Anti-nuclear waste rally in Montpelier, 18 Sept 18 MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) An anti-nuclear waste campaign visited Montpelier Tuesday night, delivering a replica radioactive waste cask. The event was organized by the “Citizens Awareness Network” as part of a multi-stop tour throughout New England.
Activists say they are responding to a bill now in the U.S. Senate that would establish Anti-nuclear waste rally in Montpelier, 18 Sept 18 MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) An anti-nuclear waste campaign visited Montpelier Tuesday night, delivering a replica radioactive waste cask. The event was organized by the “Citizens Awareness Network” as part of a multi-stop tour throughout New England.
Activists say they are responding to a bill now in the U.S. Senate that would establish temporary mobile storage for high-level nuclear waste. The storage casks would travel from places like the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant and would be transported to southwestern states like Texas and New Mexico. The group’s goal is to leave the waste where it is, but better protected.
“We have to find a responsible way to deal with this waste and what the industry is trying to do is just get this waste off of their hands as quickly as possible,” said Tim Judson of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
“In New Mexico, we are concerned about not just our communities because of the storage, but the transport would impact everyone across the nation. Anywhere between a nuclear power plant and the waste site,” said Leona Morgan of the Nuclear Issues Study Group.
The nuclear cask will stop Wednesday night in Brattleboro at the Congregational Church.
. The storage casks would travel from places like the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant and would be transported to southwestern states like Texas and New Mexico. The group’s goal is to leave the waste where it is, but better protected.
“We have to find a responsible way to deal with this waste and what the industry is trying to do is just get this waste off of their hands as quickly as possible,” said Tim Judson of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
“In New Mexico, we are concerned about not just our communities because of the storage, but the transport would impact everyone across the nation. Anywhere between a nuclear power plant and the waste site,” said Leona Morgan of the Nuclear Issues Study Group.
The nuclear cask will stop Wednesday night in Brattleboro at the Congregational Church.
September 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
opposition to nuclear, USA |
Leave a comment
Growing Opposition Threatens Completion of Last U.S. Nuclear Plant
Primary owners of Georgia’s Vogtle power plant are set to vote on the project—already years behind schedule, billions over budget, WSJ, By Russell Gold
September 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
business and costs, USA |
Leave a comment
Democrats trying to ban low-yield nuclear warhead https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/09/20/democrats-trying-to-ban-low-yield-nuclear-warhead/
By: Joe Gould WASHINGTON – A group of Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to ban the Defense Department from developing a new
low-yield nuclear warhead, arguing it could fuel a dangerous arms race and hasten nuclear war.
The new warhead, for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, would also siphon money from other military needs, said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and four other lawmakers who co-sponsored the bill. Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, is a frequent critic of nuclear modernization costs and an opponent of this weapon in particular.
The move comes after Congress passed, and President Donald Trump signed, an appropriations package this month that applies $65 million to the program. The money pays to modify the W76-1 warhead for the Navy’s Trident II D5 ballistic missile into a W76-2 warhead. (The measure also orders a study of the weapon’s long-term costs.)
“We should not fund President Trump’s request for new low-yield nuclear weapons. His proposal dangerously lowers the threshold to nuclear use and siphons money away from genuine military readiness needs.” Smith said in a statement.
“We already have a nuclear deterrent that is more than adequate to achieve our national security goals. Funding new, low-yield weapons would only draw us further into an unnecessary nuclear arms race and increase the risks of miscalculation.”
The bill would prohibit the research, develop, production, and deployment of a low-yield nuclear warheads for submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
Sponsored by Smith, and Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif.; John Garamendi, D-Calif.; Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., it’s called the Hold the LYNE (Low-Yield Nuclear Explosive) Act. It’s just the latest push from Democrats in an ongoing battle.
The requirement for the weapon is part of the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review—meant to deter Russia from using its own arsenal of low-yield nuclear weapons. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and others have said Russia might attempt to use a tactical nuclear weapon to win a conventional war quickly.
The Defense Department requested $22.6 million for FY19 and $48.5 million spread over the life of the Future Years Defense Program, or FYDP, a series of projected numbers that cover through FY23, meaning the combined cost for the development in FY19 will be $87.6 million.
The lawmakers pointed to a Congressional Budget Office estimate last year that upgrading America’s nuclear weapons at $1.2 trillion over the next 30 years.
The bill has been endorsed by Arms Control Association, Global Zero, Union of Concerned Scientists, Ploughshares, Win Without War, and other nonproliferation advocates.
September 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, USA, weapons and war |
Leave a comment
California Gov. Brown Signs Historic Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Bill, https://www.powermag.com/press-releases/california-gov-brown-signs-historic-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-bill/Power Magazine, 09/20/2018 SACRAMENTO, CA – California Gov. Jerry Brown today signed into law a bill to protect the environment, workers, and local communities during the closure of California’s last nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo.Senate Bill 1090, which had wide bipartisan support, will help to ensure that the electricity generated by the giant plant is replaced with zero-carbon options led by energy efficiency and renewable energy. The new law also mandates full funding of a $350 million employee retention program and the $85 million community impact mitigation program, which are needed to ensure that the plant is adequately staffed and essential emergency services are provided through the end of the plant’s license period in 2025.
Plant owner Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), citizen and environmental groups including NRDC, and labor organizations in June 2016 announced an agreement to close the two reactors by August 2025 and replace their generation with lower-cost, zero-carbon alternatives. Their joint proposal asked the California Public Utilities Commission to authorize the replacement of the electricity being generated by the plant 250 miles south of San Francisco with emissions-free options led by energy efficiency, wind and solar power, and included protections for plant workers and surrounding communities during the transition. When the CPUC rejected much of the historic joint proposal in January, supporters turned to the Legislature.
Following is a statement from Ralph Cavanagh, energy program co-director at the Natural Resources Defense Council:
“Governor Brown made climate history again today when he signed this legislation to specifically authorize that Diablo Canyon’s electricity generation be replaced with carbon-free resources like energy efficiency and wind and solar power. This groundbreaking legislation also ensures that we account for the full impact of the plant’s closure on the workers and surrounding communities.”
September 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
employment, USA |
Leave a comment
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson told reporters that the agreement represents a major win for hundreds of workers who have been getting sick for years while cleaning up the nation’s nuclear waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington.
“Those workers deserve to be protected,” Ferguson said.
He added that the U.S. Department of Energy did not take the issue seriously and resisted putting protections in place.
“There’s no way to sugar coat this,” Ferguson said.
The Energy Department will for the first time test a new technology that Ferguson called “game-changing” that would protect workers from the vapor exposures.
Under the agreement, the agency will pay $925,000 in fees and costs to the state and Hanford Challenge, a watchdog group that has for decades been warning about worker safety. The agency will also install a new vapor monitoring and alarm system and maintain safety measures that are currently in place, including supplying air and respirators.
The Department of Energy said in an emailed statement that the agreement “acknowledges the extensive actions” that the agency, and its contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions LLC, have taken to protect workers from potential exposure to chemical vapors.
The agency said they continue to “take a very conservative approach to protecting workers from potential exposures to chemical vapors” and that agreement reinforces the ongoing effort.
The state, Hanford Challenge and the pipefitters union Local 598 sued the Energy Department in 2015 and its contractor for tank farms containing nuclear waste, seeking better protection for workers at risk of inhaling vapors or gases that leaked from underground storage tanks.
The agreement puts that federal lawsuit on hold while the Energy Department tests and implements a new system to capture and destroy vapors escaping waste tanks. Ferguson said if the federal agency doesn’t meet its obligations, legal action could resume.
“Hearing and documenting dozens of stories of sick workers was heartbreaking,” said Meredith Crafton, a lawyer representing Hanford Challenge, whose voice broke as she spoke to reporters.
The agreement protects workers in the interim but also creates incentives to find better technology to protect workers in the future, she said.
The 586-square-mile (943-square-kilometer) Hanford nuclear site located along the Columbia River in Eastern Washington state produced up to 70 percent of the plutonium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal since it was established in World War II.
Hanford has 177 underground tanks made of steel that contain more that 54 million gallons (204 million liters) of radioactive and chemical wastes.
Ferguson said studies over the last 20 years, including by the Energy Department and other government agencies, have shown workers falling ill after being exposed to the vapors. They’ve experienced dizziness, nausea and other issues.
September 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
employment, safety, USA |
Leave a comment
Big research payments in radiation oncology are distributed only to a few, Radiology Business, September 19, 2018 | Subrata Thakar |New research in the Journal of the American College of Radiology suggests an association between disclosed payment from the healthcare industry and increased individual productivity metrics.
September 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA |
Leave a comment
FT 18th Sept 2018 , As President Donald Trump weakens one environmental rule after another, the
deep green state of California has found a way to fight back: with a
rocket. “With science still under attack and the climate threat growing, we
are launching our own damn satellite,” declared Governor Jerry Brown,
explaining that the craft will track emissions and share the results. One
of the pollutants the satellite will measure is methane, a potent
greenhouse gas. Mr Brown’s declaration on Friday in San Francisco, came
just two days after the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington said
it wanted to relax methane rules. For California and Mr Brown, the
satellite is not only about monitoring methane monitoring but also shows
how much states can do themselves to fight climate change.
https://www.ft.com/content/aae5fe16-b91b-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5
September 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
climate change, USA |
Leave a comment
Vogtle’s Escalating Costs Concern Lawmakers, Stakeholders, Power magazine, 09/20/2018 | Sonal Patel, The Vogtle nuclear expansion’s “ever-escalating” cost is concerning several members of Georgia’s General Assembly, according to a letter sent to partners building the much-delayed project.
Twenty lawmakers from both houses of state government—19 Republicans and one Democrat—sent a letter to the board of directors at Georgia Power Co., Oglethorpe Power Co. (OPC), and Municipal Electric Authoity of Georgia (MEAG Power), lamenting continuing cost increases, and their impact on local utility rates, despite a change in project management eight months ago.
The lawmakers urged the utilities to ensure a cost cap is established before the utilities vote in support of moving forward with the project, as required by the amended co-owners agreement, before September 24. Georgia Power holds a 45.7% stake in the two-unit Plant Vogtle expansion, while OPC (30%), MEAG Power (22.7%), and Dalton Utilities (1.6%) hold the remaining shares. MEAG Power could vote as early as today (September 20). A 90% vote for the project is required for the project to continue……….
Legal Complications
As the fate of project grows murky, a legal battle is also brewing that involves the City of Jacksonville, Florida, and JEA, the city’s municipal utility that serves about 458,000 electric customers. The entities on September 11 asked a federal appeals court for a declaratory judgment on a power purchase agreement (PPA) the utility entered into with MEAG in 2008 for power from Vogtle Units 3 and 4, which were originally scheduled for completion in April 2016 and April 2017.
Completion dates have since been extended by five years: Unit 3 is expected to come online in November 2021, and Unit 4 in November 2022. “A new unlimited cost-plus reimbursement agreement was implemented without JEA’s approval in June 2017 after the project’s initial general contractor, Westinghouse, declared bankruptcy. The amended agreement has increased JEA’s liability from $1.4 billion to more than $2.9 billion—an uncapped and rising amount,” the company noted.
MEAG Power on September 11 filed its own lawsuit in the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta, claiming that the Florida entity became “irreversibly obligated” when the company entered into the PPA to pay its share regardless of “whether or not the project is completed or is operating or operable.”………https://www.powermag.com/vogtles-escalating-costs-concern-lawmakers-stakeholders/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTnpFNFpXUmpZbVJqWWpCbCIsInQiOiJOTXhEekNRSSszWDdKcEd5eWFKWm5YN3JpUjVPQXRWNm9ZVkJLbXNjbzF4M1o0Z2hBOHFRc2pucjBLS29xTVV5QW
September 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
business and costs, USA |
Leave a comment
Now’s the time for Utahns to comment on EnergySolutions’ dangerous exemption request, https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/letters/2018/09/20/letter-nows-time-utahns/ By Benjamin Silberman | The Public Forum
·EnergySolutions is requesting exemption from a law that prohibits the amount of depleted uranium (DU) that can come into Utah. When laws governing the disposal of nuclear waste were developed in the 1980s, byproducts like DU weren’t yet considered. So how can EnergySolutions ensure the safety of future generations from hazards like DU?
Currently, there are limits on DU concentrations and masses allowed in Utah, and any shipments above the limit require safety evaluations. EnergySolutions hopes to exceed these limits by bringing in DU munitions. While EnergySolutions insists that DU is less of a hazard in this form, advocacy groups like HEAL Utah and Utah Sierra Club have raised legitimate concerns.
Most concerning is that DU becomes “hotter” over time. While it begins as a low-level waste, its radioactivity increases for thousands of years. EnergySolutions’ Clive disposal site, just off Interstate 80, is in a particularly vulnerable area, is subject to flooding and will look vastly different in even 100 years. It’s unsettling that EnergySolutions thinks it has the power, and knowledge, to evade the law for something this capricious and uncertain.
There is a public comment period Sept. 6-Oct. 6 regarding EnergySolutions’ exemption request.
|
|
|
September 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
depleted uranium, USA, wastes |
Leave a comment
Air Force: Space Force would cost $13 billion over 5 years, SF Chronicle, Sep. 17, 2018 WASHINGTON (AP) — Creating a Space Force as a separate military service, as proposed by President Donald Trump, would cost an estimated $12.9 billion in its first five years, according to a detailed Air Force plan for how to go about it.
This is the first publicly available cost estimate. When the White House announced plans to establish a Space Force in August, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan declined to give a figure but said it would be in “the billions.”
The Air Force’s estimate is contained in a Sept. 14 memo from Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, who proposed that the Pentagon ask Congress for the authority and money to establish a Space Force headquarters in 2020……..
In an indication of the complexities of creating a new military service, the Air Force says the proposed U.S. Space Force would be a separate department organized under a civilian secretary appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, along with an undersecretary, four assistant secretaries, a chief lawyer, an inspector general and a legislative liaison. A four-star general would serve as chief of staff.
The proposal said the missions of Space Force would include missile defense. More broadly, it would be “responsible for the preparation of forces necessary for the effective prosecution of war.”
In June, Trump directed the Pentagon to create a “separate but equal” space force. In August, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the administration will work with Congress to come up with a workable approach. The last time the U.S. created a new military service was in 1947 when the Air Force was established as an independent service. https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/politics/article/Air-Force-Space-Force-Would-Cost-13-Billion-13236410.php?utm_campaign=twitter-premium&utm_source=CMS%20Sharing%20Button&
September 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
USA, weapons and war |
Leave a comment
The Energy 202: Hurricane Florence blows hole in Trump team’s case for helping coal and nuclear power, critics say, WP, By Dino Grandoni,18 September 18 Hurricane Florence has blown a hole in the Trump administration’s argument that bolstering nuclear and coal-fired power is essential to providing reliable electricity to homes and businesses, especially during times of crisis, according to energy experts long critical of the plan.
For months, the Department of Energy has considered throwing a lifelineto that sector of the power market to make the electric grid more resilient to natural and man-made disasters. The Trump administration has been preparing to use a Cold War-era law, once marshaled by President Harry S. Truman to secure U.S. steel production, to compel regional grid operators to buy electricity from nuclear and coal plants.
The rationale is that only these two types of generation regularly have enough fuel on site to run for when national security is threatened. Wind turbines and solar panels only generate electricity when the weather is right while natural gas stations often have their fuel pipelined in from afar.
But hours before the once powerful hurricane made landfall in North Carolina on Friday, Duke Energy shut down its two reactors at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant near Wilmington, N.C. in anticipation of high winds. The temporary shutdown illustrates how many other factors beyond just fuel stored on site affect grid reliability.
“There are so many flaws to their argument, we hardly need this to add,” said David Hart, professor of public policy at George Mason University. “There are lots of better ways to get reliability than to stockpile a lot of fuel.”
……..The Energy Department has yet to detail exactly what the plan to bolster coal and nuclear will look like after Trump ordered aid in June. The request comes as expensive coal and nuclear assets are retiring across the country in the face of competition from cheaper natural gas and renewable energy resources……..https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2018/09/18/the-energy-202-hurricane-florence-blows-hole-in-trump-team-s-case-for-helping-coal-and-nuclear-power-critics-say/5ba022621b326b47ec9596b9/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.66a830d4f690
September 19, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, USA |
Leave a comment
Ars Technica 16thSept 2018 , Though economics might not favor nuclear power in the US, policy makers do.
Last week, the House passed a bipartisan bill that originated in the Senate
called the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act (S. 97), which will
allow the private sector to partner with US National Laboratories to vet
advanced nuclear technologies.
The bill also directs the Department of
Energy (DOE) to lay the ground work for establishing “a versatile,
reactor-based fast neutron source.” The Senate also introduced a second
bill called the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (S. 3422) last Thursday,
which would direct the DOE actually establish that fast neutron reactor.
That bill also directs the DOE to “make available high-assay, low-enriched
uranium” for research purposes. The Nuclear Energy Leadership Act has not
yet made it past a Senate vote.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/09/us-congress-passes-bill-to-help-advanced-nuclear-power/
September 18, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, USA |
Leave a comment
Toshiba in talks with Brookfield for U.K. nuclear unit sale: sources, Globe and Mail , REUTER, SEPTEMBER 18, 2018 Toshiba Corp is in talks with Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Inc for the potential sale of its UK nuclear unit NuGen, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Brookfield has emerged as one of several new candidates since Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) lost its preferred bidder status in July, said the source, who declined to be identified as the talks are private.
The talks, first reported by the Financial Times, are at an early stage, the source said. ………
The NuGen project in Moorside, northwest England, was expected to provide around 7 per cent of Britain’s electricity, but faced setbacks after Toshiba’s nuclear arm Westinghouse went bankrupt last year.
NuGen said last week it has cut the team working on its project, to fewer than 40 people from more than 100 as a sale of the project is taking longer than expected. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-toshiba-in-talks-with-brookfield-for-sale-of-uk-nuclear-unit-report/
September 18, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
business and costs, Canada |
Leave a comment
Congress looking for money for cities hit by nuclear plant closures — including Diablo Canyon,The Tribune BY KAYTLYN LESLIE, kleslie@thetribunenews.com, September 17, 2018
Congress wants to find money to support communities where nuclear power plants are being decommissioned — which could mean some funding for San Luis Obispo County once Diablo Canyon starts the process itself in the coming years.
Congressman Salud Carbajal announced Monday that Congress directed the U.S. Department of Energy to study public and private funding sources available to help those communities, as part of its Fiscal Year 2019 Energy and Water, Legislative Branch and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act (HR 5895).
“With the impending Diablo Canyon Power Plant closure, I am working to secure all available federal resources to help offset the economic impact of this decommissioning,” Carbajal said in a news release. Carbajal, a Democrat, represents California’s 24th Congressional District, which spans between San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties.
The Department of Energy study will focus on identifying public and private funds to support municipalities where a nuclear power plant is decommissioned, in the process of decommissioning or plans to shut down within three years of the act’s enactment, and contains nuclear waste within its boundaries, according to the news release.
The bill passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate and is set to be signed into law by President Donald Trump sometime before the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30……. https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article218563600.html
September 18, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
decommission reactor, USA |
Leave a comment
The country doesn’t need “parking lot dumps for interim storage,”
“We as communities want it out of here. We want it to be in safe place where its never moved again. We think it’s lunacy to move it twice.”
Waste Control Specialists has been lobbying federal officials to establish an interim high-level waste repository
Anti-nuclear groups urge action against national waste dump https://www.recorder.com/CAN-plans-nuclear-waste-speaking-tour-20148074 By RICHIE DAVIS
Staff Writer, September 15, 2018
With closure and dismantling of the Yankee Atomic plant in Rowe and now Vermont Yankee and other New England nuclear sites pretty much a fait accompli, watchdog groups like Citizens Awareness Network are focused on the one tremendous remaining issue: the high-level nuclear waste remaining on the reactor sites.
CAN is planning a tour with a giant can — a 32-foot-long wooden mock-up of a radioactive waste cask — and an array of speakers to speak about what the organization calls “the abdication by the federal government and the nuclear industry” to deal with high-level nuclear waste “stranded” at nuclear sites around. Continue reading →
September 17, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
USA, wastes |
Leave a comment
nuclear-news 