Japan mulling over energy options for the future
A key element in the national dialogue will be the future energy mix for Japan to 2030. Three advisory committees – to METI, Environment and Cabinet – have been consulted and the government is ready to put out three options for public consultation
The government appears to have got the message that the public want more choice in their energy supply.
It will be interesting to see what happens when they let the public have their say.
Japan’s energy dilemma: a renewables embrace?, Climate Spectator, 8 Jun 2012. Gwen Andrews “……..modeling by the Institute of Energy Economics of Japan demonstrates the immensely difficult choices the country is facing……
The announcement of the restarts may be twinned with another announcement, of a ‘national dialogue’ on future energy policy. Japan reviews its energy policy plan every three years, with the last review completed in June 2010. The events of ‘3/11’, as the Japanese call the tsunami disaster, has brought forward a fierce debate on where the
country goes from here.
The debate is notable in that it is front page news, Continue reading
Legislation to help USA renewable energy, by way of tax code
Tweaking US tax code could spur green energy: senator, Climate Spectator, 8 Jun 2012, Reuters WASHINGTON, – A freshman U.S. Democratic senator thinks he may have found a way to encourage investment in wind, solar and biofuel projects without sapping too many taxpayer dollars or injecting new venom into a bitter partisan battle over energy incentives.
Chris Coons introduced legislation on Thursday that would allow a broad range of renewable power generation and transmission projects to qualify for a tax structure used widely by pipeline and other energy-related companies.
The bill is unlikely to be considered until after the November presidential election, but may give lawmakers food for thought as they wrestle with whether to extend tax breaks for green energy set to expire this year….. http://www.climatespectator.com.au/news/update-1-tweaking-us-tax-code-could-spur-green-energy-senator-0
Indian government treats anti nuclear citizens as mentally ill
If anything, then, the really delusion-prone people are on the other side, in the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL). The day the Fukushima crisis took a turn for the worse last year, with hydrogen explosions ripping through three reactors, DAE secretary Sreekumar Banerjee said the blasts were “purely a chemical reaction and not a nuclear emergency …”. NPCIL chairman SK Jain went one better: “There is no nuclear accident….It is a well-planned emergency preparedness programme …“
No margin for error Hindustan Times Praful Bidwai June 04, 2012 When it comes to thrusting nuclear power down the throats of unwilling people, official India sets a record of violations of dignity and rights that is embarrassing. Which other government but India’s maligns all anti-nuclear protesters as foreign-inspired and lacking any agency? Where else would the police file 107 FIRs against 55,795 peaceful anti-nuclear protesters, but at Koodankulam, charging 6,800 with “sedition” and ”waging war against the State”?
And which other government has asked a psychiatric institution, in this case, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (Nimhans), to “counsel” people and convince them that the project, despite the hazards, is good for them?
To its discredit, Nimhans despatched psychiatrists to Koodankulam to ”get a peek into the protesters’ minds” and help these insane people to “understand the importance” of the plant. According to reports quoting its director, Nimhans has “commenced the collection of primary data” and is now seeking “field reactions” to write “multiple strategies” to address “the problem” (the opposition to nuclear power).
Such opposition is thus equated with schizophrenia, fear of sexual intimacy, paranoia or craving for victimhood, to be cured by drastic means. By this criterion, more than 80% of the people of Japan, Germany, France and Russia – who oppose new nuclear plants – must be considered abnormal. Continue reading
Despite local government opposition, China funding new nuclear plant in Wangjiang
The Pengze project made headlines in February, when the Wangjiang County government openly opposed its construction on grounds that the site selection was based on unreliable population and seismic activity data.
The County government also alleges that the firm used gifts to entice villagers into agreeing to the plans.
Controversial China nuclear plant funding resumes, Market Watch, Jiangxi nuclear plant gets funding in sign building freeze is ending By Lu Bingyang and Wang Yong BEIJING ( Caixin Online )7 June 12, — One of China’s pioneering inland nuclear power projects has received another capital injection after the government put nuclear development on hold due to last year’s disaster in Japan. Continue reading
Japanese lawmakers plan for new nuclear regulatory body
Opposition wins on nuke watchdog, Japan Times, Kyodo 7 June 12, The administration will effectively accept a plan proposed by opposition parties to set up an independent “nuclear regulatory commission,” lawmakers said following talks between ruling and opposition parties to explore amending a bill to create a new nuclear regulatory agency. Continue reading
States rebel against financing Small Modular Nuclear reactors (SMRs)
Experts: Nuclear Power Industry Woes Spreading Across Nation From Florida To Iowa Market Watch WASHINGTON, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — As Ratepayer Rebellion Rages in Florida, Small Modular Reactor and “CWIP” Advance Financing Drive Stopped Dead in Iowa; Next Battleground States: Missouri and North Carolina.
Though its trials and travails at the national level get all the attention, the nuclear power industry is finding fewer and fewer friends in statehouses across the nation. In the Southeast, traditionally the stronghold of new nuclear power projects, a growing ratepayer rebellion in Florida seeks to curb advance financing of reactors that experts say will most likely never be constructed.
In Iowa, even Warren Buffett could not help to persuade state lawmakers to permit advancing financing of a small modular reactor (SMR) in that state. The Iowa defeat marked the nuclear power industry’s failure in its first attempt to push its much-ballyhooed SMR technology through a state legislature. Opposition to advance financing of a new reactor is so strong in Missouri that the industry has been forced to go to Washington, D.C., to seek a $452-million taxpayer-funded grant in the absence of state-level and Wall Street support. In North Carolina, diverse groups are coming together to block a push by Duke to
liberalize construction work in progress (CWIP) provisions to dig even deeper into the pockets of ratepayers in that state.
Examples of the growing state-level opposition to advance financing of SMRs and other new nuclear reactors include the following: Continue reading
Taxpayers dudded on loan guarantees for Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant
The credit subsidy cost these documents reveal for the Vogtle project is absurdly low. It is now years out of date and little information on how it was justified is provided. This information shows that taxpayers should be even more worried about signing off on an $8.3
billion loan guarantee for the Vogtle reactor.” “A one percent fee doesn’t even begin to reflect the risk of default”
Taxpayers deserve to see the basis on which the ridiculously low fee for Southern Company was calculated.
SACE has filed a FOIA request to unearth what the new estimates are in order to understand what risks taxpayers still face…… the terms
of the updated loan guarantee deal are still being held in secret.
Secret Documents Highlight Nuclear’s Risk to Taxpayers Market Watch, ATLANTA, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — A closer look at new documents shows Department of Energy significantly underestimated controversial Vogtle Nuclear Plant’s risk of default
Late last week Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) successfully negotiated the release of hundreds of pages of secret nuclear loan guarantee documents to settle Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation spanning nearly two years. These documents reveal that one of the nation’s largest utilities, Southern Company, was aggressively pursuing controversial federal nuclear loan guarantees at significantly below market rates. Continue reading
German government working carefully on phasing out nuclear power
Germany beefs up monitoring of nuclear shutdown, Google News By JUERGEN BAETZ, Associated Press 24 May 12, BERLIN (AP) — The German government will more closely oversee the country’s move from nuclear power to renewable energy, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday — a mammoth 10-year project for Europe’s biggest economy that has been going slowly so far.
Merkel said she will be meeting with all of Germany’s 16 state governors twice a year to take stock of the transformation’s progress and shortcomings, stressing that everything must be done to avoid blackouts and ensure affordable energy. Continue reading
Nuclear Regulatory Commission extends Hanford nuclear license for 20 more years
License for nuclear power plant at Hanford extended to 2043 Oregon Live.com , May 23, 2012 YAKIMA, Wash.-– The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the license for the Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power plant by an additional 20 years, the plant’s operator announced Wednesday.
The license extends operations at south-central Washington’s Columbia Generating Station through 2043. The plant had been operating on a 40-year license that expires at the end of 2023.
The plant is operated by Energy Northwest, a public power consortium composed of 28 member utilities. Controversy swirled around the plant last year because it is the same general type as those stricken after the tsunami in Japan…. http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/05/license_for_hanford_nuclear_po.html
Iowa wise to stop dead a plan for Small Modular Nuclear reactors
“The still substantial economic, technical and regulatory uncertainties surrounding Small Modular Reactors make their future role as a competitive, safe, clean electricity source only speculative, and given the track record of nuclear power there are reasons for pessimism.”
Experts: Nuclear Power Industry Woes Spreading Across Nation From Florida To Iowa Market Watch WASHINGTON, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -“…….Steven Falck, senior policy advocate, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Iowa, said: “Common sense prevailed in Iowa to stop the advance financing of a small modular reactor. Continue reading
UK government’s folly in persisting with nuclear power plans
the UK, where the nuclear industry is so embedded in government it supplies staff free-of-charge to work within the energy ministry. Perhaps it’s no wonder that even when half of the UK’s big six energy companies bale out of nuclear on cost grounds, ministers plough on regardless.
while mass-produced renewable energy technologies are pushing the costs downwards, nuclear energy is completing the journey from “too cheap to meter” to “too expensive to count”
Only renewables – not nuclear – could be too cheap to meter http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2012/may/22/energy-nuclear-renewables Damian Carrington, The Guardian UK, 22 May 12, Germany’s long support for wind and solar energy is delivering zero-cost electricity at times. In contrast, the UK’s new energy policy seeks to underwrite the rising cost of nuclear “Too cheap to meter”: that was the infamous boast of the nuclear powerindustry in its heyday. It has been catastrophically discredited by history. Continue reading
Promote clean energy, don’t subsidise nuclear – says Scotland
” the UK Government must recognise that the purpose of this reform is to support renewable energy, not to provide subsidies for nuclear energy.”
Government: Renewables not nuclear Google News(UKPA) – 23 May 12, Planned reforms to the electricity market must focus on renewable energy rather than nuclear subsidies, according to the Scottish Government.
The comment follows publication of the draft UK Energy Bill which the British Government hopes will deliver the £110 billion investment needed to build new low-carbon capacity. Continue reading
Britain setting up huge subsidies for nuclear industry, poorly hidden in consumers’ costs
Britain’s proposals appear to be drafted to sidestep E.U. restrictions on state aid that might prevent direct subsidies for the construction of new nuclear power plants.
Britain hopes that this guaranteed price, to be paid by businesses and consumers, will secure the financial commitment from energy utilities to construct nuclear reactors
This proposal has distorted policy in order to try to disguise the massive subsidies nuclear will need, but they remain so huge that the policy will fail anyway,”
Britain Charts Way to Wider Nuclear Investment, NYT, By STEPHEN CASTLE, May 22, 2012 LONDON — Britain announced plans Tuesday to finance a new generation of nuclear power plants and renewable energy facilities in a move that illustrates divergent energy policies within the European Union as it grapples with the challenge of reconciling economic and environmental objectives. While Germany intends to phase out nuclear power and France’s new president, François Hollande, aims to reduce his country’s reliance on it, the British government appears to be moving in the opposite direction with its proposals, aimed at luring investment of £110 billion, or $175 billion, to build new reactors and renewable energy plants. Continue reading
USA govt and nuclear industry have got rid of too-thorough nuclear regulator Jaczko
the pressure became too great from both, several industry and government officials say. Both parties wanted to expand the use of nuclear facilities and further explore options for storing nuclear waste. Jaczko had largely put the kibosh on both
members of Congress, mostly senior Democrats, have defended Jaczko as a thoughtful and thorough regulator
Jaczko’s resignation still illustrates the influence of the nuclear industry.
Nuclear Commission Gregory Jaczko Calls It Quits, The Daily Beast, May 21, 2012 After a long campaign to drive the nation’s top nuclear regulator from office, NRC commissioner Greg Jaczko resigned Monday. Daniel Stone reports on how the industry claimed its casualty. Continue reading
Nuclear industry lobbying hard to get Pilgrim plant relicensed
the nuclear industry has been busy making its concerns known in Washington about the Pilgrim delays and what they could mean for other contentious relicensing cases.
Delays in Pilgrim nuclear plant’s relicensing draws the ire of some GOP leaders in Congress Mass. Market, 2012 May 22 by Jon Chesto Massachusetts politicians aren’t the only ones closely watching the fate of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth. A group of GOP congressmen, led by energy committee chairman Fred Upton, sent a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday, essentially scolding the NRC for taking so long with its review of Pilgrim. Continue reading
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