nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Cook Islands must develop renewable energy

The Cook Islands lacks major natural resources and regularly experiences natural disasters. Climate change spurred on by rapidly increasing levels of greenhouse gases is expected to heavily impact the region, with salt intrusion into ground water from rising seas a major concern.

Renewable Energy An Imperative For The Cook Islands, Renewable Energy News, by Energy Matters, 4 Oct 11 The Cook Islands, Japan and Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat have stated renewable energy is no longer an optional energy solution for the Pacific region, but an imperative.

Speaking at a signing ceremony for the Rakahanga $1m PV Project, a project designed to reduce the need for generator fuel, Cook Islands Prime Minister Hon Henry Puna, the Forum Deputy Secretary General and Ambassador of Japan said the region must invest heavily in renewable energy – and that investment must be backed by strong political will. Continue reading →

October 4, 2011 Posted by | climate change, OCEANIA, renewable | Leave a comment

Rich countries delay action climate change, Pacific Islanders the losers

The proposal will prove divisive for poorer countries.

None more so than nations most vulnerable to climate change, such as low-lying islands that face ever rising sea levels, flooding and shrinking fresh water supplies. They want faster action by big polluters and feel Kyoto is the way to go.

World divided on new plan to combat global warming, Reuters  David Fogarty, SINGAPORE,  October 2, 2011  A new plan to curb global warming risks becoming a battleground between rich and poor nations and could struggle to get off the ground as negotiators battle over the fate of the ailing Kyoto climate pact.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol covers only emissions from rich nations that produce less than a third of mankind’s carbon pollution and its first phase is due to expire end-2012. Poorer nations want it extended, while many rich countries say a broader pact is needed to include all big polluters. Continue reading →

October 3, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

Nuclear power cannot cope with climate change

 nuclear cannot take the heat… rather than being a solution to climate change, nuclear is actually significantly undermined by climate change. .

Australian Parliament, Senate speech, Senator Christine Milne, 21 Sept 11“……..On climate change, there is this ridiculous assertion that nuclear energy is required to address climate change. It is actually the opposite. In this report [UN Report on Nuclear safety ]  it states that the assumptions that need to be reviewed are regarding the types of accidents that are possible. The report says that an assessment of those accidents was way too modest and that they need to look at the possible effects of climate change in relation to nuclear energy. Continue reading →

September 22, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

Climate Change: US politicians bought by fossil fuel industries

Al Gore: Climate Science “Reality” Versus Republicans, Planet Ark,  15-Sep-11 Deborah Zabarenko For Al Gore, the choice is obvious: Either accept scientific reality about climate change or believe what the fossil fuel industry is paying some Republican candidates to say.

“Anti-climate lobbyists … give massive campaign contributions and they’re not shy about making it clear to the candidates they support that there’s a quid pro quo. In return for getting their money, these candidates have to pretend that they really believe this nonsense,” the longtime climate change campaigner said on Wednesday in a telephone interview.

Asked whether Republican candidates who have accepted contributions from fossil fuel industries are compelled to toe the skeptical line on climate change, Gore replied: “That is absolutely the case.” Continue reading →

September 16, 2011 Posted by | climate change, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Governor Rick Perry fiddles with Climate Change denialism as Texas burns

It’s time to get real about green policy, Thomas Friedman, The Age, September 15, 2011, EVERY time I listen to Texas Governor Rick Perry and Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann describe climate change as some fraud perpetrated by scientists trying to gin up money for research, I’m reminded of the line that actor Jack Nicholson delivers to the needy neighbour who knocks on his door in the film As Good As It Gets. ”Where do they teach you to talk like this?” asks Nicholson. ”Sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up here.”

Thanks, Perry and Bachmann, but we really are all stocked up on crazy right now. I mean, the Texas Governor rejects the science of climate change while his own state burns after the worst droughts on record propelled wildfires to devour an area the size of Connecticut. As a statement by the Texas Forest Service said last week: ”No one on the face of this earth has ever fought fires in these extreme conditions.” Continue reading →

September 15, 2011 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Sea level rise threatens nuclear reactors

Although two new reactors at Turkey Point are being built at a higher elevation, Florida Power & Light has requested to keep the two current nukes running until 2035. Given that Hurricane Andrew almost inundated them in 1992, what will happen as oceans continue to rise?

“The standards will be 85 years old by then, and that’s a problem,” says Arnie Gundersen, a Vermont-based nuclear engineer and consultant. “If tidal waves knock out the water pumps” — as they did at the Fukushima reactor in Japan earlier this year — “you can have a meltdown.”…..

Global warming could put Turkey Point nuclear reactors under water, Miami New Times By Michael E. Miller , Sep 8 2011 Warning: Global warming is a fact, and the results are already visible. Hurricanes are getting stronger; droughts and floods are more frequent. In South Florida, waters rose roughly six inches between 1930 and 1981. That might not sound like much, but it’s just the tip of a rapidly melting iceberg. “We are the most vulnerable metropolitan area in the world when it comes to sea-level rise,” University of Miami professor Harold Wanless says. Continue reading →

September 8, 2011 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

USA Conservative White Males and Climate Change Denial

Cool dudes: The denial of climate change among conservative white males in the United States, Science Direct Aaron M. McCright  and Riley E. Dunlap  Lyman Briggs College, Department of Sociology, Environmental Science and Policy Program, Michigan State University. Department of Sociology, Oklahoma State University

Abstract  

We examine whether conservative white males are more likely than are other adults in the U.S. general public to endorse climate change denial. We draw theoretical and analytical guidance from the identity-protective cognition thesis explaining the white male effect and from recent political psychology scholarship documenting the heightened system-justification tendencies of political conservatives. We utilize public opinion data from ten Gallup surveys from 2001 to 2010, focusing specifically on five indicators of climate change denial. We find that conservative white males are significantly more likely than are other Americans to endorse denialist views on all five items, and that these differences are even greater for those conservative white males who self-report understanding global warming very well. Furthermore, the results of our multivariate logistic regression models reveal that the conservative white male effect remains significant when controlling for the direct effects of political ideology, race, and gender as well as the effects of nine control variables. We thus conclude that the unique views of conservative white males contribute significantly to the high level of climate change denial in the United States.

Highlights

► Conservative white males are more likely than other Americans to report climate change denial. ► Conservative white males who self-report understanding global warming very well are even more likely. ► Climate change denial is an example of identity-protective cognition. ► System-justifying tendencies lead to climate change denial. ► Climate change denial increased from 2001 to 2010……

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095937801100104X

September 3, 2011 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Science and Climate Change action under attack from Republican presidential candidates

Rick Perry denounces the concept of man-made global warming as “one contrived phony mess that is falling apart under its own weight”..

..poll found that 98 per cent of scientists accepted the idea [of globalwarming]…..

GOP presidential hopefuls rush to deny climate change  The Australian, Catherine Philp, Washington  August 23, 2011 “…..In the past week, the Environmental Protection Agency has become the new target for Republican hopefuls, with conservative candidates scrambling to outdo each other over how quickly they would abolish it. The attacks have exposed a sharp split in the field between those who accept the scientific basis of climate change and those who do not.

Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party insurgent, said that on the first day of her presidency, “the EPA will have the doors locked and lights turned off”. Continue reading →

August 23, 2011 Posted by | climate change, politics, USA | Leave a comment

A Christian argument for action on Climate Change

How do climate sceptics respond to the cloud of witnesses for global warming? By denying the full body of evidence. ……There are similar false arguments against clean energy. ……

The crux of climate change for Christians is the poorest, most vulnerable countries are those hardest hit by global warming. 

The poor are least able to adapt to the impact of climate change and ironically, have contributed least to it. The carbon footprint of the poorest 1 billion people on the planet is estimated to be around 3% of the world’s total footprint. This is the social injustice of climate change: poor, developing countries will suffer because of the fossil fuels emitted by developed nations..

Eternity 16 Aug 11, John Cook a leading campaigner on  climate change and, yes, a Christian too, puts the case for taking action.“…….Just as an Old Testament judge required multiple witnesses, scientists look for multiple sources of evidence. Our understanding is considered robust when scientists have found independent measurements all pointing to a single, consistent conclusion.
On the question of global warming, natural witnesses are found in our climate. Warming is directly measured by thermometers scattered across the globe, which find that the two hottest years on record were 2005 and 2010.
In addition, we have many natural thermometers painting a similar picture. Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are dissipating at an accelerating rate, shedding hundreds of billions of tonnes of ice every year. Scientists are observing tens of thousands of species shift towards cooler regions. Arctic sea ice is melting faster than even the worst- case predictions. Even tree-lines are shifting in response to warming temperatures.

To properly understand what’s happening to our climate, we must listen to all the witnesses and consider the full body of evidence. The consonance of evidence paints an unmistakable picture of a warming planet.  Continue reading →

August 16, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change, Religion and ethics | Leave a comment

Nuclear power has big carbon footprint, increases global warming

Nuclear Power Boosts Bills and Piles On Radioactive Waste, Kenric Ward, Sunshine State News,  August 10, 2011“…..MEASURING CARBON FOOTPRINTS AND FUTURE BILLS

While Gov. Rick Scott and PSC Chairman Art Graham have expressed continued support for nuclear power in Florida, the industry faces high financial and technical hurdles.
“The NRC has yet to even certify the [proposed] AP1000 nuclear reactor design as being safe for construction and operation,” Saporito  (Thomas Saporito, a West Palm Beach-based nuclear-power expert who has worked both in the industry and at the NRC) .said.

What’s more, environmentalists say nuclear plants are not as “green” as advertised.

“The carbon footprint made during the years and years of construction significantly contributes to global warming. Once the nuclear plants are operating, billions of BTUs are discharged into the environment. This is heat that was not in the environment prior to the operation of the nuclear power plants. So, these nuclear plants definitely increase global-warming concerns,” Saporito said.
According to the News Service of Florida, most of FPL’s rate request, about $172 million, is related to upgrading its four existing reactors at Turkey Point and St. Lucie. In a filing with state regulators, FPL President and CEO Armando Olivera said the projects would increase the company’s nuclear capacity about 15 percent.–  http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/nuclear-power-boosts-bills-and-piles-radioactive-waste

August 11, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

Climate Change Increases Nuclear Danger

In the coming months, you’re going to hear presidential candidates talk about climate change. You probably won’t hear them say much about nuclear safety. But the two are inextricably linked. A warmer climate leads to more severe storms, which increases the chances of a Japan-style nuclear meltdown…..Either we need to get out of the nuclear energy business or reduce our greenhouse gas emissions — or both.-

Climate change, nuclear power risks linked, Sun Sentinel August 05, 2011|By Anthony Orlando 

 It can’t happen here.

The Japanese tsunami was a freak occurrence. Once in a thousand years. It can’t happen to our nuclear power plants.

But freak occurrences are happening more often nowadays. Continue reading →

August 9, 2011 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Record heat forces nuclear plant to half power

River temperature forces nuclear plant to 50 percent power | timesfreepress.com, by Pam Soh   4 Aug 11, Not even TVA can beat the heat.On Wednesday, the utility had to bring a third reactor at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant down to 50 percent power to avoid environmental sanctions because the water in the Tennessee River — where the plant’s cooling water is discharged — already was at 90 degrees.”When the river’s ambient temperature reaches 90 degrees, we can’t add any heat to it,” said TVA’s nuclear spokesman Ray Golden.Similar problems last summer forced the Tennessee Valley Authority to spent $50 million for replacement power, according to Golden. The extra expense translated to something between 50 cents and $1 on most electric bills several months later, officials have said…..

Fighting the heat

Chattanooga’s July clocked in as fifth-hottest July on record, according National Weather Service meteorologist and intern Kate Guillet in Morristown, Tenn. In the Knoxvillle area, the month was the third-hottest July on record, and the Huntsville region near Browns Ferry recorded the 11th-warmest July. Weather Service records date back to 1850.

The rest of August is also going to be above normal in temperature, said Paul Barys, chief meteorologist for WRCB-TV Channel 3.……River temperature forces nuclear plant to 50 percent power | timesfreepress.com

August 5, 2011 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Greenhouse emissions by nuclear industry – the facts are obscured

Most studies,.. obscure the complexity and variation inherent in the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the nuclear lifecycle rather than explaining it…..

Nuclear Industry Must Be Transparent on Uranium Mining, Carbon Output Before New Plants, The Energy Collective, by David Thorpe,  July 19, 2011 ”….significant grounds for concern.  In this piece I will discuss firstly uranium mining and then the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the nuclear power life cycle before asking – if this industry has nothing to hide – why isn’t it more transparent?… Continue reading →

July 19, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

The Science Tells Us That Climate Change Is An Urgent Global Problem

The window of opportunity to turn the climate trend would close unless a coordinated global effort is made to reduce emissions and a technological breakthrough is made to draw-down atmospheric CO2.

According to Schellnhuber “We are simply talking about the very life support system of this planet.” What is required is what has never been done before in human history — a plan for the future…

An Orwellian climate: carbon price and the atmosphere, July 15, 2011 , by Crikey, Andrew Glikson, earth and palaeoclimate scientist at the Australian National University, writes:   Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, chief climate science advisor of the German government and keynote speaker at the Four Degrees or More? Australia in a hot world conference held this week in Melbourne, made a point on Lateline that even the least-informed should be able to understand: “Our body temperature is about 37 degrees. If you increase it by two degrees, 39, you have fever. If you add four degrees, it is 41 — you are dead, more or less. And you have to think about the body temperature of our planet, which has been brought about through many, many processes over many, many millions of years.” Continue reading →

July 16, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

Global warming a factor, as nuclear plants hit by jellyfish explosion

“Global warming increases the water temperature. These animals are cold-blooded so the warmer you make it the quicker they grow,”

Jellyfish force shutdown of nuclear power plants, Sydney Morning Herald, Glenda Kwek, July 11, 2011 – Huge amounts of jellyfish have forced the shutdown of nuclear power plants in Japan – already hit by the earthquake and tsunami – Israel and Scotland in the past few weeks. Continue reading →

July 11, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »