States rebel against financing Small Modular Nuclear reactors (SMRs)
Experts: Nuclear Power Industry Woes Spreading Across Nation From Florida To Iowa Market Watch WASHINGTON, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — As Ratepayer Rebellion Rages in Florida, Small Modular Reactor and “CWIP” Advance Financing Drive Stopped Dead in Iowa; Next Battleground States: Missouri and North Carolina.
Though its trials and travails at the national level get all the attention, the nuclear power industry is finding fewer and fewer friends in statehouses across the nation. In the Southeast, traditionally the stronghold of new nuclear power projects, a growing ratepayer rebellion in Florida seeks to curb advance financing of reactors that experts say will most likely never be constructed.
In Iowa, even Warren Buffett could not help to persuade state lawmakers to permit advancing financing of a small modular reactor (SMR) in that state. The Iowa defeat marked the nuclear power industry’s failure in its first attempt to push its much-ballyhooed SMR technology through a state legislature. Opposition to advance financing of a new reactor is so strong in Missouri that the industry has been forced to go to Washington, D.C., to seek a $452-million taxpayer-funded grant in the absence of state-level and Wall Street support. In North Carolina, diverse groups are coming together to block a push by Duke to
liberalize construction work in progress (CWIP) provisions to dig even deeper into the pockets of ratepayers in that state.
Examples of the growing state-level opposition to advance financing of SMRs and other new nuclear reactors include the following: Continue reading
Taxpayers dudded on loan guarantees for Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant
The credit subsidy cost these documents reveal for the Vogtle project is absurdly low. It is now years out of date and little information on how it was justified is provided. This information shows that taxpayers should be even more worried about signing off on an $8.3
billion loan guarantee for the Vogtle reactor.” “A one percent fee doesn’t even begin to reflect the risk of default”
Taxpayers deserve to see the basis on which the ridiculously low fee for Southern Company was calculated.
SACE has filed a FOIA request to unearth what the new estimates are in order to understand what risks taxpayers still face…… the terms
of the updated loan guarantee deal are still being held in secret.
Secret Documents Highlight Nuclear’s Risk to Taxpayers Market Watch, ATLANTA, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — A closer look at new documents shows Department of Energy significantly underestimated controversial Vogtle Nuclear Plant’s risk of default
Late last week Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) successfully negotiated the release of hundreds of pages of secret nuclear loan guarantee documents to settle Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation spanning nearly two years. These documents reveal that one of the nation’s largest utilities, Southern Company, was aggressively pursuing controversial federal nuclear loan guarantees at significantly below market rates. Continue reading
The transition to renewable s – American’s energy revolution under way
America’s renewables revolution, Climate Spectator , 24 May 2012 John Kemp “……Speaking in his state of the union address to Congress in January, the president claimed, “We’ve subsidised oil companies for a century. That’s long enough. It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that rarely has been more profitable and double-down on a clean energy industry that never has been more promising.”
But the rhetoric obscures an unprecedented push to cut energy consumption and increase the share of renewable energy generation underway at all levels of government as well as in the private sector.
Federal, state and local governments, coupled with local power and gas utilities, are pouring billions of dollars a year into a vast range of initiatives to boost efficiency and renewables.
Support for efficiency and renewables is split across thousands of
different programs, which has tended to hide the scale of the overall effort. As a result, many energy analysts fail to appreciate the scale of the shift underway. However, the sheer amount of support being given to clean technology and energy efficiency programs suggests a revolutionary transformation of the energy system will likely occur in the next two decades. Continue reading
Nuclear Regulatory Commission extends Hanford nuclear license for 20 more years
License for nuclear power plant at Hanford extended to 2043 Oregon Live.com , May 23, 2012 YAKIMA, Wash.-– The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the license for the Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power plant by an additional 20 years, the plant’s operator announced Wednesday.
The license extends operations at south-central Washington’s Columbia Generating Station through 2043. The plant had been operating on a 40-year license that expires at the end of 2023.
The plant is operated by Energy Northwest, a public power consortium composed of 28 member utilities. Controversy swirled around the plant last year because it is the same general type as those stricken after the tsunami in Japan…. http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/05/license_for_hanford_nuclear_po.html
Fire on nuclear submarine
Nuclear sub catches fire in Maine Naval shipyard By Ros Krasny BOSTON May 23, 2012 (Reuters) – Fire broke out on Wednesday evening on a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine docked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine, injuring four firefighters, officials said.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, but the vessel’s nuclear reactor was not involved. There were no weapons aboard the sub, which is at the shipyard for system upgrades and maintenance.
The fire started in the “forward compartment” of the U.S.S. Miami, an attack submarine docked at the Kittery, Maine, shipyard shortly before 6 p.m. ET Firefighters were still battling the blaze after 10 p.m., with equipment brought in from as far away as Boston’s Logan International Airport, about 60 miles away…..
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/24/us-usa-submarine-fire-idUSBRE84N04I20120524
USA govt and nuclear industry have got rid of too-thorough nuclear regulator Jaczko
the pressure became too great from both, several industry and government officials say. Both parties wanted to expand the use of nuclear facilities and further explore options for storing nuclear waste. Jaczko had largely put the kibosh on both
members of Congress, mostly senior Democrats, have defended Jaczko as a thoughtful and thorough regulator
Jaczko’s resignation still illustrates the influence of the nuclear industry.
Nuclear Commission Gregory Jaczko Calls It Quits, The Daily Beast, May 21, 2012 After a long campaign to drive the nation’s top nuclear regulator from office, NRC commissioner Greg Jaczko resigned Monday. Daniel Stone reports on how the industry claimed its casualty. Continue reading
Nuclear industry lobbying hard to get Pilgrim plant relicensed
the nuclear industry has been busy making its concerns known in Washington about the Pilgrim delays and what they could mean for other contentious relicensing cases.
Delays in Pilgrim nuclear plant’s relicensing draws the ire of some GOP leaders in Congress Mass. Market, 2012 May 22 by Jon Chesto Massachusetts politicians aren’t the only ones closely watching the fate of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth. A group of GOP congressmen, led by energy committee chairman Fred Upton, sent a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday, essentially scolding the NRC for taking so long with its review of Pilgrim. Continue reading
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant is dangerous, say protestors
14 Protesters Arrested Outside Plymouth Nuclear Plant (includes audio) 
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/05/21/14-protesters-arrested-outside-plymouth-nuclear-plant/ May 21, 2012, PLYMOUTH (CBS) – Fourteen members of the group Cape Downwinders were arrested Sunday while demonstrating at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, hoping to get it shut down. The demonstrators said their message is simple.
“The Pilgrim nuclear facility is a dangerous facility and it should be shut down,” said Paul Rifkin, a member of the group. The group wants to deliver a letter to Pilgrim’s owners, Entergy, demanding that they cease operations, pointing to the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan as a wake-up call to action.
“It’s a 40-year-old plant and they want to license it for another 20 years. We don’t want the nuclear regulatory commission to re-license that plant,” said Rifkin.
In the letter, the group says the continued operation of the plant is an unacceptable threat to health and public safety and they also want an evacuation preparedness plan to include Cape Cod.
The group worries a power failure at the plant could be catastrophic, and the members have doubts about how a mass evacuation from the Cape, given its only two exit points, would work. We’re hoping that NRC upholds their mandate to provide for the public health and safety and not re-license the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth,” said Diane Turko, who was one of the protesters arrested for trespassing.
The plant’s current license expires June 8th and they are hoping to renew for another 20 years.
Even nuclear industry experts know that the business is a dead cat
The nuclear landscape includes aging plants, rising global demand for energy, competition from cheap natural gas and environmental standards likely to be toughened after the Fukushima crisis in Japan.
A long-anticipated U.S. “nuclear renaissance” has run into headwinds – sagging demand for electricity as the economy slumped, investors wary of new plants that will cost $10 billion or more and then the crisis at Fukushima.
Nuclear meeting opens in Charlotte with debt worries, News Observer BY BRUCE HENDERSON , 22 May 12 Continue reading
Shocked reaction to USA quietly watering down nuclear emergency plans
A mandate that local responders always run practice exercises for a radiation release has been eliminated – a move viewed as downright bizarre by some emergency planners. ….
These changes, while documented in obscure federal publications, went into effect with hardly any notice by the general public.
These changes, while documented in obscure federal publications, went into effect with hardly any notice by the general public.
Powering down nuclear exercises Utility Products, 20 May 12, Without fanfare, the nation’s nuclear power regulators have overhauled community emergency planning for the first time in more than three decades, requiring fewer exercises for major accidents and
recommending that fewer people be evacuated right away.
Nuclear watchdogs voiced surprise and dismay over the quietly adopted revamp – the first since the program began after Three Mile Island in 1979. Several said they were unaware of the changes until now, though they took effect in December. At least four years in the
works, the changes appear to clash with more recent lessons of last year’s reactor crisis in Japan. Continue reading
Cancer caused by uranium fuel processing plant, claims big lawsuit
In recent court filings, plaintiffs provided many tragic stories of living in the Apollo and Parks area in the shadow of the nuclear sites and being diagnosed with cancer.
Mega-lawsuit claims nuke contamination in Armstrong Trib Live News, Mary Ann Thomas Gateway Newspapers , May 17, 2012 The nearly 100 plaintiffs alleging death, cancer and other illnesses from radioactive emissions from two defunct Armstrong County nuclear fuels plants are awaiting a trial date for what is likely to be a second set of a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit. Continue reading
Iowa’s ratepayers win in defeat of nuclear industry Bill
The failure of this nuclear bill shows that the Iowa Legislature is listening to the people of Iowa and not to the well-financed nuclear power industry or to MidAmerican Energy’s lobbyists.
Nuclear bill’s failure a win for all Iowans The Gazette, By Mike Carberry, 20 May 12 In a major blow to the nuclear industry, the Iowa Legislature adjourned without passing a bill that would pave the way for MidAmerican Energy to charge ratepayers in advance for new nuclear reactor construction.
The utility could have been allowed to keep the money even if construction was never completed. MidAmerican lobbied extensively for the bill but Iowa ratepayer concerns about nuclear power doomed the proposal. Continue reading
Uranium mining industry threatened by plan to enrich depleted uranium stockpile
Uranium miners wary of plan to enrich depleted uranium stockpile, By MEAD GRUVER , May 19, 2012 CHEYENNE — The uranium industry and Wyoming’s congresswoman are questioning a determination by Energy Secretary Steven Chu that releasing and enriching up to 9,200 tons of depleted uranium from a federal stockpile won’t roil the uranium market and undermine prices.
The measure endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is intended to keep open a Kentucky uranium enrichment facility and preserve 1,200 jobs.
Three such planned releases of federal uranium inventories could undermine uranium prices and cost jobs in their industry, the group Uranium Producers of America says……
Uranium prices have been averaging around $50 a pound since spiking above $130 in 2007. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. — whose state has more estimated uranium reserves than any other by far, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration — questioned the department’s view of market certainty in the years ahead…… Up to 9,182 metric tons of depleted uranium — a byproduct of uranium enrichment for nuclear reactors — will be processed into the equivalent of 482 metric tons of low enriched uranium. Also the Department of Energy plans to release up to 2,800 metric tons of uranium per year as part of other projects including cleanup at the Paducah enrichment facility and one in Portsmouth, Ohio. http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/uranium-miners-wary-of-plan-to-enrich-depleted-uranium-stockpile/article_ffd65d4e-03d2-5122-af1e-67fdc8249142.html#ixzz1vY7Gpt6f
USA makes nuclear emergency rules weaker, downplays radiation risk
local officials will no longer be accountable to train for a radiation release.
U.S. nuclear disaster preparedness relaxed with minimal disclosure Smart Planet, By David Worthington | May 17, 2012, “…. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have relaxed requirements for emergency preparedness in the first major revision of emergency planning guidelines since the Three Mile Island incident in 1979.
Revisions were published without any announcement in the Federal Register during the December 2011 holiday season. Continue reading
USA veterans denounce militarism and NATO policies
he wants to let soldiers serving in any of the post- 9/11 conflict zones. “… know that we’re standing by their side and we’re not standing with NATO anymore.
“We don’t agree with the policies that are driving these wars.”
Iraq vets to turn in medals at historic NATO protest, Deborah Dupre Human Rights Examiner, 18 May 12, After requesting a meeting with NATO leaders this week, Iraq Veterans Against the War and Afghanistan Veterans Against the War committee are gearing up to lead this weekend’s historic march on the NATO Summit in Chicago where veterans will symbolically turn in their medals to NATO reps.
“We were awarded these medals for serving in the Global War on Terror, a war based on lies and failed polices,” stated Army Reserve/National Guardsman who is leading the the former troops this weekend, Aaron Hughes….. Continue reading
1 This Month
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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