nuclear-news

Opinion:

¶ “Nuclear Cannot Keep Up With Wind, & Solar Is Coming Next” Even countries with long-standing nuclear aims are adding wind power much faster, as Brazil, China, and India show. Those interested in the fastest way to mitigate climate change can forget nuclear. Even China has experienced delays in reactor construction. [CleanTechnica]

Solar Panels (Image via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)

¶ “Unlikely allies fight Trump backing of coal, nuclear energy” • Dow Chemical, Koch Industries and US Steel Corp are standing with environmentalists in opposing an Energy Department plan to reward nuclear and coal-fired power plants for their constant power generation and are pressuring the administration to shift course. [Daily Journal]

Science and Technology:

¶ MIT researchers have developed an “air-breathing” battery that could store electricity for very long periods for about one-fifth the cost of current technologies, with minimal location restraints and zero…

“It is outrageous that President Trump’s transition team and Vice President Pence’s office in the White House refused to even speak to the nonpartisan auditors at GAO about they spent taxpayer funds during the transition,” said Ranking Member Cummings. “Their refusal to cooperate with GAO fits the unfortunate pattern we have seen from this White House of secrecy and a lack of accountability.” (Oct. 10, 2017)

“Investigation Shows Trump Transition Ignored Ethics Officials and Refused to Cooperate with GAO Oct 10, 2017 Press Release
Investigation Shows Trump Transition Ignored Ethics Officials and Refused to Cooperate with GAO

Lawmakers to Introduce Legislation Addressing Lack of Ethics Compliance Laws Governing Presidential Transitions

Full text of the report available here (PDF) http://ct.symplicity.com/t/wrn/682420b8c7d55f0dc8f5a0e35d639cd2/crc_replacement/realurl=http:/www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/2017_10_10_GAO_Transition_Report.pdf

Washington, DC – Today, United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight…

Opinion:

¶ “Let sun & wind power Puerto Rico’s future” • In the wake of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans are stuck in an intensifying humanitarian crisis. The island could emerge from this disaster as a global leader in the transition toward clean energy. But it is loaded with an unjust debt burden and an unsustainable energy system. [New York Daily News]

Puerto Rico (Photo: Carlos Giusti | AP)

¶ “Pruitt Picks Winners & Losers – Clean Power Plan Rescinded” You know how all the people who feed at the trough full of Koch Brothers money always carry on about how government should not pick winners and losers? It is eyewash to bamboozle the weak-minded. In reality, they insist government pick winners (them) and losers (everyone else). [CleanTechnica]

¶ “What’s the Real Story on the Future of Coal?” • Analysis from the Union of Concerned Scientists tracks the changes…

“We are facing some pretty significant monsters,” — Cal Fire incident commander Bret Couvea to a room of about 200 firefighters and law enforcement officials at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds on Wednesday morning.

“Think of the climate change issue as a closet, and behind the door are lurking all kinds of monsters — and there’s a long list of them,” — Steve Pacala.

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As of Wednesday, the massive fires blazing across California and concentrated in the north had consumed over 141,000 acres, resulted in the loss of 17 lives, and destroyed more than 2,000 structures. Approximately 50,000 people are now evacuated from the fire zones. And about 500 individuals are reported missing. A grim tally that is unfortunately likely to worsen as the hours and days progress.