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Danger of toxic wastes sites, as Hurricane Florence heads to USA coast

Officials prep toxic waste sites, nuclear power plants ahead of Hurricane Florence’s arrival, By Amanda Schmidt, AccuWeather staff writer, September 12, 2018,   Hurricane Florence could cause an environmental and public health disaster, as heavy rains may overwhelm pits holding toxic waste from power plants, industrial sites or animal-manure lagoons. This toxic waste could wash into homes and threaten drinking water supplies………

Hurricane Florence could cause an environmental and public health disaster, as heavy rains may overwhelm pits holding toxic waste from power plants, industrial sites or animal-manure lagoons. This toxic waste could wash into homes and threaten drinking water supplies.  …….
To prepare for the storm, nuclear operators check on backup diesel generators to make sure they have enough fuel, conduct site walk downs and secure any loose equipment that could become a projectile in the wind, Roger Hannah, spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Region 2 office in Atlanta, said to Reuters on Tuesday. …….https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/toxic-sludge-and-pig-manure-to-add-to-dangers-of-hurricane-florence/70006035

September 14, 2018 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

North Carolina nuclear stations- danger of spent nuclear fuel over-heating , in the event of an accident

Steve Dale  Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch South Australia,  14 Sept 18       This report on North Carolina reactors by the Union of Concerned Scientists –
“Today more than 3,400 metric tons of spent fuel is stored in North Carolina. Over 85% of that spent fuel is stored in large pools of water called spent fuel pools, which are equipped with systems to cool the water that surrounds the hot fuel rods.”
“While concerns about nuclear power safety often focus on the fuel in the reactor core, spent fuel stored in pools also can be a major source of radioactivity during an accident. If water drains from the pool for even a few hours or the cooling system is interrupted for several days, the spent fuel could overheat and its cladding could break open, releasing radioactive material. And because the pools are located outside the thick, concrete containment walls, it is more likely that this radioactive material would reach the environment”

The report was done back in 2011, so not sure if things have improved since then. https://www.ucsusa.org/…/nuclear-power-safety-in-north…   https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021186047913052/permalink/2113650401999939/?comment_id=2114177665280546&notif_id=1536813900482985&notif_t=group_comment

September 14, 2018 Posted by | safety, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

USA – new sanctions on Chinese and Russian companies, over North Korea nuclear program

U.S. announces fresh sanctions over N.K. nuclear program, http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2018/09/13/0401000000AEN20180913011200315.html

2018/09/13 WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) — The United States on Thursday sanctioned two companies in China and Russia for allegedly facilitating North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

The Department of the Treasury also sanctioned a North Korean individual in the latest set of sanctions aimed at denuclearizing the regime.

September 14, 2018 Posted by | politics international, USA | Leave a comment

 JEA and the city of Jacksonville sue to get out of Georgia nuclear contract

JEA sues to get out of Georgia nuclear contract https://www.news4jax.com/news/jea-sues-to-get-out-of-nuclear-plant-contract, Lawsuit filed in Florida court same day Georgia utility filed federal suit, By Steve Patrick – News4Jax digital managing editor, September 12, 2018 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – JEA and the city of Jacksonville have filed a complaint with a Florida court asking for declaratory judgment on an agreement with the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) agreeing to power electricity from Plant Vogtle, a nuclear power plant under construction in Georgia.

JEA entered into the power purchase agreement in 2008. The power provided under the agreement was to be from two new Plant Vogtle units that would provide power to JEA customers in addition to ratepayers across Georgia beginning in April 2016. The project was expected to cost $9.5 billion in direct costs ($14.8 billion total, including indirect and financing costs). The total cost of the portion attributable to JEA was $1.4 billion. The project cost was capped under the 2008 agreement.

Today, the project’s total cost-to-completion estimates have increased to more than $30 billion, with no guarantees that costs could grow beyond that and with a delayed completion date of November 2021.

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 to more than $2.9 billion, although that amount is uncapped and has continued to rise.

The city and JEA’s complaint seeks to clarify the validity of the amended purchase power agreement. It was never approved by the Jacksonville City Council and the JEA and city lawyers believe the agreement violates the Florida Constitution, and therefore should be void and is unenforceable.

The suit was filed in an effort to protect JEA’s ratepayers from the escalating costs from the project.

“It has become clear that this purchase agreement should be considered ‘ultra vires’ since it was implemented without the approval of the City Council, which violates Florida law,” JEA Interim Managing Director Aaron Zahn said. “A favorable judgment from the court deeming the agreement void will have the added benefit of providing relief to ratepayers across northeast Florida from having to shoulder the financial burden of this project.”

The complaint was filed in the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida Tuesday, the same day that MEAG Power filed a breach of contract lawsuit against JEA in the Federal Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

September 14, 2018 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Hinkley nuclear project: Court orders EDF to provide full project risk report to Central Works Council (CCE)

L’usine nouvelle 12th Sept 2018 , [Machine Translation] EDF will have to consult the CCE again on Hinkley
Point. EDF will again have to consult the Central Works Council (CCE) on
the construction of two EPR reactors as part of the Hinkley Point project
in England, the CCE announced Wednesday in a statement.
The CCE appealed to
the courts in June 2016 to request the submission of additional information
on this major project. A court of appeal was right, saying that EDF had not
communicated to staff representatives “objective, accurate and complete
information up to the technical and financial issues raised by the project
HPC” and therefore had them not allowed “to give a reasoned opinion on this
project,” writes the CCE in a statement.
The court ordered EDF to inform the staff representatives of the full project risk analysis report within
one month and asked management to consult the EAC again within two months
adds the latter.
https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/edf-devra-a-nouveau-consulter-le-cce-sur-hinkley-point.N740494

September 14, 2018 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

New Jersey’s nuclear subsidy means a loss to electricity consumers

 Consumers lose in nuclear subsidy plan, North Jersey Record Sept. 12, 2018 New Jersey’s nuclear subsidy idea was a loser from the start. Legislators earlier this year bowed to Public Service Enterprise Group’s insistence on financial help from consumers to keep South Jersey nuclear plants afloat — meaning to make them more profitable — and signed off on a $300 million plan.

Of course, lawmakers told us that the money merely represented a maximum, and that a Board of Public Utilities review would determine how much assistance — if any — the plants would receive. That process began last week, and officials have been tossing around a lot of political-sounding comments about extensive scrutiny of the nuclear applications — as if awards weren’t already essentially a done deal.

In a press release, BPU President Joseph Fiordaliso said the board and its staff take their responsibilities seriously, and will determine whether subsidies are warranted. Yet legislators and the governor have already decided they are; that was the whole argument in favor of the subsidies bill, that the plants wouldn’t stay open without help, that New Jersey needs nuclear power, and that the $300 million figure was an appropriate number to put in place. The final subsidies may not hit that number on the nose, but we can certainly assume they won’t be far off.

It’s also no secret New Jersey consumers will be forced to foot the profitability bill not only for PSEG’s South Jersey plants, but also for nuclear plants in other states that contribute to the PJM Interconnection regional energy grid.

What will those states be doing to benefit us? Nothing, basically…………https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/editorials/2018/09/12/editorial-nj-consumers-lose-nuclear-subsidy-plan/1270890002/

environmentalists have maintained that the subsidy bill will prop up an outdated source of power at the expense of wind and solar energy, one more part of the governor’s often confusing, hopscotch approach to satisfying the state’s energy needs. Rival power companies have called the nuclear subsidy unfair to a company that reported $558 million in net income for the first three months of this year. And large power users said the subsidy would drive up costs and discourage innovation.

All of this, however, begs the question: Why couldn’t the amount of the subsidies have been determined before legislators created the pot of cash from which they will be taken? The plants aren’t losing money; they’re just not generating enough profit. PSEG won’t open its books to the public. Yet lawmakers felt compelled to announce to one and all upfront that as much as $300 million might be needed to get the job done. That taints everything moving forward………https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/editorials/2018/09/12/editorial-nj-consumers-lose-nuclear-subsidy-plan/1270890002/

September 14, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Hurricane Florence downgraded from Category 4 to Category 2 – less dangerous

This is good news for the nuclear reactors in its path.  However, as torrential rain is predicted, it surely still remains a threat to reactors close to the sea in low-lying areas.
Hurricane Florence weakened to Category 2 by ‘tremendous’ wind shear 
By Chelsea Prince Zachary Hansen, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  Sept 13, 2018 Hurricane Florence has weakened to a Category 2 storm in the Atlantic Ocean, according to the 11 p.m. projection by the National Hurricane Center.
Florence likely won’t restrengthen into a Category 3 before making landfall near the South Carolina-North Carolina border, making it is no longer a major hurricane, according to the latest forecast from Channel 2 Action News chief meteorologist Glenn Burns……..https://www.ajc.com/weather/hurricane-florence-could-impact-georgia-new-models-show/oxIM1OXOMNmJr6iolJqodM/

Of course, the nuclear propagandists hasten to tell us that there’s “no problem” . James Conca writes in Forbes, Hurricane Florence No Problem  For Nuclear Power Plants, (Forbes,  12/09/18) “…….. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is watching carefully. But no one is really worried that much will happen, contrary to lots of antinuclear fearmongering.”

September 13, 2018 Posted by | climate change, safety, USA | Leave a comment

Fukushima in America? Twelve Nuclear Power Plants in Path of Hurricane Florence

At least twelve operating nuclear reactors are in the predicted path of Hurricane Florence, which has been upgraded to a category 4 storm as it surges toward the U.S. East Coast. According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which offers an interactive map of active nuclear reactors, two plants are vulnerable to both heavy rainfall and the expected storm surge which could bring a surge of up to 20 feet of ocean water pouring into coastal areas.

Those two reactors, located NE of Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, are known as “Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Unit 1” and “Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Unit 1.”

Each unit produces nearly 1,000 MWe of electricity, and they are both built on the General Electric “Type 4” power plant design, which is almost identical to the GE nuclear power plant design used in the Fukushima-Daiichi reactors in Japan. All of these reactors are designed and constructed as “boiling-water reactors” or BWRs. The designs are decades old, and they are subject to catastrophic failures and even core meltdowns that release radioactive isotopes directly into the atmosphere and surrounding areas……… https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-09-1

September 13, 2018 Posted by | safety, USA | 1 Comment

Nuclear authorities make reassuring noises about Hurricane Florence, and don’t mention radioactive waste dumps

at left – Dr Pangloss who famously proclaimed “Everything for the best, in the best of all possible worlds”

Six nuclear power plants are in Hurricane Florence’s path, officials say, CNN, By Ellie Kaufman, Gregory Wallace and Rene Marsh, CNN  September 13, 2018 “……..The six nuclear power plants in North and South Carolina sit directly in the storm’s projected path, according to Mary Catherine Green, spokeswoman for Duke Energy, which owns all six.

Duke’s Brunswick Nuclear Plant and its Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant near Raleigh, both in North Carolina, are the closest to where the hurricane is forecast to make landfall, Green said.
In a press briefing, Jeff Byard, associate administrator for the FEMA Office of Response and Recovery, said the agency was not concerned about the power plants in the storm’s path “at this time.”……
However, The Union of Concerned Scientists, a science-oriented public policy organization, is concerned about the Brunswick plant’s ability to withstand the storm, because of what the group says is a lack of publicly available information about the plant’s readiness. According to the group, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not released public information validating that the plant has been properly updated to protect against flooding.
In 2012, Duke Energy reported to the NRC that there were hundreds of “missing or degraded flood barriers” at the plant. The follow-up report sent to the NRC by Duke Energy in 2015 was not made publicly available, according to The Union of Concerned Scientists.
NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said if the report wasn’t made public it may have been because the report contained security-related information, but he wasn’t aware of the 2015 report’s status. ……….https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/12/us/nuclear-plants-hurricane/index.html

September 13, 2018 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

At least 6 nuclear reactors are in the path of Hurricane Florence

As 1.5 Million Flee Hurricane Florence, Worries Grow Over Half Dozen Nuclear Power Plants in Storm’s Path https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/09/11/15-million-flee-hurricane-florence-worries-grow-over-half-dozen-nuclear-power-plants– September 11, 2018
“Flooding-prone Brunswick Nuclear Plant among rickety old Fukushima-style reactors in likely path of Hurricane Florence.”
by Julia Conley, staff writer  

With 1.5 million residents now under orders toevacuate their homes in preparation for Hurricane Florence’s landfall in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, the region faces the possibility of catastrophe should the storm damage one or more of the nuclear power plants which lie in its potential path.

As the Associated Press reported on Monday, “The storm’s potential path also includes half a dozen nuclear power plants, pits holding coal-ash and other industrial waste, and numerous eastern hog farms that store animal waste in massive open-air lagoons.”

The plants thought to lie in the path of the hurricane, which is expected to make landfall on the Southeastern U.S. coast on Thursday, include North Carolina’s Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant in Southport, Duke Energy Sutton Steam Plant in Wilmington, and South Carolina’s V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville.

“Florence will approach the Carolina coast Thursday night into Friday with winds in excess of 100mph along with flooding rains. This system will approach the Brunswick Nuclear Plant as well as the Duke-Sutton Steam Plant,” Ed Vallee, a North Carolina-based meteorologist, told Zero Hedge. “Dangerous wind gusts and flooding will be the largest threats to these operations with inland plants being susceptible to inland flooding.”

In 2015, the Huffington Post and Weather.com identified Brunswick as one of the East Coast’s most at-risk nuclear power plants in the event of rising sea levels and the storm surges that come with them.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Hurricane Florence was thought to have the potential to cause “massive damage to our country” according to Jeff Byard, associate administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The storm was labeled a Category 4 tropical storm with the potential to become a Category 5 as it nears the coast, with 130 mile-per-hour winds blowing about 900 miles off the coast of Cape Fear, North Carolina.

Meteorologists warned of hurricane-force winds in the region by mid-day Thursday, with storm surges reaching up to 12 feet or higher.

September 12, 2018 Posted by | climate change, safety, USA | Leave a comment

Critics becoming more concerned about safety issues in Texas nuclear waste storage plan

A Texas waste storage plan is back. So is the opposition, Edward Klump, E&E News reporter, Energywire: Tuesday, September 11, 2018 A proposal to send used nuclear fuel to West Texas didn’t end last year, but it did stall during a trip to corporate purgatory.

Now a joint venture called Interim Storage Partners LLC has the plan moving forward again. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently restarted its review of a consolidated interim storage application for a site in Andrews County, Texas. And the NRC staff’s safety, security and environmental reviews could be finished in summer 2020.

Critics are worried about what’s brewing. They’re asking questions and hoping for more public meetings. Some would like to halt the project. One of the chief opponents knows the proposal won’t be easy to stop, but she’s working to rally Texans and others against the plan.

“Most people don’t even know this is happening,” said Karen Hadden, executive director of the Texas-based Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition. “The public is unaware, and they’re unaware of the risks that they are about to be exposed to.”

The project is another flashpoint in a long-running debate over nuclear energy and associated waste after a number of U.S. nuclear plants stopped producing power or announced plans to close. Congress has considered legislation that could help pave the way for interim storage facilities in Texas and New Mexico as well as a longer-term site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Hadden has voiced concern about those three sites and potential plans to transport nuclear waste across the country.

The spent fuel storage plan for West Texas is tied to Waste Control Specialists (WCS), which has endured financial issues and houses low-level radioactive waste in the region. A plan by Valhi Inc. to unload WCS to EnergySolutions collapsed in 2017. Early this year, J.F. Lehman & Co. announced that an investment affiliate had acquired WCS. That was followed in March by news of a planned venture involving Orano USA and WCS (Energywire, March 19).

The new Orano-WCS entity — now called Interim Storage Partners, or ISP — later sought a restart of the NRC review that was halted in 2017. In August of this year, the NRC said the revised application was acceptable but that additional information would be sought.

“The NRC staff has reviewed your request and concludes that the revised license application provides information sufficient to resume its detailed review,” the NRC said in a letter.

Jeff Isakson, chief executive of ISP, said in a recent statement that ISP looked forward “to an energized and timely process.”

‘Snickering and giggling’

ISP said its venture initially is intended to store used nuclear fuel from shutdown reactor locations. That would lower the burden on U.S. taxpayers and allow sites to be redeveloped, it said. The application is for 40 years, though it could be extended by decades…….

A license application with the NRC said Orano USA ultimately is majority owned and controlled by an entity of the French government. But ISP has said its governing officers and management board members are U.S. citizens……..

Much of nuclear waste critics’ focus had turned to an interim storage proposal from Holtec International for New Mexico. That plan is also under review at the NRC (Greenwire, May 9).

While Hadden said there was “a nice reprieve” on the West Texas proposal, she said “the threat is ever-present and on the burner now.”

Instead of using the proposed interim sites or Yucca Mountain, Hadden would like to see the United States pursue a new location for a permanent repository that’s geologically sound and uses improved storage technology.

A public step in the process for the West Texas site was evident in late August: a meeting about the emergency response plan. Representatives of the NRC, ISP and other interested parties attended in person in Maryland or on the phone.

The meeting covered aspects of the response plan and gave people a chance to interact. At one point, a speaker said that “nobody lives anywhere near us.” That was followed by a description of the location as “in the middle of stinking nowhere.” The remarks drew laughter as well as an unhappy response from a listener on the phone who wasn’t sure who made them.

“There was a statement made about this site being in the middle of nowhere, and there was some snickering and giggling,” said Monica Perales, an attorney. “I live in the middle of nowhere, and that’s not appreciated.”

In an interview last week, Perales said the attitude during the meeting “made me feel as though we in West Texas are expendable.”

………Critics remain concerned about transportation, including the potential effects on cities and the potential for terrorists to target waste.

Hadden has called for public meetings in places such as Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Midland, El Paso and Andrews County to discuss issues related to possible interim nuclear waste storage in Texas. She’s working on a public awareness campaign that’s expected to take place later this month and run into October, featuring a full-scale mock radioactive waste transport cask.

Hadden argued future NRC requests for additional information could bring up new issues the public should be able to examine, so NRC deadlines should be extended. Critics say there is already a new financial situation to analyze in terms of ISP’s involvement.……….https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060096457

September 12, 2018 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

More $millions for nuclear weapons in US spending bill

Nuclear weapons budget gets boost in US spending bill,  Defense News, By: Joe Gould and Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON 11 Sept 18

   — Congress could, in the coming days, finalize a nuclear weapons budget that adds $458 million in 2019 over last year, after a conference committee released a compromise funding plan on Monday.

The plan calls for $44.6 billion in Department of Energy appropriations, with $11.1 billion for weapons activities within the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous office of the Department of Energy that has oversight for the U.S. nuclear warhead stockpile.

The number includes full funding of life-extension programs for nuclear weapons at $1.92 billion, which supports NNSA’s efforts to sustain and upgrade U.S. nuclear warheads and their supporting infrastructure, in line with the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review.

Still, there are questions whether NNSA’s five major modernization programs will be funded in the future — and the bill orders cost estimates related to several capabilities……

The Nuclear Posture Review, released Feb. 2, called for the development of two new nuclear weapons capabilities, as well as heavy investment in infrastructure to support the nuclear arsenal. A Government Accountability Office report warned last year that five major modernization programs that will be underfunded in the coming years.

Lawmakers are expected to vote later this week on a funding package that also includes the full-year appropriations for Veterans Affairs, military construction, the legislative branch and a few other agencies. Congress has until the end of September to finalize all of its government-spending bills, or face a possible partial government shutdown.
The nuclear weapons funding looks like a win for President Donald Trump, who had sought to expand America’s nuclear arsenal and requested a 17.5 percent increase for NNSA over the previous year’s request as the administration seeks to refresh and improve America’s nuclear arsenal.

The bill, according to a joint explanatory statement, provides $65 million to the controversiallow-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile, as expected. That program involves modifying the W76-1 warhead for the Navy’s Trident II D5 ballistic missile into W76-2 warheads, as outlined in the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review…….

The Congressional Budget Office estimated last year the 30-year cost of America’s nuclear forces at $1.2 trillion; more than $800 billion to operate and incrementally upgrade nuclear forces and about $400 billion to modernize them. https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/09/11/nuclear-weapons-budget-gets-boost-in-us-spending-bill/

September 12, 2018 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

American politicians pushing to have tax-payers fund new nuclear

Bipartisan senators seek to revive nuclear energy investment, Utility Dive, Iulia Gheorghiu
Dive Brief:

  • Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced a nuclear energy bill with a group of bipartisan senators Thursday, seeking more action from the Department of Energy (DOE) in support of advanced nuclear energy goals.
  • The bill would extend the maximum length for federal power purchase agreements (PPA) from 10 years to 40, to accommodate the long life and costs of nuclear plants.
  • The bill also seeks to enhance federal investment in the nuclear industry, establishing facilities to test and develop advanced nuclear reactors and to develop domestic capabilities to produce the type of uranium needed for advanced reactors.

Dive Insight:While nuclear advocates are already lauding the ambitious scope of the bill, it may not have much chance to pass based on other policy priorities this late into the legislative session.

“But it will definitely be a top priority for us next year and shows very solid bipartisan momentum for advanced nuclear,” Darren Goode, spokesperson for the conservative consulting group ClearPath, wrote Utility Dive via email.

ClearPath supports advanced nuclear reactor development and the group’s president, Jay Faison, recently penned a piece with Murkowski regarding the need for nuclear energy in rural communities.

“Whether it gets done in this session or it gets reintroduced the next session, directionally, I think it’s a key message from the congress to the executive branch,” Chris Colbert, chief strategy officer for the advanced nuclear developer NuScale Power, told Utility Dive.

NuScale is the closest company to commercial deployment of a small modular reactor in the U.S., with the first plant to use NuScale technology scheduled to be online in 2026, Colbert said.  The PPA extension would “clearly help with near-term deployment for the NuScale plant,” he said. The plant will have a 60-year life, making the possibility of a 40-year PPA “that much stronger to help with the project.”

The bill seeks to extend PPAs since more than a decade is needed to pay for the initial capital costs for nuclear reactors. Besides creating an extension for federal PPAs, the bill directs the DOE to partner with industry and purchase a longer-term nuclear PPA as part of a pilot program to use the new technology to increase reliability and resilience for critical grid assets.

The plant using NuScale technology, under development at the Idaho National Laboratory, is a testament to the importance of federal funding, research and development. Republican Idaho Sens. James Risch and Mike Crapo co-sponsored the bill and praised the ongoing work in their statements.

“The research and advances in nuclear energy being achieved by the experts at Idaho National Lab will be supported well into the future under this legislation,” Crapo said in a statement. he bill directs the DOE to establish specific advanced nuclear reactor R&D goals and a 10-year strategic plan for the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy to meet those goals, while also creating an education program to help meet nuclear energy workforce needs……..https://www.utilitydive.com/news/bipartisan-senators-seek-to-revive-nuclear-energy-investment/531917/

September 12, 2018 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Transfer of nuclear wastes to canisters is on hold. NRC to inspect SanOnofre nuclear station

NRC To Inspect San Onofre Nuclear Plant After Waste Canister Incident, NPR, 10 Sep 18,  The transfer of nuclear waste to storage canisters at the San Onofre nuclear power plant in southern California has been put on hold, after a near accident last month. The plant closed in 2013.

RACHEL MARTIN HOST:  The San Onofre nuclear power plant in Southern California was officially shut down back in 2013. But a plan to transfer the spent fuel into storage canisters on the site has run into problems. The efforts to store the waste have been put on hold after a near accident last month. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is sending an inspection team there this week to review what happened. Alison St. John of member station KPBS has the story.

SOUNDBITE OF WAVES CRASHING)

ALISON ST JOHN, BYLINE: The waves break against aseawall here at San Onofre State Beach. Behind me, surfers skim the water. This is one of the top five most popular state parks in California with 2.5 million visitors a year. To my left, just on the other side of the seawall, lie rows and rows of concrete bunkers. Many of them are already full of high-level nuclear waste from the nuclear power plant that’s been decommissioned.

MIKE AGUIRRE: It’s a ticking time bomb. It’s a sword of Damocles, and it’s hanging over our head.

ST JOHN: In 2015, attorney Mike Aguirre filed suit against the California Coastal Commission for granting a permit to store the waste on-site right next to the Pacific Ocean.

AGUIRRE: There will be a major problem – incident – at San Onofre sometime. It may be in the short term. It may be in the long term.

ST JOHN: The nuclear power plant shut down six years ago after its operator, Southern California Edison, discovered a radioactive leak in new steam generators. With no permanent storage site for the nation’s nuclear waste, Edison decided to store the highly radioactive spent fuel rods on-site in partially buried canisters embedded in concrete about 100 feet from the high-tide line.

AGUIRRE: San Onofre is a national problem if there’s a major incident there because it will affect the economy of this whole region.

ST JOHN: Concern was heightened when this happened. At a recent community meeting, David Fritch, a safety inspector, stood up to speak.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DAVID FRITCH: I may not have a job tomorrow for what I’m about to say, but that’s fine ’cause I made a promise to my daughter that if no one else talked about what happened, I would.

ST JOHN: Fritch described a near accident when a canister of radioactive spent fuel being transferred from a cooling pond got hung up as it was being lowered into a concrete vault………….

GREG JACZKO: Realistically, they’re not going to move them out.

ST JOHN: Jaczko headed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2012 when San Onofre was shut down.

JACZKO: So those permits will be extended, the operational period will be extended repeatedly, and you will have a de facto burial site there.

ST JOHN: Jaczko is one of a growing number of voices raising the alarm about the decision to bury the spent fuel near the beach. An estimated 8 million people live within 50 miles of San Onofre. And of course there’s earthquakes and the possibility that sea level rise could eventually reach the bottom of the canisters before they’re moved. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will evaluate Edison’s handling of the near miss accident and decide when the company can resume transferring the waste from cooling pools into the bunkers by the sea. For NPR News, I’m Alison St. John in San Diego.(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) https://www.npr.org/2018/09/10/646213870/nrc-to-inspect-san-onofre-nuclear-plant-after-waste-canister-incident

September 12, 2018 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Never mind Trump’s energy policies; California is going for 100% renewable energy

BBC 10th Sept 2018 , California has passed a law committing to exclusively carbon-free
electricity sources by 2045, setting it against US President Donald Trump’s
energy policy. “There is no understating the importance of this measure,”
Governor Jerry Brown said, and vowed to honour the 2015 Paris climate deal.
Last year Mr Trump said he would pull the US out of the deal and negotiate
a new “fair” deal for US businesses. California is the second US state
after Hawaii to commit to carbon-free energy. Were it to be an independent
country, California would have the fifth largest economy in the world, trailing

only Germany, Japan, China and the US. At a signing ceremony in
the state capital Sacramento, Mr Brown vowed to meet the terms of the Paris
agreement and to “continue down that path to transition our economy to zero
carbon emissions”. Under the terms of the legislation, all utility c
ompanies must get 60% of their energy from renewable sources by 2030. By
2045, all Californian electricity must come from carbon-free or renewable
energy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45476865

Time 10th Sept 2018 Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Monday that puts California – the
world’s fifth largest economy if it was an independent country – on an
ambitious path: using 100% clean electricity by 2045.
,http://time.com/5391881/brown-signs-bill-100-percent-clean-energy-california/

 

September 12, 2018 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

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