31 USA nuclear power plants must upgrade ventilation systems
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Orders Power Plant Vent Upgrades, But Falls Short Of Requiring Filters HUFFINGTON POST, By MATTHEW DALY 03/19/13 WASHINGTON — U.S. nuclear power plants 
must upgrade ventilation systems at 31 reactors with designs similar to those that melted down two years ago in Japan, under a Nuclear Regulatory Commission order that stops short of requiring filtered vents, as some safety advocates and NRC’s staff had urged.
The filters are required in Japan and much of Europe, but U.S. utilities say they are unnecessary and expensive. Continue reading
Legal win for the Grand Canyon against uranium minng
Judge Upholds Uranium Mining Ban on 1 Million Acres Near Grand Canyon http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2013/uranium-mining-03-20-2013.html GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK— U.S. District Judge David Campbell today denied a uranium industry motion to overturn the Obama administration’s ban on new uranium mining on 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon. The ban was adopted January 2012 to protect the Grand Canyon’s watersheds. The withdrawal prohibits new mining claims and development on old claims that lack “valid existing rights” to mine.
“It’s a great day for the Grand Canyon, and for rivers, wildlife, and communities across the West,” said Ted Zukoski of Earthjustice, one the attorneys representing conservation groups and the Havasupai tribe in the case. “The uranium industry was hoping to cripple the Interior Department’s ability to temporarily protect lands from destructive mining. Today’s opinion upholds the Interior Department’s authority to take such protective measures.” Continue reading
South Carolina’s nuclear power to get ever more costly
“The cost trends clearly suggest that nuclear reactor construction is not only more costly than the alternatives today, but will be a great deal more costly than many more alternatives in the future,”
Report: Gov’t incentives favor nuclear over renewable energy in SC The State, South Carolina, 15, 2013 By SAMMY FRETWELL — COLUMBIA, SC — As SCE&G and other utilities work to complete atomic power plants, the law that made construction possible gives power companies less incentive to use solar, wind and other forms of alternative energy.
That’s one conclusion in a broad study that criticizes the way South Carolina, Georgia and Florida have helped utilities afford the multi-billion dollar costs of building nuclear power plants.
The report, released Thursday through the Vermont’ Law School, said ratepayers in the three Southern states are being soaked for the high costs of building atomic reactors. It recommends that the nuclear reactor projects be cancelled to save money in the long run because the projects are still years from completion and will cost billions more than originally projected. SCE&G is spending $10 billion on two new reactors at Jenkinsville because of a special financing method allowed by the state Legislature six years ago. Already, the company has incurred more than $280 million in extra costs building the plants, the report said. The plants are expected to become operational in 2017 and 2018.
Historically, utilities have had to show that power plants are up and running properly before they could recover the costs for construction, Vermont researchers said. Now, laws adopted in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida have allowed utilities to charge ratepayers for nuclear power plants before the reactors are built. Continue reading
No way to stop Hanford radioactive leaks, says Washington’s Governor
Gov. Jay Inslee says no available technology to plug the radiation leak Examiner.com FEBRUARY 28, 2013 BY: DEBORAH DUPRE Washington state governor Jay Inslee said Wednesday that there is no available technology to plug the radiation leaks at Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Radioactive waste tanks may be leaking some 1,000 gallons per year at the Hanford Nuclear facility….. Hanford has 177 aging tanks storing millions of gallons of radioactive sludge.
Faulty data analysis meant officials did not properly catch signs of leaking before now, according to Inslee.
The governor expressed concern about the other tanks at the reservation. http://www.examiner.com/article/gov-jay-inslee-says-no-available-technology-to-plug-the-radiation-leak?CID=examiner_alerts_article
Secrecy and lack of oversight in Entergy’s nuclear waste plans for Pilgrim Nuclear Plant
all Pilgrim Coalition is asking.
“Once again, the total lack of transparency and oversight by the NRC
and other regulators responsible for the safe and proper operation of
Pilgrim is alarming,” she said. “All we want is straight answers and
public accountability. It’s not a lot to ask, given what is at stake.”
NUCLEAR MATTERS: Pilgrim Coalition wants public accountability Entergy
seeks zoning permit for dry cask storage project By Frank Mand
Wicked Local Plymouth Mar 03, 2013 PLYMOUTH —
Has Entergy begun construction of a dry cask, spent fuel, storage
system on the grounds of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station? And, if
so, why hasn’t the company been more forthcoming about its efforts in
order to assure the public and comply with the town departments which
exercise oversight on projects of this size and scope? Continue reading
Shock horror: some USA Tea Party Republicans are losing faith in nuclear power
“Conservatives do not believe in incentivizing failure,” Debbie Dooley, a co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party, recently told Georgia lawmakers. “
“The price tag keeps going up. The timeframe they are going to build it has been extended year after year after year,” said state Rep. Mike Fasano, a Republican and self-described nuclear power supporter.
“A lot of people are paying for something that they’ll never see any return on their money,” Fasano said.
Some Leaders Souring on Nuclear Power Costs, abc News By RAY HENRY Associated Press ATLANTA March 3, 2013 As the cost of building a new nuclear plant soars, there are signs of buyer’s remorse. The second-guessing from officials in Georgia and Florida is a sign that maybe the nation is not quite ready for a nuclear renaissance. On top of construction costs running much higher than expected, the price of natural gas has plummeted, making it tough for nuclear plants to compete in the energy market. Continue reading
Koch brothers and fossil fuel front groups are not winning in Kansas
Kansas Ignores Koch Brothers, Keeps Renewable Energy Standard Clean Technica, March 2, 2013 The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that twin votes in Kansas State House and Senate on Thursday put the kibosh on legislative efforts to roll back and delay Kansas’ renewable energy standard (RES).
Passed in 2009, Kansas’ RES requires investor-owned utilities to generate 20 percent of peak demand electrical capacity from renewable sources by 2020. The American Wind Energy Association has actually highlighted the RES as a driving factor in the states burgeoning wind power sector — half of Kansas’ wind farms began operating between 2010 and 2012, after the RES went into effect.
Unfortunately, Kansas has also been targeted by conservative anti-renewable efforts. Republican Rep. Dennis Hedke, the chairman of Kansas’ House Energy and Environment Committee, recently acknowledged he had private talks with a lobbyist for Koch Companies Public Sector LLC concerning the House bill to dilute the RES. (HB 2241) Even anti-tax activist Graver Norquist got in on the action, telling the state’s legislature it ought to abandon the “costly renewable energy mandate so as to mitigate its negative impact on the economy.”
But to Kansas’ credit, it looks like neither effort bore fruit: Continue reading
Uranium mining industries again out to mine on Navajo land
Uranium mining cos. eye new Navajo Nation projects http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/21448485/uranium-mining-cos-eye-new-navajo-nation-projects SHIPROCK, N.M. (AP) – Uranium mining companies are showing signs of renewed interest in the Navajo Nation.
The Farmington Daily Times reports that several companies during the past year have addressed the tribe, begging for permission to once again mine the uranium-rich land that the tribe sits upon.
But several environmental studies have suggested that elevated levels of uranium in and around the mines caused health problems for the people working in and living around them.
The Navajo Nation sits on more than 70 million tons of naturally occurring uranium, a radioactive ore.
Uranium mining companies say that history will not repeat itself, especially since they are using advanced technologies and take more precautions.
The tribe banned uranium mining on its land in 2005, though federal government has jurisdiction on Navajo Trust Land
Court martial of Bradley Manning, for telling the truth, and being humane
I am the type of person who likes to know how things work. And, as an analyst, this means I always want to figure out the truth
Bradley Manning’s personal statement to court martial: full text 
Guardian UK , Alexa O’Brien 1 March 13“…..The fact neither CENTCOM or Multi National Forces Iraq or MNF-I would not voluntarily release the video troubled me further. It was clear to me that the event happened because the aerial weapons team mistakenly identified Reuters employees as a potential threat and that the people in the bongo truck were merely attempting to assist the wounded. The people in the van were not a threat but merely “good samaritans”. The most alarming aspect of the video to me, however, was the seemly delightful bloodlust they appeared to have.
The dehumanized the individuals they were engaging and seemed to not value human life by referring to them as quote “dead bastards” unquote and congratulating each other on the ability to kill in large numbers. At one point in the video there is an individual on the ground attempting to crawl to safety. The individual is seriously wounded. Instead of calling for medical attention to the location, one of the aerial weapons team crew members verbally asks for the wounded person to pick up a weapon so that he can have a reason to engage. For me, this seems similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass.
While saddened by the aerial weapons team crew’s lack of concern about human life, I was disturbed by the response of the discovery of injured children at the scene. In the video, you can see that the bongo truck driving up to assist the wounded individual. In response the aerial weapons team crew – as soon as the individuals are a threat, they repeatedly request for authorization to fire on the bongo truck and once granted they engage the vehicle at least six times. Continue reading
USA taxpayers being ripped off again, for small nuclear reactors boondoggle
Mini Nuclear Reactors Earn Golden Fleece Award For Government Waste Clean Technica, February 28, 2013 Jeremy Bloom Are mini nuclear reactors the future of high-end energy development — or a wasteful government boondoggle?
While it may or may not be great that profitable companies like Babcock & Wilcox and Toshiba are researching these mini or even micro reactors (don’t worry, they won’t fit in a suitcase, or even in your basement), the group Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) has dinged the program as its recipient of the 2013 Golden Fleece Award, for sucking down potentially half a billion dollars in taxpayer money.
“The nation is two days away from the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration,” notes Ryan Alexander, president of TCS. “But at the same time we are hearing the Department of Energy and the nuclear industry evangelizing about the benefits of small modular reactors. In reality, we cannot afford to pile more market-distorting subsidies to profitable companies on top of the billions of dollars we already gave away.”
Indeed, at a time when that much money could pay for some substantial progress in growing fields like biofuels or solar power, you have to wonder why companies like Babcock & Wilcox need any help from the government at all……the TCS says the possible drawbacks are legion:
- The energy they generate just won’t be cost-effective.
- And that’s at current estimates — nuclear companies are notorious for over — estimating benefits and under-estimating costs.
- Before anything can be built, it’ll take years for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to evaluate these new designs.
- Each of these new reactors would be a potential terrorist target, multiplying the security nightmare.
- And we still have no way of dealing with nuclear waste.
“The nuclear industry has a tradition of rushing forth to proclaim that a new technology, just around the corner, will take care of whatever problem exists,” says Autumn Hanna, senior program director for TCS. “Unfortunately, these technologies have an equally long tradition of expensive failure. If the industry believes in small modular reactors and a reactor in every backyard – great – but don’t expect the taxpayer to pick up the tab.”
Urgency of the radioactive pollution disaster unfolding at Hanford Nuclear Reservation
When stacked against other environmental issues – timber clear-cutting, setting aside wilderness areas, and even plastic waste floats larger than Texas, the risk of radioactive contamination to our environment is infinitely more catastrophic
It is not too late. We have the ability to alter the impending disaster by placing pressure on responsible government agencies, legislators, community leaders, and contractors to safely increase the pace of the cleanup operations—and to tell Congress to shift all $2.46 billion in nuclear weapons “modernization” funds to cleanup—or at least what’s left after sequestration. Now.
Betrayal of Trust on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Radioactive Columbia River Imminent Without Action http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/01/betrayal-of-trust-on-the-hanford-nuclear-reservation/ by GINA MASON MARCH 1-3, 2013
Living with radiation sickness is not on my bucket list and I would hazard that it isn’t on yours either. Nor is it what I have in mind for my children’s future. Yet our government continues to manufacture nuclear materials and unsafely store radioactive waste in clear violation of the public trust. Nowhere is this more visible than at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the most radioactively contaminated site in the western hemisphere, where we now know radioactive sludge is leaking badly from at least six underground tanks. While Hanford is technically in Washington State, the management of this catastrophe is vitally important to the rest of the nation—indeed, the biosphere. Unfortunately, environmental disasters do not stop at city, state, or national borders. Continue reading
Full text transcript of Bradley Manning’s statement to court martial
Bradley Manning’s personal statement to court martial: full text Guardian UK , 1 March 13,
In the absence of a full official copy of Manning’s statement, journalists have had to rely on their own note-taking from court Bradley Manning read out a personal statement to the court in Fort Meade, Maryland, at a pre-trial hearing over his prosecution for leaking the largest trove of state secrets in US history. It provides the first account in his own words and under his own name of how he came to download hundreds of thousands of classified documents and videos from secure military databases and transmit them to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.
The US government has refused to publish contemporaneous transcripts and documents from the Manning court martial, prompting legal complaints from open government groups. In the absence of a full official copy of Manning’s statement, journalists covering the case have had to rely on their own note-taking from the courtroom.
Here the Guardian publishes a transcript compiled by independent journalist Alexa O’Brien, who has been covering the pre-trial hearings. It provides the most comprehensive and accurate account of a highly significant statement. This transcript was compiled by O’Brien from her contemporaneous notes, not from a recording nor from an official document. Inevitably, it may contain errors…..http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/01/bradley-manning-wikileaks-statement-full-text
For economic reasons, USA’s nuclear power may simply disappear
current market forces challenge the economic viability of existing nuclear power plants, with new reactors representing an extremely unattractive investment prospect.US May Face Inevitable Nuclear Power Exit Science Daily, Mar. 1, 2013 — In a 2012 report, the Obama administration announced that it was “jumpstarting” the nuclear industry. Because of the industry’s long history of permitting problems, cost overruns, and construction delays, financial markets have been wary of backing new nuclear construction for decades.
The supposed “nuclear renaissance” ballyhooed in the first decade of this century never materialized. And then came Fukushima, a disaster that pushed countries around the world to ask: Should nuclear power be part of the energy future? In the third and final issue in a series focused on nuclear exits, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by SAGE, turns its attention to the United States and looks at whether the country’s business-as-usual approach may yet lead to a nuclear phase-out for economic reasons. Continue reading
Bradley Manning revealed disturbing airstrike incident in Afghanistan
Bradley Manning’s personal statement to court martial: full text Guardian UK , 1 March 13“”…….I reviewed the incident and what happened. The airstrike occurred in the Garani village in the Farah Province, Northwestern Afghanistan. It received worldwide press coverage during the time as it was reported that up to 100 to 150 Afghan civilians – mostly women and children – were accidentally killed during the airstrike.
After going through the report and the [missed word] annexes, I began to review the incident as being similar to the 12 July 2007 aerial weapons team engagements in Iraq. However, this event was noticeably different in that it involved a significantly higher number of individuals, larger aircraft and much heavier munitions. Also, the conclusions of the report are more disturbing than those of the July 2007 incident.
I did not see anything in the 15-6 report or its annexes that gave away sensitive information. Rather, the investigation and its conclusions were and what those involved should have done, and how to avoid an event like this from occurring again……….http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/01/bradley-manning-wikileaks-statement-full-text
Vogtle new nuclear plant, delayed, and running over budget
Utility: New nuclear plant in Ga. over budget
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/feb/28/us-nuclear-plant-georgia/#ixzz2MJuEFTt6
The Associated Press , Feb. 28, 2013 A utility says a
first-of-its-kind nuclear plant under construction in eastern Georgia
will go over budget.
Atlanta-based Southern Co. said Thursday that finishing Plant Vogtle
(VOH’-gohl) will now cost an estimated $6.85 billion, up from $6.11
billion.
The firm also moved back the completion dates for the massive project.
While the two reactors at the plant were supposed to start producing
power in April 2016 and April 2017, those dates have now shifted to
late 2017 and late 2018.
Utility officials say completing the nuclear plant remains cheaper
than the alternatives.
Georgia’s Public Service Commission must ultimately decide whether to
approve the new budget.
Plant Vogtle is one of three U.S. nuclear plants under construction.
The nuclear industry has struggled historically to meet construction
budgets.
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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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