"The only two US reactor projects now technically under construction are on the brink of death for financial reasons. If they go under, there will almost certainly be no new reactors built here."
Read more: http://www.freepress.org/
Saturday, April 7, 2012
"America's 2 new nukes are on the brink of death."
The following is a link to an informational Free Press article written by Harvey Wasserman. He is the senior advisor to Greenpeace USA, the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, senior editor of Freepress.org, and he edits the NukeFree.org web site.
"The only two US reactor projects now technically under construction are on the brink of death for financial reasons. If they go under, there will almost certainly be no new reactors built here."
Read more: http://www.freepress.org/
"The only two US reactor projects now technically under construction are on the brink of death for financial reasons. If they go under, there will almost certainly be no new reactors built here."
Read more: http://www.freepress.org/
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Charlotte - Opposing Duke Engery Rate Hike
Duke must charge the ratepayers higher rates to pay for the
precontruction costs for the W.S Lee Nuclear Power plant. Seventy
percent of Dukes customers are in NC and the nuclear power plant is in
South Carolina. Ratepayers will pay Duke even if the W.S Lee nuclear
plant isn’t built. This happened in Florida, ratepayers are financing
the Levy plant and the construction is put on hold indefinitely and may
never be built.
Let’s not allow this to happen to NC ratepayers. We should be able to keep our money, not give it to Duke for a future unsafe, resource depleting nuclear plant.
Let’s not allow this to happen to NC ratepayers. We should be able to keep our money, not give it to Duke for a future unsafe, resource depleting nuclear plant.
Challenging Duke Energy Rate Hike
NC WARN strongly supports Attorney General Cooper’s appeal of the Duke
Energy rate increase — the 10.5% rate of return is far too high in a
struggling economy, when most residential and commercial customers are
struggling to pay electric bills.Note that Cooper’s action is largely a
response to the many of you whose public testimonies and letters called
Duke’s profits, rate request and overall expanionist business model out
of line with what is actually happening in today’s economy and
environment.
Please send SHORT NOTES of appreciation for Cooper standing
up for the public interest to his Information Director Noelle Talley: ntalley@ncdoj.gov
Intervenors from the rate case have 20 days to join the appeal.
Co-intervenors NC WARN, NC Justice Center and the NC Housing Coalition
are considering such action.
Jim
The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer
NC attorney general challenges Duke Energy rate increase
By Bruce Henderson
March 29, 2012
Attorney General Roy Cooper said Wednesday he will appeal the 7 percent N.C. rate hike Duke Energy won in January.
Cooper called the rate hike, Duke’s second in the state since 2009,
“wrong for N.C. consumers and businesses” in tough economic times. The
appeal will go to the N.C. Court of Appeals.
“The economic realities faced by N.C. consumers must be put before
company profits,” Cooper said in a statement. “Hundreds of people have
contacted my office to let us know they can’t afford to pay much more
for electricity in these tough times.”
Rates will go up about $7 a month for most of Duke’s residential customers. The utility has 1.8 million customers statewide.
Duke, which initially sought a 15 percent rate hike, said it is disappointed in the appeal.
Spokeswoman Betsy Conway said the settlement with the commission’s
Public Staff, which represents consumers, balanced Duke’s need to
recover $4.8 billion in capital spending with economic hardships faced
by customers.
“We understand that the timing was challenging,” Conway said. Duke
agreed in the rate settlement to donate $11 million to help low-income
customers with energy costs.
Cooper’s appeal does not challenge Duke’s spending on power plants
and pollution-control upgrades. It focuses instead on the 10.5 percent
return on equity, or investor profit, the utilities commission approved.
It claims there’s not enough evidence in the commission’s findings
that such a return is reasonable. The filing does not say what rate of
return the attorney general would accept.
State law says the commission should approve a rate of return
“considering changing economic conditions and other factors” such as
construction projects by the utility.
“The rate of return testimony should balance the rate of return
investors expect against the economic conditions and returns that Duke’s
customers are experiencing,” the filing said. None of the expert
witnesses who testified on the rate of return discussed the economic
conditions customers face, it added.
Most members of the public who spoke at commission hearings protested the rate hike.
“The commission essentially backed into its finding … by noting that
the stipulated return on equity falls between the parties’ negotiating
positions and further noting that none of the (return) witnesses
objected to the stipulated figure,” Cooper’s appeal said.
The attorney general’s staff was among several formal parties to the
rate case, including representatives of large customers, advocacy groups
and consumer groups. While most of those parties signed settlement
agreements, or did not oppose the agreements, the attorney general did
not.
Emergency Planning Regulations
PETITION FOR RULEMAKING TO IMPROVE EMERGENCY PLANNING REGULATIONS in the case of a nuclear power plant accident.
On Feb, 15, 2012 Nuclear Information Resource Services, Blue Ridge
Environmental Defense League and other environmental groups filed a
Petition with the NRC to amend 1-CFR 50.47 which currently only allows for a 10 miles radius radiation plum exposure pathway in case of an accident and 50 mile radius for an ingestion pathway zone. Their conclusion of the petition is below and would include Asheville as a “ingestion pathway zone”.
Petition with the NRC to amend 1-CFR 50.47 which currently only allows for a 10 miles radius radiation plum exposure pathway in case of an accident and 50 mile radius for an ingestion pathway zone. Their conclusion of the petition is below and would include Asheville as a “ingestion pathway zone”.
“The Petitioners believe that amending 10 CFR 50.47 to expand the
Plume Exposure Pathway to about 25 mile radius of a reactor site, create
a new Emergency Response Zone
of about 50 miles, and expanding the ingestion pathway zone to about 100 miles would more likely provide adequate protection to the public than current regulations, which
do not provide adequate protection. Events that the NRC believed 30 years ago were nearly impossible to occur have in fact occurred and, in the case of Fukushima, continue
to occur. Waiting to see how bad an emergency gets before expanding evacuation beyond a planned radius is not a plan of action, it is a recipe for disaster and an abdication of responsibility. Action to expand Emergency Planning Zones and improve emergency response capability must be taken now in light of real-world evidence and the demonstrated history of the widespread damage nuclear accidents cause.”
information link: www.nirs.com
of about 50 miles, and expanding the ingestion pathway zone to about 100 miles would more likely provide adequate protection to the public than current regulations, which
do not provide adequate protection. Events that the NRC believed 30 years ago were nearly impossible to occur have in fact occurred and, in the case of Fukushima, continue
to occur. Waiting to see how bad an emergency gets before expanding evacuation beyond a planned radius is not a plan of action, it is a recipe for disaster and an abdication of responsibility. Action to expand Emergency Planning Zones and improve emergency response capability must be taken now in light of real-world evidence and the demonstrated history of the widespread damage nuclear accidents cause.”
information link: www.nirs.com
Safe Carolinas recognizes the need for this petition and while we
support the amendment we want our readers to be aware that the radiation
fallout from a nuclear power plant accident goes far beyond what any
agency can predict. Radiant from the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine and
Japan went all over the world.
The following link allows you to enter your zipcode to see how a nuclear accident and radiation fallout could affect you. Keep in mind, the wind does change direction.
http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/fallout/
The following link allows you to enter your zipcode to see how a nuclear accident and radiation fallout could affect you. Keep in mind, the wind does change direction.
http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/fallout/
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