My Geiger counter is in the shop for maintenance.
Author: Burt Webb
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Nuclear Reactors 156 – Who Wants Nuclear Power
I have been blogging about nuclear issues for two years now. As I have researched for my posts, I have discovered that there are many more problems with the use of nuclear energy to generate electricity than are widely known. Beyond concerns with environmental impact of mining and refining nuclear fuel, lax governmental regulation, corporate incompetence or misbehavior, lack of a permanent disposal system for spent nuclear fuel, danger of natural disasters or deliberate sabotage, etc. there are also problems with the cost of decommissioning, dangers from fires and floods, damage to the ecosystem from hot water from reactor cooling, falling uranium fuel production, etc.
With so many reasons not to use nuclear power, why are we still building more nukes around the world? As I see it, there are several main drivers for expanding the use of nuclear power. One of these drivers is simply money. There are billions of dollars involved in construction, fueling and operating nuclear reactors. Among other things, this means that there is plenty of money to grease the palms of anyone who can contribute to the expansion.
Another driver is the desire of governments and corporations to have centralized control of important resources. With fossil fuels under fire for contributing to global warming, nuclear power is another centralized power generation system based on a scarce fuel. During armed conflicts such as invasions and civil war, power generation facilities are one of the prime target for bringing a civilian population to its knees.
A third driver is the use of nuclear power reactors as a bargaining chip in international trade and foreign policy. Several major nuclear nations including France, Russia, China and Japan are working hard to sell their reactors to third world countries. Given that cutting off fuel has already been used as an economic weapon in Europe and other parts of the globe, it would seem to be a questionable proposition for a third world country to buy one of these power reactors since it would make that country very vulnerable to “energy blackmail” in the future.
A democratic government is supposed to yield to the will of the majority with suitable protection for minority interests. Recently in the United States, there are examples of eighty and even ninety percent of people polled wanting something done that still does not get done because of the influence of money in our national politics. I am afraid that nuclear power is one of these failures of democracy. In Japan, the vast majority of the people want an end to the use of nuclear power but the government is pressing ahead with nuclear power and nuclear exports.
It is encouraging to note that not only that many citizens of countries using nuclear power are opposed to it, but also a lot of the financial community is wary of investing in nuclear power because it is failing in the only arena that they respect; the marketplace. When another major nuclear accident occurs as will certainly happen, the public backlash will be too big for even the bought politicians to ignore.
Nuclear power is going to be abandoned. The only question is when and how much more money and lives will have to be wasted before it happens.
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Radiation News Roundup August 12, 2014
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Geiger Readings for August 12, 2014
My Geiger counter is in the shop for maintenance.
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Nuclear Reactors 155 – Fermi Nuclear Plant on Lake Erie is Contributing to Toxic Algae Bloom
I have blogged about many problems connected to the use of nuclear reactors to generate electricity. One of the issues that I don’t think gets enough attention is the question of water use. Nuclear reactors take a huge amount of water to cool the reactor. In the last few years reactors have been shut down because the lake or ocean water being used for cooling is too warm. With global climate change warming water around the world, this problem will just get worse. There is also the danger of flooding at nuclear power plants because they are located near large bodies of water and weather is becoming more extreme due to global climate change increasing the danger of major storms. Another water related issue is the question of the effects of releasing hot water back into the ecosystem after it has been used to cool the reactor.
At the beginning of August, the city officials of Toledo, Ohio warned the citizens of Toledo not to drink the water from the municipal water system because of contamination from an cyabno-algae bloom in the lake. The cyano-algae that is blooming in the lake is releasing a toxin called microcystin LR that is harmful to human health. The symptoms of microcystin LR poisoning include headaches, fatigue and renal damage. Algae blooms are common in the tropics but rare in temperate areas such as Ohio.
The Beyond Nuclear movement at Lake Erie has been complaining for years that algae blooms on the Lake are being caused by the hot water being released from the cooling system of the number 2 reactor at the Enrico Fermi nuclear power plant. The number 2 reactor is a General Electric boiling water reactor that is the same design as two of the reactors that melted down at Fukushima. Given the abnormally cold weather this year in the U.S. Midwest, the Beyond Nuclear protestors claim that the only possible cause of heating in the southern part of Lake Erie is the reactor.
The phosphorus from fertilizers being used in agriculture in around the southern part of Lake Erie has been pouring into the lake and providing nutrients for the algae blooms. Such blooms were a problem in the 1970s and 1980s before changes in farming methods reduced the occurrence of algae blooms. Now the blooms are back and are being blamed on there was increased sediment from heavy rains running into the lake in the spring of 2011 and an increase dissolved reactive phosphorus in the water running into Lake Erie. The nuclear power plant is causing a ten to fifteen degrees Fahrenheit increase in the temperature of the southern part of the lake. Together, these factors are contributing to the reappearance of algae blooms. Scientists also believe that the presence of low levels of radioactive isotopes in the reactor wastewater is causing explosive growth in the cyano-algae. Cyano-algae has a special affinity for phosphorus-32 from the reactor which may be causing mutations in the cyano-algae and promoting its growth at the expense of harmless algae that does not release toxins.
These toxic algae blooms are another harmful result of the use of nuclear reactors to generate electricity. The population of a large U.S. city is being threatened and I am sure that the company running the Fermi nuclear power plant will not be asked to pay for the damage from the cyano-algae bloom. Instead, once again, the tax payers will be expect to foot the bill.
Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power Plant:
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Radiation News Roundup August 11, 2014
NHK announced that pieces of nuclear fuel, fuel rods, reactor pressure vessels and the internal structure were blasted to at least 130km away from Fukushima nuclear plant fukushima-diary.com
There is clear evidence of an epidemic with an outbreak of cancer is now underway in Fukushima children. enenews.com
Belgian nuclear safety regulators think it was probably deliberate action by a worker that caused lubricant to be lost from Doel 4’s steam turbine system. world-nuclear-news.org
EDF Energy says it has shut down four of its UK reactors after discovering a fault in a boiler spine in unit 1 of its Heysham 1 nuclear power plant. world-nuclear-news.org
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Geiger Readings for August 11, 2014
My Geiger counter is in the shop for maintenance.
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Geiger Readings for August 10, 2014
My Geiger counter is in the shop for maintenance.
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Radiation News Roundup August 9, 2014
Headless Japanese rhinoceros beetle was found in Fukushima this summer. fukushima-diary.com
In the morning of 8/5/2014, TEPCO discharged 2,007 t of bypass contaminated water. From the research of Fukushima Diary, this is the largest volume of discharge. fukushima-diary.com
A new centre for developing technologies for remote handling in extreme conditions has opened at the Culham Science Centre in the UK. world-nuclear-news.org
