Environment
The White House and nuclear power industry may be on the brink of grabbing $7 billion in new taxpayer-funded loan guarantees for new reactors. But they can be stopped.
Taxpayer and environmental groups are asking citizens to call their Senators urging deletion of the guarantees.
The guarantees have been stuck into the Continuing Resolution just passed by the House to fund the government. It now goes to the Senate, where calls should be directed to kill this budget-busting radioactive boondoggle.
Nuke lobbyists have spent more than $640 million in the past decade to fund a "nuclear renaissance" from the federal trough. Earlier this year the Obama Administration and the industry's congressional minions were set to add as much as $36 billion to a Department of Energy loan guarantee program to build new reactors. Citizen opposition has been instrumental in slashing that number.
Taxpayer and environmental groups are asking citizens to call their Senators urging deletion of the guarantees.
The guarantees have been stuck into the Continuing Resolution just passed by the House to fund the government. It now goes to the Senate, where calls should be directed to kill this budget-busting radioactive boondoggle.
Nuke lobbyists have spent more than $640 million in the past decade to fund a "nuclear renaissance" from the federal trough. Earlier this year the Obama Administration and the industry's congressional minions were set to add as much as $36 billion to a Department of Energy loan guarantee program to build new reactors. Citizen opposition has been instrumental in slashing that number.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made it clear that America's 104 licensed atomic power reactors are not accidents waiting to happen.
They are accidents in progress.
And proposals to build a "new generation" of reactors are not mere scams. They comprise a predictable plan for permanent national bankruptcy.
On November 10, the USNRC delivered a stunning reprimand to Japanese-owned Westinghouse, which proposes building new atomic reactors here and around the world. The Commission warned that the containment design for the new AP1000 did not include a "realistic" analysis of its ability to withstand a jet crash.
An NRC rule introduced in 2009 requires that the integrity or cooling of used fuel, the containment and the cooling of the reactor core on new reactors must be able to withstand the impact of a large passenger jet. The failure of Westinghouse to explain its case amounts to a violation of that requirement.
They are accidents in progress.
And proposals to build a "new generation" of reactors are not mere scams. They comprise a predictable plan for permanent national bankruptcy.
On November 10, the USNRC delivered a stunning reprimand to Japanese-owned Westinghouse, which proposes building new atomic reactors here and around the world. The Commission warned that the containment design for the new AP1000 did not include a "realistic" analysis of its ability to withstand a jet crash.
An NRC rule introduced in 2009 requires that the integrity or cooling of used fuel, the containment and the cooling of the reactor core on new reactors must be able to withstand the impact of a large passenger jet. The failure of Westinghouse to explain its case amounts to a violation of that requirement.
Earlier this year, we put millions of barrels of oil, billions of cubic feet of gas, and 1.5 million gallons of chemical dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico. Of those dispersants, designed for use on the surface, 800,000 gallons were sprayed directly into the oil gusher on the dark ocean floor, potentially multiplying the damage while keeping it out of sight. Already people are dying.
Frontline on PBS is now airing The Spill, which looks at the long record of environmental abuse by the primary corporation responsible, BP. Alliance for Justice is screening Crude Justice which looks at the damage already done to people's lives. And for those who like to learn about topics the old fashioned way, through careful and thoughtful analysis in the written word, Bob Cavnar has just published "Disaster on the Horizon: High Stakes, High Risks, and the Story Behind the Deepwater Well Blowout."
Frontline on PBS is now airing The Spill, which looks at the long record of environmental abuse by the primary corporation responsible, BP. Alliance for Justice is screening Crude Justice which looks at the damage already done to people's lives. And for those who like to learn about topics the old fashioned way, through careful and thoughtful analysis in the written word, Bob Cavnar has just published "Disaster on the Horizon: High Stakes, High Risks, and the Story Behind the Deepwater Well Blowout."
Maryland's Calvert Cliffs nuke project is on the brink of cancellation. It's potentially one of the most critical atomic failures in decades.
But financial markets love the nuke's demise. The stock of its American partner---Constellation Energy---has soared with the apparent death of a project widely feared as a huge money-loser.
Just 40 miles south of the White House, George W. Bush hailed Calvert Cliffs in 2005 as the shining symbol of a "reactor renaissance." In partnership with EDF, the French national utility, Constellation jumped high in the line for a share of the $18.5 billion Bush earmarked for federal loan guarantees to finance new reactors
Bush wanted at least $50 billion more in guarantees, but was beaten back then, in 2007 and afterwards by a series of national grassroots campaigns.
Constellation Energy says it's still "in negotiations" with the Energy Department for $7.6 billion in guarantees. But financial reports indicate the project is all but dead.
Why?
Because atomic power can't meet construction schedules and can't compete in an open energy market with either natural gas or renewables.
But financial markets love the nuke's demise. The stock of its American partner---Constellation Energy---has soared with the apparent death of a project widely feared as a huge money-loser.
Just 40 miles south of the White House, George W. Bush hailed Calvert Cliffs in 2005 as the shining symbol of a "reactor renaissance." In partnership with EDF, the French national utility, Constellation jumped high in the line for a share of the $18.5 billion Bush earmarked for federal loan guarantees to finance new reactors
Bush wanted at least $50 billion more in guarantees, but was beaten back then, in 2007 and afterwards by a series of national grassroots campaigns.
Constellation Energy says it's still "in negotiations" with the Energy Department for $7.6 billion in guarantees. But financial reports indicate the project is all but dead.
Why?
Because atomic power can't meet construction schedules and can't compete in an open energy market with either natural gas or renewables.
Five things are certain about solar panels going back on the White House roof:
These new panels go far beyond what Jimmy Carter installed and then Ronald Reagan tore down. Carter's $30,000 rig was installed in 1979 to heat water, which it did.
Reagan's 1986 tear-down defined his assault on the green power industry on behalf of King CONG (Coal, Oil, Nukes & Gas).
We at Greenpeace marched with many others in 1991, at the launch of the first Gulf War, demanding George H.W. Bush reinstall the panels. He wouldn't.
- They won't generate nuclear waste;
- They won't be targets for terrorists hoping cause an atomic holocaust;
- They'll be working many years before any new atomic reactor could be built;
- They'll deliver usable heat and electricity far more cheaply than new nuclear plants;
- They'll make the US that much freer from the oil addiction that fuels our disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These new panels go far beyond what Jimmy Carter installed and then Ronald Reagan tore down. Carter's $30,000 rig was installed in 1979 to heat water, which it did.
Reagan's 1986 tear-down defined his assault on the green power industry on behalf of King CONG (Coal, Oil, Nukes & Gas).
We at Greenpeace marched with many others in 1991, at the launch of the first Gulf War, demanding George H.W. Bush reinstall the panels. He wouldn't.
As the "reactor renaissance" desperately demands new billions from a lame duck Congress, one of its shining stars has dropped dead. Other much-hyped "new generation" plans may soon die with it.
For years "expert" reactor backers have touted the "Pebble Bed" design as an "inherently safe" alternative to traditional domed light water models. Now its South African developers say they're done pouring money into it.
The Pebble Bed's big idea was to create a critical mass of uranium particles coated with silicon carbide and encased in graphite. These intensely radioactive "pebbles" would seethe in a passive container, cooled by helium. Without the need for a containment dome, the super-heated mass would produce both heat and electricity. Touted as needing no back-up emergency systems to prevent a major disaster, the plan was to mass-produce these "smaller, simpler" reactors for use throughout the industrial world.
For years "expert" reactor backers have touted the "Pebble Bed" design as an "inherently safe" alternative to traditional domed light water models. Now its South African developers say they're done pouring money into it.
The Pebble Bed's big idea was to create a critical mass of uranium particles coated with silicon carbide and encased in graphite. These intensely radioactive "pebbles" would seethe in a passive container, cooled by helium. Without the need for a containment dome, the super-heated mass would produce both heat and electricity. Touted as needing no back-up emergency systems to prevent a major disaster, the plan was to mass-produce these "smaller, simpler" reactors for use throughout the industrial world.
CORNUCOPIA, WI – It's not often that family-scale farmers can go toe-to-toe with a $12 billion agribusiness and come out victors. But organic soybean producers, and a modestly scaled but powerful ally, The Cornucopia Institute, are claiming victory over Dean Foods in the organic marketplace.
Dean Foods, the manufacturer of Silk, the top-selling soymilk drink, was first "outed" in Cornucopia's May 2009 report, Behind the Bean: The Heroes and Charlatans of the Natural and Organic Soy Foods Industry, for switching its soybean sourcing from American farms to cheaper organic beans from China. Later in 2009, Cornucopia revealed that Dean Foods had then largely abandoned organic soybeans altogether, stealthily changing the soybeans in their core Silk product line from organic to less expensive conventionally grown soybeans that the company was calling "natural."
The shift away from organic outraged many loyal consumers and alienated retailers across the country that were not informed of the change and continued to inaccurately merchandise Silk products as "organic."
Dean Foods, the manufacturer of Silk, the top-selling soymilk drink, was first "outed" in Cornucopia's May 2009 report, Behind the Bean: The Heroes and Charlatans of the Natural and Organic Soy Foods Industry, for switching its soybean sourcing from American farms to cheaper organic beans from China. Later in 2009, Cornucopia revealed that Dean Foods had then largely abandoned organic soybeans altogether, stealthily changing the soybeans in their core Silk product line from organic to less expensive conventionally grown soybeans that the company was calling "natural."
The shift away from organic outraged many loyal consumers and alienated retailers across the country that were not informed of the change and continued to inaccurately merchandise Silk products as "organic."
America's much hyped "reactor renaissance" is facing a quadruple bypass. In actual new construction, proposed projects and overseas sales, soaring costs are killing new nukes. And the old ones are leaking like Dark Age relics teetering on the brink of disaster.
As renewables plummet in cost, and private financing stays nil, the nuclear industry is desperate to gouge billions from Congress for loan guarantees to build new reactors. Thus far, citizen activism has stopped them. But the industry is pouring all it has into this fall's short session, yet again demanding massive new subsides to stay on life support.
Here's a lab report:
As renewables plummet in cost, and private financing stays nil, the nuclear industry is desperate to gouge billions from Congress for loan guarantees to build new reactors. Thus far, citizen activism has stopped them. But the industry is pouring all it has into this fall's short session, yet again demanding massive new subsides to stay on life support.
Here's a lab report:
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's military-backed government, a U.S. non-NATO ally, faces possible collapse because of two corruption cases, but the army is trying to install a hawkish commander while Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva remains in power.
Mr. Abhisit, who took office in December 2008, hopes he and his Democrat Party will escape termination if found guilty by Thailand's powerful Constitutional Court, which received the corruption cases from aggressive prosecutors in the Office of the Attorney-General.
"We will respect, and follow, the decision of the court," the soft-spoken prime minister said. His Democrat Party allegedly received illegal donations worth more than eight million US dollars in 2005 from a major cement corporation, TPI Polene.
In a second case, the Democrat Party allegedly misused a grant worth about 900,000 US dollars from the Election Commission's political development fund.
Illegal donations, and the misuse of the commission's money, violate the Political Party Act.
Mr. Abhisit, who took office in December 2008, hopes he and his Democrat Party will escape termination if found guilty by Thailand's powerful Constitutional Court, which received the corruption cases from aggressive prosecutors in the Office of the Attorney-General.
"We will respect, and follow, the decision of the court," the soft-spoken prime minister said. His Democrat Party allegedly received illegal donations worth more than eight million US dollars in 2005 from a major cement corporation, TPI Polene.
In a second case, the Democrat Party allegedly misused a grant worth about 900,000 US dollars from the Election Commission's political development fund.
Illegal donations, and the misuse of the commission's money, violate the Political Party Act.
Amidst a grassroots uproar over funding for the military, the nuclear power industry has again forced $9 billion in loan guarantees onto an "emergency" war appropriations bill for Afghanistan and Iraq.
Citizen opposition helped delay a similar vote scheduled last month. Now green energy advocates are again asked to call Congress immediately.
The move comes as part of a larger push for federal funding for a "new generation" of reactors.
Because independent investors won’t fund them, the reactor industry has spent some $645 million in the last decade lobbying Congress and the White House for taxpayer money.
This $9 billion is for two new reactors proposed for the South Texas site, on the Gulf of Mexico, and another at Calvert Cliffs, Maryland.
Continued operations of the two reactors now at South Texas are threatened by oil gushing from BP’s Deepwater Horizon. Calvert Cliffs is just 40 miles from the nation’s capital.
Citizen opposition helped delay a similar vote scheduled last month. Now green energy advocates are again asked to call Congress immediately.
The move comes as part of a larger push for federal funding for a "new generation" of reactors.
Because independent investors won’t fund them, the reactor industry has spent some $645 million in the last decade lobbying Congress and the White House for taxpayer money.
This $9 billion is for two new reactors proposed for the South Texas site, on the Gulf of Mexico, and another at Calvert Cliffs, Maryland.
Continued operations of the two reactors now at South Texas are threatened by oil gushing from BP’s Deepwater Horizon. Calvert Cliffs is just 40 miles from the nation’s capital.