Today’s post is by Dr. Ian Fairlie, reposted with permission from his blog here. In 2013, I discussed several epidemiological studies providing good evidence of radiogenic risks at very low exposure levels. A powerful new study (1) has been published in Lancet Haematology which adds to this evidence. However the study’s findings are perhaps even…
It’s Thanksgiving week here in the U.S., what better time to take a look at some of the real turkeys in the nuclear power business? We don’t have to go back far, however. All of these turkeys took place just this week!
On May 29, 2014, the Illinois House, under pressure from the state’s largest utility Exelon, which is also the nation’s most nuclear-dependent utility, passed a resolution (HR 1146) that urged state agencies to prepare reports that would show just how super Exelon’s reactors are and urged FERC and the EPA to take steps to ensure…
It’s not just from the nuclear giants Exelon and Entergy–energy efficiency and renewable energy programs are under attack from nuclear and fossil fuel-dominated utilities across the country. In Florida, Tampa Bay Times reporter Ivan Penn, who last month won the prestigious Loeb award for business reporting for his work examining the Levy County and Crystal…
Just over a week ago we reported that all five reactors now under construction in the U.S. are experiencing delays and cost overruns. At a hearing Tuesday before the Georgia Public Service Commission on construction of Southern Company’s two Vogtle reactors, the Commission’s own experts “reiterated concerns about struggles for the project south of Augusta.…
The question of the day is: will the nation’s largest nuclear power utility, Exelon, survive? That’s a question that wouldn’t even have been asked a few years ago; Exelon was riding high. But with its stock price down 60% since July 2008, with 55% of its electricity coming from aging and increasingly uncompetitive nuclear reactors,…
The nuclear “renaissance” began fizzling about three minutes after it was declared, once utility financial people took over from the nuclear boosters and did a real examination of reactor construction cost estimates, declining electrical demand, falling prices for natural gas, and rapid growth of renewables. But five new reactors, aided by unique circumstances, do remain…
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week denied a petition filed by Oregon/Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and other groups asking for a shutdown of Washington’s Columbia reactor until it demonstrates it can meet seismic standards. The petition was based on a study that found that earthquake risks for the reactor have been greatly underestimated, as…
We are posting here a statement from International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)and their U.S. affiliate Physicians for Social Responsibility, which today released a major and important critique of the official UNSCEAR study on the health effects of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. This is the most comprehensive and scientific critique of that…
The Department of Energy doesn’t seem to be reassuring many people that it has everything under control following the radioactive leak at its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) three weeks ago. The DOE plans to send a team of specialists into the plant next week to take new radiation measurements inside the site and to…