nuclear-news

Five big nuclear issues for 2016 — and Australia’s role in them, Independent Australia  Noel Wauchope 5 January 2016, Nuclear issues got next to no discussion in Australia in 2015. That is sure to change in 2016 from five explosive factors, writesNoel Wauchope.

#1: Nuclear weapons  “……….. In the event of nuclear war, Pine Gap makes Australia both a participant and a target.

What the experts call a “limited nuclear war” between India and Pakistan is always on the cards as both nations ramp up their nuclear weaponry. What does Australia do about this? The Turnbull Government, ignoring the advice of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) and pro nuclear power expert Dr John Carlson, goes ahead with insecure uranium sales to India, thus contributing to that India-Pakistan arms race.

All these considerations will matter to Australia in a number of ways in 2016. An obvious example…

The incessant references to nuclear medicine to ‘sell’ the proposed radioactive waste repository/store amount to nothing more than emotive propaganda

10-20% of the current stockpile would be the plausible range for medical waste − closer to 10% if measuring by radioactivity (because spent reactor fuel is such a large contributor to total radioactivity) and closer to 20% if measuring by volume.

Nuclear medicine and the proposed national radioactive waste dumphttp://www.foe.org.au/anti-nuclear/issues/oz/nontdump/med Jim Green National nuclear campaigner – Friends of the Earth, Australia December 2015

Australian Ethical Super  Dr Stuart Palmer, Head of Ethics Research at Australian Ethical. 6 Jan 16 
We agree that the nuclear energy is a complex issue given the need to transition globally to low-emissions power. However, Australian Ethical has a strong negative screen on nuclear power for a range of reasons including:
· frequent association with nuclear weapons manufacture;
· radioactive pollution from uranium mines;
· the intractability of radioactive waste;
· the potential for catastrophic failure of nuclear power stations;
· security risks associated with the operation of nuclear power stations, and with the transport and storage of nuclear waste.
In our view these concerns outweigh the potential climate change benefits of nuclear power. Even with new generation nuclear plants we still consider the level of risk to be unacceptable, particularly given rapid advancements in renewable energy and storage technology.
I hope this information is helpful in explaining…

the economics of new nuclear power doesn’t stack up. And we’ve got much more important things to do (like exposing the well-funded lies of some in the fossil fuel industry and planning for a much different and smaller grid), than arguing with well-intentioned but intellectually conceited proponents of nuclear energy

Nuclear And Nonsense: An Insider’s Guide On Making Renewables Work, New Matilda
By Terry Leach  January 4, 2016  Renewable energy advocate Terry Leach takes up the fight for an inexhaustible power supply.

Geoff Russell’s recent New Matilda article ‘Batteries and Bulldust’ makes the argument that renewable energy can’t displace fossil fuels due to the problems of the intermittency of renewable energy and the difficulty of storing electrical energy.

Russell compares the stupidity of Germany’s renewable push to France’s wisdom in generating most of their power from nuclear. Obviously, the superior governance, cheaper electricity and lack of inefficient subsidies results in France…

On first glance it appears reasonable to define what “structures, systems and components” are “safety-related’ and ‘nonsafety-related”. However, coming from an alleged nuclear engineer-nuclear licensing contractor and consultant, one can guess that this is yet another poison US NRC gift for the New Year. They are full of it. Holtec is getting more dangerous safety exemptions – oh, yeah, what is safety? Preventing nuclear accident – duh!

Common sense tells us that the repercussions of a nuclear accident are so serious; so deadly and so long-lasting – some radionuclides will remain lethal for longer than humans have been on the face of the earth – that ALL structures, systems and components of nuclear reactors and other nuclear facilities are “safety-related”.

The comment deadline is apparently in 75 days. More related posts will probably be added between then and now, and this post may be updated. The post was done quickly…

Forget North Korea, Holtec and its owner Kris Singh is the biggest nuclear menace. Holtec’s nuclear “spent fuel” canisters are already a flimsy 1/2 inch thick, for the sealed metal part which protects the public from radiation, even though they are huge, as seen in the picture. The concrete surrounding the inner 1/2 inch sealed canisters is vented, so that failure of the internal 1/2 inch canister exposes the public to high levels of radiation.

Nonetheless, Holtec continues to request safety-related exemptions. In particular, to not assure quality of the neutron aborber, metamic, which is supposed to prevent a criticality event.

Holtec is up to Amendment 9. The Certificate of Compliance (CoC) should not be amended at all. Amendment 8 was less than a year ago.

Holtec Spent Fuel Casks

To further exacerbate the dangers, Holtec (Kris Singh) wants to pack broken fuel rods. [1] Holtec wishes to further evade…

World:

¶ If Spain had no wind parks, the average annual price on the electricity market would have been 23.8% higher in 2015, according to the Spanish wind energy association. Wind farms offered the lowest wholesale electricity prices in Spain, at about €46.14 ($49.60) per MWh. [SeeNews Renewables]

Wind turbines at work. Author: Nick Cross. License: Creative Commons, Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic.

¶ The Solar Energy Corporation of India and Russian Energy Agency have recently signed a memorandum of understanding to set up large scale solar PV projects in India between 2016 to 2022. Under the terms of the agreement, initially a 500 MW pilot solar PV project will be developed. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Earnings of utilities in central and northern Europe will fall about 7% in 2016, hampered by a reliance on coal, gas and nuclear generation. Spanish, Italian and Portuguese power companies, accounting for about 60%…