC commissioners issued an order requiring owners of the 31 reactors to upgrade their hardened vents that stopped short of requiring filters. Instead, the commissioners gave their staff two years to review all the options for reducing radiation releases. The NRC will then open the proposed rule to public comment and finalize it by the end of 2017…… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elliott-negin/nuclear-giant-exelon-laun_b_5428994.html
In Australian Federal Court, Aborigines continue the fight against radioactive waste dumping on their land
Nuclear waste dump on Aboriginal land invalid, court told The West Australian, 3 June 14. Sydney (AFP) – The earmarking of a remote Australian outback area as a nuclear waste dump was invalid because officials failed to contact all traditional Aboriginal landowners affected, a court heard Monday.Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory was nominated in early 2007 as a site to store low and intermediate radioactive waste under a deal negotiated with the Aboriginal Ngapa clan.
While Australia does not use nuclear power, it needs a site to store waste, including processed fuel rods from the country’s only nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights, on the outskirts of Sydney,…..Opponents have fought against the dump for years, with a trial starting in the Federal Court in Melbourne Monday alleging Muckaty’s nomination was invalid due to a failure of the government and the land council to obtain the consent of all Aboriginal owners.
“What we’re here to say is ‘no more’ and that this process was so legally flawed that it is invalid,” Ron Merkel, who is representing traditional owners, told the court.
“The opposition is in no small part based on a spiritual affiliation to the land and that radioactive waste will poison the land,” he said in comments cited by Australian Associated Press.
The court was told the consent of all groups with a claim to the land was required for the facility to go ahead, but some Aboriginals whose country was affected have never had a chance to voice their concerns until now……..Speaking to reporters, Kylie Sambo, of the Warlmanpa people, said the idea of a waste facility on the land, which is in the centre of the country, was “poison”.
“We don’t want it to spoil our country because we love our land and we’ve been there for centuries,” she said. “My uncle once told me, ‘You may think you own the land, but in fact the land owns us’.”
The Australian Conservation Foundation said the case raised questions about the country’s management of long-lived radioactive waste.
“Australia has never has an independent assessment of how best to manage radioactive waste; now we urgently need one,” campaigner Dave Sweeney said.
The case is set to run for five weeks. https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/world/a/24084083/nuclear-waste-dump-on-aboriginal-land-invalid-court-told/
Doom and gloom now permanent for the uranium industry
We are heading for a uranium crisis , Investor Intel, June 2, 2014 by Robin Bromby“……Welcome to the “perma-gloom” with spot uranium now at $28.25/lb. But it really does portend a very troubling situation. We could be on the brink of a real uranium crisis, one that could have serious ramifications down the road. This is because, on top of all the doubts about nuclear post-Fukushima and the slowness of Japan to get reactors back on line, uranium is caught up in the general malaise affecting the mining industry ……….the uranium price has fallen by 30% over the past year. If it keeps falling, and it well might, more and more companies will either go into hibernation mode or quit the sector all together ……..
A surer sign that all is not well can be evidenced from an ominous trend — exploration companies quitting the sector. Others are making cuts: Cameco closed its Cheyenne office, while BHP Billiton has deferred its expansion at the world’s biggest uranium deposit, Olympic Dam in South Australia. Australia’s Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) has put one of its mines, Kayelekera in Malawi, on care and maintenance.
Back in 2007-8, after spot uranium hit $137/lb, this was the place to be. Suddenly every mining explorer was keen to be in the uranium hunt. At one stage, more than 260 companies listed on the Australian Securities claimed to have uranium projects (many of them in what the Canadian miners call “moose pasture”).
Now, it seems, those small number remaining can’t wait to get out. FYI Resources (ASX:FYI), which got into uranium after quitting the eye care business (it’s previous name was Freedom Eye) in 2009, is now concentrating on potash in Thailand. Uranex (ASX:UNX) is staying in Tanzania, but has put its uranium on the back-burner in order to pursue graphite.
But possibly the most startling change was reported today. Junior United Uranium (ASX:UUL) which has six projects in Western Australia [and A$3.41 million in the bank as at March 31] is getting out of uranium and into — wait for it — property development.You can’t exactly blame the directors. The shares are trading at a discount to the company assets (the market capitalisation being just A$2 million), all its projects are early-stage ones that will require considerable sums to explore and may not turn out to be viable, no one is investing in the sector, the uranium price is depressed as is the resource sector generally.
Just two weeks ago another uranium explorer working in Western Australia, Prime Minerals (ASX:PIM), signalled it was changing direction. It is merging with Cocoon Data Holdings which has data security software. The news lifted Prime’s stock from A0.9c to A2.2c.
Back in 2007, announcing you were getting into uranium could see your stock price double. Now announcing you’re switching focus away from uranium does the trick. This is not a good trend. http://investor
USA’s plans for nuclear weapons in Space
US Plans ‘First Strike’ Nuclear Attack on Russia or China By Richard Cottrell, Rick Rozoff, and Bruce Gagnon Global Research, June 01, 2014 RT the TruthSeaker Star Wars tested for Eastern Europe; US space weapons “unofficial declaration of war”; “soft assassinations” planned for last weekend’s EU election winners. “……/Bruce Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons in Space: This is in the planning process today. The US Space Command practicing engaging in a first strike attack and this is the key element here. These are first strike attack planning, these so-called missile defense systems are key elements in US first strike attack planning. The idea is to hit China or Russia first with a first strike, and then when they try to fire their nuclear retaliatory capability, it is then that the so-called missile “defense” systems would be used to pick off any retaliatory strike, so after a first strike sword is thrust into the heart of China or Russia, then the missile defense shield would be used to pick off any retaliation giving the US the a “successful” first strike attack.
It has nothing at all to do with defense, it has nothing to do with freedom or democracy, or any of those words that are used all the time to disguise the true intentions; it’s all about full spectrum dominance.
RT: Several decades ago the first Star Wars initiative faced intense public and industry debate.
Today the US is controlled by just six mainstream media, all totally suborned to the White House. The result is an Orwellian silence on perhaps the most dangerous issue today.
Europeans may decide they want their leaders chosen by NATO, or even that they support nuclear strikes on China and Russia.
Since the US-controlled mainstream’s never even informed the public these apocalyptic plans are on the agenda, the first people may hear of it, would be this. Seek truth from facts. This is The Truthseeker.http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-plans-first-strike-attack-on-russia-or-china/5384799
Renewables marking the end of the line for nuclear power?
Renewables: The end for nuclear power? http://www.cnbc.com/id/101710759 Anmar Frangoul | Special to CNBC.com Friday, 30 May 2014 It took the Fukushima disaster to put the future of nuclear power in doubt – but could renewable energy mean the end for nuclear power?
In March 2011, disaster struck Japan. An immensely powerful earthquake and tsunami resulted in a catastrophic meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In the aftermath of the disaster, using atomic power to generate electricity came under intense scrutiny – resulting in both Japan and Germany deciding to phase out nuclear power.
With anti-nuclear sentiment strong in both countries, utility companies are coming under intense pressure, with profits being squeezed and their centralized business model facing an increasing challenge from renewables
It’s a complete destruction of the business model,” Dieter Heuskel, a Dusseldorf based senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group, told CNBC’s Energy Future. “They no longer run with the utilisation that they were planned to run, so there’s a huge destruction of not only revenue but also of profit pools, and they have to reinvent themselves completely,” he added.
Experts warn that the move to a focus on renewables could soon leave nuclear power redundant. “If you accelerate this revolution to a kind of power economy that is very different from what they [nuclear power utility companies] represent, well, you pull the rug even more out from under their feet,” Andrew DeWit, from Rikkyo University, told Energy Future. n April of this year, however, the Japanese government announced a reversal of its decision to phase out nuclear power, despite fierce public opposition.
This places Japan in stark contrast to Germany, where the government is pushing ahead with plans to have 35 percent of its electricity sourced from renewables by 2020, and 50 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030.
This ambition has fostered an environment where innovation in clean energy is encouraged, giving German businesses specializing in renewables a competitive advantage.
The German government’s energy policies have also forced big utility companies to change the way they operate.
“We are focusing our business towards the more de-central and more renewable aspects,” Peter Terium, CEO of RWE AG, told Energy Future. “We can develop things like smart homes, smart grids – that’s needed in any kind of transition of society,” he added. s Japan, then, in danger of missing the boat when it comes to innovation in renewables? “Hitachi, Toshiba, Panasonic etcetera, they’re very deeply involved in smart city projects around the world,” DeWit said. “You’ve got all kinds of good things happening, and, if you do that very well, to a globally competitive extent, well then you’ve got an export industry.”
Support, however, for this sector is still needed, DeWit added. “Without a very visible effort co-ordinated by the central government, and particularly through the cabinet, investors face too much investor risk.”
Exelon and Nuclear Energy Institute set up A Tool to Squelch Renewables
Nuclear Giant Exelon Launches Front Group to Cover Its Assets Elliott Negin HUFFINGTON POST 2 June 14, “……Exelon and NEI clearly know their way around Washington. But some arguments sound a lot less self-serving when they appear to come from a disinterested third-party. A case in point is Nuclear Matters’ contention that the United States has to maintain its entire fleet of nuclear power plants to stave off the worst consequences of global warming.
To be sure, nuclear power is the largest source of low-carbon electricity in the country, a major selling point. But Nuclear Matters’ website ominously warns that “the closings of just a handful of nuclear energy plants would have a devastating environmental impact on our country and make it nearly impossible for us to meet our clean energy or carbon reduction goals.”
Is that right? Not quite. As it turns out, ramping up renewables — especially wind and solar — and energy efficiency could replace a significant amount of nuclear generation, and do it in a hurry.
Let’s look at the numbers. What would happen if Exelon closed the five reactors in Illinois that energy analysts have identified as ripe for retirement? The five reactors — one at Clinton and two each at Byron and Quad Cities — have a rated capacity of 5,203 megawatts (MW).
In 2012 alone, the U.S. wind industry installed the functional equivalent. It added 13,131 MW of new capacity, which, at a 35 percent capacity factor — that is, the percentage of time the generator is actually producing power — would produce about the same amount of electricity as Exelon’s five reactors operating at a 90 percent capacity factor. According to the American Wind Energy Association, there is currently 17,200 MW of new wind capacity under construction or with signed power purchase agreements that will be built over the next two to three years. Those wind farms will produce the equivalent output of more than six typical 1,100 MW nuclear reactors.
Now add solar power to the mix. According the Solar Energy Industries Association, the solar industry installed 8,120 MW of new capacity in 2012 and 2013, and is projected to install another 25,000 MW by 2016, which altogether will produce the equivalent output of about seven nuclear reactors. And let’s not forget energy efficiency. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy projects that by 2020, existing energy efficiency resources standards in 26 states will save the equivalent output of more than 27 reactors.
In other words, renewables and efficiency could go a long way to replace nuclear plants — and retiring coal plants–to dramatically reduce U.S. carbon emissions. While more transmission capacity would be needed for wind and utility-scale solar projects, there is progress on this front. In addition to four new transmission projects constructed last year, which could support 10,000 MW of new wind capacity, there are 15 projects in advanced stages of development that could support an additional 60,000 MW of wind in Plains, Midwestern and Western states by 2018. These transmission projects also could open up new markets for nuclear plants.
But you’re not going to hear about the potential of renewables and energy efficiency from Nuclear Matters. Exelon started the front group for the same reason NEI created the CASEnergy Coalition: to prop up the nuclear industry. And not only does Exelon want state and federal authorities to rescue its financially ailing reactors, it also has another goal in mind. A key component of Exelon’s game plan is to hamstring its low-carbon competition, namely the wind and solar industries. More on that in my next blog later this week. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elliott-negin/nuclear-giant-exelon-laun_b_5428994.html
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Elliott Negin is the director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Steve Clemmer, UCS director of energy research and analysis, and Mike Jacobs, a UCS senior energy analyst, contributed to this blog.
Belarus radiation warning for Mid May 2014 and beyond? – Location near Chernobyl ! During International hockey match! EURDEP emergency services data deleted!
“….it is interesting that if there has been an incident in the Chernobyl work site or other that no one has been told about it. A complete lack of transparency exists and the public is denied the right to know. Some food for thought for those countries deciding on nuclear energy as a way to get” cheap” and “safe” electricity. If a bird hits a wind turbine we are told about it, if a nuclear accident or incident occurs we are not!…”
UPDATE h/t Karen from rainbow warriors on face book..
“From May 9-25, 2014, Minsk will host the World Ice Hockey Championship.” says it all !! just as the radiological incident occurred .. what is it with the nuclear corporations and their state sponsored psychopaths wanting to irradiate athletes and sportsmen??
“Background levels of radiation were previously monitored by the U.S. Embassy and other organizations and, to date, have not exceeded levels found on the Eastern seaboard of the United States.” (BS detected!!)
“Belarus has no operating commercial nuclear reactors but is constructing one 30 kilometers from the Lithuanian border with financing and technical support from Moscow.”
https://www.osac.gov/Pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx…
Op Ed by arclight 2011part2
Date 3 may 2014
posted to nuclear-news.net
Today I looked at EURDEP radiation mapping and got an interesting surprise. Belarus came up as having a high reading but when i tried to access the data there was nothing there. Usually Belarus does not have its radiation mapping available on EURDEP but this last month of May it did. The reason for this might be that an incident occoured at the Chernobyl site and that the emergency mapping was switched on so that various radiological organisations and emergency services would be able to use it.
It is likely that the incident is now past but it might be worth noting that a well publicised international hockey match was being played in May. In fact anti nuclear and democratic activists were rounded up and imprisoned as early as April. Of course this would mean that an international consensus of nuclear organisations let this hockey match go on even though a radiological incident was underway.
If there was an incident it might explain the delay in construction of the sarcophagus as a clean up would have to be done before construction resumed.
Of course you might want to wonder what evidence there is for this.
Firstly, other odd monitoring sites around eastern Europe such as in Austria, Greece and Hungary showed high peaks in mid May and about a week later. On the northern border of the Black Sea another monitoring site in Turkey showed very high peaks. Also in eastern France.
Secondly, all the monitoring sites in Belarus that were switched on had the data stripped. This is because there is a parallel monitoring server with more detail run by the IAEA and associates and the EURDEP public monitoring map is only for the emergency services.
I might point out that the IAEA usually asks monitoring station operators to delete these spikes in radiation as NORM or normal radiation. Some monitors such as the UK comply and some such as Ireland leave a gap and a few others leave the spikes. (In fact the east coast of ireland had on such incident a few days ago but it does no show up on the UK monitors across the channel where the radiation was likely to have come from)
Setting the map from 1 month to 1 week and looking at the Belarus section of EURDEP I could see that the “purple spot” disappeared which allowed me to ascertain that no high peaks were seen by the system, so the spot could relate to the other peaks around the eastern end of Europe.
Questions remain of course and as their is a severe lack of transparency in the nuclear industry as it tries to resalvage its losses since the triple nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima in Japan where bad news comes out weekly if not daily even though the government has threatened up to ten year prison sentences and other punitive actions to those that release this information to the outside world. There are many similarities to Japan and Belarus as both are using dictatorial laws to repress dissent with the blessings of the international community of corporations.
As an aside there are no radiations available from Ukraine and that is a country that might get severely hit by a major release from Belarus. I also wonder if the Russian troop pullback from the Ukrainian border might have been to protect the Russian troops from fallout contamination (if the incident is on going).
There is much conjecture in my above posit I admit but I was struck with the way everything connected and thought i would share my thoughts with you all. Below is some screenshots that i compiled and i will leave a link so you can play with the EURDEP mapping system your selves to see what posits you might come up with.
Finally, it is interesting that if there has been an incident in the Chernobyl work site or other that no one has been told about it. A complete lack of transparency exists and the public is denied the right to know. Some food for thought for those countries deciding on nuclear energy as a way to get” cheap” and “safe” electricity. If a bird hits a wind turbine we are told about it, if a nuclear accident or incident occurs we are not!
Link to the EURDEP public and emergency services mapping system:
http://eurdepweb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/EurdepMap/Disclaimer.aspx
(Click on “I agree” set the dropdowns to |”maximum” and 1 month to see the purple dots appear. Right click the mouse until you see the hand, then narrow in on any areas of interest by scrolling the mouse and then click on the monitoring post that you are interested in. There are drop downs on the page that comes up with the chart. I would recommend ” ticking “polyline” to clearly see the peaks).
Measurements in nano sieverts per hour (nSv/h).. move decimal point over to left by 3 decimal places to convert to microsieverts per hour (mcSv/h).
More on links;
https://nuclear-news.net/?s=chernobyl (Most recent links are first)
1 This Month
5 January -Webinar-What is Trump’s Golden Dome?
REGISTER AT Massachusetts Peace Action Education
New book – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1923372157?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
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