Entergy can’t sell its Vermont nuclear power plant
Entergy Abandons Bid To Sell Vermont Nuclear Power Plant, WSJ.com By Naureen S. Malik MARCH 30, 2011 NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Entergy Corp. (ETR) ended a bid to sell its Vermont nuclear power plant Wednesday after failing to find a buyer for the reactor, which may be required to shut down next year.
The second-largest U.S. nuclear-power generator put the Vermont Yankee plant up for sale last November amid strong opposition in Vermont to it operating for an additional 20 years. The reactor’s operating license expires in March 2012.Opposition to the plant grew after the New Orleans-based company reported several leaks of radioactive material from underground pipes. State officials said Entergy had told them the piping didn’t transport radioactive materials…..Entergy Abandons Bid To Sell Vermont Nuclear Power Plant – WSJ.com
Danger in USA’s 71,862 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods
A 2006 study by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) warned Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that spent fuel pools were vulnerable to terrorist attack, with some nuclear plant designs more than others. With water gone from the pools, the spent fuel could easily catch fire and see “the release of large quantities of radioactive materials to the environment,” the study found…….
Fukushima warning: US has ‘utterly failed’ to address risk of spent fuel Nuclear experts told Congress Wednesday that spent-fuel pools at US nuclear power plants are fuller than safety suggests they should be. They say the entire US spent-fuel policy should be overhauled in light of the nuclear crisis at Japan’s Fukushima plant. CSMonitor.com, By Mark Clayton, March 30, 2011 Continue reading
Bill Gates marketing small nukes to China, where nuclear industry is less regulated
“right now the regulatory environment here in the United States means it would take decades just to certify. By partnering with the Chinese, they can move ahead and commercialize the technology around the world when it’s proven.”
Nuclear Industry Thrives in the U.S., but for Export – NYTimes.com By MATTHEW L. WALD March 30, 2011 “……At a clean energy conference in Washington in January, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., then the American ambassador to China, said that he had recently run into Bill Gates in China. Mr. Gates is an investor in a new kind of reactor, part of a class called “small modular reactors,” Continue reading
Whistleblower sues nuclear power company
San Onofre nuclear plant worker files whistleblower suit, SignOnSanDiego.com, By Onell R. Soto March 30, 2011 A former manager at the San Onofre nuclear plant in North County said Wednesday that he was fired after complaining to nuclear regulators that his superiors were ignoring worker complaints.
Paul Diaz, 35, of Oceanside, said he tried to go through channels within the plant when people he supervised raised questions, but was shot down.
“I needed to do something,” he said. And so he went to Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors based at the plant. He was then fired from his job as manager of business accounting and project services…….. San Onofre nuclear plant worker files whistleblower suit – SignOnSanDiego.com
Private investment moving to renewables, rejects nuclear
The private sector is clearly moving rapidly in the renewable direction. Clean Edge, a research and advisory group, asserts that the clean energy market grew 35 percent in 2010, and global installation of photovoltaics doubled.
Renewing Support for Renewables, NYTimes.com By NANCY FOLBRE March 28, 2011, Nancy Folbre is an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The biggest positive result of the accident at Fukushima Daiichi could be renewed public support for the development of renewable energy technologies. Many influential policy makers, including President Obama, continue to insist that we must expand nuclear power to help meet our energy needs. But plenty of experts disagree… Continue reading
New York nuclear plants do not comply with fire safety rules
NY official knocks fire safety at nuke plant – WSJ.com MARCH 28, 2011, NY official knocks fire safety at nuke plant WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The state attorney general says federal regulators should take action against nuclear plants in the New York suburbs for what he called failure to comply with fire safety regulations.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has granted Indian Point several exemptions involving fire safety……NY official knocks fire safety at nuke plant – WSJ.com
More radiation to come in rainwater, says USA’s EPA
EPA: Expect More Radiation in Rainwater, – Forbes, Mar. 28 2011 – tBy JEFF MCMAHON nIodine-131 found in rain. The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday reported finding elevated levels of iodine-131, a product of nuclear fission, in rainwater in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The levels exceed the maximum contaminant level (MCL) permitted in drinking water, but EPA continues to assure the public there is no need for alarm:…….EPA said it is receiving “verbal reports” of higher levels of radiation in rainwater samples from other states as well, and that Americans should continue to expect short-term contamination of rainwater as radioactive isotopes spread through the atmosphere from Japan…..EPA: Expect More Radiation in Rainwater – Jeff McMahon – The Ingenuity of the Commons – Forbes
Virginia has new community organisation to stop uranium mining
Organization forms to push to keep ban on uranium mining | GoDanRiver.com, By John Crane, 28 march 11, A group of Pittsylvania County residents has formed a grassroots organization to oppose lifting the ban on uranium mining and milling in the commonwealth.
The citizens established Piedmont Residents in Defense of the Environment, a nonprofit, to be an environmental watchdog, monitor issues and hold government officials accountable for their actions, said PRIDE President Karen Maute.
“PRIDE will actively promote keeping the ban on uranium mining in Virginia and seek to empower the communities to bring awareness of other issues that have negative impact on citizen health, the environment and the economy,” the group stated in a news release……..
Organization forms to push to keep ban on uranium mining | GoDanRiver.com
Vast area of uranium waste in Nevada
the towering waste piles, open pit lake and old leach ponds spread across an area the size of 3,000 football fields.
Polluted mine is back on feds’ list | Reno Gazette-Journal | rgj.com Scott Sonner, Associated Press 28 March 11, YERINGTON — Federal regulators who have spent a decade assessing the uranium and other toxic wastes seeping into the water table at an old Anaconda copper mine in Northern Nevada have concluded that the pollution can’t be cleaned up without adding the vast, abandoned site to the U.S. Superfund’s National Priorities List. Continue reading
Wall Street spooked on nuclear industry’s future outlook
the nuclear industry has also been working hard to increase its share of the market, hiring armies of lobbyists to press their case with power brokers on Capitol Hill……In the words of one long term industry analyst, “Three mile island turned from a $1 billion dollar asset into a $2 billion liability in just 90 minutes.”..Wall Street was spooked then and it’s even more spooked now……
AUDIO Correspondents Report – Nuclear re-think in the US 27/03/2011 ELIZABETH JACKSON: ABC Radio The crisis in Japan is causing many countries elsewhere in the world to look again at their nuclear industry – the United States is certainly one of them.Of the 104 reactors in operation, 23 of them in the US are similar to the stricken Fukushima plant, and two of them are also perched precariously over a Pacific Rim fault line. Continue reading
Claim that US using depleted uranium weapons in Libya
‘US drops uranium bombs on Libya’ PressTV , 27 march 11, The Stop the War Coalition says the bombs and missiles that the US-led military alliance has dropped on several Libyan cities contain depleted uranium (DU). The report recently published on the Coalition’s website said that in the first 24 hours of the war on Libya, dozens of bombs and cruise missiles were launched by US, British, and French forces — all with depleted uranium warheads. Continue reading
The vulnerability of USA’s spent nuclear fuel cooling ponds
Three-quarters of that waste is stored in water-filled cooling pools like those at the Japanese plant, stored outside the thick concrete containment barriers that block the release of radioactive material in an accident…..”The spent-fuel pools are currently holding, on the average, four times more than their designs intended,”
Japan Disaster Raises Questions About Backup Power at U.S. Nuclear Plants, NYTimes.com, By MIKE SORAGHAN March 24, 2011 In the United States, most spent fuel remains on site at nuclear plants because the country has not developed a facility to store it.The United States has 71,862 tons of the waste, according to a recent analysis by the Associated Press (Greenwire, March 23).
Questions about safety of Illinois’ old nuclear reactors
Nuclear watchdogs and environmental groups have been critical because the reactors got 20-year license extensions after surpassing their original 40-year lifespans…Kirk and Durbin peppered officials with questions about the safety of the storage of spent fuel rods, some of which are near populated areas and key waterways in the state……
Kirk, Durbin quiz nuclear experts – Chicago Sun-Times, 26 March 11, In light of the crisis in Japan, Illinois needs to review the size of evacuation zones around its six nuclear power plants Continue reading
NRC says new nuclear plant poses no environmental risk
The NRC still needs to complete a safety report on the project and finish a review of the proposed reactor’s design……Some members of Congress and environmental groups have called for the NRC to suspend action on new licenses until it completes its investigation of existing facilities’ safety..
New Reactors Clear Hurdle Amid Nuclear Review WSJ.com, 26 March 11 By NAUREEN MALIK And TENNILLE TRACY U.S. nuclear regulators on Friday removed a key hurdle facing Southern Co.’s bid to build two nuclear reactors near Augusta, Ga., saying the project doesn’t pose environmental risks. Continue reading
USA nuclear plants have limited backup power for emergencies
there are different threats that could cause similar problems with reactors in the United States, ….“Many of our reactors are in situations where earthquakes or hurricanes in the Gulf or ice storms in the Northeast or a tree in Cleveland can cause an extensive blackout that puts us in a very similar situation,….
Japan Disaster Raises Questions About Backup Power at U.S. Nuclear Plants, NYTimes.com, By MIKE SORAGHAN March 24, 2011 The batteries that back up power at most U.S. nuclear plants are required to last about as long as the average cellphone battery — four hours.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says that’s enough. The agency’s critics say it’s not. And those critics are pointing to the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, which is teetering on the brink of meltdown because it lost power. Continue reading
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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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