“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”
Aug 04, 2024
The Columbia Generating Station is Washington’s only nuclear energy plant. (Courtesy/Energy Northwest)
LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Sunday, (08/04/2024)
“The Columbia Generating Station is Washington’s only nuclear energy plant.” Want to why the image’s caption says that about the Columbia River Generating Station? There is a major reason, and the reason is called “Hanford”. You can learn a lot about the very sad history of nuclear activity in Washington that will never go away, and has been ongoing since the spring of a 1945 nuclear accident, including much of the area surrounding the plant, nearby communities and the entire Columbia river basin and drainage. The plant was built by the U.S. government to provide plutonium for the Manhattan Project and the two bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
Read the well-written article and then go do your homework . . . ~llaw
Spin Control: As state studies ‘modular’ nuke plants, history worth remembering
The Columbia Generating Station is Washington’s only nuclear energy plant. (Courtesy/Energy Northwest)
Sun., Aug. 4, 2024
By Jim Camden For The Spokesman-Review
Proponents of nuclear power, who have been wandering for decades like latter-day Israelites in a desert of public skepticism, might be feeling hopeful about a revival of their prospects.
After all, when the National Republican platform supports expanding nuclear power and the Washington Democratic platform doesn’t come out against it, one might assume a window of opportunity is opening. In the push to reduce carbon emissions that come from burning coal, petroleum products or natural gas to generate electricity, some people are even lumping nuclear into the “green” energy column.
The latest push is for so-called modular nuclear reactors, smaller than the nuke plants built in the last half of the 1900s, with claims that they can be sized to a particular need. The Hanford Nuclear Reservation has been mentioned as a possible home for one or more such reactors. The Legislature earlier this year set aside $25 million for a feasibility study on the devices, which some enthusiastic supporters see as a magic bullet to the world’s climate crisis.
Even some people who doubt that there is a climate crisis – or that if one exists it is not manmade and thus cannot be man unmade – are happy to jump on the modular reactor bandwagon.
This seems to gloss over the fact that despite the reactors’ virtues of carbon-free emissions, pollution from spent nuclear fuel has a half-life measured in geologic time. Well, at least it can be encased, carted away and buried somewhere to become the problem of some future, and let’s hope smarter, generation.
Although a price tag in eight figures seems a bit spendy, a feasibility study is all well and good as long as at least someone compiling it remembers that magic bullets sometimes misfire and blow up in your face.
One previous effort to solve a projected power shortage in Washington with nuclear power did just that in the 1980s.
These days, political and business leaders worry about not having enough electricity to attract new server farms and chip manufacturers, and power our computers and electric cars. In the 1960s and 1970s, utility leaders and government officials worried the rapidly growing Northwest wouldn’t have enough power for new business with their lights and machinery and new homes with more heaters, air conditioners and televisions.
The region had some of the cheapest electricity, but pretty much had exhausted its ability to dam the available rivers to generate more cheap hydropower.
In their search for new sources of affordable power, a group of public utilities hit on the idea of building commercial nuclear power plants at Hanford, which had a history with nuclear power – albeit the kind that primarily made bombs. It also had lots of open space owned by the federal government, and thus not likely to generate opposition from pesky NIMBYs.
One of the early selling points of the plants was that the power was going to be “too cheap to meter.” At one point, nuclear proponents talked of building as many as two dozen nuclear power plants at Hanford.
The first never proved true. The second was wildly overblown, but by the end of the 1970s, a consortium of utility districts known as the Washington Public Power Supply System had embarked on plans to build three commercial reactors at Hanford and – in an apparent effort to spread around the wealth of construction billions – two more at Satsop on the Olympic Peninsula. To cut costs, the two at Satsop and two of the three at Hanford were to be “twins” to save money on design and construction.
The financial, legal and political troubles of that grand scheme have filled books. The Cliff Notes version is that cost overruns and schedule delays made the total plan so expensive that the consortium shut down construction on four of the five plants, defaulted on a then-record $2.5 billion in municipal bonds sold to pay for them and led to the universal pronunciation of the WPPSS acronym as “Whoops!”
Because of rebranding – the consortium eventually changed its name to Energy Northwest and the name of the finished reactor from WPPSS 2 to Columbia Generating Station – there are probably people who have moved to the region in the past few decades who have never heard the Whoops story, and even some longtime residents who have forgotten it.
This is not to say that because of the WPPSS debacle the Northwest should never consider nuclear power. But it should at least be included as a cautionary tale about believing all the hype about a new generation of nuclear reactors in that feasibility study.
It should also be noted that the last time a power shortage loomed, the region solved some of its problem with a series of smaller “fixes.” As prices went up, people put more insulation in their old homes and built less energy-hungry new ones; they switched from electric heat to natural gas and bought more efficient appliances. It wasn’t the panacea that some of the anti-nuke forces touted, but it wasn’t as negligible as some utility experts predicted.
Tick, tick, tick
Deadline for your state primary ballot is Tuesday. It must either be placed in a drop box by 8 p.m. or postmarked by then.
If the latter, and you wait until Tuesday to mail, you should not just stick it in your mailbox with the flag up that morning. You should take it to the post office if that’s closer than a drop box.
In Spokane, drop boxes can be found at most public libraries and other locations listed at the Spokane County Elections Office web site.Subscribe
ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:
There are 7 categories, with the latest (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:
- All Things Nuclear
- Nuclear Power
- Nuclear Power Emergencies
- Nuclear War
- Nuclear War Threats
- Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are no Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in this evening’s Post.)
- IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)
Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.
A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Sunday, (08/04/2024)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
Putin’s Nuclear Plan As Ukraine Gets F-16s: New ‘Doomsday’ Drone Features Explained | Russia
Hindustan Times
It can withstand nuclear attack and carry out reconnaissance missions. Watch this video to know all about Russia’s ‘doomsday drone. News / Videos …
Former reactor operator, mom reveals what she wishes people knew about nuclear power – MSN
MSN
… about nuclear power: ‘It’s time to get loud’ … “Even in extreme weather, nuclear plants keep running, so my daughter and all our loved ones can stay …
Is something on the web going viral? Or is it going nuclear? – NewsRadio 560 KPQ
NewsRadio 560 KPQ
You have to take into account the speed that things spread. And for that, I would put forward that, yes instead of … All rights reserved.
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Is the dream of nuclear fusion dead? Why the international experimental reactor is in ‘big trouble’
The Guardian
The 35-nation Iter project has a groundbreaking aim to create clean and limitless energy but it is turning into the ‘most delayed and …
Spin Control: As state studies ‘modular’ nuke plants, history worth remembering
The Spokesman-Review
Proponents of nuclear power, who have been wandering for decades like latter-day Israelites in a desert of public skepticism, might be feeling …
Nuclear plant owner: Delays could ‘chill’ data-center investment | News | citizensvoice.com
The Citizens’ Voice
Amazon would buy electricity directly from Susquehanna Nuclear. The PJM Interconnection, which runs the multi-state power grid, and PPL Utilities, the …
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Doosan Efficiency, Doosan Bobcat, and Doosan Robotics, which are seeking to reorganize …
mk.co.kr
… Emergency to secure new technologies and expand facilities … power plant’s export model and the first 1,400MW nuclear power plant in Korea.
Nuclear War
NEWS
Nuclear disarmament seemed possible. The imagined destruction of a Kansas town helped …
Kansas Reflector
… nuclear war. A key part of America’s Cold War strategy, Looking Glass was capable of directing bombers and launching missiles from silos and …
Putin’s Nuclear Plan As Ukraine Gets F-16s: New ‘Doomsday’ Drone Features Explained
YouTube
… nuclear attack and carry out reconnaissance missions. Watch this video to know all about Russia’s ‘doomsday drone. INTERNATIONAL NEWS #putin …
Preserving hegemony by creating confrontation is not acceptable – China Military
China Military
… nuclear war, thereby playing a crucial role in preventing the outbreak of nuclear war and maintaining strategic stability and security in Europe.
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
Nuclear threats are increasing – here’s how the US should prepare for a nuclear event
CTPost
… warfare – some may think the threat from nuclear weapons has receded. But international developments, including nuclear threats from Russia in the war …
A hidden nuclear threat: North Korea’s role in Israel’s security apparatus – opinion
The Jerusalem Post
North Korea’s nuclear ambitions pose urgent threats globally, but … risks of an unintentional nuclear war. In theory, at least, each side …
Israel prepares for Iran attack amid warnings that regime is close to having nuclear weapon
Fox News
JERUSALEM – As Iran ramps up its threats to launch a massive attack against U.S. ally Israel and possibly American assets in the region, the rogue .