Vermont has a good case to appeal federal court’s pro nuclear decision
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont pronounced the decision “ripe for appeal.’’ “I believe the law is very clear, and that states have the right to reject nuclear power for economic and other non-safety reasons,’’ he said.
First Round: Entergy 1, Vermont 0 NYT By MATTHEW L. WALD January 20, 2012, As I wrote in Friday’s New York Times, the first round in federal court has gone to Entergy, the electrical power production company that does not want to shut down its Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. The state of Vermont has been seeking to close the plant when its initial 40-year federal operating license expires on March 21.
Had the court decision gone the other way and the state had prevailed, it conceivably could have ended there. That’s because the cost of maintaining a reactor and paying the plant’s staff are roughly the same whether it is running or not. If the judge, J. Garvan Murtha in Brattleboro, had sided with the state, Entergy would have faced a painful decision on whether to keep the plant on standby after March 21 while waiting for the issue to work its way through the courts.
Entergy had already rolled the dice by buying fuel in anticipation of a favorable decision.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted a 20-year extension, but Vermont lawmakers had passed a law that effectively gave themselves veto power over renewal of the license. Judge Murtha ruled that federal law trumps the state’s action because “radiological safety” is solely the province of the federal government.
Entergy could still lose on appeal. Continue reading
Virginia citizens want permanent ban on uranium mining
Virginia Conservation Network works on a broad range of environmental issues all across the state, but never have I seen such an issue galvanize people like the prospect of uranium mining,” said director Nathan Lott. ”Black and white, urban and rural, Republican and Democrat – Virginians agree that mining is just too risky.”
Citizens expressed deep concerns about the potential contamination of water sources in the Roanoke River watershed
Citizens pack General Assembly offices to voice opposition to uranium mining,Star Tribune, January 23, 2012 RICHMOND – Citizens from across the state converged in the Capitol Monday to call on their elected representatives in the General Assembly to keep Virginia’s 30-year ban on uranium mining.
Following significant warnings from the National Academy of Sciences, the ban will now remain in place for 2012. Citizens are seeking to make that victory permanent.
To highlight their message, they offered legislators “yellowcake” cupcakes with the message: “These yellow cakes are not harmful – but making uranium yellowcake and leaving behind radioactive waste in Virginia is. Protect our health, our
heritage and our future. Keep the Ban on Uranium Mining in Virginia.” Also, the Keep the Ban Coalition announced that over the last year, more than 10,000 citizens have signed an online petition or sent emails to Virginia legislators urging them to keep the ban, and 102 organizations and government entities – from the cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Roanoke to the state chapter of the NAACP and Halifax County Chamber of Commerce – have either passed a resolution or taken other action expressing deep concerns about impacts that would result from lifting the ban.
“Virginia Conservation Network works on a broad range of environmental issues all across the state, but never have I seen such an issue galvanize people like the prospect of uranium mining,” said director
Nathan Lott. ”Black and white, urban and rural, Republican and Democrat – Virginians agree that mining is just too risky.”
Citizens expressed deep concerns about the potential contamination of water sources in the Roanoke River watershed Continue reading
Continuation of Vermont Yankee Nuclear facility is far from certain
In fact, Vermont has the authority to make the standards even stricter if it so desires, which could prove to be a serious monkey wrench in Entergy’s plan to continue operation of Yankee.
The fat lady, Brattleboro Reformer, January 21, 2012 http://www.reformer.com/ci_19788006?source=most_viewed Though Federal District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha came down emphatically on the side of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, we don’t expect to be hearing the song of the fat lady any time too soon.
Murtha threw out Act 160, in which the Vermont Legislature gave itself the authority to forbid the Public Service Board from issuing a certificate of public good, which Yankee needs to continue operation past March 21.
By removing the Legislature from the equation, he remanded the case back to the PSB, which now will have the opportunity to reinitiate its deliberations over whether the CPG should be issued.
In another setback to the state, Judge Murtha also ruled that the reliability audit required by the Legislature to inform its decision on whether to allow the PSB to issue a CPG, was actually a radiological safety report. Therefore, the PSB can’t consider the audit in its review.
So while the PSB can’t base its decision on radiological health and safety, it has the authority to deny the CPG based on economics, land use and trustworthiness of the plant’s owner. Continue reading
Small modular nuclear reactors” – is this REALLY “a way for USA to regain leadership in nuclear”
from a strictly commercial perspective, there is no reason to use nuclear power at all. The capital costs are enormous and the operations and maintenance costs are very high, to say nothing liability insurance.
daviddelosangeles comments on Feds To Finance Small Nuclear Reactor Designs, Ucilia Wang, Forbes, 21 Jan 12, “The key question is would that there need to be a certain minimum number of these [small nuclear] reactors in service for a civilian nuclear power system based on these smaller reactors to operate successfully. This is true for mining, processing, research, and waste disposal. It is not clear that that “critical mass” of reactors could be developed in the current environment.
The decision of the Federal government in the 1950′s to subsidize the creation of the civilian nuclear power industry (e.g. The Price-Anderson Act) was made because nuclear power was not commercially viable but the military needed a nuclear power industry (naval powered submarines – and later aircraft carriers- and nuclear warheads for the air force).
The military alone could achieve the necessary critical mass. A federally subsidized commercial nuclear power industry was the answer. Continue reading
Huge potential for wave and tidal power – U.S. East Coast
STUDY: CA Coast Could Harness Big Energy, KMJNow, by Margaret Carrero, 20 Jan 12 A two year study indicates that California’s coastal waters embody enough power to generate nearly one third of the nation’s energy supply.
USA’s National Center for Science Education defends Climate Change
NCSE’s climate change initiative launched, National Center for Science Education, January 16th, 2012 NCSE is proud to announce the launch of its new initiative aimed at defending the teaching of climate change. Like evolution, climate change is accepted by the scientific community but controversial among the public.
As a result, educators trying to teach climate change, like their counterparts trying to teach evolution, are often likewise pressured to compromise the scientific and pedagogical integrity of their instruction. But there was no NCSE for climate — no organization, that is, specializing in providing advice and support to those facing challenges to climate change education.
With the launching of the initiative, NCSE itself becomes that organization. As NCSE’s executive director Eugenie C. Scott explained in a January 16, 2012, press release, “We consider climate change a critical issue in our own mission to protect the integrity of science education.” She added, “Climate affects everyone, and the decisions we make today will affect generations to come. We need to teach kids now about the realities of global warming and climate change, so that they’re prepared to make informed, intelligent decisions in the future.”
The response from the scientific and education communities has been enthusiastic…. Included in the climate change initiative is a new area of NCSE’s websitedevoted to climate change education….. http://ncse.com/news/2012/01/ncses-climate-change-initiative-launched-007149
US education’s battles: first evolution, now climate change
“Climate change education is kind of where evolution education was 30 years ago,”
US education advocates tackle climate change sceptics New Scientist, 19 January 2012 Read more: “Education campaigner wants to expel climate denial“A NEW front has opened in the battle over US school science curricula. After decades of fighting to 
keep creationism out of the classroom, US science education advocates are steeling themselves to face a new foe: climate change sceptics.
Over the past few years, several US states and local school boards have introduced measures that would mean teachers must include the views of those who are sceptical of a human influence on climate change in science lessons. Continue reading
American public opinion – wanting renewable energy, not nuclear power
Americans overwhelmingly support greater investments in renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydropower. They favor requiring utilities to use more alternative energy (even if this proves more expensive) and providing tax incentives to encourage the development and use of such technologies.
in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, a clear majority of Americans opposes building new nuclear power plants
Americans on Renewable Energy, Council on Foreign Relations by Stewart M. Patrick January 18, 2012 With Iran threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, energy security is once again at the top of the global agenda—and not just in Rick Perry’s debate talking points. But true “energy security” will require more than independence from unreliable or unstable suppliers. It will also oblige governments and companies to invest in a wider range of energy sources—many of them renewable.
That is the message of the World Future Energy Summit, which opened in Abu Dhabi this week. In his keynote address, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the world to double its use of renewable energy by 2030. Ban’s words should resonate strongly in the United States, according to a new digest of polls on energy security released by the International Institutions and Global Governanceprogram and worldpublicopinion.org.
Americans, it turns out, are deeply anxious about energy security. An overwhelming majority (85 percent) consider it important (67 percent “very important”) to “decrease American dependence on oil imported from the Middle East”. Nearly two in three Americans (64%) favor creating a new international institution to “monitor the worldwide energy market and predict potential shortages.” Large majorities worry that energy shortages and higher prices could lead to destabilization of the world economy, that energy competition could lead to international conflict (or even war), and that current energy production is causing unacceptable environmental damage. Continue reading
Idaho National Laboratory did not properly assess plutonium risks
The effects of radiation worsen the longer radioactive material remains in the body.
Plutonium is considered more dangerous when inhaled than ingested because particles lodge in the lungs instead of being eliminated by the body, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Federal panel faults Idaho lab for radiation exposure mishap, By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho Jan 18, 2012 (Reuters) – The radiation exposure of 16 workers at a nuclear research lab in Idaho stemmed from a failure to properly assess the risks posed by the handling of decades-old plutonium fuel cells, federal investigators concluded on Wednesday. Continue reading
Uranium mining threatens long term jobs in Virginia
New coalition urges a delay in uranium mining in Virginia, Washington Post, By Anita Kumar, 18 Jan A new coalition that wants to delay — maybe indefinitely — mininguranium in Southside Virginia is taking a different tact: They aren’t talking about safety as much as the potential effect on jobs.
The Virginia Coalition and the Alliance for Progress in Southern Virginia urged the General Assembly Wednesday not to lift the state’s ban this year because it could harm their employees and the ability to attract employees and companies to the region. They were joined by a half-dozen Southside lawmakers including Sens. Frank Ruff (R-Clarksville) and Bill Stanley (R-Moneta) and Dels Danny Marshall (R-Danville), Don Merricks (R-Martinsville), James Edmunds (R-Charlotte) and Tommy Wright (R-Amelia). Continue reading
Whistleblower on dangers at Hanford nuclear waste facility
During her testimony to the board she gave different answers than top-
level officials with the Department of Energy and contractors Bechtel National and URS. Afterward, she says her managers asked her to change her answers. Busche said “No.”
She says she was … “Raised by a very good mother, that said, ‘Just don’t lie. ‘Cause once you tell your first one it’s real hard to … they just continue to grow.’”…
Audio http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=145326474&ft=3&f=145326474 Hanford Nuclear Safety Manager Questions Waste Treatment Plant NPR by ANNA KING January 17, 2012 from N3 RICHLAND, Wash. – Waste in underground tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation may have much more plutonium than previously thought. That’s according to a report by a Hanford contractor that’s just been leaked to public radio. It’s also according to the latest high profile whistleblower to raise serious concerns about a waste treatment plant being built at the Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington. Continue reading
Strong case against proposed Florida nuclear plant
“It…will (do) irreversible damage to the springs, wetlands and wildlife.”…. The project’s cost is estimated at $22 billion….
The proposed plant site includes 722 acres of wetlands.
Nuclear plant opponents speak out, Ocala.com By Fred Hiers, January 13, 2012 CRYSTAL RIVER — For three hours on Thursday, opponents of a proposed Levy County nuclear plant told the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board the facility would siphon too much water from the aquifer, cause saltwater intrusion, and expose people to deadly radiation.
Hearing the complaints was a three-judge panel from the board, which falls under the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and acts as its judicial arm. The meeting for public input was the result of three environmental groups — the Nuclear Information and Resources Service, the Ecology Party of Florida and the Green Party of Florida — challenging Progress Energy’s application to build the plant. Continue reading
Nuclear fuel plant unable to get loan guarantee
‘Crunch time’ at troubled nuclear fuel plant Washington Post By Steven Mufson, January 13 U.S. Enrichment Corp., which produces fuel for nuclear power plants, is having its own sort of meltdown.
Disillusioned investors have wiped out 95 percent of the company’s market value since 2007. Standard & Poor’s has saddled it with a dismal CCC-plus credit rating. Continue reading
Covert war – Israel, USA versus Iran
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing. But on Tuesday, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, Israel’s military chief of staff, told a special parliamentary committee Iran should expect more “unnatural” events in 2012
There has been obvious push-back from Iran in the form of repeated claims its secretive Al Quds Force has attacked U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan using Iranian-designed improvised explosive devices.
“Waging a covert, low-level war is not without risks, including the risk of undesirable escalation,” “No matter how carefully we try to control the level of force, there’s always the danger that matters spiral out of control.”
Iranian nuclear scientists’ deaths no mystery, National Post, Peter Goodspeed 13 Jan 12, A covert war between Iran and the West burst to the surface Wednesday on the fashionable streets of northern Tehran when two men on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of a 32-year-old nuclear scientist, killing him and his bodyguard…….
Mr. Roshan’s killing is the latest in a long line of suspicious setbacks to Iran’s nuclear program. These have included assassinations, kidnappings, sabotaged equipment, computer viruses that destroyed information networks and mysterious
explosions at nuclear sites, missile-testing grounds, refineries and pipelines.
“Iranian nuclear engineers have to worry about being killed on their way to work, about their colleagues leaking information to the West, about their computers not working, about their equipment malfunctioning, about lacking necessary materials, about unavailability of training and advice and about the possibility of strikes from UAVs [drones]. That list of problems is daunting,” said Patrick Clawson, director of research for the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy…..
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing. But on Tuesday, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, Israel’s military chief of staff, told a special parliamentary committee Iran should expect more “unnatural” events in 2012 Continue reading
Unethical and unwise killing of Iranian nuclear scientist
The bomb blast that killed chemist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan this week seemed to be designed to limit the scope of the damage, unlike most terrorist attacks. But it did nonetheless kill his driver and wound a third person, which shows how easily an overly flexible definition of “civilian” can stretch to reprehensible lengths.
A utilitarian calculation that suggests killing a few individuals now might save more lives later is not only ethically dubious; it’s also wrong. ..also counter-productive
Killing civilians, Ottawa Citizen JANUARY 12, 2012 If the definition of “terrorism” is violence targeting civilians to spread fear in furtherance of a political motive, then the assassination of Iranian scientists certainly qualifies as terrorism. It should be condemned as such. It’s also an unwise strategy.
Although no one can say for sure who’s behind the attacks, the main motivation behind this string of assassinations seems clear: to slow down Iran’s efforts to become a nuclear power, not only by eliminating some skilled experts, but also by intimidating their peers. 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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