Ask Pablo: Is Nuclear Power Really "Carbon Neutral?"
’Sure, nuclear power has lower greenhouse gas emissions than any combustion-based fuel source but it still has many other problems. We all know about the dangers of nuclear accidents and the issues around nuclear waste. If politicians were technology agnostic, removed subsidies for the coal and nuclear industry, and set a price on carbon with a national cap and trade system, there would be no debate. The free market would choose the path to the most cost effective and cleanest sources of energy which would include wind, solar, small-scale hydro, geothermal, energy efficiency, tidal, and certainly not nuclear or "clean coal."’

Start of Haiyang construction imminent
’Construction of the first two AP1000 reactors at the Haiyang nuclear power plant in eastern China's Shandong province is set to start following the issuance of a construction permit. Plans call for at least six units to eventually be built at the plant.’

India's 'stage three' fantasy
’The world in the upcoming decade will be a radically different place from that of the 1980s, when the heavy early investments in nuclear power finally began to pay off. At that time, nuclear waste was treated simply as a problem that could be contained and deferred, the costs of reactor decommissioning were kept off balance sheets, and the nuclear industry was considered a ‘sunrise’ industry – almost glamorous, and a magnet for the world’s young scientific talent. That world is today long gone, due particularly to the triple crises of climate change, the failure of a dominant economic model, and the shocks to agriculture and water systems. Besides, the energy sector now has new players, methods and sources beyond the old coal, hydro and petroleum-based plants – modern natural gas, combined heat and power (also called cogeneration, it is the simultaneous production of electricity and heat from a single fuel input, which steeply raises the efficiency of fuel use) and a host of renewable energy technologies. New sources and technologies, excluding hydro, can supply power quickly, be scaled to need and be built close to demand points, factors that nuclear energy cannot match.’

Chu seeks more loan guarantees for nuclear energy
’Energy Secretary Steven Chu aims to increase the department's loan-guarantee authority to help revive the U.S. nuclear energy industry and curb emissions of greenhouse gases. While firms have filed 18 requests for nuclear plant licenses, the agency can only authorize $18.5 billion in loans, which can cover four to five facilities. The U.S. needs to show the industry that it "is serious about investing in nuclear power plants," Chu said. Nasdaq.com (09/24)’

TVA whistle-blower wins case
’In what is being called a rare victory for whistle-blowers, a U.S. Department of Labor appeals panel has ruled that a Tennessee Valley Authority contractor violated the federal whistle-blower law when it fired a Tuscumbia man in 2004. In a decision that was made public Monday, the Department of Labor's review board ruled James Speegle was improperly dismissed from his job as a painting foreman for Louisiana-based Stone and Webster Construction Inc. Speegle was working for the company at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens when he reported safety concerns to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.’

Yankee protest ends in arrests
’Four elderly women living downwind of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor were arrested Monday afternoon when they walked through the first two security gates at the Vernon reactor and sat down on folding chairs, blocking entry to the plant. The four women, members of the Vermont Yankee Shut It Down Affinity Group, are no strangers to Vermont Yankee protests, and each said they had been arrested multiple times outside the Entergy Nuclear corporate headquarters in North Brattleboro but never prosecuted.’