Home » Posts tagged 'nuclear power'

Tag Archives: nuclear power

Olduvai
Click on image to purchase

Olduvai III: Catacylsm
Click on image to purchase

Post categories

Post Archives by Category

The Bulletin: May 8-14, 2025

The Bulletin: May 8-14, 2025

This past week’s articles of interest…

If you’re new to my writing, check out this overview.


“The Fourth Turning Is Now Raging…” And Neil Howe Warns “It’s Gone Global” | ZeroHedge

Disaster of Diesel’s Decrease

Musical Chairs on the Global Chessboard: Greenland, Panama, and the Coming Resource Grab

The Fall and Rise of Peak Oil – Ecosophia

Balsa Wood Logging For Wind Turbine Blades Is A Nasty Scene

The Blackout That Shook Spain: Exploring the Fragility of Modern Electric Grids

Complexity, energy, people and inequality

The Money is in Tomorrow’s Denial – by Misanthropocene

Heat and drought are quietly hurting global crop yields

U.S. Orders Intelligence Agencies to Increase Spying on Greenland – MishTalk

Fact Check on Trump’s Claim “We Don’t Do Much Business with Canada” – MishTalk

Ontario To Debut World’s First Small Modular Reactor, GE Predicts | ZeroHedge

The Pillars of Human Dominance and the Path to Ecological Collapse: A 21st-Century Reckoning

Global emergence of unprecedented lifetime exposure to climate extremes | Nature

50,000 Foot View

I’ve been talking civilisational collapse on MSM… and NOT been laughed out of the country!

Social Overshoot? Dunbar’s Number, Real Relationships, and Musical Chairs

Are we heading for another world war – or has it already started?

Plant communities in the Arctic are changing along with the climate, study finds | CBC News

War Is A Growing Concern Across Europe | ZeroHedge

India And Pakistan Agree To US-Mediated “Full & Immediate Ceasefire” | ZeroHedge

America’s Largest Grid Operator Warns Of Summer Power Shortages | ZeroHedge

Carrying Capacity and Overshoot

On Preempting Collapse – The Honest Sorcerer

Technophilia: The Mental Illness Behind Civilisational Collapse – George Tsakraklides

What if Malthus Was Right? – by Ugo Bardi

The Multi-Pronged Relentless Attacks on Our Oceans. | Kevin Hester

Antibiotics from human use are contaminating rivers worldwide, study shows

A River Starves Through It

The Greatest Disasters In Human History

It’s Not “If;” It’s “When” – Doug Casey’s International Man

Russia, Ukraine Exchange Large-Scale Drone Fire Despite Plan For Istanbul Peace Talks | ZeroHedge

The Green Energy Scam and the Deceptive UN/WEF Narratives of Green Politics – Global Research

Signs of Collapse: How It Seems To Be Unfolding

Finding Lights In a Dark Age

How To Make Your Mind Harder For The Propagandists To Manipulate

Paradise Lost

Journey To End Of Empire


If you have arrived here and get something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website or the link below — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).

Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running). 

If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing. 

Costs (Canadian dollars):
Book 1: $2.99
Book 2: $3.89
Book 3: $3.89
Trilogy: $9.99

Feel free to throw in a ‘tip’ on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents/dollars helps… 

https://paypal.me/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US 

If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com.

You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially William Catton’s Overshoot and Joseph Tainter’s Collapse of Complex Societies: see here.

 

The Bulletin: April 24-30, 2025

The Bulletin: April 24-30, 2025

This past week’s articles of interest…

If you’re new to my writing, check out this overview.


Killing People by Lies: The New CO2 Campaign

$10T Money Print! Fed’s New Plan Will Dwarf Bernanke Era | ZeroHedge

The Wile E. Coyote Recession

How I Unintentionally Became an Urban Farmer

Banned DDT discovered in Canadian trout decades after use, research finds | Pollution | The Guardian

The Once and Future Nuke – by Albert Bates

By Disaster or Design – by Matt Orsagh

Rights of Nature as Direct Action to Confront Unjust Systems of Power

Brace for rapid changes in the economy; the world economy is reaching Limits to Growth

The 19 richest households in America added $1 trillion in wealth last year

Pakistan Warns Of ‘Act Of War’ After India Cancels Landmark Water Treaty | ZeroHedge

Kremlin Issues Nuclear Warning Aimed At West As Ukraine Peace Efforts Stall | ZeroHedge

Told You So. Trump’s Top Adviser Just Confirmed the Reset

Bringing Back the Rains To Southern Africa

“Fragile, impermanent things”: Joseph Tainter on what makes civilizations fall – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Seeing lost winters, not just rising temperatures, shakes climate indifference

India Warned of ‘Act of War’ By Pakistan As Relations Collapse – Newsweek

India, Pakistan Trade Gunfire & Build-Up Militaries After Kashmir Terror Attack | ZeroHedge

There is No Way Out of This That Doesn’t Involve Money Printing | ZeroHedge

Major Iranian Port Paralyzed: 700 Injured, 5 Dead After Massive Explosion | ZeroHedge

“Take Control Of Their Food Supply”: Tractor Supply CEO Says Backyard Chicken Demand Skyrockets | ZeroHedge

Tensions over Kashmir and a warming planet have placed the Indus Waters Treaty on life support

Health Prepping: Seed Oils Are Poison

Energy transition: the end of an idea – by Chris Smaje

Thorium nuclear bombs and reactors have too many challenges – Peak Everything, Overshoot, & Collapse

How Much Is Enough? – Charles Hugh Smith’s Substack

Part 2: Interview With Just Collapse

Longtermism: The Key to Human Survival?

Resources and Our Future

Belligerence On ‘Energy Dominance’ Is Losing The U.S. Respect

It’s Always About the System

The CEOs of Walmart, Target, Home Depot Warn That Store Shelves All Over America Could Soon Be Empty

‘They Lied To Us About Iraq’s WMDs, But They’ve Taken It To Another Level With Ukraine…’; Hitchens | ZeroHedge

The Endlessness of a Temporary Tax – Doug Casey’s International Man

Population Control Versus Population Growth

William of Ockham and the Collapse Of Complexity: A Razor’s Edge for the End Times

Supply Chain Crisis Looms: Shortages Set to Slam Markets! | ZeroHedge

Product shortages and empty store shelves loom with falling shipments from China

How a solar storm could lead to a US nuclear disaster worse than Chernobyl | Mark Leyse | The Guardian


If you have arrived here and get something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website or the link below — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).

Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running). 

If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing. 

Costs (Canadian dollars):
Book 1: $2.99
Book 2: $3.89
Book 3: $3.89
Trilogy: $9.99

Feel free to throw in a ‘tip’ on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents/dollars helps… 

https://paypal.me/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US 

If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com.

You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially William Catton’s Overshoot and Joseph Tainter’s Collapse of Complex Societies: see here.

The Bulletin: April 17-23, 2025

The Bulletin: April 17-23, 2025

This past week’s articles of interest…

If you’re new to my writing, check out this overview.


How Climate Change Fuels Increasing Wildfire Disasters

Extended Heatwave in India, Pakistan To Test Survivability

History Will Not Repeat Itself – George Tsakraklides

Zero-Based Extinction: Nature’s Life Support Gets a Sunset Clause

The Structure of Geopolitical Revolutions | Art Berman

Technology Addiction and Lessons

The unregulated link in a toxic supply chain | Grist

The End Of Thinking

What will happen when the world runs out of oil? | 60 Minutes Australia

EIA Says U.S. Oil Production Will Peak in 2027 | OilPrice.com

Unintended Consequences in a Complex World – by Nate Hagens

How Things Break: Hyper-Optimization

Being Certain About Uncertainty – The Honest Sorcerer

2030 Doomsday Scenario: The Great Nuclear Collapse

Poverty and Progress – by Gunnar Rundgren

Our Sad Species | how to save the world

“China Will Never Accept It”: Beijing Warns Countries Against Trade Deal With Trump At China’s Expense | ZeroHedge

What’s “Normal” in a Hyper-Normalized World?

Science Snippets: The Disasters Of Cooking and Heating With Plastic

Pope Francis Failed: Now we Need a New Religion?

From Gridlock to Road Rage: What Collapse Feels Like

The first commercial carbon sequestration plant in the U.S. leaks – Peak Everything, Overshoot, & Collapse

Living In the Shadows


If you have arrived here and get something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website or the link below — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).

Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running). 

If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing. 

Costs (Canadian dollars):
Book 1: $2.99
Book 2: $3.89
Book 3: $3.89
Trilogy: $9.99

Feel free to throw in a ‘tip’ on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents/dollars helps… 

https://paypal.me/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US 

If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com.

You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially William Catton’s Overshoot and Joseph Tainter’s Collapse of Complex Societies: see here.

 

The Bulletin: February 13-19, 2025

The Bulletin: February 13-19, 2025

CLICK HERE

 

What Will Energy Dominance Be Used For? – by Arthur Berman

Thirsty For Solutions, Water Scarcity Grips Iraq

Humans will Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Nine Meals To Chaos

The Double Bind of Collapse | how to save the world

Ecological Collapse Supersedes Financial Collapse

The Crisis Report – 101 – by Richard Crim

We Are the Stewards of Our Future – by Nate Hagens

On Human (Over)Population – by Andrea P

Shell’s Flawed Report: The 2025 Energy Security Scenarios

High-Explosive Drone Pierces Shell Of Chernobyl Nuclear Plant At Very Moment Trump Pushes Ukraine Toward Peace | ZeroHedge

Earthconomics 101: There Is a Killer on the Loose – George Tsakraklides

The War for Mineral Non-Resources – by Ugo Bardi

Are We Doomed? – Biocentric with Max Wilbert

The Tug of War Between Forests and Oceans

The Psychology of Collapse: A Deep Dive in Human Misbehavior

From the Archives: The Epic Failure Of Modern Experts

The Shape of Things to Come – The Honest Sorcerer

Plant Once, Harvest Forever: 15 Perennial Veggies for Endless Abundance – Garden Beds

Science Snippets: Shifts in World’s Largest Ocean Current Linked to Southern Ocean Upwelling During Warm Intervals

Humans Are The Only Animal That Willingly Destroys Their Own Home

How America will collapse (by 2025) | Salon.com

AMOC Collapse: The Looming Climate Catastrophe & Global Consequences

Collapse Dialogue Derailments

The West Faces Uranium Shortage Amid Competition From China and Russia

Money as an Agent of Death – George Tsakraklides

The Story You’ve Been Told About Recycling Is a Lie

Historical Perspective: How the US and the World Fell into the Hands of International Private Bankers – Global Research

Virtual Reality | Do the Math

Prepping isn’t just for preppers anymore—it’s time to get a go-bag | Popular Science

The Bulletin: November 7-13, 2024

The Bulletin: November 7-13, 2024

Thousands Of Californians Lose Power After PG&E Protects Grid As Wildfire Risks Soar | ZeroHedge

The Possible Relevance of Joseph Tainter – by Brink Lindsey

The Recession of 2025 Will Be Backdated | The Epoch Times

‘Ecosystems are collapsing’: one of Australia’s longest rivers has lost more than half its water in one section, research shows | Water | The Guardian

Do You Want Truth or Illusion?

Has the world ‘surrendered’ to climate change? These authors think so | CBC News

Here’s Why These Geopolitical and Financial Chokepoints Need Your Attention…

67 Reasons why wind turbines cannot replace fossil fuels | Peak Everything, Overshoot, & Collapse

Adapting For the End of Growth

All States are Empires of Lies | Mises Institute

It Is Time We Educate Children About The Coming Collapse – George Tsakraklides

What Kind of Society Will We Have?

We Are On the Brink Of An Irreversible Climate Disaster

Trump’s Three Arrows

What You Need To Know About Preparing For Emergencies

Can We Escape Our Predicament? – The Honest Sorcerer

Science Snippets: Buildings Collapsing Due to Climate Change

Surviving the Apocalypse: A Practical Guide to Modern Risks

The Politics of Collapse: uncommon conversations for unprecedented times – Prof Jem Bendell

Microplastics Could Be Making the Weather Worse | WIRED

Nuclear electricity generation has hidden problems; don’t expect advanced modular units to solve them.

Trump Inherits Turd of an Economy – Ed Dowd | Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog

Amsterdam shows us just how brazenly the media rewrites history

Global Food Prices Re-Accelerate For Second Month As Situation Remains ‘Sticky’ | ZeroHedge

‘Nothing grows anymore’: In Malawi, eating becomes a daily struggle due to climate change

Financial Collapse Within 18 Months

Why Don’t We Just Build More Nuclear?

Buzzkill: The Alarming Impact of Light Pollution on Honey Bee Health

Understanding Energy Use: The Challenge Of Substituting Electrification

July 3, 2024 Readings

July 3, 2024 Readings

2019: Peak (Western) Civilization–The Honest Sorcerer

Summer Reflections–Erik Michaels

The Long Forum June 2024 – by Shane Simonsen

Can The Law Drag Fossil Fuels Into Greener Pastures?

We Are All Joe Biden (And Malthus Was Not a Reptilian)–Ugo Bardi

The Coming US Budget Disaster Will Impoverish Americans | Mises Institute

Ongoing Propaganda From Corporate Media Outlets–Guy McPherson

Category 4 Beryl on collision course with Windward Islands

Delhi experiences historic June rainfall, resulting in severe flooding and 11 deaths, India – The Watchers

Hundreds Dying Everyday In Karachi As Pakistan Battles Brutal Summer–Independent

Tropical rains will shift northward in the coming decades – Earth.com

Alaska’s snow crab season canceled for second year in a row as population fails to rebound – CBS News

Moderate to above-moderate harmful algal bloom predicted for western Lake Erie | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The True Catastrophe of Our Times – TomDispatch.com

Restoring Nature Is Our Only Climate Solution – resilience

I saw first-hand just how much fracking destroys the earth | Rebecca Solnit | The Guardian

How World Leaders Are Scrambling to Secure Food in The Shadows | by Eric Lee | Jun, 2024 | Medium

China deploys aircraft carrier off Philippine coast amid tensions | World News – Business Standard

You Are Materials Blind–Matt Orsagh

Third Of Nuclear-Plant Owners In Talks With Tech Firms To Power Up AI Data Centers | ZeroHedge

NATO Mulls Imposing No-Fly Zone Over Western Ukraine | ZeroHedge

Biden’s De Facto EV Mandate At Risk After Supreme Court ‘Chevron’ Ruling

Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline Off To A Solid Start

Meet The Company Helping Restart The Nuclear Revolution In The U.S.

Meet The Company Helping Restart The Nuclear Revolution In The U.S.

A company called Holtec has become the voice for restarting the nuclear power revolution in the U.S.

As it becomes clear that the nation’s needs for power are far underserved, and will certainly be in the future with the adoption of AI, one company, currently the “top US manufacturer of storage equipment for nuclear waste”, is advocating for restarting cold reactors across the country.

Lately, the company’s ambitions have soared. Since 2019, it’s acquired four retired nuclear plants originally intending to decommission them: Indian Point (NY), Oyster Creek (NJ), Pilgrim (MA), and Palisades (MI), according to Bloomberg.

Tearing down old reactors promised good returns due to the hefty trust funds tied to cleanup costs. Holtec quickly became the nation’s leading nuclear decommissioner.

And, as the report notes, despite initially purchasing Palisades to dismantle it, Holtec is now planning to restart the reactor with a $1.5 billion loan from the DOE, marking the first time a cold reactor would be revived in the U.S. However, Holtec lacks experience in running nuclear plants.

While concerns have been raised due to Holtec’s safety violations in the past four years of decommissioning, others consider such infractions normal in this tightly regulated industry. Nevertheless, nuclear power is increasingly seen as key to curbing greenhouse gas emissions, and Holtec aims to have Palisades online again soon and launch its own small modular reactors (SMRs) by the end of the decade.

SMRs, factory-built reactors that can be assembled onsite, represent a highly complex and largely unproven endeavor for Holtec and the industry – yet one we have written about extensively as the obvious next step for the industry. Just yesterday we highlighted Sam Altman’s now-greenlighted nuclear SPAC, trading under ALCC before switching to OKLO at the end of this week.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Net-Zero Is Pulling the Plug on America’s Electrical ‘Life Support System,’ New Documentary Says

Net-Zero Is Pulling the Plug on America’s Electrical ‘Life Support System,’ New Documentary Says

‘We are seeing the grid’s reliability, resilience and affordability all declining,’ filmmaker Robert Bryce said.
Electricity is among the most essential sources of America’s unparalleled prosperity and productivity; it is also the greatest vulnerability.

The United States has become so utterly dependent upon an uninterrupted supply of affordable electricity that, as our grid becomes ever more fragile American society has become fragile along with it.

Former CIA director James Woolsey testified before the U.S. Senate in 2015 that, if America’s electric grid were to go down for an extended period, such as one year, “there are essentially two estimates on how many people would die from hunger, from starvation, from lack of water, and from social disruption.

“One estimate is that within a year or so, two-thirds of the United States population would die,” Mr. Woolsey said. “The other estimate is that within a year or so, 90 percent of the U.S. population would die.”

Chris Keefer, president of Canadians for Nuclear Energy, concurred.

“The energy grid is a civilizational life support system, and without it, modern society collapses very quickly,” he said.

Mr. Keefer is one of the experts featured in energy analyst, author, and documentarian Robert Bryce’s new film, “Juice: Power, Politics and the Grid.” This five-part docuseries looks at how and why America is now “fragilizing” and destabilizing the engineering marvel that is the central pillar of our society.

“We are seeing the grid’s reliability, resilience, and affordability all declining,” Mr. Bryce told The Epoch Times. “We wanted to get people and policy makers to understand that our most important energy network is being fragilized, and we ignore this danger at our peril,” Mr. Bryce said.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Visualizing All The Nuclear Waste In The World

Visualizing All The Nuclear Waste In The World

Nuclear power is among the safest and cleanest sources of electricity, making it a critical part of the clean energy transition.

However, nuclear waste, an inevitable byproduct, is often misunderstood.

In collaboration with the National Public Utilities CouncilVisual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti created the following graphic to show the volume of all existing nuclear waste, categorized by its level of hazardousness and disposal requirements, based on data from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)..

Storage and Disposal

Nuclear provides about 10% of global electricity generation.

Nuclear waste, produced as a result of this, can be divided into four different types:

  • Very low-level waste: Waste suitable for near-surface landfills, requiring lower containment and isolation.
  • Low-level waste: Waste needing robust containment for up to a few hundred years, suitable for disposal in engineered near-surface facilities.
  • Intermediate-level waste: Waste that requires a greater degree of containment and isolation than that provided by near-surface disposal.
  • High-level waste: Waste is disposed of in deep, stable geological formations, typically several hundred meters below the surface.

Despite safety concerns, high-level radioactive waste constitutes less than 0.25% of total radioactive waste reported to the IAEA.

Stored and disposed radioactive waste reported to the IAEA under the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. Data is from the last reporting year which varies by reporting country, 2019-2023.

The amount of waste produced by the nuclear power industry is small compared to other industrial activities.

While flammable liquids comprise 82% of the hazardous materials shipped annually in the U.S., radioactive waste accounts for only 0.01%.

Europe’s Energy Troubles Continue: Hydro And Nuclear Output Declining

Europe’s Energy Troubles Continue: Hydro And Nuclear Output Declining

  • Europe’s hydro and nuclear output is declining, leading to mopre energy troubles.
  • Renewables are struggling to fill the gap as wind and solar output increase.
  • The EU may require increased LNG imports from the US to meet energy demands.

Last year, Europe was on the brink of an energy breakdown as Russian gas flows dried up and most of Europe doubled down on renewable energy.

The renewable energy bet paid off, in a way. Solar and wind electricity generation in Europe hit a record in 2022. In fact, for the first time in history, wind and solar together produced more electricity than natural gas-fired power plants.

There was just one problem with that. Lower hydro and nuclear output more than wiped out the significance of that record output.

Droughts were severe in Europe last year. They threatened major trade routes such as the Rhein in Germany and the Po in Italy. And they also caused severe declines in hydropower electricity output. For example, in Spain, hydropower output dropped by almost half because of the droughts. All this might repeat this year as well.

Meanwhile, nuclear wasn’t doing so swell, either. France suddenly found that years of underinvestment in maintenance would have consequences: emergency reactor shutdowns for repairs and maintenance.

The problems cost EDF a massive annual loss of $19 billion as half of its reactors had to be shut down for maintenance. Most blamed the pandemic, but nuclear experts such as Mark Nelson saw the roots of the problem much further into the past when France decided to bet on renewables over nuclear.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

MIT Study: Nuclear Power Shutdown Could Lead To Increased Deaths

MIT Study: Nuclear Power Shutdown Could Lead To Increased Deaths

  • A new MIT study indicates that retiring U.S. nuclear power plants could lead to an increase in burning fossil fuels to fill the energy gap, resulting in over 5,000 premature deaths due to increased air pollution.
  • Nearly 20 percent of current electricity in the U.S. comes from nuclear power, with a fleet of 92 reactors scattered around the country.
  • If more renewable energy sources become available to supply the grid by 2030, air pollution could be curtailed, but there may still be a slight increase in pollution-related deaths.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology new study shows that if U.S. nuclear power plants are retired, the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas to fill the energy gap could cause more than 5,000 premature deaths.

The MIT team took on the questions in the text following in a new study appearing in Nature Energy.

Nearly 20 percent of today’s electricity in the United States comes from nuclear power. The U.S. has the largest nuclear fleet in the world, with 92 reactors scattered around the country. Many of these power plants have run for more than half a century and are approaching the end of their expected lifetimes.

Policymakers are debating whether to retire the aging reactors or reinforce their structures to continue producing nuclear energy, which many consider a low-carbon alternative to climate-warming coal, oil, and natural gas.

Now, MIT researchers say there’s another factor to consider in weighing the future of nuclear power: air quality. In addition to being a low carbon-emitting source, nuclear power is relatively clean in terms of the air pollution it generates. Without nuclear power, how would the pattern of air pollution shift, and who would feel its effects?

…click on the above link to read the rest…

US Nuclear Reactors Among The Oldest In The World

US Nuclear Reactors Among The Oldest In The World

The United States’ 92 nuclear reactors currently in operation have a mean age of 41.6 years, the third oldest in the world.

As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports, the only nuclear fleets that are older are those of Switzerland (46.3 years) and Belgium (42.3 years). Also older are the singular reactors in use in Armenia and the Netherlands.

Infographic: U.S. Nuclear Reactors Among The Oldest In The World | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

The U.S. was among the first commercial adopters of nuclear energy in the 1950s, explaining the number of aging reactors today. A building boom between the 1960s and 1970s created today’s nuclear power plants in the United States. The five reactors completed in the 1990s and the one finished in 2016 were all holdovers of delayed construction projects from the 1970s experiencing roadblocks due to regulatory problems and mounting opposition to nuclear energy. The most recent construction start date of a completed U.S. reactor today is 1978 – one year before the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, which further cemented the public’s rejection of nuclear energy and the challenges of updating nuclear reactor infrastructure today. However, two reactors started at Vogtle power plant in Georgia in 2013 will join the grid soon as the newest additions to the U.S. fleet. They too experienced many regulatory and other delays, culminating in the bankruptcy of the reactor construction company. The U.S. government stepped in with a loan so that the project can now be finished almost 17 years after its initial proposal.

The U.S. today is one of only 15 countries which the World Nuclear Industry Status Report lists as actively pursuing nuclear energy. This includes new nuclear programs in the United Arab Emirates, Belarus and Iran that were started in the past decade only, as well as a younger program in China that started producing power in 1991 and today has a mean reactor fleet age of just nine years…

…click on the above link to read the rest…

11 years later, fate of Fukushima reactor cleanup uncertain

Tanks storing treated radioactive water after it was used to cool the melted fuel are seen at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), in Okuma town, northeastern Japan, Thursday, March 3, 2022. The government has announced plans to release the water after treatment and dilution to well below the legally releasable levels through a planned undersea tunnel at a site about 1 kilometer offshore.  (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Tanks storing treated radioactive water after it was used to cool the melted fuel are seen at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), in Okuma town, northeastern Japan, Thursday, March 3, 2022. The government has announced plans to release the water after treatment and dilution to well below the legally releasable levels through a planned undersea tunnel at a site about 1 kilometer offshore. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

OKUMA, Japan (AP) — Eleven years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was ravaged by a meltdown following a massive earthquake and tsunami, the plant now looks like a sprawling construction site. Most of the radioactive debris blasted by the hydrogen explosions has been cleared and the torn buildings have been fixed.

During a recent visit by journalists from The Associated Press to see firsthand the cleanup of one of the world’s worst nuclear meltdowns, helmeted men wore regular work clothes and surgical masks, instead of previously required hazmat coveralls and full-face masks, as they dug near a recently reinforced oceanside seawall.

Workers were preparing for the planned construction of an Olympic pool-sized shaft for use in a highly controversial plan set to begin in the spring of 2023 to gradually get rid of treated radioactive water — now exceeding 1.3 million tons stored in 1,000 tanks — so officials can make room for other facilities needed for the plant’s decommissioning.

Despite the progress, massive amounts of radioactive melted fuel remain inside of the reactors. There’s worry about the fuel because so much about its condition is still unknown, even to officials in charge of the cleanup.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

‘Serious’ incident at Finnish nuclear power plant under control

The nuclear power plants in Olkiluoto are located in south-western Finland.
The nuclear power plants in Olkiluoto are located in south-western Finland.   –   Copyright  JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP

Authorities have stated there is no danger after a “serious” incident was reported at a nuclear power station in Finland.

The incident occurred in reactor 2 of the Olkiluoto power station, in the southwest of the country at 12.22 local time (11:22 CET).

But the Finnish nuclear safety authority (STUK) later confirmed that the situation was stable and the reactor had been shut down.

“A severe abnormal disturbance occurred at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant unit 2,” STUK said in a statement.

“The disturbance was possibly caused by a fault in the purification system for the reactor water… there was no radioactive release to the environment.

STUK added there was no need for protective measures and they did not expect any danger outside the unit. No workers or personnel had been exposed to radiation or injured in the incident.

“STUK started the emergency activities immediately in full force due to exceptionally high radiation levels inside the unit,” said director general Petteri Tiippana.

“There are about 80 persons following the situation, but we do not see an acute threat.”

About a third of Finland’s electricity comes from nuclear power, with four reactors in operation and two under construction.

Europe’s Nuclear & Hydropower Falter With Droughts

Europe’s Nuclear & Hydropower Falter With Droughts

As Europe looks to secure alternative energy sources to Russian gas in light of the war in UkraineStatista’s Anna Fleck warnsa new threat to energy security is stirring, this time from droughts.

The droughts hitting Europe are impacting everything from food to transportation to the environment.

In Italy, the River Po has fallen two meters below its normal levels, seeing rice paddy fields dry out. Meanwhile, Germany’s River Rhine has become so shallow that cargo vessels can’t pass through it fully loaded, pushing up shipping costs, and France’s Tille River, in the Burgundy region, is now a dried up bed covered in thousands of dead fish.

But Europe’s energy production has also been impacted. As Statista’s chart below shows, hydroelectric power has fallen some 20 percent since 2021. This partly comes down to the fact reservoirs have been drying up in countries such as Italy, Serbia, Montenegro and Norway. The latter, according to Bloomberg, usually a major hydroproducer, is even taking the steps to reduce exports in order to prioritize refilling its reservoir’s low water levels so the country can maintain domestic production.

Infographic: Europe’s Nuclear & Hydropower Falter With Droughts | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

Nuclear power too has fallen since 2021. One reason for this is that France has had to shut down several of its nuclear power plants because the rivers Rhone and the Garonne have been too warm to be able to cool down its reactors. France is 70 percent dependent on nuclear energy and is a key exporter of electricity, usually supplying Italy, Germany and the UK. It’s important to note here however, that other problems are troubling France’s nuclear fleet too. A significant number of the country’s power plants have had to be powered down recently due to malfunctions and maintenance issues, which had been delayed because of the pandemic. These combined reasons mean, according to Wired, that the country’s hydropower output is down nearly 50 percent.

Olduvai IV: Courage
Click on image to read excerpts

Olduvai II: Exodus
Click on image to purchase

Click on image to purchase @ FriesenPress