Group items tagged

State Sen. Michael Bond, D-Grayslake, announced the adoption of a resolution to create a new task force on nuclear power issues in Illinois. Senate Joint Resolution 101 creates the Nuclear Power Issues Task Force to study key concerns related to nuclear power use in Illinois, including the state's ban on the construction of new nuclear reactors.

A new government task force will study the use of nuclear power in Illinois and investigate whether it should be expanded, lawmakers announced Friday. Safety and security concerns will be among the issues explored by the 11-member Nuclear Power Issues Task Force, which was jointly formed by the state Senate and House.

Community activists concerned about storage of spent fuel at the Nuclear Power Station in Zion want more information from owner Exelon on its plan to have the plant dismantled by a contractor. A former commissioner with the Waukegan Park District was among about 60 people who attended a presentation by Exelon Nuclear officials last weekend that drew pointed questions.

This is the web addition of the Bulletins Newsletter. Scientists and policy makers recommend 9 ways to encourage the safe and responsible development of new nuclear reactors in the United States and around the world.

Dedicated to security, science & survival since 1945. Offices: Chicago IL

A federal lawsuit filed against Exelon Corp. shouldn't affect plans to build a nuclear plant in Victoria County, Exelon officials said. NRG Energy Corp. filed its lawsuit Tuesday in the Southern District of New York, asking the court to correct Exelon's false and misleading claims, an NRG news release stated. NRG said that Exelon's exchange offer serves as a tool to pressure the NRG board of directors into accepting Exelon's inadequate offer to take over the company. The news release calls the offer a ruse because such an offer would cost billions more than Exelon's current merger bid because it would require additional refinancing for NRG debt.

A year after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, amid panic worldwide about the safety of nuclear energy, Sweden voted to ban construction of new nuclear power plants and phase out its existing ones. Now, like many countries across Europe, it is changing its mind. Last month, the government proposed allowing the construction of new reactors to replace the country's aging ones, which provide nearly half the nation's electricity. Swedes have made their peace with nuclear plants, not only because memories have faded and safety records improved after 30 years, but also because reactors are seen as one of the few options available to nations wanting to rapidly slash greenhouse gas emissions.

After the disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, years passed before anyone took seriously the idea of a nuclear revival. Then our friend the atom started making a comeback. Rising demand for energy provided a boost. And the outpouring of concern about climate change put fossil fuels and their carbon emissions at center stage as environmental enemy No. 1. Utilities across the country began laying the groundwork for new reactors, following the lead of Europe and Asia. Yet talk of a "nuclear renaissance" has run into a financial meltdown.

After the disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, years passed before anyone took seriously the idea of a nuclear revival. Then our friend the atom started making a comeback. Rising demand for energy provided a boost. And the outpouring of concern about climate change put fossil fuels and their carbon emissions at center stage as environmental enemy No. 1. Utilities across the country began laying the groundwork for new reactors, following the lead of Europe and Asia. Yet talk of a "nuclear renaissance" has run into a financial meltdown.

Nuclear reactors in the United States should be phased out, and replaced by technologies that don't threaten public health with the emission of radioactive chemicals, urges the Cancer Prevention Coalition. A recent energy bill sponsored by Congressional Republicans proposed building 100 new nuclear reactors across the United States in the next 20 years. The proposal, which would double the current U.S. total of 104 operating nuclear reactors, would amount to a nuclear renaissance, as no new reactors have been ordered since 1978. Concerns about global warming gave utilities the idea for this revival since reactors don't emit greenhouse gases while generating power, and utilities have stopped closing old reactors while proposing 33 new ones to be sited in New England, throughout the South and Southeast, and in Texas, Utah and Idaho.

Exelon is not seeking new merger targets in the near term after its failed bid to acquire NRG Energy, Exelon Chairman and CEO John Rowe said on a July 24 conference call to discuss Exelon's second-quarter earnings. Market power issues would rule out any deal with another independent power producer while regulatory issues would likely hamper any merger with most acceptable utilities, he said. Rowe also said Exelon will not be building any new nuclear power plants, believing that uprating the power capacity of its current 17-unit nuclear fleet is a better value. The company last month postponed indefinitely its plans to build two new nuclear units at a greenfield site in Victoria County, Texas and announced plans for up to 1,500 MW of nuclear upgrades over the next eight years. Uprates for current nuclear units cost about half as much as building a new plant and the execution risk is "substantially lower," Rowe said. Exelon on July 24 announced second-quarter income of $657 million, down from $748 million in second-quarter 2008.

After a nine-month fight, Exelon's $7.4 billion, all-stock bid to create the nation's largest power generator by buying NRG Energy is coming to a head, maybe. NRG shareholders on Tuesday will vote on Exelon's proposal to increase the size of NRG's board and with it, a group that would be more open to a deal. NRG has rejected two previous offers. NRG repeatedly has said a deal isn't being ruled out, but that Exelon has to bring more to the table. Many industry experts agree.

The pressure is on Chicago's Exelon Corp. to sweeten its bid for NRG Energy Inc. The New Jersey-based NRG is among four companies said to be receiving loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy to support new nuclear-power plants. If anything, that will make Exelon want it all the more, analysts said. Exelon launched an all-stock takeover bid in October that NRG has rejected as inadequate. NRG's proposed new nuclear plant in Texas "has been the prime reason Exelon is pursuing the company," said Travis Miller, equity analyst at Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. "It's a good growth opportunity."

Officials with Exelon Corp's Dresden nuclear plant near Morris, Ill., have identified an aluminum pipe as the likely source of a tritium leak reported this month. Officials said the leak posed no health threat. Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen. Testing at the plant, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago, found tritium levels of 3.2 million picocuries per liter of water in a monitoring well, storm drains and concrete vault. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's limit for drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter. Repairs are in progress, said Tim Hanley, the plant's vice president. The 24-inch pipe carries water between storage tanks. Records show Exelon took steps to hide tritium spills at its Braidwood Generation Station in Will County between 1996 and 2003. It agreed to pay $11.5 million toward a new water supply for the nearby village of Godley and is now required to inform state and federal officials of tritium spills as soon as they are discovered.

Exelon working to determine source of leak A radioactive leak at Exelon's Dresden nuclear power plant has been contained and isn't a risk to public health, authorities said Tuesday. Leaked tritium -- a radioactive byproduct of nuclear reaction that can cause cancer and birth defects -- was found Saturday during routine tests at the Grundy County plant, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. The leak is not believed to have left the 1,700-acre plant site, which is not far from the Kankakee and Des Plaines Rivers. Exelon officials said leaked tritium has not entered the public water supply. But the company hasn't found the cause or source of the leak.

NRG Energy Inc. said Wednesday that it has turned down Exelon Corp.'s revised hostile takeover bid of $8 billion in stock because it undervalues the business. Last week Exelon, the nation's largest nuclear power company, sweetened its offer by about $1 billion because of newly identified cost savings and NRG's recent $287.5 million deal for Reliant Energy's Texas retail business. In a letter to Exelon CEO John Rowe, Princeton-based NRG said it found the new bid was not in its shareholders' best interest but said it represented a "step in the right direction." NRG said it is still open to any proposal that properly accounts for its "fundamental value and extraordinary growth prospects." Exelon, Chicago, previously said that its most recent bid was its "best and final offer."