Reports say that we can expect an enormous amount of cancers around Pacific from the Fukushima disaster. enenews.com
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Geiger Readings for December 24, 2013
Ambient office = 85 nanosieverts per hourAmbient outside = 54 nanosieverts per hourSoil exposed to rain water = 45 nanosieverts per hourVine ripened tomato from Top Foods = 91 nanosieverts per hourTap water = 81 nanosieverts per hourFiltered water = 72 nanosieverts per hourSoil exposed to rain water = 45 nanosieverts per hourVine ripened tomato from Top Foods = 91 nanosieverts per hourTap water = 81 nanosieverts per hourFiltered water = 72 nanosieverts per hour -
Radioactive Waste 58 – Factoring in the Hidden Costs of Nuclear Waste from Power Plants
I have talked about the costs of nuclear waste disposal in a lot of my blog posts. The people promoting nuclear power don’t seem to be factoring all the costs of waste disposal into their rosy picture of nuclear economics. Recently economist Mark Cooper of the Vermont Law School addressed some of these issues. He says that if the full costs of nuclear power were publicized, the interest in nuclear power as an answer to our future energy needs might be significantly diminished. Cooper expressed his opinions in a filing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that was part of the court-ordered Draft Waste Confidence Generic Environmental Impact Statement process.
Cooper asks a question about whether the real total cost of nuclear waste storage at reactors sites and eventual disposal in a permanent geological repository were large enough to merit more consideration by the NRC in nuclear power plant licensing decisions. He goes on to argue that his estimated cost of up to three hundred and fifty billion dollars is certainly big enough to require inclusion in licensing deliberations. He says that although some of these costs have been taken on by the government and are not being born by the nuclear industry, that does not mean that they are not real and can be discounted in any discussion of the costs of nuclear power. He also says that the costs of waste storage and disposal will be subject to the same runaway cost increases that are seen when estimating the cost of construction of new reactors.
Cooper estimates that the additional waste storage and disposal costs that are not currently being included in the cost of electricity generated by nuclear power could amount to as much ten to twenty dollars per megawatt hour. This translates to around one to two cents per kilowatt hour. Based on the cost estimates of the Energy Information Administration for new electricity generated by nuclear power, inclusion of hidden waste costs could add as much as ten to twenty percent to the cost of new nuclear power generation.
With respect to existing reactors, factoring in the extra cost of waste storage and disposal could make them uneconomical to operate. Recently several existing reactors in the U.S. have been shut down because the existing operating margin of nine dollars per megawatt hour in not sufficient for the operators to make a profit. The NRC has a regulation that states that if an operator cannot demonstrate the ability to make a profit with their reactor(s), they will have their license(s) revoked. Inclusion of hidden waste costs could result in many old reactors having their licenses pulled. If a reactor is shut down, the cost of storing the waste onsite can be up to five times the cost of storing the same amount of waste at an operating reactor.
What Cooper is saying about the hidden costs of nuclear waste handling is sufficient to call for a reevaluation for nuclear power generation as a viable source of electricity in the future. However, he did not factor in the cost of recovery from a major nuclear accident or the cost of decommissioning old reactors. Had these additional costs been included in his filling, the argument against expanding nuclear power generation would have been even more compelling.
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Radiation News Roundup December 23, 2013
Scientists link spike in thyroid disease in the U.S. to the Fukushima disaster. truth-out.org
Fennovoima has firmed up its selection of Rosatom to supply a nuclear power plant at the new Hanhikivi, Finland site, but a final investment decision remains to be made. world-nuclear-news.org
A judge in the UK has dismissed a lawsuit by an Irish group seeking to block construction of new reactors at Hinkley Point. nuclearstreet.com
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Geiger Readings for December 23, 2013
Ambient office = 80 nanosieverts per hourAmbient outside = 85 nanosieverts per hourSoil exposed to rain water = 88 nanosieverts per hourCrimini mushrooms from Top Foods = 85 nanosieverts per hourTap water = 105 nanosieverts per hourFiltered water = 92 nanosieverts per hour -
Radiation News Roundup December 22, 2013
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Geiger Readings for December 22, 2013
Ambient office = 91 nanosieverts per hourAmbient outside = 75 nanosieverts per hourSoil exposed to rain water = 93 nanosieverts per hourHass avacado from Top Foods = 106 nanosieverts per hourTap water = 73 nanosieverts per hourFiltered water = 63 nanosieverts per hour -
Geiger Readings for December 21, 2013
Ambient office = 65 nanosieverts per hourAmbient outside = 102 nanosieverts per hourSoil exposed to rain water = 108 nanosieverts per hourBartlett pear from Top Foods = 67 nanosieverts per hourTap water = 122 nanosieverts per hourFiltered water = 118 nanosieverts per hour -
Nuclear Weapons 55 – The Firing of General Carey, Head of U.S. Nulcear Missle Force
There have been various stories in the news lately about problems with morale and behavior of the men in our nuclear deterrence force. Some units that man the missiles in the Midwest have failed in drills. Some have been slacking during duty. Several high ranking officers have been relieved of their duties. One of the stories has to do with Major General Michael Carey who was head of the Air Force’s arsenal of nuclear ballistic missile. He was relieved of his post last October for “personal misbehavior.” The Air Force stated that he was fired because of “a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership and judgment.” The Inspector General of the Air Force has just issued a report on the firing that provides some details of Carey’s misbehavior.
The United States and Russia have a Bilateral Presidential Commission, Military Cooperation Working Group that has functioned for years a forum for the discussion of nuclear disarmament among other issues. A meeting for the Working Group was held in Moscow in the July of 2013. General Casey attended the meeting. It was his behavior at the conference that resulted in his being fired.
Apparently Carey began drinking on the plane to Moscow and continued to drink through the whole conference. He was late to morning meetings and drank into the night in the company of ladies of questionable reputation. He insulted the hosts, the translator, tour guides and, in general, acted like the prototypical “Ugly American.” He bragged about his power and authority and said that he “saved the world every day.” He talked about being in command of the only working nuclear missile force in the world. (This probably came as news to the other nuclear nations with missile arsenals.)
My favorite part of the report had to do with Carey’s last night in Moscow. He drank into the wee hours in the Marriot Hotel lobby with a “mysterious Cigar Lady.” He later remarked that he thought it weird that the cigar lady was asking questions about physics and optics. Are you kidding me? He did not consider that she was Russian intelligence pumping him for information about our nuclear missiles? This sounds like bad satire but is unfortunately real. He should have been fired for naiveté if nothing else.
I have to say that I do have sympathy for the people in our nuclear defense force. They are charged with responsibility for the most horrendous weapons ever created by the human race. But the years go by and nothing happens. Many of them are stuck out in the Midwest in the missile silos, hardly an exciting posting. These people are in a very difficult situation where they are supposed to be hyper-alert in a very boring environment. It is impossible for human beings to maintain a state of high alertness for any length of time. That having been said, we still have over a thousand warheads pointed at Russian targets that can be launched in minutes. They have missiles pointed at us. It makes me nervous to understand that these people not able to provide the competence demanded of such a dangerous situation.
Major General Michael Casey:
