Free Republic

Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid. In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of new electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent...

Japan is stepping up efforts to have local authorities approve the restart of the world’s biggest nuclear power plant, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility north of Tokyo... Next week, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ken Saito, is expected to ask the local governor of the Niigata prefecture to approve the restart of the power plant.. In the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011, Japan closed all its nuclear power plants that underwent rigorous safety checks and inspections. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has been offline since 2012, while the Nuclear Regulation Authority in 2021 barred the plant’s operator, utility Tepco, from operating the...

Switzerland’s nuclear power plant operators plan to keep the facilities operational for longer than initially planned, ... Switzerland has four nuclear reactors, which generate up to 40% of its electricity ... the energy crisis and concerns about the reliability of electricity supply in the country has prompted utilities to look to extend the lives of the reactors as long as the extension of the operations is found to be safe. Axpo Holding and Alpiq Holding have increased the planned lifespan for their nuclear power plants to 60 years from a previous target of 50 years, which means they could be...

France is looking to lean more heavily on nuclear power, having apparently realized that a civilized and productive nation cannot reliably run off so-called renewable energy. The French government will consider legislation in early February that would eliminate renewable power objectives within France's energy code, including targets for reducing energy consumption by way of renovating buildings. France24 indicated that the legislation sets no explicit targets for building renewable capacity. Instead of mucking around with objectives for renewables, the legislation would have France embrace "the sustainable choice of using nuclear energy as a competitive and carbon-free" source of power. To this...

A small nuclear reactor that can run for eight years or more without water is scheduled to go online by 2029 in Saskatchewan, Canada... The unit, called an eVinci, is being built by Westinghouse...The unit will be capable of producing five megawatts of electricity...a single megawatt...produces energy similar to what is used by 400 to 900 homes...[Photo in Comment #1]

Idaho National Laboratory experienced a massive data breach on Sunday night, leading to the leak of employee addresses, Social Security numbers, bank account information and much more. INL media spokesperson Lori McNamara tells EastIdahoNews.com the breach is being investigated and federal law enforcement are involved. “Earlier this morning, Idaho National Laboratory determined that it was the target of a cybersecurity data breach, affecting the servers supporting its Oracle HCM system, which supports its Human Resources applications. INL has taken immediate action to protect employee data,” says McNamara. “INL has been in touch with federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI...

The U.S. brings a new Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor online in Georgia, the first in 7 years, signaling a potential nuclear renaissance.Historical fears and incidents hindered nuclear development, but changing perceptions and energy needs have positioned nuclear as a clean energy solution.While challenges like high costs and lengthy development times persist, political support, funding, and improving public opinion could drive a resurgence in U.S. nuclear energy.Following the energy shortages of 2022, the U.S. has been racing to reinvigorate its nuclear energy sector. Long neglected, nuclear power appears to be making a comeback in the U.S., having gained funding and political...

https://youtu.be/htoNuyYjNwg

Canada’s plans to make nuclear power a central part of its decarbonization strategy are taking shape with major announcements around large nuclear builds, small modular reactors and medical isotopes.. Nuclear power accounts for around 15% of Canada’s electricity generation with most capacity in Ontario where some 40% of the population resides. A total of 19 reactors provide around 13.6 gigawatts (GW) across the country, though most are in the provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick, which are 60% and 36% powered by nuclear respectively. ... increasingly vocal support for urgent greenhouse-gas-emission reduction have helped bring the government back to nuclear...

Earlier today I wrote that we live in stupid times.It’s true. In an era defined by apocalyptic warnings about how fossil fuels, agriculture, and breathing will cause the Earth to catch on fire, the one thing that has held the environmental movement together is an abiding faith that generating power with clean, renewable, and carbon-free nuclear energy is a terrible idea.The result has been a ridiculous draught in the commissioning of nuclear reactors. The US has closed nukes but hasn’t commissioned a new reactor in decades.We live in stupid times.Still, somehow this new reactor in Georgia managed to slip through...

Wait— it wasn’t supposed to be this way. That is, according to Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Kerry, and Joe “Existential Threat to Mankind” Biden, et al. “It,” of course, being the utopian green energy of the Shangra-La of tomorrow — which Sweden is abandoning and returning to nuclear power.That’s right, climate loons. Sweden just dealt a severe blow to the globalist climate agenda by scraping its green energy targets. In a statement announcing the new policy in the Swedish Parliament, Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson warned that the Scandinavian nation needs “a stable energy system.”Svantesson said wind and solar power...

Way back in October 2021, Vox released a video about nuclear power featuring Cleo Abrams. The gist of the video was that New York’s then-recent decision to shut down Indian Point nuclear reactor was a bad idea. As Abrams pointed out in a 10-minute clip, shutting down nuclear reactors is completely counter-productive, especially for anyone who believes climate change is a problem that has to be dealt with immediately.What happened when NY shut down Indian Point? The state suddenly lost a major source of electric power which was soon replaced by power created by burning more natural gas. As Abrams...

There are geopolitical and energy realities coming to fruition that nuclear can solve. After more than sixty years, Germany closed all its nuclear power plants (NPPs) with Isar-2, Emsland, and Neckarwestheim-2 officially disconnected from the grid. Germany lost approximately 5% of its power generation. The German government went against science, reason, and grid reliability. Green hydrogen is the process of using renewables (wind and solar) for electricity to produce hydrogen. It is still in its development phase. However, to generate the amount of electricity required to unlock hydrogen from water BloombergNEF estimates: “would take more electricity than the world generates...

There’s not much good to be said about the end of nuclear power in Germany. And the further were get from the reactors going dark, the dimmer the idea and the rationale for it looks.Take what “electric” means to the average German today, for the most basic effect.Germans pay the highest prices for electricity in the world and many consider it a 'luxury good.'This graph explains why: 👇https://t.co/r5VcoiAgYz pic.twitter.com/KOUqAk755d— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) May 10, 2023German leaders, especially those in the Green movement like Economics Minister Robert Habeck, are tapdancing even more so than when I posted about it two weeks...

Do you think the Russians care one iota about respecting U.S. law? Well, you probably don’t, but President Joe Biden’s Energy Department is under the impression that President Vladimir Putin and his ilk will honor U.S. law as it relates to sensitive nuclear energy technology in Ukraine. Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom took over Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, after it invaded. On Tuesday, CNN reported that the Department of Energy (DOE) sent Russia an official letter on March 17, 2023, explaining that the power plant “contains US-origin nuclear technical data that is export-controlled by the [U.S.]...

Wowsers. What a difference a cold, dark, expensive winter makes.HUGE!Chancellor Hunt unveiling Great British Nuclear during his spring budget statement now: Officially announcing funding of Sizewell C, classification of #nuclear as green in the UK, targeting 25% nuclear for the UK Grid & a new SMR competition w/ gvmt funding! #uranium— Art Hyde (@JekyllCapital) March 15, 2023In the culmination of an effort and advocacy begun by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, U.K. chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced yesterday that nuclear energy was being reclassified as “environmentally sustainable” in Britain. That’s not just semantics, It opens nuclear up to all the financing,...

Japan’s government on Feb. 10 adopted a policy seeking to maximize the use of nuclear power in a bid to stabilize the country’s energy supply amid soaring energy costs fueled by the prolonged war in Ukraine.The new policy marks a major turnaround from Japan’s previous policy of reducing its reliance on nuclear energy and shutting down most of its nuclear reactors in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.Under the new policy, the government will set up a final disposal site for the proper disposal of radioactive waste generated during nuclear energy production. It also calls for the development of...

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has formally approved a small modular reactor design from NuScale.The U.S. has just given the green light to its first-ever small modular nuclear design, a promising step forward for a power source that remains controversial among some climate advocates but is experiencing a popular renaissance.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the design, which was published Thursday in the Federal Register, from NuScale, an Oregon-based reactor company. The publication of the design in the Register allows utilities to select this type of reactor when applying for a license to build a new nuclear facility. The design would...

Will French nuclear power plants be able to operate for up to 80 years? What will be the cumulative effects of climate change on reactors? What will happen to future radioactive waste? On Tuesday, January 24, senators are expected to adopt the nuclear acceleration bill, which aims to facilitate the start of work on the sites where six new European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) could be built. Concurrently, the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) has called for a “global and systemic” reflection on safety issues as part of the debate on the future of the energy system.The discussions need to cover...

Japan has announced a major U-turn in its energy policy after the Asian nation adopted a new policy promoting greater use of nuclear energy, effectively ending an 11-year prohibition and phase-out that was triggered by the Fukushima disaster. Under the new policy, Japan will maximize the use of existing nuclear reactors by restarting as many as possible, prolong the operating life of old reactors beyond their 60-year limit and also develop next-generation reactors to replace them.The proposed legislation marks a complete reversal of the nuclear safety measures the country adopted after a powerful tsunami hit caused three of its six...