Not just
EDF and Calvert Cliffs
that would be enabled by
the current NRC rule-changing comment period.
In April
NRC denied a license to NRG and Toshiba Corp. (aka Nuclear Innovation North America, or NINA)
for two new reactors at the South Texas Project nuclear facility outside Bay City;
the same facility where STNP 2
http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/2013/01/fire-in-texas-nuclear-reactor.html
had a fire in January.
The reason for denial was the same as for EDF and Calvert Cliffs: Continue reading
Category Archives: Nuclear
NRC to change nuke foreign ownership so EDF can fire up Calvert Cliffs?
The NRC “upheld” license denial for the Calvert Cliffs nuke
with its fingers crossed, the very same day
directing staff to look into changing the requirement
by which it just ruled.
A requirement against majority ownership by a foreign firm,
in this case
Électricité de France (EDF),
whose flagship Cattenom reactor
caught on fire a week ago with smoke seen from miles away;
two people died at Cattenom in February.
You can comment on NRC’s proposed changes to let EDF
fire up Calvert Cliffs
online or in person June 19th in Maryland.
The same day
the NRC upheld denial of a license, 11 March 2013,
the same Commission
“directed the staff to provide a fresh assessment on issues relating to FOCD including recommendations on any proposed modifications to guidance or practice on FOCD that may be warranted.”
And the issue with Calvert Cliffs was that very same “foreign ownership, control, or domination (FOCD) of commercial nuclear power plants.”
This explains why Continue reading
Solar power in Japan to equal 7 nukes by end of this year
A Japanese feed-in tariff apparently provoked an explosion of solar power, making Japan head up towards China and Germany in installed solar power. Where is the U.S.? Where is Georgia, with much more sun than Japan? Maybe there is something more to learn from Fukushima after all, SO CEO Tom Fanning.
Michael Fitzpatrick wrote for Fortune 13 June 2013, Japan: The world’s new star in solar power; China and Germany have new competition at the top,
According to a report by energy analyst IHS on Japan’s energy mix, Japan’s solar installations jumped by “a stunning 270% (in gigawatts) in the first quarter of 2013.” That means by the end of 2013 there will be enough new solar panels equal to the capacity of seven nuclear reactors. Such massive growth will allow Japan to surpass Germany and become the world’s largest photovoltaics (PV) market in terms of revenue this year.
PV cell production and shipment (GWp) in Japan: Total (orange), Export (green), and Domestic (blue)
しばとも
How did this happen? Continue reading
More new nukes to stop: Vogtle, Summer, and 15 more
Although TVA’s Bellefonte nuke will never come up, others are still being built, including TVA’s own Watts Bar, plus 19 more.
Document-forging Doosan-supplied Vogtle 2 and 3 in Georgia and Summer 2 and 3 in South Carolina are the only four actually already issued combined licences (COL) to build and operate.
But 15 other proposed new reactors are “Under Review”, and all the ones in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are within 500 miles of here: Continue reading
TVA Bellefonte nuke won’t be built
Economics stopped another reactor, this time in Alabama, less than a week after San Onofre. But more are still in the works.
Brian Wingfield wrote for Bloomberg Businessweek yesterday,
TVA Shelves Work at Alabama Nuclear Plant Amid Industry Struggle,
“Over the past few months, TVA has been looking across the company, including at our nuclear construction projects, to determine the work that is most important to perform,” Mike Skaggs, the TVA senior vice president for nuclear construction, said in the statement. “Hard decisions are necessary.”
The U.S. nuclear industry is wrestling with competition from a glut of natural gas, which has lowered its price and made the fuel more attractive for electric utilities. At the same time, U.S. regulators are writing safety rules following a triple meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant in 2011.
The fracking backlash is building against natural gas. And guess what’s even cheaper? Continue reading
Farley 1 reactor tripped
Nuclear reactor Farley 1,
about 125 miles from here tripped off its Reactor Coolant Pump Buses yesterday.
They plan to get around to informing the press about it real soon now;
they didn’t even tell the NRC until today.
Maybe somebody would like to call Farley and ask what’s going on?
“The Farley plant resident inspectors can be reached by calling 334-899-3386.”
Maybe ask them what caused
all those other downtimes at Farley over the years; maybe also about Browns Ferry and Hatch,
where new Resident Inspector Phillip Niebaum previously worked.
Southern Company CEO Thomas A. Fanning
asked us to look at SO’s safety record.
NRC Current Event Notification Report for June 12, 2013,
Event Number: 49106:
Notification Date: 06/12/2013
Notification Time: 01:33 [ET]
Event Date: 06/11/2013
Event Time: 21:05 [CDT]UNIT 1 AUTOMATIC REACTOR TRIP DUE TO THE LOSS OF A START-UP TRANSFORMER
“This is a report of an automatic RPS actuation and automatic ESF actuation per 10CFR50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) and 10CFR50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A). Additionally, this is to report intentions for a press release per 10CFR50.72(b)(2)(xi).
“At 2105 CDT on 6/11/13, Farley Unit 1 experienced an automatic reactor trip from 100% power. The initiating event was the loss of the 1B Start up Transformer which resulted in de-energization of the B-Train ESF 4KV buses and the 1B and 1C Reactor Coolant Pump Buses. The 1B Emergency Diesel Generator auto started and tied to the B-Train 4KV Emergency buses.
“Both MDAFW Continue reading
Review of the misleading movie Pandora’s Promise
Here’s a trailer for the “documentary” pro-nuke film that comes out today,
Pandora’s Promise.
The film discounts solar and wind energy because its makers
don’t understand the exponential decrease in solar prices or
the night backup power ability of wind connected with a smart grid.
The vast majority of the American people already are demanding
those real renewables instead of nuclear or coal,
and the economics of wind and solar are also rapidly beating natural gas.
Atom Ecology’s promotional writeup 7 June 2013, Pandora’s Promise – Anti-Nuclear Mob Burns Environment In Coal Fired Forges Of Industry For 30 Years begins,
A new documentary film that reveals how opposition to and voting against nuclear power turned into massive increases in coal burning power plants. The far worse outcome for the environment as coal has filled energy demand is the story just coming to theatres.
The tiny germ of truth in that ten years ago is just plain wrong now that coal is not the alternative because solar has reached grid parity with nuclear, coal, and natural gas.
The movie plays up Stewart Brand’s conservationist credentials
and his conversion to pro-nuke.
Korean nuke supplier for Plant Vogtle forged documentation for “a host of nuclear reactors”
Korea’s Doosan supplied that
that train-wrecked Plant Vogtle reactor vessel later
left unprotected sitting at Savannah port,
as well as parts for more than a dozen U.S. reactors.
And Doosan, according to the Korean government,
forged documentation that just shut down “a host of nuclear reactors”
in Korea, whose Prime Minister said,
“Those found to be involved in wrongdoing or corruption must be sternly punished by the law, regardless of their rank and status.”
According to World Nuclear News 5 June 2008, Doosan awarded further contract by Westinghouse, Continue reading
The wind from the Cattenom nuke in France blows into Germany
From France to Berlin is as close as 32 nuclear reactors to here. Here’s a scenario for “Core meltdown accident in the nuclear power plant Cattenom (France) contamination of leafy vegetables by radioactive iodine with wind from the southwest”:
I was in Germany shortly after Chernobyl, when all the cows were inside so they would not eat the radioactive grass, and all the salads were frozen.
Here’s a scenario for radioactive iodine in mother’s milk, with a similar map: Continue reading
Harris nuke flaw “fixed” that wasn’t found for a year
Less than 500 miles from here in NC,
what else haven’t they found if
‘Duke Energy’s examination a year ago “was supposed to have found that problem then and fixed it”‘?
This was a ‘a quarter-inch spot the NRC and the company describe as a “flaw” in the reactor vessel head, which contains heat and pressure produced by the nuclear core’s energy.’
When a solar panel has a quarter-inch flaw, you get a tiny percentage less electricity,
not the risk of radiation leak or worse.
Would you rather have two more nukes at the same site, run by the same company that can’t run the one it’s got safely, or solar power instead?
Plus where is the advantage of baseload capacity when Harris 1 has only been up 27.41% for the past month (NRC data), which is hardly better than the approximately 20% sun hours per day for solar power in North Carolina this time of year. Given the low and continually-dropping cost of solar panels, Duke could simply over-provision distributed solar panels and get way more than 20% or 27.41% effective power, and get that on budget and on time.
Emery P. Dalesio wrote for AP yesterday, Harris nuclear plant in U.S. is safe to restart after reactor problem found, Continue reading