Pentagon Suspends Missile Shield Talks with Russia over Ukraine
http://carnegieendowment.org/2014/04/03/pentagon-suspends-missile-shield-talks-with-russia-over-ukraine/h701
Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire - Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry. Nuclear Activities
Monday, April 7, 2014
Pentagon Suspends Missile Shield Talks with Russia over Ukraine
http://carnegieendowment.org/2014/04/03/pentagon-suspends-missile-shield-talks-with-russia-over-ukraine/h701
Westinghouse on brink of long-term nuclear fuel deal with Ukraine
Westinghouse on brink of long-term nuclear fuel deal with Ukraine
http://www.kyivpost.com/content/business/westinghouse-on-brink-of-long-term-nuclear-fuel-deal-with-ukraine-342133.html
New UN Report Released This Week Supports Nuclear Energy
New UN Report Released This Week Supports Nuclear Energy
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/05/new-un-report-released-this-week-supports-nuclear.aspx
Tedx talk in India
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Saurav Jha published a book on nuclear power - "The Upside Down Book Of Nuclear Power" in 2012. Highly recommended.
Saurav Jha published a book on nuclear power - "The Upside Down Book Of Nuclear Power" in 2012. Highly recommended.
Smoking Gun – NCPC & John F. Kennedy
Atomic Insights
- Rod Adams found a folder in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
and Museum titled National Coal Policy Conference that documents an
apparently successful effort to influence a rising political star to
support national policies that favor coal over natural gas, residual oil
and atomic energy.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Testimony of EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy Before the House Energy & Commerce Committee on Proposed FY 2015 Budget
Testimony of EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy Before the House Energy & Commerce Committee on Proposed FY 2015 Budget
WASHINGTON – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy testified today before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power and the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce at a hearing to discuss EPA’s proposed FY 2015 budget.
Administrator McCarthy’s remarks:
Chairman Whitfield, Chairman Shimkus, Ranking Member Rush, Ranking Member Tonko, and members of the Subcommittees, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed FY 2015 budget. I'm joined by the Agency's Acting Chief Financial Officer, Maryann Froehlich.
EPA's budget request of $7.890 billion for the 2015 fiscal year starting October 1, 2014 reflects our ongoing efforts to meet the challenges facing the agency today and into the future. Despite these challenges, we remain dedicated to protecting public health and the environment, and we know we must target staff and resources and find new ways to fulfill our mission. We will focus those resources in a way that will allow EPA to be more effective and efficient.
The FY 2015 budget reflects a strategic approach to our budget planning process, looking toward the future rather than continuing to simply react to tough budget choices with cuts across the Agency. The FY 2015 budget request does this in the following ways:
• It reflects EPA's incorporation of new technologies and new regulatory and non-regulatory approaches that can help us maintain our efficiency and effectiveness.
• It strengthens EPA’s partnership with public health and environmental protection partners in states, tribes and local communities with a focus on aligning our resources, avoiding duplication, and identifying and closing any gaps in the broader environmental enterprise system.
• It invests our funds and leverages funds of our partners where it makes the most sense and gets the biggest bang for the buck.
Following the framework of priorities laid out in the FY 2014 - 2018 Strategic Plan and working within our budget, we are committed to ensuring the staff we have in program areas and regions make the most sense and will have the most impact.
EPA has already taken steps toward proactive management of our operating budget. Through the VERA/VSIP process, we have begun to accelerate attrition within EPA both at headquarters and the regions toward a ceiling of 15,000 nonrefundable FTE’s.
Our FY 2015 budget relies on a reduced workforce focused on programs, policies, and regulations that matter most to public health and the environment. This is not simply about cutting the workforce to save costs. We are reshaping the workforce and our work to meet current and future challenges. Doing this includes making key investments.
It makes long-term fiscal sense to invest the cost savings achieved -- through a smaller workforce and improved use of technology -- to work smarter and more effectively. This approach will keep EPA strong, focused on science and the law, and transparent in addressing environmental challenges and the results we have achieved.
This budget will provide the support we need to move forward by targeting real progress in priority areas: communities, climate change and air quality, toxics and chemical safety, and clean water.
Building on current work on the ground in our communities, we are asking for $7.5 million and 64 staff in FY 2015 to work toward efforts that will make a difference in people’s everyday lives and in their communities. Those efforts include providing green infrastructure technical assistance for up to 100 communities that will promote cost-effective approaches to water management.
This budget request furthers our environmental justice efforts. The protections provided by our national environmental laws must be accessible to everyone. We will do more to partner with states, tribes, and local governments and other federal agencies to better coordinate and leverage resources supporting community efforts.
Addressing the threat from a changing climate is one of the greatest challenges of this and future generations. The request for climate change and air quality is $1.03 billion—over $41 million more than fiscal year 2014. And it designates $199.5 million specifically for climate change work.
Building on existing efforts and base budget resources, the Agency has added $10 million and dedicates 24 FTE’s in FY 2015 to support the President’s climate action plan. $2 million is designated for technical assistance for adaptation planning for water utilities at greatest risk from storm surges. Research and development efforts will focus on support tools for at-risk communities and tribes in preparing for the impacts of climate change.
The Agency will focus resources on the development of common sense and achievable greenhouse gas standards for power plants—the single largest source of carbon pollution. The President’s budget provides support for the states to help them meet their obligations under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act with regard to cutting carbon emissions.
This request also supports the President’s interagency methane strategy and the President’s recently announced directive to EPA to develop phase 2 fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles. EPA also will be implementing a range of activities in support of the President’s call to cut energy waste in homes, businesses, and factories.
Chemicals and toxic substances are prevalent in our everyday lives. The EPA budget requests almost $673 million to support work to reduce the risk and increase the safety of chemicals and prevent pollution for all Americans and especially children.
We are requesting $23 million and 24 FTE in FY 2015 to support activities under the President’s executive order on chemical safety, as well as Agency efforts on chemical prioritization, air toxics, radon, and volatile organic compounds in drinking water. $5 million in resources for air toxics work will enhance our capabilities to design effective regulations and continue developing the national air toxics assessment.
The nation’s water resources are the lifeblood of our communities. The FY 2015 budget recognizes the long-term benefits of healthy aquatic systems for all aspects of our daily lives.
The Agency is directing $8 million and 10 FTE to advance clean water. Resources are also proposed for the municipal separate storm sewer systems program for technical support to communities that must develop effective stormwater permits for the first time.
We are requesting $1.775 billion for the clean water and drinking water state revolving funds. Although this is a more than a $580 million decrease over FY 2014 levels, federal capitalization of the SRFs totals over $22 billion since FY 2009, if you include the FY 2015 request. The FY 2015 budget seeks to ensure that federal dollars provided through the fund lead to the design, construction, and support of sustainable water infrastructure.
The EPA is looking toward future ways to better serve the American people by employing technology where it can be used more effectively. E-Enterprise is a major joint initiative between EPA and states to modernize our business practices and to increase responsiveness. This effort holds the promise of increased effectiveness and savings for businesses as well as government. The agency is expanding efforts in the second year of the multi-year E-Enterprise business model including focusing people and resources to accelerate development of the E-Manifest system and associated rule-making work. For example, the benefits of implementing the E-Manifest system include annual savings estimated at $75 million for over 160,000 waste handlers. Transitioning from a paper-based system saves time and effort for every person who used to handle that paper.
In addition, EPA is making changes to long-standing business practices such as contracts, grants management, and the regulation development process. One important area of emphasis is improving freedom of information act (FOIA) and records management.
In FY 2015, the Agency is requesting over $1.33 billion to continue to apply the most effective response approaches for cleanups under RCRA, Superfund, Leaking Underground Storage Tank, and other authorities. This strategy will help ensure land is returned to beneficial use in the most effective way. $1.16 billion is requested for Superfund which includes a $43.4 million increase for remedial work and an increase of $9.2 million for emergency response and removal.
In this budget, we hold firm our priority support for state and tribal partners, the primary implementers and front line of environmental programs. Funding for state and tribal assistance grants – or STAG – is once again the largest percentage of the EPA's budget request and prioritizes funding for state categorical grants.
The FY 2015 budget includes a total of $1.13 billion in categorical grants – a net $76 million increase over FY 2014.
• Within that total is over $96 million for tribal general assistance program grants – a $31 million increase over FY 2014.
• We also included an $18 million increase for pollution control (Section 106),
• There is a $16 million increase for environmental information grants.
• There is a $15 million increase for state and local air quality management in our request.
Science is the foundation of our work at the EPA. And science is supported by the President’s request of $537.3 million. In FY 2015, the EPA is focusing research on the most critical issues facing the Agency.
These include efforts to: advance chemical prioritization and predictive toxicology, help communities make sustainable decisions regarding environmental protection and resilience, and inform regional and community level strategies for the use of green infrastructure and other innovative alternative practices.
The EPA continues to focus on reducing its physical footprint and achieving greater energy efficiency. Since 2006, the EPA has released approximately 428 thousand square feet of space nationwide, resulting in a cumulative annual rent avoidance of over $14.6 million.
The EPA continues to eliminate programs that have served their purpose, accomplished their mission, or are duplicative. The FY 2015 budget eliminates a number of such programs totaling nearly $56 million. These include beaches protection categorical grants, state indoor radon grants, and diesel emissions reductions assistance grants.
Recognizing the importance of the two-year budget agreement congress reached in December, which the President's budget adheres to, levels are not sufficient to expand opportunity to all Americans or to drive the growth our economy needs.
For that reason, across the federal government, the budget also includes a separate, fully paid for $56 billion opportunity, growth, and security initiative. This initiative—split evenly between defense and non-defense funding—shows how additional discretionary investments in FY 2015 can spur economic progress, promote opportunity, and strengthen national security.
• Within the initiative is $1 billion for a climate resilience fund, through which the budget will invest in research and unlock data to better understand and prepare for impacts of a changing climate. These investments will also fund breakthrough technologies and resilient infrastructure.
• Within the climate resilience fund, EPA will support a nation better prepared for the impacts of climate change—with $10 million for protecting and enhancing coastal wetlands, and $5 million to support urban forest enhancement and protection.
We have made some very difficult choices in this budget. But we need to look realistically at challenges we face in the future and make sure we have the best tools and people in the right places to make the most difference. Our final FY 2015 budget reflects a balanced approach to accomplishing this.
Thank you for the opportunity to touch upon some of the highlights of EPA's FY 2015 budget request in my testimony today. I look forward to answering your questions.
Charged Up About Batteries
Charged Up About Batteries
TerraPower
TerraPower
Source: Harvard Business School
23 pages. Publication Date: Nov 20, 2012. Prod. #: 813108-PDF-ENG
John Gilleland, CEO of TerraPower, returned
to his office after a lengthy meeting with potential investors. It was
October 2012, and TerraPower was in the process of raising a $200M
Series C round to finance the ongoing development of its next-generation
nuclear reactor. Though early in the fundraising process, Gilleland
noted that this most recent conversation was similar to conversations
with other interested cleantech growth equity investors. The
conversations circled around a common theme... Read More »
http://hbr.org/product/TerraPower/an/813108-PDF-ENG
Scientists need to educate the public over nuclear power safety
Scientists need to educate the public over nuclear power safety
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/science/scientists-need-to-educate-the-public-over-nuclear-power-safety
DOE: MOX contractor made incorrect assumptions
DOE: MOX contractor made incorrect assumptions
http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20140405/AIK0101/140409714/1004/doe-mox-contractor-made-incorrect-assumptions
Rising From Fukushima, Japan's Nuclear Future
Rising From Fukushima, Japan's Nuclear Future
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-thomas/rising-from-fukushima-jap_b_5086228.htmlNew EPA Reports on Fracking Waste Don't Go Far Enough
Posted: 06 Apr 2014 07:30 AM PDT
The
EPA just released two new reports on the waste generated by oil and gas
exploration and production, including fracking. There have been
documented cases around the country where this dangerous waste has been
released into the environment and endangered human health.read morehttp://theenergycollective.com/amymall/363956/new-epa-reports-fracking-waste-dont-go-far-enough
US NRC Blog Update: Fukushima Lessons: Updating Earthquake Hazards at U.S. Nuclear Plants
Fukushima Lessons: Updating Earthquake Hazards at U.S. Nuclear Plants
Posted by on April 4, 2014
Nuclear
power plant designs set a basic standard for reactors to completely and
safely shut down after an earthquake, based on site-specific
information. Plant construction methods and other design factors add to a
reactor’s capacity to safely withstand stronger motions than what the
basic design describes.The end of March marked an important milestone for our post-Fukushima activities. We received 60 reports from central and eastern U.S. nuclear power facilities updating the seismic hazard at their individual reactors. The NRC staff is making these reports available through its normal process. The NRC will post each plant’s report on the agency website’s Japan Lessons-Learned Activities page.
We will require the same updates of the three western power plants (Palo Verde in Arizona, Columbia Generating Station in Washington, and Diablo Canyon in California), but delayed by one year because of the more complex geology in that region of the country. Each western plant is individually looking at the seismic sources and local ground motion characteristics that could affect it. This Senior Seismic Hazard Analysis Committee process will inform the overall seismic hazard reassessment that the western plants are completing.
Our staff will spend the next month going over the submissions carefully, checking for errors, before confirming which plants will be required to do more extensive analysis of their ability to respond safely to a significant earthquake event.
These reports mark the first step in a comprehensive process to keep safety at U.S. plants up-to-date with the latest understanding from the earth sciences on the processes that create earthquakes in the U.S. In 2012, the Department of Energy, Electric Power Research Institute and the NRC joined forces to update the “seismic source model” for the central and eastern U.S. This was based on a new understanding of what creates earthquakes on the North American tectonic plate, with a focus on the New Madrid fault zone near St. Louis, the Charleston fault zone near Charleston, S.C., and other updated information.
The data on seismic sources will be used in conjunction with a ground motion model for the central and eastern U.S. as well as data from individual plants on the localized geology, topography, soil cover, and other data to create a picture of the “ground motion response spectra” for each plant. This new ground motion response spectrum at each plant will be compared with that developed in the past to see if the new data suggests the plant could see higher ground motions than previously thought. If that is the case, the plant will be considered to have “screened in” to further detailed seismic hazard analysis.
Those plants that “screen in” will be required to do a seismic “probabilistic risk assessment” or a seismic “margin analysis” to evaluate in detail how the existing plant structures and systems would respond to the shaking from the range of earthquakes that could affect the plant based on our current understanding of seismic sources. This assessment is extensive, involving experts from a variety of fields, and will require at least 3 years to complete. Once these assessments are complete, the NRC will decide if significant upgrades to plant equipment, systems, and structures are required.
In the meantime, to ensure that the plant is safe, the NRC requires that by the end 2014, plants have reported the interim actions they will take to ensure the safety of the plants before the assessment is complete. Such measures could include re-enforcing existing safety-significant equipment or adding equipment.
It’s important to remember that significant earthquakes at central and eastern U.S. plants are unlikely. But it is our job to ensure that these plants are ready for all that nature might throw at them. And it is our job to keep up with the changes in the science to ensure that plants are as safe as they can be.
Nuclear Safety Requires New NRC Commissioners: Author
Nuclear Safety Requires New NRC Commissioners: Author
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2014/04/06/nuclear-safety-in-u-s-requires-nrc-commissioners/
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