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Global warming poses unusual threats to nuclear power plants

Jellyfish Invasions Force Shutdowns at 3 Separate Nuclear Plants– MSNBC.com By Natalie Wolchover, 7 July 11, A nuclear power plant on the coast of Israel was forced to shut down this week when its seawater cooling system became clogged with jellyfish. A similar incident temporarily disabled two nuclear reactors at the Torness power station on the Scottish coast last week. A week before, a reactor in Shimane, Japan was crippled by yet another jellyfish infiltration.

Amid speculation that warm waters and ocean acidification — both driven by climate change — are boosting jellyfish populations, are these three incidents signs of a growing trend?…………

Some researchers do suspect that populations are rising, as jellyfish may thrive in warmer oceans. “Jellyfish populations spike and wane with climate variability, so it’s not hard to make the logical leap that if climate is changing long-term, we’ll likely see a population change,” Graham said. He is conducting research to investigate whether jellyfish populations are increasing globally, and if so, why.

July 9, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

Nuclear power a tragic cause of global warming, rather than a solution?

That which cannot be controlled must be prevented. Today, that means preventing the threat of climate change and eradicating nuclear weapons. But we cannot afford efforts to address one challenge that end up aggravating the other. Attempting to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions through nuclear energy, thereby fueling the dangers of the ultimate global incendiary – nuclear war – could be the most tragic of all miscalculations…….

From Fukushima to disarmament, BY MALCOLM FRASER,  ABC Environment | 5 JUL 2011 In our rush to find a solution to climate change, nuclear energy has again been promoted. But the disaster at Fukushima reminds us of just how devastating nuclear can be.

MONTHS AFTER THE devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, the ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima compounds the humanitarian tragedy and impedes recovery. The damaged reactors and spent-fuel ponds contain around 10 times as much nuclear fuel as did the Chernobyl reactor that exploded in 1986. In three reactors, the fuel has melted, almost certainly through the reactor vessels; primary containment structures have been breached; explosions have torn away the secondary containment (the buildings); radioactive releases continue; and closed-loop cooling has not been re-established.

Fukushima has highlighted how vulnerable spent-fuel ponds are to direct damage or disruption of power, water, or pumps for cooling. Continue reading →

July 6, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

Global warming will bring increased wildfire threats to nuclear installations

While there are a range of findings, the majority point toward greatly increased stresses upon western North American forests due to climate change. There are even detailed studies, nearly all of them, indicating that climatic changes will increase the number and severity of fire events beyond the parameters reconstructed through paleodendrological evidence. Wildfires are likely be the punctual culmination of various stresses, in one quick moment transforming forests into deserts where trees may never again grow in any great numbers…….While building nuclear weapons might not quite be fiddling, you get the idea. While America burns, its leaders are busy pouring scarce money and manpower into nuclear weapons. The fire in New Mexico is both symbolic and literal in this sense.. 

Nuclear Fiddling, While Los Alamos Burns, The 4th Media, DARWIN BOND-GRAHAM | BeiJing Time, July 5, 2011 LANL is not just any government lab. LANL is the epicenter of the US nuclear weapons program. It is the home base of the weaponeers, the thousands of Department of Energy employees and subcontractors who have tethered their careers, livelihoods, and identities to the atom bomb’s continuing role in American foreign, and domestic policy. In this respect LANL is the brain trust (or moral pit, if you prefer) of US nuclearism. LANL is also now the center of US plutonium manufacturing for nuclear weapons; the Lab is host to billion dollar factories dedicated to storing, milling (one could even say supplicating to) this most deadly material. Expansions are underway Continue reading →

July 6, 2011 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Global warming causes jellyfish surge, causes nuclear plant shutdowns

Increasing fishing activity and global warming are giving jellyfish populations a boost, scientists said, potentially making jellyfish invasions at nuclear power plants located near the open sea more common in the future

Jellyfish keep UK nuclear plant shut, Reporting by Karolin Schaps; editing by Jason Neely),  Scientific American ,| June 29, 2011 An invasion of jellyfish into a cooling water pool at a Scottish nuclear power plant kept its nuclear reactors offline on Wednesday, a phenomenon which may grow more common in future, scientists said. Continue reading →

July 6, 2011 Posted by | climate change, UK | Leave a comment

Global warming increases jellyfish, jellyfish shut down nuclear plant

 The surge of jellyfish in the area is believed to have occurred because of a rise in the temperature in the North Sea.Since 2002 scientists have noted massive increases in jellyfish populations around the world.  Some attribute this to overfishing, declining water quality and rising sea temperatures. 

Jellyfish Shut Down Nuclear Power Plant, Care 2, by Sharon S. June 30, 2011 An invasion of jellyfish managed to stop operations at a nuclear power plant in eastern Scotland after high volumes of the creatures flooded water filters and clogged the cooling system. Continue reading →

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

How humans are geo-engineering the planet

“…….Aren’t we too puny rival the great forces of nature that shape our planet? .  But the facts show that we are fundamentally impacting planet Earth in unprecedented ways, and we’ve known about it for a century…..

we are well on the way to doubling CO2. In the past 100 years we have added almost 40 per cent, and warming that can only plausibly be attributed to a greenhouse effect is not only heating the atmosphere, but is also pumping heat into the oceans and the crust at a phenomenal rate.

How we’re geo-engineering the planet, Climate Spectator  Mike Sandiford 16 June 11  Continue reading →

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

Dim outlook for real action on global warming

One Week on Earth” – Michael Tobias – Green Conversations – Forbes 13 June 11 The Netherlands: Ten Dutch Greenpeace lobbyists chain themselves to a train carrying nuclear waste to a reprocessing plant in France, while nations throughout the world debate the future of nuclear power, attempting to somehow reconcile greenhouse gas mitigation in a post-Fukushima minefield of unclear energy calculus. The status quo of coal/oil/natural gas/nuclear power slams nascent alternative energy enthusiasts (particularly in Russia) dimming hopes for anything like the carbon neutral renaissance so many green ethicists have urged at one carbon-indebted global conference after another. “One Week on Earth” – Michael Tobias – Green Conversations – Forbes

June 13, 2011 Posted by | climate change, EUROPE | Leave a comment

UK govt should promote renewable energy, says Committee on Climate Change

More renewables needed to power low carbon Britain , Imperial College London Reporter 18 May 11, The UK needs a portfolio of renewable energy and low-carbon alternative energy sources, according to a new energy review by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which was launched at Imperial in the second week of May.

The scientific experts on the committee, including Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, and Professor Jim Skea (CEP), said that renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and geothermal heat, should be able to contribute at least 30 per cent of all power generated in the UK by the year 2030. This would make a major contribution to reducing the UK economy’s carbon footprint over the next few decades.

The committee also suggested that a higher share of up to 45 per cent would be feasible, if the cost of renewable technologies were to fall and if the government pursued policies that would allow low-carbon technologies to be implemented. Current plans, they say, could lead to unnecessary costs that would be passed on to the average household energy user.

Professor Hoskins said: “In order to limit the risks of climate change, it is necessary to significantly reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide by 2050. We know this can be done but only by starting now on a major programme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop new low-carbon technologies, which themselves could also bring significant economic opportunities.” http://www2.imperial.ac.uk/blog/reporter/2011/05/18/more-renewables-needed-to-power-low-carbon-britain/

May 20, 2011 Posted by | climate change, UK | Leave a comment

Nuclear industry a greenhouse gas emitter

The nuclear industry’s oft-touted claims of a “nuclear renaissance” were never real, …. “Now that claim is absolutely dead unless governments want to foot the entire bill. 

“Fukushima will have a bigger impact on the nuclear industry than Chernobyl,” …

The Nuclear Cost Shell Game, By Stephen Leahy, UXBRIDGE, Canada, May 6, 2011 (IPS)“…….The argument that nuclear power is needed to combat climate change is also incorrect. Mining uranium and processing ore into fuel and building nuclear facilities results in considerable carbon emissions. When the full life cycles are compared, the carbon emissions of nuclear on a per-kilowatt-of-power-generated basis exceeds that of wind and is about the same as solar, according to a 2008 study by the Centre for Integrated Sustainability Analysis at the University of Sydney, Australia. Continue reading →

May 8, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

Rising sea levels threaten Britain’s nuclear power plants

‘Shrinking Britain’ will force land to be abandoned to the sea, Guardian UK, by Damain Carrington, 6 May 11, Coastal erosion and UK tsunamis are a cause of concern for vulnerable nuclear power stations, says leading geologist……..

The fact that tsunamis can happen in the UK, and the idea that Britain’s coast is shrinking, is certainly relevant to the debate over nuclear power and the disposal of long-lasting nuclear waste, in my opinion. Take a look at the map of British nuclear power sites: they are all on the coast.

“It is a cause for concern, some nuclear power stations are in vulnerable positions,” said Prof Rob Duck, at Dundee University, whose new book is called This Shrinking Land: Climate Change and Britain’s Coasts…
Shrinking Britain will force land to be abandoned to the sea | Damian Carrington | Environment | guardian.co.uk

May 6, 2011 Posted by | climate change, UK | 2 Comments

As the Earth heats, nuclear power plants can’t cope

 the problem is only getting worse as climate change triggers prolonged heat waves, ….hot river and lake temperatures have forced power plants worldwide to decrease generating capacity.

Heat Waves Putting Pressure on Nuclear Power’s Outmoded Cooling Technologies, REUTERS By Lisa Song at SolveClimate,  May 4, 2011  The scramble to cool the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex with seawater in the aftermath of Japan’s disastrous accident put a spotlight on just how much cold water an atomic reactor needs to function — and not just in a crisis. Continue reading →

May 5, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

Global warming resulting in faster sea level rise

Sea levels rising higher and faster, Sydney Morning Herald, Ben Cubby, May 5, 2011 SEA levels will rise higher and faster than the United Nations predicted just four years ago, a major international study has found.

The new data suggests that, on average, the seas will rise by up to 1.6 metres by the year 2100 – a finding that has serious implications for Australian governments grappling with coastal planning.

…… The rate is expected to accelerate as the world warms this century and the process will be compounded as more ice cover is lost. White ice fields reflect sunlight away from the Earth’s surface, whereas the darker oceans absorb more of the sun’s heat, amplifying global warming.
……: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/sea-levels-rising-higher-and-faster-20110504-1e8j7.html#ixzz1LVj077J2

May 5, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | 5 Comments

Climate change and earthquakes

Earthquakes linked to climate change, The Age, 13 April 11, Long-term climate change could be responsible for moving the Earth’s tectonic plates.A team of scientists based in Australia, France and Germany has established a link between monsoons in India over the past 10 million years and the motion of the Indian plate.The scientists have found that, as monsoons in the area increased, the plate moved by almost one centimetre a year.

The researchers say it’s the first time climate change has been recognised as having the potential to influence the motion of tectonic plates.

“It is known that certain geologic events caused by plate motions have the ability to influence climate patterns over a period of a million years,” Dr Giampiero Iaffaldano from the Australian National University said in a statement.   “Now we know that the opposite holds as well…… Earthquakes linked to climate change

 

April 14, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

As global temperatures rise, there will be expensive nuclear plant shutdowns

the prolonged spell of hot weather put the TVA at risk of violating environmental permits, with hefty fines as one consequence and potential harm to the Tennessee River ecosystem as another…..The total cost of the lost power over that time? More than $50 million dollars, all of which was paid for by TVA’s customers in Tennessee….. What happened last summer at Browns Ferry may be a sign of what people living in the Southeast can expect in the future. As average global temperatures rise,

Heatwaves cause problems for nuclear power plants | Climate Central, By Alyson Kenward,  11 April 11, On July 8, 2010, as the temperature in downtown Decatur, Alabama climbed to a sweltering 98°F, operators at the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant a few miles outside of town realized they had only one option to avoid violating their environmental permit: turn down the reactors. Continue reading →

April 11, 2011 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear plants affected by global warming

Heatwaves cause problems for nuclear power plants | Climate Central, By Alyson Kenward.  11 April 11, “……Extreme Heat Limits Nuclear Energy Production “……nuclear power has a paradoxical relationship with climate change. Even though it might help mitigate long-term global warming, nuclear power is already being challenged by rising temperatures and the increasing number of heat waves around the world. Throughout the last decade, several plants have had to reduce electricity production during heat waves, just when when electricity demand typically reaches peak levels.

“It’s a dilemma between mitigation of climate change, and adaptation to it,” says Natalie Kopytko, an energy policy doctoral student at the University of York in England. Having recently studied the ways in which climate change could have a negative impact on nuclear power, she says nuclear power is caught in the middle because it could be used to help lower greenhouse gas emissions, but global warming is making the technology less effective at providing electricity…Heatwaves cause problems for nuclear power plants | Climate Central

 

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

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