Prairie Island conversion to natural gas
January 3rd, 2018
There’s been some chatter lately about the financial future of Red Wing if and when the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant closes.
FYI, for those thinking about this, do check out the plan to convert to natural gas, this was in NSP’s 2002 IRP, just going into the 2003 session and that Prairie Island bill.
There’s also a MISO transmission study:
There are plans… This is not a binary all or nothing situation!
Fukushima Daiichi — 4 years ago today
March 11th, 2015
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…
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.
Four years later…
Four years later…
Navy Sailors Possibly Exposed to Fukushima Radiation Fight for Justice
Dinner with Dr. Arjun Makhijani in Red Wing
March 3rd, 2015
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.
(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
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!
Senate Energy Committee Webcast 12 noon!
March 3rd, 2015
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).
One year after Fukushima Daiichi meltdown
March 10th, 2012
I live in Red Wing, home to two nuclear reactors. This week I hope you all will take some time to reflect on the mess at Fukushima Daiichi and the role of nuclear generators in our energy scheme. It was a year ago today when Fukushima Daiichi reactors melted down.
When Fukushima Daiichi first blew up, I spent some time tracking down every shred of info, which wasn’t much. That there was so little information available was startling, and that was emphasized by my blog stats which showed 4,00o+ hits in just one day, people trying desperately to find out what was going on.
For an overview of how difficult it was to get information, and the struggles of even NRC personnel, from Marketplace earlier this week:
From the New York Times:
The Wiki is packed with info:
Here’s what I’d posted then: