NEI Nuclear Notes

Is the nation beginning to head a new direction on how to manage its used nuclear fuel? Here's the direction Senator Domenici thinks we should go : The Senate’s longtime champion of nuclear energy said today that other communities, not just Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, should be considered for storing the nation’s nuclear waste. New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici’s comments this morning reflect Washington’s deep frustration over the Department of Energy’s endless delays at Yucca Mountain. The nuclear industry has quietly been soliciting other communities as potential hosts for a repository, and Domenici said he would introduce legislation that would free up money from the Yucca Mountain account to do just that. Doing so would represent a major policy shift on Yucca. The multi-billion-dollar Yucca fund is considered sacred, having been built from fees collected from ratepayers in states with nuclear energy. ... Domenici’s comments came as both Senate and House appropriators this ...

Jay Zawatsky proposes an energy plan that will solve a great many problems. At it's center is nuclear energy: How is nuclear power the cure to all that ails us? Here’s how: We import ten million barrels of oil every day. That costs us one billion dollars every day, adding $365 billion each year to our trade deficit. Nearly all of that imported petroleum goes into transportation fuels. Replacing all of the imported-oil horsepower with an equivalent amount of nuclear-generated power eliminates nearly 30 percent of the trade deficit. But how do you run cars on nuclear power? The answer can be found in two words: “hydrogen” and “hybrids.” Amusingly, the focus on nuclear energy proves a stalking horse for hydrogen production. This seems an odd approach and the author is identified only as chief executive officer of havePower , LLC. And what is that? According to its website: havePower is the nation’s leading hydrogen fuel cell systems design,...

Climate change (long term) and fluctuations in the weather (short term) confuse even people who should know better, so pinning down whether this industry or that can claim to be affected by one or perhaps the other becomes an issue of semantics over science. Climate change as an idea drifts into the abstract, with little that really has a practical impact beyond planning for longer beach seasons. Leave it to New Zealand to solve that problem: Jim Salinger, a climate scientist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, said climate change likely will cause a decline in the production of malting barley in parts of New Zealand and Australia. Malting barley is a key ingredient of beer. “It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up,” Mr. Salinger told the Institute of Brewing and Distilling convention. There you are. Could climate change be any more real?

From Georgia Power (subsidiary of Southern Co. ): Georgia Power, acting for itself and for Plant Vogtle's co-owners (Oglethorpe Power, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia [MEAG Power], and Dalton Utilities), entered into an Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract (EPC) with a consortium consisting of Westinghouse Electric Company LLC and The Shaw Group Inc.'s Power Group for the engineering, procurement and construction of two AP1000 nuclear units with electric generating capacity of approximately 1,100 megawatts each and related facilities. Georgia Power expects to submit the EPC to the Georgia Public Service Commission May 1, 2008 as a self-build option in connection with the company's 2016-2017 capacity request for proposal. ... Congratulations!

Watch out for an email coming in from various news sources (some come from “foxnews” or “google news”) that claims there was an issue at the “San Clemente Nucklear Power Station.” This is obviously a fake, especially if you are not signed up to receive email notifications from news sources. This is what the email said: Evacuation process has been started due to radiation leaks at San Clemente Nucklear Power Station. Message CNN, San Clemente, CA - Major Problems have been occured at San Clemente Nucklear Power Station - 20-year old circuit breaker fails to close, creating a 4,000-volt arc and fire . Possible radiation leaks on 100miles area. Evacuation process has been started See current videoclip:{Video clip link removed} Do not open the email or the clip. Hope no-one gets this.

Actually, not really. It looks like the 23-year-old male under question joked to a gas clerk that he "hoped he wouldn't blow up the place" on his first day . After an investigation involving multiple agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it was determined that it was just a misunderstanding. Around 7:17 a.m. a man walked into a convenience store located near the power plant and asked the clerk for directions to Nuclear Road, where the plant is located. The clerk gave him directions and the pair had a short conversation. As the man was leaving the store, the clerk heard him say that he "came to blow up the place." As the man left, the clerk got a description of the vehicle and subject and reported it to police. The Point Beach Nuclear Plant quickly took steps to make sure their facility was secure. Workers were evacuated for nearly three hours as officials pieced together the story. Using surveillance video at the gas station, investigators tr...

That's what AP is reporting from Westminster, Colorado : The state's second-largest utility is considering building a nuclear power plant in southeastern Colorado. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association has a site in Prowers County near Holly and water rights for a plant that could be either coal-fired or nuclear. Recently Tri-State's board of directors voted to have its staff study nuclear as a possibility and to pursue potential partners to help pay for construction. Update More info and comments at the DenverPost . Thanks to Atomic Rod for the pointer.