New solar to exceed wind for first time

New solar to exceed wind for first time

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/new-solar-to-exceed-wind-for-first-time/175331/

Utilities can't quite deal with smart grid data

Utilities can't quite deal with smart grid data

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/utilities-cant-quite-deal-with-smart-grid-data/175346/

: Readying for Fukushima fuel move

: Readying for Fukushima fuel move (http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Readying_for_Fukushima_fuel_move_2609131.html)
The cover building of Fukushima Daiichi 4 is being kitted out for the removal of used reactor fuel. The main crane and the fuel handling machine are in place.

Japan seeks outside help for contaminated water

Japan seeks outside help for contaminated water (http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-Japan_seeks_outside_help_for_contaminated_water-2609134.html)
The Japanese government has invited overseas companies and experts to submit technology proposals or advice for helping it resolve ongoing contaminated water issues at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Triso fuel triumphs at extreme temperatures

Triso fuel triumphs at extreme temperatures (http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/ENF-Triso_fuel_triumphs_at_extreme_temperatures-2609137.html)
Research teams at two US national laboratories have found that irradiated carbon-coated Triso fuel particles are even more resistant to extreme temperatures than previously thought, offering potential benefits for reactor safety.

Toxic link: the WHO and the IAEA

A 50-year-old agreement with the IAEA has effectively gagged the WHO from telling the truth about the health risks of radiation

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/may/28/who-nuclear-power-chernobyl

Nuclear Hotseat #118: The WHO/IAEA Unholy Alliance and its Lies about Int’l Nuclear Health Stats - See more at: http://www.nuclearhotseat.com/nuclear-hotseat-118-whoiaea-unholy-alliance-lies-intl-nuclear-health-stats/#sthash.PwuS1fWp.dpuf

http://www.nuclearhotseat.com/nuclear-hotseat-118-whoiaea-unholy-alliance-lies-intl-nuclear-health-stats/

Nuclear Hotseat #118: The WHO/IAEA Unholy Alliance and its Lies about Int’l Nuclear Health Stats - See more at: http://www.nuclearhotseat.com/nuclear-hotseat-118-whoiaea-unholy-alliance-lies-intl-nuclear-health-stats/#sthash.PwuS1fWp.dpuf

Hanford Site Cleanup by the Numbers

September 24, 2013 - 6:45pm

http://energy.gov/articles/update-hanford-site-and-cleanup-progress

Duke, Edison CEOs talk nuclear power, distributed generation

http://www.elp.com/articles/2013/09/duke-edison-ceos-talk-nuclear-power-distributed-generation.html

Estimate for uranium facility goes from $600 million to $11.6 billion

It would be one of the largest nuclear weapons investments since World War II. A watchdog group says the work – which may not be needed – can be done for less elsewhere.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-bomb-factory-20130925,0,6160248.story

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• Estimate for uranium facility goes from $600 million to $11.6 billion
• Estimate for uranium facility goes from 600 million [dollars] to 11.6 billion [dollars]
• Estimate for uranium facility rises to $11.6 billion

Tokyo Electric gets OK to seek restart of world's largest nuclear plant

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/09/26/us-japan-nuclear-tepco-idUKBRE98P08O20130926

Related articles

• Tokyo Electric gets green light to seek Kashiwazaki Kariwa restart
• Tepco Vows to Push Ahead With Restart of Niigata Nuclear Station - Bloomberg
• Tepco vows to push ahead with restart of Niigata nuclear station
• National › TEPCO chief asks Niigata governor to OK reactor safety screening
• Japan's Chubu Electric to apply for nuclear plant safety approval

NUCLEAR WASTE: Appeals judges appear dubious of DOE's rationale for collecting fees

NUCLEAR WASTE:

Appeals judges appear dubious of DOE's rationale for collecting fees

 Federal judges today posed stiff questions to Department of Energy officials on why the agency continues to collect fees for disposing of nuclear waste even though it has no operating national repository.
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059987831

A Pause, Not an End, to Warming

BERKELEY, Calif. — THE global warming crowd has a problem. For all of its warnings, and despite a steady escalation of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, the planet’s average surface temperature has remained pretty much the same for the last 15 years. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/opinion/a-pause-not-an-end-to-warming.html?_r=0

Related articles

• Row Over IPCC Report As Nations 'Try To Hide Global Warming Pause'
• Pause 'central' to climate report
• The Global Warming Pause
• UN: Mankind '95% likely' to blame for global warming. I do believe in spooks, i do i do i do!
• AP: Leaked docs show governments deeply concerned over explaining warming's "pause"
• EPA admits banning coal plants won't impact global warming
• EPA admits banning coal plants won't impact global warming
• UN: Mankind '95% likely' to blame for global warming - Irish Examiner
• Does "Global Warming Pause" Debate Miss Big Picture?
• Global warming? No, the planet is getting cooler

Time To Get Real: Three Recommendations to the Global Energy Industry

http://breakingenergy.com/2013/09/25/time-to-get-real-three-recommendations-to-the-global-energy-industry/?utm_source=Breaking+Energy&utm_campaign=3f7ac57003-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f852427a4b-3f7ac57003-407304281

Energy Quote of the Day: US Burns More Coal in 2013

http://breakingenergy.com/2013/09/25/energy-quote-of-the-day-us-burns-more-coal-in-2013/?utm_source=Breaking+Energy&utm_campaign=3f7ac57003-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f852427a4b-3f7ac57003-407304281

2030: A ‘Perfect Storm’ of Global Resource Shortages

http://breakingenergy.com/2013/09/25/2030-a-perfect-storm-of-global-resource-shortages/?utm_source=Breaking+Energy&utm_campaign=3f7ac57003-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f852427a4b-3f7ac57003-407304281

fukushima Updates 9/26

Fukushima Update topics for today –

Fukushima fisheries say they have resumed off-shore fishing... Hirono town will market their rice for the first time in three years... Tepco has Niigata governor's conditional approval for nuke restarts... Tepco will resume ALPS wastewater purification tests on Friday... The silt dam for units #5&6 has a rip in it... The NRA will collaborate with the IAEA to quell Press report exaggerations... Ex-NRC Chair Jaczko says F. Daiichi leaks will not affect Tokyo... Dr. Jerry Cuttler says Japan misunderstands radiation exposure and risk... Tepco has received $741 million from the government for evacuee compensation.

http://www.hiroshimasyndrome.com/fukushima-accident-updates.html

US NRC Blog Update 9/26 Waves of Uncertainty: The Demise of the Floating Reactor Concept (Part II)

Waves of Uncertainty: The Demise of the Floating Reactor Concept (Part II)

Leave a Comment Posted by Moderator on September 26, 2013

Thomas Wellock

NRC Historian

 

Offshore Power Systems, apparently, did not appreciate that putting land-based reactors out to sea was bound to raise new safety, environmental and regulatory questions. Concerns about ship collisions, off-shore fishing grounds, barge sinking and the challenge of creating a new regulatory process for floating reactors were just some of the unique issues facing regulators.
Even the trade press raised concerns. Nuclear News worried about the “incredibly tangled mass of overlapping jurisdictions, state, national, and international law, inter-agency authority” that included new players such as the U.S. Coast Guard.

Drawing from a 1978 GAO report.

Events conspired to worsen OPS’s prospects. The oil crisis that began in 1973 made construction financing expensive and slowed electricity consumption. Facing slack demand, PSEG postponed delivery of the first floating plant from 1981 to 1985 and later to 1988. Tenneco backed out of the OPS partnership in 1975. With the entire enterprise threatened, Westinghouse and the Florida Congressional delegation asked the federal government to purchase four plants. But, the prospect of “bailing out” OPS did not appeal to officials in the Ford Administration. The purchase proposal died.
Floating reactors did not solve regulatory or political problems. The production facility in Jacksonville needed an NRC manufacturing license. There were so many technical and regulatory uncertainties that the licensing review ran three years behind schedule. A 1978 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office criticized the NRC for what it believed was an incomplete safety review, particularly for not accounting for impacts on the ocean ecosystem during an accident where a melting reactor core broke through the bottom of the barge.
Local and state opposition to the plant was intense. Nearby counties voted in non-binding referendums 2 to 1 against the Atlantic Generating Station, and the New Jersey legislature refused to introduce a bill to turn the offshore site over to PSEG.
Westinghouse held out hope for a brighter future; PSEG didn’t. In late 1978, the utility announced it canceled its orders for all four of its floating plants. Slack demand, it noted, was “the only reason” for the cancellations. “We simply will not need these units” in the foreseeable future, a utility official admitted.
Others blamed excessive regulation. In March 1979, John O’Leary, a Department of Energy deputy secretary, provided to the White House a “grim—even alarming report,” as one staffer said, that the NRC delays with the OPS license were symptomatic of a larger problem. “It has become impossible to build energy plants in America” O’Leary said, due to excessive environmental regulations and an indecisive bureaucracy. Environmental laws, O’Leary complained, had created “a chain of hurdles which effectively kill energy projects” and damage to the nation’s economy. He wanted presidential action.

Drawing from a 1978 GAO report.

Events rendered O’Leary’s plea for action moot. Two and a half weeks later the Three Mile Island accident occurred, ending any hope of an imminent industry rebound. The accident raised anew questions about a core melt accident and further delayed the manufacturing license. The NRC did not issue a license until 1982. In 1984, Westinghouse formally abandoned the OPS enterprise, dismantled the Jacksonville facility, and sold its huge crane to China.
Going to sea, OPS discovered, did not allow it to escape the problems that beset nuclear power. A novel technological solution could not overcome public distrust and economic, technical and regulatory uncertainty. We shall see how Russia handles the challenges.

America's Power Plan: A New Series on Rapid Change in the US Power Sector

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/09/americas-power-plan-a-new-series-on-rapid-change-in-the-us-power-sector?cmpid=GeoNL-Thursday-September26-2013

Nuclear plants see powerful growth

Nuclear plants see powerful growth 
http://world.einnews.com/article/169290878/uHKpiWevAOKLn0g-

Fukushima's financial fallout

As reports surrounding Japan's nuclear disaster get steadily worse, the country is on the verge of a financial meltdown.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/09/20139813939857820.html