Public hearing on San Onofre nuclear plant February 2nd
Safe to Reopen Nuclear Plant, Edison Says 4NBC, 31 Jan 13, A year after the seaside San Onofre nuclear power plant was shut down, its owner says it will be safe to reopen. Activists express alarm
By Sharon Bernstein
A year after safety a radiation leak prompted the shutdown of California’s San Onofre nuclear power plant, owner Southern California Edison insists the facility can be re-opened safely.
Thursday is the anniversary of the controversial beachside plant’s closure, and activists plan to use the occasion to call once again to make the shutdown permanent. …..
Under its plan, [Edison’s] the utility would not operate the reactor at full strength. Instead, it would only be used at 70% of its capacity. In addition, the company promised to close the plant for inspection within 150 days of starting it up again.
But activists in the communities around the plant oppose Edison’s plan to re-open the San Onofre, saying that it would not be safe.
“One year ago, a radiation leak nearly became a major nuclear disaster,” activist Donna Gilmore wrote on a website dedicated to opposing the plant. She and others are holding an event for opponents of re-opening the plant on Feb. 2 at 6 p.m. at the San Clemente Community Center.
A public hearing on Edison’s proposal for the facility will be held by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Feb. 12 in Capistrano Beach. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Safe-to-Reopen-Nuclear-Plant-Edison-Says-189224991.html
Future for nuclear power not too bright – even pro nukers agree on that
Policy, cost pose challenges to future of nuclear energyMedill
Reports, BY KELLY PFLAUM JAN 30, 2013 “….. it will be 20 to 30
years before we can expect to see a major revival in the nuclear
energy industry, according to Rober Rosner, director of the Energy
Policy Institute at Chicago…….
Current policy and the safety and cost of operations all present
challenges to the future of nuclear energy, Rosner said at a recent
nuclear energy program sponsored by the Chicago Council on Science and
Technology……The cost of building new plants is enormous and
essentially unaffordable for utilities. Construction of two new
reactors at Plant Vogtle in Georgia, which are slated for commercial
operation by 2017, carries a $14 billion price tag and they are part
of an exisitng plant, according to Atlanta-based Southern Co., the
energy company behind the construction plans.
The reactors are the first to be approved for new construction in the
U.S. since the Three Mile Island accident…… There are a total of
104 reactors at several plants across multiple states, but no new
plants have been built in over 35 years, Rosner said. Nine of those
reactors are no longer producing electricity, but store spent fuel on
site……
Currently plants can operate for about 40 years, but there is
conversation now that, as long as safety standards are met, plants
could increase their licensing for up to 60 or more years.
Indecision is a bore. Will San Onofre nuclear plant ever run again?
Decision on sickly San Onofre nuclear power plant delayed http://www.scpr.org/blogs/news/2013/01/25/12206/decision-on-sickly-san-onofre-nuclear-power-plant/
AP | January 25th, 2013 It’s going to take a little longer to learn if California’s troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant will start again.
Federal regulators Friday pushed back their timetable to make a decision on Southern California Edison’s proposal to restart the Unit 2 reactor and run it at reduced power.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said earlier that a ruling could come in March.
But the NRC has delayed that decision until at least late April or May.
The plant between San Diego and Los Angeles hasn’t produced electricity since a tiny radiation leak in January last year led to the discovery of excessive wear on hundreds of steam generator tubes that carry radioactive water.
Edison predicts running at low power will stop tube damage.
Environmentalists say the plant cannot run safely.
10 big reasons to reject nuclear energy
Reject Nuclear Power Here’s Why, Dissident Voice, by Jim McCluskey / January 25th, 2013 Citizens do not want nuclear power.1 They know it is both far too dangerous and far too expensive. Politicians want nuclear power because they know it puts Power in their hands. This is exactly paralleled by politicians embracing nuclear weapons. They think it gives them power and this is what they want above all else. Citizens do not want nuclear weapons because they know they are insanely dangerous and what they want is to live without the threat of sudden and complete annihilation hanging over them and their children at all times. As we will see there is a close relationship between the weapons and the power in every sense of the word.
Politicians have different agendas to the people on these issues. The remedy is for us to wise up, get organised and then instruct them to do what we want — or join the job market.
The main objections to nuclear power are outlined below under the following headings:
- Nuclear power stations are prohibitively dangerous
- Nuclear power stations are prohibitively expensive
- Nuclear power stations use the same technology as that required to manufacture nuclear weapons
- The resulting nuclear waste will be dangerous for thousands of years
- Plant and waste deposit storage are vulnerable to terrorist attack
- Nuclear power stations epitomise the centralisation of power
- Poor countries are made dependent on rich ones
- These plants draw funds away from the development of sustainable energy
- The uranium fuel will become increasingly scarce
- The support of nuclear power by government results from special pleading lobbying by the industry
These aspects are briefly expanded upon below.
Nuclear power stations are prohibitively dangerous…..
The support of nuclear power by government results from special pleading lobbying by the industry
The adoption of nuclear power is favoured by the government but in a referendum would be rejected by citizens as being too dangerous and too expensive. A major reason that government favours this form seems to be due to vast amounts of money and effort being put into lobbying by the power companies. Their profits are huge so they have the funds for lobbying whereas the NGOs and citizens at large who are against nuclear power and have overwhelming arguments do not make the same impact because they lack the funds for effective lobbying.
This is one tendency which we are trying to help counter by this article! http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/01/reject-nuclear-power/
Farmers worried about nuclear waste dumping near Great Lakes
Plan for nuclear waste storage should be met with caution, says farmers union president http://huron.bulletnewscanada.ca/2013/01/25/plan-for-nuclear-waste-storage-should-be-met-with-caution-says-farmers-union-president/
CENTRAL HURON – The idea of storing high-level nuclear waste in Central Huron should be met with caution, says a local farmers union president.
“The decision to put all of Canada’s high level radioactive reactor fuel waste under some of Canada’s best farm land and beside the Great Lakes is one that should be considered very cautiously” said Tony McQuail, who is the president of the Huron National Farmers Union (NFU) Local 335.In co-operation with the Huron District of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, Huron NFU has scheduled an information session on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Regional Equine and Agricultural Centre of Huron, which is located in Clinton. It expects to have information on both the benefits and risks of storing the country high-level nuclear waste. Continue reading
Nuclear energy becoming irrelevant
‘Nuclear energy is nearing to its irrelevance’ http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nuclear-energy-is-nearing-to-its-irrelevance/article4336430.ece The nuclear energy throughout the world is nearing to its irrelevance, said Dr. John Byrne, Director of the Centre for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP) and a distinguished Professor of University of Delaware, U.S. on Wednesday. Dr. Byrne has contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 1992 and shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the IPCC researchers.
Dr. Byrne, who is on a 12-day tour to India, held a meeting with the villagers of area in and around the proposed Jaitapur nuclear Power Plant (JNPP). “It seems the people have a number of unanswered questions. The answers provided to them and the risks or other implications of the project are not clear at all. People want to know the reason for bringing this project here,” he said, in a press conference organised by Greenpeace, after the meeting with villagers and anti-nuclear power activists. Making his stand against nuclear energy clear, Dr. Byrne said, “This technology (nuclear) has a record of unanticipated accidents because of its complex nature. The economic investment required to build and operate the plant is huge and the ecological risks associated with the nuclear plant cannot be denied,” he said. In particular, he noted the repeated negative advisories from credit rating agencies regarding nuclear power. “Considering all the negative sides of the nuclear energy and the available options of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, the nuclear energy is nearing to its irrelevance,” he said.
According to Dr. Byrne, the evidence from scientific community in Japan shows that nuclear accident in Fukushima after the earthquake and tsunami has its roots in the technology and management related issues. “These were the problems which were not anticipated even by the well-learned technicians from Japanese nuclear industry,” he alleged.
Comparing the option of solar energy to nuclear, he said the former is more sustainable. “But right now the solar energy is restricted for individual uses. There has been no cost-effective model in case of solar energy to build a plant which will benefit larger population. We are working on such model, but I am sure that in future, such model will be developed,” he said.
USA nuclear experts hype up the myths on Iran having nuclear weapons
US Cooks Up Nuclear Fairy Tale on Iran Dissident Voice, by Ismail Salami / January 23rd, 2013 In a 155-page report, four US nuclear experts have called upon the Obama administration to impose tougher economic sanctions against Iran and resort to overt operations through using warplanes and missiles on Iranian nuclear sites.
Apart from the fact that a morbid mindset of this nature only helps fan up chaos and serves as an impetus to widespread pandemonium in the region, any mention of any such policy let alone an adoption of it will gradually terminate in an endless array of military legitimizations. Continue reading
NRC process designed to freeze the public out
Gundersen: Top NRC official fell asleep during my presentation — “His eyes were rolling back and his head was bobbling like a little bobble doll” — Process designed to freeze public out (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/gundersen-top-nrc-official-fell-asleep-during-presentation-eyes-rolling-head-bobbling-like-little-bobble-doll-public-designed-be-frozen-process-audio
January 21st, 2013
Title: The Games People Play
Source: Fairewinds Energy Education
Date: Jan. 20, 2013
Description: […] Arnie Gundersen […] met with the NRC this week concerning his analysis of what went wrong and how the problems were foreseeable. In this podcast, Arnie discusses how the NRC and Southern California Edison deliberately withheld information to make his technical analysis more difficult to accomplish. […]
Transcript Excerpt
Nuclear Expert Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Energy Education:: During the hearing the first in command, the chairman, actually fell asleep during the middle of my presentation. His eyes were rolling back and his head was bobbling like a little bobble doll. Then the second in command kept saying, “I’m on the clock. I have to get this resolved really quickly. Are you done giving us information? How much more information are you going to give before I have to make my decision?”
So it was very frustrating. Basically I came away with the conclusion that the NRC basically already made up their mind, and no matter how much new information we brought to the table, we were not going to succeed.
[…] That’s the problem with the NRC and this whole process, the public is designed to be frozen out.
France reviewing its nuclear deal with China
France says review of China nuclear relations “normal” Jan 21, 2013 By Lucy Hornby BEIJING (Reuters) – France’s Trade Minister Nicole Bricq said on Monday a decision by her country’s new government to review the country’s nuclear cooperation with China was a regular process and was “normal”.
At the end of December, Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said France was investigating a nuclear partnership deal between EDF and Chinese nuclear utility China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation Holding (CGNPC).
That investigation is looking into why the deal initially excluded French nuclear reactor maker Areva and at the extent to which French strategic interests could be at risk…… On Tuesday, Bricq will visit two next-generation EPR reactors being built by French utility EDF and by CGNPC in Taishan, Guangdong province.
The EPR reactors, designed by Areva, are the latest in commercial reactor design and none is in operation so far.
Areva is building one in Finland and EDF one in France but both are years behind schedule and billions over budget. France’s nuclear export drive has been hurt by the lack of a working model.
“It is best to have a working reactor as we pursue other potential contracts,” Bricq said.
Bricq played down concerns about Chinese irritation over the French investigation, as Moscovici did during his visit to Beijing two weeks ago…. Asked about an EDF-CGNPC project to build a new type of 1000 megawatt reactor for the Chinese market, smaller than Areva’s 1600 megawatt EPR, Bricq said that it was important to first complete the two Taishan plants.
“We can’t go too fast…The first priority is to finish this project,” she said. … http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCABRE90K0QN20130121?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
Existence of nuclear weapons poses an increasing danger
“There are no right hands for wrong weapons,”
UN chief Ban Ki-moon warns nuclear weapons, terrorists a rising threat, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Monterey: Ban Ki-moon says disarmament efforts off track
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a crowd of about 200 invitation-only guests at the Monterey Institute of International Studies that nuclear disarmament progress “is off track.”
“Delay comes with a much higher price tag,” he said. “The longer we delay, the greater the risk that these weapons will be used … and even terrorists may acquire these nuclear bombs.” Continue reading
Today is USA’s National Gun Appreciation Day
GOP Leaders Criticize Obama on Tactical Nuclear Weapons, 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-clifford/gop-leaders-criticize-oba_b_2457682.html Huff Post COMEDY, 01/17/2013 Seeking bipartisan support, President Obama today called for tighter controls on individual purchasing tactical nuclear weapons. The president asked Congress to approve a three-day waiting period prior to purchase, during which the individual would need to present evidence that he is not Iran or North Korea.
The NRA reacted immediately labeling this “an outrageous attempt by socialist Big Brother and to destroy American liberties.”
“Tactical nuclear weapons don’t kill people,” NRA executive director Chris Cox stated. “People kill people. To be more specific, atheists, socialists, and pro-choice people kill people.” Continue reading
VIDEO: Dr Caldicott discusses symposium on nuclear radiation
http://www.nuclearhotseat.com/nuclear-hotseat-83-dr-helen-caldicott/ BEST NUCLEAR HOTSEAT INTERVIEW EVER:Dr. Helen Caldicott talks for the first time about her March 11-12 Symposium: The Medical and Environmental Consequences of Fukushima
Expert to discuss radioactive material being emptied into ocean from Fukushima Daiichi -Caldicott (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/expert-to-discuss-radioactive-material-being-emptied-into-ocean-from-fukushima-plant-caldicott-audio
January 16th, 2013
Title: #83: Dr. Helen Caldicott
Source: Nuclear Hotseat
Host and Producer: Libbe HaLevy
Release Date: Jan. 15, 2013
Description: Dr. Helen Caldicott talks for the first time about her March 11-12 Symposium: The Medical and Environmental Consequences of Fukushima – a watershed event for our movement, involving doctors, scientists and researchers from around the world. […]
**More information on the symposium here**
At 20:00 in
Dr. Helen Caldicott: Another doctor from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute is going to speak about the ocean contamination from massive amounts of radioactive material being spilled and still being emptied into the Pacific Ocean.
Full interview here
USA’s fiasco of money wasted on nuclear energy
Money spent on nuclear energy is wasted http://www.mlive.com/opinion/saginaw/index.ssf/2013/01/letter_terry_t_crevia.html TERRY T. CREVIA, The Jan. 14 Associated Press article “Training under way for new nuclear plant operators” shows the continued attempt to resurrect nuclear energy in the United States, despite its dismal track record of being too costly, too dangerous and inefficient.
Safety training is just one of the gaps in the nuclear energy fiasco. There are just too many problems with nuclear energy besides personnel training for it to continue to receive the tens of billions of dollars in government subsidies and additional financing for cost over-runs.
This is an example of wasteful spending we hear little about from Congress and the media, as too many get caught up in the excitement of cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance.
Oyster Creek, N.J., is the oldest operating reactor in the United States. During Hurricane Sandy, flood waters rose by more than 6.5 feet, coming within 6 inches of wiping out the cooling system. Had this cooling system failed, the Northeast would have faced more radiation poisoning than Chernobyl or Fukushima.
From waste storage and transportation, accidental and planned radiation releases, locating fresh-water sites for cooling to uranium mining site contamination, nuclear energy has a host of unsolvable problems.
Since the Eisenhower administration’s Atoms for Peace program of the 1950s, the U.S. has spent half a trillion dollars without solving inherent nuclear energy problems, and still this industry is determined to put the square nuclear peg in the round energy hole. As Congress and the media beat the entitlements discussion to death, remember how your tax dollars are being wasted on the nuclear industry’s folly of hoping that with enough money and time, nuclear energy will become something, someday.
Obama pledged to seek a nuclear weapons free world – he now has as econd chance
Obama’s Second Term Chance to Fulfill No-Nuke Pledge 16 January 2013 By Richard Falk and David Krieger, Truthout | Op-Ed It’s not too late for the President to demonstrate his first-term pledge of “America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” Continue reading
Japan’s nuclear regulator to set rules about tsunami heights
Watchdog to define maximum tsunami heights for nuclear plants January
16, 2013.Asahi Shimbun, By RYUTA KOIKE/ Staff Writer
The Nuclear Regulation Authority decided Jan. 15 to set maximum
heights of possible tsunami striking individual nuclear plants and
obligate their operators to take commensurate safety measures. Continue reading
1 This Month
petition to oppose the rapid increase of space-military industry threatening Jeju Island and the region.
[Petition by April 19th (KST)] Stop the joint military-Hanwha Systems-Jeju Provincial Government Sea Launch!
World Nuclear Power. Reactors 1951-2026, 75 Years of Nuclear Power.
Interactive Map– https://dv.worldnuclearreport.org/
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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