Doubts on Holtec’s clean-up of Pilgrim nuclear power station
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Pilgrim Is Closing. So Then What Happens To The Radioactive Waste? wbur, Earthwhile, May 30, 2019, Barbara Moran This week, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station will power down for the last time.Over the next few years, workers will move the radioactive fuel into storage, dismantle the plant, and clean up the site. The process is called decommissioning, and a lot of people are worried about safety, cost and where the nuclear waste will finally end up.
All together, there are 4,114 fuel assemblies at Pilgrim. They’ll stay radioactive for thousands of years. And with nowhere to put them — for now, at least — they’ll stay in Plymouth indefinitely. “With no repository in sight, Plymouth — America’s hometown — will be a nuclear waste dump,” says Diane Turco, executive director of the watchdog group Cape Downwinders. “No one knows what to do with this waste. … So I think we need to prepare that it’s going to be in Plymouth for a long time.”
After the plant powers down, workers will move the fuel from the reactor into the spent fuel pool. It will take a few years for the fuel to cool off enough for workers to move it from the pool into steel canisters. Then they’ll put the canisters into enormous steel-and-concrete containers called “dry casks” for storage. Everybody wants the job done right, because an accident could release radioactive material into the environment. The worst-case scenario — a major fire in the spent fuel pool — could put thousands of lives at risk. “Decommissioning is a very dangerous time at Pilgrim. The spent fuel will be moved from the pool to the dry casks; the dry casks will be moved on the property,” says Turco. “To do it quick and fast doesn’t necessarily mean safe — let’s do it right.” The fuel storage casks are made by New Jersey-based Holtec International. Holtec produces storage components for more than half of the nuclear power plants in the United States. And with nuclear plants shutting down across the country, business is booming.
It seems like a surprisingly low-tech way to hold highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. That’s the beauty of it, says Allen Hickman, vice president of manufacturing for Holtec. ……… Not everyone shares Hickman’s confidence, including Plymouth resident Sean Mullin, chair of the state’s Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel. “What happens if a crack emerges? There is a lot of salt in the air, and there’s a lot of other things that could deteriorate it,” says Mullin. At a public meeting in March, NRC Reactor Decommissioning Branch Chief Bruce Watson said the NRC is currently working with industry to develop surveillance and testing requirements, and that the storage facility at Pilgrim would be inspected “at least annually.” If workers detect a serious leak or crack in a cask — an event the Watson called “extremely unlikely” — it will be “encapsulated” in another cask. Mullin is skeptical of the encapsulation plan. “There should be something better,” he says. Holtec wants to do more than build nuclear storage casks. The company plans to buy Pilgrim and handle the whole decommissioning process: move the fuel to storage, tear down the plant, and clean up the site. But Holtec has never fully decommissioned a nuclear plant before. And unlike Entergy, which proposes decommissioning the site in 60 years, Holtec says it can be done in eight. ….. Holtec’s proposal worries critics like citizen’s group Pilgrim Watch and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. Both have filed petitions to intervene with the NRC. “Holtec has never actually cleaned up a nuclear power plant before, and it’s proposing to do so at what’s really a record pace,” says Healey. “What we want is for the closure to be done safely. We want the site cleaned up and we need to make sure that there’s enough money there to make that happen well.” Holtec also wants to buy Indian Point nuclear plant in New York, and build an interim storage site in New Mexico, where the company hopes to eventually ship spent fuel from Pilgrim and other sites. Critics say Holtec is stretched thin. We fear that they have bitten off far more than they can chew, negatively impacting the quality of oversight and attention to properly decommission Pilgrim Station,” wrote Pilgrim Watch director Mary Lampert in an email. In April the NRC issued two safety violations against the company for an incident involving dry casks at the San Onofre nuclear plant in California. Although no radioactive material was released and the NRC did not issue a fine, Holtec’s Russell says the company takes the violations “very seriously” and is scrutinizing technology, training and procedures…… Cost Concerns If Holtec purchases Pilgrim, the company will receive the plant, the surrounding land and a decommissioning trust fund currently valued around $1 billion. Holtec might also get additional money by suing the federal Department of Energy for failing to build a permanent nuclear waste repository. But an old plant like Pilgrim will likely have cleanup problems beyond nuclear waste, like asbestos and lead paint. And other nuclear plants, like Connecticut Yankee and Yankee Rowe, cost far more to clean up than expected. “We think that Holtec is seriously underestimating what it’s going to cost to get this done — underestimating to the tune of millions of dollars,” state AG Healey says. “And at the end of the day, if Holtec begins this project and doesn’t have the money to finish it, it’s going to be the state, our residents and taxpayers that are going to be on the hook, and we want to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Critics are also concerned about Holtec’s formation of a limited liability company with Canadian engineering and construction company SNC-Lavalin called Comprehensive Decommissioning International, which will handle Pilgrim’s decommissioning. Dan Wolf, a former state senator from the Cape and Islands — and the founder and CEO of Cape Air — says the move insulates the parent company and makes it unclear who is ultimately financially responsible for the cleanup. “My concern is, if there’s not enough money and the job doesn’t get completed, it’s going to fall both on our government and on the ratepayers to make up any deficiencies,” says Wolf. “It’s one of the more egregious cases of socializing risk and privatizing profit.”…….. The Pilgrim site is already storing spent nuclear fuel in 17 dry casks near the reactor building. Eventually, there will be 61 casks, stored on a new pad, 75 feet above sea level, partly to safeguard against sea level rise. It’s expected they’ll be moved there by 2021 and protected by armed guards. While Congress has recently started talking about a new national repository for nuclear waste, and Holtec says it hopes to remove the spent fuel from Pilgrim by 2062, there’s a chance that waste could remain at Pilgrim (or rather, the former Pilgrim) indefinitely, a silent monument to the nuclear age.https://www.wbur.org/earthwhile/2019/05/30/plymouth-nuclear-plant-decommissioning |
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USA’s “Doomsday plane” – the pilots might survive, anyway
This ‘Doomsday Plane’ Can Survive a Nuclear Attack https://www.livescience.com/65603-doomsday-plane-can-survive-nuclear-attack.htmlm By | May 31, 2019
Defying all laws of competitive economics, climate change, and technological progress, Ohio House votes in nuclear and coal subsidy
 Ohio Stumbles, with a Team Trump Nudge, Toward Nuclear and Coal https://progressive.org/dispatches/ohio-stumbles-trump-nudge-more-nukes-coal-wasserman-190530/
Defying all laws of competitive economics, climate change, and technological progress, the state House has voted in a ratepayer-funded bailout for two aging nuclear power plants. by Harvey Wasserman, May 30, 2019 If it passes Ohio’s Senate next week, the astonishing multi-billion-dollar public handout will guarantee the Buckeye State a prime spot in the new millennium’s can’t-compete Rust Belt rumble seat for decades to come. Passing 53 to 43 on May 29, the bitterly contested House Bill 6 forces ratepayers throughout the state to fork over $190 million per year in over-market payments to keep the decaying Perry and Davis-Besse reactors in business. The money is to come from all Buckeye electric consumers, even though many get zero power from the plants being bailed out. Ten Democrats voted yes, guaranteeing the bill’s passage. Seventeen Republicans voted no, mostly on libertarian grounds. HB6 was originally marketed as a “clean air” initiative. But the bailouts for the coal burners have stripped even that thin veneer from the bill’s real purpose: saving Akron-based FirstEnergy from its ongoing bankruptcyproceedings. The bill strips state funding for renewable and efficiency programs that had saved Ohio millions in utility bills and inched it toward a modern green-based power supply. The bill also left intact a unique setback clause that prevented big privately funded wind farms from being built in the “North Coast” region along Lake Erie. Many farmers I personally visited in this flat, breezy stretch of agricultural land eagerly support new wind projects, whose lease payments can bring in hefty payments. The potential sites are near urban customers and are criss-crossed with transmission lines. Despite a huge potential for jobs and profits, the setback clause has left Ohio out of the hunt for big new wind farms. Indiana, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania all have at least more than twice as much installed wind capacity as does Ohio. Buckeye lawmakers fret over the roughly 2,000 jobs at Perry and Davis-Besse, but have killed new turbine projects that could create far more in construction and maintenance, while dropping electricity rates throughout the region. Ironically, because of its historic industrial base, Ohio is a leading producer of wind turbine components—most of which are shipped out of state because the setback clause has buried the local demand. Despite a huge potential for jobs and profits, the setback clause has left Ohio out of the hunt for big new wind farms. Indiana, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania all have at least more than twice as much installed wind capacity as does Ohio. Buckeye lawmakers fret over the roughly 2,000 jobs at Perry and Davis-Besse, but have killed new turbine projects that could create far more in construction and maintenance, while dropping electricity rates throughout the region. Ironically, because of its historic industrial base, Ohio is a leading producer of wind turbine components—most of which are shipped out of state because the setback clause has buried the local demand. Many of the current jobs at the nuclear power sites would be preserved in a decommissioning process. Green activists advocate a “retain and retrain” program that would retain local workers tearing the plants down while training others for jobs in wind, solar, and efficiency. Now the Senate will debate fossil-nuclear subsidies aimed at protecting a company whose top ten employees are collectively paid more than $20 million annually. Opensecrets.org has reported that last year FirstEnergy spent more than $3 million on lobbying, much of it to turn a legislature now poised to grant the utility a hundred times that much in public money. mong the bailout’s biggest supporters is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, representing staff at the nuclear plant. IBEW presence was strong at the bailout hearings in Ohio. The union plays less of an advocacy role for the wind and solar industries, whose jobs far outnumber those in coal and nuclear production. Offshore Ohio boasts some of the strongest winds of the Great Lake states. The fresh water avoids the salt corrosion plaguing ocean-based wind developments. Northern Ohio developers recently won a $40 million federal grant for the nation’s first major offshore freshwater wind farm, to be sited off the coast of Cleveland. Developers will also soon open two new Ohio solar farms totalling 275 megawatts. East of Cleveland, Perry was the first U.S. nuclear power plant to be damagedby an earthquake. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the forty-two-year-old Davis-Besse has suffered one of the worst U.S. atomic accidents on record. In sum, the Ohio legislature—with a push from Team Trump—is poised to deliver a huge bailout to a utility company whose compromised financial status darkens its ability to operate two elder reactors. In return for footing this bill, the citizens of Ohio stand to gain obsolete burners that doom their state to dirty air, above-market electric rates, and radioactive danger. |
Map drawn of 80 USA nuclear waste sites
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New Map Shows Expanse Of U.S. Nuclear Waste Sites https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2019/05/31/new-map-shows-expanse-of-u-s-nuclear-waste-sites/#5f0a293fc2cf
Jeff McMahon, The United States is home to 21 “stranded” nuclear-waste storage sites, according to a congressional researcher who was quick to add that “stranded does not imply that the waste has been abandoned or lacks regulatory oversight.”It means those 21 sites are no longer attached to reactors that are producing electricity or revenue, environmental policy analyst Lance N. Larson writes in a May report to members of Congress. The stranded sites are costly for the federal government, which has spent $7.4 billion to nuclear utilities and other reactor owners, according to CRS, to offset its responsibility to store the waste. The 21 are among 80 sites Larsen drew together in a map that shows where the country’s nuclear waste is distributed while it awaits construction of a permanent repository. The United States is home to 21 “stranded” nuclear-waste storage sites, according to a congressional researcher who was quick to add that “stranded does not imply that the waste has been abandoned or lacks regulatory oversight.” It means those 21 sites are no longer attached to reactors that are producing electricity or revenue, environmental policy analyst Lance N. Larson writes in a May report to members of Congress. The stranded sites are costly for the federal government, which has spent $7.4 billion to nuclear utilities and other reactor owners, according to CRS, to offset its responsibility to store the waste. The 21 are among 80 sites Larsen drew together in a map that shows where the country’s nuclear waste is distributed while it awaits construction of a permanent repository. |
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To the Trump administration, fossil fuels are “Molecules Of U.S. Freedom”
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In a statement announcing an increase of natural gas exports, energy officials used the surprising new terms. The statement announces the expansion of a facility in Quintana, Texas, that produces liquefied natural gas (LNG) for worldwide export.…… https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/05/30/trump-administration-rebrands-carbon-dioxide-as-molecules-of-u-s-freedom/#2e2073ff3a24 |
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Trump re-election push – big effort to make sure that Ohio lawmakers approve nuclear and coal subsidies
Ohio advances coal, nuclear subsidies after pressure from Trump campaign official, Politico, By GAVIN BADE, 05/29/2019
The Ohio House approved a bill Wednesday to gut clean energy standards and subsidize at-risk nuclear and coal plants after a last-minute push from a Trump reelection official to secure its passage.
Bob Paduchik, a senior adviser to the Trump reelection campaign, made calls Tuesday night to at least five members of the Ohio House of Representatives, pressuring them to vote ‘yes’ on the bill, five people familiar with the outreach told POLITICO. Sources said Paduchik emphasized preserving jobs at the Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear plants, both located in northeastern Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie…
“The message is that if we have these plants shut down we can’t get Trump reelected,” said one senior legislative source with knowledge of the conversations. “We’re going into an election year, we can’t lose the jobs.”
Paduchik did not return requests for comment, but confirmed to a local reporter that he called lawmakers to support the bill, saying he did so as a personal matter……..
The bill, which would create a $300 million subsidy program for two nuclear plants and two coal plants in the state, passed 53-43 Wednesday afternoon. It now heads to the state Senate.
Owner FirstEnergy Solutions has threatened to shut the plants down if they are not subsidized, and Cleveland.com reports Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, and labor union leaders made similar arguments in other 11th hour calls to lawmakers.
Legislators contacted by Paduchik include Republican Reps. Don Manning, Darrell Kick, Laura Lanese, Reggie Stoltzfus and Dave Greenspan, sources told POLITICO. The sources requested anonymity because they have other business before the legislature.
Paduchik led President Trump’s successful 2016 campaign in Ohio, after which he became co-chair of the Republican National Committee. In December, the Trump 2020 campaign announced he would return to oversee the president’s reelection bid in the crucial Midwestern swing state.
The White House referred questions on Paduchick’s involvement to the Trump campaign, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In addition to Paduchik, three sources said some legislators received calls from two members of the Ohio delegation to the U.S. House — Republican Reps. Steve Stivers and Bob Gibbs. Their offices did not return requests for comment.
FirstEnergy Solutions, which split from utility FirstEnergy in a bankruptcy proceeding last year, said it did not engage Paduchik or the House members on its behalf. FirstEnergy’s political action committee has supported Trump, DeWine and Ohio Republicans in the past, and CEO Chuck Jones met with the president and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry on energy policy before the utility and subsidiary split……..
Along with subsidizing the nuclear plants, HB 6 would also increase existing payments to two large coal plants owned by the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation, a conglomeration of Midwestern utilities. To pay for the new subsidies, the bill would eliminate the state’s energy efficiency standard and its 12.5 percent-by-2027 renewable energy standard, which are financed on customer utility bills.
Approval in the House means the bill will now move to the Senate. Insiders told POLITICO earlier this week that chamber could take longer to debate the bill, which could create a conundrum for FirstEnergy Solutions, which must decide next month whether to refuel the Perry plant or move ahead with shutdown procedures…….. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/29/ohio-coal-nuclear-trump-1347274
Ohio’s subsidy Bill unnecessarily bails out nuclear, coal owner FirstEnergy Solutions
 Ohio lawmakers pass bill to cut renewable requirement, help nuclear and coalCritics say the bill unnecessarily bails out nuclear, coal owner FirstEnergy Solutions. Ars Technica, MEGAN GEUSS – 6/1/2019, THIS WEEK, LAWMAKERS IN OHIO’S HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTED 53-43 IN FAVOR OF A CONTROVERSIAL BILL THAT WOULD PERMIT A CONSUMER-FUNDED SUBSIDY FOR NUCLEAR PLANTS AND POSSIBLY FOR AILING COAL PLANTS AS WELL. The bill would also end Ohio’s renewable portfolio standard, which required that the state’s utilities to obtain 12.5 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2027. Instead, that renewable portfolio standard is replaced by smaller steps to bolster renewable power, but environmental groups say the bill is a step in the wrong direction.A version of House Bill 6 has now been introduced to the state’s Senate. If it passes there, it will likely become law due to the Governor’s support of the bill. A boon for FirstEnergy Solutions Currently, Ohioans pay a $4.39 surcharge on their electricity bills to fund Ohio’s renewable portfolio standard, according to local news site Cleveland.com. House Bill 6 would eliminate that surcharge and replace it with a $1 surcharge to raise more than $170 million per year, which would be given to Ohio energy company FirstEnergy Solutions to keep its Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants open. The subsidies would be retired in 2026. First Energy Solutions owns nuclear and coal plants throughout Ohio and Indiana. In April 2018, its coal business filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company then asked the Trump Administration to grant it an emergency bailout using Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, which allows the federal government to keep the electrical grid operating during emergencies. Thus far, the Administration has not invoked that Act. House Bill 6 also has some good news for the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation, which will be allowed to petition public utility regulators for an additional fee of $2.50 per month per customer to keep two of its coal plants in Ohio and Indiana open. Another, smaller provision in the bill would allow residents of unincorporated areas of Ohio to hold a referendum on whether to allow wind projects to proceed…….. UCS disputes that statement. “While the charges appearing on consumer bills might be less, this ignores the much greater energy bill savings consumers have been realizing through investments in energy efficiency,” UCS writes. “In addition, the cost of wind and solar has fallen by more than 70 percent over the past decade, making them more affordable for consumers and competitive with natural gas power plants in many parts of the country.” https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/05/ohio-house-passes-bill-that-would-allow-consumer-funded-nuclear-and-coal-subsidies/ |
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Michael Cohen and an Alabama Nuclear Plant Show Everything About This Administration* Is for Sale
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Michael Cohen and an Alabama Nuclear Plant Show Everything About This Administration* Is for Sale, A bipartisan swamp-dweller is back in the news. Esquire, BY
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Duke plans to decommission nuclear plant ahead of schedule
Duke plans to decommission nuclear plant ahead of schedule, Gainsville.com By Carlos E. Medina, 31 May 19, It will seek permission to decommission the idle Crystal River plant about 50 years sooner than planned at a cost of $540 million.
Duke Energy wants to tear down its Crystal River nuclear power plant about 50 years earlier than planned, the company announced Thursday.
In 2013, Duke decided to keep the facility idle until 2074 and then demolish the physical plant after removing all radioactive material. But a recent review of the cost to accelerate the timeline found the company had enough money in their decommissioning trust fund to cover the accelerated plan, said Heather Danenehower, Duke communications manager.
They need approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to change plans and that process will take at least a year.
The accelerated process, which will take until 2027 to complete, would cost $540 million. The trust fund balance stood at $717 million on March 31. Whatever remains will go back to Duke’s customers. Customers, including the more than 66,000 in Marion County and the more than 4,000 in Alachua County, will not see their electricity bills increase because of the move, she said…… https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190530/duke-plans-to-decommission-nuclear-plant-ahead-of-schedule
A new way to remove CO2 from the air – (perhaps – or too good to be true?)
Scientists Have Found A Way To Remove CO2 From Air, Which May Reverse Global Warming, https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/science-and-future/scientists-have-found-an-easy-way-to-remove-co2-from-air-reduce-global-warming-368327.html A number of research teams around the world are currently working towards scrubbing all the excess carbon dioxide from the air. It’s one of the prime reasons we are seeing record breaking rise in temperature across India this summer.Not only could this do wonders to push back global warming, but we can also put all of that CO2 to good use in other applications. Take this research team from the University of Toronto Engineering for instance. They’ve developed a new electrochemical path to transform carbon dioxide that’s been pulled from the atmosphere into valuable products like jet fuel or plastics.
“Today, it is technically possible to capture CO2 from the air and, through a number of steps, convert it to commercial products,” says Professor Ted Sargent who led the research team. “The challenge is that it takes a lot of energy to do so, which raises the cost and lowers the incentive. Our strategy increases the overall energy efficiency by avoiding some of the more energy-intensive losses.”
The previous direct-air carbon capture method does so by forcing air through an alkaline liquid solution. The CO2 dissolves in the liquid, forming a carbonate. To use that captured CO2 however, it has to be turned back into a gas, which is the convoluted part. It requires adding chemicals to the carbonate to turn it into a solid salt, and then heat that powder to a whopping 900-degrees Celsius to regain CO2 gas. That heating method is what’s responsible for the energy wastage that makes this sub-optimal.
This team’s new method instead uses an electrolyzer, a device that uses electricity to power a chemical reaction. Electrolyzers are sometimes used to produce hydrogen fuel from water, and this team realised they can also use it to release the CO2 from dissolved carbonate, skipping the heating entirely.
The electrolyzer also has a silver-based catalyst that immediately converts the CO2 into a gas mixture known as syngas. Syngas can be easily turned into a wide variety of products, including jet fuel and plastic precursors.
“This is the first known process that can go all the way from carbonate to syngas in a single step,” says Sargent.
According to the team’s reports, their method has an overall energy efficiency of 35 percent, much higher than current methods. They do believe there’s scope to improve that, and it can of course be scaled up to an industrial level given enough time.
When that happens, we might actually be able to set up giant plants, the sole purpose of which is to scrub carbon dioxide from our air, and turn it into products we can use, helping reverse climate change in the process.
Climate change is already gravely threatening American nuclear reactors
Jon Tidon 30 May 19 Hate to say it. It is true though. Expect a nuclear accident in the United States soon.
Trump has deregulated supervision of the 97 old nuclear reactors, in America.
Sixty of the old, beat-up, reactors are in flood zones and hurricane zones. The others are so old and decrepit, that any inclement-unpredictable weather, could cause a nuclear accident.
The soil in much of the Midwestern United States, Southeastern USA, and in the Southern United States is saturated with water from flooding, this year. That is the way it is now, in May 2019.
The soil is saturated from atmospheric rivers of rain, moving in quickly and, dumping their massive loads of water. The atmospheric-river phenomenon has been going on, for more than 10 years now, in the United States.
Atmospheric rivers of rain that come put of nowhere.
Hurricanes have grown progresssively worse and more numerous, in the past 10 years .
A deadly one-two punch of spring floods and later, Tropical storms and hurricanes, is upon us again.
The combination of flooding-saturation and then serial Hurricanes, cause Mega Climate Disasters. It also increases the probability of a Nuclear Accident in these regions, where there are numerous reactors.
We saw it with Hurricane Florence in Carolina, Harvey in Texas, Maria in Florida and Puerto Rico.
Paces like Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas are saturated with water now. The water in the Atlantic and Gulf Of Mexico is hotter and higher, than it has ever been. People could not go to the beach, along much of the Gulf of Mexico on Memorial day because, the surf flooded the beaches. The beaches were flooded, from high winds and storming in the Gulf of Mexico. Similar phenomenon preceded the Horrendous Hurricane seasons, of the past few years. The surface of the Gulf is warmer than ever.
Panicky nuclear lobby produces a propaganda book, desperate to win public support
U.S., Canada Energy Leaders Announce New Book on Nuclear Innovation in Clean Energy USA Dept of Energy
MAY 28, 2019, VANCOUVER, CANADA – Today, leaders from the United States and Canada are unveiling a new book, Breakthroughs: Nuclear Innovation in A Clean Energy System, at the Tenth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM10), a forum including ministers from 25 nations, occurring this year in Vancouver, Canada from May 27-29. MAY 28, 20
“The combination of vision and innovation is having a profound impact on our energy landscape, and nowhere is that more true than nuclear energy,” said U.S. Under Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes. “Nuclear energy is one of our most reliable and cleanest sources of energy, and we are determined to revive and revitalize the nuclear energy industry with advanced and smart designs. This book highlights some of the incredible transformative opportunities nuclear innovation can bring to society and the clean energy future of our planet.”
Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources Amarjeet Sohi said, “The Clean Energy Ministerial is part of building the world’s clean energy future. Canada is proud to host the 10th Clean Energy Ministerial in Vancouver at this historic moment in time. We are pleased to be working with the United States, Japan, and other countries under the nuclear innovation initiative. We also welcome the release of Breakthroughs – a collection a real stories about nuclear innovations and how they can contribute to our climate change goals.” ………
The Breakthroughs book is a product of the CEM Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (NICE Future) initiative that was launched at the May 2018 Ninth CEM in Copenhagen, Denmark. The NICE Future initiative envisions nuclear energy’s many uses in contributing to clean, reliable energy systems of the future. …….. https://www.energy.gov/articles/us-canada-energy-leaders-announce-new-book-nuclear-innovation-clean-energy
Canada’s plans for nuclear waste disposal
Canada’s nuclear waste to be buried in deep underground repository, By Eric Sorensen, Global News, 29 May 19, “……..While the nuclear creating heat and electricity has been well contained in reactors, ceramic pellets and fuel bundles, we have been left with big a problem that everyone saw coming: the hazard posed by nuclear waste.
At the Bruce plant, low and intermediate level wastes are accumulating. Low-level includes worker clothing and tools. Typically, they could be radioactive for 100 years. Intermediate-level waste is described as resins, filters and used reactor components that could be a hazard for 100,000 years.
Ontario Power Generation has slowly made headway for a plan to bury this waste in a deep underground repository next to the Bruce plant. Much of it now sits in large tanks with row upon row of cement lids poking above the surface.of the ground.
Fred Kuntz, wearing an OPG hard hat, gazed over the containers: “This is all safe storage for now, but it’s not really the solution for thousands of years. The lasting solution is disposal in a deep geologic repository.”
He pointed to a stand of trees. “The DGR would be built here.”
Some think that’s a terrible idea. The repository could leak, it could be attacked, and the location on the Bruce site is barely a kilometer from Lake Huron, which has opponents on both sides of the Great Lakes up in arms.
“There isn’t a magic bullet. It’s not like we can put it out of sight and we’ve solved the problem.” said Theresa McClenaghan of the Canadian Environamental Law Association.
She suggests humans have little concept of how long 100,000 years is. She questions whether the facility would last and whether we can be sure we’ll be able to communicate the dangers to some future civilization.
………..The deep geological repository was approved by an environmental review panel in 2015, but both the Harper and Trudeau governments have put off giving the final go ahead. It now appears to hinge on the approval by indigenous people in the region.
For the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, it’s about time they were consulted. Fifty years ago, the concerns of indigenous people were an afterthought when it came to major public policy decisions.
The nuclear plant was built on the traditional land of the Saugeen Ojibway. OPG says it has come to recognize the “historic wrongs of the past” and is negotiating compensation for those wrongs. And moving forward, OPG has given its assurance that the repository will only be built if the Saugeen Ojibway approve – from an afterthought to the power of veto over a multibillion-dollar enterprise……….
Remarkably, this is the relatively easy stuff to deal with: low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste. An even bigger problem is high-level radioactive used fuel. It too is piling up, primarily at the three big Ontario plants. It may be toxic for a million years. ……..
Ultimately they need to find one particular community to be a “willing host” for what amounts to 57,000 tonnes of used nuclear fuel……..
The plan is to pack the bundles into carbon steel tubes coated in copper – 48 bundles per container. They look like a big torpedoes. Each one will be packed snugly into what look like coffins made of a special clay called bentonite.
Thousands of bentonite boxes will be moved by robotic machines into hundreds of long placement rooms deep underground. Dried slightly, the clay will expand and plug every last space, ultimately sealing the repository. ……
Picking a host community, getting regulatory approval, building the repository, and transferring high-level waste will take the next 50 years.
It is separate from the OPG plan for low- and intermediate-level waste, which could have an answer from the Saugeen Ojibway Nation by the end of this year, and federal approval in 2020.
As it turns out, two of the NWMO sites for high-level waste – South Bruce and Huron-Kinloss – are also on Saugeen Ojibway land, so they may ultimately have to decide on separate nuclear waste projects on their land………https://globalnews.ca/news/5329835/canadas-nuclear-waste-to-be-buried-in-deep-underground-repository/
USA National Security Adviser John Bolton Accuses Iran of Seeking Nuclear Weapons,
National Security Adviser John Bolton Accuses Iran of Seeking Nuclear Weapons, TIME BY JON GAMBRELL / AP , MAY 29, 2019 (ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates) — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser warned Iran on Wednesday that any attacks in the Persian Gulf will draw a “very strong response” from the U.S., taking a hard-line approach with Tehran after his boss only two days earlier said America wasn’t “looking to hurt Iran at all.”
John Bolton’s comments are the latest amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran that have been playing out in the Middle East.
Bolton spoke to journalists in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which only days earlier saw former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warn there that “unilateralism will not work” in confronting the Islamic Republic……..
A longtime Iran hawk, Bolton blamed Tehran for the recent incidents, at one point saying it was “almost certainly” Iran that planted explosives on the four oil tankers off the UAE coast. He declined to offer any evidence for his claims.
…….Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has repeatedly criticized Bolton as a warmonger. Abbas Mousavi, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said later Wednesday Bolton’s remarks were a “ridiculous accusation.”
Separately in Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani said that the “road is not closed” when it comes to talks with the U.S. — if America returns to the nuclear deal. However, the relatively moderate Rouhani faces increasing criticism from hard-liners and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the collapsing accord…….
Bolton also said the U.S. would boost American military installations and those of its allies in the region. …..
Bolton’s trip to the UAE comes just days after Trump in Tokyo appeared to welcome negotiations with Iran. http://time.com/5597424/john-bolton-iran-nuclear-weapons/
As Pilgrim nuclear plant closes, Holtec moves in to make a tidy profit
Closure of Pilgrim nuclear plant is part of a shifting energy industry, Boston Globe, By David Abel Globe Staff,May 28, 2019, “…….. If all goes right, the last of 145 crucifix-shaped control rods will be inserted into the reactor, shutting down operations for good.
“For many of us, it’s the end of an era,” said Joe Frattasio, 56, a control room shift manager who has been working for Pilgrim for 19 years and expects to remain at the plant until March. “Unfortunately, this is the reality of the industry.”
When Pilgrim shuts down, there will be 97 nuclear reactors left in the United States, down from a peak of 112 in 1990. Another 10 reactors are slated to close by 2025.
Concerns about the safety of nuclear power — especially after the disasters at plants in the former Soviet Union and Japan — have contributed to the industry’s decline. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in recent years had designated Pilgrim one of the nation’s three least-safe reactors, forcing the plant to spend tens of millions of dollars on upgrades and inspections.
……. But the changing nature of the larger energy industry, and the resulting economics, has played an even larger role.
…… By next April, when Entergy expects to complete the first phase of the decommissioning process, only about half as many workers will remain.
“It’s a sad time, but also a time of reflection,” said Patrick O’Brien, a spokesman for Pilgrim, before a simulation of the shutdown on Tuesday at a testing facility near the plant.
As part of the process, the company will reduce the evacuation zone to the perimeter around the plant.
….. The future of the property may be left to Holtec International, a New Jersey company that’s seeking to buy Pilgrim. Although it has never owned or decommissioned a nuclear plant, Holtec has promised to complete the process in just eight years, well ahead of the 60 years allowed by federal rules. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/05/28/pilgrim/p00dL7Ju623l3VZDiUvMJO/story.html
1 This Month
22 June – Virtual Event –Climate Change: New Data, New Debate
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25 June- THE PUKE ON NUKES
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26 June – Radiation Trainwreck at the NRC / Join the Protect Better Campaign – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4ZlZ5_qLSHGiLSCg8FF6Bg#/registration
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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