Scrutiny on US Navy’s secret and possibly unsafe plan for explosive- handling wharf
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, a Poulsbo, Wash.-based anti-nuclear group. Ground Zero has accused the Navy of withholding facts that would have fully informed the public of the second wharf’s potential dangers, as required under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Anti-Nuclear Groups Wary of Navy’s Planned Wharf Seattle Times | Dec 26, 2013 | by Kyung M. Song WASHINGTON — In September 2012, the Navy began in-water work at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor to build an explosives-handling wharf, a $650 million project anti-nuclear activists criticized as an unneeded vestige of the Cold War. Continue reading
Hawaii’s largest solar energy park now in operation
Kalaeloa Renewable Energy Park Comes Online Renewables BIZ HONOLULU, Dec 23, 2013 — BUSINESS WIRE HONOLULU, Dec 23, 2013 Kalaeloa Renewable Energy Park, one of Hawaii’s largest solar energy generation facilities, ceremoniously opened today and will immediately begin generating electricity for Hawaiian Electric customers on Oahu. Following four years of development and construction, the 5MW, utility-scale solar park was successfully tested and commissioned on November 22.
The renewable power plant, which sits on a 20-acre property adjacent to the Barbers Point Golf Course in the community of Kalaeloa, is expected to reduce the fossil fuel consumption on the island. ……
“In Hawaii, utility-scale projects like the Kalaeloa Renewable Energy Park provide direct benefits to all ratepayers through clean and low cost energy,” said Luigi Resta, CEO of Scatec Solar North America. “More than ever, solar power is able to provide utilities an efficient and cost effective way to both meet environmental goals and maintain a reliable power supply for consumers.”……. http://www.renewablesbiz.com/article/13/12/kalaeloa-renewable-energy-park-comes-online
Tsunami near US nuclear plant: a sign of thngs to come?
6-foot tsunami that hit near New Jersey nuclear plant may be first of its kind in U.S. — People injured, swept out to sea by wave detected as far as Puerto Rico — NOAA said continental shelf may have slumped, now suspects ‘atmospheric event’ (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/6-foot-tsunami-that-hit-near-new-jersey-nuclear-plant-may-be-first-of-its-kind-in-u-s-people-injured-swept-out-to-sea-by-wave-detected-as-far-as-puerto-rico-noaa-said-continental-shelf-may-hav
2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting — CODAR Ocean Sensors & Rutgers University, Dec. 14, 2013: Tsunamis are generally thought of as low-frequency waves that are generated by an underwater disturbance be it an earthquake or landslide. A tsunami can also be generated by an atmospheric disturbance such as a rapid pressure change. These tsunamis are referred to as meteotsunamis because of their meteorological origin. A meteotsunami was detected and tracked off the coast of New Jersey on June 13, 2013. […]
NOAA Tsunami Simulation (Published Dec. 9, 2013)
CODAR Newsletter, Fall 2013: A strange series of blogs and anecdotal community gossip described people getting swept off breakwaters and out to sea in New Jersey on June 13. It received only local attention for several days. Later someone put these together with an unusual storm system […] and proposed it may have launched a “meteotsunami” […] rarely mentioned in the U.S. [NOAA] stepped in to investigate this 13 June event, and put forward another possible origin besides meteorological: an undersea landslide in the Hudson Canyon. The fact that it was indeed a tsunami was confirmed by 30 tide gages [sic] along the East coast up through New England, and as far away as Puerto Rico. […] A panel of scientists was convened by NOAA to study this event […] A number of tentative conclusions were reached […] The tsunami was definitely spawned by the “derecho” atmospheric event depicted in the first figure, not an undersea landslide. […] this event is considered a “first” in the U.S., supported by extensive observations and modeling […]
Red marker: Oyster Creek nuclear power plant — Hand: Barnegat Inlet
NPR report from two weeks after the event: NOAA: A Rare Tsunami Hit The East Coast […] The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said the source of the wave is “complex and under review,” but they believe it was caused by a strong storm and perhaps even the “the slumping at the continental shelf east of New Jersey.”
NOAA’s National Weather Service:: A first-hand description was provided by Brian Coen who observed the event at Barnegat Inlet in New Jersey: Around 3:30pm on Thursday June 13, 2013, Brian Coen was spear fishing near the mouth of Barnegat Inlet […] At approximately 3:30, the outgoing tide was amplified by strong currents which carried divers over the submerged breakwater (normally 3-4 feet deep). This strong outrush continued for 1-2 minutes and eventually the rocks in the submerged breakwater were exposed. Brian backed his boat out before being sucked over as well. At this point, Brian noticed a large wave coming in, approximately 6 feet peak-to-trough and spanning across the inlet. The upper 2 feet of the wave was breaking. This wave occurred in conjunction with a reversal of the current such that even though the tide was going out, a strong surge was entering the inlet. This surge carried the divers back over the submerged reef and into the inlet from where they were picked up. On the south jetty three people were swept off the rocks which were 5 to 6 feet above sea level at the time. At least two were injured requiring medical treatment. […]
Watch NOAA’s latest simulation of the tsunami published Dec. 9, 2013 here
Great potential of renewable energy for Michigan
We need to submit public comments to the EPA stating that we support the EPA’s new proposed strong standards to reduce power plant carbon emissions. When writing to the EPA, mention docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0495, and remind them about the importance of increasing renewable energy as a way to cut carbon pollution.
If we work together, we can make a clean, energy-secure future possible.
| Michiganders Need Renewable Energy Now http://www.opednews.com/articles/Michiganders-Need-Renewabl-by-William-McMullin-Energy_Energy-Wind_Environment_Fracking-131225-956.html |
By William McMullin (about the author) We need to get to work on promoting clean energy. Clean energy is more sustainable and reliable than fossil fuels, requires the same daily planning for grid operators, and keeps energy prices stable.
Michigan predominantly gets its energy from coal and natural gas. Coal causes environmental harm from its mining to its burning. Pollution resulting from coal includes fly ash, bottom ash, mercury, and other harmful materials. The use of coal causes many negative health effects such as respiratory problems, asthma attacks, cancer, etc. Coal is believed to shorten the lives of about 24,000 Americans a year [“Thousands of Early Deaths Tied to Emissions,” June 9, 2004,nbcnews.com].
Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” wastes exorbitant amounts of water from the Great Lakes and blasts chemicals into the environment and our drinking water. Michigan does not even require companies to disclose which chemicals they use. Fracking not only contaminates our groundwater, it also pollutes our air and causes surface contamination from spills.
Michigan is already on track to achieve 10% of its energy from renewable sources by 2015. A recent report by Michigan’s Public Service Commission concluded the state’s utility companies could get 30% of energy from renewable sources economically and reliably by 2035 [“Michigan Can Triple Its Wind, Solar Energy Production by 2035, Report Finds,” Detroit Free Press, September 20, 2013]. A study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows it is possible for renewable energy technology that we already have today to make up 80% of our electricity generation by 2050 [nrel.gov].
While it’s true the wind isn’t always blowing and the sun isn’t always shining, all forms of energy — including fossil fuels and renewables — poses challenges to the energy grid. The grid operators have to be able to switch to other or additional power plants at a moment’s notice if there is a surge of power use, power outages, planned maintenance, etc. Renewable energy causes no more planning and spontaneous changes to the grid than coal or natural gas. In fact, renewable energy has its benefits. Coal-burning power plants are so large that they make the grid less flexible and more prone to cause blackouts when they do go offline.
To further improve reliability of renewable energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a federal agency that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of energy, is working on new ways to manage the grid. For instance, using different sources of renewable energy over a larger geographic area creates better balance on the grid. If the sun isn’t shining is one geographic area, it is in another. This can be achieved by upgrading our transmission lines to handle transmission over a greater geographic area. New lines would also increase energy transportation efficiency, allow the implementation of large scale use of renewables, and lower costs.
Renewable energy is also financially beneficial to consumers. Renewable energy prices are steadily dropping while prices of dirty fuels are rising and are very volatile. Rate stability would be very much welcomed by consumers in this economy.
Luckily, we as citizens can take action to promote renewable energy. We can contact our members of Congress to support the bipartisan Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act, which would give renewable energy companies the same low-cost financing and tax benefits that fossil fuel producers receive. If this passes, it would open the floodgate for private investment. We also need to ask Congress to extend the clean energy tax credits expiring at the end of the year.
We need to submit public comments to the EPA stating that we support the EPA’s new proposed strong standards to reduce power plant carbon emissions. When writing to the EPA, mention docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0495, and remind them about the importance of increasing renewable energy as a way to cut carbon pollution.
If we work together, we can make a clean, energy-secure future possible.
Thorium nuclear reactors for military use, too, funded by USA and Chinese tax-payers
SPECIAL REPORT-The U.S. government lab behind China’s nuclear power push Dec 20, 2013 Dec 20 (Reuters) – Scientists in Shanghai are attempting a breakthrough in nuclear energy: reactors powered by thorium, an alternative to uranium.
The project is run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a government body with close military ties that coordinates the country’s science-and-technology strategy. The academy has designated thorium as a priority for China’s top laboratories. The program has a budget of $350 million. And it’s being spearheaded by the influential son of a former Chinese president.
But even as China bulks up its military muscle through means ranging from espionage to heavy spending, it is pursuing this aspect of its technology game plan with the blessing – and the help – of the United States. Read more »
New York State’s Solar Energy Initiative
More Solar Funding For New York State, Renewable Energy News, 24 Dec 13 Support for solar in New York State received a healthy boost last week, with an additional USD $108 million in funding announced for residential and commercial solar energy projects.
The extra cash will be provided over the next two years under the NY-Sun initiative. ”Solar power is critical to making our environment healthier and our energy system more resilient,” said New York governor, Andrew M. Cuomo. “The funding approved today will expand the use of clean, renewable power across New York State and ensure we continue to be a national leader in solar energy.”
Governor Cuomo launched the NY-Sun initiative last year and since its inception, 299 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity has been installed or is under development in the state. More solar has been installed in New York State since NY-Sun kicked off than had been installed in the entire prior decade. ….
Years of secret dumping radioactive trash into the sea,by US navy
Sailors on old warship dumped thousands of tons of radioactive waste for years Tampa Bay Times, William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer 22 Dec 13 They asked the dying Pasco County man about his Navy service a half-century before. He kept talking about the steel barrels. They haunted him, sea monsters plaguing an old sailor.
“We turned off all the lights,” George Albernaz testified at a 2005 Department of Veterans Affairs hearing, “and … pretend that we were broken down and … we would take these barrels and having only steel-toed shoes … no protection gear, and proceed to roll these barrels into the ocean, 300 barrels at a trip.”
The Atomic Sailors Talk of Dumping Radioactive Waste at Sea
Not all of them sank. A few pushed back against the frothing ocean, bobbing in the waves like a drowning man. Then shots would ring out from a sailor with a rifle at the fantail. And the sea would claim the bullet-riddled drum. Continue reading
Danger in transporting Canadian radioactive trash to South Carolina
“The concerns are in transport, adding waste to the system and also opening the door for receipt of unusual nuclear waste materials that would end up being dumped in South Carolina,”
Canadian nuclear waste heading for SC, Greenville Online , 22 Dec 13
Critics say it’s unusual to ship weapons-grade uranium so far COLUMBIA — Sometime next year, a convoy is expected to begin delivering shipments of highly radioactive liquid waste containing weapons-grade uranium from Canada to the Savannah River Site near Aiken.
It’s not so unusual for SRS, once home to the manufacture of nuclear weapons parts, to receive nuclear materials or to process radioactive waste.
What makes these shipments controversial, and according to one environmental activist, unprecedented, is that they are being shipped so far and with such a lethal cargo. Continue reading
Public questioning about relicensing of Seabrook Nuclear Station – no satisfactory answers
Critics slam nuclear plant at NRC hearing, Seacoastonline Relicensing of facility opposed By Nick B. Reid nreid@seacoastonline.com December 20, 2013 HAMPTON — More than 20 members of the public criticized Seabrook Station’s application for relicensing Wednesday at a public hearing before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission…..
Doug Bogen, executive director of the Exeter-based Seacoast Anti-Pollution League, encouraged the NRC to think long range, noting that no nuclear power plant in the country has operated more than 43 years. He said it was “premature” to even consider relicensing the plant nearly 20 years before its current license expires, adding, “It doesn’t pass the credibility test to assume you can project 20, 30, 40 years into the future,” ……
After the comment period ran overtime by more than 40 minutes, the session was cut short, with 20 percent of those signed up to speak left without a chance to voice their opinions. The crowd at the Best Western Plus in downtown Hampton numbered more than 100 in the early going of the four-hour meeting.
The eight-member panel of NRC representatives, which included David Lew, the federal agencies deputy regional administrator, heard the concerns expressed by the audience and in some cases agreed with issues brought up by scientists in the crowd……http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131220/NEWS/312200341/-1/NEWSMAP
Columbia Nuclear Generating Station – cheaper to just shut it down?
Numbers Debate Rages Over Northwest Nuclear Plant KUOW.ORG, By ANNA KING, 20 Dec 13, There’s a new debate raging over the Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power plant. But it’s not about safety or how to dispose of nuclear waste.
This debate about the Columbia Generating Station in southeast Washington focuses on dollars and cents. A new report raises questions about whether the plant pencils out for the region…….
The heart of the debate: Would it be more expensive to continue running the nearly 30-year-old nuclear power plant or to shut it down in the next few years? Continue reading
Report: owners of renewable energy systems highly satisfied
Renewable energy system owners enjoy high satisfaction, finds report,PV Magazine 20 Dec 13, A report published by the NC Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA)and the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Center for Sustainable Enterprise has revealed a high level of satisfaction among renewable energy system owners in the U.S. state. BY: IAN CLOVER
The study from the NC Sustainable Energy Association suggests that rewarding policies helped bolster owners’ desires to “do the right thing” on energy…….http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/renewable-energy-system-owners-enjoy-high-satisfaction–finds-report_100013765/
Edison and NRC have No plans for removing nuclear wastes from San Onofre plant
I have attended nearly every Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing on San Onofre for nearly 20 years. For more than a decade we were told by Southern California Edison (with no objection from the NRC) that the waste problem was essentially solved because the waste would go to Yucca Mountain. But Yucca Mountain is an imperfect solution: Before the federal government stopped the project (or at least slowed it to a crawl), one of the last problems they could not be sure they had any good science about was “drip shields” which were to protect the fuel rods — that were to be permanently entombed at the site — from water dripping from above. The shape, material, thickness, and expected durability of the shields were all undecided, but my recollection is that the last design was an upside-down flattened out V shape made out of 4-inch thick titanium. And no one knew how long it would last, but 300 years was an outside estimate, or at least the hope. After that, good luck.
What the transport vehicles would look like, and whether they would use rail or roads or both, was all undecided when the project was stopped, despite 10s of billions of dollars having been spent.
Geologic storage, if we choose that route, will not be easy and will not be risk free. And we’re nowhere near it at this point. Continue reading
Sinister new weapon – the robot killer drone
Robot drones with no pity or fear to decide who to kill Deborah Dupre | Human Rights Examiner December 19, 2013 Unlike today’s human operated drone killers, robotic drones will decide without pity or fear who to kill, unless a multinational team succeeds in a human rights-based pre-emptive prohibition of the new battlefield technology.”Military hardware………http://www.examiner.com/article/robot-drones-with-no-pity-or-fear-to-decide-who-to-kill?CID=examiner_alerts_article
Sea level rise, storm surges, not factored in to NRC’s nuclear waste policy
CCCL also argued that the discussion of sea level rise was insufficient. The DGEIS relied on dated sources that did not account for uncertainty in sea level rise projections and may underestimate risk. Also, the DGEIS merely looks at static sea level rise, which ignores risks due to more frequent and severe flooding. CCCL pointed to data showing that a number of coastal nuclear power plants potentially subject to sea level rise and storm surge, are located in highly populated areas of the countryCenter For Climate Change Law December 19th, 2013 by Ethan Strell The Columbia Center for Climate Change Law (CCCL) submitted comments today on the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “Waste Confidence Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement” (DGEIS), which concerns the storage of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel at individual power plants beyond the duration of each plant’s operating license. CCCL’s comments focus on the DGEIS’s lack of analysis of how future climate conditions could affect the safety of these high level nuclear waste storage facilities.
“Waste Confidence” refers to the Commission’s confidence that permanent disposal of nuclear waste can be accomplished when it is needed.
Currently, spent nuclear fuel is stored on-site at nuclear reactors beyond the duration of plants’ operating licenses. The Waste Confidence Rule stems from a 1976 petition by NRDC to halt the licensing of nuclear plants until the Commission could guarantee the permanent, safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Continue reading
Reducing children’s exposure to medical radiation
Raising healthy kids: Reducing radiation exposure abc Action News By ERIN 
O’HEARN PHILADELPHIA – December 18, 2013 (WPVI) — When your child is sick or hurt, you want whatever tests are needed. But many parents and doctors are asking whether kids are getting too much radiation from some tests……
According to a recent study, the average child gets 7 radiation-based scans before the age of 18. Each one raises the cancer risk a tiny bit.
“Radiation early in life is going to affect organs that are actively growing,” said Dr. Diego Jaramillo, radiologist-in-chief at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “If you are 5 when you get a CT scan, you have 80 or 90 years to carry on the damage.”
Dr. Jaramillo says radiologists and equipment-makers launched the Image Gently campaign to reduce exposure. Some machines are being reprogrammed to deliver smaller doses, and doctors are rethinking which tests to order. They are using CT scans less and non-radiation tests like MRI and ultrasound more.
About 10 years ago, CT scans were the standard for appendicitis. “We started realizing we would get the same information, or better information, for children with ultrasound,” said Dr. Jaramillo. And there’s also new technology, like EOS, which uses about 1/7 the radiation.
“Instead of getting a whole beam of x-rays, it just has a very thin beam,” Dr. Jaramillo said.And it takes the front and side views in one pass.
Dr. Jaramillo says parents should ask some questions, including: Is the test necessary? And can another test be used to come to the same answer? He says most medical centers will work with parents on getting the right test for a child while keeping radiation to a minimum…….. http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/health&id=9364971
1 This Month
23-25 October – on Zoom – World BEYOND War’s annual global conferenc
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
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Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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