Rain, rain stay away

Traces of Radiation from Japan Nuclear Plant Found in US Rain

Traces of radioactivity from damaged nuclear power facilities in Japan have been detected in rainwater in the northeast United States, but pose no health risks, officials said.


The Environmental Protection Agency, in an update Sunday, said it had received reports of "elevated levels of radiation in recent precipitation events" in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and that it was "reviewing this data."


The EPA has been monitoring radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, and had previously detected "very low levels of radioactive material" in the United States, while saying that these "were expected" and that "the levels detected are far below levels of public health concern."

Looks like we'll have to change "April showers bring May flowers" to "April showers bring glowing arms, legs, skin..."

Nuclear wallets

Here we go. More money for Congress.

Nuke Lobbyists

Nuclear power advocates are waging an intense lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill this week in an attempt to limit the political fallout from the reactor crisis in Japan, which threatens to undermine already shaky plans for expanded nuclear capacity in the United States.


Lobbyists with the Nuclear Energy Institute and some of the United States’s largest energy firms, including Exelon of Chicago, are holding meetings with key lawmakers and standing-room-only briefings for staff members in an attempt to tamp down talk of restrictions in response to the Japanese disaster.

Nukes in Japan

Image via WikipediaDanger Posed by Radioactivity in Japan Hard to Assess

The different radioactive materials being reported at the nuclear accidents in Japan range from relatively benign to extremely worrisome.


The central problem in assessing the degree of danger is that the amounts of various radioactive releases into the environment are now unknown, as are the winds and other atmospheric factors that determine how radioactivity will disperse around the stricken plants.


Still, the properties of the materials and their typical interactions with the human body give some indication of the threat.


“The situation is pretty bad,” said Frank N. von Hippel, a nuclear physicist who advised the Clinton White House and now teaches international affairs at Princeton. “But it could get a lot worse.”


In Vienna on Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Japanese authorities had informed it that iodine pills would be distributed to residents around the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini plants in northeast Japan. Both have experienced multiple failures in the wake of the huge earthquake and tsunami that struck Friday.

Very mixed news reports about the situation at the plants.  More and more reports are coming out that a meltdown is occurring or will be soon. Of course our thoughts are with the people.  Our hopes also are that we all realize that nuclear power - no matter the style of reactor - can never be 100% safe.

Moving to Vermont

Vermont's Great Green Election Day Victory -- Kick out the Nuclear Plant

Vermont has elected a governor pledged to make the state truly green by shutting its decrepit, leaking nuclear plant. And the town closest to that reactor has voted to take it by eminent domain if necessary, a step unprecedented in world history.
In reaction, the nuke's owner (Entergy) has turned tail and put the plant up for sale. (So far, no bidders).
In direct opposition, this post-election week has been marked by radioactive crowing from a dark age industry demanding massive government loan guarantees from "free market" Congressional Republicans. Armed with oceans of unaccountable corporate/billionaire cash, Karl Rove's new nuclear GOP wants to dump Adam Smith and pump public billions into a failed industry that cannot compete. They industry continually points to France's industry as a model. But it's mute to the fact that France's leaky, error-prone nukes are owned, operated and regulated (sort of) by the French government. A national socialist prototype, the EDF/Areva edifice---like its counterpart in Japan---would melt and die in an open market.
No American state has successfully forced shut a nuclear plant. Yankee's owners---whoever they might be---are certain to go to court when the current license expires in March, 2012.
The nuclear industry did pour huge chunks of cash into the Vermont election to defeat Shumlin and strip the legislature of its pro-green majority. But it failed. Shumlin will now be governor, and Vermont's lawmakers are firmly committed to shut-down.
Furthermore, the voters of Brattleboro, the largest town in Yankee's near vicinity, voted 2,387 to 1,826 in favor of forcing the state to investigate taking Vermont Yankee by eminent domain to guarantee its shut-down.

As I have said before - if Vermont had a longer growing season I would be there in a flash.

We'll all need health care now!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Secretary of Energy Emphasizes Need for Nuclear Power and Highlights Small Modular Reactors

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, US Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu wrote that, between the $8-billion in conditional loan guarantees for the first nuclear power plant to break ground in nearly three decades (earlier post), and the new authority granted by the president’s 2011 budget request, the Department of Energy will be able to support between six and nine new reactors in the US.


Perhaps most importantly, investing in nuclear energy will position America to lead in a growing industry. World-wide electricity generation is projected to rise 77% by 2030. If we are serious about cutting carbon pollution then nuclear power must be part of the solution. Countries such as China, South Korea and India have recognized this and are making investments in nuclear power that are driving demand for nuclear technologies. Our choice is clear: Develop these technologies today or import them tomorrow.


That is why—even as we build a new generation of clean and safe nuclear plants-we are constantly looking ahead to the future of nuclear power. As this paper recently reported, one of the most promising areas is small modular reactors (SMRs). If we can develop this technology in the US and build these reactors with American workers, we will have a key competitive edge.

Now we know why they pushed for health care reform. We'll all need coverage when third eyes sprout on our children's foreheads. Okay - an exaggeration. No third eye - just cancer - Whew!!!

3 Cheers Vermont

Image via Wikipedia

Vermont Senate Wants Entergy Reactor Shut in 2012

The Vermont Senate said on Wednesday it has voted to shut Entergy Corp's Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant when its license expires in 2012, after a leak releasing radioactive tritium into the groundwater was discovered last month.


While the Obama administration advocates a nuclear revival to reduce dependency on foreign oil and greenhouse gas emissions, opponents of Vermont Yankee have used the leak to show Entergy is not operating the reactor safely and that it license should not be renewed.


Entergy applied with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2006 to renew the 40 year operating license for the plant, which began operations in 1972, for an additional 20 years.


"The effort to win a 20-year renewal of Vermont Yankee's operating license is far from over," Entergy said in a statement.


"We remain determined to prove our case to the legislature, state officials and the Vermont public."


If the vote is upheld, it would be the first time in more than 20 years that a state legislature has acted to shut down a reactor.

Let's hope this is the beginning of a new trend - pay attention Prez Obama! Your nuke bailout/loan is not welcomed.

Nuke Loans? WTF!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Next in Line for a Bailout: The Nuclear Industry?

The Obama Administration has been pretty upfront about its support for an energy policy that promotes both clean energy technologies and renewed investment in old technologies such as nuclear, coal and offshore drilling. "I think that on energy there should be a bipartisan agreement that we have to take a both/and approach rather than an either/or approach," the President said just last week.


Friends of the Earth released a statement this weekend criticizing the Obama Administration's reported decision to provide loan guarantees for the construction of two nuclear reactors in Georgia. The reactors would be part of the first new nuclear power plant to be built in the US in almost 30 years.


President Obama has presented his support for nuclear power, so-called "clean coal" projects and offshore drilling as both a gesture to Republicans and a pragmatic approach to supplying America's future energy needs, arguing that "we can't overnight convert to an all-solar or an all-wind economy."

How abour bailout loans for those suffering from cancer clustered near nuke plants? How about bailouts for those whose lives are ruined by mining "clean coal?"

A friend of the nuclear industry

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Loans to Boost Nuclear Industry Seen Coming Soon

The Obama administration is poised to announce loan guarantees to help kick-start the country's nuclear power industry, which hasn't built a new plant in more than three decades.

Looks like this may be the administration's answer to our energy crisis. What will happen with the waste? How will safety be guaranteed? Those questions may never be addressed.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Nuclear Power, Long Dormant, Gets Wake-Up Call (nytimes.com)