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South Korea scrapping plans for 6 nuclear reactors, but will continue with 2

South Korea to resume building two new nuclear reactors, but scraps plans for 6 others http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-warning/north-korea-diplomat-says-take-atmospheric-nuclear-test-threat-literally-idUSKBN1CU2EI?il=0, Jane Chung SEOUL (Reuters), 26 Oct 17,  – South Korea will resume the suspended construction of two new nuclear reactors from midnight, its energy ministry said on Tuesday, but has torn up plans to build six more reactors as Seoul seeks to meet pledges to cut reliance on nuclear power.

The move will restart work on the two reactors that was frozen after President Moon Jae-in came to power in May on a ticket calling for scaling back nuclear power. It comes after results of a survey unveiled last week found a majority of South Koreans actually backed the projects.

The world’s fifth-biggest nuclear energy user currently runs 24 nuclear reactors, generating a third of the country’s total electricity needs.

“Construction work (for the two new nuclear reactors) will begin immediately after midnight,” Paik Un-gyu, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, told a news briefing in the capital.

But in a bid to press on with Moon’s commitment to boost use of natural gas and renewable sources in the nation’s energy mix, the ministry said Seoul will also cancel all plans to construct a further six nuclear reactors. The number of nuclear reactors operating in South Korea will be cut to a net 14 by 2038 it said.

The ministry said it will use alternative fuels such as solar and wind power to replace the six nuclear reactors with a projected combined capacity of 8.8 gigawatts (GW).

Additionally, the Asia’s fourth-largest economy will not allow extending the lifespan of 14 aging nuclear power stations, totaling 12.5 GW of capacity, the statement said.

The energy ministry said it will reflect changes in the country’s long-term energy mix plan, which is expected to be finalised in November.

Reporting by Jane Chung; Additional reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell

October 27, 2017 Posted by | politics, South Korea | Leave a comment

In the 1960’s a State Department Study Prevented a Pre-emptive Nuclear Strike on China China

How a State Department Study Prevented Nuclear War With China, The U.S. considered preemptive strikes to prevent Mao from attaining nuclear weapons.The Diplomat By Franz-Stefan Gady, October 25, 2017, The People’s Republic of China (PRC) under Mao Zedong was the nuclear “rogue state” of the 1960s in the eyes of the United States. The PRC was viewed by officials in two consecutive U.S. administrations — John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson — as both extremist and irrational, a country where the prevailing U.S. Cold War strategies of containment and deterrence would not apply. President Kennedy reportedly saw a nuclear China as “the great menace in the future to humanity, the free world, and freedom on earth.” Lyndon B. Johnson told a reporter in 1964 during the ongoing presidential campaign that “we can’t let [Barry] Goldwater [Johnson’s opponent] and Red China both get the bomb at the same time. Then the shit would really hit the fan.”

Given the possible disastrous consequences of a nuclear-armed PRC for the United States, both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations discussed the option of launching preventive strikes on Chinese nuclear weapon facilities. Amid these deliberations, a member of the U.S. Department of State’s Policy Planning Council, Robert H. Johnson, compiled two studies arguing that a nuclear China will not significantly alter the military balance of power in Asia and that, as a corollary, the United States would not need to take radical steps, including military action, in the foreseeable future. Johnson’s papers helped to broaden the discussion about possible policy options vis-à-vis China and may have contributed to the United States not launching a preventive attack on Chinese nuclear facilities in the early 1960s.

China: The Rogue State of the 1960s……..

The State Department Responds While Kennedy was considering preventive war against China’s nuclear weapons capability, several U.S. State Department officials grew skeptical about the White House’s alarmism and militancy. The then-head of the State Department’s Policy Planning Council (PPC), Walt Rostow, noted in July 1963 that even if Beijing developed nuclear weapons, its “desire to preserve its nuclear force as a credible deterrent might tend to make China even more cautious than it is today in its encounters with American power.” Rostow’s opinion was influenced by the first draft of a study titled “A Chinese Communist Nuclear Detonation and Nuclear Capability,” compiled by PPC staffer Robert H. Johnson in close cooperation with officials from the Pentagon, the CIA, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and the U.S. Information Agency.

A 100-page version of the paper was distributed in October 1963 to select officials. It is unclear, however, whether Kennedy ever saw it. Its conclusion was distinctly non-alarmist. Most importantly, the report concluded that “apart from serving as an additional inhibition on some levels of U.S. attack upon the mainland, a Chinese nuclear capability need impose no new military restrictions on the U.S. response to aggression in Asia (…)” Even intercontinental ballistic missiles would not “eliminate this basic asymmetry.” Furthermore: “The basic military problems we will face are likely to be much like those we face now: military probing operations (…) relatively low-level border wars” and “‘revolutionary wars’ supported by the ChiComs [Chinese Communists].”

In short, the study suggested that the United States pursue status-quo policies vis-à-vis China (“present policies require no change”) anchored on nuclear deterrence.

The Impact

According to the scholars William Burr and Jeffrey T. Richelson, the study had an immediate impact……..

Robert H. Johnson’s reports helped accentuate the reasons against preventive war. They offered U.S. policymakers alternatives to more hawkish views on how to deal with a nuclear China. ……..

Considering the current U.S. administration’s disjointed responses to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and the repeated talk of the possible necessity of military action, getting the government to “sing from the same sheet” on a very complex issue is no minor achievement. Indeed, our best hope may be that somewhere in the D.C. bureaucracy a 21st century incarnation of Johnson can get the ear of a senior administration official with access to U.S. President Donald Trump and offer a nuanced perspective on the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula.

Franz-Stefan Gady is an associate editor at The Diplomat. He tweets @hoanssolo. https://thediplomat.com/2017/10/how-a-state-department-study-prevented-nuclear-war-with-china/

October 27, 2017 Posted by | history, politics international, Reference, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

IAEA boss Yukiya Amano to visit Iran

U.N. nuclear chief to visit Iran this weekend http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-iaea/u-n-nuclear-chief-to-visit-iran-this-weekend-idUSKBN1CU2KZ?il=0, Reuters Staff VIENNA (Reuters) 26 Oct 17,  – The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog will visit Iran on Sunday for talks with senior officials there, as opposition from the United States threatens to undermine an international accord to curtail Iran’s nuclear program. Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will discuss Iran’s implementation of the 2015 agreement, the IAEA said on Wednesday.

The visit comes during a dispute between Washington and Tehran over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision this month not to certify Iranian compliance with the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

The U.S. Congress now has less than 60 days to decide whether to re-impose economic sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the deal, in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.

Amano, whose agency is in charge of policing those restrictions, has defended the agreement as a “net gain” for nuclear verification and said Iran’s commitments under the deal are being implemented.

The IAEA did not mention Trump’s refusal to certify Iran was complying with the agreement. European Union leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to the accord, hoping that Congress will prevent the deal from collapsing.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Tehran will stick to the agreement as long as the other signatories do, but will “shred” the deal if Washington pulls out, as Trump has threatened to do.

Reporting by Francois Murphy, editing by Larry King

October 27, 2017 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Drumming up a bogus conspiracy about Hillary Clinton and Uranium One

How Steve Bannon and Sean Hannity ginned up the Hillary Clinton uranium story, Pro-Trump conservatives want to talk about their own Russia narrative. The only problem is that it’s nonsense, Salon.com,  MATT GERTZ, MEDIA MATTERS, 10.26.2017 This article originally appeared on Media Matters.

President Donald Trump has spent much of his presidency engulfed by congressional and criminal investigations into Russian efforts to help him win the 2016 presidential election. But today, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, announced he was joining a new congressional probe — one that appears to revolve around the purported Russian ties of Trump’s opponent in that race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

This is no accident. Like the work of the House Select Committee on Benghazi before it, this is a partisan investigation with a political purpose, with its roots in the conspiratorial muck of the right-wing media. But while the Benghazi probe — as Republican leaders eventually acknowledged — was an offensive push to damage Clinton’s political standing in the lead-up to the 2016 election, the new one is a defensive move aimed at protecting Trump by diverting attention to his former opponent. The effort’s loudest champion is Sean Hannity, the Trump propagandist and sometime adviser who has claimed for months that the “real collusion” with Russia revolves around a bogus conspiracy theory linking Clinton to the 2010 sale of the uranium mining company Uranium One to the Russian government.

The story begins with Breitbart.com head Stephen Bannon. In 2012, long before he became the Trump campaign’s chief executive and joined Trump’s White House as chief strategist, Bannon launched the Government Accountability Institute, a nonprofit conservative investigative research organization. Three years later, GAI’s president, the discredited author Peter Schweizer, authored the bestselling book “Clinton Cash.” The book, built on GAI’s research, alleged that Bill and Hillary Clinton “typically blur the lines between politics, philanthropy, and business.” It was a trainwreck of sloppy research and shoddy reporting but was heavily promoted by mainstream outlets thanks to a cunning media strategy overseen by Bannon and taken up by Trump during the campaign.

One of the book’s bogus allegations was Schweizer’s claim that Hillary Clinton played a “central role” in approving the purchase of Uranium One by the Russian State Atomic Nuclear Agency. Schweizer speculated that she did so because of the money given to the Clinton Foundation and her husband by Russians and people linked to the deal. But this made no sense, and several reporters assessing Schweizer’s claims rejected them. The State Department had one of nine votes on the committee that approved the deal; the State Department rep said Clinton never intervened on the issue; there were critical questions about the timing of the donations Schweizer referenced; and even Schweizer said he had no direct evidence Clinton had intervened.

The false allegations might have been forgotten in the wake of the election. But in January, the U.S. intelligence community announced that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the aim of harming Clinton’s campaign because “Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.” Reporting from a host of news outlets ever since has suggested that Trump’s campaign aides and associates had a series of troubling interactions with Russians, triggering congressional investigations and eventually a criminal probe by special counsel Robert Mueller. With Trump’s presidency hanging in the balance, his allies have searched for a way to rebut the charges.

Hannity eventually settled on the old “Clinton Cash” allegations. Claiming that there is no evidence to support what he terms “black-helicopter, tinfoil-hat conspiracy theories about so-called Trump-Russia collusion,” the Fox host declared that the “real collusion” is between Clinton and Russia, as demonstrated by the Uranium One tale. He pushed that argument over and over again to his audience of 3 million, making it in more than two dozen monologues over the summer.

Then a week ago, Hannity tweeted this: “FBI uncovered Russian bribery plot…”

Hannity was promoting a report by John Solomon, the executive vice president of The Hill, which purported to advance the Uranium One story. According to Solomon’s anonymous sources, “Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow.” Solomon provides no evidence that the Clintons were aware this was happening, and of course the underlying conspiracy theory that Clinton pushed the Uranium One deal through still makes no sense. But it’s something the right-wing press can use to try to shift attention away from Trump……

Feeding into the right-wing narratives about efforts by nefarious deep-state actors to tear down the president, Circa’s reporting received glowing reviews from Trump’s most conspiratorial supporters.

But Circa’s biggest fan is Hannity……..

Hannity heavily promoted Solomon’s story on his Fox show, devoting extensive segments to the “explosive” “bombshell” on the night it broke and the next two nights. He’s hosted Solomon, Carter, and Schweizer, harangued the rest of the press for not covering the story and declared Uranium One “one of the biggest scandals this country has ever seen.” And on the night the story broke, he made clear what he thought should happen next:

Hannity heavily promoted Solomon’s story on his Fox show, devoting extensive segments to the “explosive” “bombshell” on the night it broke and the next two nights. He’s hosted Solomon, Carter, and Schweizer, harangued the rest of the press for not covering the story and declared Uranium One “one of the biggest scandals this country has ever seen.” And on the night the story broke, he made clear what he thought should happen next:

And now Nunes — who had to recuse himself from Russia-related investigations earlier this year due to ethics charges that resulted from his effort to do the White House’s bidding and scuttle the Trump-Russia investigations — is taking a hand. At a press conference today, he announced that he would be launching an investigation into the Uranium One allegations. He will be working alongside the House Oversight Committee, helped by the former chairman of the Benghazi Committee, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.

When there’s a congressional investigation into a Clinton, Fox knows how to respond:

“Fox programming is now basically 24/7 about Hillary Clinton and Uranium.”

The New York Times yesterday detailed how Republican congressmen, including Nunes and Gowdy, are trying to “wrap up the investigations” into Trump’s Russia ties as quickly as possible. “Congressional investigations unfortunately are usually overtly political investigations, where it is to one side’s advantage to drag things out,” Gowdy told the Times. He knows that from experience. A year into Trump’s presidency, egged on by sycophantic media allies like Hannity, the first congressional investigation into a Clinton has begun. It won’t end anytime soon. https://www.salon.com/2017/10/25/how-steve-bannon-and-sean-hannity-ginned-up-the-hillary-clinton-uranium-story/

October 27, 2017 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

With its rapid growth in solar power, India now a leading clean energy generator

‘India plans big on solar, wind power’ http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/india-plans-big-on-solar-wind-power/article19821527.ece SAKUNALA (KURNOOL DT.), OCTOBER 07, 2017 India has chalked out ambitious plans to generate 84 gigawatts of solar power and 32 gigawatts of wind power by 2022, asserted Anjali Jaiswal, India Director of Natural Resources Defence Council (NDRC), California, on Saturday.

“India is emerging as the world leader in generating clean energy, although it started by generating 17 MW of solar power in 2010, when Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission was launched,” Ms. Jaiswal told the media while inspecting the Kurnool Ultra Mega Solar Park at Sakunala in Gadivemula mandal of Kurnool district, said to be the largest solar park in the world. Andhra Pradesh was in the forefront among other States in solar power generation by setting solar parks to generate 4,000 MW, she added.

There was a global push for clean energy owing to limitations such as coal availability and climate changes, Ms. Jaiswal said. The Paris Climate Agreement signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then US President Barack Obama in 2015 determined that 40% of non-fossil power must be generated by 2030. During his visit to California, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu held discussions with California Governor Jerry Brown and explained him about his plans to boost solar power, the NDRC Director said.

The NDRC has been working with the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Ministry of Power since a decade and helped in design and identification of suitable locations for solar parks. It was working with Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, on building energy efficient buildings, working on curbing air pollution at Ahmedabad in Gujarat and heat action plan in 30 cities, including Hyderabad.

NDRC Renewable Lead Nehmat Kaur said the organisation was working in the US, China and India and has three million members. Its focus was on clean energy, climate resilience, air pollution and heat and air-conditioners having cooling with less warmth. The penetration of air-conditioners was 6% in India, where as it was 94% in China, Ms. Kaur said.

The rooftop market for solar power was mainly from the commercial and industrial sectors and some challenges like storage capacity remained in solar parks, Ms. Kaur stated. She advocated the concept of green banks and green bonds to mop up funds for solar power projects and added that they could attract international investors.

A.P. Solar Power Corporation Private Limited CEO G. Adisheshu explained about the 1,000 MW solar parks in Kurnool, Kadapa and Anantapur districts. A 1,000 MW solar park was proposed in Prakasam district besides an additional 500 MW plant in Anantapur. There were plans to set up two or three more solar parks in Kurnool district, he added. He gave a Power-point presentation on Kurnool ultra mega solar park. The NDRC team visited the Greenko office and the control room in the solar park.

 

October 27, 2017 Posted by | India, renewable | Leave a comment

A subsidy ban for new onshore wind farms could add £1bn onto UK energy bills

Independent 25th Oct 2017. A subsidy ban for new onshore wind farms could add £1bn onto energy bills
over five years by eschewing one of the cheapest forms of clean energy.
Generating power from new onshore wind farms would be £100m a year cheaper
than doing so from new nuclear reactors or biomass plants, and at least
£30m cheaper than under the latest offshore wind-power contracts,
according to research by the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, a
London-based non-profit group.

Savings would reach £1bn over five years if
1 gigawatt of capacity was installed in the first year and another 500
megawatts in following years, said ECIU, which urged Theresa May’s
Conservative government to allow wind farms to compete for contracts in the
next power auction, due to be held in 2019.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/onshore-wind-farms-uk-subsidy-ban-energy-bills-rise-1-billion-a8018561.html

October 27, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, renewable, UK | Leave a comment

At long last, Florida residents can stop paying for the never-built Levy Nuclear Project

Regulators absolve Duke Energy customers of lingering Levy costs, By Malena Carollo, Times Staff Writer, October 25, 2017 TALLAHASSEE — For Duke Energy Florida customers, the never-built Levy Nuclear Project is finally,officially behind them. Per a unanimous decision by regulators Wednesday, Duke customers, who have doled out nearly $1 billion for Levy costs from 2009 to 2015, will not have to pay any more.

“I think that this settlement as a whole benefits consumers and is ultimately in the public interest,” said Ronald Brisé, commissioner with the Florida Public Service Commission, at Wednesday’s hearing

 “We feel like the cost of Levy being written off is a small price to pay for moving forward,” Harry Sideris, president of Duke’s Florida operations, said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times in late August.

The nuclear elephant-in-the-room resulted from Progress Energy, Duke’s predecessor, asking ratepayers for money up front for a future nuclear facility in Levy County. It was intended to reduce energy costs going forward, and paying ahead of time would speed the process along.

Though ratepayers were charged the upfront costs, Duke pulled the plug on the project in 2013.

According to Duke representatives at the Wednesday PSC hearing, customers will also not be charged for the cost of the land that the facility was meant to be built on. It will be considered for potential solar or natural gas facilities.

The agreement also signals a significant shift toward use of solar power. Over the next four years, Duke will add 700 megawatts of solar power, about 75 megawatts of which will come online by early 2019.

The utility also plans invest in 50 megawatts of solar power battery storage, research more efficient solar storage methods and implement electric vehicle infrastructure.   http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/hearing-could-absolve-duke-customers-from-paying-for-levy-nuclear-plant/2342259

Contact Malena Carollo at mcarollo@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2249. Follow @malenacarollo on Twitter.

October 27, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Up and running in 3 weeks – solar power for Puerto Rico’s children’s hospital

Struggling Puerto Rico children’s hospital gets solar power from Tesla, http://abcnews.go.com/US/struggling-puerto-rico-childrens-hospital-solar-power-tesla/story?id=50721869 By J.J. GALLAGHER Oct 25, 2017,A children’s hospital in Puerto Rico that was forced to run off generators and ration diesel fuel in the wake of Hurricane Maria now has a solar power system that will supply all of its electricity needs. Tesla and Puerto Rico’s governor touted the project yesterday, sending out multiple official tweets and Facebook posts, and officials said today that the system is already providing solar-generated electricity to the hospital.

The Hospital del Nino is located in the capital San Juan and serves about 3,000 children across the island. The hospital also houses some 30 children with serious medical needs that require round-the-clock care.

A hospital spokesperson told Primera Hora last month that they were forced to ration diesel fuel and take other measures to ensure a constant flow of electricity.

Hurricane Maria also knocked down all of the trees surrounding the hospital, resulting in heat from the withering tropical sun beating down on the building and its surroundings.

Tesla’s system works with solar panels that generate electricity during the day and batteries that store the power and distribute it when the sun isn’t shining. Earlier this month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that his company could bring solar power to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello replied “let’s talk” and later said the two had a “great initial conversation.”

Less than three weeks later, officials say the hospital is up and running with a solar system that supplies all of its electricity needs.

“I’ve never seen a team arrive so fast and work so fast. They built this in a week,” Rafael Pagán, the hospital’s chairman of the board, told Telemundo.

Just 25 percent of Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million residents have electricity, according to the latest figures, and some 3,758 people are still in shelters nearly two months after Maria ravaged the island, causing widespread damages and killing 51 people.

Rossello has promised to fully restore electricity to the island by Christmas, a goal that analysts have cast doubt upon.

Repairing Puerto Rico’s badly damaged electrical grid could take months and cost billions of dollars. Musk has put forth his so-called solar microgrids, that produce energy locally through solar energy, as an alternative.

ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.

October 27, 2017 Posted by | decentralised, USA | Leave a comment

Death sentence for man found guilty over Iran nuclear scientist killings

Iran sentences ‘Mossad agent’ to death over nuclear scientist killings, SMH, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin , 25 Oct 17,  London: Iran has sentenced to death a person found guilty of providing information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists, Tehran’s prosecutor has said.

Dolatabadi did not identify the defendant on Tuesday, but Amnesty International said Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian doctor who studied and taught in Sweden, had been sentenced to death in Iran on espionage charges.

At least four scientists were killed between 2010 and 2012 in what Tehran said was a program of assassinations aimed at sabotaging its nuclear energy program. Iran hanged one man in 2012 over the killings, saying he had links to Israel.

On the latest conviction, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told the judiciary’s news agency: “The person had several meetings with [Israeli intelligence agency] Mossad and provided them with sensitive information about Iran’s military and nuclear sites in return for money and residency in Sweden”…….

Djalali, a doctor and lecturer at Stockholm medical university the Karolinska Institute, was arrested in April 2016 and held without access to a lawyer for seven months, three of which were in solitary confinement, according to London-based Amnesty.

“Djalali was sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial that once again exposes not only the Iranian authorities’ steadfast commitment to (the) use of the death penalty but their utter contempt for the rule of law,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty’s Middle East advocacy director……..http://www.smh.com.au/world/iran-sentences-mossad-agent-to-death-over-nuclear-scientist-killings-20171025-gz7pnc.html

October 27, 2017 Posted by | Iran, Legal | Leave a comment

South Korea’s Nuclear Energy Debate

 South Korea’s experiment in deliberative democracy will impact President Moon Jae-in’s nuclear phase-out policy. The Diplomat, By Se Young Jang, October 26, 2017……….The current controversy over the Shin Kori is only the beginning of South Korea’s long journey toward achieving a social consensus on its energy policy. The country is still divided on how to plan and prepare for its energy future. Some experts warn that Moon’s nuclear phase-out policy could lead to the sharp rise of electricity bills, a potential energy shortage, and the downturn of South Korea’s nuclear export capacity. They also point out that increasing the share of LNG in South Korea’s energy mix would create another problem, while renewable energy technology is still in a rudimentary stage. In contrast, supporters for Moon’s phase-out policy assert that safety and environmental concerns should be given first priority, rather than economic gains, and argue that less dangerous LNG could be used as a bridge energy source until renewables become more competitive. Even though nuclear safety measures would be sufficiently advanced, critics argue that the impact of any nuclear accident caused by human mistakes or misjudgment would be far more critical than accidents involving other sources of electricity generation.

On the one hand, the key schism here has been created by the lack of transparency in planning and implementing nuclear energy policy, which has been heavily dominated by key stakeholders including the central government, KHNP, nuclear academia, and business for several decades. The cover-up of a station blackout incident at the Kori nuclear power plant and the falsification of safety documents for nuclear power plant components are only a few examples among many. Although the knowledge and opinion of experts on nuclear technology should be respected in any case, it is notable that today’s conflicts on South Korea’s nuclear energy future are deeply rooted in the public’s growing distrust of the expert community, which failed to assure the public of their expertise in successfully preventing and controlling a potential nuclear accident…….

The deliberative polling with regard to the resumption of construction on the Shin Kori 5 and 6 reactors had its own limits, such as insufficient time assigned for deliberation and a lack of consideration for the voices of local residents around the plant. Despite these limits, this experiment in deliberative democracy is expected to serve as an important precedent for the new administration’s work on peacefully resolving or managing conflicts over other highly divisive issues, like the storage of spent nuclear fuel. Both pro- and anti-nuclear energy advocates, in addition to the Moon administration, now face a new task: how to effectively inform and persuade the public in this era of deliberative democracy. Politics is an art of persuasion, after all.

Se Young Jang is a nonresident scholar at the Nuclear Policy Program in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. more https://thediplomat.com/2017/10/south-koreas-nuclear-energy-debate/

October 27, 2017 Posted by | politics, South Korea | Leave a comment

IMF chief Christine Lagarde warns of ‘dark future’ over climate change

Economic Times, AFP|2017,  RIYADH: The world faces a “dark future” if it fails to tackle climate change and inequality, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde warned on Tuesday.

“If we don’t address these issues… we will be moving to a dark future” in 50 years, she told a major economic conference in the Saudi capital.

On climate change, Lagarde said that “we will be toasted, roasted and grilled” if the world fails to take “critical decisions” on the issue……….https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/imf-chief-christine-lagarde-warns-of-dark-future-over-climate-change/articleshow/61205708.cms

Read more at:

October 27, 2017 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

Potential for a wind-powered world: : take wind farming onto the high seas.

Climate News Network 25th Oct 2017, Two Californian scientists have worked out how to achieve a wind-powered
world that provides the entire planet with wind energy without spoiling the
view with turbines on every hilltop.

The answer: take wind farming onto the
high seas. The force of the winds sweeping across the open ocean would be
enough to generate 18 billion kilowatts – which is about the global
annual energy demand right now.

The scientists report in the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences that although the best that wind farms on
land can deliver is electricity at the rate of 1.5 watts per square metre,
the mid-latitudes of the North Atlantic could do much better: up to 6 watts
per square metre.
http://climatenewsnetwork.net/23244-2/

October 27, 2017 Posted by | 2 WORLD, renewable | Leave a comment

Britain’s ‘Greater Manchester Big Clean Switch’ welcomed by The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA)

NFLA 25th Oct 2017, The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) warmly welcomes an exciting
initiative by Greater Manchester local authorities in its ‘Big Clean
Switch’ campaign. This scheme is encouraging both larger organisations
and members of the public to switch on to cheaper 100% renewable energy
providers for their electricity needs.

The ‘GM Big Clean Switch’ is acollaboration between the 10 Greater Manchester Councils and the
organisation ‘The Big Clean Switch’, which is encouraging greater
take-up with energy companies developing renewable gas and electricity
solutions. ‘The Big Clean Switch’ is a partnership between the climate
change campaigners at Purpose and the social enterprise Clean Energy UK.

This partnership with the GM Combined Authority is the first attempt to
encourage such a large switching to renewable energy companies and plans
are being made to look at delivering it elsewhere over the future. As the
‘Big Clean Switch’ note, this campaign is unique. It is the first time
a town or city has tried to save residents money by helping them switch to
green energy (let alone 10 local authorities working together), and it is
the first time an energy switching campaign of any kind has attracted such
city-wide support from other organisations, from universities to football
clubs. http://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nfla-welcomes-gm-big-clean-switch-support-decentralised-renewable-energy-solutions/

October 27, 2017 Posted by | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

UK’s ban on developing new onshore wind farms – an expensive mistake

Business Green 25th Oct 2017, The government’s “outdated” ban on developing new onshore wind farms on
mainland Britain is blocking access to the cheapest available form of new
electricity generation, and having a negative impacts on bills, climate
change targets, and businesses.

That is the conclusion of new research by
the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) think tank, which estimates
electricity from 1GW of new onshore wind farms would cost £30m a year less
than obtaining the same amount of power from new offshore wind farms, even
when recent cost reductions from the offshore wind sector are taken into
account.
https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3019755/report-uks-outdated-onshore-wind-ban-blocks-cheapest-form-of-new-energy

October 27, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, politics, renewable, UK | Leave a comment

Radiocesium in Fish from the Savannah River and Steel Creek: Potential Food Chain Exposure to the Public

Radiocesium in Fish from the Savannah River and Steel Creek: Potential Food Chain Exposure to the Public http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/0272-4332.213131/abstract

Authors, Joanna Burger, K. F. Gaines, J. D. Peles, W. L. Stephens Jr., C. Shane Boring, I. L. Brisbin Jr., J. Snodgrass, A. L. Bryan, Jr., M. H. Smith, M. Gochfeld First published: June 2001

Abstract

This study examined radiocesium (137Cs) levels in fish from the vicinity of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS), a former nuclear weapons production facility in South Carolina. Fish from the Savannah River were sampled above (upstream), along, and below (downstream) the SRS, and from Steel Creek, a tributary that runs through the SRS. There was some off-site contamination of 137Cs in the Savannah River watershed due to low-level releases from past nuclear production on the SRS. The null hypotheses tested were that there would be no differences in 137Cs levels as a function of location along the river, and between species collected from the river and from Steel Creek on the SRS. For six of eight species of fish collected from the Savannah River, there were no differences in 137Cs levels in muscle from fish collected above, along, or below the SRS; exceptions were bowfin and shellcracker. Fish collected from Steel Creek had significantly higher levels (by about an order of magnitude) of 137Cs in muscle tissue than fish collected in the Savannah River. However, no fish from either Steel Creek or the Savannah River had 137Cs levels above the European Economic Community limit for fresh meat of 0.6 Bq/g. Lifetime cancer risk was calculated using the cancer slope factor of 3.2 × 10−11/pCi, and various fish consumption scenarios reflecting actual data from Savannah River fishermen. Using mean 137Cs concentrations and median fish consumption for 70 years for Black males—the group with the highest consumption—the excess lifetime risk associated with the eight species of fish in the Savannah River ranged from 9.0 × 10−7 to 1.0 × 10−5. The same calculation for fish from Steel Creek gave risk estimates from 1.4 to 8.0 × 10−5. The 95% level for consumption by Blacks, however, was about 70 kg/year. Black fishermen consuming that amount of bass from Steel Creek would sustain a lifetime risk of 3.1 × 10−4, whereas the same consumption of Savannah River bass would yield a risk estimate of 1.5 × 10−5.

October 27, 2017 Posted by | environment, USA | Leave a comment

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