April, 2011

From NEI’s Japan Earthquake launch page: NEI Weekly Update on Fukushima Daiichi Plant Status: Priorities this week at Fukushima continued to be cooling the reactors and fuel pools, draining water from the turbine buildings and concrete structures that house piping to reduce radiation levels, and containing...

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce says the U.S. nuclear energy industry doesn't have technological problems — it has "political problems." The "United States developed the nuclear power field and then regulated it out of existence. We have built no new nuclear power plants in 30 years,"...

Here's the news, via World Nuclear News : Exelon and Constellation Energy have announced a $7.9 billion merger. Under the name Exelon, the resulting firm will be America's largest generator of nuclear power by an even greater margin. A definitive agreement posted today will see a stock-for-stock...

"This is a huge step for Iowa, and it is a huge step if we believe we want to grow the great state of Iowa," said Rep. Chuck Soderberg, R-Le Mars, chairman of the House's commerce committee and floor manager of the bill. "If Iowans, if businesses are expected to stay here, we need...

Over at the ANS Nuclear Cafe , Meredith Angwin who blogs at Yes Vermont Yankee , makes the case for why the NRC has jurisdiction over nuclear plants: Watching the POP [Vermont Public Oversight Panel] at work, it was clear to me why the NRC has jurisdiction, and why nuclear regulation cannot be a state...

Terrific article at Bloomberg that takes a first try at crafting a minute by minute account of what happened at Fukushima Daiichi on March 11. Full of interesting details I did not know, including this bit about the number of workers at the plant that day: The Fukushima Dai-Ichi station had 6,415 people...

In light of today’s quarter-century anniversary of the accident, below is a fascinating nine minute video by the French consortium Novarka showing how the “ new safe confinement ” will entomb Chernobyl unit 4 so it can “accommodate future dismantling of the object shelter.” For further discussions of...

How’s the world coping? Turkey : Speaking about a trip to Ukraine last week to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and discuss nuclear security, Minister Taner Yıldız said: “Greenpeace members had a placard there, reading, ‘No to Chernobyl.’ I agree with that placard. Still, the correct...

The headline blares “Indiana fears future of nearby nukes ,” then fails to find anyone in Indiana fearing those nearby nukes. There’s an anti-nuclear advocate: "They have no idea exactly what it's going to cost, how they will operate or respond," said Kerwin Olson, program director for...

From NEI’s Japan Earthquake update page . Of course, we’ll bring you information during the week, too, if something significant takes place at Fukushima. Plant Status: Tokyo Electric Power Co. released a roadmap to bring the Fukushima Daiichi plant to a stable condition. Priorities at Fukushima this...

Cleantechnica has a post referencing a report (pdf) from the Worldwatch Institute that claims renewables (wind, solar and biomass) have surpassed nuclear energy. This is only true if we were to look at one metric: capacity additions (megawatts). A more important metric, however, is output (megawatt-hours...

Italy has decided to forestall any decision on proceeding with nuclear energy in the wake of Japan. But they need a plan: Italy currently gets 80 percent of its energy from fossil fuels and the remaining 20 percent from hydroelectric and renewable energy, according to data from power grid operator Terna...

A number of folks at the Cafe have contributed thoughts on why the public fears radiation and nuclear energy. Much of the fear, they discuss, could be caused by the confusing number of different radiation units that are communicated in the media. Dan Yurman started it off: The crisis at the Fukushima...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—New evidence of the safe, reliable operating performance that has made nuclear energy a proven provider of low-cost electricity for American families and businesses has come with the release of 2010 safety and operations data for the...

If you happen to live in New York's 26th Senate District, which contain the Indian Point nuclear plant and is represented by state Senator Liz Krueger, well, the senator would like to know what you think of the plant. She wants to close it, but to her credit, she does want to know what her constituents...

Over at Forbes’ blog, Sara Mansur has dug into the numbers to see what it would take if nuclear were phased out in Japan: If nuclear power were to be completely taken out of Japan’s power supply, the country’s carbon emissions would rise by at least 414 million tons over current emissions [assuming nuclear...

There’s a certain logic here: Kiriyenko said the impact from the Fukushima plant disaster would not only increase safety concerns but also quicken demand for new reactors to replace the industry's ageing plants. "There will be a need to build new plants more quickly to more swiftly replace previous...

What everyone’s been waiting for: Robots : A U.S.-made robot built for bomb disposal were set to make its way into a reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Sunday to find out whether conditions were safe enough for workers to begin badly needed measures to put the crippled plant...

On March 17, Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) asked for a thorough review and posed a number of questions to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on US nuclear power plants. Chairman Jaczko responded on April 8 (the pdf was posted on 4/15). Below are a few highlights...

Entergy filed a complaint today with the U.S. District Court to seek “a judgment to prevent the state of Vermont from forcing the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to cease operation on March 21, 2012.” Looks like they have a solid case, though I’m not a lawyer so don’t quote me. Here’s one of the more...

Yesterday, TEPCO released their plans on how to stabilize the plant in the short term. Below is a one-page overview of the plans (pdf). Nuclear Street has a good description of some of the main objectives: TEPCO said that after 3 months it expects radiation levels to decline at the plant, followed by...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President Obama has nominated William C. Ostendorff to a second term as commissioner on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Ostendorff has served as a commissioner since April 2010. His term expires June 30.The following is a statement...

There is a lot of confusion about how many excess cancer deaths will likely result from exposure to radiation at low-dose and low-dose-rates. As we see below, 79,000 and 40,000 are reasonable estimates of the number of excess cancers and cancer deaths attributable to the flying in the past decade. I...

Idaho National Laboratory's Director John Grossenbacher explains how the U.S. nuclear industry has boosted its safety procedures as a result of the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident in 1979 and how the industry plans to use current events at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plants to further enhance...

With Germany aiming to shut down its nuclear energy plants by 2022, it needs replacement energy and quickly. Prime Minister Angela Merkel has put forward a 6-point plan to accomplish this. From Der Speigel : Expanding renewable energy. Investing in more wind, solar, and biomass energies will try to raise...