Archive for the 'nuclear power' Category

Parting the Radioactive Water: Can the Nexus Guide Us Through Our Nuclear Legacy?

Published on 02/23/2013 in climate change, contaminated water, energy, management, nuclear power and policy. 0 Comments

Retrieved from the Guardian

 

Parting the Radioactive Water: Can the Nexus Guide Us Through Our Nuclear Legacy?

by Miles Ten Brinke

Miles, Peak Water columnist and avowed Hydrophilic energy-head, has found his way to Britain where he’s lost his California perma-tan and is studying an Energy Policy MSc at the University of Exeter on a Fulbright.

Not so long ago it seemed that the 21st century was going to be the era of Nuclear Renaissance. A global industry which had largely stagnated after the 80s in a post Three Miles Island and Chernobyl world found powerful resurgence in the 2000s. The argument and now is generally framed along a cost-benefit landscape dotted with divergent rhetorical flair. It reached a zenith with climate change mitigation- in electricity generation nuclear power produces negligible (or zero depending on the calculation) carbon emissions. It can replace coal to provide baseload power and drastically reduce emissions- a vision of the future (again).
Today when folks talk about low-carbon versus renewable in alternative energy debates the low-carbon means either nuclear or carbon capture and storage, but mostly nuclear (CCS hasn’t been commercialised yet as a whole socio-technical system, not even at demonstration scale yet actually). The argument has held enormous sway and is still heavily influential, particularly in the UK. I’m far from a champion of nuclear power, but theoretically this positive potential is real. Particularly in comparison to coal, depending upon your risk parameters nuclear power can almost be benign.
Along every step of the commodity chain from exploration to generating electricity coal is marked by inefficiency and negative externalities (economics’ fun euphemism for those costs to socio-natural health not included in price). Look no further than mountaintop removal and strip mining, or coal’s emission profile relative to almost any other source. Its easy to see why some folks in the environmental and climate change communities push nuclear as a real alternative.
Its my estimation however that the most accurate and holistic accounts of the life cycle costs of nuclear energy are still damning. Setting aside issues of cost, decision making  or general policy implications the problem is that the uranium still has to be mined and the waste dealt with. Both have considerable socioenvironmental impacts, potential and realised. Water for energy is exemplified by nuclear power, acting as a constant vital coolant. Its in this arena we face the Nexus full force (though of course it pervades the entire energy chain up to and including reactor coolants).
Contemporary developments in nuclear power have come to be defined by this. Yes, I’m going to start here with Fukushima. A set of reactors on the coast, dependent upon sea water and in a seismically active region. An earthquake and tsunami devastated the Japanese coastline and helped initiate one of the worst industrial disasters the world has seen.
Through sea-level rise and increased storm severity climate change poses a grave threat to this kind of nuclear system. They tend to be built on coastlines, anywhere close to readily available source of water for cooling .The threat is far from insurmountable, but considerable. the world has taken notice, and the drive for more nuclear power which had already slowed ground to a halt as the disaster unfolded. Fukushima was the inflection point for nuclear, in all likelihood the death knell of the Renaissance. Japan and Germany renounced nuclear power, expansion around the world stagnating. The industry and all its challenges continue all the same.
In Washington state six underground storage tanks are leaking radioactive waste. The threat currently seems to manageable, potentially threatening the area’s soil and groundwater but far from contaminating the Columbia river.  There are however 149 single-shell tanks at the Hanford facility filled with waste and previous leaks have damaged the soil already. The tanks are ageing, leaks are more and more likely. One tank for instance was leaking 150-300 gallons per annum of radioactive fluid. Developing the right policies to deal with this waste once its been produced is extremely difficult.
The US is a major producer of nuclear waste but doesn’t have a strategic solution. The planned national storage facility at Yucca Mountain outside of Las Vegas has been effectively shut down. Just about every major politician in Nevada has been fighting the federal government against the Yucca project for years. There’s mass opposition at all levels. Coming from that area you develop a strong aversion to any such proposal, whether or not its well informed. Not only was the potency of nuclear waste as a symbol at work, but folks just couldn’t see any benefit for them in taking in the country’s waste. When locals especially can’t find an economic benefit the legitimacy of big infrastructural projects stands on shaking ground. Much as I do personally support the opposition it makes a tough policy area all the more complex.
This adds further pressure on facilities like Hanford and exemplifies the strident NIMBYism of nuclear waste in the US and UK. The UK too has a waste problem and planned to build an underground storage centre in Cumbria. Its the site of both the world renowned Lake District and the Sellafield nuclear facilities. Last month the county council voted down the proposal, killing off for now the hopes of a central holding site. Cumbria was really the only viable place currently available, and with so many residents dependent on nuclear power for jobs and the proximity to reactors and current holding sites made it ideal.
As with Hanford, at Sellafield and nuclear sites all across the UK and US the kit is ageing and ageing rough. In the past mass dumping, such as into the Irish Sea has been acceptable and left a legacy of radioactivity, ecological destruction and socio-political strife in its wake. Historic uranium mining has shattered the land, water and people of Southwestern reservations in the US. The waste is there and will continue to grow for the foreseeable future no matter what energy choices are made. The legacy of the atomic age is inescapable.
The question is how that waste is managed, and may the Water-Energy Nexus be a guide.
~ Miles on Water

 

milesonwater

Plying the Water-Energy Nexus

Published on 01/26/2013 in climate change, energy, hydrology, hydropower, management, nuclear power, peak water, policy, uncategorized and water technology. 0 Comments

Retrieved from Gracelinks.org

Plying the Water-Energy Nexus

by Miles Ten Brinke

Miles, Peak Water columnist and avowed Hydrophilic energy-head, has found his way to Britain where he’s lost his California perma-tan and is studying an Energy Policy MSc at the University of Exeter on a Fulbright.

Growing up the in the American Southwest is an education in the triumph of human ingenuity and the creeping hazards of its peril. From Palm Springs to Las Vegas we’ve made the desert bloom- a green oasis of shopping malls, suburban lawns and sprawling golf courses. It is a socio technical system built on a foundation of innovative engineering large and small, from the proliferation of air conditioning to the California aqueduct and the Hoover Dam. Even amidst the bust of the Great Recession and its aftermath, the boom of these places is so resonant* it’s easy to forget just how fragile and contingent the whole enterprise truly is. Climate change looms ahead, and the water’s running out. Even amidst all the changes ahead, the world’s driest places will see their rains dwindle. They’ll only get drier. In the Southwest, the Colorado no longer feeds into the sea. In California in particular, the vast majority of the water (and other resources) is consumed in the South yet it’s sourced in the North. This system defined by overconsumption is no longer tenable; the region’s decision makers need search out viable alternatives. Much as the global energy system needs a transition to a more equitable, secure, efficient and decarbonized alternative so too must our water socio-technical systems change. I’ve personally come to be defined by that reality.

Though I’ve lived now around the world, for the vast majority of my life my family and I lived in the Southwest, split mostly between Las Vegas and the Inland Empire of Southern California. We lived in Vegas for most my primary and secondary education, my folks moving us to California when I started high school. It’s where I started my post-secondary education, at Mount San Jacinto College. These spaces, Nevada and California, have shaped me and the course my life’s taken. Resource management is a priority for any public policy, but it’s vital in the desert. For all the clever development, water shortages are an ever-present and deepening concern in these places. The efficient consumption of water and other resources is both a necessity and a central source of contention. People get used to their cars, to their lawns, their shopping malls, housing developments and rapid economic growth. We forged an oasis and struggle to maintain it. This dynamic, this dilemma is one I’ve grappled with from the onset of my career in energy over five years ago. I got my start in Socal as a student participant in a K-12 energy efficiency education program which provided the training, tools and support to conduct an energy audit of one’s campus and even implement changes. The lesson, amidst the greatest recession we’d known since the 30s, was the value maximal throughput at minimal expense. Our resources are finite, precious. How we choose to consume defines not only our economic activity, but shapes our culture and socio-natural landscapes all around us.

This has resonated with my experiences ever since. Through further jobs and voluntary work I came to an understanding of everyday energy use efficiency beyond simply the kWh; demand management in energy policy is as much about the careful management of our water for the future and the planet as innovations in energy conservation and technologic efficiency. Energy and water are inextricably linked, whether the connection between the energy inputs to the mass agricultural sector of California and its behemoth thirst or suburban sprawl with its house-as-castle populism and everything in-between. These parallels and intersections are deep, and many.

After completing a B.S. in Society & Environment at UC Berkeley focusing on Global Environmental Politics I’m now on a Fulbright-University of Exeter Postgraduate Student Award pursuing an Energy Policy MSc at the Exeter Cornwall campus. I’m in my second term now, developing another energy specialism-in water policy as it relates to energy. From this entry on, Peak Water readers you can join me on this new path as I explore the energy-water nexus. I’m as a much a student on this journey as you, let’s pursue it with an unquenchable curiosity and a humble openness to learn. Maybe in the process we can even start to shape a new vision of the global water transition, of its interconnections with energy and its realization.

Best of luck to us along the way, it should prove an interesting ride.

~ Miles on Water

 

jenna cavelle

Fukushima Operators Struggle to Contain ‘Outrageous Amount’ of Radioactive Water

Published on 10/26/2012 in contaminated water, groundwater, nuclear power and oceans. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.commondreams.org

“The plant currently holds 200,000 tonnes of highly contaminated waste water, used to cool the broken reactors, but operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, continues to struggle to find ways to store the toxic substance. TEPCO has said they are running out of room to build more storage tanks and the volume of water will more than triple within three years.

“It’s a time-pressing issue because the storage of contaminated water has its limits, there is only limited storage space,” Okamura said.

After the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe of 2011, the plant’s broken reactors have needed constant cooling and maintenance, including the dumping of massive amounts of water into the melting reactors — the only way to avoid another complete meltdown.

Adding to the excessive amounts of cooling water is ground water, which continues to leak into the reactor facilities because of structural damage.”

Read more: Common Dreams

 

lily victoria

Fracking, Coal and Nukes Wreak Havoc on Fresh Water Supplies

Published on 08/16/2012 in coal, contaminated water, drought, fracking, greenwashing, groundwater, hydrology and nuclear power. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“The undisputed champion of the current U.S. energy debate is  hydraulic fracturing or fracking. As conventional oil and gas resources become more difficult to come by, energy companies now have to dig deeper than ever to unearth the rich deposits of fossil fuels still available. In order to fracture shale formations that often exist thousands of feet below the surface, drillers use anywhere from 1 to 8 million gallons of water per frack. A well may be fracked up to 18 times. The water, usually drawn from natural resources such as lakes and rivers, is unrecoverable once it’s blasted into the earth, and  out of the water cycle for good.

Even if there wasn’t a problem with  water contamination , deforestation, and noise and  air pollution from fracking, the pro-drilling agenda would still be hit hard with an insurmountable roadblock—access to abundant water.

On June 28, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission  suspended 37 separately approved water withdrawals for fracking due to localized streamflow levels dropping throughout the Susquehanna Basin in Pennsylvania and New York.

In Kansas, oil and gas drillers are running out of options due to the tenth driest July on record. Companies with dwindling access to water resources are resorting to paying farmers for what water they have left, or more, drilling their own water wells, digging ponds next to streams or trucking in water from places as far way as Pennsylvania, according to  CNN Money .”

Read more: Alternet

 

lily victoria

US West Coast to receive dangerous levels of Fukushima radiation

Published on 07/22/2012 in contaminated water, nuclear power, oceans, wastewater and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.rt.com

“Researchers have released the findings of an intense study into the aftermath of last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster and warn that the United States isn’t exactly spared just yet. In fact, scientists now fear that incredibly contaminated ocean waters could be reaching the West Coast of the US in a matter of only five years, and the toxicity of those waves could eventually be worse than what was seen in Japan.

A team of scientists led by Joke F Lübbecke of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory have published the findings of an experiment recently conducted to measure the impact of last year’s nuclear disaster and the results are eye-opening to say the least. By simulating the spreading of contaminated ocean waters and seeing how currents could carry them across the Pacific from Japan to the US, scientists believe that the worst might be still on the way.

“Within one year it will have spread over the entire western half of the North Pacific and in five years we predict it will reach the US West Coast.” Claus Böning, co-author of the study, tells the website Environmentalresearchweb.

Böning adds that “The levels of radiation that hit the US coast will be small relative to the levels released by Fukushima,” yet fails to exactly stand by that statement in the fullest. “But we cannot estimate accurately what those levels will be because we do not know for certain what was released by Fukushima,” the doctor adds.

In fact, others fear that contaminated ocean waters may collect in packets and produce waves of highly concentrated nuclear toxins that could pose a dangerous toll to Americans.”

Read more: RT

 

lily victoria

Don’t Nuke Nuclear Just Yet; A Water War in SoCal

Published on 04/24/2012 in nuclear power, policy and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.theatlanticwire.com

“The Washington Post on the anti-nuclear zeitgeist “Following the scary but ultimately non-catastrophic Fukushima nuclear crisis, every country with a reactor had reason to review the safety of its existing facilities and the integrity of its regulatory systems,” writes The Washington Post‘s editorial board. “But prudence demanded then and now that they not abandon the power source precipitously.” The audience for The Post‘s editorial is Germany and Japan, which are both trying to rid their grids of the energy source and reduce their carbon emissions simultaneously. Claiming that new technologies are making nuclear safer, the board says that the anti-nuclear factions of Germany and Japan are overly optimistic about temperamental renewable energy sources, mainly wind and solar, sufficiently meeting clean energy demand.

The New York Times on a California water war San Diego, stuck between a desert and a salty ocean, faces “end-of-pipeline paranoia,” forever worried how the nearby municipalities that provide its water and the pipes it runs through will nickel-and-dime the well-to-do city. We’re in the throes of the latest iteration of this water war, The New York Times‘ Adam Nagourney and Felicity Barringer report, as that group of municipalities “two weeks ago imposed two back-to-back 5 percent annual water rate increases on San Diego.” And while the battle over the rates will actually be decided in a San Francisco court, that’s not stopping the city’s water agency from waging a propaganda campaign labeling the consortium of municipalities a “secret society” —  being carried out on the Internet, of course.”

Read more: The Atlantic Wire

 

lily victoria

Nuclear Power Proposal in Utah Reignites a Century-Old Water War

Published on 04/17/2012 in hydropower, nuclear power, rivers, water diversions and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.insideclimatenews.org

“For more than 100 years and maybe back to the days of outlaw Butch Cassidy, water from the Green River has nourished fields of sweet watermelons near the tiny town of Green River, Utah.

But now a part of that water may be siphoned off for another use: cooling the twin reactors of a nuclear power plant that would tower above the town and its melons.

The nuclear facility is the concept of Blue Castle Holdings, a Utah-based and politically connected upstart nuclear development company that has been working on the project for more than three years.

If the $16 billion facility is built, it would generate 3,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 3 million households.”

Read more: Inside Climate News

 

lily victoria

Japan: Plant Leaks Radioactive Water

Published on 04/06/2012 in contaminated water, nuclear power, oceans and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: .

photo retrieved from: www.novinite.com

“The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says tons of highly radioactive water appear to have leaked into the ocean from a purification unit. The Tokyo Electric Power Company is struggling to keep the melted reactors cool and contain radiation; the leak raises concerns about its ability to keep the plant stable. Similar leaks have occurred several times since last year, and officials say they do not pose an immediate health threat. Workers spotted the leak on Thursday coming from a section of hose on a device used to decontaminate cooling water leaking from reactors. The company said it appeared to have stopped the leak.”

Read more: The New York Times

lily victoria

Water Central to Control of Japan Nuclear Plant

Published on 02/28/2012 in contaminated water, graywater, groundwater, nuclear power and peak water. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

FUKUSHIMA

“Nearly a year after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami sparked triple meltdowns at reactors here, the taming of Fukushima Daiichi has become in large part a quest to control water.

“Water is crucial to the continued safety and stability of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, even after reactor temperatures fell at the end of last year to a level at which little radioactivity is being emitted. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. is still injecting hundreds of thousands of gallons into the reactors every day to keep them from overheating again. Because that water and groundwater—now contaminated—is leaking out of the reactors at an estimated 10,000 tons a month, cleaning it up and storing the excess is a constant challenge.

“Tepco has to keep bathing the nuclear reactors in cooling water until the fuel is removed. And until Tepco can plug the leaks and cracks in reactor piping and buildings, contaminated water will keep welling out. Officials estimate it will take six years to plug the leaks and 25 to remove the fuel.”

Read More: http://online.wsj.com/

Chippie Kislik

US approves first new nuclear plant in a generation

Published on 02/09/2012 in aquatic ecosystems and nuclear power. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Scientific American

“U.S. regulators on Thursday approved plans to build the first new nuclear power plant in more than 30 years, despite objections of the panel’s chairman who cited safety concerns stemming from Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster.

“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 to allow Atlanta-based Southern Co to build and operate two new nuclear power reactors at its existing Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia. The units will cost Southern and partners about $14 billion and enter service as soon as 2016 and 2017.

“The approval was cold comfort for nuclear industry officials who have touted a “renaissance” that has failed to materialize, undercut by high costs and the cheapest natural gas prices in about a decade.

“Further clouding future prospects, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko cast an extraordinary dissenting vote, citing the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011 that spurred the NRC to review whether existing and new U.S. reactors could withstand natural disasters like earthquakes and floods.

Read more: Reuters

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