The nuclear industry once again falsely represents its true costs

Edited from various media sources:

The application to build a new UK nuclear power station has been accepted for examination by the planning inspectorate. Plans for the Sizewell C plant on the Suffolk coast were put forward by EDF Energy after being mooted 10 years ago. The acceptance means an examining authority will now be appointed to scrutinize the application, with the government having final decision. Stop Sizewell C (SSC) group said it will continue to fight the application. 

However, EDF has now admitted that its proposed nuclear plant in Suffolk will cost £20 billion, far more than had been anticipated. The costs of new nuclear plants are under intense scrutiny after huge increases at other projects, including the Hinkley Point C project EDF is building in Somerset, which is Britain’s first new nuclear plant in a generation. At Hinkley, EDF is liable for the multi-billion pound cost overruns, in return for a subsidy contract guaranteeing it a high fixed price for the electricity it eventually generates. The government is considering a new funding model EDF has proposed for Sizewell under which consumers would start paying for the plant while it is under construction and share in the cost overruns. EDF has said that this will enable it to generate electricity more cheaply.

EDF had previously suggested the plant could be built for 20% less than Hinkley Point C. This implied a cost of about £18bn. The revelation will reignite a furious debate about large nuclear stations. Some backbench Conservative MPs have concerns about the involvement of the Chinese company, CGN. Doug Parr of Greenpeace UK said that the industry’s claim that it can make the next nuclear station cheaper was “just never true”.

ANA Letter to Congress, Re: Preventing FY2021 Funding to More Quickly Detonate a Nuclear Test

See the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) letter, regarding Fiscal Year 2021 funding to more quickly detonate a nuclear weapons test, addressed to Congressional Chairs and Ranking Members of Armed Services Committees, and Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittees, here.

See the ANA press release, here.

Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear, said: "The Nevada National Security Site, where more than 924 full-scale nuclear weapons test blasts were conducted between 1951 and 1992, is Western Shoshone Indian land. The U.S. government acknowledged this when it signed the 1863 'peace and friendship' Treaty of Ruby Valley. Resuming nuclear weapons testing in Newe Sogobia, the Western Shoshone's homeland, would further violate the treaty, which is the highest law in the land, equal in stature to the U.S. Constitution itself."

The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability represents three-dozen local and national organizations addressing policy, safety and cleanup issues across the nuclear weapons complex. Member groups live and work around sites in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex.

Beyond Nuclear is an ANA member group.

Report: Company Decommissioning Pilgrim Nuclear Plant Under Criminal Investigation

As reported by WBUR.

Holtec International, owner of the Pilgrim Nuclear Plant, and conducting its decommissioning and high-level radioactive waste management, has also proposed a highly controversial consolidated interim storage facility for commercial irradiated nuclear fuel in New Mexico.

Victory now complete for opponents of Lake Huron radioactive waste dump

"An Ontario nuclear power generating company has officially dropped its pursuit of a deep underground storage facility for low- to intermediate-level radioactive waste within a half-mile of Lake Huron," writes the Detroit Free Press. The withdrawal of the construction application by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) marks the final phase of a hard-fought victory and 16-year struggle to stop an underground dump for so-called low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste on the shores of Lake Huron.

As the Free Press describes it, a critical blow to the dump was struck in January "when the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON), a local First Nations tribe, overwhelmingly voted against the Deep Geologic Repository in a community referendum. OPG had pledged since 2013 that it would not continue to pursue the project if it did not have the tribe's support."

But, yet another dump is proposed by OPG nearby, just 20 miles inland from Lake Huron -- for all of the high-level radioactive waste across Canada. This time, OPG isn't asking SON's opinion on the matter. So, the fight is again on.

Read the full story. 

Update on June 26, 2020 by admin

• Michigan Radio - Ontario Power Generation formally ends effort to place nuclear waste storage site near Lake Huron - By Ben Thorp

[Holtec] Nuclear waste site [in NM] debated during federal hearing

As reported by the Carlsbad Current Argus:

Nuclear waste site debated during federal hearing

State of New Mexico says nuclear waste project poses disproportionate risk, locals supportive

The draft environmental impact statement issued in March, found the project would have "minimal" impact on the environment.