Nuclear News: Excerpts from Nuclear Carnival # 127

The 127th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is hosted at ANS Nuclear Cafe.
Excerpts:

3. Joseph Somsel: Obama’s War on Nuclear Power. Joseph Somsel presents his opinion piece published in American Thinker – a thought-provoking dissertation on the administration’s incentive, or lack thereof, to support nuclear energy.

4. Atomic Insights: Radiation probes indicate NO melt through at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 Tepco has recently released measurements that provide convincing evidence that virtually all of the corium in Fukushima Daiichi unit #1 remains safely stored inside an intact reactor pressure vessel. Despite all claims to the contrary, no substantial quantities of that material have melted through the pressure vessel to fall onto the concrete floor of the surrounding containment structure. (Illustration of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear generating station prior to March 2011 courtesy TEPCO.)

6. ANS Nuclear Cafe: UK nuclear new build faces new landscape of vendors. Dan Yurman at the ANS Nuclear Cafe updates readers on some important recent developments in industry bidding for Britain’s Horizon new nuclear energy project – a planned 6 GWe of nuclear power at two new sites. Surprisingly, Areva and China’s CGNPG were not among the bidders, leaving consortiums headed by Westinghouse and Hitachi in the running.

7. Next Big Future: Planned nuclear startups for 2012. Brian Wang reviews the list of 14 nuclear reactors that were expected in 2012. So 9 of 14 have started and are generating some power. It is expected that 12 of 14 should be operating by the of 2012. Several of the 2011 grid connections did not generate full power until 2012.

9. Yes Vermont Yankee: San Onofre Steam Generators / guest post. Dr. Ken Schultz, a past ANS President and recent panel participant at an NRC meeting on San Onofre, makes a guest blog post on YVY incorporating his commentary to the NRC indicating that the steam generators at San Onofre aren’t a safety issue.

10. Yes Vermont Yankee: The Latest Law Suit: Is It a Constitutional Case in Vermont? Back in Vermont, Meredith Angwin writes that the legislature passed a seven million dollar tax that applied to only one business in Vermont– Vermont Yankee. Lawsuits will decide if the tax will remain in place. It would be bad for businesses throughout the country if such a tax stands up in court.

11. Atomic Power Review: INL Press Release and Video. Will Davis uses this week’s Carnival slot to spread the word about an excellent INL video describing waste remediation processes and methods which will interest anyone inside or outside the industry.

12. Nuke Power Talk: The Real Waste Problem. Gail Marcus points out that it is not only nuclear power that generates waste. Every energy source has some waste streams. While much has been said of waste from burning coal, few people seem to be aware of the large volumes of poisonous chemical wastes from solar power plants, or the substantial energy requirements to recycle those wastes.

13. The Neutron Economy: “Does nuclear lack a natural constituency?” During the last presidential debate, both President Obama and Governor Romney were practically falling over themselves to highlight their support of both fossil and renewable energy sources – yet nuclear received scarce mention, being practically orphaned from the debate. Is the problem nuclear’s lack of a natural constituency like those held by fossil and renewable sources?

_ANSNuclearCafe

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