South Africa’s poor will not be able to afford nuclear electricity
Direct and associated coal, nuclear and other fossil fuel costs continue to rise, while solar and wind costs continue to drop………… Through smart planning and a move away from energy-intensive economic sectors, South Africa can decouple electricity demand from economic growth.
This will enable us to replace coal, fossil fuel-based and nuclear power plants as they retire with renewable energy technologies.
New power plan jeopardises electricity access for poor 02 AUG 2013 Mail and Guardian, South Africa ROBERT FISCHER The cost of electricity is the subject of talks around every table in every home in the country.
These costs are heavily influenced by the cost of generating electricity.
Now the Mail & Guardian tells us that President Jacob Zuma is pushing ahead with plans for nuclear plants, “despite uncertainty about the affordability of nuclear energy and the availability of sufficient expertise” (“Zuma slips into nuclear driver’s seat”, July 25). Eskom told the National Energy Regulator of South Africa that it “need[s] to recover the cost of producing electricity, which includes operating costs as well as the costs of financing new capacity,” through its tariffs. An extremely expensive nuclear programme could seriously jeopardise the crucial social investment of providing electricity.
When you consider that the poorest households spend 32% of their income on electricity, housing, water, gas and other fuels (excluding transport), turning on the lights becomes an expensive option. Continue reading
Plan to subsidise nuclear power is prohibited under European rules
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EU Commission intends state aid for nuclear power FT.com July 29, 2013 11:11 pm
Andrea Carta. Sir, Your report on the European Commission’s plans to allow direct state aid for nuclear power (“EU to allow state aid for nuclear power”, July 20) has prompted a somewhat confusing reply from the commission. Antoine Colombani, the EC spokesman for competition, goes to great lengths to argue (“EU rules do not prohibit state aid for nuclear power”, Letters, July 23) that the commission is still sitting on the fence on the issue, but his claims are flawed
Under EU competition rules, state aid is prohibited and only justified if it supports a common EU interest. The leaked commission guidelines on state aid describe subsidies to nuclear energy as a “common EU objective”. Given the divergence of policies on nuclear power in Europe, this definition can only be interpreted as a signal that the commission intends to carve out specific state aid provisions for nuclear power. Reactions to the leak from Germany and Austria’s leaders confirm this reading.
In the absence of guidelines on state aid for nuclear power, EU member states need to prove that aid measures clearly meet a common EU interest and that the aid is necessary – something they may struggle to do. In this respect at least, the leaked new guidelines would leave the commission little alternative but to find in favour of any future applications for state aid for nuclear power.
The subsidised construction of nuclear plants would perpetuate the fragmentation of the EU energy market, exacerbating the clash between inflexible and wasteful energy from nuclear power and flexible energy from renewables. It threatens investments in smarter interconnection between different parts of the power grid, capable of integrating renewable energy sources. And it could pit the UK against Germany in a battle for Europe’s energy future.
Fight looming in Taiwan over referendum on nuclear power
Showdown looms in legislature over nuclear plant vote, Focus Taiwan 2013/08/01 Taipei, Aug. 1 (CNA) Leaders of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan vowed Thursday to push for a vote on holding a referendum to decide the fate of Taiwan’s fourth nuclear power plant, as opposition lawmakers prepared to block the procedure.
DPP caucus whip Wu Ping-jui said his caucus made a decision to enter the floor early in order to occupy the podium overnight. Wu said his colleagues will not “give an inch” if a motion is called Friday, as announced by the KMT majority…………
Meanwhile, as a showdown loomed in the Legislature, activists stepped up their anti-nuclear protests around Taipei Thursday……
It mentioned the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan as an example, saying that compensation for the 2011 disaster has so far reached 2.64 trillion yen (US$26.77 billion). The nationalization of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. means that taxpayers have to cover the losses, it added.
Taipower, on the other hand, would not be able to cover such losses, the groups said……….. http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201308010027.aspx
Doubts on whether nuclear energy has a future in South Africa
Russia’s state energy group Rosatom and the French Areva – will be watching upcoming developments in South Africa with interest. In addition to safety and financial viability, concern has also been raised around the opacity of the government’s nuclear plans. All of these issues are discussed in a recent Occasional Paper titled, “South Africa’s Nuclear Future”, published by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). The paper argues that unless South Africa’s nuclear planners meet the concerns mentioned above head-on, their programmes will fail to inspire confidence, both at home and abroad.
Africa: Nuclear Future Requires Urgent Clarity ALL AFRICA BY MARI-LISE DU PREEZ, 22 JULY 2013 Observers hoping to gain insights into South Africa’s nuclear energy plans have had their hopes dashed. Two International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conferences have recently taken place in quick succession. The first, an International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century held in St Petersburg Russia from 27 to 29 June 2013, saw the last minute withdrawal of both the Energy Minister and the CEO of Eskom.
This seemed to indicate that the tussle between the Department of Energy (DoE) and the National Planning Commission (NPC) on the future of nuclear energy in South Africa is yet to be resolved. Continue reading
France’s Fessenheim nuclear plant to be shut down by 2016
France’s oldest nuclear plant to shut down by 2016: minister PARIS, July 21 (Xinhua) — French Environment Minister Philippe Martin on Sunday confirmed the closure of the country’s oldest nuclear plant of Fessenheim by the end of 2016, a local paper reported.
In an interview with the weekly Le Journal de Dimanche (JDD), the newly-appointed minister said “Francois Hollande’s nuclear commitments will be held in the five-year period.”
“I have a warrant, I shut Fessenheim by 31 December 2016,” he stressed……http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-07/22/c_132560534.htm
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European plan for taxpayer subsidy to nuclear power industry
EU draws up plans to allow state aid for nuclear power FT.com By Jim Pickard in London and Joshua Chaffin in Brussels 19 July 13 The EU has drawn up plans to change state aid rules to make it easier for member countries to subsidise nuclear power, in a move that looks set to trigger a political row across the continent.
By exempting all nuclear projects from the general restrictions on state aid – subject to certain conditions – the EU’s competition commission will prompt relief in UK and France but fury in Germany and Austria.
The commission had planned to delay unveiling its proposal to wait until after the autumn elections in Germany, where there is huge political resistance to nuclear. But a leaked copy of the draft guidelines on energy aid, obtained by the Financial Times, shows the criteria that would allow member states to offer state aid for nuclear power as a matter of course. Continue reading
USA farmers increasingly support renewable energy mandates
supporting renewable energy mandates, and thus ensuring that states uphold that portion of climate mitigation, makes sense for farmers, who are increasingly threatened by the effects of climate change.
Down On The Farm, Clean Energy Requirements Are Opportunities, Not Burdens http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/07/18/2320481/farmers-support-clean-energy-requirements/ By Katie Valentine on Jul 18, 2013 American farmers aren’t usually seen as champions of climate causes — in fact, they’re often known for their 
climate change skepticism. But farmers across the country have begun standing up for clean energy mandates in their states because they see them as an opportunity for profit in an increasingly uncertain industry.
This year, at least 14 of the 29 states with renewable energy mandates, which require utility companies to purchase a certain amount of their energy from renewable sources, have considered bills to weaken or repeal the requirements, none of which have passed. That’s due in part to farmers, who have teamed up with environmentalists and other pro-green energy groups to push legislators to keep the mandates. Their voices, along with the voices of some local businesses and the prospect of new clean energy jobs, have made it difficult for local lawmakers to repeal the standards.
“It’s hard to be conservative when it affects your district,” Rep. Mike Hager, the majority whip in the North Carolina House, told the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading
UK’s new nuclear plants – subsidies to the French seller, bribes to UK villages
The government is still in negotiations with EDF Energy over a “strike price” that would provide a guaranteed long-term income for new reactors at Hinkley Point.
The government has already committed itself to a £10bn loan to the French-owned company but has repeatedly ruled out any subsidy for the Somerset project that is seen as a test case for any future atomic plants being built here
Hinkley Point C nuclear plant £128m windfall dismissed as ‘social bribe’ Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk, Thursday 18 July 2013 Government proposals to compensate Somerset towns and villages near planned nuclear plant rejected by campaigners Campaigners have dismissed proposed government £128m windfall for towns local to Hinkley Point nuclear power station, saying it is really worth only £3.3m 
per year.
Towns and villages around a proposed new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point C in Somerset could be in line to receive a £128m windfall under new proposals outlined by the government.
Campaigners opposed to the project dismissed the funding as a “social bribe” that only amounted to £3.3m annually over 40 years while wind farm developers complained they had to pay five times more in community benefits.
People living around eight potential nuclear sites in England and Wales could be eligible for a package of benefits worth up to £1,000 per megawatt of power once a facility starts, the government said…… Continue reading
Nuclear promoter Ernest Moniz announces more funding for new nukes
More funding for advanced nuclear power reactors R&D, 17 July 13 the Energy Department announced $3.5 million for four advanced nuclear reactor projects that go beyond traditional light water designs. These projects — led by General Atomics, GE Hitachi, Gen4 Energy and Westinghouse -…. “Public-private research in advanced nuclear reactors will help accelerate American leadership in the next generation of nuclear energy technologies and enable low-carbon nuclear power to be a significant contributor to the U.S. energy economy,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz….
The four projects selected for negotiation will receive up to $3.5 million in total, with a 20 percent private cost share:GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (Wilmington, North Carolina) – GE Hitachi’s project will develop high temperature insulation materials and robust analysis tools to help design and manufacture electromagnetic pumps for liquid-metal-cooled nuclear reactors. Electromagnetic pumps have less moving parts than traditional mechanical pumps – improving reliability and safety, while reducing maintenance needs.
Gen4 Energy (Denver, Colorado) – Gen4 Energy will conduct research and development on natural circulation designs for advanced nuclear reactors that utilize a lead bismuth coolant. The project will develop computer models that will help visualize natural circulation flow and integrate it into safe, reliable reactor designs.
Westinghouse Electric Company (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) – Westinghouse’s project will conduct analysis on sodium thermal hydraulics to support advanced nuclear reactor design. The project will provide analytical tools to help quantify heat exchanger performance and improve component engineering for sodium-cooled reactor designs. http://www.rdmag.com/news/2013/07/more-funding-advanced-
Nuclear dilemma facing Japan
Japan’s nuclear energy dilemma Alex Thomson, 17 July 13 Everything about nuclear power is divisive…..
(at left – Japan- solar-powered radiation monitor) ….even as they continue to pour tonnes of water daily into the reactor fuel rods at Fukushima to stop a full-scale meltdown; even as they struggle to isolate why the place is leaking radioactive water into the Pacific; even as they cannot explain why caesium levels near to Reactor 2 are now higher than at any time since the earthquake struck the plant – even as all this is gong on, the Japanese nuclear industry is rousing itself from idling offline and looking to generate power once again.
Ten nuclear power plants are actively lobbying to restart full operations, and most are sited at or near the coast, as is the Japanese way. Many – like Fukushima – are old plants now and desperate to get back into the game after sitting offline for this long period of national Japanese soul-searching.
Yet a recent demonstration against the nuclear industry brought more than 30,000 onto the streets of Tokyo. That is a big number in Japan…… Even as they struggle to contain what is going on in the plant (and nobody really knows the full extent of that) debate rages across Japan and beyond……
For now though, they are still crisis-managing at the stricken plant itself. Indeed whether they really are managing it at all is another level altogether of raging debate. Meanwhile, there are permanent-looking radiation monitors which have spring up for miles around the plant itself, displaying to the public the background radiation levels twenty-four seven.
Nobody much notices them nowadays. But I cannot help seeing they are powered by solar panels. http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/japans-nuclear-energy-dilemma/5381
Let’s vote on uranium mining, say Nunavut hunters
Nunavut hunters’ organization calls for uranium referendum http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2013/07/15/north-uranium-referendum-call-nunavut-hunters.html Baker Lake HTO critical of recent consultations with Areva Resources Jul 15, 2013
The chair of the Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Organization said it’s time for a Nunavut-wide referendum on uranium mining. Hugh Ikoe said a referendum is the only way to determine how people in the community feel.
“We really need to have a system where we can try and find out just exactly how all people of Nunavut really feel about uranium mining,” said Ikoe.
In a letter to the Nunavut Impact Review Board, Ikoe said recent consultations in Baker Lake may have given the wrong impression of community support for Areva Resources’ proposed Kiggavik uranium mine. He said Areva Resources was allowed to dominate the meetings.
Ikoe said they should be allowed to ask questions of the regulatory agencies and other interveners without the mining company present. He said that would have resulted in a much more critical discussion of the proposed mine. He said community members were told to ask Areva questions, but he said that’s not an adequate way to get at the truth.
“I think most everybody knew that regardless of what kinds of questions you ask any mining company, they’re not going to give you a negative answer and say, ‘oh, it’s going to be bad for the wildlife, environment or anything else for that matter’. They will always give you a positive answer.”
Ikoe said many residents of Baker Lake are still concerned about uranium mining in the area. He said many people feel they’ve been ‘consulted to death’ on this topic, and they’re not sure their concerns have been heard. He said many feel the mine will go ahead no matter what they say.
India: wind energy production is beating nuclear
“Since 2007, with almost 100% investment from the private sector, wind energy production is more than that of nuclear energy,”
Why nuclear when wind energy is better? http://www.dnaindia.
com/bangalore/1861294/report-why-nuclear-when-wind-energy-is-better , Jul 15, 2013, : Bangalore | Agency: DNA Malavika Velayanikal Members of Parliament interact with renewable energy experts at the Climate Parliament meet in the city. What happens when a bunch of intelligent and well-informed Members of Parliament get thrown into a room full of renewable energy experts?
This, in nutshell, is what happened at the first day on Climate Parliament meet in Bangalore on Saturday.
“When both nuclear energy and wind energy each contribute 3% of the total energy production in the country, why is the government promoting and investing in nuclear energy, and not wind energy, which is almost entirely funded by the private sector?” This was one of the hard questions that came up during the meet. Continue reading
Success for Chinese anti nuclear protestors, as government scraps plans for uranium processing plant
China cancels $6 billion uranium plant after protest SATURDAY JUL 13, 2013 | CHEN AIZHU, QI DING FOR REUTERS BEIJING (Reuters) – China has abruptly canceled plans to build its largest uranium processing plant in a southern Chinese city, a day after hundreds of protesters took to the streets demanding the project be scrapped, a local government website said on Saturday.
The proposed 230-hectare complex in the heart of China’s Pearl River delta industrial heartland in Guangdong province had also sparked unease in neighboring Hong Kong and Macau.
Authorities in the gambling enclave had formally raised the issue with their Guangdong counterparts, the South China Morning Post reported.
A one-line statement published on the Heshan city government’s website said that “to respect people’s desire, the Heshan government will not propose the CNNC project”.
State-run China National Nuclear Corporation and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC) had planned to build the 37 billion yuan ($6 billion) project.
Officials from both companies could not be reached for comment……..
The surprisingly swift decision to cancel the project came after hundreds marched to city offices on Friday that forced officials to pledge an extension of public consultation by 10 days. Locals had planned more protests on Sunday.
Chinese authorities are becoming increasingly sensitive to local protests over environmental issues, having canceled, postponed or relocated several major petrochemical and metals plants…….http://www.newsdaily.com/article/dea9628fb2b26f48d30394204db3e45a/china-cancels-6-billion-uranium-plant-after-protest
Why UK wants nuclear submarines in Scotland, and Scotland doesn’t
The UK’s military were highly ambivalent about acquiring nuclear weapons, not least because they could not be launched without US permission. Nuclear bases on British soil have always been de facto US bases and we pay US firms for provision and maintenance. But politicians wanted them. Being a nuclear power is almost as good as still having an empire.
Trident, the UK’s current nuclear weapon system, is in Scotland because London isn’t. That’s one of the reasons why Trident is hugely unpopular with Scots. Faslane is a deep-water port that keeps mildly unstable weapons far from the politicians disastrously wedded to the idea that if enough civilians of the right type die, almost anything is achievable.
Faslane: this was a nuclear weapon for the SNP, Guardian UK, 12 July 13, The rumoured plans for the naval base were a reminder of how deeply unpopular Trident is among Scots The MoD’s, or Whitehall’s, or whoever’s plans to designate Trident’s Faslane base “sovereign UK territory” earlier this week seemed, at best, petty – an attempt at humiliation timed to balance Andy Murray’s cheering victory. It was a gift to the SNP, now denied and passed from hand to hand like a vomiting baby. That the idea was ever floated offers us another reminder of the colonial attitudes so catastrophically embedded in nuclear policy; a fundamental, fatal dismissal of “ordinary” people.
Once, it was relatively easy to acquire a colony if you had access to industrialised military production when the people you were invading didn’t. But by the end of the 19th century there was nowhere desirable left to steal, and industrialised armies finally faced each other. The results were intolerable: massive national debt and casualties that could mount by tens of thousands a day.
But then, in the 1920s, Britain’s airforce successfully bombed undefended Iraqi villages into quiescence. Italy followed suit in Ethiopia, and Germany in Spain. The age of “intimidation by bomb” was born, and with it the dream that killing a high enough percentage of a civilian population from the air would destroy a country and win a war with low military casualties……… Continue reading
Global maritime environment threatened by Russia’s floating nuclear plants
Tow cables snap, Arctic conditions can be unpredictable, ships sink. As the ocean is the common heritage of humanity, perhaps the international community might evince a tad more interest in this project.
Chernobyl At Sea? Russia Building Floating Nuclear Power Plants http://www.zerohedge.com/node/476304 submitted by Tyler Durden 07/11/2013 by John Daly via OilPrice.com,So much for the lessons of Fukushima. Never mind oil spills, the Russian Federation is preparing an energy initiative that, if it has problems, will inject nuclear material into the maritime environment.
Speaking to reporters at the 6th International Naval Show in St. Petersburg, Baltiskii Zavod shipyard general director Aleksandr Voznesenskii said that the Russian Federation’s first floating nuclear power plant “should be operational by 2016.” Continue reading
1 This Month
of the week – THE ONENESS of HUMANITY
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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