USA Federal regulators approve permit for new nuclear reactor in New Jersey
Permit for a new nuclear reactor in N.J. OK’d by feds, By Bill Gallo Jr. | For NJ.com 28 Apr 16, Federal regulators have OK’d a key permit that would be needed for the construction of a new nuclear reactor in New Jersey, officials said Thursday.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, following numerous reviews, found that PSEG Nuclear met all safety and environmental requirements needed for the Early Site Permit.
That permit is not a green light for the utility to build a new reactor at its generating site at Artificial Island along the Delaware River in Lower Alloways Creek Township.
The permit will be good for 20 years. It does not, however, mean that PSEG Nuclear is ready to put a shovel into the ground. Many federal, state and local approvals would still be needed.
“This is an important final step to have the ESP issued,” said Joe Delmar, spokesman for PSEG Nuclear. “It provides us with a 20-year window to pursue a construction and operating license.” PSEG Nuclear has said during the application process that it was not ready to build another plant, but wanted to be prepared…..
The decision for the permit does not have to go before the full NRC board of commissioners.
This is only the fifth Early Site Permit ever issued by the NRC, according to Sheehan. In 2007 the agency enacted the rule that allowed utility companies to bank approval for a new plant until they, the utility, decided to build……
PSEG Nuclear currently operates three reactors —€” Salem 1, Salem 2 and Hope Creek. The plants, three of the four nuclear rectors now operating in New Jersey, comprise the second-largest nuclear generating complex in the U.S. Only the Palo Verde plant in the Arizona desert generates more power.
All three of the PSEG Nuclear reactors have been granted 20-year licenses extensions.
The utility has chosen a site north of its Hope Creek reactor on Artificial Island as the site where a new plant could be constructed. If another plant is built the utility has already said it would build a second access road to the Island from the mainland.
Depending on the size of the reactor, a new plant could cost upwards of $15 billion, according to some estimates. Any new reactor would also require the construction of a cooling tower to cut down on the amount of water drawn for cooling purposes from the Delaware River.
Currently, PSEG Nuclear’s Hope Creek plant has a cooling tower, but its Salem 1 and Salem 2 units do not. Those two reactors, when operating at full power, draw in and return to the Delaware River approximately three billion gallons of water a day.
Environmentalists oppose any plans for a new reactor at the Island.
“It’s unnecessary, not needed and there are real safety issues we are concerned about,’ Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said Thursday.
He said the project would require the filling in of hundreds of acres of sensitive wetlands and because of its location where the Delaware River and Delaware Bay meet, any new plant would be vulnerable to storm surge and a rising sea level.
Tittel said the high cost of building a nuclear plant would likely be borne by ratepayers and there are cheaper sources of electricity. He pointed to renewable energy sources such as wind power are becoming less expensive as are gas-fired generating plants.
Aside from environmental and economic concerns, Tittel sees a safety threat……. Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Bill Gallo Jr. on Twitter @bgallojr. Find NJ.com on Facebook. http://www.nj.com/salem/index.ssf/2016/04/permit_for_a_new_nuclear_reactor_in_nj_okd_by_feds.html
Toshina writes down the value of its nuclear business
Toshiba to Take $2.3 Billion Write-Down on Nuclear Business, WSJ, Toshiba also revised earnings guidance for the fiscal year, forecasting a larger operating loss By TAKASHI MOCHIZUKI April 26, 2016
TOKYO—Toshiba Corp. said it would write down the goodwill value of its nuclear-power-plant business, including its U.S. subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Co., after years of criticism that the company’s outlook on the business was too optimistic.
The electronics giant said Tuesday that it would book the one-time loss of ¥260 billion ($2.3 billion) to reflect the change in the business’s earnings prospects and Toshiba’s financial standing.Toshiba’s recent financial scandal led to downgrades of its debt,which will make borrowing more expensive and so hurt profits.
The impairment charge will be recorded in results for the fiscal year that ended on March 31, due to be reported May 12…….http://www.wsj.com/articles/toshiba-to-take-2-3-billion-write-down-on-nuclear-business-1461654771
USA Dept of Energy – new funds for nuclear energy development
Department of Energy Announces New Awards for Advanced Nuclear Energy Development
April 26, 2016 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Building on the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, the Department of Energy today awarded more than $5 million to undergraduate and graduate students in pursuit of nuclear engineering degrees and other nuclear science and engineering programs relevant to nuclear energy. The awards include 57 undergraduate scholarships and 33 graduate-level fellowships for students at American colleges and universities…….
Idaho nuclear waste treatment plant runs into trouble
the DOE and Idaho Treatment Group have run into recent problems. A New Mexico waste repository where much of the waste needs to be sent remains closed after an accident last year. That means about
20,000 ready-to-ship containers of waste have stacked up, with nowhere to go.
Looming deadline for nuclear waste plant, future in limbo , WT, By LUKE RAMSETH – Associated Press , April 24, 2016 IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) – A darkened central control room with more than 25 computer screens watches over nearly everything occurring inside this radioactive waste treatment plant west of Idaho Falls.
The room is where employees at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, or AMWTP, monitor and manipulate the facility’s dangerous waste treatment process from afar. Decades-old metal boxes and drums filled with radioactive waste travel through a series of conveyor belts and elevators. At various stages the waste is remotely sorted, repackaged, smashed up, and then packaged again. A final product of multiple 55-gallon drums is shipped on trucks to waste repositories located in New Mexico, Nevada and Utah.
The facility – which employs about 700 and has operated for more than a dozen years – is undergoing an approximately $10 million overhaul. Officials hope the new infrastructure will help finish the job of treating some 65,000 cubic meters of Idaho’s transuranic nuclear waste before a looming 2018 deadline.
Meanwhile, U.S. Department of Energy officials are pondering what to do with the specialized plant once its current mission is complete. One tentative post-2018 plan would mean shipping nuclear waste to the Idaho facility from DOE sites spread around the country. The waste would be treated and packaged here, then sent onward to a final resting place outside the state……
The AMWTP was built to treat 65,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste that was buried nearby in the Arco desert in the 1970s and ‘80s. It came from the now-closed Rocky Flats Plant near Denver, where nuclear weapon components were made.
Held in slowly deteriorating metal, wooden and fiberglass boxes and metal drums, the waste includes tools, rags, clothing, sludge and dirt – anything contaminated with a transuranic element, such as plutonium, during the weapon-making process.
Workers at the facility have been chipping away at the massive pile of waste for years. It’s a painfully slow process that since 2011 has been handled by Idaho Treatment Group. This summer a new government contractor, Fluor, will take over management of the job, along with other waste cleanup duties on the desert site.
Richardson said there are about 12,000 cubic meters still to get through. All the waste is supposed to be treated and shipped out of Idaho by the end of 2018 under a state deadline laid out in the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement with the DOE.
But the DOE and Idaho Treatment Group have run into recent problems. A New Mexico waste repository where much of the waste needs to be sent remains closed after an accident last year. That means about 20,000 ready-to-ship containers of waste have stacked up, with nowhere to go…….http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/apr/24/looming-deadline-for-nuclear-waste-plant-future-in/
USA Republicans now liking renewable energy – for financial, not climate, reasons
Republicans Are Warming Up to Renewable Energy , Bloomberg, Joe Ryan April 21, 2016
- Some Republicans embrace renewables as Paris accord signed
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They argue that jobs and cost cuts make renewables attractive
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“……..The leading Republican candidates for president, Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, reject any role of humans in global warming, as do most party leaders. But a small and growing number of once-skeptical Republicans is embracing wind and solar. They see the clean energy sources delivering cheap electricity, bolstering America’s energy independence and fueling economic development in impoverished rural areas.
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In turn, renewables are adding jobs in North Carolina, Georgia and Texas and other conservative states, creating a formidable clean-energy constituency in a party whose energy mantra was “drill, baby drill.”…..
- Past SupportSupport for clean energy is not new for all U.S. Republicans. Some conservative state lawmakers in Iowa, Texas and elsewhere have long promoted it. When he was governor of Texas, George W. Bush pushed through legislation requiring utilities to buy renewable power, leading to widespread development of wind farms.Republican enthusiasm is based largely on economics, not climate science, and does not necessarily translate into support for the Paris agreement or other efforts to curb greenhouse gases.
- Wind and solar farms are often built on farmland, which is typically flat, cheap and treeless. That has provided rental income for farmers and created a groundswell of construction jobs. Wind and solar companies employed nearly 300,000 people in the U.S. in 2015, roughly four times more than the coal industry. All of the top 10 wind-energy producing congressional districts are represented by Republicans, according to The American Wind Energy Association.“It gives us a real leg up on economic development,” said Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, a Republican whose state ranks third nationally in wind energy.A push for renewables, meanwhile, is bubbling up from within party ranks……..
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Government Subsidies
Meanwhile, clean energy has become less reliant on the government subsidies that fueled its growth, making it a less problematic issue for Republicans.
The average long-term contract price for wind power paid by utilities has dropped 60 percent since 2009, falling in some instances below $20 per megawatt hour. Those prices, which include subsidies, are on par with off-peak power prices in some regions, BNEF analyst Nathan Serota said. The solar price drop has been even steeper, falling 65 percent with contracts as low as $37 per megawatt hour, Serota said.
A Texas Believer
Drew Darby, a Texas state Republican representative whose district encompasses nine counties at the edge of oil country, said the proliferation of cheap wind power since the state spent more than $7 billion on new transmission lines has made him a believer.
“Republicans all over the country ought to be paying attention to what Texas did,” Darby said in an interview……..http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-20/party-of-drill-baby-drill-slowly-warming-to-wind-solar-power
Michael Douglas wants presidential candidates to start talking about nuclear weapons.
Tribeca: Michael Douglas Calls for Presidential Candidates to Talk Nuclear Weapons http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tribeca-2016-michael-douglas-nuclear-887171 The actor is working on a doc about a San Fernando Valley family who grew up near a Boeing plant which had a nuclear accident in the 1950s. “[It] basically poisoned the whole neighborhood. The whole family has thyroid cancer,” says Douglas. 4/23/2016 by Ashley Lee
At a 2016 Tribeca Film Festival discussion before the immersive closing-night film the bomb, Douglas said the world is “on the advent of a new Cold War advancement in nuclear weapons — the U.S. is talking about a trillion dollars to spend, the Russians have their new missiles out,” he explained. “It’s just very difficult to believe. … Maybe, just maybe, we can look at a new generation to look at what I think is the most serious issue that we have on the planet right now.”
Even more so, “we’ve got elections coming up this year. Once we get through these primaries and once more attention is brought to just how this arms race is continuing now, there should be a huge discussion coming this fall,” said the actor and longtime advocate of nuclear non-proliferation. “It looks like it’s gonna be [Donald] Trump and Hillary Clinton, with diametrically different opinions on this important issue — one who wants to nuke ‘em, and somebody else.”
Command & Control director Robert Kenner added, “If Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, I think there will be more discussion on nuclear weapons because he is the best argument for abolition that we can make.”
As seen in action flicks like Pacific Rim and Independence Day, Hollywood tends to portray nuclear weapons onscreen as the ultimate and necessary arsenal, and Douglas said that won’t change anytime soon. “Not in Hollywood — we’re based on a business of balances, commerce with filmmaking. Commerce has to win out,” said the actor. “Any movie where the message gets ahead of the drama … unless you’re doing documentaries, you can’t get ahead of yourself. They’re not interested.”
Still, Douglas said he’s working on a documentary “about a young man living in the San Fernando Valley who grew up near a Boeing plant which had a nuclear accident in the 1950s and basically poisoned the whole neighborhood. The whole family has thyroid cancer.”
The panel — also featuring Command & Control author Eric Schlosser, Emma Belcher of the MacArthur Foundation and the bomb filmmaker Smriti Keshari — discussed that nuclear weapons and climate change are the two most important global issues, and because of the visual proof of climate change that’s emerged, the world has begun responding with urgency.
“The terrifying thing about the nuclear issue is … you’re really gonna have to wait for a dirty bomb. It’s gonna make 9/11, Paris, Brussels, everything a miniscule amount before the amount of people who are going to be killed [by a nuclear bomb],” said Douglas. “The only optimism I see, is of these two major issues, the two most important in the world, we can eliminate nuclear weapons. It’s really easy. … We as humans can do something about it — we actually can, it’s within our grasp.”
Douglas began his activism against nuclear weapons after making The China Syndrome, James Bridges’ 1979 film co-starring Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon about a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant. To prepare for its finale, the shoot included consultations with General Electric quality assurance experts who “gave us a breakdown of the most logical accident that might happen at a power plant,” the actor and producer recalled. “That power plant was the ultimate villain — it’s a horror picture.
“Thirteen days after the movie came out, Three Mile Island happened in Pennsylvania,” said Douglas, as news outlets ran split-screen footage of the real-life tragedy and the film. “It was an epiphany for me, the closest thing to a religious experience I might have ever had.”
USA wind energy investment – over $128 Billion
By staying on track to supply 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030, wind energy could support 380,000 well-paying jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. That number could grow to 600,000 by supplying 35 percent by 2050
More Than $128 Billion Dollars Invested in U.S. Economy by New Wind Power Projects,Wind Systems, 25 Apr 16 Building new wind farms in the U.S. added $13 billion per year on average to the American economy over the past five years, according to information recently released by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
“By building new wind farms across the country throughout the past decade, wind companies have invested $128 billion into the U.S. economy,” said Tom Kiernan, CEO of AWEA. “Over this time, wind has rapidly scaled-up. Now, there is enough wind power installed to reliably produce electricity for more than 19 million American homes. Continuing to invest in world-class wind resources here at home will help keep our lights on, grow state economies, and keep more money in the pockets of homeowners and businesses.”
Wind energy was the number-one source for new electric capacity additions in 2015 with 8,598 MW installed. That number translates to $14.7 billion dollars in wind project investments in one year — a 73-percent increase over the $8.5 billion invested in new projects in 2014 and a more than seven-fold increase over investments by wind in 2013……..
The new investment figures made by wind come shortly after a new accord that was announced by a bipartisan group of 17 governors who made the pledge to accelerate clean energy growth, including wind power, as a way to build “a new energy future.” The accord said that creating this new energy path will result in a “more durable and resilient infrastructure and [will] enable economic growth while protecting the health of our communities and natural resources.”
Wind power costs two-thirds less than it did six years ago because of American innovation and improved domestic manufacturing, with more than 500 factories across 43 states building wind turbine parts and materials, and those savings are being passed on to U.S. consumers. Wind power saved consumers $1 billion over just two days across the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic states during the 2014 Polar Vortex event.
Wind energy in the U.S. produces enough electricity for more than 19 million American homes, and American wind power supports 73,000 well-paying jobs across every state, including nearly 20,000 manufacturing jobs.
By staying on track to supply 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030, wind energy could support 380,000 well-paying jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. That number could grow to 600,000 by supplying 35 percent by 2050. http://www.windsystemsmag.com/article/detail/1167/more-than-128-billion-dollars-invested-in-us-economy-by-new-wind-power-projects
New Jersey residents near nuclear complex are to get potassium iodide pills
Radiation-blocking pills to be distributed around N.J. nuclear complex By Bill Gallo Jr. | For NJ.com April 24, 2016 LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK TWP. —” A fresh supply of radiation-blocking potassium iodide pills will be given to those living near PSEG Nuclear’s Artificial Island generating complex, officials said.
The distribution will take place Monday from 4 to 6 p.m., at the Lower Alloways Creek Township Municipal Building at 501 Locust Island Road in Hancocks Bridge.
Potassium iodide, or KI pills, help stop the thyroid gland from absorbing cancer-causing radioactive iodine in case a nuclear plant accident. The thyroid is the body part most sensitive to radioactive iodine.
“Should there be an accidental release, radiation could affect anyone within 10 miles of the generating center,” said Freeholder Robert Vanderslice, chair of the county’s Health Committee, in announcing the distribution.
PSEG Nuclear operates three reactors — Salem 1, Salem 2 and Hope Creek —” at its generating facility on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek Township. The three plants comprise the second-largest nuclear generating facility in the United States.
In Salem County, the towns within the 10-mile radius of the plants include all or parts of Elsinboro, Lower Alloways Creek, Salem, Pennsville, Mannington and Quinton.
KI pills are distributed in individual foil packets and envelopes. The pills are to be kept on hand in case of an emergency…….
Similar distributions for Cumberland County and Delaware residents who live within the 10-mile radius of Artificial Island have also taken place through their heath departments. http://www.nj.com/salem/index.ssf/2016/04/radiation-blocking_ki_pills_to_be_distributed_arou.html
‘New Nuclear” lobby working to weaken powers of USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Edwin Lyman, senior scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security Program, said the timing of the legislation is “premature.” Lyman told Congress to consider that the legislation might pose an unfair burden on taxpayers and put Americans at increased risk.
The legislation would also eliminate language that requires NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel to hold a hearing on new applications.
“That’s inherently dangerous technology that needs tough questions to be asked about it,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). “I don’t think the public is going to be happy if they’re told ‘no hearings’ on this dangerous technology.”
Advanced reactor bill raises ‘red flags‘ Hannah Hess, E&E reporter E&E Daily: Friday, April 22, 2016
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s head of operations yesterday tried to sell lawmakers on a strategy to license the latest nuclear technology.
But Victor McCree had to contend with lawmakers who have their own plan to lay the groundwork for advanced reactors, and it goes beyond the administration’s comfort zone……
Eight days ago, EPW Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) teamed up with Whitehouse and Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to introduce legislation to reform the licensing process and restructure how NRC is funded.
But a hearing of the Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee revealed concerns about safety and security, including NRC’s own fears that the legislation could handcuff regulators (E&E Daily, April 14).
The bill would change NRC to develop “technology-inclusive regulatory framework” — defined as using methods of evaluation that are flexible and predictable, such as risk-informed and performance-based techniques.
Critics warn that lawmakers didn’t properly explain those terms, which could lead to less rigorous standards for the approval of novel nuclear power technologies.
The legislation would also eliminate language that requires NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel to hold a hearing on new applications.
“That’s inherently dangerous technology that needs tough questions to be asked about it,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). “I don’t think the public is going to be happy if they’re told ‘no hearings’ on this dangerous technology.”
NRC concerns
McCree, who assumed NRC’s top career post last fall, cautioned that the bipartisan legislation would require “significant time and resources” over several years in areas where the agency’s internal planning process was well underway.
Current performance metrics allow fluidity at NRC to “account for emerging safety or security issues, changes in licensee plans and the like,” McCree said. “As written, the proposed requirements would limit the NRC’s flexibility in this area.”
At the Obama administration’s request, NRC earmarked $5 million for work on advancing small modular reactor (SMR) licensing practices in its fiscal 2017 budget proposal. Both House and Senate proposed spending bills include language to address this issue.
McCree said NRC staff expect to complete the first draft of their own strategy for licensing non-light-water reactor technologies soon and will discuss it in a public meeting in June.
NRC is also in the process of a downsizing measure, popular on Capitol Hill, that aims to streamline the agency.
Testifying on behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure Council, where he now is chairman of a task force on advanced reactors, Merrifield encouraged the committee to press for further staffing cuts below NRC’s Project Aim 2020. ….NRC’s budget for fiscal 2017 would cut an equivalent of 90 full-time employees, surpassing the Project Aim goal, for a total reduction of roughly 280 full-time workers since fiscal 2014 …….
One thing senators and the nuclear industry agree on is that the commission’s current licensing process, with a design and certification that can cost billions of dollars and stretch for up to a decade, is one of the biggest obstacles for SMRs and advanced reactor designs that use coolants other than water.
“You have a situation in which it is very hard to get early investment in these new technologies,” Crapo said.
Ashley Finan, policy director of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, one of four industry witnesses who testified in support of the Senate legislation, presented charts showing the big money and time hurdles the private sector sees with the current NRC process.
“The investors and innovators have made it very clear that their most immediate and pressing concern is regulatory uncertainty,” Finan said……
Because advanced nuclear reactor companies rely primarily on investors, the bill seeks to change the model……
The Nuclear Infrastructure Council wants language added that would provide early stage engagement with no or limited cost to the developer, with an “appropriate cost share,” perhaps 50-50, for later stages of the licensing process.
“Fewer resources are not good for the agency in protecting against a terrorist attack,” said an animated Markey, demanding any of the witnesses to refute his claim.
Bill ‘premature’
Edwin Lyman, senior scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security Program, said the timing of the legislation is “premature.”
Lyman told Congress to consider that the legislation might pose an unfair burden on taxpayers and put Americans at increased risk.
The history of the failed Next Generation Nuclear Plant project, a prototype of a modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, is an illustrative example, he said.
Mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the project was suspended after the Energy Department decided in 2011 not to proceed into the detailed design and license application phases. DOE’s decision cited the reluctance of vendors, owners and operators, and customers to commit to substantial upfront cost sharing.
“The main problem is the cost and difficulty of obtaining the necessary analyses and experimental data to satisfy regulatory requirements and ensure that new reactors can operate safely,” Lyman said. “This is a fundamental issue we think Congress needs to address through oversight of the budget for nuclear energy [research and development].”….. http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060036081
High time that USA ratified the Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
The United States Needs to Step Up and Ratify the Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
With nuclear tensions on the rise in East Asia, Washington finally needs to show some leadership and commit to a testing freeze. Foreign Policy, 22 Apr 16 This year marks the 20th anniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). It should be a cause for celebration, but it’s not; the treaty still remains in legal limbo. The fact is that out of the eight countries whose ratification is needed for the CTBT’s entry into force, two are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and bear special responsibility for international peace and security — the United States and China.
Testing of nuclear weapons was one of the most visible manifestations of the Cold War. Nuclear explosions sent ripples putting peace and security under duress. The struggle to outlaw testing of nuclear weapons became the unifying factor in the global push to stop the arms race and the first international agreement demonstrating that success was possible was the Moscow Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Tests in Three Environments, also known as the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty, negotiated by Russia, Britain, and the United States.
In subsequent years, Soviet and American experts cooperated in the context of the international Group of Scientific Experts laying out the foundations of the CTBT verification regime. While the actual conclusion of the treaty did not happen until 1996, the Soviet Union was the first of the P-5 states to announce a moratorium on nuclear testing on Oct. 24, 1990. Russia has since adhered to this voluntary undertaking. The United States issued its own nuclear-testing moratorium in 1992 followed by all the other P-5 countries………
Russian ratification was concluded in 2000 with the expectation that the United States would conclude its own ratification process despite the rejection of the treaty by the U.S. Senate in October 1999. Rather than wait for the United States, Russian leadership supported the CTBT when its future was not clear. …..
Expectations raised by President Barack Obama in his Prague speech seven years ago — when he made CTBT ratification a top priority for his administration — were short-lived. With the presidential election later this year, there is precious little time to waste. It is imperative to move forward and to demonstrate real support for the treaty……
In the wake of the Iran nuclear deal, there is momentum to advance adherence to the CTBT in the Middle East. No states in the region conduct nuclear tests. Key states have signed the CTBT; they have already said “no” to nuclear testing. But they need to turn this “no” into a “never.” The 20th anniversary of the treaty is an ideal time to move ahead. Another way ahead is to ensure real progress toward creation in the Middle East of a zone free of nuclear weapons and other WMD………http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/22/the-united-states-needs-to-step-up-and-ratify-the-nuclear-test-ban-treaty-china/
First Major City to Require Solar Panels on New Buildings – San Francisco
San Francisco Becomes First Major City to Require Solar Panels on New Buildings, Nation of Change, By Lorraine Chow – April 20, 2016
San Francisco is one step closer to its goal of transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy after the city’s Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Tuesday to mandate solarinstallations on new buildings. According to the San Francisco Examiner, starting Jan. 1 of next year, new commercial and residential buildings up to 10 stories high must install rooftop solar systems for heat or electricity. Buildings that are taller are exempt for now.
The famously green metropolis is now the first major city in the U.S. to legislate such a requirement. San Francisco follows the footsteps of the smaller towns of Lancaster and Sebastopol. The municipalities, which are also in California, passed similar mandates in 2013.
“This legislation will help move us toward a clean energy future and toward our city’s goal of 100 percent renewable energy by 2025,” supervisor Scott Wiener, who introduced the legislation, wrote on his Facebook page.
He added that San Francisco’s new rooftop solar law is an extension of an already established California law that requires all buildings 10 floors or less designate at least 15 percent of the rooftop for solar use.
“Solar ready” means that the roof is unshaded by the proposed building itself and free of obtrusions, Wiener explained on his website.
As the Examiner explained, the new legislation would give San Francisco’s solar capacity a big boost and help avert emissions:
To gauge the impact the mandate could have, the Department of Environment applied the proposal to construction projects in the pipeline in the third quarter of 2014 and found the 200 projects with solar installations would “avoid over 26,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.”
The current 24.8 megawatt solar systems in place would increase by 7.4 megawatts. The 7.4 megawatts of solar energy can produce 10.5 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, which can power about 2,500 San Francisco homes, [Barry Hooper, the Department of Environment Green Building Coordinator] said Tuesday.
Solar-powered Eco-City for Florida
A Solar-Powered Eco-City for 50,000 Breaking Ground in FloridaThe Babcock Ranch development will be primarily powered by a $300 million solar array, Curbed, BY BARBARA ELDREDGE @BARBARAELDREDGE APR 22, 2016, Construction is kicking off on a development hoping to become America’s first solar-powered city. Located in southwestern Florida just 13 miles from Fort Myers, the under-constructionBabcock Ranch development is slated to encompass 19,500 homes, 6 million square feet of retail, and 50,000 inhabitants by the time it’s fully finished in roughly 25 years.
And it’ll largely be powered by one of the country’s largest arrays of photovoltaic panels.
Planned entirely from the ground up with sustainability and environmental conservation in mind, over half of city’s 17,608 acres will be set aside for parks, greenways, and lakes. The town is also bordered by two wildlife and nature preserves totaling nearly 150,000 acres of protected wilderness. http://www.curbed.com/2016/4/22/11480578/solar-power-babcock-ranch-city-florida-array-kitson-partners
USA Nuclear regulator allows big drop in Vermont Yankee insurance ( tax-payer will cover any disaster)
FEDS ALLOW BIG DROP IN VERMONT YANKEE INSURANCE, VT Digger, APR. 21, 2016, BY MIKE FAHER VERNON — It’s not cheap to maintain an insurance policy on a nuclear power plant.
But as of this month, Entergy Vermont Yankee is getting a big break on its premiums: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the company can cut its on-site property damage insurance coverage from $1.06 billion to $50 million……..
Since stopping power production at Vermont Yankee in December 2014, Entergy has sought a number of regulatory changes for the Vernon plant.
One example is an NRC-approvedreduction in the Vermont Yankee emergency planning zone, which took effect Tuesday. In making a successful case for cutting emergency planning and funding, Entergy argued that the potential for accidents and radiation releases is much lower now that the plant is no longer operational.
The company’s request to reduce its insurance coverage uses the same logic……
The main risks remaining in Vernon, officials say, are associated with radioactive spent nuclear fuel. Currently, that fuel is stored both in a cooling pool in the plant’s reactor building and in sealed dry casks on a pad nearby; Entergy has pledged that all fuel will be in casks by the end of 2020……..There is a possibility — though the NRC labels it “highly unlikely” — that, if water were drained from the cooling pool, zirconium cladding on the spent fuel could catch fire…..
The NRC notes that it has granted similar insurance exemptions to other decommissioning plants including Maine Yankee and the Zion Nuclear Power Station in Illinois…..
the NRC’s exemption announcement has immediate financial benefits for Vermont Yankee: When factoring in reductions in both on-site and off-site insurance policies, the company’s annual premiums will decrease from about $1.9 million to less than $500,000, Cohn said……https://vtdigger.org/2016/04/21/feds-allow-big-drop-in-vermont-yankee-insurance/
Massachusetts electricity customers will save money in shift to wind and hydropower
Study predicts shift toward wind, hydropower will save consumers money, MassLive, By Matt Murphy STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 21, 2016.…A new study on the impact large-scale hydro and wind power imports could have on the Massachusetts energy market predicts significant savings for consumers, challenging the narrative put forward by critics of Gov. Charlie Baker’s energy bill that hydropower would be a costly alternative to natural gas.
The economic analysis, conducted for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Partnership by Power Advisory, concludes that energy customers in the state would see a net benefit of $171 million a year from long-term contracts for hydropower or a combination of hydro and land-based wind from northern New England or Canada.
The Clean Electricity Partnership is a coalition of regional wind, hydro and transmission companies working with business and environmental groups to promote clean energy.
The report, written by Power Advisory President John Dalton, suggests the savings generated by driving down demand for natural gas would not only cover the costs of building the transmission and facility infrastructure to import the power, but also deliver 10 percent of the carbon emission reductions required by 2050 under state law.
“Our analysis shows that displacing natural gas-fired electricity generation with hydropower or a combination of hydro and wind results in substantial annual savings to Massachusetts energy consumers as well as dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” Dalton wrote……..
The House is expected to release major energy policy legislation as soon as next month that is likely to address the idea of competitive procurement of both hydro and off-shore wind as a clean energy solution to meeting the region’s energy needs as sources such as Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station prepare to come offline.
Over a 25-year period, Dalton’s report estimates $603 million in savings a year in Massachusetts from the importation of Canadian hydropower before the cost of transmission lines and facilities are factored.
The volume of energy from the new renewable resources would drive down demand for natural gas and reduce the price of gas used to produce electricity on peak demand days. The result would be savings of approximately $219 million a year for Massachusetts customers, he wrote. http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/04/study_predicts_shift_toward_wi.html
America to buy nuclear material from Iran
U.S. to buy nuclear material from Iran By Jim Sciutto and Ryan Browne, CNN April 22, 2016 Washington The U.S. will purchase from Iran 32 metric tons of heavy water, a key component of nuclear reactors, according to a senior administration official.
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