Earthquake risks for USA nuclear plants
The Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast figures the probability of an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude or higher is 67 per cent for Los Angeles, 63 per cent for San Francisco.
Another Fukushima? In America? Not if, but when, Alexander Cockburn on the shameful trade-off that keeps nuclear power on the agenda MARCH 17, 2011
Along much of California’s coastline runs the Ring of Fire which stretches round the Pacific plate from Australia, north past Japan, to Russia, round to Alaska, and down America’s west coast to Chile. Ninety per cent of the world’s earthquakes happen round the Ring.
The late great environmentalist David Brower used to tell audiences solemnly, “Nuclear plants are incredibly complex technological devices for locating earthquake faults.”
Apparently acting on this piece of sarcastic wisdom, the US has deployed four nuclear plants near the Ring of Fire faultline, including two active ones in my home state of California.
Forty miles up the road from me, in far northern California we had a boiling water reactor, closed in 1976 because – surprise! – there was an earthquake from a “previously unknown fault” just off the coast. Now all we have are spent nuclear fuel rods in ponds, right on the shoreline, a few feet above sea level, nicely situated for a tsunami, such as the one that disabled the relief diesel generators designed to pump emergency coolant in the Fukushima plant. Three plates meet a few miles west of where I write. We had a 7.1 earthquake in 1992. First moral in the nuclear business: Expect the unexpected.
Further south, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, is the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, planned in 1968 when no one knew about the Hosgri fault, part of the Ring of Fire, a few miles offshore. See moral number one.
Further inquiry established that there’d been a 7.1 earthquake 40 years earlier, offshore from the plant, completed in 1973. The power company – Pacific Gas and Electric – said it would beef up defences. In their haste, the site managers managed to reverse the blueprints for the new earthquake-proofing of the two reactors, and so the retro-fit wasn’t a total success. Second moral in the nuclear business: people do mess up.
Back to the first moral: they recently discovered yet another fault and are now worried about “ground liquefaction” in the event of a big quake. In 2008 there was a terrorist attack by jellyfish which blocked the cold water intake, and the plant was shut down for a couple of days…….
The Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast figures the probability of an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude or higher is 67 per cent for Los Angeles, 63 per cent for San Francisco. Up where I live, in the Cascadia subduction zone, we have a 10 per cent possibility of an 8.0 or 9.0 force quake….
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s lax rules for re-licensing nuclear plants
Entergy merely had to prove that it had a program to manage the aging reactor……NRC’s rubberstamp of this old and leaking nuclear reactor says more about the Commission and its deference to the nuclear industry than it does about the battle over Vermont’s energy future. The NRC ‘s standard for renewal is now so lax that the Commission could relicense the Chicago Pile.
License Renewal Vote Says More About NRC Than Vermont Yankee Greenpeace USA by jim riccio – March 11, 2011 Yesterday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decided to end the legal proceeding on the license renewal for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and said that the agency expects to issue the renewed license soon.
While discouraging, this should not come as a surprise. The NRC has renewed every reactor license since Yankee Rowe withdrew its application in the early ‘90s and threw the nuclear industry’s efforts to run aging reactors another 20 years into chaos.
So why did Yankee Rowe withdraw and Vermont Yankee receive NRC approval?
Simple, after Yankee Rowe shut down the NRC gutted its renewal rule. Yankee Rowe had to prove that it met the original terms of its operating license; not so Vermont Yankee. Entergy merely had to prove that it had a program to manage the aging reactor.Now you might think that the series of screw ups at the reactor: the turbine fire, the cooling tower collapse and the never ending leaks of radiation into groundwater, would give the Commission reason to question running the reactor another 20 years. But NRC’s rubberstamp of this old and leaking nuclear reactor says more about the Commission and its deference to the nuclear industry than it does about the battle over Vermont’s energy future. The NRC ‘s standard for renewal is now so lax that the Commission could relicense the Chicago Pile.
License Renewal Vote Says More About NRC Than Vermont Yankee | Greenpeace USA
Nuclear reactors at San Onofre and Diablo Canyon not designed to withstand earthquakes
VIDEO YouTube – Chernobyl Winds Over America Chernobyl Winds Over America. AceHoffman, 15 March 11, Had the massive 8.9 Richter-scale earthquake that has just savaged Japan hit off the California coast, it could have ripped apart at least four coastal reactors and sent a lethal cloud of radiation across the entire United States. (http://nukefree.org/ace-hoffman-computerized-graphic-what-if-chernobyl-h… )
The two huge reactors each at San Onofre and Diablo Canyon are not designed to withstand such powerful shocks. All four are extremely close to major faults.
All four reactors are located relatively low to the coast. They are vulnerable to tsunamis like those now expected to hit as many as fifty countries. YouTube – Chernobyl Winds Over America
USA nuclear facilities in earthquake zones
USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves extending life of old nuclear reactor
The state argues that the plant is too old to be reliable, an area over which it has jurisdiction….The governor who took office in January, Peter Shumlin, has said repeatedly that the plant was designed to close at the end of 40 years and that it should be closed then.
Showdown on Vermont Nuclear Plant’s Fate, NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD : March 10, 2011 WASHINGTON — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday rejected all challenges to extending the operating license of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, setting up a confrontation between the reactor’s owner and the Vermont Legislature, which has blocked a state certificate needed to keep the plant running. The commission voted 4 to 0, with one recusal, to allow its staff to issue the renewal. Continue reading
Nuclear industry at a standstill: this could be the end
“The nuclear renaissance was on the rocks in any case,” said Peter Bradford, a former commissioner on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He served on the commission in 1979 during the Three Mile Island accident in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the U.S. Senate’s homeland security panel, said on Sunday the United States should “put the brakes on” new nuclear power plants until the impact of the incident in Japan became clear.
Analysis: Nuclear renaissance could fizzle after Japan quake
(Reuters) 14 March 11, – Japan‘s battle to avert a full-scale meltdown could damage the global nuclear energy industry, derailing plans to build dozens of new power plants and forestalling any surge in demand for uranium to fuel them. Continue reading
Nuclear Energy Institute confident that Japan explosion will ‘reassure’ Americans
All told, the industry expects up to eight new reactors to be churning out power by 2020, according to Mitch Singer, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade group.
Mr. Singer said he doesn’t think the accident in Japan will derail the U.S. nuclear boom. In fact, he said the explosion should reassure Americans that their own plants will be prepared for any emergency, because the industry will disseminate lessons learned in Japan around the globe, helping other reactors shore up their defenses against even devastating natural disasters, like the quake and the tsunami that followed.
“At this point,” Mr. Singer said, “I don’t think we’re going to see a major impact on the U.S. nuclear industry.”…. – WSJ.com By STEPHANIE SIMON, 13 March 11,.
Nuclear ‘renaissance’ losing its gloss in USA
Even before the explosion in Japan, economic reality had taken a bite out of the nuclear industry’s ambitious expansion plans in the U.S.
Natural gas has been so cheap that utilities have turned to it to generate electricity, rather than contemplate building multi-billion-dollar reactors. The recession has also dampened demand for electrical power, further diminishing the appeal of a massive investment in nuclear facilities….
Japan Nuclear Crisis Could Cause Reassessment in U.S. – WSJ.com By STEPHANIE SIMON, 13 March 11, The U.S. nuclear power industry believed it was poised for a renaissance. Continue reading
Rising revenues from renewable energy in USA
In 2015, the report asserts that projections will grow to US$87.3bn, capturing 21.8pc with a 7.7pc compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for revenues from renewable electricity generation…..
2010 revenues generated by renewable energy – US$60.2bn in the US, siliconrepublic.com, Carmel Doyle, 10 March 11, “…..With renewable energy projected to increase by 40.4pc between now and 2015 in the US, Continue reading
Nuclear company Exelon’s CEO says – No subsidies for new nuclear
CEO of biggest U.S. nuclear-power producer touts “cheap” natural gas as energy solution, Barnett Shale: Jack Z. Smith, March 08, 2011 The U.S. should use more natural gas to generate electricity and shun new “clean-energy” subsidies given for nuclear reactors, wind turbines, solar panels and coal-fired plants that capture carbon dioxide, Exelon Corp. CEO John Rowe said in prepared remarks for a speech today, according to a Bloomberg News report. Continue reading
Smuggling of nuclear equipment to Pakistan
Pakistani Man Charged Over Shipments to Pakistan’s Nuclear Program – WSJ.com, Evan Perez, 9 March, WASHINGTON—U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday charged a Pakistani man with running a smuggling operation that shipped materials and equipment to the agencies operating Pakistan’s nuclear program. Continue reading
Reduce Arsenals, Prevent New Nuclear States
To continue the success of the Non- Proliferation treaty it is essential the nuclear-armed states steadily work to reduce their arsenals. The leadership must come from America and Russia who together have over 95 percent of all nuclear weapons in the world.
The Most Successful Security Pact in History, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Joe Cirincione, 6 Mar 11,“……….Reduce Arsenals, Prevent New Nuclear States The U.S. and other nuclear powers must uphold their end of the bargain by reducing their nuclear arsenals. If they do not, other states over time may begin to drop their commitment to not pursue nuclear weapons.Most analysts understand the essential link. The interim report of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States correctly notes: Continue reading
Investor owned utilities increasing renewable energy in California
in aggregate, the investor-owned utilities (IOU) s will reach 20% of grid-connected renewable energy.before the end of 2012…..
CPUC Report Shows Good Progress In California’s Renewable Energy Deployment, SolarIndustryMag.com 07 March 2011 The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) says its most recent compliance reports suggest that the state’s three largest investor-owned utilities (IOUs) have continued to increase their share of grid-connected renewable energy. Continue reading
Revelations of cancer caused by radiation from Antarcic nuclear plant
Other McMurdo veterans across the US have now been revealed to have cancer………The first thing the doctors asked me was, well, that’s the type of cancer you typically get from exposure from radiation,” Boyles said.
Health fears around polar nuke leak | Stuff.co.nz, by Michael Field, 7 Mar 11, A small nuclear power plant used at McMurdo Sound near New Zealand’s Antarctic Scott Base is being implicated by US media in unusual cancers in men who worked on it in the 1960s.It has also been revealed the PM-3A nuclear power plant – known at MacTown as “nukey poo” for the way it leaked – had 438 malfunctions in its life between 1964 and 1973. Continue reading
U.S. Energy Dept sued over failure to provide nuclear waste dump
it could be several years before a repository is constructed and the federal government can begin accepting waste from nuclear power plants. Until then, the association wants to halt the nuclear waste fund fees that the Energy Department collects for that purpose…….
Utility Commissioners Sue To Suspend Annual Nuclear Waste Fees By Tennille Tracy NEWSWIRES,WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones) 8 march 11, A group representing state utility commissioners sued the U.S. Energy Department Monday to try to prevent it from collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in fees to build a nuclear waste dump. 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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