Free Republic

https://youtu.be/htoNuyYjNwg

MIAMI (AP) — Federal officials have reversed a decision to allow a South Florida nuclear power plant to continue running for another 30 years by ordering a new review of potential environmental risks, including those posed by climate change. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued an order Thursday to reverse a 2019 decision by a previous, Republican-led commission to extend Florida Power & Light’s operating license for two reactors at the Turkey Point nuclear power plant until 2052 and 2053, respectively. The reactors have been operating since 1972 and 1973, respectively. The reversal gives environmental groups a chance to reiterate...

Many Indians lack the documents needed to prove citizenship—and Muslims are in the firing line. Firoza Bano, 50, sat worried in her home in the northern Indian city of Jaipur. Born in the north Indian state of Rajasthan in 1970, she has barely traveled outside the state—but now she faces the possibility of being kicked out of her home country. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed all-India National Register of Citizens (NRC) will require Bano to prove she’s Indian. If she’s unable to produce the requisite documents, she might lose her citizenship and be declared an infiltrator. At...

A small amount of radioactive, weapons-grade plutonium about the size of a U.S. quarter is missing from an Idaho university that was using it for research, leading federal officials on Friday to propose an $8,500 fine. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Idaho State University can't account for about a 30th of an ounce (1 gram) of the material that's used in nuclear reactors and to make nuclear bombs. The amount is too small to make a nuclear bomb, agency spokesman Victor Dricks said, but could be used to make a dirty bomb to spread radioactive contamination. "The NRC has...

An African-American nuclear chemist from Washington, DC, won the 2017 edition of Miss USA on Sunday night after telling the audience about her conservative political viewpoints. Kára McCullough, a 25-year-old nuclear chemist who works for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told the audience how she doesn't necessarily view herself as a feminist and said that health care is a privilege and not a right. She also won plaudits for wearing her hair natural and curly throughout the competition. The event, which featured beauties from each state and the nation's capital outfitted in dazzling dresses and swimsuits, came to an end...

Miss District of Columbia Kara McCullough was crowned the new Miss USA Sunday in Las Vegas. The beauty works in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a chemist. Tonight during the question and answer section Kara told the audience healthcare is a privilege and not a right and that creating jobs is important. She said feminism is man-hating. Hah! Beauty and brains. She is amazing! https://youtu.be/muS063iEnIk

How many academics does it take to fix America’s criminal justice system? Twenty. That’s how many participated in a National Research Council (NRC) study of U. S. prisons and their effect on inner cities. They study was conducted under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). “After decades of stability, U.S. federal and state prison populations escalated steadily between 1973 and 2009, growing from about 200,000 people to 1.5 million,” they found. “The increase was driven by changes in policy that imprisoned people for a wider range of offenses and imposed longer sentences.” “Has this greater reliance on...

Yucca Mountain, located about 90 miles north of Las Vegas, Nev. (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) (CNSNews.com) – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has released the final two volumes of a five-volume safety report that concludes that Nevada’s Yucca Mountain meets all of its technical and safety requirements for the disposal of highly radioactive nuclear waste. “With reasonable assurance, subject to proposed conditions, DOE’s [Department of Energy] application meets the NRC’s regulatory requirements” for the disposal of “high-level nuclear waste,” the regulatory agency announced Thursday. However, “completion of the safety evaluation report does not represent an agency decision on whether to...

When nuclear power plants are built, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has the authority to issue initial operating licenses for a period of 40 years. Beyond that, the reactors need license renewals, and the NRC has granted 20-year license renewals to 74 of the 100 operating reactors in the United States. These reactors may now operate for a total period of 60 years. They represent a cumulative capacity of a little more than 69,000 megawatts (MW). The NRC is currently reviewing license renewal applications for an additional 17 reactors, and expects to receive seven more applications in the next few...

About 50 miles outside Washington D.C. is a nuclear power plant that sits on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It’s the sort of place the government has warned is vulnerable to a terrorist attack.But an investigation conducted by The Daily Caller found that anybody can enter the property of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, drive through the front gates, park not far from a nuclear reactor and have no contact of any kind with security.A reporter and videographer drove from the nation’s capital last Friday to Calvert Cliffs and twice accessed the power plant site. No one...

A private organization that monitors radiation data from network points across the United States issued email alerts today for two Western U.S. cities, Reno, Nev., and St. George, Utah. The alerts came from the the Nuclear Emergency Tracking Center, which explains its mission is to provide radiation monitoring information from hundreds of sites in Japan and the U.S., including those run by the Environmental Protection Agency. The warning pinpointed an area “of concern” in St. George, Utah, where background radiation levels more than doubled today from the typical reading. In Reno, “the current background radiation level has increased suddenly...

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued a confirmatory order to Exelon Generation Company, LLC for one incident involving violations of the Behavioral Observation Program at the Dresden Nuclear Power Station. In addition, the NRC issued orders prohibiting two former Dresden employees involved in the situation from participating in nuclear work regulated by the NRC. Dresden is located in Morris, Ill., 25 miles southwest of Joliet. The NRC investigated the incident in which senior reactor operator Michael J. Buhrman, planned to rob an armored car and recruited the assistance of another senior reactor operator, Landon E. Brittain. The plan was...

President Obama asserted the unilateral power to "tweak" inconvenient laws in last Friday's news conference, underscoring his Administration's increasingly cavalier notions about law enforcement. So it's good that the judiciary—a coequal branch of government, in case the Administration forgot—is starting to check the White House. In a major rebuke on Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an unusual writ of mandamus, which is a direct judicial order compelling the government to fulfill a legal obligation. This "extraordinary remedy" is nominally about nuclear waste, writes Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the 2-1 majority, yet the case "raises significant questions about...

n a rebuke to the Obama administration, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been violating federal law by delaying a decision on a proposed nuclear waste dump in Nevada. By a 2-1 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered the commission to complete the licensing process and approve or reject the Energy Department's application for a never-completed waste storage site at Nevada's Yucca Mountain. In a sharply worded opinion, the court said the nuclear agency was "simply flouting the law" when it allowed the Obama administration to continue plans...

Court Rules That NRC Can No Longer Accept Assurances a Permanent Waste Repository Is Coming The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it would stop issuing licenses for nuclear plants until it addresses problems with its nuclear-waste policy that were raised by a recent federal appeals court decision

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has voted to renew the license of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth for another 20 years. The agency announced Friday that it has authorized staff to renew the license before it expires on June 8. The NRC voted 3-1 for relicensing, with outgoing chairman Gregory Jaczko the only no vote. Gov. Deval Patrick called the NRC’s decision "extremely troubling." He and other officials sought to delay relicensing until pending safety and environmental concerns were resolved. The NRC says the plant is safe, and the 6 ½ year review of Pilgrim’s application was the lengthiest...

Gregory Jaczko has resigned his chairmanship of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Harry Reid and Barack Obama team up to pick on a girlThe Obama administration announced two weeks ago that it would renominate Republican Commissioner Kristine L. Svinicki to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), but it has yet to act. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, refuses to say whether he will bring up her nomination for a vote. Apparently, Ms. Svinicki’s membership is getting blackballed. By law, the minority party in the Senate picks two commissioners of the five-member NRC, while the White House chooses the other three, including the chairman. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, submitted...

About this video A leak discovered earlier this year in a steam generator pipe at the San Onofre nuclear plant has lead to two unanimous City Council decisions to send letters of concern to the NRC. Fairewind's Arnie Gundersen presented at both council meetings. In this video Gundersen talks with KPBS's Peggy Pico about the steam generator leak, the city council decisions and the licensing status of San Onofre.

Airborne troops from Russia and the Untied States would hold joint anti-terror drills in the U.S. state of Colorado between May 24 and 31, spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry Col. Alexander Kucherenko said on Thursday. According to the spokesman, it will be the first time that the Russian airborne forces have held exercises with the U.S. airborne forces on the U.S. territory. "According to the exercise scenario, soldiers of the two countries will hold a tactical airborne operation, including the reconnaissance of imaginary terrorists' camp and a raid," Kucherenko said. "After the operation, a helicopter will evacuate the soldiers,"...