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Submission + - Britain's Nuclear Cover-Up (nytimes.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: If the Hinkley plan seems outrageous, that’s because it only makes sense if one considers its connection to Britain’s military projects — especially Trident, a roving fleet of armed nuclear submarines, which is outdated and needs upgrading. Hawks and conservatives, in particular, see the Trident program as vital to preserving Britain’s international clout.

A painstaking study of obscure British military policy documents, released last month by the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, demonstrates that the government and some of its partners in the defense industry, like Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems, think a robust civilian nuclear industry is essential to revamping Britain’s nuclear submarine program.

For proponents of Trident, civilian nuclear projects are a way of “masking” the high costs of developing a new fleet of nuclear submarines, according to the report. Merging programs like research and development or skills training across civilian and military sectors helps cut back on military spending. It also helps maintain the talent pool for nuclear specialists. And given the long lead times and life spans of most nuclear projects, connections between civilian and military programs give companies more incentives to make the major investments required.

One might say that with the Hinkley Point project, the British government is using billions of Chinese money to build stealth submarines designed to deter China.

Submission + - Green, conservative groups align against Cuomo nuclear subsidy (pressrepublican.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: A coalition of environmental and consumer activists say New York electricity customers will be jolted by a "huge tax" stemming from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to subsidize aging nuclear power plants.

Customers of National Grid, New York State Electric & Gas and other state-regulated utilities will see bills climb by more than $2 per month beginning next year — and even more in subsequent years — if the plan stays on track, the critics said.

The proposal is part of Cuomo's plan to ensure New York gets at least 50 percent of its power from renewable sources, including solar and wind, by 2030. He contends it makes New York a national leader in the push to curb climate change linked to greenhouse gases.

But representatives of more than 70 groups — consumer, environmental and conservative — announced this week that they are working in unison to derail the "bailout" of reactors near Rochester and Syracuse.

The subsidy's cost is expected to top $7 billion, according to a projection by the Public Utility Law Project, which is fighting the plan. Household customers would shoulder about $2.3 billion of that, it said, with the rest passed to industry, institutions and school systems.

"This is one of the biggest transfers of wealth in New York state history," said Blair Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Submission + - France's Nuclear Power Stations 'At Risk of Catastrophic Failure' (globalresearch.ca)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: A new review of the safety of France’s nuclear power stations has found that at least 18 of EDF’s units are are ”operating at risk of major accident due to carbon anomalies.”

The review was carried out at the request of Greenpeace France following the discovery of serious metallurgical flaws by French regulators in a reactor vessel at Flamanville, where an EPR plant is under construction.
The problem is that parts of the vessel and its cap contain high levels of carbon, making the metal brittle and potentially subject to catastrophic failure. These key components were provided by French nuclear engineering firm Areva, and forged at its Le Creusot.
“The nature of the flaw in the steel, an excess of carbon, reduces steel toughness and renders the components vulnerable to fast fracture and catastrophic failure putting the NPP at risk of a major radioactive release to the environment”, says nuclear safety expert John Large, whose consultancy Large Associates (LA) carried out the Review.
His report examines how the defects in the Flamanville EPR reactor pressure vessel came about during the manufacturing process, and escaped detection for years after forging. It then goes on to investigate what other safety-critical nuclear components might be suffering from the same defects.

Comment Re: Mature technology (Score 1) 259

by mdsolar (#52967711) Attached to: US Panel Extends Nuclear Power Tax Credit
It is hard to see how nuclear subsidies help with climate. By the time plants are built, electricity will be too cheap for them to opperate even with subsidies. Solar and wind subsidies are responsible for lowering the cost of electricity by encouraging scale, so why waste money on nuclear subsidies at all?

Comment Nuclear subsidies are forever (Score 1) 259

by mdsolar (#52957051) Attached to: US Panel Extends Nuclear Power Tax Credit
Nuclear has had vast subsidies to get started, but it turned out to also need them to opperate, the Price-Anderson subsidy, if eliminated, would close all nuclear power instantly. And, owing to nuclear waste manegement intractability, it will need subsidies long after all power plants close. Nuclear has been a losing proposition from the start, and we can only hope that the irresponsible run-to-failure attitude of some operators won't result in tremendously more public expense.

Comment Re: Mature technology (Score 0) 259

by mdsolar (#52956987) Attached to: US Panel Extends Nuclear Power Tax Credit
The subsidies seem to be driving costs down so it may be economically beneficial to continue them for a while longer. It is also cheaper now to close nuclear and replace with wind and solar so subsidies may help to make that switch more rapid and save money overall. Climate action may also argue for subsidies, averting future economic damage.

Comment Wrong calculation (Score 1) 259

by mdsolar (#52956959) Attached to: US Panel Extends Nuclear Power Tax Credit
Solar and wind have not finished producing power that the subsidies supported while nuclear plants are closing but will still draw subsidies for thousands of years without producing more power. The solar and wind subsidies will dilute to a number indistinguishable from zero but nuclear will always be an expensive goverment induced market distortion, a bad choice from start to eternal filthy finish.

Submission + - Panel votes to extend nuclear power tax credit (thehill.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: The House Ways and Means Committee voted Wednesday to remove a key deadline for a nuclear power plant tax credit.

The legislation from Reps. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) would remove the requirement that newly-built nuclear power plants be in service by 2020 in order to receive a tax credit for producing power.

The credit was first enacted in 2005 to spur construction of new nuclear plants, but it has gone completely unused because no new plants have come online since then.
The bill passed 23-9, with only Democrats opposed.

It would likely benefit two reactors under construction at Southern Co.’s Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia and another two at Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in South Carolina. Both projects are at risk of missing the 2020 deadline.

Rice emphasized that it is not an expansion of the tax credit, because it can still be applied only to a total of 6,000 megawatts of generating capacity, as it was written in 2005.

“This bill ensures that the 6,000-megawatt capacity authorized by Congress in 2005 is fulfilled as intended, and stops there. This is not an expansion of the program,” Rice said at the committee meeting.

“When Congress passed the 2005 act, it could not have contemplated the effort it would take to get a nuclear plant designed and licensed.”

Blumenauer said he supports the legislation because he believes it could make small modular nuclear reactors a reality.

“It’s part of our future to see if we can make nuclear energy work in a way that’s safe and effective and manageable. Making this production credit work with this technology is an important step in that direction,” he said.

But some Democrats and environmentalists opposed the bill due to their overall objections to nuclear power. They pushed the Ways and Means Committee to instead act on renewable power tax incentives, such as credits for geothermal and similar technologies that were left out of a wide-ranging tax bill last year.

“I think the real problem with nuclear power is that it does better in a socialist economy than in a capitalist one, because nuclear energy prefers to have the public do the cleanup, do the insurance, cover all of the losses and it only wants the profits,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas).

Submission + - EPA Proposes New Water Rules for Nuclear Emergencies (wsj.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: In the wake of a nuclear emergency, the Environmental Protection Agency thinks it would be acceptable for the public to temporarily drink water containing radioactive contamination at up to thousands of times normal federal safety limits.

The agency is proposing this in new drinking-water guidelines for use in the weeks or months after a radiological event, such as a nuclear-power-plant accident or terrorist “dirty” bomb.

The EPA has been looking for years at issuing drinking-water guidelines as part of a broader set of recommendations about what to do if radioactive material is released into the environment. Agency officials have said the 2011 accident at the Fukushima nuclear complex in Japan, where radiation was released, influenced their thinking on the matter.

Public comments on the proposed drinking-water guidelines are still being evaluated and the EPA expects to release a final document sometime this year, an agency spokeswoman said.

In written filings, the EPA said its normal radiation-safety limits, which are based on presumed exposures over decades, can be relaxed for a relatively brief period in the wake of emergencies without unduly increasing people’s risk of harm. The new guidelines would help officials decide when protective actions, such as bringing in bottled water, are needed.

Opponents of the EPA drinking-water proposal, including the New York attorney general and environmental groups, say the initiative represents a drastic departure from normal protection limits and could endanger people’s health. Internal EPA documents written by agency officials and obtained by environmentalists under the Freedom of Information Act, also raised concerns.

Submission + - Unfinished Nuclear Plant, 4 Decades and $5 Billion Later, Will Be Sold (nytimes.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: After spending more than 40 years and $5 billion on an unfinished nuclear power plant in northeastern Alabama, the nation’s largest federal utility is preparing to sell the property at a fraction of its cost.

The utility, the Tennessee Valley Authority, has set a minimum bid of $36.4 million for its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant and 1,600 surrounding acres of waterfront property on the Tennessee River. The deal includes two unfinished nuclear reactors, transmission lines, office and warehouse buildings, eight miles of roads and a 1,000-space parking lot.

Initial bids are due Monday, and at least one company has expressed interest in the site, with plans to use it for alternative energy production. But the utility is not particular about what the buyer does — using the site for power production, industrial manufacturing, recreation or even residences would all be fine, said Scott Fiedler, an agency spokesman.

“It’s all about jobs and investment, and that’s our primary goal for selling this property,” Mr. Fiedler said. The utility hopes to close the deal in October.

The interested buyer, Phoenix Energy, based in Nevada, has said it will offer $38 million for Bellefonte in hopes of using it for a non-nuclear technology to generate power.

Submission + - Sellafield safety concerns over staff shortages and nuclear waste stored in plas (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: Britain’s biggest and most toxic nuclear waste site is facing fresh questions over its safety after allegations that staffing levels are frequently too low and that radioactive waste is being stored in degrading plastic bottles.

If a fire were to break out at the Sellafield site in Cumbria, it could “generate a plume of radiological waste that will go across Western Europe”, one whistleblower claims in a BBC Panorama documentary.

Staffing at Sellafield fell below the “minimum safety manning level” on average once a week in the six months to May this year, according to figures obtained by the BBC. In the year to July 2013, there were 97 incidents with too few workers, it said.

The Cumbrian site is also still storing radioactive plutonium and uranium in plastic bottles originally intended for temporary storage, some of which are now degrading, it claimed.

While Sellafield is working to deal with the bottles, there are still more than 2,000 of them on site, it claimed.

Sellafield is home to the majority of the UK’s nuclear waste, much of it housed in ponds and silos constructed in the 1940s and 50s. The eventual clean-up is expected to take more than 100 years and cost tens of billions of pounds.

The BBC allegations are the latest in a series of safety concerns to be raised about the site, which in 2013 was fined £700,000 after sending bags of radioactive waste to a regular landfill rubbish dump.

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