Skip to main content

Looking for the Union Label

By

300px-IBEW_Logo The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) represents a great many workers at nuclear energy plants, but has been notably silent on the events in Japan and what it means for American nuclear plants. Until now, that is:

The IBEW believes that our nation’s nuclear energy industry is well-prepared to deal with any events as potentially harmful as earthquakes and tsunamis. We represent more than 15,000 workers at 42 plants across North America in one of the most well-regulated, tightly-run industries in the world. Nuclear operators and workers are professional and highly-trained, and their facilities have a record of standing up to challenges:

  • Reactors are designed to withstand maximum projected earthquakes and tsunamis.
  • Louisiana’s Waterford station maintained safe operation following Hurricane Katrina.
  • Illinois’ IBEW-run Quad Cities station withstood tornados twice in the 1990s.
  • Following 9/11, plant designs and practices were upgraded to resist aircraft impact.
  • All U.S. nuclear plants undergo multiple safety drills overseen by federal agencies.

And it doesn’t forget what this is about:

We admire the plant workers in Japan who are demonstrating courage under enormously difficult conditions to repair their facilities. At the same time, we feel it is necessary to draw a distinction between Japan’s industry and our own, while reminding the public that one unique incident – however dire – does not provide adequate context from which to base sound decisions regarding the future of our clean power generation.

A very good point and one that does seem to be penetrating the minds and opinions of policymakers and commentators.

We’ll have a story about the IBEW and other unions at NEI’s Insight newsletter site soon. I’ll provide a link when it is live.

---

Justin Pemberton’s film The Nuclear Comeback aims to be a fair, even-handed look at the nuclear energy industry, notably the embrace of it by those who see it as a means to produced a lot of emission-free electricity – which, of course, it is.

In a world living in fear of climate change and global warming, the nuclear industry is now proposing itself as a solution. It claims that nuclear power generation produces zero carbon emissions... and people are listening. [Maybe because it’s true.] The result is the beginning of a global nuclear renaissance, with 27 nuclear power stations under construction, and another 136 to be commenced within the next decade.

I can say the film is better than the write-up for it. Try this:

Despite nuclear power's new environmental benefits, detractors claim that it's producing a 100,000-year legacy of radioactive waste, for which there is not yet any permanent storage, that the power stations are known terrorist targets, and that the industry, in addition to its links to nuclear weapons, has a reputation for accidents and cover-ups.

Plus, they serve stewed kittens in the plant cafeterias.

But don’t let all this put you off – it’s an interesting work that tries to give all sides a voice. You can watch the whole thing for free here.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

By
Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...
23 comments
Read more

What Happens During a Refueling Outage?

By
You may have noticed over the past few weeks that a number of nuclear plants are shut down for refueling outages or are resuming operations after just returning from one. This type of routine outage usually occurs in the spring or fall when electricity demand is low so that nuclear reactors can replace about one-third of the spent fuel rods with new fuel and conduct other routine maintenance and repairs at the plant. To get a better sense of how refueling works at a nuclear energy facility, I spoke with Marcus Nichol, NEI’s senior project manager for used fuel storage and transportation, and asked him to explain the basics. Why does a nuclear plant need to replace one-third of its fuel? Nichol: The main purpose of a refueling outage is to replace older fuel that is depleted—meaning it can no longer efficiently produce energy from nuclear fission reactions—with new fuel. This “used fuel” has typically been used in the reactor for four-and-a-half to six years before it is pe...
6 comments
Read more

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

By
Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...
Post a Comment
Read more