JUST LIKE SUMMER THINGS ARE HEATING UP!!
A Message from Rochelle
Holding the PG&E to its promise to wait until the California Energy Commission's analysis of the costs, benefits and risks of our state's dependence on aging nuclear plants turned out to a real challenge in Sacramento last week.
During a heated session of the assembly, with bills being voted on practically around the clock, The Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility was busy sponsoring AB 1046 [Leno—D—San Francisco]. This bill was a responsible and courageous response to a March decision by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), who approved $16.8 million of our ratepayer dollars for an in-house feasibility study on license renewal for Diablo Canyon, even though told by consumer, environmental organizations as well as legislative leaders that this funding was premature. It doesn't even allow time to see the results of the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) full cost, benefit risk study (AB 1632—Blakeslee), which will be completed in 2008.
It seems that Southern California Edison (SCE) wants the same short-sighted deal that the CPUC gave PG&E back in March. What PG&E, SCE and SEMPRA did was send in the unions to tell the Utilities and Commerce Committee that thousands of jobs would be lost, and that SCE and PG&E might not replace components (steam generators, reactor vessel heads, turbine rotors) needed to safely operate their aging nuclear plants. It wasn't really what they said in the hearing, it was the heavy lobbying in advance hinting loss of union support if members voted for the bill. And it wasn't true—because the requests for all that major construction work had already and irrevocably been approved!
David Weisman, Mark Skinner, and Sierra Club lobbyist, Jim Metropulos walked the halls, made calls and helped to educate over half of all assembly members before the hearing on June 12th, but Committee members felt they needed more information (and less union pressure) before a decision could be voted upon. We hope the CEC analysis will help them come to the conclusion that this study must be completed before further ratepayer money is expended.
AB 1046 http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_1001-1050/ab_1046_bill_20070607_amended_asm_v94.pdf [D. Leno –San Francisco] remains pending in the Utilities and Commerce Committee without a deadline (waived by the speaker, Fabian Nunez) until Jan 31, 2007. Assemblyman Leno—Chair of Appropriations—and his steadfast staff worked diligently to convince the unions they would be protected, offering extremely responsible amendments to the bill – but they were rejected.
The Alliance hopes the that we, along with our many supporters nationwide, will be able to convince the unions that AB 1046 is about 4000 megawatts of job opportunity. ANR was the only organization that requested that the California Energy Commission include the loss of jobs, property taxes and other externalities in its analysis. We want make sure that the issues of reactors communities, who have the most to lose in terms of jobs and funding, as well as the risks of increasing stockpiles of highly radioactive waste on our seismically active coast are included in the upcoming study.
The Alliance will join nationwide experts as panel members to discuss the full economic implications of continuing to rely on aging nuclear plants on our fragile coast next week. We invite you to listen, to send us questions and to become involved in the process which we hope will begin a nuclear domino effect – closing reactor after reactor AND provide job after job of new forward-looking energy generation.
The Workshop Agenda can be found at: http://www.energy.ca.gov/2007_energypolicy/documents/2007-06-25+28_workshop/2007-06-25-28_AGENDA.PDF
Our presentation http://a4nr.org/library/07.2007-cechearings/06.2007-anrpresentation/view will be heard on June 28, 2007, we hope that minds are open to listening to what might be at risk from not responsibly planning to replace aging reactors and from not encouraging new generation, new jobs and a new vision for California’s future. You can tune into the hearings by following this link: www.energy.ca.gov/webcast/ The webcast will begin at 9am on June 25 & 28.
In Peace Rochelle
"The greatest triumphs of propaganda have been accomplished, not by doing something, but by refraining from doing. Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth."
-Aldous Huxley
Rochelle Becker, Executive Director Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility
www.a4nr.org
(858) 337 2703
Upcoming Events
Important events for the Alliance
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Glow Train Catastrophe - History Channel Special
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NRC TO HOLD TWO PUBLIC MEETINGS ABOUT DIABLO CANYON NUCLEAR PLANT ON JULY 2
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COMPTON MTG - NOTICE OF PUBLIC MTGS REQUEST FOR PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING PROPOSED RATE INCREASES SCE COMPANY
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SAN CLEMENTE MTG - NOTICE OF PUBLIC MTGS REQUEST FOR PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING PROPOSED RATE INCREASES SCE COMPANY
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Breaking News
Here's the latest news
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Areva faces 50 pct cost rise for Finnish nuclear reactor
French nuclear group Areva is facing a 50 percent rise to the cost of building the world's first next-generation pressurised water reactor in Finland, the business daily Les Echos reported Thursday. The cost of constructing the plant at Olkiluoto has risen from three billion to 4.5 billion euros (6.7 billion dollars), the paper reported citing an unidentified source.
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Nuclear plant workers evacuated
Human error is being blamed for a radiation spike at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant that prompted the evacuation of about a dozen workers from the main reactor building for about two hours.
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LA Times Letter to the Editor
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FRANCE'S NUCLEAR CONUNDRUM - Atomic World Champ on the Ropes
France is proud of having the world's most developed nuclear energy infrastructure, but a series of incidents at the Tricastin nuclear power plant has shaken its self-confidence. Is public sentiment about nuclear power about to shift? The winegrowers have already made their move. No longer will they label their product Côteaux du Tricastin. Why? Because the name Tricastin is slowly beginning to stand for something far removed from fine wine.
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Efficiency, renewable energy are much cheaper than nukes
When Arjun Makhijani talks about generating electricity with nuclear power, he knows of what he speaks. His Ph.D. is from UC-Berkeley in nuclear engineering, and he has authored numerous books on energy, including the first evaluation conducted of energy efficiency potential in the U.S. economy. His most recent tome, “Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free,” is a no-nonsense policy guide for ending our dependence on fossil fuels without incurring massive debt — and courting potential disaster — by expanding our nuclear-generation capacity.
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The Misconception of Nuclear Power
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WATER WORRIES GROW
On a hazy summer day, a pair of anglers fish on a man-made lake in PPL’s Susquehanna Riverlands wildlife habitat. Above them, the massive cooling towers of the Susquehanna nuclear plant billow white plumes of vapor, the byproduct of millions of gallons of water the two reactors consume daily from the river to cool the intense heat generated by nuclear fission
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42-Square-Mile Federal Uranium Program Challenged: Threatens Contamination of Public Land, Wildlife Habitat Communities, and Precious Western Water
A coalition of conservation groups filed suit in federal court today, challenging the Department of Energy’s decision to vastly expand its uranium mining program on 42 square miles of public land near the spectacular Dolores River Canyon, a tributary to the Colorado River in southwest Colorado.
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ACCIDENTS MAKE NUCLEAR QUESTIONS LOOM LARGE
The recent proliferation of accidents at nuclear power plants in France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia and elsewhere in Europe has made calls for greater reliance on nuclear energy questionable, experts say.
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'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution
Scientists mimic essence of plants' energy storage system
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Don’t Drink the Nuclear Kool-Aid
We can't let the nuclear power industry use global warming as an opportunity to sell its insanely expensive and dangerous power plants.
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France: Nuclear Leak Announced
French nuclear safety authorities and the nuclear giant Areva said that a leak had occurred at one of Areva’s nuclear fuel plants, the second leak at an Areva nuclear power plant in two weeks.
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Recent Articles
Recent articles of interest posted on the ANR website
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Carbon Free Nuclear Free Website
Here is the link for the Carbon Free Nuclear Free Website
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Uranium Mining, Enrichment & Waste
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ALERT - ALERT - ALERT - ALERT - ALERT
(This is used on the home page as part of a content panel)
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Sign Petition to NRC to Block Yucca Mountain Dump
Background: In early June, the U.S. Dept. of Energy filed a license application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, seeking permission to construct and operate the still pending high-level radioactive waste dump at Yucca Mountain , Nevada . The NRC will now review and then docket this application, allowing only a small window for any remaining public intervention. Although the DOE application is more than 8,000 pages long with 30 million pages of supporting documents, the NRC contends it will docket the application in three months. Once docketed, a three- to four-year licensing proceeding would commence, ending around 2012, most likely with NRC approval. The culmination of this review comprises the biggest NRC licensing proceeding in history. Our View: NRC is rushing its docketing review in order to launch the Yucca licensing proceeding before George W. Bush and his pro-Yucca Mountain administration exit the White House. But despite its huge size and cost – more than $11 billion to date that will likely balloon to at least $70 billion if the dump is built and operated – the DOE application and document collection is missing the most important pieces. These include: a final repository design; final national transport plan; final design for the "Transport, Aging, and Disposal" canister in which the waste would be “permanently” sealed; final EPA regulations on radiation releases; and meaningful treatment of Western Shoshone Indian land rights at Yucca under the "peace and friendship" Treaty of Ruby Valley signed by the U.S. government in 1863. Consequently, the NRC should not docket the application and should halt the Yucca licensing proceeding. What You Can Do: Follow the link where you will find U.S. Senator Harry Reid's "Petition to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Reject the License Application for a Nuclear Waste Dump at Yucca Mountain ." Please sign it, and circulate it to others for signatures.
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Executive Summary: Special issue of Science for Democractic Action
Executive Summary: Special issue of Science for Democractic Action [PDF 2.43MB]
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Sign on to the Statement of Principles to Achieve a Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free U.S. Energy System by 2050
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PURCHASE THE PAPERBACK
Purchase the paperback ($19.95, or $27.95 to addresses outside US/Canada/Mexico)
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DOWNLOAD THE BOOK
Download is free - Large file, PDF 4.4 MB]
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Executive Summary [PDF 450 kB]
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Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy
This section will contain information and links to Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy The overarching finding of this study is that a zero-CO2 U.S. economy can be achieved within the next thirty to fifty years without the use of nuclear power and without acquiring carbon credits from other countries. In other words, actual physical emissions of CO2 from the energy sector can be eliminated with technologies that are now available or foreseeable. This can be done at reasonable cost while creating a much more secure energy supply than at present. Net U.S. oil imports can be eliminated in about 25 years. All three insecurities – severe climate disruption, oil supply and price insecurity, and nuclear proliferation via commercial nuclear energy – will thereby be addressed. In addition, there will be large ancillary health benefits from the elimination of most regional and local air pollution, such as high ozone and particulate levels in cities, which is due to fossil fuel combustion. A zero-CO2 U.S. economy without nuclear power is not only achievable – it is necessary for environmental protection and security.
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Areva faces 50 pct cost rise for Finnish nuclear reactor