Nuclear Energy

Protesters Vow To Shut Down The Xcel Monticello Nuclear Reactor

November 26, 2024 Fight Back! News!. Resist! Minneapolis, Minnesota, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power

Minneapolis, MN – On Wednesday November 21, 50 members of the newly formed Coalition for a Nuclear-free Mississippi River and their supporters rallied in front of Xcel Energy headquarters on Nicollet Mall in the heart of downtown. They demanded the energy company keep to its 2030 shutdown date for the Monticello Nuclear Reactor, because of the serious threats posed to public health, the Mississippi River, and drinking water for millions. As rush hour traffic passed by, motorists and pedestrians saw protesters holding signs reading, “Don’t nuke our river.” Chants like “Xcel let’s be clear, Monticello Reactor’s not wanted here” were loudly amplified by the surrounding buildings.

Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant To Reopen; Microsoft To Purchase Power

September 24, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! Energy, Microsoft, Nuclear Energy, Pennsylvania, Radiation, Three Mile Island

In March of 1979, Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant — which was powered by two pressurized light-water reactors — experienced a cooling malfunction that caused part of the core of the second reactor to melt, releasing radioactive material into the environment. Constellation Energy has plans to reopen Three Mile Island, and Microsoft has agreed to buy power from it for 20 years. Recent United States government zero-emissions energy incentives have spurred owners of closed-down nuclear plants to consider reopening them, reported Pennsylvania’s WESA. Activists are asking the government of Pennsylvania to stop the reopening of the plant.

45 Years After Three Mile Island, We Need A ‘No Nukes’ Comeback

March 26, 2024 Arnie Alpert, Waging Nonviolence. Strategize! Clamshell Alliance, Joe Biden, Nuclear Energy, Three Mile Island

When a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania went from a technological miracle to a pile of radioactive rubble in a matter of moments in 1979, the Portsmouth, New Hampshire office of the Clamshell Alliance became a hive of activity. I was working there at the time, fielding calls from activists and journalists from around the world. Everyone wanted our opinion since — over the previous few years — our nonviolent demonstrations to prevent the construction of the Seabrook nuclear power plant put us at the forefront of a growing social movement.

Nuclear Power Pushing At The COP28 Climate Change Conference

December 10, 2023 Karl Grossman, Nation of Change. Educate! climate crisis, COP28, Energy, Nuclear Energy

“U.S. leads coalition to triple nuclear power by 2050 in effort to address climate change,” was the headline of a Dec. 4 CNBC article on activity at the UN conference called COP28 being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on the climate crisis. COP stands for Conference of the Parties, annual gatherings under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The 28 is for this being the twenty-eighth session. It began on Nov. 30 and is to end on Dec. 12. When it started, there was a stir over the conference president being Sultan Al Jaber who just happens to head the UAE’s state-owned oil company, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, (ADNOC).

The US Can Get To 100% Clean Power Without New Nuclear

December 1, 2022 Arjun Makhijani, Utility Drive. Create! Energy, Nuclear Energy, Renewable Energy

There is a widespread view that nuclear energy is necessary for decarbonizing the electricity sector in the United States. It is expressed not only by the nuclear industry, but also by scholars and policy-makers like former Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who recently said that the choices we have “…when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine” are “fossil fuel or nuclear.” I disagree. Wind and solar are much cheaper than new nuclear plants even when storage is added. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated the cost of unsubsidized utility-scale solar plus battery storage in 2021 was $77 per megawatt-hour — about half the cost of new nuclear as estimated by the Wall Street firm Lazard. (An average New York State household uses a megawatt-hour in about seven weeks.)

Aging US Nuclear Plants Are Dangerous And Expensive

August 19, 2022 Harvey Wasserman, Truthout. Educate! Congress, Finance and the Economy, Inflation Reduction Act, Nuclear Energy

The much-heralded Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), while offering a vital lifeline to the renewable energy industry, also contains massive subsidies to keep dangerously aging atomic power plants operating for years to come. Meanwhile, six decrepit atomic reactors are now caught in a terrifying military crossfire in southeastern Ukraine, showing exactly why it is so important to shut down nuclear plants instead of subsidizing them. The Ukrainian reactors, located at Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, are now being used as a shield for Russian artillery arrays. A single errant shell could send far more atomic radiation pouring over Europe than did Chernobyl, with an unimaginable toll of downwind death and destruction from which the continent might never recover.

Big Problems With Proposals For Small Nuclear Reactors

January 28, 2022 Mike Garrity, Counter Punch. Educate! Energy, Environment, Montana, Nuclear Energy

Politicians and investor-owned utilities are now proposing small nuclear reactors in Montana to replace the old coal-fired power plants at Colstrip. For the last 44 years a successful Citizens’ Initiative banned nuclear power in Montana unless approved by the voters. But Republican majorities in the 2021 Montana legislature repealed the initiative and Republican Governor Gianforte signed the bill into law. There are similar proposals in Wyoming and Idaho. But the rush to nukes suffered a major setback this month when the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied the application to build and operate the nation’s first small modular nuclear 720 megawatt reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory.

Why 3.6m Pounds Of Nuclear Waste Is Buried On A Popular Beach

September 9, 2021 Kate Mishkin, The Guardian. Educate! California, Energy, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Waste

More than 2 million visitors flock each year to California’s San Onofre state beach, a dreamy slice of coastline just north of San Diego. The beach is popular with surfers, lies across one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the Unites States and has a 10,000-year-old sacred Native American site nearby. It even landed a shout-out in the Beach Boys’ 1963 classic Surfin’ USA. But for all the good vibes and stellar sunsets, beneath the surface hides a potential threat: 3.6m lb of nuclear waste from a group of nuclear reactors shut down nearly a decade ago. Decades of political gridlock have left it indefinitely stranded, susceptible to threats including corrosion, earthquakes and sea level rise. The San Onofre reactors are among dozens across the United States phasing out, but experts say they best represent the uncertain future of nuclear energy.

Progressives Denounce Biden Plan For Taxpayer Bailout Of Nuclear Industry

May 6, 2021 Andrea Germanos, Commondreams. Educate! climate crisis, Congress, Joe Biden, Nuclear Energy

The Biden administration is being urged Wednesday not to court "disaster" after new reporting revealed the White House is pushing for taxpayer subsidies to keep nuclear power plants afloat in its sweeping infrastructure plan. According to Bloomberg and Reuters, the taxpayer prop-up would come in the form of "production tax credits," which already apply to renewables like wind and solar. The PTC effort "would likely be swept into" Biden's American Jobs Plan, Reuters reported, stating that the White House "has signaled privately to lawmakers and stakeholders in recent weeks" its support for the action. The American Jobs Plan already points broadly to support for nuclear power, stating the plan will invest in "advanced nuclear." Writing last month at The American Prospect, Gabrielle Gurley outlined the administration's efforts at a clean energy standard...

Nuclear Power In The Green New Deal?

August 27, 2020 By M.V. Ramana and Schyler Edmunston, Beyond Nuclear International. Create! Green New Deal, Nuclear Energy, pollution, Uranium mining

Over the last few years, there has been a growing interest in a Green New Deal and there are many versions proposed in different countries. At the same time, there has also been criticism of these proposals on many counts, including the fact that they typically don’t include nuclear energy. This criticism misses a basic point: a Green New Deal is, by its very definition, much more than an emissions reduction plan. As we argue below, the other attributes that characterize Green New Deals, rule out nuclear energy as an option. Like the original New Deal of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s, all Green New Deal proposals emphasize the creation of new jobs.

As Reactors Shut In Massachusetts And Pennsylvania, Nuke War Rages In Ohio And New York

May 20, 2019 Harvey Wasserman, Intrepidreport.com Resist! Clean Energy, Nuclear Energy

As the nuke power industry slumps toward oblivion, two huge reactors are shutting in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The shutdowns are a body blow to atomic energy. The soaring costs of the decayed US reactor fleet have forced them to beg gerrymandered state legislatures for huge bailouts. Just two US reactors are still being built. Stuffed with $12 billion in interest-free federal loans, Georgia’s Vogtle is nearing a staggering $30 billion in cost. Years behind schedule, the lowest possible costs of whatever electricity the two reactors there might produce already far exceed wind and solar.

Industry-Friendly FERC Rejects Perry’s Coal & Nukes Bailout

January 9, 2018 Staff, Priceofoil.org Educate! Coal, FERC, Nuclear Energy

“Secretary Perry likes to use flash and glitz to cover over imperfections in form. Like the wise judges on Dancing with the Stars, FERC saw through the act. “This was an easy decision to make for FERC. Secretary Perry’s proposal was nothing more than a massive bailout for the coal and nuclear industries. It’s no surprise it was resoundingly rejected by even the industry-friendly commission, just as it’s no surprise that Secretary Perry continues to demonstrate he has no idea what he’s doing overseeing our nation’s energy infrastructure. “We’ll know FERC is really intent on setting a course for a brighter future when they actually start taking our climate crisis seriously.

Renewables Generated More Power Than Nuclear In March And April

July 11, 2017 Eric Wesof, www.greentechmedia.com Create! Energy, New Economy, Nuclear Energy, Renewable Energy

By Eric Wesoff for GTM - Solar farms planted on an abandoned nuclear plant site or powering a coal museum or atop a strip mine offer stark images of the ascendance of renewables. But forget metaphorical images -- utility-scale renewable electricity generation in March and April actually surpassed nuclear for the first time since July 1984. (Ronald Reagan was president, and "When Doves Cry" was the No. 1 hit on the radio.) Recent months have seen record generation from wind and solar, as well as increases in hydroelectric power because of 2017's wet winter (note that these numbers, from the Energy Information Administration, do not include distributed solar). Most of the time, conventional hydroelectric generation is still the primary source of renewable electricity. But one of the takeaways from this data set is the emergence of wind in the last decade as a material slice of the energy mix. The U.S. wind industry installed more than 8 gigawatts in 2015 and did it again in 2016. The country now has over 84 gigawatts of installed wind capacity. Another takeaway is the relatively diminutive contribution from solar, which falls between geothermal and biomass in its annual contribution. The U.S. installed 14.5 gigawatts of solar last year, up 95 percent over 2015.

The Slow Death Spiral Of Nuclear Energy

April 17, 2017 Paul Brown, www.climatenewsnetwork.net Educate! Nuclear Energy

By Paul Brown for Climate News Network - The knock-on effects of the financial disasters the two companies face will be felt across the nuclear world, but nowhere more than in the UK, which was hoping Westinghouse was about to start building three of its largest nuclear reactors, the AP 1000, at Moorside in Cumbria, northwest England. The UK’s Conservative government will be particularly embarrassed because, in late February, it won a critical parliamentary by-election in the seat that would be home to the Moorside plant, on the guarantee that the three reactors would be built − a pledge that now seems impossible to keep. Martin Forwood, campaign co-ordinator for Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment, says: “I think the day of the large-scale nuclear power station is over. There is no one left to invest anymore because renewables are just cheaper, and these prices are still going down while nuclear is always up.” Toshiba and Westinghouse are in deep trouble because the reactors they are currently building − the same design as the ones planned for Cumbria − are years late and billions of dollars over budget. Even if the companies can be re-financed, it seems extremely unlikely they would risk taking on new reactor projects.

Westinghouse Bankruptcy Exclamation Point In Downward Spiral Of Nuclear Energy

March 30, 2017 Staff, www.greenpeace.org Educate! Bankruptcy, Nuclear Energy

By Staff of Green Peace - Toshiba/Westinghouse is responsible for building more nuclear reactors worldwide than any other entity. With the financial meltdown of Westinghouse, Toshiba also recently announced its plans to withdraw from foreign construction projects - a move that has far-reaching implications outside Japan and the US, such as the construction of three reactors in the UK at Moorside. “If we look at how nuclear stacks up against renewables, it’s clearly in freefall. An estimated 147 gigawatts of renewable power was added in 2015, compared to just 11 gigawatts for nuclear power in the same year,” said Ai Kashiwagi, Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Japan (1).

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