Nukewatch

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Failed Reactors Bailed Out by Taxpayers

Nukewatch Quarterly Fall 2019
With its Feb. 11, 1985 cover story, Forbes magazine harshly dismissed nuclear power as “the largest managerial disaster in business history.”

State governments have approved a new generation of public tax giveaways to the private nuclear industry. In Ohio, after originally announcing plans to close and file for bankruptcy, FirstEnergy Solutions, owners of Davis-Besse and Perry reactors, spent $30 million on lobbying. On July 23rd it was offered $1 billion of Ohio ratepayer/taxpayer funds to keep the failed reactors afloat, when Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 6. Since 2016, the nuclear industry has won nearly $15 billion in state taxpayer bailouts, including $7.6 billion in New York in 2016, $2.3 billion in Illinois in 2016, $2.7 billion in New Jersey in 2018, and $1.7 billion in Connecticut in 2018. There is currently no federal giveaway program, since Energy Secretary Rick Perry refused to deliver a federal handout. In June he concluded that the Energy Dept. doesn’t have “regulatory or statutory ability” to create tax credits, tax breaks or other incentives for coal and nuclear reactors. Sec. Perry did remind state legislatures that they have this authority. —Columbus Dispatch, July 23; Environmental Working Group, July 8; Energy and Policy Institute, April 11, 2019; and New York Times; June 1, 2018

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Welding Flaws Plague French Reactors

Nukewatch Quarterly Fall 2019

The head of the French Nuclear Safety Authority said on Sept. 10, “At least five nuclear reactors are affected” by unsafe welding on giant steam generators, raising the possibility of shutting them down. The exact number of faulty generators is unknown. Montel News reported that perhaps 20 generators were faulty, having all been constructed by Framatome at its Saint Marcel factory. Next to reactor cores, and pools full of hot waste fuel rods, steam generators are some of the most important components of a nuclear reactor complex. The generators turn water into steam using heat from the reactor’s core. France’s 58 reactors typically hold two to four steam generators. —Reuters; Montel News; and WTVB News; Sept. 12, 2019

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Europe Reactors Running Without Licenses

Nukewatch Quarterly Fall 2019

There are at least 18 nuclear reactors currently operating without a valid license in the European Union, according to a report put together by Germany’s Green Party member and nuclear expert Sylvia Kotting-Uhl. The unlawfully run reactors should have been subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment because of their age. Reactors deemed “high risk” are required by law to undergo the environmental assessment, particularly those over 30 years old and those approaching or past the end of their 40-year operational life. EU governments illegally running reactors include The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belgium, Finland, the UK, Sweden and Switzerland. Another 34 other reactors are also operating illegally in neighboring countries outside the European Union. Kotting-Uhl demanded in her report that the German government push for an “end to illegal nuclear power plant operation.”

—Business Insider Germany, Aug. 25; and Spiegel online, Aug. 16, 2019

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Disaster Planning: Germany Quadruples Stock of Iodine Pills

Nukewatch Quarterly Fall 2019

Germany’s federal Office for Radiation Protection said Aug. 22 that it ordered 189.5 million iodine tablets—four times the current stockpile—for use in case of a radiation disaster. Iodine pills can help block the absorption by the thyroid gland of radioactive iodine-131, which is dispersed and spread in huge quantities by damaged reactors, Japan Times reported. Germany plans to phase out all 17 of its nuclear reactors by 2022, but eight remain operating. Health officials noted that neighboring countries Belgium, France, Switzerland and the Czech Republic will continue operating their reactors, even those without valid licenses and with welding defects. There are health risks associated with taking iodine pills and the Center for Disease Control warns that they should only be taken on the advice of public health or emergency management officials.

—Japan Times, Aug. 23; The Hill; The Washington Post; and the Associated Press; Aug. 22, 2019

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Wind Power Surpasses Nuclear Capacity in the US

Nukewatch Quarterly Fall 2019

On Sept. 20, when millions around the world were marching to raise awareness about the climate, a major milestone was passed in the race to replace fossil fuels with renewables. The US now has more wind power, as measured in megawatts (MW) of generating capacity, than nuclear power. From April to July 2019,  the total generating capacity from the country’s 57,000 wind turbines was up to 97,960 MW, according to the American Wind Energy Association. The World Nuclear Association figures show that total generating capacity from the remaining 96 nuclear reactors in the US is now 97,722 MW. That is, 238 MW less than wind! Likewise in Britain, early in 2018, wind farms provided more electricity than the country’s eight nuclear power stations, marking the first time wind has overtaken nuclear over a fiscal quarter, the Guardian reported.

—Timmon Wallis, nuclearban.us; Sept. 20, 2019, The Guardian, May 16, 2018

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