nuclear-news

The US NRC is requesting comment for its “Fuel Cycle Oversight Process” http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NRC-2015-0149 The only “public” comment, currently uploaded, is by Kevin Ramsey, an NRC manager, and calls for the deletion of the Emergency Preparedness “Cornerstone”.

http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NRC-2015-0149
http://www.regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=NRC-2015-0149-0003&attachmentNumber=1&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf Here is the draft “Cornerstone Development” document for comment: http://www.regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=NRC-2015-0149-0002&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf

http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/materials/fuel-cycle/nuclear-fuel-services.html
Looking above and at the comment, which Kevin Ramsey submitted, one might be forgiven for thinking that he is a manager for Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin, Tennessee. But, he appears to actually work for the US NRC. Serious problems, including incidents, which could lead to criticality accidents, at the Erwin NFS site meant that it was under NRC oversight for over a decade (2004-2015) – perhaps under his oversight? It is operated by Babcock and Wilcox, and has made nuclear fuel for Naval Nuclear Reactors, since the 1960s. And, Kevin Ramsey is an old Nuclear Navy man himself. What an…

Opinion:

¶ “Renewable Energy Is Looking for This Game Changer” Time of use rates will increase the value renewable energy and energy storage can provide to the grid. Rates and policies are also how utilities (driven by Koch funding) are attempting to fight off solar. There are good and bad signs in California. [Motley Fool]

A solar installation on the roof of the Mascone Center in San Fransisco, built by Sunpower. Image source: Sunpower.

World:

¶ The global solar industry has seen exponential growth in recent years, and that’s expected to continue. After hitting about 178 GW of capacity by the end of 2014, global solar PV capacity is expected to hit 200 GW shortly. BSW-Solar expects the global solar PV capacity to reach 400 GW within four years. [CleanTechnica]

¶ The Australian government has ordered the Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to make any future investments…

Submission Impossible: SA Royal Commission into nuclear fuel cycle,Independent Australia,  10 July 2015, The SA Royal Commission into the nuclear fuel cycle is calling for submissions but the mechanics involved have made it Submission Impossible, writes Noel Wauchope.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN Labor government has ordered a Royal Commission, to inquire into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle: ‘Investigating opportunities and risks for South Australia’. This fast moving Royal Commission will receive submissions on this topic

All sounds good, doesn’t it? And who is supposed to send these submissions in? Well, any person or organisation in South Australia. As the Royal Commission (RC) has received little or no publicity outside South Australia, then it is likely that submissions will not be appreciated nor forthcoming from the other States.

However, the RC has invited nuclear technology companies from overseas, to put in submissions.

The RC has published four Issues Papers, with points for discussion. I…

Radionuclides have been known to be deadly since before the beginning of the nuclear age. Plutonium was predicted to be deadly before it was made, because it would be similar to Radium, but it turned out to be even worse. (On radium see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls). Marie Curie died in 1934, aged 66, from aplastic anemia brought on by exposure to radiation while working with radium and X-ray units: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie That ionizing radiation causes cancer has been documented for over 100 years: “By 1900, Clarence Dally was suffering radiation damage to his hands and face sufficient to require time off work. In 1902, one lesion on his left wrist was treated unsuccessfully with multiple skin grafts and eventually his left hand was amputated. An ulceration on his right hand necessitated the amputation of four fingers./ These procedures failed to halt the progression of his carcinoma, and despite the amputation of his…

Kevin Scarce sometimes scarce on nuclear reality, Online opinion, Noel Wauchope,  7 July 15  “……..The Royal Commission next goes to USA and Canada for 8 days, from July 9th. They’re particularly interested in the Small Modular Reactor idea. I hope that they’re aware that Westinghouse abandoned their Small Modular Reactor project, and that Babcock and Wilcox pulled back from this – unable to get any contracts or investors.

What I’m worried about, is that the Commission will end up recommending the plan explained recently by Oscar Archer, on ABC Radio National – that South Australia make an “ironclad commitment [my emphasis] to develop a fleet of integral fast reactors to demonstrate the recycling of the used nuclear fuel”

As for the Commission visiting Canada, Kevin Scarce enthused about the similarity between Canada and Australia. Really? What about the difference in climate, in the amount of sunshine, that surely…

Science and Technology:

¶ World seabird populations have suffered a staggering 70% drop over the last 60 years, according to new international research. This means around 230 million seabirds have disappeared across the globe since the 1950s. Climate change, overfishing, and pollution from plastics and oil have been blamed. [Scotsman]

Numbers of black-legged kittiwakes have plunged by 77 per cent since the 1980s. Factors including climate change are blamed. Picture: RSPB.

World:

¶ A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Oriel Windfarm and Gaelectric Holdings to begin developing a large-scale offshore wind farm in the north Irish Sea. The project will start with a 15-MW demonstration project, at a cost of €80 million. The developers hope to end with a 870-MW wind farm. [CleanTechnica]

¶ An agreement between Chile’s state-owned energy company Enap and Italy’s Enel Green Power, will see the development and building of a…

?Pope Francis blasts global warming deniers,? the Washington Post wrote last month. The Pope?s climate encyclical focused on the immorality of climate inaction ? which makes the immorality of knowingly spreading disinformation for the purpose of delaying action all the more base.

Now the Union of Concerned Scientists has disclosed an email revealing that Exxon understood the scientific reality of climate change as far back as 1981. ?Other companies, such as Mobil, only became aware of the issue in 1988, when it first became a political issue,? Exxon?s former in-house climate expert, chemical engineer Leonard S. Bernstein wrote last year. The 30-year veteran of Mobil and Exxon explained:

Exxon first got interested in climate change in 1981 because it was seeking to develop the Natuna gas field off Indonesia. This is an immense reserve of natural gas, but it is 70% CO2. That CO2 would have to be separated to…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trawsfynydd_nuclear_power_station

“Cancer near Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station in Wales, UK: A Cross Sectional Cohort Study

Christopher Busby1*, Mireille de Messieres2
1Environmental Research SIA, 1117 Latvian Academy of Sciences, Riga LV-1050;
2Green Audit, Castle Cottage, Sea View place, Aberystwyth SY 23 1DZ UK

*Corresponding author: Dr. Prof. Dr Christopher Busby, Environmental Research SIA, 1117 Latvian Academy of Sciences, Riga, LV-1050, Published: 06-03-2015 © 2015 Busby

Abstract

A cross sectional cohort study was carried out of the population living downwind of and less than 3.5km from Trawsfynydd nuclear power station sited in Wales, UK. This station is cooled by, and discharges radionuclides to a lake, Llyn Trawsfynydd, which is significantly contaminated with radioactivity. Cancer numbers and populations were obtained through questionnaire and interview for the10-year period to 2005. Results showed that in the 3-years before the study was carried out, 2003-2005 and where completeness of data was most secure, there were…

Science and Technology:

¶ Climate change is threatening the survival of bumblebees, significantly reducing the habitats in which they can survive, researchers say. Natural ranges are being compressed in Europe and North America. The analysis indicates that warming is having a greater impact than pesticides or land use change. [BBC News]

Across Europe and North America bumblebees are losing to climate change.

World:

¶ EV sales are up in the UK. With over 14,000 electric cars sold in the UK in the first half of the year, the increase over the same period in 2014 is a whopping 350%. Brits registered a little more than 35,000 electric and hybrid cars in the first 6 months of 2015, representing approximately 3% of all new car sales. [CleanTechnica]

¶ The Caribbean nation of Belize is now aiming to go to 100% renewables, reports say. All of its electricity…

If it did take more than 25 years to build a nuclear power plant then the technology could be made obsolete by renewables.

Last October, South Australia managed for the first time to get more than 100 per cent of its electricity needs for a working day between 9.30am to 6pm, from a combination of wind and solar energy. Overall it gets more than 30 per cent of its power from renewables, and has a target of 50 per cent to be achieved within 10 years.

Prof Diesendorf said it would only take 15 to 20 years to go to 100 per cent renewables in the state.

“The global enrichment market is oversaturated, and no-one credibly believes nuclear power is a realistic proposition for the sparse South Australian grid,” Greens senator Scott Ludlam argued in a column for New Matilda.

Kevin Scarce sometimes scarce on nuclear reality, Online opinion,Noel Wauchope,  7 July 15 

On June 29 Kevin Scarce, chief of South Australia’s Nuclear Royal Commission, was interviewed by Ian Henschke on ABC Radio 891 Adelaide. Scarce had just returned from a Royal Commission whirlwind tour of Taiwan, Japan, Europe and the UK. The interview can be heard here.

I was pretty amazed, not only at the speed at which the Commission examined the nuclear industry, at so many places, from 26 May 12 June 2015, and at the complicated facilities that they examined, but also at how much information was left out of Scarce’s report, and at the apparent inadequacy of their grasp of current developments in the nuclear industry.

First and most obvious were two questions, both which Kevin Scarce had emphasised at his pre-tour community forums in South Australia. Scarce had stressed that the Commission would…

The land of ice is being transformed into the land of fire.

Greenhouse gas emissions are forcing the air to rapidly warm (half a degree Celsius each decade in some places). Frozen lands are thawing, liberating billions of tons of soil carbon as an ignition source for wildfires. And methane bubbling up from lakes, bogs, and wet zones in the soil itself provides yet more tinder for a rapidly developing Arctic fire trap.

(What the hell is wrong with this picture? Here we have a bog fire burning away in Saskatchewan, Canada on July 1st, 2015. The bright white color of the smoke is indicative of water vapor mixing in. Due to permafrost thaw, both bogs and related themokarst lakes have been emitting higher and higher volumes of methane over recent years. Methane that could well serve as a volatile fuel for fire ignition over wetlands like the one shown…