LLAW’s All Things Nuclear #672, Tuesday, (06/25/2024)
LLAW’s All Things Nuclear #672, Tuesday, (06/25/2024)
“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”
Image courtesy of the Washington Post
LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Tuesday, (06/25/2024)
Responding to the opening sentence/paragraph in this Washington Post opinion article: “Lawmakers took historic action on clean energy last week, and hardly anyone seems to have noticed.” Well, I, sure as hell, noticed! And in my own instantly-considered opinion, it may well be the biggest mistake ever made in American History.”
There are more reasons than I can count, but here are just a few:
Nuclear Energy is not clean energy. It is the most dirty and dangerous kind of energy ever produced by mankind. And we have no idea what to do with the radioactive waste.
Nuclear energy revival will take too long to solve our problem with greenhouse gasses that cause global warming/climate change. We’ve been lying to ourselves about that issue for many years, doing nothing when it could have been controlled by limiting commercial power production from corporate use of fossil fuels, and investing more in renewable energy sources.
Nuclear power plants can more than double the damage from a single nuclear bomb in a war situation, simply by the enemies blowing up the others’ nuclear power plant reactors with a nuclear bomb. (Keep track of the very serious nuclear threats and radiation fears concerning the Russian controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine to get an idea about the potential danger of existing nuclear power in war zones.) There is also the existential threat of terrorism that we are ignoring.
Accidental meltdowns pursuant to operational, mechanical, engineering, and earthquake, flood or other ‘acts of god’ damage similar to or worse than those that we have seen in the past, especially if nuclear power plant standards or reduced in an effort to meet the useless 2050 deadline.
Of course there are many, many, more serious problems, even doomsday type problems, with ‘all things nuclear’. When someone mentions the words “clean” or “safe” or even “financial” next to anything nuclear, I wince and my heart rate jumps to critical for a few seconds. llolloll! The fact is ‘we know not what we are doing’ and there is absolutely no room for the slightest mistake of dealing with ‘all things nuclear’ because we are incapable of using anything nuclear safely. Yet we fail to rid ourselves of the very radioactive refined uranium fuel, and the products that use the fuel, that can and will kill us all right along with most all other life if we continue to use and ignore what nuclear power, nuclear war, or all other things nuclear that are beyond humanity’s knowledge, understanding, and control. ~llaw
Opinion
The stage is being set for an American nuclear power revolution
There’s no telling how much clean energy the United States might produce.
Assistant editor and Opinions contributor
June 25, 2024 at 6:45 a.m. EDT
Lawmakers took historic action on clean energy last week, and hardly anyone seems to have noticed.
Congress passed a bill to help reinvigorate the anemic U.S. nuclear industry, with the support of President Biden and 88 senators. Not a single Republican voted against it.
Sign up for Democracy, Refreshed, a newsletter series on how to renovate the republic.
The bill, known as the Advance Act, is precisely the kind of move the government should be taking to fight climate change. It shows that large bipartisan majorities can help protect the planet without giving in to the endless politicking that has killed so many energy reforms in the past.
The act’s purpose is to liberate the nuclear industry from its decades-long malaise. Though the United States produces more nuclear energy than any other country, it has lately been shedding reactors like crazy.
This is because most U.S. nuclear plants are near or past their retirement age. Today, the average commercial reactor in the United States is 42 years old, which is concerning given that their licenses typically last just 40 years (though they can be extended).
Meanwhile, efforts to build new reactors have floundered. Earlier this year, developers fired up a new reactor at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Ga., but it was the first one built from scratch in more than three decades. And it suffered years of delays and ever-increasing costs, an all-too-common affliction in the industry.
Given such slow progress toward replacing aging infrastructure, the Energy Department has warned that the nuclear industry will keep shrinking. By 2040, the country is projected to produce 20 percent less energy from nuclear power than it does today.
This is alarming because nuclear is our largest source of non-carbon-based energy. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are rapidly expanding, but they are intended to replace fossil fuels. They can’t also be expected to shore up the nuclear industry. And don’t forget, in the next few decades, demand for electricity will only grow.
Meanwhile, the United States is falling behind internationally on nuclear power development. Now that the Vogtle reactor is finished, the number of other projects under construction in the United States is, well, zero. See how this compares with other countries:
The Biden White House has long recognized the problem, and has been trying to inject some adrenaline into the U.S. nuclear industry. The Inflation Reduction Act dedicates billions of dollars to developing new plants and keeping existing ones running. The administration has also dangled hundreds of millions of dollars for any companies that develop advanced nuclear technology, which promises to be cheaper and safer — and to produce less radioactive waste. Critically, the Energy Department has been working to supercharge the production of the enriched uranium needed to fuel advanced reactors.
Now, the Advance Act addresses a key hurdle to nuclear projects: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s arduous permitting process.
The soon-to-be law will enlarge the NRC’s chronically inadequate workforce. It also endeavors to simplify the agency’s permitting process. For example, it will lower the burdensome fees that companies must pay in the review process, helping relatively small, innovative companies enter the market.
It will also direct the NRC to more quickly license nuclear plants at retired fossil fuel sites. This is just common sense: Retrofitting a former coal-fired power plant, which is already hooked up to the electrical grid, could save on construction costs and avoid lengthy siting reviews. It could also return jobs to communities that have lost them. A 2022 Energy Department study identified more than 300 retired or operating fossil fuel sites that could be converted to nuclear.
ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:
There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:
All Things Nuclear
Nuclear Power
Nuclear Power Emergencies
Nuclear War
Nuclear War Threats
Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)
Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.
A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Tuesday, (06/25/2024)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
June 24, 2024: How the U.S. is updating its 'geriatric' nuclear arsenal | Colorado Public Radio
Colorado Public Radio
All Things Considered · View News Schedule. CPR Classical. Concerto in c. Alessandro Marcello. Performed by: Scottish Ensemble / Jonathan Morton.Nuclear war looms closer amid confrontation - China Military
China Military
To make things worse, except two UN treaties, all other bilateral nuclear ... nuclear arms race is all but on. As the Russia-Ukraine conflict drags on ...
US and allies clash with Tehran and Moscow over Iranian nuclear program at UN Security Council
FOX 8 News
Wood said the U.S. is prepared to use all means to prevent a nuclear ... about its capacity to assemble a nuclear weapon.” Iran's U.N. Ambassador ...
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Opinion | Biden is preparing for an American nuclear power revolution - Washington Post
Washington Post
Though the United States produces more nuclear energy than any other country, it has lately been shedding reactors like crazy. Story continues below ...
Increased nuclear energy production legislation sent to Biden to help lower Americans' energy bills
New York Post
ANR is an acronym for advanced nuclear reactor. Advertisement. “Increasing domestic production of affordable, clean energy will lower your energy ...
Congress Just Passed Legislation to Greenlight Nuclear Energy
Independent Women's Forum
The ADVANCE Act is more than a year in coming and constitutes a compromise between different factions concerned with the future of nuclear power ...
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Officials to conduct simulated emergency exercise at Prairie Island nuclear plant
Republican Eagle
Officials will participate in a simulated emergency exercise at the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant on Tuesday, June 25.
Duke Energy Supports First Responders With $500000 in Grants for Emergency ...
CSRwire
Duke Energy's Emergency Preparedness and Storm Resiliency Grant Program was ... power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.
Former emergency committee chairman Han Dong-hoon and lawmaker Na Kyung-won, who ...
mk.co.kr
"North Korea is virtually recognized as a nuclear power, and if former President Trump returns to power, the U.S. will also change its attitude," he ...
Nuclear War
NEWS
US and allies clash with Tehran and Moscow over Iranian nuclear program at UN Security Council
AP News
Israel-Hamas war · Stanley Cup · Midwest flooding · World News. US and allies ... Iravani reiterated Iran's rejection of nuclear weapons, and insisted ...
Nuclear war looms closer amid confrontation - China Military
China Military
Russia announced on May 21 the beginning of its phase-one non-strategic live-fire nuclear exercises, getting ready for the use of non-strategic ...
The 2024 Presidential Race and the Nuclear Weapons Threat | Arms Control Association
Arms Control Association
But the records and policies of the leading contenders, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, offer some clues. The Goal: Avoiding ...
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
The 2024 Presidential Race and the Nuclear Weapons Threat | Arms Control Association
Arms Control Association
... threats of nuclear use, Biden also faced the specter of nuclear conflict. Since Russia's invasion, Biden has not issued nuclear counterthreats ...
Iran's New Nuclear Threat | Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs
... nuclear doctrine had not changed, but added a caveat. Following an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, the mission threatened, Iran might ...
World should take threat of WWIII seriously: FM Fidan | Daily Sabah
Daily Sabah
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned about the risk of World War III, amid the escalation of regional crises and the threat of nuclear war, as he.