Free Republic

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) _ Authorities are investigating a fire at a California nuclear plant that forced a reactor to be shut down.

FLAMANVILLE, France — It looks like an ordinary building site, but for the two massive, rounded concrete shells looming above the ocean, like dusty mushrooms. Here on the Normandy coast, France is building its newest nuclear reactor, the first in 10 years, costing $5.1 billion. But already, President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that France will build another like it. Flamanville is a vivid example of the French choice for nuclear power, made in the late 1950s by Charles de Gaulle, intensified during the oil shocks of the 1970s and maintained despite the nightmarish nuclear accidents of Three Mile Island and...

Breeder reactors: A renewable energy source by Bernard L. Cohen, American Journal of Physics, 1983 (H/T Crowlspace Uranium can last for 5 billion years with a withdrawal rate of 6,500 tonne per year from the oceans [with breeder reactors this would be double current world electricity usage]. This estimate does not include using Thorium which is more common in the earth's crust than Uranium. < > Currently nuclear reactors use about 100 to 200 tons of uranium every year. 10,000 to 20,000 kg of uranium per billion kWh. 200 to 400 times more uranium than the french msr design uses....

Increased use of nuclear (an outright competitor to coal as a deliverer of baseload power) is essential to combat climate change The location for this year's Camp for Climate Action - outside the Kingsnorth power station in Kent - was well chosen: it is here that E.ON wants to build the first new coal-fired plant in the UK in nearly 30 years. With coal the most global-warming-intensive fuel on the market, and six more coal plants in the pipeline if Kingsnorth gets the go-ahead, there is a clear line to be drawn in the sand. But the Kent protesters are...

Westinghouse Electric Co. yesterday assigned senior executive Ricardo G. Perez to develop the Monroeville-based company's strategy for capitalizing on anticipated worldwide growth in the nuclear power industry. Mr. Perez, 49, was named to the newly created position of senior vice president of global growth and innovation. The 27-year Westinghouse veteran had been senior vice president of nuclear services. That position will be filled by Nick Liparulo, 58, currently vice president of engineering services. "We cannot afford to take a 'wait-and-see' attitude toward the market," said Aris Candris, Westinghouse president and chief executive officer. "We must proactively evaluate every aspect of...

The government by 2030 will build 11 more nuclear power plants and increase the share of such reactors in the nation’s power generation facilities to 41 percent. New and renewable energy will account for 11 percent of energy consumption, up from 2.2 percent in 2006, and self-production of gas and oil will make up 40 percent of energy consumption from 3.2 percent two years ago. The government announced its plan at the Center for Small and Medium Businesses in central Seoul yesterday. According to the Framework Act on Energy, the government must set an energy plan every five years, and...

It is not just a matter of skyrocketing oil prices. The critical challenges of national energy security, the threat of global warming and fading memories of past accidents have mellowed public opposition against a once-scorned form of energy, nuclear power. The presumptive Republican presidential candidate, John McCain has proposed an aggressive expansion of nuclear power with a proposal of building 45 new nuclear power plants across the country in the next few decades. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Barrack Obama, is in support of nuclear power as long as it was safe and cost effective. The interest in nuclear generation...

When Vermont lawmakers debate whether the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant should be allowed to extend its license beyond 2012, they might want to avoid the S-word. Snip The worst-case scenario would be for the Legislature to pass a resolution saying "because of our safety concerns at VY," it was declining to approve the license extension. "Of course they're not going to do this," Hofmann said of lawmakers. "But that would be the worst of all worlds. That kind of courts a pre-emption claim." Snip Michael Marriotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a group based near Washington...

CLICK here to listen to the ad. The full transcript: Steve Pearce: This is Steve Pearce. It's time our government stood up for working families, reduce our energy costs by building nuclear power plants, and drilling for oil on land and off shore.   The far left environmentalists are not going to like this and maybe it’s not politically correct, but nuclear energy is a sure way toAmerica's energy independence. Nuclear power can make America free from Middle Eastern oil cartels.   Nuclear power will make energy affordable, America prosperous and keep American jobs here instead of being shipped...

Levy County residents and commissioners got to hear first-hand Thursday night from the power company that wants to build a nuclear power plant in the rural county involving two reactors. The 100 or so people at the meeting also got an overview from state officials on federal and state permitting procedures for nuclear plants. Progress Energy is planning to build a $17 billion dollar nuclear generation facility and transmission lines on 5,200 acres that Progress Energy already owns near Inglis. If built, the plant is projected to generate $100 million in tax revenue annually that will go to county government...

PRINCETON, NJ -- John McCain has ramped up his longstanding call for building more nuclear power plants -- 45 new ones by 2030 -- drawing the sharpest distinction between himself and Barack Obama on energy policy, but also, to some degree, throwing the political dice. According to a July USA Today/Gallup poll, the impact of a candidate's favoring greater use of nuclear power is mixed. Forty-seven percent of Americans say they are more likely to back a candidate who favors expanding nuclear power, while 41% say they are less likely to back such a candidate. But on a relative basis,...

McCain and Obama came to Michigan this week touting two all-too-similar energy plans. By Henry Payne Detroit — The presidential fuel follies came careening into Michigan this week, advertising two knights battling over America’s energy future. Upon closer inspection, however, the fix appears to be in: Underneath the rhetorical weaponry, both knights are wearing the same green armor. Barack Obama arrived first at Michigan State to give a typically grandiose speech outlining his plan for a “complete transformation of our economy.” The Arrogant One has been trying to make up to Michigan since he presumed a year ago to tell...

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy announced in a new report this morning the estimated total cost to build and operate a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository would be $96.2 billion. Counting inflation, the price tag increased by 67 percent over the department's most recent published estimate, which was $57.5 billion in 2001.

RAPID CITY, S.D. — John McCain's visit to a nuclear power plant, the first in recent history by a presidential candidate, highlights the promise and peril of a technology that is a key component of his sweeping plan to help the country overcome its energy crisis. The Enrico Fermi Nuclear Plant outside Detroit, named for the first physicist to split the atom, is home to both an operating power plant and another reactor that had a partial meltdown in the 1960s. It was decommissioned in 1972, while its successor continues to operate. McCain, who is set to visit the plant...

NEWPORT, Mich. - Senator John McCain toured a nuclear power plant in Michigan on Tuesday to highlight his support for the construction of 45 new nuclear power generators by 2030, a position that he said distinguished him from his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama. :If we really want to enable new technologies tomorrow like plug-in electric cars, we need electricity to plug into," he said in a statement after touring the Fermi 2 nuclear plant, its twin cooling towers spewing vapors used as a backdrop. "We need to do all this and more." In addressing the nation's energy demands, Mr....

TAMPA - Two weeks after winning state approval to build two nuclear reactors north of Crystal River in Levy County, Progress Energy Florida took its proposal to federal regulators on Friday and asked for their OK. Progress Energy, Central Florida's largest power provider, joins a growing number of utilities to ask for approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate a new nuclear facility, placing it at the center of a "nuclear renaissance" in the United States. The commission's review is expected to take three to four years, the utility said. The two reactors would generate up to 2,200 megawatts...

The Maryland Public Service Commission is holding several public meetings this month, beginning tomorrow, about whether a third reactor should be built at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby. The reactor could double the power-generating capacity of the Calvert County plant. Clearing the regulatory hurdles is a multiyear process, and construction is not expected to begin before late 2009. UniStar Nuclear Energy, a joint venture between Constellation Energy and EDF, a European energy group, filed an application in November with the Public Service Commission for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, a license given to a public...

Georgia Power asked Georgia utility regulators to approve its request to build two, 1,102 MW nuclear generating units at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant. Its share of the plant would be between $4.4 billion and $6.6 billion. The regulatory body is expected to rule on the proposal in March 2009. Georgia Power also informed the PSC that it is in the final stages of evaluating the conversion of Plant Mitchell, an older coal-fueled power plant, to burn biomass wood. If approved, this plant would be one of the largest wood biomass plants in the United States. Georgia Power expects to...

Against 1 Nuclear power is clearly a dead-end technology. It is not sustainable since there is only a 50-year supply of uranium left in the world. 2 Nuclear power plants are not cheap. They incur high capital costs. The industry is surviving thanks to heavy hidden subsidies in reprocessing and deferred costs of decommissioning. 3 Nuclear energy is highly glorified. It is neither cheap nor clean, and definitely not safe. Its concerns are environmental, ethical, social and political. 4 It is leaving behind a legacy of contamination. The accidents so far have been serious. The radioactive waste, including spent fuel,...

BERLIN - Soaring oil prices combined with fears about energy security and climate change are softening Germans' hostility towards nuclear energy, a new survey showed on Wednesday. The results provide fodder for members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) who have in the last few weeks have renewed their calls for a rethink of the planned phase out of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors by 2021. The Forsa poll for Stern weekly magazine showed that voters in Germany, Europe's biggest power market, were now evenly divided on the question of whether some of the plants should be allowed to...

If ever there was a question about the need for nuclear power, it has certainly been dispelled now with the rising cost of fossil fuels.The high price of oil, natural gas and coal should be a wake-up call to all regions of the country that the era of boundless use of cheap fossil fuels is over — and that nuclear power will need to play a larger role in supplying electricity to homes, business and industry. Although natural gas is now the fuel of choice in electricity generation, its price has quadrupled in recent years and supplies are extremely tight....

If ever there was a question about the need for nuclear power, it has certainly been dispelled now with the rising cost of fossil fuels. The high price of oil, natural gas and coal should be a wake-up call to all regions of the country that the era of boundless use of cheap fossil fuels is over - and that nuclear power will need to play a larger role in supplying electricity to homes, business and industry. The economic problems with natural gas buttress the case for switching to nuclear energy for electricity production. Seventeen companies are preparing license applications...

Utilities are headed toward a nuclear relapse, betting billions of ratepayer and taxpayer dollars on nuclear power when the dollar is down, when filling up the gas tank is painful, when droughts have become the norm, and when the threat of climate change cannot be ignored. Let's talk money. Environmentalists and nuclear naysayers did not stop nuclear power decades ago. Wall Street did. Today's economics are no better, and the industry needs massive federal loan guarantees to underwrite the cost of expansion. Proponents of the free market and skeptics of socialism should be alarmed. In May, Georgia Power estimated that...

sudden end. Is the American public ready to support the construction of new nuclear plants? It is. For years anti-nuclear groups disseminated a message of widespread opposition to nuclear power. All that talk was blown away by a recent Zogby Interactive poll that shows 67 percent of Americans support the construction of new nuclear power plants. Everyone can see that reality clearly now that we're spending a staggering $700 billion a year on oil imports from foreign countries, many of which are unstable and in some cases hostile to the United States. Small wonder, then, that the overwhelming judgment from...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- As the soaring cost of fossil fuels grabs both voters' and the candidates' attention, alternatives including nuclear power are enjoying a renaissance on the campaign trail. But while both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama embrace nuclear power as a viable form of energy, hurdles remain to ramping up production, including the cost of building plants, where to store the related waste and how to transport it. Moreover, politicians will have to overcome jitters about building new plants in local communities. With 104 nuclear power plants in the U.S., nuclear energy currently produces about 20% of U.S....

Going Nuclear   By John PerazzoFrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, July 24, 2008 Something was amiss when Al Gore gave his high-profile speech on global warming last week, and it wasn’t just the gas-guzzling SUV caravan that delivered the former vice president for the occasion. Even as Gore endorsed an ambitious 10-year plan to produce 100 percent of the country’s electricity through carbon-free sources, he omitted the one carbon-free source that truly could ease America’s energy woes: nuclear power. That is not entirely surprising. For the environmental Left, the efficiency of nuclear power has long been an inconvenient truth. The anti-nuclear...

Deep in the radioactive bowels of the smashed Chernobyl reactor, a strange new lifeform is blooming. TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO, on 26 April 1986, reactor No 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, in Ukraine, blew apart, spewing radioactive dust and debris far and wide. Ever since, a 30 km 'exclusion zone' has existed around the contaminated site, accessible to those with special clearance only. It's quite easy, then, to conjure an apocalyptic vision of the area; to imagine an eerily deserted wasteland, utterly devoid of life. But the truth is quite the opposite. The exclusion zone is teeming with wildlife...

French nuclear firm Areva has found a uranium leak at a factory in southeastern France, but there is no danger to the environment, the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) said on Friday. The news came a day after the government ordered safety tests at all the country's 19 nuclear power plants following another leak at an Areva facility earlier this month. However, Energy and Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo moved to reassure the public over the latest incident. "We mustn't over-exaggerate," he told reporters, saying there were 115 such "little anomalies" in France's nuclear industry each year. "This is something which...

And just last month John McCain called for the construction of 45 new reactors by 2030. Barack Obama is less enthusiastic about nuclear energy, but he seems to be moving toward tacit approval. In the U.S. at present, 104 nuclear plants generate about 21% of our electric power. Last November, NRG Energy, of Princeton, N.J., became the first company to file for a license to build a new nuclear plant since the 1970s. Almost a dozen more applications have now also been filed.

Energy: What is small enough to be hauled on a truck, has the power to provide electricity to 45,000 homes, can help the U.S. cut its dependence on foreign oil and has no emissions? Hint: The Sierra Club won't like it.Next week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will rule on an application from NuScale Power, an Oregon-based startup that is seeking federal clearance to move ahead with its project to build mini or portable nuclear reactors. Popular Mechanics quotes NuScale as saying that if its design is approved, it will begin tests with the hope of getting final approval a few...

TALLAHASSEE -- Faced with growing demand for electricity and worries about climate change, state leaders have moved forward with a strategy during the past two years: Build nuclear-power plants and look for alternative sources of clean energy. But for Florida homeowners and businesses, it won't come cheap. Customers of Progress Energy Florida and Florida Power & Light in 2009 likely will start paying hundreds of millions of dollars a year to help finance new energy projects -- much of it for nuclear plants. The extra charges are expected at the same time customers will get hit with higher bills because...

‘We are the problem and the solution to global warming’İSMAİL KOCABIYIK; ISTANBUL 13 July 2008, Sunday Human beings are the cause of global warming, but they are also the only force capable of stopping it, according to İbrahim Dinçer, the chairman of the Global Conference on Global Warming, which was held this past week in İstanbul. In an interview with Sunday's Zaman Dinçer, a professor at the University of Ontario's Institute of Technology, said there are several ways to prevent global warming and that the most important is education. "You can educate people from kindergarten to the end of their...

LE CREUSOT (FRANCE): President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on Thursday that France will build a second third-generation EPR nuclear plant, arguing nuclear power was the country's best answer to soaring energy prices. Sarkozy, who has made exporting French nuclear know-how a priority of his presidency, made the announcement during a speech on energy policy at an ArcelorMittal steel factory in central France. France's first European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) -- one of only two under construction worldwide -- is being built by utilities giant Electricite de France (EDF) in Flamanville in northern France, set for completion in 2012. Sarkozy said a...

We have become a nation of second-guessing Hamlets. Shakespeare warned us about the dangers of "thinking too precisely." His poor Danish prince lost "the name of action," as he dithered and sighed that "conscience does make cowards of us all." With gas over $4 a gallon, the public is finally waking up to the fact that for decades the United States has not been developing known petroleum reserves in Alaska, in our coastal waters or off the continental shelf. Jittery Hamlets apparently forgot that gas comes from oil -- and that before you can fill your tank, you must take...

Carbon-capping legislation and recent studies[1] that conclude that a massive build-up of nuclear power is needed to minimize the negative economic impact of CO2 caps have spurred several high-profile articles on the costs of nuclear energy.[2] One such article notes that estimated construction costs for nuclear power plants and the overall costs of nuclear power have increased significantly since 2000 and espouses wind power, solar power, and energy efficiency as alternatives to new nuclear plants. What these articles do not recognize is that energy prices are increasing broadly. When considered properly, nuclear power is the only available technology that is...

News rolled in yesterday that Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called for a huge increase in the number of nuclear power plants in the U.S.: 45 new plants by 2030, and another 55 after that. That's almost twice as many new plants as are operating in the U.S. today (104, according to the AP). What benefits does nuclear offer? According to McCain, "Every year, these [104] reactors alone spare the atmosphere from the equivalent of nearly all auto emissions in America." Of course, there's a lot of uncertainty about nuclear power, as we recently discussed, and McCain's call to...

Energy Policy: The Republican candidate pushes for a new Manhattan Project to power our economy and protect the environment. It's about time we caught up with the rest of the world and split atoms, not hairs.Speaking Wednesday in Springfield, Mo., as much of the nation's source of ethanol — corn — was under water, John McCain pitched another source of emission-free renewable energy: nuclear power. The GOP contender called for the construction of 45 nuclear power plants by 2030 and pledged $2 billion a year in federal funds. That date is significant because it's often touted as a target date...

Obama: Nuclear power worth considering, not panacea Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:22pm EDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Friday nuclear power was "not a panacea" for U.S. energy woes but it is worth investigating its further development. During a meeting with U.S. governors, Obama noted that nuclear power does not emit greenhouse gases and therefore the United States should consider investing research dollars into whether nuclear waste can be stored safely for its reuse. But he said, "I don't think that nuclear power is a panacea."

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The nation's nuclear energy industry, all but stagnant for three decades, is quietly building toward a resurgence with more than two dozen new reactors on the drawing board in 15 states.

Nuclear power is particularly suitable for vessels which need to be at sea for long periods without refuelling, or for powerful submarine propulsion. Over 150 ships are powered by more than 220 small nuclear reactors and more than 12,000 reactor years of marine operation has been accumulated. Most are submarines, but they range from icebreakers to aircraft carriers. In future, constraints on fossil fuel use in transport may bring marine nuclear propulsion into more widespread use. So far, exaggerated fears about safety have caused political restriction on port access. Work on nuclear marine propulsion started in the 1940s, and the...

ITALY, which last week decided to embrace nuclear power two decades after a public referendum banned nuclear power and deactivated all its reactors, could be just the first of several European countries to reverse its stance on nuclear power, a leading industry group has said. Ian Hore-Lacey, spokesman for the London-based World Nuclear Association, said: "Italy has had the most dramatic, the most public turnaround, but the sentiments against nuclear are reversing very quickly all across Europe." When asked which natioADVERTISEMENTns were likely to join Britain and France as major producers of nuclear power, he replied: "Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Germany...

The Italian government said Thursday it would begin building nuclear power stations, reversing a 20-year ban in an initiative likely to spark strong resistance and take a long time to come to fruition. "During the term of this parliament, we will lay the first stone for the construction in our country of a group of new-generation nuclear power stations," Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola told the Italian employers' federation Confindustria. "We can no longer avoid an action plan for a return to nuclear power," he said, recalling a campaign pledge by Italy's newly named right-wing prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to...

The Republican nominee backed nuclear this week, but the U.S. shouldn't try to imitate the French disaster                                     By Lawrence Solomon"If France can produce 80% of its electricity with nuclear power, why can’t we?,” asks U.S. presidential candidate John McCain. Nuclear power is a cornerstone of Senator McCain’s plan to combat climate change, which he is unveiling this week. McCain thinks he is asking a simple rhetorical question. As it turns out, he is not. His question is technical, with an answer that will surprise him and most Americans. Nuclear reactors...

"A nuke in every garage" is the GOP nominee's energy and climate plan.Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made a stunning statement on the radio show of climate change denier Glenn Beck this week: ... the French are able to generate 80 percent of their electricity with nuclear power. There's no reason why America shouldn't. The Wonk Room, which has the audio, writes of the interview, "McCain Seemingly Agrees With Glenn Beck That Solutions To Climate Change Can Be Delayed." That is lame all by itself. But the statement quoted above is even more radical. McCain is repeating his little-noticed uber-Francophile statement...

What do Yucca Mountain and Guantanamo Bay have in common? Well, there's the obvious stuff. Both have Spanish names. Neither is a great spot for a family vacation. And each is under the control of the federal government. Oh, and both are essential tools in wars a lot of people claim they want to win. See, Yucca Mountain is where the government wants to keep incredibly dangerous substances -- nuclear waste -- until we figure out a better way to handle it. And Guantanamo Bay is where the federal government keeps incredibly dangerous people -- jihadi enemy combatants -- until...

Westinghouse strikes deal to build US nuclear power plants Apr 8 07:52 PM US/Eastern Westinghouse Electric, a unit of the Japanese Toshiba Corp., said Tuesday it had struck a deal with Georgia Power to build two nuclear power plants in the southern United States, the first such projects in 30 years. The two Westinghouse AP1000 power plants will be located at a site near Augusta, Georgia which already had two existing nuclear reactors.

Morning Edition, March 28, 2008 · After a hiatus of nearly three decades, nuclear energy is booming. Seventeen power companies in the U.S. are making plans to build more than 30 nuclear plants. One important factor in the resurgence: new federal and state laws that help utilities pay for nuclear plants that, if completed, would be among the most expensive projects ever built in the country. One state where nuclear power is making a comeback is Florida. At a meeting last week in Tallahassee, Florida's Public Service Commission voted to approve the state's first new nuclear plants in decades. Commission...

31 March 2008 -- South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. and Santee Cooper submitted an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a combined construction and operating license (COL), which, once approved, would authorize the companies to build and operate up to two new nuclear electric generating units at the utilities' existing V.C. Summer Nuclear Station site in Jenkinsville, S.C. Filing the application does not commit the two utilities to build. Development of a COL application for the new nuclear facilities began in early 2006. The NRC will now n an approximate three-to-four-year review process and could issue the combined...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Columbia, S.C., April 2, 2008 - South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G), principal subsidiary of SCANA Corporation (NYSE: SCG) announced that an agreement has been reached with Westinghouse Electric Company and The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SGR), authorizing the purchase of long-lead-time materials for up to two new Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear electric generating units. “This keeps us on schedule if we are to build new nuclear generation and have a plant online by 2016,” said Kevin Marsh, president of SCE&G. “We’re pleased that after more than two years of diligent work, we’re able to achieve this milestone. Our...

Britain and France are to sign a deal to construct a new generation of nuclear power stations and export the technology around the world in an effort to combat climate change.