Arkansas Blog

Think about shutting down all manufactoring plants every summer for 2 months. When people get used to it the air and water will be much cleaner. Be like the old days when there were kerosene lamps and sears roebuck tolet paper.

From AP/Yahoo on Thursday

Plans for Dozens of Coal Power Plants Scrapped or Delayed Due to Costs, Climate Concerns

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- At least 16 coal-fired power plant proposals nationwide have been scrapped in recent months and more than three dozen have been delayed as utilities face increasing pressure due to concerns over global warming and rising construction costs.

The slow pace of new plant construction reflects a dramatic change in fortune for a fuel source that just a few years ago was poised for a major resurgence. Combined, the canceled and delayed projects represent enough electricity to power approximately 20 million homes.

The U.S. Department of Energy's latest tally of pending coal plants, released last week, shows eight projects totaling 7,000 megawatts have been canceled since May. That's besides the cancellation earlier this year of eight plants in Texas totaling 6,864 megawatts. Utilities have also pushed back construction on another 32,000 megawatts worth of projects, according to the Energy Department report.

snip (more at my name)

Also this pdf. Energy Department report on coal-fired power plants: http://www.netl.doe.gov/coal/refshelf/ncp.pdf

It's time to bring back the "n" word.

It powers Europe.

chasv, think twice before posting about that

This is exactly why nuclear is making a resurgence. New permits are being filed, new plans drawn up, and within a decade, new reactors will be under construction or going online as the nation is forced back to reality.

Gonna piss off some hippies and hand-wringing liberals but, hey, they're the same people who won't allow wind farms in Cape Cod lest it interfere with the view from the Kennedy compound.

Nuclear energy: safe, clean, efficient and reliable.

I love it when I hear people talk about how safe and clean the nuclear power industry of America is, after all, we're talking about the place that "elected" Bush twice. Let's talk about how the sister plant to 3 Mile, located in Russellville, went a decade after 3 Mile made it known that there were serious problems with the design before they decided to fix it. Let's talk about how Entergy Nuclear security personnel in New York said they had no plans to deal with a terrorist attack and that they felt the security was a joke. Or how in Massachusetts the Governor tried to stop a nuclear plant because their evacuation plan was unworkable, only to be over-ridden by the Feds. Or how the Federal Nuclear disposal facility was decided by politics instead of science. Or how every plant in America is an experiment in who can build the cheapest one. Or how the NRC purposefully lied and forged documents for their politically connected friends, at the expense of American's health. It's not that Nuclear couldn't be done more safely; it's that why bother when the idiots running the place believe any lie you tell them. Sure Nuclear looks good, given the incompetence of our energy policy and the PR firms involved. Let's not talk about the 3 Rs of conservation, diversified energy sources, renewable energy or automobile MPG increases. Like the war on terror, the ones making policy lack competency or integrity and will not suffer the repercussions of their failures. The rest of us will go shopping.

"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner." Omar Bradley

Z, don't forget Davis-Besse (click on name).

To me the bottom-line issue is the waste. I know the French are recycling much of it, but not all; and there is just no safe thing to do with stuff this dangerous that lasts a kazillion years. And of course we have chosen the most dangerous thing possible -- burying it over a fault line.

Thanks for the info Vegan4Hillary, unfortunately many no longer live in a reality based world. The NRC is composed of interests from the nuclear power industry, another fox guarding the henhouse scenario. When the same people and organizations that spread lies for years about the non-existence of global warming are the same ones touting nuclear as the environmental savior (overall decrease in greenhouse gases will be insignificant, about 8% globally, and that only if we replaced all coal-fired power plants with nuke ones) you have to wonder about their credibility. This is another one of the "facts were being fixed around the policy" situations.

"History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives." Abba Eban

You're welcome, Zatharus. And thank you for the quotations with which you always end your posts. They are so full of wisdom and absolutely on point.