NEI Nuclear Notes

I don't have it in front of me, but the filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein once wrote something close to "Once montage was everything; now it is nothing." Montage is editing and its use a major feature of Soviet (and Eisenstein's) silent cinema. But montage as Eisenstein used it allowed for ambiguity and Stalin's regime found that threatening. Thus came Socialist realism and many years of stodgy filmmaking (and art in general) and, most alarmingly, Eisenstein's attempt to fit himself to the new model with the essay that contains that sentence. Eisenstein's mea culpa may not encapsulate a philosophy to live by - being and nothingness writ large - but it might well illuminate some of the more puzzling aspects of the world around us. For example, consider the debate on Lieberman-Warner bill, which yesterday devolved into partisan bickering and maneuvering for advantage. Before then, though, you got a good sense of everything and nothing in action. Here is Bar...

We watch the Senate debate the Lieberman-Warner bill so you don't have to. What you're missing today: listening to paint dry. Senate Republicans have requested that the entire bill—all 492 pages—be read into the record. At this pace, clerks should be done sometime by midnight. Congress: working hard to earn that 19% public approval rating .

As the IT folks in Senator Warner's office are undoubtedly really busy, below is a transcription of a draft of the Warner amendment. According to Sen. Warner , his proposed amendment will be the first one to be offered up, and will likely be introduced Wednesday morning. AMENDMENT NO. ____ CALENDAR NO. _____ Purpose: To modify a subtitle relating to low- and zero- carbon electricity technology. To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program to decrease emissions of greenhouse gases, and for other purposes. AMENDMENTS intended to be proposed by Mr. Warner (for himself and Mr. Lieberman) + Sen. Carper [D-DEL]. Viz: On page 164, strike line 15 and insert the following: (c) EDUCATION AND TRAINING - For each Beginning on page 181, strike line 1 and all that follows through page 183, line 3, and insert the following: SEC. 536 EDUCATION AND TRAINING (a) Definition of Applicable Period -- In this section, the term "applicable period" me...

"Leave no fuel behind," says the Progressive Policy Institute . In her policy report, Finding Common Ground on Cap and Trade , Jan Maruzek , senior scholar at PPI, "advances three principles to help break the present impasse over how to price carbon emissions, how to allocate emissions permits, and how to weigh nuclear power's contribution to America's clean-energy portfolio." PPI on nuclear's role, When it comes to clean energy, silver bullets are few and far between. The business of making solar panels, particularly in China, relies on a slew of toxic chemicals. The economic and environmental downsides of biofuels made from food products are coming to light. Renewable sources, while extraordinarily promising, are simply not yet capable of supplying energy in remotely the same quantities as coal, which presently provides 50 percent of U.S. electricity. Nuclear power generates electricity with no CO2 emissions, but any expansion of this industry begs the...

In a joint press conference with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. John Warner (R-VA) has said, There is no solution to our energy problem without enhanced nuclear participation. And so this amendment...I'm going to put on, hopefully, as the very first amendment. Again, it states, this where we are in nuclear power. Let's do everything to help the current instruction to get started towards adding more plants. We recognize today much of a plant being built in the near future will be manufactured overseas. Let's put an end to that. We also recognize that when this country shut off all of its effort to go forward with nuclear power a dozen or more years ago, young people turned to other professions. We've got to incentivize them to get the education and do what is necessary so they can join as technology moves forward for safe nuclear power. Update : Links to the proposed Warner amendment and a transcript of the presser will be added as soon as...

In yet another sign that Lieberman-Warner is DOA, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has announced that he will not be present when the Senate begins debate on the Lieberman Warner Climate Security Act next week. From The Washington Post , In a press conference late Wednesday afternoon, McCain said he did not support the bill sponsored by two of his closest allies, Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.) because it doesn't offer enough aid to the nuclear industry, and he would not come to the floor to vote on it. "I have not been there for a number of votes. The same thing happened in the campaign of 2000," he said. "The people of Arizona understand I'm running for president." While he backs the idea of a mandatory limit on greenhouse gases, he added, he's "been disappointed so far there has not been a robust" provision in the bill for greenhouse gases.

Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) much-anticipated " Boxer substitute " to the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act has just been released (sub. req'd). To no one's surprise, the nuclear industry does not get much play. However, according to Congress Daily 's Darren Goode , Senator Boxer "may be amenable to provisions regarding training of workers, keeping production in America and nuclear safety." In the coming days, Sen. Joe Lieberman (Independent Democrat-CT) and Sen. John Warner (R-VA) are expected to unveil an amendment that "would aim to increase nuclear engineers and other workers and improve the financing and purchasing of [nuclear power plant] equipment." From CongressDaily , Warner said the nuclear section “will be the focal point of a lot of attention.” He said their plan will serve as a “building block” for others to work on during the floor debate. Lieberman said he and Warner are not addressing the speeding up of nuclear facility...