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Climate change: global sea level rise is uneven: USA’s East coast to cop it big

US East Coast a ‘hot spot’ for sea level rise: study http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/65757 by Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent 26-Jun-12 Sea levels from Cape Hatteras to Cape Cod are rising at a faster pace
than anywhere on Earth, making coastal cities and wetlands in this densely-populated U.S. corridor possibly more vulnerable to flooding and damage, researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

Climate change is causing higher sea levels around the world, as land-based glaciers like those on Greenland melt and slide into the oceans and as warming ocean water expands.

But seas don’t rise at the same rate, and for 600 miles along the U.S. Atlantic coast, the water is rising more rapidly than elsewhere on the globe, USGS scientists reported on Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change. In this “hot spot” of rising sea levels, variations in ocean currents and sea water temperature and salinity push oceans upward along the
coastline, the scientists said.

It could have an impact on some of the biggest urban areas along and near the East Coast, including Boston, Providence, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Norfolk-Virginia Beach, especially when storm surges push water inland. Continue reading →

June 28, 2012 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Corporate disinformation about renewable energy

Renewable Energy Versus Industry Groups in Michigan SustainableBusiness.com News   http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/23825  By Stephen Lacey, 28 June 12, Michigan is becoming the new ground zero in a disinformation campaign against renewable energy.

In an effort to expand the state’s renewable energy targets, a coalition of environmental groups and local businesses is gathering signatures for a November ballot initiative that would increase Michigan’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 25% by 2025.

But that’s not sitting well with large power companies and the Chamber of Commerce.

Yesterday, a group backed by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and two of the state’s largest utilities dubbed “Clean Affordable Renewable Energy for Michigan Coalition,” (CARE) rolled out a campaign to stop the ballot initiative before it truly begins.

The group’s messaging, which contradicts real-world experience with renewable energy deployment in Michigan and surrounding states, is typical for the heel-dragging, climate change-denying Chamber of Commerce. Even with the overwhelming positive economic evidence and the diverse range of businesses supporting an increase in renewable energy in the state, the Chamber and its utility allies say they’re ready to put up a big fight.

They’re not fighting with much evidence on their side. Continue reading →

June 28, 2012 Posted by | spinbuster, USA | Leave a comment

North Carolina’s water faces danger from Virginia uranium mining

Virginia uranium mining ‘would be a huge mistake’ for NC HENDERSON, N.C.WRAL News : Beau Minnick, 27 June 12, — As Virginia considers lifting a 30-year-old ban on uranium mining, some North Carolina residents have been crossing the border to share their concerns about the possible environmental effects on this state.

Lifting the ban, which has been in place since 1982, would allow a Chatham, Va., company to tap into the nation’s largest undeveloped resource of uranium. The question is how that could impact Kerr Lake and surrounding bodies of water, which straddle both states. Continue reading →

June 28, 2012 Posted by | Uranium, USA, water | Leave a comment

Nuclear Regulatory Commission clears Gregory Jaczko of any wrongdoing

 Inquiry on Nuclear Chief Finds No Rules Were Broken NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD, 27 June 12,  On the eve of the resignation of Gregory B. Jaczko, the chairman of
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the commission’s inspector general has issued a report that clears him of some of the charges against him.

Dr. Jaczko did not exceed his authority last year in directing his agency’s response to the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in Japan, despite his colleagues’ irritation over his management style, the office of the inspector general, Hubert Bell, said on Tuesday.

He did not make any unilateral decisions that affected companies that hold Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses, the report said….

The report was not immediately made public. The New York Times obtained a copy of the eight-page summary from a Congressional aide. Continue reading →

June 28, 2012 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Conflict of interest, USA’s Department of Energy funds research into radiation

The Energy Department is also the main source of funding for radiation health research — much like having the tobacco industry determine the safety of smoking. This conflict-of interest is not new. Several prominent scientists on the nuclear payroll in the 1950’s and 60’s vigorously claimed that radioactive fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests was harmless. Some went so far as to assert that fallout might be beneficial because increased radiation-induced genetic mutations could weed out the weak.

A Radioactive Conflict of Interest  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-alvarez/mit-radiation-study_b_1623899.html  HUFFINGTON POST, Robert Alvarez,  06/25/2012  Having the Energy Department control radiation health research makes as much sense as giving tobacco companies the authority to see if smoking is bad for you.

VIDEO  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8YFe6Q08M8   MIT No-Evacuations Study Debunked   Last month, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) heralded an Energy Department funded study indicating that evacuation zones around nuclear power stations might not be needed after a major nuclear accident. The study, which exposed mice to radiation levels comparable to those near the Fukushima nuclear disaster, found no evidence of genetic harm. “There are no data that say that’s a dangerous level,” says Jacquelyn Yanch, a leader of the study.

According to theMIT press release “current U.S. regulations require that residents of any area that reaches radiation levels eight times higher than background should be evacuated. However, the financial and emotional cost of such relocation may not be worthwhile, the researchers say.”

It’s quite a leap to claim that evacuation zones around nuclear power plants might not be needed based on the chromosomes of 112 irradiated mice. In a devastating critique, blogger, Ian Goddard points out that the MIT study excluded extensive evidence of genetic damage to humans living in a radiation-contaminated environment. Although doses in a peer-reviewed study of 19 groups of children living near Chernobyl were consistently lower than the MIT mouse study, most showed lasting genetic damage from radiation. “MIT’s presentation of its study as the first scientific ever examination of the genetic risks of living in a nuclear disaster zone is pure science fiction, not fact,” Goddard concludes. Continue reading →

June 27, 2012 Posted by | Reference, Resources -audiovicual, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

More costs, more delays for cleanup of USA’s most radioactive nuclear waste site

Today, it is the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup expected to last decades.

In March, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board ruled that the agency lacks necessary information to resolve some problems and establish a complete safety plan.

Hanford waste plant sees new costs, delays USA Today, By Shannon Dininny, 26 June 12, KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — A new cost estimate and construction schedule for a massive waste plant being built at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site will be delayed at least a year as workers try to resolve serious technical problems raised by whistleblowers about design and safety, the U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday.

The $12.3 billion plant at south-central Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation is being built to convert highly radioactive waste into a stable glass form for permanent disposal underground.
The plant is currently scheduled to begin operating in 2019, but several workers have raised concerns about safety, particularly about erosion and corrosion in tanks and piping inside the plant.
The issues are significant because the problem areas are inside so-called black cells, which will be closed off and inaccessible due to high radioactivity after the plant begins operating. Continue reading →

June 27, 2012 Posted by | Reference, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Not a good look for the USA – Nuclear Regulatory Commission can override State’s wishes

Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs

Not a good look for the USA.

It seems now that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and its friends, the nuclear industry, can now override any State in America that wants to get rid of dirty, dangerous nuclear energy – Christina Macpherson

“The New England Coalition, and all Vermonters, have now been deprived of the right that was guaranteed to them by Congress, to have a say in how this plant affects clean water,”

State Loses Another Legal Round In Vt. Yankee Relicensing, Vermont Public Radio, 06/26/12, John Dillon A federal court has handed the state of Vermont another loss in its ongoing challenge to Vermont Yankee’s operating license.
The Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington rejected the state’s arguments that the new 20-year license was invalid because Entergy Vermont Yankee failed to get a new water quality permit.
The court found Vermont missed its chance to raise the issue before the Nuclear Regulator Commission. Continue reading →

June 27, 2012 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Goodnight and goodbye for San Onofre nuclear plant?

Instead of spending the next five years figuring out how to keep the plant going indefinitely, Edison should be using that time to develop other ways to generate the needed power, especially from reliable, sustainable sources such as solar and wind.

 Now is the perfect time for Edison, and the state as a whole, to begin the planning for a non-nuclear future.

San Onofre’s cloudy future Can the damaged nuclear power plant be repaired and restarted? And if so, what then?  LA Times, June 24, 2012 These are dark days at the San Onofre nuclear plant just south of Orange County. Both of its reactors have been shut down for more than four months, when abnormal “thinning” was discovered in the tubes of recently installed steam generators. Neither reactor will come back on line this summer, and after that, it’s still unclear whether one or both will be switched on again and if so, at full power or partial — or whether they’ll stay shut for the foreseeable future.

On Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission provided a troubling assessment of the situation at San Onofre. A flaw in the design of the new generators — which cost ratepayers $671 million to build — appears to be responsible for making their tightly bundled tubes vibrate too much and rub together. The result is an alarming level of wear in equipment that is still in its relative infancy, especially in Unit 3, where, according to NRC officials, the damage reaches a level far beyond what’s been seen before in this nation’s nuclear industry. The rupture of one or more tubes could release radiation……. Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Renewable Energy Report for USA – 80% of electrical energy by 2050

Renewable Energy to Power 80% of the U.S.
http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/renewable-energy-to-power-80-of-the-us/2266 New Report Proves Renewable Energy’s Superiority By Swagato Chakravorty, June 22nd, 2012 The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently studied how renewable energy can respond to the electricity demands of the U.S. in the coming decades.

The report, titled Renewable Electricity Futures Study (RE Futures), looks at the effects of renewable electricity generation levels between 30% to 90%, envisioning 80% renewable electricity by 2050. It considers key factors such as physical geographies and output
fluctuation, things that could disrupt certain renewable sources.
The report concluded that 80% renewable electricity by 2050 is a viable option with existing renewable technologies, mainly requiring advances in the electric system to meet standard electricity demand per hour. Continue reading →

June 23, 2012 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Friends of the Earth might expose San Onofre nuclear plant’s secrets and flawed designs

If it is approved as an official intervener, Friends of the Earth would have the right to examine plant records, present and cross-examine expert witnesses, and fully participate in a public, trial-like hearing on the steam generator issues.

The dispute is already having an effect beyond the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS).

Anti-Nuclear Group Seeks to Expose San Onofre Design Flaws Inside Climate News, 22 June 12 Friends of the Earth demands intervener status to expose safety problems at the idled California nuclear facility to long-avoided public scrutiny. SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif.—A watchdog group intent on permanently shuttering the troubled San Onofre nuclear power station in Southern California has seized on the plant’s current crisis to expose the facility’s operations to the kind of public scrutiny it has avoided for decades.

San Onofre, a twin-reactor site along the coast between Los Angeles and San Diego, was forced offline Jan. 31 by a small radiation leak from a tube in one of the plant’s recently installed steam generators. Experts then found unusual tube deterioration in the plant’s other steam generators, a problem that’s so tough to solve safely that both reactors will remain idle at least through August. Continue reading →

June 23, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Pilgrim Nuclear power plant workers vote down contract, with safety concerns

Workers say the inability of Entergy to perform a safety drill is one more reason why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should shut down the plant while the workers are locked out. …

Nuclear Power Workers Vote Down Contract As Safety Questions Mount, In These Times, BY MIKE ELK , 22 June 12, On Wednesday, locked-out nuclear power plant workers in Plymouth, Mass., members of Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), voted down a proposed contract by a margin of 137 to 89. …..  UWUA Local 369 President Dan Hurley announced that the union had voted down the contract.

“The hardworking men and women who keep Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant operating profitably and safely have spoken loud and clear: They will not accept cuts to their pay or healthcare from a company making record profits and paying executives in the tens of millions,” said Hurley. “We urge Entergy to return to the bargaining table so that we can realistically address the very real concerns of our members.”… Continue reading →

June 23, 2012 Posted by | employment, USA | Leave a comment

Indian Country communities to strengthen economies by hosting solar energy project

“Tribal lands hold great renewable energy potential, and smart development of these resources has the power to strengthen tribal economies, create jobs and generate clean electricity for communities across Indian Country,” 

Solar energy project approved on tribal land near Las Vegas, Las Vegas Sun, By Conor Shine , June 21, 2012  The federal government on Thursday approved a massive 350-megawatt solar energy project to be built on land in Clark County belonging to the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians Tribe.

It would be the first utility-scale solar project on tribal lands. The project, covering about 2,000 acres, would be located 30 miles north of Las Vegas and occupy about 3 percent of the tribe’s land, which is held in trust by the U.S. government.
The operation would generate enough electricity to power 100,000 homes, the Department of the Interior said in a statement. Continue reading →

June 22, 2012 Posted by | indigenous issues, renewable, USA | Leave a comment

USA: Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “Waste Confidence Rule” – a matter of faith, not science

the NRC is now contending that the spent fuel can be stored safely “until a depository was needed” or “realized.”

the June 8 Appeals Court decision  said that “the commission’s evaluation of the risks of spent nuclear fuel is deficient in two ways:

First, in concluding that permanent storage will be available when necessary, the commission did not calculate the environmental effects of failing to secure permanent storage — a possibility that cannot be ignored.

Second, in determining that spent fuel can safely be stored on site for 60 years after the expiration of a plant’s license, the commission failed to properly examine future dangers and key consequences.”

Nuclear plant relicensing opponents challenge NRC, SeaCoastonline By Shir Haberman, June 21, 2012 SEABROOK — For the second time in two months nuclear safety groups have filed a federal action against the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for allegedly failing to appropriately fulfill its role as the protector of public health and safety. Continue reading →

June 22, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Hawkish American want preparation for military attack on Iran’s nukes

As nuclear talks fail, U.S. experts urge Obama to weigh military option on Iran http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/focus-u-s-a/as-nuclear-talks-fail-u-s-experts-urge-obama-to-weigh-military-option-on-iran.premium-1.440077 Senators send letter to U.S. President, advising cut of diplomatic push to end standoff; American ex-official: We need the third track, a visible preparations for a military option. By Natasha Mozgovaya      21.06.12

American officials and experts urged U.S. President Barack Obama this week to take a tougher stance on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, with some advising the administration to provide Israel with the arms needed for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. -……..subscription only

June 22, 2012 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

EBay’s revolutionary new renewable energy powered data centre

eBay Commits to Renewable Energy for Next Data Center PC Magazine, By Stephanie Mlot June 21, 2012  EBay is continuing its green business initiatives by building the next phase of the company’s data center primarily using renewable energy.
In partnership with Bloom Energy, eBay will build the country’s largest non-utility fuel cell installation. Though renewable energy typically supplements an electric grid, eBay is building the energy source into its core, incorporating 30 Bloom Energy servers into the
new center’s architecture.
“We believe the future of commerce can be greener,” eBay president and CEO John Donahoe said in a statement. The six-megawatt Bloom installation is being designed and engineered
as part of eBay’s expanded data center in Utah, and will be installed a few hundred feet from the building. Expected to be fully functional by mid-2013, each of the 30 energy servers will generate 1.75 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, a press release said….. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406136,00.asp

June 22, 2012 Posted by | decentralised, USA | Leave a comment

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