USA nuclear lobby getting desperate: demanding “strong government intervention”
With US Nuclear in Decline, Scientists and Analysts Urge Support for Next-Generation Technologies, The Energy Collective, Stephen Lacey December 24, 2014 “……..The global nuclear industry is in steady decline. Since hitting a peak in 1996 at nearly 18 percent of global energy production, the industry’s share has dropped down to less than 11 percent.
Even with countries like China and India looking to boost their low-carbon energy supplies with nuclear, project developers around the world have faced long delays, cost overruns, and strong competition from natural gas and distributed resources, as well as policies designed to phase nuclear out entirely.
America is facing its own imminent decline in nuclear generation……….
A comprehensive federal plan, says IEA, is the only way to keep the industry relevant. ………..”The domestic nuclear industry is therefore at a critical juncture as a consequence of its declining economic competitiveness, and existing market mechanisms do not favor investment in high capital-intensive nuclear technology,” concluded the IEA.
Articulating that strategy will not be easy.
On a levelized-cost-of energy basis (an admittedly limited metric), distributed renewables are competing with nuclear plants, adding to the pain inflicted by low natural gas prices. Both free-market advocates and renewable energy proponents say new nuclear shouldn’t be built if it can’t compete in today’s market.
Cost overruns are also hurting the industry’s image. The first U.S. nuclear project to be built in 30 years, the Vogtle power plant in Georgia, is now $1.5 billion over budget and getting more expensive. Angry about rate increases caused by Vogtle, the Green Tea Party and environmental groups were able to force Georgia Power to support half a gigawatt of new solar in the state — much of it procured for 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Meanwhile, many environmentalists remain staunchly opposed to nuclear for traditional health and safety reasons……….
For nuclear to have any chance of succeeding, strong government intervention will be needed to fund more R&D and back loans for commercial-scale plants, say proponents…..
Unfair and not sensible – USA hawks Try to Sabotage Nuclear Deal
US Iran Hawks Try to Sabotage Nuclear Deal Iran hawks in Washington don’t want a nuclear agreement; they want Tehran to surrender its sovereignty and national rights. The National Interest Muhammad Sahimi December 24, 2014 As the prospects of a comprehensive nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1—the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany—brightens, Washington’s hawks seem to have gone into panic mode. They do not seem to want any agreement unless Iran says “uncle,” gives up its sovereignty and national rights within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and completely dismantles its nuclear infrastructure. They’re asking Iran to capitulate, not to negotiate. That’s an unrealistic goal—and in their dogged pursuit of it, they have overlooked serious steps Tehran’s taken that demonstrate a desire for compromise.
We see this unfortunate dynamic in an article this month by Mark Dubowitz, Executive Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, published in the National Interest. Dubowitz’s main premise is that it was the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies that brought Iran to the negotiation table, and only more economic sanctions will induce it to surrender. The premise is false. While the sanctions did play a role, they were not the most important reason, or even one of the primary ones. Iran is negotiating because that is what it has wanted—contrary to Dubowitz’s assertion that “Iran does not appear to be ready to compromise.”
President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and their diplomatic team have always been interested in a compromise. …………….
What has the United States given in return for these major concessions by Iran? Very little. It has released a small amount of Iran’s own money, frozen in foreign banks as the result of the illegal sanctions. The U.S. has also lifted its (also illegal!) ban on the export of petrochemical products and a few other minor items. As President Obama stated, 95 percent of all the sanctions are still in place………….
The reality is that the Geneva Accord and its Joint Plan of Action permit Iran to continue its research on more advanced centrifuges. Iran’s obligation, which it has lived by, is not installing such centrifuges. After this was pointed out, Albright retreated, declaring that the test was in violation of the “spirit” of the Accord. Who is moving whose goalposts, again?
Washington’s hawks risk missing another chance at a sensible nuclear agreement or détente with Iran, one that would dramatically change the dynamics of the turbulent Middle East for the better. Instead, they seem to think they can drive a proud nation to surrender. They’ve been wrong before—and their latest salvo suggests they don’t realize they may be wrong again.
Muhammad Sahimi, Professor of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science and the NIOC Chair in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California, is the editor and publisher of the website, Iran News and Middle East Reports, and has been analyzing Iran’s political developments and its nuclear program for two decades.
Criticism in Iran of Iran’s nuclear power programme
 Nuclear Program Has ‘Hurt Iran More Than Iraq War’, Payvand Iran News, 18 Dec 14 |
| By Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL Iran’s nuclear activities and ambitions faced rare, blunt criticism at a roundtable at Tehran University, where one of the speakers said the damage done by the nuclear program was greater than that by the 1980-88 war with Iraq, which left tens of thousands dead and caused much devastation.
“The imposed war [with Iraq] did not damage us as much as the nuclear program has,” professor Sadegh Zibakalam said at the December 17 roundtable, according to reports by Iranian semiofficial news agencies. Zibakalam also criticized the lack of public debate about the nuclear issue. Other speakers were also critical of the nuclear program and its costs for Iranians, who have come under unprecedented U.S.-led sanctions that have made life more difficult. Speaking at the event, former reformist lawmaker Ahmad Shirzad said nothing had come out of the nuclear program, “not even a glass of water.”……. Shirzad said that he welcomed Iran’s official line, according to which the country is against building and acquiring nuclear weapons. The former lawmaker also seemed to suggest that Iran would be better off without a civil nuclear program. “Iran doesn’t have the primary resources and know-how for a nuclear program,” he was quoted as saying by ISNA. He said Iran could assert itself in areas such as petrochemistry and natural gas, where the country has the resources and the knowledge…………. Criticism of the nuclear issue has been a red line in Iran, where media face tough censorship rules in their news coverage. Shirzad said the nuclear issue has turned into a matter of “honor.” “When something becomes a matter of honor, discussing it is not possible anymore. And that has been our problem for the past 11 years,” he said. Zibakalam said that under Iran’s previous administration, criticism of the nuclear issue was impossible. “Unfortunately from 2003 to 2013, debate about the different aspects of the nuclear issue was not possible. I believe that whenever people and the press are prevented from expressing their opinions on different issues, the result is not good,” he was quoted as saying. He added that during those years whenever he would send a slightly critical piece to the press, “the editors would dump it in the closest trash can.”………http://www.payvand.com/news/14/dec/1098.html |
Russia keen to lock Jordan into long term contracts to buy nuclear reactors
Russia approves draft deal to build nuclear plant in Jordan, Times of Israel 25 Dec 14 State-owned company Rosatom expected to finish construction of first 1,000-megawatt unit by 2024, second by 2026 Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev endorsed a draft Russia-Jordan agreement on the construction and operation of a nuclear plant in Jordan, the official website of the Kremlin said on Thursday…….
The state-owned company will form a joint venture with the Jordanian government, in which the Russian company will have 49.9 percent of the shares and Jordan will own 50.1%. The agreement will be financed by investments from both parties……
Diablo nuclear power plant’s License renewal is not a foregone conclusion
In PG&E’s probabilistic casino—where the chance of an earthquake occurring counts for more than the actual damage it could do when it occurs—the deck is stacked, the cards are marked, and the house always wins. If the roof timbers of your house—built under a towering old tree—were shown to be not up to code standards were that tree to come crashing down, would you insist that the contractor reinforce the roof, or accept his assurances that the odds of the tree falling were too low to worry about? Are you feeling lucky?
Don’t count on Diablo, New Times, December 10th, 2014 License renewal is not a foregone conclusion BY ROCHELLE BECKER“……..– Sen. Barbara Boxer and San Luis Obispo’s former state Sen. Dr. Sam Blakeslee (also a former Exxon geophysicist who headed the Republican caucus when 
he served in the Assembly) pulled back the curtain on the myth of seismic safety at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, a charade that PG&E and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have been casting like a spell over the Oz-like serenity of the Central Coast.
With his cogent testimony before Sen. Boxer and 26 pages of supporting documentation, Dr. Blakeslee exposed the mathematical shell game that PG&E is playing with the results of their “Final Seismic Report.” That report, released in September, was in fulfillment of Blakeslee’s AB 1632 of 2006.
Blakeslee notes PG&E’s historic neglect for the presence of earthquake faults near Diablo, which led to cost overruns and delays in the original construction of the plant. More significantly, when the major threat of the Hosgri fault was finally acknowledged, more than 80 percent of the plant had been built. Rather than re-evaluate the true danger and possibly cancel the plant, PG&E, with the NRC’s acquiescence, began a policy of reverse engineering their earthquake ground motion prediction formulas to make them fit within the mathematical boundaries of what had already been built. Continue reading
Highly elevated radiation levels across North America might come from Fukushima
Fukushima Radiation Up 50,000% With Elevated Radiation Reported Across North America http://chemtrailsplanet.net/2014/12/15/fukushima-radiation-up-50000-with-elevated-radiation-reported-across-north-america/, December 15, 2014 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer(NaturalNews) Beta radiation levels are off the charts at monitoring sites all across North America, according to new reports. But experts are blaming these radiation spikes on practically everything except for Fukushima.
Data gathered from tracking units in California, Arizona, Illinois and elsewhere reveal radiation levels up to 50,000 percent higher than what was observed at the same time last year, and in some cases compared to levels seen this past summer.
EnviroReporter.com says the impacted Global Fukushima Radiation warningsites are scattered throughout the country and aren’t just confined to the West Coast. Readings taken near Los Angeles; Chicago; Montgomery, Alabama; and Madison, Wisconsin, reveal total beta counts per minute (CPM) greatly exceeding the 1,000 CPM threshold considered by the government to be problematic.
In Tucson, Arizona, for instance, a 460 CPM reading was recently taken, which is more than 10 times higher than the reading taken last year on November 27. Similarly, Phoenix, Arizona’s 735 CPM reading measured more than 21 times higher than last year’s reading.
San Diego appears to be one of the hardest-hit areas, with a CPM reading of 650, as of October 1. This figure is 60 times higher than it was last year on the same date, despite the fact that San Diego’s normal background radiation rate typically hovers around 20 CPM.
“U.S. Environmental Protection Agency RadNet radiation monitors have detected renewed surges in atmospheric readings of dangerous beta radiation across the country,” explains EnviroReporter.com about the seemingly inexplicable phenomenon.
“Over a dozen metropolitan test sites have registered four-month highs in EnviroReporter.com’s most recent comprehensive assessment.
Radiation testing site near Chicago records radiation levels thousands of times higher than maximum safety threshold
Fukushima radiation may be the cause of newly detected thyroid cancers in Fukushima children
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster May Cause Childhood Thyroid Cancer: Reports Sputnuk News, 24 Dec 14 Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear incident may be the reason for four cases of thyroid cancer detected in children in the local area. MOSCOW, December 24 (Sputnik) – The 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster may be behind another four children being affected by thyroid cancer, Xinhua reported Wednesday, citing local media reports.
In August, Japanese researchers, using data from the first survey conducted into the potential health impacts caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, concluded that 57 children had thyroid cancer as a direct result of radiation leaked by the reactors.
However, a further four children, then aged from between six and 17, but not counted by the first survey, have been included in a second survey as also suffering from the disease, according to Xinhua………http://linkis.com/sputniknews.com/scie/NJDbQ
Fukushima mothers feel intimidated against speaking about radiation anxieties
INTERVIEW/ Yukihiko Kayama: Experts should help Fukushima mothers speak up about radiation fears, Asahi Shimbun December 26, 2014 By YURI OIWA/ Staff Writer FUKUSHIMA--Psychiatrist Yukihiko Kayama said it is becoming more embarrassing, with the passage of time since the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011, for mothers in Fukushima Prefecture to casually discuss their fears of radiation.
In a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Kayama attributed the trend to a “division” within the population of Fukushima Prefecture, whereby a divergence in their lifestyles according to their residential areas, available economic resources and other factors has made it difficult for them to relate to each other’s feelings.
He proposed meetings of experts with small audiences of residents, where participants could feel at ease talking about their own experiences, concerns and other problems. That would ease the speakers’ emotions to a certain extent, Kayama said.
Excerpts of the interview follow:……………
“….For one thing, people consciously keep from talking about radiation because many of them have found their own ways of coming to terms with radiation in their lives. But rather, I think it is truer to say that, with the passage of time since the nuclear disaster, it is becoming more embarrassing to talk about radiation at all.
That is partly because you are afraid you could be taken for being eccentric if you don’t react to radiation concerns the way others do. Some are concerned they could be taken for nervous ones who still worry about radiation if they just mentioned the topic of radiation.
You also tend to keep your mouth shut when you don’t know the background of the people you are talking to………..” http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/opinion/AJ201412260004
South Korea wants China’s help to investigate hacking attempts on nuclear power company
Korea calls on China for help following hack attempt on nuclear power company IP address used in the hack traced to city on China-North Korea border. Ars Technica by John Timmer – Dec 24 2014
Last week, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, which runs South Korea’s 23 nuclear plants, suffered a security breach in which personnel records, public health monitoring data, and reactor designs were obtained from the company’s systems and posted online. The attacker, which linked to the materials on an anti-nuclear activist site, also threatened to release further information unless three of the company’s plants were shut down by tomorrow.
Now, Korean investigators have identified a Chinese IP address as the source of the attacks and are asking the Chinese government for assistance in the investigation.
According to a report in The Korea Times, the attacks were routed through three different VPN service providers in the US, Japan, and Korea. By obtaining these records, the initial IP address that launched the attack were traced to the city of Shenyang, which is on the China-North Korea border.An article from Australia’s ABC indicates that this city hosts one end of North Korea’s main Internet connection to the outside world, which was severed earlier this week.
A number of sources confirm that South Korea has asked for China’s assistance in the matter and quote an unnamed official as saying the country isn’t pointing the finger at its neighbor: “There is a possibility that the IP addresses in China are not the final source but used in a routing.” But suspicion isn’t directed at China itself; rather, it’s suspected that North Korean agents were using the Chinese city for their activities……..http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/12/korea-calls-on-china-for-help-following-theft-from-nuclear-power-company/
77% Of New US Electricity Generating Capacity was in wind and solar, In November
Wind & Solar = 77% Of New US Electricity Generating Capacity In November Clean Technica December 23rd, 2014 by Joshua S Hill “……. I have included an estimate of non-utility-scale solar (i.e., residential and commercial solar) in the numbers below……The United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Office of Energy Projects released its monthly “Energy Infrastructure Update” on Tuesday, and the big winners from the month of November seem to be wind and solar, which combined added up to over 70% of all new electrical generating capacity placed into service during the month. If you add in our estimate for non-utility-scale solar, the market share of solar and wind rises to 77%.
And as Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign, says, this is a good thing:
“With only one month left in 2014, it has become a horse race between natural gas and renewable energy as to which will dominate new electrical generation for the year. Regardless of the winner, it is apparent that coal, oil, and nuclear will be left behind in the dust.”……… https://cleantechnica.com/2014/12/23/wind-solar-account-70-new-us-generating-capacity-november/
Renewable energy has now gained political clout, in USA States
Renewable energy companies use new clout in statehouses, Phys Org, Dec 24, 2014 by Jeffrey Stinson, Stateline.org “……..Green energy industries have become mainstream businesses with the political clout to match the fossil fuel industry and big electric utilities in many statehouses, and they are using that influence to defend the renewable energy standards in place in 31 states and the District of Columbia.
Green industry is creating jobs, providing lease payments to landowners and taxes for local government in many states. Companies like Siemens and GE are highly invested in green energy. And many state lawmakers don’t want to see the economic benefits shrink or disappear.
Wind represents about $118 billion in private investment in the U.S. economy and sustains about 73,000 jobs, according to the American Wind Energy Association. About $17.3 billion a year is invested in new wind farms.
The solar industry, meanwhile, employs about 143,000 people and pumps nearly $20 billion a year into the economy, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
The economic impact of the fossil fuel industry is much larger, but Tom Plant of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University noted that green energy has “become mainstream … and a pretty significant component of economies of the states.”………
In addition to states with mandatory standards, seven – Alaska, Indiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Virginia – have voluntary goals.
Combined with federal and state green energy tax breaks, state renewable portfolios have been instrumental in building the renewable sector. They “drive demand,” said Susan Sloan, vice president for state policy at the American Wind Energy Association.
Technological advancement is making green energy more economically competitive compared to fossil fuel, especially coal………..
Wind, solar and other alternative sources are increasingly popular with the public compared to fossil fuels, polls indicate. And many companies want to demonstrate they’re in favor of environmentally friendly policies……….
Wind has become “a big cash crop” for Kansas farmers, she said, with wind farms providing about $16 million a year in lease payments to landowners. Local government receives about $10 million a year in lieu of tax payments from them, which is good revenue for rural counties……….. http://phys.org/news/2014-12-renewable-energy-companies-clout-statehouses.html#jCp
Only in renewable energy are jobs growing: in the power sector – job losses, especially in nuclear power
Employment Drops in All Segments of the Power Sector—Except Renewables , Greentech Solar Jobs in solar power generation have increased by 201 percent since 2011. Julia Pyper December 24, 2014
The electric power sector lost more than 5,800 jobs over the last three years, with employment is taking a hit in nearly all energy sources except for renewables, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Non-hydro renewable electricity generation gained nearly 1,800 jobs over the period, largely in the solar sector.
Data compiled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics only reflects the jobs in electric power generation, and not the jobs associated with managing the grid. Jobs related to the construction of new facilities, processing or transportation of fuels, or behind-the-meter distributed generation installations and service were also excluded from the number set………….
recent coal plant closures caused a net decline of 1,750 fossil fuel power generation jobs since 2011. According to the EIA, the new natural gas plants are less labor-intensive than the older coal plants they’re replacing.
The nuclear industry, however, was the hardest hit. Jobs at nuclear power plants fell by 9 percent, which amounts to 4,900 positions, over the last three years.
The downward trend is on track to continue. Several U.S. nuclear power plants are slated for closure in the coming years and there are next to no plans to replace them. The International Energy Agency, a leading Washington think tank and group of conservation scientists recently made separate appeals for the U.S. to rethink its nuclear energy strategy.
Julia Pyper
Julia Pyper is a Senior Writer at Greentech Media covering utilities, grid issues, electric vehicles, the solar industry and energy storage. Find her on Twitter @JMPyper. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/employment-drops-in-all-segments-of-the-power-sector-except-renewables
Arctic ice melting rapidly as solar radiation increases
Arctic Ice Melting Due To Absorption Of Increased Solar Radiation http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/576820/20141222/arctic-melting-ice-solar-radiation.htm#.VJ20osA8 By India Ashok | December 22, 2014
In recent years, the Arctic region has been absorbing more and more of the sun’s radioactive energy, causing the rapid melting of ice in the region. Researchers have found a direct correlation in the rise of solar radiation being absorbed and the decrease in the mount of Arctic sea ice. Since 2000, scientists have observed that the reflective quality of the sea ice has been overwhelmed by the increased levels of absorption of solar radiation such that sea ice in the area has been shrinking at a consistently alarming rate. In fact, the overall climate of the Arctic region is reported to have undergone a marked increase in warmth.
Norman Loeb of NASA’s Langley Research Centre in Virginia has reportedly stated that the Arctic region experienced an increase of warmth in the climate of about five percent. In fact, scientists have concluded that the Arctic region is the only one in the world to have experienced such a rise in temperatures. NASA’s Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments, which have been placed on a few satellites are responsible for uncovering the data and measurements from which the Arctic climactic conditions can be analysed.
Leob went on to say that “Advances in our understanding of Arctic climate change and the underlying processes that influence will depend critically upon high quality observations like these from CERES.” What is confounding most scientists is that the Arctic region is comparatively showing more changes in its climate than any other region on the planet.
Mark Tschudi of the University of Colorado provided enough data that portrayed that since 2000, the Arctic region has lost a total of 1.4 million square kilometres of old ice. Further observation into the climactic conditions of the Arctic region only reinforce the theory that the marked temperature rise in the region is slated to continue increasing at this rate. While most would like to spend more time observing climactic patterns before venturing a root cause for such drastic changes, the possibly that global warming may have a hand in all this could not be ruled out.
To contact the editor, e-mail: editor@ibtimes.com
US Republicans increasingly supporting renewable energy
 Could a GOP Congress Back Renewable Energy? Institutional Investor – Dec 24, 2014
Does a favorable political climate for the coal sector strike a blow to alternative energy? Not necessarily. Republicans, especially those at the state and local levels, are increasingly supporting solar and other renewable energy sources as consistent with their …
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Underage student employed for Fukushima radiation cleanup work
Tochigi firm warned for hiring high school student for decontamination work, Mainichi 25 Dec 14 NASU, Tochigi –– A construction company hired a high school student for work to decontaminate houses tainted with radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned.
The Nasu Municipal Government revealed on Dec. 25 that a construction firm in the town employed a male high school student from outside the town as a part-timer for decontamination work in possible violation of the Labor Standard Act. The law prohibits engaging those under 18 for work that exposes individuals to harmful radiation. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has ruled that the legal ban applies to decontamination work.
The municipal government gave a verbal warning to the president of the construction company, while reporting the incident to a local labor standards inspection office in November.
According to town officials, the company hired a second-year high school student in August last year…….http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141225p2a00m0na002000c.html
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