Green World Blog
News, views & musings for our nuclear-free, carbon-free future
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A Tale of Two Vogtles: Georgia Reactors are Nuclear’s Last Stand, and the End of the Road
The nuclear power industry and its political backers could not afford to let the Vogtle nuclear project collapse so soon after its twin in South Carolina (the Summer 2 and 3 reactors). It’s hard to overestimate how desperate the U.S. nuclear industry is to keep Vogtle construction going. Rightly or wrongly (more likely the latter),…
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Georgia Commission Continues Vogtle Reactor Boondoggle … But the Project is Probably Still Doomed
Today, the Georgia Public Service Commission, which regulates electric and gas utilities in the state, voted to approve continued construction of two nuclear reactors at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle. This decision is unsurprising because of the Commission’s utter failure to question the project throughout its ten-year history, but the decision is all the more ridiculous…
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Trump Administration Rushing Bailout for Nuclear and Coal Market Rules Could Reshape U.S. Energy Policy, Block Renewables
Until last month, it wasn’t clear whether U.S. President Donald Trump intended to follow through on his promises to promote dirty energy. The signs had been bad since the early days of his campaign–from bellicose claims about “bringing coal back” and intending to pull out of the Global Climate Agreement, to canceling the Clean Power…
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The Cost of Doing (Nuclear) Business
Image courtesy of Flickr. Irma and Harvey mark the first time on record that two category 4 or higher hurricanes have struck the U.S. mainland in the same year[1], let alone within one week of each other. To say this has been a destructive and costly hurricane season would be a gross understatement. Climate change…
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Late Week Tonight host, John Oliver, Takes on Nuclear Waste
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Comedian and political commentator, John Oliver, tackled the issue of radioactive nuclear waste during the August 20th episode of Late Week Tonight, and overall, did a fantastic job. No matter your political leanings, we can all agree that nuclear waste is bad. Oliver accurately defined nuclear waste as the toxic radioactive…
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Here’s Why #DirtyEnergy Won’t Work!
Image courtesy of Wikimedia. Hurricane Harvey has been declared the most intense rain event in U.S. history. Houston and surrounding areas experienced 50 inches of rain over four days. This historic flooding event has left at least 33 people dead, hundreds of thousands displaced, and entire communities without running water and electricity. And two nuclear…
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Don’t Let #DirtyEnergy TRUMP the Climate!
NIRS is launching a new campaign to stop a national bailout to promote nuclear power and coal. No one knows exactly what the Trump administration’s plans are yet, but we expect them to be announced very soon. This will reportedly kick off with a Department of Energy report claiming that nuclear and coal need more…
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The Astronomical Cost of New Subsidies for Old Reactors: $280 Billion.
GreenWorld has covered the unfolding story of the American nuclear power industry’s clamor for new subsidies and bailouts since it started in 2014. Purely as a spectator sport, it might have been entertaining to watch the country’s largest utilities go from proclaiming a “Nuclear Renaissance” a decade ago to peddling the message that “Nuclear Matters.”…
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Watts Bar 2: Winning a Battle While Losing the War
New Electrical Generation From Wind & Solar Is 21 Times Greater Than That Expected from Watts Bar 2 (prepared by the SUN DAY Campaign, October 2016) [Editor’s Note: GreenWorld is pleased to publish this guest post by Ken Bossong, of the SUN DAY Campaign. Ken puts the startup of the first U.S. nuclear reactor in…
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New York Just Proved Why Bailing Out Nuclear Power Is a Bad Idea
New York approved a $7.6-$10 billion subsidy to prop up uncompetitive nuclear power plants–twice as much money as it will take for the state to achieve a goal to generate 50% of its electricity with renewables by 2030. Yesterday, New York became the first state to adopt a policy to subsidize aging, uncompetitive nuclear reactors.…
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