Utah nuclear power proposal has a powerful thirst
Water application » Billions of gallons would be diverted The Salt Lake Tribune, by Patty Henetz 6 April 09
A state representative pushing to bring nuclear energy to Utah has applied to the state to take billions of gallons of water from the Green River to supply reactors that could produce electricity for 3 million households.
Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District, has filed an application with the Utah Division of Water Rights to transfer 29,600 acre-feet of water to Emery County.
The water would be used for two proposed nuclear reactors for the Transition Power LLC Blue Castle Project on private land west of the city of Green River, said company CEO Aaron Tilton, a former lawmaker from Springville…………………….. Critics say even though the water right originally was for a coal-fired plant, it may not be easy to transfer it to a nuclear plant whose customers would include more Californians than Utah residents.
Greens Blast Move to Repeal IL Nuclear Moratorium
Greens Blast Move to Repeal IL Nuclear Moratorium
April 3rd, 2009
Greens Blast Move to Repeal IL Nuclear MoratoriumApril 3rd, 2009 Green Party blasts legislative move to repeal Nuclear Moratorium; Calls attempt an effort to undermine Renewable EnergyGreen Party leaders condemned legislative attempts to repeal the Illinois moratorium against new nuclear production. House Bill 875 and Senate Bill 2162 would delete the provision in state law prohibiting the construction of new nuclear facilities until the nuclear waste storage issue is resolved.Nuclear power is bad for the economy, bad for the environment, and bad for the people of Illinois. We need to be phasing out nuclear production. It is completely irresponsible for legislators to champion it.”The Illinois Green Party pointed out that the expansion of nuclear production would undermine the 2007 Renewable Energy Portfolio standard law requiring that Illinois electric utilities produce 25% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025 – and in the process, would be bad for job growth in Illinois.“Renewable energy production and energy efficiency efforts create more jobs
than nuclear production,” said William Edgar, DuPage County Green Party Chair. ”And nuclear is more expensive to produce than wind or geothermal. Nuclear power is bad for workers and bad for consumers.”Greens also pointed to the effort to repeal the nuclear moratorium as further evidence of the pernicious influence of Pay to Play in Illinois politics. The Illinois State Board of Elections Campaign Disclosure site shows over 30 variations of the name Exelon having contributed over $2,500,000 to candidates in Illinois since 2001. Many of these legislators are now sponsoring the moratorium repeal legislation.
“Illinois needs to ban corporate contributions immediately,” said Mark Mallon, Green candidate for Urbana City Council (Ward 2). ”Are we going to get real reform out of Springfield this year, or more of the same?”
The Illinois Green Party recommends the expertise of the Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) for more information on the perils of nuclear power. NEIS is online at www.neis.org.
Energy Department presses for license as if nothing’s changed – Las Vegas Sun
YUCCA MOUNTAIN:
Energy Department presses for license as if nothing’s changed
LAS VEGAS SUN 5 April 09 “……………………………………….The biggest of the alleged holes in the Energy Department’s Yucca license application, according to Nevada, is that the project’s safety plans rely on installing 11,000 titanium drip shields 100 years from now, after the waste has been placed inside the mountain. Installing the drip shields would require technology that hasn’t been invented, the state says, and the application does not consider the effects if the drip shields cannot be installed.Nevada, several counties and others would like to bring forward hundreds of other concerns about the Energy Department’s science. They say it fails to take into account expected changes in precipitation tied to global warming, fails to use the right calculations for volcanic activity, fails to properly anticipate how fast waste canisters will corrode and fails to substantiate that the department could block air traffic over the mountain to avoid air crashes.
These groups also argue that environmental impact statements didn’t sufficiently consider the effect of transporting waste to the site.In all, there were 320 contentions from 14 groups.The Energy Department says none of these critiques should be heard because they all violate technical requirements of the regulations.
Energy Department presses for license as if nothing’s changed – Las Vegas Sun
Pro nuclear push in US Senate
Help Stop Pro-Nuke Budget Amendments NOW!
March 31, 2009
They’re at it again! And we have to act again–now!
The U.S. Senate is currently debating President Obama’s FY 2010 budget on the Senate floor.
A small group of Senators, led by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC), is preparing to introduce a number of pro-nuclear amendments intended to support still more subsidies to the nuclear industry. Other Senators involved are Crapo, Brownback, Voinovich, and Vitter.
One amendment we’ve seen would allow money to be shifted around in the budget if the nuclear industry can get $50 billion in new loan guarantees later. Another would allow money to be shifted around if pro-nuclear boosters are successful in getting more R&D money for Generation IV reactors. Another would do the same if construction of a reprocessing facility were authorized. These amendments are intended to make it easier for nuclear backers to try again to boost nuclear spending once the budget bill is enacted.
Please call your Senators–NOW--and urge them to vote against any and all amendments to the budget bill that would pave the way for additional nuclear subsidies. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121.
And please send your Senators an e-mail on these amendments by clicking here.
And please help us pay for this ongoing campaign by making your donation here. Your contributions of any size are gratefully appreciated, and enable us to continue doing this work.
Spread the word–post this Alert everywhere!
Thanks for all you do,
Michael Mariotte
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Yucca Mountain Plan for Nuclear Waste Dies
Yucca Mountain Plan for Nuclear Waste Dies
The New York Times March 31, 2009, Yucca Mountain Plan for Nuclear Waste DiesBy David M. HerszenhornNothing makes the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, madder than folks pushing for the storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Mr. Reid’s home state………………………Senator John McCain of Arizona, the former Republican presidential nominee and a big proponent of the nuclear storage area, declared on Tuesday that Yucca Mountain was no longer a realistic option given the opposition of the Obama administration……………………….Mr. Reid earlier this week said he had received firm assurances from President Obama, that Yucca Mountain would never be operational. “It’s dead,” Mr. Reid said in an interview.
Yucca Mountain Plan for Nuclear Waste Dies – The Caucus Blog – NYTimes.com
As CT Radiation Accumulates, Cancer Risk May Rise
As CT Radiation Accumulates, Cancer Risk May RiseThose who have the most scans over a lifetime face greatest risk, experts sayP osted March 31, 2009
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay ReporterTUESDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) — Cumulative exposure to radiation from CT scans can increase the risk for cancer by as much as 12 percent, Harvard University researchers report……………………………people who are having a lot of CTs need to think more carefully and talk with their doctor to determine whether additional scans add value to their care because the risks can add up over time, he said. “We found cancer risks up to 12 percent” higher for people who had 38 scans, he said.
The report is published in the April issue of Radiology.
As CT Radiation Accumulates, Cancer Risk May Rise – US News and World Report
Nearly $2 billion for Hanford cleanup
Nearly $2 billion for Hanford cleanup seattlepi.com By SHANNON DININNYASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERRICHLAND, Wash. — The Department of Energy plans to spend about $2 billion in stimulus money to speed some of the cleanup at south-central Washington’s highly contaminated Hanford nuclear reservation………………..The extra $2 billion equals what the federal government typically spends cleaning up Hanford each year……………………53 million gallons of radioactive brew, were left behind in 177 underground tanks. Some of those tanks are known to have leaked into the aquifer, threatening the neighboring Columbia River, and 144 tanks remain to be emptied.
New Book on Hiroshima. Author’s Comments Cast Shadow Over President Truman.
Aquinine Books to Publish New Book on Hiroshima. Author’s Comments Cast Shadow Over President Truman.
A new novel entitled ‘Hiroshima Sunset’ by Australian author John Kelly, questions the morality and military need behind the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. The author highlights disturbing evidence behind President Truman’s decision to proceed, against strong military advice at the time.
………………………… The theme of the book goes beyond that of a simple love story to where author Kelly questions the morality of the decision to drop the bomb, and debunks the theory that it avoided the need for a land invasion of Japan.
The book is available on-line through the Lulu.com publishing service. http://www.pr.com/press-release/142007
Dominion’s Conn. power station problem “more than minor”
Richmond Times Despatch March 27, 2009
WATERFORD, Conn. — Federal regulators are calling a piping system problem at Dominion Resources Inc.’s Millstone nuclear power plant a “more than minor” safety violation………………….. NRC officials said some gas became trapped in pipes designed to deliver cooling water to one of two operating reactors at the Millstone plant. Regulators were concerned that the gas could affect the operation of pumps in an emergency
State House energy panel votes no on lifting nuclear ban
State House energy panel votes no on lifting nuclear banB Star Tribune by ELIZABETH DUNBAR , Associated PressL March 27, 2009 ST. PAUL, Minn. – A state law prevents new nuclear power plants from being built in Minnesota,………………..An effort to change that suffered a setback Thursday, when members of a House energy committee voted down a bill that would lift the ban……………………many, including environmental groups, have argued that little has changed in the more than 15 years Minnesota has had a law banning new nuclear plants. Nuclear waste storage can still be a problem, and President Barack Obama’s budget calls for eliminating funding for a proposed nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada that might have helped states looking for a more permanent place to store the waste…………………
Even if Minnesota were to lift its moratorium, lawmakers on both sides of the issue have acknowledged it would take anywhere from 12 to 14 years and perhaps longer for a nuclear plant to come online in the state.
Some think that’s too long when it comes to finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“We can’t afford to wait,” said Sen. Ellen Anderson, a St. Paul Democrat who opposes lifting the nuclear ban. “I think it will distract from maximizing the potential for wind and other energy sources in Minnesota.”
Daniel Kessler: Remembering the Three Mile Island Meltdown
Remembering the Three Mile Island Meltdown THE HUFFINGTON POST Daniel Kessler 27 March 09 Thirty years ago, the word “meltdown” was seared into the American consciousness ……………. in the early morning hours of March 28, 1979…………
………. Contrary to the claims of the nuclear lobby, the Three Mile Island accident spewed radiation into the environment for days and crippled the U.S. nuclear industry. The question that has persisted since the accident isn’t whether radiation was released but how much radiation was released. Even the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) fact sheet on the Three Mile Island accident acknowledges that the meltdown resulted in a significant release of radiation. According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 10 million curies of radiation escaped the damaged reactor core (a “curie” is a unit of radioactivity that denotes how many radioactive atoms in a particular collection of atoms are giving off radiation; 1 curie = 37 billion atoms giving off radiation). However, independent and unbiased nuclear engineers who reexamined the accident estimate that as much as 150 million curies of radiation may have escaped to the environment.
According to government reports on the accident, the radiation monitors went off scale before 8:00 a.m. on March 28, eliminating the only direct means of assessing the quantities and rate of release of radiation from the reactor. This information was vital to an accurate evaluation of the consequences of the meltdown……………..Even the nuclear cheerleaders at the NRC acknowledge that “exposure to any level of radiation is assumed to carry with it a certain amount of risk.” The scientific community generally assumes that any exposure to ionizing radiation may cause undesirable biological effects and that the likelihood of these effects increases as the dose increases. The NRC’s fact sheet on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation states that, “any amount of radiation may pose some risk for causing cancer and hereditary effect, and that the risk is higher for higher radiation exposures.” There is no such thing as a “safe” dose of radiation…………..
………As nuclear corporations attempt to resell reactors as clean and safe, we must remember that Three Mile Island revealed the truth about the nuclear industry. Not only is nuclear power expensive; it’s also dangerous and deadly.
Renewable Energy Could Solve Economic, Environmental and Social Problems:
Scientific American By Douglas Fischer 26 March 09 ASPEN – Shifting the United States to clean-burning renewable fuels has the potential to cut through a thicket of thorny social ills and solve long-standing problems across the entire spectrum of American life, from manufacturing to national security to clean water, the country’s top environmental cop said on Wednesday.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson spoke before 150 scientists, lawyers, industry executives, activists and others gathered at this alpine town for a three-day conference on the country’s energy future.
She said weaning the country from fossil fuels remains a top priority of the Obama administration because it offers such a broad suite of solutions across all aspects of American life: rewarding innovation, discouraging pollution, investing in jobs and encouraging energy independence………………………………
“It’s extraordinary to be at a time where one answer answers so many extraordinary big issues,” she said.
“If you think climate protection endangers economic growth, wait ’till you see what climate change does.”
Renewable Energy Could Solve Economic, Environmental and Social Problems: Scientific American
Political Habitat: The lie of Three Mile Island
Political Habitat: The lie of Three Mile Island Thirty years after its near-calamity, the American nuclear industry is still paying for its inability to tell the truth on its worst day. By Peter Dykstra Mar 25 2009 “…………………..
Today, the industry is ready for its comeback: Gone are the days of too-cheap-to-meter propaganda. (My favorite is a 1966 short film by Northeast Utilities: The Atom and Eve shows an alluring dancer, pirouetting around household appliances and fondling a refrigerator — all brought to you by clean, safe nuclear energy.) In its place is a global warming-based sales pitch: Carbon-free nukes, now providing about 20 percent of the nation’s electric supply, could replace a big chunk of the 50 percent provided by coal, and several utilities have plants on the drawing board.All that remains to be conquered are the environmental risks throughout every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle: Uranium mining is inalterably destructive; its legacy was reported in a remarkable series in the Los Angeles Times two years ago; and the end of the cycle — dealing with nuclear waste — is barely closer to resolution than it was 30 years ago. Then there’s winning the faith of Wall Street — and the public. That’s all that’s left to do after the lie of TMI.
Political Habitat: The lie of Three Mile Island | MNN – Mother Nature Network
Los Alamos’ security flaws exposed
Los Alamos’ security flaws exposedAn Energy Department investigation into a plutonium mix-up reveals deficiencies that the New Mexico nuclear weapons lab must address, an official says. Los Angeles Times By Ralph VartabedianMarch 26, 2009An Energy Department investigation has alleviated fears that a significant amount of plutonium was missing from a national laboratory, but it has also heightened concerns about flaws in the system for controlling the U.S. stockpile of weapons materials…………………………………..The inventory miscalculation follows more than a decade of security problems at the bomb design center, including several incidents of lost classified information contained on computers, electronic drives and paper.
NRC racing to answer questions on depleted uranium
NRC racing to answer questions on depleted uranium chron.com By BROCK VERGAKIS Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated PressMarch 25, 2009,
SALT LAKE CITY — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is rushing to meet an April 2 deadline to turn over stacks of internal documents that could shed light on why it recently decided to classify large quantities of depleted uranium as the least hazardous type of low-level radioactive waste.
The NRC’s decision, which still must undergo a rule-making process that could take up to two years, would open the door for federal facilities and companies around the country to dispose of more than 1 million tons of depleted uranium in Utah and Texas.
Democratic Reps. Jim Matheson of Utah and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, who is chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the NRC, have demanded the documents because they believe the agency’s March 18 decision disregards the risk depleted uranium poses to public health and safety.
They called the NRC’s decision an “arbitrary and capricious mischaracterization” of the waste…………………………………..
Depleted uranium is unique in that unlike other waste, it becomes more radioactive over time, leading to criticism from environmental groups that the NRC is downplaying the long-term risks of radiological exposure.
“It’s kind of like saying someone isn’t a drunk driver because he passed a breathalyzer test before he started drinking,” said Christopher Thomas, public policy director for the nuclear waste watchdog group Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah………………………………
Matheson and Markey’s letter questioned how the NRC could make the ruling when in the 1980s it was considering higher classification.
“The depleted uranium waste stream which will flow from commercial uranium enrichment facilities is expected to be … ten times greater than what the commission believed was safe,” the letter says.
NRC racing to answer questions on depleted uranium | AP Texas News | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
1 This Month
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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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