Green World Blog
News, views & musings for our nuclear-free, carbon-free future
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Exelon’s effort to extend Ginna takes new turn
Exelon’s Ginna reactor, on Lake Ontario. Photo from IAEA. Are my eyes deceiving me or is the containment building housed in a Potemkin structure? Exelon has successfully convinced the New York Public Service Commission to take its side on the fate of the Ginna reactor–so far. The PSC ordered Rochester Gas & Electric, which had…
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Au revoir, Areva?
EDF is building an Areva EPR reactor at Flamanville, France. Like all Areva nuclear projects these days, it’s not going well. The giant French nuclear reactor manufacturer Areva is in serious trouble. According to several reports published today (here’s one from New York Times, here’s one from Reuters), publicly-traded shares in Areva dropped 15% yesterday.…
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Nuclear Matters moves further from reality
A Greenpeace blimp hovers near the Vermont Yankee reactor, now coasting toward its permanent shutdown–much to Nuclear Matters’ chagrin. The very creation by Exelon of Nuclear Matters, an astroturf group devoted to keeping existing nuclear reactors operating at any cost, was a sign of the desperation that characterizes much of the nuclear power industry today,…
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Exelon wins a round
Exelon’s Ginna reactor, on Lake Ontario. Photo from IAEA. Yesterday, the New York Public Service Commission voted unanimously to require the upstate utility Rochester Gas and Electric (RGE) to enter into negotiations with Exelon to keep the company’s uneconomic Ginna reactor from shutting down this year. Exelon subsidiary Constellation Energy, which runs the Ginna reactor,…
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The Inconvenient Truth in the US-China Climate Pact?
Rooftop solar in Qingnan village of Lianyungang, China. China’s government tends to be ruled by a high degree of economic realism. The national economy comes first and has largely trumped other considerations, such as the environment, human rights, democracy, global public opinion, etc. The decision to enter into the climate pact with the U.S., to…
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On awards and elections
Michael Mariotte and daughter Zoryana receive lifetime achievement award from Ralph Nader, November 10, 2014. In the background to the left is a poster signed by all the musicians involved in the 2011 No Nukes concert in Mountain View, California. Wow! What a gift! I haven’t posted anything on GreenWorld in a week. I feel…
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Mobile Chernobyl, Yucca Mountain and climate change denial…elections matter
Artwork by Margaret Matson. There will be a lot of post-election analysis from every possible angle over the next several days. We might supply some more too, but here is our first take as stated in a letter to our members sent today. November 5, 2014 Dear Friends, The election is over and yes, things…
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35 clean energy organizations urge DOE to end nuclear loan program
Seven years later, the DOE’s $18.5 Billion nuclear loan program has paid only for this (the Vogtle reactors as of March 2014). And according to Southern Co. execs, the taxpayer loan wasn’t even needed. Today, 35 clean energy organizations from across the country submitted formal comments to the Department of Energy (DOE) urging it to…
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Exelon fights back, even amid growing earnings
Is Quad Cities uneconomic or making money? Probably the former, but some of Exelon’s other reactors may be doing better than the company has let on. The nation’s largest nuclear utility, Exelon, has launched a new website intended to encourage people in Illinois to write their state legislators in support of Exelon’s nuclear reactors–especially the…
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Within 2 years, Deutsche Bank says rooftop solar will be the cheaper option for everyone
Deutsche Bank has released a new report predicting that rooftop solar will reach “grid parity” in all 50 states of the U.S. in just two years–by the end of 2016. “Grid parity” means that the cost of obtaining electricity from rooftop solar–including installation–is equal to or less than the cost of obtaining electricity from traditional…
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