The Next Nuclear Renaissance?
Over the past decade, there has been a growing interest in building new nuclear power stations, particularly among policymakers. This comes some two decades after a previously forecast “nuclear renaissance” petered out, having produced few orders, all of which went badly wrong.
Irvine City Council takes up San Onofre nuclear waste safety concerns
Mayor Larry Agran convened a special City Council study session on Sept. 30 to examine how the decades-old waste — sealed in 123 stainless-steel canisters just 30 miles from the city’s borders — could affect Irvine and the rest of Orange County. He called on his city colleagues to consider a local “Plan B” to protect the region, including a study on whether Irvine could play a role in such an effort.
Nuclear power is failing, and AI can’t rescue it
Nuclear generation is expensive and slow to develop. Claims that past failures won’t recur have convinced politicians to socialize investments rejected by private capital markets.
A Nuclear Power Parable
Once upon a time in Michigan, there was an aged nuclear power plant called Palisades. Since it started operation in 1971 until it was permanently closed in 2022, it ran about 73% of the time, about three days out of every four. But the old nuclear plant could not financially compete against renewables, and after its electric subsidy from Michigan expired in 2022, Palisades was closed and sold for scrap metal.
Why Don’t We Take Nuclear Weapons Seriously?
The risk of nuclear war has only grown, yet the public and government officials are increasingly cavalier. Some experts are trying to change that.
PG&E is charging ratepayers $723 million to keep Diablo Canyon open. Should it?
Two anti-nuclear groups are fighting PG&E’s plan to charge ratepayers $723 million for the cost of operating the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant past its original closure dates.
Roadmaps to Situational Awareness
Like the proverbial frogs cozily immersed in the comfy warm liquid of daily existence in our seemingly stable world system, we are dangerously unaware of the gathering perils that are rapidly being brought into operation around us.
Fukushima Recovery Plagued with Setbacks
Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, and the regular quakes raise traumatic memories of the March 11, 2011, record-breaker that left 19,000 dead and smashed the six-reactor Fukushima-Daiichi site.