Prompt criticality explosion @ Fukushima Unit 3 spent fuel pool? JHC!!!

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New TEPCO Photographs Substantiate Significant Damage to Fukushima Unit 3 from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

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"A Is For Atom" Redux

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The film shows that from very early on - as early as 1964 - US government officials knew that there were serious potential dangers with the design of the type of reactor that was used to build the Fukushima Daiichi plant. But that their warnings were repeatedly ignored.

The film tells the story of the rise of nuclear power in America, Britain and the Soviet Union. It shows how the way the technologies were developed was shaped by the political and business forces of the time. And how that led directly to inherent dangers in the design of the containment of many of the early plants.

Those early plants in America were the Boiling Water Reactors. And that is the very model that was used to build the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Three of them were supplied directly by General Electric.

Adam Curtis__The Medium and the Message
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The Tides of Wind Power

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Good to see somebody over at NEI Nuclear Notes has his thinking cap on.

None of this should be construed as objections or as a way to sow doubt over a wind project on a nuclear site. Quite the contrary – an infrastructure project this big raises innumerable questions that will find answers as it moves along, but that doesn’t mean it should be stopped or unnecessarily hindered.

After all, we’re all electricity buffs, aren’t we?

You betchum!

The Wind and the Tide
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Sun gonna rise in the West.

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Leading French & German nuclear engineering companies going solar? What's with that?

Solar-thermal power to grow 30 times in only 10 years. And that doesn't even include solar PV or wind power.

Areva SA of France predicts the global use of solar-thermal power will grow by about 30-fold this decade, a forecast that spurred the world’s largest maker of nuclear reactors to buy a California-based equipment maker. Areva wants to use Ausra’s solar-thermal equipment to build projects for independent power producers, utilities and industrial customers. The company will target markets including southwestern U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

Europe's largest engineering company is already onboard.

Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, agreed last year to a $418 million purchase of Beit Shemesh, Israel-based Solel Solar Ltd.

And Spain is already building 13 solar-thermal plants.

Abengoa SA, also an engineering company, is building 13 solar-thermal plants in Spain that will benefit from consumer subsidies for clean energy.

And the DOE wants to run solar thermal as baseload. Now we're talking.

The U.S. Department of Energy is ramping up research into what´s also called “concentrated solar power,” funding almost 30 projects and working with companies including New York-based Alcoa Inc. and Spain’s Abengoa [now Siemens CSP] with the aim of making the technology competitive in the baseload power market by 2020.

With 34,000 MW (equivalent to 34 nuclear plants) of solar power in only 10 years.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance has forecast the installed base to grow to as much as 34,000 megawatts worldwide by 2020.

China move over, sun gonna rise in the West.

Areva Says Solar Thermal Market May Increase 30-Fold by 2020
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Half-life of a nuke industry.

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Both nuclear power & nat gas are important wedges of our energy mix as we transition our 20th Century economy from dirty coal & foreign oil to cleaner nat gas & renewable energy sources.

But expect only a handful of nukes, at least on the home planet, to remain operational by 2030, as we shift gov't subsidies & private investment from carbon burning to wind & solar & other renewable energy technologies.

Also expect clean energy technologies to make even more people even more money -- Bill Gates move over -- during this 21st Century already upon us.

Clean, sustainable, competitively-priced energy is essential to the health & longevity of an advanced civilization, not to mention mother earth.
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Energy Policy Debate: Joe Romm scores knockout in 1st round.

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And in case anyone missed the Joseph Romm vs David Kreutzer main event on Energy Policy last Thursday, it was a one-two knockout.

Good work, Joe, how many pounds did you have to give away?

And who's your next challenger?
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A New China Epoch Be Upon Us All.

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Man up, an overview of China's Energy Industry:

To support its astounding economic development, China has been building up a massive power generation capacity at an accelerated pace. In a span of six years, China has more than doubled its capacity.

Currently, China’s installed capacity is about 65% that of the United States’ while its production volume is about 80% that of the United States. As China’s urbanization and industrialization continues, the nation is expected to overtake the United States to become the world largest electricity producer in 2010.

Since 2007, China’s coal market has been fully liberated and power producers are no longer entitled to preferential price treatment. According to the nation’s plans, by 2020, its nuclear capacity will reach 40 GW and its wind power capacity will reach 30 GW.

If you really want to appreciate the economic scale of our biggest competitor in the 21st Century, and haven't the spare fen or jiao to spend a few weeks touring Shanghai, Beijing, et al, be sure to browse China Knowledge. What the Chinese have already accomplished since 1978 is nothing short of epical, while most Americans still don't have a clue of what we're up against.

The reform that started in late 1978 has turned China into the fastest growing major economy in the world.

Time, perhaps, to sign up for that Mandarin class.
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Science? Check! Technology? Check! Stimulus? Check in the Mail!!

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The science & technologies are already here. We only need the political will to stand up to fossil fuel interests here & abroad and shift sufficient incentives & investment towards cleaner & renewable energy sources.

Energy from biomass heating fuel can be generated in a renewable, carbon-neutral system that leverages our natural resources to reduce our use of and dependence on imported fossil fuels.

Our collective goal should be to make heating with biomass as convenient as heating with oil or other fossil fuels, where turning on the heat is as easy as flicking a switch. The technology for such systems already exists, and, with legislative cooperation, education and technical support, and the responsible and efficient production of biomass fuel, we can help convert American homeowners and business owners to clean, green heat. US Renewable Energy Industry Needs the Heat in Biomass

Nat gas is the most likely alternative fuel to displace both coal & oil as wind & solar & other renewable energy systems along with smart grids are built out over the next few decades.

Natural gas is the cleanest of the fossil fuels, and electric utilities that burn it to generate electricity belch out half the amount of carbon dioxide emissions they produce when when they burn coal. Exxon-Xto Deal Forces Congress to Reconsider Natural Gas

Unfortunately, widespread new construction of mega-nukes no longer makes economic sense, although we should probably keep our enterprising foot in that advancing technology.

Estimates for new reactor construction costs continue to sky-rocket. Conservative estimates range between $6 and $12 billion per reactor but Standard & Poor's predicts a continued rise. The nuclear power industry is lobbying for heavy federal subsidization including unlimited loan guarantees but the Congressional Budget Office predicts the risk of default will be well over 50 percent, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. Beyond Nuclear Costs