Friday, December 16, 2022
Friday, November 25, 2022
Guinea Pig Nation: How the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reducing government regulations for ‘advanced’ nuclear power plants
“Under the direction of Congress, the NRC is developing new regulations to facilitate licensing of experimental reactors."
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Biden is betting big on nuclear energy. But what happens if the next Hurricane Ian strikes Turkey Point?
The situation at Turkey Point highlights the potential risks with Biden’s energy strategy as the nation’s nuclear facilities age and extreme weather grows worse.
Monday, September 19, 2022
Opinion | Nuclear Power Still Doesn’t Make Much Sense - The New York Times
The case for next-gen nuclear is getting harder to make as the price of solar, wind, and batteries plummets. In this well-reasoned op-ed by @fmanjoo, @mzjacobson describes this as an "opportunity cost" we cannot afford in the face of a climate crisis. https://t.co/QoHbp2nHa9
— Jay Turner (@_jay_turner) September 16, 2022
Opinion | Nuclear Power Still Doesn’t Make Much Sense - The New York Times
Thursday, September 8, 2022
The Insanity of Expanding Nuclear Energy - Emagazine.com
Former nuclear regulatory top dogs from the United States, France, Germany and Great Britain issued a joint statement in January strenuously opposing any expansion of nuclear power as a strategy to combat climate change. Why? There is not a single good reason to build new nuclear plants. Here are ten solid reasons not to…
Monday, August 15, 2022
NIRS Statement in Response to the Inflation Reduction Act: Climate Compromises and Sacrifices Are Not Justifiable
On Friday, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) passed the House and is headed to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law. This bill could have been our best – and maybe our only – chance to make real progress on fighting climate change and creating a just environmental and economic future. It should've been a major success for climate policy.
It is a deep disappointment that the IRA is not truly a climate bill and is certain to harm the very communities that most need action on climate. With the IRA, our elected leaders have chosen to side with dirty energy industries, their financiers and investors, corporate media, and political opportunists to prop up the dirty energy status quo with hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies, financing, and devil’s bargains.
NIRS joins the many frontline and BIPOC-led organizations that have pointed out they cannot support the bill. The compromise between climate action and climate destruction in the IRA is not one we can accept. NIRS urges Congress and the White House to go back and develop a policy that truly addresses climate change and environmental injustice – including restoration and repair of the harms caused by fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
We refuse to accept that frontline communities must be sacrificed yet again for nuclear, fossil, and other dirty energy interests. We stand in solidarity with the frontline communities and we will not stop fighting for a just, equitable, and sustainable future.
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
ACT NOW: Tell the House to Oppose the Nuclear Bailout and Save the Climate!
ACT NOW: Tell the House to Oppose the Nuclear Bailout and Save the Climate!
BIG NEWS: West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin reached a deal with Congressional Democrats on a sweeping climate and energy package that supposedly would address the climate crisis, now called the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). The Senate passed the bill on Sunday, August 7, and the House of Representatives plans to vote on it this Friday, August 12.
This bill could have been our best – and maybe our only – chance to make real progress on fighting climate change and creating the just environmental and economic future the Biden administration promised voters. It should've been a major success for climate policy, thanks to tireless activists who worked to hold Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer accountable to get Sen. Manchin to the table on climate.
But, among the desperately needed good progressive measures in the IRA are bad policies and hundreds of billions of dollars in poison pills – handouts to fossil fuels, false climate solutions, and Big Nuclear. These provisions would profit dirty and polluting energy industries that are causing climate and ecological crises at the expense of taxpayers, environmental justice, and TRUE investment in the 100% renewable, just, and sustainable energy future we deserve.
Frankly, the harm they would cause can’t be justified, and may actually block renewable energy and other real climate solutions in the bill.
Of the $369 billion dollars, up to $72 billion is slated for subsidies to aging nuclear reactors — a wasteful expenditure that will not create a single new job, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by any amount, nor make any progress towards climate action. The measure is nothing more than a corrupt bailout scam by the nuclear industry and their cronies in Congress. There is also:
$250 billion in taxpayer-guaranteed loans to prop up old nuclear and fossil fuel power plants
$40 billion in taxpayer loans that could go to building new reactors and fossil fuel power plants
$700 million to promote domestic uranium mining and enrichment
We cannot settle for the inadequate, unjust, and wasteful policies in the Inflation Reduction Act. We cannot settle for a bill that backs false climate solutions and sacrifices frontline communities. We MUST demand better from Congress: a strong national policy for climate, the economy, and for environmental justice. The time to act is now. Demand that Congress and the Biden administration eliminate the massive subsidies to nuclear power and other dirty energy.
Friday, June 24, 2022
Tell DOE: Follow the law and DON'T bend the rules for the nuclear industry
The DOE wants your feedback on an outrageous and last-minute rule change that might enable ineligible nuclear reactors like Diablo Canyon NPP in California to illegally qualify for billions of dollars in subsidies. This would be a massive waste and a failure for climate action, in addition to being a blatant violation of the law.
The CNC was created by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to mitigate potential greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) increases due to the closure of unprofitable nuclear reactors that operate in competitive electricity markets. Now, the DOE is looking to change the rules in the eleventh hour, and give ineligible reactors a chance to qualify.
This is a bad bailout. This multi-billion dollar program should instead be invested in clean, renewable energy, NOT dirty and expensive nuclear reactors.
Stand Up for Clean Energy and Say NO To the DOE’s Latest Nuclear Bailout Scheme
Comments DUE 6/27/22
Diablo Canyon, links to articles
Diablo Canyon
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:170+ Organizations Sign Letter Opposing Subsidies to Delay Closure of Diablo Canyon Power Plant
- San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
- Utility Dive: Gov. Newsom open to extending Diablo Canyon nuclear plant’s life, but analysts differ on feasibility and need
- Common Dreams: Nuclear Critics Cry Foul as Newsom Reconsiders Diablo Canyon Closure
- Save Diablo Canyon or close it? What should happen to California’s last nuclear plant?
- Gov. Newsom suggests delaying Diablo Canyon's closure
- Should Gavin Newsom keep Diablo Canyon open? SLO anti-nuclear group has concerns
- Letter to the Editor: CPUC responds to commentary on Diablo Canyon
- LA Times - Editorial: No, California shouldn’t extend the life of its last nuclear plant. There are better ways to fight climate change
- Nuclear Negligence at Diablo - Dan Hirsch
- Bulletin of Atomic Scientists - Why the retirement of a California nuclear plant should proceed as planned
- Former Prime Minister of Japan Sounds the Alarm on Diablo Canyon
Thanks to NIRS
Friday, June 10, 2022
The Dangers of Diablo Canyon: Why the Nuclear Plant Built on a Faultline Should Close as Planned - CounterPunch.org
PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear plant presents too many risks for the people and the economy of California. It isn’t an asset, it’s a horrendous liability!
Saturday, April 2, 2022
The Impacts of Sanctions on Russian Uranium to the U.S. Nuclear Industry: A Nonissue � NIRS
NIRS has joined our counterparts in Ukraine, calling for sanctions on Russia’s nuclear industry, including a ban on imports of uranium from Rosatom, the state-owned nuclear conglomerate. Doing so should not depend on there being no impact on the U.S. economy–we should have the courage of our convictions, and bringing an end to the wanton destruction and incredible suffering in Ukraine has to be worth some degree of burden.
But in the case of sanctioning Russia’s nuclear industry, that is not even an issue. People in the U.S. will never even notice, while another arm of Russia’s political and economic capital to sustain this war would be compromised. And as we have said before, we must directly sanction Rosatom (Russia’s state-owned nuclear conglomerate) for its direct involvement in the attacks on and occupation of Ukrainian nuclear power facilities in order to ensure that this war does not establish a precedent “normalizing” attacks on nuclear reactors and radioactive waste sites as legitimate military targets. Doing that in a way that will not even affect the lives of ordinary people in our country should be a no-brainer.
Yet, the U.S. nuclear industry has tried to confuse the public and policymakers about this since the first calls for economic sanctions to stop Russia’s invasion. Initially, nuclear corporations and their trade association, the Nuclear Energy Institute, lobbied the White House to be exempted from sanctions on Russia. They argued, falsely, that it was in the interest of protecting U.S. consumers from increases in electricity costs and keeping the lights on…
More:
The Impacts of Sanctions on Russian Uranium to the U.S. Nuclear Industry: A Nonissue � NIRSTake Action:
Monday, January 24, 2022
Four Senior Nuclear Officials Say Nuclear Is Not A Climate Solution - Below 2C
Nuclear is not a strategy that will help with the climate crisis. Renewables are a better alternative to nuclear small modular reactors for two main reasons: cost and speed of deployment. While the costs of renewables are plummeting, nuclear costs have steadily been on the rise. And during a climate emergency and Canada’s dash to a 40-45% emissions reduction by 2030, renewables can be set up much faster and more reliably.
Four Senior Nuclear Officials Say Nuclear Is Not A Climate Solution - Below 2COpinion: The real cost of nuclear energy for humans and the planet | Opinion | DW | 21.01.2022
Nuclear power will soon be classified as environmentally friendly under the new EU taxonomy. But nothing about it is green or safe, says DW's Jeannette Cwienk.
Opinion: The real cost of nuclear energy for humans and the planet | Opinion | DW | 21.01.2022
Sunday, January 23, 2022
Nuclear Power Is Not Carbon-Free ECU 662 Michel Lee - YouTube
Nuclear Power Is Not Carbon-Free ECU 662 Michel Lee - YouTube:
Enviro Close-Up #662 -- Nuclear Power Is Not Carbon-Free
Michel Lee, an attorney and senior analyst for Promoting Health and Sustainable Energy (PHASE), shatters the current pitch of the nuclear industry that nuclear power is carbon-free. “It’s flat-out false,” says Lee. The nuclear fuel cycle—which includes mining, milling and enrichment of uranium—is carbon intensive, she notes. And nuclear plants emit Carbon-14, a radioactive form of carbon with a half-life of 5,700 years. Nuclear power “is an extremely ineffective way to deal with climate change,” says Lee. She says media accepting it as carbon-free and an answer to climate change are doing “reporting of press releases.” Further, she tells of how the nuclear industry “would shrivel up and die without subsidies” from government.” She speaks of environmental justice and how nuclear power “has left an astonishingly horrific legacy on uranium-mining communities, in the United States mostly Native American communities,” and minority communities are being “targeted” for nuclear waste. She states: “Nuclear is particularly poorly suited to democracy.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)