LLAW’s All Things Nuclear #800, Sunday, (11/03/2024)
"End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw
LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Sunday, (11/03/2024)
The story below is just the 1st restraining, rejection, or non-compliance order for nuclear energy expansion, and, I suspect, there will be many more to come from every imaginable direction as the big computer, electronics and AI developers and their data centers will have to face as they attempt to drive nuclear energy down America’s and other countries’ throats.
The regulatory reasons are easy to understand, involving not only incredible power demands but the fears of AI itself, plus the regulatory requirements of quality manufacturing and absolute health and safety requirements of existing and future operations of nuclear power energy itself because of the many threats to human and other life in the event of nuclear accidents, terrorist attacks, or, as we already know from the Russia/Ukraine attacks on nuclear power plants, nuclear war — all of which are very real possibilities along with black-market uranium fuel trade. Nuclear fuel piracy itself could become a huge and dangerous global part among any number of eventual disasters.
Obviously, it stands to reason that the more nuclear power plants we have, large or small, around the world, the more dangerous and perilous they are. ~llaw
US Regulator Rejects Amazon-Talen Nuclear Power Agreement
By Bloomberg
Nov 02, 2024
(Bloomberg) -- The top US energy regulator rejected a special deal that would have allowed an Amazon.com Inc. data center to use more power from an adjacent nuclear power plant.
The decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission deals a blow to the efforts by big technology companies to feed their power-hungry data centers with electricity from generators located next to their facilities. Commissioners voted 2-1 against the proposal that would have increased the amount of power supplied to an Amazon data center adjacent to the Susquehanna nuclear facility owned by Talen Energy Corp.
The commissioners said the plan, which was an amendment filed by the regional grid operator on behalf of the parties, didn’t adequately prove why the special contract should be allowed under federal rules. The plan would set a precedent and the issues should be reviewed more closely, they said. FERC Chairman Willie Phillips dissented, saying that the grid operator addressed reliability issues and called the order “a step backward” for both electricity reliability and national security.
In March, Amazon Web Services paid Talen $650 million for a 960-megawatt data center campus adjacent to the Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, and signed a long-term agreement to buy power from the plant.
In June, PJM Interconnection, which operates the eastern US grid, serving more than 65 million people, sought approval from the federal agency to increase the amount of power used onsite to 480 megawatts from 300 MW. Utility owners American Electric Power Co. and Exelon Corp. filed a complaint opposing the move, arguing that it could threaten grid reliability and raise customer rates.
The federal order on Friday night came on the heels of a day-long FERC technical conference on the topic, which discussed the merits and challenges of co-locating data centers with existing power plants, also dubbed “behind-the-meter” demand. Phillips said that artificial intelligence and related technologies represented a generational opportunity for national security and economic growth. Data centers are driving potentially unprecedented growth in US electricity usage and the concern is that such deals will allow them to shunt costs to other consumers.
The Friday ruling hinders generators like Vistra Corp., Constellation Energy Corp. and Talen, which saw their shares rally in part on the prospects of signing more power-sales deals at a premium with deep-pocketed tech giants.
While PJM made the filing to enable the Amazon-Talen deal, the grid operator has warned that it’s facing a potential shortfall of generating supply by 2030, Stu Bresler, executive vice president of market services and strategy said in a statement for the technical meeting on Friday. Big consumers located at power plants may create reliability concerns and hinder proper planning, he said. PJM, which serves more than 65 million people from Washington DC to Illinois, has received requests from developers to co-locate 8.5 gigawatts of large load at points on the grid serving existing power plants.
“If behind-the-meter, co-located loads integrate faster than what can be reliably planned for, the industry should appreciate the potential future risks to reliable system operations,” Bresler said in the statement.
ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA”:
There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is 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. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning 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.)
IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)
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, Sunday, (11/03/2024)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
US Regulator Rejects Amazon-Talen Nuclear Power Agreement - Energy Connects
Energy Connects
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Chilling map reveals countries with the most nuclear weapons as global tensions rise
Irish Star
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Sink a Navy Aircraft Carrier: How China Starts a 'Nuclear World War III'
The National Interest
With war fever gripping the capitals of the world's great powers, many are wondering when the biggest conflict of all ... That's when things like ...
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Are we Ready for Nuclear Energy? | TVJ Smile Jamaica - YouTube
YouTube
Are we Ready for Nuclear Energy? | TVJ Smile Jamaica. 2.5K views · 12 hours ago #tvjnews #jamaicanewstoday ...more. Television Jamaica. 965K.
Investment Is Pouring in As the Hype Around Nuclear Fusion Grows - Business Insider
Business Insider
Tech leaders are betting on nuclear power as a key source of clean energy in the next decade. · AI tech companies are building small nuclear fission ...
US Regulator Rejects Amazon-Talen Nuclear Power Agreement - Energy Connects
Energy Connects
data center to use more power from an adjacent nuclear power plant. The decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission deals a blow to the ...
Nuclear War
NEWS
North Korea white paper says Yoon Suk Yeol raised risk of nuclear war | Reuters
Reuters
... nuclear war through his policies toward the North. The document, compiled by North Korea's Institute of Enemy State Studies and released by state ...
Iran fears Trump win would bring Israeli strikes on nuclear sites, Western sanctions
The Times of Israel
Tehran said to believe that if reelected, the former US president would exert the utmost pressure on Khamenei to cave to nuclear containment deal ...
North Korea says South's president has raised risk of nuclear war
South China Morning Post
North Korean state media released a white paper on Sunday accusing South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol of exposing his country to the danger of ...
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
'We're in uncharted territory': Why the forgotten threat of nuclear war presents real and ...
The Irish Times
... threat of nuclear destruction as well as the threats of climate change and biotechnology. ... “Everybody knew about the threat of nuclear war. In 1982 ...
Vladimir Putin ally issues chilling warning with threat Russia is 'ready to unleash ... - GB News
GB News
Vladimir Putin ally issues chilling warning with threat Russia is 'ready to unleash Armageddon' in nuclear war ... threats seriously or risk World War ...
Analysis | Working Through Israel's Worst-Case Scenarios: Iran, Russia, and North Korea
israeldefense.co.il
Part one of a two-part article, which explores Israel's complex strategic calculus in facing an Iranian nuclear threat, and the chilling scenarios ...