“Turkey does not need nuclear power plants. We have plenty of wind and sun in our country which can be used to generate plenty of energy,” says Tanay Sidki Uyar, head of the department of energy at the University of Istanbul.
Criticizing the lack of transparency in compiling the environmental assessment report, the energy expert highlights the lack of clarity and openness over the issue of nuclear waste disposal.
Turkey set to get nuclear reactors, DW 30 Dec 14 By mid-2015, Turkey wants to build its first nuclear power plant despite all objections and without regard for the fears of those affected by its construction. DW takes a look at the country’s energy policy. For the sixth time in four months, Devin Bahceci is visiting the site in Akkuyu in the Turkish province of Mersin. Standing in front of the barrier erected at the site, he shakes his head.
“To date, we do not know what to expect. The project is extremely non-transparent and it’s frustrating,” says the energy and climate activist from the environmental organization Greenpeace. Continue reading →
December 31, 2014
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Ministry, TEPCO seek to end compensation for Fukushima businesses in Feb. 2016 Mainichi, 29 Dec 14 The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) have proposed to Fukushima Prefecture’s commerce and industry federation a plan to end nuclear disaster compensation for businesses in February 2016, it has been learned.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and TEPCO presented the plan to the Fukushima Federation of Societies of Commerce and Industry on Dec. 25. The ministry and the utility told the federation that they plan to end compensation payments to all businesses, except for those in the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sectors, in February 2016. Ministry and utility officials explained that they would map out future policies after hearing claims from business owners.
The federation’s secretary-general, Hideki Endo, however, criticized the proposal.
“Fukushima business owners face different situations depending on their evacuation statuses and their business categories,” he said. “While we understand the need to draw the line somewhere, we cannot accept the end of compensation payments within a year and a few months from now when the nuclear disaster has still not been brought to a conclusion and there are no prospects that harmful rumors will end in the foreseeable future.”…….http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141227p2a00m0na007000c.html
December 29, 2014
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Renewable energy companies use new clout in statehouses, Phys Org, Dec 24, 2014 by Jeffrey Stinson, Stateline.org “……..Green energy industries have become mainstream businesses with the political clout to match the fossil fuel industry and big electric utilities in many statehouses, and they are using that influence to defend the renewable energy standards in place in 31 states and the District of Columbia.
Green industry is creating jobs, providing lease payments to landowners and taxes for local government in many states. Companies like Siemens and GE are highly invested in green energy. And many state lawmakers don’t want to see the economic benefits shrink or disappear.
Wind represents about $118 billion in private investment in the U.S. economy and sustains about 73,000 jobs, according to the American Wind Energy Association. About $17.3 billion a year is invested in new wind farms.
The solar industry, meanwhile, employs about 143,000 people and pumps nearly $20 billion a year into the economy, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
The economic impact of the fossil fuel industry is much larger, but Tom Plant of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University noted that green energy has “become mainstream … and a pretty significant component of economies of the states.”………
In addition to states with mandatory standards, seven – Alaska, Indiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Virginia – have voluntary goals.
Combined with federal and state green energy tax breaks, state renewable portfolios have been instrumental in building the renewable sector. They “drive demand,” said Susan Sloan, vice president for state policy at the American Wind Energy Association.
Technological advancement is making green energy more economically competitive compared to fossil fuel, especially coal………..
Wind, solar and other alternative sources are increasingly popular with the public compared to fossil fuels, polls indicate. And many companies want to demonstrate they’re in favor of environmentally friendly policies……….
Wind has become “a big cash crop” for Kansas farmers, she said, with wind farms providing about $16 million a year in lease payments to landowners. Local government receives about $10 million a year in lieu of tax payments from them, which is good revenue for rural counties……….. http://phys.org/news/2014-12-renewable-energy-companies-clout-statehouses.html#jCp
December 26, 2014
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Moves to reconstruct nuclear power plants unacceptable, Mainichi 23 Dec 14 拡大写真An expert panel to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is poised to include the approval of rebuilding nuclear power plants in an interim file to be compiled later this year as one of the subjects to be considered. The move appears to signify the government’s clear declaration that it is not pursuing a zero nuclear power policy.
After the Dec. 14 House of Representatives election, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) gave a de-facto stamp of approval to reactivation of the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant’s No. 3 and No. 4 reactors in a safety screening. This is one of a series of moves leading to dependence on nuclear power. We cannot tolerate any moves that would promote a U-turn to nuclear power without any debate or seeking of public opinion.
The expert panel — the Nuclear Energy Subcommittee under the ministry’s Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy — is planning to include acceptance of nuclear plant reconstruction in its interim file by underscoring the need to ensure “the supply capacity to make up for the decommissioning of reactors.”
It will be the first time for the government to spell out the need to rebuild nuclear plants since the outbreak of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster. Reconstruction of a nuclear power complex — in which a new plant will be built while dilapidated reactors are decommissioned — is essentially the same as building a new nuclear plant………. Continue reading →
December 24, 2014
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Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs
Stephen G Burns might be OK. I have read some adverse criticisms about him, on a pro nuclear advertising site – which is somewhat reassuring to learn.
Obama selects veteran lawyer to serve as chairman at nuclear energy regulatory agency http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/12/23/obama-selects-veteran-lawyer-to-serve-as-chairman-at-nuclear-energy-regulatory/WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has selected a 33-year veteran of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Stephen G. Burns, to serve as its chairman.
The five-member commission oversees the safety of the nation’s 62 nuclear power plants, and the chairman serves as the group’s official spokesman.
Burns replaces Allison Macfarlane, who is stepping down to take a position at George Washington University.
Burns served as the NRC’s general counsel from 2009-2012, and prior to that served in a variety of roles at the agency. He is the second general counsel to later become the agency’s chairman.
He has also served a stint as head of legal affairs for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency
December 24, 2014
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Obama Increases Allowable Levels of Radiation in Drinking Water “Dramatically”http://www.globalresearch.ca/obama-increases-allowable-levels-of-radiation-in-drinking-water-dramatically/5420787
In Time for Massive New Dumping of Daiichi Radiation
Global Research, December 20, 2014 A Japanese government official has reported, “I was overwhelmed by the amount of contaminated water coming from the reactors, we
must dump it in the ocean.” This isn’t such great news for the US since President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently
gave their approval for “
dramatically raising permissible radioactive levels in drinking water and soil following “radiological incidents,” such as nuclear power-plant accidents and dirty bombs.”
The Nuclear Industry calls this their “new normal,” according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
The EPA has issued radiation guides called Protective Action Guides or PAGs which allows more radiation than any American has ever been exposed to. Within the guides, are instructions for evacuations, shelter-in-place orders, food restrictions and other actions following a wide range of “radiological emergencies.”
Wouldn’t the massive break down of reactor number one at Fukushima be considered a ‘radiological emergency?”
Shunichi Tanaka, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, made the comment Dec. 12 about dumping radioactive waste into the ocean.
The US governments PAGs allow long-term public exposure to radiation in amounts as high as 2,000 millirems. This would, in effect, increase a longstanding 1 in 10,000 person cancer rate to a rate of 1 in 23 persons exposed over a 30-year period. Many experts are expecting elevated cancer rates due to these “allowable” levels of radiation exposure.
The PAGs are the work of Gina McCarthy, the assistant administrator for air and radiation whose nomination to serve as EPA Administrator was only approved by the Senate a few months ago.
It is suggested that these PAGs have been in the works for over two years and are just recently available for public view.
PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said:
“This is a public health policy only Dr. Strangelove could embrace. If this typifies the environmental leadership we can expect from Ms. McCarthy, then [the] EPA is in for a long, dirty slog.”
“No compelling justification is offered for increasing the cancer deaths of Americans innocently exposed to corporate miscalculations several hundred-fold.”
December 20, 2014
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India looks to sway Americans with nuclear power insurance plan BY TOMMY WILKES AND SANJEEV MIGLANI NEW DELHI Fri Dec 19, 2014 (Reuters) – India is offering to set up an insurance pool to indemnify global nuclear suppliers against liability in the case of a nuclear accident, in a bid to unblock billions of dollars in trade held up by concerns over exposure to risk.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is hoping the plan will be enough to convince major U.S. companies such as General Electric to enter the Indian market ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit at the end of next month.
Under a 2010 nuclear liability law, nuclear equipment suppliers are liable for damages from an accident, which companies say is a sharp deviation from international norms that put the onus on the operator to maintain safety.
From the 1950s, when the United States was the only exporter of nuclear reactors, liability has been channeled to plant operators across the world.
India’s national law grew out of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, the world’s deadliest industrial accident, at a factory owned by U.S. multinational Union Carbide Corp which Indian families are still pursuing for compensation………..
GE-Hitachi, an alliance between the U.S. and Japanese firms, Toshiba’s Westinghouse Electric Company and France’s Areva received a green light to build two reactors each. They have yet to begin construction several years later, according to India’s Department of Atomic Energy…………..
State-run reinsurer GIC Re is preparing a proposal to build a “nuclear insurance pool” that would indemnify the third-party suppliers against liabilities they would face in the case of an accident.
Under the plan, insurance would be bought by the companies contracted to build the nuclear reactors who would then recoup the cost by charging more for their services. Alternatively, state-run operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) would take out insurance on behalf of these companies………..
Moves to win over the Americans coincide with Russia’s push to build more nuclear reactors in India……..http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/12/19/us-india-nuclear-exclusive-idINKBN0JX1I020141219
December 20, 2014
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DoE Announces $12.5B in Loans for Advanced Nuclear, Energy Collective Katherine Tweed December 17, 2014 The U.S. Department of Energy issued a loan guarantee solicitation for $12.5 billion on Wednesday for innovative nuclear energy projects.
The solicitation comes on top of $8 billion for advanced fossil energy projects last December, $4 billion for renewables issued earlier this year and $6.5 billion for two nuclear reactors in February, the first new nuclear to be built in the U.S. in about 30 years……………
“DOE will look favorably on Eligible Projects that will have a catalytic effect on the commercial deployment of future Advanced Nuclear Energy Projects,” the solicitation states.
The first deadline for Part I applications is March 18, 2015, followed by rolling deadlines approximately every six months.http://theenergycollective.com/katherinetweed/2170051/doe-announces-125b-loans-advanced-nuclear
December 20, 2014
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Japan set for nuclear showdown http://www.power-eng.com/articles/2012/12/japan-set-for-nuclear-showdown.html 12/27/2012 Days after Japan’s pro-nuclear Liberal Democratic Party was swept back to power in a landslide, millions of the country’s citizens have signed an online petition demanding the government phase out nuclear power generation. The petition has received 8 million signatures, while hundreds have taken to the streets to demonstrate against nuclear power, the AFP reports. Meanwhile, on Dec. 27, the LDP set to work dismantling the previous government’s plan to rid the country of nuclear power by 2040. The LDP’s victory on December 16 brought the party back to power after a rare three-year hiatus in its status as the majority party.
December 20, 2014
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£1bn subsidy in energy capacity auction will boost coal and nuclear power, Guardian, Terry Macalister, 19 Dec 14 Government wanted new gas-fired power stations to be built but 68% of the capacity is to be provided by existing power stations. Consumers will need to stump an extra £1bn a year in 2018 to encourage power stations to stay open and keep the lights on, the government confirmed on Friday.
A “capacity market” auction undertaken this week by National Grid has ended with a price of £19.40 per kilowatt (kW) being agreed as a subsidy.
EDF, the owner of the UK’s existing nuclear fleet, is one of the major provisional winners but other “big six” firms such as E.ON, npower and SSE have also succeeded……………….
EDF’s nuclear fleet is also providing 16% of the capacity. This will also be a bonus for Centrica which owns 20% of this EDF-operated business. Centrica has also had two gas stations included. 45% comes from gas fired plants and less than half a percent by those promising demand side reduction………….http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/19/uk-energy-auction-coal-nuclear-generation
December 20, 2014
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50 NGOs in Japan released a declaration to protest the CSC which protects the nuclear power industry http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/wordpress0/index.php?p=119
カテゴリー: December 6, 2014
50 non-governmental organizations in Japan released a declaration to protest the “Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage” (CSC) which protects nuclear power technology vendors from responsibility for reparations and does not protect the victims of nuclear power accidents.
Declaration
To protest The Japanese Diet’s over-hasty approval of the “Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage” (CSC) , which heavily protects the nuclear power industry and encourages nuclear exports
On November 19, the “Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage” (CSC) was ratified by the House of Councilors. We strongly object to today’s vote to approve this treaty, without any discussion of its numerous problems, which was rushed through to accommodate the Abe administration’s schedule for dissolving the Lower House of the Diet.
The treaty promotes the export of nuclear power technology while ignoring the lessons of the Fukushima accident.
Specifically, we raise the following issues:
1) The exemption of nuclear power technology vendors from liability/responsibility for reparations. This will result in increased exports of nuclear power technology.
2) The use of international funds for nuclear accident damage compensation above a fixed amount. This will serve to benefit any nuclear technology vendor who causes an accident.
3) As a result of items 1 and 2, parties involved in the nuclear energy business only profit, without taking any risk – leading to moral hazard and the acceleration of nuclear exports. Continue reading →
December 19, 2014
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U.S. Should Save Nuclear Industry From Fracking Peril: IEA, Jeff McMahon, Forbes, 18 Dec 14, The United States needs to develop clear policies to support its ailing nuclear industry—which is prone to seeing old reactors close rather than new reactors open largely because of the impact on energy prices of cheap natural gas from fracking, the International Energy Agency said in a report released today.
“The domestic nuclear industry is therefore at a critical juncture as a consequence of its declining economic competitiveness, and existing market mechanisms do not favour investment in high capital-intensive nuclear technology,” according to the IEA’s comprehensive review of U.S. energy policy for 2014.
“There is a need, therefore, to develop and articulate a clear strategy for nuclear power, including a statement of how the federal government will provide long-term support. Given the long lead times for construction and the declining share of nuclear power in the energy mix, these considerations should be concluded quickly.”……..
The free market is unlikely to revive the U.S. nuclear industry without government intervention, it says……
The IEA report will embolden efforts by nuclear utilities like Exelon that have sought government support for nuclear energy and reduced support for competitors, such as tax subsidies for wind power. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2014/12/18/u-s-should-save-nuclear-industry-from-fracking-peril-iea/
December 19, 2014
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The Government is reportedly so worried that Hinkley will be delayed it has commissioned a “secret review” into the project. The probe, being led by the Treasury, is said to be examining whether the 2023 completion date is likely to be met and is apparently costing “tens of millions of pounds”. The outcome of the investigation is expected at the end of the year, which The Times says is why EDF delayed taking a final investment decision this summer until January or February.
Hinkley Point C – A Review of the Year, nuClear News Dec 14 “………… To many it feels like the project is sleep walking towards disaster. It’s just that no-one is quite sure whether the disaster will be a virtually ‘unconstructable’ power plant struggling to come into operation years late and vastly overbudget or the collapse of the whole project before it even starts.
Cambridge nuclear engineer, Tony Roulstone, recently described the type of reactor planned for Hinkley as ‘unconstructable’, and said Areva, the French company that owns the EPR design, is no longer actively selling power stations of this type. In those countries still looking to expand nuclear power, such as Saudi Arabia, China and Turkey, Areva is now pushing an alternative reactor.
In China, where two EPRs are currently being constructed, the authorities have indicated that they will not use the design for future power plants. In other words, the Hinkley design is already regarded as a failure by those with most knowledge of it. (3)
The European Commissioners decided to approve subsidies reported to be up to £17.6 billion to EDF Energy in October. Doug Parr, Chief Scientist at Greenpeace calculates the subsidies to be closer to £37billion on an undiscounted basis. (4)
The Austrian Government has declared its intention to take the Commission to the European Court of Justice over the decision, (5) In the UK independent energy supplier Ecotricity is also among companies and organisations considering a legal challenge.
There appears to be a groundswell of opinion among renewable energy companies and associations in Britain and
Europe that something should be done. (6) This could leave the project in limbo. Legal action would take at least a year to conclude and EDF Energy would have to decide whether or not to risk proceeding with the project in the meantime in case it has to be abandoned if the legal action is successful.
Continue reading →
December 17, 2014
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Shinzo Abe reelection increases chance of Japan relying more on nuclear power and less on LNG Straght.com by CHARLIE SMITH on DEC 14, 2014 “……….The election results have strengthened Abe’s hand as he pushes to restart more nuclear reactors in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled a power plant in Fukushima, spewing radiation across the Pacific Ocean.
The governor of Kagoshima prefecture has already approved firing up two reactors at the Sendai nuclear plant next year, rejecting calls from protesters to keep the facility closed…………….
In 2013, Abe told International Olympic Committee delegates that problems at the Fukushima plant were under control.
This was despite the calculations by Georgia Straight contributor Alex Roslin that about 800 people worldwide would develop cancer from Japanese fish eaten at the time of his article in October 2013.
Meanwhile, Japan News recently reported that a South Korean team will visit the Fukushima power plant and conduct tests on Japanese fish products.
South Korea has maintained a ban on importing fish from eight prefectures, including Fukushima.
The South Korean investigation will occur just as Japan’s nuclear watchdog is calling for the release of contaminated water from the Fukushima plant.
According to an article in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, Nuclear Regulation Authority chairman Shunichi Tanaka said officials will need to gain the consent of local residents.
“I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of tanks (holding water tainted with radioactive substances),” Tanaka told journalists. “We have to dispose of the water.” http://www.straight.com/news/789111/shinzo-abe-reelection-increases-chance-japan-relying-more-nuclear-power-and-less-lng
December 17, 2014
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DOE Opens $12.5B Nuclear Loan Guarantee Solicitation, Power 12/10/2014 | Sonal Patel
The Department of Energy (DOE) today opened a loan guarantee solicitation to make available as much as $12.5 billion to bolster the construction of new nuclear projects.
Issued under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Advanced Nuclear Energy Projects Solicitation backs four key technology areas: advanced nuclear reactors, small modular reactors (SMRs), uprates and upgrades at existing facilities, and front-end nuclear projects.
According to Peter Davidson, executive director of the DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO), “any technology that meets the eligibility requirements is welcome to apply,” but the four areas are of “particular interest.”
“Advanced nuclear reactors” include projects with “evolutionary, state-of-the-art design improvements in the areas of fuel technology, thermal efficiency, modularized construction, safety systems, and standardized design,” he said. The DOE is also seeking SMR projects, typically 300 MW or smaller, and uprate and upgrade projects, which use an “innovative technology to improve an existing reactor by increasing efficiency, increasing capacity or making critical improvements that are integral to current or future facility operations.”
The DOE, meanwhile, specified that $2 billion of the $12.5 billion available under the solicitation will be available exclusively for front-end projects. These include uranium conversion or enrichment, as well as nuclear fuel fabrication…….http://www.powermag.com/doe-opens-12-5b-nuclear-loan-guarantee-solicitation/
December 13, 2014
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