Monday, August 10, 2015

PennEnergy's Daily Power Report 8/10

Webinar: Better Damage Assessment

Electric utilities can accelerate damage assessment by streamlining critical field activities that consume the early hours of an event. Restoration and cleanup work can be faster, easier and more efficient, and restoration efforts improved by getting the right information to the right team members. Click here to sign up for this informative webinar!

Good report for power plants!

U.S. carbon pollution from power plants hits 27-year low

Utility rates under scrutiny

Kansas utility agrees to scale back proposed rate hike

Kansas' largest electric company reached an agreement Thursday with a consumer advocacy agency and other parties to scale back a proposed rate increase and postpone changes in charges for customers who install solar panels. … Continue Reading

PSC to vote next week on Miss. Power rates, approves refunds

The three-member Public Service Commission set the next meeting Thursday, after taking testimony from company officials saying the unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. urgently needs the additional $159 million a year from its 186,000 customers. … Continue Reading

Solar power spreads

Solar power plant begins operations in Honduras

Isolux Corsan has delivered its first PV Solar project in Honduras on a budget of nearly $100m: the Aura II PV Solar Plant, which will produce 61.48 MWp and has been built within a tight window of only 7 months. … Continue Reading

SkyPower and Grupo Uribe team up to further solar power development in Mexico

SkyPower, the largest developer of solar PV energy projects in the world, is pleased to announce the formation of a joint venture with Grupo Uribe , a leading energy company based in Mexico with over 50 years of experience serving households, businesses and industries. … Continue Reading

Improving and strengthening the grid

Georgia Power enhances service and reliability for 1.1 million power customers

Georgia Power announced today the completion of the installation of Automatic Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration distribution technology on circuits serving more than 1.1 million customers across the state. … Continue Reading

ABB to strengthen power transmission grid in New Mexico

ABB has been contracted by Xcel Energy to deliver two SVCs to support its transmission grid expansion in New Mexico. … Continue Reading

Alstom Grid to present smart systems for power transmission

Alstom Grid will participate from 16 to 19 August in the Simposio de Automacao de Sistemas Eletricos (SIMPASE), an event to discuss the automation of electrical systems. … Continue Reading

U.S. carbon pollution from power plants hits 27-year low

A big factor was the long-term shift from coal to cleaner and cheaper natural gas, said Energy Department economist Allen McFarland. Outside experts also credit more renewable fuel use and energy efficiency. … Continue Reading http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2015/08/u-s-carbon-pollution-from-power-plants-hits-27-year-low.html?cmpid=EnlDailyPowerAugust102015&eid=288118515&bid=1145866

Pope Francis Calls for Nuclear Weapons Ban

Pope Francis called for a global ban (VOA) on nuclear weapons on Sunday, the seventieth anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki in World War II.http://www.voanews.com/content/pope-francis-calls-for-nuclear-weapons-ban/2909357.html

Reactor in Kagoshima poised for restart despite public opposition

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/08/10/national/reactor-kagoshima-readied-tuesday-restart/#.VcjGJ_nlxbI

Six Achievable Steps for Implementing an Effective Verification Regime for a Nuclear Agreement with Iran

Six Achievable Steps for Implementing an Effective Verification Regime for a Nuclear Agreement with Iran: Now that an agreement has been reached between the P5+1 and Iran, a non-partisan task force convened by FAS has published a report that addresses anticipated implementation challenges and offers findings and recommendations for strengthening the implementation process both internationally and within the United States.http://fas.org/pub-reports/six-achievable-steps-for-implementing-an-effective-verification-regime-for-a-nuclear-agreement-with-iran/

FAS in the News

August 6: Scientific American, The 70th Anniversary of the Summer of The Bomb
August 6: NPR, Why Did The U.S. Choose Hiroshima?
August 5: DDD Magazine, Japanese Lab to Handle Ebola, Pathogens After 30 Years of Local Opposition
August 5: Yahoo! Politics, White House criticized for not filling watchdog post at CIA
July 31: ABC News, What's Considered 'Classified' Is a Judgment Call
July 28: The National Interest, The Most Dangerous Nuclear Weapon in America's Arsenal

Part 2 of Decoding the Iran Agreement: View from the White House

Part 2 of Decoding the Iran Agreement: View from the White House
Bulletin Media Contact: Janice Sinclaire: 707.481.9372; jsinclaire@thebulletin.org

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced a second installment of a special teleconference series on the nuclear agreement with Iran, to be held at 12 p.m. EDT on Thursday, August 13, 2015. This second in the series features the senior director for arms control and nonproliferation at the National Security Council, Jon Wolfsthal. Participate directly in this event, or send us a question for Mr. Wolfsthal at questions@thebulletin.org by 6 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, August 12th. We will get through as many emailed questions as possible during the hour-long teleconference.
The first teleconference, which was held on August 6, featured arms control experts and Bulletin authors Olli Heinonen, Joan Rohlfing, and Frank von Hippel, and was moderated by The Atlantic’s James Fallows. That discussion focused on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) from the perspective of those who have been on the ground for inspections, sat on negotiating teams, or served in government, crafting arms control policies. A recording of this conversation is available on the Bulletin’s website.
This second teleconference event will explain the JCPOA from the perspective of the team that negotiated it. Participation is limited and is sure to fill quickly, so register now! A recording of this second event will also be available on the Bulletin website. To participate in the discussion on Twitter, follow our live-tweeting at @BulletinAtomic, hashtag #DecodeIran. Make sure you know about future Bulletin events, by signing up for our electronic newsletter.
Jon Wolfsthal is the senior director for arms control and nonproliferation at the National Security Council. Before his appointment in December 2014, Wolfsthal was deputy director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies at Monterey. Wolfsthal is one of the world's foremost experts on nonproliferation, arms control, and nuclear security. He served from 2009-2012 as special advisor nuclear security matters to Vice President Joseph R. Biden and as a director on the National Security Council for nonproliferation.

Aerial View of Vogtle July 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUHww7moCT8&feature=youtu.be

ANS Center for Nuclear Science and Technology Information

I'm pleased to report that we've significantly expanded visibility for positive nuclear messages over the past year. ANS is quickly becoming established as the go-to source for reliable nuclear information for the general public, policymakers and the media. If you aren't familiar with ANS public outreach programs through the Center for Nuclear Science and Technology Information, I encourage you to browse the website and learn more. The Center is not funded by ANS dues and relies on donations from individual members and organizations. With your help, we can expand our K-12 services, policymaker and media education efforts, as well as provide more presentations and other public outreach materials to ANS Local and Student Sections, as well as to those of you giving your individual time to conduct local outreach and nuclear education. We greatly appreciate the generous support of those who have already donated to the Center.

In addition, our social media footprint has skyrocketed. I invite you to follow ANS on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and subscribe to the ANS Nuclear Cafe blog. Like, share, retweet and help us engage audiences in the nuclear conversation, and get the message that "the world needs nuclear!"

Sincerely,
Robert C. Fine, JD, CAE
ANS Executive Director

NRC to develop SMR-specific emergency regulations

NRC to develop SMR-specific emergency regulations
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is to develop new emergency preparedness regulations for small modular reactors and other new technologies such as non-light-water reactors and medical isotope production facilities.http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-NRC-to-develop-SMR-specific-emergency-regulations-1008157.html

ENE News Update on West Coast Toxic Bloom 8/10

Toxic bloom “basically eating the West Coast alive” — “Unusual deaths up and down the Pacific coast” — “All populations of marine mammals are way down” in areas — Experts: “Largest ever recorded… This is really unprecedented territory… Never seen an event like this” (VIDEO)

Published: August 9th, 2015 at 9:48 pm ET
By ENENews
Email Article
68 comments

Al Jazeera, Aug 1, 2015: The toxic algae blooms in the Pacific Ocean stretching from southern California to Alaska — already the largest ever recorded — appear to have reached as far as the Aleutian Islands, scientists say. “The anecdotal evidence suggests we’re having a major event,” said Bruce Wright, a scientist with the Aleutian Pribilof Island Association… “All the populations (of marine mammals) are way down in the Aleutians.”… the blooms are responsible for unprecedented closures of fisheries and unusual deaths of marine life up and down the Pacific coast… The discovery of nearly a dozen dead whales in the Gulf of Alaska near Kodiak also raised suspicion… Other die-offs of species have been reported along the Aleutian chain, stretching nearly 1,500 miles across the north Pacific.
CBS/AP, Aug 5, 2015: Toxic algae bloom in Pacific even larger than thought… ocean researchers say this one is much larger and persisting much longer, with higher levels of neurotoxins bringing severe consequences for the… marine ecosystems… [Vera Trainer, with Univ. of Washington and NOAA’s Harmful Algal Blooms Program] said this bloom is the worst she’s seen in 20 years of studying them… “It’s been incredibly thick, almost all the same organism. Looks like a layer of hay,” said Raphael Kudela, a professor of ocean sciences at University of California, Santa Cruz. Kudela told CBS… “It’s definitely the largest bloom of this particular algae seen on the West Coast, possibly anywhere, ever.”… “It’s really working its way into the food web and we’re definitely seeing the impacts of that,” Kudela said, noting that sea lions are getting sick and pelicans are being exposed… The most recent samples showed the highest-ever recorded concentrations of domoic acid in the internal organs of Dungeness crab, Ayres said. “This is really unprecedented territory for us,” said [Dan Ayres, Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife].
USA Today, Aug 7, 2015: A massive toxic algal bloom thriving in the warm water along the West Coast may be the largest ever recorded, according to [NOAA] scientists. The bloom stretches 40 miles wide and in some places is 650 feet deep. It runs from California to Alaska, and has shuttered lucrative fisheries in several coastal states. “It’s unprecedented,” [said Trainer].
Grist, Aug 7, 2015: A huge, toxic algae bloom is basically eating the West Coast alive… and more toxic than anyone suspected… scientists have never known one to be this bad before.
Capital Public Radio, Aug 7, 2015: In nearly 25 years of research, Trainer says she’s never seen an event like this…
Reuters, Aug 6, 2015: Massive toxic algae bloom reaches from California to Alaska… [it] stretches thousands of miles from the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and has surprised researchers by its size and composition. “It’s just lurking there,” Vera Trainer, research oceanographer with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Washington state, told Reuters on Thursday. “It’s the longest lasting, highest toxicity and densest bloom that we’ve ever seen.”… Researchers are investigating whether the bloom is linked to several suspicious marine mammal deaths…
Discover Magazine, Aug 6, 2015: Record Algae Bloom Laced With Toxins is Flourishing in “The Blob” — and Spreading in the North Pacific… a record-breaking bloom of algae stretching from Southern California all the way north to Alaska… Toxins from the algae are suspected to have contributed to the deaths of at least nine Fin whales near Kodiak Island, Alaska, in June, although a definitive cause has not yet been determined, NOAA says. There have also been reports of dead and dying whales, gulls, and forage fish in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands…
Regarding the suggestion made in three of the articles above that the 18 whale deaths in Alaska could be linked to harmful algae blooms, researchers from the Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks reported last month: “Biotoxins caused by warm water–induced harmful algal blooms are a possibility, although tissue from the sampled fin whale tested for domoic acid came back negative… Scientists have followed up on other possible causes… even radionuclides from the Fukushima reactor…. a muscle tissue sample from a dead fin whale [was submitted] for Cesium 137 analysis, with results pending.”

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Hillary Clinton State Department Emails, Mexico Energy Reform, and the Revolving Door | naked capitalism

The Left Needs to Reconsider its Automatic Position Against Nuclear Energy

http://atomicinsights.com/the-left-needs-to-reconsider-its-automatic-position-against-nuclear-energy/

Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire