High-Level Waste at Humboldt Bay

Here is a piece I've submitted to the Econews, our local environmental news media.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a public hearing in Eureka on August 26th to gather input and ideas on formulating a policy for creating the many Community Advisory Boards that will be set up to monitor decommissioning activities at nuclear sites across the nation.  Members of the local CAB, set up 20 years ago by PG&E, not only supplied useful  information, but also released the giant “elephant in the room” - what will happen to the 6 casks of high-level spent fuel that is stored on the bluff adjacent to Humboldt Bay.

After 10 years of complex dismantling and shipping off some 16,000 truckloads of radioactively contaminated metal, concrete, soil, and other debris, the $1+ Billion decommissioning project is virtually complete.  All that remains now, is finishing the final site restorations to bring it into California environmental compliance.  However, PG&E holds the amended nuclear license requiring it to monitor and safeguard the dry casks in the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) which is located on site about 150 feet from Humboldt Bay.  The license is for 40 years, and PG&E will continue gathering monthly payments from ratepayers to pay the $10-15 Million per year storage bill for at least the next 10 years.  What will happen after that is anybody’s guess, since there are no current viable solutions to the very long term needs of safeguarding this waste.

As was said by both PG&E and the NRC at the meeting, there is nothing they/we can do, since it is the Department of Energy’s problem.  Mandated by Congress in 1982, the DOE was to take ownership and possession of all the waste fuel, and place it in a deep geologic repository by 1998.  That deadline came, and there was no place to put the tens of thousands of tons of high-level wastes.  DOE spent $15 Billion trying to develop Yucca Mountain for deep burial.  Although the nuclear industry blames political issues, that site (or in reality, any other site) is currently unrealistic due to the enormous technological challenges dealing with the heat-emitting radioactivity of the fuel, and the huge costs estimates for very long term storage.  Thus, the spent fuel from the defunct Humboldt Bay reactor is sitting in 6 dry casks in a concrete bunker right next to Humboldt Bay, under the guardianship of PG&E, and will most likely may remain there forever!

This next phase of the decommissioning process, is figuring out what to do with this very complex and challenging issue.  There are many options which will be addressed in the future, not only by the CAB and, hopefully, by the local community and the public in general.  How long will these casks do what they are supposed to do…their expected life is about 40-50 years (we're 10 years in.)  What happens if there is a failure, due to the technology itself, due to earthquakes, due to tsunami, due to the increasing impacts of climate change on sea level rise and site integrity.  Who pays for all this…ratepayers, taxpayers, PG&E, the nuclear industry???   We are easily talking about impacts occurring now and well into the lives of future generations.  PG&E is currently in bankruptcy.  Who's in charge?  Will they sell the license to a private company (as has recently occurred with several other nuclear sites in the US) leading to corporate gamesmanship and incompetence?  How does Humboldt Bay factor into the much bigger challenges of decommissioning PG&E’s Diablo Canyon reactors and their spent fuel?  What about California’s other decommissioning site at San Onofre and Rancho Seco?  How does this fit in with the 110 reactor sites across the nation?

These are very large and complex issues that will be debated and acted on in the political, technological, economic, and social arena for many years to come.  It will take serious concerted citizen action to monitor and fight the humongous nuclear industry which even today touts the various hoaxes as it has over the years.  Cheap, affordable, necessary, carbon-free.  Nowhere in all the current pro-nuclear propaganda does it state the true costs and incredible challenges of all nuclear waste management, not only for reactors, but all across the entire nuclear industry.
It’s all about corporate money!  Get informed, and stay tuned!!!!

Nuke Upate

Towards the middle of August, and we're getting ready for the anticipated meeting with the NRC on the completion of the physical decommissioning of the Humboldt Bay nuke.  Another few months of site restoration, and it will be done…44 years after shutdown, 10 years of actual decommissioning work, and $1.02 million of ratepayer’s money.  The final phase is probably the most important.  What will become of the 6 dry casks holding the high-level spent fuel that is now in storage on a bluff at the plant site?  How long will it stay there, what are the risks associated leaving it there beyond the 50 year life expectancy of the casks, what impacts from climate change, how much is all this going to cost well into the future and who will pay for it, and, most importantly today, what happens to the license and responsibility that PG&E holds if it disappears after bankruptcy?  We’ll see!!!

The nuclear dream is dead, and the industry still tries to hold on to its pattern of sucking money from consumers and citizens.  There is no new reactor construction even on the drawing boards, aside from the ongoing fiasco in Georgia, where the Vogel plant is about 60% complete, 10 years behind schedule, $15billion over budget, and still receiving federal subsidies in hopes of completion.  As I have said before, if this plant ever comes on line, its electricity would be so expensive compared to the renewables available, that it would have to be subsidized by taxpayer money.  The dream of the new generation of Small Modular Reactors is not going to happen because of economics, and the dream of recycling fuel (reprocessing) in fast plutonium reactors has long bead dead.  The old nukes are starting to close and fall by the wayside, victims of the high costs compared to renewables, and again, the industry seeks subsidies and bailouts to keep them online for a few more years.

Now, the TRUE cost of nuclear power is beginning to see light: Decommissioning and High and Low-level Waste Disposal.

The complexity and real cost of decommissioning is beginning to be felt in communities across the nation…in Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Pennsylvania…as we’ll as California, where the San Onofre plant in Southern California and Diablo Canyon, owned by PG&E, are front and center.  How much is all this going to cost, how long will it take, who will pay, how safe are the communities, and the most important question...what’s to become or the hundreds of dry casks storing the highly radioactive spent fuel.

As I’ve said, there is no solution to dealing with this waste other than putting it in dry casks and storing them in as safe an environment as possible.  I refer you to the excellent article by Allison MacFarlane, a past NRC commissioner, who’s credentials and opinions are above reproach, and who basically says it all.  https://thebulletin.org/2019/07/recycle-everything-america-except-your-nuclear-waste/?fbclid=IwAR0Bc_ZynF_Scc3JAxo0HgsxH25y35gITzcDrSHSpTkisqF3y3M5479FeIY 

Solutions have gone from shooting this stuff into the sun, burying it the deep ocean, reusing it in new reactors, etc, to the latest scheme…deep bore hole disposal.  All of these are absurd because we can never afford to develop the technology and actually implement its deployment.  We’re talking about 10,000+ huge casks, weighing hundreds of thousands of tons, and which are highly radioactive…dangerous emitting radioactivity and heat for of thousands of years.  Best to just leave the casks we’ve developed today in place at the 30 or so reactor sites, pay the $10-20million/yr to monitor and guard each site, and deal with the maintenance and replacement of parts when they eventually wear out. 

What hasn’t come to the forefront yet is the other huge cost of safely disposing and storing of the enormous volume or Low-Level radioactive wastes from the decommissioning process.  We do have lots of room in Texas, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Washington…where we can just dump this stuff in trenches, and hope everything works out ok for the next 300 or so years.  There is a lot of money to be made in decommissioning and waste disposal…and we, the ratepayers and taxpayers now and in the future, are footing the bills.  Good ole cheap nuclear power!  Just another great hoax by the powers that be.

Here are some current interesting reads, if you are so inclined:

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900080542/planned-small-nuclear-project-reaches-milestone-with-more-utah-cities-signing-on.html

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/07/02/who-paid-all-money-buy-all-those-nuclear-bailout-ads-ohio-house-bill-6/1443145001/

https://www.thesandpaper.net/p/new-nuclear-plant-owners-plan-to-begin-immediate-decommissioning/1823017

http://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/US-company-demonstrates-innovative-waste-disposal

Energy Update after the 11th Anniversary of Fukushima

Here we are, 11+ years after the nuclear disaster in Japan. In spite of billions of dollars spent, that site is continuing to accumulate millions of gallons of radioactively contaminated water in makeshift tanks and releasing both water and gaseous radioactive emissions because there is no way to contain them. The workers still can't even begin to address the melted fuel in two of the four reactors, let alone figure out what to do with it.  This site will never really be cleaned up.  Like Chernobyl, it will be somehow be entombed, monitored, and chipped away at “decommissioning.”  The total costs (economic, technical, environmental, and social) now estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars, will never be known, since all subsequent activities will take place over hundred years or more. 

Despite this, the global nuclear industry continues to push for federal tax dollars to continue the Vogle boondoggle in Georgia, extending the licensing of old plants, and lobbying the dream of new nuclear technologies that are safer, cheaper, and necessary in our coming low-carbon world.  Another of our great “hoaxes!”

Meanwhile, renewables are making great headway, in spite of the blatant lack of support by the current administration.   Just today, the White House proposed cutting the funding for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory by 70%.  Of course, Congress will not let this happen.  But all the other actions taking place in the EPA, Departments of Interior, Energy, Commerce, Housing, etc. are taking their toll in the necessary push for growth and deployment of the various renewable technologies and policies.  Individual states and businesses are addressing the obvious...renewables are cheaper, cleaner, sustainable, and most of all, local job creators.  More and more people are realizing this is not a partisan reality but is a very real benefit for our society and the world. And the lies and misinformation from the administration are being seen for what it is.

The “Green New Deal” is making incredible waves, and the old fossil guard is getting very nervous.  Several points which I believe need to be seriously addressed are:

1.     We need to understand the difference between our overall energy use and our electricity use.  The first phase of the transition is the replacement renewables for the use of fossil fuels in generating electricity.  Other fossil energy uses will be more difficult, but will eventually follow.

2.     The goal of 100% renewable energy is not very appropriate.  We can achieve a great reduction of fossil electricity, but there is no reason to exclude the use of natural gas when it is the "best" available technology for doing what needs to be done.

3.     We will most likely continue to use oil for a variety of purposes including transportation.  The amount we consume will decrease as efficiency and replacements escalate.  There probably be old Chevys on the road many years from now!

4.     The time for implementation of the lofty goals for the Green Plan (20-30 years) is misleading and misconceived.  The transition will take time, and will be guided by technology as well as social, political, and financial incentives.

5.     We cannot know what new advances and discoveries will push the implementation of current and new technologies.  Some may speed up the process, while others may need time to develop, manufacture, construct, etc.

6.     The main thing is that this new direction is the future, and we all need to understand, support, and push for its most rapid deployment.

The cost of this transition is the most misunderstood concept at this time…$95 trillion +/-, whatever.  Most of this is not “new” money that will be needed.  We already spend trillions of dollars each year on conventional energy, and the transition will just shift what technologies we demand.  Not too long ago, solar and wind were expensive compared to fossil fuels.  Expensive money was spent with the result that today, those renewables are cheaper than coal, nuclear, and oil.

What is the “true” cost?  It’s not just the cost of a solar panel vs a coal-fired plant.  The other ancillary cost to our air, water, our overall health, the degradation of land, and now most important, the real cost that climate change poses for us and future generations.  These costs are incalculable, but most certainly far more than would it would cost us if we do nothing.  The only cost issue is the decrease in profits for the entire fossil fuel industry.  We will still use energy…we most likely will require even more as time goes by, so money will be spent…just for different resources.

So many benefits and issues that need to be addressed and cover so we as a society can understand what “we” are doing.  Renewables will produce local jobs.  The cost of sunlight and wind will not fluctuate.  The development and manufacture of the various technologies will flourish with so many benefits for a sustainable world.  The Navajo Nation has abandoned its 2000+MW coal-fired plant and will not only use solar PV to provide electricity to its constituency; but will build a manufacturing facility to produce those panels, and more into the future.

The old argument that we can’t make the transition in a reasonable timeframe is again just nonsense.  The remarkable advances we see in space, automotive, communication technology can be mustered to provide the solar, wind, efficiency, and other necessary infrastructures we need.  If the enormous amount of money lobbied against renewables were to be turned around in support, it would be a no brainer!

https://www.azpm.org/p/home-articles-news/2019/4/3/148995-navajo-nation-president-proclaims-renewable-energy-top-priority/

https://about.bnef.com/blog/battery-powers-latest-plunge-costs-threatens-coal-gas/

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190327-the-tiny-islands-leading-the-way-in-hydrogen-power

https://solarindustrymag.com/sierra-club-announces-residential-solar-incentives-with-sunpower/?utm_source=AllenMatkins

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2019-2-march-april/faces-clean-energy/california-tribes-diy-electric-grid

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-20/trump-to-finalize-3-7-billion-in-aid-for-troubled-nuclear-plant

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/436876-rewarding-failure-taxpayers-on-hook-for-12-billion-nuclear?fbclid=IwAR1JsxS0VAy5iaJyqrWjjz9lmF8K9GT3b-WXnSE0SvOERbSXpxXA_LZFc48

Winter 2019 Update

Here it is, the middle of our January winter, and it is cold and rainy...wish we could have some of that global warming about now!  The good news though, is that the decommissioning of the Humboldt Bay nuclear power plant is coming to a close within the next couple of years.  All the radioactive contamination is gone away (?) and site cleanup and restoration is in full progress...a job well done, but still needing a few more millions of dollars from ratepayers to finish.

The big concern now is with the Diablo Canyon twin reactors down south.  They are scheduled to close in 2024, and a decommissioning plan is beginning to take form.  The cost estimates have gone from $1billion in 1988 (which we then successfully determined as a base price over PG&E's objections) to $2.5b in 2012, $3.8b in 2016, and now at $4.8b.  PG&E is asking the state PUC for an additional $1.6b to be added to the existing decommissioning fund by raising customers electricity rates by as much as 5%. (1) It is doubtful that they would say no, since by law, the plant has to be decommissioned!  From an industry that has such an atrocious history of underestimating costs, some of us believe the final tab might be $10b, $15b...???? many years into the future.  Cheap nuclear power, and an answer to our climate change problems?  Then there is the issue of spent fuel...high level wastes, low level wastes, etc. etc.  Mindboggling $$$$$$ssss.

But here is the serious concern we have today.  PG&E is in bankruptcy, due in part to the climate change induced catastrophic fires that have ravaged northern California, and their liability due to “corporate” mismanagement of both their electricity and natural gas divisions.  $34 billion in debt...whatever all that means.   One of their largest assets is Diablo Canyon.  What happens to that...do they keep it, even though it is in reality a money loser compared to natural gas and now renewables.  Do they sell it to someone to raise cash? (2) That is being done in other states, such as the shut down “Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant which recently sold to the Northstar Group for a symbolic and nominal $1,000...plus its $506 million decommissioning trust fund.”  Decom estimates for that plant now stand at $1.2b.  The new owners say they can decommission it at a lower cost.  Maybe!!!  What happens down the road if they can't...gosh, they might go into bankruptcy, pay off the executives and lawyers huge bonuses, and leave the folks in Vermont continuing to foot the bill.  Westinghouse, General Electric, GM, PG&E...  Can that happen with Diablo Canyon?  They have a federal nuclear license that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees...gosh, the federal government is shut down...and even if/when it is up and running again, this dysfunctional agency will play the political games with the industry that they have been playing for so many years.  We've got to keep our eyes on these guys...it is ultimately the “little guy” that gets screwed.

The nuclear industry continues to push the idea that nuclear power is the answer to climate change.  Not true!!  Partially solving one problem and creating a whole host of others.  Ongoing efforts to clean up the “back end” of nuclear power continues to drain billions of dollars from ratepayers and taxpayers.  San Onofre, Oyster Creek, Vogle, Hanford, Fukushima, the UK...the list goes on and on around the world.  Japan, which has only one reactor running out of 53 in their fleet, estimates it would need to spend about 1.9 trillion yen ($17.1 billion) to close 79 facilities over the next 70 years, in its first such estimate.(3) Pretty cheap estimate, as usual.  The current estimate for Fukushima is close to $200b.  Still no solution to wastes disposal issues.  Beyond mindboggling!

Meanwhile, in spite of ALL the obstacles placed on renewables by the current administration, the outlook is good, and could really be 10x better if we put our minds and dollars to it.  “EIA’s latest inventory of electric generators estimates that 23.7 gigawatts of new capacity additions and 8.3 gigawatts of capacity retirements are expected for the U.S. electric power sector in 2019. The utility-scale capacity additions consist of wind (46 percent), natural gas (34 percent), and solar photovoltaics (18 percent), with the remaining 2 percent consisting primarily of other renewables and battery storage capacity.”(4)  According to a 2018 Wood Mackenzie market report, “between 2018 and 2022, U.S. distributed solar installations will grow from today’s roughly 2 million to almost 3.8 million. Behind-the-meter battery storage is also expected to grow from 200 megawatts to almost 1,400 megawatts during the same timeframe.” (5) 

The electricity industry (generators, transm1ssion, distribution, grid operators, federal and state PUCs) is in utter turmoil.  Common sense and common cents will hopefully prevail, because the “green” transition is so very doable.  Stay wake, aware, and tuned in!!!

1.   https://www.noozhawk.com/article/what_does_pge_filing_for_bankruptcy_mean_for_diablo_canyon_san_luis_obispo

2. http://a4nr.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/121318-PR-PGE-Files-NDCTP-1.pdf

3. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tepco-outlook/fukushima-nuclear-decommission-compensation-costs-to-almost-double-media-idUSKBN13N03G

4. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=37952  

5. https://microgridknowledge.com/dawn-utility-microgrids/

THANKSGIVING UPDATE

                   THANKS(giving) FOR WHERE WE'RE AT TODAY

As I ponder another dry, cool fall day on the NorthCoast, I am overwhelmed by EVERYTHING that is going on beyond the Redwood Curtain.  What I am most grateful for is knowing that I have been true to my beliefs in both patriotism and environmentalism.  With great irony, I give thanks that “climate change” is now at the forefront of almost all of our political, social, and technological thinking.  Is this a blessing?

Back in 1988, I worked on a project with my fellow educator at HSU, and provided meaningful information on renewables for the first report put out by the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change.  From that time on I have worked diligently to educate and warn of the dangers posed to society by the continued burning of fossil fuels.  It has been challenging and frustrating, but I feel vindicated in that my research, readings, discussions, and thinking have not been for naught.  It is all very complex, but my fight for renewables over fossil fuels, as well as nuclear, continues to make environmental, economic, technological, and moral sense.  That, I am thankful for!

We are just beginning to visualize and understand the huge impacts climate change is causing here and throughout the world.  Our oceans, our forests, or coastal cities as well as those in mid-country, our agriculture, our public health...all are suffering an enormous downturn, much of which has been predicted for so many years.  Those in power today are now saying we can't afford to do the right things, and that it's too late...but we are slowly realizing that we can't afford to do nothing.  That is the crux of this dilemma, and will continue to evolve as more forests and communities burn, more hurricanes come ashore, more tornadoes, ice storms, flooding...more lives are lost.  The “right to life?”  Who's in charge?

First of all, I am thankful that I have been on the right side of the whole nuclear power issue.  Aside from the military stuff, the future of commercial nuclear power is dead, and the final nail in the proverbial coffin is economics.  New reactors are too expensive to build and operate, as shown in Georgia, South Carolina, and even in other parts or the "free" world.  Continued operation of existing plants, which years ago were "cheap" to build, is become more expensive to run and maintain, without subsidies.  The new awakening to the true costs associated with the cleanup of the entire nuclear fuel cycle...mining, enrichment, fuel fabrication, power reactors, and now, the enormous costs being identified for decommissioning all of these facilities, as well as the disposal of their wastes, and ultimately, the safe storage of spent fuel for tens of thousands of years, is coming to light.  Can we afford this?

The promise of new reactors, small modular reactors, recycling and reprocessing nuclear wastes for breeder reactors, and even the unrealistic promise of cheap, clean, unlimited fusion power cannot meet the simple economics of the ultimate fusion reactor...the SUN.     It's funny to hear the current arguments by the again misleading nuclear industry, that nuclear power is necessary to prevent global warming because it does not emit CO2...it emits an awful lot throughout is entire fuel cycle...and gee, these are the same folks who have been saying climate change is a hoax!  But we will muddle along with these new/old technologies (follow the money) even while continued progress is being made on making renewables cheaper, more efficient, and more sustainable and obvious into the future.

Here on the home front, the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant is in its final stages of decommissioning.  $1.2 Billion, 10+ years, some 10,000 truckloads of wastes hauled out of the county to Texas, Utah, Idaho, Washington, and Nevada (20,000+ if you count the return trip)...what is the carbon footprint?  All the radiological source emitters are gone, but there is still much site restoration to be done,..the removal of asbestos, toxic wastes, and other industrial debris; and the restoration of a bulk of the site to wetlands adjacent to Humboldt Bay.  It should be finished in another year or two, and what will then remain will be the dry casks containing the high-level spent fuel, awaiting "final disposal?"  I will post updated photos on my Flickr page from the tour of the site last week.  It is amazing what money and technology can do!

As for renewables, the costs continue to come down and more megawatts are coming online.  Some say it is not fast enough to save the planet...gee I wonder why?  There is a major wind farm being planned for the Wildcat Ridge south of Eureka, and another offshore project in the works.  My solar systems are doing great...actually, they too are getting cheaper.  PG&E is on the verge of bankruptcy because of their liability in the fires in California and must raise their rates to stay in business.  The increases are in the "non-fuel" side of the electric bill, so it is not due to the mandated use of renewables, or the high cost of Diablo Canyon ‘s electricity; but in the transmission and distribution side of the business, which generally accounts for about 2/3 of the price per KWH on the monthly bill.  The new solar system I put on this year will now pay for itself in about 5-6 years (18% return?) assuming the smoke from the fires doesn't diminish the sunlight!  As costs go up, more and more businesses and people are switching to produce more of their own electricity.  It is a vicious cycle the utilities hate but must contend with.

This is all so interesting, exciting, and mind-boggling.  I look forward to continuing my efforts in local issues, and in the upcoming Diablo Canyon and San Onofre decommissioning battles.  But first, Christmas time's a’coming...and maybe some rain.

Just a few interesting pieces:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2018/09/01/in-california-by-2045-100-energy-will-be-clean-what-about-the-rest-of-the-world/#7613f6123221

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-solar/u-s-utility-solar-contracts-exploded-in-2018-despite-tariffs-report-idUSKCN1LT0EU?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=c9413f018b-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-c9413f018b-99392649

https://www.apnews.com/547539d9272342b9897975a902bd5c5e

https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2018/oct/16/update-wind-farm/

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/14112018/climate-change-solutions-forests-farms-carbon-storage-cancel-out-emissions-study

https://www.reuters.com/article/australia-hydrogen/rocket-fuel-australia-targets-hydrogen-as-next-big-energy-export-idUSL3N1XC7QU?feedType=RSS&feedName=utilitiesSector

Hard To Keep Up

Another week of breathing smoke, and I'm reading about the administration's attempt to rollback the clean air standards for power plants (especially coal-fired plants) which in the long run would dramatically affect the quality of the air we, and future generations, will breathe. The energy industry continues to do everything they can to discourage renewables with their blatant expensive PR campaign.

Nuclear power is basically dead because it simply is too expensive and not cost effective in our energy mix even without massive subsidies. It is not a solution to our climate change challenges. In fact, when it is really hot, and the demand for electricity is great, many reactors have to shit down because of cooling water problems. The "renaissance" from 12 years ago is dead! The half-built Sumner plant in South Carolina has been scrapped, and all the powers that be are trying to sort out who has/will pay the $9 billion already spent. Of course, the ratepayers will ultimately be on the hook for about $6,500 each, and the utilities and giants like Westinghouse walk away or go bankrupt. The Vogle plant in Georgia, still under construction, is faring no better, and will probably be canceled within the next year. Twelve years and some $20 billion later...no affordable, clean electricity! The same is true in other parts of the "free world." Bechtel just pulled out of the Hitachi deal to build a nuke in Britain. France is struggling with it's two new generation plants under construction. Japan can't afford to even upgrade and reopen its 50 idle plants because it is struggling with the massive costs of trying to figure out what to do with Fukushima, which continues to be a massive mess.

With this economic failure on the construction side, a few utilities are now having to deal with the back-end of the technology. The shutdown and decommissioning of plants around the US and elsewhere is creating incredible economic issues. Vermont Yankee, San Onofre, Diablo Canyon, Oyster Creek, and the dozen more in the block will cost ratepayers tens of billions of dollars today, and hundreds of billions over the next 100 years or so. The strategy here is to defer decommissioning for 40-60 years (for worker safety reasons!) And, there are still another 80+ plants that are rapidly approaching the end of their useful life.

And then again, there is the issue of spent fuel management and storage. Yucca Mountain will never open, so the industry's push is to send the dry casks to a central "temporary" facility run by a couple of corporations. The Holtec plan for New Mexico is great for Holtec (a privately held company) since they also are one of the largest builders of dry casks. Billions and billions of our dollars here! The only other option is to leave the 10+ million dollar casks on site, and continue to spend millions of dollars per year monitoring and safeguarding them for eternity. The big issue right now at San Onofre on the California south coast is that those 250+ casks will sit on a pad 100 yards from the Pacific Ocean. Sea rise, earthquakes, tsunami, all those immigrant terrorists...not to worry, the powers that be will take care of it! The hyped-up promise of cheaper small modular reactors is still tied to all the other issues of fuel storage, the balance of system, grid interties, etc., and realistically and technologically will not be cost effective.

Nuclear fusion is again making some waves with the promise of clean, cheap, unlimited energy will soon be there for us. Another giant hoax and myth that is sucking up our research dollars. We probably will achieve a sustained fusion reaction, but all the issues affecting the fission industry today will apply to fusion reactors. True, there will not be any high-level wastes (long-lived transuranics) produced; but we're still dealing with neutrons and the activation problems they create. Interesting enough, the USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which has been in mothballs for many years now with its spent fuel removed from its 10 small (10MW) reactors. The current estimate to "decommission" the ship is over $1 billion, due to the neutron activation making it difficult to disassemble, and the metal un-recyclable. The other challenging issues with fusion involve how to contain the hot plasma (hundreds of millions of degrees) and extract the heat necessary to boil water into steam to spin the turbine which spins the generator which creates a flow of electricity. We're not going to have one in every garage...The "costs" of large central power sources make them uneconomical and eventually unnecessary in our future electricity systems. The other interesting sidelight of fusion fuel...unlimited deuterium in seawater, must be extracted. Deuterium has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in 6420 of hydrogen. Great...I've always been a proponent of the hydrogen economy, where H2 will be the storage medium to be used in fuel cells or combusted back to water. Right now hydrogen production is too expensive.????? What about the tritium? Construction costs, O&M costs, decommissioning costs?

The good news is that gains in hydrogen as an energy carrier and storage medium other than for use in vehicles is making some gains in Australia, Germany, Canada, and Japan. Again, the US lags behind. The solar industry continues to grow, in spite of the tariffs, penalties, and the push for coal and nuclear power. The cost continues to come down as the technology matures, efficiency increases, and individuals and business realize the cost-effectiveness and savings they can have. More on this later.

Just a few references (there are so many now each day!)

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180817/jea-issues-ultimatum-to-plant-vogtle-co-owner-walk-away-from-nuclear-project

https://www.myajc.com/business/economy/vogtle-costs-billion-georgia-power-says/UABAtyEgT0N58ObAgdro8K/

https://www.postandcourier.com/business/santee-cooper-s-typical-ratepayer-will-pay-for-sc-s/article_5e3881ec-959e-11e8-80d4-1796b228e181.html

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/report-doe-bailout-for-coal-nuclear-plants-could-cost-34b/528194/https://www.utilitydive.com/news/report-doe-bailout-for-coal-nuclear-plants-could-cost-34b/528194/

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article210858009.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-nuclear-weather/sweden-calls-for-nuclear-reactors-to-be-shielded-from-hot-weather-idUSKCN1L51QE?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews

August Climate Update

August Update

As I sit here on a cool foggy coastal afternoon, I'm reflecting on the extreme heat and ferocious fires raging not too far inland. One concern is the Carr fire is less than a mile from our friend's summer place out at Lewiston, and moving in their direction. Scary! But what is more discerning is the continued vehement denial by the few, that human induced global warming, or climate change, or whatever you want to call it, is not responsible. In spite of all the evidence, scientific, political, and economic, this contrived denial is proving to be the greatest “hoax” ever inflicted on humanity by a small handful of powerful and greedy people. Not to argue here, but the question that is never asked, and they never would answer is “what if man-induced climate change is true?” The economic, environmental, and social ramifications are enormous and almost overwhelming, not so much for us, but for future generations, because the extremes we are experiencing now will only get worse, leading to far greater devastation

Reading the news, we're seeing hundreds of fires across the US and Canada, as well as devastating fires in Greece, Sweden...all over the world. I just talked to a friend in British Columbia, and he is seeing drought, dryness, tree deaths from insect infestations...all sorts of worrisome issues. And yet the current powers and leaders blame the radical environmentalists...the easy prey, who have prevented logging and letting water run down our rivers to the ocean. Really?????

Watching the national news shows record-breaking flooding in Pennsylvania, and the whole east coast, as well as extreme climate phenomenon through-out the world. And yet, the fossil fuel interest continue to lie and spew their stupidity, greed, and disinformation. The $2billion they have spent over tall those years could have gone into a lot of positive solutions.

We will reach a point very soon, where the economic costs and social suffering overwhelm all of our budgets and infrastructure; and “we” finally begin to address the causes and solutions to the problem. It will be too late to stop the advancing changes we have already initiated, but we will be forced to begin to do things to mitigate future impacts.

As I always have said...we cannot destroy our environment. But we can change it to make human life more difficult, expensive, and miserable.

Enough said. I urge you to “PAY ATTENTION!!”

And again, I encourage you to watch “After the Warming” on Utube. This entertaining narrative visualizes the predictions made in the 1990 IPCC report. So far it is impressively pretty accurate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfE8wBReIxw

PS: The Carr Fire has been contained on the west side, so it no longer is a direst threat our friends home! But again, it is only early August.