Free Republic

Pure silliness. Be the envy of your friends. Make a reply at 11/11/11 11:11:11

When is a hurricane not a hurricane? Well, when it doesnÂ’t blow 64 knots (33 m/sec, 74 mph), because then itÂ’s only a tropical storm. Inspired by a post over at the Cliff Mass Weather Blog, IÂ’ve been trying to find a single report of sustained hurricane force winds anywhere along IreneÂ’s path at or near landfall Â… no joy. I knew exaggeration was the order of the day for some folks in the climate debate, but I hadnÂ’t realized that the illness had infected the Weather Service itself.Figure 1. The path of Tropical Storm Irene over the mainland of...

Aug. 10, 2011—Full‐scale construction of new reactors in the United States could begin by year’s end, according to new licensing schedules published by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NRC staff announced this week that it has finished the final safety evaluation report for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design. The NRC also told Southern Nuclear Operating Co. that the agency had completed the final safety evaluation report for the combined construction and operating license application for two AP1000s at the Vogtle site near Waynesboro, Ga., and informed South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. last week that its application for two AP1000s...

Gov. Nikki Haley has signed into law a bill designed to stop a South Carolina town from using a traffic camera to send speeders a ticket in the mail. The law bars towns from mailing traffic tickets. It requires officers to hand-deliver them along the roadside.

The future development of South Texas Project (STP) units 3 and 4 looks unlikely after majority shareholder NRG Energy announced that it will write down its investments so far in the project and make no further investment. The project to construct two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) at STP is being developed by Nuclear Innovation North America (Nina) - jointly owned by NRG Energy and Toshiba. It had been considered among the leading new build projects in America, and was one of the few that had survived both the financial crisis and the new availability of cheap natural gas. NRG...

Just announced on channel 3 (CBS affiliate)

Connecticut voters - post your experiences here

Emblem of a divisive and controversial political movement or historic symbol of American defiance? Those are two views of the Gadsden Flag, the bright yellow banner adorned with the image of a coiled rattlesnake and the words "Don't Tread on Me." The flag has been adopted by tea party activists, who have unfurled it at rallies across the nation, and some Republican members of Congress, who hung it from a balcony at the U.S. Capitol before a vote on the health care overhaul. On Friday, the flag will fly over the state Capitol — and that doesn't sit well with...

March 17, 2010—The Illinois Senate took steps Tuesday to knock down the state’s Chernobyl-era ban on building new nuclear plants by a 40-1 vote. It was one of a series of recent votes on nuclear energy issues in various statehouses. The bill (SB3388) amends Illinois’ Public Utilities Act of 1987 to remove language that prohibited utilities from building new nuclear energy plants in the state. The legislation also removes language requiring a “technology or means for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste,” allowing the state to consider new construction while the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future considers the...

March 18, 2010—Objections to DOE’s plans to withdraw its license application for the Yucca Mountain used fuel repository continued to gain pace this week, with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) adding their voices. NARUC filed with the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board its petition to intervene in the board’s considerations of DOE’s March 3 motion to withdraw with prejudice its Yucca license application. In its filing, NARUC said DOE’s withdrawal is “premature, arbitrary and capricious.” The ASLB is the body determining whether DOE can legally withdraw its application. The filing went...

The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of over 36,000 and is a leading communicator of physics-related science to all audiences, from specialists through to government and the general public. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in scientific publishing and the electronic dissemination of physics. The Institute is pleased to submit its views to inform the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's inquiry, 'The...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled yesterday that DOE cannot claim that the lack of a federal repository or storage facility constitutes an “unavoidable delay” in failing to meet its statutory obligations to remove used nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plant sites. The court’s decision reversed a lower court’s finding that could have significantly limited the federal government’s liability for damage claims by nuclear utilities. Costs for utilities to store used fuel on reactor sites have been mounting since January 31, 1998, when the federal government was to begin accepting it under the terms of...

Washington - The National Hockey League (NHL), in an unprecidented move, has terminated the 2009/2010 regular season and has awarded the coveted Stanley Cup to President Barack Obama. The Stanley Cup is usually awarded to the best team of hockey players who endure dozens of regular season hockey games from October thru April, and a payoff season that is nearly as long as the regular season. It is highly unusual for the Stanley Cup to be awarded to an individual. The NHL commisioner, Gary Bettman, was unavailable to comment on this unusual action. However, a trusted source within the commisioner's...

The death toll from the catastrophic flood that engulfed Russia's biggest hydroelectric power station rose to 17 on Thursday but 58 people were still reported missing, officials said.

LOS ANGELES — Barack Obama was standing on a riser inside a warehouse here, delivering an inspirational speech about the blessings of freedom, when his left index finger began to twitch uncontrollably, unnerving his aides. - snip - In that Hollywood building here, the life-size, three-dimensional figure was being put through its final tune-up, its chin rising and hands gesturing in response to technicians, in preparation for shipment to the Hall of Presidents exhibit at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. - snip - The public is to get its first glimpse of “Robobama,” as it is known among some handlers,...

April 16, 2009 – A decmmissioning bill under consideration by the Vermont Senate may force the state’s nuclear power plant to close, an Entergy official warned state lawmakers. The bill, H.436, which has cleared the state House of Representatives, would require Entergy to contribute more than $229 million into the plant’s decommissioning fund by 2012 when the current license expires. The bill also would require Entergy to pay an additional $229 million from 2018 to 2020. “I don’t want it to sound like a threat because it’s not a threat, but Vermont Yankee does not make the kind of revenue...

I now have ten years of Freeping!

• Third U.S. EPC Contract • Commercial Operation to Begin in 2016 Westinghouse Electric Company today announced that it and its partner The Shaw Group Inc.’s (NYSE: SGR) Power Group have signed an Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract (EPC) with Progress Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN), to provide two Westinghouse AP1000™ nuclear power units at its Levy County, Florida site. Aris Candris, Westinghouse president and CEO, said the agreement is again proof that nuclear power will play an increasingly important role in the ongoing effort to provide the baseload generation that is necessary to spur economic...

I was travelling home (in Connecticut) from relatives in Upper New York State this past Sunday by myself. I was driving on a state road where the posted speed limit is 55 mph. I was maintaining a speed of 65-70 mph. I was listening to the Vikings-Giants game on the radio (I'm a Vikings fan). In a period of 15 seconds, the Vikings kicked the winning field goal, I got very excited, I hit the accelerator in my excitement, went over the top of a hill and was clocked at 86 mph. Anyone familiar or have some experience with speeding...