Nuclear Power
Hinkley cost soars to $59 billion
The two-reactor 3,260MW Hinkley Point C nuclear site still under construction in the UK is set to become the second most expensive building in the world as the new price tag soars to $59 billion, while the expected startup date is pushed out to “after 2029”. The original Hinkley budget was $23 billion. Its builder,…
Read MoreThe IAEA’s hypocrisy
Here’s the International Atomic Energy Agency once again sounding the alarm about war raging around nuclear power plants in Ukraine: “The nuclear safety and security situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) remains extremely fragile with ‘very real’ potential dangers of a major accident, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi (pictured) of the International Atomic…
Read MoreIt’s still 90 seconds to midnight
The Doomsday Clock, established in 1947 by The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, when it stood at seven minutes to midnight, remains at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest the hands have ever been to zero hour. The Doomsday Clock was moved to 90 seconds to midnight a year ago, a reflection of the growing…
Read MoreDiablo rip-off
From San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace: The $1.1 billion federal aid package to support an additional five years of operation of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant takes advantage of the nation’s taxpayers. Even those not served by PG&E or Diablo Canyon (with few exceptions), will be subsidizing an unprofitable, privately-owned utility that produces the most…
Read MoreOur letter in the Boston Globe
After Ernest Moniz and Armond Cohen, in an oped in the Boston Globe, suggested they knew what the world wants is more nuclear power, the paper published our letter to the editor. As it’s behind a paywall, you can see a PDF here. We pointed out that the writers’ aspirations were detached from reality, given…
Read MoreHoltec is infamous for lying
[Tee shirt graphic art, above, by Noel Marquez, co-founder of Alliance for Environmental Strategies (AFES) in southeastern New Mexico.] Holtec is infamous for lying. Or at least for major reversals. Also known as con jobs. A few examples: (1.) Holtec said beginning in 2020 that it wanted to take over the Palisades nuclear power plant…
Read MoreMass Nuclear Layoffs
In Victorian times, cautionary tales were popular for deterring naughty behavior amongst children. Today, we are awash in such stories in the nuclear power sector — the latest regarding layoffs — and our politicians should be reading them. The latest example is NuScale, the company whose small modular reactor design was considered most likely to…
Read MoreMultiple nuclear giveaways backfire
An E&E article, “No takers for Biden’s nuclear bailout,” reports “[a] Department of Energy attempt last year to bail out struggling or recently shuttered nuclear plants failed to land a single qualified taker…DOE planned to announce the results of the 2023 bailout attempt by January 1, 2024, according to DOE’s March guidance for the second…
Read MoreCOP28’s tripling nuclear energy is unachievable
An opinion piece in the Boston Globe co-authored by Ernest Moniz, nuclear physicist and former US Secretary of Energy and Armond Cohen, lawyer and executive director of US-based Clean Air Task Force, defends tripling nuclear power capacity globally “as an essential part of mitigating climate change” to come out of the United Nations talks convened…
Read MoreEarthquake rattles Japan’s nuclear revival
The 2024 New Year’s Day 7.6 magnitude earthquake on Japan’s west coast with tsunami warning sirens sounding along the Sea of Japan brought back horrific memories of the devastating March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the triple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station. However, no radiation increases have been reported following the…
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