Group items tagged

I'm not surprised about this new turn of events but I am stunned that your staff accepted interim GM Steve Bartley's statement that he didn't know about the omission. How could henot know? Ask Bartley what he'd do to any employee who: 1. told him he didn't know about a major element of their business, or 2. flat out lied to him? He would fire him on the spot. What CPS management did was out and out fraud. They lied to us on their application for a rate hike. Treat them the same way any bank would treat an application for a home loan if the financial information was fraudulent. Turn down the application and call the authorities to investigate. We should do the same. City Council would not tolerate any citizen coming before them and lying to their faces, or are they going to condone lying? Hopefully there are not two sets of rules - one for ordinary citizens and one for big shot citizens/companies.

I'm not surprised about this new turn of events but I am stunned that your staff accepted interim GM Steve Bartley's statement that he didn't know about the omission. How could henot know? Ask Bartley what he'd do to any employee who: 1. told him he didn't know about a major element of their business, or 2. flat out lied to him? He would fire him on the spot. What CPS management did was out and out fraud. They lied to us on their application for a rate hike. Treat them the same way any bank would treat an application for a home loan if the financial information was fraudulent. Turn down the application and call the authorities to investigate. We should do the same. City Council would not tolerate any citizen coming before them and lying to their faces, or are they going to condone lying? Hopefully there are not two sets of rules - one for ordinary citizens and one for big shot citizens/companies.

I'm not surprised about this new turn of events but I am stunned that your staff accepted interim GM Steve Bartley's statement that he didn't know about the omission. How could henot know? Ask Bartley what he'd do to any employee who: 1. told him he didn't know about a major element of their business, or 2. flat out lied to him? He would fire him on the spot. What CPS management did was out and out fraud. They lied to us on their application for a rate hike. Treat them the same way any bank would treat an application for a home loan if the financial information was fraudulent. Turn down the application and call the authorities to investigate. We should do the same. City Council would not tolerate any citizen coming before them and lying to their faces, or are they going to condone lying? Hopefully there are not two sets of rules - one for ordinary citizens and one for big shot citizens/companies.

Railing against a proposed nuclear power plant in West Bengal's Haripur, celebrated writer Mahasweta Devi has urged tribals to send five post cards each to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying no to the plant. "The proposed nuclear power plants in the country are the brainchild of the prime minister. So you have to take the protests to his doorstep," Mahasweta Devi said while addressing a convention of tribal people here Tuesday. The Magsaysay award winner called upon tribals to carry out an intense but peaceful and democratic agitation against the proposed Haripur power plant in East Midnapur district. "Each of you should send five postcards to the prime minister. On each postcard it should be written 'Say no to Haripur nuclear power plant in West Bengal'," she said, giving the audience the addresses of the prime minister's residence and office in the national capital.

Railing against a proposed nuclear power plant in West Bengal's Haripur, celebrated writer Mahasweta Devi has urged tribals to send five post cards each to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying no to the plant. "The proposed nuclear power plants in the country are the brainchild of the prime minister. So you have to take the protests to his doorstep," Mahasweta Devi said while addressing a convention of tribal people here Tuesday. The Magsaysay award winner called upon tribals to carry out an intense but peaceful and democratic agitation against the proposed Haripur power plant in East Midnapur district. "Each of you should send five postcards to the prime minister. On each postcard it should be written 'Say no to Haripur nuclear power plant in West Bengal'," she said, giving the audience the addresses of the prime minister's residence and office in the national capital.

CPS Energy trustees took no action Wednesday morning after deliberating for nearly 11 hours over the fate of several top executives connected to a nuclear cost estimate - much higher than expected - that was kept from the utility's board and the City Council. The board came out of executive session shortly before 1 a.m. to announce that it would continue deliberation Monday. "The seriousness of this issue warrants that this board takes care, takes caution," Chairwoman Aurora Geis told the sparse crowd that waited. "People's lives are at stake." Tuesday's meeting was a continuation of Monday's nearly five-hour session, during which the board heard results of an internal investigation into how contractor Toshiba Inc.'s high cost estimate for the multibillion-dollar nuclear expansion was kept under wraps.

CPS Energy trustees took no action Wednesday morning after deliberating for nearly 11 hours over the fate of several top executives connected to a nuclear cost estimate - much higher than expected - that was kept from the utility's board and the City Council. The board came out of executive session shortly before 1 a.m. to announce that it would continue deliberation Monday. "The seriousness of this issue warrants that this board takes care, takes caution," Chairwoman Aurora Geis told the sparse crowd that waited. "People's lives are at stake." Tuesday's meeting was a continuation of Monday's nearly five-hour session, during which the board heard results of an internal investigation into how contractor Toshiba Inc.'s high cost estimate for the multibillion-dollar nuclear expansion was kept under wraps.

The financial compensation of top contractor executives in Oak Ridge, recently revealed as part of the Recovery Act reporting requirements, created a buzz of attention (Who's making the big bucks in Oak Ridge?). It also prompted questions from readers about how much the federal counterparts earn at the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration: Below are some of the FY09 salaries for top execs at DOE and NNSA in Oak Ridge, including any performance bonuses received for 2008. Bonus info for '09 is not yet available. Here's the compensation for members of the Senior Executive Service at the NNSA's site office at Y-12 Ted Sherry -- YSO Manager -- $192,541 Kevin Smith -- YSO Deputy Manager -- $167,052. Here's the compensation for top officers at DOE's Oak Ridge Operations:

The financial compensation of top contractor executives in Oak Ridge, recently revealed as part of the Recovery Act reporting requirements, created a buzz of attention (Who's making the big bucks in Oak Ridge?). It also prompted questions from readers about how much the federal counterparts earn at the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration: Below are some of the FY09 salaries for top execs at DOE and NNSA in Oak Ridge, including any performance bonuses received for 2008. Bonus info for '09 is not yet available. Here's the compensation for members of the Senior Executive Service at the NNSA's site office at Y-12 Ted Sherry -- YSO Manager -- $192,541 Kevin Smith -- YSO Deputy Manager -- $167,052. Here's the compensation for top officers at DOE's Oak Ridge Operations:

The government has removed 2/3 of the plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Livermore Lab, according to a recent Dept. of Energy press release. Tom D'Agostino, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, called it "real progress." We give it a more mixed review. For starters, the DOE does not plan to complete the removal of these bomb-making materials from Livermore Lab until the end of 2012, three years from now. We have called for their removal by 2010. Livermore Lab is vulnerable every day to a catastrophic release of these materials in the event of an earthquake or terrorist attack. The nearest fault zone lies less than 200 feet from the Lab.

The government has removed 2/3 of the plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Livermore Lab, according to a recent Dept. of Energy press release. Tom D'Agostino, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, called it "real progress." We give it a more mixed review. For starters, the DOE does not plan to complete the removal of these bomb-making materials from Livermore Lab until the end of 2012, three years from now. We have called for their removal by 2010. Livermore Lab is vulnerable every day to a catastrophic release of these materials in the event of an earthquake or terrorist attack. The nearest fault zone lies less than 200 feet from the Lab.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. succeeded in stopping highly radioactive water from leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant early Wednesday morning after injecting a chemical agent, it said. In a bid to stem the leak, Tepco injected about 6,000 liters of "water glass," or sodium silicate, and another agent around a seaside pit located near the plant's No. 2 reactor water intake, through which the highly radioactive water had been leaking heavily. The leak has apparently seriously contaminated the marine environment, as a seawater sample taken near the water intake Saturday showed a radioactive iodine-131 concentration of 7.5 million times the maximum level permitted under law.

Plan to Radically Hike Post-Accident Radiation in Food & Water Sparks Hot Dissent Washington, DC - A plan awaiting approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that would dramatically increase permissible radioactive releases in drinking water, food and soil after "radiological incidents" is drawing vigorous objections from agency experts, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At issue is the acceptable level of public health risk following a radiation release, whether an accidental spill or a "dirty bomb" attack. The radiation arm of EPA, called the Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (ORIA), has prepared an update of the 1992 "Protective Action Guides" (PAG) governing radiation protection decisions for both short-term and long-term cleanup standards. Other divisions within EPA contend the ORIA plan geometrically raises allowable exposure to the public. For example, as Charles Openchowski of EPA's Office of General Counsel wrote in a January 23, 2009 e-mail to ORIA: "[T]his guidance would allow cleanup levels that exceed MCLs [Maximum Contamination Limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act] by a factor of 100, 1000, and in two instances 7 million and there is nothing to prevent those levels from being the final cleanup achieved (i.e., it's not confined to immediate response of emergency phase)."

SACRAMENTO - A top regional official of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a legislative committee Thursday that the agency intends to proceed with its safety and environmental analysis for extending the license of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, despite a request from the plant's operator that the agency take no final action until after more thorough seismic studies are completed. The federal licensing agency hopes to proceed as scheduled with its review, said Troy Pruett, deputy regional director of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's division of reactor projects. "Staff has invested many thousands of hours in environmental and safety review," Pruett told members of the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee. "Our desire now is to publish that." The senator, whose district includes the site of the nuclear plant, assailed the federal agency for what he called its decision to look at Diablo Canyon seismic issues "through rose-colored glasses" despite the damage to nuclear reactors in Japan resulting from last month's earthquake and tsunami.

A new, $64 million study of earthquake fault patterns around the San Onofre nuclear plant will be proposed Friday by Southern California Edison, its scope broadened and its cost estimate more than doubled because of the nuclear disaster in Japan. Edison will propose the study to the California Energy Commission; if approved, it would be paid for through customer rates, although Edison says that would add up to less than one percent of present overall rates. ADVERTISEMENT More from Science Rocket launched from Vandenberg Sunnier skies kick off warming spell Toxic mystery unfolds in Newport Beach The study will use state-of-the-art technology, characterizing in three dimensional detail the sea floor near the coastal plant and the geological picture beneath the land surface. Edison is still evaluating what type of technology to use, but sonar would likely be used to map the ocean floor near the nuclear plant, while seismic vibration measurements as well as lidar, which uses light beamed from planes, would be used on land.

The nuclear accident in Japan and resulting public concern about earthquake safety at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant have led PG&E to ask federal regulators to delay final implementation of the license renewal process for the plant. In a letter dated Sunday to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, PG&E calls its request "prudent" in light of the damage the Japanese nuclear plant sustained a month ago after the earthquake and tsunami there. SIMILAR STORIES: A bad reaction to Diablo license debate State's authority over Diablo Canyon plant is limited SLO County supervisors raise Diablo concerns Diablo safety to be discussed Viewpoint: Before Diablo relicensing, concerns must be answered "PG&E therefore requests that the commission delay the final processing of the LRA (license renewal application) such that the renewed operating licenses, if approved, would not be issued until after PG&E has completed the 3-D seismic studies and submitted a report to the NRC addressing the results of those studies," wrote John Conway, PG&E's chief nuclear officer.

Nuclear fuel inside the crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has partially melted and settled at the bottom of pressure vessels in the shape of grains, according to an analysis by the Atomic Energy Society of Japan made public by Friday. The academic body's panel on nuclear energy safety has said the melted fuel at the No. 1 to 3 reactors has been kept at a relatively low temperature, discounting the possibility that a large amount of melted fuel has already built up at the bottom of their reactor vessels given the temperature readings there. A large buildup of melted nuclear fuel at th

Radiation from Japan rained on Berkeley during recent storms at levels that exceeded drinking water standards by 181 times and has been detected in multiple milk samples, but the U.S. government has still not published any official data on nuclear fallout here from the Fukushima disaster. Dangers from radiation that is wafting over the United States from the Fukushima power plant disaster and falling with rain have been downplayed by government officials and others, who say its impacts are so fleeting and minor as to be negligible.

The risks associated with iodine-131 contamination in Europe are no longer "negligible," according to CRIIRAD, a French research body on radioactivity. The NGO is advising pregnant women and infants against "risky behaviour," such as consuming fresh milk or vegetables with large leaves. BACKGROUND After the radioactive cloud emanating from Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant reached Europe in late March, CRIIRAD, a French research body on radioactivity, an NGO, said it had detected radioactive iodine-131 in rainwater in south-eastern France. In parallel testing, the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), the national public institution monitoring nuclear and radiological risks, found iodine 131 in milk.  In normal times, no trace of iodine-131 should be detectable in rainwater or milk. The Euratom Directive of 13 May 1996 establishes the general principles and safety standards on radiation protection in Europe.

KPFA Weekend News Anchor Anthony Fest: California has two operating nuclear power plants, San Onofre in Orange County, and PG&E's Diablo Canyon Plant in San Luis Obispo County, on the Central Coast.   Both are on the coastline and both are built near earthquake faults.  State Senator Alex Padilla has called for a special hearing at the State capitol on April 14 to examine the risks the two aging plants might pose.  KPFA's Ann Garrison has the story. PG&E's Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant on the California Coast KPFA/Ann Garrison: For the past five years the San Luis Obispo-based Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility has been urging California legislators and oversight agencies to require peer reviewed seismic studies to measure the risk of earthquake damage to Pacific Gas and Electric's (PG&E's) nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon and Southern California Edison's plant at San Onofre. The California Energy Commission has requested that the California Public Utilities Commission require PG&E do the latest, advanced 3-D studies on both old and new earthquake faults beneath Diablo Canyon before granting any ratepayer funding for its license renewal applications, but PG&E has opposed and fought the requirement to do the studies, and the CPUC has failed to act. Rochelle Becker, Executive Director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, says that Japan's worsening nuclear catastrophe could have been California's, and that Californians should be able to insist that the studies be done now.

WASHINGTON (April 6, 2011) - In the weeks following the Fukushima accident, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and nuclear industry officials have been asserting that U.S. nuclear plants are better prepared to withstand a catastrophic event like the March 11 earthquake and tsunami than Japanese plants because they have additional safety measures in place. However, according to internal NRC documents (links provided below) released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), there is no consensus within the NRC that U.S. plants are sufficiently protected. The documents indicate that technical staff members doubt the effectiveness of key safety measures adopted after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. UCS obtained the documents on March 25 from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request it made a month before the Japanese disaster.

"As of today, it has been a quarter century since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The Raging Grannies, in solidarity with Abalone Alliance in San Francisco and other activists around the world, remembered the victims of that man-made catastrophe. They demonstrated against nuclear energy along the El Camino Real in Menlo Park, California, and performed for a lunch crowd in front of nearby Cafe Borrone."

If a nuclear power plant in the US were to have issues, who would be affected? In a partnership between Nature News and Columbia University, we now have a Google map that tells us the population sizes around plants so we can easily scan and see the number of people that could be affected should anything occur at the plants. The team Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) database run by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Columbia University's NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center to map out in an easy-to-read way, the location and size of nuclear power plants as well as population numbers around those plants. On the map, population sizes are illustrated with circle size as well as color. Green circles represent less than 500,000 people and on the other side of the scale, red circles represent populations of over 20 million.

"As Japan struggles to regain control of its Fukushima Daiichi power plant, there's lots of talk about which technical safeguards the plant lacked and which should be required in future nuclear facilities. But a new report points to another kind of safeguard that failed: public institutions. Nuclear power plants are designed for what the industry calls defense in depth: the inclusion of backup safeguards in case the primary safeguards fail. No single layer of protection should be trusted entirely. The same is true of people. No power plant operator should be trusted to maintain the safety of its reactors. We need multiple layers of scrutiny-inspectors, regulators, independent nuclear experts-to double- and triple-check the operator's work."

"The governor of Shizuoka Prefecture, a major tea leaf production region in Japan, urged the health minister Thursday to revise the provisional limit of radioactive substances in the product. Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu said the maximum level was unreasonable and a recent test showed tea leaves and processed tea in the area as being safe during a meeting with health minister Ritsuo Hosokawa, who promised to make public the results and check the limit's validity. The survey was conducted under an instruction from the ministry of health, labor and welfare. "The government applied the limit set for foods to tea, 95 percent of which is used for drinking. That was the cause of the confusion," Kawakatsu said. "Confusion and anger are swirling in the tea industry in our prefecture.""

"The government plans to establish a 100 billion yen fund to keep track of the health of all residents of Fukushima Prefecture for 30 years following radiation leaks at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, government sources said Thursday. The government plans to allocate 78 billion yen in a second supplementary budget for the current fiscal year and plans to ask the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., to contribute 25 billion yen to the fund."