tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109117512024-03-14T06:28:57.723-04:00NEI Nuclear NotesFormer blog for NEI featuring news and commentary on the commercial nuclear energy industry. Head to NEI.org for the latest blog posts. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5728125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-11333315857714354312018-02-28T23:06:00.000-05:002018-02-28T23:06:10.070-05:00New Home for Our Blog: Join Us on NEI.orgOn February 27, NEI launched the new <a href="http://www.nei.org/" target="_blank">NEI.org</a>. We overhauled the public site, framing all of our content around the National Nuclear Energy Strategy.<br />
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So, what's changed?<br />
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<li>Our top priority was to put you, the user, first. Now you can quickly get the information you need. </li>
<li>You'll enjoy visiting the site with its intuitive navigation, social media integration and compelling and shareable visuals. </li>
<li>We've added a feature called Nuclear Now, which showcases the latest industry news and resources like fact sheets and reports. It's one of the first sections you'll see on our home page and it can be accessed anywhere throughout the site by clicking on the atom symbol in the top right corner of the page.</li>
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Most importantly for you, our loyal NEI Nuclear Notes readers, is that we've migrated the blog to the new site. Moving forward, <a href="https://www.nei.org/news" target="_blank">all blog posts will be published in the News section</a>, along with our press releases, Nuclear Energy Overview stories and more. Just look for the "Blog" tag to find out what top industry experts and energy influencers are saying about nuclear.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxzGWus1HQok9w0VyMRp5LC2BhLDi_WUsxk0EKXiILVjdksQm1x9aoGHkVw0eO7Q0dl1-pWCVeRtHHfQkhiLfB6ovhkUSRSDoegVrQqaXEfqAzfDzAJlbaB3xkcLSExCbv7oRF/s1600/blog.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Find the blog in the News section on NEI.org" border="0" data-original-height="875" data-original-width="1600" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxzGWus1HQok9w0VyMRp5LC2BhLDi_WUsxk0EKXiILVjdksQm1x9aoGHkVw0eO7Q0dl1-pWCVeRtHHfQkhiLfB6ovhkUSRSDoegVrQqaXEfqAzfDzAJlbaB3xkcLSExCbv7oRF/s640/blog.JPG" title="Find the blog in the News section on NEI.org" width="640" /></a></div>
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Thank you for your dedication to Nuclear Notes for the past 13 years. It's been an amazing journey. Special thanks goes to <a href="https://twitter.com/emcerlain" target="_blank">Eric McErlain</a> for his vision in founding this blog and dedication to keeping our readers engaged around top industry issues for more than a decade. And thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/MattLWald" target="_blank">Matt Wald</a> for lending his powerful insights on this platform in recent years. </div>
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We look forward to continuing the conversation as we evolve our digital presence. See you on the new <a href="http://www.nei.org/" target="_blank">NEI.org</a>, and be sure to <a href="https://twitter.com/NEI" target="_blank">head to Twitter</a> to share your thoughts on the new site. </div>
NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-25783334169669889782018-01-25T21:08:00.001-05:002018-01-25T21:08:17.676-05:00Seeing the Light on Nuclear EnergyIf you think that there is plenty of electricity, that the air is clean enough and that nuclear power is a just one among many options for meeting human needs, then you are probably over-focused on the United States or Western Europe. Even then, you’d be wrong.<br />
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That’s the idea at the heart of a new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Light-Nuclear-Power-Century/dp/110840667X" target="_blank">“Seeing the Light: The Case for Nuclear Power in the 21st Century,”</a> by Scott L. Montgomery, a geoscientist and energy expert, and Thomas Graham Jr., a retired ambassador and arms control expert.<br />
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Billions of people live in energy poverty, they write, and even those who don’t, those who live in places where there is always an electric outlet or a light switch handy, we need to unmake the last 200 years of energy history, and move to non-carbon sources. Energy is integral to our lives but the authors cite a World Health Organization estimate that more than 6.5 million people die each year from air pollution. In addition, they say, the global climate is heading for ruinous instability. Energy use has “revolutionized” human life, they write, but continued use of fossil fuels will make life “both more prosperous and at the same time more threatened.”<br />
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The solution, according to “Seeing the Light,” is nuclear power. And parts of that solution are already falling into place, as India and China, with the worst air pollution and the fastest-growing power demand, race to build reactors. Countries with rapid urbanization, which brings increased demand, are doing the same. People who look at the market difficulties of nuclear power in America and conclude that the technology is in decline, they write, are too focused on the West. <br />
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Energy is a sprawling topic. When countries make energy decisions, they must take into account their national economies, energy security, energy-using industries, available natural resources, air and water quality, availability of skilled workers and other factors.<br />
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There are some factors that are harder to quantify, like psychology. Bad air kills millions annually. But in the West, at least, the focus is often on the potential of harm from nuclear reactors, instead of the observable harm from the alternatives. In fact, the authors argue, there is reason to doubt the whole structure of radiation safety regulation, which is built on an unproven assumption from the 1950s that every dose, no matter how small, increases risk.<br />
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Montgomery and Graham do not ignore the obvious, that over the years there have been nuclear accidents. At one of them, Chernobyl, in the Ukraine, radiation exposure was enough to kill dozens of emergency workers brought in from around what was then the Soviet Union. The circumstances were tragic, the engineering errors were reckless, and the public health response was a dangerous denial of reality. But they are unlikely to be repeated; that kind of reactor is not used anywhere else in the world, and it’s hard to imagine a government response as irresponsible as the Soviets’.<br />
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Wisdom, they counsel, is to recognize not only risk, but relative risk.<br />
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The debate over energy sources sometimes departs from reality and moves into an absolutist realm, they write; there are advocates of solar and wind who like them not because they are carbon-free, but because they are solar and wind. That, they say is “green ideology,” an exercise in absolutism, rather than a realistic effort to serve human needs.<br />
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There are two broad categories of emissions-free energy: renewables and nuclear. “To choose one and abandon the other is to amputate an arm from the effort that is needed,” the authors write. Distributed production from the sun and wind are not antithetical to centralized nuclear “any more than are factories and workshops.”<br />
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They also consider international politics. What supplier nations would they like to be aligned with for the next eight or ten decades? That is a consideration for potential exporting nations, including the United States, as we consider our future role in the world.<br />
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Meanwhile, in the United States we have the luxury of sometimes forgetting the importance of reliable, clean energy. The best solution yet found for poverty, the authors write, is economic development. And Third World economic development is in cities.<br />
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“Small may be beautiful, in some estimations, but cities are huge and growing,” the write. They will need big, clean energy sources, the definition of nuclear.<br />
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<i>The above is from <a href="https://twitter.com/mattlwald" target="_blank">Matt Wald</a>, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at @MattLWald.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-20338328922888574522017-12-18T14:54:00.003-05:002017-12-19T12:46:33.651-05:00A Design Team Pictures the Future of Nuclear EnergyFor more than 100 years, the shape and location of human settlements has been defined in large part by energy and water. Cities grew up near natural resources like hydropower, and near water for agricultural, industrial and household use.<br />
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So what would the world look like with a <a href="https://advancednuclearenergy.org/blog/nuclear-reimagined" target="_blank">new generation of small nuclear reactors</a> that could provide abundant, clean energy for electricity, water pumping and desalination and industrial processes?<br />
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Hard to say with precision, but <a href="http://www.thirdway.org/" target="_blank">Third Way</a>, the non-partisan think tank, asked the design team at the Washington, D.C. office of <a href="https://www.gensler.com/" target="_blank">Gensler & Associates</a>, an architecture and interior design firm that specializes in sustainable projects like a complex that houses the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. The talented designers saw a blooming desert and a cozy arctic village, an old urban mill re-purposed as an energy producer, a data center that integrates solar panels on its sprawling flat roofs, a naval base and a humming transit hub.<br />
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In the converted mill, high temperature reactors nestle inside an old brick building evocative of the old warehouse beyond the outfield wall at Baltimore’s Camden Yards, providing high-temperature steam for various industrial processes, replacing fossil fuels that emit carbon dioxide when burned.<br />
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At the naval base, ships and submarines in port are “cold ironing,” meaning they draw their electricity from shore. Ports in areas with air pollution problems already practice “cold ironing,” although this usually means connecting ships to a power grid that runs at least in part on fossil fuels. (Land-based generators pollute, but less than ships’ engines do.) In this vision, the necessary energy comes from a row of small reactors near the wharf. And in an emergency, the reactors can help power the surrounding city.<br />
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In the desert oasis, a nuclear reactor built to power a city a few miles away also provides energy for cleaning up water from a brackish aquifer. That allows lush surroundings in the midst of barren hills.<br />
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In the transit hub, the reactors can charge electric cars, autonomous taxis, and buses, along with a high speed train.<br />
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In the arctic, far from the power grid, a small reactor has replaced the diesel oil that was previously shipped in by truck, barge or even by airplane, all of which costs money and energy. Wind turbines are integrated into the grid, which is isolated but powerful.<br />
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And at the data farm, six modular reactors are humming along, with space left for four more, as requirements grow.<br />
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One of the forces behind the designs, Suzy Hobbs Baker, a communications advisor at Third Way, said that she had always wanted to add public art to existing nuclear sites, because not everybody likes huge masses of bare concrete. But painting the exterior of an operating reactor can be complicated, she said. She has, however, worked up two designs: a pattern like a double-helix DNA strand for cooling towers and a reactor containment and cooling tower painted like an impressionistic view of the sea, a hint at part of the environment that reactors preserve.<br />
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For a new reactor, she said, she’d like to have the aesthetics “baked in from the get-go.”<br />
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The images of the new concepts are varied, but the reactors themselves are a cheery marigold yellow.<br />
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As in <a href="https://www.techdigest.tv/2014/06/how_star_trek_predicted_the_future.html" target="_blank">Star Trek</a>, the pictures are understandably short on technical details. But it is not really science fiction; they are a visual representation of the research and development work going on right now. These reactors can be built in a factory and delivered on a truck to wherever they are needed using new combinations of fuel and coolants to produce higher heats at lower pressures, yielding more energy in smaller packages, and opening up new applications.<br />
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We’ll talk to the engineers about the feasibility of using marigold yellow.<br />
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<i><b>EDITOR’S NOTE:</b> For many years, one of the members of the team at Third Way, Suzy Hobbs Baker, has been in the forefront of advocating that the industry needed to change the way it looked in order to change the way the public felt about nuclear energy. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P37aQeQBaM" target="_blank">Watch this TEDx talk</a> she did in 2012 to learn more.</i><br />
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<i>The above is from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/mattlwald" target="_blank">@MattLWald</a>.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-31071915841169825612017-11-15T17:12:00.002-05:002017-11-15T17:12:39.824-05:00Energy Diversity Strengthens the United States. How Should We Pay for It?The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the body that sets the rules for the competitive energy markets around the country, will soon take up a proposal from the Department of Energy (DOE) to adjust the pricing system, to ensure the survival of electricity generators that keep at least 90 days of fuel on hand. The department believes the current trend of unusually low power prices is pushing more of these plants, including nuclear reactors, into early retirement, and threatening the power grid’s resiliency and reliability.<br />
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At the heart of the DOE’s proposal is the idea that everybody values resilience, but at the moment, nobody pays for it. In the electricity markets today, consumers pay for energy, and they pay for capacity – that is, the ability to make energy when needed. They pay for other services on the grid, like voltage control, that keep the electrons flowing smoothly. But there isn’t a mechanism to pay for resiliency, which the federal government defines as “the ability to withstand and rapidly recover from all hazards.”<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk99WLCB14O8Y7TtLlpt5_rThU6HRCZTktDecn6Kb4x3PDHds0O05AFxRjpFWuFcSrMv-r2rBFbSkgtmfzJc9HuyM1sZjBHYbM6fvXjwZvpQj0qVCsNW4n9R4DBao7ODan1GyY/s1600/Caitlin_Durkovichvs2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Caitlin Durkovich, director at Toffler Associates, on why nuclear is important for energy diversity." border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="1354" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk99WLCB14O8Y7TtLlpt5_rThU6HRCZTktDecn6Kb4x3PDHds0O05AFxRjpFWuFcSrMv-r2rBFbSkgtmfzJc9HuyM1sZjBHYbM6fvXjwZvpQj0qVCsNW4n9R4DBao7ODan1GyY/s640/Caitlin_Durkovichvs2.png" title="Caitlin Durkovich, director at Toffler Associates, on why nuclear is important for energy diversity." width="640" /></a></div>
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A number of parties submitted comments on the DOE’s proposed changes, and I was one of them. For almost five years, I had the privilege of serving as the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection. In that role, I was also Chair of the Nuclear Government Coordinating Council and the Co-Chair of the Energy Sector Government Coordinating Council.<br />
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In my view, the DOE’s proposed rule is a bold extension of “ongoing government efforts towards securing our critical infrastructure and maintaining resilience of the electric grid.”<br />
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Nuclear plants stop to re-fuel once every 18 to 24 months, making them uniquely resistant to disruptions in fuel supply and price fluctuations.<br />
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“Changes in fuel supply are an identified risk to the electric subsector while volatile oil and gas prices and demands is a risk inherent to the oil and natural gas sector,’’ I told the Commission. “If the natural gas pipeline system was threatened or disrupted by any sort of national security event, the nation would turn to power sources that were not dependent on the gas delivery system—in this case nuclear, renewables, and coal.”<br />
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Recent market trends threaten the economics of nuclear plants and could reduce the diversity of supply. As I wrote, “Redundancy and diversity are fundamental principles of continuity planning, both at the enterprise and the sector level … Diversity in the energy markets is even more critical in the context of increasing geopolitical tensions and a dynamic dangerous threat environment.”<br />
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As we consider the method we use to price electricity, we should think about the broader benefits, and the strength that nuclear electricity adds to our system in the longer run.<br />
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<i>The above is a guest post by Caitlin Durkovich, director at Toffler Associates. For almost five years, she served as the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection. In that role, she also was Chair of the Nuclear Government Coordinating Council and the Co-Chair of the Energy Sector Government Coordinating Council.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-70267709241097130612017-11-02T16:25:00.002-04:002017-11-02T16:25:45.937-04:00NEI Praises Connecticut Action in Support of Nuclear EnergyEarlier this week, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed SB-1501 into law, legislation that puts nuclear energy on an equal footing with other non-emitting sources of energy in the state’s electricity marketplace.<br />
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“Gov. Malloy and the state legislature deserve praise for their decision to support Dominion’s Millstone Power Station and the 1,500 Connecticut residents who work there," said NEI President and CEO Maria Korsnick. "By opening the door to Millstone having equal access to auctions open to other non-emitting sources of electricity, the state will help preserve $1.5 billion in economic activity, grid resiliency and reliability, and clean air that all residents of the state can enjoy," Korsnick said.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Millstone Power Station</td></tr>
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Korsnick continued, "Connecticut is the third state to re-balance its electricity marketplace, joining New York and Illinois, which took their own legislative paths to preserving nuclear power plants in 2016. Now attention should turn to Columbus, where leaders in Ohio are considering another legislative remedy to keep nuclear plants operating and the communities they call home thriving."<br />
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"These are just the sort of state-specific solutions that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) needs to respect as it considers Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s directive to develop and implement reforms to fully compensate generation resources necessary to maintain grid reliability and resiliency," Korsnick said.NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-44407102704395004802017-10-25T14:23:00.000-04:002017-10-25T14:23:16.423-04:00Energy Markets Are Blind to Critical Factors in the Electric GridUsing the short-term energy markets to make long-term decisions about the electric grid will irreversibly damage the system’s diversity and resiliency, the nuclear industry told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday, as the Commission prepared to take up a request by the Secretary of Energy to reform the rules for regional electricity pricing.<br />
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The markets are well set up to minimize short-term electricity costs, but they are blind to “critical non-price factors, such as resiliency, fuel diversity and environmental performance,” the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the industry’s trade association, said in <a href="https://www.nei.org/Master-Document-Folder/Federal,-State-Local-Resources/Correspondence/NEI-Comments-on-DOE-s-Grid-Reliability-and-Resilie" target="_blank">comments filed Monday with the Commission, known as FERC</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ7XQsI5yqBz11wNNuUuQm1mayxvUXsLPFMhQBsfRDAOZ-rb0zPGBfjkBY8-NmCe3Z77nqr8OM1GgZddyDAz5Ok9SKOBXd4ENFSRAOhB1r-W213mi-vDhxeNcBHGoF4OM5XUQF/s1600/ferc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Using the short-term energy markets to make long-term decisions about the electric grid will irreversibly damage the system’s diversity and resiliency, the nuclear industry told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday." border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ7XQsI5yqBz11wNNuUuQm1mayxvUXsLPFMhQBsfRDAOZ-rb0zPGBfjkBY8-NmCe3Z77nqr8OM1GgZddyDAz5Ok9SKOBXd4ENFSRAOhB1r-W213mi-vDhxeNcBHGoF4OM5XUQF/s640/ferc.jpg" title="Using the short-term energy markets to make long-term decisions about the electric grid will irreversibly damage the system’s diversity and resiliency, the nuclear industry told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday." width="640" /></a></div>
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FERC sets the ground rules for the competitive energy markets that are now in place over more than half the country. But those rules have turned crucial decisions over to a very narrow set of considerations, as if the system operated in a “price-only vacuum,” NEI said in its comments.<br />
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The markets set prices that reflect the value of the electricity generated, and most of them also pay for being available to generate when needed, called “capacity.” They do not take account of diversity or how the system hedges its bets by relying on more than one or two technologies, and they do not consider the nuclear plants’ contribution to the resilience of the grid, the NEI comments stressed.<br />
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Driven largely by an abundance of natural gas, wholesale electricity prices have declined precipitously in the last several years, but energy sales are the source of most of the revenue for 43 reactors in market areas. It is lower revenues, not higher costs, that threaten the continued operation of the nuclear reactors.<br />
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The price of fossil fuels varies over time, and the supply is vulnerable to physical disruptions, market conditions and man-made problems. Natural gas is subject to sudden price increases and scarcity, NEI said in its comments.<br />
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In contrast to that just-in-time fuel delivery system, nuclear plants typically refuel once every 18 to 24 months and need only a few truckloads of fuel to run for that period. The price of fuel is a relatively small segment of their production cost, about 20 percent, so consumers are insulated from fuel price variations. Reactors take years to build, and keeping them ready to run costs money; hence when an owner decides to retire a plant, the company takes irrevocable steps quickly. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission doesn’t even have a rule for how to re-activate an operating license.<br />
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More than 11,000 megawatts of nuclear generating capacity has been retired in recent years or is scheduled to be shut prematurely. Since those plants run more hours of the year than any other – 92 percent last year – this represents an enormous amount of energy. The same capacity in wind or solar generation would produce one-third to one-sixth as much actual electricity.<br />
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On September 28, Energy Secretary Rick Perry proposed that electricity generators with 90 days of fuel stored on site should be compensated for their costs. He asked FERC to rule within 60 days, which reflects the urgency of the problem but is unusually prompt for the commission. Secretary Perry’s proposal opens the door for consideration of a variety of reforms. NEI favors the cost-based system proposed by Mr. Perry, until some broader solution can be worked out.<br />
<br />
Allowing short-term energy price considerations to dictate long-term policy runs counter to the federal government efforts that have made resiliency a key component of its national security strategy for more than 20 years.NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-23570687044601368732017-09-22T11:46:00.001-04:002017-09-22T11:54:37.952-04:00Conflicting Government Rules Are Damaging the Power GridOne of the strengths of the electric system is its diversity, with energy flowing from generators that use a variety of fuels. But conflicting government policies and poorly constructed markets are reducing that diversity, and the result will be electricity that is more expensive, more prone to price spikes, and less reliable, according to a new study.<br />
<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
The problem may not be immediately evident to consumers, for whom the light switch on the wall is like a water faucet connected to a vast system of reservoirs and feeder streams. As long as the water comes out, the user doesn’t really care where each drop came from. The consumer is well served by the diversity of supply, even if the diversity isn’t obvious. <br />
<br />
The same is true for electric current.<br />
<br />
But the power grid is changing, according to a <a href="https://www.ihs.com/Info/0917/electricity-generation-special-report.html" target="_blank">report issued Tuesday by the economic analysis firm IHS Markit, <i>Ensuring Resilient and Efficient Electricity Generation: The Value of the Current Diverse U.S. Power Supply Portfolio</i>,</a> which lays out how federal and state policies to encourage wind and solar have had the unintended consequence of hurting a larger source of clean energy, nuclear power. The study, sponsored by the Edison Electric Institute, the Nuclear Energy Institute and the U.S Chamber of Commerce, suggests that the policies do this by interfering with market prices, a problem for nuclear plants, which are especially reliant on an accurate pricing system. With prices artificially depressed, some nuclear plants are closing, and putting the diverse character of the system at risk. And a less diverse system will eventually be more expensive, the study found.<br />
<br />
<br />
Some of the change to the grid is driven by new environmental rules, making the owners of coal-fired power stations choose between expensive upgrades and retirement. Some of it is caused by changes in the relative prices of fuels, giving an advantage to natural gas.<br />
<br />
Increasingly, though, the changes are coming because the grid is governed by two sets of rules, which were drafted completely independently and undermine each other. The picture painted by the study is a bit like a band with two drummers. This is hard on fellow band members and for the audience, too.<br />
<br />
One set of rules lays out the structure of the competitive electricity market. The main payments to generators are for energy, that is, kilowatt-hours. The price is determined by lining up the suppliers in order of how much money they want for their product. At any given moment, the system arranges for the lowest-cost suppliers to be running, then the ones who are slightly more expensive, and more expensive than that, etc., until there are just enough suppliers to meet demand. Everybody pays the amount demanded by that last supplier, which is called the “clearing price.” Over the long run, the clearing price is a signal that companies in the generating business use to decide what plants to build, and which to retire.<br />
<br />
At least, that’s how it was supposed to work.<br />
<br />
A second set of rules – the other drummer – provides quotas for wind and solar power, and provides subsidies for building solar panels or operating wind machines. The study explains that when wind and solar run, they can offer energy essentially for free, since their costs are more or less the same whether they are running or not. They are expensive, but much of that cost is paid for by federal subsidies or subsidies from consumers.<br />
<br />
For plants that are intended to run around the clock, like nuclear reactors, driving down that energy price may make them unable to recover their costs, even though they may be the lowest cost producers. If they close, the system loses some benefits that consumers previously got for free. One is protection against sudden changes in the price or availability of a single fuel, like natural gas. The impact on consumers is small if any given fuel is a small slice of total supply.<br />
<br />
Another free benefit is cleanliness. (Well, not “free,” but not paid for by consumers.) If the system has to absorb more on-again, off-again wind and sun, it will also need more natural gas, to backstop the intermittent sources. If the combination of wind and sun and natural gas reduces the use of nuclear power and hydroelectricity – as the report suggests – then total emissions rise. California, on the leading edge of heavy reliance on intermittent sources, is seeing prices rise and carbon dioxide output remain fairly steady, the study says. A “perverse” increase in carbon dioxide output is to be expected, the study found.<br />
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The new study makes many of the points that appeared in an <a href="https://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/News-Archives/2017/DOE-Study-Urges-Reforms-to-Protect-Grid-Reliabilit" target="_blank">August report by the Department of Energy, "Staff Report to the Secretary on Electricity Markets and Reliability,"</a> which cites the value of baseload power plants, like nuclear, to assure reliability and diversity.<br />
<br />
Discussion of the grid includes intermittent mention of the “sanctity of markets,” but as the report makes clear, many of the factors determining the wholesale price of electricity have nothing to do with markets; they have to do with state- and federal-level subsidies for favored technologies. But reducing the diversity of the grid means real costs to consumers. Having a diversified generation portfolio lowers the cost of electricity to consumers by 27 percent, according to the study. That is separate from the other benefits, like clean air and reliability.<br />
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The solution to a policy-induced mismatch, it finds, is not to let the two drummers continue sending conflicting signals; it is to fix the policy to configure the system to keep down costs and risks.<br />
<br />
<i>The above is from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mattlwald">@MattLWald</a>.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-31862815173788130952017-09-11T16:34:00.000-04:002017-09-11T16:34:49.250-04:00A Billion Miles Under Nuclear Energy (Updated)<div class="MsoNormal">
And the winner is…Cassini-Huygens, in triple overtime.<br />
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The spaceship conceived in 1982 and launched fifteen years later, will crash into Saturn on September 15, after a mission of 19 years and 355 days, powered by the audacity and technical prowess of scientists and engineers from 17 different countries, and 72 pounds of plutonium.<br />
<br />
The mission was so successful that it was extended three times; it was intended to last only until 2008.<br />
<br />
Since April, the ship has been continuing to orbit Saturn, swinging through the 1,500-mile gap between the planet and its rings, an area not previously explored. This is a good maneuver for a spaceship nearing the end of its mission, since colliding with a rock could end things early.<br />
<br />
Cassini will dive a little deeper and plunge toward Saturn’s surface, where it will transmit data until it burns up in the planet’s atmosphere. The radio signal will arrive here early Friday morning, Eastern time. A NASA video explains.<br />
<br />
In the years since Cassini has launched, space nuclear power has advanced. <a href="http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2017/08/packing-for-mars-dont-forget-nuclear.html" target="_blank">NASA is now working on a reactor that would power a base on Mars.</a><br />
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The dramatic end is deliberate; it will eliminate the
possibility that the probe could crash on a planet that could support any form
of life that stowed away on the spacecraft.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Cassini took seven years to get to Saturn, and then
transmitted dramatic pictures of the rings. It confirmed an ocean of water on
the moon Enceladus, raising the possibility of life there. It found new rings. Its
findings advanced our understanding about the origin of the rings and the
nature of the planet. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And it carried the Huygens probe, which was the first
man-made object to land on a world in the outer solar system. Huygens landed on
the surface of Titan on December 25, 2004. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/web/cassini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Cassini above the rings of Saturn." border="0" height="426" src="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/web/cassini.jpg" title="Cassini above the rings of Saturn." width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Cassini above the rings of Saturn.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://www.discovernuclear.com/" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="https://www.discovernuclear.com/" target="_blank">Nuclear power made it possible.</a> Cassini carries 72.3 pounds
of plutonium-238, in <a href="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/the-journey/the-spacecraft/">a Radioisotope
Thermoelectric Generator</a> (RTG). When it was launched on its billion-mile
trip, the plutonium put out enough heat to be converted
into 878 watts of electricity – about two-thirds of what a hair dryer draws,
but sufficient to run the instruments and radios. Twenty years later, it is
still putting out about 600 watts, but mission controllers are ending the
flight because spacecraft is running out of the chemical propellants used to
adjust its orbit, mono-methyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide.<br />
<br />
Plutonium-238 was originally produced as a by-product of creating plutonium-239 for nuclear weapons. After the United States stopped making new weapons fuel, it bought some plutonium-238 from Russia. There are <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-supply-could-prevent-deep-space-plutonium-shortage/">several efforts</a> now for making supplies for future space probes.</div>
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Sunlight on Saturn is only about 1/80<sup>th</sup> as strong
as on earth, so solar panels are not helpful. Mars is the approximate limit of
useful sunlight; some of the rovers on Mars used photo-voltaic panels, but Curiosity
used a radio-thermal generator like the one on Cassini. <a href="http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2015/07/exploring-pluto-and-other-new-horizons.html" target="_blank">The New Horizons probethat visited Pluto in the summer of 2015 used a similar generator.</a> That
generator is still running, as the probe prepares to visit an object in the
Kuiper Belt on January 1, 2019. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
After Cassini goes, the stunning photos will <a href="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/images/">still be here</a>.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The above is from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mattlwald">@MattLWald</a>.</i></div>
NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-23871057301596141952017-09-04T16:00:00.000-04:002017-09-04T16:00:26.606-04:00Sneak Peek<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9L0tqUj7wP9GgfUarbl3ndbKAuAqCR4LCzOmrsTwTHfUKKs6wQReL4XZ6YIVKvhtwrJOpOmgJ5ae1AoLmWd2gkWANa3woI2WSOxXCPw67v1B1-xHH37SdLSFZMDt5tqngf5ov/s1600/new+power.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="new power changes everything" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9L0tqUj7wP9GgfUarbl3ndbKAuAqCR4LCzOmrsTwTHfUKKs6wQReL4XZ6YIVKvhtwrJOpOmgJ5ae1AoLmWd2gkWANa3woI2WSOxXCPw67v1B1-xHH37SdLSFZMDt5tqngf5ov/s640/new+power.JPG" title="new power changes everything" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
There's an invisible force powering and propelling our way of life.<br />
It's all around us. You can't feel it. Smell it. Or taste it.<br />
But it's there all the same. And if you look close enough, you can see all the amazing and wondrous things it does.<br />
It not only powers our cities and towns.<br />
And all the high-tech things we love.<br />
It gives us the power to invent.<br />
To explore.<br />
To discover.<br />
To create advanced technologies.<br />
This invisible force creates jobs out of thin air.<br />
It adds billions to our economy.<br />
It's on even when we're not.<br />
And stays on no matter what Mother Nature throws at it.<br />
This invisible force takes us to the outer reaches of outer space.<br />
And to the very depths of our oceans.<br />
It brings us together. And it makes us better.<br />
And most importantly, it has the power to do all this in our lifetime while barely leaving a trace.<br />
Some people might say it's kind of unbelievable.<br />
They wonder, what is this new power that does all these extraordinary things?NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-17334676337138064002017-09-01T11:52:00.003-04:002017-09-01T13:10:08.009-04:00Hurricane Harvey Couldn't Stop the South Texas Project<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUDzcDxofGXKe5X7olOzPrvEC22C5JzgG0yRbg3Sqkub07O0ciyeTbwLP0PZ15g52YEX9gyATNx3eMXRl52pjflQeUP-FvnVJj09_dRtUvVfysTFzOcmOqEftRQPYeWP79cAiI/s1600/STP-Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="380" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUDzcDxofGXKe5X7olOzPrvEC22C5JzgG0yRbg3Sqkub07O0ciyeTbwLP0PZ15g52YEX9gyATNx3eMXRl52pjflQeUP-FvnVJj09_dRtUvVfysTFzOcmOqEftRQPYeWP79cAiI/s400/STP-Image.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The South Texas Project</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As Hurricane Harvey battered southeast Texas over the past week, the devastation and loss of life in its wake have kept our attention and been a cause of grief.<br />
<br />
Through the tragedy, many stories of heroics and sacrifice have emerged. Among those who have sacrificed are nearly <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-30/as-harvey-raged-workers-slept-on-cots-to-keep-nuclear-power-on">250 workers who have been hunkered down at the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear plant</a> in Matagorda County, Texas.<br />
<br />
STP’s priorities were always the safety of their employees and the communities they serve. We are proud that STP continued to operate at full power throughout the storm. It is a true testament to the reliability and resiliency of not only the operators but of our industry. <br />
<br />
The world is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/09/01/hurricane-harvey-makes-the-case-for-nuclear-power/#619b05c13625">starting to notice</a> what a feat it is to have maintained operations through the catastrophic event. Forbes’ Rod Adams did an excellent job <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rodadams/2017/08/30/nuke-plant-could-close-but-didnt-give-credit-to-resilient-operators-robust-design-and-a-plan/#7c2ab5cd6f87">describing the contribution of these men and women</a>:<br />
<br />
“STP storm crew members deserve to be proud of the work that they are doing. Their families should take comfort in the fact that their loved ones are performing jobs that help to sustain life and health and to enable their home area to begin the long, difficult process of recovery.”<br />
<br />
STP Chief Nuclear Officer Tim Powell said it best when he described his teammates who stayed on-site through the storm: <br />
<br />
“Their dedication, teamwork and morale has been exceptional. We have our organization set up and we are taking care of our people. If you want an example of what a true nuclear professional looks like, look no further. It makes me feel very confident about the future of our company and industry.”<br />
<br />
We thank the STP team for their hard work.<br />
<br />
<i>If you’d like to make a donation to assist victims of the storm, The New York Times published a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/donate-harvey-charities-scams.html?mcubz=0">list of charitable organizations</a> and tips for how best to contribute.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-87670707459324607252017-08-30T08:19:00.004-04:002017-08-30T08:19:34.932-04:00Why the Electricity Market Needs ReprogrammingThe Energy Department’s <a href="https://energy.gov/downloads/download-staff-report-secretary-electricity-markets-and-reliability">study of the power grid</a> is 187 pages long but it can be summarized in five words: the energy markets are failing us. <br />
<br />
"Society places value on attributes of electricity provision beyond those compensated by the current design of the wholesale market," the study found.<br />
<br />
Economists like to say that markets "optimize" production and consumption; that is, they set prices in a way that induces suppliers to bring forth the right amount of whatever is being traded, and lets consumers make wise decisions about how much to use, all in a way that improves everybody’s welfare. That’s true, as far as it goes.<br />
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<br />
But markets are a little like computer programs; they only do what they’re told to. The best they can do is to optimize the factor they’ve been told to use, in this case, price. The market is a tyrant with a hyper-focused goal. The electricity markets are set up almost entirely to optimize price. <br />
But if the economy needs anything else, some policy intervention is required. <br />
<br />
And there is a lot of intervention in the energy marketplace already. There are production tax credits for wind, investment tax credits for solar, and state quotas for both of them. There are big hydroelectric projects built by state governments or Washington. There are programs to reduce demand by collecting money from all customers, and spending it to improve the energy efficiency of others.<br />
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We need intervention now to preserve other benefits that nuclear reactors provide: resilience, diversity and reliability in the electric system; economic stimulus in the places where the plants are located; domestic industrial capability and self-sufficiency in technologies related to national defense; and clean air everywhere. <br />
<br />
Reactors are an insurance policy against supply interruptions in gas, which are a virtual certainly in some regions in cold weather, and against coal piles that have frozen solid, and hydroelectric dams crippled by drought. Each of these reactors provides many hundreds of jobs directly, and their payrolls are the heart of the small-town economies where they operate. Their property taxes are essential to municipal budgets. <br />
<br />
These benefits used to come without asking.<br />
<br />
When the price of natural gas was high, and before extensive government help for renewables at the state and federal levels, the market imperfections didn’t matter to our country’s long-term goals. Now they do, and the Energy Department report recognizes that. <br />
<br />
"Ultimately, the continued closure of traditional baseload power plants calls for a comprehensive strategy for long-term reliability and resilience," the study said. "States and regions are accepting increased risks that could affect the future reliability and resilience of electricity delivery for consumers in their regions."<br />
<br />
It said, "a continual comprehensive regional and national review is needed to determine how a portfolio of domestic energy resources can be developed to ensure grid reliability and resilience."<br />
<br />
We have heard some discussion lately about how policy interventions in the electricity field will threaten the “sanctity” of the markets. Markets are useful but they are not sacred. And policy can be smarter.<br />
<i><br />
The above is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="https://www.blogger.com/twitter.com/mattlwald">@MattLWald</a>.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-74771477864906309462017-08-21T08:16:00.004-04:002017-08-21T16:33:27.664-04:00How Does a Solar Eclipse Impact the Electric Grid?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoiTyAV8H0tXJ-gKceeEx6VPJabKL2os8UXoLiWi6CkuNU5hYj22UucjwJYiTTD-86d4cMMMwOdGKLXvsTw9Q3H5Vy7GKuxBwCKVqFmu5oqd8zTZNuO0bNXXhGS56M8e9yujXQ/s1600/Eclipse_Animated.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="650" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoiTyAV8H0tXJ-gKceeEx6VPJabKL2os8UXoLiWi6CkuNU5hYj22UucjwJYiTTD-86d4cMMMwOdGKLXvsTw9Q3H5Vy7GKuxBwCKVqFmu5oqd8zTZNuO0bNXXhGS56M8e9yujXQ/s400/Eclipse_Animated.gif" width="400" /></a>Millions of Americans traveled long distances in hopes of getting a front-row seat for the dance of the heavens today, watching the moon eclipse the sun, from Portland, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina. Hundreds more had spent months preparing for an odd complication of the event: the very sudden loss of up to 9,000 megawatts as solar panels were cast into shadow, and then its very quick return. The lost production is the equivalent of about fifteen good-sized coal plants.<br />
<br />
How do you keep the lights on when the sun suddenly goes out? The loss and rebound of generation is much larger than the system usually faces, but experts made some serious advance preparation, and were hopeful largely because of the diversity of generators. Nuclear plants continue to provide the backbone of the system, and generators running on natural gas were called on to power up quickly, and as the sun reappeared, power down even faster.<br />
<br />
Such diversity is important because the system has to function through more frequent challenges, like extreme cold, water droughts, wind droughts and other problems.<br />
<br />
The eclipse will vary from place to place. The path of the totality crosses twelve states; but the geometry is such that planners knew that the sun would be 95% obscured in parts of northern California, and 72% obscured in southern Nevada, which is electrically integrated with California.<br />
<br />
At times, California gets 40 percent of its energy from solar panels, and depending on cloud cover, it was set up to lose nearly three-quarters of that. The <a href="https://www.caiso.com/Documents/Briefing_SolarEclipse-ISOReport-May_2017.pdf)https://www.caiso.com/Documents/Briefing_SolarEclipse-ISOReport-May_2017.pdf" target="_blank">California independent grid operator calculated in advance</a> that power output will drop by 70 megawatts a minute (A megawatt is enough to run a Walmart Supercenter) and then come roaring back at 90 megawatts a minute, about eight times faster than in a normal day, because after the shadow passes, the sun will be more nearly directly overhead.<br />
<br />
That organization, the California Independent System Operator, urged utilities to be ready; so did its counterpart in the Middle Atlantic states, the PJM Interconnection. PJM used to stand for Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland, but the system now extends into Virginia and West Virginia, Ohio and the Chicago area.<br />
<br />
Power grids are not set up for eclipses, which happen much faster than a sunrise or a sunset, and over a broader area than a typical cloud bank covers. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the entity that establishes and enforces grid rules, told other areas with high solar penetration, including Nevada and North Carolina, to <a href="http://www.nerc.com/pa/rapa/ra/reliability%20assessments%20dl/solar_eclipse_2017_final_4-25-17.pdf" target="_blank">prepare detailed analyses</a>.<br />
<br />
California was in somewhat better shape because the drought is ending and more water is available this year; hydro plants can raise and lower their output very quickly.<br />
<br />
The next North American eclipse will be in April 2024, when the solar panel impact may be larger.<br />
Power systems have tried various means to cope. In 2015, Italy unplugged its large solar installations, to reduce instability on the system. But this problem can only become more serious as solar penetration increases. Most of Spain will be covered by an eclipse in August 2026.<br />
<br />
The obvious solution is to maintain a diverse generating portfolio that limits the threat to the system because of interruptions from any single source.<br />
<br />
UPDATE: Thanks to our friends at TVA for this stunning shot of the solar eclipse above the Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station in Tennessee.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFLMQ3xs7BcDP19hNcl1PnkndddW1geE2s05iLOWgxmOetpkoQuRaF_NVHNMRKD4Ky7Y4Vt-RmVEAMiMdRaeIbcjvLvk77nTgU8DHvRGlkKaclpHxYWZTq9S9bkADiszzj5q9Z/s1600/TVA+Eclipse+Over+Watts+Bar+-+8-21-2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1068" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFLMQ3xs7BcDP19hNcl1PnkndddW1geE2s05iLOWgxmOetpkoQuRaF_NVHNMRKD4Ky7Y4Vt-RmVEAMiMdRaeIbcjvLvk77nTgU8DHvRGlkKaclpHxYWZTq9S9bkADiszzj5q9Z/s640/TVA+Eclipse+Over+Watts+Bar+-+8-21-2017.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of TVA.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>The above is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mattlwald" target="_blank">@MattLWald</a>.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-44078122475196081292017-08-14T00:01:00.000-04:002017-08-14T00:01:08.684-04:00Packing for Mars? Don’t forget the nuclear reactor.<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Did you see
the movie <i>The Martian</i>? The hero, Mark Watney, an astronaut given up for
dead by NASA, uses a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), a sort-of
"space battery," to keep warm during his trek across Mars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The movie is
science fiction but these devices are real- NASA has been using RTGs to power
satellites for <a href="https://www.nei.org/Knowledge-Center/Other-Nuclear-Energy-Applications/Space-Exploration"><span style="color: #420178;">nearly forty years</span></a>, and they've been used on
major trips to the moon and other planets. But NASA recently announced plans to
use nuclear power in a different way- one that hasn't been fully attempted in
fifty years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The RTGs like
Mark Watney’s harness the heat from passive radioactive decay and produce a few
hundred watts of electricity, which on Earth would be enough to run a handful
of household appliances. But a mission to Mars would require far more power.
Now, NASA is working on a reactor that splits atoms, as reactors on Earth do,
to make 100 times more electricity than an RTG. The initial plan calls for 40
kilowatts, which on Earth would meet the needs of a small apartment building.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">For three
years, NASA has been working on the project, which it calls Kilopower (Kilo is
the Latin prefix for thousand.) <a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20160012354.pdf"><span style="color: #420178;">According to the development team</span></a>, which is
based at Los Alamos National Laboratory, "The Kilopower technology
demonstration is the practical and affordable first step to getting a reactor
power system in space. We're seizing the opportunity to demonstrate
system-level technology readiness of space fission power."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhuCaafMPBGSUS_LpJJSaVChVzhU92H9G66eK98UGpAXIFWJCafeTVOgogYFHtdIu4sGPNGgHNBy2lC1BQJAjgSvYzOXPRDOHkNpiIj5wSKxrUfDeabp5UGa4AQPfxIbRhNcx/s1600/KilopowerBlogPost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="700" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhuCaafMPBGSUS_LpJJSaVChVzhU92H9G66eK98UGpAXIFWJCafeTVOgogYFHtdIu4sGPNGgHNBy2lC1BQJAjgSvYzOXPRDOHkNpiIj5wSKxrUfDeabp5UGa4AQPfxIbRhNcx/s640/KilopowerBlogPost.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artist's conception of the Kilopower reactor.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; text-align: center;">Surface
exploration requires readily available power, but electricity-generating
reactors make up only a small slice of nuclear's role in space. So far, RTGs
have been much more common than reactors, beginning in the 1950s.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">On December 8,
1953, President Eisenhower delivered his "Atoms-for-Peace" address in
which he described the promise and potential of nuclear energy for humanity.
Six years later, the first radioisotope thermoelectric generator, SNAP 3-A (for
Space Nuclear Auxiliary Program), sat on his desk in the Oval Office. This new
technology created by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) inspired wonder and
awe not only from the President, but from the public as well. This new
technology made it possible for nuclear energy to power the instruments aboard
a satellite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">RTGs convert
heat into electric power. They sometimes also function as simple heat
generators to keep satellite components from freezing in the deep cold of
space. The heat comes from the natural decay of a radioactive isotope,
typically plutonium 238.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">As the country
entered the space race and the tremendous pressure to advance technologically,
NASA realized the usefulness of RTGs. They were lightweight, compact, had no
moving parts, and only depended on readily available plutonium, rather than the
sometimes-unavailable sun. Plutonium 238, a different type of plutonium than
used in weapons or power reactors, also seemed to be the most fitting fuel for
the job. It has a half-life of 88 years, meaning it puts out high heat and can
power the spacecraft for decades.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The first U.S.
spacecraft powered by an RTG was the Navy's Transit 4A navigation satellite,
which was launched in 1961. That day, the front-page headline of the New York
Journal American read: "U.S. ORBITS ATOMIC BATTERY." The government
and the public enthusiastically embraced nuclear energy as a means to lead the
world in space exploration and technology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">RTGs
progressed in the sixties. Like the 3A, the 1964 SNAP-9A used plutonium 238 and
was expected to operate for five to ten years. It generated 25 watts of
electrical power. RTGs went on to power many more missions throughout the
seventies and eighties, including the <a href="https://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/News-Archives/cassini-spacecraft-discovers-hidden-moon-of-saturn"><span style="color: #420178;">Cassini space probe</span></a>, which is completing its
mission exploring Saturn in the next few months. Pioneer and Voyager missions
used RTGs, as does the Curiosity robotic rover currently exploring Mars.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">However,
project Kilopower marks the first time in fifty years that NASA is looking to
use nuclear energy in a different form. Back in the 1960s, the agency began
working on a way to put a nuclear reactor into space. While RTGs generate heat
through the simple decay of a radioactive isotope like plutonium, reactors
generate far greater quantities of heat by the splitting of uranium atoms in a
controlled nuclear reaction. In 1965, the SNAP-10A launched from Vandenberg Air
Force Base with the goal of producing 500 Watts of electricity for at least one
year. With such technology, NASA could start the nuclear reaction remotely when
the satellite entered orbit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The project
ultimately succeeded, as the reactor produced more than 600 watts of power.
After forty-three days, however, an unrelated failure in the Agena spacecraft
caused the reactor to shut off. While Russia has launched over thirty reactors
into space, the United States has only launched one: SNAP-10A. Now, NASA plans
to start testing a new reactor for space at the end of this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The new
reactor is about 6.5 feet tall and produces 1 kilowatt of electric power, about
as much as is consumed by a window air conditioner. The project managers
envision 40 kilowatts and multiple small reactors on Mars in the future.
Nuclear energy remains the best option for power, as Mars receives less
sunlight than earth, making solar power an unrealistic option.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Kilopower begs
the question- if reactors here on Earth require refueling and maintenance, how
will reactors on space comply with this requirement? Dr. Bhavya Lal of the
Science and Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. says that ideally,
the reactor would be designed so it would need to be minimally refueled. The
Kilopower design uses high-enriched uranium, which allows a greater operational
lifetime. Many of these logistical questions can be explored after the testing
that begins at the end of this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Both the space
community and the nuclear energy industry eagerly wait to see how the Kilopower
reactor will perform. The potential of electricity on Mars means further
exploration and discovery, and nuclear energy is the key to operating there.
Although fifty years has passed since the last reactor left Earth, AEC Chairman
Glenn Seaborg said in the 1960s what still holds true today:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">"The
presence of the ‘atomic battery’ in the satellite is a symbol of a ‘marriage’
that was bound to occur—between Space and the Atom. We have known for some time
that the two were made for each other."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Before we can
even think about making Mars habitable, we must figure out a way to support
astronauts exploring the surface. Sunlight is only one-third as strong on Mars
as on Earth, and as happens here, the sun is only up for half the day. So solar
energy can't provide the immense amount of electricity needed to power a Mars
base. NASA explains that it will need nuclear power in many places, including
craters in shadow, and has <a href="https://youtu.be/PcmZ554_-zE"><span style="color: #420178;">several research efforts now under way.</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Nuclear
reactors don't just have applications on the actual surface of a planet,
either: they can also be a key to getting there. NASA just awarded <a href="http://www.bwxt.com/news/2017/08/03/BWXT-Awarded-188-Million-Nuclear-Thermal-Propulsion-Reactor-Design-Contract-by-NASA"><span style="color: #420178;">BWXT Nuclear Energy</span></a> a contract to design a
nuclear thermal propulsion reactor. On a manned trip to Mars, this reactor
would create an electric current that shoots ions out of the back of a rocket,
propelling the spaceship forward.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">A lot has
changed since Eisenhower first marveled at the SNAP 3-A in the Oval Office. But
as new projects like Kilopower and thermal propulsion reactors take shape,
nuclear energy's many applications echo what Seaborg said fifty years ago.
There is an eternal, unmatched link between nuclear energy and space.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960806094724971938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-59567282155014973742017-07-14T12:28:00.003-04:002017-07-14T12:28:49.809-04:00Why Nuclear Plant Closures Are a Crisis for Small Town USANuclear plants occupy an unusual spot in the towns where they operate: integral but so much in the background that they may seem almost invisible. But when they close, it can be like the earth shifting underfoot.<br />
<br />
Lohud.com, the Gannett newspaper that covers the Lower Hudson Valley in New York, <a href="http://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2017/07/12/nuclear-plant-shutdowns/403656001/" target="_blank">took a look around at the experience of towns where reactors have closed</a>, because the Indian Point reactors in Buchanan are scheduled to be shut down under an agreement with Gov. Mario Cuomo.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzETFC_BxYgNkCp2GGKtn4XXyMc4lgXp2qFy5qwu1e22nTlFEHI6W0BJFy4X8SYW3nrzxrUMuWKsgvvipRB1qazn_k6II-RIgA9sY0pU7VbBR73-_5paN-hYJ_sXc0NChkRtJt/s1600/patty-odonnell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="atty O’Donnell, chairwoman of the Vernon, Vermont, select board, had to drastically cut the town’s budget in the wake of the closure of Vermont Yankee. Photo courtesy of LoHud.com." border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzETFC_BxYgNkCp2GGKtn4XXyMc4lgXp2qFy5qwu1e22nTlFEHI6W0BJFy4X8SYW3nrzxrUMuWKsgvvipRB1qazn_k6II-RIgA9sY0pU7VbBR73-_5paN-hYJ_sXc0NChkRtJt/s640/patty-odonnell.jpg" title="atty O’Donnell, chairwoman of the Vernon, Vermont, select board, had to drastically cut the town’s budget in the wake of the closure of Vermont Yankee. Photo courtesy of LoHud.com." width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patty O’Donnell, chairwoman of the Vernon, Vermont, select board, had to drastically cut the town’s budget in the wake of the closure of Vermont Yankee. Photo courtesy of LoHud.com.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
From sea to shining sea, it was dismal. It wasn’t just the plant employees who were hurt. The losses of hundreds of jobs, tens of millions of dollars in payrolls and millions in property taxes depressed whole towns and surrounding areas. For example:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Vernon, Vermont, home to Vermont Yankee for more than 40 years, had to cut its municipal budget in half. The town closed its police department and let the county take over; the youth sports teams lost their volunteer coaches, and Vernon Elementary School lost the plant employees who used to cross the street from the plant’s gate to help pupils with their math homework.</li>
<li>The town of Zion, Illinois, north of Chicago, saw property tax revenues from the twin-unit reactor there drop to $1.6 million from $20 million. Taxes on a typical $300,000 house jumped to $20,000 from $8,000. With the loss of jobs and higher taxes, property values dropped sharply.</li>
<li>Crystal River, on the Florida Gulf Coast, took 600 jobs with it when it shut down. The average single-family home has dropped more than 25 percent in value between 2008 and 2016.</li>
<li>Kewaunee County in Wisconsin had to raise its sales tax half a percent to make up for lost income when the Kewaunee Power Station closed. Local people desperate for jobs are hoping for a state prison to be built.</li>
<li>When San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station shut down north of San Clemente, California, 1,000 jobs disappeared at the plant, and more followed at the local hotels and restaurants where people doing temporary work at the plant used to stay.</li>
</ul>
The pain of those places will spread to others if plants continue to close. At Indian Point, the newspaper reported, the village of Buchanan expects to lose nearly half its tax revenue, and the local school district will lose $20 million—more than 25 percent—of its budget.<br /><br />People may not notice so much when the plants are running, but reactors make good industrial neighbors. They are almost silent. Apart from a tendency to cause a mild traffic backup at intersections during shift changes, they don’t have a lot of local impact beyond providing steady, year-round employment and lots of tax revenues. They don’t need mile-long trains rumbling through town, or convoys of trucks bringing in raw materials. And the reactors’ product goes out the door as a hum on the wires.<br /><br />They are subtle when they run, and painfully obvious when they close. Policymakers concerned with the fate of small towns like Vernon, Vermont, Zion, Illinois and many others ought to take note.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The above is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mattlwald" target="_blank">@MattLWald</a>.</i><br />
NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-73675196326376129762017-06-25T13:57:00.000-04:002017-06-26T14:24:15.351-04:0021 Experts Debunk a Radical Claim about Renewable EnergyEnergy experts are at war over a radical assertion that by mid-century the United States will be able to meet all its energy needs with wind, solar and hydro power.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/CombiningRenew/CONUSGridIntegration.pdf" target="_blank">The claim was made in 2015 by four academic researchers</a>, led by Mark Z. Jacobson, for the continental United States, and it asserts that those renewables will replace not just the coal and natural gas used to make electricity, but also the gasoline and diesel that run cars and trucks, and the gas used in home heating. The paper is regularly cited by environmentalists who claim that the current fleet of U.S. nuclear reactors could close without any consequences to grid reliability.<br />
<br />
But last week, a group of prominent researchers, some from Stanford and UC-Berkeley, and others from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Carnegie Mellon and other mainstream organizations, <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/06/16/1610381114.full" target="_blank">published a second paper</a> that said that while they support the expanded use of renewables, Professor Jacobson et al. were dreaming.<br />
<br />
One of the authors of the second paper said that it was dangerous to rely on such a narrow strategy. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/business/energy-environment/renewable-energy-national-academy-matt-jacobson.html" target="_blank">“I had largely ignored the papers arguing that doing all with renewables was possible at negative costs because they struck me as obviously incorrect,” David Victor of the University of California, San Diego, told <i>The New York Times</i>.</a> But, he said, “when policy makers started using this paper for scientific support, I thought, ‘this paper is dangerous.’”<br />
<br />
The dangers, critics say, is that we could step away from other technologies that are essential to reducing air pollution. We have one in mind in particular: nuclear energy.<br />
<br />
After the publication of the skeptical assessment, some non-academic behavior followed. Prof. Jacobson said that the new critique had deliberate falsehoods, and that it was “dangerous because virtually every sentence in it is inaccurate.” <br />
<br />
The essential problem for advocates of a system based on solar and wind is that their production is not only intermittent, but to the extent it is predictable, it does not match the pattern of demand. Solar production is, by definition, best at noon, but electricity demand is higher when the sun is going down. In many regions, demand is high in winter, when there is less sun. Wind is also out of sync with seasonal demand. Even on a daily basis, it blows strongest late at night, not a peak period. With the limited deployment of solar and wind that we have now, often energy from those sources must be thrown away, because it comes at the wrong times.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EKwUjMDQLqVLNJ-d5-LRbHbmnaGmsXJEjfWIIdyKE9wdTCeVydX9NrZ1znpr-drZfbo16ObS-r1LlLnPLgR7NHvr33p8i3eZDcBvKI5wDQO3IGj63paqRGWYLHr8vKw1zRHf/s1600/blog.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Seasonal mismatch between supply and demand on grid" border="0" data-original-height="869" data-original-width="1600" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EKwUjMDQLqVLNJ-d5-LRbHbmnaGmsXJEjfWIIdyKE9wdTCeVydX9NrZ1znpr-drZfbo16ObS-r1LlLnPLgR7NHvr33p8i3eZDcBvKI5wDQO3IGj63paqRGWYLHr8vKw1zRHf/s640/blog.PNG" title="Seasonal mismatch between supply and demand on grid" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wind and sun production don’t match demand patterns in any of the American electric markets. Credit: </i><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><i>Jared Moore, Ph.D.,
of Meridian Energy Policy</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Operators of hydroelectric generators can usually hoard their water until times when the electricity is most needed, but there are limits, and getting approval to build big new dams is exceptionally hard. Carbon capture and storage, which would reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of fossil fuel plants, is thus far very expensive. The other large scale no-carbon source is nuclear, but Professor Jacobson dislikes nuclear energy.<br />
<br />
In any case, we’re cheered to see the “all of the above” strategy reaffirmed with scientific rigor.<br />
<br />
<i>The above is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mattlwald" target="_blank">@MattLWald</a>.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-6283762861653684102017-06-21T09:27:00.000-04:002017-06-21T09:27:38.258-04:00Missing the Point about Pennsylvania’s Nuclear Plants<a href="http://powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/policy-powersource/2017/06/19/Ellwood-City-electric-bills-spur-move-to-restrict-municipal-power-company-spending/stories/201706150206" target="_blank">A group that includes oil and gas companies in Pennsylvania released a study on Monday</a> that argues that twenty years ago, planners underestimated the value of nuclear plants in the electricity market. According to the group, that means the state should now let the plants close.<br />
<br />
Huh?<br />
<br />
The question confronting the state now isn’t what the companies that owned the reactors at the time of de-regulation got or didn’t get. It’s not a question of whether they were profitable in the '80s, '90s and '00s. It’s about now. Business works by looking at the present and making projections about the future.<br />
<br />
Is losing the nuclear plants what’s best for the state going forward?<br />
<br />
Pennsylvania needs clean air. It needs jobs. And it needs protection against over-reliance on a single fuel source.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnMPO9HH3Wa5FiIKnH9JpM1FZoqeGSa56GPpgxdslS0ku4YYlFCXGn9li0DFBgscrKevYaUFOouU-rKimHNWo4-rWNV527bUC-O8ghKHob1cJD4vxGCxlvaQ59B88barFnMGRI/s1600/BLOG_PA_needsnuclear.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Pennsylvania needs clean air, jobs and diverse energy sources. " border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnMPO9HH3Wa5FiIKnH9JpM1FZoqeGSa56GPpgxdslS0ku4YYlFCXGn9li0DFBgscrKevYaUFOouU-rKimHNWo4-rWNV527bUC-O8ghKHob1cJD4vxGCxlvaQ59B88barFnMGRI/s640/BLOG_PA_needsnuclear.png" title="Pennsylvania needs clean air, jobs and diverse energy sources. " width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="https://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/News-Archives/Brattle-Group-Details-Benefits-of-Pennsylvania-s-N" target="_blank">What the reactors need is recognition of all the value they provide</a>. The electricity market is depressed, and if electricity is treated as a simple commodity, with no regard for its benefit to clean air or the communities where it is produced, some very good energy sources will starve.<br />
<br />
The group’s position has a second flaw. When analyzing what other states did, looking only at the cost doesn’t give an accurate picture of the basis for the decision. When Illinois moved to recognize the value of its reactors, it preserved massive property tax revenues, payroll tax revenues and the economic stimulus of spending by the power plants.<br />
<br />
If the reactors don’t generate the electricity, somebody else will. Some of the replacement energy will come from within Pennsylvania, but a lot will come from outside; in essence, the state is exporting jobs, and all of the benefits that come with those jobs.<br />
<br />
Pennsylvania needs a balanced energy portfolio, one that doesn’t afford a monopoly position to natural gas.<br />
<br />
<i>The above is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mattlwald" target="_blank">@MattLWald</a>.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-89112670364902799522017-06-06T15:42:00.001-04:002017-06-06T15:42:59.446-04:00TMI Cancer Study: Radiation, Health and Questionable ClaimsResearchers at the Penn State College of Medicine <a href="https://pennstatehealthnews.org/2017/05/possible-correlation-shown-between-the-partial-meltdown-at-tmi-and-thyroid-cancers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+penn-state-college-of-medicine+%28Penn+State+College+of+Medicine%29" target="_blank">recently published a study</a> claiming that analysis of thyroid tumors showed tissue differences, based on where the patient lived. People who lived near Three Mile Island at the time of the 1979 accident had tumors more likely to have come from radiation exposure than people who developed thyroid cancer while living elsewhere, according to the researchers.<br />
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Science is advanced by experts who publish new findings, and readers who then evaluate the conclusions and how they fit into the existing body of knowledge. We welcome all contributions to knowledge. But scientific studies should be read with care, so their claims can be understood, and so we can determine how the findings fit with what was previously understood. And these findings don’t fit.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwxlE3OFJVZOnOh4kzcpV2LcxPOOHqEcoUB-5ym-gheLH_zQbfoCDkTRvI1BJiA9VvvjIGmY4gv3FNVwPAaD7rEMLvkGNefVJGLgZZzcbkVW4JpsGOcs2k7x4LA_nfHA7M3nsK/s1600/Three+Mile+Island+Generating+Station+-+December+2004+-+Exelon+Nuclear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Three Mile Island" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1536" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwxlE3OFJVZOnOh4kzcpV2LcxPOOHqEcoUB-5ym-gheLH_zQbfoCDkTRvI1BJiA9VvvjIGmY4gv3FNVwPAaD7rEMLvkGNefVJGLgZZzcbkVW4JpsGOcs2k7x4LA_nfHA7M3nsK/s640/Three+Mile+Island+Generating+Station+-+December+2004+-+Exelon+Nuclear.jpg" title="Three Mile Island" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station</td></tr>
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Despite what a reader might assume from a news headline, this paper does <i>not</i> assert that Three Mile Island is the cause of any cancers. It goes off in a new direction, in ways that may not be obvious to a reader unfamiliar with previous work in the area.<br />
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The scientific consensus is that examination of a tumor, and its DNA, does not conclusively tell you what caused the tumor to develop. The other is that extensive work, in scientific and engineering disciplines far distant from medical science, has concluded the amount of radioactive material released from the reactor building during the Three Mile Island accident in March, 1979, was very small, and that doses to people in the region were minuscule, adding a tiny increment to the natural background exposure.<br />
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To be sure, the researchers made only limited claims. They did not say anything, for example, about whether that part of Pennsylvania saw any increase in thyroid cases. (Other studies show that it didn’t.)<br />
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They wisely pointed to some shortcomings of their study: Small sample size, and among the sample tumor material that they could gather, the inability to definitively analyze the genetics of some of the material. There were only 15 people in what they called the “at risk” group. They couched their conclusions with conditional terms like “may” and “likely,” but called for more study.<br />
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But one basic problem is that you cannot look at a tissue sample and say that radiation was the cause of the tumor. The human thyroid is potentially vulnerable because the thyroid naturally concentrates iodine that is present in the environment, and reactors create a form of iodine that is radioactive. There are some publications suggesting that some of the genetic mutations that are discernible in tumors are more prevalent in people who have been exposed to very large amounts of radioactive iodine. But this is not generally accepted as definite.<br />
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Plus, experience has shown that radioactive iodine is only likely to cause cancer in one category of people: children. Even among A-Bomb survivors, the group that had excess thyroid tumors was 21 and under. Tumors in this study were taken from people in the Three Mile Island area with an average age of 28.<br />
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There is another problem with the sample, in addition to its small size. All the patients in the sample were treated in only one facility, in Hershey. There are many other facilities which would treat thyroid cancer. And people living in the area did not always stay there; they would leave the area (to go to college etc.). So the “at risk” population is not well defined.<br />
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Perhaps most important of all, the maximum possible doses in the Three Mile Island area were approximately 1,000 times smaller than those we believe can cause cancer, because releases of iodine were very small. The Penn State researchers did not make any statement about the level of dose.<br />
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<i>The above is a guest post from Jerry Hiatt, senior project manager of radiation and materials safety at NEI.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-79411715189078417872017-05-25T08:47:00.001-04:002017-05-25T08:47:14.936-04:00Why America Needs the MOX FacilityIf Isaiah had been a nuclear engineer, he’d have loved this project. And the Trump Administration should too, despite the proposal to eliminate it in the FY 2018 budget.<br />
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The project is a <a href="https://www.moxproject.com/" target="_blank">massive factory</a> near Aiken, S.C., that will take plutonium from the government’s arsenal and turn it into fuel for civilian power reactors. The plutonium, made by the United States during the Cold War in a competition with the Soviet Union, is now surplus, and the United States and the Russian Federation jointly agreed to reduce their stocks, to reduce the chance of its use in weapons. Over two thousand construction workers, technicians and engineers are at work to enable the transformation. <br />
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Carrying Isaiah’s “swords into plowshares” vision into the nuclear field did not originate with plutonium. In 1993, the United States and Russia began a 20-year program to take weapons-grade uranium out of the Russian inventory, dilute it to levels appropriate for civilian power plants, and then use it to produce electricity in American reactors. For years, half the fuel used by American power reactors was purchased from the Russian weapons program. <br />
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Then in 1996, three years after that program began, the Energy Department declared that it would take substantial quantities of plutonium out of its inventory. Most would be converted to reactor fuel, just as the bomb-grade uranium was. The National Academy of Sciences had recommended that method in 1994. After the uranium or plutonium has been used in a power reactor, a little bit of it remains in the fuel assemblies but it is not suitable for weapons use. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik9xwdHo853a3GZ4vCqXVczJlcSJr8oGRz5oclzFllqpyMvDNGHz8-tuItptmRKkHSbCFzeLlV6d4z3P6Zyv35oxp3u3JiaidLlz1Siufh7lNGCzFS8sPrzzU5XyM4fKDTNxUa/s1600/neo_mariaMOX3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik9xwdHo853a3GZ4vCqXVczJlcSJr8oGRz5oclzFllqpyMvDNGHz8-tuItptmRKkHSbCFzeLlV6d4z3P6Zyv35oxp3u3JiaidLlz1Siufh7lNGCzFS8sPrzzU5XyM4fKDTNxUa/s1600/neo_mariaMOX3.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maria Korsnick toured the MOX Facility in Sept. 2016.</td></tr>
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In 2000, the United States and the Russian Federation reached an agreement, under which each would dispose of at least 34 tons of plutonium, an amount that could be made into thousands of warheads. In 2010 the two sides agreed that the plutonium would be turned into reactor fuel, a blending of uranium oxides and plutonium oxides, in ceramic form, called Mixed Oxide fuel, and known as MOx.<br />
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But four years ago, the Obama administration had second thoughts. The uranium had been easier to convert than the plutonium, and in the face of delays in getting the factory built, the Energy Department said it was looking at other options.<br />
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To date, though, DOE has not decided on a viable alternative path, and the United States remains obligated to follow the agreement with the Russian Federation to render the plutonium unsuitable for weapons use. <br />
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Former Senator Richard Lugar, co-author of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program for reducing the risk of nuclear weapons material going astray, <a href="http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/10/dont-mothball-the-mox-000297" target="_blank">said in a blog post</a> that it would be wrong to bury the material or find some other way of disposing of it. “The Russians have long opposed burying the plutonium because it doesn’t really destroy the material, as burning the MOX in a reactor does—it can be retrieved and reused for nuclear weapons purposes.”<br />
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“Given current tensions with Russia, any renegotiation of the plutonium agreement could require us to make costly or damaging concessions,’’ he wrote. “Stopping the MOX facility now would derail one of the most important accomplishments in modern U.S.-Russian relations.”<br />
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Bill Richardson, secretary of energy during the Clinton administration, <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/former-secretary-of-energy-richardson-keep-nonproliferation-commitments-by-completing-the-mox-facility-300148831.html" target="_blank">said in a statement</a>, “There is tension in the U.S.-Russian relationship, and we don't need to add more by jeopardizing the plutonium agreement.<br />
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Former Senator Slade Gorton, Republican of Washington, said the idea to give up on the factory was an example of “<a href="http://www.nucleartownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Gorton.pdf" target="_blank">inside politics and unwise budget maneuvers</a>.” Failing to finish the job, he said, would be “extremely disappointing and risky to U.S. national security.”<br />
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Plutonium has always been used in uranium-based reactors. Although they are loaded with uranium fuel, only about five percent of the uranium is uranium 235, what physicists call “fissile,” the kind that splits easily. The rest nearly all of that uranium is uranium 238, which is very hard to split in the type of reactor operated in the United States. But uranium 238 is what physicists call “fertile,” meaning that if hit by a neutron, the sub-atomic particle that is released in fission and sustains the chain reaction, it will often absorb that neutron. It then coverts into plutonium 239, which is fissile. And some of that plutonium is then split, as fuel. <br />
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Some U.S. commercial reactors were designed to accept loading with a mixture of uranium and plutonium fuel, although that mixture is not commonly used in this country. Reactors that were designed for uranium fuel can accept plutonium with a few adjustments to their control systems. <br />
Anticipating the operation of the South Carolina MOx fuel factory, important progress has been made over the years. Duke used four test assemblies in its Catawba 1 reactor for 36 months, ending in May, 2008. For that test, U.S. plutonium was sent to France, which has extensive experience using MOx in civilian reactors. <br />
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Isaiah was about 2,700 years too early for modern physics, and would not recognize any of this. But we can be confident he’d have endorsed the concept. He was, arguably, advocating for arms control. <br />
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<i>The above is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mattlwald" target="_blank">@MattLWald</a>.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-58515060018463363942017-05-18T10:46:00.002-04:002017-05-18T13:15:59.570-04:00Nuclear Is a Long-Term Investment for Ohio that Will Pay BigWith 50 different state legislative calendars, more than half of them adjourn by June, and those still in session throughout the year usually take a recess in the summer. So springtime is prime time for state legislative activity. In the next few weeks, legislatures are hosting hearings and calling for votes on bills that have been battered back and forth in the capital halls.<br />
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On Tuesday, <a href="http://www.ohiohouse.gov/committee/public-utilities" target="_blank">The Ohio Public Utilities Committee</a> hosted its third round of hearings on the Zero Emissions Nuclear Resources Program, House Bill 178, and NEI’s Maria Korsnick testified before a jam-packed room of legislators.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglraY-MLBD4TXH1FiL79JDQgqpmuYsIdEYb1yfGpfszN84mYrLTzBpMnOvIggAoJD-2SWZAmPqTKnFm5oObgzi4R7nyW8Y6S9UZOC32117r-AFz4f-ZhdAtx-T450GDXYcg9-8/s1600/Davis-Besse_aerial_02+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglraY-MLBD4TXH1FiL79JDQgqpmuYsIdEYb1yfGpfszN84mYrLTzBpMnOvIggAoJD-2SWZAmPqTKnFm5oObgzi4R7nyW8Y6S9UZOC32117r-AFz4f-ZhdAtx-T450GDXYcg9-8/s640/Davis-Besse_aerial_02+%25281%2529.jpg" title="Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station</td></tr>
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Washingtonians parachuting into state debates can be a tricky platform, but in this case, <a href="https://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/News-Archives/NEI-Chief-Testifies-on-Nuclear-Value-to-Ohio-Legis" target="_blank">Maria’s remarks provided national perspective that put the Ohio conundrum into context</a>. At the heart of this debate is the impact nuclear plants have on local jobs and the local economy, and that nuclear assets should be viewed as “long-term investments” for the state. Of course, clean air and electrons don’t recognize state boundaries, meaning the Ohio legislature’s decision impacts the entire region and the nuclear energy industry broadly.<br />
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I particularly enjoyed the Q&A between Maria and the legislators where she was able to provide a firsthand account from what she’s learning in her global nuclear dialogues. Maria described a bleak picture, saying that the U.S. is losing its leadership role in the global nuclear market because as other countries build 60 new reactors, here we are stuck debating preserving our existing fleet. When she was asked why should we trust technology from the 1950s, Maria explained the <a href="https://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-frontline-nuclear-aftershocks-and.html" target="_blank">constant upgrades the industry invests in</a> stating, “Don’t judge by age, judge by <a href="https://www.nei.org/Master-Document-Folder/Publications-and-Brochures/Nuclear-Performance-Monthly/Nuclear-Performance-Monthly" target="_blank">performance</a>.”<br />
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It was a good day in Ohio for nuclear.<br />
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<i>The above is a guest post from Christine Csizmadia, director of state governmental affairs and advocacy at NEI. Follow Christine on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/CCsizmadia" target="_blank">@CCsizmadia</a>.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-3631572995041339462017-05-15T06:30:00.000-04:002017-05-17T11:24:17.913-04:00Why #NEA17 Is at the Intersection of Nuclear’s Present and FutureNuclear power is working for America. On May 22, hundreds of engineers, scientists, plant operators, entrepreneurs and students will gather in Scottsdale, at the annual <a href="https://www.nei.org/Conferences/Annual-Nuclear-Industry-Conference-and-Nuclear-Sup" target="_blank">Nuclear Energy Assembly</a>, to talk about the multiple benefits that our technology provides, and the challenges and opportunities ahead.<br />
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In preparation, <a href="https://twitter.com/mattlwald?lang=en" target="_blank">NEI's Matt Wald</a> sat down recently with <a href="http://www.lenkakollar.com/" target="_blank">Lenka Kollar</a>, the director of business strategy at <a href="http://www.nuscalepower.com/" target="_blank">NuScale Power</a>, the company that submitted the <a href="https://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/News-Archives/NuScale-Makes-History-with-Filing-for-SMR-Design-A" target="_blank">first application for design certification of a small modular reactor</a>. Lenka will be a panelist on the first day of the conference.<br />
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NuScale is one of several companies working on small modular reactors, reactors that can be built in a factory and then shipped by barge, rail or truck to sites around the country or the world. It’s not quite plug-and-play, but it’s closer to it than anything the nuclear industry has done so far. NuScale is further down the path to deployment than others; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently accepted for review the company’s application for design certification.<br />
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Lenka described the significance of NuScale’s approach. “Nuclear energy doesn’t have to be what people think it is,” she said. “It’s usually thought of as baseload power that is not flexible, and what we’re creating is something that is far more flexible and can meet the diverse energy needs here in the U.S. and abroad.’’<br />
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The Nuclear Energy Assembly, she said, will be an intersection of the existing and the new. That will be true on stage, in the <a href="https://www.nei.org/CorporateSite/media/filefolder/Conferences/NEA/Available-Booths.pdf" target="_blank">Expo Hall</a> and in the hallways.<br />
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<a href="http://azgovernor.gov/" target="_blank">Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona</a> will address the meeting and talk about nuclear power as an element of Arizona’s infrastructure. Kristine Svinicki, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Colette Honorable, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, will speak, as will José Gutiérrez, the interim president and chief executive officer of Westinghouse, and Ray Rothrock, a venture capitalist who specializes in high-tech energy firms. Rear Admiral Michael W. Hewitt (USN, ret.), will speak on nuclear power as a component of American global leadership. <br />
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Also speaking will be <a href="https://clearpath.org/about-us/rich-powell" target="_blank">Rich Powell</a>, the executive director of the <a href="https://clearpath.org/" target="_blank">ClearPath Foundation</a>, a non-profit that focuses on energy and environment. In a recent video, Rich explained a topic that is slightly nerdy (his word) but very important: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol_9kZvAkA4&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">how electricity prices are set in the wholesale electric market in the “deregulated” states</a>. Market policy is set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (At the moment, that body does not have a quorum. It’s one of several agencies important to nuclear power that needs re-populating.)<br />
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We look forward to seeing you in Scottsdale. If you can’t attend, follow the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NEA17&src=typd&lang=en" target="_blank">conversation on Twitter using #NEA17</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NuclearEnergyInstitute/" target="_blank">watch select panels live on our Facebook page</a>.NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-57290088008337519482017-04-27T10:13:00.000-04:002017-04-27T13:33:42.887-04:00What's the FERC Technical Conference About and Why Is It So Important?Here in a Washington that's preoccupied with political spectacle, it can be easy to miss important details about the business of government that really matter. One of those is coming up next week when the <a href="https://www.ferc.gov/" target="_blank">Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)</a> holds a <a href="https://www.ferc.gov/CalendarFiles/20170303172159-AD17-11-000TC.pdf" target="_blank">two-day technical conference about electricity markets in the Northeastern U.S. </a><br />
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Since policymakers in Washington have not been able to find consensus on a comprehensive energy policy for the country, states have shown leadership in trying to ensure that the electricity system of the future will meet their needs. For some time, state governments have adopted renewable portfolio standards (RPS) to spur the growth of wind and solar to meet environmental policy goals. More recently, <a href="https://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/News-Archives/How-States-Are-Backing-Pro-Nuclear-Energy-Policies" target="_blank">states like Illinois and New York have enacted similar programs to preserve nuclear power plants</a>, in order to support nuclear energy's unique package of grid stability, zero emissions and fuel supply diversity.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhX_y0shainneqSU5XwciGwmfBjyo1hrdatq6iIDvarwgkigwmm-MM72D21-RUjYjX8lVzybRWhyzB9zeSfZPqZpUss1yXuz6_sIJS9Anu4gtApfC46sdUHku0CQUfMmItVv-/s1600/NEI_2017_AnnualUpdate_Page_29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Illinois Future Energy Jobs Bill preserves more than 4,000 jobs" border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhX_y0shainneqSU5XwciGwmfBjyo1hrdatq6iIDvarwgkigwmm-MM72D21-RUjYjX8lVzybRWhyzB9zeSfZPqZpUss1yXuz6_sIJS9Anu4gtApfC46sdUHku0CQUfMmItVv-/s640/NEI_2017_AnnualUpdate_Page_29.jpg" title="Illinois Future Energy Jobs Bill preserves more than 4,000 jobs" width="640" /></a></div>
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How these state policies are implemented can be complicated as many states participate in competitive electricity markets that are intended to figure out which power plants should run to maintain reliability at a reasonable cost. This conference will help FERC explore the best ways for markets to work in concert with state policies to achieve broader goals. Next week, when all of the stakeholders get together in Washington, the folks at FERC will be listening intently in order to be able to chart a sensible path forward. </div>
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Of particular interest to us are the programs in New York and Illinois that have valued nuclear plants in those states for avoiding emissions. From where we sit, it seems clear that state programs like an RPS or these more recent Clean Energy Standards programs that include nuclear energy are all pursuing the same broad goal of environmental protection. In terms of policy intent, they aren't really different at all, and if you support one, it would be counter-productive not to support them all.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9WlGdQqMxu2bRKPccNYdGXkbJ6Zh_ZLHIwMEfnRLQENk8c6zqd-z_bvDRo_dpIiJcWahww_gmemTWU_-Aws7I0AnzUlefBOlt3RSQ1HVc3Y9BHPQfcXmFMGl0kBGvmDXbq4He/s1600/NEI_2017_AnnualUpdate_Page_28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="New York Clean Energy Standard saves consumers $1 billion each year" border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9WlGdQqMxu2bRKPccNYdGXkbJ6Zh_ZLHIwMEfnRLQENk8c6zqd-z_bvDRo_dpIiJcWahww_gmemTWU_-Aws7I0AnzUlefBOlt3RSQ1HVc3Y9BHPQfcXmFMGl0kBGvmDXbq4He/s640/NEI_2017_AnnualUpdate_Page_28.jpg" title="New York Clean Energy Standard saves consumers $1 billion each year" width="640" /></a></div>
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So why is this so important now? When the electric markets were established in this area of the country, grid operators had spent decades planning and making wise investments in order to support both reasonable prices for customers as well as reliable service. Supporting that was a commitment to diversity of fuel supply that kept the lights on and prices stable. </div>
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What's changed is that the arrival of cheap natural gas has forced prices so low that the diversity of supply we've taken for granted is under threat. And when it comes to natural gas, history has told us that what might look like a glut today can evolve into a frightening shortage tomorrow. It's up to staff and leadership at FERC to take a longer-term view and make prudent decisions today to hedge against inevitable risks tomorrow. We'll be paying close attention to the conversation next week and in the months to follow. You should too.</div>
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<i>The above is a post from Matt Crozat, senior director of business policy at NEI.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-55005082348318979752017-04-21T13:37:00.000-04:002017-04-21T13:42:24.707-04:00An Ohio School Board Is Working to Save Nuclear PlantsOhio faces a decision soon about its two nuclear reactors, Davis-Besse and Perry, and on Wednesday, neighbors of one of those plants issued a cry for help.<br />
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The reactors’ problem is that the price of electricity they sell on the high-voltage grid is depressed, mostly because of a surplus of natural gas. And the reactors do not get any revenue for the other benefits they provide. Some of those benefits are regional – emissions-free electricity, reliability with months of fuel on-site, and diversity in case of problems or price spikes with gas or coal, state and federal payroll taxes, and national economic stimulus as the plants buy fuel, supplies and services. Some of the benefits are highly localized, including employment and property taxes.<br />
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One locality is already feeling the pinch: Oak Harbor on Lake Erie, home to Davis-Besse. The town has a middle school in a building that is 106 years old, and an elementary school from the 1950s, and on May 2 was scheduled to have a referendum on issuing bonds to replace both in a modern building. Parts of the old buildings look stately but the concrete is crumbling, and they do not meet modern needs for security, access or 21st century instructional methods. But the school board, seeing the uncertainty, canceled the vote.<br />
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<a href="https://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/News-Archives/NEI-Study-Davis-Besse-Plant-Generates-1-1-Billion" target="_blank">Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station employs 700 people full time, with an average annual pay of $86,000 before benefits.</a> Keeping it in production will generate nearly $30 billion in economic output to the state.<br />
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Next week the legislature in Columbus is scheduled to begin hearings on a bill that would correct some of the market flaws, as New York and Illinois have done in the recent past, and as New Jersey and Connecticut are now considering.<br />
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On Wednesday night, the school board for the area including Oak Harbor passed this resolution:<br />
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<b><i>Resolution of the Board of Education of the Benton-Carroll-Salem Local School District</i></b><br />
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WHEREAS, nuclear power plants including the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor, Ohio, are facing unprecedented challenges related to competitive markets that don’t adequately compensate them for their unique contributions to our overall energy mix in Ohio; and,<br />
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WHEREAS, Davis-Besse employs more than 700 workers who earn high-paying wages, who in-turn support our local economy in many ways; and,<br />
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WHEREAS, Our local legislators and elected officials including Representative Steve Arndt and Senator Randy Gardner have recognized the importance of Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station and have championed the workers and families of the plant; and<br />
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WHEREAS, Davis-Besse is the largest employer and taxpayer in Ottawa County; and,<br />
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WHEREAS, the electricity produced by nuclear power helps to keep Ohio energy independent and attractive to new industry; and,<br />
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WHEREAS, Davis-Besse together with its sister plant in Ohio (Perry Nuclear Power Plant) provide 11% of the electricity produced in this state, and these two nuclear power plants together produce approximately 90% of Ohio’s carbon free electricity;<br />
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NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Benton-Carroll-Salem Local School District Board of Education supports the work of Ohio legislators as they work on plans to help preserve our state’s baseload nuclear plants known as the Zero Emission Nuclear Resource Program (ZEN).<br />
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Resolved this 19th day of April, 2017 at Oak Harbor, Ottawa County, Ohio<br />
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<i>The above is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mattlwald" target="_blank">@MattLWald</a>.</i></div>
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NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-42304043140363881602017-04-12T16:50:00.001-04:002017-04-21T11:44:22.761-04:00Why Ex-Im Bank Board Nominations Will Turn the Page on a Dysfunctional Chapter in Washington<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In our present era of political discord, could Washington agree to support an agency that creates thousands of American jobs by enabling U.S. companies of all sizes to compete in foreign markets? What if that agency generated nearly billions of dollars more in revenue than the cost of its operations and returned that money – $7 billion over the past two decades – to U.S. taxpayers? <br />
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In fact, that agency, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), was reauthorized by a large majority of Congress in 2015. To be sure, the matter was not without controversy. A bipartisan House coalition resorted to a rarely-used parliamentary maneuver in order to force a vote. But when Congress voted, Ex-Im Bank won a supermajority in the House and a large majority in the Senate.<br />
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For almost two years, however, Ex-Im Bank has been unable to function fully because a single Senate committee chairman prevented the confirmation of nominees to its Board of Directors. Without a quorum on its Board, Ex-Im Bank cannot approve transactions valued at over $10 million. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/opinion/an-easy-trade-win-for-trump.html" target="_blank">About 40 transactions</a>, worth $30 billion in U.S. products and supporting thousands of American jobs, have been stuck in the pipeline.<br />
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Now it appears that<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/finance/328547-trump-throws-support-behind-ex-im-bank" target="_blank"> President Trump is stepping in to get things moving again</a>, which is good news for exports, especially commercial nuclear exports. The following comes from <i>The Wall Street Journal</i> within the hour:<br />
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The president said he planned to fill two vacancies on the bank's board. ‘It's a very good thing. And it actually makes money, it could make a lot of money,’ he said.</blockquote>
Because most nuclear energy transactions exceed $10 million, the absence of a quorum on the Ex-Im Board has effectively shut the Bank down for nuclear energy exports. Nuclear energy tenders commonly exceed the $10 million threshold and almost always require export credit agency backing in order to bid. Not just large suppliers are suffering the absence of Ex-Im Bank. <a href="https://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/News-Archives/Why-American-Nuclear-Exporters-Need-the-Ex-Im-Bank" target="_blank">Small nuclear energy suppliers can have contracts in excess of $10 million and also lose smaller contracts as sub-suppliers for larger projects.</a><br />
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The lack of a quorum is causing other unintended harms. It has prevented Ex-Im Bank from implementing four key reforms approved by Congress in the 2015 reauthorization legislation. <a href="http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-trade/2017/04/a-funding-shortfall-is-on-the-horizon-for-ex-im-219685" target="_blank">And the loss of revenue from its large transactions is beginning to undermine the Bank’s self-sufficiency. </a><br />
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Today’s announcement by the President is great news for U.S. exporters of all sizes, especially in the nuclear energy industry, for which Ex-Im Bank support is vital.<br />
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Though the nominations have yet to be announced, this is also great news for U.S. national interests beyond the economic. By enabling U.S. nuclear energy exports, Ex-Im Bank strengthens the energy security of U.S. partners that are over-reliant on imports of natural gas from unreliable countries. And it advances U.S. global influence on such critical issues as global nuclear safety, security and nonproliferation.<br />
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</i> <i>The above is a guest post from <a href="https://twitter.com/TJinDC" target="_blank">Ted Jones</a>, director of supplier programs at NEI. </i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-81612056351606152752017-04-05T12:09:00.001-04:002017-04-21T10:25:12.072-04:00Holtec Applies for License for CIS Facility in New Mexico<div style="text-align: left;">
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Storage of used nuclear fuel today is safe and secure, but scattered. However, a consolidated “interim storage” facility appears likely in the next few years, where the material would cool slowly inside sealed casks while the government prepares a burial spot.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://holtecinternational.com/" target="_blank">Holtec International</a>, one of the builders of those casks, will discuss later today its recent application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to build a <a href="https://holtecinternational.com/productsandservices/hi-store-cis/">“consolidated interim storage”</a> facility on a 1,000-acre patch of land half-way between Hobbs and Carlsbad, New Mexico. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The project aligns with key aspects of industry’s <a href="https://www.nei.org/Master-Document-Folder/Backgrounders/Policy-Briefs/Policy-Principles-for-Used-Nuclear-Fuel-Management">principles for the management of used fuel</a>. One was the establishment of an interim facility so the casks would not have to be monitored and guarded in scores of different locations. The other was that the project have the support of its host community and state. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In this case, the land was bought by two New Mexico counties, Eddy and Lea, with just this use in mind, and <a href="http://www.currentargus.com/story/news/local/2016/02/05/eddy-lea-alliance-moves-nuclear-storage-site/79893524/">Holtec has won approval</a> to buy it. State and local governments are on board. (The region already has a uranium enrichment plant, in Hobbs, and a deep geologic repository for radioactive waste from government operations, in Carlsbad.)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://holtec.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/hi-store-map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The ELEA site in New Mexico." border="0" height="340" src="https://holtec.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/hi-store-map.png" title="The ELEA site in New Mexico." width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">The ELEA site in New Mexico.</td></tr>
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The land is 35 miles from the nearest human habitation. Holtec’s plan calls for shallow land burial, for easy retrievability. There is no threat to ground water, local birds, or, as Holtec puts it, “critters that inhabit the land.”</div>
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The facility has space for 10,000 canisters, which could hold 120,000 metric tons of used fuel. The total American inventory is approaching 80,000 tons, and growing by about 2,000 tons a year. At the moment the legal limit for emplacement at <a href="https://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/News-Archives/Draft-SEIS-Confirms-Yucca-Mountain-Sound">Yucca Mountain</a>, the government’s preferred location for permanent disposal, is 70,000 tons, but scientists say that the actual physical limit is at least four times higher. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The need for consolidated storage has grown because establishment of a permanent burial spot has been slowed down by politics. The Department of Energy, under contracts it signed with the utilities in the 1980s, promised to start accepting fuel for disposal in January 1998, but it is not clear now when it will actually do so. While the law calls for the Energy Department to build a permanent repository, and allows for an interim facility while the permanent one is being built, the permanent or interim facility would be <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/cis.html">licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission</a>, or NRC. The NRC already has extensive experience in licensing casks for storage of fuel on reactor sites. (Utilities have used dry storage since 1986.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://holtec.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/photo-2.jpg?w=2252" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The proposed ELEA storage facility occupies 50 acres." border="0" height="360" src="https://holtec.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/photo-2.jpg?w=2252" title="The proposed ELEA storage facility occupies 50 acres." width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">The proposed ELEA storage facility occupies 50 acres.<br />
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The New Mexico project has a competitor that is slightly further along. <a href="http://www.wcstexas.com/" target="_blank">Waste Control Specialists</a>, a company in Andrews, Texas, on the New Mexico border, which is already licensed for permanent disposal of low level waste, <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/cis/waste-control-specialist.html">applied a year ago for permission to take used fuel on an interim basis.</a></div>
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That project, too, has strong local support. The county commissioners voted to endorse it late last year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The NRC said last year that it would take about three years to review the application. <span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The material to be stored is sometimes referred to as nuclear waste. In fact, leaders of the communities in Texas and New Mexico that are volunteering to store the casks are among those who believe that in coming decades, the judgment will be different. The used fuel can be reprocessed, to extract elements in the fuel that have high energy value. Existing reactors can use the plutonium that was created in the fuel during reactor operation, and reactors on the drawing boards could use other components. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That possibility was recognized by Congress when it chose Yucca Mountain. Material placed there is intended to be retrievable for decades into the future.</div>
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And the prospects for a permanent repository have improved in the last few weeks. Work on the government’s preferred alternative, Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles from Las Vegas, halted during the Obama administration because of opposition from then-Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who served as leader of the Senate Democrats. But the Trump administration has proposed allocating money to re-start the licensing procedure.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The above is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mattlwald">@MattLWald</a>.</i>NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-74923899604059050542017-03-30T12:04:00.001-04:002017-03-30T12:04:30.442-04:00Critical American Jobs: Vacancies President Trump and the Senate Need to Fill ASAPWhen a new president takes office, there is always a lot on the White House’s plate. But recently 93 members of the House of Representatives sent President Trump a letter asking him to move one particular issue higher on the list: picking new members for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, so that body can resume its crucial work of overseeing energy infrastructure.<br />
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The members of Congress are correct about that agency, known as FERC, but it is not the only part of government that is short-handed.<br />
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FERC is supposed to have five members, but the number had dwindled to three, and recently one of the three quit, so <a href="https://www.ferc.gov/about/com-mem.asp" target="_blank">FERC is not able to muster a quorum</a>.<br />
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FERC does many jobs. The one most important to the nuclear industry is oversight of the Independent System Operators, the non-profit companies that run the electricity markets and operate the electric grid over most of the country. Those markets have serious problems but, with FERC out of action, proposed reforms will have to wait. So will a variety of other areas controlled by FERC, including approval of new gas pipelines.<br />
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The letter was initiated by Tim Walberg, a Michigan Republican who serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Greg Walden, Republican of Oregon, the chairman of that committee, and Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan, the chairman of the subcommittee on energy, recently sent a separate letter.<br />
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Another five-seat body that is important to the American energy industry, the <a href="http://www.exim.gov/about/leadership/board-of-directors" target="_blank">Export-Import Bank, is nearly paralyzed by its lack of a quorum</a>. Loans over $10 million require a vote by its board, and it has not had a quorum for over a year. American exporters of all kinds, including those who seek to sell nuclear equipment, are competing with overseas companies whose governments can approve loans; ours can’t. Fixing the problem would create high-quality American jobs quickly.<br />
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<a href="https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/commfuncdesc.html" target="_blank">The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has only three of five commissioner seats filled</a>, and will be down to two at the end of June unless the White House and the Senate act.<br />
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If the NRC falls below a quorum of three, the chairperson will function as a single administrator. Other agencies work well that way and the NRC would certainly continue to do a good job, but the public interest is best served by having a commission fully staffed by well-qualified individuals.<br />
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Vacancies threaten the government’s continuity of operations. The issue is not really partisan. There is a long-standing formula in place for dividing the seats among members of the majority party and the minority party. But it requires White House action and Senate follow-up.<br />
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And it requires time. Nominees must have background checks, and then the Senate votes.<br />
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Starting on this soon would be a good idea.<br />
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<i>The above is a guest post from Matt Wald, senior communications advisor at NEI. Follow Matt on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/mattlwald" target="_blank">@MattLWald</a>.</i></div>
NEI Digital Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14677948766420983469noreply@blogger.com0