Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire - Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry. Nuclear Activities
Saturday, January 27, 2024
GEH BWRX300 Gaining Traction in UK SMR Market | Neutron Bytes
GEH BWRX300 Gaining Traction in UK SMR Market | Neutron Bytes: UK ONR Starts GDA for BWRX300 GEH Wins £33 Million Grant For BWRX-300 SMR X-Energy Completes CNSC Vendor Design Review Westinghouse Plans Deploying a Transportable Nuclear Reactor in Canada By 2030…
FAA Issues Licensing Guidance for Launch and Reentry of Space Nuclear Systems | Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP - JDSupra
FAA Issues Licensing Guidance for Launch and Reentry of Space Nuclear Systems | Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP - JDSupra: The guidance will provide clarity and a compliance path to companies seeking permission to launch or reenter space-based nuclear technologies. The U.S. Federal Aviation...
Israel-Hamas Peace Talks Are US Aim With Fresh Hostage Deal - Bloomberg
Israel-Hamas Peace Talks Are US Aim With Fresh Hostage Deal - Bloomberg: The US hopes a fresh hostage deal between Israel and Hamas will create the space for talks to achieve a more lasting regional peace agreement, a State Department official said Friday, offering a longer-term vision for the Biden administration as its negotiators criss-cross the region in search of a breakthrough.
After Red Sea Threats, Ships Face Rise in Somali Piracy - Bloomberg
After Red Sea Threats, Ships Face Rise in Somali Piracy - Bloomberg: Piracy off Somalia’s coast has increased since maritime security was disrupted by Houthi militants’ attacks on ships in the Red Sea in response to the Israel-Hamas war.
How Israel’s War in Gaza is Hurting its Economy: Big Take Podcast - Bloomberg
How Israel’s War in Gaza is Hurting its Economy: Big Take Podcast - Bloomberg: Israel has said the war will continue until Hamas is destroyed and all of its hostages are freed. On today’s Big Take podcast, we look at the economic toll Israel’s war is taking on the country.
Saudi Keeps Sending Oil Through Houthi-Menaced Red Sea - Bloomberg
Saudi Keeps Sending Oil Through Houthi-Menaced Red Sea - Bloomberg: Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, is continuing to send tanker loads of crude and fuels through the southern Red Sea, where Houthi militants have for months been menacing merchant ships in response to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
China's PLAN exercises with YJ-62 anti-ship missile - Naval News
China's PLAN exercises with YJ-62 anti-ship missile - Naval News: The Chinese Navy’s North Sea Fleet has deployed land-based YJ-62 anti-ship cruise missiles in a coastal city in Shandong province...
The Ghost of Jimmy Carter Haunts Natural Gas Decisions -
The Ghost of Jimmy Carter Haunts Natural Gas Decisions - micheletkearney@gmail.com - Gmail
The Ghost of Jimmy Carter Haunts Natural Gas Decisions
By Llewellyn King
The ghost of Jimmy Carter may be stalking energy policy in the White House and the Department of Energy.
In the Carter years, the struggle was for nuclear power. Today, it is for natural gas and America’s booming liquefied natural gas future.
The decisions that Carter took during his presidency are still felt. Carter believed that nuclear energy was the resource of last resort. Although he didn’t overtly oppose it, he did damn it with faint praise. Carter and the environmental movement of the time advocated for coal.
The first secretary of energy, James Schlesinger, a close friend of mine, struggled to keep nuclear alive. But he had to accept the reprocessing ban and the cancellation of the fast breeder reactor program with a demonstration reactor in Clinch River, Tennessee. Breeder reactors are a way of burning nuclear waste.
More important, Carter, a nuclear engineer, believed the reprocessing of nuclear fuel — then an established expectation — would lead to global proliferation. He thought if we put a stop to reprocessing at home, it would curtail proliferation abroad. Reprocessing saves up to 97 percent of the uranium that hasn’t been burned up the first time, but the downside is that it frees bomb-grade plutonium.
Rather than chastening the world, Carter essentially broke the world monopoly on nuclear energy enjoyed — outside of the Soviet bloc — by the United States. Going forward, we weren’t seen as a reliable supplier.
Now, the Biden administration is weighing a move that will curtail the growth in natural gas exports, costing untold wealth to America and weakening its position as a stable, global supplier of liquified natural gas. It is a commodity in great demand in Europe and Asia and pits the United States against Russia as a supplier.
What it won’t do is curtail so much as 1 cubic foot of gas consumption anywhere outside of the United States.
The argument against gas is that it is a fossil fuel and fossil fuels contribute to global warming. But gas is the most benign of the fossil fuels, and it beats burning coal or oil hands down. Also, technology is on the way to capture the carbon in natural gas at the point of use.
But some environmentalists — duplicating the folly of environmentalism in the Carter administration — are out to frustrate the production, transport and export of LNG in the belief that this will help save the environment.
The issue the White House and the Energy Department are debating is whether the department should permit a large, proposed LNG export terminal in Louisiana at Calcasieu Pass, known as CP2, and 16 other applications for LNG export terminals.
The recent history of U.S. natural gas and LNG has been an industrial and scientific success: a very American story of can-do.
At a press conference in 1977, the then-deputy secretary of energy, Jack O’Leary, declared natural gas to be a depleted resource. He told a reporter not to ask about it anymore because it wasn’t in play.
Deregulation and technology, much of it developed by the U.S. government in conjunction with visionary George Mitchell and his company, Mitchell Energy, upended that. The drilling of horizontal wells using 3D seismic data, a new drill bit, and better fracking with an improved fracking liquid changed everything. Add to that a better turbine, developed from aircraft engines, and a new age of gas abundance arrived.
Now, the United States is the largest exporter of LNG, and it has become an important tool in U.S. diplomacy. It was American LNG that was rushed to Europe to replace Russian gas after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In conversations with European gas companies, I am told they look to the United States for market stability and reliability.
Globally, gas is a replacement fuel for coal, sometimes oil, and it is essential for warming homes in Europe. There is no alternative.
The idea of curbing LNG exports, advanced by the left wing of the Democratic Party and their environmental allies, won’t keep greenhouse gases from the environment. It will simply hand the market to other producers like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
To take up arms against yourself, Carter-like, is a flawed strategy.
On Twitter: @llewellynking2
Llewellyn King is executive producer and host of "White House Chronicle" on PBS.
Read this column on:
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Friday, January 26, 2024
Biden administration to pause natural gas export approvals as it updates how to assess projects | The Hill
Biden administration to pause natural gas export approvals as it updates how to assess projects | The Hill: The Biden administration will pause approvals of some natural gas export facilities as it considers changing how to evaluate them, the administration announced Friday. The current analyses the Energy Department uses to decide whether to authorize exports of liquified natural gas (LNG) do not “adequately account” for factors such as domestic energy costs or planet-warming…
25 SMR license applications expected by 2029, plus six other takeaways from FERC, NRC joint meeting | Utility Dive
25 SMR license applications expected by 2029, plus six other takeaways from FERC, NRC joint meeting | Utility Dive: Utility industry news and analysis for energy professionals.
Canada’s oil sands spew massive amounts of unmonitored polluting gases
Canada’s oil sands spew massive amounts of unmonitored polluting gases: Innovative aircraft-based technique records carbon emissions not tracked before from the industrial region.
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Biden administration lays out strategy to protect endangered whales during wind power development | The Hill
Biden administration lays out strategy to protect endangered whales during wind power development | The Hill: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Thursday finalized their strategy on the protection of endangered North Atlantic right whales in the offshore wind power development process. The Biden administration has set a goal for generating 30 gigawatts of wind power offshore of the United States by…
Amnesty International report: Pollution has made Houston Ship Channel communities a ‘sacrifice zone’ | The Hill
Amnesty International report: Pollution has made Houston Ship Channel communities a ‘sacrifice zone’ | The Hill: The average life expectancy in predominantly nonwhite communities along the Houston Ship Channel, the site of largely unregulated petrochemical production, is up to 20 years less than nearby predominantly white communities, according to a report released Thursday by Amnesty International. The 52-mile channel is lined by more than 600 petrochemical plants that operate 24 hours per day,…
Biden seeks to appease progressives with climate moves | The Hill
Biden seeks to appease progressives with climate moves | The Hill: The Biden administration is looking to appease progressives who want it to block proposed expansions of the nation’s natural gas exports. With the 2024 election looming and some left-wing voters souring on President Biden, the administration appears poised to deliver at least a partial win to the Democratic Party’s progressive wing by taking steps to elevate climate…
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Is this the year for bipartisan action on advanced nuclear? - E&E News by POLITICO
Is this the year for bipartisan action on advanced nuclear? - E&E News by POLITICO: House and Senate negotiators are trying to come up with a compromise package to ease regulations on advanced reactors. Pitfalls abound.
RELEASE: Executive Director Ted… | The Breakthrough Institute
RELEASE: Executive Director Ted… | The Breakthrough Institute: The Breakthrough Institute is an environmental research center based in Berkeley, California. Our research focuses on identifying and promoting…
US credit support for Diablo Canyon - Nuclear Engineering International
US credit support for Diablo Canyon - Nuclear Engineering International: The US Administration, through the Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the signing of the credit award and payment agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) to finalise terms for $1.1bn in credit payments through...
PG&E Beats $2.5B Negligence Suit Over Blackouts At 9th Circ. - Law360
PG&E Beats $2.5B Negligence Suit Over Blackouts At 9th Circ. - Law360: A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday affirmed the dismissal of a $2.5 billion proposed class action seeking to hold PG&E liable for blackouts allegedly caused by maintenance issues with its electrical grid after the California Supreme Court clarified that state law shields the utility from facing liability during emergency blackouts.
PG&E Suit Tossed, Rejecting Liability for Blackouts to Curb Wildfires
PG&E Suit Tossed, Rejecting Liability for Blackouts to Curb Wildfires: Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will avoid liability for billions of dollars in financial losses the California utility’s customers experienced during power shutoffs aimed at preventing wildfires from erupting in dangerous weather conditions in 2019, a federal appeals court held Tuesday.
PG&E Suit Tossed, Rejecting Liability for Blackouts to Curb Wildfires
PG&E Suit Tossed, Rejecting Liability for Blackouts to Curb Wildfires: Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will avoid liability for billions of dollars in financial losses the California utility’s customers experienced during power shutoffs aimed at preventing wildfires from erupting in dangerous weather conditions in 2019, a federal appeals court held Tuesday.
Fewer Markets Are Importing Russia’s Coal – Eurasia Review
Fewer Markets Are Importing Russia’s Coal – Eurasia Review: Russia’s reliance on four, mainly Asian, countries to import its coal has increased since some countries implemented sanctions against Russia after it invaded Ukraine, according to Global Trade Tracker data. This trade shift corresponds with increased coal exports from the United States to Europe and EU sanctions that went into full effect in August 2022. The United States, Japan, Australia, and...
Protecting Communities From Air Pollution
Protecting Communities From Air Pollution: EPA announced its final endangerment finding on leaded aviation gas, a crucial step toward regulating toxic air pollution.
US Administration Signs Off On Federal Funding For Diablo Canyon – Eurasia Review
US Administration Signs Off On Federal Funding For Diablo Canyon – Eurasia Review: The US Administration has signed the credit award and payment agreement finalising the USD1.1 billion in credit payments awarded under the Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) programme to help keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in operation. The payments are through the Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) programme, a USD6 billion strategic investment under the Bipartisan...
US credit support for Diablo Canyon - Nuclear Engineering International
US credit support for Diablo Canyon - Nuclear Engineering International: The US Administration, through the Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the signing of the credit award and payment agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) to finalise terms for $1.1bn in credit payments through...
NRC begins environmental review of Diablo Canyon life extension; seeks public comment - ExchangeMonitor | Page 1
NRC begins environmental review of Diablo Canyon life extension; seeks public comment - ExchangeMonitor | Page 1: ExchangeMonitor covers nuclear weapons, waste management, nuclear cleanup, international intelligence as well as carbon capture and storage.
Webinar Registration - Zoom
Webinar Registration - Zoom: Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: USEA Virtual Briefing on Utilities' 2024 Challenges. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
EDF announces Hinkley Point C delay and rise in project cost : New Nuclear - World Nuclear News
EDF announces Hinkley Point C delay and rise in project cost : New Nuclear - World Nuclear News: The UK's Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, which was expected to be completed in 2027 and cost up to GBP26 billion, is now unlikely to be operational before 2030, with the overall cost revised to between GBP31 to GBP34 billion (in 2015 prices), EDF has said.
Growth in low-emissions power expected to cover demand - IEA | Reuters
Growth in low-emissions power expected to cover demand - IEA | Reuters: Power generated from low-emissions sources, such as wind, solar and nuclear, will be adequate to meet growth in global demand for the next three years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said, adding power sector emissions are on the decline.
Nuclear phaseouts strike again - Competitive Enterprise Institute
Nuclear phaseouts strike again - Competitive Enterprise Institute: While there has been some good news in the US recently on nuclear power issues, including a partial removal of the Illinois nuclear ban, the same cannot be said of Spain, where the future for nuclear is looking bleak. One of the pivotal issues of last year’s Spanish election was whether the country would continue on […]
Lessons for NuScale and Its Next Customers | Neutron Bytes
Lessons for NuScale and Its Next Customers | Neutron Bytes: Lessons Learned for NuScale and Its Next Customers The question a lot of talking heads in the mass media, the nuclear trade press, and in investor reports are asking is whether the cancellation of …
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Globalists are using 'Green Energy' to destroy OUR way of life! - America Out Loud News
Globalists are using 'Green Energy' to destroy OUR way of life! - America Out Loud News: Looking back at the history of the petroleum industry, it illustrates that the black cruddy looking crude oil was virtually useless unless it could be...
Electricity Prices Are Soaring: It’s Time to Hold the “Energy Transition” Accountable
Electricity Prices Are Soaring: It’s Time to Hold the “Energy Transition” Accountable: Rate cases throughout America tell the same story about the high cost of going green
The ‘Energy Trilemma’ And The Cost Of Electricity – OpEd – Eurasia Review
The ‘Energy Trilemma’ And The Cost Of Electricity – OpEd – Eurasia Review: Why “Renewables” cannot save but cost Billions Over the last 150 years, abundant electricity from coal and gas led to an unprecedented reduction in poverty, as well as an increase in longevity and health. Currently, these low cost, reliable power sources generate approximately 60% of electricity and 50% of primary energy worldwide. Primarily due to...
Offshore Wind Woes - by Ed Reid - Climate Change Conundrum
Offshore Wind Woes - by Ed Reid - Climate Change Conundrum: The answer might not be "blowin' in the wind".
Why Nuclear Is the Best Energy - by Tomas Pueyo
Why Nuclear Is the Best Energy - by Tomas Pueyo: It's the safest, most environmentally friendly, most reliable and sustainable, the best for politics, and can be the cheapest
France drops renewables targets, prioritises nuclear in new energy bill
France drops renewables targets, prioritises nuclear in new energy bill: Critics are deriding as a step backward a new French energy bill that favours the further development of nuclear power and avoids setting targets for solar and wind power and other renewables.
Toyota Chairman Predicts Battery Electric Cars Will Only Reach 30% Share - Bloomberg
Toyota Chairman Predicts Battery Electric Cars Will Only Reach 30% Share - Bloomberg: Toyota Chairman Predicts Battery Electric Cars Will Only Reach 30% Share
Carmaker is betting on multiple technologies to reduce carbon
Akio Toyoda has rebuffed criticism of being late to EV shift
Pioneering nuclear-fusion reactor shuts down: what scientists will learn
Pioneering nuclear-fusion reactor shuts down: what scientists will learn: The decommissioning of the Joint European Torus near Oxford, UK — a test bed for ITER — will take until 2040 and be studied in detail.
Trump Allies Plot to Take Over the European Union - TomDispatch.com
Trump Allies Plot to Take Over the European Union - TomDispatch.com
John Feffer, The End of Europe?
January 23, 2024
It's bad enough here in the U.S. Yes, unlike Donald Trump ("Drill, drill, drill!"), Joe Biden has attempted to do something about our overheating planet. And indeed, his Inflation Reduction Act poured billions of dollars into creating a cleaner energy America. Still, last year -- the hottest ever -- this country set a new record for oil and natural gas production (with, sadly enough, more to come), while the Biden administration has so far done little to stop what Bill McKibben and Roishetta Ozane have labeled "the single biggest fossil-fuel expansion on earth, the buildout of natural gas exports from the Gulf of Mexico." In fact, American exports of liquified natural gas have surged during Biden's years in the White House.
And yet, were The Donald to retake the Oval Office, you could simply forget about any of that. For starters, you could just assume that he would once again withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate accord and put real energy (so to speak) into repealing the Inflation Reduction Act. In fact, he's already running for the presidency on the promise of doing just that, while denouncing the Biden administration as “loyal to the environmental lunatics” and promising to “maximize fossil fuel production.” No surprises there. It's simple, in fact. To reelect Donald Trump is potentially to write an epitaph for humanity.
Unlike this nation, however, the European Union has long had a reputation for doing more to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions than any other region on the planet. Unfortunately, as TomDispatch regular John Feffer, whose remarkable novel Songlands focused on climate change, suggests today, that may soon be ancient history. It turns out that Europeans are now increasingly electing their equivalents of You Know Who to high office; yes, indeed, right-wing maniacs ready to heat the planet to the boiling point. My suggestion: take a deep breath, then check out Feffer's overview of a Europe that's heading in all too disturbing directions all too quickly. Tom
PATRICK LAWRENCE: Russia’s Turn From the West
Volume 29, Number 23 — Tuesday, January 23, 2024
https://consortiumnews.com/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=e4d33c7a-d6bd-40e7-8444-04c342461e79
Russia’s Turn From the West
Sergei Lavrov’s recent comments are a case of the subtext being vastly larger than the text.
US Administration Signs Off On Federal Funding For Diablo Canyon – Eurasia Review
US Administration Signs Off On Federal Funding For Diablo Canyon – Eurasia Review: The US Administration has signed the credit award and payment agreement finalising the USD1.1 billion in credit payments awarded under the Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) programme to help keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in operation. The payments are through the Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) programme, a USD6 billion strategic investment under the Bipartisan...
Could Extension of PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Operations Limit Natural Gas Demand? - Natural Gas Intelligence
Could Extension of PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Operations Limit Natural Gas Demand? - Natural Gas Intelligence: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $1.1 billion to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) to extend the life of California’s last remaining
Monday, January 22, 2024
Exxon sues over investors’ climate proposal | The Hill
Exxon sues over investors’ climate proposal | The Hill: Exxon Mobil Corp. filed a lawsuit Sunday against two of its own shareholders, asking the court to block a proposal by activist investors aimed at cutting the oil giant’s emissions. Two of Exxon Mobil’s shareholders, environmentalist investor groups Follow This and Arjuna Capital, put forth a motion in December that would force a vote on…
FEMA expands disaster aid for extreme weather events, citing climate change | The Hill
FEMA expands disaster aid for extreme weather events, citing climate change | The Hill: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is expanding eligibility for government assistance following extreme weather disasters, citing the impacts of climate change. The agency on Friday announced changes that seek to make it easier for more Americans who face damage to their homes or businesses to get federal funding in the wake of a disaster.…
Book Review: Robert Zubrin's 'The Case for Nukes' | RealClearMarkets
Book Review: Robert Zubrin's 'The Case for Nukes' | RealClearMarkets: In The Case for Nukes: How We Can Beat Global Warming and Create a Free, Open, and Magnificent Future nuclear and aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin makes a compelling case for nuclear power.
Ukraine war drives shift in Russian nuclear thinking - study | Reuters
Ukraine war drives shift in Russian nuclear thinking - study | Reuters: The war in Ukraine has dented Russia's confidence in its conventional forces and increased the importance to Moscow of non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNWs) as a means of deterring and defeating NATO in a potential future conflict, a leading Western think-tank said on Monday.
PG&E is the worst part of living in California. We deserve better than greedy provider | Opinion
PG&E is the worst part of living in California. We deserve better than greedy provider | Opinion: “SMUD and Roseville Electric serve their customers. PG&E serves its shareholders at its customers’ expense.” | Letters to the editor
Ocean Shipping Rates Surge as Red Sea Attacks Continue - WSJ
Ocean Shipping Rates Surge as Red Sea Attacks Continue - WSJ: Average worldwide costs of shipping a 40-foot container rose 23% in the week through Jan. 18 to $3,777, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants, more than doubling in the past month.
World’s largest nuclear reactor aims to power the Earth with unlimited energy: ‘Arguably the most complex machine ever designed’
World’s largest nuclear reactor aims to power the Earth with unlimited energy: ‘Arguably the most complex machine ever designed’: "The longer that we wait for fusion to arrive, the more we need it."
Lessons for NuScale and Its Next Customers | Neutron Bytes
Lessons for NuScale and Its Next Customers | Neutron Bytes: Lessons Learned for NuScale and Its Next Customers The question a lot of talking heads in the mass media, the nuclear trade press, and in investor reports are asking is whether the cancellation of …
U.S. Policies Are Giving China A Competitive Advantage In The Nuclear Power Renaissance
U.S. Policies Are Giving China A Competitive Advantage In The Nuclear Power Renaissance: U.S. Policies Are Giving China A Competitive Advantage In The Nuclear Power Renaissance
Microsoft signs power purchase deal with nuclear fusion company Helion | Reuters
Microsoft signs power purchase deal with nuclear fusion company Helion | Reuters: Private U.S. nuclear fusion company Helion Energy will provide Microsoft with electricity in about five years, the companies said on Wednesday, in the first such deal for the power source that fuels the sun but has been elusive on Earth.
TerraPower and Pacific Corp Lay in Plans for Five New Natrium Reactors to Replace Fossil Fuel Power Plants | Neutron Bytes
TerraPower and Pacific Corp Lay in Plans for Five New Natrium Reactors to Replace Fossil Fuel Power Plants | Neutron Bytes: TerraPower and Pacific Corp Set Plans for Five New Natrium Reactors to Replace Fossil Fuel Power Plants. Canada Commits CAD $970M for First SMR at Darlington Holtec Project Delivery Plan for SMR-16…
The Case for Nuclear Cargo Ships - IEEE Spectrum
The Case for Nuclear Cargo Ships - IEEE Spectrum: They failed decades ago, but small modular reactors could make all the difference
Sunday, January 21, 2024
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels | RealClearPublicAffairs
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels | RealClearPublicAffairs: Bottom Line: In the fossil fuel-era over the past 150 years, humans have lived much better, safer, and longer lives. Unfortunately, the industry itself has not adequately defended itself and now has a
John Kerry’s Climate-Change Flop - WSJ
John Kerry’s Climate-Change Flop - WSJ: Despite his pleas, China keeps building more coal power.
You Don’t Own a Chinese Car Yet, But You Will
You Don’t Own a Chinese Car Yet, But You Will: China already dominates the electric vehicle market globally, and as the U.S. and other Western governments promote EVs, Chinese auto and battery companies will likely come to rule the American market.
The Electric Grid Explained In 10 Charts - Robert Bryce
The Electric Grid Explained In 10 Charts - Robert Bryce: The U.S. electric grid delivers $500 billion worth of juice every year. But what is it?
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