Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: 'I love James Hansen, but he is wrong on [the nuclear power issue]' | EnviroNews

WATCH

“…I love James Hansen, but he is wrong on this issue; he’s been wrong on nuke for a while,” Kennedy responded when asked. “He doesn’t understand the cost advantage that solar and wind now have over the incumbents, including nukes.”

According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, there are 449 nuclear power reactors currently operating in 30 countries, with 60 more under construction. In the U.S., 99 reactors produced 805.3 billion kilowatt-hours of electric power in 2016. The new Watts Bar 2 unit came online last year in Tennessee – a project of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a corporation owned by the federal government. The reactor 2 unit at that plant is already in shutdown due to equipment failures. 

Kennedy also questions the industry’s financial viability. “If you remove the subsidies from nuclear power there’s not a single utility in the world who would build a nuclear power plant,” he said. 

According to a 2011 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Government subsidies to the nuclear power industry over the past fifty years have been so large in proportion to the value of the energy produced that in some cases it would have cost taxpayers less to simply buy kilowatts on the open market and give them away…” 

MORE / VIDEO – 
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: 'I love James Hansen, but he is wrong on [the nuclear power issue]' - EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists

Petition update – Hibakusha appeal at the United Nations for a strong treaty to ban nuclear weapons

JUN 29, 2017 — Historic negotiations for “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination” are now taking place at the United Nations in New York. Civil society representatives from around the world are gathered there to urge all nations to work in good faith to achieve the strongest, most effective treaty possible.

Amongst the civil society present in New York include many Hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the only people who have ever experienced the devastation of nuclear war, the voices of the Hibakusha carry a heavier weight than most on the topic of global nuclear proliferation. They are mentioned directly in the preamble of the revised treaty draft released earlier this week, which states that participating countries are “mindful of the unacceptable suffering of and harm caused to the victims of the use of nuclear weapons (Hibakusha) as well as of those affected by the testing of nuclear weapons…”

more: Petition update – Hibakusha appeal at the United Nations for a strong treaty to ban nuclear weapons | Change.org

#NuclearHotseat 314 ::: #Fukushima Radiation-Hit USS Reagan Sailors Win Right to Sue TEPCO in USA

 LISTEN NOW

Encore Presentation of Nuclear Hotseat #272: EXCLUSIVE! USS Reagan vs. TEPCO Hearing

Attorneys, Sailors + John Edwards

On September 1, 2016, Nuclear Hotseat Producer/Host Libbe HaLevy attended the US 9th District Court Hearing on USS Reagan Sailors v. Tokyo Electric Power Company.  The sailors were on an humanitarian aid mission to Japan following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which caused the Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdowns.  TEPCO never informed the US Navy of the dangerous release of radioactivity from the crippled nuclear reactors and as a result, the sailors were exposed to catastrophic levels of radiation.  At stake in this hearing: the right for the already ill sailors to have their case heard in U.S. court, not Japan.* 

(NOTE:  The ruling handed own just this week will allow the case to proceed in the United States court system.  This program lets you glimpse what it took to get here.)

Hear excepts from the testimony and exclusive interviews with:

• Attorneys for the sailors Charles Bonner and Paul C. Carlson Garner
• Sailors from the USS Reagan:  William Zeller, Chad Holt and Chris Shamrell.
• Former US Senator and Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, who reveals a bombshell: why he flew out to attend this hearing and has become so public in his support for the sailors.

MORE: Fukushima Radiation-Hit USS Reagan Sailors Win Right to Sue TEPCO in USA – #314

Stop the Nuclear Tax Bailout -- End the “Nuclear Renaissance” | NIRS

Stop the Nuclear Tax Bailout -- End the “Nuclear Renaissance”

The nuclear industry is trying to ram through another multi-billion-dollar bailout to keep the fantasy/nightmare of nuclear power alive. This time, through Congress. Stopping this bill (HR 1551) could end the so-called “Nuclear Renaissance” once and for all.

Utilities in Georgia and South Carolina are building four new reactors that are all billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. The problems were predicted before the utilities broke ground, but the extent of their failure is truly remarkable. The reactors are less than half-way built and have already bankrupted Westinghouse, the largest builder of reactors in the world – proving that nuclear power is a failed technology with no future.

HR 1551 would try to ensure these reactors get built by guaranteeing them $5.2 billion in federal tax breaks that are scheduled to expire in 2020. Because of the massive construction delays in building the reactors, none of them are expected to be online before then.

Please contact your Senators today and tell them to vote "NO" on HR 1551.

SIGN NOW

MORE BACKGROUND

Some or all of the four new reactors being built in the U.S. could be cancelled soon, despite billions of dollars in state and federal subsidies. The two reactors at Plant Vogtle in Georgia have already received $8.3 billion in taxpayer-guaranteed loans, and ratepayers in both states are paying steep rate hikes to cover the financing costs of the projects.

But one of the subsidies – the Nuclear Production Tax Credit – could expire before costing taxpayers a dime. Utilities can only take the tax credit for electricity the reactors actually generate, and it appears none of them will be completed before the program expires by law in 2020. If that happens, it willg taxpayers over $5 billion.

Georgia Power, SCANA, and Westinghouse are begging Congress to rush through a bill (HR 1551) that would NOT ONLY eliminate the 2020 expiration date, but give $2.6 billion in federal tax credits to tax-exempt state utilities and cooperatives that are 50% co-owners of the new reactors. 

The bill would allow the non-profit utilities to transfer the credits to the for-profit utilities and Westinghouse. 

The House of Representatives passed HR 1551 through last week, and Senate Majority Leader McConnell is pushing for a Senate vote this week, before the American public can find out about it. And President Trump has already said he will sign the bill. 

The whole scheme amounts to a $5 billion bailout to four dirty, dangerous reactors – using a new and still-unproven design – that have already had major construction and manufacturing problems.

For more information:

Press Statement by NIRS and Friends of the Earth

Letter to House of Representatives from thirteen environmental organizations

SIGN NOW :: Stop the Nuclear Tax Bailout -- End the “Nuclear Renaissance” | NIRS

Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS)

Consumer Watchdog, Environmental Organizations Demand Congress Reject Nuclear Bailout

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | JUNE 20,2017

Expert contact: Ben Schreiber, (202)-222-0752, bschreiber@foe.org Communications contact: Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Thirteen environmental and consumer watchdog organizations representing millions of members today sent a letter to the House of Representatives urging members to oppose bill H.R. 1551, which aims to bail out the nuclear industry after troubled investments in new reactor projects in the southern U.S.

Last week, H.R. 1551, a bill to amend the IRS code and modify tax credits to nuclear power facilities, passed the House Ways and Means Committee by voice vote. House leadership placed this controversial, fast-tracked legislation on the suspension calendar for this week and the bill is expected to be brought to the floor today.

The legislation comes as Southern Company and SCANA push to get the government, via U.S. taxpayers, to foot even more of the bill for the utilities’ failed bet on nuclear reactors. The projects have been beset by extreme cost overruns and completion schedules have doubled. Westinghouse’s decision to construct four new nuclear reactors for utilities in Georgia and South Carolina has not only bankrupted the company, but also placed its parent company, Toshiba, in an extremely precarious financial position. If enacted, this bill would grant an additional $2.6 billion to the failing projects by making tax-exempt co-owners eligible for federal tax credits, and permitting them to transfer the credits to for-profit corporations.

“These four reactors, two at Southern Company’s Plant Vogtle and two at SCANA’s V.C. Summer, have been under construction since 2009 and were supposed to be operational by now, but are nowhere near complete,” said Ben Schreiber with Friends of the Earth. “Both projects have already benefitted from state and federal incentives, yet their customers have suffered from rising electric bills. There is no reason to burden these customers further or make U.S. taxpayers shoulder any more of the costs for these failed experiments. Congress should ensure the utilities’ shareholders take on some of the risk, not assure yet another multi-billion dollar taxpayer-financed nuclear bailout.”

The letter explains that:
The failures to bring any of the four reactors online within the fifteen-year period of the tax credit program demonstrates that the technology is an even greater failure than the first generation of reactors, and it will never be widely commercialized. It is simply not a justified or worthy investment of taxpayers’ money to grant the owners of these reactors the extraordinary relief of billions of dollars in subsidies for projects that hold no promise for the U.S. energy sector. It should not be forgotten that Southern Company’s expansion of Plant Vogtle has already received substantial taxpayer support through the $8.3 billion in federal nuclear loan guarantees and the public/private cost-sharing support during the permitting and licensing process.

“We urge Congress to give the American people a break and stop throwing billions of dollars in wasteful and ineffective subsidies at these boondoggle nuclear projects," said Tim Judson, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. "The industry promised that $20 billion in loans and payouts from taxpayers would revive nuclear power and lead to a 'Nuclear Renaissance.' But all that money and more has only managed to get four reactors less than half- built in ten years, and bankrupted their manufacturer with billions of dollars in cost overruns. Not passing this bill will save taxpayers at least $5 billion dollars. It's time for Congress to give the American people a break.”
Find the letter here.

###

Friends of the Earth fights to create a more healthy and just world. Our current campaigns focus on promoting clean energy and solutions to climate change, ensuring the food we eat and products we use are safe and sustainable, and protecting marine ecosystems and the people who live and work near them.
Founded in 1978, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) is the information, networking and outreach center for organizations and individuals concerned about nuclear power, radioactive waste, radiation and sustainable energy issues. NIRS works to advance the transition to clean, efficient, renewable energy; advocates for responsible and environmentally just solutions to radioactive and toxic waste; and fights to protect the public from the effects of radioactive contamination. We provide policy expertise and informational resources on energy and radioactive waste, and monitor policy developments on the national and state levels.
Founded in 1985, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy promotes responsible energy choices that work to address the impacts of Global Climate Change and ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. Learn more at www.cleanenergy.org.



SEE ALSO: Stop the Nuclear Tax Bailout -- End the “Nuclear Renaissance” | NIRS

"News from Fukushima" 8-9 JULY :: Z Space, SF

NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA Meditation on an Under-Reported Catastrophe by a Poet 
Written by Yuri Kageyama | Directed by Carla Blank
Z Space 450 Florida St. San Francisco CA 94110 
SAT July 8, 2017 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. 
SUN July 9, 2017 2 p.m. 
$10 admission (free with student ID)
Discussion with audience and cast after each show
Z Space site: 
http://www.zspace.org/notes-from-fukushima

“Yuri Kageyama, with her epic poem, has earned a place among the leading world poets. This work proves that the poet as a journalist can expose conditions that are ignored by the media.” _ Ishmael Reed

Fukushima is the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. It will take decades and billions of dollars to keep the multiple meltdowns under control. Spewed radiation has reached as far as the American West Coast. Some 100,000 people were displaced from the no-go zone. But, six years after 3.11, the story hardly makes headlines. 

Journalist Yuri Kageyama turns to poetry, dance, theater, music and film, to remind us that the human stories must not be forgotten. Carla Blank, who has directed plays in Xiangtan and Ramallah, as well as collaborated with Suzushi Hanayagi and Robert Wilson, brings together a multicultural cast of artists to create provocative theater. Performing as collaborators are actors/dancers Takemi Kitamura, Monisha Shiva, Shigeko Sara Suga and musicians Stomu Takeishi, Isaku Kageyama, Kouzan Kikuchi and Joe Small. Lighting design by Blu. Video of Fukushima by Yoshiaki Tago.  

NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA is a literary prayer for Japan. It explores the friendship between women, juxtaposing the intimately personal with the catastrophic. The piece, which had a debut run at La MaMa in New York in 2015, continues to develop and premieres on the West Coast.  

For more information, interviews and other queries, please email yurikageyama@yahoo.com or click on Contact at http://yurikageyama.com/ https://www.facebook.com/events/128904444271300/ …

#NuclearHotseat 313: #MarshallIslands Nuclear Atrocities & the United Nations – The Human Perspective w/Desmond Delatram of REACH-MI

LISTEN NOW

This Week’s Featured Interview:

• Desmond Doulatram of the Marshall Islands is Co-Founder of the NGO REACH-MI (Radiation Exposure Awareness Crusaders for Humanity – Marshall Islands).   Desmond has seen the devastating effects of the testing of 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands within his own family.  He is currently at the United Nations helping to showcase the little known side of history and humanity from the Pacific, and human rights abuses by colonial super powers.

Bonus:

Marshall Islands Sites:

• Change Circumstance Petition to the United States Congress
• Bikini Atoll information

 Nuclear Savage, the film

LISTEN NOW: Marshall Islands Nuclear Atrocities & the United Nations – The Human Perspective w/Desmond Delatram of REACH-MI – #313

Featured Image is of the Castle Bravo nuclear detonation in the Marshall Islands, the largest nuclear bomb ever set off by the United States.

This animation shows how terrifyingly powerful nuclear weapons have become | Tech Insider (Facebook)

WATCH: This animation shows how terrifyingly powerful nuclear weapons have become | Tech Insider (Facebook)

An Abandoned US Nuclear Base in Greenland Could Start Leaking Toxic Waste Because of Global Warming – Mother Jones

In 75 years, Camp Century could literally melt down.

Over the last century, many glaciers have pulled back farther than humans have ever previously witnessed. While the retreat of glaciers, and changes in the cryosphere more generally (which includes ice sheets and permafrost), can be seen as purely symbolic representations of the unwavering march of climate change, they are shifting geography as they melt and thaw, leaving dangerous implications behind.

Camp Century is only one such instance. Built underneath the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet in 1959 by the the US Army Corps of Engineers as part of Project Iceworm, the project was designed to create a network of mobile nuclear missile launch sites in Greenland. Intended to study the deployment and potential launch of ballistic missiles within the ice sheet, the base was eventually abandoned and decommissioned in 1967.


An Abandoned US Nuclear Base in Greenland Could Start Leaking Toxic Waste Because of Global Warming – Mother Jones

Utility Refuses to Budge on Placing Nuke Waste Dump on Shore of Great Lake Despite Objections From 200 Communities

…The Great Lakes provide drinking water for nearly 40 million people. Opposition group Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump calculated that 217 communities on both sides of the border have passed resolutions expressing opposition to OPG's proposed nuclear waste dump. 

"Burying this nuclear waste anywhere in the great lakes basin is completely inappropriate," Beverley Fernandez, spokesperson for the group, told CBC News. "It's not up to us to decide where this should go, but we know one thing for sure: The last place it should go is right beside our drinking water…"

more: Utility Refuses to Budge on Placing Nuke Waste Dump on Shore of Great Lake Despite Objections From 200 Communities

Nuclear Weapons Ban? What Needs to be Banned Is U.S. Arrogance | Counterpunch

In a context of almost total indifference, marked by outright hostility, representatives of over a hundred of the world’s least powerful countries are currently opening another three-week session of United Nations talks aimed at achieving a legally binding ban on nuclear weapons.  Very few people even know this is happening.

Ban nuclear weapons?  Ho hum… Let’s change the subject.

Let’s talk about Russian hacking instead, or the rights of trans-sexuals to use the toilet of their choice, or even about something really important: climate change.

But wait a minute. The damage to human society, and to “the planet”, from the projected rise of a few degrees of global temperature, while commonly described as apocalyptic, would be minor compared to the results of all-out nuclear war.  More to the point, the degree of human responsibility in climate change is more disputed among serious scientists than the public is aware, due to the role of such contributing factors as solar variations.  But the degree of human responsibility for nuclear weapons is unquestionably total.  The nuclear war peril is manmade, and some of the men who made it can even be named, such as James Byrnes, Harry Truman and General Lester Groves.  The United States government consciously and deliberately created this danger to human life on earth. Faced with the United States’ demonstrated capacity and moral readiness to wipe out whole cities with their devices, other countries built their own deadly devices as deterrents.  Those deterrents have never been used, which lulls the public into believing the danger is past.

But the United States, the only power already guilty of nuclear manslaughter, continues to perfect its nuclear arsenal and to proclaim its “right” to launch a “first strike” whenever it chooses.

The United States naturally calls for boycotting the nuclear arms ban conference…

more: Nuclear Weapons Ban? What Needs to be Banned Is U.S. Arrogance

'Absurd' nuclear subsidies muck up energy markets, harm consumers | TheHill

'Absurd' nuclear subsidies muck up energy markets, harm consumers | TheHill

Nuclear power subsidies must end - Washington Times

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Should utility bills and taxes be used to subsidize money-losing nuclear power plants so they can compete with renewable energy and low-cost natural gas?

New York and Illinois, bowing to pressure from a powerful nuclear utility, believe the answer is yes. Several other states, including Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania, may follow suit, arguing that the subsidies will save nuclear power-plant jobs and help electric utilities meet environmental mandates to reduce carbon emissions.*

That’s just one side of the story. The other side is this: The bailouts (subsidies by another name) reward poor management and bad judgment and would cost homeowners and businesses billions…

more: Nuclear power subsidies must end - Washington Times

* remember that nukes are NOT green, clean, safe, or affordable! – and they are NOT "carbon-free," either!

 #BustTheMyth

you can't nuke global warming!

Nuclear Waste “Russian” Roulette SPECIAL – Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear – Nuclear Hotseat #311

LISTEN NOW

This Week’s Featured Interview:

• Kevin Kamps, Nuclear Waste Watchdog/Bulldog for Beyond Nuclear, gives an all-encompassing vision of nuclear waste problems faced by not just the United States, but the world.  Included in his discussion are:
  • Hanford Site
  • Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
  • San Onofre 
  • Yucca Mountain
  • US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement

Numnutz of the Week (for Nuclear Boneheadedness):

Ontario Power Generation has studied every aspect of the problem and – believe it or not! – come to the conclusion that what’s a little desecration of First Nation lands and sacred burial grounds, and putting the safety of the entire Great Lakes water basin in nuclear danger when it’s SO convenient to site the nuclear waste REPOSITORY – NOT “BUNKER” AS THEY’RE TRYING TO RE-LANGUAGE IT!!!!! – on its own property. 

LISTEN NOW: Nuclear Waste “Russian” Roulette SPECIAL – Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear – Nuclear Hotseat #311

17 JUNE :: WOMEN'S MARCH AND RALLY TO BAN THE BOMB

Saturday June 17th – New York City- Support the UN in Adopting a Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons


NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ABOUT TO BE BANNED AND WE NEED YOUR VOICE!

In one of its final acts of 2016, the United Nations General Assembly adopted with overwhelming support a landmark resolution to begin negotiations on a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons. This historic decision heralds an end to two decades of paralysis in multilateral nuclear disarmament efforts.

Throughout June and July of 2017, governments will negotiate a ban on nuclear weapons at the United Nations. WILPF and our coalition are hitting the streets to celebrate and also demand a good treaty that prohibits these weapons of mass destruction once and for all!

The Women’s March to Ban the Bomb is a women-led initiative building on the momentum of movements at the forefront of the resistance, including the Women’s March on Washington. It will bring together people of all genders, sexual orientations, ages, races, abilities, nationalities, cultures, faiths, political affiliations and backgrounds to march and rally at 12 PM – 4PM Saturday, June 17th 2017 in New York City!

more info: Nuclear weapons are about to be banned and we need your voice! - Women's March and Rally to Ban the Bomb

6/11 SF Japan Consulate Speak-out :: Do Not Force The Families of Fukushima Back and Stop The Restarting of Japanese Nuclear Plants | No Nukes Action Committee

6/11 SF Japan Consulate Speak-out
Sunday April 11, 2016 3:00 PM
San Francisco Japanese Consulate
275 Battery St./California St.
San Francisco

The people of Fukushima and Japan continued to be threatened by the ongoing contamination of Fukushima and the Abe government restarting of nuclear plants. The government continues to pressure Fukushima families and their children to return to Fukushima or lose their subsidies. These government demands is harming the health and mental conditions of the Fukushima refugees who do not want to return. The government which now controls Tokyo Electric Power Company continues to use thousands of contract workers to supposedly decontaminate the plant and the thousands of acres surrounding the plant. These workers do not have proper health and safety protection and the government uses the Yakuza to recruit day laborers and workers from other countries. They are also demanding that other prefectures or states “recycle” 16 million cubic meters of contaminated radioactive soil in construction projects throughout the country despite the danger of expanding the contamination of the entire population…

more: 6/11 SF Japan Consulate Speak-Do Not Force The Families of Fukushima Back and Stop The Restarting of Japanese Nuclear Plants | No Nukes Action Committee

Watch Your Wallets: Dominion Getting License to Build Nation's Most Expensive Nuclear Plant

Erica Gray, Nuclear Issues Chair of the Sierra Club, at a protest against Dominion’s planned North Anna 3 nuclear reactor. Photo courtesy of the Sierra Club.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that within the next few days, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will approve a Combined Operating License (COL) for Dominion Virginia Power’s third nuclear power plant planned for its North Anna site in Surry County, Virginia. That means that as far as the federal agency is concerned, North Anna 3 is good to go.

 As far as Virginia residents are concerned, though, this project has gone way too far already. Dominion has poured hundreds of millions of dollars of ratepayers’ money into NA3, and that’s money we will never see again. But that’s better by far than moving forward with what would be the most expensive nuclear plant ever built in the United States…

• NA3 is a terrible deal for the people who would have to pay for it.

The Attorney General’s office has calculated that the $19 billion price tag for NA3 would increase the bills of Dominion customers by 25% beginning its first year in operation. And that’s if it somehow avoids the cost overruns that have plagued other nuclear plants in recent years… [more]

• NA3 would make our electricity grid more vulnerable to outages.

Concentrating power generation at a single site is a bad idea. If something goes wrong, there is that much more power at risk. This is especially true when the site already has a known vulnerability, in this case its location on a fault line. An earthquake near North Anna in 2011 shut down the existing reactors for three months. A third plant in the same location, on the same fault line, increases the amount of generating capacity that could be forced offline without warning, challenging grid operators to find replacement sources—instantly… [more]

• We don’t need the power.

Virginia is part of PJM Interconnection, a regional power grid that covers all or part of thirteen states plus the District of Columbia, and includes over 1,300 generating units. Today, Dominion buys a portion of its power on the PJM wholesale market, at a price far below the projected cost of electricity from NA3. PJM already faces a power glut. Adding more generation to PJM would be expected to lower wholesale power prices. That would benefit buyers in other states, at the expense of the Virginia consumers paying for NA3.

• Nuclear energy is not a climate solution.

Low-cost wind and solar are increasingly viewed as the backbone of the 21st century electricity grid. Dominion’s latest integrated resource plan recognizes solar as the lowest-cost resource, even compared with “cheap” natural gas. Nuclear is not just more expensive; it is actually incompatible with large amounts of renewable energy. That’s because U.S. nuclear plants are designed to run all the time at a constant level, regardless of demand. At night when demand is low, nuclear plants still have to deliver power to the grid, even if it means turning off wind turbines that could supply free electricity… [more]

…Finally, nuclear waste is piling up with no long-term storage plan in place.

more: Watch Your Wallets: Dominion Getting License to Build Nation's Most Expensive Nuclear Plant

Nuclear Issues at Left Forum

Film Screening: Good Thinking, Those Who've Tried To Halt Nuclear Weapons
SATURDAY June 3rd Session 4: 5:20pm - 7:10pm

Women Demand an End to the Whole Nuclear Era
SUNDAY June 4th Session 5: 10:00am - 11:50am

Nuclear Power is Dead . Time for a Just Transition.
SUNDAY June 4th Session 6: 12:00pm - 1:50pm

Nuclear Injustices and Denial: Misogyny and Environmental Racism in the Nuclear Story
SUNDAY June 4th Session 7: 3:40pm - 5:40pm

link to search for "nuclear" >>> Left Forum

No Uranium Mining at Mugla Rocks (Western Australia) | Conservation Council of Western Australia

No Uranium Mining at Mugla Rocks
http://www.ccwa.org.au/mulga_rocks

Sign the Uranium Free Charter: Don’t let WA become a radioactive quarry and waste dump!
http://www.ccwa.org.au/uraniumfreecharter

Three Mile Island Nuke Plant Closure Strengthens Call for Renewable Energy Future

Tuesday's announcement that the Three Mile Island Unit One nuclear plant will close unless it gets massive subsidies has vastly strengthened the case for a totally renewable energy future.

That future is rising in Buffalo, and comes in the form of Tesla's massive job-producing solar shingle factory which will create hundreds of jobs and operate for decades to come.

Three Mile Island, by contrast, joins a wave of commercially dead reactors whose owners are begging state legislatures for huge bailouts. Exelon, the nation's largest nuke owner, recently got nearly $2.5 billion from the Illinois legislature to keep three uncompetitive nukes there on line.

In Ohio, FirstEnergy is begging the legislature for $300 million per year for the money-losing Perry and Davis-Besse reactors, plagued with serious structural problems. That bailout faces an uphill battle in a surprisingly skeptical legislature. FirstEnergy is at the brink of bankruptcy, and says it will sell the reactors anyway.

To make matters worse, Ohio lawmakers have imposed unique spacing restrictions on the state's wind industry, blocking at least $1.6 billion in investments poised to build eight wind farms now waiting in the wings. Those turbine developments would go far in providing jobs to those who will inevitably lose them at FirstEnergy's uncompetitive nukes…

more: Three Mile Island Nuke Plant Closure Strengthens Call for Renewable Energy Future