The Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Vermont Yankee is almost as old as Oyster Creek, in Ocean County, near Toms River, and is of similar design. Both Oyster Creek and Vermont Yankee are leaking tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, into the environment. Excelon claims the tritium from Oyster Creek is confined to the plant site.
An Entergy Executive responsible for Vermont Yankee testified under oath to two state panels that there were no buried pipes at Vermont Yankee that could leak tritium. This testimony is now known to be false. The Entergy executive, who perjured himself is believed to be Vice President Jay Thayer.
Vermont Senator Randolph Brock, a Republican from St. Albans, who in the past has supported Vermont Yankee, said "If the board of directors and management of Entergy were thoroughly infiltrated by antinuclear activists, I do not think they could have done a better job of destroying their own case."
This past Friday morning, Former NJ Governor and EPA Administrator Christie Whitman joined the Morning Joe crew for a discussion about Nuclear Energy and whether to build or not to build. They got the disclaimer that she is a lobbyist working with the Nuclear Industry and gets paid for the work right up front, but then had a discussion about the history and future of nuclear energy as a power source. Then they went on to talk about some of the potential benefits and drawbacks of nuclear power:I don't think there is going to be one solution that solves our energy problem and that nuclear should be considered as a possible piece of the puzzle. Obviously the up front costs and time to build are prohibitive, but it seems like we will encounter those problems with many forms of new energy. What are your opinions on nuclear energy and do you think it should be a part of our country's long term plan.
Exelon Nuclear says the fire was in one of the Oyster Creek nuclear plant's two main transformers.
The company says the unit automatically shut down and there was no threat to the public. No one was injured.
Plant operators declared an unusual event at 10:11 p.m. Sunday. The company says the fire was extinguished 16 minutes later and the event ended at 11:37 p.m.
Two months ago, the plant was shut down because of an electrical problem. In that case too, the automatic shut down worked as planned. The plant's license expires this April and Excelon has been trying to renew it with the Nuclear Regulatory commission for another twenty years. I can't imagine this is what they wanted as a lead in to the decision.
In Monmouth County, NJ the Marlboro Republican Club, in Conjunction with the Manalapan Republican Club, is hosting Green Awareness Event, ?An Event to Educate and Benefit our Environment? Tuesday, December 9, 2008 @ 7:00 PM, Marlboro Recreation Building - 1996 Recreation Way, Marlboro Township.
I write on energy policy for Popular Logistics, on the web at http://www.PopularLogistics.com. I ran for school board earlier this year on a solar energy platform - on the web at http://www.furmanforschoolboar... I'd like to thank the Manalapan Republicans and the Marlboro Republicans for holding this event.
I'd like to talk about Nuclear Power and Coal, and clean sustainable energy.
The Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station remains shut down following a weekend problem with one of its two main electrical transformers.
Just after 9 p.m. Friday, an electrical fault occurred in one of the transformers that converts Oyster Creek's output for use on the grid that serves the region.
This is a news roundup from the papers. If I get a chance to talk to any freeholders, I'll try some real reporting. Once again, the top source for Salem County is the local paper, Today's Sunbeam. I did find some news on our local congressional race, but I think it deserves its own diary.
More Inconvenient Truth
How high above sea level are the nuclear power plants at Oyster Creek and Salem?
What will happen to the nuclear plants if sea level rises 20 feet as projected by various global warming scenarios?
I don't know if Solar panels will work when submerged - but they are usually mounted on the roof - and they work even when the basement is flooded. And a solar electric system is composed of a bunch of discrete components which weigh about 8 pounds - as much as a baby - and can easily be moved. According to the guys who sell them, they 'should' last 40 years - they are guaranteed for 25.
Offshore Wind Turbines are mounted on pillars that rise up 3 or 4 miles from the ocean floor to a majestic 400 feet above the surf. A 20 foot rise in sea level won't make a difference. It'll spoil the view - make them harder to see, but they'll hum along generating power with no greenhouse gases, no radioactive wastes, no mercury, no pollution.
Coal plants can be shut down and flooded like Davey Jones Locker or the mythical Atlantis. It will cost a bundle but they won't explode or melt down.
But Nuclear plants? Those bad boys are hot - radioactive. What will happen if they flood? Will they crack? Melt-Down? Will Avon By The Sea become Chernobyl by the Sea? What will happen if they crack and release all that radioactive stuff into the ocean?
