“NuclearMatters” lobby group revs up its spin ahead of Paris climate conference
Bloomberg BNA and Nuclear Matters Hosting December 3 Event in Austin on the Role of Nuclear Energy in the Region, PR Newswire
Complimentary Event Features Industry Leaders, Policy Experts and Members of Academia Discussing Challenges and Opportunities for Nuclear Energy in Texas ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Bloomberg BNA today announced that it is hosting Nuclear Energy,Texas and the EPA Clean Power Plan, an afternoon conversation exploring the future role of nuclear energy in Texas. The fourth in a series of nationwide events underwritten by Nuclear Matters, the discussion is being held in Austin on Thursday, December 3 from3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Driskill Hotel Austin. ……
Price Anderson Act lets nuclear companies off the hook when big accidents occur
The Atomic Age and limited liability for nuclear accidents, The Hill, 20 Nov 15 By William F. Shughart II.……….Half a century ago, the United States was the only member of the global nuclear club. After detonating atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Washington’s attention turned to civilian uses of nuclear power. “Atoms for Peace” was a catchphrase of the day. The Cold War was well underway then and civilian reactors were seen as a key producer of nuclear materials destined for military use.
To jumpstart nuclear power in the United States, and to assuage fears that utilities would go bankrupt if radioactive materials were accidentally released into the atmosphere, Congress passed – and President Eisenhower signed – the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act in 1957.
-…………-the very large expected costs of a major nuclear event, unlikely as it may be, explain why private insurers are unwilling to underwrite fully any and all future accident claims.
Price-Anderson clearly is a form of corporate welfare that indemnifies the nuclear industry in a worst-case scenario. Although the law doesn’t allow the industry to get off scot-free for all injuries it may cause and it doesn’t prevent injured parties from seeking compensation, the industry’s support for its periodic reauthorization suggests that it highly values Price-Anderson protections.
From an economist’s perspective, the downside of Price-Anderson, as with insurance in general, is that it encourages behavior known as “moral hazard.” Because the nuclear industry itself will not bear the full costs of a devastating accident, such accidents are more likely to happen than otherwise. http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/260837-the-atomic-age-and-limited-liability-for-nuclear
17 year delay before USA govt even starts cleanup of Hanford radioactive waste
U.S. government proposes 17-year delay in start of Hanford nuclear tank cleanup — until 2039 http://www.latimes.com/science/la-na-hanford-delay-20151118-story.html Ralph VartabedianContact Reporter, 19 Nov 15
The Energy Department has proposed a 17-year delay in building a complex waste treatment plant at its radioactively contaminated Hanford site in Washington state, pushing back the full start-up for processing nuclear bomb waste to 2039.
The department submitted the 29-page plan in federal court as part of a suit to amend an agreement with the state that requires the plant to start operating in 2022.
A series of serious technical questions about the plant’s design have caused one delay after another. Two of the major facilities at the cleanup site, which resembles a small industrial city, are under a construction halt ordered in 2013 by then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
The plant, located on a desert plateau above the Columbia River, is designed to transform 56 million gallons of radioactive sludge, currently stored in underground tanks, into solid glass that could theoretically be stored for thousands of years.
The waste was a byproduct of plutonium production, which started with the Manhattan Project during World War II.
The 586-square-mile Hanford site is widely considered the most contaminated place in the country, requiring 8,000 workers to remediate half a century of careless industrial practices that were done under strict federal secrecy. The Energy Department filing shows the extent of the problems. Continue reading
Florida citrus fruitys show trace levels of Fukushima radioactive cesium-137
Trace levels of radioactive cesium-137 from Fukushima now being detected in Florida citrus fruits https://glblgeopolitics.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/trace-levels-of-radioactive-cesium-137-from-fukushima-now-being-detected-in-florida-citrus-fruits/
Posted by aurelius77 on November 18, 2015 (NaturalNews) Radioactive cesium from the 2011 Fukushima disaster is still being detected in citrus and other plants as far away as Florida, according to a report sent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
In March 2011, multiple nuclear meltdowns took place at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. The explosions ejected massive amounts of radioactive material into the environment, most notably radioactive cesium isotopes. In the weeks after the disaster, winds carried airborne radionuclides to every corner of the globe. Most of the radioactivity, however, settled into the Pacific Ocean.
Levels consistent since 2011
The report is Duke Energy Florida’s Annual Radiological Environmental Operating Report to U.S. NRC, dated May 5. It notes that immediately following the Fukushima disaster, radioactive iodine and cesium from the plant were detected in Florida vegetation.
“The Japanese event also affected broad leaf vegetation sample media throughout the year as long-lived radionuclides (Cs-137) were released at Fukushima multiple times,” the report reads.
“The vegetation measurements in 2014 are still affected by the Fukushima event due to the long-lived radionuclides deposited. The vegetation control sample station located in Orlando, Fl. is also experiencing similar Cs-137 deposition on the broad leaf sample media.”
According to the report, levels of Cs-137 have remained relatively constant in the samples tested over the past four years. This is to be expected, because that radionuclide has an incredibly long half-life.
In 2012, 13 of 24 samples taken tested positive for Cs-137, up to 172 pCi/kg (a picocurie is a unit of radiation; approximately 27 pCi is equivalent to one Bequerel [Bq], a common unit of radioactivity). Samples taken in Orlando tested at levels up to 201 pCi/kg.
Nuclear lobby predominates at Wisconsin public hearing
Nuclear power hearing dominated by speakers looking to lift restrictions http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.Iml?Article=360284 11/19/2015 By Chris Thompson Not one person during a nearly three-hour public hearing testified against a bill that would lift what amounts to Wisconsin’s moratorium on nuclear power plant construction.
Beyond bill author Rep. Kevin Petersen, those speaking in favor of AB 384 yesterday included Public Service Commission member and former DOA Secretary Mike Huebsch. The Assembly’s Energy and Utilities Committee also heard from multiple construction industry representatives and students wearing t-shirts that read “Environmentalist for nuclear energy.”
Amber Meyer Smith of Clean Wisconsin said her group supports current Wisconsin law. The costs of a nuclear plant and the threats to the environment from fuel waste, Meyer Smith said, are just too much for Clean Wisconsin to support.
Her organization, along with the Citizens Utility Board and a private citizen, registered against the bill but didn’t testify. The Sierra Club-John Muir Chapter is registered with the GAB in opposition to the legislation.
“We submitted testimony,” Meyer Smith said, “and just felt that was sufficient.”
The topic isn’t new in the Capitol. It arose as a possibility during former Gov. Jim Doyle’s administration through an energy task force. And committee member Rep. Josh Zepnick, of Milwaukee, said he is among the Dems who have tried to lift the moratorium.
Petersen, R-Waupaca, said the state in 1983 enacted regulations that essentially put a stop to nuclear plant construction. Petersen, Huebsch and others argued storage and fuel recycling technology have advanced to the point that the concerns of 1983 no longer apply.
Frank Jablonski, a lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute, testified he would bet his own health on the safety of storage technology.
“If you want to put a dry cask in my backyard, you absolutely could,” he said. “Just build the plant in Wisconsin.”
Obama backs community solar power as rooftop energy alternative
White House pushes community solar power as rooftop
alternative Gregory Korte, USA TODAY, 19 Nov 15 WASHINGTON — About half of electric customers can’t 
install solar panels because they don’t own their building, don’t get enough sun or don’t have a large, south-facing roof to install solar panels, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.Those technical challenges are a particular hurdle for low- and middle-income customers — and that’s why the Obama administration is pushing a solution known as community solar.
The White House hosted a summit Tuesday to bring together major solar players to figure out ways to expand retail solar power from traditional rooftop arrays to a model in which households and businesses invest in shared solar systems. The administration announced that 68 cities, states, and businesses had signed on to a White House initiative to promote community solar, with an emphasis on low- and moderate-income households.
Those commitments are expected to bring solar power to to more than 20,000 households in 21 states, the White House said. And, just as importantly for President Obama, it will allow the United States to expand its use of clean energy as Obama prepares to travel to Paris for an international climate summit where he’ll press other companies to make similar strides to reduce carbon pollution from fossil fuels…….
Another participant, Michelle Moore of the nonprofit Groundswell, works as a community organizer to try to create markets for community solar power in places where it doesn’t yet exist. She said the White House summit was helpful in bringing for-profit utilities, cooperatives, local governments, non-profits and financiers together to make connections.
“Our role is organizing customers so that they’re able to have more of a say in what kind of energy they want and how they want to buy it,” said Moore, a former environment policymaker at Obama’s White House Council on Environmental Quality. “It’s a way to buy into a solar project without a home construction project.” http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/17/white-house-pushes-community-solar-power-rooftop-alternative/75950054/
USA tests non-nuclear version of B61-12 gravity bomb in Nevada
USAF Completes Testing Of Non-nuclear Gravity Bomb, Defense World, November 17, 2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and United States Air Force (USAF) have tested non-nuclear version of the B61-12 gravity bomb at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada.
The test was performed in a realistic guided flight environment, the USAF announced today.
This test is the last of three development flight tests for the B61-12 Life Extension Program (LEP). The B61-12 test asset was released by a USAF F-15E Strike Eagle and it demonstrated successful performance in a realistic guided flight environment…….
The development flight test asset contained representative non-nuclear components but no highly enriched uranium or plutonium, which is consistent with test treaty obligations, NNSA added……..The B61-12 is expected to replace earlier B61 models, including the B61-3, B61-4, B61-7, and B61-10. Development engineering of the B61-12 LEP began in February 2012 as a joint USAF-NNSA program. http://www.defenseworld.net/news/14614/USAF_Completes_Testing_Of_Non_nuclear_Gravity_Bomb#.VkwpS9IrLGg
New York State demands NRC not to relicense Indian Point nuclear station
New York asks federal regulators not to relicense Indian Point nuclear plant http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/16/new-york-asks-federal-regulators-not-to-relicense-indian-point-nuclear-plant.html New York state has asked federal nuclear power regulators not to relicense Entergy’s Indian Point nuclear power plant because the aging facility poses a risk to residents of New York City and the surrounding areas.
“The NRC should, on an expedited basis, deny Entergy’s application for relicensing of the Indian Point Facilities,” the administration of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday.
Travel to Mars completely stalled by reality of radiation danger
Space Radiation Is Quietly Stopping Us From Sending Humans to Mars
In order to create a colony, we need to be able to survive a long trip through space. Neel V. Patel, November 17, 2015 Innumberable dangers threaten human astronauts traveling into deep space. Some of these, like asteroids, are obvious and avoidable with some decent LIDAR. Others aren’t. At the top of the not-so-much list is space radiation, something NASA is in no way prepared to protect explorers from while ferrying them to Mars. The radiation environment beyond the magnetosphere is not conducive to life, meaning sending astronauts out there without protection is equivalent to sending them to their doom.
While we’ve sent astronauts into space for over half a century now, the vast majority of these missions have been limited to traveling into low Earth orbit — between 99 and 1,200 miles in altitude. The Earth’s magnetic field — which extends thousands of miles into space — protects the planet from being hit head-on by high-energy solar particles traveling over one million miles per hour.
There are three big sources of space radiation, and they all pose a certain amount of risk that can’t always be anticipated or protected against. The first is trapped radiation. Some particles don’t get deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field. Instead, they’re trapped in one of the big two magnetic rings surrounding the Earth, and accumulate together as part of the Van Allen radiation belts. NASA has only had to contend with the Van Allen belts during the Apollo missions.
The second source is galactic cosmic radiation, or GCR, which originates from outside the solar system. These ionized atoms travel at basically the speed of light, although Earth’s magnetic field is also able to protect the planet and objects in low Earth orbit from GCR.
The last source is from solar particle events, which are huge injections energetic particles produced by the sun. There’s a distinction between the solar winds normally emitted by the sun, which take about a day to get to the Earth, and these higher-intensity events that hit us within 10 minutes. Besides producing a potentially lethal amount of radiation for astronauts, SPE can sometimes be wildly unpredictable, making it difficult for NASA scientists and engineers to develop protective measures against them.
NASA examines space radiation the way employers determine acceptable risks for their employees — they will not subject astronauts to an occupational risk of developing cancer beyond a certain threshold……. Continue reading
Yes Virginia, there still IS investigative journalism: NBC4s nuclear scandal atory
In a time when many news outlets are cutting staff, slashing budgets and eliminating their investigative reporting, KNBC’s total commitment to this story is a testament to a mission of producing investigative journalism that matters.
The Story Behind Our Story: LA’s Nuclear Secret, NBC4 Southern California, 21 Sept 2015 To learn more about how this series came to fruition, we asked the producer of the series to share his journey from
the first tip to the completion of the stories By Matthew Glasser Our investigative series, LA’s Nuclear Secret, 
was a year in the making. One year to the night that the first part of our series aired on NBC4, the I-Team was asked to investigate why a
group of children and parents in Calabasas had come down with rare illnesses including brain tumors and cancers.
We wanted to find out why.
Worst nuclear disaster in US history is a secret
In September 2014, we reached out to the former UCLA lecturer who is now an instructor at UC Santa Cruz who helped NBC4 with a series of stories in 1979 exposing a nuclear accident at the Santa Susana Field Lab. At the time, it was believed that while there was an accident at the Lab’s largest nuclear reactor, no release of radioactive material occurred. That’s what the U.S. government said, and that’s what we reported.
We would eventually learn in the reporting of LA’s Nuclear Secret – that wasn’t true.
We learned that a growing number of people in the San Fernando and Simi valleys believed that the work done at the Santa Susana Field Lab resulted in on- and off-site chemical and radioactive contamination that may have made them or their family members sick. Continue reading
The cover-up of Santa Susana Field Lab’s nuclear pollution of children’s camp
LA’s Nuclear Secret: Camp Cover-Up Nov. 10, 2015. The popular 2,800-acre Southern California camp sits just over the hill from the Santa Susana Field Lab
Tens of thousands of children who attended a popular camp in the hills northwest of Los Angeles over the last 65 years may have been exposed to radioactive waste and toxic chemicals from a former nuclear and rocket testing facility right next door, the Santa Susana Field Lab, according to documents and scientific studies obtained by the NBC4 I-Team. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/I-Team-LAs-Nuclear-Secret-Camp-Cover-Up-344006382.html
LA’s Nuclear Secret: Part 2 Sept. 23, 2015. The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, tucked in the hills between the San Fernando and Simi valleys, might be putting the health of thousands of Los Angeles and Ventura County residents at risk http://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/LA-Nuclear-Secret-Part-2-328640391.html
LA’s Nuclear Secret: Part 1 Sept. 22, 2015. Tucked away in the hills above the San Fernando and Simi valleys was a 2,800-acre laboratory with a mission that was a mystery to the thousands of people who lived in its shadow
The U.S. government secretly allowed radiation from a damaged reactor to be released into air over the San Fernando and Simi valleys in the wake of a major nuclear meltdown in Southern California more than 50 years ago — fallout that nearby residents contend continues to cause serious health consequences and, in some cases, death. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/LA-Nuclear-Secret-327896591.html
California beach had extreme radiation from San Onofre nuclear station – documents reveal
Extreme Radiation On California Beach Leads Nuclear Inspectors To Abandon Duties; Radioactive Waste Threatens Locals, Environment, health freedom alliance, 16 Nov 15 Documents released as part of secret negotiations over the future of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Stations near San Diego reveal that the now-shuttered plant was lax with security, exposing workers to dangerous levels of radioactivity from leaks and improperly disposing of nuclear waste.
In January 2012, one of the two generators at San Onofre sprang a small leak, and the plant was shuttered. An investigation eventually revealed that the leak had been caused by vibrations in steam generators that occurred as a result of a flawed generator design. Plant operator Southern California Edison said it is pursuing a claim against generator manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as well as Mitsubishi Nuclear Energy Systems.
In June 2013, plant operator Edison decided to permanently close the plant rather than incur the costs of safely restarting it. The future of the plant grounds and all of the toxic waste stored there remains up in the air.
“Probably worse than we think”
In September, an investigation by the NBC TV affiliate in San Diego, KNSD-TV Channel 7, revealed that radioactive equipment from the plant had been stored on both sides of Interstate 5, including along the beach. The investigation, which reviewed documents released to individuals negotiating with Edison over the future of the 25-acre site, also revealed that Edison had covered up evidence of radiation leaks from the plant.
The documents showed that radiation levels at the plant had regularly been so high that Nuclear Regulatory inspectors often refused to perform routine radiation surveys, fearing for their safety. Continue reading
Diablo Canyon nuclear plant – the industry’s last stand in California
Nuclear power’s last stand in California: Will Diablo Canyon die?, SF Chronicle, By David R. BakerThe first of its two operating licenses from the federal government expires in 2024, the second a year later. Federal regulators are weighing whether to renew those licenses and keep Diablo humming through 2045. PG&E, however, appears to be having second thoughts.
And any extension will involve a fight. The plant sits within a maze of earthquake faults, all of them discovered after construction began in 1968. Seismic safety fears have dogged the nuclear industry in California for more than 50 years, forcing PG&E to abandon plans for one of its first reactors…… Continue reading
America ramping up its nuclear weapons systems – sea, land, and air
The U.S. Is Now Flexing Its Nuclear Muscles on a Weekly Basis, Popular Mechanics,
The Pentagon is suddenly very interested in making sure Russia knows America’s nukes still work. By Kyle Mizokami Nov 12, 2015 The Last Three Weeks Has Seen A Surge In Testing Of American Nuclear Weapon Systems, Accompanied By Carefully Released Photos On Social Media. The Tests And Pictures Appear Calculated To Drive Home One Point: The Cold War May Have Ended 24 Years Ago, But America’s Nuclear Weapons Still Work.
On October 21, a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in in Southern California. The missile, launched by crews from the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, delivered a re-entry test vehicle to Kwajalein Atoll 4,200 miles away.
On November 7, a Trident II D-5 submarine-launched ballistic missile launched from the Pacific Missile Test Center in Southern California, also at Kwajalein Atoll. This launch from the nuclear submarine USS Kentucky was seen up and down the West Coast, as far as Arizona and San Francisco, and widely photographed and shared on social media. Five members of Congress were on board to observe the launch. On November 9 a second Trident was launched from Pacific Missile Test Center……..
There you have it: All three legs of America’s nuclear “triad”—land, sea, and air-based nukes—have been doing some stretches in the past three weeks……..
The first Trident II launch occurred during evening commute hours in Southern California, which virtually guaranteed the public would see it. The Minuteman III test occurred at 5:45 AM on the West Coast, which was 4:00 PM the same day in Moscow. Both launches probably were meant to generate publicity—in their own way—that would make its way back to Putin.
Either that, or America really doesn’t like Kwajalein Atoll. http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a18154/americas-nuclear-muscle-flexing-now-a-weekly-thing/
It seems that nobody will be liable for a nuclear disaster in India!
liability for foreign suppliers may now be entirely removed, not just diluted.
In his one and a half year in office, Modi hasn’t demonstrated any particular penchant for consistency, but this would be his most dangerous U-turn, imperilling millions of innocent Indian lives.
Who will be liable for an Indian Fukushima? Nobody, it seems, Catch News, KUMAR SUNDARAM@pksundaram|10 November 2015
- India to entirely exempt foreign nuclear suppliers from liability – AEC said last week
- Who will be responsible in case of an accident then?
What breakthrough!
- There was a Indo-US breakthrough on N-liability – Modi last week
- Can a complete exemption from liability be called a breakthrough?
1 This Month
15 October. Joint Appeal for Nuclear Abolition Day -presentation to the UN on October 15 will be live on UNWebTV
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23-25 October – on Zoom – World BEYOND War’s annual global conference
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