Review of climate film “Time to Choose”
Review: ‘Time to Choose’ Extols Renewable Energy to Combat Global Warming, NYT,
TIME TO CHOOSE NYT Critics’ Pick Directed by Charles Ferguson Documentary 1h 40m
Filmed on five continents, “Time to Choose” is divided into three chapters: coal and electricity, oil and gas, and land and food. Hopscotching from country to country, it begins in the United States with scenes ofmountaintop removal mining in Appalachia and its destructive environmental effects. Much of the film’s power derives from devastating visual juxtapositions. The glamorous skyline of Shanghai at night is contrasted with daytime images of its smoggy harbor, crowded with ships carrying coal to fuel China’s insatiable energy appetite……..The biggest obstacle to change may be people’s assumptions that global warming is beyond human intervention.
4COMMENTS
In the language of Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, who works closely with Gov. Jerry Brown of California, one of the film’s heroes: “First people deny that they’re part of the problem. Then they deny there’s a solution. Then they tell you that if there is a solution, it’s too expensive.”
“Time to Choose” is not rated. Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes.
Make no mistake: America’s nuclear industry is in trouble.
One suggestion for getting the market to better value nuclear’s attributes is changing state renewable energy mandates to “clean energy standards” that would give utilities more incentives to invest in nuclear power
Nuclear plants need boost to stay open, industry warns, The Blade, Davis-Besse on list of most at-risk sites By TOM HENRY | BLADE STAFF WRITER May 30, 2016 Make no mistake: America’s nuclear industry is in trouble.
Many of the strongest statements about it are no longer found in the hyperbole of anti-nuclear groups but in dire predictions from industry figures such as the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Marvin Fertel, who said at a recent U.S. Department of Energy conference in Washington there’s a “sense of urgency” to improve economics of the nation’s 99 remaining nuclear plants……
Ohio and Michigan are among 13 states with deregulated electricity markets where nuclear plants have an especially hard time competing. Those with single units have even more difficulty, officials said.
A 2013 Vermont Law School report listed Davis-Besse as one of a dozen plants most likely to close early because of economics……..
Wind and solar power are attacked by pro-nuclear advocates these days because of their start-up subsidies.
But several years ago, a conservative group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, identified $85 billion in subsidies to nuclear power since 1948, of which more than $66 billion was spent on nuclear energy research and subsidies through 1998…….
The industry expected 30 or more next-generation nuclear plants would be built after billions of dollars in incentives were offered by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. But those efforts have resulted in the construction of only four new reactors, the twin-unit Vogtle plant in Georgia and the twin-unit V.C. Summer plant in South Carolina…..
One suggestion for getting the market to better value nuclear’s attributes is changing state renewable energy mandates to “clean energy standards” that would give utilities more incentives to invest in nuclear power……http://www.toledoblade.com/Energy/2016/05/30/Nuclear-plants-need-boost-to-stay-open-industry-warns.html
Costs for building South Carolina’s 2 new nuclear reactors have jumped dramatically
SCE&G Requests $852 Million Increase in Cost of VC Summer Nuclear Construction Project; Huntington News, , June 3, 2016 – EDITED FROM A PRESS RELEASE Columbia, SC – The current cost for the construction of two new nuclear reactors by South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) has jumped a stunning $852 million, according to a request filed with the South Carolina Public Service Commission (SC PSC) on May 26, 2016, (See filing linked in “notes” below.)
The filing made by SCE&G states that “the capital cost estimate for which the Company seeks Commission approval in this proceeding is $6.8 billion in 2007 dollars and $7.7 billion with escalation.”
As SCE&G is now a 55% owner of the project, with Santee Cooper owning the other 45% (set to go down to 40%), this means that the overall cost of the project is now around $14 billion. Expected schedule delays or construction problems will only add to that cost…….
The company has also requested delays in achievement of completion milestones in key aspects of construction.
“The request for a cost of overrun of this magnitude will hit consumers hard and the PSC should for once side with residential and business customers and require for SCE&G its shareholders to bear a major portion of the cost increase as it is in large part due to poor project management,” said Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch. “The law under which the project is being pursued is not a blank check for endless cost overruns and schedule delays and the company must be held accountable by the PSC for the costly problems and mistakes with the project.”
Also on May 26, SCE&G informed the PSC that it would be filing for its annual nuclear cost rate hike, as allowed by the Baseload Review Act (passed by the SC legislature in 2007). SCE&G rate payers have already been hit with eight (8) rate hike under the BLRA – the first was approved when the project was
approved by the PSC – so the next pay-in-advance rate hike will be number 9. According to the SC Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) – in an email to Tom Clements in September 2015 – an average SCE&G residential customers is now paying 15.5% of the bill for advance payment of financing costs for the project (as allowed by the BLRA). It is unknown what will happen to rates when the much larger capital (construction) costs go into the bill.
SCE&G claims it has agreed to a “fixed cost” with Westinghouse and Fluor for future costs of the project but that cost can increase with “future change orders which are Owner-directed or based on changed circumstances,” according to the filing, or with any PSC rulings allowing yet more cost increases. “The claim that the cost is fixed is very misleading as it’s clear that there can be future cost increases, all of which would be passed on to the consumer if allowed by the PSC. The cost of the project is not capped and unless the PSC acts responsibly to curb the cost the sky’s the limit on future cost overruns, so customers should be braced for yet more negative rate impacts,” said Clements.
Both Santee Cooper and the electric cooperatives will at some point be hit with higher rates due to the cost increase with the nuclear project but details of those impacts are unknown…….http://www.huntingtonnews.net/137578
Los Alamos National Laboratory waste cleanup costs rocket to $4 billion
Environment Department: LANL cleanup could cost $4B, Santa Fe New Mexican News Jun 2, 2016. Rebecca Moss The New Mexican
The New Mexico Environment Department told state lawmakers Wednesday that it may cost the federal government far more than expected to remove contamination from Los Alamos National Laboratory over the next decade.
During a meeting of the legislative Radioactive and Hazardous Waste Committee, Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn said costs could exceed $4 billion, more than double the current budget proposed by federal regulators.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $1.7 billion, 10-year Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Contract, work primarily focused on cleaning up contamination and legacy nuclear waste at lab sites and areas surrounding the lab. The announcement follows the release of a new consent order with the state in March, a document that governs the lab’s cleanup objectives. Unlike the previous order, with a missed deadline in December 2015 to have all waste removed from the lab, the new deal focuses on contamination and sets more flexible targets, which Flynn has said will accelerate cleanup.
The December deadline was missed in large part because of a radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Southern New Mexico, where barrels of transuranic waste from Los Alamos were being stored in underground salt caverns. An improperly packaged waste drum from Los Alamos burst in February 2014, closing down the waste site.
Following the WIPP breach, the consortium that operates the lab, Los Alamos National Security LLC, received a scathing performance review, and in December, federal officials announced the management contract would be put up for bid. A new contractor will take over lab operations in 2018…….
Some critics, however, have said that having flexible deadlines for cleanup work is not an effective way to hold the lab accountable.
In April, Nuclear Watch New Mexico filed a lawsuit against Los Alamos National Security and the Department of Energy over their failures to meet cleanup milestones under the 2005 consent order. The watchdog group said the state could have collected more than $300 million in penalties if the federal government was held accountable for the deadlines.
The state issued 150 extensions under the Martinez administration, which the lab still failed to meet, the group said.
Nuclear Watch Director Jay Coghlan said in a news release at the time that the group was aiming to make the lab and federal agency “clean up their radioactive and toxic mess first before making another one for a nuclear weapons stockpile that is already bloated far beyond what we need.”
He was referring to plans pending in Congress to increase plutonium pit production in Los Alamos over the coming decades.
“I don’t believe there is a sincere intention on the part of anyone, including the New Mexico Environment Department, to clean up this site,” said Greg Mello, director of the Las Alamos Study Group, another local nuclear watchdog group.
Mello said putting more money into cleanup work won’t remedy the lab’s waste problem, with a new waste stream resulting from continued nuclear weapons work at the lab.
“Just to say that we need more money every year? There is no end, this goes on forever,” he said. “It’s time we close down production.” http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/environment-department-lanl-cleanup-could-cost-b/article_be41efe6-40a5-53c4-af82-b101012c2418.html?utm_content=buffer7c192&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Russia keen to get in on the business of cleaning up Fukushima nuclear mess
Rosatom, Japan discuss decommissioning of Fukushima installations https://rbth.com/news/2016/06/02/rosatom-japan-discuss-decommissioning-of-fukushima-installations_599603
“Our partners are showing ever greater interest in the final stage of the life cycle: decommissioning. We are currently discussing this with the Japanese partners,” Kirienko said.
Rosatom enterprises have fulfilled the order to develop unique technology for treating water at Fukushima for the Japanese partners, he added.
China becoming more anxious over consequences of Fukushima nuclear disaster – calls for transparency
China’s action call over Fukushima, Shanghai Daily Source: Agencies | June 4, 2016 CHINA is extremely concerned about the consequences of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said yesterday, and has urged the Japanese government to carry out timely follow-up measures.
“We hope Japan will take effective measures to provide timely, comprehensive and accurate information to the international community and protect the ocean environment,” Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing.
On Monday, the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, admitted for the first time that its insistence on referring to the incident as “nuclear reactor damage” over the past five years had “hidden the truth.”
According to Ken Buesseler, a marine radiochemist with the US Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the consequences of the Fukushima accident were “unprecedented,” since over 80 percent of the leaked radioactive substances had flowed into the sea.
“We hope Japan will maintain a high sense of responsibility to its own people, the people in neighboring countries and the international community,” Hua said. China is willing to communicate with relevant parties, including South Korea, she added.
China has also asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to enhance monitoring and evaluation of the radioactive water that had resulted from the accident, Hua said…….http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nation/Chinas-action-call-over-Fukushima/shdaily.shtml
South Africa’s Energy Minister again misses legal deadline to file nuclear procurement papers for the High Court
Joemat-Pettersson misses third deadline to file papers in nuclear case http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/energy/2016/06/03/joemat-pettersson-misses-third-deadline-to-file-papers-in-nuclear-case
BY CAROL PATON, ENERGY Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has missed a third deadline to file papers to oppose an application by the SA Faith Communities Environmental Initiative (Safcei) and Earthlife Africa to have the proposed procurement of nuclear energy declared unconstitutional.
The two groups filed papers in October asking the High Court in Cape Town to rule that government had failed to meaningfully consult the public on the nuclear procurement.
They will also argue that the inter-governmental agreements on nuclear procurement signed with Russia, France, China and the US are illegal as they were not preceded by a determination in the government gazette by the minister.
Safcei and Earthlife Africa said on Friday that this was the third deadline that Joemat-Pettersson had missed in as many weeks.
Government failed to respond by the May 13, and asked for an extension until May 30. Earthlife and Safcei then instructed their lawyers to issue a rule 30A notice, which gave the government until the May 31 to respond.
“On Tuesday June 1, our attorneys were advised that the answering affidavit has been drafted, is currently being reviewed by the Office of the Presidency, and that the State Attorney hopes to be in a position to file it on or about June 7,” they said in a statement.
If this latest deadline is missed, the Safcei/ ELA legal team will approach the courts to force government to comply with the legal time frames. Failing this they will ask the courts to strike out the government defence and for their application to be unopposed.
“We believe that this consistent failure to comply with the legal time frames points to an unaccountable government,” says Liz McDaid, Safcei spokeswoman.
India will be Kept Out of the Nuclear Suppliers Group – the reasons why
Why India will be Kept Out of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, The National Interest, Ruhee Neog, 2 June 16 Ahead of this month’s Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) plenary, at which the consideration of India’s membership is expected, a couple of things have happened in quick succession. China announced its opposition to permitting non-Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) members into the NSG, and Pakistan, citing its observance of NSG guidelines, made an application for membership. The United States, which has been quite vociferous in its support for India’s membership, and has, for some time, lobbied NSG members for their positive vote, reiterated its traditional line. Of the 48 members of the NSG, three players—China, the “non-proliferation hardliner” countries, and the United States—will play an important role in deciding which way the vote will sway.
U.S. Court of Appeals upholds Nuclear Fuel Storage Rule
Appeals Court Upholds Nuclear Fuel Storage Rule https://morningconsult.com/alert/appeals-court-upholds-nuclear-fuel-storage-rule/ ASHA GLOVER | JUNE 3, 2016 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday upheld a rule that allows the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to store spent nuclear fuel at power plants.
The three-judge panel denied a request from four states, including New York, to review the rule, arguing the NRC failed to comply with obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act. The case is not the first time the court has had to address nuclear waste storage, according to the Friday decision.
“The petitioners contend that the NRC did not consider alternatives to and mitigation measures for the continued storage of spent nuclear fuel, miscalculated the impacts of continued storage, and relied on unreasonable assumptions in its environmental impact statement,” Senior Circuit Judge David B. Sentelle wrote in the court’s opinion. “Because we hold that the NRC did not engage in arbitrary or capricious decision-making, we deny the petitions for review.”
The threat of a nuclear arms race in East Asia
A nuclear arms race in East Asia? It is a place where most nations deeply distrust their neighbours, and where old-style nationalism still reigns supreme. Aljazeera, by Andrei Lankov Andrei Lankov is professor of Korean Studies at Kookmin University, Seoul. He is the author of “The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia”.
Recently, news from the Korean Peninsula has been dominated by missiles: as satellite images confirmed, the North Koreans have been busy preparing another test launch of “BM-25 Musudan”, their intermediate-range missile.
The launch ended in failure, the fourth such failure in this year. Nonetheless, North Korean engineers and scientists are busy developing both long-range and submarine-based ballistic missiles, capable of hitting the United States.
There has been much hype about the recent Musudan launch, but few people noticed another piece of news that came from South Korea a week earlier.
A high-ranking official, speaking on condition of anonymity – but clearly authorised to make such statements – said that the South Korean navy is also developing its own submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), so the new South Korean submarines will be equipped with a launchpad.
This statement was a reminder of another possible challenge associated with the North Korean nuclear and missile programmes: The threat is that its programmes will provoke a symmetrical response from the countries in the region, triggering a missile and, perhaps, even a nuclear arms race………
If the nuclear and missile arms race starts in East Asia, where will it stop? East Asia today is eerily reminiscent of Europe in the early 1900s, before the outbreak of World War I.
It is also a place where most nations deeply distrust their neighbours, and where old-style nationalism still reigns supreme.
So far, age-old hatreds have been controlled by the US hegemony – Koreans and Japanese, in spite of their historical animosities, have been prevented from confrontation by their alliances with the US – as well as by the record high economic growth. But will such a state of things continue indefinitely? This looks increasingly unlikely……
And, surely, there is the “China factor” – the rising superpower is, to put it mildly, quite unpopular among its neighbours, from Vietnam to Japan.
In the changing strategic situation, many such countries can choose nuclear weapons as a way to deter China which – due to its sheer size and economic might – can hardly be deterred by conventional weapons.
Indeed, the eventual deployment of the North Korean nuclear-armed missiles, combined with signs of US indecisiveness, might easily push South Korea towards acquiring its own nuclear deterrent.
Technically, acquiring nuclear weapons would not cost much money or take much time for a highly developed nation such as South Korea.
If it happens, the probability of a nuclear Japan will increase, and Taiwan, as well as more advanced countries of South East Asia, might start wondering why they should be left behind.
Usually, such columns are supposed to end with some positive suggestions, but in this case there is hardly anything optimistic to say.
North Koreans are determined to maintain and improve their nuclear deterrent, and given their strategic situation, they can hardly be blamed for such an attitude.
However, their actions increase the risk to security in this vital region, and perhaps the entire world. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/06/nuclear-arms-race-east-asia-160602091442504.html
Abuse of Power: ExxonMobil, Chairman Lamar Smith, and the First Amendment – The Equation
Gretchen Goldman, lead analyst, Center for Science and Democracy: “. . . the New York Times printed a full-page advertisement sponsored by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free-market think tank that has been funded by ExxonMobil and has regularly misrepresented climate science. The ad reads in large font “Abuse of Power” followed by discussion of free speech rights of companies, nonprofits, and individuals to disagree on climate change. The ad claims that attorneys general in several states and the US Virgin Islands are overstepping their roles in investigating ExxonMobil for possible fraud.The ad raises the issue of abuse of power, so let’s talk about that.Abuse of power is when a company lies to its investors and the public about climate change impacts and engages on a decades-long campaign of spreading disinformation to the public and decision makers, despite being at the cutting edge of climate science research back in…
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Did Limerick Nuclear Reactor Scram Due to Another Defective ABB Part?
Was the trip due to an electrical fault at Limerick Nuclear Reactor Unit 2 caused by yet another defective ABB part? ABB is Swedish-Swiss. And, quality assurance, or lack thereof, is the responsibility of the parent company, i.e. ABB. Were defects acceptable when original Swiss Brown Boveri (BBC)-the BB in ABB- was making parts for Nazi submarines? Would it be acceptable in Sweden or Switzerland?
This region seems to be unevacuable in a major nuclear emergency. Most likely many will be told to “shelter in place”.
“The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Limerick was 252,197, an increase of 18.7 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 8,027,924, an increase of 6.1 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Philadelphia (28 miles to city center).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_Generating_Station
Location exported from:…
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CBO warns of climate change’s budget impact – POLITICO
Climate Change Recognized by The Congressional Budget Office
The CBO is warning lawmakers about the fiscal risks of climate change, putting the studiously non-partisan agency at odds with Republican Party orthodoxy.
The report, released as hurricane season begins, warns that hurricane damage will “increase significantly in the coming decades” due to climate change. The agency added that humans are playing a role in fueling rising temperatures and a shifting climate.
“Human activities around the world — primarily the burning of fossil fuels and widespread changes in land use — are producing growing emissions of greenhouse gases,” the report states. “Experts in the scientific community have concluded that a portion of those emissions are absorbed by the oceans, but a substantial fraction persists in the atmosphere for centuries, trapping heat and warming the Earth’s atmosphere.”
Source: CBO warns of climate change’s budget impact – POLITICO
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June 3 Energy News
World:
¶ The first large-scale ground based solar electricity generation park on the island of Ireland has opened in County Antrim. The 30-acre solar farm at Crookedstone Road, which cost £5 million ($7.21 million) to build, produces up to 5 MW from 20,000 photo-voltaic panels. [RTE.ie]
The 30-acre solar farm cost £5 million to build.
¶ Chile’s solar industry has expanded so quickly that it’s giving electricity away for free. Spot prices reached zero in parts of the country on 113 days up until April this year, a number that is already on track to beat last year’s total of 192 days, according to Chile’s central grid operator. [The Independent]
¶ Principle Power’s 2-MW WindFloat prototype floating turbine, installed 5 km off Portugal, completed five years of testing. The company said the prototype has met or exceeded all design expectations. Despite high waves and winds, WindFloat…
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Climate Engineering Contributing To Climate Chaos » Climate Engineering Contributing To Climate Chaos | Geoengineering Watch
Dane Wigington, Geoengineeringwatch.org: “Earth’s former energy balance has been completely derailed, we are now in a free-fall state toward an irreparably altered and very inhospitable planet. The majority of populations (especially in industrialized countries) are even now immersed in total denial in regard to the damage that has been inflicted to the environment and climate systems by human activity. Any form of anthropogenic activity that impacts Earth’s natural processes must be considered a form of geoengineering. The greatest and most destructive form of biosphere interference is the ongoing highly toxic climate engineering/weather warfare global assault. Burning forests, drought, deluge, volcanic eruptions, nuclear contamination and die-off, are already now the norm and this process will accelerate rapidly. Geoengineering is being ramped up to unimaginable levels as the collapse of the biosphere and social structure unfolds. The 9 minute video compilation below is a revealing recent update that covers numerous climate and…
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1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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