February 2011

http://nuclearstreet.com/nuclear_power_industry_news/b/nuclear_power_news/archive/2011/02/18/premature-deterioration-detected-in-ge-hitachi-control-rod-blades-at-nuclear-plants021802.aspx

“Premature Deterioration Detected in GE Hitachi Control Rod Blades at Nuclear Plants : Nuclear Street News Team Fri, Feb 18 2011 : GE Hitachi has discovered unexpected cracking and material distortion in some of the companies’ control-rod blades, according to a report made public Wednesday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. GE Hitachi reported to the NRC that the problems could present a safety hazard, and the design life of the companies’ Marathon Blades may be reduced. Malfunction of control rods can limit operators’ ability to control the nuclear reaction within a reactor. “A recent inspection of near ‘end-of-life’ Marathon Control Rod Blades (CRB) at an international BWR/6 has revealed crack indications…”

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/mncof_xel_report-hints-at-problems-with-nuclear-plant-control-rods-at-monticello-1503507.html

“Report hints at problems with nuclear plant control rods at Monticello : Posted on: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 : Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy will replace four control rod blades at its Monticello Nuclear Power Plant next month after a major nuclear industry manufacturer reported a potential “substantial safety hazard” with control rods at more than two dozen nuclear reactors around the country. GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy sent the warning Tuesday to all the affected plants, including Monticello…The cracking and distortion could prevent the cross-shaped rod blades, which typically are 12 feet to 14 feet long, from inserting into the core when plant operators want to reduce power or shut down a plant, said Ken Riemer, chief of reactor programs for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regional office outside Chicago. “They may get stuck and not move in and out of the core,” he said…”

March 2011

http://minnetonka.patch.com/articles/minnesota-nuclear-reactor-safe

“Minnesota Nuclear Reactor—Safe : As a meltdown seems almost certain at a boiling water plant in Japan, Xcel Energy, which operates two similar plants in Minnesota, is watching—closely. By Mike Schoemer : March 14, 2011 : The situation is worsening at the three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in quake-ravaged Japan. At last estimates, Japan has evacuated more than 150,000 people from a 30-mile radius around the plant. Meanwhile, nuclear administrators and workers at the local Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant, less than 40 miles from Minnetonka, are watching with vested interest. And an uneasy local public wonders, “Could it happen here?” The short answer is probably not – the two plants in this state aren’t anywhere near a major fault line and a tsunami risk is virtually nil. But the long answer to a deadly one-two punch scenario like the one that hit Japan is, simply, unknown…”

http://climateprogress.org/2011/03/17/nuclear-energy-reactors-safe-the-onion/

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail allows us to be concerned about the things that really, really matter :-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1366875/How-Japan-crisis-affect-money.html

“How will Japan crisis affect your money?”

Everything seems a bit gloomy for financial whizzkids :-

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-japan-quake-idUSTRE72A0SS20110316?pageNumber=1

“Japan scrambles to avert nuclear disaster, global fears mount…A stream of gloomy warnings and reports on the Japan crisis from experts and officials around the world triggered something of a meltdown in U.S. markets on Wednesday, with the Japanese yen surging to a record high against the dollar and all three major stock indexes slumping on fears of slower worldwide growth. European markets fared similarly. Traders were glued to their screens, hitting the sell button every time officials gave ever bleaker assessments of the situation on the ground in Japan…”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/09/something_new_and_not_altogeth.html

“‘Warmist’ attack smacks of ‘sceptical’ intolerance : Richard Black | 16:42 UK time, Wednesday, 22 September 2010 : It seems that something new, and not altogether welcome, may be happening in the politicking over climate change. I have written before of the orchestrated villification that comes the way of climate scientists from some people and organisations who are unconvinced of the case for human-induced climate change – “sceptics”, “deniers”, as you wish. Journalists, including your humble correspondent, receive our fair share too. This week, for the first time, I am seeing the same pattern from their opponents. Joe Romm, the physicist-cum-government-advisor-cum-polemicist, posted a blog entry highly critical of the Arctic ice article I wrote last week. Headlined “Dreadful climate story by BBC’s Richard Black”, it takes me to task, essentially, for not mentioning human-induced climate change explicitly. He then gives my email address and invites his readers to send in complaints. Many have, perhaps swayed by judgemental terms in his post such as “spin”, “inexcusable”, and “mis-reporting”, with several citing his interpretation as gospel truth. He is as entitled to his views as anyone else. But this is, at least in my experience, the first time that “warmers” – those who, like Dr Romm, believe climate change is taking us to hell in a handcart and who lobby for more urgent action on the issue – have resorted to the internet equivalent of taking banners onto the street in an attempt to influence reporting of the issue. At least, that is the surface complaint; what my omission hides, he hints heavily, is an agenda aimed at downplaying the impacts of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions…”

What makes Richard Black, or his editor, think it’s a good use of his time to cover this matter ?

He has admitted, in my direct hearing, that he hasn’t really read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report, so maybe he should start there instead of covering the A, B, C of normal BBC “environmental reporting protocol” ?

How he’s supposed to write, and the material he’s expected to cover for the BBC audience, and the slant he is told to pitch, seem to be deliberately excluding the very real risks of very real and dangerous change in the climate :-

http://climateprogress.org/2010/09/22/bbc-climate-change-coverage-mark-brayne/

“…heard from a former BBC producer colleague that internal editorial discussions now under way at the BBC on planning next year’s news agenda have in fact explicitly parked climate change in the category “Done That Already, Nothing New to Say.”…”

Well, now, there’s several things that really need to be said in response to that :-

a. Global Warming is accelerating. As each year passes, Climate could change in more extreme ways. Are the BBC ready to tone down everything that comes their way ? Will we be forced to “believe our own lying eyes” ? Will they even bother to cover the next major flooding in Cockermouth, Cumbria and Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire or Carlisle or anywhere in Devon ?

b. Global Warming suffers from a 30 to 40 year time lag, approximately. Richard Black would know this if he’d only read the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and the work of the esteemed James Hansen. Surely the threat of further serious temperature rises “in the pipeline” would be a story big enough for Richard Black and the BBC ?

c. Climate Sensitivity (the response of the Climate to Global Warming causing further warming) is in the process of being revised – upwards. This is a big deal – bigger than the Pope and the Spending Cuts, and it’s tantamount to disgraceful to water this down.

Why can’t the BBC bring itself to report on the serious nature of Climate Change ?

What stops the BBC from paying attention to the Arctic region meltdown saga, or the worsening Asian drought-flood swings ? What about the feast and famine in European agriculture ? What about the water wars in South America, also brewing in the United States of America ? What about the massive changes in Australian farming ? What about the worsening sustainability of African crop production ? What about the constant weather extremes ? The increase in extreme heatwaves ? China’s responses to environmental risk ? Surely there’s meat enough there for plenty of rapportage and quality journalism ?

Perhaps the BBC have flagged from the conflicts of their social duty to tell the full, unexpurgated truth. If so, why don’t they just admit they don’t want to cover the Environment, because it’s so riven with debate and qualitative views, sack everybody with any training and credentials and ability to spell and get on with feeding the public what it really wants : pap and pop ?

http://vimeo.com/15028423

“We have to believe what we are witnessing with our own eyes — floods, fires, melting ice and feverish heat: from smoke-choked Moscow to water-soaked Pakistan, to soaring temperatures in the US and a deteriorating landscape in the High Arctic, our planet seems to be having a breakdown. It’s not just a portent of things to come but real signs of very troubling climate change already under way.”

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dlashof/this_is_what_global_warming_lo.html

NRDC Advocacy Website

“Tell Congress not to weaken Clean Air Act protections : As the EPA prepares to set standards for global warming pollution from power plants, refineries and other major polluters, some members of Congress want to weaken the Clean Air Act and give industries free rein to dump harmful pollution into our air…”

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/37-states-set-nighttime-high-temperature-records-this-summer.php

“With January to August 2010 found to be tied for the hottest year on record by NOAA, new analysis from NRDC shows that it wasn’t just daytime temperatures that’ve been soaring. In fact, 37 states in the US set record high nighttime temperatures this summer…”

Found at : Green Man

It continues to astonish me that environmental reporters cannot pick up the Arctic meltdown ball and run with it.

The trend in meltdown in the northernmost latitudes is a very big deal – and it’s ongoing, it hasn’t stopped, gone into remission or gone away.

The nature of the ice is changing – so much so that scientific monitoring equipment was confused.

It is now clear that Arctic summer sea ice is in a “death spiral”, a phrase first used very recently, in an attempt to properly describe what is happening :-

http://tamino.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/death-spiral/

Richard Black has noticed that the Arctic sea ice is melting – bravo ! But I can’t help thinking there’s something missing in this report of his. I know he probably didn’t write the headline, but he could have included a discussion on record low volumes of sea ice as well as nearly record low extent :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11322310

“16 September 2010 : ‘Rapid’ 2010 melt for Arctic ice – but no record : Ice floating on the Arctic Ocean melted unusually quickly this year, but did not shrink down to the record minimum area seen in 2007. That is the preliminary finding of US scientists who say the summer minimum seems to have passed and the ice has entered its winter growth phase. 2010′s summer Arctic ice minimum is the third smallest in the satellite era…Walt Meier, a researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado, where the data is collated, said ice had melted unusually fast. “It was a short melt season – the period from the maximum to the minimum was shorter than we’ve had – but the ice was so thin that even so it melted away quickly,” he told BBC News…”

That’s right, Walt. And it should concern us.

The amount of older ice has dropped away – see graph at the top of this post – which suggests that the overall volume of ice could be much reduced as only older ice is thick.

But what does Richard Black focus on ?

“…computer models projecting a disappearance [ of summer Arctic sea ice ] very soon – 2013 was a date cited by one research group just a few years ago – seem to have been too extreme…”

Well that’s alright then. We can relax. The Arctic sea ice will be here for many summers to come. Or not. Who cares, really ? The important thing is that we have established by our cleverness that the whole Global Warming situation is not as bad as those alarmists/warmists say.

The Arctic is melting away and Richard Black needs to deny dire projections ?

The BBC : managing public perception for the benefit of a generally positive state of mind ?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tj525/Uncertain_Climate_Episode_1/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tmcz3/Uncertain_Climate_Episode_2/

But of course, the BBC has to keep people sweet, and obviously continues to “play both sides”, don’t they ? How else did Roger get to interview Steve McIntyre of the truly annoying Canadian whine (it’s not his fault, I have to add, that I find his voice unbearable) and Nigel Lawson ? And Judith Curry ?

Or maybe not. Roger Harrabin admits to a stand-up row with Al Gore. Hopefully he’s still welcome in the United States of America.

There seem to be about 50 mentions of the word “uncertainties”, and an obsession about temperature rise projections – with no focus on the melting Arctic – which is not at all uncertain as it is a demonstrable fact.

Wake up ! The Arctic’s melting !

An e-mail trail with a certain amount of political content…

from: Kate Shepherd
date: Tue, Aug 10, 2010
subject: Climate Week

Hello Jo

It was lovely to speak with you today about Climate Week and I’d be grateful if you could pass on the information to the rest of your team.

Climate Week, 21st – 27th March 2011, is a new national occasion on climate change, backed by the Prime Minister, Al Gore and Kofi Annan. During Climate Week, thousands of events will be run by organisations from every part of society to highlight the positive steps being taken to help prevent climate change.

I have attached a document for further information, the document includes a list of supporters of Climate Week, which range from every part of society: from the Chief Fire Officers Association to the Women’s Institute, the Girl Guiding UK to several Regional Development Agencies.

The organisations backing Climate Week have added their names to the growing list of organisations backing Climate Week, they are encouraging their networks and members to get involved in Climate Week and are starting to think about some events/activities they can run.

Kevin Steele, the founder and CEO of Climate Week, sits on the steering committee for David Cameron’s Big Society and founded Global Entrepreneurship Week and National Family Week. The Climate Week model – with thousands of events all over the UK – will inspire those wanting to do their bit and promote those who are already doing their bit.

In November we are holding a stakeholder event in Westminster for the directors of the organisations supporting Climate Week – I will keep you posted and also let you know as soon as our website is launched (at the beginning of September).

It would be fantastic to add XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX to the growing list of supporters of Climate Week and speak about other ways you might be able to get involved.

I look forward to hearing from you

With very best wishes

Kate Shepherd, Head of Campaigns, Climate Week
http://www.climateweek.com
Telephone (direct line) +44 (0)203 397 2602
20 Grosvenor Street, London W1K 4QH, UK

Dear Kate,

Several members of the central coordinating group in XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX have noted with concern that EdF and RBS are mentioned as sponsoring Climate Week in this article here :-

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1011388/Climate-Week-signs-key-sponsors-event/

Electricite de France and Royal Bank of Scotland are engaged in producing and financing dirty old “conventional” energy, both in Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power.

If those are the companies being referred to by the acronyms “EDF” and “RBS” in the article, it is possible that XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX as an organisation are possibly going to object to having our name associated with Climate Week.

Could you please confirm or deny the rumours, so that I can appraise my colleagues of the facts of the matter.

Thanks,

jo.

from: Kate Shepherd

Hello Jo,

We began work on Climate Week just over two months ago and have been busy putting together a website (due to be launched in October). There is currently a very limited amount of information available online – although that is soon to change, I’m sorry if you have been searching.

There are 7 of us here in the Climate Week office, and in only a short time there are over 100 national networks supporting the initiative, including several faith communities.

Climate Week is the idea of social and environmental campaigner Kevin Steele. Throughout his career, Kevin has dedicated his energy to social justice. He conceived the anti-poverty Trade Justice Movement, he led one of the two largest sections of the Jubilee 2000 campaign, he founded Global Entrepreneurship Week (this year there were 35,000 events in 88 countries) and co-founded National Family Week, the Uk’s largest coalition on family issues. Kevin sat on Gordon Brown’s Social Action Group and currently sits on Cameron’s Big Society steering committee.

Kevin conceived Climate Week with the belief that all other social gains will be wasted if we do not collectively address climate change. For the last two years he has been working behind the scenes, gaining support from figures such as David Cameron, Al Gore and Kofi Annan.

We are also thrilled to have four mainstream sponsors of Climate Week for our independent campaign. All four of the sponsors are part of the national make-up and all four are taking positive steps towards a low-carbon Britain.

I would very much like to invite you and some of your committee to our networking event in Westminster on the 8th November so you can speak with other supporters and get a feel for this inclusive national occasion. The event is for the leaders of all supporting organisations and those organisations wanting to learn more. I will send you an invitation in the next week, could you let me know the names of any other colleagues who might like to attend?

Best wishes

Kate

from: jo abbess

Dear Kate,

Could you please be more precise about the four corporate sponsors you have for Climate Week ?

It is very important for my colleagues to know before we can assent to be linked to this project.

If the Royal Bank of Scotland are, as reported, one of your sponsors, then I’m sorry to say that there will likely be strong objections from my colleagues, as due to publicity from Climate Camp, RBS are now well-known in the public perception as being the financiers of major global Fossil Fuel projects, and we might well decide we couldn’t risk having our position compromised by being associated with this.

Electricite de France is viewed by some energy activists as a many-headed Hydra of spin, compromise and unfulfilled promises, and their adherence to burning coal is regarded as a sign of the deepest hypocrisy. Their CEO Vincent de Rivaz has apparently been campaigning for a long while for governments to support a new round of Nuclear Power plants by permitting higher energy prices, which some view as potentially yet another public bailout for privatised atomic energy (which clearly remains “uneconomic”).

EdF’s “Green Britain Day”, according to some things I have read, has been ridiculed as a pathetic attempt at shoring up public support for their business.

For EdF and RBS to sponsor a public feel-good Climate Week could be considered the ultimate “free advertisement” to prop up the ailing and failing Fossil Fuel and Nuclear Power industries.

The funds that EdF and RBS would be making available for Climate Week, as sponsors, if they are sponsors, could be said to be a very cheap way to generate positive public relations for their private enterprise.

If these companies were really serious about Low Carbon energy, then they would direct their own capital and financing powers towards Renewable Energy, a truly sustainable solution to both the Energy and Climate crises (and help with the Economic one, too).

Anything else could be described as flim-flam, an attempt to paper over the cracks.

In April, in the Gulf of Mexico, people saw what happened when a major energy company experienced engineering problems in producing ever-more-difficult Fossil Fuel resources.

“Conventional” energy is not getting any easier.

Germany has agreed to extend the life of their nuclear power plants, but at what risk ?

All it will take is for yet another French nuclear reactor to fail over winter because of maintenance mishap, and for the Media to decide to cover the story properly, for EdF and other nuclear operators to entirely lose their green credentials, permanently.

If RBS are sponsoring Climate Week, you should expect that some quite vocal people will react to Climate Week as if it is merely an exercise in corporate propaganda.

On these bases, I think it is reasonable for you to be completely transparent about who is behind Climate Week.

Thank you,

jo.

Dear Jo,

Thanks for your email and giving Climate Week such serious thought. Our four sponsors, EDF, RBS, Aviva and Kelloggs are marked on all of our marketing materials (I have reattached our flyer).

Our website is due to be launched in October when more information will be available in the public domain.

With best wishes

Kate

Movie Credit : Fool Me Once
Hat Tip : A Few Things IllConsidered

To check the most recent graphs :-

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

http://psc.apl.washington.edu/ArcticSeaiceVolume/IceVolume.php

http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/