Category: Energy

Nuclear Shutdown News May 2018

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free future. Here is our May 2018 report.

Cape Cod: Colonial Folly To Nuclear Demise

US history indoctrination begins early in our lives. Before formal education even begins we are taught to look forward to the Thanksgiving holiday, an annual celebration that upon sober reflection really celebrates gluttony, greed and genocide.

By Tyson Siegele / SanDiego350

California will soon decide whether to combine its electric grid management with western states dependent on coal mining and coal-based electricity. This massive change has been proposed in the form of Assembly Bill 813 and before that in Assembly Bill 726. If passed, either of those bills would provide an avenue for coal-fired electricity to gain access to the California market. This would make the transition to renewable energy even harder.

Unifying California’s grid operations with other western states would be a huge risk. Thankfully better options are available.

Nuclear Shutdown News March 2018

By Michael Steinberg / Blackrain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world. Here is out March 2018 report.

Decline and Fall of San Onofre Nuclear Plant Not Over

The decline and fall of of Southern California’s San Onofre nuclear power plant still has not hit bottom. Located in Orange County, home of Disneyland, the plant operated 3 nuclear reactors. The first one started up in 1969, while Richard Nixon occupied the Western White House

Nuclear Shutdown News for February 2018

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

New Jersey Oyster Creek Nuke “To Shut Down for Good”

On February 2, 2018 the Asbury Park Press, Bruce Springsteen’s hometown newspaper, reported that the New Jersey Oyster Creek nuclear power plant is “to shut down for good in October more than a year ahead of schedule-in a surprise announcement by plant owner Exelon.”

The Park Press also reported the nuke plant is the “oldest in the US” and will be 49 years old when it it ceases operations.

Oyster Creek started up at the end of the year in 1969, as Richard Nixon was finishing his first year in office

It’s heating up around the shuttered nuclear plant at San Onofre because locals are not happy with the plan to bury 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste at San Onofre State Beach. There were protests recently in the nearest city, San Clemente, against this plan.

Meanwhile, a local group, Citizens Oversight, has submitted a formal petition to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under NRC Regulations that govern how the nuclear industry handles spent nuclear fuel. They believe the containers of the toxic nuke spent fuel should be designed for 1,000 years rather than the current requirement of only 40 years.

Everybody is talking about San Onofre. In the current San Diego Reader, Don Bauder has a piece about how nuclear waste in the sand now will create a toxic ocean later. Sarah “Steve” Mosko, at Boogie Green writes there’s a ticking time bomb at San Onofre Nuclear Plant.

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

As Hurricanes Batter the Caribbean and Southeast US, Nuke Plants in Texas and Florida Refuse to Shut Down, Heightening Risk to Already Devastated Communities

On September 19 the Austin American-Statesman ran this story “South Texas Project stayed open during Hurricane Harvey.” South Texas Project is a nuclear plant with two reactors near Bay City, TX on the Gulf Coast, 90 miles from Houston. It has been operating since the late 1980s. Austin Energy is one of three utilities that owns it.

The newspaper article’s subtitle was “Some question decision to keep Texas nuclear plant open during Harvey.”

Nuclear Shutdown News August 2017

By Michael Steinberg /Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry in the US and abroad, and highlights the efforts of those who are working to create a nuclear free world. Here is our August 2017 report.

San Onofre Nuke Plant’s Solution to its Megatons of Radioactive Waste–Make it Someone Else’s Problem

On August 28 the San Diego Union-Tribune broke the story: “Court settlement looks to move nuclear waste from San Onofre”

Not a sequel to the 1999 movie: 10 things I Hate About You.

By Bill Adams / San Diego UrbDeZine

I’ve been driving my electric car (aka EV for electric vehicle) for a little shy of a year now. While I love it (I even bought a second one), I realize they’re not for everybody. Below are some reasons you might hate an EV:

1. You love gas stations: The ritual, the delay in getting home, to work, or that trip out of town; and the drama of rising and falling gas prices.

Santa Susanna Lab in Ventura County Suffered Meltdown 58 Years Ago

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

The worst meltdown in our history? And we’ve never heard of it?

That’s Right. Wikipedia characterizes the meltdown as “the worst in US history” and asserts “the radioactive releases are thought to be much more than at Three Mile Island in 1979.”

And where? Less than 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles and less than 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean.

By Mark Hughes / San Diego Free Press

Community Choice Energy — also known as Community Choice Aggregation — offers us the chance to bring about a historic event: the conversion of a monopoly into a competitive business.

This happened to the telephone business by breaking up Ma Bell, and to the postal system, when FedEx started up. Would we have the data plans and services, even the phones we have today, without

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain News

Remaining Three Mile Island Reactor to Shut Down

On May 30 Chicago-based Exelon Corporation, the largest US owner and operator of commercial nuclear power plants, announced that it would be shutting down its Unit 1 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in September 2019. Located 10 miles from Harrisburg, the state capitol, and 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia, the reactor started up over in 1974, over40 years ago.

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear industry in the US and abroad, and highlights the efforts of those who are working to create a nuclear free world. Here is our May 2017 report:

San Onofre shenanigans continue–and so does resistance

On May 27 KPBS along with the Associated Press reported the story “Customers May Never Know How They Got Stuck With $3.3 Billion Paid For San Onofre Shutdown.”

This report details how the San Francisco-based California Public Utilities Commission –

“once again failed to release sources of emails it exchanged with Governor Jerry Brown’s office” concerning the “nuclear plant’s closure.”