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Hearing on failed VC Summer Nuclear Project begins in South Carolina

 https://www.wjbf.com/news/csra-news/hearing-on-failed-vc-summer-nuclear-project-begins-in-south-carolina/1567635123, By: Shawn Cabbagestalk Nov 01, 2018 SOUTH CAROLINA (WJBF) – A stroke of a pen signed it into law back in 2007. It’s blamed for higher rates you’ve paid on projects not yet completed.

The Base Load Review Act allows utilities to charge customers for those projects.

“The PSC is going to decide if South Carolina Electric and Gas is going to pay for up to $5 billion or if that’s going to be on the backs of the ratepayers,” Friends of the Earth Senior Adviser Tom Clements, who has tracked the project since its inception, told NewsChannel 6’s Shawn Cabbagestalk.

According to the Base Load Review Act, once the state’s Public Service Commission approves the project, the utility can request an increase each year.

Now a judge is expecting to overturn the law calling it unconstitutional.

Starting Thursday, November 1, the Public Service Commission will hear arguments over who should pay for financing charges billed to customers for the VC Summer Nuclear Project – a project that never generated power.

“We are on the side of the ratepayer and we want the company to pay for the big mistake in pursuing that project,” Clements added.

If ruled unconstitutional, billions in refunds could be headed to your wallets. SCE&G is on the hook for some of the unfinished reactors at VC Summer.

“The evidence, in this case, is irrefutable that SCE&G hid key information as the project unraveled and did not act prudently from the start,” Clements said.

The project accounted for nearly a fifth of customers’ power bills.

“They were charging customers 18% of their bill to pay for the project even though it was terminated. The South Carolina legislature, with PSC approval, reduced that amount on the monthly bill to three-point-two percent and we want it reduced down to zero,” Clements said.

SCE&G and their partner Santee Cooper canceled the twin-reactor V.C. Summer project on July 31, 2017.

The hearing is expected to last three weeks.

You can watch it, here: https://www.psc.sc.gov/about-us-0/livestream-schedule

November 3, 2018 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

One veteran’s story of radiation effects of participating in nuclear bomb testing

Wigan veteran reveals radiation exposure horror, https://www.wigantoday.net/news/wigan-veteran-reveals-radiation-exposure-horror-1-9425139  ANDREW NOWELL  02 November 2018
  A Wigan veteran has spoken of being a “guinea pig” in nuclear tests on a remote Pacific island and the shocking chapter of British military history being forgotten. Alan Evans was one of thousands of British troops exposed to high levels of radiation while atomic weapons were being tested on Christmas Island.
He spent a year at the desolate spot half the world away when he was just 20 years old and described how the lethal work was carried out with no proper safety equipment and no information about what was happening to them. His experiences left him with life-changing health issues, as half his stomach had to be removed shortly after being demobbed and his teeth were also taken out.
Mr Evans, who is now 80, also spoke of being one of the “forgotten veterans” who went to Christmas Island and says he just wants their experiences to be recognised. Mr Evans, of Lime Street, said: “They just told us we were going to Christmas Island. At 19 years old I thought that was alright. I hadn’t a clue what was going on. “They billeted us in tents all the time we were there and we were allocated these jobs. “I think they detonated five bombs while I was there. When they did everybody had to go down to what they called the port side and sit down with our backs towards the sea. We were only wearing shirts and shorts and a pair of sunglasses.
“When the explosion happened you could feel the heat and you could more or less see through your hands, right to the bones. “We would then be told to stand up and turn around to look out to sea. We could see the mushroom cloud forming. “I was given the job of monitoring people as they came back out of what they called the dirty area. I had a geiger counter if it the reading went up so far they had to have a shower. “We also monitored the pilots because their gear was full of radiation and had to scrub the planes down with brushes.
“We even had to do our laundry in the dirty area. We would clean the clothes there, hang them up to dry and then wear them again. We also buried these lead boxes of samples in a big pit we dug for them.
“We were guines pigs, purely and simply. That’s why we were put there.” Alan had joined the RAF in 1956 and ended up serving for four years, with his year-long stint on Christmas Island coming in 1958. Almost immediately after returning, though, he started to feel unwell but now suspects he encountered a wall of silence from the forces keen to keep the details of the nuclear testing quiet. His condition went downhill dramatically once he returned to civilian life.
He said: “When I got back I had about six months to do so I went to Catterick but I was unwell, I was being sick. I kept going to the medical officer but he kept fobbing me off and saying there was nothing wrong with me. “I was told while I was on home leave that I should demand an X-ray but they told me there was nothing there. “When I got demobbed I went for an X-ray and they found an ulcer in my stomach straight away. “I was in the operating theatre for several hours while they took half my stomach away. When I came round the nurse told me that if I had left it longer before seeking treatment I wouldn’t still be here because it would have burst when they opened me up. “When I came out of the forces I lost four and a half stone. The weight just fell off me. I was always a fit young man playing sport but I couldn’t do anything after I came home. “For the first 12 years of my working life after being demobbed if I did three days a week I was lucky. It takes me five or six hours to digest my food and I can’t eat a lot.” Mr Evans says he was recently heartened to see the issue of the Christmas Island veterans raised in the Wigan Observer by Makerfield MP Yvonne Fovargue.
He feels the story is nowhere near as well known as it should be and points out that Britain has treated those who were exposed to nuclear tests uniquely poorly. He says he has asked his family to continue battling in the future to ensure this particular episode in military history is not forgotten. However, despite his ordeal and the lifelong consequences he suffered as a result he says he feels absolutely no bitterness or anger towards the military. Mr Evans said: “We are the forgotten veterans and we are also the living proof of what happened out there. I spoke to people at the new armed forces hub and even they didn’t know about it. “It wasn’t exactly a war and we didn’t fight with guns so it is forgotten about, although it was almost as bad as being in a war. “I just think there should be recognition of what we have done, those of us left and the many lads who are dead and buried. “I know there’s a push again for us to get a medal but what’s happening with that we don’t know. “Every country in the world has recognised what we went through except Britain. The Isle of Man gave people compensation, but it’s not about the money.
“I’ve nothing against the forces. I would have stayed in but I couldn’t because I was medically unfit. “I enjoyed every minute I was in the military. The only bad thing was Christmas Island.”

November 3, 2018 Posted by | health, PERSONAL STORIES, Reference, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Electromagnetic radiation from cell-phones is a cancer causer to rats

‘Clear evidence’ of mobile phone radiation link to cancers in rats, US health agency concludes
Uncertainty remains about risk to humans who experience much lower radio wave doses, Independent, Alex Matthews-King, Health Correspondent 2 Nov 18, A long-running US study on the effects of radio wave radiation, the sort emitted by mobile phones, has found “clear evidence” of high levels of exposure and heart cancers in male rats.

Some evidence of links to brain and adrenal gland tumours was also found in male rats, but in female rodents and male mice signs of cancer weren’t clear, the National Toxicology Programme (NTP) concluded in its final report on Thursday.

The programme is run by the US Department of Health and Human Services and was tasked with reviewing the toxicity of mobile phone radiation in response to the devices’ near ubiquity in modern life.

Radiation exposure in the trial was well above the levels most humans would experience, but researchers said the findings show the link between radio frequencies and tumours – at least for rats –  “is real”.

    • “The exposures used in the studies cannot be compared directly to the exposure that humans experience when using a cell phone,” said Dr John Bucher, a senior scientist at the NTP.

“In our studies, rats and mice received radio frequency radiation across their whole bodies. By contrast, people are mostly exposed in specific local tissues close to where they hold the phone.

“In addition, the exposure levels and durations in our studies were greater than what people experience.”………..

    • This is the most controlled study on exposure to date, and it raises many questions about the conclusions for humans – particularly as the lowest exposure levels were at the maximum levels allowed for mobile phones………

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/mobile-phone-cancer-radiation-rats-tumours-research-science-toxicology-study-a8612641.html

November 3, 2018 Posted by | radiation, USA | Leave a comment

Proposal to drill near a former nuclear weapons plant at Rocky Flats

Oil-gas wells proposed near Rocky Flats ex-nuclear weapons site, https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/politics/oil-gas-wells-proposed-near-rocky-flats-ex-nuclear-weapons-site, Associated Press, Nov 1, 2018 DENVER (AP) — An oil and gas company is asking for state permits to drill near a former nuclear weapons plant in Colorado, but it’s unclear whether any of the wells would extend under the site.

The Denver Post reported Thursday that Highlands Natural Resources Corp., registered in the United Kingdom, submitted plans for up to 31 wells near the former Rocky Flats plant northwest of Denver.

Rocky Flats manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs. After a $7 billion cleanup, most of the site became a national wildlife refuge, but the central area where waste is buried is controlled by the U.S. Energy Department.

Highlands Natural Resources said its proposed drilling sites are outside the refuge but did not say whether any wells would use directional drilling techniques to reach under the site.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said in a statement Thursday it had just received the applications. A spokesman said the COGCC hadn’t had an opportunity to review the applications and said any comment on them “would be premature.”

November 3, 2018 Posted by | environment, USA | Leave a comment

Spiralling costs of Britain’s Sellafield nuclear site

Afloat 31st Oct 2018 BBC News reports that The UK government must “get a grip” on spiralling
costs and project delays that have plagued the Sellafield nuclear site,
located on the far side of the Irish Sea on the Cumbrian coast,
approximately 170 km (112 miles) from the northeast coast of Ireland, just
128 miles from Dublin. The UK’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said in a
report that some decommissioning projects had already been delayed by more
than a decade. It said estimated budget overruns had climbed to nearly
£1bn.
https://afloat.ie/port-news/dun-laoghaire-news/item/40975-sellafield-british-government-warned-to-get-a-grip-on-irish-sea-site

November 3, 2018 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

French hypocrisy in decision to cancel decree of closure of Fessenheim NPP

Reporterre 30th Oct 2018 Fessenheim is the symbol of French energy hypocrisy. The decision of the
Council of State, Thursday, October 25, to cancel the decree of closure of
the nuclear power plant Fessenheim reveals, according to the speaker of
this forum, the hypocrisy of an energy system on which the political power
has no hold.
https://reporterre.net/Fessenheim-est-le-symbole-de-l-hypocrisie-energetique-francaise

November 3, 2018 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

€45 billion renewables investment opportunity in France, with its new energy policy

French turn on nuclear opens €45 billion renewables investment opportunity  The French government is expected to show a draft plan on how to achieve nuclear generation reduction plans. After minister Hulot left the government in August, amidst disagreements with Macron’s handling of the nuclear lobby, the parliament has voted for a bill to reduce nuclear generation capacity. If the plans are realized in compliance with the climate targets, solar and wind deployment could grow significantly., PV Magazine,

OCTOBER 31, 2018 MARIAN WILLUHN UK-based analyst firm Aurora Energy Research projects a €45 billion investment opportunity for the French renewable energy market. The French government will present its plan (Programmations Plurianuelles de l’Energie) to lower its dependency on nuclear energy from 75% to 50% by 2025, while at the same time meeting Paris Agreement compliant emission reductions targets……..
Last week, the European Commission approved a new incentive scheme for self-consumption from distributed renewable resources for France. The plan comprises €200 million from the French State budget, for the support of the deployment of 490 MW of additional generation capacity. …….https://www.pv-magazine.com/2018/10/31/french-turn-on-nuclear-opens-e45-billion-renewables-investment-opportunity/?fbclid=IwAR2XkLLTvB2lhTnf__7j4skqGwszrTecissm4PhXOMMWBPiv1esVtNuFj5Q

November 3, 2018 Posted by | France, renewable | Leave a comment

Radioactive waste disposal in four words: “We do not know”.

Energy Transition 30th Oct 2018 Nuclear
waste will remain dangerous for more than 100,000 years – so what are
countries and producers doing to deal with this problem? Passing the buck,
apparently: so far, not a single facility to safely store spent nuclear
fuel has been created in Europe, or the world for that matter.
https://energytransition.org/2018/10/radioactive-waste-disposal-in-four-words-we-do-not-know/

November 3, 2018 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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