Tag: nuclear reactors

Study Questions Nuclear Plant Safety

An environmental group is calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to monitor nuclear power plants more closely before there’s a severe accident. Lester Graham reports the group issued a report on nuke plants that have had problems:

Transcript

An environmental group is calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to monitor nuclear power plants more closely before there’s a severe accident. Lester Graham reports the group issued a report on nuke plants that have had problems:


The report from the Union of Concerned Scientists looked at problems that caused nuclear reactors to shut down for a year or more. It’s happened 51 times. The report found 36 of those year-plus outages were caused by “excessive” tolerance by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.


The nuclear industry notes there has not been a serious accident since Three Mile Island in 1979. The industry says if it can replace its aging plants, things will be even safer.


David Lochbaum is the author of the report. He says hold on, not until you fix the problem.


“Nuclear power plants are aging. But the conditions that led up to these year-plus outages need to be addressed to provide a proper foundation for any new nuclear power plants that are built. Otherwise we’ll just be replicating yesterday’s mistakes.”


The report includes six recommendations to identify and fix problems at nuclear power plants faster.


For the Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.

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New Nuke Plants North of the Border?

As many as eight new nuclear reactors might be built over the next twenty years if recommendations are acted on north of the border. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports… dwindling energy supplies have put Ontario’s new government in a corner, and political leaders say there may be little choice but to build more nuclear plants:

Transcript

As many as eight new nuclear reactors might be built over the next twenty years if
recommendations are acted on north of the border. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan
Karpenchuk reports, dwindling energy supplies have put Ontario’s new government in a corner,
and political leaders say there may be little choice but to build more nuclear plants:


Dwight Duncan is Ontario’s new Energy Minister.


And in a recent speech to business leaders in Toronto, he said his biggest challenge is to rebuild
the province’s capacity to provide power over the next twenty years.


His government has promised to close coal burning generating stations by 2007. In addition, all
of the province’s nuclear plants will reach the end of their natural lives by about 2020 unless
they’re refurbished. Government officials predict a huge energy shortfall unless decisions are
made soon.


And Duncan says that could mean more nuclear plants, despite opposition from
environmentalists.


“Absolutely, there’s a body of opinion in this province that I imagine would oppose any nuclear,
and that will be a debate if we go down that route, we will all have to engage in.”


Atomic Energy of Canada, a federal government corporation, is pushing a 12-billion dollar
proposal to build four pairs of new nuclear reactors in Ontario over the next twenty years. Those
plants would produce energy at a cost cheaper than natural gas fired plants or wind energy. The
problem is that they represent a new generation of reactors that use more enriched uranium than
their predecessors.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dan Karpenchuk.

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Are Nuke Plants Online for Y-2-K?

There are two dozen nuclear power plants operating in the Great Lakes
states. Congressional investigators say they aren’t sure all the
plants
are ready for the Y-2-K rollover at the end of December. But another
government agency insists you have nothing to fear. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach has details:

Commentary – Plutonium to Stay in U-S

The U-S recently announced that it’s abandoning plans to export
weapons-grade plutonium to Canada. U-S activists opposed the idea of
shipping the material along American highways. As Great Lakes Radio
Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston observes, in winning the battle
over transport, those activists may have lost the war:

Activists Hold Anti-Nuke Rally

This week, a national coalition of safe energy groups is meeting in
Michigan to host a "Nuclear Free Action Camp". Organizers say the goal
of the event is to educate the public about the dangers of nuclear power
and develop local organizing strategies. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s David Hammond reports:

Meltdown Pills

This summer, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission began encouraging statesto begin stockpiling certain pills in the event of a nuclear accident.Some eastern states have already started putting the medicine in theiremergency centers and now those drugs are coming to the Midwest. TheGreat Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen has the story:

Monitoring Radioactive Levels in the Great Lakes

A U-S/Canadian Great Lakes Commission is calling on both countries tobegin monitoring radiation levels on the Great Lakes. Fall-out fromnuclear weapons testing and nuclear power plants has lead to concernsabout its effects on people and the environment. The Great Lakes RadioConsortium’s Mike Simonson reports: