16 years in prison, perhaps, for anti nuclear nun?
Rice, an 82-year old vowed sister of the Society of the Holy Child of Jesus, was much calmer than the average person facing up to 16 years in federal prison for pulling off what has been dubbed by some legal experts as the biggest security breach in the history of the nation’s atomic complex.
A decision on both the dismissal and the admission of evidence will be made by Judge Shirley within the next 30 days. A trial in the U.S. District Court is scheduled for late February 2013.
82 year old nun ready to go to prison for nuclear breach (uncludes video) By Jo Piazza / current.com , 22 Nov 12, With her fingers pointed in a steeple supporting her chin, Sister Megan Rice made a small but formidable presence in the East Tennessee District Court this week.
Clad in a lavender hoodie and navy sweatpants, her steel-colored hair cut into a sturdy pixie, the diminutive Catholic nun was nearly dwarfed by the large wooden defendant’s table. Rice, an 82-year old vowed sister of the Society of the Holy Child of Jesus, was much calmer than the average person facing up to 16 years in federal prison for pulling off what has been dubbed by some legal experts as the biggest security breach in the history of the nation’s atomic complex. Continue reading
Portable solar power generator saving the day still in New York
VIDEO: A Solar Thanksgiving for Battered Rockaways http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/11/video-solar-thanksgiving-battered-rockaways?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+motherjones%2FTheBlueMarble+%28Mother+Jones+%7C+The+Blue+Marble%29
—By Tim McDonnell and James West, Nov. 21, Since Hurricane Sandy, the historic Belle Harbor Yacht Club in the Rockaways—one of New York City’s hardest-hit neighborhoods—has become an indispensable hub for supplies, volunteers, and a much-needed round of drinks. Three weeks after the storm, the oft-maligned Long Island Power Authority still hasn’t re-connected this building, not to mention its neighbors, back to the grid, leaving locals to face the prospect of a cold, dark Thanksgiving.
But outside, the sun is shining, and a trio of local solar power companies have seen an opportunity to bridge the gap left open by the electric utility. The yacht club, among several area buildings, is now plugged into a portable solar power generator, which frees volunteers from the endless gas lines that plague those dependent on traditional generators and leaves them ready to dish out hot plates of turkey and stuffing to the beleaguered community.
US Dept of Energy losing enthusiasm for Small Modular Nuclear reactors (SMRs)
ultimately, the decision may have come down to the commercial prospects for the technologies. The fact remains that the economics of all of these designs remains murky.
Based on economies of scale, small reactors will produce more expensive electricity than large reactors, all other factors being equal.
Does DOE’s Funding Announcement Mark the End of its Irrational Exuberance for SMRs? http://allthingsnuclear.org/does-does-funding-announcement-mark-the-end-of-its-irrational-exuberance-for-smrs/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AllThingsNuclear+%28All+Things+Nuclear%29 Ed Lyman, senior scientist
November 21, 2012
On November 20 DOE finally announced that the Babcock and Wilcox Company (B&W) and its “mPower” reactor were the lucky winners of its Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for a cost-sharing program with industry for the design and licensing of “small modular reactors,” or SMRs. Although DOE had originally said the announcement would come in July or August, it decided instead to bury it on Thanksgiving week – not usually a time the agency releases news of which it is particularly proud.
And in fact, the real news is not that a grant was awarded to B&W – this was a near-certainty – but that there was only one winner instead of two. Continue reading
Solar System Backs Up Generator, Keeps Power On in Face of Sandy’s Fury
Phoenix Rising: Renewable Energy Good News Comes to Light After Hurricane Sandy By Jennifer Runyon, Managing Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com November 20, 2012
“…..When Sandy slammed into Bayonne, NJ, a one-of-a-kind solar electric system developed byAdvanced Solar Products of Flemington, NJ helped keep the power on at Midtown Community School, where 50 to 75 residents of this historic Hudson Riverfront city spent the night sleeping on cots in the warm, dry and well-lit community room.
Power from the grid was lost to all of Bayonne, including Midtown Community School (left), which also serves as a community emergency evacuation center, at about 9:00 on the evening of October 29. The lights at the school stayed on, however, because of its backup system. The large commercial-scale solar system, at the time part of the largest solar power project on the east coast, was designed and built with assistance from Advanced Solar Products (ASP) and installed in 2004.
The 272-kW PV array was designed to operate in conjunction with an uninterruptible power supply. The one at the school is a diesel generator according to Lyle Rawlings who has served as president of ASP since 1991. The generator is large enough to meet the electricity needs of the school during a power failure, but uses huge quantities of diesel fuel, which must be delivered by truck if supplies can be located at all during and after an emergency such as Sandy.
“Without our solar system on the roof of the school, we would have needed even more fuel, which would have been difficult to find because it was needed for all the repair trucks operating around the state,” said Rawlings.
In order to provide this capability, the school’s solar power system was specially modified with new controls, sensors and innovative software to enable it to automatically detect a power outage. When it does, it immediately shifts its output from circuitry powering the school’s ordinary heating, cooling and lighting systems to the building’s emergency circuits. “Storms such as Sandy will become more frequent if we do not stem greenhouse gas induced climate change,” says Rawlings. “Widespread adoption of solar power is an economically beneficial way to reduce greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.” …. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/phoenix-rising-renewable-energy-good-news-comes-to-light-after-hurricane-sandy?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-November21-2012
Caribbean and Southeastern Coastal Wind Turbines Fare Well During Sandy Phoenix Rising
Renewable Energy Good News Comes to Light After Hurricane Sandy By Jennifer Runyon, Managing Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com November 20, 2012
“……Just about a week after Hurricane Sandy,Northern Power Systems announced that 74 of its wind turbines, including three in the Caribbean, had been in the path of Hurricane Sandy and were undamaged by the high winds. Following Irene, a category 3 hurricane that hit in 2011, Sandy was the second powerful Atlantic storm to hit Northern Power turbines within a year and all turbines that were impacted performed safely as expected.
“The losses experienced from Hurricane Sandy are a tragic reminder of how powerful nature can be,” said Troy Patton, Northern Power Systems President and CEO. “Many of our turbines, from the Caribbean to the eastern seaboard of the U.S., were directly in the path of Hurricane Sandy, but none were damaged by the high winds. At Northern Power Systems, we have the experience and commitment to continue to make products that are safe and reliable.”
As a testament to the design of Northern Power’s turbines, as soon as each turbine detected Sandy’s hurricane force winds, it automatically entered safe mode. Once conditions returned to normal, each turbine started generating electricity again, said the company. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/phoenix-rising-renewable-energy-good-news-comes-to-light-after-hurricane-sandy?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-November21-2012
Secret Presidential directive – could it permit military action within USA?
EPIC filed a FOIA request to find out if the policy directive could mean military deployment within the United States
it allows the Pentagon to pursue actions against adversaries within a vaguely described terrain known only as “cyberspace.”
Exceptionally grave damage: NSA refuses to declassify Obama’s cybersecurity directive
http://rt.com/usa/news/nsa-directive-epic-foia-192/ 21 November, 2012, Reuters / Adrees Latif The National Security Agency has shot down a Freedom of Information Act request for details about an elusive presidential order that may allow the government to deploy the military within the United States for the supposed sake of cybersecurity.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) reports on Tuesday that their recent FOIA request for information about a top-secret memosigned last month by US President Barack Obama has been rejected
Continue reading
Weapons proliferation concern about laser uranium enrichment technology
U.S. approval for laser enrichment – could spur new clandestine research and construction in other nations that might make bomb-building efforts by nuclear-arms aspirants easier to conceal.
Decision on Proliferation Assessments Pending at Nuclear Agency, Nov. 20, 2012 By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire
A roadway marker points to nuclear fuel operations at a GE-Hitachi campus in North Carolina. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission might soon decide whether to demand proliferation threat assessments from firms seeking licenses for new fuel-making activities, such as a commercial laser uranium-enrichment approach proposed by the energy conglomerate
Continue reading
Avoiding Pilgrim nuclear safety committee- in order to avoid criticism
(gotta keep ourselves nice)
MARSHFIELD Selectmen reject nuclear advisory committee
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2012/11/21/selectmen-reject-nuclear-advisory-committee/8qqoSYZxLafRDwa1izYrJP/story.html
By Jennette Barnes Globe Correspondent / November 24, 2012 The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 Monday against establishing a nuclear advisory committee.
Anna Baker, a member of the Pilgrim Coalition, which seeks to reduce safety risks related to Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, asked the board to create a committee that would review safety plans for an emergency and work on preventative safety. In April, Town Meeting approved a resolution asking the selectmen to consider creating such a
committee.
But after hearing testimony Monday from police Lieutenant Paul Taber, who is the town’s emergency management director, and from Police Chief Phillip Tavares, the selectmen said they believed the town’s Emergency Management Agency was doing an excellent job, with
professional training that committee members might not have.
Selectman John Hall also expressed concern that the committee might be anti-nuclear, and could create friction with emergency planners. Baker said she was pro-safety, not anti-nuclear.
Hanford radioactive waste plant – safety violations
Safety, health violations under investigation at Hanford nuclear waste plant, Oregon Live, By The Associated Press November 21, 2012 LOS ANGELES — A federal investigation has found that a California company might have committed a wide range of safety and health violations at a plant it is building in Washington state to treat high-level radioactive waste, a published report said Wednesday. Continue reading
Radiologists plan for conservative use of medical radiation – Image Wisely
Image Wisely urges nuclear medicine docs to take the pledge Dot Med News, November 20, 2012 by Brendon Nafziger , DOTmed News Associate Editor A campaign by radiologists to encourage health care providers to expose patients to less ionizing radiation is urging nuclear medicine doctors and technicians to take the pledge.
Image Wisely announced Wednesday that it worked with the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, its technologist section, and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology to create online documents to help providers use the lowest dose of radiopharmaceuticals
necessary to take a scan. …..
The campaign asks providers to agree to a four-point pledge: to perform nuclear medicine procedures only when clinically indicated; individualize administered doses; take steps to minimize radiation dose; and become familiar with the radiopharmaceutical’s recommended
administered activity. …
The pledge can be taken by radiologists, technologists, referring physicians, imaging facilities and medical associations. As of this writing, 15,881 pledges have been taken, according to the
organization.
The Image Wisely campaign was created by the American College of Radiology, the Radiological Society of North America, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the American Society of Radiologic Technologists. http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/19948/
USA Senator Chuck Grassley has been delaying Congress action on nuclear terrorism
Another View: Nuclear treaties need Grassley’s help, Des Moines Register, Nov 17, 2012 by GREG THIELMANN As the Congress gathers in Washington for its final session of the year, bipartisan cooperation is going to be needed more than ever to address the urgent issues facing the nation. One of its critical priorities should be approving two treaties that help construct barriers to nuclear terrorism.
Iowa’s Sen. Chuck Grassley, who had previously delayed passage, is now in a unique position to make this happen. For more than a decade, U.S. defense and security leaders have warned that nuclear terrorism poses a severe threat to American security. The 9/11 Commission report stated, “The greatest danger of another catastrophic attack in the United States will materialize if the world’s most dangerous terrorists acquire the world’s most dangerous weapons.”…..
For too long, two anti-terrorism treaties have been waiting for congressional approval. These treaties, the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, and the 2005 amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials, are common sense measures that enhance the world’s ability to prevent incidents of nuclear terrorism and punish those responsible…
…After strong backing for the treaties from the president and his predecessor, the House of Representatives finally passed compromise legislation earlier this year with broad bipartisan support. However, rather than facilitating swift Senate action on the treaties, Senator
Grassley slowed the process by seeking amendments on issues his Republican colleagues in the House had already set aside.
The Grassley amendments are peripheral to the goal of spurring international action against nuclear terrorism. His insistence on imposing the death sentence for terrorism cases is quixotic and counterproductive given its absence in most of the world’s democracies and especially odd from a senator whose own state eliminated capital punishment from its laws in 1965.
The key question remains: Are we better off with the treaties than without them? Yes!……
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121118/OPINION01/311180031/-1/debatedemafter/Another-View-Nuclear-treaties-need-Grassley-s-help?nclick_check=1
Aging nuclear reactors, like Pilgrim, Plymouth, become more dangerous
Nuclear facilities are licensed to operate for forty years and all have experienced age-related degradation before the termination of their original license. Despite this, the NRC continues to extend licenses to facilities throughout the U.S.
from 1952-2009 there have been 99 major nuclear power station incidents worldwide.
NUKE MATTERS: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima…Plymouth?
http://www.wickedlocal.com/plymouth/news/opinions/x35738056/NUKE-MATTERS-Three-Mile-Island-Chernobyl-Fukushima-Plymouth#axzz2CQF4Vofv By Karen Vale, Campaign Coordinator, Cape Cod Bay Watch Wicked Local Plymouth, 18 Nov 12, Three Mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986, and most recently Fukushima – these catastrophic nuclear accidents thrust the debate about the safety of nuclear power into the public
spotlight.
Fukushima also triggered a critical examination of nuclear stations with the same type and operational design as the reactors that failed in March 2011. In the U.S., there are 23 reactors with the same design as Fukushima – including Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station
(Pilgrim) on Cape Cod Bay in Plymouth. Continue reading
Obama very close to Honeywell uranium plant chief
In Leaked Documents, Honeywell Cites Obama Ties as Key to Anti-Union Strategy Truth Out , 17 November 2012 By Mike Elk, In These Times “……Indeed, President Obama and Honeywell CEO Dave E. Cote have a very close relationship. Cote visited with Obama at the White House this past Wednesday to push him to cut budget spending. Cote is considered one of Obama’s closest allies in the business community. In January of 2009, Cote introduced Obama’s stimulus package in a White House speech. Cote was subsequently appointed by Obama to serve on the Deficit Commission. President Obama even flew with Cote to India while a lockout at Honeywell’s Metropolis, Ill. uranium plant was ongoing. Cote returned the favor by giving heavily to the Democratic Party. In the 2010 election cycle when the Met, Honeywell was the top corporate PAC contributor to the Democratic Party…..” http://truth-out.org/news/item/12799-in-leaked-documents-honeywell-cites-obama-ties-as-key-to-anti-union-strategy
Safety risks – early shutdown for Oyster Creek nuclear reactor?
Newspaper: “Disturbing risks” have emerged at NJ’s Oyster Creek nuke plant after Sandy — Reactor may be decommissioned early November 16th, 2012 By ENENews
Title: Reactor requires objective review
Source: The Asbury Park Press
Date: Nov 15, 2012
Largely lost amid people’s concerns about the loss of electrical power, flooding and worse during and after superstorm Sandy was the potential for another even worse disaster at the Oyster Creek nuclear reactor in Lacey.
[…] Now, two new disturbing risks have surfaced in recent days: the plant’s vulnerability to a possible Fukushima-like meltdown and fatigue cracks that have been detected in the reactor vessel.
[…] the state should conduct its own independent analysis of the response and the newly discovered cracks in the reactor […]
[…] The chairman of Exelon told Bloomberg News Wednesday that the company may speed the timetable for shutting down the plant if it faces unexpected new capital costs. Then so be it. […]… http://enenews.com/newspaper-disturbing-risks-have-emerged-at-njs-oyster-creek-nuke-plant-after-sandy-reactor-may-be-decommissioned-early
Investigation into Oyster Creek nuclear power plant’s safety response
Oyster Creek is a boiling water reactor, the same type as those at the ill-fated Fukushima Daiichi in Japan. Its spent fuel pool is on top of the reactor and both are in the same containment building.
NRC probes Oyster Creek’s Hurricane Sandy response , 15 NOVEMBER 2012 BY ROGER WITHERSPOON NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM Federal regulators have launched a special probe to determine if officials at the Oyster Creek nuclear power violated rules and waited too long to declare an emergency alert as rising waters threatened critical reactors systems. Continue reading
1 This Month
23-25 October – on Zoom – World BEYOND War’s annual global conferenc
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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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