Time for change

McCain warns India, China over warming

Times of India: Any expectations that a John McCain presidency will mean a seamless transition in US-India ties with a revival of the Bush-driven civilian nuclear deal will have to be tempered by a tough warning he issued on Monday that India and China will be held to "international standards" on emissions with a possible risk of sanctions if they did not meet them. In a speech that marked a significant departure from the Bush line on global warming and also contained the seeds of a ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

Energy Dept. says wind power could be savior

San Francisco Chronicle: Windmills spinning over the Great Plains and along the coasts could supply 20 percent of U.S. electricity by the year 2030 and put a significant dent in greenhouse gas emissions, federal officials said Monday. Although wind farms now generate just 1 percent of the nation's electricity, a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy found that wind power could play a far larger role in the future. It could supply roughly the same percentage of the nation's power as nuclear plants ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

McCain urges free-market principles to reduce global warming

Associated Press: Republican John McCain, reaching out to both independents and green-minded social conservatives, argues that global warming is undeniable and the country must take steps to bring it under control while adhering to free-market principles. In remarks prepared for delivery Monday at a Portland, Ore., wind turbine manufacturer, the presidential contender says expanded nuclear power must be considered to reduce carbon-fuel emissions. He also sets a goal that by 2050, the country will ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

New Wave of Nuclear Plants Faces High Costs

Wall Street Journal: A new generation of nuclear power plants is on the drawing boards in the U.S., but the projected cost is causing some sticker shock: $5 billion to $12 billion a plant, double to quadruple earlier rough estimates. Nuclear power is regaining favor as an alternative to other sources of power generation, such as coal-fired plants, which have fallen out of favor because they are major polluters. But the high cost could lead to sharply higher electricity bills for consumers and inevitably ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

Wind can produce 20 pct US electricity by 2030-DOE

Reuters: Wind energy could provide 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030, the same share of electricity now generated by nuclear power plants, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Monday. In a report gauging the feasibility of wind power, the Energy Department found that wind energy could meet 20 percent of America's electricity needs by increasing the annual number of turbine installations from 2,000 in 2006 to almost 7,000 in 2017. "To dramatically reduce greenhouse gas ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

Report says developing countries eye nuclear power

More than 40 developing countries have recently approached United Nations officials to express interest in starting nuclear power programs, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
Read more [EarthWire]

Centrica mulls British Energy bid

British Gas-owner Centrica is looking at the possibility of tabling a solo bid for nuclear power firm British Energy.
Read more [EarthWire]

Putin names reactor salesman as energy minister

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday named as his new energy minister Sergei Shmatko, the head of the state-run nuclear firm Atomstroiexport, which is building Iran's first nuclear power plant.
Read more [EarthWire]

French make first firm offer for UK nuclear generator

Guardian: The French power group EDF yesterday submitted a firm all-cash offer to buy British Energy, emerging as the sole bidder for Britain's main nuclear power producer. The state-owned group is believed to have offered closer to 600p than the 700p a share originally talked of. Last night EDF also confirmed it had bought land next to two nuclear power plants in Britain - a move seen in France as preparing for a defeat in the BE bidding. It wants to build up to four of the possible 10 ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

When Recycling Isn't: Lessons from a Nuclear Industry Conference

Sign displayed at the NEI conferenceI learned many things at the Nuclear Energy Institute's (NEI's) annual meeting, but perhaps none more surprising than this: When nuclear power executives discuss the state of their industry, they highlight many of the same issues as their environmentalist opponents.

Of course, the emphasis and even the language are different. But presenters at the "Nuclear Energy Assembly," held in Chicago from May 5 to 7, discussed financing for new nuclear plants, nuclear waste storage and nuclear weapons proliferation concerns.

Nuclear power opponents argue that the industry shouldn't expect or need government support, some fifty years into its existence. In a hotel conference room populated mostly with gray-suited older white men, industry executives repeatedly called for an expansion of federal loan guarantees for new nuclear plants.

Early on in the conference, NEI president and CEO Frank L. "Skip" Bowman said, "We use loan guarantees in this country to support ship building, steel making, student loans, rural electrification, affordable housing, construction of critical transportation infrastructure, and for many other purposes. Please don't tell me that America's electric infrastructure is any less important." He added, "I wish someone would tell me when the word 'subsidy' became a slur, a four-letter word. ... What is there of value in American life that is not subsidized, to some extent?"

read more

EDF sole bidder for British Energy

French state-owned group submits firm all-cash offer to buy UK's main nuclear power producer
Read more [EarthWire]

TEPCO says finds radioactive water leakage at plant

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said on Thursday it had discovered a small leakage of radioactive water within one of its nuclear units north of Tokyo.
Read more [Reuters]

Iberdrola set for British Energy consortium bid

Spanish energy group Iberdrola would only bid for nuclear generator British Energy as a minority partner in a consortium, an industry source said on Thursday.
Read more [EarthWire]

French bid for British Energy - bad for climate and bad for taxpayers

The parties involved in the expected takeover of British Energy have "little interest in tackling climate change or protecting British taxpayers", said environmentalists today.Nathan Argent, nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace, said:"The expected French Government bid to takeover of British Energy will come with huge financial costs, a tiny reduction in carbon emissions and continued confusion over who pays for the clean up of radioactive waste. "Energy bosses admit that replacing the UK's existing reactors will cost about £60 billion - twice the amount the Government estimated only months ago. Even the Government has said that this will only reduce carbon emissions by around four per cent."Such an investment should instead be used to enable the UK to reach legally binding renewable energy targets, environmentalists say."And there's still an enormous question mark over dealing with spent nuclear fuel produced by the reactors that the French hope to buy. Since the beginning of 2005, the UK Government has been legally committed to dealing with all the spent nuclear fuel on these sites, and this commitment will continue even when the sites are sold. So, the British taxpayer will be financing the clean-up of French owned nuclear sites in the UK."It's worryingly obvious that anyone involved in this dodgy deal - and that includes the Government - has little interest in tackling climate change or protecting British taxpayers."For more information, contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.
Read more [EarthWire]

The Amstetten Horror House: 8,516 Days in Darkness

Elisabeth Fritzl and her children, forced to live in a windowless basement for 24 years, vegetated away like the sole survivors of a nuclear holocaust. For them, the Cold War speculation over what it might be like for people who could never go outside again and return to the earth's surface was a reality.
Read more [Spiegel Online]

Nuclear Energy Heats Up US Presidential Race

INDIANAPOLIS - John McCain embraces it. Barack Obama wants to address its flaws. Hillary Clinton is cautious but not opposed.
Read more [EarthWire]

All 3 U.S. presidential candidates back nuclear power

John McCain embraces it. Barack Obama wants to address its flaws. Hillary Clinton is cautious but not opposed.
Read more [EarthWire]

EDF board poised to finalise British Energy takeover offer

The board of France's EDF, which runs the country's nuclear power industry, is expected to meet today to finalise a possible takeover offer for British Energy ahead of Friday's deadline.
Read more [EarthWire]

Nuclear energy heats up U.S. presidential race

John McCain embraces it.
Read more [EarthWire]

Uranium claims spring up along Grand Canyon rim

LA Times: Thanks to renewed interest in nuclear power, the United States is on the verge of a uranium mining boom, and nowhere is the hurry to stake claims more pronounced than in the districts flanking the Grand Canyon's storied sandstone cliffs. On public lands within five miles of Grand Canyon National Park, there are now more than 1,100 uranium claims, compared with just 10 in January 2003, according to data from the Department of the Interior. In recent months, the uranium rush has ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

Scientists to 'recreate sun' in hunt for energy

A NUCLEAR fusion laboratory designed to recreate the temperatures and pressures inside the sun could be built in Oxfordshire under plans being drawn up by British scientists The aim is to build the worlds most powerful lasers and use them to blast tiny pellets of hydrogen fuel to create energy.
Read more [EarthWire]

Coal Use Set to Increase in the Global Energy Mix

redOrbit: A combination of strong demand, record oil and gas prices, concerns over energy security and a reluctance to recommit to nuclear energy, has seen a renaissance of coal in the European energy mix. This is a trend closely mirrored in the US and Asia. However, while coal might help to fill growing energy security gaps, it raises some profound environmental questions. No less than 50 coal-fired plants have been slated for construction over the next five years in the EU alone, while India ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

Nuclear's CO2 cost 'will climb'

The case for nuclear power as an alternative, low carbon source of energy is challenged in a new report.
Read more [EarthWire]

Spain Nuclear Leak Won't Shape Renewal Policy - Government

MADRID - A radioactive leak at a Spanish nuclear plant which required the screening of up to 800 people will not sway any decisions on the country's ageing reactors, Energy Secretary Pedro Marin said on Monday.
Read more [EarthWire]

British Energy decision is pivotal for future of UK nuclear industry

The deadline for the next round of bids for British Energy (BE) has been brought forward, as the Government seeks a swift decision on the future of the UK's nuclear industry.
Read more [EarthWire]

Nothing fishy about Taiwan nuke plant, snorkellers say

KENTING, Taiwan (Reuters Life!) - As Taiwan heats up ahead of the summer, hundreds of beach bums are splashing down at a beach next to a nuclear power plant that spews cooling water straight into the ocean.
Read more [EarthWire]

Spain nuclear leak won't shape renewal policy: govt

MADRID (Reuters) - A radioactive leak at a Spanish nuclear plant which required the screening of up to 800 people will not sway any decisions on the country's ageing reactors, Energy Secretary Pedro Marin said on Monday.
Read more [Reuters]

Belarus Rally Chides Nuclear Plan On Chernobyl Date

Reuters: Opposition protesters marched through the capital of Belarus on Saturday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and denounce plans to build an atomic power station in the ex-Soviet state. Belarus was the country most affected by the world's worst nuclear accident and the anniversary is traditionally the year's biggest rally for opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko, accused in the West of violating fundamental human rights. A modest crowd of ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

Ukraine marks 22nd anniversary of Chernobyl catastrophe

Ukraine paid homage Saturday to victims of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, a "planetary" drama as Kiev called it, 22 years after the world's worst nuclear incident.
Read more [EarthWire]

Greenpeace protests at Turkey's nuclear power plant

Four Greenpeace members were detained here Friday after they climbed on top of Turkey's energy ministry headquarters to denounce plans to build the country's first nuclear power plant.
Read more [EarthWire]

Nuclear power belongs in the past

It is now the 22 anniversary of Chernobyl explosion, the largest civil nuclear disaster ever. Serious contamination spread over 150 000 square kilometres in Byelorussia, Ukraine and Russia. Radioactive clouds deposited radiation thousands of kilometres away. Hundreds of thousands people had to be evacuated, and millions more were left to live in areas that were dangerous to their health and lives.
Read more [Greenpeace international]

U.N. says Bush climate plan just a "first offer"

Reuters: The top UN official on climate change said on Thursday that he sees a U.S. plan to cap rising emissions by 2025 as only a "first offer", adding that all three presidential candidates had promised a tougher stand. Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, also said that as the fight against climate change gets more urgent, the world will have to embrace nuclear power and provide more support to developing nations. "I see this very much as a first ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

Response to climate security threats 'slow and inadequate'

Agence France Presse: The international response to security threats posed by climate change has been "slow and inadequate", according to a report published Wednesday. According to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British security think tank, a failure to adequately prepare for this is on a par with neglecting the risks of nuclear weapons proliferation or terrorism. "In the next decades, climate change will drive as significant a change in the strategic security ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]

Nuclear waste storage inaugurated in Chernobyl

(KIEV ) - Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko Wednesday inaugurated a nuclear waste storage and processing centre in the contaminated zone around the Chernobyl nuclear station ahead of the catastrophe's 22nd anniversary, his press service said.
Read more [EarthWire]

Nuclear waste storage inaugurated in Chernobyl

Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko Wednesday inaugurated a nuclear waste storage and processing centre in the contaminated zone around the Chernobyl nuclear station ahead of the catastrophe's 22nd anniversary, his press service said.
Read more [EarthWire]

A government scheme to help banks through a funding crisis by swapping some of their mortgages for s...

Weir Group has sold its defence and nuclear specialist Strachan & Henshaw to Babcock International for around £65m. The deal follows Babcock's purchase last year of Devonport dockyard.
Read more [EarthWire]

Trust Me, I Trust the Experts

If they thought this was safe to breathe, what would it take for them to think something is dangerous?
A federal appeals court in Manhattan has ruled that Christine Todd Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, cannot be held personally liable for false reassurances that she gave about the air quality in New York City following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As we reported previously, reassurances from Whitman's EPA encouraged rescue workers to dig through the rubble, often without face masks or other respiratory protection, in their frantic search for survivors. Hundreds of firefighters and other rescue workers subsequently became disabled from "World Trade Center cough" linked to asbestos and other deadly dust caused by the collapse of New York's Twin Towers. In defense of her handling of the crisis, Whitman says that "Every statement I made was based on what experts, who had a great deal of experience in these things, conveyed to me." (Whitman now works as a spokesperson for the nuclear power industry, which is also safe according to their experts.)

Auto Racing for Clean Air?

NEI coasterSwiss auto racer Simona De Silvestro isn't only "the second woman in the 34-year history of the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda to win a race with her victory in the Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach." Believe it or not, there's another sponsor involved -- the U.S. nuclear power lobby group the Nuclear Energy Institute. "It was a very tough weekend, especially on Friday, but we got everything together," De Silvestro said about her recent win. "For the race, I was pretty confident, because the car felt really good. ... I also need to thank the Nuclear Energy Institute for supporting me. I am proud to be a brand ambassador for the Nuclear Clean Air Energy Initiative."

German industry chief lauds coal and nuclear power

HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - Germany must pursue novel coal and nuclear energy technologies to secure its future power production and ensure that climate targets can be met more easily, the head of industry association BDI said on Tuesday.
Read more [Reuters]

United States: Will solar panels save you money?

San Francisco Chronicle: California has made a significant commitment to support the development of a vibrant solar industry. In 2006, SB1 established the California Solar Initiative. The initiative's ambitious goal is to place solar electric systems on a million California roofs by 2016, with a total generating capacity of 3,000 megawatts, equivalent to the peak output of three large nuclear reactors. Initiative critics claim that solar electricity is too expensive, and that the money spent on solar ...
Read more [EcoEarth.info]