33 Cuban illegal aliens break into Turkey Point nuclear power plant on Thanksgiving
we hear a remarkable story about how an ordinary couple makes it past the Secret Service into a State dinner and now word comes out of Florida that 33 illegal aliens from Cuba took a boat right up into a supposedly impenetrable nuclear power plant on Thanksgiving. The Miami Herald is today reporting that a boat carrying twenty-nine adults and four children called the control room for the Turkey Point Nuclear Power plant in the early afternoon and advised them they had landed their craft in one of the facilities cooling canals and needed assistance. That it was Turkey Point and happened on Thanksgiving is a curious coincidence but plant security are apparently not amused and neither is DHS. They were caught totally unprepared at one of the nations most "secure" nuclear power generating facilities. The real question is where was the small private army, heavily armed and trained, as the hapless Captain, crew and passengers wandered into the cooling canals through a wildlife refuge wilderness area teaming with crocodiles.’

Tribe protests power plant's expansion
‘WELCH -- After sitting in the shadow of the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant for more than 30 years, the Prairie Island Indian Community is again speaking out against more storage of spent fuel and loss of its heritage. About 60 members from Prairie Island took the first step Friday in this latest round of debate by organizing a rally at which speakers chastised Xcel Energy, which owns the plant. They called on tribe members to keep their signs and take them to the state Capitol next year, when the tribe will be pushing its agenda. The two biggest complaints are the possibility of more casks of spent nuclear fuel being stored outside the plant and the revelation that some American Indian remains were disturbed or removed when the plant was built in the 1970s, said Ron Johnson, president of the tribal council. Laura McCarten, a regional Xcel vice president, said, "The tribe's voice is very important to us." While they don't always see eye to eye on everything, Xcel tries to work closely with the tribe, she said.’

No new nukes -- plants, that is
‘As the Senate debates climate legislation that could reinvent the country's energy infrastructure, it is richly ironic that lawmakers who consider themselves rock-ribbed fiscal conservatives are among the strongest backers of nuclear plants -- a vastly expensive, inefficient and dangerous source of energy that requires massive taxpayer bailouts. Senate Republicans and many moderate Democrats are seeking to lard up prospective climate and energy bills with billions of dollars in loan guarantees and other subsidies for nuclear power, even though it makes no sense as a solution to climate change and is a terrible option from an economic, environmental and national-security standpoint. Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), whose bipartisan effort to restructure the cap-and-trade climate bill (which Republicans like to deride as "cap and tax") offers its only hope of passage in the Senate this year, signaled their intent to add more nuclear pork to the bill in a recent Op-Ed article. Meanwhile, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) recently introduced their own alternative climate bill calling for up to $100 billion in clean-energy loan guarantees, most of which would end up going to nuclear plants. Nuclear energy is not a reasonable solution because plants take too long to build and cost far too much. Actually, it's been so long since one has been built in this country that no engineering firm will even provide an estimate on the cost, but it's safe to say that each new plant would run to several billion dollars. Because lenders aren't willing to put up the money on such a risky investment, the nuclear industry is looking to Uncle Sugar.’

Areva's EUR4B T&D Sale Creates Nationalistic Dilemma
‘PARIS (Dow Jones)-- As the decision approaches for the EUR4 billion-plus sale of Areva's transmission and distribution unit, one of the world's largest makers of heavy electrical equipment, the French government seems torn between its desire to show openness to foreign investors and its yearning for national champions. U.S.-based General Electric Co. and Japan's Toshiba Corp. have both outbid the French consortium of Alstom SA and Schneider SA for Areva's T&D unit, according to people with knowledge of the bids who have spoken to Dow Jones Newswires. Areva is 93%-owned by the French state but Paris says that it doesn't have a preference for any bidder based on national lines. In a recent interview with Dow Jones Newswires, French finance minister Christine Lagarde stressed the sale process was open to foreign investors and that the government had no bias in favor of a French bidder. However one person close to the French government told Dow Jones Newswires last week: "It's hard to believe that assets--which originally belonged to Alstom and were sold to Areva by Sarkozy himself when he worked on Alstom's rescue--can go to a Japanese or an American company."’

French watchdog concerned over nuclear skills
‘France's nuclear watchdog has expressed concern over the loss of skills in the atomic energy industry after a near 20-year gap in building reactors. In an interview with the Financial Times, André-Claude Lacoste, head of the French Nuclear Safety Authority, said: "The relaunch of construction, and monitoring that relaunch, are not simple. We have to regain experience. We have not built reactors for more than 15 years." Lacoste said this issue was preoccupying all countries embarking on new nuclear construction. "We discuss this often with our international colleagues," Lacoste said. "They have the same problem as us. How can an authority which may have lost some of its habits monitor the construction of a reactor when the construction groups have also got out of the habit?"’

Iran Announces Expansion of Nuclear Program in Defiance of UN
‘Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Iran announced expansion of its nuclear program in defiance of United Nations demands, a move the Obama administration said will further isolate the Islamic Republic from the international community. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Cabinet ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to begin building 10 uranium enrichment sites within two months, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. All would be at the same scale as Iran's Natanz site, producing fuel for power plants to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity, the state news agency said. "It's a defiant, blustery response" to a Nov. 27 censure of Iran by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, Cliff Kupchan, a senior analyst at Eurasia Group, a New York political-risk consulting firm, said in a telephone interview. Such an expansion is "well beyond Iran's technological capability," he said. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Iran's reported plans "would be yet another serious violation of Iran's clear obligations under multiple UN security council resolutions, and another example of Iran choosing to isolate itself." The U.S. and some major allies say Iran's work is cover for weapons development. Iran denies the charge, saying the program is for peaceful purposes. "Time is running out for Iran to address the international community's growing concerns about its nuclear program," Gibbs said in an e-mailed statement.’