Will a Failed Solar Loan Guarantee Kill New Nukes?,
By Harvey Wasserman, 6 Oct 11, Republicans up in arms about the infamous failed federal $535 million loan guarantee for the Solyndra solar panel producer are finally tasked to apply the same standards to nuclear power.
If that happens, there will be no more commercial reactors built in the United States.
Unlike solar power, atomic energy cannot attract private capital. So if the GOP succeeds in dragging down the entire federal energy loan program, the “Nuclear Renaissance” could be definitively done. Continue reading
Move for nuclear referendums in Japan
Japanese activists pushing for nuclear referendums, Australia Network News, 3 Oct 11, A civic group formed in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear plant crisis in Japan is collecting signatures in Tokyo, Osaka and Shizuoka Prefecture with an eye to filing direct petitions with local assemblies to hold referendums on nuclear power. Continue reading
In USA nuclear industry spending up big on lobbying
In April through June, NEI lobbied Congress, the Commerce Department, the Defense Department, the Executive Office of the President, the Departments of Transportation, Energy, State and Homeland Security Department, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Office of Management and Budget, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to the report the NEI filed July 19 with the House clerk’s office….
Nuclear group spent $580,000 lobbying in April, May, June 2011 Forbes, By The Associated Press, 09.30.11, NEW YORK — The main trade group for the nuclear power industry, the Nuclear Energy Institute, spent $580,000 in the first quarter lobbying federal officials about financial support for new reactors, safety regulations and other issues, according to a disclosure report. Continue reading
USA Republicans push for nuclear loans, but attack solar ones
GOP senator: Energy Dept. dragging feet on uranium plant loan guarantee,THE HILL, By Ben Geman – 09/30/11 Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) is pressing the Energy Department to approve a long-sought loan guarantee for an Ohio uranium-enrichment plant amid planned layoffs and “demobilization” of the project if the financing agreement isn’t forthcoming.
USEC Inc. is seeking a conditional approval of its $2 billion loan-guarantee application to the Energy Department for the American Centrifuge Plant.
Portman’s comments come as Republicans are attacking the White House over the $535 million loan guarantee granted in 2009 to solar panel maker Solyndra, which collapsed and filed for bankruptcy several weeks ago.
But while the DOE loan-guarantee program is now under attack from many Republicans who say it exposes the folly of “green jobs” efforts, multiple GOP lawmakers have pushed DOE to provide financing for projects in their states through its various loan programs….http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/184775-gop-senator-presses-energy-dept-to-speed-up-uranium-plant-loan-guarantee
Switzerland to phase out nuclear energy
Environmental group Green Cross International’s president Mikhail Gorbachev meanwhile welcomed Switzerland’s decision.
“I applaud Switzerland for taking this brave step towards ending its reliance on nuclear energy,” he said in a statement.
Swiss parliament approves nuclear plant phase out, Google News, By Hui Min Neo (AFP) – 29 Sept 11, GENEVA — The Swiss parliament’s upper house on Wednesday approved plans to phase out the country’s nuclear plants over the next two decades in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Continue reading USA government beholden to nuclear lobby
In Germany, where electoral realities have forced to the government to take an honest look at nuclear safety, market realities have delineated a path away from nuclear power and toward a renewable energy economy. In the US, where government is not only insulated from popular opinion but also beholden to corporate largess, elected officials, regulators and industry work hand-in-hand to perpetuate dangerous, expensive and inefficient technologies (while, on Capitol Hill, House Republicans vote to slash already threadbare programs meant to encourage renewable energy development).
In Post-Fukushima Reality, What Is the Future, and Who Is Winning It?, TruthOut, 28 September 2011 by: Gregg Levine, “…… nuclear power has never gotten off the ground in Australia for a rather basic reason: it is not supported by a majority of its people…..
What the public wants, however, (as some recent events in the US seem to indicate) is not always what the public gets. Also required is a mechanism for the electorate to impose their will. Continue reading
India’s clash between democracy and nuclear power
The government is not able to comprehend the scale of challenge it’s facing at the moment..
Is Democracy Thwarting India’s Nuclear Power Ambitions?, WSJ, By Megha Bahree, SEPTEMBER 26, 2011, India’s democratic process is changing the country’s nuclear energy program at startling speed.First it was protests at the proposed nuclear power plant at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. Now it’s protests at the plant under construction at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, and at practically every site across the country that has been designated for a new power plant. And at most places, people’s concerns about the risks of nuclear power are clashing with the government’s plans to power the country with nuclear energy….. Continue reading
Rick Perry’s nuclear-powered ride in US politics
State Rep. Lon Burnam of Fort Worth, a leading opponent of Simmons’ nuclear waste application, also uses the term “crony capitalism” to describe the years-long regulatory and legislative effort that ultimately gave Simmons a monopoly over low-level nuclear waste disposal in Texas. Legislation passed this year allows up to 36 states, including Texas, to dump their nuclear refuse in a red-clay landfill at the 1,388-acre site just inside the Texas-New Mexico state line.
Perry is hounded by charges of ‘crony capitalism’ MIAMI HERALD, BY DAVE MONTGOMERY, 25 SEPT 11, MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS AUSTIN, Texas – In 2008, Larry Soward, one of three commissioners for the Texas environmental regulatory agency, cast the lone dissenting vote against licensing a controversial low-level nuclear disposal site in far West Texas.
Looking back now, Soward says, “it didn’t take too much of a rocket scientist” to conclude that the project – pushed by one of Gov. Rick Perry’s biggest political donors – would ultimately be approved. Continue reading
Fukushima: five local governments anxious about radiation to residents
Fukushima municipality heads concerned over lifting of evacuation advisory, Mainichi Daily News, 26 Sept, FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) — Heads of five municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture affected by the ongoing nuclear crisis have aired concerns over the government’s plan to lift its evacuation advisory in the event of an emergency, saying not enough has been done to ensure the safety of residents. Continue reading
USA’s Koch brothers’ campaign against the environment
Rand Paul Wants Koch Brothers Thrown in Jail! By Brad Friedman on 9/23/2011 ,”………. Koch Industries was indicted by the DoJ in 2000 for knowingly dumping “at least 91 metric tons of uncontrolled benzene in its liquid waste streams” at its Corpus Christi refinery, and for conspiring to cover it an attempt to deceive regulators.After George W. Bush took office in 2001, however, “his Attorney General John Ashcroft dropped 88 counts against Koch for the benzene spill and cover-up” in exchange for a guilty plea to falsifying documents and a $20 million fine (a settlement from $350 million in potential fines.)
The Kochs made out pretty well in exchange for their $32,200 contribution to the 2000 Bush campaign. The job killing Koch brothers are making out even better under Barack Obama. But more on that later.
Suffice to say, neither the Kochs, nor anybody who works for them, went to jail for “dump[ing] benzene in the stream,” as Paul is calling for, even as he calls for doing away with even more environmental regulations in his remarks to The Street.
As we’ve been highlighting of late, the Republicans have been on a tear against clean air and water regulation by the EPA recently, and have shown themselves willing to partner with their various front groups in the media, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and with folks like the Koch brothers to simply make stuff up about such regulations “killing jobs”, in their 2012 “mother of all wars” to regain the White House…. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8778
Kaminoseki village election a pointer to nuclear power’s future in Japan
With the national government feeble and divided, the future of nuclear power now is being shaped more in communities where reactors are located or planned.
Nuclear Power Drives Japan Village Election, Mayor Who Has Backed Reactor Plan Faces Anti-Nuke Challenger, WSJ, By JAMES SIMMS, 22 Sept 11 KAMINOSEKI, Japan—This small fishing village has become the next front in Japan’s battle over nuclear power, with an anti-nuke protester threatening to oust the pro-nuke mayor in an election Sunday.
At stake: the fate of a long-planned reactor for which ground-breaking is supposed to take place next year.
More broadly, the defeat of a mayor whose economic development strategy has centered around a controversial power plant could fuel the country’s increasingly influential anti-nuclear movement. Continue reading
Georgia, USA, awaiting huge government loan guarantee for new nuclear reactors
A Giant Nuclear Project Awaits Its Federal Loans, NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD, 23 Sept 11, Federal help for energy projects has taken it on the chin lately, with Solyndra, the California solar manufacturer championed by the Obama administration, declaring bankruptcy after taking $528 million in loans from the Treasury.
But a much larger federal loan guarantee for an energy project is expected soon: $8.3 billion in loan guarantees announced last year by President Obama for two nuclear reactors in Georgia…..
The commission issued a final safety evaluation last month that drew fervent objections from anti-nuclear groups.
A few years ago, when the price of natural gas, a competing fuel, was high and many people predicted that the federal government would impose a price on carbon dioxide emissions, the nuclear industry thought Vogtle would be in the vanguard of a new generation of reactors in a so-called nuclear renaissance. Then natural gas prices declined and the impetus faded. And concerns about nuclear safety have grown since the disaster in March at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant…. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/a-giant-nuclear-project-awaits-its-federal-loans/
UN Report – pro nuclear, yet with many warnings
Today, 22 Sept 11, a special UN meeting will examine responses to Fukushima and the role/safety of nuclear power.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon commissioned a multi-agency report to help guide this discussion.
It is available via http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/energy/hlm/UN-system-wide-study.pdf
Comments on the United Nations system-wide study on the implications of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Dave Sweeney – September 2011
The report has been primarily drafted by the pro-nuclear International Atomic Energy Agency and is framed with the assumption that nuclear power is here to stay – Nuclear power has been and will remain a significant contributor to meeting global energy needs (16)
Within this flawed context there is much value and campaign utility in the report. Continue reading
India’s new Nuclear Regulator will be a tame instrument of government
“This is an unprecedented directive which coerces and demands obedience from the Regulatory Authority.
CPI-M flays nuclear safety authority bill, The Economic Times, 21 Sept 11, NEW DELHI: The CPI-M on Wednesday denounced the proposed Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill and asked the government to “set up a genuinely independent nuclear safety regulatory authority”. Continue reading State requests halt to Koodankulam nuclear project; protestors call off hunger strike
Koodankulam nuclear project: Protestors call off fast, Indian Express Sep 21 2011, Chennai: The 11-day-old fast by locals demanding scrapping of the Koodankulam nuclear power project was on Wednesday called off after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa agreed for a cabinet resolution to request the Centre to halt the project. Continue reading
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23-25 October – on Zoom – World BEYOND War’s annual global conferenc
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
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Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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