nuclear-news

“The first tier of the SAFER plan is established through PEICo contracts with commercial heavy-lift helicopter vendors for “first call out of services.” With this type of contract, the vendors are not obligated to support SAFER’s response, and helicopter availability is dependent on the utilization and deployment location of the vendor’s fleet of helicopters at the time the request is made. …”

“The second tier of the SAFER plan is to request State helicopter resources (National Guard or other) via the site’s State emergency response organizations…

The third tier of helicopter support is for the site to request Federal helicopter resources…” (See more below.)

All of the above may have other priorities, such as rescuing people and air-lifting to medical facilities. This is especially true for the National Guard and Military. Precious time will be wasted calling the vendors. The utilities should have their own…

Opinion:

¶ What’s Ahead for Climate Change in 2016? • This year will kick off with a sense of optimism about climate change after the success of the Paris climate talks in December. Here is a set of projections for what lies ahead in 2016, including the possibility of both low oil prices and declining emissions. [Discovery News]

Lightning strikes may increase by about 12% for every degree Celsius gained. Axel Rouvin via Wikimedia Commons

World:

¶ In 2014, the government of India upped the 2022 target of the national solar mission to 100 GW, from the earlier 20 GW. And at COP21, Prime Minister Modi said that India will produce 175 GW from non-fossil sources by 2022. By 2030, 40% of India’s electricity will be renewably generated. [DEALSTREETASIA]

¶ A major EU-funded home-energy project called RealValue has been set up by an Irish consortium led…

The US NRC opposed this public and environmental safety measure, of course. It would cost nuclear utilities money.


Emphasis our own. Original here: http://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2.27.13_Markey_NRC_HydrogenVents.pdf

Markey left the House for the Senate.

Google-USGS-San Onofre/Diablo locations from Wikipedia

“Oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Wednesday October 7, 2015, 09:15 AM, EST 406 Dirksen

Ranking Member Barbara Boxer

Boxer: “Not one of the 12 task force recommendations has been fully implemented, and I think we have a chart that shows this. Many of the recommendations still have no timeline for action. I am also concerned with some of the decisions NRC is making on whether to implement important safety enhancements.

For example, the Commission overruled staff safety recommendations. They overruled their staff and voted not to move forward with multiple safety improvements. By a 3 to 1 vote, the Commission decided to remove a requirement that nuclear plants have procedures in place for dealing with severe accidents.

What is wrong? How can we vote that way? How does this make any sense?

This requirement was identified in the aftermath of Fukushima, but…

Opinion:

¶ A Green Revolution Starts with Partnerships • A lot of proposals have been put forth on how to jump-start a green world economy. And history has proved that public-private partnerships don’t just increase access to funding for startups, but they also incentivize dialogue, cooperation and new ideas. [Triple Pundit]

Image: Floris Oosterveld

¶ Renewables riding momentum into 2016 • The worldwide move toward cleaner energy continued to gain momentum in 2015. Actions at the state, national and international level are all sending an undeniable message that the rise of clean energy is here to stay. Montana is an exception. [The Bozeman Daily Chronicle]

¶ Government takes backward view over renewable energy • In the aftermath of the UN Paris Climate Conference, it is extraordinarily sad that, in the face of the threat of significant climate change, the UK’s Government is showing such poverty of…

Filtered chimney at Windscale ( Sellafield)Cockcroft Folly
1957 Windscale Nuclear Accident: “Without the filters – installed at the last minute by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sir John Cockcroft – the effects of the radioactive dust blasted into the Cumbrian air would have been much more devastating./ “Radioactive dust did escape, but the filters caught about 95 per cent of it,” says Christopher Cockcroft, Sir John Cockcroft’s son.” “Windscale Piles: Cockcroft’s Follies avoided nuclear disaster” By Duncan Leatherdale, BBC News, 4 November 2014 http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-29803990

“Clearly, a high-capacity filter would help protect the public from becoming exposed to radioactive releases if there were venting from either the drywell or wetwell (in cases in which the suppression pool was ineffective at scrubbing and retaining radionuclides)…. a 2005 Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) document on severe accident mitigation alternatives analysis states that the estimated cost of a filtered containment vent would…