NEI Nuclear Notes

The April issue of Nuclear Energy Insight is now available online. The cover story features the Florida Public Service Commission's approval of two new reactors at Florida Power & Light Co.'s Turkey Point nuclear power plant. The issue also details two new-plant license applications and the Energy Information Administration's generation projections for 2030. Other articles include discussions of greenhouse gas emission reductions under Climate VISION, the completion of an historic construction project at Diablo Canyon, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's support for nuclear energy and an innovative approach to modeling future nuclear reactors in development at Idaho National Laboratory.

The latest issue of Nuclear Energy Insight is now available online. In it, you'll find an article on congressional approval of an energy bill that opens overseas markets for America's nuclear power suppliers. There also are reports on new-plant plans across the globe and the important role nuclear energy will play to cut greenhouse gases in New England. Other articles discuss the new-plant licensing process and fuel sources for next-generation reactors. The issue also profiles Jamina Vujic, chair of the nuclear engineering department at the University of California-Berkeley.

Details from the Hawaii Reporter .

Physical Insights is wondering why anyone still listens to her.

Our friends at Ontario Power Generation have started to post their own videos, including this basic explanation on how their CANDU reactors at Pickering generate electricity.

From Nuc Net: Australia has decided to change its foreign policy to allow the export of uranium to India, but only subject to a number of “strict conditions”, prime minister John Howard has announced. In a statement today Mr Howard said conditions for uranium exports to India, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), include: • Conclusion of a suitable safeguards agreement between India and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) covering all designated civil nuclear facilities; • A consensus decision by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to make an exception to its guidelines enabling international civil supply to India; • Conclusion of a bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement between India and the US; • Satisfactory progress in implementing India’s commitment to place designated civil nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards in perpetuity. Mr Howard said Australian uranium supply to India would also be conditional on the conclusion of a b...

Joseph Mangano , is at it again with his baby teeth act, this time in the pages of the Star-Ledger with an op-ed calling for the closing of Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant. One more time, here's the crux of our case against Mangano . Eight state departments of health have investigated Mangano's claims, and all eight states (Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Michigan) refused to validate them. Even better, here's what the New Jersey Commission on Radiation Protection had to say about Mangano's research: The Commission is of the opinion that "Radioactive Strontium-90 in Baby Teeth of New Jersey Children and the Link with Cancer: A Special Report," is a flawed report, with substantial errors in methodology and invalid statistics. As a result, any information gathered through this project would not stand up to the scrutiny of the scientific community. There is also no evidence to support the allegation that the ...

In coverage of TVA's decision to complete the Watts Bar 2 nuclear reactor , we saw a familiar charge get aired by anti-nuclear activists concerning nuclear energy and total life-cycle emissions. First, here's an account from Knox News : Anti-nuclear activists criticized the description of nuclear power as “clean,” pointing to the nuclear waste created and the energy-intensive process of mining and enriching uranium for nuclear fuel. “Nuclear power is not clean, and the idea that you all found no significant impacts on your environmental impact statement is a joke,” said Earth First! activist John Johnson, referring to a federally required environmental study released in June. Next, here's a familiar face in the Chattanooga Times Free-Press : Helen Caldicott, president of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute and founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, is one of the most vocal critics of TVA's decision. "I'm afraid this may be the beginning of a renai...

Details off the wire .

From Bloomberg : Germany's big four power companies including E.ON AG and RWE AG will be forced to improve the efficiency of their power plants under government plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions. Chancellor Angela Merkel, after talks in Berlin today with utility chief executives, said that she expects power plant productivity to be raised 3 percent each year from 2010, adding that progress would be monitored. With new energy-saving projects, the steps are vital to reducing national emissions by up to 40 percent by 2020, she said. ``It's clear that we have no choice but to act'' to combat global warming, Merkel told reporters in Berlin after the government's third energy summit. ``There is some doubt about whether our goals can be reached,'' she said, though the proposals are ``a reasonable path'' to achieving German targets. Merkel's decision to spearhead carbon dioxide reduction in the European Union adds pressure on the government to fulf...

Yesterday, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League ( BREDL ) unveiled a study that makes some startling claims about the community that hosts the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia: The number of people dying from cancer in Burke County is on the rise, and one group says a nuclear plant may be to blame. A new study released by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League shows the number of people dying of cancer in Burke County has shot up 25%, while the rest of country's cancer rate was on the decline. "If I lived in this county I'd want to know why these numbers are increasing," said Louis Zeller with Blue Ridge. [...] But the most startling statistic is the change in infant mortality. In Burke County the number of infant deaths increased 70% compared to the other surrounding counties in the CSRA . But even the backers of the study admit waste from other plants could be contributing to the problem. "It's like a crime being committed, but too many ...

The Green Bay Press-Gazette has an update on the proposed legislation we reported on last month concerning a possible lifting of the state's moratorium on new nuclear build : Some might consider the push for nuclear energy a step backward, but state Rep. Phil Montgomery says both can work together to build the energy supply. The Republican from Ashwaubenon, who co-authored the state's renewable energy bill last year and chairs a special task force on nuclear energy, said nuclear power provides a larger and more constant supply of electricity to Wisconsin's energy portfolio. He said climatic conditions vary energy output for wind and solar, making them "peaking powers." "What our task force showed is that nuclear is a vital part of that generating portfolio," Montgomery said. "And as plants and technology age, we are very much in a building mode again." Two weeks ago, the task force proposed legislation that would make it easier to introduce ne...

Greenpeace International recently issued a report titled “ The Economics of Nuclear Power ” (pdf). The four analysts (commissioned by Greenpeace) pulled cost information from 12 recent studies, analyzed how they differed, and even got into the breakdown and makeup of nuclear’s cost components. They discussed all the different reactor technologies and kept Greenpeace’s anti-nuclear spin to a minimum. Facts are facts and writers should not have to spin facts to bolster their arguments. With that being said, I have a few problems with the study. There are some contradictions in the report; it is a bit careless with the data; and the authors apparently have not fully thought out their alternative solutions. Contradictions in the Report From the press release : A new report published by a team of international energy and economic experts…conclusively proves that nuclear power is neither a practical nor economically viable solution to tackling climate change. I read the report before I read ...

Details from the Green Bay Press . For our post from last week, click here .

The reports I'm seeing now are sketchy and incomplete, but taken together the news is pretty clear: A special committee of the Wisconsin State Legislature created to study legislation that would end the state's 1983 nuclear construction moratorium has voted to recommend lifting the ban. Here's a clip from BusinessNorth.com : Greenhouse gas emissions from coal and oil fired power plants have people like liberal Democratic Representative Frank Boyle of Superior switching sides in favor of nuclear power. "If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be here advocating for the lifting of the ban on nuclear construction, I'd say you were crazy." Boyle says the danger of climate change has future generations facing catastrophe. "The time has some for nuclear proliferation in terms of energy plants versus continuing to fire up those generators with coal and gas and oil and produce a climatic effect of carbon loading the upper atmosphere that could ultimately ki...

Last Thursday, Eric reported on the nuclear debate in Canada , but he missed what I thought was the most interesting part of the article . The reporter said that there is a ... [N]uance creeping into the language of some environmentalists who are still far from sold on nuclear power. Even David Suzuki, the public face and living patron saint of the Canadian green movement, has raised eyebrows by declaring in at least two broadcast interviews that he doesn't take a "knee-jerk" position against nuclear energy, although he remains, for now at least, firmly opposed. In an email exchange with Maclean's , Suzuki explained his position. "I don't say unequivocally that nuclear is not an option. It may very well be sometime in the future," he wrote. "But right now, I think it's nuts to even suggest nuclear. It seems that I have heard a lot of similar talk south of the border. Antis want to appear to be open to reason. But to say that "it's nuts ...

From the Globe and Mail : The two companies that operate nuclear power plants in Ontario are seeking the green light to build up to eight new reactors, a far more ambitious plan than that touted by the McGuinty government. Energy Minister Dwight Duncan said last year that a large portion of the $40-billion it plans to spend addressing the province's looming electricity shortage would be earmarked for refurbishing existing nuclear reactors. He said only two new reactors would be built. However, Bruce Power and Ontario Power Generation have each applied to Canada's nuclear safety regulator to build four new reactors. Company officials played down their expansion plans, saying they merely give them the option of building new reactors or refurbishing existing ones. But the spectre of up to eight new reactors is fuelling concerns among nuclear-energy opponents that the province will be much more dependent on nuclear power than previously believed. Interesting. As always, this is so...

From Der Spiegel : The fact that the German government renounced nuclear energy in 2000 and pledged to take its last plant off the grid by 2020 might lead you to think that it would scale back its nuclear research programs. What, after all, is the point in spending money on developing a technology which is on its way out? However, the current administration seems reluctant to give up nuclear quite yet -- at least not totally. German Research Minister Annette Schavan raised eyebrows this week with her announcement to DER SPIEGEL that she would increase research spending between 2008 and 2011 by up to €40 million. Most of the money has been earmarked for young researchers working on nuclear waste storage and nuclear security issues. [...] Meanwhile, over at the Green Party -- which governed together with the Chancellor Gerhard Schröder when parliament approved the phaseout -- party boss Reinhard Bütikofer said he viewed the plan as an open provocation. "Each euro which is spent on d...

With the word out that some in the state would like to lift the moratorium on new nuclear build , the old line anti-nuke groups are planning some trouble .

Green Wombat looks at the possibilities. From the archives: An op-ed I wrote last year concerning myths and facts about nuclear energy that ran in the San Jose Mercury News; and a post noting that the Silicon Valley Leadership Group called on the state of California to re-examine its moratorium on new nuclear build .