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Growing number of small decentralised renewable energy projects

Smaller, renewable energy projects setting roots across west central Minnesota It’s hard to miss the development of renewable energy at the University of Minnesota campus in Morris. What can be more difficult to see, but no less significant, is the growing number and variety of smaller renewable energy projects setting roots all around the region. Morris Sun Tribune, By: Tom Cherveny, West Central Tribune WILLMAR, Minn. 21 Feb 12,  – It’s hard to miss the development of renewable energy at the University of Minnesota campus in Morris.

There are now two, 1.6-megawatt wind generators towering over the prairie and cranking out enough kilowatts to provide 60 percent of the electrical needs on campus. A heating system utilizing locally harvested biomass produces 25 percent of the thermal energy required on campus, with expectations of meeting 50 percent of needs next year.

What can be more difficult to see, but no less significant, is the growing number and variety of smaller renewable energy projects setting roots all around the region. In recent years 17 different “net metering” projects have been added by customers on the Kandiyohi Power Cooperative’s distribution grid, for example. Using small wind generators or solar photovoltaic panels, customers are producing a portion of their own electricity and selling any excess back to the grid.

Renewable energy systems of all types — from small wind generators to methane digesters — are being installed on farms, homes and businesses throughout southwestern Minnesota. Participants from throughout western Minnesota gathered recently at the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center to identify the projects and to help chart the way for more….. http://www.morrissuntribune.com/event/article/id/27223/

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

Historical record shows that USA’s Republicans cut nuclear arms

GOP takes lead in nuclear arms cuts, Times Union .com Associated Press,   February 18, 2012 WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s consideration of severe cuts in nuclear weapons generated a flurry of GOP criticism — “reckless lunacy” in the words of Arizona Rep. Trent Franks. But the historical record shows that in the two decades since the Cold War ended, Republicans have been the boldest cutters of the nuclear arsenal.

“Republican presidents seem to have a thing for 50 percent nuclear reductions,” says Hans Kristensen, a nuclear arms specialist with the Federation of American Scientists, a think tank founded by many of the scientists who built the first atomic bombs.

On President George H.W. Bush‘s watch, the number of deployed weapons as well as those held in reserve was nearly cut in half, from 22,217 to 13,708 warheads, according to official government figures. President George W. Bush went further, cutting the total stockpile by 50 percent, from 10,526 to 5,273 warheads.

Democratic President Bill Clinton trimmed just a little more than 2,000 warheads from the stockpile…… Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/GOP-takes-lead-in-nuclear-arms-cuts-3341848.php#ixzz1mxcZGzul

February 21, 2012 Posted by | history, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Vermont appeals court, to keep its right to shut nuclear power plant

Sat Feb 18, 2012    (Reporting By Jonathan Leff and Eileen O’Grady in Houston, editing by Todd Eastham   (Reuters) – Vermont’s Attorney General appealed on Saturday a federal judge’s ruling that had prevented the state from shutting down its only nuclear power plant, escalating a two-year battle over state’s rights and atomic energy. Continue reading →

February 21, 2012 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Vogtle’s nuclear waste pools close to full – where to put new wastes?

New Plant Vogtle reactors praised despite unresolved nuclear waste plan Augusta Chronicle By Rob Pavey Staff Writer Feb. 17, 2012 Nuclear expansion was touted this week as the answer to America’s energy needs, but there is still a question of what to do with the spent fuel the process creates.

Just a few hundred yards past a Burke County podium where Energy Secretary Steven Chu
cheered the $14 billion expansion of Plant Vogtle, a lesser known construction project is under way to add storage for spent fuel that could be stranded indefinitely here in Georgia.
The waste, part of 2,490 metric tons of the material statewide, has been accumulating in concrete-lined pools since Vogtle’s first two reactors went online in 1987 and 1989. Those pools will be full in 2014, Continue reading →

February 18, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

USA’s worries about its nuclear reactors similar to Fukushima’s

U.S. nuclear plants similar to Fukushima spark concerns By Matt Smith, CNN
February 17, 2012   — As the United States prepares to build its first new nuclear power reactors in three decades, concerns about an early generation of plants have resurfaced since last year’s disaster in Japan.
The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant — the subject of a battle between state authorities and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over its continued operation — uses one of 23 U.S. reactors built with a General Electric-designed containment housing known as the Mark I.
It’s the same design that was used at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where three reactors melted down after the station was struck by the tsunami that followed Japan’s historic earthquake in March 2011. The disaster resulted in the widespread release of radioactive contamination that forced more than 100,000 people from their homes…..
Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear engineer and a leading critic of the Vermont Yankee plant, says the Japanese accident shows the Mark I containment system can’t prevent a release of radioactivity in a meltdown.

Watch an excerpt from this weekend’s CNN Special Investigations Unit report on Vermont Yankee
In an October hearing before the NRC’s Petition Review Board, he said the vents were a “Band-Aid fix” for the design that failed “not once, not twice, but three times” at Fukushima Daiichi.
“True wisdom means knowing when to modify something and knowing when to stop,” said Gundersen, who leads a state commission set up to monitor the Vermont Yankee plant.
Half of U.S. reactors are more than 30 years old…..    http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/17/us/us-nuclear-reactor-concerns/?hpt=us_c1

February 18, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

11 USA nuclear reactors may have unsafe cooling systems

Nuclear Regulatory Commission says accident models could be amiss, By Mike M. Ahlers, CNN February 18, 2012 — The models may underestimate how much nuclear fuel would heat up during system failures
The commission is asking 11 U.S. nuclear power plants for more information
There is no immediate threat to public safety
Washington  — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has asked 11 nuclear power plants for information about the computer models they use to test different accident scenarios, saying those models may underestimate how much nuclear fuel will heat up during cooling system
failures….
At issue is a phenomenon known as “thermal conductivity degradation,” or TCD, the NRC said. TCD refers to the fact that nuclear fuel loses its capacity to transfer heat as it ages.
The NRC said it is concerned that some computer models may not account for TCD. If the plants are not considering TCD, the possibility exists that fuel rods could heat up 100 degrees more than anticipated in an accident scenario, exceeding the 2,200-degree limit considered safe,the NRC said. That could damage the fuel rods’ outer layer, leading to
reactor damage, the NRC said……
The plants have until March 19 to provide the information to the NRC
staff. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/17/us/nuclear-accident-models/index.html

February 18, 2012 Posted by | Reference, safety, USA | Leave a comment

The problem of radiation treatment also causing breast cancer

Radiation generates cancer stem cells from less aggressive breast cancer cells UCLA Newsroom, By Kim Irwin February 14, 2012 Breast cancer stem cells, thought to be the sole source of tumor recurrence, are known to be resistant to radiation therapy and don’t respond well to chemotherapy.

Now, researchers with the UCLA Department of Radiation Oncology at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center report for the first time that radiation treatment, despite killing half of all tumor cells during every treatment, transforms other cancer cells into treatment-resistant breast cancer stem cells.

The generating of these breast cancer stem cells counteracts the otherwise highly efficient radiation treatment…… Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | health, USA | 1 Comment

Obama govt putting the brakes on nuclear loan guarantee program

Obama administration calls for no expansion to nuclear loan guarantee program in FY2013 budget!, Beyond Nuclear, 16 Feb 12,    As reported in the Huffington Post, for the first time in three years, the Obama administration has not called for a major expansion in the nuclear loan guarantee program. In fact, it has called for no expansion at all. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

For the 4th time, a failed attempt to overturn the ban on uranum mining near Grand Canyon

Fourth Legislative Attack On Grand Canyon Uranium Ban Fails ENews Park Forest,  16 FEBRUARY 2012  WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)  The fourth legislative attempt to block the Obama administration’s ban on new uranium development across 1 million acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park died Tuesday night when the House rules committee ruled it out of order. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | politics, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Call for wider evacuation zones around USA nuclear plants

“Pretending that radiation from an accident at Oyster Creek would not go beyond the 10-mile evacuation zone is a fantasy placing millions of people at risk,”

Nuclear Plant Watchdogs Call for Expansion of Evacuation Zone Around Oyster Creek, Berkely Patch, 16 Feb 12, NRC spokesman says current 10-mile evacuation zone is sufficient for public safety and health By Elaine Piniat Jersey Shore advocates and 37 clean energy groups have petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to expand emergency evacuation zones and improve emergency response planning around U.S. nuclear reactors, including the Oyster Creek Generating Station. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Dangers in Utah nuclear project – hot water, water shortage,

thermal water pollution is itself a very big problem……

The proposed Blue Castle Project will also face water-quality challenges

In hot water: The “other” global warming, BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS, BY DAWN STOVER | 15 FEBRUARY 2012 On January 20, a state engineer with the Utah Division of Water Rights approved two applications that would allow Blue Castle Holdings to take a total of 53,600 acre-feet of water from the Green River annually for a proposed nuclear power plant. That’s more than 17 billion gallons a year, enough for a city of 100,000 households.

The Blue Castle Project would be the first new nuclear power plant to go online in the American West since the late 1980s. So you might think it would be a model of modern water-conservation technologies. But you’d be wrong. Continue reading →

February 16, 2012 Posted by | USA, water | Leave a comment

Appeal against Utah nuclear reactor being granted water rights

Enviro Groups Challenge Nuke Plant Water Rights, City Weekly, by Sarah Kramer, 16 Feb 12,   The path to a commercial nuclear reactor in Utah has met an unexpected roadblock in the form of an appeal of State Engineer Kent Jones’ Jan. 20 decision granting water rights to Blue Castle Holdings for the project.-

The appeal, announced Feb. 9, was filed by environmental-advocacy and nuclear-watchdog group HEAL Utah along with over 20 other groups. The decision to file a request for reconsideration was the direct result of another blow to theBlue Castle Project: The revelation that LeadDog Capital, LLC, the hedge fund that had offered to put up $30 million to fund the project, is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for falsely inflating the company’s assets and concealing from investors potential conflicts of interest. A second request was also filed by Moab-based environmental groups..

… The State Engineer cannot approve water-rights applications for speculative projects. …. The requests for reconsideration also challenge the State Engineer’s assertions that the Green River’s flow is able to support the diversion of 53,600 acre-feet for the Blue Castle Project, and call into question Blue Castle’s ability to bring the plant to fruition with no prior experience in the nuclear-energy industry. http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/blog-9594-7120-enviro-groups-challenge-nuke-plant-water-rights.html

February 16, 2012 Posted by | USA, water | Leave a comment

USA’s Steven Chu selling nuclear snake oil to the American public?

Wednesday announcements are the latest in a long list of steps the Obama Administration has taken to help jumpstart America’s nuclear energy industry:

 U.S. Energy Secretary Tours Plant Vogtle, Makes Policy Change Announcement WJBF, 16 Feb 12, Energy Secretary Announces New Nuclear Energy Research Grants and Next Steps on Used Fuel Recommendations  “The resurgence of nuclear energy starts here in Georgia,” U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Wedneswday, while on a tour of Plant Vogtle.

Secretary Chu stressed the importance of nuclear energy…and addressed funding plans in preparation for Plant Vogtle’s expansion. Continue reading →

February 16, 2012 Posted by | politics, USA | 3 Comments

Nuclear education for North Dakota

Senate hopeful Sand spearheading nuclear energy education effort Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) 16 Feb 12,  – A Candidate for U.S Senate is spear-heading an effort to educate North Dakotans on nuclear power. Republican Duane Sand is organizing a nuclear power symposium, to educate people about its benefits.

Sand hopes the public, local government officials, and nuclear power companies will attend. He eventually wants to bring a nuclear power plant to the state,… http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/59214/

February 16, 2012 Posted by | marketing, USA | Leave a comment

Rating agency casts gloom on nuclear industry’s future in America

“In our opinion, the current market conditions combined with nuclear projects’ long planning and construction timelines will prevent the construction of additional new units until at least the end of this decade,” the report said.

US nuclear revival unlikely absent more regulatory support: S&P, Washington (Platts)–15Feb2012  The likelihood of a US “nuclear renaissance” this decade is faint and changes in state regulatory treatment of nuclear projects is needed before utilities outside Georgia and South Carolina build new reactors, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s said Wednesday.

A sluggish economy has depressed demand and low natural gas prices have allowed utilities to postpone or cancel plans for new nuclear units in favor of new gas-fired generation, S&P analyst Dimitri Nikas wrote in a report. Continue reading →

February 16, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

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