Environmentalists concerned: Turkey Point nuclear station could be allowed to operate for 80 years
FPL on the way to licensing Turkey Point nuclear plant for another 20 years, By MARCIA HEROUX POUNDS, SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL , OCT 29, 2019 Turkey Point nuclear power plant, which is located about 20 miles south of Miami and helps power Florida Power & Light’s electric grid, has gotten a green light for extending its license.
The staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended Monday that the commission approve the extension of Turkey Point for another 20 years, given its “limited” environmental impact. Renewing the licenses, as requested by FPL, “would not be unreasonable,” the staff says in its favorable report.
Juno Beach-based FPL said it was “pleased with this step forward,” which would allow FPL to operate the nuclear power plant for as long as 80 years total. If the extensions are approved, Turkey Point could be the oldest nuclear power plant in the country, according to data by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
……… Environmentalists have objected to extension of nuclear licenses or new plants due to concerns about climate change and environmental issues.
In 2018, FPL requested that customers pay more than $100 million to clean up environmental issues caused by Turkey Point’s cooling tanks leaking into Biscayne Bay. In April of this year, the Florida Supreme Court sided with the Florida Public Service Commission in allowing FPL to collect from customers for the cleanup.
If the license extension is granted, the twin nuclear units 3 and 4 at Turkey Point could be operated through 2052 and 2053. That could also have an impact on other nuclear power plants built in the 1970s and 1980s that are looking to extend their licenses. …….
FPL also has proposed two new nuclear power plants at the Turkey Point site, and has received a license. “We’re not planning to build a new nuclear plant at this time,” Silagy told the Sun Sentinel’s Editorial Board. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-fpl-turkey-point-extension-20191029-eqspitkaa5bkbc2td4a6nl25di-story.html
U.S. Military wants more rules for turbines near nuclear missiles
Military wants more rules for turbines near nuclear missiles, Star Tribune By JAMES MacPHERSON Associated Press, OCTOBER 29, 2019 —BISMARCK, N.D. — The military wants North Dakota and four other states with nuclear missile arsenals to consider introducing new rules aimed at preventing conflicts between wind turbines and helicopters that provide security at launch facilities.
Department of Defense and Air Force officials outlined their concerns in a letter before meeting Tuesday with North Dakota lawmakers and regulatory officials.
“Wind turbine development near launch facilities and missile alert facilities compromise the use of military helicopters to provide overhead security in sensitive locations,” the letter said…… http://www.startribune.com/military-wants-more-rules-for-turbines-near-nuclear-missiles/564045252/
Restriction of defence arguments in the trial of Catholic peace activists
Convicted Anti-Nuclear Activists Speak Out: “Pentagon Has Brainwashed People” https://truthout.org/articles/convicted-anti-nuclear-activists-speak-out-pentagon-has-brainwashed-people/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=177551ee-b430-44b8-afe2-cbe78a6a6b09 Marjorie Cohn, Truthout, 28 Oct 19,The seven Catholic peace activists who were convicted on October 24 for their symbolic protest against nuclear weapons at the Kings Bay Naval Base are now facing a two-to-three-month wait to hear their prison sentences. They could face more than 20 years in prison.
“We understand the efficiency of the State is a formidable force, and we ourselves are not surprised with the guilty verdict on all counts,” Hennessy told Truthout. “In a time of withdrawing from nuclear treaties and promoting violence in foreign policy, we are left to wonder what the future may hold for the world.”
Facing a Jury Without Opinions on Nuclear Risks
The jury that convicted the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 activists was self-avowedly apathetic about the risks posed to humanity by nuclear weapons, and the judge and prosecution worked together to prevent the defendants from sharing information or arguments to raise jurors’ consciousness on the issue.
Sam Husseini, communications director at the Institute for Public Accuracy, a progressive nonprofit organization, attended the three-day trial. “It was a subtly but insidiously controlled courtroom with the judge and prosecution working hand in glove,” Husseini told Truthout. “The defendants were allowed to speak about their religious beliefs and to some degree how they relate to nuclear weapons. But it was all presented as subjective, and expert testimony on international law, and justification and necessity of urgent action were excluded.”
The defendants, who said they were following the command of the biblical prophet Isaiah to “beat swords into plowshares,” were denied the right to present the defenses of necessity, which allows one to commit a crime in order to avoid a greater harm. They were also denied the right to discuss the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which “ensures that interests in religious freedom are protected.” Thus, they were limited to their own testimony about their subjective motivations for their acts.
“Defendants were allowed to briefly discuss their moral objections to nuclear weapons but were cut off quickly. No outside evidence or testimony was allowed,” defense attorney Bill Quigley told Truthout.
Husseini added: “The manner that the judge allowed the case to be made did not make it clear that the house was indeed on fire — or even that there was a house. The reality of the nuclear weapons, the threat they pose, and certainly their illegality, were not objectively communicated” to the jury.
Speaking with Truthout in an exclusive email interview, defendant Patrick O’Neill shared an anecdote that further highlights the degree to which the jury reflected the widespread ignorance about nuclear risks that exists in the U.S. now.
“When Judge Lisa Wood asked the entire jury pool: ‘Do any of you have a strong opinion about nuclear weapons — pro or con, would you raise your hand?’ Of 73 people, not one raised a hand,” O’Neill told Truthout. “That is an indication that people living in the throes of the nuclear age, at 2 minutes to midnight on the Doomsday Clock, have come to see [weapons of mass destruction] as inconsequential — nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert 24/7 is now a ‘normal’ part of people’s lives.”
O’Neill added, “The Pentagon has brainwashed people to just trust a government that is imperiling the earth and risking the end of life as we know. That’s why we went to Kings Bay — to hopefully wake people up.”
(2) that she sincerely believed and reasonably acted to prevent imminent harm. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists says the world is closer to nuclear devastation than ever before. President Trump repeatedly declared that “all options are on the table” and threatened North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
(3) that she reasonably believed her action could help to avoid that harm. “Only by symbolically disarming these nuclear weapons is there any hope for real disarmament.”
(4) that she reasonably believed there were no legal alternatives to breaking the law. “Defendants have each spoken, written, prayed, petitioned, and lobbied for nuclear disarmament and peace for decades. These actions are the only ones left which might make a difference.”
Quigley’s brief cited the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, which would allow the United States to use nuclear weapons in response to a non-nuclear attack. The Doomsday Clock, maintained by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, continues to stand at 2 minutes to midnight. The U.S. refuses to join the majority of the nations of the world in ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, and he may well pull out of the New START Treaty as well, “which would leave nuclear weapons free from all controls” Quigley wrote.
Refusal to Allow Expert Testimony on Illegality of Nuclear Weapons“Tellingly,” Quigley wrote, “the Magistrate granted the Government the right to preclude the jury from hearing evidence about nuclear weapons without never once discussing or even acknowledging the uncontested lethality of nuclear weapons.”
Moreover, the judge denied the defense motion to present the expert testimony of Professor Francis Boyle about the illegality of nuclear weapons under both international and U.S. law.
Refusal to Allow Religious Freedom Restoration Act DefenseThe judge also denied the defense motion to argue that the prosecution violated their rights to religious exercise protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Although the judge concluded that the defendants had established the prima facie elements of a RFRA defense, the government demonstrated a compelling interest in prosecuting the defendants for their actions at Kings Bay, citing the safety of individuals on the base, the security of the assets there, and the smooth operation of the base.
The judge also denied the defense motion to argue that the prosecution violated their rights to religious exercise protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Although the judge concluded that the defendants had established the prima facie elements of a RFRA defense, the government demonstrated a compelling interest in prosecuting the defendants for their actions at Kings Bay, citing the safety of individuals on the base, the security of the assets there, and the smooth operation of the base.
Reactions to the Verdict
The Kings Bay Plowshares 7 are asking people to sign a worldwide petition urgently requesting that the charges against them be dropped.
Peace activist and retired Col. Ann Wright summed up the irony of the prosecution of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, writing on Facebook, “The US nuclear weapons are so poorly protected that the 7 were able to get into the more secure area! They should be rewarded for pointing out how poorly guarded the weapons are instead of being on trial!!!”
“I don’t see [what I did] that’s the crime,” defendant Liz McAlister said on Democracy Now! “I think the crime is the weapons. The crime is the money spent on the weapons. The crime is the money taken from the real needs in our country and in our world to spend it on these weapons of mass destruction. And we need to stop that. And that’s the message that I want to continue to stand behind.”
Meanwhile, defense attorney Quigley told Truthout that he thinks the verdict will “make convictions easier and defenses harder” in the future.
“If the jury would have heard the facts about the nuclear bombs headquartered at Kings Bay — with 3,800 times the destructive power of Hiroshima and the real possibility of ending all life on the planet — they would probably have come to a different decision about the legality of what these courageous people did,” he said.
Group Opposed to Nuclear Bailout Turns to Courts After Petition Drive Fails
Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts says they didn’t have enough signatures to qualify for a referendum by the deadline.
The group’s Gene Pierce says their referendum drive has been met with heavy opposition, including ads, mailers, and canvassers who allegedly blocked and harassed signature collectors.
“The bottom line is that the smear campaign and the lies and deceit of the House Bill 6 supporters were successful in confusing Ohioans and discouraging them from signing our petition,” Pierce said.
The anti-nuclear bailout group is still hoping a federal court will extend the deadline to collect signatures based on their arguments that they’ve faced unconstitutional hurdles.
“We’re very disappointed we couldn’t put an immediate stay on the very bad bill from going into effect but we’re hoping that the courts will recognize the constitutional rights that we have,” Pierce said.
The reprehensible pro nuclear campaign for bailing out nuclear power in Ohio
Melting Ice, Crumbling Nukes, Cecile Pineta Newsletter Sunday, October 27, 2019 For anyone following or attempting to follow nuclear energy news in the United States, what’s been going on in the State of Ohio is a solid indicator of just where we stand, technologically, and from a style of government standpoint.
Without going into stupefying background detail, I’ll try to sum up the Ohio situation with help from the summary published Oct. 26 by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman who have been birddogging this issue for decades now. And I quote:
- In July, the gerrymandered Ohio Legislature passed HB6, a massive
[1 billion-dollar] bailout to keep the two dying nukes operating on Lake Erie, [Davis-Besse, and Perry].
- Akron-based First Energy is bankrupt…[demanding] a promised $1 billion bailout.
- Signature gatherers were offered as much as $2,500 to turn over their signed petitions. [Contrast this with receiving only $.25 cents a signature.]
While disrupting legitimate [signature] gatherers, pro-nuke thugs aggressively collected multiple duplicate signatures for a fake non-binding petition.
Deep Pockets
- First Energy then claimed it had gathered more than 800,000 “pro-nuke’ signatures.
- First Energy accompanied [thug] assaults with a massive radio/TV/mailer campaign [with the ridiculous claim that] “Chinese Communists” were buying Ohio’s grid.
- OACB’s court filing showed that state regulations imposed on certification have vastly reduced the number of referenda Ohioans can vote on.
- Wednesday last, Oct. 26, a federal judge rejected OACB’s request for more time to gather signatures, and sent the case to the Ohio GOP-dominated Supreme Court.
- OACB is rumored to have about 225,000 signatures on hand, 40,000 short of the threshold. Far more will be needed to overcome a [Republican] Secretary of State certain to disallow as many as [possible].
- [And here’s the kicker:] Polls show Ohioans [who will be the rate-payers] vehemently opposed to the bailout. [That’s why] most observers believe if it [got] on the ballot, the referendum would pass by a large margin.
- [But] should Federal appeals fail, and the Ohio Supreme Court refuse the request for more time, the referendum process will have suffered a potential death blow nationwide. It will mean Fascist thugs will be free to assault legitimate signature gatherers at will.
This last point is the main take-away. First Energy mounted this campaign in major Ohio cities: Youngstown, Akron, Toledo, and Columbus among them. It underwrote its million-dollar-plus cost-of-doing business in flyers, TV/radio/mailer announcements. It paid thousands of goon-disrupters to do their thuggish business on the streets.
At play is a $1 billion bailout. A million-dollar cost-of-doing business is a mere investment, a drop in the corporate bucket. At issue is that its cost will be passed directly to ratepayers.
Core tests conducted at Davis Besse show that its containment vessel is critically embrittled. Should there be an accident (like Three-Mile Island for example} Lake Erie is at serious risk of nuclear contamination. First Energy’s ratepayers draw their water from Lake Erie, the fourth largest of the Great Lakes and source of fresh water for Canadians and Americans living in the area.
Already in 2011, following the nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima, I covered the issue of Davis Besse’s critical embrittlement in Devil’s Tango: How I Learned the Fukushima Step by Step.
That was 8 years ago….. https://devilstangobook.blogspot.com/2019/10/melting-ice-crumbling-nukes.html?showComment=1572237519303#c7332297197888828316
Jury finds Catholic anti nuclear activists guilty on all charges
The seven defendants, known together as the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, are Elizabeth McAlister, 79; Jesuit Fr. Stephen Kelly, 70; Martha Hennessy, 64; Patrick O’Neill, 63; Clare Grady, 60; Mark Colville, 58; and Carmen Trotta, 57. Five of the seven — all but Hennessy and McAlister — represented themselves.
Bill Quigley, who represented McAlister and is a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans, said in a statement outside the courthouse that it was an “honor to be with these seven brave, courageous, faithful people.”
“They have told the truth despite the cost. They have taken their actions despite the risks. And they still have more consequences to go in their efforts to try and save all of our lives, and the lives of all of our children and grandchildren, and the lives of everybody around the world,” Quigley said.
The group was arrested in the early morning hours of April 5, 2018, on Kings Bay Naval Base where they broke in to perform a non-violent protest known as a “plowshares action,” taking its name from a verse in the book of Isaiah that says “nations will beat swords into plowshares.” The protest included symbolically hammering on statues of nuclear missiles, pouring human blood around the base and hanging banners with messages denouncing nuclear weapons.
In August 2019, a federal judge denied the activists’ request to dismiss charges under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
During the trial, O’Neill told the jury that a dramatic protest was necessary to alert the world to the dangers of nuclear weapons.
Evidence presented by the prosecution suggested the protestors did a total of around $30,000 worth of damage to government property.
Following the verdict, the defendants remained positive and continued to pronounce their message of peace as they gathered with friends and family at a press conference outside the courthouse. They thanked their supporters, told stories, sang hymns and even danced around the sidewalk to profess their continued belief in their mission.
“It’s been an incredible experience and it’s not over yet,” said Hennessy. “The efficiency of the state can never be underestimated yet we proceed in humility. The weapons are still there, the treaties are being knocked down one after the next, but we are called to keep trying and we will do this together. We have no other choice.”
Judge Lisa Godbey Wood, who tried the case, ruled Oct. 18 that the defendants would not be allowed to bring in expert witnesses to speak to the dangers of nuclear weapons or the motivations of the defendants.
owever, following the verdict, O’Neill expressed gratitude that he and his co-defendants were able to testify about their beliefs concerning the immorality of nuclear weapons.
“I think collectively we said what needed to be said,” O’Neill said.
With the exception of Kelly — who remains in custody for outstanding charges in another state — all defendants were allowed to leave the courthouse on bond while they await their sentencing hearing.
Multiple defendants, all of whom are white, connected their case to issues with the criminal justice system and mass incarceration.
“The Pentagon has many installations and we just walked out of one of them,” said Colville. “It’s a place where they weaponize the law and they wield it mostly against the poor. … Once in a while people of privilege like us get a taste of it, and when we do, we should hear the word ‘guilty’ as a blessing on us because it gives us an opportunity to stand with people who hear ‘guilty’ all the time, every day.”
After the verdict was announced, Wood told the defendants they have 14 days to file a motion for a new trial, acquittal or any other motion they see fit.
[Jesse Remedios is an NCR Bertelesen intern. His email address is jremedios@ncronline.org.]
Seven Peace Activists Found Guilty of “Conspiracy” for Anti-Nuclear Protest
Seven Peace Activists Found Guilty of “Conspiracy” for Anti-Nuclear Protest, https://truthout.org/video/seven-peace-activists-found-guilty-of-conspiracy-for-anti-nuclear-protest/, BY Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, October 25, 2019
In Georgia, a federal grand jury on Thursday found seven Catholic peace activists guilty on three felony counts and a misdemeanor charge for breaking into the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base on April 4, 2018. The activists, known as the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, entered the base armed with hammers, crime scene tape, baby bottles containing their own blood, and an indictment charging the U.S. government with crimes against peace. The base is home to at least six nuclear ballistic missile submarines, each of which carries 20 Trident thermonuclear weapons.
AMY GOODMAN: The activists will be sentenced within the next 90 days. They face more than 20 years in prison. This is Plowshares activist Martha Hennessy.
Bushfires rage in California- 940.000 without power
Power shut off to 940,000 Californians as major bushfires rage, SBS, 27 Oct 19,Nearly a million people in California will be blacked out as powerful winds threaten to knock down electric wires and spark further fires.
A California power company says it will shut off power to around 940,000 customers across the north of the US state as powerful winds threatened to knock down electric wires and spark further fires.
“Winds of this magnitude pose a higher risk of damage and sparks on the electric system and rapid wildfire spread.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the outages were “unacceptable.”
“We are going to do our best to get through these high-wind events and work through Saturday, Sunday into Monday and get these lights back on and do everything in our power to make sure PG&E is never in a position where they’re doing this to us again,” Newsom said in a video posted on Twitter.
The largest wildfire is currently raging in northern California’s Sonoma County, where 50,000 residents were ordered to evacuate on Saturday.
‘Story about greed’
A number of bushfires are also raging in the northern part of the state. The most serious – the Kincade Fire – broke out late Wednesday in the Sonoma wine region, also prompting evacuations.
The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., warned that millions of people in northern and central parts of the state could have their power cut off during the weekend given the high risk of fire.
The same type of equipment was responsible for the state’s deadliest bushfire ever – the Camp Fire in 2018 which killed 86 people.
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry says USA and Saudi Arabia negotiating on nuclear sales
U.S. says talks progressing with Saudi on possible 
nuclear program, DUBAI (Reuters) 27 Oct 19– U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on Saturday that conversations with Saudi Arabia on a nuclear program are going forward.The world’s top oil exporter had said it wanted to use nuclear power to diversify its energy mix. It wants to go ahead with a full-cycle nuclear program, including the production and enrichment of uranium for atomic fuel.
In order for U.S. companies to compete for Saudi Arabia’s project, Riyadh would normally need to sign an accord on the peaceful use of nuclear technology with Washington.
Reuters has reported that progress on the discussions has been difficult because Saudi Arabia does not want to sign a deal that would rule out the possibility of enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel – both potential paths to a bomb.
“The kingdom and the leadership in the kingdom .. will find a way to sign a 1,2,3 agreement with the United States, I think,” Perry said.
Speaking at a round table in Abu Dhabi, Perry added that the United States was doing everything it could to have a ready global supply of oil…… https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uae-us-energy/us-says-talks-progressing-with-saudi-on-possible-nuclear-program-idUSKBN1X509E
$85B Nuclear Missile Competition Gets Messier as Feds Investigate Northrop,
GLOBAL BUSINESS EDITOR, 27 Oct 19, Boeing is breaking up its ICBM team — just as the Federal Trade Commission begins looking into the company’s allegations that Northrop wasn’t playing fair.
The Pentagon’s effort to build a new ICBM just took another step toward a no-competition sole-source award — and the prospective lone bidder just came under federal investigation for anti-competitive behavior.
Two pieces of news broke late this week concerning the U.S. Air Force’s Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program, whose total value has been estimated at $85 billion. First, the service stopped paying Boeing for ICBM-related technology-development work that began in 2017. In response, the company has begun to break up the specialized team of engineers it brought together to create a replacement for the Cold War-era Minuteman III, according to a Boeing source close to the project.
Second, a Northrop Grumman filing revealed that the Federal Trade Commission is looking into allegations that the company is not abiding by an agreement that allowed its 2018 acquisition of Orbital ATK, one of just two U.S. makers of solid rocket motors. Those terms required the company to sell rocket motors “on a non-discriminatory basis to all competitors for missile contracts.”
Until July, Boeing and Northrop had both been planning to bid on the ICBM contract. Then Boeing announced that it would withdraw, charging that it had been unfairly handicapped in the competition because Northrop had slow-rolled an agreement that would have paved the way for Boeing to buy rocket motors from Orbital ATK……. https://www.defenseone.com/business/2019/10/usaf-puts-its-icbm-chips-northrop-feds-launch-investigation/160888/
For the climate’s sake, the $multibillion nuclear industry bailouts must stop
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Nuclear Industry’s $23 Billion Bailout Request Shows Why It Should Have ‘No Role to Play’ in Solving Climate Crisis: Study “For the sake of taxpayers, electricity consumers and the climate, Congress must stop this endless nuclear boondoggle.” by Eoin Higgins, staff writer A proposed bailout of the U.S. nuclear power industry that could cost taxpayers $23 billion over the next 10 years is a perfect example of why the climate crisis needs solutions that focus on renewable resources, green advocacy group Friends of the Earth said Thursday.”The dying nuclear industry wants a massive bailout at the expense of taxpayers and the climate,” the group’s senior policy analyst Lukas Ross said in a statement. Friends of the Earth commissioned a study (pdf) on the Nuclear Powers America Act of 2019, a nuclear industry-backed bill making its way through Congress that would continue subsidies for the industry for decades. Vermont Law School fellow Mark Cooper, who authored the study, wrote that the consequences of continuing tax credits for the industry would have the effect of making other potential technologies unviable for reducing emissions. “Subsidizing nuclear keeps reactors on-line and crowds out the alternatives,” said Cooper. “It slows the transition to an electrical grid based on low-carbon distributed resources.” While renewables are a major part of the push from climate activists and advocates to solve the climate crisis, using nuclear power to reduce emissions has been floated as a potential piece of the Green New Deal. The technology was notably left out of the legislation by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a decision that Popular Mechanics writer Avery Thompson hailed in February as a “great idea.” “Reactors are gigantic beasts, and sustaining a nuclear reaction while drawing power from it requires an absurd level of engineering,” wrote Thompson. “Reactors are expensive, bulky, and complicated, to say nothing of the waste products they produce or the fear of a catastrophe like Chernobyl or Fukushima.” The proposed nuclear industry bailout, warns Cooper in the new report, is an attempt to reverse economic trends that have never been favorable to nuclear power standing by itself. The industry, Cooper said, hasn’t earned the right to be considered as a realistic solution to the climate crisis or U.S. energy needs. “Nuclear has failed for over 50 years to control its costs, even with help from massive subsidies, and alternatives are available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a much lower cost,” wrote Cooper. Time is of the essence, said Friends of the Earth’s Ross. “With just a decade left to prevent the worst of the climate crisis, we shouldn’t dump more money into ancient nuclear reactors at the expense of cleaner and much cheaper renewables,” he said. |
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Problems for Elizabeth Warren’s policy of No First Use of nuclear weapons
 Elizabeth Warren Wants A Nuclear No First Use Policy, But It Won’t Be Easy to Implement, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama tried—but failed—to incorporate NFU into their Nuclear Posture Reviews. If Warren wants an NFU, she should look to these Democratic presidents’ pasts to learn how to make her lofty goal achievable. National Interest
by Lauren Sukin, 25 Oct 19, While President Donald Trump boasts about the “tippy top” shape of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has a much more reasonable plan for American nuclear weapons, outlined in her co-sponsored fourteen-word bill that aims to radically alter the conditions under which the United States can use nuclear weapons. The bill (S. 272/H.R. 921) reads simply: “It is the policy of the United States to not use nuclear weapons first.” The idea—called No First Use (NFU)—has been around since the Cold War, but it has never officially been U.S. policy………..
Lessons for the Next President
If the next president wants to implement NFU, what should they do differently? First, an improved NPR process would involve hands-on, consistent leadership from civilian executives. Second, the next president will need to bridge differences of opinion between traditionalists and those who are more reform-minded. That means choosing civilian leaders of the NPR effort who have and commit to building a good rapport with the military establishment and military leaders who are receptive to new ideas while using their expertise to ensure that any adopted policies are beneficial, clear, and implementable. Lessons for the Next President If the next president wants to implement NFU, what should they do differently? First, an improved NPR process would involve hands-on, consistent leadership from civilian executives. Second, the next president will need to bridge differences of opinion between traditionalists and those who are more reform-minded. That means choosing civilian leaders of the NPR effort who have and commit to building a good rapport with the military establishment and military leaders who are receptive to new ideas while using their expertise to ensure that any adopted policies are beneficial, clear, and implementable. Lauren Sukin is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University. https://nationalinterest.org/feature/elizabeth-warren-wants-nuclear-no-first-use-policy-it-wont-be-easy-implement-90716 |
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USA’s nuclear wastes can’t stay in above-ground canisters forever
Who will be the ultimate bearer of the nation’s nuclear waste? Mashable
by Mark Kaufman, Editors Nandita Raghuram and Brittany Levine Beckman Illustrations Vicky Leta, 25 Oct 19, In Mashable’s series Wasted, we dig into the myriad ways we’re trashing our planet. Because it’s time to sober up.When future tourists journey through a desolate, sun-baked patch of the southeastern New Mexico desert, some 20 miles outside of the 21st-century oil boomtown of Carlsbad, they’ll spot dozens of giant pillars on the flat terrain, somewhat like the great stone heads looming on the treeless hills of Easter Island. If the intrigued desert visitors wander close enough to the 25-foot high granite monuments, erected by the United States Department of Energy, they’ll see inscriptions written in seven different, perhaps archaic, languages.
And if they dare wander past the perimeter of the grandiose columns, the travelers will find an open-air structure made of 15-foot high walls, emblazoned with frightening pictographs and symbols. Taken together, the U.S. agency hopes to convey a clear message to anyone who enters.Keep out. Leave. Don’t dig. Something bad lurks beneath the ground. “This ‘stay out’ sign warns future generations of the danger of intrusion,” the Department of Energy wrote in its blueprint of this imposing message.
In 1990, the agency convened a group of linguists, writers, anthropologists, and an assortment of other scientists to think about how, in centuries or thousands of years (perhaps long after the fall of the U.S. empire), they might discourage people from revealing what lay 2,000 feet below the rocky soil and dashing roadrunners: hundreds of thousands of containers filled with radioactive sludge, soil, mops, brooms, and gloves from the U.S. government’s nuclear weapons program. The sealed casks would be a danger for at least 10 millennia.
[illustration by Vicky Leta, Mashable). Rather, much of the nuclear rummage is the spent radioactive fuel from power plants ……..the waste is scattered around the country at the very nuclear power plants where it was used, because the U.S. hasn’t decided on a place to permanently deposit the deadly dross. But the concrete and metal storage casks, often stockpiled directly on the surface in places like the idyllic California coast, age, crack, and decay over time. The waste can’t stay there forever.It’s got to go somewhere,” said Allison Macfarlane, the former chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and professor of science and technology policy at George Washington University.
“The worst option is leaving it above ground indefinitely,” stressed Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist and expert in nuclear weapons policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy group….. there’s no good place to store the forever waste. “There’s no best option. There’s only the least bad option,”………
One day, WIPP might be joined by another nuclear waste site — but this one exposed on New Mexico’s desert surface.
Between the cities of Carlsbad and Hobbs, about 70 miles apart, lies 1,000 acres of rough desert scrub. Holtec International, a company that sells sturdy containers for storing nuclear waste, has a scheme for these 1,000 acres that would make them a lot of money. The company wants to transform this forsaken desert into a concrete field holding 10,000 containers of spent fuel from all the nation’s nuclear power plants, collectively called the HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Story Facility. “Interim” is a somewhat deceiving word here. Taxpayers would essentially rent these thick casks until our underperforming Congress finds a truly permanent place to store the spent fuel from nuclear plants. The waste could stay there for 40 years. Or, if the casks are continually restored, much longer……..
The waste must eventually go deep, deep underground, said Lyman, the nuclear expert. The irradiated can can’t be punted down the road all century. Nuclear plants are brimming with this stuff. “The Department of Energy is on the hook to produce some type of a solution as the reactor facilities are filling up,” emphasized Notre Dame’s Burns.
There’s only one way that can happen: not forcing, not dictating, but collaborating with a community, somewhere, to allow a geologic depository, stressed Macfarlane. The site would need to be heavily guarded in perpetuity. “The question is can they be compensated enough and their concerns be mitigated enough that they’re willing to accept it,” said Lyman.
while the waste can’t just sit exposed on the surface forever, it could be some 50 years before the casks become an imminent threat.
Indeed, nuclear waste is “out of sight out of mind,” noted Lyman. This is in stark contrast to an environmental threat like relentlessly rising global temperatures, wherein the well-predicted consequences of a warmer globe are conspicuously unfolding today: wildfires torching more land, the melting of the great ice sheets, unprecedented deluges, overheated infrastructure, an incessantly warming ocean, and beyond……..
If New Mexico’s nuclear heritage is somehow ever lost, perhaps by the passage of millennia and ravages of time, tall monuments will stand in the windswept desert for thousands of years, hopefully warding off any curious pilgrims, explorers, or future industrialists from the decaying consequences of war, weaponry, and defense. Whatever symbols the Department of Energy ultimately etches into the walls of the roofless, sunlit temple where WIPP once stood, they better be damn scary.https://mashable.com/feature/most-radioactive-state-in-us-nuclear-waste-new-mexico-nevada/?fbclid=IwAR3hb7-ZZjWxaF863zuHqueEHeA8VjhLwrWVm2sA849Kvcb5D6OAQ00SmdI
20 sovereign nations in New Mexico and Texas oppose nuclear facility near Carlsbad
Native American Pueblo leaders oppose nuclear facility near Carlsbad, Hobbs, https://www.oilandgas360.com/native-american-pueblo-leaders-oppose-nuclear-facility-near-carlsbad-hobbs-2/ in Press by— 360 Feed Wire
Oct. 24– Oct. 24–A group of Native American leaders opposed a plan to temporarily store nuclear waste at proposed facilities in southeast New Mexico and West Texas before a permanent repository is available.
The All Pueblo Council of Governors, which represents 20 sovereign nations in New Mexico and Texas held a meeting on Thursday where members affirmed their opposition to the projects, read a Monday news release from the group.
Concerns with the transportation of spent nuclear fuel rods drove the group’s opposition to two proposed consolidated interim storage (CIS) sites, one near the border of Eddy and Lea counties in New Mexico and another in Andrews, Texas. Continue reading
Ohio’s Nuclear and Coal Bailout Bill Survives Court Challenge.
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Ohio’s Nuclear and Coal Bailout Bill Survives Court Challenge. Federal judge says group seeking overturn of pro-nuclear House Bill 6 must seek state Supreme Court relief, raising bar for a 2020 challenge. Greentech Media, JEFF ST. JOHN OCTOBER 24, 2019 An effort to overturn Ohio’s controversial nuclear bailout law via voter referendum suffered a setback this week, after a federal judge denied the group’s request for more time to collect signatures to put it before state voters next year.In a late Wednesday evening decision, U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. denied a request from the Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts group for more time to collect the required 265,774 signatures to prevent House Bill 6 from going into effect while it faces repeal.
Instead, Sargus wrote that the issues raised by the group were under the jurisdiction of the Ohio Supreme Court, which “could afford plaintiffs the remedy they seek — a stay of HB 6 and additional time to circulate their petitions.” HB 6, passed in July by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, is broadly unpopular with the public, according to multiple polls, and has come under withering attack from the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Sierra Club, and other environmental groups. The bill, which went into effect on Tuesday, slashes the state’s existing efficiency and renewable energy mandates, a long-term goal of the Ohio GOP, and redirects the hundreds of millions of dollars a year to support bankrupt utility FirstEnergy Solutions’ nuclear power plants. The surcharges of about 85 cents per month on typical residential customers’ utility bills, meant to raise roughly $1 billion for FirstEnergy’s Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants over seven years, won’t go into effect until 2021. “We’re disappointed, but we’re exploring our options with the Ohio Supreme Court,” Gene Pierce, spokesperson for Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts, told The Toledo Blade. A high-stakes energy policy battle turns nastyOhioans Against Corporate Bailouts has alleged that its signature-gathering efforts were targeted by HB 6 supporters in a dirty-tricks campaign that prevented it from hitting its targeted signature numbers. According to its complaints, these tactics included bribing its signature-takers with cash and plane tickets to join an opposing ballot initiative, and in some cases, allegedly threatening signature-gatherers in public. The Ohio Attorney General’s office is investigating dozens of complaints related to signature-gathering, including activities by pro-HB 6 group Generation Now, which has been accused of hiring “blockers,” or people who will stand in the way of or otherwise interfere with signature-gatherers in public. Earlier this month, Sargus granted the group a temporary order preventing enforcement of a state law that requires some paid signature-gatherers to disclose their identities or face criminal penalties, based on allegations that Generation Now had been approaching signature-takers and their employers to pressure them into quitting…….. Ohio’s bill also eliminates the state’s renewable portfolio standard of 12.5 percent by 2027, passed in 2008, which has been under attack from state Republicans for years. And it eliminates the nearly $200 million per year, collected in surcharges of roughly $1.69 per month on Ohio utility customers, to fund energy-efficiency and demand-reduction programs. These programs have saved Ohio customers $5.1 billion from 2009 to 2017, according to the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. HB 6 also imposes a $2.50-per-month charge on utility customers’ bills to support two coal-fired power plants owned by the Ohio Valley Electric Corp., a consortium of utilities in the state. Opponents of the plan have challenged the subsidies, saying the law’s text inadvertently bars them from participating. https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ohios-nuclear-and-coal-bailout-bill-survives-court-challenge |
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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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