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Biden Administration Eyes Resurrecting Shuttered Nuclear Power Plants

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Nuclear Power Plants
Nuclear Power Plant: Reuters Image

Biden Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Reuters that the administration might resurrect many of its recently shuttered nuclear power stations to assist satisfy increased demand for zero-emissions electricity, or add reactors to existing locations.

The Biden administration believes nuclear power is crucial to fulfilling greenhouse gas reduction targets and decarbonizing the economy by 2050 to combat climate change, but the industry has been hampered by the high cost of new development.

“I do think they can come back,” Granholm said of certain closed nuclear plants in an interview late Tuesday.

In March, the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) granted Holtec International a $1.52 billion conditional loan to rebuild the Palisades reactor in Michigan, which might become the country’s first nuclear facility to resume after being shut down.

The plant, which will close in 2022, now need permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which regulates nuclear safety.

Granholm said she would be shocked if the LPO isn’t in talks with operators of other shutdown plants across the country about reviving them as well. She did not name any and stated that she is not active in LPO discussions.

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Nuclear Power Plant Reactor: Reuters Image

Building new Nuclear Power Plants

Since 2013, over a dozen reactors in the United States have shuttered owing to competition from natural gas-fired power and increased safety expenses. Some are too far along in the decommissioning process to restart.

Granholm stated that building new reactors at current locations could be a cost-effective solution to boost the United States’ nuclear energy capacity. She claimed approximately 30 power plant locations in the United States have been licensed or permitted for the development of further reactors.

“So you don’t have to go through the whole rigamarole again, you can just use the existing footprint to be able to increase generation capacity,” she explained.

Emissions-free electricity

Emissions-free electricity: Reuters Image

Emissions-free electricity

In an earnings call last month, Joseph Dominguez, CEO of Constellation Energy, the U.S. company with the most nuclear power generation, stated that restarting its Three Mile Island Unit 1 reactor in Pennsylvania would be one of several opportunities the company would consider once Palisades received its LPO loan.

The plant, which is separate from the Three Mile Island reactor that experienced a partial nuclear meltdown in 1979, closed in late 2019.

Nuclear power skeptics argue that building new reactors is excessively expensive and slow when compared to wind and solar farms with battery storage, and that it produces long-term radioactive waste.

Two new reactors at Georgia’s Vogtle plant, which opened in 2023 and 2024, were years behind time and billions of dollars over budget, with consumers absorbing some of the costs.

Granholm stated that the second new Vogtle reactor was 30% cheaper than the first due to lessons learnt.

She also stated that some major electricity customers may be willing to pay a “green premium” for nuclear power because reactors provide nearly emissions-free electricity and are regarded as a reliable source of energy.

Green Energy

Nuclear Power is Green Energy

Nuclear power is one of the most efficient ways to generate significant amounts of electricity while avoiding the carbon emissions caused by fossil fuels. Nuclear power is fundamentally based on the process of nuclear fission, which involves splitting uranium or plutonium atoms to liberate energy.

This energy heats water, creating steam, which powers turbines to generate electricity. Nuclear facilities, unlike wind or solar electricity, can operate around the clock, providing a consistent and dependable energy supply. It’s also worth noting that nuclear energy produces less trash than coal or oil.

The trash it generates, while radioactive and requiring cautious management, is controlled and handled. The primary disadvantage is the high expense of developing and operating nuclear facilities, as well as the difficulty of safely storing radioactive waste.

However, technological improvements are making these difficulties more bearable. Some governments are even looking into new types of reactors that may be safer and more efficient.

Despite the challenges, nuclear power remains a viable option in the balance of energy sources required to fulfill rising global demand while mitigating climate change.

Source: Reuters

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The Supreme Court Weighs in on Nuclear Waste Storage Proposals in Rural Texas and New Mexico.

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(VOR News) – On Friday, the Supreme Court decided to step in and settle a disagreement over the planned storage of radioactive waste in rural Texas and New Mexico.

The 5th United States Circuit Supreme Court of Appeals found that the Radioactive Regulatory Commission had overreached its authority under federal law when it authorized a private company to store spent radioactive material for forty years at a West Texas dump.

The justices have stated that they will examine this ruling in greater detail. The plans for a facility that resembles the one in New Mexico will change depending on how the lawsuit turns out.

Both states’ political elites are against the facilities.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said that his state “will not serve as a repository for nuclear waste in the Supreme Court United States.”

Up until now, the country’s efforts to establish a long-term underground storage facility have failed. The political environment surrounding this search is complicated, and one aspect of it is the ongoing push for venues for temporary storage.

At the locations of existing and previous nuclear power reactors across the nation, about 100,000 tons (90,000 metric tons) of spent fuel are accumulating; some of it dates back to the 1980s. This amount is building up at a rate of more than two thousand tons annually. Before being buried at a suitable depth, the waste was supposed to be temporarily kept.

The idea of building a national storage facility on Yucca Mountain, northwest of Las Vegas, has been met with strong opposition from most Nevadans, including government officials. With this in mind, the initiative has been completely shelved.

The ongoing disagreement over nuclear waste storage is one of thirteen issues that the justices have scheduled for their upcoming term, which begins on Monday.

Other notable cases include an appeal by a Texas death row inmate whose execution was last-minutely delayed by the supreme court in July, and a move by gun makers to end a legal dispute in which Mexico is attempting to hold them accountable for gun violence south of the border. These two examples are remarkable.

At the start of next year, the justices in the NRC lawsuit will hear arguments on two questions.

The National Research Council (NRC) asserts that because states have chosen not to engage in the commission’s proceedings, they have relinquished their ability to challenge licensing decisions.

The Federal Appeals and Supreme Courts in Denver and Washington also ruled in its favor.

All of the cases were allowed to continue by the Fifth Circuit. The second question concerns the commission’s jurisdiction to grant permits for facilities that provide temporary storage in compliance with federal law.

Unlikely partners, environmental groups and the state of Texas depended on a 2022 Supreme Court decision holding that Congress must proceed cautiously when granting an agency the power to regulate a matter of significant national interest.

In its decision for Texas, the Fifth Circuit Supreme Court of Appeals found that the issue of how to dispose of the country’s nuclear waste is a “major question” that needs immediate action from Congress.

As a result of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the commission has long-standing jurisdiction to address nuclear waste, which the Vice President Joe Biden administration has informed the Supreme Court about.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has authorized Interim Storage Partners LLC to run a facility in the state of Texas. This facility can hold up to 5,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods from power plants in addition to 231 million tons of other radioactive waste.

The facility would be built in close proximity to an existing Andrews County disposal site for the purpose of getting rid of low-level trash, which includes radioactively exposed things like protective gear. The area in Andrews County is about 350 miles (563.27 kilometers) west of Dallas, close to the Texas–New Mexico state line.

The commission authorized Holtec International to run a temporary storage facility in Lea County, California, which is near Carlsbad in the state’s southeast. The license is opposed by other New Mexico officials and Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Moreover, that license has been revoked by the Fifth Circuit.

By the middle of the following year, we hope to have a decision.

SOURCE: AP

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Analyzing the US Election: Kamala Harris Versus Donald Trump

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Election

(VOR News) – This is an analysis of the 2018 United States election, delineated by numerical data, encompassing swing states, electoral college votes, candidates across the ballot, and millions of potential voters.

The pair

A multitude of independent candidates competed for office, notably Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose actions garnered significant attention.

Ultimately, the presidential election reduces to a decision between two alternatives: the principal candidates from the major parties, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, are competing for the presidency in an America that is progressively polarized along partisan lines.

It is five o’clock.

Election Day is often recognized on the Tuesday subsequent to the first Monday in November. Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th.

Seventh

The number of states classified as swing states, which do not distinctly support one political party over another, indicating their competitive nature.

Harris and Trump are engaging with voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. They are focusing their campaign efforts on these states to enhance their prospects of victory. The election outcome in a tightly contested campaign may hinge on a minimal number of votes in any given state.

In addition to 435

On Election Day, voters will select the next occupant of the White House and also reacquaint themselves with the members of the United States Congress.

This election features 435 available seats in the House of Representatives and 34 seats in the Senate.

A term in the House of Representatives endures for a duration of two years. Currently, Republicans possess the majority in the House of Representatives, while Harris’s Democrats are anticipating a shift in sentiment.

There are 34 vacant seats out of 100 in the Senate for a tenure duration of six years. The Republicans are striving to diminish the narrow majority possessed by the Democrats.

5838

We would like to introduce you to the Electoral College, the indirect system of universal suffrage in the United States that governs presidential elections.

Each state possesses a distinct number of electors, calculated by summing the number of its representatives in the House of Representatives, which fluctuates based on population, with the fixed number of two senators per state.

Rural Vermont offers a total of three electoral votes. Currently, Giant California possesses 54.

The aggregate number of electors is 538, distributed throughout all fifty states and the District of Columbia. A candidate must obtain a total of 270 votes to secure the presidency.

At 774,000

The Pew Research Center reported the number of polling staff members who volunteered to facilitate the smooth execution of the 2020 election.

The United States has three types of election personnel.

The majority are represented by poll workers, employed to greet voters, assist those with language problems, set up voting equipment, and verify voter identification and registration.

Pew indicates that election officials are frequently elected, employed, or appointed to perform specialized tasks, including instructing poll workers. These officials may also receive appointments.

Political parties typically enlist poll observers to monitor the ballot counting process, which is expected to be more challenging this year due to Trump’s refusal to unreservedly accept the outcome.

A number of election workers have previously communicated with AFP regarding the pressure and threats they are facing in anticipation of the November 5 election.

A total of 244 million.

According to the Bipartisan Policy Center’s findings, the number of United States residents eligible to vote in 2024.

The exact number of citizens who will exercise their right to vote remains uncertain. According to the Pew Research Center, the midterm elections of 2018 and 2022, together with the presidential election of 2020, exhibited three of the highest voter turnouts in the United States in decades.

According to the Pew Research Center’s website, approximately two-thirds (66%) of the voting-eligible population participated in the 2020 presidential election, marking the greatest turnout rate for any national election since 1900.

The Census Bureau estimates that approximately 155 million individuals have voted.

SOURCE: NDTV

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Austrian Activist Schrems Wins Privacy Case Against Meta Over Personal Data On Sexual Orientation

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Meta
meta | AP News

LONDON — Meta in hot water once again. The European Union’s top court ruled on Friday that social networking company Meta cannot utilize public information on a user’s sexual orientation collected outside of its platforms for targeted advertising under the bloc’s tough data privacy regulations.

The ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg is a triumph for Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems, who has been a thorn in the side of Big Tech corporations over their compliance with the 27-nation bloc’s data protection regulations.

meta

Austrian Activist Schrems Wins Privacy Case Against Meta Over Personal Data On Sexual Orientation

The EU court released its decision after Austria’s Supreme Court requested assistance in Schrems’ case on how to apply privacy standards known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

Schrems had protested that Facebook had used personal information, including his sexual orientation, to target him with online advertising despite the fact that he had never acknowledged his homosexuality on his account. He had only publicly acknowledged this fact once, during a panel discussion.

“An online social network such as Facebook cannot use all of the personal data obtained for the purposes of targeted advertising, without restriction as to time and without distinction as to type of data,” the court stated in a press release summarizing its ruling.

Even though Schrems disclosed his homosexuality during the debate, the agreement “does not authorise the operator of an online social network platform to process other data relating to his sexual orientation, obtained, as the case may be, outside that platform, with a view to aggregating and analysing those data, in order to offer him personalised advertising.”

Austrian Activist Schrems Wins Privacy Case Against Meta Over Personal Data On Sexual Orientation

Meta stated that it was awaiting publication of the court’s entire decision and that it “takes privacy very seriously.”

“Everyone using Facebook has access to a wide range of settings and tools that allow people to manage how we use their information,” according to a statement from the business.

Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig, Schrems’ lawyer, applauded the court’s decision.

“Meta has been accumulating a massive user data pool over the past 20 years, and it is growing by the day. However, EU law mandates ‘data minimisation’,” she stated in a statement. “Following this ruling only a small part of Meta’s data pool will be allowed to be used for advertising — even when users consent to ads.”

SOURCE | AP

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