Clipmarks | deb2012's 'nuclear' clips

10 reasons to avoid nuclear energy

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:58:46 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: This issue is also related to water shortage and drought-read the article on this relationship.

Already, wind energy can produce electricity for less than five cents per kWh, and concentrated solar power can produce energy for 11-12 cents per kWh—even at night—and these costs are decreasing. Alternatives do not produce nuclear waste, and they do not face the same extensive safety, regulatory, and construction costs and delays that nuclear does.

Clip Source: www.americanprogress.org

capital costs

4. Unresolved problems regarding the availability and security of waste storage.

5. Nuclear faces concerns about uranium supplies and importation issues.

6. Nuclear reactors require water use amid shortages.

Large areas of the United States already face water shortages, and the effects of global warming are expected to exacerbate this problem. “Elec tricity generation accounts for nearly half of all water withdrawals in the nation,” and nuclear power stations require more water than fossil fuel use does. The only alternative to the water usage associated with nuclear energy is less efficient (and more expensive) dry cooling systems.

7. Safety concerns

mature technology—it will not get cheaper

9. Other clean energy technologies are cheaper, cleaner, and faster to build

10. Nuclear subsidies take money away from more effective alternative energy subsidies.

Read more

The Self-Limiting Future of Nuclear Power

Tags: nuclear, energy

Understanding the full cost of a nuclear power plan

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:46:56 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: History has taught us that civilian nuclear programs can -- and do -- lead to the production of nuclear weapons as happened in India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. The presence of nuclear power plants has provoked acts of aggression, even war. Israel bombed nuclear facilities in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. went to war in Iraq at least on the pretext that the country was developing nuclear weapons. The concerns surrounding Iran's nuclear intentions are indicative of the blurred line between civilian and military nuclear activities.

Iran's uranium enrichment program has inspired 14 other Middle Eastern countries to express an interest in acquiring nuclear power programs, a poorly-disguised cover story for nuclear weapons posturing.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Nuclear is too slow but, more importantly, far too expensive. The industry's own estimates now put the price tag for a single new reactor at more than $12 billion.

Moody's Investors Services Special Report issued in May 2008 projects that a power company announcing new reactor construction will see its credit rating downgraded by more than 25 percent because of the increasing financial risks that splitting the atom brings to a business profile.

This leaves the American taxpayer to foot the bill, continuing the federal subsidies pattern of decades. Experts at the Rocky Mountain Institute have calculated that the nuclear power industry has been supported by more than half a trillion dollars in federal subsidies since its inception. Renewable energy, by contrast, is a footnote, receiving just a 10 percent share of all energy spending over the past 60 years.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

If cumbersome construction timelines and obscene costs are not enough to deter nuclear proponents, then the security risks should be

Tags: nuclear, energy

The most recent nuclear accident

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:20:34 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: more negatives than "just" polluted river

Clip Source: www.spiegel.de

The authorities first told the public about the accident half a day after it happened. It was almost a completely normal nuclear accident: cover up, deflect, stall. Those are the industry's tried-and-true methods.

nuclear reactors constantly emit radioactivity into the air and the water

When it comes to France, a third of its uranium comes from Niger, where it is mined using strip mining and underground mining

The company left thousands dead or ill with cancer.

Some may be interested in Africa about the waste and emissions from the mines in Niger, but the producers and consumers of electricity in the countries that purchase the uranium couldn't care less about them -- not even with the knowledge that the waste will still be emitting radioactivity a few thousand years from now. That is the lasting failure and the lasting scandal."

Tags: energy, nuclear, environment

River use banned after French uranium leak

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:32:34 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: If you allow your political leaders to move forward on nuclear, you'll see a lot more headlines like this in the future......

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Residents in the Vaucluse, a popular southern French tourist destination, were banned yesterday from drinking well-water or swimming or fishing in two rivers after a uranium leak from one of France's nuclear power plants.

Nicolas Sarkozy has prioritised exporting nuclear expertise worldwide,

The nuclear safety authority said radioactive levels detected in rivers and lakes in the region were decreasing.

Germany's Social Democrat environment minister, Michael Müller, whose party is opposed to nuclear energy, said yesterday that the incident should not be taken lightly. "It's no trifle when active uranium penetrates the soil," he told Agence France Presse.

Tags: nuclear, environment, energy

France the the beneficiary of nuclear growth...

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:30:30 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: even though their construction projects aren't going so well. That great sucking sound you hear is proposed or in-the-works nuclear plants blowing their budgets everywhere. French company Areva's first EPR project, in Finland, is two years behind schedule and at least $1.5-billion over budget. Its second, in France's Normandy region, is headed in the same direction, after construction stalled for several weeks recently.

It's not just the skyrocketing price of basic materials, such as concrete and steel, that's driving costs upward. So-called third generation reactors - such Areva's EPR and Atomic Energy's ACR-1000 - are still works in progress. And the two decades during which nuclear power faced desert-like prospects has left the industry grappling with a severe shortage of skilled workers.

Clip Source: www.theglobeandmail.com

Well before any of the planned nuclear plants get built - but possibly long enough after it will be too late to stop them from going up - the economics and logistics of wind energy, solar power and carbon capture will have evolved favourably enough to have changed the game.

"Within three to seven years, unsubsidized solar power could cost no more to end customers in many markets, such as California and Italy, than electricity generated by fossil fuels or by renewable alternatives to solar,"

So why bet on a horse

- nuclear power

- that

leaves behind the most deadly waste known to man - waste for which there is still no permanent disposal solution?

France

has staked its energy present

on splitting the atom

built an entire industrial policy on the idea

State-owned Areva is the world leader in nuclear energy

Mr. Sarkozy will stop at nothing to promote nuclear power globally, sometimes in the most questionable of places, such as Libya and Algeria.

escalating cost of nuclear

led

Buffet to reconsider

Tags: nuclear, energy

nuclear tidbits from the G-8 summit

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:52:38 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Germany and USA agree to disagree

Clip Source: www.iht.com

"A country that has the capability to responsibly use nuclear energy in my view has a responsibility to do so, if we want to get serious about not just cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but also improving public health through reduced air pollution," said James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Asked if that was a dig at Germany, since Merkel is sticking to her predecessor's plan to phase out Germany's 17 nuclear power plants in the coming years, Connaughton did not respond directly.

Merkel countered: "I don't think that climate protection is decided by the question of nuclear energy alone."

"The decision that many countries count on nuclear power is OK," Merkel said. "But to say that the future for climate change and careful use of energy can be solved by that alone — I don't see it that way."

Tags: nuclear, energy

U.S. Nuclear Report

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:48:38 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: nuclear plants popping up 'round the world

Clip Source: www.thaindian.com

A US State Department report, prepared two months earlier, has warned that as new countries have begun nuclear energy generation, the US must ensure that these nations adopt adequate safeguards against the risk of nuclear proliferation involved therein.

The report said 435 nuclear reactors are operating around the world, 28 more are under construction and an additional 222 are planned. Its a pretty depressing prospect, said Robinson, an arms control negotiator in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, who is the primary author of the report.

Nations considering nuclear power include the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan , Muslim giants Indonesia , Egypt and Turkey , Poland and the three Baltic states . According to the State Department list, 15 other nations including Algeria , Ghana , Libya , Malaysia , Syria , Venezuela and Yemen have “longer term plans or studies under way.

Tags: energy, nuclear

nuclear Eurobarometer

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:35:39 GMT

clipped by: deb2012

Clip Source: www.maltamedia.com

Italy registered an increase to 43% of Italians in favour of nuclear energy since the previous 30% registered in winter 2005. Around 46% are “quite or definitely against” nuclear energy.

The most fervid nuclear energy supporters are the Czech Republic and Lithuania with 64% followed by Hungary and Bulgaria with 63%. Sweden and Finland follow closely with 62% and 61% respectively.

Malta registered one of the lowest percentages of interest with regards support of nuclear energy according to a Eurobarometer survey with just 15%. Other low percentages were registered in Cyprus (only 7% in favour), Austria (14%) and Greece (18%).

Tags: nuclear, energy

Auditors: Nuclear plants not following fire rules

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:17:47 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: with all the nuke plants planned around the world, is it really realistic to think there will never be a catastrophic accident?

Clip Source: ap.google.com

The Government Accountability Office said there were 125 fires reported at 54 power plants since 1995, an average of nearly 10 a year, although none threatened safe emergency reactor shutdown or posed any significant safety threats. The fires were mostly electrical or maintenance related.

But the GAO study said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been unable to resolve "several long-standing issues

The NRC did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

And the GAO report said the risk-based approach itself faces significant challenges including a shortage of "people with fire modeling, risk assessment and plant-specific expertise" to assure the safety efforts are focused on the right priorities.

Tags: nuclear, energy

495 million for Yucca Mountain

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:23:43 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Will completion of Yucca mean trains and trucks all over the U.S transporting radioactive nuclear waste there? (coming to a town near you?)

Clip Source: blog.heritage.org

The House Appropriations subcommittee on Energy and Water approved an increase in Energy Department spending to continue work on Yucca Mountain. The $494.7 million budget request was approved for the fiscal year 2009 despite much talk that Yucca Mountain will never be opened.

there is virtually no more important issue than managing the growth of nuclear power around the world as more nations look to nuclear energy to help solve their energy problems

Tags: nuclear, yucca mountain, energy

French Nuclear Problems

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:48:18 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Is France really the nuclear success story the nuclear boosters would have you believe?

Clip Source: www.beyondnuclear.org

France gets nearly 80% of its electricity from its 58 reactors.

In our fact sheet and pamphlet, (and see For More Information, below) we show how France's decision to reprocess reactor fiuel has contaminated the seas as far as the Artic Circle and may have led to leukemia clusters near the reprocessing plant. Its decision to try breeder reactors was an expensive failure. Its plutonium fuel program has not reduced its surplus stockpile of plutonium which is calculated at greater than 80 metric tons sitting in tens of thousands of vulnerable containers and with no disposal option. France has no radioactive waste repository.

MOX introduces a weapons component – plutonium – into the civilian power sector, a dangerous precedent

Read our pamphlet on Nuclear Power in France.

Fact Sheet

Setting the Record Straight.

The Cogema File to better understand the culture of cover-ups and contamination

Tags: nuclear, energy

U.S. importing nuclear waste

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:48:42 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: for storage

Clip Source: www.kcpw.org

Today is the last day for public comment on Energy Solution's proposal to import 20,000 tons of Italian low-level nuclear waste. A record number of people have filed a complaint with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission against the plan, says John Urgo, of the environmental advocacy group Heal Utah.

"More than 2,500 people - a record number - have submitted comments to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission opposing Energy Solution's plan," Urgo says. "Today, HEAL Utah is submitting an additional 1,300 comments that we've collected over the past several weeks from Utahns who oppose Energy Solutions efforts to turn our state into the world's dumping grounds."

who is responsible for radioactive waste policy

We know there are going to be more nuclear plants built in this country. There will be disposal needs in the very near future

Shouldn't we take care of those disposal needs before we invite the disposal from other foreign countries to use our limited space

Tags: nuclear

International Energy Agency Urges Energy Revolution

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:24:36 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: The image at the bottom shows lines in China for gas. Gas stations in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou were busy after rumors that fuel price were going to be increased.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The International Energy Agency, a group that advises industrialized countries, said Friday in a report that investments of at least $45 trillion might be needed over the next half-century to prevent energy shortages

Countries will have to overcome objections to building nuclear power plants and to storing large amounts of carbon dioxide underground or beneath the ocean floor.

current policies are unsustainable with carbon dioxide emissions expected to rise 130 percent and demand for oil expected to rise 70 percent by 2050. Tanaka warned that oil demand could be five times the current production of Saudi Arabia by that time

rising cost of oil and gas is prompting a switch to coal

contributing to the accelerating growth in emissions of carbon dioxide

need for 32 new nuclear plants each year

wind turbines

increase by 17,500 a year

solar electricity

few technologies

exist to limit those emissions

Tags: energy, oil, coal, nuclear, solar, wind

Filing of Yucca Mountain Application

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:29:29 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: The Nuclear Energy Institute's president and chief executive officer, Frank L. (Skip) Bowman, made the following remarks today in response to the U.S. Department of Energy's filing of a license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the planned repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., for used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste

Clip Source: www.earthtimes.org

This begins a licensing process that will be significant, unprecedented and transparent to the public, with the state of Nevada, several affected units of local government and Indian tribes among its active participants. The Nuclear Energy Institute plans to take part as well. Given the national importance of the safe disposal of the radioactive byproducts from used nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants and U.S. defense programs, all stakeholders should support the licensing process being carried through to its final conclusion so that the NRC decision is based upon a thorough and objective evaluation of the facts.

The nuclear energy industry views the repository as a key element of an integrated used fuel management program.

The filing of this license application continues down a path to properly meet our obligation to future generations to safely and reliably manage the byproduct of this highly efficient form of electricity production.

Tags: nuclear, energy, yucca mountain

Quotes on DOE application to build nuclear dump in Nevada

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:21:59 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Reactions to the Energy Department submitting an application to build and operate a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, many more at site

Clip Source: www.lasvegassun.com

"Probably the earliest Yucca Mountain could be open, based on the funding profiles we've received over the last couple of years, is probably 2020. (The cost is) in the $70-80 billion dollar range, somewhere in there." _ Edward F. "Ward" Sproat, Yucca Mountain project chief.

"It's essential that Nevada maintain its unity in opposing this terrible encroachment on state's rights, and as long as I am governor, the state will continue to do everything it can to stop Yucca Mountain from becoming reality." _ Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons.

"This submission should be seen for exactly what it is _ an $80 billion goodbye present to the nuclear industry from President Bush at the expense of the health and safety of families in Nevada and nationwide." _ U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

To come in with an application without a design and without public health and safety standards is really perpetrating a fraud." _ Marta Adams, a deputy Nevada state attorney general.

Tags: nuclear, energy, yucca mountain