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Let me take a look at my checklist — what haven’t I done in a while? Oh, here it is: “Piss off the mindlessly pro-nuke crowd”.[1] So, what shall it be this time? How about plain ol’ economics? New Nuclear Energy Grapples With Costs: President Obama may be pressing for the nation to increase its supply of . . . → Read More: Spendy nukes throw a wrench into the renaissance In trying to communicate the urgency of our climate situation to newcomers, there are two basic approaches we can take, and we’re doing a reasonable job on just one of them. We can talk about all the “feeds and speeds” of climate change–if we let atmospheric CO2 reach X parts per million it will mean . . . → Read More: Climate change and the 80/2050 challenge  22 comments - (Comments are closed)  By the numbers, Climate change, Coal, Electricity, Natural gas, Nuclear, Oil, Transportation Nuclear projects face financial obstacles (emphasis added): Hopes for a nuclear revival, fanned by fears of global warming and a changing political climate in Washington, are running into new obstacles over a key element — money. A new approach for easing the cost of new multibillion-dollar reactors, which can take years to complete, has provoked a backlash from . . . → Read More: Paying for nuclear power Most regular readers of this site are probably aware that Vermont Yankee, the nuclear power plant in Vermont, the one with the tritium leaks (now and years ago; see below), will not have its license renewed in 2012. Bradford Plumer has a good take on this, Vermont Senate Pulls Plug On Nuclear Plant: I don’t think this spells . . . → Read More: Nuking a nuke Why Obama’s Nuclear Bet Won’t Pay Off (emphasis added): If you want to understand why the United States hasn’t built a nuclear reactor in three decades, the Vogtle plant outside Atlanta is an excellent reminder of the insanity of nuclear economics. Its original cost estimate was less than $1 billion for four reactors. Its eventual price tag . . . → Read More: The cost of nuclear power I’ve mentioned recently the tritium leaks that have been detected at aging US nuclear plants (see Tidbits, More on nuclear leaks, and Tritium for everyone!), and now the news is getting worse in one location… Tritium hot zone expands.: Rutland Herald Online: The Department of Health said late Monday there appears to be “a very large area” at . . . → Read More: More on tritium leaks Stephen E. Koonin gave a presentation last October, Addressing America’s Energy Challenges. Koonin is Under Secretary for Science of Energy at the US Dept. of Energy, and he pulled together a lot of information and presented it in an excellent, and sometimes quite enlightening way. The presentation is available here [36 page PDF]. The most interesting slides . . . → Read More: Doc alert: America’s energy challenges 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Biofuels, Climate change, Coal, Electricity, Natural gas, Nuclear, Oil, Renewable energy, Solar, Transportation Much higher tritium levels found at nuclear plant: A radioactive substance recently found in groundwater monitoring wells at a Vermont nuclear plant has turned up again at levels more than nine times those previously reported and more than 37 times higher than a federal safe drinking water limit, officials said Thursday. Officials at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, . . . → Read More: Tritium for everyone! 25 Percent of U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Are Leaking Radioactive Chemicals: Would you like a little radioactive tritium with your water? As far fetched as it sounds, the Associated Press recently reported that at least 27 of 104 nuclear reactors across the United States are leaking potentially dangerous levels of tritium into the groundwater around the plants. The scope . . . → Read More: More on nuclear leaks Why There’s $54.5 Billion for Nuclear Power in Obama’s Budget: Obama’s budget for 2011 is filled with peculiarities. There are a few primary points of interest when it comes to energy–the empty cap and trade framework outlined within, the severing of multi-billion fossil fuel subsidies (which I’ll get to in a post later today), and perhaps most . . . → Read More: Nuclear power support |
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