Free Republic

Now Russia appears to be scouting Germany as a potential target for sabotage, intelligence officers told Bild. Sources told the newspaper that a flying object was detected flying over the industrial area in Brunsbütte, on the northern coast of Germany, last night. Drones have been flying over the area, home to a nuclear power plant, an Liquefied Natural Gas terminal and several chemical plants, since at least August 8, and have been attributed to Russian agents who are likely launching them from civilian ships in the North Sea.

South Lebanon Water Establishment said that shutting down power plants will negatively affect their ability to pump sufficient quantities of water into the area. The Zahrani power plant, the last and only plant still providing electricity in Lebanon, reportedly shut down on Saturday, Sawt Beirut International reported on X, citing Lebanon's electric corporation, Électricité du Liban. The Jerusalem Post could not access Lebanon's Electric Corporation's website.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russia has started a fire on the grounds of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest such facility in Europe. It comes as the war between the two countries enters a new phase, with Ukraine occupying Russian territory for the first time last week as part of its retaliation against Russia’s full-scale invasion, which is now in its third year. Russia captured the plant, which is in Ukrainian territory, shortly after invading Ukraine in 2022. Its six nuclear reactors are in cold shutdown and no nuclear activity was recorded on Sunday, but the...

Vladimir Putin has declared that Ukraine carried out a 'large-scale provocation' following a daring surprise assault on Russia's the border region of Kursk. Russian authorities have already evacuated several thousand civilians and cancelled all mass gatherings due to fighting in the cross-border incursion, officials said. -snip- Moscow also said it had sent reserves to help repel hundreds of Ukrainian fighters backed by tanks, in a ground incursion that is shaping up to be one the largest into Russian territory during the war. -snip- There were a flurry of warnings today that Ukraine's intention behind the unprecedented thrust into Russian territory...

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation following a concerning incident at the Oconee Nuclear Station in South Carolina on Thursday night. At approximately 8:05 p.m. on Thursday, deputies from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office responded immediately to an emergency call from the Oconee Nuclear Station. An unknown individual had reportedly driven a car through the exit side of the facility’s gate, facing Highway 183, FOX Carolina reported. According to on-site accounts, following the unauthorized entry, the facility’s security systems activated pop-up barricades designed to immobilize intruding vehicles. The rogue driver, however, managed to reverse the vehicle upon encountering...

Share 3D-printed “superalloy” could make power plants more efficient...Credit: kinwun / Adobe Stock Anew high-performance metal alloy, called a superalloy, could help boost the efficiency of the turbines used in power plants and the aerospace and automotive industries. Created using a 3D printer, the superalloy is composed of a blend of six elements that altogether form a material that’s both lighter and stronger than the standard materials used in conventional turbine machinery. The strong superalloy could help industries cut both costs and carbon emissions — if the approach can be successfully scaled up. The challenge: In the world of materials...

Colonel Douglas MacGregor interview on Judging Freedom Ukraine slams Crimea bridge arrests; power restored at occupied nuclear power plant

China’s state-run Global Times on Friday harangued America and Europe for using coal power to make up for electricity shortfalls, even though China is building coal plants with wild abandon, digging up and importing mountains of coal to fuel them, and making it very clear that China’s industrial goals will not be compromised in any way to satisfy climate activists. There is a legitimate point to be made about the lunacy of Western societies spending billions on unreliable “green energy,” ruling out nuclear power for pseudo-religious environmentalist reasons, and then frantically turning back to dirty coal when solar panels and...

The Hawaiian islands’ coal shipments are ending. The bulker carrying the state’s final coal shipment will leave this week after refueling the state’s last coal-fired power plant. That plant is scheduled to close in September forcing the state’s energy providers to compete with the US Navy for oil tankers. AES Hawaii, operator of the largest power plant on Oahu, received 15,000 tons of Indonesian coal from the Liberian flag bulker MV Flying Tiger. The 180-megawatt plant is the biggest source of the island’s electricity and provided 13% of the state’s overall power in 2018.

HONOLULU — Hawaii is receiving its final shipment of coal this week, which Gov. David Ige called a huge step forward in the state’s transition to clean energy. Coal is the cheapest but dirtiest source of power for Oahu. A law put in place a couple of years ago will finally shut down the island’s last coal burning power plant. ... “In its time, coal was an important resource for Hawai‘i and I’d like to thank the workers who have run our last remaining coal plant,” Ige said in a statement. “Renewable energy projects to replace coal are coming online...

The coal plant is closing, along with the mine that feeds it and has nearly 115 more employees, and all the workers will lose their jobs over the next decade ... The same scenario is playing out in other small towns across the U.S. After decades of relying on coal for their workforce, tax base and way of life, the towns face uncertain futures as new state and national legislation forces the retirement of fossil fuels ... The impact spreads beyond the plants workers and is felt by the rest of the community, too. In Craig, much of the infrastructure...

DENVER — Xcel Energy customers could see higher bills in 2022. The company submitted a proposal to raise rates to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. They say the increase will help fund “next-generation technology investments that expand and strengthen the reliability of the electric grid for customers, advance Colorado’s clean energy policies, and increase capacity to meet growing customer needs and expectations.” Xcel said that since 2019 and through 2022, it will spend for $4 billion on the investments. How much will my bill increase? Residential customers would see their bills increase by an average of $9.46 a month, or...

* Local residents say a power plant is heating Seneca Lake and emitting huge amounts of greenhouse gases. * The gas-fired plant is used to power at least 8,000 computers that are mining bitcoin. * The plant's CEO says it's operating within the law, and has created 31 jobs. Local residents have blamed bitcoin mining for heating up the largest of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York, with one saying it's "so warm you feel like you're in a hot tub," according to a report by NBC News. Their complaints centre on a gas-fired power plant that's being used...

Iran’s sole nuclear power plant has undergone an unexplained temporary emergency shutdown, state TV reported on Sunday. An official from state electric company Tavanir, Gholamali Rakhshanimehr, said on a talk show that the Bushehr plant shutdown began on Saturday and would last “for three to four days.” Without elaborating, he said that power outages could result. This is the first time Iran has reported an emergency shutdown of the plant, located in the southern port city of Bushehr. It went online in 2011 with help from Russia. Iran is required to send spent fuel rods from the reactor back to...

One of California’s most critical hydroelectric plants is at risk of closing for the first time in five decades as water levels continue to sink. A megadrought and scorching heat, both worsened by La Nina weather effects, have depleted some of the water supply at Northern California’s Lake Oroville. The lake’s current water levels are hoovering around 700 feet above sea level, but if 640 feet is breached, then officials “will likely be forced to close the Edward Hyatt Power Plant for the first time since it opened in 1967,” California Energy Commission spokesperson Lindsay Buckley told CNN. The lake’s...

A nuclear power plant believed to be experiencing a leak posing an “imminent radiological threat” is run by China General Nuclear Power Corporation: a state-owned firm that has enjoyed millions of dollars in investment from President Joe Biden’s son Hunter. Problems at the facility were exposed via a CNN report, which revealed that the plant’s French partner reached out to the White House for assistance: The warning included an accusation that the Chinese safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province in order to avoid having to shut it...

A power plant fire in the US territory of Puerto Rico has left thousands of households without electricity. Pictures on social media show plumes of smoke rising from the flames at a sub-station in the capital, San Juan. The fire broke out shortly after the firm reported a cyber-attack, which has not yet been linked to fire. The Caribbean island has struggled with rolling blackouts ever since Hurricane Maria largely destroyed its electrical grid in 2017. Some Puerto Ricans were left without electricity for nearly a year after the storm. A private company - Luma Energy - took over operation...

The collapse took place around 9 a.m. at the site of the former Killen Generating Station along U.S. 52. Officials said the building was in the middle of a demolition when the awning of the plant collapsed. Adams County Sheriff Kim Rogers said, initially, five people were unaccounted for following the collapse. Three of the five people have since been located and taken to the hospital for treatment. Two were taken to the hospital early on, and a third was taken to an area hospital after being buried under the rubble for hours. The first two are expected to be...

A 10-year plan presented last week to the federal Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee... calls for the Department of Energy (DOE), the main sponsor of U.S. fusion research, to prepare to build a prototype power plant in the 2040s that would produce carbon-free electricity by harnessing the nuclear process that powers the Sun. The plan formalizes a goal set out 2 years ago by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and embraced in a March report from a 15-month-long fusion community planning process. It also represents a subtle but crucial shift from the basic research that officials in...

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