Davis Besse nuclear reactor – more cracks found
FirstEnergy Finds More Cracks at Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant, By Julie Johnsson Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) –– FirstEnergy Corp. said an investigation of damage to the concrete outer shell of its Davis-Besse nuclear power plant unearthed additional hairline cracks….. FirstEnergy shut the plant to install a new reactor vessel head three years earlier than previously planned. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2005 imposed a $5.45 million fine, its largest ever, for FirstEnergy’s failure to discover corrosion had eaten a hole in a prior vessel head.
Contractors found the newest cracks on the shield building, a 30-inch-thick (76 centimeters) reinforced concrete structure that protects the reactor’s containment building from wind and tornadoes. FirstEnergy previously discovered a hairline crack measuring about 30 feet (9 meters) on Oct. 10 after it cut a hole in the side of building to allow for installation of the new vessel head.
The commission said last week it was sending a concrete material expert to the plant, located 21 miles (34 kilometers) southeast of Toledo, after the Oct. 10 report of cracks…..FirstEnergy is seeking regulatory permission to extend its operating license for Davis-Besse, which has been in service since 1977, by another 20 years. The commission is scheduled to issue its decision on the application next year.
USA Republicans – strict standards for solar loans, but easy ones for nuclear
After Calling Energy Subsidies ‘Wrong,’ Boehner Wants $2 Billion Loan Guarantee For Ohio Nuclear Plant, Think Progress By Pat Garofalo , Oct 28, 2011 Back in September, as the GOP was getting all riled up over the faux Solyndra scandal, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that “for the federal government to be out there picking one company over another, one type of energy source over another, I think is wrong.” Evidently, though, his attitude toward energy subsidies does not extend to nuclear plants in his home state of Ohio. Continue reading The REAL renaissance – renewable energy
The rebirth of renewable energy, October 27, 2011|By Daniel Yergin, Special to CNN Renewable energy is generating a lot of political heat. The bankruptcy of solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra, after a half billion dollar loan from the Federal government, has set off a hot debate on Capitol Hill. And a group of American-based solar companies are demanding 100% tariffs on imports of Chinese solar panels. They charge that China unfairly competes by subsidizing the Chinese industry, which Beijing resolutely denies.
All this, however, is occurring against a larger backdrop. Around the world renewable energy is going through a rebirth. It is becoming a big business. It is also becoming a more established part of the world’s overall energy supply. Last year, $120 billion was spent to install renewable electricity generation worldwide. Yet it is still a relatively small business compared to the overall energy business, and one that still faces big challenges in getting to scale on a global basis….. http://articles.cnn.com/2011-10-27/opinion/opinion_yergin-renewable-energy-rebirth_1_renewable-energy-renewable-electricity-generation-energy-policy?_s=PM:OPINION
USA to spend $600 billion or more on nuclear weapons
The Bloated Nuclear Weapons Budget, NYT October 29, 2011 Twenty years after the end of the cold war, the United States still has about 2,500 nuclear weapons deployed and 2,600 more as backup. The Obama administration, in an attempt to mollify Congressional Republicans, has also committed to modernizing an already hugely expensive complex of nuclear labs and production facilities. Altogether, these and other nuclear-related programs could cost $600 billion or more over the next decade. The country does not need to maintain this large an arsenal. It should not be spending so much to do it, especially when Congress is considering deep cuts in vital domestic programs. Continue reading
Las Vegas’ water supply must be protected from uranium mining
Keep uranium out of our water supply, Launce Rake, Las Vegas Sun, Oct. 28, 2011 Uranium mining on the Colorado River, near the Grand Canyon National Park, is a bad idea that needs to be rejected by Nevada’s representatives in Congress. Uranium mining contaminates rivers — even mines that closed years or decades ago leach toxic and radioactive material into our water. The mining industry wants to start mining about 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas on the Arizona Strip, within range of Lake Mead and our water supply.
The U.S. Department of Interior told the uranium mining industry this week that our water is too important to risk with its mines. Our entire congressional delegation should support the decision and keep the mines away from our drinking water. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/oct/28/keep-uranium-out-our-water-supply/
Radioactive cores of B53 nuclear bombers remain dangerous
The announcement of the disassembly of the last B53 may seem to imply that everything has been taken apart and made safe. This is correct as far as the direct risk of a nuclear explosion is concerned; but the reality is that the highly radioactive cores of B53 and other dismantled weapons, known as “pits”, are simply being put into protected storage. 
…..many have been dismantled, but the pits are still there and will remain so for many years to come…
learning the lessons of the cold war is a matter as much for the future as for the past.
Mad Men: Nuclear Pasts, Human Futures The dismantling of a powerful nuclear bomb closes a chapter of the cold war. But the choices and responsibilities embedded in the story of the B53 make this a 21st-century story too.ISN By Paul Rogers for OpenDemocracy, 28 Oct 11 The last of the most powerful thermonuclear bombs in the United States arsenal – the B53 – was dismantled in Texas on 25 October 2011. Is this a significant moment, or is it scarcely relevant in a world of slow nuclear proliferation? Continue reading
A stop to new uranium mines near Grand Canyon
Obama to block new uranium mine claims near Grand Canyon, Miami Herald, 26 Oct 11, BY RENEE SCHOOF, WASHINGTON – New uranium mining claims on 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon will be blocked for 20 years under a decision the Bureau of Land Management announced Wednesday.
The announcement confirmed that the Obama administration was proceeding with a plan that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced in July and is expected to make final in 30 days. The decision withdraws a right to Western public lands that mining companies otherwise would have under the 1872 Mining Law. Continue reading
Study on cancer rates near nuclear power plants
As the nation explores whether to invest more in nuclear energy, the National Academy of Sciences is working on a study of cancer rates among people living near nuclear facilities.
“If you show living near a nuclear facility increases your chances of getting cancer, there will have to be radical changes,”
Study aims to bring facts to nuclear power debate, including facilty north of Asheville Parts of WNC Citizen Times, ASHEVILLE, 26 Oct 11, — From a small town in east Tennessee to the nation’s capital, scientists studying cancer rates heard a similar call from those who live near nuclear power plants.
“I really would like to see some real science out there that really analyzes and understands the root causes behind this,” Westmont, Ill., resident and mother Shari Katz, said during a Chicago hearing on the study earlier this year. Continue reading
USA Republicans scrutinise solar energy loans, but not nuclear loans!
House Dems to Republicans: What about nuclear loan guarantees?, THE HILL, By Andrew Restuccia – 10/26/11 Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee pressed Republicans Wednesday to broaden their loan guarantee investigation to include investments in nuclear energy projects.
Republicans are “picking oversight targets based on which administration approved the loan or loan guarantee or on whether [they] approve or disapprove of the type of energy produced,” the Democrats said. Continue reading
New Start nuclear weapons data increases uncertainty
though not yet 1 year old, the New START treaty is already beginning to increase uncertainty about the status of U.S. and Russian nuclear forces,”
U.S. Releases New START Nuke DataNTI Global Security Newswire, Oct. 26, 2011 The United States as of last month officially had 1,790 deployed strategic nuclear warheads, while Russia had fielded 1,566 long-range weapons, according to details from a semiannual information swap mandated under a strategic nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries (see GSN, Aug. 5). Continue reading
Where Occupy & No Nukes merge & win!!!,
In the United States, the key is to deny the nuclear industry the federal funding without which it can’t build new reactors. …
Atomic energy is, after all, a means of centralizing power in corporate hands. But there is only so far the one-percenters can ride a dead horse, especially if it’s radioactive. ..
we want to guarantee our energy supply—even if it’s driven by the wind and sun—is controlled by the community, not the corporations.
And here is where Occupy/No Nukes can jump the power of democracy to a whole new level.
Where Occupy & No Nukes merge & win!!!, Harvey Wasserman October 23, 2011
The global upheaval that is the Occupy Movement is hopefully in the process of changing—and saving—the world. Through the astonishing power of creative non-violence, it has the magic and moxie to defeat the failing forces of corporate greed.
A long-term agenda seems to be emerging: social justice, racial and gender equality, ecological survival, true democracy, an end to war, and so much more. “When the power of love overcomes the love of power,” said Jimi Hendrix, “the world will know peace.”
Such a moment must come now in the nick of time, as the corporate ways of greed and violence pitch us to the precipice of self-extinction. At that edge sits a sinister technology, a poisoned cancerous power that continues to harm us all even as 3 of its cores melt and spew at Fukushima.
Atomic energy, the so-called “Peaceful Atom”, has failed on all fronts. Continue reading
Florida residents will fund nuclear power’s future, or lack of future!
the users pay upfront, make the investment and yet somehow the shareholders end up getting the profits
FPL rates will rise to pay for nuclear projects, State utility regulators rejected arguments from consumer advocates and agreed to allow utility companies to charge customers so they can invest in plans for nuclear power. MIAMI HERALD, BY MARY ELLEN KLAS, TALLAHASSEE , 24 oct 11, — Florida Power & Light got the go-ahead Monday to tack a new charge to the average household electric bill that will go towards investing in nuclear energy — even if the utility never ends up building any new nuclear power plants. Continue reading
Concern for workers exposed to radioactive uranium
Answers sought on uranium at Bethlehem site, Buffalo Business First, October 19, 2011 Three federal lawmakers are calling on health officials to continue investigating working conditions that existed for nearly a quarter century at the former Bethlehem Steel site in Lackawanna. The concern of Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo and New York Sens. Senator Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand is that workers risked their health because of the presence of radioactive uranium at the plant
The lawmakers have written to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Director John Howard to further investigate and report on the clean-up at Bethlehem Steel. The highly radioactive uranium was processed at the Lackawanna site during the Cold War. Former Bethlehem Steel workers attest that the facility where uranium was rolled was not adequately decontaminated until 1976, despite earlier company reports claiming that the plant was cleaned up in 1952, meaning hundreds of additional workers may have been exposed to dangerous residual radiation…. http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/blog/morning_roundup/2011/10/answers-sought-on-uranium-at-bethlehem.html
The end of one nasty nuclear relic of the cold war
The America’s nuclear arsenal remains enormous; the U.S. will still have 1,500 atomic weapons, by the time the latest U.S.-Russia nuke treaty runs its course. But with the end of the B-53 comes a belated end to a Cold War relic.
Last Nuclear ‘Monster Weapon’ Gets Dismantled, Wired.com, By Spencer Ackerman , October 24, 2011 In the 1960s, the skies above the United States were patrolled by agents of the apocalypse. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses circled the North American continent, 24 hours a day, cradling two megabombs in their bellies. Those B-53 bombs each weighed 10,000 pounds. Were one to drop on the White House, a nine-megaton yield would destroy all life out into suburban Maryland and Virginia.
It was the ultimate Cold War weapon, the one that Major Kong would have ridden into Armageddon at the end of Dr. Strangelove. And on Tuesday, it will no longer exist. Continue reading
Security violations at facility for testing laser uranium enrichment technology
NRC fines GE-Hitachi $45K over NC nuke test site, October 21, 2011 Bloomberg By EMERY P. DALESIO, RALEIGH, N.C. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has fined GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy $45,000 for multiple security violations at a North Carolina facility using classified technology to test whether lasers can be used to enrich uranium. 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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