World’s largest moveable steel structure shelters sarcophagus at Chernobyl
April 27, 2017 by Susan Bauer Today marks the 31st anniversary of the catastrophic explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s Unit 4 reactor. The blast discharged 400 times the radioactivity released by the Hiroshima bomb and drove nearly 200,000 people from their homes near the plant in Ukraine.
America’s Old Nuclear Plants Could Be Dragging Down Clean Energy Development
Money spent nursing nukes may be better spent on wind, solar, … Technology Review April 25, 2017
The nuclear industry is currently reeling in the wake of the meltdown of Toshiba’s reactor business. As we’ve previously reported, the Japanese technology conglomerate was building the only new reactors currently in construction within the U.S. So its failure to succeed in capitalizing on a new generation of smaller reactors looks set to put a huge damper on the construction of new plants in the coming years.
In reality, though, the industry has been nothing but sluggish for decades. Tightening regulations, soaring construction costs, and a nightmarish PR problem have all served to undermine many plans to build new nuclear facilities….
As Bloomberg notes, New York and Illinois are investing billions of dollars to keep old facilities in action, and Connecticut, New Jersey, and Ohio are among states contemplating the same idea. It’s an expensive process….
But according to Bloomberg’s report, that investment could be damaging the renewables sector. In a painful one-two, clean energy funds are being diverted away from solar and wind projects to keep the nukes running, while sometimes overly high baseload supplies maintained by continued use of old nuclear keeps energy prices low, making investment in renewables less attractive……
Bill McKibben New York Times, 23 Apr 17
President Trump is in charge at a critical moment for keeping climate change in check. We may never recover. President Trump’s environmental onslaught will have immediate, dangerous effects. (subscribers only)
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/-6735592669933143349
Ms. Plame, who worked to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, referred to the Science and Security Board’s “Doomsday Clock” in her keynote speech at Carnegie Mellon University on Friday, prefacing a panel on inclusivity in STEM — or science, technology, engineering and math — for students and faculty.
In her hour-long discussion of nuclear threats and cybersecurity, Ms. Plame kept the conversation solutions-oriented, rather than dwelling on the high-profile “Plamegate” scandal that ended her espionage career……..
Ms. Plame didn’t hesitate to criticize those who don’t fully grasp the power of nuclear armaments.
“It’s very clear [President Donald Trump] doesn’t understand much about the nuclear threat,” she said, citing his first television interview as president. He told ABC’s David Muir that having access to the nuclear codes was “very, very, very scary.”
“The fundamental problem is not that Trump has access to the nuclear launch codes, but that they exist at all,” she said. Ms. Plame offered that Mr. Trump could “be the very person to move us toward nuclear disarmament,” prescribing a diet that includes a “no first use” policy, which pledges a country won’t use nuclear arms unless first attacked by an adversary that is using them.
But the only true answer is abolition of nuclear weapons, she said.
In the same vein, she called for deterrence of cyberattacks and influence operations, noting the Democratic National Committee email leak last year. The U.S. needs to work harder to protect its citizens from cyberattacks, she said, deterring use of domestic cyberwarfare, not just abroad.
“To my knowledge, no one has died from a cyberattack … but there is a gray area between peace and war,” she said.
Despite being publicly outed from her own position, she asked that the best and brightest at CMU consider working in public service.
“I believe in much more diplomacy, not less,” Ms. Plame said. “We are living in unprecedented times.” http://www.post-gazette.com/business/2017/04/22/valerie-plame-plamegate-explained-controversy-movie/stories/201704220042
The Times, The White House has hardened its stance on Iran, warning that it is ready to walk away from the international deal reached in 2015 that was designed to end Tehran’s attempts to acquire nuclear weapons.
James Mattis, the defence secretary, said that the US and its allies were ready to “checkmate Iran and the amount of disruption and instability they can cause”, and hinted at an escalation in the fight against the Iranian- backed Houthi rebels in Yemen….. (subscribers only) …….https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/us-threat-to-ditch-iran-nuclear-deal-2v592w6ng
By
on April 21, 2017 LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK TWP. — Seven workers were sickened by fumes inside of a nuclear reactor containment building Thursday evening, an official said.
The incident took place around 9 p.m. Thursday at the Salem 2 plant, according to Joe Delmar, a spokesman for PSEG Nuclear.
It prompted the company to declare an “unusual event,” the lowest of four emergency classifications at a nuclear plant. That declaration was lifted by plant officials at 12:58 p.m. Friday……..http://www.nj.com/salem/index.ssf/2017/04/7_workers_sickened_by_fumes_inside_nj_nuclear_reac.html
Donald Trump is betting that the genuine threat of nuclear war will get Kim Jong-un to back down. That is an incredibly dangerous bet to make. Michael Bradley Managing partner at Marque Lawyers…….(Subscribers only) https://www.crikey.com.au/2017/04/19/betting-that-north-korea-wont-launch-nuclear-war-is-a-dangerous-game-of-chicken/
As the industry struggles, is it ‘time to recognize the nuclear show’s over’?, LA Times, 17 Apr 17, There was a time when nuclear power was considered to be the bulwark of America’s energy future.
Now the titan appears to be teetering. Westinghouse Electric Co. — long considered the leader in nuclear power development — filed for bankruptcy protection in late March. The move puts in jeopardy the completion of two nuclear plants in the Southeast that had been heralded as proof the industry’s future was still vibrant.
The news added to a long list of nuclear’s woes:
Even the industry’s biggest supporters acknowledged the Westinghouse news was bad.
“I’m freaked out, honestly,” said Michael Shellenberger, president of [Ed. – nuclear front group] Berkeley-based Environmental Progress, a group that considers nuclear power an essential element to battle climate change……..
even before the Westinghouse announcement, nuclear energy faced growing competition from natural gas and renewable sources.
Utilities have increasingly turned to natural gas, which emits half the amount of greenhouse gases as coal. And thanks to the booming shale market, natural gas can be extracted in burgeoning supplies at a price that has remained consistently low for years.
Renewable sources such as wind and solar also have grown while their costs have dropped. That’s left nuclear struggling to just hold onto its 20% share of the nation’s energy mix.“The bottom line is that nuclear was already having problems and in decline,” said Andy Smith, senior analyst covering utility stocks for the investment firm Edward Jones.
Bedeviled at Diablo The Diablo Canyon facility near San Luis Obispo is the last nuclear power plant operating in California — but maybe not for long.The plant’s operator, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., announced plans last summer to shut down the site for good by 2025, blaming greater renewable sources in the state’s power mix, developments in energy efficiency and battery storage as well as lower demand.
In the meantime, the list of nuclear closures keeps growing. A plant in Nebraska shut down at the end of last year, and as many as 10 other reactors are proposed to go offline in the coming years, including the two at Diablo. Ohio’s two nuclear plants are in danger of going down.
The country’s nuclear fleet is also getting older, with 99 reactors having an average age of 35 years old……
Despite heightened surveillance and draconian control measures, the answers from nuclear analysts is far from unanimous. Despite these questions, the French power giant that manages them, EDF, wants to prolong their life by ten or even 20 years. Furthermore, the public utility’s finances are at least €37 billion in debt.
What’s more, EDF is due to build two more reactors in Britain – this after embarrassing revelations of neglect relating to the manufacturer of the reactors, Creusot.
We take a closer look after France‘s nuclear watchdog expressed concern.
Plenty of carbon used in nuclear energy April 14 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/plenty-of-carbon-used-in-nuclear-energy/2017/04/14/055e9262-1e1e-11e7-bb59-a74ccaf1d02f_story.html?utm_term=.a0219255a149 Paki Wieland
The impact on the environment continues through every phase of nuclear-energy production. A deep look into the issue of nuclear power would lead to overwhelming evidence to support ending nuclear power as a source of energy.
07 Apr 2017 Once a pioneering nuclear energy giant, the Westinghouse Electric Company now finds itself filing for bankruptcy. This follows uncomfortably close on the heels of another nuclear industry leader, Areva, which was bailed out by the French government in January.
The financial troubles these nuclear powerhouses face is leaving the industry more than a little shaken and raises the question: Is the nuclear industry in meltdown?
“Nuclear industry is not in fine shape at the moment, certainly not in the Western world,” said Chris Yelland, an energy expert and the managing director of EE Publishers…. (subscribers only) https://mg.co.za/article/2017-04-07-00-nuclear-turn-off-tumbles-giants
Right now, the best chance is the United Nations-led negotiations in New York. Huffington Post, Nuclear-armed States and those under their security umbrella, including Australia, argue that a treaty to ban nuclear weapons does not provide a practical path to effective disarmament or security. So what is this practical path? And how can States help reduce the risk that nuclear weapons will ever be used again and that they are eliminated once and for all?
Right now, the best chance is the United Nations-led negotiations in New York. Only this must not be a gamble; the future of humanity depends on it……..
Of course, adopting a treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons will not make them immediately disappear. But banning nuclear weapons is a key step towards eventual disarmament. A new treaty banning nuclear weapons will reinforce the stigma against their use, support commitments to nuclear risk reduction, and be a disincentive for their proliferation. This was the approach taken for chemical and biological arms: their prohibition preceded adoption of agreements requiring their elimination.
A ban treaty will also be a concrete step towards fulfilling existing commitments for nuclear disarmament, notably those of Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty; a treaty that in our view remains crucially important for global disarmament efforts.
The existence of nuclear weapons is a threat to us all. Their elimination must be of global concern. We have a historic opportunity to rid the world of these weapons once and for all. It’s urgent that we all jump on board. http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/yves-daccord/the-future-of-humanity-depends-on-banning-nuclear-weapons_a_22016234/
At around the same time, the UK Government gave the go-ahead for a new generation of new nuclear power plants, starting with Hinkley Point C in Somerset. Again, it was the first new nuclear build to be sanctioned since the catastrophe of Chernobyl, which had similarly traumatised public opinion and turned it against nuclear energy.
Enough time had elapsed, policymakers calculated, for people to have forgotten. In any case, advocates insisted, nuclear power had become much safer in the intervening years; it was also widely claimed that improvements in design and technology had made the costs of building nuclear power plants both much more predictable… (subscribers only) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/03/28/costs-nuclear-energy-just-keep-rising-could-would-stop-madness/
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
29 Jan. Thursday 7-8 p.m. Webinar – World’s Largest Nuclear Station in Port Hope, ON?
31st January – Challenging the War Machine – a DECLASSIFIED UK SUMMIT
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