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German Greens lay out nuclear power extension position amid coalition infighting

DW 15 Oct 22, The Green Party decided to support reserve operation of nuclear power plants in Germany, but rejected procurement of new fuel rods. Their party conference coincides with a conflict in the coalition on the issue.

…………………………………………. No to new nuclear fuel

The issue has also put Habeck in a difficult position with the party grassroots, given the Green Party’s longstanding objection to German nuclear power and the pride it took in being part of the first government to declare that the country would stop using it altogether.

The Greens said their red line on any nuclear extension would be the procurement of new nuclear fuel elements. The Greens would not agree to any legal regulation in the Bundestag that would procure new nuclear fuel.

Party co-leader Ricarda Lang said in the debate that new fuel rods or a return to nuclear power “will not happen with us.” Renewable energies need to be expanded, and “nuclear power is not the future,” Lang said.

Habeck also described a return to nuclear power as “wrong”, adding: “There’s no way that’s going to happen to us.”

As for the reserve operation of the two nuclear power plants, he said that “we shouldn’t rule out this contribution from the outset” because of the emerging gap in the energy supply…………………………….. more https://www.dw.com/en/german-greens-lay-out-nuclear-power-extension-position-amid-coalition-infighting/a-63449846

October 14, 2022 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

France’s Finance Minister : Priority is to restart nuclear reactors a soon as possible

 https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/frances-le-maire-priority-is-restart-nuclear-reactors-soon-possible-2022-10-11/—PARIS, Oct 11 (Reuters) – French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday the government’s priority was to restart EDF’s (EDF.PA) nuclear reactors – with more than half of them currently offline – as soon as possible.

During a press conference at the headquarters of grid operator RTE, Le Maire also said the goal was still to go back to 50GW of nuclear production capacity for the network at the start of 2023.

French nuclear power output is at a 30-year low for the year, owing to an unprecedented number of outages at EDF’s fleet of 56 reactors, with more than half offline because of corrosion issues and scheduled maintenance.

October 12, 2022 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

Scotland government will double down on opposition to new nuclear power stations north of the border.

JOHN Swinney is set to renew the Scottish Government’s opposition to new
nuclear power stations being built north of the border. The Deputy First
Minister will double down on his Government’s stance when he delivers his
keynote speech to SNP conference today.

Energy policy is reserved to Westminster, but the Scottish Government can effectively veto proposals
north of the border through devolved planning rules.

Since becoming Prime Minister last month, Liz Truss has repeatedly called for the Scottish
Government to change its tune on nuclear power. But the Scottish Government
has insisted it has no intention of doing so, when its delayed updated
energy strategy is published later this year.

Mr Swinney is expected to tell the SNP conference: “Scotland is a nation rich in energy resources
– we have a plentiful supply of clean, green, affordable renewable
energy. “The equivalent of almost 100 per cent of our electricity demand
is from renewable sources.

Not only is Scotland self-sufficient in natural
gas, we are a huge exporter. “Scotland is secure in energy.

So, we need no lectures from Liz Truss about security of energy supply. It is the UK
that has failed to achieve energy security, with the National Grid warning
of possible power cuts this winter. “And Scotland is not going to put up
with a new round of nuclear power stations to make up for the failure of
energy policy in the United Kingdom.” He will add: “Despite our huge
strength in energy, 150,000 more people in Scotland will be forced into
extreme fuel poverty as a result of the UK Government’s increase to the
energy price cap in September. “We are an energy rich nation, but 35% of
our citizens live in fuel poverty. Why is that? Because, while Scotland has
the energy, Westminster has the power. And how Westminster chooses to use
its reserved power has consistently, and deliberately, disadvantaged
Scotland.”

 Herald 9th Oct 2022

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23033613.john-swinney-stress-scotland-will-not-put-with-nuclear-power-make-uk-failures/

October 9, 2022 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Truss call for Scottish nuclear power is to make up for UK mistakes

Truss call for Scottish nuclear power is to make up for UK mistakes –
Swinney. The Prime Minister previously said she wanted to see nuclear power
stations built in Scotland.

 Evening Standard 8th Oct 2022

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/liz-truss-scottish-westminster-snp-scottish-government-b1031261.html

October 9, 2022 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Liz Truss blocks a plan for UK citizens to reduce their energy use

 How Liz Truss blocked Jacob Rees-Mogg’s energy-saving public information campaign.

Liz Truss is reported to have blocked the launch of a publicminformation campaign aimed at conserving energy, despite warnings that blackouts could be imposed in the UK if gas imports fall short this winter.

Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg is understood to have backed a £15m “light touch” initiative, according to The Times, encouraging households to reduce their use of gas and electricity by taking a series of simple measures. However, Ms Truss is said to be “ideologically opposed” to such an approach as it could be too interventionist.

 iNews 7th Oct 2022

https://inews.co.uk/news/liz-truss-jacob-rees-mogg-energy-saving-campaign-1899019

October 7, 2022 Posted by | ENERGY, politics, UK | Leave a comment

No nuclear power ‘renaissance’ as Europe wrestles energy crisis

“Most efforts right now are based on developing renewables, that’s what you can see in the European strategy in response to the Russian crisis,” “Nuclear is still not a shared solution in Europe.”

Russian invasion of Ukraine sparks incremental shifts in divisive issue, but no major pivot seven months into fighting.

Aljazeera, By Joseph Stepansky 6 Oct 20226

Nuclear power, and the heavy safety baggage it carries, has long divided European opinion, with individual countries charting vastly divergent paths on the industry’s role in future energy sustainability and security plans.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has again brought the atomic question to the fore, as nations scrambled for short-term solutions before winter sets in, as well as longer-term safeguards, to avoid similar energy upheavals in the years ahead.

But after eight months of fighting in Ukraine, and an energy crisis compounded most recently by the alleged sabotage of the arterial Nord Stream 1 and 2 Russia-to-Europe pipelines in the Baltic Sea, European governments long opposed to nuclear power have shown only incremental shifts in their attitudes, which have been informed by years of concerns about nuclear waste and safety.

A wider pivot has remained absent…………………..

Mark Hibbs, a Germany-based non-resident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “I don’t see a major [nuclear power] watershed from what’s happening in Ukraine.”

Instead, the situation has reinforced some trends among countries already bought into nuclear energy, he said, while slowing some opponents’ phase-outs of the technology.

Europe’s nuclear hesitancy

Opposition to nuclear power, coupled with other factors, has created a 25 percent overall decline in electricity produced by splitting atoms in the 27-country European Union from 2006 to 2020, according to the bloc’s executive wing, the European Commission.

By 2020, the EU produced 24 percent of the bloc’s overall electricity from nuclear plants, with 13 countries operating nuclear reactors: France, Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Countries that already have nuclear power capacity, according to Hibbs, are likely to face the greatest demands in light of the conflict in Ukraine, particularly as typically 30- to 40-year power plant licences begin to expire.

“There will be pressure on European governments and industry to continue operating their nuclear power plants,” he said, adding that pressure will grow as the conflict stretches on…………………………………….

More recently, Greenpeace, an organisation that has long opposed nuclear power, has pointed to fighting around the Russian-seized Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine as an example of the ever-present danger of relying on nuclear as an energy source.

Denmark, Ireland and Serbia, countries that do not have nuclear power industries, have longstanding bans on developing the technology. Others, such as Greece, have avoided the technology for fear of natural disasters……………………………………………………………………………………..

No short-term solutions

Still, a more immediate pivot has been widely constrained by the reality that nuclear power’s ability to address Europe’s short-term energy challenges is “fairly limited”, according to Cobb.

“And the reason for that is, in most countries, nuclear operates in a baseload mode. So, it is already the case that nuclear plants tend to operate full-time,” he said. “They’re not like gas plants that operate at a peaking load, producing electricity, when demand is at the highest. They’re always operating”.

Meanwhile, developing new nuclear facilities remains a daunting, costly and years-long ambition, with a high barrier of entry, IDDRI’s Berghmans said.

“It’s a complex industry,” he said. “You need big infrastructure. You need to plan where you can put these facilities. You need nuclear know-how, which is not as widespread as it used to be in Europe.”

Proponents of new generation small modular reactors (SMRs), which can be built off-site and transported, have said the new technology could offer more efficient and cheaper development, although the plants are still years away from operating and have raised their own unique safety concerns.

And while nuclear power analysts have said the nuclear supply chain is generally more stable and easier to reroute than that of many fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, it does not come without its own Russia problems.


In 2020, EU utilities imported about 20 percent of their natural uranium, the fundamental resource needed to produce nuclear energy, from Russia. The bloc also received 26 percent of its enrichment services, the required process of altering uranium’s makeup before it can be used to create energy, from Russia, according to the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).

Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine also currently operate Russian-made nuclear reactors, raising questions about their long-term needs for specific Russian-made parts and services, according to an analysis by Matt Bowen and Paul Dabbar of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

To date, Russia’s nuclear industry has broadly escaped Western sanctions.

Recent outages at French power plants, because of maintenance, corrosion problems and heat stresses, have also reinforced longstanding hesitancy towards nuclear power, according to Carole Nakhle, the founder of the Crystol Energy consulting organisation.

“Mind you, one of the problems that the EU faced that made the current crisis even worse were the nuclear outages in France,” she told Al Jazeera. “France, which usually exports electricity, had to import this year because its power plants couldn’t keep up.”

Given the myriad challenges that continue to surround nuclear, governments are more likely to see renewable energies, such as wind and photovoltaic energy, as “more economical” alternatives to energy security and sustainability, according to Berghmans.

“Most efforts right now are based on developing renewables, that’s what you can see in the European strategy in response to the Russian crisis,” he said. “Nuclear is still not a shared solution in Europe.”

 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/6/europe-sees-shift-in-attitudes-no-nuclear-power—

October 7, 2022 Posted by | EUROPE, politics | Leave a comment

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2022 (WNISR2022)

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2022 (WNISR2022) assesses on 385
pages the status and trends of the international nuclear industry. It
provides a comprehensive overview of nuclear power plant data, including
information on operation, production, construction, and decommissioning.

The WNISR assesses the status of new-build programs in existing as well as
in potential newcomer nuclear countries. The report also compares the
development of nuclear power and renewable energy globally.

WNISR2022 contains a special focus chapter on Nuclear Power and War that assesses the
safety and security challenges of nuclear power plants in war situations.

Further focus chapters include the Fukushima Status Report providing an
overview of ongoing onsite/offsite challenges of the 2011-disaster.

The Decommissioning Status Report looks at the current situation of the now
over 200 closed nuclear power reactors.

Nine interdisciplinary experts from
Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K., from top think tanks like
Chatham House in London and prestigious academic institutions like Nagasaki
University, University of British Columbia, and Technical University in
Berlin, have contributed to the report, along with a data engineer,
numerous proofreaders, and two artistic designers. The foreword was
provided by Aviel Verbruggen, Prof. Dr. Emeritus, University of Antwerp,
Belgium.

 WNISR 5th Oct 2022

https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/World-Nuclear-Industry-Status-Report-2022-870.html

October 7, 2022 Posted by | 2 WORLD, politics | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear energy strategy — once its pride and joy — faces big problems this winter

CNBC Sam Meredith, @SMEREDITH19 5 Oct 22,

  • Deep-rooted problems with France’s nuclear-heavy energy strategy are raising serious questions about its winter preparedness.
  • A long-standing source of national pride, France generates roughly 70% of its electricity from a nuclear fleet of 56 reactors, all operated by state-owned utility EDF.
  • In recent months, however, more than half of EDF’s nuclear reactors have been shut down for corrosion problems, maintenance and technical issues.

…………………….. more than half of EDF’s nuclear reactors have been shut down for corrosion problems, maintenance and technical issues in recent months, thanks in part to extreme heat waves and repair delays from the Covid pandemic. The outages have resulted in French power output falling to a near 30-year low just as the European Union faces its worst energy crisis in decades.

“I find the France nuclear relationship really interesting because it just bluntly shows you all of the pros and cons of nuclear,” Norbert Ruecker, head of economics and next generation research at Julius Baer, told CNBC via telephone.

“Yes, it’s low carbon but it’s not economic. You need to nationalize EDF to make it happen. Yes, it offers baseload but wait a second, sometimes a whole plant disappears for weeks and months, so that baseload promise is not really there,” Ruecker said.

……………………………………………… A ‘winter of discontent’?

French power prices climbed to a string of all-time highs this summer, peaking at an eyewatering level of around 1,100 euros ($1,073) per megawatt hour in late August. Analysts fear the country may struggle to produce enough nuclear energy to support both its own needs and those of its neighbors in the coming months.

Underlining the structural problems in the country’s nuclear fleet, France not only lost its position as Europe’s biggest exporter of electricity this year but also, remarkably, actually imported more power than it exported.

Data from energy analysts at EnAppSys that was published in July found that Sweden clinched the top spot as Europe’s largest net power exporter during the first six months of 2022. Prolonged outages in France’s nuclear fleet saw the country’s exports halve from the same period last year, and analysts at EnAppSys warned the situation showed “no signs of improving any time soon.”

To compensate, France imported expensive electricity from U.K., Germany, Spain and elsewhere.

“Thanks to the market, thanks to the power lines that we have, Europe saved France from a big blackout” this summer, Julius Baer’s Ruecker said.

“It was the U.K., Germany, Spain and to some extent Switzerland that all stepped in. So, for me, the past month really has just uncovered some of the political talk which was not always objective,” he added, referring to talk of nuclear energy as a climate solution among politicians…………………………………………………….

What does it mean for Europe?

France’s ailing power output has renewed criticism of its nuclear-heavy energy strategy at a time when many others in Europe are turning to atomic power as a replacement for a shortfall in Russian gas.

Germany, which initially planned to shutter its three remaining reactors by the end of the year, decided to delay its nuclear phaseout to shore up energy supplies this winter. The U.K., meanwhile, is seeking to ramp up its nuclear power generation, and the EU has listed nuclear energy among its list of “green” investments.

“It is important to say that if France has a nuclear problem, Europe has a problem as well in terms of electricity,” Alexandre Danthine, senior associate for the French power market at Aurora Energy Research, told CNBC via telephone.

“They are, in general, a big exporter, but in winter they need energy from neighboring countries in order to satisfy demands — whatever the situation,” Danthine said.

In France, Eurasia Group’s Rahman noted, Macron reacted angrily last month to suggestions, including from outgoing EDF boss Jean-Bernard Levy, that his “stop-start approach” to nuclear power in the last five years was partly responsible for the crisis.

In what was widely seen as a policy U-turn, Macron announced in February his intention for France to build at least six new nuclear reactors in the decades to come, with the option for another eight. At the start of his presidency, Macron had committed to reducing the share of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix.

The reversal controversially placed atomic power at the center of France’s bid to achieve carbon neutrality by the middle of the century.

Advocates of nuclear power argue it has the potential to play a major role in helping countries generate electricity while slashing carbon emissions and reducing their reliance on fossil fuels.

To critics of the energy source, however, nuclear power is an expensive distraction to faster, cheaper and cleaner alternatives. Instead, environmental campaign groups argue technologies such as wind and solar should be prioritized in the planned shift to renewable energy sources.  https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/05/frances-nuclear-heavy-energy-strategy-faces-big-problems-this-winter.html

October 6, 2022 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

Myanmar Junta’s Nuclear Ambition Timeline

By THE IRRAWADDY 6 October 2022

The junta’s recent confirmation that it will build a small-scale nuclear power plant in the next few years caps Myanmar’s long pursuit of nuclear technology dating back to early 2000.

The Southeast Asian country’s two-decade-long journey to nuclear capability was made possible by Russia after a series of engagements that accelerated under the current junta and its military predecessor.

Though the current regime insists nuclear energy would be used for peaceful purposes in Myanmar, which has been hit by chronic electricity shortages, many believe this is the first step in a plan to utilize nuclear energy for military purposes including production of nuclear weapons.

The timeline on Myanmar’s long road to nuclear technology:

January 2002

The Myanmar military regime confirms plans to build a nuclear research reactor “for peaceful purposes.”…………………………………………………………………………………………

September 20, 2022

Junta spokesman Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun briefs press, confirming the regime’s plan to implement a small nuclear power plant project in the next few years.

He does not specify the project’s location but says the Atomic Energy Department of the junta’s Ministry of Science and Technology will establish a “nuclear information technology center” in Yangon, which will gauge and influence public opinion on nuclear energy.  https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-juntas-nuclear-ambition-timeline.html

October 5, 2022 Posted by | ASIA, politics | Leave a comment

Don’t nuke the future

even the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (WHEJAC) have declared nuclear power to be a false solution to climate change.

Regrettably. powerful nuclear lobbies, the Biden Administration, and nuclear supporters in Congress have ramrodded legislation (the 2021 IFA; the 2022 IRA) through Congress worth as much as $70+ billion dollars to bail out this false climate “solution”.

Time to focus on real climate solutions

Don’t nuke the future — Beyond Nuclear International  https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2022/10/02/dont-nuke-the-future/ By David Kraft, NEIS, 2 Oct 22,

As we strike for climate, we must strike nuclear power from our energy plans

The Fridays for the Future Climate Strike on September 23 called out tens of thousands of people worldwide – over 300 in downtown Chicago — to protest the inadequate governmental response to the Climate Code Red, and identify the many corporate criminals who are responsible for the bulk of the crisis.

While it is necessary to identify and hold accountable those who are the source of the problem, if the Planet is to survive the predicted catastrophic temperature rise and resulting environmental impacts, it is equally important to identify real and viable solutions to the crisis, given the limited amount of time left to act.

On that note it cannot be stressed more emphatically that nuclear power is not a viable climate solution.

Why is this the case?  With eight years left before the IPCC’s 2030 deadline to literally reinvent and implement a climate friendly energy infrastructure, nuclear power serves as a drag and barrier to reaching that target.  It is too costly; to slow to build out to the levels needed; displaces less atmospheric carbon per dollar spent than cheaper and quicker alternatives; and not only fails to solve its current list of unsolved problems (for example, nuclear waste disposal), but adds to this list the threat of increased nuclear proliferation and accidents, especially in war zones like Ukraine, and potentially elsewhere (India/Pakistan; China Taiwan; Iran/Saudi Arabia, etc.).

Worse, money spent on bailing out the economically failed nuclear power plants we have is money not available to be spent on real climate solutions we already know  work: more renewable energy, more energy efficiency, improved transmission/distribution systems, and energy storage.

Who says so?  Only:  two former CHAIRPERSONS of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; former public utilities chairs and utility CEOs from the states of California, New York, and Maine; energy experts and scientists like Amory Lovins and Mark Jacobson of Stanford University, and Dr. Andy Stirling of University of Sussex. 

Cost analysts at Lazards demonstrate that nuclear (both the present old generation, and the proposed “next generation” of so-called small modular nuclear reactors) is too expensive compared to renewables and other alternatives; while those at Moody’s point out that reactors will be at severe risk of operating safely in a climate disrupted world without extraordinary added expense to enhance safety – again, money that won’t be available for real alternatives.

Environmental justice activists loudly label nuclear power as a false climate solution.  Statements by the Climate Justice Alliance and Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), and even the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (WHEJAC) have declared nuclear power to be a false solution to climate change.  Scores if not hundreds of environmental organizations nationwide share the same sentiment.

Who else?  Mother Nature herself.  The heat wave experienced in France this year (and in previous years) shuttered 32 of 54 French reactors due to lack of river water to cool them and make steam – precisely when they were needed most.  The laws of physics state that reactors will also produce less electricity the warmer the water they take in to make steam.  And climate induced swarms of jellyfish, mayflies and other creatures have led to reactor shutdowns on multiple occasions.  These will only become more frequent with the worsening climate disruption.  These incidents have led former Union of Concerned Scientists staff scientist and NRC consultant David Lochbaum to sardonically ask, “And what will save nuclear power from climate change?

Finally, the war in Ukraine has forced to world to examine whether nuclear power even belongs on a planet where war seems omnipresent.  Nuclear power plants are now targets in war.  Do not think this will be the end of it.  The war and what has happened at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine now forces the nuclear industry, military planners and governments of the world to face what they have long avoided and refused to discuss: nuclear power plants are gigantic, pre-positioned radiation dispersion devices. The thought of sprinkling literally thousands of so-called “small modular nuclear reactors” (SMNRs) worldwide like fairy dust — without containment buildings and with reduced emergency planning/response zones and plans, as nuclear proponents eager to market their new techno-toys currently suggest —  almost seems to be the quintessential confirmation of Einstein’s admonition that insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

Regrettably. powerful nuclear lobbies, the Biden Administration, and nuclear supporters in Congress have ramrodded legislation (the 2021 IFA; the 2022 IRA) through Congress worth as much as $70+ billion dollars to bail out this false climate “solution.”  This is one time when trying to jam a square peg down a round hole will not work.  You can’t build an energy future by bailing out the past.

Today’s demonstrations make two very important points:  we are out of time; and we must declare a climate crisis – and act like it is a crisis, to paraphrase climate activist Greta Thunburg.  We do not have the time or money for “all of the above”, business as usual false solutions like those proposed by Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Chuck Schumer.  We must act now to implement real energy solutions.

Nuclear power is simply a false solution to the climate crisis.  Anyone who says otherwise is as much a “denier” as those who still falsely claim that climate change does not exist. 

This article also appeared as a September 23, 2022 press release from Nuclear Energy Information Service,  a non-profit organization committed to ending nuclear power and advocating for sustainable ecologically sound and socially just energy solutions.

October 3, 2022 Posted by | climate change, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Interviews With Donetsk Residents After Joining Russia

Eva Bartlett 1 Oct 2022Given the predictable Western negation of the referendum to join Russia, and following having done many interviews with people during the referendum, yesterday I did some follow up interviews with Donetsk residents, asking their opinions on joining Russia

October 2, 2022 Posted by | public opinion, Ukraine | Leave a comment

King Charles abandoned plans to speak at Cop27 climate summit, now will not attend, on instruction from Prime Minister Liz Truss.

 Liz Truss advised King Charles to stay away from Cop27 climate summit. The
King, a passionate environmental campaigner, has abandoned plans to attend
next month’s Cop27 climate change summit after Liz Truss told him to stay
away. He had intended to deliver a speech at the meeting of world leaders
in Egypt. Truss, who is also unlikely to attend the Sharm el-Sheikh
gathering, objected to the King’s plans during a personal audience at
Buckingham Palace last month.

 Times 1st Oct 2022

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/liz-truss-advised-king-charles-to-stay-away-from-cop27-climate-summit-573sg09tm

King Charles III has reportedly abandoned plans to attend and deliver a
speech at the Cop27 climate change summit on the advice of Liz Truss. The
monarch, a veteran campaigner on environmental issues, had been invited to
the 27th UN climate change conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, next
month. But the prime minister is understood to have raised objections
during a personal audience at Buckingham Palace last month, according to
the Sunday Times. Buckingham Palace has confirmed King Charles III will not
attend the summit.

 Guardian 1st Oct 2022

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/01/king-charles-abandons-plans-to-attend-cop27-following-liz-trusss-advice

October 2, 2022 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Climate pragmatism or Faustian bargain? — Beyond Nuclear International

A (rotten) compromise

The Inflation Reduction Act, with its hodgepodge of climate measures, is what remains of progressive Democrats’ multi-trillion dollar Green New Deal agenda of 2019 and the $2 billion Build-Back-Better framework legislation that President Biden pushed last fall……..……………………………

the enacted climate action bill is technology agnostic, and includes, for example, tax support for nuclear plant lifetime extensions. Rhodium Group estimates that without the bill’s funding commitments, about one-third of U.S. nuclear plants would have to shut down by 2030 due to cost. Hundreds of millions of dollars also support nuclear fusion research………….

New US laws will prop up old nukes

Climate pragmatism or Faustian bargain? — Beyond Nuclear International What the new US climate law does—and where it fails
By Liane Schalatek, Heinrich Böll Stiftung 2 Oct 22,
Analysis: U.S. climate policy is currently putting observers through a roller coaster of emotions: just a few weeks ago, the Supreme Court limited the authority of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue far-reaching climate regulations. Now, after decades of unsuccessful legislative attempts, the U.S. Congress has passed the most comprehensive American climate legislation ever by a razor-thin majority.

The $369 billion package is now law with President Biden’s recent signature. The legislation is intended to lead to drastic emissions reductions over the next decade and transform the U.S. energy sector and the U.S. economy. What some see as an expression of goal-oriented climate pragmatism, in which the perfect must not become the enemy of the good, others see as a Faustian bargain that tightens rather than loosens the fossil fuel industry’s stranglehold on the U.S. economy. So what exactly is in the package?

The sweeping climate package, embedded alongside health care and tax reforms in the surprise passage of the more than 700-page Inflation Reduction Act, represents the largest U.S. funding boost to date to reduce greenhouse gases and promote climate-friendly “green” technologies. It is roughly four times what was authorized for climate action under President Biden’s Democratic predecessor Obama in 2009 in what was then the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This spending is in addition to the more than $200 billion in clean energy and climate action investments that a majority Democratic Congress already approved last year in a massive infrastructure funding bill.

Passage of the bill is a much-needed win for the Biden administration, whose approval ratings are extremely low given the impact of inflation on American households. It comes just months before the November midterm elections, in which Republicans are expected to win.

Carrots instead of sticks: financial incentives instead of bans

The law includes neither a carbon price nor a CO2 cap under a federal emissions trading system. It also fails to radically address the main cause of climate change, namely the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Thus, the measure clearly relies on carrots rather than sticks, in part because previous attempts to push a climate bill through Congress that relies on carbon taxation have repeatedly failed over the past several decades. Then-Vice President Al Gore’s push in 1993 failed to gain traction, as did the Markey-Waxman emissions trading plan of 2010.

So instead of punitive measures and restrictions, the package prioritizes financial support as an incentive and emphasizes how much the investments will support the American economy, create jobs and benefit consumers. This also secured the almost euphoric support of the U.S. business sector for the proposed legislation, with letters of support from more than 1,000 companies, investors and trade groups, including major oil companies, as well as labor unions. The Biden administration has purposefully pursued this approach, which justifies climate protection with green jobs and economic growth, since the beginning of his term in office as part of his reconstruction strategy to Build Back Better after the pandemic-related economic crisis.

Accordingly, the White House stressed that the Inflation Reduction Act “secures America’s position as a world leader in domestic manufacturing and clean energy supply chains,” creates and sustains “good-paying union jobs in construction and manufacturing, including in rural communities,” and lowers annual energy costs for Americans by an average of up to $1840, according to expert estimates.

Expansion of the US markets for renewable energies and e-mobility…………………………………

A (rotten) compromise

The Inflation Reduction Act, with its hodgepodge of climate measures, is what remains of progressive Democrats’ multi-trillion dollar Green New Deal agenda of 2019 and the $2 billion Build-Back-Better framework legislation that President Biden pushed last fall…………………………………..

The majority of Democrats and climate experts celebrates the package as a historic success of pragmatic climate policy, in which good legislation was not sacrificed in the name of hoping for an even better ideal—especially in the face of the expected Republican win in the midterm elections, which could block U.S. climate legislation for the rest of the decade so critical for accelerated climate action. …………………………..

Safeguarding the fossil fuel industry

The many-voiced chorus of those hailing the legislative coup drowns out the critical voices from the progressive U.S. climate movement, who castigate what they see as a rather rotten compromise and a Faustian bargain.

That’s because in order to win Manchin’s approval, numerous pledges were made that solidify the fossil fuel industry’s stranglehold on the U.S. economy instead of reducing its influence. Chief among these is the provision requiring the U.S. Department of the Interior to agree to millions of acres of new oil and gas development concessions over the next decade as a precondition to leases for offshore wind and solar and wind farms on federally owned land, including in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet. Each year, for example, an area of ocean the size of the U.S. state of Wyoming, about 60 million acres, could be opened to offshore drilling. While such extraction concessions need not necessarily lead to expanded fossil fuel production, their forced linkage to permits for new renewable energy projects could slow such clean investments…………………………………………..

the enacted climate action bill is technology agnostic, and includes, for example, tax support for nuclear plant lifetime extensions. Rhodium Group estimates that without the bill’s funding commitments, about one-third of U.S. nuclear plants would have to shut down by 2030 due to cost. Hundreds of millions of dollars also support nuclear fusion research……………………………………………………..

even in the best-case scenario, emissions reductions are still well below what would be needed to meet the climate pledge President Biden has made to the global community, which calls for the U.S. to reduce emissions by 50 to 52 percent from 2005 levels by 2030………………………………..

Climate justice deficits

Many U.S. climate activists view the passage of the legislative package with mixed feelings , if not outright anger and disappointment, including in light of critical equity deficiencies in its design and foreseeable implementation. After all, it was their political pressure on Democrats, their mobilization of votes, and their implementation proposals over recent years, which made the Inflation Reduction Act even possible. 

………………………………………………………………………. Many progressive climate groups in the U.S. see the passage of the climate package, despite or more precisely because of all its flaws, as an incentive to ramp up their climate activism in the run-up to the midterm elections and to keep up the pressure on Democrats to implement more progressive legislative goals if more progressive climate activists can be elected to Congress. They have not yet given up hope that President Biden might yet declare a national climate emergency, as they have requested, which would allow him, via presidential decrees, to, for example, halt U.S. crude oil exports, limit private investment in fossil fuel projects abroad, or spend defense budget money on renewable energy. And they are also counting on young climate activists in particular to become more involved at the local level in the coming years in order to politically implement their vision of far more comprehensive climate-just social and environmental protection rules in cities and municipalities in all U.S. states.

October 2, 2022 Posted by | climate change, politics, USA | Leave a comment

NATO chief throws cold water on Ukraine’s bid to join NATO

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned Russia’s move to take over the Donbass, but also threw cold water on Ukraine’s bid to join NATO. 30 Sept 22 “……………………………………………………………………………….Neither side will be getting exactly what they want anytime soon. On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine would seek a “fast-track” application to join NATO. “De facto, we have already made our way to NATO. De facto, we have already proven compatibility with the Alliance’s standards. They are real for Ukraine—real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction,” Zelenskyy said. 

Stoltenberg, when asked about the application on Friday, answered as he has in previous engagements, without making any promises and referring to NATO’s rule that “membership, of course, has to be taken by all 30 allies and we take these decisions by consensus.” 

That consensus seems a long way off. Hungary is openly opposed to Ukrainian membership and even Germany and France—allies who are supporting Kyiv’s fight against the Russian invaders—have opposed it in the past.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that Ukraine’s NATO bid should be taken up “at a different time.” ………………. https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2022/09/nato-chief-slams-russias-nuclear-blackmail-remains-cool-ukraines-membership-bid/377906/

September 29, 2022 Posted by | politics, Ukraine | Leave a comment

How can Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant stay open? ‘It’s not a done deal’

The Tribune, BY STEPHANIE ZAPPELLI SEPTEMBER 30, 2022,

PG&E is preparing for two futures: one in which it closes Diablo Canyon Power Plant in 2025 and another in which it continues operating the nuclear power plant through 2030. “It’s not a done deal,” PG&E director Tom Jones told the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. “We’re maintaining both tracks.” Diablo Canyon was on track to shut down in 2025, but the California State Legislature passed Senate Bill 846 in October.

The bill, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law on Sept. 2, creates resources to keep the power plant near Avila Beach open until 2030. One of those resources is a $1.4 billion grant to the state Department of Water Resources. That department will then loan the money to PG&E.

The utility company will receive a $600 million loan this year, and another $800 million next year if approved by the California legislature, Jones told the Board of Supervisors. PG&E applied for a grant with the U.S. Department of Energy to “back-fill those funds,” Jones said.

Even though the state provided PG&E with new support, the utility company has to complete a few more steps to keep the power plant open, Jones said. WHAT’S NEXT FOR DIABLO CANYON? In order to continue operating Diablo Canyon, PG&E must renew the power plant’s license to operate with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Jones said. Normally, the federal commission requires a power plant to apply to renew its license five years before it expires…………………………………………….. more https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/environment/article266566596.html

September 29, 2022 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

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