2013’s Astounding Collapse of the U.S. Nuclear Power Industry: the New Normal

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Tuesday September 10, 2013 · 9:41 AM PDT

2013/09/10 · 09:41

Less than nine months through, 2013 is already a remarkable year for the anti-nuclear power movement in the U.S. Where Germany is following a deliberate government-mandated path to phase out nuclear power entirely, in the U.S. the atomic industry is simply collapsing on its own—aided by concerted and strategic grassroots organizing campaigns and legal actions.

Entergy Corporation’s August 27 announcement of the pending shutdown of the Vermont Yankee reactor at the end of its current fuel cycle was just the latest blow to the industry, which already has seen four other reactor shutdowns (the most in one year ever) and the abandonment of six proposed new reactors, not to mention cancellation of five planned power uprates. And more may be coming.

nirsnet

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Thursday June 07, 2012 · 12:37 PM PDT

2012/06/07 · 12:37

A better mousetrap. A nuclear-free, carbon-free energy future is not only possible; it’s closer than you think…

Governments in their death throes—those unable to adapt to change--tend to use fear and spread fear as a tactic. For recent examples, one need think no further than Libya, Egypt, Syria. So do social movements. The Tea Party spreads unfounded fear of socialism and worse to mask its true fear: the reality of a changing society. No matter how potent it seemed in 2010, changing demographics mean it too is in its death throes.

Dying industries, those unable to keep pace with technological change, often do the same. They typically argue the old way of doing things was better. Horse and buggy drivers warned of noise and dangers with newfangled automobiles (hmm, maybe they had a point…). But technology marches on: TV supplanted radio as the main entertainment medium; CDs supplanted LPs, which supplanted 78s; DVDs supplanted the short-lived reign of videotapes; the internet is working on supplanting all of them. Build a better mousetrap, and the people will buy it.

nirsnet

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Tuesday June 05, 2012 · 12:17 PM PDT

2012/06/05 · 12:17

Public opinion on nuclear power matters. Should we build new reactors or not? If so, who should pay for them? Should we close existing reactors? Where should nuclear power rank among all the other possible sources of electricity generation? Where should we put our limited resources to attain the best possible energy future?

These are all fundamental questions, the answers to which could affect our future far more than, say, who will be the next Senator from Indiana. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, until recently—really the past two or three years—other than regularly-conducted, loudly-trumpeted and rarely relevant industry-sponsored polls, polling of public opinion on nuclear power (and a lot of other energy issues) was haphazard at best.

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I oppose construction of new reactors in the U.S.

154 votes

I support construction of new reactors in the U.S.

205 votes

The largest, most important, anti-nuclear protest you don't know about is in southern India

nirsnet

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Friday March 23, 2012 · 9:02 AM PDT

2012/03/23 · 09:02

Dr. S.P. Udayakumar (Kumar to his friends) is a longtime leader in the peaceful resistance to nuclear power in India, as well as a leader in the NIRS/WISE international network. The Indian government has threatened to charge him with terrorism and "waging war" for his role in leading the nonviolent citizens movement against operation of the nearly-completed Kudankulam nuclear reactors in the Tamil Nadu section of India.

He is currently with 10,000 other people protesting near the reactor site. Some are on a hunger strike. Some 10,000 police have surrounded the protestors and reportedly are blocking the media from entering the area.

Dr. Udayakumar was able to get the letter below the fold to members of the NIRS/WISE network describing the current situation at the protest site. We share it, and a couple links, with you now.

nirsnet

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Thursday August 05, 2010 · 7:47 AM PDT

2010/08/05 · 07:47

The flagship project to build a new nuclear power reactor in the United States—the one that provided the economic model for most new reactor proposals since—is in serious trouble and likely will collapse of its own weight before construction could even begin.

What this means for the much-hyped nuclear "renaissance" is clear: there will be no large-scale nuclear revival in the United States, and probably not in the rest of the world either, since the pressures on this project are international in scope, and affect just about every nation not named China.

nirsnet

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Wednesday February 17, 2010 · 1:54 PM PST

2010/02/17 · 13:54

President Obama’s announcement yesterday of a "conditional" $8.3 billion loan "guarantee" to the Southern Company for construction of two nuclear reactors in Georgia obscured an important fact about the loan guarantee program: taxpayers are not just providing a guarantee, they also will be providing the actual loans.

nirsnet

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Friday September 04, 2009 · 8:40 AM PDT

2009/09/04 · 08:40

More bad news for those who still believe that we’re about to enter a nuclear power renaissance, rather than the full-scale nuclear-powered retreat from those halcyon days of late 2007 that we’re actually seeing....and good news for those who believe in a sustainable, carbon-free, nuclear-free energy future.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has just issued a new draft report on expected energy costs from various technologies, projected to 2018—just about the time any of the proposed new nuclear reactors could come online.

And the results are stunning.

nirsnet

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Tuesday August 18, 2009 · 10:47 AM PDT

2009/08/18 · 10:47

Despite the nuclear industry’s lavishly-funded propaganda, which claims that nuclear power is at least a partial solution to the climate crisis, there are plenty of reasons why nuclear power cannot, should not and ultimately will not be part of a climate change solution.

For all its other shortcomings, at least the House-passed Waxman-Markey ACES climate bill recognized this, and offered little for nuclear power other than the benefits a price on carbon provides to any low-carbon electricity source. But as the Senate prepares to take on its climate bill, there is substantial industry pressure for still more taxpayer giveaways to the nuclear power industry, ostensibly as a means to bring some more conservative Senators over to vote for a final bill.

Leaving aside the politics for a moment—and those Senators who most want more nuclear subsidies aren’t going to vote for a climate bill anyway—anyone seriously concerned about climate needs to understand that not only would nuclear power not be helpful at addressing the climate crisis, it would be counterproductive.

nirsnet

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Thursday May 14, 2009 · 8:42 AM PDT

2009/05/14 · 08:42

These days, clean energy ranks right up there with Mom, apple pie and ice cream as an All-American attribute. You can barely sit through a TV show, listen to the radio, or even read a blog without coming across an ad from someone extolling the virtues of some "clean" energy form or another.
Never mind that some of them—from nuclear power to "clean" coal—bear no resemblance to the cleanest solutions like wind, solar and energy efficiency. Some industries have more money to spend on ads than others....

nirsnet

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Thursday March 26, 2009 · 7:19 AM PDT

2009/03/26 · 07:19

Thirty years ago, Americans stood in shock watching unfold what had been officially deemed by federal officials as "incredible"—a major accident at a nuclear power reactor. Americans watched their fellow citizens flee their homes and businesses in panic, watched as regulators and utility employees tried to address the accident, watched and tried to understand why poisonous radiation was being released into the atmosphere when they had been told such an outcome was impossible.

nirsnet

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Thursday January 29, 2009 · 12:06 PM PST

2009/01/29 · 12:06

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee late on the night of January 27 snuck in a provision to President Obama's economic stimulus package that would allow as much as $50 BILLION of your dollars to be used as loan guarantees for construction of new nuclear reactors. This would be on top of the $18.5 Billion in taxpayer dollars already authorized by Congress during the Bush administration.

These loan guarantees would mean more nuclear reactors and more radioactive waste piling up in communities across our country. They would also mean less money for safer, cheaper and cleaner energy alternatives like solar and wind power.

nirsnet

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Thursday October 16, 2008 · 9:02 AM PDT

2008/10/16 · 09:02

A new campaign is forming to take on UniStar Nuclear and its plans to build giant new atomic reactors in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Missouri.

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