Oddities and Counterintuitive Snow Fall

This comment from President Barack Obama struck us as a little odd:

He said Congress needs to pass a bill that includes Republican preferences such as incentives for nuclear energy and "clean coal" technology, as well as Democratic proposals for incentives to develop alternative energy sources like solar, biodiesel and geothermal energy.

"I think that on energy, there should be a bipartisan agreement that we have to take a both/and approach rather than either/or approach," Mr. Obama said.

Obama usually seems exceptionally clued in on partisan premises, but we’re not sure we’d divide the Republican and Democratic energy preferences this way – this formulation seems left over from the 70s.

We think Congress has demonstrated a fairly comprehensive embrace of clean air technology regardless of party affiliation. Maybe the comment seems odd given the President’s own touting of nuclear energy during the State of the Union. Obama usually has this about right.

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Speaking of odd, here’s a blog post from Chicago Tribune business writer Greg Burns:

The acquisition of Allegheny Energy by rival utility FirstEnergy Corp. shows how far cap-and-trade has fallen from the top of the nation's political agenda.

Allegheny gets 95 percent of its power from coal-fired plants, emitting 45 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to the blunt report here that the company prepared when cap-and-trade legislation still had momentum in early 2009. "This is a major challenge," the report concludes.

Apparently it's less of a challenge today. The $8.5 billion deal announced here Thursday includes a roughly one-third premium on Allegheny stock. That likely reflects how the potential threat of a government-sanctioned carbon-trading scheme has receded into the background.

We’re not major business buffs, but Allegheny just got bought by its rival - which might well be just what happens - after you issue a report noting a tough environment for your company. Even if cap-and-trade fails, EPA rulemaking is still pending. Burns seems to want to make a point his example does not really support. We’ll be interested to see how FirstEnergy means to proceed with Allegheny.

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Well, odd is as odd does – this one just strikes us as assuming something unattractive about the American people:

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said the blizzards that have shut down Congress have made it more difficult to argue that global warming is an imminent danger.

“It makes it more challenging for folks not taking time to review the scientific arguments,” said Bingaman, who as the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee has jurisdiction over energy and climate change issues.

“People see the world around them and they extrapolate,” Bingaman said. “I think that it’s hard to see an economy-wide cap-and-trade [proposal] of the type that passed the House could prevail,” he added, though he suggested a more limited alternative could have a better chance.

On the other hand, the massive snow fall broke records all around, suggesting that something is not well with the weather.

While the frequency of storms in the middle latitudes has decreased as the climate has warmed, the intensity of those storms has increased. That's in part because of global warming — hotter air can hold more moisture, so when a storm gathers it can unleash massive amounts of snow.

Or a lot of rain when temperatures no longer reach 32 degrees. We suspect Bingaman knows this and was making a comment on how people see things in fairly straightforward terms – lots of snow, no climate change. But it’s not precisely counterintuitive to say that bizarre weather patterns accompany changes in the climate.

Time’s Bryan Walsh provides the correct conclusion:

Ultimately, however, it's a mistake to use any one storm — or even a season's worth of storms — to disprove climate change.

Baltimore. The row houses provide the clue.

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

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

What Happens During a Refueling Outage?

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

How Much Land Does Nuclear, Wind and Solar Really Need?

Not too long ago, we reviewed a report that looked at nuclear energy (and other energy sources) as biodiversity agents. This had to do, in part, with the amount of land a facility needs to function. Nuclear energy and fossil fuel plants use relatively little, wind farms and solar arrays quite a lot of land . Based on an objective and transparent analysis of our sustainable energy choices, we have come to the evidence-based conclusion that nuclear energy is a good option for biodiversity conservation (and society in general) and that other alternatives to fossil fuels should be subjected to the same cost–benefit analyses (in terms of biodiversity and climate outcomes, as well as sociopolitical imperatives) before accepting or dismissing them. Writer Barry Brook, who collected 75 scientists to endorse his paper, is interested in land use as it impacts flora and fauna. Biodiversity concerns do not get as much play as they might – and, when they do, it annoys many when land is withdraw...

NEI Nuclear Notes

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