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Trump administration sends mixed signals on nuclear weapons budgeting

Trump administration sends mixed signals on nuclear weapons budgeting, Defense News, By: Joe Gould and Aaron Mehta  28 Aug 20, WASHINGTON ― Defense hawks in Congress are pushing a contentious plan to give the Pentagon a stronger hand in crafting nuclear weapons budgets, but the Trump administration has been sending mixed messaging over recent weeks about whether the change is needed.

The Senate-passed version of the annual defense policy bill would give the Pentagon-led Nuclear Weapons Council a say in the budget development of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy that’s responsible for the stockpile’s safety, security, and effectiveness.

However, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities Vic Mercado told reporters that change is unneeded; the status quo between the Defense Department’s nuclear modernization efforts and NNSA is appropriate.

“I think right now we have it about right,” Mercado said in an interview this month. Nuclear deterrence falls under Mercado’s portfolio as an adviser to the defense secretary and undersecretary for policy.

The remarks could be read as neutral as the House and Senate debate competing proposals as part of their deliberations on the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act…….. https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2020/08/25/trump-administration-sends-mixed-signals-on-nuclear-weapons-budgeting/

August 29, 2020 Posted by | politics, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

UK’s Dounreay nuclear power site, opened in 1955, closed 1994, cleaned up in 2333, if they’re lucky

Nuclear power facility in Scotland will not be safe for other uses until the year 2333, report finds

Dounreay on Scottish north coast has been site of considerable radioactive leaks https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nuclear-power-dounreay-scotland-thurso-decommissioning-radiation-a9680611.html  Harry Cockburn, Thursday 20 August 2020 In 313 years’ time, 378 years after it first opened in 1955, and 339 years after it ceased operations in 1994, the 178-acre nuclear power facility site at Dounreay will be safe for other uses, a new report has stated.

Though the site on the north coast of Scotland was only home to functioning nuclear reactors for 39 years, the clean-up will take roughly ten times as long, with efforts already underway to clean up hazardous radioactive material.

The facility, near Thurso, was used by the government for research and testing of various types of nuclear reactors, including a “fast reactor” and those intended for use on nuclear submarines.

The first reactor at the site to provide power to the National Grid was the Dounreay Fast Reactor, which provided power between 1962 and 1977.  A second reactor also pumped power into the grid between 1975 and 1994.

A draft report from the government’s nuclear decommissioning authority states the site will only be ready for other uses after the year 2333.

Over the next two years, Dounreay Site Restoration Limited has said it will undertake assessments of “installations, current and future disposals, areas of land contamination, sub-surface structures and other discrete site conditions” to determine “credible options for the site end state”.

But the report’s “Roadmap for Mission Delivery”, charts an endpoint of 2333 for Scottish sites.

A process of demolition of buildings and waste removal is already underway at the site, which has previously been used to store dangerous radioactive material.

Part of the demolition process has involved the use of a remote controlled robot nicknamed the “Reactosaurus”, a 75-tonne device with radiation-proof cameras, and robotic arms which are able to reach 12 metres into the reactors where they can operate an array of size-reduction and handling tools, including diamond wire and disks and hydraulic shears.

One of the areas targeted for waste removal is a highly contaminated area called the Shaft.

In 1977, a catastrophic leak allowed seawater to flood a 65-metre-deep shaft which was packed full of radioactive waste as well as more than 2kg or sodium and potassium.

The water reacted violently with the sodium and potassium, throwing off the massive steel and concrete lids of the shaft, and littered the area with radioactive particles.

All radioactive waste is due to be removed from the Shaft by 2029, the report states.
The site also leaked radioactive fuel fragments into the sea in the local area for decades, between 1963 and 1984.

The dangerous pollution affected local beaches, the coastline and the seabed. Fishing has been banned within a two-kilometre radius of the plant since 1997.

Milled shards from the processing of irradiated plutonium and uranium, are roughly the size of grains of grains of sand. The most radioactive of the particles are believed to be potentially lethal if ingested. These small fragments are known to contain caesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years, but they can also incorporate traces of plutonium-239, which has a half-life of over 24,000 years.

The Independent has contacted the NDA and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for comment.

August 29, 2020 Posted by | decommission reactor, Reference, UK | Leave a comment

FirstEnergy heavily involved in the corruption-filled Ohio nuclear stations bailout

FirstEnergy had big stake in tainted nuclear plant bailout, Chattanooga Times Free Press, August 28th, 2020 | by MARK GILLISPIE and JOHN SEEWER / The Associated Press  CLEVELAND (AP) — FirstEnergy Corp. was once blamed for its part in triggering North America’s largest blackout nearly 20 years ago. Now, the multistate power company is again facing intense scrutiny — this time for its role in an alleged $60 million bribery scheme that has ensnared one of Ohio’s most powerful politicians.While FirstEnergy and its executives have denied wrongdoing and have not been criminally charged, federal investigators say the company secretly funneled millions to secure a $1 billion legislative bailout for two unprofitable Ohio nuclear plants then operated by an independently controlled subsidiary called FirstEnergy Solutions.

Officials from the Akron-based corporation, including CEO Chuck Jones, have long insisted FirstEnergy Corp. had no financial stake in rescuing the plants because they were operated by FirstEnergy Solutions. Yet nearly all of the money used to fund the scheme, authorities said, came from the corporation itself.

Critics say the bailout bill, known as HB6, helped smooth the way for FirstEnergy to officially shift ownership of the nuclear plants and two coal-burning power plants to its creditors in federal bankruptcy court in February. Shedding the plants allowed the corporation to focus on its profitable business of powering 6 million customers in Ohio and other states.

Ashley Brown, executive director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a member of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio from 1983 to 1993, said the bailout legislation clearly benefited FirstEnergy Corp.

“I think there’s no question that FirstEnergy was acting in its own self-interest,” Brown said. “Ordinarily, there’s nothing particularly wrong with that. But HB6 skewed everything.”

‘Company A’

After its bailout-driven success, FirstEnergy’s fortunes took an unwelcome turn July 21.

That’s when federal authorities released a criminal complaint detailing how “Company A” — a clear reference to FirstEnergy — spent $60 million to get a well-known Republican named Larry Householder selected as Ohio’s House speaker, finance his bailout passage efforts and prevent Ohioans from having their say about the legislation at the polls.

FirstEnergy’s stock price plummeted nearly 35% within two days and has yet to rebound. Independent board members have called for an internal investigation and shareholders have filed at least four potential class-action lawsuits alleging FirstEnergy’s executives committed fraud and concealed an “illicit campaign” to secure the bailout.

“The company’s most senior executives, including its CEO defendant Jones, were directly involved in and oversaw these efforts, placing the company and its shareholders at extreme risk of legal, reputational and financial harm,” one lawsuit said………

The corporation funneled $38 million to a dark money group to finance a dirty tricks campaign that prevented bailout opponents from gathering enough signatures to place a referendum on the ballot, federal authorities alleged.

FirstEnergy also benefited from a last-minute change to the bailout legislation that essentially allowed the utility to charge retail customers more for lost revenue, a sweetener that Jones said made roughly one-third of the company’s business “recession proof.”

While the utility said the add-on would stabilize rates for customers, an analysis released by the Ohio Manufacturers Association estimated FirstEnergy could reap $355 million in unearned revenue through 2024.

Federal investigators said the add-on “likely came as a result of the successful influence campaign” waged by Householder and his four associates, all of whom were indicted on federal racketeering charges last month. The associates have pleaded not guilty, while Householder has been given more time to find a new attorney. ………

with state and federal officials reluctant to help, the FirstEnergy Solutions subsidiary announced in March 2018 that it would close the plants in 2021. The subsidiary filed for bankruptcy three days later, saying it had $7.2 billion in assets and $3.1 billion in debt as of Dec. 31, 2016.

By that time, according to federal authorities, the bribery scheme had already been set in motion.

Two months after Householder flew on a company plane to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, FirstEnergy wired $250,000 into the bank account of Generation Now — a dark money group created to promote “social welfare” under a provision of federal tax law that shields its funding sources or spending. Authorities say Householder controlled Generation Now as part of the alleged scheme.

Of the $60 million eventually funneled by FirstEnergy to Generation Now through the end of 2019, $42 million came from an entity called FirstEnergy Services that is overseen by Jones and his corporate team, the criminal complaint said.

 

……….Jonathan Entin, a law professor emeritus at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said there is no way for FirstEnergy “to spin this.”

“They cannot credibly say they’re completely innocent bystanders even if they did not break the law,” Entin said. “It’s really hard to believe they were completely ignorant of what was happening.”

……….The bailout legislation became law last October, the day after the anti-bailout referendum effort failed. By February of this year, FirstEnergy appeared to have gotten what it wanted: FirstEnergy Solutions had emerged from bankruptcy as a new privately held company called Energy Harbor. FirstEnergy Corp. was out of the power generation business and was now a regulated electric transmission company, feeding power to 6 million customers in six states.

And it was good, at least initially, for FirstEnergy’s bottom line, its shareholders, and the FirstEnergy leadership team.

The company, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing early this year, said Jones’ total compensation in 2019 was nearly $21 million, including a $1.6 million performance-based salary bonus for that year and $18 million in performance-based stock units for a three-year period ending in 2019.

Now, 17 summers after a tree branch touched a high-voltage line and a computer malfunction at FirstEnergy unraveled into a massive blackout in the U.S. northeast and Canada, the company again finds itself on the defensive.

“If it turns out what FirstEnergy went over the line, the question is who will be held responsible,” Entin said. “Will it be individuals? Or will it be the company?” https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/business/aroundregion/story/2020/aug/28/firstenergy-stake-tainted-nuclear-plant-bailout/530974/

August 29, 2020 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Ohio’s Republican Ohio Attorney General David Yost Considers Blocking Nuclear Power Plant Bailout

Ohio AG Considers Blocking Nuclear Power Plant Bailout,  https://www.wcbe.org/post/ohio-ag-considers-blocking-nuclear-power-plant-bailout, By OHIO PUBLIC RADIO 28 Aug 20, Republican Ohio Attorney General David Yost says he’s considering taking legal action to stall the billion dollar nuclear power plant bailout law.The subsidies are at the center of one of the largest alleged bribery scandals in Ohio history. Ohio Public Radio’s Andy Chow reports.

An injunction could halt increased charges on nearly every Ohioan’s electric bills if the legislature fails to repeal House Bill 6.

The announcement from Yost is the latest action from leaders, advocates, and interest groups fighting to repeal HB6, which is said to be the catalyst for a 60 million dollar racketeering scheme.

Michael Hartley with the Coalition to Restore Public Trust says legislators must toss out the law.

“Every single word of it is corrupt, and every single word of it is tainted.”

Federal investigators say a utility believed to be FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries funneled millions of dollars to Republican former House Speaker Larry Householder in exchange for the bailout.

August 29, 2020 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Exelon demanding Illinois state subsidies for 2 nuclear power stations

Exelon Threatens to Close 2 Nuclear Plants as Battle Over State Subsidies Looms
Illinois governor nixes the utility’s preferred legislative fix, leaving the future of its ZECs in doubt. Greentech Media JEFF ST. JOHN AUGUST 28, 2020 Exelon is following through with a threat to close two of its Illinois nuclear power plants by next year unless it receives state support to boost their financial viability……..

with a bribery scandal involving Exelon subsidiary Commonwealth Edison eroding its political clout in the state, and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker saying he won’t support the utility’s preferred plan to boost its nuclear plant revenue, it’s unclear whether Exelon will get what it says it needs to keep the plants open.

Exelon subsidiary Exelon Generation’s announcement that it plans to close its Byron and Dresden power plants in 2021, decades ahead of schedule, cited long-standing economic pressures on a fleet that supplies the vast majority of the state’s carbon-free generation.

The utility also warned that it may seek early retirement of its Braidwood and LaSalle power plants……

Hurdles for Exelon at the state and federal levels

Last week, Pritzker’s office released a clean energy plan laying out the governor’s preferred path forward for stalled energy legislation, a plan which excludes most of Exelon’s preferred policies to support its nuclear fleet. ……….
Exelon CEO Chris Crane warned earlier this month that the utility, which owns the country’s largest nuclear generating fleet and operates utilities in Illinois, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C., faced diminishing prospects for keeping its struggling Illinois nuclear fleet running in the face of continued financial losses.
The plan from the governor also moves away from Exelon’s preferred method of creating a Fixed Resource Requirement structure to allow its nuclear power plants to exit the wholesale capacity markets of mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM. Exelon’s nuclear fleet is expected to be unable to compete in PJM’s capacity market under new rules it’s been ordered to create by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Those rules will force state-subsidized resources to use administratively fixed minimum prices when bidding to compete against other resources in the market.

Exelon worked with legislators and environmental groups to include a version of the Fixed Resource Requirement in the Clean Energy Jobs Act legislation introduced last year. However, the bill stalled in 2019 after the federal bribery investigation involving ComEd was announced. CEJA and a rival clean energy bill, dubbed Path to 100, were also unable to advance during this year’s legislative session, which was constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic.

ComEd’s decision in July to pay a $200 million fine and submit to a deferred prosecution agreement in connection to the federal investigation alleging the utility steered jobs, contracts and payments to House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for favorable treatment in state legislation has made for a toxic environment in the state capitol.
Pritzker suspended the Energy Working Group involved in crafting state energy legislation after ComEd’s deferred prosecution agreement last month. The energy plan released this week makes it clear that Pritzker views the Fixed Resource Requirement plan as “a sizable windfall for Exelon’s existing nuclear fleet in Illinois” and less appealing than a plan based on a carbon price, stated Rob Rains, an analyst with Washington Analysis, in a research note released this week. ……… https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/exelon-threatens-to-close-two-nuclear-plants-as-battle-over-state-subsidies-looms

August 29, 2020 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Ohio’s laws hamper renewable energy, even if the pro nuclear HB6 law is repealed

HB 6 Repeal Would Address Only Part Of Lawmakers’ Actions To Slow Renewables, Cincinnati Public Radio, By KATHIANN M. KOWALSKI & EYE ON OHIO • JUL 24, 2020  Both Republican and Democratic Ohio lawmakers are pushing to repeal the state’s nuclear bailout bill after this week’s release of a federal criminal complaint against House Speaker Larry Householder and others. Clean energy advocates say that would be a start, but more is needed to address eight years of lawmakers’ actions to slow the growth of renewables in the state.

The complaint alleges a $60 million bribery and conspiracy scheme that led to the passage of House Bill 6 last summer, followed by the defeat of a referendum effort to give voters a say on the bill. Amounts involved are about 20 times more than amounts that could be tracked through public documents.

HB 6 is primarily known as a “nuclear bailout” for providing six years of subsidies for the FirstEnergy Solutions/Energy Harbor nuclear power plants in Ohio totaling roughly a billion dollars, but it also gutted the state’s renewable energy and energy efficiency standards, and provided bailouts for two 1950s-era coal plants in Ohio and Indiana.

And while Gov. Mike DeWine has recently shifted his position from defending HB 6 to saying he wants to “repeal and replace” it, legislators from both parties say the whole thing should be thrown out. DeWine has said his office had no involvement in the alleged scheme. Yet he signed the law within hours after Householder secured its passage last summer.

Whether due to actual or perceived corruption, HB 6 “is a corrupt piece of legislation. All of it — not just part of it,” said Rep. Mike Skindell, D-Lakewood. “Therefore, the entire thing needs to be repealed. … That is one step in restoring the confidence of the citizens which was broken because of this corrupt process.”

“Those of us who are free-market conservatives are against the bill. Those of us who care about consumers and predatory pricing are against the bill. And it’s why those of us who want more renewable energy, not less, are against the bill,” said Rep. Laura Lanese, R-Grove City.

“Ohioans deserve an immediate and full

repeal of House Bill 6 in order to restore the public’s trust in the legislative process, and also to get Ohio’s clean energy future restarted,” said Miranda Leppla, vice president of energy policy for the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund. “There is simply no room to consider anything less than a full repeal of this bill, as it is corrupt to the very core. Ohio lawmakers should consider what policies are best for Ohioans, without the corrupt influence of pay-to-play politicians and lobbyists working to influence their decisions.”

“I think this fiasco of HB 6 is just symbolic of the pay-to-play culture that has been in operation for a decade or more,” said Steve Melink, founder and CEO of Melink Corporation in Cincinnati. An analysis of lawful, reported campaign contributions from the utility, nuclear and coal industries in Ohio shows substantial increases in election years after a competitive generation market finally began developing in the state.

Efforts to give preferences to FirstEnergy and utility and fossil fuel interests didn’t start with HB 6. Bailout proposals have been on the table since at least 2014. And efforts to limit or repeal Ohio’s clean energy standards have been underway since at least 2012. A 2014 law imposed a two-year “freeze,” and then former Gov. John Kasich vetoed another bill to erode the standards. Other bills for nuclear and fossil subsidies and for weakening the standards were proposed in 2017 and 2018. And then Householder was elected.

HB 6 “was much more than a bailout for uneconomic nuclear and coal plants. It was an attack on renewable energy and energy efficiency that FirstEnergy, and its allies in the legislature, had been pushing for years,” said J.R. Tolbert, managing director for Advanced Energy Economy’s national business group. 

What More Is Needed?

“Ohio has some fundamental changes that need to be made to get back on track in our fight against climate change,” Leppla said. “These include fixing our wind setbacks, prioritizing efficiency as a money- and energy-saving resource, and fixing our power siting board process to ensure renewables have an even playing field.”

Removing a 2014 provision that tripled property line setbacks for wind turbines “is the very first change that has to happen” after a full repeal of HB 6, said Sandy Buchanan, executive director of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

“When the rules changed, it essentially froze the number of wind projects,” said IEEFA data analyst Seth Feaster. That caused communities to miss out on revenues, more financial stability, better credit ratings and indirect job benefits, he and Buchanan noted. Meanwhile, a lot of wind projects moved to other states that were more welcoming.

The constant push to limit or repeal the state’s renewable energy and energy efficiency portfolio standards has also hurt, Melink noted. The portfolio standards act as incentives to attract and develop clean energy and other businesses that want renewable energy by setting enforceable targets, which the market then moves to meet, he said………. https://www.wvxu.org/post/hb-6-repeal-would-address-only-part-lawmakers-actions-slow-renewables

August 29, 2020 Posted by | politics, renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Expansion of nuclear power in the troubled Middle East – not a good idea

Will the UAE’s Barakah project launch new era of peaceful nuclear power in the Middle East?  Al-Monitor

Ali Ahmad @Ali_Ahmad_Not   28 Aug 20, “……. Despite the UAE’s commitment and thorough planning, arguably supported by the best experts and consultants, Barakah’s first unit took more than eight years in construction and testing. It is, therefore, safe to assume that other countries in the region will need at least that much time to bring their own projects to completion. Considering such a long time frame, and the emerging energy revolution in the region that is powered by cheap renewables and natural gas, it would be very hard to sell a nuclear project anywhere in the region based on economic rationales………….

efforts to sell the nuclear narrative to the public have been either weak or nonexistent in other countries in the region, where the social contract itself appears to be weaker. In Jordan, Turkey and, to some extent, in Egypt, the public has been vocal in its criticisms of proposed nuclear projects, pointing to a seemingly broader issue of lack of trust in the government.

Of course, financing was never an issue for the UAE. One of the most daunting challenges for Middle Eastern countries — or indeed any country — with nuclear aspirations has been the substantial financing needed for nuclear power projects. In contrast to the UAE, an oil-rich country with readily available financial resources and a high credit rating of AA2, based on latest data by Moody’s, many other countries in the region are struggling with strained economies and mounting public debt.

The coronavirus pandemic further weakened regional economies, including oil-rich states such as Saudi Arabia, which also suffered from the collapse of oil prices. Meanwhile, the majority of the UAE’s nuclear investments were made well before the pandemic as the project started in 2012……

…..the expansion of nuclear power in the Middle East introduces more challenges than opportunities in a region swept by conflicts, fragility and economic hardship. https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/08/uae-power-plant-middle-east-nuclear-race.html#ixzz6WSB4zMqe

August 29, 2020 Posted by | safety, United Arab Emirates | Leave a comment

Army dismantling long dead nuclear power plant at Fort Belvoir

Army dismantling deactivated nuclear power plant at Fort Belvoir, INSIDE NOVA, Aug 28, 2020 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $67.98 million contract to APTIM AECOM Decommissioning LLC of Alexandria for the dismantling and disposal of the deactivated nuclear power plant at Fort Belvoir.   The plant was the Army’s first nuclear reactor and first facility in America to provide nuclear-generated power for a sustained period to the commercial grid………
From 1957 until it was shut down in 1973, nuclear technicians from all branches of the military trained at the SM-1 facility. SM-1 was partially decommissioned from 1973 into 1974, which consisted of the removal of the majority of the site’s radioactivity. This included the removal of nuclear fuel and control rods, minor decontamination, shipment of radioactive waste, sealing of the reactor pressure vessel, and installing appropriate warning signs and monitoring devices. ……
Crews are expected to begin mobilizing in early 2021, and the work is anticipated to take approximately five years to complete.  https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/army-dismantling-deactivated-nuclear-power-plant-at-fort-belvoir/article_fa0d82c4-e94e-11ea-ac35-1b353356980d.html

August 29, 2020 Posted by | decommission reactor, USA | Leave a comment

Illinois governor’s energy plan shakes up debate over nuclear and renewables

Illinois governor’s energy plan shakes up debate over nuclear and renewables, Energy News, Kari Lydersen, August 27, 2020  ” ………..Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker  ‘s  Aug. 20 announcement came in the wake of revelations about alleged widespread bribery and corruption by utility ComEd, and the first point of Pritzker’s eight-point plan demands ethics reform and strengthening utility company transparency. The governor’s plan would likely take a proposal for a state-run capacity market off the table. That concept, part of the Clean Energy Jobs Act and backed by both the Clean Jobs Coalition and ComEd’s parent company Exelon, would prioritize  zero emissions sources in capacity, essentially creating new subsidies for nuclear plants while limiting payments to fossil fuel plants. Theoretically renewables could also benefit from capacity payments, but renewable company leaders said the proposal as drafted would not help them.
The coalition says that a fixed resource requirement, or FRR, that changes how capacity is procured in northern Illinois is key to funding increased residential and community solar and clean energy equity programs, since — they say — it would mean savings on unnecessary capacity payments that could be funneled into the state’s incentive program for solar. …….

Critics say the fixed resource requirement as drafted would not really save money, and that Exelon’s nuclear plants don’t really need more support in order to keep operating. And solar and wind companies say the proposed requirement would not help them, in part because it would only apply to PJM territory in northern Illinois, not the MISO market downstate. While renewables could technically participate in a state-run capacity market, just as they can in PJM’s capacity market, they say the proposed terms are unworkable.  …..…

Freedom from influence?

While the corruption scandal seemingly chills the political power that ComEd and Exelon might have had to help pass clean energy legislation, some clean energy advocates described it as a refreshing chance to push legislation without major corporate backing. ………

“It’s always been a reluctant partnership to get this work done. … We’ve been told whenever we need to pass an energy bill that the only route to passage was working with utilities and certain energy companies,” said Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, a Clean Jobs Coalition member. “That was the reality we had to work under, but there was never any group that relished or wanted to do so. [Now] we are excited about getting the chance to pass a bill that’s not written by utilities, that has the best policy for consumers and equity.”

Walling added that “political corruption has plagued the energy sector for decades in Illinois.”……… https://energynews.us/2020/08/27/midwest/illinois-governors-energy-plan-shakes-up-debate-over-nuclear-and-renewables/

August 29, 2020 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Evacuation orders for Fukushima radioactive areas to be lifted without decontamination

Evacuation orders for Fukushima radioactive areas to be lifted without decontamination, August 27, 2020 (Mainichi Japan)  TOKYO — The Japanese government is set to allow the lifting of evacuation orders for highly radioactive areas near the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station without decontamination work on condition that residents will not resettle there.

The government on Aug. 26 disclosed the policy to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) for the so-called “difficult-to-return” zones where residents have remained evacuated since the onset of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 due to high radiation doses in those areas in northeastern Japan. The NRA gave its consent to the government policy, paving the way for residents to enter areas outside the specified disaster reconstruction and revitalization base zones.

The government has heretofore made it a condition for lifting the evacuation orders that: the radiation exposure doses will not exceed 20 millisieverts per year; infrastructure necessary for daily lives is developed and sufficient decontamination work is performed; and consultations are held with local bodies and residents. The government previously designated parts of the difficult-to-return zones as disaster recovery bases, which mainly lie in areas where local residents lived, and planned to lift the evacuation orders by 2023 after decontamination work and infrastructure development.

Meanwhile, upon receiving a request from the village of Iitate in Fukushima Prefecture, the government has also been examining under which situations the evacuation directives can be lifted in areas outside the disaster recovery base areas……….. (Japanese original by Hisashi Tsukamoto and Yuka Saito, Science & Environment News Department) https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200827/p2a/00m/0na/005000c

August 29, 2020 Posted by | Fukushima continuing | Leave a comment

Safety of Belarus nuclear power station in question after IAEA report

Deficiencies discovered during IAEA INIR mission in Belarus may cause negative impact on safety of Belarusian NPP, Vates, 08/27/2020 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conducted the Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) Phase 3 mission from 24 February to 4 March 2020 in the Republic of Belarus and recently published the report with 7 recommendations and 6 suggestions.

The mission evaluated the development status in the areas linked to Belarus nuclear infrastructure such as regulatory framework, nuclear safety, radioactive waste management, financial and human resources, nuclear security in order to commission and operate the first nuclear power plant (hereinafter – NPP).

The report emphasizes, that Belarus needs to further develop its legal and regulatory framework of nuclear energy, to assure regulatory body independence in cooperation with technical support organizations, to ensure sufficient funds for decommissioning and radioactive waste management, to allocate responsibility for establishing the radioactive waste management organization, to ensure reliable restart of the grid system in the event of total collapse once the NPP is in operation, to finalize all necessary programmes for starting operation, to ensure long term arrangements for maintenance of Belarusian NPP and to ensure capacity and competence of operating organisation.

Recommendations and suggestions concerning improvement of nuclear energy infrastructure are related to:
–    deficiencies in legal and regulatory framework of nuclear safety;
–    assurance of independence of regulatory body;
–    deficiencies in implementing Integrated Management Systems of  regulatory body and operating organization;
–    ensuring readiness to restart of the grid system in the event of total collapse once the NPP is in operation;
–    assurance of Belarussian  NPP maintenance after the warranty period;
–    deficiencies in the readiness of the physical security system in the operating organization;
–    deficiencies in establishing responsibilities in the area of the radioactive waste management;
–    international obligations (Belarus has not yet joined the Amendment to the Convention of Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and not ratified Protocol Additional  to IAEA for the Application of Safeguards).

In VATESI experts’ opinion, not implementation of recommendations and suggestions, indicated in the report, may cause negative impact on safety of the Belarusian NPP during its commissioning and consequent operation…… http://www.vatesi.lt/index.php?id=551&L=1&tx_news_pi1[news]=882&tx_news_pi1[controller]=News&tx_news_pi1[action]=detail&cHash=e3cdcce90fb55e6650c0eb887e2cce12

August 29, 2020 Posted by | Belarus, safety | Leave a comment

If the arms treaty with Russia ends USA will spend even more than the planned $1.2 trillion on nuclear weapons

August 27, 2020 Posted by | business and costs, politics international, USA, weapons and war | 1 Comment

Not all scientists are objective, especially nuclear scientists running for election

Foster “argues that his Ph.D. somehow makes him a better lawmaker, yet he has become part of the broken pay-to-play system that only rewards those who can afford to contribute to political campaigns.” Foster “has taken millions of dollars from big banks, hedge fund managers, insurance companies, big Pharma and even money from fossil fuel companies.”
Dwight Eisenhower warned of the rise of a “military-industrial complex” in the U.S. In fact, according to Douglas Brinkley, formerly director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans, the original draft of the speech warned not only of a “military-industrial complex” but of a “military-industrial-scientific complex.”
“in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposing danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.”
Science is objective—but are all scientists objective?  Science might be objective—but that doesn’t mean all scientists are  Nation of Change, By Karl Grossman-August 25, 2020
    There is science—and then there is scientific vested interests.

With a denier of science in The White House—whether it has to do with the climate crisis or Covid-19 and so on—there is a major push, including by Democratic officials, for making science the basis for governmental decision-making.

That’s completely understandable.

But what about the push by some scientists to politically further areas of science and technology which they favor? Science might be objective—but that doesn’t mean all scientists are.

Take Congressman Bill Foster.

An atomic physicist from Illinois, for 23 years he worked at Fermilab in Illinois, established in the 1960s and run by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. With the AEC disbanded in the 1970s, it fell under the U.S. Department of Energy, which still runs it.
…….  The claim that nuclear power is among “low-carbon sources” is also the current major nuclear industry PR claim. In fact, the “nuclear fuel cycle”—especially mining, milling, “enrichment” to produce nuclear plant fuel—is carbon-intensive. And nuclear plants themselves emit carbon—radioactive Carbon-14.

Foster in a Democratic primary this year was challenged by Rachel Ventura, a member of the Will County Board in Illinois, who describes herself as a “progressive.” She is also an environmentalist who earlier worked as a naturalist for Georgia State Parks.

“Will County is effectively the ‘dumping grounds’ for Chicago’s dirty energy industry and garbage,” she declared in campaign literature. “Will County is home to two coal plants, two refineries and one nuclear power plant,” the twin-reactor Braidwood nuclear power plant.

She told patch.com/Illinois that the “Green New Deal is a centerpiece of my campaign” for both environmental and economic reasons. “I believe we can replace warehouse jobs with jobs building windmills and installing solar panels. I believe that we can replace the sweatshops in Aurora [a city, the second in population in Illinois after Chicago and in the Congressional district]…with better-paying jobs building energy efficient window and doors.”

She supports the Future Energy Jobs Act, pending before the Illinois General Assembly, which emphasizes solar and wind power and energy efficiency and commits the state to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.

Ventura noted that Foster “argues that his Ph.D. somehow makes him a better lawmaker, yet he has become part of the broken pay-to-play system that only rewards those who can afford to contribute to political campaigns.” Foster “has taken millions of dollars from big banks, hedge fund managers, insurance companies, big Pharma and even money from fossil fuel companies.”

She wants to see nuclear power replaced by energy from solar, wind and hydropower.

Despite a modest budget—$80,000—she received 41.3 percent of the primary vote, 32,411 votes—to 58.7 percent, 46,116 votes, for Foster.

As to the Republican whom Foster will face on Election Day, it is Rick Laib, a Trumpster and sergeant in the Will County Sheriff’s Office, who stresses his opposition to abortion and the right for people to carry guns………..

In his farewell address as president in 1961, Dwight Eisenhower warned of the rise of a “military-industrial complex” in the U.S. In fact, according to Douglas Brinkley, formerly director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans, the original draft of the speech warned not only of a “military-industrial complex” but of a “military-industrial-scientific complex.” Because of the “urging” of Eisenhower’s science advisor, James Killian, said Brinkley, the word “scientific” was eliminated. (Brinkley is now Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and professor of history at Rice University.)

Remaining in Eisenhower’s address were other words on the issue. Eisenhower said, “in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposing danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.”

Eisenhower also said: “Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the federal government. Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists and laboratories.”

The chain of U.S. national laboratories which grew out of the crash program of World War II to build atomic bombs, the Manhattan Project, was—and is—the base for much of the scientific establishment about which Eisenhower was concerned.

In 1999, three-term U.S. Representative Michael Forbes, concerned about leaks of tritium from nuclear reactors at BNL, spoke out in connection to the radioactive pollution caused by the facility, located in his district. Its two reactors were leaking tritium directly into the underground water table below on which Long Island depends as its sole source of potable water.

As a result of Forbes’ criticism of the federal laboratory, he was opposed in a primary for the Democratic nomination by Regina Seltzer whose husband had been a BNL scientist. BNL personnel manned phone banks to campaign for Seltzer. She won the Democratic nomination over Forbes by 45 votes, but lost to the Republican candidate in the general election. Meanwhile, Forbes, a highly capable representative was driven out of Congress.

One need not be a scientist at a federal facility involved in atomic science to develop an affinity for nuclear technology. Involvement in the U.S. nuclear Navy can also be a springboard. 

Take Congresswoman Elaine Luria.

Her online biography notes “Rep. Luria was one of the first women in the Navy’s nuclear power program.” She “served two decades in the Navy, retiring at the rank of Commander. Rep. Luria served at sea on six ships as a nuclear-trained Surface Warfare Officer, deployed to the Middle East and Western Pacific.”

In the online biography, Luria, of Virginia, states: “As a nuclear engineer in the Navy, I saw firsthand that nuclear power, when deployed safely and responsibly, can play a key role in our future as a zero-carbon energy source. That is why I introduced the bipartisan Nuclear Energy Leadership Act, which will encourage innovation in the design and deployment of advanced nuclear reactor technologies.”

Her Nuclear Energy Leadership Act, introduced in 2019, declares its purpose is to “direct the Secretary of Energy to establish advanced nuclear goals, provide for a versatile, reactor-based fast neutron source, make available high-assay, low-enriched uranium for research, development, and demonstration of advanced nuclear reactor concepts, and for other purposes.”

Luria is a Democrat and will face Republican Scott Taylor, a former Navy SEAL endorsed by Trump who had lost to her two years ago……   This past December “Congress voted to approve appropriations for fiscal year 2020 that includes $1.5 billion for nuclear energy programs, a 12.5 increase from the previous year,” the leading PR entity for the nuclear industry, the Nuclear Energy Institute, trumpeted. It quoted its president and CEO Maria Korsnick saying: “Today’s historic 2020 funding of $1.5 billion for nuclear energy programs reaffirms that nuclear energy is an essential driver in lowering carbon emissions. With Congress’ action, our government is signaling that nuclear energy is a vital part of our country’s commitment to a reliable and resilient energy system.”  https://www.nationofchange.org/2020/08/25/science-is-objective-but-are-all-scientists-objective/?fbclid=IwAR32pATHxLwEv5-3jnrQTNCHcuavdl6zT0T1W1Bmm5O4UlCpMcu33L_E1dw

August 27, 2020 Posted by | election USA 2020 | 1 Comment

Lehi City Council backs out of NuScam ‘small’ nuclear reactor project

Lehi City Council votes to back out of nuclear power project contract, Herald Extra,   By Connor Richards Daily Herald  26 Aug 20, 

The Lehi City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to withdraw the city from a multiagency nuclear power project that would provide nuclear power to cities across Utah, citing concerns over increasing costs.

The Carbon Free Power Project is an initiative by Oregon-based NuScale Power, the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems and the United States Department of Energy to build a small modular reactor power plant at the Idaho National Laboratory………

Earlier this month, the Utah Taxpayer Association called on cities to withdraw from the project ahead of the Sept. 14 deadline after a closed-door virtual town hall meeting on July 21 where officials warned of project delays, increased costs to cities and towns involved, and “dependence on unpredictable federal subsidies.”

“The UAMPS project will lock in 27 municipalities in Utah and several in surrounding states for a share of billions of dollars in costs and unclear risk in the pursuit of a cluster of small modular reactors (SMRs) touted by Oregon-based NuScale Power, which repeatedly has delayed timelines and increased costs associated with its SMRs,” Utah Taxpayer Association Vice President Rusty Cannon said in an Aug. 4 news release. “The risky project with massive cost escalations is being conducted largely out of the public eye.”

Earlier this month, the Utah Taxpayer Association called on cities to withdraw from the project ahead of the Sept. 14 deadline after a closed-door virtual town hall meeting on July 21 where officials warned of project delays, increased costs to cities and towns involved, and “dependence on unpredictable federal subsidies.”

“The UAMPS project will lock in 27 municipalities in Utah and several in surrounding states for a share of billions of dollars in costs and unclear risk in the pursuit of a cluster of small modular reactors (SMRs) touted by Oregon-based NuScale Power, which repeatedly has delayed timelines and increased costs associated with its SMRs,” Utah Taxpayer Association Vice President Rusty Cannon said in an Aug. 4 news release. “The risky project with massive cost escalations is being conducted largely out of the public eye.”

In November 2017, the total cost of the project was estimated at $3.6 billion. By November 2019, that number had increased to $4.2 billion. By July, the estimated cost had gone up to $6.1 billion.

That would cost Lehi $466 million at the city’s current subscription levels, Eves said. UAMPS would be responsible for paying $4.8 billion, while the DOE would pay $1.3 billion and NuScale Power would pay $5 million.  …………  https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/lehi-city-council-votes-to-back-out-of-nuclear-power-project-contract/article_0af6e67c-24e5-5427-9029-e52b9f9d63ae.html

August 27, 2020 Posted by | business and costs, politics, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear and gas industries desperate to win EU endorsement AND FUNDING, as clean and green

August 27, 2020 Posted by | climate change, EUROPE, politics | 1 Comment

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