Despite opposition and problems about liability, Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to buy nuclear reactors
Modi goes shopping for nuclear power in France and Canada Reuters | Apr 8, 2015, Times of India, NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to advance the purchase of massive nuclear reactors and fuel from France and Canada to power a resurgent economy, overriding domestic opposition and concerns over liability laws as he embarks on a foreign tour.In France, where Modi is making his first visit since taking office last year, he will seek to speed up price negotiations for the building of two reactors by state-run Areva SA of 1,650 megawatts each in the western state of Maharashtra………
Nuclear waste dumps can be forced on local communities – new British law
Law changed so nuclear waste dumps can be forced on local communities http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/05/law-changed-so-nuclear-waste-dumps-can-be-forced-on-local-communities Legislation rushed through in the final hours of parliament allows local planning laws to be bypassed, seriously alarming anti-nuclear campaigners Nuclear waste dumps can be imposed on local communities without their support under a new law rushed through in the final hours of parliament.Under the latest rules, the long search for a place to store Britain’s stockpile of 50 years’ worth of the most radioactive waste from power stations, weapons and medical use can be ended by bypassing local planning.
Since last week, the sites are now officially considered “nationally significant infrastructure projects” and so will be chosen by the secretary of state for energy. He or she would get advice from the planning inspectorate, but would not be bound by the recommendation. Local councils and communities can object to details of the development but cannot stop it altogether.
The move went barely noticed as it was passed late on the day before parliament was prorogued for the general election, but has alarmed local objectors and anti-nuclear campaigners.
Friends of the Earth’s planning advisor, Naomi Luhde-Thompson, said: “Communities will be rightly concerned about any attempts to foist a radioactive waste dump on them. We urgently need a long-term management plan for the radioactive waste we’ve already created, but decisions mustn’t be taken away from local people who have to live with the impacts.”
Objectors worry that ministers are desperate to find a solution to the current radioactive waste problem to win public support to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.
Zac Goldsmith, one of the few government MPs who broke ranks to vote against the move, criticised the lack of public debate about such a “big” change. “Effectively it strips local authorities of the ability to stop waste being dumped in their communities,” he said.
Labour abstained in the vote, indicating that a future government will not want to reverse the change of rules. However, the shadow energy minister, Julie Elliott, has warned that the project is expected to take 27 years to build even after a preferred site was identified and would cost £4bn-5.6bn a year to build, plus the cost of running it for 40 years.
Since the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution found in 1976 that it was “morally wrong” to keep generating nuclear waste without a demonstrably safe way of storing the waste, there have been at least four attempts to find the right site, all of them shelved after strong protest.
There are now 4.5m cubic metres of accumulated radioactive waste kept in secure containers at sites across Britain, though only 1,100m3 of this is the most controversial high-level waste, and 290,000m3 is intermediate-level waste. Itcosts £3bn a year to manage the nuclear waste mountain, of which £2bn comes from taxpayers.
The most recent proposal for a more permanent solution was to ask local authorities to volunteer to examine whether they could host the development. Initially, a coalition of Cumbria county council and Copeland and Allerdale borough councils put their names forward, but the policy stalled in 2013 when the county council pulled out.
Last year, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published awhite paper which said ministers would prefer to work with public support, but reserved the right to take more aggressive action on planning if “at some point in the future such an approach does not look likely to work”.
The day before parliament rose, MPs voted in an unusual paper ballot to implement a two-page statutory instrument which adds nuclear waste storage to the list of nationally significant infrastructure projects in England, via the 2008 Planning Act.
Officials have said approval depends on a “test of public support” and any site would undergo extensive geological safety tests.
Copeland borough council, one of the two areas most affected by any such development at Sellafield, said it was pleased with the government’s change to planning rules.
Radiation-Free Lakeland – set up to block the Sellafield proposal because they claim there is no evidence deep storage is safe or that the geology of Cumbria is suitable – claimed, however, “the test of public support is a fig leaf: the government hast’t said what the public support will be”.
The only existing high-level radioactive underground waste storage, in New Mexico, USA, has been closed since last year following two accidents.
Germany has put similar plans for burying high-level waste on hold and four other countries, including France and Japan, are examining the idea.
TEPCO not paying up for radiation fallout cleanup in local municipalities
Tepco refusing to pay fallout-hit municipalities for most decontamination work, Japan Times, 30 Mar 15 Tokyo Electric Power Co. has only covered 2 percent of the ¥76.1 billion that municipalities have spent on decontamination work since the Fukushima nuclear crisis began in 2011, according to Environment Ministry officials.
Tepco, operator of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, has effectively refused to cover the costs of removing tainted soil and other debris gathered by the fallout-hit governments, saying it is confirming whether such payments are required by law.
The central government has paid for the cleanup work on Tepco’s behalf, but if the utility continues to balk, more taxpayer money will be needed to cover the interest payments.
Tepco has so far basically paid for decontamination work conducted directly by the central government in areas close to the nuclear plant, but it has treated decontamination work carried out by local governments in other areas in a different manner………
Tepco posted its first pretax profit in three years in the business year ended in March 2014 after plunging into financial difficulties following the triple core meltdowns in March 2011.
The utility is projecting a group pretax profit of ¥227 billion for the business year ending Tuesday. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/30/national/tepco-refusing-pay-fallout-hit-municipalities-decontamination-work/#.VSIiYdyUcnk
PLUTONIUM ALERT!
$30+billion Plutonium (Pu) Fuel Project, Good for France; Bad for America: AREVA-MOX Ça Pue! Pe-yoo! Mining Awareness 5 Apr 15“…….DOE will soon release its report to Congress on the life-cycle cost of two plutonium disposition options: MOX and disposal of plutonium as blended down waste. Watch for the report around April 15-16, if DOE actually delivers it to Congress and makes it publicly available.
PREDICTION: The report will officially confirm that the MOX option is far more costly than disposal of plutonium of that waste that it is. On release of the report, there will be much hand wringing by MOX boosters and CB&I AREVA MOX 
Services (designing and building the $12.7 billion MOX plant at SRS) and their political minions (primarily Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Joe Wilson) but they will produce no report of their own. Congress will finally be forced to take in to account that MOX isn’t financially sustainable and can’t continue. But will Congress hold accountable those DOE mangers and contractors responsible for the massive MOX boondoggle?
The handwriting remains on the wall for the fate of the MOX boondoggle.” From http://www.srswatch.org. Read more and keep updated at their link.
It’s important to note that Shaw and CBI have benefited from this project, and note the funding given by Shaw CBI to politicians, including former Senator Landrieu of Louisiana. Senator Vitter has been given donations by Areva.
Areva ownership: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arevahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-owned_enterprise#France https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/30billion-plutonium-pu-fuel-project-good-for-france-bad-for-america-areva-mox-ca-pue-pe-yoo/
France’s nuclear corporation AREVA in deep financial trouble – needs tax-payer bailout
Areva in Deep Financial Trouble, The Energy Collective, Dan YUrman 10 Mar 15 French government and investors ask whether it has hit bottom?
It is no secret that state-owned nuclear energy giant Areva has ten tons of financial debt on a five ton truck. After several years of smacking the bumper with a 2 x 4 to keep half of the IOUs in the air, the truck has hit a red light and all the weight of that debt has come down in one place and at one time. This week Areva’s senior leadership went public with the numbers and what they say is a path toward new earnings. Phillip Knoche, the new CEO of Areva, said, “We have to cut our costs and master difficult projects.”
Here’s the bad news
Areva is facing huge financial challenges with reported losses of {e}4.8 billion ($5.4 billion US) compared to a loss of just {e} 500 million last year. Sales were down in 2014 by 8% compared to 2013. The company wrote down assets by {e}1.5 billion, took a {e}1.1 billion charge on three nuclear projects, and wrote off another nearly {e}1billion in assets that it now believes are essentially worthless. They include a uranium mine bought by former CEO Anne Lauvergeon who’s expansionist strategy overextended the company in terms of its capital requirements.
The bad news isn’t over
This year the firm expects to see a further reduction in sales of at least 5% compared to 2014. The firm will sell off its unprofitable renewable energy business, and other assets, for {e}430 million. It will scale back other investments. Overall, debt has risen to {e}5.8 billion compared to a market cap of {e}3.6 billion. Essentially, the firm is underwater and needs a huge infusion of capital from the French government………
Deceptive push by Japan’s ruling Party to bring back dependence on nuclear power
LDP stealthily seeking to raise nuclear energy dependence THE ASAHI SHIMBUN 3 Apr 15 The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is pushing a policy of heightening Japan’s dependence on nuclear energy but has buried this stance under a calculation trick.
An LDP research commission on energy issues on April 2 called on the central government to ensure that base-load electricity sources–nuclear energy, coal-fired thermal plants, hydroelectric and geothermal plants–account for about 60 percent of Japan’s energy needs in 2030.
The proposal does not mention any specific ratio for nuclear energy. But considering the difficulties in increasing the supply from the other base-load electricity sources, the dependence on nuclear power would have to rise to about 20 percent.
The proposal is expected to be presented to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as early as next week as the formal recommendation of the LDP. The central government wants to decide on the energy mix for Japan in 2030 and beyond by June.
The government’s designation of the base-load electricity sources means their costs for power generation are comparatively low and electricity can be produced around the clock.
In fiscal 2013, Japan depended on base-load electricity sources for about 40 percent of its power: 1 percent for nuclear energy; 30 percent for coal-fired thermal plants; and a combined 9 percent for hydroelectric and geothermal plants……..
The LDP panel’s proposal said, “Energy policy must serve to strengthen Abenomics.”
It pointed out that electricity rates increased after nuclear power plants went offline following the Fukushima nuclear crisis triggered by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
But to achieve that level of dependence on nuclear energy, nuclear plants would have to be operated beyond the current 40-year operating life set by the government or the government would have to approve the reconstruction or new construction of nuclear plants……..http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201504030042
Bulgaria pulls out of $4bn Westinghouse nuclear deal
Bulgaria drops $4bn Westinghouse nuclear deal Yahoo 7 News, April 1, 2015 Sofia (AFP) – Bulgaria has dropped a deal with US-based firm Westinghouse Electric to build a new reactor at its only nuclear plant because of financial pressures, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced Wednesday.
“We cannot uphold the agreement” which is worth $4 billion (3.8 billion euros), Borisov told parliament, adding that the cash-strapped country was unable to shoulder the costs…….
Westinghouse, a subsidiary of Japanese company Toshiba, had initially planned to take a 30-percent stake in the Kozloduy project, but Bulgarian media reported that it now refused to invest in the deal.
The company has not yet commented on Borisov’s announcement.
In 2012, Bulgaria was forced to drop another project, this time to build two Russian VVER 1,000-megawatt reactors at the planned Belene nuclear plant in the country’s north.http://news.yahoo.com/bulgaria-drops-4bn-westinghouse-nuclear-deal-161118449.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=tw
UK’s Hinkley nuclear plant developments stalled as financial negotiations drag on
Hinkley Point C nuclear project workers face layoff , Guardian 2 Apr 15 Up to 400 constructors at site of new nuclear power station could be laid off as preparation work comes to end before final investment decision by owner EDF. As many as 400 workers at the site of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point face being laid off while the French owners of the project decide whether to make an investment in the £16bn project.EDF has almost completed the project’s preparatory earthworks, drainage, welfare facilities and roadworks, but is yet to decide on the investment to mark the beginning of the construction the plant in Somerset.
The company said a decision would be reached in the coming months, and it has already launched a 45-day redundancies consultation, said the unions…….
It is the first new new nuclear plant in the UK in decades and is scheduled to start producing electricity in 2023. EDF, however, is still negotiating with UK authorities about government debt guarantees for the project, along with decommissioning costs and other details.
It is also negotiating with two Chinese utilities about their role in Hinkley Point and possible future UK nuclear projects with EDF……http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/02/hinkley-point-c-nuclear-project-workers-face-layoff-power-station-investment-edf
A risky precedent – if ratepayers bail out Ginna nuclear plant
Bailout of nuclear power plant would set bad precedent, Times Union By David O. Carpenter, March 30, 2015 The New York state Public Service Commissionand the Cuomo administration will soon decide whether ratepayers can be forced to bail out Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear power plant operator, and its Ginna nuclear plant, one of the world’s oldest commercial reactors, built near Rochester in 1969. A bailout would set a costly, dangerous precedent with state and national implications.
Across New York and the U.S., as older nuclear plants age, their operating costs are rising while prices for electricity from competing sources are falling, making many of them uneconomical, including a third of Exelon’s fleet. So they seek shelter from market forces that increasingly favor cleaner, cheaper alternatives, including wind and solar.
Ginna is an important test case. It lost $100 million in the last three years. So Exelon negotiated a new purchase agreement withRochester Gas & Electric worth $735 million — $165 million above the market price for electricity — passing on its losses to customers by raising their rates.
Exelon threatens that without a bailout, it will close Ginna and other uneconomical reactors, undermining electricity supply. Supply fears are overblown — Ginna could be phased out and its power replaced more cost-effectively, including by improving substations and transmission lines. The PSC may be more worried about losing Ginna’s 600 jobs (though there would be hundreds of decommissioning jobs if the reactor shut down).
Meanwhile, many oppose the bailout. Physicians for Social Responsibility’s New York chapter opposes it because of growing public health and safety risks as Ginna ages. New York utilities and power producers oppose it because it violates established procedure for shuttering plants. A group of 60 large industrial, commercial and institutional energy consumers oppose it because it would distort electricity markets and trigger “potentially staggering” rate hikes. Alliance for a Green Economy opposes unjustly forcing consumers to subsidize Exelon and its obsolete reactor, which would also pre-empt better energy alternatives. It wants Ginna’s losses borne by RG&E, not ratepayers, and swift, orderly decommissioning.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio‘s administration opposes a Ginna bailout as bad precedent for other troubled plants, which might try to hold his city’s residents hostage to closure threats. For example, what if the aging, leaking Indian Point nuclear plant, which should be decommissioned, followed suit and demanded to be propped up through extortionate rate hikes?
These are all good reasons to say “no” to bailing out Ginna and other aging nuclear plants that might seek to follow in its wake…….. http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-opinion/article/Bailout-of-nuclear-power-plant-would-set-bad-6168217.php
France struggles to save its financially strapped nuclear company AREVA
France Renews Push for Nuclear Shake Up Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron urges stronger cooperation between the state-controlled businesses. By INTI LANDAURO April 2, 2015 PARIS—The French government has turned up the heat on the country’s biggest nuclear-power companies to restructure the industry to help stem multibillion-euro losses at state-controlled equipment maker Areva SA.Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron has asked Eléctricité de France SA–the operator of France’s fleet of nuclear power stations which provide most of the country’s electricity—to come to the rescue of Areva by deepening their industrial and possibly financial ties.
EDF and Areva, which are both majority-owned by the French state, have to cooperate better over the construction of 
nuclear reactors and tendering for international business, Mr. Macron said on Thursday. He said that he has asked both companies to make proposals in the coming weeks………
Changing international attitudes to nuclear power, notably after the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011, have complicated the task for the French government by crimping demand for new business at Areva………
For now, Areva is working on a plan to sell assets, cut costs, reduce capital expenditure and start talks with unions over possible job cuts after posting a €4.8 billion ($5.4 billion) net loss in 2014, the fourth loss in as many years.
The company faces major hurdles with its contract to build a reactor in Finland, which has suffered a series of delays and cost overruns, and has also made a poor investment in uranium mining,……..http://www.wsj.com/articles/french-government-pushes-areva-edf-to-make-tie-up-proposal-1427961063
Harry Reid led the charge to prevent another nuclear pollution of Nevada
There will be a lot written about Harry’s advocacy on behalf of Nevada, and for those efforts he deserves a standing ovation. His actions will resonate for generations. Our grandchildren’s grandchildren will have been kept protected from the threats of nuclear waste. They won’t know who to thank, so on their behalf: Thank you, Harry.
They have considerably to celebrate, and we — and our youngsters and grandchildren — have considerably to be thankful for, including a legacy that will attain far into future generations of Nevadans.
The senator’s list of accomplishments, from preserving the environment to assisting bring overall health care to millions
with his championing of the Reasonably priced Care Act, will absolutely frame his legacy. But his everlasting accomplishment story will surely be his good results in staring down the nuclear power business and maintaining Nevada totally free of the highly radioactive nuclear waste that outsiders wanted to ship from distant states and bury inside Yucca Mountain. Continue reading
How Japan’s government financially props up TEPCO nuclear company
After Fukushima: Japan’s ‘nuclear village’ is back in charge, Ecologist Jim Green28th March 2015 “…….Many have called for TEPCO to be nationalised, or broken up into separate companies, but the LDP government has protected and supported the company. The government has also greatly increased financial support for TEPCO.
For example in January 2014 the government approved an increase in the ceiling for interest-free loans the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund is allowed to give TEPCO, from 5 trillion yen to 9 trillion yen (€39.0-70.2 billion)
The government will also cover some of the costs for dealing with the Fukushima accident which TEPCO was previously required to pay, such as an estimated 1.1 trillion yen (€8.6 billion) for interim storage facilities for waste from clean-up activities outside the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The government has also amended the Electricity Business Act to extend the period for collecting decommissioning funds from electricity rates by up to 10 years after nuclear plants are shut down. The amendments also allow TEPCO to include in electricity rates depreciation costs for additional equipment purchased for the decommissioning of the Fukushima plant………http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2810545/after_fukushima_japans_nuclear_village_is_back_in_charge.html
Ohio’s Senate Bill 310 props up Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, restricts renewables
The case against the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant: Connie Kline By Other Voices http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/03/the_case_against_the_davis-bes.html March 29, 2015 Aggressively lobbied by FirstEnergy Corp. and passed by the General Assembly in May 2014, Senate Bill 310, along with wind-turbine restrictions, decimated Ohio’s 2008 renewable-energy and energy-efficiency standards in order to force reliance on coal and nuclear power.
Not coincidentally, in August 2014, FirstEnergy filed a rate case which, according to the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel and the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council, could cost ratepayers up to $3 billion over 15 years to “bail out” FirstEnergy’s old, failing, noncompetitive Sammis coal plant and Davis-Besse nuclear reactor. The utility is threatening to close both plants if the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio denies its application.
According to a recent Pew Charitable Trusts’ report, in 2012, Ohio was number 13 in the country for new wind capacity and private investment in wind; this has virtually ceased due to SB 310.
August and September 2014 polls showed that Ohioans overwhelmingly favor efficiency and renewable energy over coal and nuclear.
According to NOPEC, construction of the Perry and Davis-Besse reactors caused “electric rates in northern Ohio to soar, becoming the highest in the state and among the highest in the nation and cost ratepayers “approximately $9 billion.”
Forty-year-old Davis-Besse has been plagued by near-catastrophes since its inception.
● Because it was built in a flood plain, a 1972 Lake Erie storm caused massive flooding of the entire construction site including the pre-operational reactor.
● In October 1977, a relief valve stuck.
● Uranium fuel must be submerged in water (coolant) at all times to prevent a meltdown. In June 1985, Davis Besse had a loss-of-feedwater accident. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission closed the plant for a year.
● A June 1998 tornado caused loss of external electric power.
● In March 2002, neglected, leaking boric acid in the coolant water had eaten through more than seven inches of the steel reactor lid, leaving only a 3/16″ liner to prevent radiation release. The plant closed for two years, costing ratepayers $600 million. Davis-Besse was fined $33.5 million, the largest in NRC history.
● The corroded lid was replaced before restart in 2004, but in 2010, cracks were found in this new lid, forcing its replacement in 2011.
● To replace aging, deteriorating, damaged parts, an unprecedented four large cuts have been made through the Davis-Besse concrete shield building which prevents release of radiation. Starting in 2011, cracks and voids were discovered in the building’s concrete.
● Davis-Besse’s steam generators were replaced in 2011 and 2014. A new tubing alloy was used.
Unprotected exposure to used reactor fuel can kill a person in minutes, yet no disposal solution exists for this waste which must be isolated from humans and the environment virtually forever. Funding for the permanent, deep-geological radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada was canceled in 2011, making every reactor a de facto radioactive waste dump at the least environmentally suitable sites for potable water, in flood, erosion, and earthquake zones.
The industry claims that nuclear power does not contribute to climate change. In fact, the nuclear fuel cycle from mining and fabricating uranium to decommissioning reactors requires a significant amount of fossil fuel.
In January 2015, FirstEnergy commissioned a self-serving “study” by an industry group with a vested interest in the conclusion that Davis-Besse is economically beneficial. The study failed to consider energy efficiency or replacing Davis-Besse with renewable energy that typically provides more jobs per megawatt/hour than nuclear power. If Davis-Besse were truly a valuable asset, FirstEnergy wouldn’t be seeking up to $225 million a year in ratepayer subsidies to keep it operating.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, nuclear power provides only 5 percent of Ohio’s generation. According to the World Nuclear Association, Davis-Besse’s lifetime capacity factor through 2012 was only 67.6 percent, one of the lowest in the country.
It’s time to stop throwing good money after bad and transition to safe, clean renewable energy. Davis-Besse should meet the fate of other U.S. reactors than have been permanently closed for safety and economic reasons.
Connie Kline, of Willoughby Hills, is former chairperson of the Ohio Sierra Club Nuclear Committee.
France’s nuclear industry now a liability, with AREVA’s down ward spiral
France’s Nuclear Decline Exposed as Areva Confronts Cash Crunch by Tara Patel, 27 Mar 15, (Bloomberg) — For decades France’s nuclear industry was seen as a source of economic strength, providing cheap power for factories, high-tech exports and tens of thousands of well-paid jobs. Today, it’s looking more like a liability.
Electricite de France SA, the world’s largest nuclear operator, must spend $63 billion over the next decade to keep the country’s aging fleet of 58 reactors running safely. More urgently, nuclear engineer Areva SA, touted as an export champion for a new atomic age, has lost billions from a project in Finland and investments in African uranium mines, raising the prospect of a state bailout…. The financial “sickness” at Areva could prove contagious to the whole nuclear industry, said Juan Camilo Rodriguez, an analyst at Alphavalue SAS…..
“The situation is difficult for Areva,” French Energy Minister Segolene Royal said Monday, just hours after the company shocked investors by saying losses for 2014 would be about 4.9 billion euros ($5.5 billion), more than its market capitalization……
Areva has been in a downward spiral since the meltdown at Fukushima’s atomic plant in Japan shook the global industry in 2011. The nuclear engineering company, which services existing reactors and supplies them with fuel, has lost about 75 percent of its value since as nations pulled back from atomic projects.
Last November, Areva’s credit rating was reduced to junk status by Standard & Poor’s after it abandoned financial targets. The company blamed its losses on construction of a new reactor on a Finnish island, delays in restarting Japanese plants and a worsening outlook for other export orders.
Before Fukushima, France’s atomic industry was readying for a nuclear energy renaissance. Former EDF Chief Executive Officer Pierre Gadonneix predicted France’s flagship reactor, the giant EPR model, would sell “like hotcakes” around the world.
Over Budget Fukushima ended the prospect of new reactors in many countries, including Italy and Switzerland, in addition to damping a number of potential export markets for Areva and EDF. Germany decided to shut all its nuclear reactors.
Not a single EPR has yet fired up as construction projects in France’s Normandy region as well as in Finland and China are behind schedule and mostly over budget…….
Against the backdrop of Areva’s financial uncertainty, a long-delayed law that would reduce France’s reliance on nuclear power is in the Senate. Prospects for Areva and EDF will be affected by the decision of lawmakers on whether to shut some reactors……http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-27/france-s-nuclear-decline-exposed-as-areva-confronts-cash-crunch
St George city decides against getting electricity from NuScale’s Small Modular Nuclear Reactors
City opts to withdraw from nuclear power project, keep options open, St George News by Mori Kessler March 27, 2015 ST. GEORGE – City officials discussed the city’s future power generations needs during a City Council meeting Thursday. The city wants to keep its options open as far as those needs are concerned, and for the time being, is backing away from an experimental nuclear power option.
City staff recommended that the City Council hold off on committing to a project by NuScale Power. Based out of Oregon, NuScale proposes to build compact nuclear reactors that would be housed in a power plant built near Idaho Falls, Idaho. The compact reactors are designed to produce 40-50 megawatts of power.
A permit application for the proposed project is slated to be sent into the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for review, and could take until 2018 or longer to be approved. If approved, the power plant could be built and operational by 2024…….
Though St. George is one of UAMPS biggest utilities, city staff have recommended against committing to any binding agreements, saying they want the city to maintain flexibility over where it gets its power. The cost of being involved could run into the millions of dollars, said Laurie Mangum, the city’s energy services director……
Other sources of potential energy the city could tap into in the future include solar power or hydroelectric power generated along the Lake Powell Pipeline. Also, through its existing contracts and city-owned power-generation facilities, the city has 70 percent of its base load power needs covered up to around 2024-25, Esplin said.
“We’re in pretty good shape for the next eight-nine years,” Esplin said…….https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2015/03/27/mgk-city-opts-withdraw-nuclear-power-project-keep-options-open/#.VRXGyvyUcnk
1 This Month
22 June – Virtual Event –Climate Change: New Data, New Debate
Monday, June 22, 2026 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. CT
YouTube. Register here
25 June- THE PUKE ON NUKES
Thursday, June 25, 2026
7pm Central Time (8pm ET, 6pm MT, 5pm PT) UTC – 5
From NRC & DOE Deregulation to Techno-Fascist Billionaires Going Nuclear, Plus a Few Songs from Atomic Cabaret REGISTER
26 June – Radiation Trainwreck at the NRC / Join the Protect Better Campaign – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4ZlZ5_qLSHGiLSCg8FF6Bg#/registration
1st July – Webinar Waste of Space: The Environmental Harm of Military and Civil Space Activity st July, 7 pm
Report Launch Online: We are seeing an increasing exploitation of space for military and commercial purposes. This must change.
Protect Sazan Island from the Trump family! https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/protect_sazan_island_from_the_trump_family_loc/?bqFCVab&v=174511&cl=22707147157&_checksum=5e9dde668860e8231c33699735e16a1fbf22ab2cb01da50c999fe8732b9775ef&utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast_email&utm_campaign=174511
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
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