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GOP Presidential candidate John McCain's ambitious plan to build 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 as a means to combat global warming and add juice to the power grid is a policy ripped from the Bush administration's failed National Energy Policy, first introduced by Vice President Dick Cheney during the height of the California energy crisis seven years ago.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has decided to launch two new nuclear power projects at Chashma worth Rs129.374 billion that would generate 640 MW power to induct into national grid. These plants include Chashma Nuclear Power Project (c3) and Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (c4) and government has allocated Rs100 million for these nuclear power projects in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2008-09.

Once your power source has reached, say, 10 percent of the electricity grid, let alone 20 percent, it should be time to cut the cord to government funding.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission released draft guidelines on April 7th for the environmental review of two separate projects proposed for the Bruce Nuclear Station near Kincardine, on the eastern shore of Lake Huron. Bruce Power Inc. and Ontario Power Generation are the proponents for the projects. Bruce Power is proposing the construction of up to four new nuclear reactors at the existing Bruce Nuclear Site, located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, north of Kincardine. The project is expected to generate approximately 4,000 megawatts of electricity to the Ontario grid.

ON October 17, 1956, the Queen threw a switch to connect Calder Hall nuclear power station to the grid. It was the world's first commercial nuclear power station and had been built from scratch in three years. It continued to operate well for the next 47 years, and became the first of a series of 11 Magnox nuclear power stations. Next year, the last of those will close, leaving Britain at the mercy of fossil fuel, much of it imported, to meet a growing demand for electrical power. The Magnox stations and their successors - a generation of bigger, more modern pressurised-water reactors (PWRs) - were a triumph for sophisticated, British engineering. Sizewell B PWR was built and opened in 1995. It was intended to be the first of a series of 10 PWR stations but it was to be the last one to be built in the UK - even though, at its opening, nuclear power was providing a crucial 20% of UK electricity.

Your Feb. 15 editorial "Oyster Creek concerns transcend drywell issue" about nuclear power offered a thoughtful and thorough rationale for shutting down Oyster Creek, and it illuminated the problems with nuclear power on the whole. It's a technology riddled with serious issues - cost, security and waste - that the industry is unable to solve. It's time to leave nuclear behind and move our energy grid into the 21st century.

The proposed nuclear reactor is going to cost Bruce Power a lot of money. Guess again. The private sector does not invest in nuclear power - for good reason: the public will be on the hook for many generations for the biggest part of the costs. Nuclear power plants are usually over budget and start up behind schedule. If power is needed in the meantime, we will have to purchase elsewhere. It would be 10 years or likely more before a nuclear plant starts producing electricity. Construction of power grids to export to possibly Alberta and the U.S. will be a large expense - estimated at $1 billion, again largely at public expense. Power backup for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and refurbishing is necessary. Note that eight nuclear power plants were once shut down for a whole decade in Ontario. The UDP report says that nuclear is compatible with 'clean' coal. It better be, as coal will be required when the huge, equally highly centralized nuclear system goes down. Note that there is not an operational clean coal plant on the planet. $1.4 billion plus of our money is being spent on an experimental project to produce only 100 MW of clean coal power. What if it does not work or is too costly to expand? Where does the backup power come from? Old dirty coal that will cost us in carbon charges?

PEOPLE living near a site earmarked for a new nuclear power station claim they are being kept in the dark over the proposals. At a public meeting, more than 40 residents of Shepperdine and Oldbury criticised energy company E.ON for not keeping them informed about its plans to build a new power station in their village. During the last 12 months the energy giant has bought land in the Oldbury and Shepperdine area and secured a connection to the National Grid.

Meanwhile, DOE has moved a press release with some reported highlights of the DOE budget. Here are those: The proposed budget, DOE said: * Cuts funding for programs that aren't needed or aren't as effective as other investments - like more than $200 million in oil and gas company research that the companies can and do fund on their own. * Substantially expands the use of clean, renewable energy sources while improving energy transmission infrastructure. * Supports the Administration's goal to develop a smart, strong and secure electricity grid. * Helps restore America's leadership in scientific research and innovation - including transformative science that can lead to a new generation of clean energy jobs. * Makes significant investments in low-emissions plug-in and hybrid vehicles, nuclear energy, and clean coal technologies, as part of the Obama Administration's aggressive effort to reduce greenhouse gas production. * Supports the ongoing security of our weapons stockpile, continued efforts at nuclear non-proliferation and ongoing environmental cleanup and legacy management as part of the Department's long-term stewardship responsibilities.

"The power source that's been shunned for more than a quarter century following accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl may make a comeback with help from the U.S. military. The electric grids that the United States depends on for computers, communications gear and command centers are increasingly unreliable. They're strained by growing civilian demand, enfeebled by aging equipment and vulnerable to cyber and other attacks. So the military is considering generating its own electricity, possibly with nuclear energy. The push comes partially from the U.S. Congress, which last fall ordered the Defense Department to study the feasibility of building nuclear power plants on military installations. A report is due to lawmakers June 1."

"I am increasingly convinced that in order for us to survive the 21st century, we (individually and collectively) must accept two principles of living: 1) We are all connected to each other and to our environment. 2) All energy for our homes, firms, factories and farms must be clean and renewable. We probably have less than two generations to transition. Right now things are not looking good. We stand at a crossroads concerning how we fuel our vehicles and power our homes. Electric vehicles (EVs) are a good replacement for carbon-fueled cars, but only if we charge them with renewable energy (geothermal, wind, solar, tidal, even biomass). Any other approach will require greater demand for increasingly limited electricity. In fact, if every household in America suddenly bought an electric car averaging 5 kilowatt-hours to top off each day, household electric demand would increase about 20 percent (adding perhaps 10 percent more demand to an already overloaded grid nationally). "

"State water board regulators are mulling a plan to stop power companies from vacuuming the ocean for water to cool their machinery. Environmentalists said the practice destroys too much sea life, while utility advocates said the impact is minimal. Banning the practice would cost too much, jeopardize the reliability of the electricity grid and slow the state's transition to clean energy, supporters of the practice said. Screens prevent larger animals from entering the plants, but fish can die while trapped against these barriers. Anything smaller than the openings in the screens, including millions of tiny fish larvae, can enter the power plants and also die. Federal rules ban new operations from drawing in seawater for so-called "once-through" cooling systems. State regulators now want to apply this rule to the 19 existing plants from Eureka to San Diego. The board's proposal would give owners a dozen years to comply and contains special provisions for nuclear-plant safety issues. In most cases, plants would have to replace seawater pipes with massive cooling towers that recycle water or use air-cooling platforms. "

"It could cost between $4 billion and $8 billion to supply Vermont's electric needs from renewable sources, according to a report issued by the Coalition for Energy Solutions, a loosely associated group of energy professionals who study and evaluate energy options. The report was an evaluation of a study released by the Vermont Public Interest Group, which stated renewable energy sources and energy efficiencies could make unnecessary the continued operation of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon past its original license expiration date of 2012. "Our Evaluation makes the same assumptions about total electric demand, total purchases from the grid, and complete use of renewables (no extensive gas-fired back-up) as (VPIRG's) Repowering Vermont (report)," wrote Howard Shaffer and Meredith Angwin, the authors of "Vermont Electric Power in Transition." "

"Manufacturers of refrigerator-sized nuclear reactors will seek approval from U.S. authorities within a year to help supply the world's growing electricity demand. John Deal, chief executive officer of Hyperion Power Generation Inc., intends to apply for a license "within a year" for plants that would power a small factory or town too remote for traditional utility grid connections. The Santa Fe, New Mexico-based company and Japan's Toshiba Corp. are vying for a head start over reactor makers General Electric Co. and Areva SA in downsizing nuclear technology and aim to submit license applications in the next year to U.S. regulators. They're seeking to tap a market that has generated about $135 billion in pending orders for large nuclear plants. "

"Toshiba is still planning to apply this year for federal approval to test its small-scale nuclear power plant in Galena, according to various reports. The Japanese company is planning reactors known as "4S," meaing "super-safe, small and simple," with hopes of starting construction in 2014. "We aim to get 4S orders in remote areas where it is more cost-efficient to generate power on a local basis than use power grids," spokesman Keisuke Ohmori told Business Week. "A great many people are interested." Toshiba and TerraPower, a company controlled by Bill Gates, have been in talks about engineering and research issues related to what is known as a "traveling wave reactor" that would use depleted uranium."

French state electricity giant EDF said on Friday it had put on sale its electricity distribution network in Britain with the aim of raising more than 4.0 billion euros (5.8 billion dollars) to reduce debt. The EDF distribution network in Britain covers London and the southeast of the country, a region that accounts for 40 percent of British gross domestic product, EDF said. EDF provides power to 7.9 million homes in Britain, amounting to 28 percent of the country's electricity supply. The Sunday Times newspaper reported in August that several parties, including an Abu Dhabi investment fund, were interested in acquiring the network.

French state electricity giant EDF said on Friday it had put on sale its electricity distribution network in Britain with the aim of raising more than 4.0 billion euros (5.8 billion dollars) to reduce debt. The EDF distribution network in Britain covers London and the southeast of the country, a region that accounts for 40 percent of British gross domestic product, EDF said. EDF provides power to 7.9 million homes in Britain, amounting to 28 percent of the country's electricity supply. The Sunday Times newspaper reported in August that several parties, including an Abu Dhabi investment fund, were interested in acquiring the network.

Gordon Brown has invited oil-rich states like Saudi Arabia to invest in the next generation of British nuclear power stations. Saudi Arabian King Abdullah has been invited by Gordon Brown to invest in Britain's nuclear industry King Abdullah, pictured on a visit to the UK, will be invited to invest in the UK The Prime Minister extended the invitation to OPEC members as part of a deal he will propose at a summit in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown will talk to his Japanese counterpart, Yasuo Fukuda, at the G8 meeting in Hokkaido next month about a potential £1bn a year deal which would boost the UK's nuclear industry.

UN global uranium maps