No progress in USA’s dilemma about nuclear wastes
U.S. making little progress on nuclear waste issue, Battle Creek Enquirer 17 June 11 When Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, most Americans thought the nation was on its way toward dealing with the spent radioactive fuel from nuclear power plants.
But nearly 30 years and about $15 billion later, little progress has been made.
Michigan Public Service Commissioner Greg White, speaking on behalf of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Comm-issioners, told a U.S. House subcommittee earlier this month that the nation is no closer to creating a central repository for nuclear waste than it was in the early 1980s……. Continue reading
U.S. House Appropriations panel cuts funding for new nuclear weapons facility
The House Appropriations subcommittee that approves funding of the weapons complex, run by the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA), just whacked almost $500 million from the weapons program.
House panel whacks funding for nuclear complex, Washington Post, 18 June 11 By Walter Pincus Remember the ones demanded by Republican senators as the price for passage of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) last December? Back then, senators succeeded in getting the Obama administration to pledge to spend billions more to upgrade the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and modernize the country’s stockpile of deployed weapons.
Problem is, members of the House weren’t involved in the discussions.
Now, led by Republicans, lawmakers are cutting into the funds that the Obama administration had pledged for upgrades and modernization.
The House Appropriations subcommittee that approves funding of the weapons complex, run by the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA), just whacked almost $500 million from the weapons program. A slice of $100 million came out of a $200 million pot that is supposed to finance early steps in the coming year to build a new facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory….. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/house-panel-whacks-funding-for-nuclear-complex/2011/06/15/AGPrLAXH_blog.html
USA Senate hearing finds nuclear safety unsatisfactory
Fukushima-Daiichi showed us that we have to consider the possibility of multiple units at a single site, perhaps multiple spent fuel pools being affected at the same time.”
Commissioners also had no answers about how to fix backup power systems that continue to cool nuclear material in the event of a major power outage…….Amidst these less-than-inspiring answers, the NRC commissioners tried to downplay the possibility of similar events happening here anyhow…..
Cold Comfort at Senate Nuclear Safety Hearing, The Nation 17 june 11 George Zornick In the two months since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant suffered a catastrophic breakdown during an earthquake and tsunami in Japan, what has the United States learned about nuclear safety? How are regulators working to prevent a similar disaster at one of America’s 104 nuclear power plants, about a quarter of which share the same design as Fukushima Daiichi? Continue reading
The devil, as usual, is in the details. For instance, the cost of a nuclear reactor per unit of electrical generating capacity declines with increasing size……There are economies of scale associated with security, too ….Nuclear power advocates have long promised far more than they can deliver, ignoring essential hurdles such as cost, safety, and performance. Decades of experience, however, have proven those promises to be hollow and hazardous. The notion that “small is beautiful” for nuclear reactors is not just fanciful; it is whistling past the graveyard of the “nuclear renaissance” that never was
The problems with small nuclear reactors, THE HILL, By Dr. Arjun Makhijani – 06/15/11 “…… the enthusiasts of small reactors are back, promoting “small modular reactors” (SMRs) which, they say, can solve the central economic problem of large reactors that each cost so much and take so long to build that it becomes a “bet the farm” risk. But this is hype and hope more than substance. Unfortunately, Congress and the administration are buying into it. Continue reading
Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s poor record on fire safety
According to NRC records, there have been at least 154 fires at nuclear plants since 1995, an average of 10 a year. On June 7, a fire at the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska temporarily knocked out cooling to a pool holding spent fuel at the site, prompting an emergency declaration.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chief Blasts Agency’s Approach to Fire Safety by John Sullivan, ProPublica June 15 In a forceful critique of his agency’s approach toward fire safety, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared that the policy of not enforcing most fire code violations at dozens of nuclear plants is “unacceptable” and has tied the hands of NRC inspectors. Continue reading
Huge and expanding costs of USA’s nuclear arsenal
Nuclear Paradox: Shrinking U.S. Arsenal Requires Huge New Expenditures, Forbes, Jun. 13 2011 by Loren Thompson “…..The anti-nuclear rhetoric coming out of the White House during Obama’s early days in office was so persistent that some senior military officers worried the new president was taking America in the direction of unilateral disarmament, even though the candidate had explicitly ruled out that possibility during the campaign. But the military need not have worried, because the way things are turning out, Barack Obama is likely to spend more money on the U.S. nuclear arsenal than any U.S. president since Ronald Reagan. Continue reading
Google’s move into renewable energy – a commercial and environmental plus
By developing or investing in the technology that makes that goal achievable, Google gets in at the ground level of an industry that’s likely to generate significant revenue in the coming decades.
Google Takes Aim At Renewable Energy, Wired, By Duncan Geere June 8, 2011 Google’s founder and CEO, Larry Page, has announced that the company has tasked an R&D team with making renewable energy cheaper than fossil fuels. Continue reading
Huge public interest as Beyond Nuclear meets Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Overwhelming public interest in Beyond Nuclear’s meeting with the NRC on US Mark I reactors – crashes agency phone line 9 June 11 Beyond Nuclear staffers Paul Gunter and Kevin Kamps met with a review board of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 8, 2011 to supplement its April 13th petition calling for the suspension the operation of the 23 Fukushima-style General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors in the US.
The meeting was convened at the request of Beyond Nuclear by the petition process and opened to the public by Federal law.Become a co-petitioner with Beyond Nuclear.
USA nuclear wastes – the intractable problem that just won’t go away
U.S. nuclear operators have begun moving some of their spent fuel out of pools and into “dry casks,” considered safer because the casks require only natural air flow, not mechanically pumped water, to cool the fuel. But only about 15,000 metric tons of fuel are stored this way in the U.S., in part because the system is expensive. Even dry-cask storage isn’t a permanent solution. The casks are expected to last decades, not the thousands of years it takes the fuel to become safe…. “No one else on the planet has a solution either.”..Problem of Where to Put Waste Besets Nuclear Industry, WSJ, By BEN CASSELMAN, JUNE 9, 2011 No question has bedeviled the U.S. nuclear-power industry more than what to do with the thousands of tons of radioactive waste generated by its reactors every year.U.S. nuclear reactors run on enriched uranium fuel. A nuclear reaction splits the uranium atoms, emitting heat that boils water, turning a turbine and generating electricity. The process leaves behind waste that is no longer capable of sustaining a nuclear reaction but is still highly radioactive. Continue reading
The fallacy of nuclear fallout shelters’ supposed safety
Citizen Cold Warriors in the United States were expected to be able to reconcile these two diametrically opposed thoughts: A nuclear war can destroy all life on earth. You will survive if you build a family fallout shelter….. Fallout can drift in unpredictable directions for thousands of miles over a period of years.
How The US Was Supposed to Survive a Nuclear Holocaust With 9 Inches of Concrete Gizmodo, 9 June 11, Susan Roy — The American people have a well-documented history of panicking during crises. Is it any wonder then that, when faced with possible nuclear annihilation, the US government would use any ploy available to maintain public order? Bomboozled by Susan Roy explains.
In George Orwell’s 1984, citizens of the totalitarian state of Oceania were required to accomplish the impossible task of holding two contradictory ideas in their minds and accepting both of them: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Orwell called this “Doublethink.” Continue reading
Nuclear power plant fire
Electrical Fire Knocks Out Spent Fuel Cooling at Nebraska Nuke Plant by John Sullivan, Special to ProPublica June 9, A fire in an electrical switch room on Tuesday briefly knocked out cooling for a pool holding spent nuclear fuel at the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant outside Omaha, Neb., plant officials said.
The safety of deep pools used to store used radioactive fuel at nuclear plants has been an issue since the accident at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant in March. If the cooling water a pool is lost, the used nuclear fuel could catch fire and release radiation.
VIDEO: Nuclear weapons proof plane for US President and top staff
..http://abcnews.go.com/US/doomsday-plane-save-president-joint-chiefs-apocalypse-scenario/story?id=‘Doomsday Plane’ Would Save President and Joint Chiefs in Apocalypse Scenario, VIDEO By MICHAEL MURRAY, June 7, 2011, In the event of nuclear war, a powerful meteor strike or even a zombie apocalypse, the thoroughly protected doomsday plane is ready to keep thepresident, secretary of defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff and other key personnel in the air and out of danger. It may not deflect a Twitter photo scandal, but it can outrun a nuclear explosion and stay in the air for days without refueling….13782736
Nuclear worker falsified safety documents
| A Hixson man pleaded guilty in Federal Court on Wednesday morning to falsifying documents related to an inspection at the TVA Watts Bar facility. The Chattanoogan.com 8 June 11, Matthew David Correll, 31, faces up to five years in prison. He will be sentenced by Judge Curtis Collier on Oct. 6 at 2 p.m….. Prosecutor James Brooks said Correll made false statements that he had measured cables for a safety system at the plant.The plea agreement says Correll was working for Williams Specialty Services, a sub-contractor of Bechtel Corp. |
As part of the plea agreement, Correll stipulated that in August 2010 in Spring City, he completed TVA forms purporting to state micrometer readings of cables that had been installed to provide energy to equipment, including to safety equipment, inside the containment structure at Unit 2 of the Watts Bar nuclear plant. The defendant made approximately 200 entries. After the entries were submitted, it was discovered that the entries were either inaccurate or purported to be measurements of cables that did not in fact exist. The defendant was questioned and admitted that he had falsified all of the entries….
Deny license extension for Seabrook Nuclear Station – call by US congressman
In a letter sent to NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko this morning, Markey noted that inspections at Seabrook uncovered structural weaknesses in concrete surrounding a safety-related tunnel only two decades into the plant’s 40-year license. Seabrook applied for relicensing last year and is hoping to receive approval soon to operate another two decades once its license expires in 2030.– “If safety structures that are supposed to help cool the Seabrook nuclear power plant are experiencing such alarming degradation during the reactor’s ‘adolescence,” there is simply no way that the NRC can guarantee that it will remain safe until it enters its “golden years” almost 40 years from now,” Markey wrote. The letter was also signed by Congressman John Tierney, who represents northeastern Massachusetts communities…….http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2011/06/nuclear_plants_can_be_relicens.html
Fresno California turns against nuclear power
Fresno supervisors back off nuclear power plan Mercury News, The Associated Press, 06/08/2011 FRESNO, Calif.—Fresno County officials have rejected plans for up to two nuclear reactors in the county.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to withhold a letter of interest for the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group. The Fresno Bee reports that the group— backed by French energy giant Areva—is pursuing an energy park that could include two nuclear reactors as well as solar and biomass energy sources.
Some supervisors had spoken favorably of the group’s effort to explore nuclear energy. But they appeared to change their minds on Tuesday after hearing testimony from more than 20 people opposed to the project.
It’s not clear if the county’s vote will have any effect on the plant’s fate, which will be decided by state and federal regulators.
The Fresno nuclear group says it will continue pursuing the energy complex…..http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_18229776?nclick_check=1
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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