Legalectric

An old PJM map, some transmission built since, some plans abandoned, like MAPP!

Today PJM released its “State of the Market” report, and this is something that everyone in the MISO region should read because afterall, that’s their “Target Market.”

2014 State of the Market Report for PJM		Posting Date
Volume I Volume I (2MB PDF) contains the introduction.Volume II Volume II (14MB PDF) contains detailed analysis and results.

I LOVE IT WHEN THIS HAPPENS — PJM PEAK DEMAND DOWN 10.1%

And here’s the MISO LMP map so you can see just what the electrical market is doing in real time:

MISO LMP MAP

Four years ago today nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi started melting down.

… same type of reactor that it is in Monticello, along the Mississippi River, upriver and just northwest of the Twin Cities.

Four years later…

Japan Radiation Map

Four years later…

Some residents to ‘come home to Fukushima disaster zone

The government says about 138,000 Fukushima residents are still living in temporary accommodation.

At a meeting Sunday, Miyakoji residents were told that radiation contamination levels had lowered sufficiently for their return to the area — though some voiced concern over existing radiation levels despite decontamination efforts around some communities.

Four years later…

Navy sailors have radiation sickness after Japan rescue

Four years later…

Navy Sailors Possibly Exposed to Fukushima Radiation Fight for Justice

In March of 2011, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan rushed to Japan to help after the disastrous tsunami. Since then, many sailors from that ship have fallen ill, possibly as a result of exposure to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. They will soon have their day in court.

…

The court decision came in the mail a few weeks later. The class-action lawsuit, the court ruled on Oct. 28, may proceed. Oral arguments are scheduled to begin on Feb. 26.

The complaint is 100 pages long and contains the names of 247 sick sailors along with details pertaining to reactor construction, water samples taken, Navy tactics and Japanese politics. It assails company greed just as it does the negligence of those who built the Fukushima reactors — and goes on to censure global politics and the cynicism of humankind. A kind of Old Testament fury infuses the text, and the complaint is so sweeping that it almost loses track of its true target. The USS Ronald Reagan appears therein as humanity’s last ship. An aircraft carrier. A ship of ghosts.

BNSF Update (21 cars derailed, 5 burning)

Another BNSF Bakken oil BOOM! train has derailed and blown up.  Evacuations are happening as I type within a 1 mile radius of the wreck.  DOH!  How much more of this will we have to take?

Access will be a problem on this one too, “had to access it by bike trail.”  Great, just great… They couldn’t get to the source of the fire, and had to leave quickly for safety reasons, abandoning over $10k of equipment at the site.  They’re going to “let it burn out.”  Could be a while.  EPA is on way from Chicago, BNSF crews from area.  There’s some good video on the KWQC link way below.   The oil is going down from the railroad grade, burning, and trees down there are on fire too, it’s a wooded area, and could go up in flames.  It’s not directly on the river, but the river isn’t that far away.

Dubuque Telegraph Herald — UPDATE: Evacuations underway as railcars burn near Galena

WQAD: Train carrying oil derails near Galena, Illinois

STrib: BNSF freight train loaded with crude oil derails near Illinois city of Galena, catches fire

Chicago Sun-Times: State agencies mobilize after crude oil train derails near Galena

Posted at Chicago Sun-Times:

KWQC: Clean-up crews on scene at train derailment site near Galena, Ill.

Visible on the ski slope cameras:  Live slope top cameras located at Chestnut Mountain Ski Resort.  Dark now, but should be visible again tomorrow.

Reuters: BNSF oil train derails in rural Illinois; two cars aflame

KWWL: UPDATE: 8 train cars derail; 2 continue to burn crude oil

After listening to his testimony today before Minnesota’s Senate Environment and Energy Committee…

Video (weird write up, omitted the most important witness!!!), see 10:06:

*Lifting Moratorium on New Nuclear Power Plants

Arjun Makhijani – Minnesota Senate E and E Committee 03-03-2015

… we got another dose when Dr. Makhijani graced us with his presence at Fiesta Mexicana, with tales of Nuclear Waste Confidence that lit up every burn-up and zircaloy cladding wonk around the tables!  It’s really depressing stuff, so it was better to discuss this dreadful and so unbelievable nuclear situation in a dedicated misery-loves-company group.

In his testimony, he’d brought up the dangers of moving forward with nuclear plans where there is “Construction Work in Progress” for utilities to recoup funds spent on construction long before it is in-service, if ever, as is happening with the Vogtle plant.  So I took a stroll through our statutes, long familiar with our 2005 Construction Work in Progress give-away to Xcel on transmission, and found that, sure enough, it is an option for Minnesota utilities:

Minn. Stat. 216B.16, Subd. 6a. Construction work in progress.

To the extent that construction work in progress is included in the rate base, the commission shall determine in its discretion whether and to what extent the income used in determining the actual return on the public utility property shall include an allowance for funds used during construction, considering the following factors:

(1) the magnitude of the construction work in progress as a percentage of the net investment rate base;

(2) the impact on cash flow and the utility’s capital costs;

(3) the effect on consumer rates;

(4) whether it confers a present benefit upon an identifiable class or classes of customers; and

(5) whether it is of a short-term nature or will be imminently useful in the provision of utility service.

Xcel did finally come out and admitted their support for removal of the nuclear moratorium.  When considered in light of their e21_Initiative_Phase_I_Report_2014, there’s a trajectory that I see, and wish I didn’t: Xcel could build a new nuclear plant on the ratepayers dime and sell it on the market using their new transmission that we’re paying for, making Minnesota an electricity exporter!

Tonight, we discussed the Nuclear Waste Confidence decision, which is a “No-Confidence” decision, the word “confidence” has been removed from NRC lexicon.  Well, there is that other meaning of “confidence” to consider…

So on that happy note, I’ll have mango margaroodie dreams about the Pt. Beach cask explosion and the current task of changing the seals on those 20 year old TN-40 casks!

Here’s Dr. Arjun Makhijani’s Powerpoint from this afternoon:

Arjun Makhijani draft slides for Minnesota Senate E and E Committee 03-03-2015

12 noon!  Nuclear Senate bills!  Tune in to the Senate Webcast – Environment and Energy Committee

Flash Media
Windows Media – Closed captioned 

12 p.m. – Live Senate Environment and Energy Committee

Agenda:
S.F. 306 (Kiffmeyer) Nuclear power plant certificate of need issuance prohibition elimination (for discussion only and consideration for possible inclusion in omnibus energy bill).
S.F. 536 (Anderson, B.) Monticello new nuclear-powered electric generating unit construction authorization (for discussion only and consideration for possible inclusion in omnibus energy bill).