“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”
Oct 01, 2024
Three Mile Island nuclear power plant on March 28, 1979, the day of its partial meltdown (See article for photo credits)
LLAW’s NUCLEAR VIEWS, ISSUES & COMMENTS, Tuesday, (10/01/2024)
I posted this refreshing down-to-earth article as our daily review story, most of which are negative of course, because of its honesty and straightforward approach to the ‘new nuclear’ problem at hand: that of refurbishing and restarting nuclear power plants that have been shut down in the past for old age, nuclear accidents, and various other reasons. My opinion, naturally, is that such projects are no doubt the most terrible idea there is, next to building more of them. (Which should be outlawed).
As for the straightforwardness and honesty of the story, “Nature” and the author, Michael Greshko, are careful enough to use use the right language, unbiased and intelligent, For instance they refer to nuclear power plant emissions as “low carbon”, rather than “clean” or “carbon free”, which to me is a breath of fresh air.
There are other points that are gently inferred that will no doubt become a huge factor in the near future: for instance the availability and cost of U3O8 or “yellow cake” refined to uranium 235, and its varied plant requirements for the nuclear fuel used in nuclear reactors, Uranium production is a complicated version of ‘fossil fuels’; it is mined, milled, and refined much like like most other depletable (non-renewable) fuels and is, without doubt, questionable about its ultimate cost and from where it will come from on an international basis. Russia has a corner on both the nuclear plant-construction and fuel markets, for instance, and Russia is not a friend of the United States. No one seems to understand the dynamics of the uranium/nuclear economics as the very, very, complicated enterprise it actually is.
Continuing on along this ‘nuclear-paved’ path ahead will not be easy, and will, for sure, be extremely dangerous to most all life on planet Earth, including you and me. ~llaw
Nuclear power for AI: what it will take to reopen Three Mile Island safely
As Microsoft strikes a deal to restart a reactor at the notorious power station, Nature talks to nuclear specialists about the unprecedented process.
Microsoft announced on 20 September that it had struck a 20-year deal to purchase energy from a dormant nuclear power plant that will be brought back online. And not just any plant: Three Mile Island, the facility in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania, that was the site of the worst-ever nuclear accident on US soil when a partial meltdown of one of its reactors occurred in 1979.
Nuclear energy, ten years after Fukushima
The move, which symbolizes technology giants’ need to power their growing artificial-intelligence (AI) efforts, raises questions over how shuttered nuclear plants can be restarted safely — not least because Three Mile Island isn’t the only plant being brought out of retirement.
Palisades Nuclear Plant, an 805-megawatt facility in Covert, Michigan, was shut down in May 2022. But the energy company that owns it, Holtec International, based in Jupiter, Florida, plans to reopen it. This reversal in the facility’s fortunes has been bolstered by a US$1.5-billion conditional loan commitment from the US Department of Energy (DoE), which sees nuclear plants — a source of low-carbon electricity — as a way of helping the country to meet its ambitious climate goals. The Palisades plant is on track to reopen in late 2025.
“It’s the first time something like this has been attempted, that we’re aware of, worldwide,” says Jason Kozal, director of the reactor safety division at a regional office of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in Naperville, Illinois, and the co-chair of a regulatory panel overseeing the restart of Palisades.
Here, Nature talks to nuclear specialists about what it will take to restart these plants and whether more are on the way as the world’s demand for AI grows.
A change in fortunes
Since 2012, more than a dozen nuclear plants have been shut down in the United States, in some cases as a result of unfavourable economics. Less cost-effective plants — such as those with only a single working reactor — struggled to remain profitable in states with deregulated electricity markets and widely varying prices. Three Mile Island, owned by the utility company Constellation Energy in Baltimore, Maryland, is a prime example. Today, 54 US plants remain in operation, running a total of 94 reactors.
Nuclear energy, which accounts for about 9% of the world’s electricity, has seen some resurgence internationally, but is also competing with other energy sources, including renewables. After the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster, Japan suspended operations at all of its 48 remaining nuclear plants, but these are gradually being brought back online, in part to cut dependence on gas imports. By contrast, Germany announced a phase-out of its nuclear plants in 2011, and shut down its last three in 2023.
In the United States, nuclear energy’s fortunes might be turning as technology companies race to build enormous, energy-gobbling data centres to support their AI systems and other applications while somehow fulfilling their climate pledges. Microsoft, for instance, has committed to being carbon negative by 2030.
“It’s further confirmation of the value of nuclear, and, if the deal is right — if the price is right — then it makes business sense, as well,” says Jacopo Buongiorno, the director of the Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
A new start
This isn’t the first time that the United States has brought a powered-down reactor back online. In 1985, for example, the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally owned electric utility company, took the reactors at its Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Athens, Alabama, offline. After years of refurbishment, they were brought back online, with the final reactor restarted in 2007.
The cases of Palisades and Three Mile Island are different, however. When those plants closed, their then-owners made legal statements that the facilities would be shut down, even though their operating licenses were still active. Three Mile Island, which will be renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center under the proposed restart, shut down its single remaining functional reactor in 2019.
Is Fukushima wastewater release safe? What the science says
Because the plants were slated for shutdown and safety checks were therefore stopped, regulators and companies must now navigate a complex licensing, oversight and environmental-assessment process to reverse the plants’ decommissioning.
Safety checks will be needed to ensure, among other things, that the plants can operate securely once uranium fuel rods have been replaced in their reactors. When these plants were decommissioned, their radioactive fuel was removed and stored, so the facilities no longer needed to adhere to many exacting technical specifications, says Jamie Pelton, also a co-chair of the Palisades restart panel, and a deputy director at the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation in Rockville, Maryland.
It will be no small feat to reinstate those safety regulations: to meet the standards, infrastructure will need to be inspected carefully. According to Buongiorno, any metallic components in the plants that have corroded since the shutdowns, including wires and cables used in instrumentation and controls, will need to be replaced.
The plants’ turbine generators, which make electricity from the steam produced as the plants’ fuel rods heat up water, will also get a close look. After sitting dormant for years, a turbine could develop defects within its shaft or corrosion along its blades that would require refurbishment. In the case of Palisades, the NRC announced on 18 September that the plant’s steam generators would need further testing and repair, following inspections conducted by Holtec.
Nuclear’s prospects
As the plants near their restart dates, their operators will also have to contend with a challenge faced by even fully operational plants: the need to source fresh nuclear fuel. US nuclear utility companies have long counted on the international market to buy much of the necessary raw yellowcake uranium and the services that separate and enrich uranium-235, the isotope used in nuclear reactors’ fuel rods. Russia has been a major international supplier of these services, even after the country’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, because US and European sanctions have not targeted nuclear fuel. But to minimize its reliance on Russia, the United States is building up its own supply chain, with the DoE offering $3.4 billion to buy domestically enriched uranium.
Ukraine nuclear power plant attack: scientists assess the risks
There probably won’t be too many other restarts of mothballed nuclear plants in the United States, however, even as demand for low-carbon electricity grows. Not every US plant that has been shut down is necessarily in good enough condition to be easily refurbished — and the idea of reopening some of those would meet with too much resistance. As an example, Buongiorno points to New York’s Indian Point Energy Center, which was closed in 2021. The plant’s proximity to New York City had long provoked criticism from nuclear-safety advocates.
But that doesn’t mean that all of these sites will remain unused. One option is to build advanced reactors — including large reactors with upgraded safety features and small modular reactors with innovative designs — on sites where old nuclear plants once stood, to take advantage of existing transmission lines and infrastructure. “We might see interest in the US in building more of these large reactors, whether that’s fuelled by data centres or some other applications,” Buongiorno adds. “Utilities and customers are exploring this at the moment.”
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TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Tuesday, (10/01/2024)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
Nuclear power for AI: what it will take to reopen Three Mile Island safely – Nature
Nature
As Microsoft strikes a deal to restart a reactor at the notorious power station, Nature talks to nuclear specialists about the unprecedented …
Aligning economic and regulatory frameworks for today’s nuclear reactor technology
MIT News
In Florida, Hines says, environmental awareness is pretty high because everyday citizens are being directly impacted by climate change. After all, …
DirecTV, Dish to Merge, Potential Port Strike | Bloomberg Intelligence – YouTube
YouTube
Jigar Shah on the Three Big Things Driving the Nuclear Energy Revival | Odd Lots … All Things Rolls-Royce: Bespoke Creations, New NYC Office | …
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Data center owners turn to nuclear as potential electricity source
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Although historically costly to build, nuclear power plants typically generate power at relatively low operating costs, with a single reactor …
The US could bring a shuttered nuclear power plant back to life next year – The Verge
The Verge
The Department of Energy announced a $1.5 billion loan to help a shuttered nuclear power plant reopen as the US tries to meet climate goals and …
US closes $1.52B loan to resurrect Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant
freep.com
The U.S. closed a $1.52 billion loan to resurrect Holtec’s Palisades nuclear plant, and an official said it could take two years to reopen the …
“US Closes $1.52 Billion Loan To Resurrect Michigan Nuclear Plant” | SEJ – Society of Environmental Journalists
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Team South Carolina Supporting Recovery Efforts
South Carolina Emergency Management
Utility crews are working around the clock to bring electricity back to affected areas, while emergency management teams are coordinating food, water, …
russia attacks a substation to disrupt power supply to occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP
Кабінет Міністрів України
Another act of nuclear terrorism: russia attacks a substation to disrupt power supply to occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP … Emergency Energy security. 0.
Emergency may arise in Ukrainian energy sector, people will leave – Borrell
Цензор.НЕТ
In addition, Russian missile attacks on power substations could lead to the shutdown of nuclear power plants, which could lead to a nuclear disaster.
Nuclear War
NEWS
New Nato chief says nuclear threat from Russia not imminent – BBC
BBC
Mark Rutte, the new secretary general of Nato, said he does not see any imminent threat of nuclear weapons being used by Russia despite “reckless …
Limited Nuclear War and Israel’s National Strategy
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies
Israel will need to find the best way of communicating a credible threat of limited nuclear war such that Iran and its proxies are deterred from …
Russia says it won’t discuss new nuclear treaty with US in current form | Reuters
Reuters
Russia will not discuss signing a new treaty with the United States to replace an agreement limiting each side’s strategic nuclear weapons that …
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
No imminent nuclear threat from Russia, says new Nato chief – BBC
BBC
Mark Rutte slammed the Kremlin’s “reckless and irresponsible” rhetoric but downplayed Russia’s nuclear threats.
Limited Nuclear War and Israel’s National Strategy
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies
The threats posed by the Shiite militias in Lebanon and Syria are greater than those issuing from Sunni Hamas in Judea/Samaria and Gaza. Though non- …
NATO’s new Secretary General responds to Putin’s nuclear threats, claims they should not …
pravda.com.ua
… nuclear weapons and advised them not to pay attention to Russias nuclear threats … The fact that there is no threat of nuclear war at this moment
Yellowstone Caldera
NEWS
Roaring Mountain’s quiet ‘might not last forever’ – Buckrail
Buckrail
Norris Geyser Basin is known as one of the hottest and most acidic of YNP’s hydrothermal areas. According to Yellowstone Volcano Observatory’s (YVO) …
Mag. 2.2 quake – Davao Oriental, 28 km east of Monkayo, Davao de Oro, Davao, Philippines …
Volcano Discovery
More on VolcanoDiscovery … List and interactive map of current and past earthquakes near Yellowstone volcano. … Santorini is one of the most beautiful …