No Nukes News: What nuclear renaissance?

Tue Jul 31 11:10:07 EDT 2018

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Aug. 1, 2018 

The World

☢ Cameco lays off 700 Saskatchewan employees, extends site shutdowns Uranium prices have continued to slide over past 7 years, since the Fukushima triple reactor meltdown.

☢ The Nuclear Renaissance was a flop. Let’s (not) have another one – made in Canada By Dr. Gordon Edwards. If big reactors aren't going to save the nuclear industry, what about SMR's (small modular reactors)? What's needed is lots of public money to fund the research. But they're prohibitively expensive and will require an enormously large market to break even, meaning thousands or even tens of thousands of units being ordered. With that comes proliferation risks, waste, transportation, accidents...

☢ Nuclear power is "ridiculously expensive" compared with solar power and cannot compete from a financial standpoint, said the former head of the International Energy Agency

☢ Could Chernobyl Wolves Be Spreading Mutations? A new study raises the possibility that Chernobyl's wolves could spread radiation-caused mutations to other European wolf populations.

☢ Fukushima’s nuclear signature found in California wine The Japanese nuclear disaster bathed north America in a radioactive cloud. Now pharmacologists have found the telltale signature in California wine made at the time. More here.

☢ Does living near a nuclear plant give children cancer? More than 60 studies have shown increases of childhood leukemia around nuclear facilities worldwide. Despite this finding, there has never been independent analysis in the US (or Canada) examining connections between childhood cancer and nuclear facilities. 

☢ Idaho specialists left plutonium in their car. In the morning, it was gone, and still is Concern that nuclear materials are being sought around the world to deliberately cause harm is real, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. In a 2017 report, the agency identified 270 times between 1993 and 2016 when individuals acquired nuclear materials “for trafficking or malicious use.” And over in Mexico, authorities issued a danger alert over another stolen radioactive container.

☢ An international delegation talked Vietnam out of nuclear power This convincing list of 12 arguments persuaded Vietnam to change its mind on nuclear power.

☢ The U.S. Backs Off Nuclear Power. But Georgia Wants to Keep Building Reactors. Even as the rest of the United States backs away from nuclear power, utilities in Georgia are pressing ahead with plans to build two huge reactors in the next five years — the only nuclear units still under construction nationwide.

☢ The Case Against Nuclear as a Climate Solution 30 min. video interview with Michael Mariotte addresses the many reasons why nukes are not the climate solution some are hoping for. He ticks off the list of counter-arguments - including waste storage, cost overruns, terrorism and nuclear weapons proliferation - and builds the case for using our dwindling resources to develop renewable energy sources, rather than squander them on a 'nuclear power renaissance' which is doomed to fail.

☢ Hot Weather Spells Trouble For Nuclear Power Plants European nuclear stations have been forced to cut back on electricity production due to the heat wave. It’s not just warmer waters that could spell trouble for nuclear power plants. Climate change is also producing more powerful storms and contributing to drought conditions, threatening facilities on coasts with wave and wind damage, and reducing the amount of water available to plants that cool their reactors with fresh water.Ontario

☢ 4 Pickering nuclear units shut down last week – 1 is still down Units 5, 6, 7 and 8 were safely shut down when significant amounts of algae stirred up by July 22's storm clogged cooling water intakes. Algae is caused in part by warming waters. Climate change warms our waters, as does Canada’s nuclear stations which use the lakes to cool their reactors. (OPG’s Pickering nuclear station is down 30% of the year, requiring natural gas back-up.)

☢ Doug Ford’s energy shake-up could cost Ontario The new government remains steadfast in its obstinate refusal to examine the key drivers of electricity costs in Ontario. Namely, the planned refurbishments of the Darlington and Bruce nuclear power plants, and the proposed — and potentially perilous — “life extension” of the aged Pickering facility. If the Ford government is serious about reducing electricity costs in the long-term, the most sensible course would be to take stock of the full range of options available to the province to meet its future electricity needs - importing electricity from Quebec, implementing conservation initiatives and adding more renewable energy to the grid.

☢ Inside Ontario’s Green Energy Cancellations CanSIA estimated the 758+ renewable energy project cancellations by the On-tory-o gov’t will lose the province 6,000 jobs and half a billion dollars of investment.Renewables and Conservation

☼ Solar Replaces Nuclear in Florida Duke Energy Florida announced it will spend $6 billion expanding solar power while abandoning plans for a nuclear plant estimated to cost as much as $22 billion.

☼ Canada Challenges Trump's 'Illegal' Tariffs On Solar Panels The Trudeau government has asked for a NAFTA review of the US tariffs on solar panel cells, saying the 30% charge is illegal and unfair.

☼ Spain’s new government commits to massive clean energy build-out with coal and nuclear phase-out – to stimulate the economy

☼ World can limit global warming to 1.5C by ‘improving energy efficiency’ Increasing efficiency would also come with significant co-benefits such as cleaner air and lower rates. Even in Ontario, the IESO says we can cost-effectively lower demand by 31%.

☼ Global funds back desert solar to bring power to 250 million Africans A new Desert to Power project is in the early stages of a plan to deliver renewable power to 250 million residents of the Sahel, including 90 million off-grid users, by building 10,000 megawatts of new solar capacity across the region.

☼ The $3 Billion Plan to Turn Hoover Dam Into a Giant Battery Engineers hope to turn the Californie dam into a vast reservoir of excess electricity, fed by solar farms and wind turbines.

☼ UK offshore wind power to double by 2030 Plummeting renewable costs raise questions about government’s continued support for nuclear energy.Take Action!☢ Sign our petitions to Close Pickering and to Buy Quebec Power. And share them with your friends. Watch our 2 min. video here.☢ Can you spare a few hours to leaflet blitz your neighbourhood mailboxes? Help us make the closure of the Pickering nuclear station a public issue. Contact: angela at cleanairalliance.org☢ Support Saugeen Ojibway Nation's right to prior consent on the Bruce nuclear rebuild Petition opposing the Bruce nuclear rebuild.

☢ Stop OPG's  Nuclear Waste Dump Before It's Too Late Learn more about OPG’s nuke waste dump proposal in Kincardine, ON, and write Minister McKenna, Premier Wynne and PM Trudeau here.

☢ Tell the Japanese government: don’t dump nuclear waste into the ocean Petition

☢ Order your free KI (anti-thyroid-cancer) pills here if you live within 50 km of an ON nuclear facility - that includes all of Toronto and beyond. Download your anti-thyroid cancer posters hereto post in your office, school, or local cafe.Events

☢ Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Commemorations Mon. Aug. 6, 6:30 p.m. Toronto City Hall Peace Garden (Queen and Bay). Keynotes by Setsuko Thurlow and Dr. Ira Helfand will cover The Growing Danger of Nuclear War and What We Can Do About It.

☢ No War 2018: designing a world beyond war, legalizing peace Toronto Sept. 21-22

☢ ClimaCon – Canada’s largest convergence of climate heroes Oct. 11-12, York University, Toronto

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