San Onofre Nuclear Plant Costs $300 Million
Friday, November 02, 2012
The blackout at the San Onofre nuclear power plant in California has cost close to $317 million, according to the operator of the plant, Southern California Edison. Edison International is the parent company and it said in court records that as of September 30, the bill for inspections and repairs has cost the company $96 million, according to the Associated Press. The plant has not been in service since January, causing power costs to hit $221 million. That is an increase from $117 million from the end of June.
Ted Craver, the Chairman of Edison International, conducted a conference call with Wall Street analysts recently. He said, “It’s not clear at this time if the units can be repaired, and it appears complete replacement of the steam generators would take some years.”
[…]
When four steam generators were overhauled in 2009 and 2010 for a cost of $670 million, damage to alloy tubing occurred. On January 31, the Unit 3 reactor was shut down following a tube break as a safety precaution. Officials at the plant said no danger was imminent for neighbors or workers even though traces of radiation were leaked.
[…]
An investigation by the California Public Utilities Commission was launched recently to determine if ratepayers should shoulder the cost for a plant that has been offline for the better part of a year.
More here
http://www.jdjournal.com/2012/11/02/san-onofre-nuclear-plant-costs-300-million/
Canada -Point Lepreau nuclear power plant clears last regulatory approval before restart – Nearly double cost
“The project is about three years behind schedule and $1 billion over the original $1.4-billion budget.”
FRIDAY, 02 NOVEMBER 2012 13:54 THE CANADIAN PRESS
POINT LEPREAU, N.B. – The Point Lepreau nuclear power plant in New Brunswick has passed its last regulatory approval before returning to full power generation after a four-year refurbishment.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission announced today that it has allowed the facility to increase reactor power above 35 per cent of its full capacity.
NB Power says more tests will be done, including raising and lowering reactor power and connecting and disconnecting the generator from the grid.
Kathleen Duguay, a spokeswoman for the Crown utility, says it will be weeks before the 660-megawatt station generates full power for its customers.
Asahi: Criminal charges for promoters of nuclear power? Fukushima radiation victims want justice
Published: November 2nd, 2012 at 9:29 am ET
By ENENews
Title: Second mass complaint coming over Fukushima disaster
Source: AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
Author: MASAKAZU HONDA
Date: November 02, 2012
More than 10,000 people from across Japan are seeking criminal charges against officials of Japan’s government and the utility that operates the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant […]
The group numbers about 10,850 individuals, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south. […]
Complainants argued that a broadly backed complaint would show that the general public is seeking criminal accountability for those who promoted nuclear power—and hold them responsible for damage from the disaster and for exposing victims to radiation. […]
USA -Board Terminates Review of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear
These pre-existing vulnerabilities mean that the American public is protected more by luck than by skill.”
Rockville, MD – 11/2/2012
By Marty Madden
“I’m most concerned about the NRC’s practice of allowing unsafe reactors to operate. UCS’s Nuclear Power Information Tracker shows 47 reactors that NRC knows to violate fire protection regulations and 27 reactors with seismic protection known to be less than the seismic hazards they face. These pre-existing vulnerabilities mean that the American public is protected more by luck than by skill.”
A three-judge panel has officially terminated its review of a proposal to build a new nuclear reactor in Lusby, federal officials reported. According to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) spokesman Neil Sheehan, the Atomic Safety Licensing Board (ASLB) issued its termination notice Thursday, Nov. 1, 60 days after giving the project applicant 60 days to identify a domestic company as a partner in the venture.
The project, known as Calvert Cliffs 3, was originally a joint venture of Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG)—the owners and operators of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant—and Electricite de France (EDF). Under the banner of UniStar Nuclear Operating Services, the companies submitted a combined licensing application during the summer of 2007.
Despite overwhelming community support from elected officials, local businesses, residents and the trade unions a group of organizations intervened, formally lodging a protest against the project. The groups—Nuclear Information Resource Service, Beyond Nuclear, Public Citizen and Southern Maryland Citizens Alliance for Renewable Energy Solutions—cited several factors for their protest, including a foreign company’s participation in the project. Federal law has restrictions on the involvement of foreign entities in nuclear projects.
In 2010, CENG ended its involvement with UniStar, making EDF the sole company involved in Calvert Cliffs 3. Constellation’s exit came after a request for a guaranteed loan from the U.S. Department of Energy failed to materialize.
‘UN must suspend Bahrain membership for rights violations’ -Press TV
CNN excepted money to not show an embarrassing Video
Friday Nov 02, 2012
“They have to tell the Bahraini government we are going to suspend your membership because you violated all these human rights and the freedom of assembly, [and] the right to expression, and for this reason people were killed, people were tortured, people were jailed, opposition leaders are still in jail, teachers, physicians are in jail,” President of the Bahraini Medical Association Osama Alaradi said in an interview with Press TV on Friday.
Louisiana Sinkhole? -Gulf Stream Shift Linked to Methane Gas Escaping from Seabeds
“The new work could reinvigorate a debate on the risk of methane release from the oceans and whether destabilized hydrates make the continental slopes more unstable”
By Nature magazine and Virginia Gewin
Somewhere off the eastern coast of North Carolina, a frozen mixture of water and methane gas tucked in seabed sediments is starting to break down. Researchers blame a shifting Gulf Stream — the swift Atlantic Ocean current that flows north from the Gulf of Mexico — which is now delivering warmer waters to areas that had previously only experienced colder temperatures.
“We know methane hydrates exist here and, if warming continues, it can potentially lead to less stable sediments in this region,” says Matthew Hornbach, a marine geologist at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, who led the study that is published online today in Nature. The results suggest that the warmer temperatures are destabilizing up to 2.5 gigatons of methane hydrate along the continental slope of the eastern United States. This region is prone to underwater landslides, which could release the methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
Whether that methane would make it to the atmosphere and worsen global warmingis unclear, but scientists think that it is unlikely. “We don’t need to worry about any huge blow of methane into the atmosphere,” says Carolyn Ruppel, a geophysicist at the US Geological Survey in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Rather, she says, Hornbach and his co-author Benjamin Phrampus, also of the Southern Methodist University, have uncovered a powerful new way to use data from the geological record to catch non-anthropogenic climate changes that are already happening.
IRAQ: Birth defects rise since arrival of US troops -But NO studies on depleted uranium?
“While there is no estimate of the amount or type of bombs and bullets used in the Iraqi occupation, a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report had put the figure of bullets used at a mind boggling 6 billion between 2002 to 2005. That worked out to about 250,000 bullets for every enemy soldier shot by the US and its allies in Iraq.”
“In Fallujah, lead levels were five times higher and mercury levels six times higher among children with birth defects compared to normal children. Uranium levels were also found to be higher among such children. Lead, mercury and depleted uranium are used in manufacture of ammunition that was deployed in the Iraq occupation although US has denied it used depleted uranium or white phosphorus based ammunitions.”
times of india
And this charity article from Child Rights International Network
What is less clear, however, is the connection between the coalition forces’ activities and the increase in birth defects. The University of Michigan study notes that lead and mercury are “toxic metals readily used in the manufacture of present-day bullets and other ammunition” – but does not prove a direct link between their use in Basra and Falluja and the rise in birth defects there. Instead, it concludes that the bombardment of those cities “may have exacerbated public exposure to metals, possibly culminating in the current epidemic.”
The studies are clear, however, that a health crisis is costing Iraqi infants their lives, and more research is needed to determine the cause and the cure. Until that is done, some uncomfortable questions about the lingering effects of the US-led war will remain.
Summary:
The study examines how the number of birth defects soared since the arrival of US troops.
[29 October 2012] – The US military departed Iraq 10 months ago, but a recent study suggests that its old war may be causing new casualties among Iraqi children.
The Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology published a study in September titled “Metal Contamination and the Epidemic of Congenital Birth Defects in Iraqi Cities.” The study, which was funded by the University of Michigan’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, examines the prevalence of birth defects in the Iraqi cities of Basra and Fallujah, both of which experienced heavy fighting during the worst days of the Iraq war. As originally noted by US analyst David Isenberg, the study found an “astonishing” increase in the number of birth defects in a Basra maternal hospital when compared to before the war.
Sweden -Nuclear fuel and radioactive waste ship sets sail!
Sigrid takes to the water
29 October 2012
The hull of SKB’s new ship for transporting used nuclear fuel and radioactive waste has been launched. Once outfitted, the M/S Sigrid is set to enter service in 2013, serving as a linchpin in Sweden’s nuclear infrastructure.
The board of management of Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB) – the company responsible for storing Swedish nuclear waste – decided in December 2010 to build a new purpose-built ship as a replacement of theM/S Sigyn. That ship has been in service since 1982, transporting used nuclear fuel and radioactive waste from Swedish nuclear power plants to storage facilities near Oskarshamn and Forsmark.
 |
| The Sigrid is launched into the River Danube (Image: SKB) |
Designed by Damen Shipyards of the Netherlands, the new ship – named the M/S Sigrid – was built at the company’s shipyard in Galati, Romania and its hull was launched four days ago.
Public Outcry! -Japan nuclear and tsunami victim aid spent on whalers, officials and fighter pilots -RT
“Yoshimitsu Shiozaki, an academic specializing in urban planning at Kobe University, who has conducted his own survey of the spending, believes that little will be done to reverse the spending priorities.
“Legally speaking, there are no problems with these projects,” Shiozaki told the Japan Times, noting that before signing off on huge subsidies, bureaucrats only had to prove that a company was in some way connected to the disaster area, even if it is through a single supplier.
He also pointed out that previous relief efforts in the country, such as the Kobe earthquake recovery in 1995, have also been marred by similar scandals.
“But this time the funds are being used in a more deceptive way,” said Shiozaki.”
Published: 01 November, 2012, 00:20
A quarter of Japan’s tsunami relief fund has been spent on unrelated projects, including renovating a government office and subsiding whaling. The revelations have ignited outcry as more than 320,000 tsunami victims remain displaced.
The expenditure was identified after the publication of an independent government-backed audit into the allocation of the $150 billion relief fund, created after the earthquake and tsunami of March last year.
The fund intended not only to restore damaged cities, but to “reinvigorate Japan”, stimulating local economies into recover. Nevertheless, the relevance of some of the funded projects have been raising eyebrows.
Iwate prefecture, a regions that says it isn’t being given the money it needs by the central government. (Reuters / Carlos Barria )
Among the expenses listed are $30 million dollars to protect Japan’s yearly whale hunt from environmental activists, $380,000 to promote Tokyo Sky Tree, the world’s tallest free-standing broadcast tower, free training for fighter pilots and a subsidy for a contact-lens factory located nowhere near the site of the disaster-hit coast.
“Taxpayers accepted tax hikes because they thought the money would go to disaster victims and the disaster victims were grateful,” said Kuniko Tanioka, who is a member of a group that studied the expenses in the Upper House of the Diet, Japan’s parliament.
“But the funds have been used for projects they never imagined. It is a direct blow to the willpower of those who are trying to rebuild their lives.”
UK discards British Care Worker who refused to spy on Muslims (Video) -RT
“Back in 2009, Mahdi Hashi was a care worker in a north London community center. It was then that he and four of his Muslim colleagues say they were approached and harassed separately by British security agents.”
Published: 31 October, 2012
A Somali-born Briton was stripped of his citizenship by the home secretary and probably taken in secret to the US for illegal detention and torture as reprisal for his refusal to become an MI5 informant, his family alleges.
Mahdi Hashi grew up in the UK from the age of five and was a British citizen. This summer the 23-year-old went missing, and his family found out that the Home Office had stripped him of his passport for allegedly being involved in Islamic “extremist activities”.
His parents are distraught. They say that Madhi is an innocent victim of a British intelligence plot and that he was punished after he refused to work for MI5.
“All I can say is that Madhi is a Muslim in belief; he is a practicing Muslim. But being a practicing Muslim does not mean an Islamist. That’s all why he is being victimized,” says Mahdi’s dad Mohamed Hashi.
Back in 2009, Mahdi Hashi was a care worker in a north London community center. It was then that he and four of his Muslim colleagues say they were approached and harassed separately by British security agents. They claimed that MI5 threatened to label them “Islamic extremists” if they refused to become informants for British intelligence and spy on their Muslim community.
Russia -Top secret nuclear sub used to prove North Pole claim
First known mission with the Russian Northern Fleet’s unique “Losharik” deep diving titanium submarine was done at a depth down to 3,000 meters at the Mendeleyev ridge this September.
The submarine took part in the “Arctic-2012” expedition this autumn aimed at proving Russian ownership of the Mendeleyev ridge stretching across the East Siberia Sea towards the North Pole. Russia will use the data collected in its application to the UN Law of the Sea, that within the next few years will divide the continental shelf among the Arctic coastal states, including the North Pole itself.
Officially, and as reported by BarentsObserver last week, the expedition was headed by the two icebreakers “Dikson” and “Kapitan Dranitsyn.” Little has so far been known about what happened under water.
Croatia -Flooding stops Nuclear Power plant and the strange story of nuclear flies!
- Reuters
- October 2, 2012
But a scientific adviser to environmental group Greenpeace – which opposes nuclear energy on safety grounds – said the use of nuclear technology in this way needed to be looked at carefully.
“We should neither view it as risk free and nor should we view it as the panacea to all food security issues,” said Paul Johnston of the Greenpeace Research Laboratories at Britain’s University of Exeter.
Krsko nuclear plant stopped
Croatian Times
Work has halted at a nuclear power plant after high water levels left ‘leaves and other impurities’ in the system.
The nuclear depot in Krsko, Slovenia, stopped automatically on Sunday after the high water threatened to flood the power plant’s secondary cooling system.
This is only the second time stoppage since the plant went operational in 1981.
The last was a similar incident seven years ago.
http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/Business/2012-10-29/30524/Krsko_nuclear_plant_stopped
Nuclear “birth control” helps Croatia fruit farmers fight flies
By Sasa Kavic and Fredrik Dahl OPUZEN, Croatia/VIENNA (Reuters) – At the height of the tangerine season in Croatia’s Neretva river delta, two pickup trucks scour a maze of water channels carrying an odd-looking contraption: a mortar-like pipe spraying orchards with sterilized flies.
By Sasa Kavic and Fredrik Dahl
OPUZEN, Croatia/VIENNA (Reuters) – At the height of the tangerine season in Croatia’s Neretva river delta, two pickup trucks scour a maze of water channels carrying an odd-looking contraption: a mortar-like pipe spraying orchards with sterilized flies.
Georgia, South Carolina called ‘Silicon Valley’ of nuclear power
“He said the growing stockpile of spent fuel stored at nuclear plants – including two that have halted operations – is like constipation blocking the progress of the industry.”“The industry wants us to think that the reactors are safe, but they have not taken all the necessary precautions for predictable disasters,” said Bobbie Paul, the executive director of the Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions, one of seven environmental groups suing Plant Vogtle’s operating company over safety concerns. “It is irresponsible for our elected officials and for Southern Co. to pretend they have.”
ATLANTA — Georgia and South Carolina could become the center of the nation’s nuclear industry with one federal policy change, Public Service Commission Chairman Tim Echols said Monday at an international conference at Georgia Tech.
“I am very proud that Georgia and South Carolina are leading the way in this nuclear renaissance,” he said at the third annual French-Atlanta nuclear conference. He called the area the Silicon Valley of the nuclear field, a reference to the center of computer innovation and manufacturing in California.
He pointed to Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro and the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station less than 125 miles to the northeast near Columbia, where the only commercial reactors built in 30 years are under construction. In between is Savannah River Site, run by the U.S. Department of Energy.
He said the growing stockpile of spent fuel stored at nuclear plants – including two that have halted operations – is like constipation blocking the progress of the industry.
The federal government requires nuclear power plants to seal up their spent fuel rods and keep them on site while paying for the construction of a central facility that is supposed to store all of them forever.
Echols said a better idea would be to recycle the fuel rods, as the French do, so they can be used again. Current federal policy prohibits that.
Prof. Busby -Oyster Creek proximity to New York poses threat during flooding -(Video)
Published: 31 October, 2012, 00:35
Less than 24 hours after Hurricane Sandy ripped through eastern United States, the country’s oldest nuclear power plant – located in Forked River, New Jersey – has been has been put on alert.
You can never make nuclear power stations perfectly safe. You can’t make it impossible for these situations to occur and when they do occur, they can be pretty catastrophic, Professor Christopher Busby from the European Committee on Radiation Risks told RT. The Professor added Oyster Creek plant was a particular risk, located just 65 miles from New York City.
All of the power stations in the area were built against the express wishes of the people who lived there. They were pushed through by some kind of federal axe which overcame the opposition of the people, he said.
Busby spoke to RT about the possible dangers that could occur if waters from Hurricane Sandy flood the nuclear station’s cooling system.
RT: What are the potential dangers as you see it?
Christopher Busby: I think it’s quite unlikely that anything bad will happen. It’s not like a tsunami, it’s not some big tidal wave coming at them. The problem would be that the cooling system would become flooded. The electrical systems that back up the cooling system, so there won’t be any cooling. And in these situations, with nuclear power stations, even though there might be a very remote risk of something happening, when it does happen, it’s pretty catastrophic.
After Hurricane Sandy – Questions and Answers About What Happened with A. Gundersen (Podcast)
Duration: 13.48 mins
Fairewinds
In this special edition question & answer podcast, Gundersen and Hurley discuss what effects Hurricane Sandy had on U.S. nuclear power plants, especially Oyster Creek. Gundersen explains how spent fuel pools are not configured to be cooled with diesel power in the event of a loss of offsite power. Oyster Creek and several other nuclear power plants did lose offsite power and Thomson Reuters reports that they may use fire pumps to cool the pools.
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
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
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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