GE To Build Biggest Photovoltaic Panel Factory in USA

General Electric Compnay is planning to build the biggest photovoltaic-panel factory in the U.S. The plant will employ 400 people when it opens in 2013 and produce thin-film solar panels sufficient to generate 400 megawatts of electricity annually, or enough to power 80,000 homes a year.

SolarWorld AG of Germany currently operates the largest solar-panel manufacturing plant in the U.S., a Hillsboro, Oregon, facility that produces panels capable of generating about 350 megawatts annually. GE's panels will be based on a different technology.  (WSJ, 4/8/2011)

EPA's New Energy Star Standards for Light Fixtures

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced updated standards for light fixtures to qualify for the Energy Star label – an efficiency program that has saved consumers money on their energy bills while contributing to cleaner air and protecting people’s health since 1992. Effective October 1, 2011, to qualify for the Energy Star label light fixtures will need to increase efficiency 30 percent above currently qualified fluorescent-based fixtures. In 2013, performance requirements will increase further, providing 40 percent higher efficiency compared to currently qualified models.

Light fixtures that earn the Energy Star save consumers money on their energy bills and reduce the costs and hassle associated with bulb replacement. The bulbs in Energy Star qualified fixtures last at least 10 times longer than standard light bulbs. The fixtures will continue to meet other strict performance requirements that ensure quick start-up and high quality light output, as well as reduced toxics in the fixture materials. Additionally, the fixtures will come with a 3-year warranty, which is above the industry practice.

Consumers can expect to see a range of technology options qualifying under the new Energy Star requirements -- including fluorescent and LED lighting -- each held to the same high standard. In order to earn the Energy Star label under the new requirements, product performance must be certified by an EPA-recognized third-party, based on testing in an EPA-recognized laboratory. In addition, manufacturers of the products must participate in verification testing programs run by recognized certification bodies.

Energy Star was started by EPA in 1992 as a market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the Energy Star label can be found on more than 60 different kinds of products as well as new homes and commercial and industrial buildings that meet strict energy-efficiency specifications set by EPA. Last year alone, Americans, with the help of Energy Star, saved $18 billion on their energy bills while reducing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 33 million vehicles. (EPA)

More information on light fixtures

More information about the Energy Star program

EPA Ongoing Monitoring of Fukushima Daiichi Radiation in USA

As a result of the incident with the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, several EPA air monitors have detected very low levels of radioactive material in the United States consistent with estimated releases from the damaged nuclear reactors. EPA has stepped up monitoring of precipitation, milk, and drinking water in response to the Fukushima events. The detections in air, precipitation, and milk were expected, and the levels detected have been far below levels of public-health concern.

Today, EPA released its latest RadNet results, which include the first results for drinking water. Drinking water samples from two locations, Boise, Idaho and Richland, Washington, showed trace amounts of Iodine-131 – about 0.2 picocuries per liter in each case. 
Earlier precipitation samples collected by EPA have shown trace amounts of radioactivity, so EPA has expected to find results such as these in some drinking water samples. Similar findings are to be expected in the coming weeks.

To see results from these samples, please visit:

Drinking Water Data

In addition, results of EPA’s precipitation sampling and air filter analyses continue to detect very low levels of radioactive material consistent with estimated releases from the damaged nuclear reactors. These detections were expected and the levels detected are far below levels of public-health concern. For the latest sample results please visit:

Latest air monitoring filter data

Latest milk sampling data

Latest precipitation sampling data

(EPA)

TEPCO & Japanese Government Stupid Over Fukushima

What Are They Doing?

And Why Are The So-Called 'Fukushima 50' Being Celebrated?

The Center is calling for the immediate entombing of the Fukushima Daiichi site.  We have called for a sarcophagusing of the site since the hydrogen explosion at the first reactor building.  What is Tepco trying to do by exposing workers to high levels of radiation?  To what end?  Are they trying to somehow salvage an unsalvagable site?  We find it disgusting that workers are being needlessly exposed to deadly levels of radiation for no good reason.  The western press is even trying to portray the workers as noble kamikazes. 

There is nothing noble about it.  Just as the kamikaze pilots were stupid for making such a needless sacrifice.  Fukushima is NOT Three Mile Island, which still operates to this day.  It is a dead site that will have a 12-mile dead zone around it forever.

Sarcophagus.  Now. 

The Chernobyl disaster resulted from a badly executed test, rather than a tsunami, which led to the explosion at Chernobyl. Open to the air, a graphite fire burned for 10 days, spewing huge amounts of radioactive material; at Fukushima, with a different type of reactor, graphite is not used as a moderator so such a graphite fire could not happen. However, radiation has gotten airborne from the Daiichi reactors and Tepco will dump thousands of tons of highly radioactive water into the ocean.  Damn.  But what else would you expect after spraying thousands of tons of water onto the site to try to cool it down?  Sometimes when engineers and scientists make these types of decisions in the service of big business and big government, it makes us wonder.  Amateurs just might do a better job.  If Tepco and the Japanese government do not know what to do, then put the Center in charge.  We will have a sufficient sarcophagus in place within a month, or sooner.

The Japanese government should enlist assistance from other nations to dump boron, sand, cement, concrete, steel, dirt, rubble and every other material needed to permanently seal that site.  This should be a military operation headed by the Japanese government that works around the clock to cover the site.  We will assume that a sarcophagus about 500 feet high should be sufficient to shield the site.  The U.S. EPA has detected radiation in the United States from that site.  Americans on the West Coast are taking iodine pills.  Maybe it is time for President Obama to insist that the Japanese should seal that site  because it is posing a threat to Americans.

The response to the Fukushima Daiichi disaster is making us angrier every day.  And until they install a sarcophagus, we will remain angry. We understand this aspect of Japanese culture that blindly adheres to big business and big government methodology -- for it is what has made their society great.  But at moments such as this, someone must step forward and hit the big boys over the head with a two-by-four.  Sarcophagus.  Now.  (Wash Post, 4/3/2011)

EPA Assists 32 Locales With Sustainable Community Planning

EPA Selects 32 Locations for Assistance with Sustainable Community Planning

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today named 32 communities in 26 states as the initial participants in the Sustainable Communities Building Blocks program. The communities will receive technical assistance during a day-long session that will help them achieve their sustainable planning goals. Sustainable planning helps safeguard the environment and spur economic development while also improving Americans’ health.

EPA selected the 32 communities from 354 applicants through a competitive process in consultation with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). During a day-long session with EPA-funded, private-sector experts, participants will focus on a specific sustainability tool such as zoning code reviews, walkability assessments, or economic and fiscal health assessments. They will also learn about additional environmentally responsible, economically healthy development techniques and general sustainable community strategies.

Sustainable Communities Building Blocks is coordinated through the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, a joint effort between EPA, HUD, and DOT to coordinate federal actions on housing, transportation, and environmental protection. This interagency collaboration achieves efficient federal investments in infrastructure development, facilities, and services that meet multiple economic, environmental, and community objectives.

The selected communities are: Bemidji, Minn; Bluffton, S.C; Cambridge, Md; Chelmsford, Mass; Deerfield Beach, Fla; Dover, N.H; Erie County, N.Y; Essex, Conn; Fitchburg, Wis; Granville, Ohio; Helena, Mont; Hellertown, Pa; Jersey Shore, Pa; Kayenta Township, Ariz; Lincoln, Neb; McKinney, Texas; Muskegon, Mich; Nashville/Davidson, Tenn; Northampton, Mass; Oak Ridge, Tenn; Oklahoma City, Okla; Portland, Maine; St. Louis, Mo; Pike’s Peak Council of Governments, Colo; Ranson, W.Va; Reedsburg, Wis; Renton, Wash; Rockport, Texas; Shelburne, Vt; Spencer, N.C; Syracuse, N.Y; and Wichita, Kan.

More information on the Building Blocks program

More information on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities

EPA Monitors Find Radiation In USA Air and Rainwater

As a result of the incident with the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, several EPA air monitors have detected very low levels of radioactive material in the United States consistent with estimates from the damaged nuclear reactors. EPA says that these detections were expected and the levels detected.

Elevated levels of radioactive material in rainwater are a result of the nuclear incident after the events in Japan since radiation is known to travel in the atmosphere - precipitation samples collected by EPA in the states of California, Idaho and Minnesota have seen elevated levels of radiation.

In addition to iodine-131, EPA monitors have also identified trace amounts of other isotopes - - consistent with releases from the damaged Japanese nuclear reactors. (EPA)

Results from these precipitation samples

Wind Turbines: Direct Drive vs. Gearbox

Direct Drive

For years, wind turbine manufacturers have been searching for ways to make direct drive turbines competitive with gearbox turbines. Direct drive technology has been praised for its design, which is less complex than gearbox technology, leading to easier operations and maintenance. This appeal has made direct drive especially coveted for use in offshore wind developments. However, the stigma of a bigger price tag and a heftier machine had disqualified direct drive from being a major competitor in the wind turbine sector – until recently. In the last two years direct drive undergone a number of developments, including changes in direct drive magnets and generator arrangements, that have led to a lighter, more affordable direct drive model.

Gearbox

In traditional gearbox-operated wind turbines, the blades spin a shaft that is connected through a gearbox to the generator. The gearbox converts the turning speed of the blades—15 to 20 rotations per minute for a 1 MW turbine—into about 1,800 rotations per minute that the generator needs to generate electricity.  The multiple wheels and bearings in a gearbox suffer tremendous stress because of wind turbulence and any defect in a single component can bring the turbine to a halt. This makes the gearbox the highest-maintenance part of a turbine. Gearboxes in offshore turbines, which face faster wind speeds, are even more vulnerable than those in onshore turbines.  Removing the gearbox from the wind turbine eliminates the technically most complicated part of the machine, therefore improving reliability. But the downside to using direct drive instead of a gearbox system has been twofold: cost and weight.

GE has incorporated a 6-meter diameter permanent magnet generator in its 4 MW direct drive units. The two main bearings transfer axial and bending loads from the rotor to the bedplate for a higher reliability than the previous generator.

Siemens has also made a change in regards to the generator. In the past, direct-drive machine rotors have been located inside the system. Siemens is now inverting the machine so the rotor is on the outside.  As a benchmark, Siemens plans to release its 6 MW direct-drive prototype later this year, which will be one of the largest permanent magnet machines ever built. It could be a game-changing machine when it becomes available in bulk numbers four to five years from now. The 6 MW machine is expected to be popular with offshore wind farms due to its robustness and lower-maintenance requirements.

The direct drive machines were designed for a 20-year lifespan and to be serviced twice a year, most older models are serviced annually. (Power Gen Worldwide, 3/1/2011)

Center Promotes Proposed Biomass Plant in Sacramento

Center President Norris McDonald and Center consultant John McCormick traveled to Sacarmento to brief legislators and agency representatives on the proposed biomass plant on Catalina Island.  The Center, through its subsidiary Green Electric, is seeking to fuel its plant with wood from wildfire areas on the mainland of California, which will simultaneously mitigate wildfires.  This renewable energy project fits very well with California's Renewable Fuels Standard, global warming mitigation goals, Biomass Action Plan 2011 and its ongoing air pollution reduction goals.

The Center representatives were in Sacramento from March 28th - March 29th and met with Assemblymember Sandre Swanson, representatives from the California Energy Commission, staff at the California Environmental Protection Agency (Air Resources Board), a deputy commissioner at the California Department of Insurance and the State Geologist at the California Geological Survey. The meetings were very productive and informative.  The Center briefed them on the Green Electric Biomass Project and the discussions highlighted the need for additional biomass electricity production in the State of California.

Catalina Island Scoping Visit 1

Center Says Japan Should Cover Fukushima Plant: NOW

According to the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), four out of six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were damaged beyond repair in Japan’s devastating tsunami. The International Atomic Energy Agency has urged the Japanese government to consider widening the evacuation zone around the facility. Recent radiation readings outside the exclusion zone show radiation substantially higher than levels at which the U.N. nuclear agency would recommend evacuations.

The debate about the evacuation zone ignores the necessity to seal the site.  The Center is recommending around the clock dumpings of boron, sand, salt, gravel, cement, concrete, and anthing else that will cover that site.  A boron saturated 'rubble fill' should rise to about 500 feet.  That should seal the radiation and prevent it from escaping the site.  A 300 foot bulkhead should be bored into the ocean side of the site to prevent additional releases into the ocean environment.

Japanese officials have told residents to evacuate within a 12-mile zone and to stay indoors within 18 miles of the damaged complex, but U.S. NRC officials have recommended that American citizens stay at least 50 miles away.
Japan appears to be trying to salvage reactors No. 5 and 6 at the plant for some future operation.  Forget about it.  Seal the entire site.  It is dead.  And will remain so FOREVER.

Levels of iodine-131 were 3,355 times the legal safety limit, up from the previous high of 1,850 times the limit that was recorded Sunday, officials said.

Hundreds of engineers are working to bring the nuclear plant under control, including many consultants from other countries. This is stupid at this point.  The site is devastated and there is no redeeming value for the site.  Anything other than constructing a sarkofagus is futile.  Why don't the engineers GET THAT?
Any worker stupid enough to sacrifice his or her life to try to do anything except seal the site is just stupid. 

SEAL THE SITE.  SEAL IT NOW.  SEAL IT FOREVER. (Wash Post, 3/31/2011)

EPA Still Finds No Significant Radiation in USA

EPA Monitoring Continues to Confirm That No Radiation Levels of Concern Have Reached USA

During detailed filter analyses from 12 RadNet air monitor locations across the nation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified trace amounts of radioactive isotopes consistent with the Japanese nuclear incident. Some of the filter results show levels slightly higher than those found by EPA monitors last week and a Department of Energy monitor the week before. These types of findings are to be expected in the coming days and are still far below levels of public health concern.

EPA’s samples were captured by monitors in:

Alaska, Alabama, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands and Washington state over the past week and sent to EPA scientists for detailed laboratory analysis.

Detailed information on this latest round of filter results

EPA Proposes 'Common Sense' Approach to 316(b)

EPA to Open Public Comment on Proposed Standards on Cooling Water Intake Structures 

On March 28, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as required by the Clean Water Act and pursuant to a settlement agreement,  is proposing for public comment standards to protect billions of fish and other aquatic organisms drawn each year into cooling water systems at large power plants and factories. The proposal, based on Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act, would establish a common sense framework, putting a premium on public input and flexibility.  The public’s comments will be instrumental in shaping safeguards for aquatic life and to build a commonsense path forward. The input EPA receives will make certain that we end up with a flexible and effective rule to protect the health of our waters and ecosystems.

The Center supports the EPA proposal and believes a 'Common Sense' approach will provide needed flexibility for case by case consideration of power plants.  State agencies can now exercise “best professional judgment” when deciding what cooling system a plant can use.  This judgment can also consider whether requiring a utility to build unneeded and expensive cooling towers will run them out of business.
The EPA proposal establishes a strong baseline level of protection and then allows additional safeguards for aquatic life to be developed through a rigorous site-specific analysis, an approach that ensures the most up to date technology available is being used. It puts implementation analysis in the hands of the permit writers, where requirements can be tailored to the particular facility.

Safeguards against impingement will be required for all facilities above a minimum size; closed-cycle cooling systems may also be required on a case by case basis when, based on thorough site-specific analysis by permitting authorities, such requirements are determined to be appropriate. EPA is proposing this regulation as a result of a settlement agreement with Riverkeeper, Inc. and other environmental groups.

Flexible Technology Standards:

Fish Impingement (Being pinned against screens or other parts of a cooling water intake structure):

Existing facilities that withdraw at least 25 percent of their water exclusively for cooling purposes and have a design intake flow of greater than 2 million gallons per day (MGD) would be required to reduce fish impingement under the proposed regulations. To ensure flexibility, the owner or operator of the facility will be able to choose one of two options for meeting best technology available requirements for reducing impingement. They may conduct monitoring to show the specified performance standards for impingement mortality of fish and shellfish have been met, or they may demonstrate to the permitting authority that the intake velocity meets the specified design criteria. EPA estimates that more than half of the facilities that could be impacted by this proposed rule already employ readily available technologies that are likely to put them into compliance with the proposed standard.

Fish Entrainment (Being drawn into cooling water systems and affected by heat, chemicals or physical stress):

EPA is proposing a site-specific determination to be made based on local concerns and on the unique circumstances of each facility.

This proposed rule establishes requirements for the facility owner to conduct comprehensive studies and develop other information as part of the permit application, and then establishes a public process, with opportunity for public input, by which the appropriate technology to reduce entrainment mortality would be implemented at each facility after considering site-specific factors.

Because new units can incorporate the most efficient, best-performing technology directly into the design stage of the project, thus lowering costs and avoiding constraints associated with technology that has already been locked in, the proposed rule would require closed-cycle cooling (cooling towers) for new units at existing facilities, as is already required for new facilities.

The public will be able to comment on the proposal upon its publication in the Federal Register. EPA will conduct a 90 day comment period, and will carefully consider those comments before taking final action on the proposal. The administrator must take final action by July 27, 2012. (EPA)

More Information

Advocacy for Jobs Affected by Regulation (AJAR) Project

Center Initiates Unit To Examine Jobs & Regulations

Cheryl Bly-Chester

Cheryl Bly-Chester has been named as the Center's new California Representative and Director of the Advocacy for Jobs Affected by Regulation (AJAR) project. AJAR is the Center's public education project for government accountability and due process. The mission of AJAR is to educate the public and elected representatives on the direct and indirect effect of legislative and regulatory actions on job security; advocating for economic growth by promoting accountability, transparency, and due process in governmental proceedings and by participating in public policy design of the regulatory board system.

Cheryl Bly-Chester has been involved with past Center projects and co-authored a newsletter on environmental policy issues for one of the Center's affiliated associations. She has recently completed her doctoral dissertation studying the California regulatory board system and is eager to apply what she has learned.

Dr. Bly-Chester is a Licensed Professional Engineer with an MBA in International Management specializing in global resources. She has been involved in permitting alternative energy plants in California, holds a Nuclear Reactor Safety Certificate from MIT earned during the Chernobyl Era, and is the owner of Rosewood Environmental Engineering located in the Sacramento Area of California.

Cheryl Bly-Chester, Director
Advocacy for Jobs Affected by Regulation (AJAR)
Center for the Environment, Commerce, and Energy
1079 Sunrise Boulevard, Suite B-168
Roseville, California 95661

(916) 721-8557
(916) 721-8339 (fax)
(916) 747-2293 (cell)

Obama Energy Speech

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON AMERICA’S ENERGY SECURITY

Georgetown University
Washington, D.C.
March 30, 2011

FULL SPEECH

Excerpts

We meet here at a tumultuous time for the world.  In a matter of months, we’ve seen regimes toppled.  We've seen democracy take root in North Africa and in the Middle East.  We’ve witnessed a terrible earthquake, a catastrophic tsunami, a nuclear emergency that has battered one of our strongest allies and closest friends in the world’s third-largest economy.

And one big area of concern has been the cost and security of our energy. Obviously, the situation in the Middle East implicates our energy security. The situation in Japan leads us to ask questions about our energy sources.

So here’s the bottom line:  There are no quick fixes.  Anybody who tells you otherwise isn’t telling you the truth.

Now, today, we’re working to expedite new drilling permits for companies that meet these higher standards.  Since they were put in, we’ve approved 39 new shallow-water permits; we’ve approved seven deepwater permits in recent weeks. 

I am directing agencies to purchase 100 percent alternative fuel, hybrid, or electric vehicles by 2015.  All of them should be alternative fuel.

I think that with the right incentives in place, we can double our use of clean energy. And that’s why, in my State of the Union address back in January, I called for a new Clean Energy Standard for America: By 2035, 80 percent of our electricity needs to come from a wide range of clean energy sources -- renewables like wind and solar, efficient natural gas. And, yes, we’re going to have to examine how do we make clean coal and nuclear power work.

And it’s important to recognize that nuclear energy doesn’t emit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So those of us who are concerned about climate change, we’ve got to recognize that nuclear power, if it’s safe, can make a significant contribution to the climate change question.

So in light of what’s happened in Japan, I’ve requested a comprehensive safety review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to make sure that all of our existing nuclear energy facilities are safe. And we’re going incorporate those conclusions and lessons from Japan in design and the building of the next generation of plants. But we can’t simply take it off the table.

My administration is leading global discussions towards a new international framework in which all countries who are operating nuclear plants are making sure that they’re not spreading dangerous nuclear materials and technology.

• The President’s remarks on America’s Energy Security

• The Blueprint for America’s Energy Security

• America Energy Security Factsheet

PG&E Corp Fined $6 Million by Calif Public Utilities Commission

The California Public Utilities Commission fined PG&E Corporation $6 million for failing to provide all required safety records for its network of natural-gas pipelines. The agreement is the latest development following the explosion last fall of a PG&E Corp. pipeline in San Bruno, Calif. that killed eight people and destroyed 38 houses. Investigators of the blast identified defects in the San Bruno pipe, which dated to the 1950s, that were not properly described in company records.

PG&E also agreed to do safety tests on pipelines that run through populated areas if records are missing, and to replace them if necessary. And it will continue to search for records to verify that all pipelines are being operated at safe pressures.

The California Public Utilities Commission said it would suspend $3 million of the fine if PG&E met all deadlines and finishes the work by August 31. The fines were to be paid with corporate money and will not be passed on to ratepayers, according to the agreement. (WSJ, 3/24/2011)

Radioactive Iodine 131 Found In Japan's Drinking Water

The urgency of halting the spread of radioactive contamination from the Fukushima Daiichi site was underlined on Wednesday by the health warning that infants should not drink tap water, even in Tokyo, 140 miles southwest of the stricken plant, which raised alarms about extensive contamination.

The United States Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that it would prohibit imports of dairy goods and produce from the affected region.

Nuclear engineers in Japan say some of the most difficult and dangerous tasks are still ahead in mitigating the damage at the Daiichi nuclear power plant.  The tasks include manually draining hundreds of gallons of radioactive water and venting radioactive gas from the pumps and piping of the emergency cooling systems. Preventing the reactors and storage pools from overheating through radioactive decay would go a long way toward limiting radioactive contamination. But that would require pumping a lot of water through them.

The Japanese government has suggested that recent rains might have washed radioactive particles from the Daiichi into the water.  But prevailing breezes for the past two weeks should have been pushing the radiation mostly out to sea. And until Wednesday, some experts had predicted that radioactive iodine would not be much of a problem, because the fission necessary to produce iodine, which breaks down quickly, with a half-life of just eight days, stopped within minutes of the earthquake on March 11. The fear is that more radiation is being released than has been understood.
 

Radioactive Iodine 131 had been detected in water samples at a level of 210 becquerels per liter, about a quart. The recommended limit for infants is 100 becquerels per liter. For adults, the recommended limit is 300 becquerels. (The unit is named for Henri Becquerel, one of the discoverers of radioactivity.)

Pregnant women, nursing mothers and fetuses, as well as children, face the greatest danger from radioactive iodine, which is taken in by the thyroid gland and can cause thyroid cancer. Children are at much higher risk than adults because they are growing, and their thyroid glands are more active and in need of iodine. In addition, the gland is smaller in children than in adults, so a given amount of iodine 131 will deliver a higher dose of radiation to a child’s thyroid and potentially do more harm.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if an adult and a child ingest the same amount of radioactive iodine, the thyroid dose will be 16 times higher to a newborn than to an adult; for a child under 1 year old, eight times the adult dose; for a 5-year-old, four times the adult dose.

Pregnant women also take up more iodine 131 in the thyroid, especially in the first trimester. The iodine crosses the placenta and reaches the fetus, and the fetal thyroid takes up more iodine as pregnancy progresses.

Potassium iodide can protect the thyroid by saturating it with normal iodine. People in Japan have been advised to take it. (NYT, 3/23/2011, NYT, 3/23/2011)

Ionizing radiation

A form of radiation, which includes alpha particles, beta particles, gamma rays, x-rays, neutrons, high-speed electrons, high-speed protons, and other particles capable of producing ions. Compared to non-ionizing radiation, such as radio- or microwaves, or visible, infrared, or ultraviolet light, ionizing radiation is considerably more energetic.

When ionizing radiation passes through material such as air, water, or living tissue, it deposits enough energy to produce ions by breaking molecular bonds and displace (or remove) electrons from atoms or molecules. This electron displacement may lead to changes in living cells. Given this ability, ionizing radiation has a number of beneficial uses, including treating cancer or sterilizing medical equipment. However, ionizing radiation is potentially harmful if not used correctly, and high doses may result in severe skin or tissue damage. (NRC)

Deepwater Horizon Blowout Preventer Failed on Design Flaw

(Image Courtesy WSJ)

In a report released Wednesday on the failure of the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer, engineers hired by U.S. investigators (Norwegian risk-management company Det Norske Veritas) say the force of the blowout bent the drill pipe, knocking it off-center and jamming the shears. Rather than seal the well, the blades got stuck 1.4 inches or less apart, leaving plenty of space for 4.9 million barrels of oil to leak out. The investigators concluded the blowout preventer failed as a result of a design flaw, not because of misuse by BP or any of the other companies involved, and not because of poor maintenance. The fail-safe device, the last line of defense against a disaster, wasn't designed to handle a real-world blowout, according to investigators, who called for further study of the devices.

Even if the device had worked, it wouldn't have saved the lives of the 11 rig workers killed in the accident. That's because no one even tried to activate the shears until after massive explosions killed the men and crippled the rig. But the device could have mostly prevented the oil spill that began when the Deepwater Horizon sank two days after the initial explosion.

The blowout preventer was owned and maintained by rig owner Transocean Ltd. and built by Cameron International Corp. The report could turn attention to Cameron, manufacturer of the device.  (WSJ, 3/24/2011)

Radiation Exposure

Fukushima Workers Trying To Stabilize Radioactive Plant Site

Workers attempting to repair power lines
 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
(Courtesy Tokyo Electric Power) 

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are wearing protective gear and a mask and must have had training in dealing with radioactive environments in order to work at the damaged plant. Each person also wears two badges, in chest pockets under gear, to track radiation exposure on each visit. Each worker is limited to a total of 250,000 microsieverts for the duration of the crisis, a limit that was lifted last week from 100,000 microsieverts, which is the borderline for what is considered "low-dose" exposure.

A material is radioactive if its nucleus is unstable.  The SI (Systeme International) unit for radioactivity is the becquerel (Bq), which refers to one radioactive disintegration per second.  An older unit (which is still widely used) is the curie (CI), which is the quantity of a radioactive nuclide in which the number of disintegrations per second is 3.7 x 10^10.  Thus, 1 Ci = 3.7 x 10^10.
 
The amount of radiation energy absorbed per kilogram in a material is called absorbed dose.  The SI unit for absorbed dose is the gray (Gy).  The older units is the rad (radiation absorbed dose). One gray is equal to 1 joule of energy absorbed per kilogram.  The gray and the rad are related: 1 Gy = 100 rad.  Dose absorbed throughout a person's entire body is referred to as whole body dose (effective dose). 
 
The most common radiations, x-rays, gamma rays, and beta particles, have about the same effect on tissue.  However, heavier radiation particles such as neutrons, protons, and alpha particles do considerably more damage on the average per unit of energy deposited.  This effect is known as the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of the radiation.  Thus, heavy particles generally have a higher RBE than x-rays.
 
To place all types of radiation to tissue on an equivalent basis for radiation protection purposes, a new quanty was needed, called the equivalent dose (particular organ).   Its unit is the sievert (Sv).  The original unit was the rem, which stands for rad equivalent man.
 
Again, the two basic radiation protection quantities in use are the equivalent dose (particular organ) and the effective dose (whole body), both reported in sieverts.  Since in many radiation protection situations the radiation to a worker or to a member of the public is not uniform but instead is concentrated in a particular organ of the body, such as the lungs, it is desirable to convert a partial-body absorbed dose in grays to a whole-body effective dose in sieverts.

Three fundamental techniques are used to protect people from ionizing radiation.  These are the use of (1) time, (2) distance, and 3) shielding.  (WSJ, 3/24/2011, "Bluebells and Nuclear Energy, Albert B Reynolds")

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant Relicensed by NRC

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Tuesday extended a 20-year license to Entergy's Vermont nuclear power plant. The Center supports the relicense.

Some are a bit disturbed that the relicense was approved while the Fukushima disaster is still in progress.  Yet one has nothing to do with the other.  Vermont Yankee sits on the Connecticut River and is not threatened by a tsunami.  Moreover, the 650 megawatt facility employs 650 people.  Vermont Yankee is the largest producer of electricity in Vermont, providing reliable base load generation. In fact, it represents 80% of Vermont's in-state generation and supplies approximately one-third of the state's electricity demand.

Vermont Yankee was slated for closure in 2012 without the new license. Vermont lawmakers may still look to block the extension.  {Vermont Yankee Nuclear Station - NRC Relicense Application}

Judge Puts California Cap & Trade Program on Hold

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith has put California's law, known as AB 32, to curb greenhouse gas pollution on hold, saying the state did not adequately evaluate alternatives to its cap-and-trade program.  In a 35-page decision, the judge said the Air Resources Board (ARB) had failed to consider public comments on the proposed measures before adopting the plan, which affects a broad swath of the state's economy. In particular, the judge noted, officials gave short shrift to analyzing a carbon fee, or carbon tax, devoting a “scant two paragraphs to this important alternative” to a market-based trading system in their December 2008 plan.

The Center disagrees with, and opposes, the judges decision.  The Center also opposes carbon taxes or carbon fees.

The Air Resources Board appealling the judge's decision, which was filed late Friday and released Monday.

The Center supports the ARB appeal.
In the November election, Californians voted down a oil-refinery-sponsored ballot initiative (Proposition 23)  to delay the state's global warming law, which is touted as a spur to California’s fast-growing renewable energy industry. The 2006 law requires the state to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

The California lawsuit against ARB was filed by six environmental groups that represent low-income communities, including the Association of Irritated Residents, based in the San Joaquin Valley, and Communities for A Better Environment, which fights pollution around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The groups contend that a cap-and-trade program would allow refineries, power plants and other big facilities in poor neighborhoods to avoid cutting emissions of both greenhouse gases and traditional air pollutants.  The environmental justice-oriented groups believe that cap and trade means that oil refineries, which emit enormous amounts of greenhouse gases and contribute to big health problems, cannot simply keep polluting by purchasing pollution credits, or doing out of state projects.  The Center believes the trading system can be leveraged to create innovative energy efficieincy jobs.

The board’s attorneys will meet with plaintiffs about complying with the order without halting all aspects of its global warming plan. Besides the cap-and-trade program, which covers 600 industrial plants, the plan includes rules to curb the carbon intensity of gasoline production and distribution, slash motor-vehicle emissions and control potent greenhouse gases such as refrigerants.

The green groups Environmental Defense Fund, the Nature Conservancy, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center backed a cap-and-trade approach, and did not join the lawsuit by environmental justice groups.

If all actions under AB 32 are suspended, that might mean that California's rules requiring utilities to provide 33 percent of their electricity from renewable sources are suspended, or that the state's low-carbon fuel standard is in question.

The rules were drawn up under AB 32, which requires that California's greenhouse gas emissions be cut to 1990 levels by 2020, a drop of about 15 percent from current levels.

The particular issue regards a document called a Functional Equivalent Document (FED) prepared to assess environmental consequences of the Scoping Plan, which sets out cap-and-trade goals. The Superior Court case is Association of Irritated Residents vs. California Air Resources Board, CPF-09-509562.

Conservatives have defeated national cap-and-trade proposals in Congress, but the California legal challenge comes from a different direction - grassroots "environmental justice" groups that consider the plan too weak.

(Silicon Valley Mercury News, 3/21/2011, Reuters, 3/21/2011, L.A. Times, 3/21/2011, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/22/2011)

Proposed Texas Nuclear Power Plant Affected by Fukushima

San Antonio municipal utility CPS Energy said March 15 it has suspended talks with NRG Energy about a prospective agreement to purchase additional power from the planned expansion (Units 3 & 4) of the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear plant. CPS holds a 7.625% ownership interest in the expansion project, and with that stake would be entitled to a total of about 206 MW from the planned South Texas Project units 3 and 4. The municipal utility also had been in talks with NRG about the possibility of purchasing unspecified amounts of additional power from Nuclear Innovation North America, the 88%/12% joint venture of NRG and Toshiba that owns the 92.375% of the planned units not held by CPS.

CPS and NRG decided "by mutual agreement that until more information is available about the situation in Japan and its impact on the industry worldwide, it makes sense to put our purchase power agreement discussions on hold."

CPS believes it is too soon to comment on whether the Japanese nuclear crisis might affect plans by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), operator of the stricken Fukushima-I plant in Japan, to take up to a 499-MW stake in the planned South Texas units.

Tepco said last May that it would pay $125 million for a 10% share of the NINA joint venture once DOE has issued a conditional commitment to the project's developers for a federal loan guarantee.  One of the problems is that the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which owns the Fugushima plant, was going to invest in the expansion of the South Texas Nuclear Project. NRG Energy, a majority partner in the expansion, was also going to rely on loan guarantees from the Japanese government. Naturally any thought of any Japanese entity investing in nuclear power is on hold for the foreseeable future.

It would appear that the issues facing NRG’s Japanese partners (including Tepco, the beleaguered owners of the doomed Fukushima nuclear plant) are giving everyone pause in their relentless pursuit of the STP expansion.

Two reactors of the South Texas Nuclear Project have been providing power for the region since the mid 1980s. (UPI, 3/22/2011, Yahoo News, 3/15/2011, Public Citizen, 3/15/2011, Platt's Energy Week, 3/18/2011)

Obama Admin Approves 1st Deep-water Gulf Drilling Plan

The Obama administration approved on Monday, through the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), the first new deep-water exploration plan in the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon disaster last April.  The Royal Dutch Shell PLC plan still needs a separate permit to start drilling. Shell plans to drill wells in about 2,950 feet of water 130 miles off the Louisiana coast.

The Interior Department approved Shell's environmental assessment of the specific site, clearing an important regulatory hurdle. In the past, Interior had granted drilling permits in the Gulf without requiring environmental studies for the specific projects. The department discontinued issuing these "categorical exclusions" in August 2010 as part of a broader overhaul of offshore-drilling regulation in the aftermath of the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Currently, 13 similar exploration plans are pending before Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE).

After the explosion at the BP PLC-leased Deepwater Horizon, Interior imposed a moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Gulf and required operators to meet more stringent safety standards. It lifted the moratorium in October, 2010, but the department has faced criticism for limiting deep-water permit approvals to three sites where operators had already been drilling before the moratorium. By contrast, the Shell plan approved Monday would tap new wells. (WSJ, 3/22/2011)

EPA Administrator to Travel to California

For Meetings with Agriculture, Business Leaders

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, left, will make a long-planned visit to California this week, where she will meet with state and local agriculture and business leaders. Having just returned from Brazil, where she traveled with President Obama and other members of the president’s Cabinet, Administrator Jackson’s two-and-half-day California trip will include stops in Los Angeles and Fresno.

In Los Angeles, Jackson will hold a roundtable discussion with LA business leaders from the energy sector and the African-American community and will be joined by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and U.S. Congresswoman Karen Bass to visit one of Los Angeles’ top performing schools, which serves predominantly minority and low-income students. Administrator Jackson will also spend a full day in Fresno, where she will visit farms, meet with agricultural leaders, hold discussions with Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin and meet with local environmental justice activists.  (EPA)

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2011
2:45 p.m. Tour of Stella Middle Charter Academy
2636 South Mansfield Ave.
Los Angeles, Calif.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2011
9:45 a.m. Visit to Terranova Ranch
16729 W. Floral Ave
Helm, Calif.

11:00 a.m. Meeting with growers at J and L Vineyards
7455 W. Lincoln, Ave.

Fukushima Disaster Demonstrates Need For Yucca Mountain

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

By Norris McDonald


Norris McDonald at Yucca Mountain

The tsunami that created the disaster at the Fukushami Daiimi nuclear power station demonstrates the need for Yucca Mountain as the repository for America's nuclear waste.  I toured the Yucca Mountain repository in 2002 and it is the perfect place to store, retrieve and reprocess (recycle) America's nuclear waste. If spent nuclear fuel would be deposited at this repository, it would significantly reduce the sort of vulnerability that ended up becoming a disaster for Japan.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 established Yucca Mountain as the repository for nuclear waste.  If Japan had such a repository, the disaster would not have been nearly as bad because the spent nuclear waste pools would be empty.  America needs to empty its spent nuclear reactor fuel at such pools at reactor sites around the country.

Unfortunately, although expressing pronuclear positions on the front end in terms of loan guarantees, the Obama administration is constipating the process by opposing Yucca Mountain.  That was a political decision to protect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  Fine.  Reid has been reelected.  Now we need that site.  It is in the national interest, which trumps Reid's political career. 

Unfortunately, NRC Chairman Jaczko is a former Reid staffer and is philosophically opposed to Yucca.  I met Jaczko in the Senate and, well, let's just say that he is not that approachable.  Whereas, other NRC commissioners are approachable.  Get a clue Jaczk, and be nice to the public.

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Creating Thousands of Refugees

Tens of thousands of evacuees are fleeing from Japan's northeast coast because of the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.  They are running from radiation.  These refugees are streaming away from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where overheating reactors have been leaking dangerous levels of radiation into the air.

The Saitama Super Arena north of Tokyo, normally home to concerts by Japanese pop artists and football games, is serving thousands.  Many of the refugees are from the hot zone within a 12-mile radius of the Fukushima plant, 150 miles north of Tokyo, where the Japanese government has deemed it unsafe to stay. Others lived in a radius that stretches six miles farther out, where people were ordered to stay inside their homes. An estimated 136,000 people lived in that 18-mile radius alone.

But as fear of radiation spreads, evacuee camps are being swelled by people from beyond the 18-mile perimeter—including those from the city of Iwaki, population 341,402, where officials extended their own order for people to avoid radiation by staying in their houses.

Some of the towns most affected by radiation—at first dispersed to numerous facilities in Fukushima prefecture, or state—are starting to move as a block. Some 1,200 residents of the town of Futaba-machi, neighboring the Fukushima reactor, on Saturday moved to the Saitama Super Arena in a convoy of 40 buses.

Hundreds huddled in groups around the 27,000-seat arena Saturday evening, holding plastic bags with blankets and food, waiting for officials to tell them where to go. This sounds like the Superdome in New Orleans during the Katrina Hurricane crisis, except without the exaggerated news reports about rape and rioting and looting.  In fact, the media seem to go out of their way to describe how 'calm' the Japanese are in the face of this crisis.  I think we all know that the Japanese are not some stereotypical docile people who are immune to the emotion horror that has occured on the island.  Geez.

The Fukushima nuclear power plant.had been a support for the townspeople for 40 years, supplying jobs and buoying the economy. Now, some are saying that nuclear plants had a normal lifespan of 20 years and that operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. had been trying to stretch out its tenure too long.  Well, a super tsunami was not anticipated by TEPCO. (WSJ, 3/21/2011)

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Fuel Management Issue

Image Courtesy Union of Concerned Scientists

The Fukushima Daiichi power plant, like other nuclear plants in Japan, removes fresh fuel from a reactor and parks it for weeks or months in a less-protected "spent fuel" pool during maintenance.  This standard practice at Japanese nuclear plants appears to have been a significant contributor to the tsunami-induce disaster at the Daiichi facility.  

When the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck, all of the fresh fuel at the plant's Reactor No. 4 had been removed and stored in a pool that must remain filled with cooling water. That pool became one of the biggest problems for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, after much of the protective water dissipated, threatening fire and widespread radiation release.

At the time of the quake, Reactor 4 was offline and not generating power amid annual maintenance. As part of that, five months ago Tepco relocated all the fuel rods from inside the reactor to what's called a spent-fuel pool, a concrete holding tank that is less robustly protected than the reactor itself. The active rods were in that pool when the March 11 quake struck. When the tsunami wiped out the plant's emergency generators, the water in the spent-fuel pool adjacent to the No. 4 reactor could no longer circulate, and fresh water could not be pumped in. Rods in the pools began to overheat, causing the water to evaporate as steam and exposing parts of the radioactive rods to the air—a critically dangerous situation. The heat spawned fires and the roof above the pool was partly destroyed, letting radiation out.

The Japanese argue it's safer to move all the fuel to the pool, but the practice of full-core discharge caused a problem, in the case of the tsunami.  They believe the practice of removing still-usable fuel and stowing it in the spent-fuel pool can be done safely if ample water is available and sufficient space is maintained between the rods.

In the U.S., reactors shut down for refueling typically retain most of their fuel in the thick steel reactor pressure vessel that provides much more protection against a radioactive release. During refueling outages, when operators swap out depleted fuel for fresh fuel and do other maintenance, these rods are shuffled around in a process somewhat akin to rotating tires on a car to even out the wear.  In the U.S., only the most worn-out rods typically are removed and transferred to a spent-fuel pool for storage, where they can stay for decades. Thus, U.S., pools hold only the oldest spent fuel, which is also the coolest in terms of temperature and radiation.


Outdoor Dry Casks: Image UCS

  By contrast, at Tepco and other utilities, it's common to temporarily remove all the fuel rods. The freshest are eventually moved back to the reactor pressure vessel and supplemented with new rods to replace the oldest ones, which are left in the storage pools.

Rods can be left in pools for many years for two reasons. First, they need to cool down. Second, no nation has yet solved the problem of what to do with large stockpiles of used nuclear fuel. As a result, much of it remains in utility holding pens. (WSJ, 3/21/2011)

EPA & DOE Say No Significant Radiation Has Reached USA

The United States Government has an extensive network of radiation monitors around the country and no radiation levels of concern have been detected. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency RadNet system is designed to protect the public by notifying scientists, in near real time, of elevated levels of radiation so they can determine whether protective action is required. The EPA’s system has not detected any radiation levels of concern.

In addition to EPA’s RadNet system, the U.S. Department of Energy has radiation monitoring equipment at research facilities around the country, which have also not detected any radiation levels of concern.

As part of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization’s International Monitoring System (IMS), the Department of Energy also maintains the capability to detect tiny quantities of radioisotopes that might indicate an underground nuclear test on the other side of the world. These detectors are extremely sensitive and can detect minute amounts of radioactive materials.

Today, one of these monitoring stations in Sacramento, California that feeds into the IMS detected miniscule quantities of the radioactive isotope xenon-133. The origin was determined to be consistent with a release from the Fukushima reactors in Northern Japan. The levels detected were approximately 0.1 disintegrations per second per cubic meter of air (0.1 Bq/m3), which results in a dose rate approximately one-millionth of the dose rate that a person normally receives from rocks, bricks, the sun and other natural background sources. This validates a similar reading of 0.1 Bq/m3, taken from March 16 through 17 in Washington State.

Xenon-133 is a radioactive noble gas produced during nuclear fission that poses no concern at the detected level.

These types of readings remain consistent with expectations since the onset of this tragedy, and are to be expected in the coming days.

Following the explosion of the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine in 1986 – the worst nuclear accident in world history – air monitoring in the United States also picked up trace amounts of radioactive particles, less than one thousandth of the estimated annual dose from natural sources for a typical person.

As part of the federal government’s continuing effort to make our activities and science transparent and available to the public, the Environmental Protection Agency will continue to keep all RadNet data available in the current online database. (EPA)

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