End of June Update

After being gone for a few weeks, here is take on what is going on at Fukushima, and it doesn’t seem very positive.

It is now confirmed that the fuel melted inside the reactor vessels of Units 1, 2, & 3; and has breached and melted through the thick steel walls. This alone makes this “accident” the most serious technological failure in history. The sea water that is being pumped in to cool the fuel is leaking right back out and flooding the drywell and basement. This water is very radioactive, and prevents anyone getting in there to “seal” the leaks, which will be very difficult to do. The first order is to do something with the 25+million gallons of water that can’t just be released back into the ocean. Areva, from France, has installed a water treatment facility, but it isn’t working. Seems the water is more radioactive than first thought, and it clogged the filters in a very short period of time. Once the system is hopefully up and running, it will clean the water so it can be recycled back into the reactors for cooling, picking up more radioactivity in the process, until the leaks are sealed. This may take years to accomplish. It is estimated that the filters will produce 2-3000 cubic meters of highly radioactive sludge, which must be contained and stored. In the US, sludge was put into tanks at Hanford which eventually leaked and are still being dealt with after years and hundred of millions of dollars. The plan in Japan is to store the sludge in about 2000 canisters which will then be stored someplace until some kind of repository or new technology can deal with them. Pretty expensive! Let the kids deal with it!

It will be years before the three reactors are stabilized, and they probably will never be fully decommissioned. Estimates are $100+ billion…probably more than the net worth of the entire Japanese nuclear industry.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlXd5_F1goJBmZByasNwAiP6EoRA?docId=d223ba8d656345f2972d68b492c83187

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2011/06/24/robot_drone_fail_on_japan_nuke_plant_missions/

It’s all about water:

http://www.businessinsider.com/residents-near-fukushima-are-pissing-radioactive-urine-2011-6

Here in the US, flooding threatens several nukes in the Midwest. Although shut down, Fort Calhoun is now on backup emergency power to keep everything cool and working. Acts of God, acts or terrorism, acts of human stupidity…all our nukes are vulnerable. But for now, everything is fine!

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MISSOURI_RIVER_FLOODING_NUCLEAR_SAFETY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-06-27-09-36-51

Another major issue that will be addressed soon is the relicensing of old power plants. Original licenses were for 40 years, which translates to 30 years of operation, since refueling and maintenance requires long down times. Since most of our plants were built in the 60’s and 70’s, they are rapidly coming due for closure. Since building new ones is very expensive, and decommissioning will cost way more than their original construction, the industry wants to keep running the old ones, since most of them are already paid for; and they generate cheap electricity, since the utilities don’t have to contend with future costs of decommissioning and waste storage, insurance, etc. The NRC has pretty much rubber stamped the relicensing process without any serious reflection on the consequences. All this will be called to question in the near future.

Sort of like running a 1972 Ford Fairlane with 250,000 miles on it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/20/us-nuclear-regulators-safety-industry_n_880222.html

As for the continuing debate on the storage of High Level Wastes, more politics comes into the mix. This month, the Blue Ribbon Panel appointed by Obama will issue it’s report. Both sides will have a field day…science vs. politics…sort of like the whole climate change issue.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11176/1156265-115-0.stm?cmpid=healthscience.xml

On last quip…a very interesting article on renewables by the military.

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201107/blood-and-oil.aspx

In spite of it’s political PR on building 26 nuclear reactors by 2025, reality and intelligence pervades even the super rich!

http://blogs.forbes.com/williampentland/2011/06/24/solar-heats-up-in-saudi-arabia/

It’s sunny today…supposed to rain tomorrow!

Update on the Humboldt Bay nuke

This is an update you on what is going on with the decommissioning of our local Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power, and the demolition of the two old Fossil Fuel units which have been replaced by our new state-of-the-art engines.

Last year, I reported that the decommissioning estimate had risen from $378.5M to "about" $500M. After pressuring PG&E, I finally got some specific numbers at our Citizen's Advisory Board meeting last night. The decom process is at its half way point. A lot of major pieces of equipment have been removed, but a lot of serious work and a lot of hauling away remains. The cost estimate is now $600M, and the project should be complete by the end of 2015. This cost does include a $40M expenditure to guard and maintain the spent fuel that is in dry cask storage on site from 2015 to 2020. A lot can change in the next 4-9 years. The Trust fund is currently at $305M, and PG&E is collecting $14M/year from its ratepayers. They say that the fund is making money from fixed-income investments (I hope it isn't Bernie Maddoff"s) and at some point within the next 10 years, all this will be paid for.

Just a little mind exercise, to put things in perspective!?

The 62MW Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant was built for $33 million, and operated from 1962 to 1976. An optimistic estimate of 5.5 billion KWH was generated during its 14 year operational life. The current cost to decommission is close to $600 million. That comes out to about 11 cents/KWH for that nuclear electricity…just for decommissioning! Whew! There are about 100 more nuclear plants in the US that will have to be decommissioned, and paid for by future generations. And the high-level waste???$$$$$$??????

On the Fossil side, the demolition cost is somewhere around $75M. That work will be done by the end of August...pretty impressive to see this thing come down.

These are the two old 60MW natural gas boilers, turbines, and generators

Here the units were shrink-wrapped in plastic to create a negative atmosphere inside

for the asbestos removal..this was three months ago

Today. All this will be gone by the end of August

The nuclear unit (#3) is out of sight to the right, and will remain until about 2014

Currently, all this is providing 400 good paying jobs here in Humboldt County! Our "tax" dollars at work!

Weekly Energy Update, June 6th

A nice summary by Paul Gipe, a leader in renewables for many years, posted at:

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/06/06/237150/stunner-new-nuclear-costs-as-much-as-german-solar-power-today-and-up-to-0-34kwh-in-2018/

“Little data exists on the actual cost of new nuclear generation. Rumors persist in Ontario, Canada that the government’s delay in building its promised new reactors was due to “sticker shock” after receiving costly proposals. Whatever the reason for delay, the actual cost of the proposals are being hidden from public view.

The 186-page report, 2010 Comparative Costs of California Central Station Electricity Generation, found that a 1,000 MW Pressurized Water Reactor would generate electricity in 2018 from as little as $0.17/kWh to as much as $0.34/kWh.

The 157 page report by Versicherungsforen Leipzig estimated that the premium necessary to insure a nuclear reactor from accident would cost from €0.14/kWh ($0.20/kWh) to a staggering €2.36/kWh ($3.40/kWh).

Thus, the cost to insure a nuclear reactor — at a minimum — would cost as much as the electricity itself from a nuclear plant built in California in 2018.

Renewable energy, even costly solar photovoltaics, begins to look like a bargain to consumers when realistic costs of new nuclear plants come to light.”

Nothing new to report on Fukushima…they are still struggling to figure things out.

It will take years to wean ourselves off of nuclear power. Meanwhile the debates rage on.

Saudi Arabia announced that they will build 16 new reactors over the next 20 years.

That will never happen. Interesting ploy to support the diversion away from renewables.

Last week, the financial officer for oil development in Saudi Arabia said on CNN:

“BIN TALAL: The stiff position of Saudi Arabia, we want the price to be between $70 and $80. Not only to help the West, but also to help ourselves. We don’t want the West to go and find alternatives, because, clearly, the higher the price oil goes, the more you have incentive to go and find alternatives. So, really, our interest coincides with American interest, to have the price for around $70, $80 which is a price good for consumers and producers.”

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/06/01/Saudi-Arabia-to-build-16-nuclear-reactors/UPI-48881306926260/

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/154170/20110530/saudi-prince-seeks-to-discourage-western-alternatives-to-high-priced-oil.htm

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It’s all about the money…the status quo...the big money controlled by the Kock brothers, etc. No care about the future.

"The Tea Party congress hates the idea that the nation could be weaned off its energy dependence, or fossil fuels. They hate renewable energy because their primary sponsors in the fossil fuel industry want above all to slow progress on that front, and drag the nation back into the 19th century [see the CP post, "David Koch pulls the strings of the Tea Party extremists"].

We’ve seen a number of these over recent months, now the anti-science crusade continues. Lead by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), 9 members of congress have now asked for the closure of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO."

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_18203985

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Meanwhile, the floods continue, tornados and hurricanes blow by, drought and wildfires rage, food prices go up, CEOs are getting bigger bonuses, and we’re still worried about gays and abortions.

“…a nuclear waste advisor to the Japanese government reported that about 373 square miles near the Fukushima power station — an area roughly 17 times the size of Manhattan — may now be uninhabitable.”