Category Archives: Nuclear

SC Edison knew San Onofre nuke steam generators were flawed before installation

Southern California Edison knew the new steam generators
were defective years before then even installed them in
the San Onofre nuclear reactors,
acccording to a report just released. These are the generators

that failed and caused both San Onofre reactors to shut down.
SD Edison wants to restart one of them,
and this document came out in that process.
Southern Company would never do this, right?
We shouldn’t worry about

failed concrete
or

15, no now 19, months delay
while the Georgia legislature

won’t even limit charges to Georgia Power customers for cost overruns.
Nope, no worries.

Friends of the Earth PR 8 March 2013,

San Onofre: Secret Report Confirms Edison Knew of Major Problems;
Friends of the Earth: ‘Bombshell’ for plans to restart crippled reactor



WASHINGTON—March 8—A secret Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
report released today confirms that Southern California Edison knew
about serious problems in the radically redesigned replacement steam
generators for the San Onofre nuclear reactors years before the
defective equipment was installed, yet failed to make changes to fix
the problems. The report was released today by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission after Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and
Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) revealed its existence and
demanded it be made public.

The report documents that Edison knew

Continue reading →

Down and Low NRC Reactor Status 6 March 2013

104 100% total
4 3% newdown
17 16% newlow
6 5% newtop
16 15% down
32 30% low
72 69% top

Since the last time I reported on NRC nuclear reactor statuses,

23 February 2013,
six are back up, four are newly down (total of sixteen down),
seventeen are newly running low (thirty two low).
That’s 30% below 100% power,
and only 69% (72 out of 104) running at full power.
And that’s not counting Vogtle 3 and 4, which Georgia Power
customers are paying for while never getting any power from them.
This still doesn’t look like the 24/7 nuclear power we were promised,
and

it’s not too cheap to meter, either.
Meanwhile,
solar is already at grid parity without subsidies
in India and Italy and will be soon in the rest of the world.

Newly down since 23 Feb 2013 on 6 March 2013


Newly down since 23 Feb 2013 on 6 March 2013

Newly down since 23 Feb 2013 on 6 March 2013:
FitzPatrick,
Indian Point 3,
Brunswick 2,
Monticello.

Newly low since 23 Feb 2013 on 6 March 2013

Continue reading →

Already: Solar grid parity without subsidies in India and Italy

Solar power is going so well worldwide that Deutsche Bank has just
increased its projections for global demand,
noting that India and Italy have already in 2013 reached grid parity
without subsidies with other sources of energy,
and it expects the rest of the world to follow as early as 2014.
The big winner is rooftop solar.

Is Georgia paying attention?

Becky Beetz wrote for Global PV 26 February 2013,

Deutsche Bank: Sustainable solar market expected in 2014,



Buoyed by bullish demand forecasts, and increasing utilization rates
and pricing, Deutsche Bank forecasts a solar market transition from
subsidized to sustainable in 2014. Italy REC solar photovoltaic
plant

The German bank has raised its 2013 global solar demand forecast to
30 GW — representing a 20% year-on-year increase — on
the back of suggestions of strong demand in markets including India,
the U.S., China (around 7 to 10 GW), the U.K. (around 1 to 2 GW),
Germany and Italy (around 2 GW).

Rooftop installations are, in particular, expected to be a main
focus, says Deutsche Bank. A trend for projects being planned with
either “minimal/no incentives” has also been observed, despite the
belief that solar policy outlooks are improving, particularly in the
U.S., China and India, and “other emerging markets”.

More analysis by
Jeff Spross in ThinkProgress 3 March 2013,

Solar Report Stunner: Unsubsidized ‘Grid Parity Has Been Reached In India’, Italy–With More Countries Coming in 2014.

As Renew Economy also
points out, this is the third report in the past month

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Levy Co. FL nuke likely not to be built

Cost already sunk Kewaunee, Calvert Cliffs, Crystal River, and are gnawing
away at San Onofre: now it looks like new owner Duke is not
likely to build Progress Energy's Levy County, Florida reactor.
All that plus even in Georgia, even against all-powerful Georgia Power,
there's a reaction against the cost of the always-later always-more-expensive
new nukes at Plant Vogtle on the Savannah River.
A reaction that's getting written up in the Valdosta Daily Times.

In the VDT today from AP,

Some leaders souring on nuclear power costs.
I'm quoting from the abcNews version
because it includes the author's name, Ray Henry,
and the original date, 3 March 2013.
I added all the links and images.



As the cost of building a new nuclear plant soars, there are signs
of buyer's remorse.

The second-guessing from officials in Georgia and Florida is a sign
that maybe the nation is not quite ready for a nuclear renaissance.
On top of construction costs running much higher than expected, the
price of natural gas has plummeted, making it tough for nuclear
plants to compete in the energy market.

In Georgia last week, Southern Co. told regulators it needed to
raise its construction budget for Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia by
$737 million to $6.85 billion. At about the same time, a Georgia
lawmaker sought to penalize the company for going over budget,
announcing a proposal to cut into Southern Co.'s profits by trimming
some of the money its subsidiary Georgia Power makes.

And Southern Company and Georgia Power slipped the Plant Vogtle schedule
still more,

from 15 to 19 months late.

The legislation has a coalition of tea party, conservative and
consumer advocacy groups behind it, but faces a tough sale in the
Republican-controlled General Assembly. GOP Rep. Jeff Chapman found
just a single co-sponsor, Democratic Rep. Karla Drenner.



That's

HB 267: Financing costs; construction of nuclear generating plant.
And AP failed to mention

Georgia Sierra Club's support for HB 267.

As a regulated monopoly, Georgia Power currently earns about 11
percent in profits when it invests its own money into power
projects. Chapman's legislation would reduce those profits if the
nuclear project is over budget, as is the current projection.

In Florida, there's a move to completely
eliminate Construction Work in Progress (CWIP)
such as is being used in Georgia to pre-fund the new Plant Vogtle nukes.

In Florida, lawmakers want to end the practice of utilities
collecting fees from customers before any electricity is produced.

Florida only recently got CWIP, but Progress Energy has been quick to profit by it:

Continue reading →

HB 267 Would Limit Georgia Power’s Profits on Vogtle’s Cost Overruns —GA Sierra Club

There’s still time to contact your state legislators about stopping
Georgia Power profitting from cost overruns on the new nukes
at Plant Vogtle.
Georgia Sierra Club spells out why.



Georgia Power’s expansion at Plant Vogtle will bring us power that
is dangerous, expensive and unnecessary.

You may remember a controversial bill the Georgia Legislature
approved in 2009,

SB 31, the Nuclear Construction Work in Progress
(CWIP) bill, which forces Georgia Power ratepayers to pay the
financing costs during construction, rather than over the life of
the plant. Large users of electricity are exempt from the charge,
but residential and mom and pop businesses have been paying for two
years.

Even after that sweetheart deal, the Public Service Commissioners
scrapped their staff

proposal to stop the company from profiting on
cost overruns for the project after they top $300 million.

The most recent reports from the independent monitor established by
the PSC says

that the project is months behind and as of December,
$88 million over budget. Georgia Power gets to earn 11.15% return on
all expenses approved by the PSC, so the more they have to spend,
the more they get to make and the more ratepayers get to pay!

Putting the profit issue aside for the moment, if the Georgia PSC
ever decided to disapprove cost overruns, Georgia Power could take a
page from the Mississippi Power playbook and just get the
Legislature to let them issue bonds to pay for the work.


HB 267 by freshman Rep. Jeff Chapman excludes the collection of any
profits on cost overruns beyond the

$6.4 billion the Public Service Commission has approved.
The bill is co-sponsored by Avondale
Estates Democrat Karla Drenner, who is a member of the Utilities
Committee, to which the bill was assigned. Passage of this bill
would provide an incentive for Georgia Power to keep expenses down
at Vogtle, something that SB 31 failed to do.

It isn’t fair for Georgia Power to profit to the tune of over 11% on
delays, overruns and mismanagement, so

ask your State Representative to support HB 267.

-jsq

Nuclear is over —Jeremy Rifkin



Economist, author, and advisor to governments

Jeremy Rifkin
told an agent of the world's largest uranium field operator
at a conference of global investors that there's no business
future in nuclear power.

Jeremy Rifkin answered a question at the

Wermuth Asset Management

5th Annual Investors Event 26 September 2012,

Nuclear Power is Dead,

I don't spend much time on nuclear technology, unless somebody asks


me about it, because frankly from a business perspective, I think
it's over….

Here's

the video, followed by more transcript and discussion.

Nuclear power was pretty well dead in the water in
the 1980s after Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. It had a comeback.
The comeback was the industry said "we are part of the solution for
climate change because we don't emit CO2 with nuclear; it's
polluting, but there's no CO2".

Here's the issue though,

Continue reading →

From 15 to 19 months late: Plant Vogtle nukes

Surprise!
The already-billing but not-built new nukes at Plant Vogtle
are going to be even later and cost even more.
In December they were to be
15 months late;
now it’s 19 months late,
and the cost overrun expected is $740 million.
History is repeating itself from

the last time Southern Company
and Georgia Power built nukes on the Savannah River.
How about we pass

HB 267 to stop Georgia Power from charging that cost overrun to customers?

Kristi Swartz wrote for the AJC yesterday,

Vogtle nuclear project to take longer, cost more,

Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project will take
about 19 months longer to complete than originally expected and cost
about $740 million more than originally thought, the company said
Thursday.


Joseph A. “Buzz” Miller, Executive Vice President – Nuclear Development Southern Nuclear Operating Company
Georgia Power said its share of the estimated $14 billion project
will rise to $6.85 billion, up from $6.11 billion, because of
increased capital costs and additional financing costs. Customers,
who have been paying the financing costs since 2011, now will pay
them for a longer period of time.

And the amount Georgia Power customers have to pay
for

Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) keeps
ratchetting up:

Continue reading →

Internet and Energy at the Bird Supper

Dear Bird Supper attendees,

Two things could greatly help south Georgia:
better Internet access and solar power.
You could help stop two telecommunications bills
and help pass two energy bills for jobs and education
in south Georgia.

Internet Access: help stop two telecommunications bills

The local Industrial Authority, Chamber of Commerce, Valdosta City Council,
and Lowndes County Commission have recently realized that
fast Internet access is essential to attract businesses,
for their employees to work at home, for applicants to apply for jobs,
for students to submit assignments, and for general quality of life.


  • HB 282 against muni broadband

    This bill would prohibit local governments from providing Internet access
    if any local census block has 1.5Mbps access.
    Localities may or may not want to do it themselves, but they shouldn't
    be prohibited from using this option now that it is obvious to everyone
    that the commercial incumbents are not doing the job.
    Legislators please vote this bill down.


  • HB 176 for higher cell towers with less local government oversight

    This really bad bill would let cell telephone companies build towers
    wherever they want to at any height, taking away local government
    power to regulate that.
    It could even let private companies exercise eminent domain.
    Legislators please vote this bill down.

Energy: help pass two energy bills

Solar power can be a
distributed source of jobs in south Georgia.
Antique laws and a subsidized nuclear boondoggle are hobbling solar power.


  • GA SB 51, The Georgia Cogeneration and Distributed Generation Act

    Senator Buddy Carter has introduced a Senate bill for the current session
    of the legislature, SB 51, "The Georgia Cogeneration and Distributed
    Generation Act of 2001". It attempts to fix Georgia's special solar
    financing problem, the antique 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act,
    which says you can only sell power you generate to your one and only
    pre-determined electric utility, at whatever rate that utility sets.


  • HB 267 Financing costs; construction of nuclear generating plant

    Stop Georgia Power from charging customers for cost overruns for Plant Vogtle,
    already 15 months behind schedule and a billion dollars overbudget for power
    that nobody has received, yet Georgia Power has already billed customers about
    $1.7 billion.
    Bipartisan cosponsors are Jeff Chapman (R—Brunswick) District 167 and
    Karla Drenner (D—Avondale Estates) District 85.
    This boondoggle on the Savannah River is what Georgia Power and Southern Company
    are doing instead of deploying solar inland and wind off the coast.

-jsq

Low and Down Recent NRC Reactor Status

Twenty seven of 104
NRC status reactors are below 100%,
and 15 are at zero power.
What happened to supposedly 24/7 nuclear power?


Low Recent NRC Reactor Status

Fifteen are at zero power:
Calvert Cliffs 2,
Crystal River 3,
Diablo Canyon 2,
Fort Calhoun,
Hatch 1,
Hatch 2,
La Salle 2,
McGuire 1,
River Bend 1,
San Onofre 2,
San Onofre 3,
South Texas 2,
Turkey Point 3,
Turkey Point 4,
and Wolf Creek 1.
(Seventeen if you count never-started Vogtle 3 and Vogtle 4.)

Sure some of these are down for good (Crystal River 3) and others have
been down for a year or more (San Onofre 2 and 3).
But

Continue reading →

Let the Sun Shine: Fact versus Fiction —Michael G. Noll

LTE in the VDT today. I’ve added a few links. -jsq



Fox News recently claimed that “solar won’t work in America because
it’s not as sunny as Germany”. Such statements are common for a
network that has long lost its credibility. Unfortunately too many
take such gibberish at face value. Thus columns like

“environmentalism or obstructionism?” are not
surprising, but in the end it’s the facts that matter:

  • Global warming is real. For years we have been experiencing record
    heat waves, droughts, wild fires, etc., and while seawater levels
    are rising, storms like hurricane Sandy become major threats

    to low lying areas along coast lines    .
  • The main culprit for global warming are greenhouse gases like
    carbon dioxide, resulting from the burning of fossil fuels,
    especially coal and oil.
  • While China overall emits more than we do, the US leads in per
    capita emissions. The average US citizen produces three times more
    carbon dioxide than the average Chinese citizen.

Continue reading →