“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”
JUN 15, 2024
FILE – An aerial photo shows the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, California’s last nuclear power plant, in Avila Beach, Calif., June 20, 2010. On Thursday, June 13, 2024, former state and federal officials joined environmentalists to spotlight soaring cost estimates for keeping the plant running beyond 2025. (Joe Johnston/The Tribune via AP, File)
LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Friday, (06/14/2024)
This late story is an important last-minute fill-in article and cannot be found in the daily “TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS” selections posted, as always, below. But it is about PG&E and the California fight over extending the nuclear power plant’s operating future beyond its scheduled shutdown next year, which, if extended, would be one of the most irresponsible decision California ever made if the Diablo Canyon plant were allowed even 5 more years of operation. And now PG&E (the plant’s evil owner) is asking for twice the money originally estimated, and also the extension of its ultimate shutdown 20+ years hence to 2050.
But the backstory is not about money, which is the basic political argument, of course, against extending the plant’s life. Though the argument should be entirely about nuclear safety, but money, sadly, always comes first in virtually all scenarios. There are a few points about the multiple nuclear dangers and other negative issues of continuing to operate the plant, but it is a small part of the argument.
I have long responded to those negative issues over the years as well as several times in this blog. I am also writing a novel I call “El Nuclear Diablo”, which deals with a potential North American issue of a national nuclear power plant grid-system failure that puts the entire continent at a developing risk of nuclear radiation poisoning, beginning with this very power plant fictionalized. Also, if you read Annie Jacobsen’s new best-selling book “Nuclear War: A Scenario”, you will learn what happens should an invading nuclear armed country (North Korea in her story) drops a nuclear bomb on an operating nuclear power plant. The nuclear power plant she chose? PG&E’s “Diablo Canyon” — the same one I am writing about . . . ~llaw
Read on:
California legislators break with Gov. Newsom over loan to keep state’s last nuclear plant running
BY MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Updated 3:14 PM PDT, June 13, 2024
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California Legislature signaled its intent on Thursday to cancel a $400 million loan payment to help finance a longer lifespan for the state’s last nuclear power plant, exposing a rift with Gov. Gavin Newsom who says that the power is critical to safeguarding energy supplies amid a warming climate.
The votes in the state Senate and Assembly on funding for the twin-domed Diablo Canyon plant represented an interim step as Newsom and legislative leaders, all Democrats, continue to negotiate a new budget. But it sets up a public friction point involving one of the governor’s signature proposals, which he has championed alongside the state’s rapid push toward solar, wind and other renewable sources.
The dispute unfolded in Sacramento as environmentalists and antinuclear activists warned that the estimated price tag for keeping the seaside reactors running beyond a planned closing by 2025 had ballooned to nearly $12 billion, roughly doubling earlier projections. That also has raised the prospect of higher fees for ratepayers.
Operator Pacific Gas & Electric called those figures inaccurate and inflated by billions of dollars.
H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for the California Department of Finance, emphasized that budget negotiations are continuing and the legislative votes represented an “agreement between the Senate and the Assembly — not an agreement with the governor.”
The votes in the Legislature mark the latest development in a decades-long fight over the operation and safety of the plant, which sits on a bluff above the Pacific Ocean midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Diablo Canyon, which began operating in the mid-1980s, produces up to 9% of the state’s electricity on any given day.
The fight over the reactors’ future is playing out as the long-struggling U.S. nuclear industry sees a potential rebirth in the era of global warming. Nuclear power doesn’t produce carbon pollution like fossil fuels, but it leaves behind waste that can remain dangerously radioactive for centuries.
A Georgia utility just finished the first two scratch-built American reactors in a generation at a cost of nearly $35 billion. The price tag for the expansion of Plant Vogtle from two of the traditional large reactors to four includes $11 billion in cost overruns. In Wyoming, Bill Gates and his energy company have started construction on a next-generation nuclear power plant that the tech titan believes will “revolutionize” how power is generated.
In 2016, PG&E, environmental groups and plant worker unions reached an agreement to close Diablo Canyon by 2025. But the Legislature voided the deal in 2022 at the urging of Newsom, who said the power is needed to ward off blackouts as a changing climate stresses the energy system. That agreement for a longer run included a $1.4 billion forgivable state loan for PG&E, to be paid in several installments.
California energy regulators voted in December to extend the plant’s operating run for five years, to 2030.
The legislators’ concerns were laid out in an exchange of letters with the Newsom administration, at a time when the state is trying to close an estimated $45 billion deficit. Among other concerns, they questioned if, and when, the state would be repaid by PG&E, and whether taxpayers could be out hundreds of millions of dollars if the proposed extension for Diablo Canyon falls through.
Construction at Diablo Canyon began in the 1960s. Critics say potential earthquakes from nearby faults not known to exist when the design was approved could damage equipment and release radiation. One fault was not discovered until 2008. PG&E has long said the plant is safe, an assessment the NRC has supported.
Last year, environmental groups called on federal regulators to immediately shut down one of two reactors at the site until tests can be conducted on critical machinery they believe could fail and cause a catastrophe. Weeks later, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission took no action on the request and instead asked agency staff to review it.
The questions raised by environmentalists about the potential for soaring costs stemmed from a review of state regulatory filings submitted by PG&E, they said. Initial estimates of about $5 billion to extend the life of the plant later rose to over $8 billion, then nearly $12 billion, they said.
“It’s really quite shocking,” said attorney John Geesman, a former California Energy Commission member who represents the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, an advocacy group that opposes federal license renewals in California. The alliance told the state Public Utilities Commission in May that the cost would represent “by far the largest financial commitment to a single energy project the commission has ever been asked to endorse.”
PG&E spokesperson Suzanne Hosn said the figures incorrectly included billions of dollars of costs unrelated to extending operations at the plant.
The company has pegged the cost at $8.3 billion, Hosn said, adding that “the financial benefits exceed the costs.”
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TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Friday, (06/14/2024)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
Bill Gates is going nuclear: How his latest project could power U.S. homes and AI
Nevada Public Radio
That’s a lot of what the next six years are all about. Taillights trace the path of a motor vehicle at the Naughton Power Plant, Jan. Natalie Behring …
Bill Gates is going nuclear: How his latest project could power U.S. homes and AI | Iowa Public Radio
Iowa Public Radio
That’s a lot of what the next six years are all about. Taillights trace the path of a motor vehicle at the Naughton Power Plant, Jan. Natalie …
Bill Gates is going nuclear: How his latest project could power U.S. homes and AI – NPR
NPR
And, you know, that’s fantastic. That’s a lot of what the next six years are all about.
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Bill Gates is going nuclear: How his latest project could power U.S. homes and AI – NPR
NPR
The billionaire philanthropist tells Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep his new TerraPower nuclear plant is safer than traditional builds.
5 Reasons Nuclear Is a Good Neighbor | Department of Energy
Department of Energy
Would you believe that you can find all of those qualities in a nuclear power plant? Just ask the vast majority of people who live in communities …
Schumer’s Embrace of New Nuclear Power is a Dangerous Betrayal of Clean, Safe …
Food & Water Watch
Nuclear energy is dangerous. It poses alarming risks to public health and the safety of our air and waterways, and there is no legitimate solution for …
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
NRC staff agrees that scalable emergency planning zones for small modular reactors are feasible
Daily Energy Insider
… nuclear plant, which would include multiple small modular reactors (SMRs), at TVA’s Clinch River Nuclear Site in Tennessee. “This rulemaking is …
UPDATED: 8-year-old girl was unresponsive on flight before emergency landing in Peoria
WGNO
California legislators break with Gov. Newsom over … FILE – An aerial photo shows the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, California’s last nuclear.
South Korea and US hold emergency call over Putin’s likely visit to North Korea
Yahoo News
Is it energy? Is it capabilities that allow them to advance their nuclear or missile products? We don’t know. But we’re concerned by that and watching …
Nuclear War
NEWS
Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s soldiers surrender after counter attack as G7 leaders …
The Independent
That is a red line drawn by the US president, who does not want to have America pulled into a direct conflict with nuclear-armed Moscow.
Mystery as Russia Abruptly Flips Nuclear Drill Scenario – Newsweek
Newsweek
The district’s involvement in Russia’s nuclear drills comes amid rising tensions between Russia and the West over Putin’s ongoing war in neighboring …
US Nuclear Attack Submarine Surfaces in Cuba Behind Russian Fleet – Newsweek
Newsweek
A U.S. Navy fast-attack submarine arrived in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay on Thursday, hard on the heels of a Russian flotilla’s arrival in Havana 24 …
Nuclear War Threats
NEW
Russia Protest Demands Nuclear Weapons Be Aimed at US Cities – Newsweek
Newsweek
Nuclear war · Threat · Russia-Ukraine War. Russia … The protest occurred amid Russia’s repeated threats to use nuclear … Isaacs explained the gravity …
Don’t let Putin bolster weak hand in Ukraine with nuclear bluff – Washington Times
Washington Times
… nuclear war with the West … nuclear war with the West. In his annual State of the Nation address, Mr … Putin’s impetuous nuclear threats, threats …
U.S. Nuclear Arsenal and Related Threats | C-SPAN Classroom
C-SPAN
… Nuclear Arsenal and Threats From Adversaries … U.S. Considers Expanded Nuclear … Bell Ringer: Nuclear-Armed Nations · Bell Ringer: Cold War Deterrence …
Yellowstone Caldera
NEWS
Video analysis of Iceland 2010 eruption could improve volcanic ash forecasts for aviation safety
ScienceDaily
Caldera · Yellowstone Caldera · Krakatoa. Story Source: Materials provided by University of Cambridge. The original text of this story is licensed …
7 national parks the USA with active volcanoes | Times of India – IndiaTimes
Times of India – IndiaTimes
Volcano parks · Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii · Yellowstone National Park, Idaho · Mount Rainier National Park, Washington · Lassen Volcanic …
5 WTF Facts About Napoleon Hiding in Plain Sight on His Wikipedia Page | Cracked.com
Cracked.com
… volcano that could erupt at any moment. The Yellowstone Supervolcano is a 43-mile-by-28-mile caldera below Yellowstone National Park that erupts …
