Energy storage to revolutionise large scale renewable energy
Energy storage mandate expected to bring large-scale renewable energy projects onto the electric grid http://photos.mercurynews.com/2013/10/16/energy-storage-mandate-expected-to-bring-large-scale-renewable-energy-projects-onto-the-electric-grid/ Oct 16, 2013
The first-in-the-nation energy storage mandate is expected to help integrate large-scale renewable projects onto the electric grid, help the grid better manage unpredictable events such as storms or wildfires, push utilities to consider a wider range of emerging technologies and jump-start the storage market as a whole. PG&E’s Yerba Buena Battery Energy Storage System Pilot Project, based in East San Jose, charges batteries when demand is low and sends stored power to the grid when demand grows, allowing operators to balance supply and demand. The project, which cost $18 million, uses the sodium-sulfur batteries made by NGK in Japan that have 4 megawatts of capacity and can store electricity for roughly six hours
PG&E’s Yerba Buena battery energy storage project, seen Tuesday morning Oct. 15, 2013, is capable of storing up to four megawatts of power from its place in the hills above Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, Calif. A California law that requires utilities to get 33 percent of their electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind is widely credited with accelerating the state’s cleantech economy. Now state regulators are poised to compel utilities to invest in “energy storage,” which could jump-start technology long considered the holy grail of the electricity industry. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Financial failure of Duke Energy’s nuclear plants
Ten years of fast-rising electric rates reveal Duke Energy Florida is not competitive Tampa Bay Times, Robert Trigaux, 14 Oct 13 “……..Duke Energy, which last year bought Progress Energy Florida, has done a lousy job over the past decade running its power plants. This is the company that permanently closed the Crystal River 3 nuclear power plant after what should have been a routine maintenance upgrade.
This is the same company that said it would build a nuclear power plant in Levy County. It charged customers in advance to help start Levy, only to shelve the price-gone-wild project years later.
Customers were charged billions. No electricity was generated.
How did this mess happen? Where were the watchdogs? Why can’t Duke Energy Florida be held accountable for squandering ratepayer money and jacking up rates?……
On Wednesday, the Florida Public Service Commission — a puppet of the utilities it is supposed to regulate — will meet and probably rubber-stamp a proposed settlement.
If the PSC accepts this settlement, Duke will not have to defend its wasting nearly $3 billion forced upon customers to pay in return for delivering zero electricity. Nor will it have to justify why it should get to keep $250 million it made on its two defunct nuclear projects.
Nor is this the end. Higher rates await in the years ahead. If Duke really was Store One in a free market, its customers would flee elsewhere. Instead, they must stay and suffer. The business gods must be crazy.
Sacking of US top nuclear commanders was meant to be kept secret
Top Nuke Commanders Terminated Following Missing Nuclear Warheads Report Top nuke commanders Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina and Maj. Gen. Michael Carey terminated following exclusive high level military intelligence over secret nuclear warheads transfer By Anthony Gucciardi, Global Research, October 13, 2013 Two of the top nuclear commanders within the United States have now been terminated following the exclusive high level military leak report by Alex Jones and myself regarding the secret and unsigned nuclear weapons transfer from Dyess Air Force base to South Carolina. Disturbingly, the high level suspensions from top generals within the military establishment are not the only red flags to follow the leaked report…………..
the nuke commanders were terminated behind the scenes in a move that was not meant to hit the public eye — especially not the fact that the second in command was fired on the same day of the leaked nuclear transfer. More importantly, shedding light on the secret transfer of nuclear weapons and the numerous red flags that prove its validity is key in stopping the psychopathic control freaks in government from going through with Graham’s ‘warnings’ of a nuclear explosion that would lead to a war with Syria.
The highest level generals have now installed a new commander, Pentagon Air Force Commander Jack Weinstein, who may be willing to do the bidding of higher ups that the previous two nuke commanders would not…….http://www.globalresearch.ca/top-nuke-commanders-terminated-following-missing-nuclear-warheads-report/5354182
Nuclear power is “unnecessary, unsafe, and uninsurable, undemocratic.”
“This is a technology that can have 40 good years that can be wiped out in one bad day,”
NRC evacuation plans are “fantasy” documents,”
As to a main nuclear industry claim in this promotion to revive nuclear power — that atomic energy is necessary in “mitigating climate change”–this has been shown to be false.
nuclear power is “unnecessary, unsafe, and uninsurable… undemocratic.”
Nuclear Power Through the Fukushima Perspective http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karl-grossman/nuclear-power-through-the_b_4069712.html Karl Grossman : 10/09/2013 It started this June in California. Speaking about the problems at the troubled San Onofre nuclear plants through the perspective of the Fukushima nuclear complex catastrophe was a panel of Naoto Kan, prime minister of Japan when the disaster began; Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at the time; Peter Bradford, an NRC member when the Three Mile Island accident happened; and nuclear engineer and former nuclear industry executive Arne Gundersen.
This week the same panel of experts on nuclear technology — joined by long-time nuclear opponent Ralph Nader — was on the East Coast, in New York City and Boston, speaking about problems at the problem-riddled Indian Point nuclear plants near New York and the troubled Pilgrim plant near Boston, through the perspective on the Fukushima catastrophe.
Their presentations were powerful. Continue reading
Indian Point Nuclear Plant emergency procedures won’t be good enough
Former NRC Chair: Emergency Plans Won’t Protect Residents from Radiation Huff Post , Roger Witherspoon, 8 Oct 13 The former head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said yesterday that emergency plans for a catastrophic event at the Indian Point nuclear power plant are not designed to ensure that residents will escape unhealthy doses of radiation and it would be best if the plant closes down.
Gregory Jaczko, who led the five-member commission during the triple meltdown of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station and resigned last year after intense clashes with the industry and the other four commissioners, said in a wide-ranging interview that:
- Emergency plans for Indian Point only teach officials how to make the best decisions in a bad situation and minimize the extent of contamination for those within 10 miles of the Hudson River site. The plans will do nothing to protect the 21 million people living within 50 miles, including New York City, northern New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and western Connecticut.
- With the exception of Allison M. Macfarlane, his replacement as NRC Chair, the four commissioners “were brought onto the commission because they were more interested in looking at the impact of regulations on the industry rather than on the possible impact on the safety of the public.”
- The agency’s risk assessment, which undergirds its regulatory structure and determines what practices are safe, is seriously flawed because of a basic assumption that worst case scenarios cannot happen. As a result, there is little thought given to the consequences of accidents — even though it is certain that some will occur.
- Because the consequences of a meltdown at Indian Point are incalculably catastrophic, it would be best if the plant were closed. Continue reading
Nuclear industry doesn’t like electricity pricing to shift according to demand
Nuclear Plants Vexed at Prices That Shift as Demand Does NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD October 8, 2013“……Today energy in most of the United States is priced hourly in a deregulated market far different from the one of regulated power plant construction that ushered in the nation’s reactors in the 1960s and 1970s. Generators — whether coal-fired plants, wind farms or reactors — are paid varying amounts over the course of the day, but in periods of light demand and high winds the price goes below zero, so generators have to pay to put kilowatt-hours on the grid and hope to make up for the loss at other times. Only wind generators, which earn a subsidy per kilowatt-hour generated, make money in that situation.
Decisions about new generating stations are being made by entrepreneurs rather than public utilities, he said, and entrepreneurs are unlikely to do what the utilities used to: commit to expensive generating stations that could take a decade to build.
In fact, the only places in the United States where new reactors are under construction are states like South Carolina and Georgia, where the decisions are still made by public utilities commissions and big utilities, not small companies judging market conditions and then building modest “merchant” generators……
It is bad enough for nuclear operators that the market does not favor new reactor construction, but lately evidence is mounting that it is also undermining the viability of old ones, they say…….http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/business/energy-environment/nuclear-plants-vexed-at-prices-that-shift-as-demand-does.html
Ontario hearings on nuclear wastes: US officials unhappy about plan
U.S. officials demand Ontario clarify plan for nuclear waste http://www.macombdaily.com/environment-and-nature/20131003/us-officials-demand-ontario-clarify-plan-for-nuclear-waste By Gina Joseph, The Macomb Daily 10/03/13, Plans by Ontario Power Generation to bury its low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste underground may be a Trojan horse.
On Monday, state Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D-Taylor, and state Rep. Sarah Roberts, D-Taylor, traveled to a public hearing in Ontario to voice their concerns before a Joint Review Panel on the matter of the Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) on the shore of Lake Huron. Today, Hopgood and Roberts joined other prominent officials in submitting a formal written Request for Ruling regarding the plan, which appears to have a much larger scope than what is detailed in the project report.
In the request, the signatories demanded a suspension of the hearings if the Joint Review Panel and OPG cannot confirm that all highly radioactive wastes are prohibited in this or any future repository on the site. The facility would be located under the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant and about 440 yards below the Great Lakes basin.
“As if the proposal of this radioactive waste repository less than a mile from the shores of Lake Huron wasn’t threatening enough, it is now becoming clear that those fears are just the beginning,” said Sen. Hopgood. “With the hearings underway, information is coming out regarding the actual scope of the project and the potential to include highly radioactive wastes. This isn’t just for the mops and rags that OPG often speaks of, and could include everything short of spent nuclear fuel. If that is the intent, it is absolutely essential that we go back to the drawing board or, better yet, scrap the idea altogether.” Roberts concurred.
“The merits of this debate must be founded on the assumption that we have all of the correct information regarding this (DGR),” said Rep. Roberts. “Otherwise, the potential for negative impacts on our Great Lakes could be far worse than we ever imagined.”
Roberts and Hopgood attended day 12 of the hearings to be held through Oct. 12.
30 years gaol for USA’s 83 year old anti nuclear nun?
Nun faces up to 30 years in prison for protesting at nuclear weapons facility District judge denies appeal of Sister Megan Rice, 83, and two other activists, citing their intent to ‘disarm’ Oak Ridge Karen McVeigh theguardian.com, Saturday 5 October 2013 An octogenarian Roman Catholic nun, jailed for breaking into a nuclear weapons facility in Tennessee, is facing up to 30 years in prison after losing her plea for the most serious charge to be dropped.
Sister Megan Rice, 83, and two fellow peace activists staged a non-violent protest to symbolically disarm the Oak Ridge Y-12 nuclear weapons facility, home to the nation’s main supply of highly enriched uranium, in July. They were initially charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison, but felony charges quickly followed. They were eventually convicted of interfering with national security and damage to federal property.
This week, a judge denied a motion to acquit them of interfering with national security under the sabotage section of the US criminal code, which carries the harshest prison sentence of up to 20 years. Rice and her two fellow activists, Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, a carpenter, and Michael Walli, 68, a veteran, now face up to 30 years in prison, although the ruling by district judge Amul Thapar, in the eastern district of Tennessee, suggests their sentences will be more lenient than the maximum allowed. Continue reading
Does USA even need the super-expensive new uranium processing facility ?
Costs for new nuclear facility skyrocket as critics question its creation By Barnini Chakraborty October 04, 2013 FoxNews.com WASHINGTON – Plans for a new facility that will handle, dismantle and secure nuclear material are in a major meltdown.
The price tag attached to the country’s largest uranium processing facility under the direction of the Department of Energy has climbed to more than 19 times its original estimate. What’s worse is that much of the Tennessee complex, according to the government’s own calculations, isn’t needed and the rest will most likely be outdated when the facility becomes fully operational — two decades from now. Continue reading
Nuclear marketing: now USA is selling nuclear technology to China
Chicago Bridge to Build China’s Nuclear Plant by Zacks Equity Research October 04, 2013 “……Chicago Bridge announced on Oct 1 that it has agreed with CPI’s Power Engineering Company, (a subsidiary of China Power Investment Corporation) to form a joint venture to construct nuclear power plants in China…..According to the agreement, Chicago Bridge is required to provide engineering, procurement, construction management, commissioning, project management and technical support services for the nuclear plants that are to be constructed.
China Power Investment Corporation is China’s biggest power generation company, which owns one of the three nuclear power plants in China. These power plants are planned and funded by the China Power Investment Corporation. ….http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/110904/chicago-bridge-to-build-chinas-nuclear-plant
Nuclear power plant approvals delayed by US govt shutdown?
“The shutdown of the government is an indication that it can’t be trusted to have institutional controls over radioactive materials for as long as they remain dangerous,” D’Arrigo said. “It seems incredible to me that the NRC is seriously talking about being able to afford and have institutional controls indefinitely.”
SHUTDOWN MAY FURTHER DELAY NUCLEAR POWER PLANT APPROVALS By Douglas P. Guarino, 3 Oct 13 Global Security Newswire Nuclear power plant licensing decisions — already delayed by a 2012 court ruling — could be pushed back further by the federal government shutdown, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said this week.
If Congress does not approve funding to run the federal government by Friday, the NRC likely will have to reschedule a series of meetings that kicked off this week on a proposed new “waste confidence” rule that is meant to address the ruling, Keith McConnell, head of the NRC waste confidence directorate, said Tuesday.
Most of the federal government shut down on Oct. 1, the start of fiscal 2014, because Democrats and Republicans in Congress cannot agree on a temporary funding bill. Democrats are rejecting GOP attempts include in the budget a repeal of the health-care reform law Congress approved in 2010.
Last year, a federal appeals court sided with the states of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, which argued the Nuclear Regulatory Commission wrongly assumed spent reactor fuel eventually would move to a permanent waste repository, even though the Obama administration canceled the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada. Continue reading
Astroturfing in North Dakota – sly underhand promotion of uranium mining interests
Thoughts on the uranium debacle http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/communities/hot-springs/opinion/thoughts-on-the-uranium-debacle/article_f681dd4c-29ef-11e3-9acc-0019bb2963f4.html By Rebecca Leas, PhD 1 Oct 13 Unless you ‘ve been living in a cave, you know natural gas is the new major focus for energy. Natural gas has negatively affected the nuclear industry, resulting in decreased demand for uranium. Germany is nearly nuclear-free and other countries, including the United States, are closing down reactors. The U.S.’s reactors are in ill repair and very susceptible to weather events, earthquakes, and terrorism. Our storage of spent fuel is outdated, making our reactors very vulnerable. Europe uses a “HOSS” (Hardened On-Site Storage) system greatly reducing the risks.
The USA is shutting down reactors and has sufficient uranium available. France is perfecting a system of re-using uranium which will further decrease its demand.
Confusing the public are Powertech (PT) employees, shareholders and supporters writing Letters to the Editor, but not identifying themselves as such. This is important for the public to know. Continue reading
Nuclear radiological attack will find USA cities unprepared
U.S. Cities Unprepared to Deal with Large-Scale Nuclear, Radiological Attack Washington Free Beacon 1 Oct 13 Watchdog group says federal government has offered little guidance to major cities Major U.S. cities lack the capabilities and know-how to effectively deal with the fallout from a large-scale nuclear and radiological attack by terrorists, according to the government’s top watchdog group.
The federal government has conducted “limited” planning and offered little guidance to major cities that are vulnerable to either a radiological or nuclear attack, according to a Monday report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The disorganization and lack of preparedness could lead to a “disjointed” emergency response, increasing “the consequences,” fatalities, and economic toll of such a disaster, the report said.
These potentially catastrophic “gaps in early response abilities warrant federal attention,” the GAO said.
Most major cities admitted that while local emergency personnel could scramble to treat victims, they remain uncertain about how exactly to deal with such an attack and whether the federal government would come to their assistance.
There is currently “limited federal planning guidance related to the early response capabilities needed by cities for the large attack depicted in the national planning scenarios,” the GAO reported.
The GAO recommends that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “develop guidance to clarify the early response capabilities needed by cities for RDD [radiological dispersion device] and IND [improvised nuclear device] attacks.”……….
“10 of those cities were perceived as not being able to conduct any of the response activities for an [nuclear] attack without federal assistance.”
FEMA maintains that federal guidance would not be necessary despite the apparent lack of preparation and coordination with the federal government, according to the report………..
The GAO is warning congressional leaders that much more preparation and coordination is needed.
“A disjointed or untimely response could put many additional lives at risk, increase economic consequences, and undermine the public’s confidence in the federal, state, and local governments’ ability to respond to such a crisis,” the GAO wrote in a Monday letter to Sen. Tom Carper (D., Del.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. http://freebeacon.com/u-s-cities-unprepared-to-deal-with-large-scale-nuclear-radiological-attack/
Importance of WATER: this will decide fate of nuclear power project
Fate of proposed Green River nuclear power plant depends on water After 5 days of testimony, judge takes case under advisement By Amy Joi O’Donoghue, Deseret News Sunday, Sept. 29 2013
Summary
A five day trial concluded Friday in a Price courtroom. The judge will ultimately determine if the Utah state engineer’s decision to grant water to cool the reactors of a proposed nuclear power plant was justified. Multiple groups assert it was not…….http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865587330/Fate-of-proposed-Green-River-power-plant-depends-on-water.html
Nuclear catastrophe avoided in USA – so far
We’re Incredibly Lucky There Hasn’t Been a U.S. Nuclear Catastrophe…Yet Atlantic Wire ERIC LEVENSON, 30 Sept 13 Know that popular Liberty Insurance Mutual commercial that jokingly shows people making small mistakes — dropping an air conditioning unit from an upper-story window or forgetting to put on the emergency brake — that destroy their cars? Funny, right? Now imagine that, but with nuclear weapons.
That’s the frightening picture that author Eric Schlosser paints in his new book Command and Control, a look at the many accidents involving nuclear weapons that almost led to massive destruction. His conclusion isn’t very comforting — it’s partly plain old luck that has kept an explosion from happening, one of several points he made in a phone interview with The Atlantic Wire………
The book is scarily full of stories like the Damascus Accident, which Schlosser worked to get declassified for the book. In another case, a B-52 plane exploded above North Carolina during a supposedly-routine flight, dropping two hydrogen bombs below. They failed to explode because of a single low-voltage switch, the last safety measure available for the explosives. Other gut-wrenching examples were reported in The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times Book Review.
Just as we are lucky that none of these accidents ever resulted in an explosion, we’re equally lucky that no unhinged military members had a Dr. Strangelove-like desire to take nuclear action into their own hands, a possibility which, despite Air Force claims to the contrary, was very real. “The reality was until the early 1970s, there was nothing to prevent a bomber crew from just flying to the Soviet Union with their hydrogen bombs and dropping them,” Schlosser said. “There were no codes that they had to type in to unlock the bombs or unlock the missiles. So we’re glad that never happened but it’s a pretty risky way to manage a nuclear weapon.”
Even more disconcerting — two people in charge of safety protocols for nuclear weapons didn’t even know about all of these accidents until Schlosser told them. That’s because of the Air Force’s compartmentalized secrecy, which prevents the bomb users from interacting with its developers, Schlosser explained. “There were bomb handlers and pilots who didn’t realize some of the safety problems with the weapons, and there were weapons developers who didn’t realize how these weapons were being handled. And that’s a very bad combination,” he said.
And this isn’t just a historical problem; many of these same issues remain today. “I’m concerned about the arsenal right now, and the morale of the people who are running it, and some of the safety violations we’ve been having for the last two years,” Schlosser said. While his work highlights the potentially huge problems of human infallibility, the solutions he suggests don’t offer much. “But if we’re gonna have these weapons, we need to take care of them properly,” he said. Any other options? “Or just get rid of them.” http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/09/eric-schlosser-book-command-and-control-review-nuclear-explosion/69949/
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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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