>On Friday, December 5, 2003, at 11:10 AM, Keith Addison wrote: > > > Bottom of the Barrel > > The World is Running out of Oil - So why do Politicians > > Refuse toTalk About It? > > > > by George Monbiot > > > > > > Every generation has its taboo, and ours is this: that the > > resource upon which our lives have been built is running > > out. We don't talk about it because we cannot imagine it. > > This is a civilization in denial. > > > > >Great article -- if I were inclined to prognosticate, I'd bet on >nuclear used to make hydrogen. Won't be without its own >major disruptions, and won't last very long, hopefully, but >could buy a little time (for some serious self-examination >on a global scale) without meanwhile turning Earth into >another Venus. > >And if we're really lucky, we won't turn into another >Moon, either!.......:-) -K
Yes... but, for instance (etc etc etc): http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22994/story.htm Clean-up funds too low at 42 US nuke plants - GAO USA: December 3, 2003 WASHINGTON - Exelon Corp. (EXC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , the Tennessee Valley Authority and other energy firms that own 42 U.S. nuclear power plants aren't setting aside enough money to pay for cleaning up the sites when their government licenses eventually expire, congressional investigators said on Monday. While the collective status of the decommissioning accounts for the country's nuclear power plants has improved in recent years, the General Accounting Office said some individual plant owners are "not on track" to have sufficient shut-down funds. The worst offenders are Exelon and the government-owned Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), said the GAO, which is the investigative arm of Congress. The trust funds for 11 of Exelon's 20 nuclear power plants and all six of TVA's plants are either below the benchmark or have too low a contribution rate to be fully funded by the time decommissioning takes place, the agency said. Nine other owners have insufficient trust funds for two or more of their nuclear plants, and 29 are lagging on trust funds for a single plant, according to the GAO. "Under our most likely assumptions, these owners will have to increase the rates at which they accumulate funds to meet their future decommissioning obligations," the agency said. After the shutdown of a nuclear power plant and the removal of spent fuel, a nuclear facility remains a significant hazard until all radioactive materials are removed and the site is fully decommissioned. In order to clean up the plants when are eventually retired, utility owners are required to pay into decommissioning trust funds over the lifetime of their plants. The plants with the poorest decommissioning funds include Browns Ferry 1, 2 and 3 (Alabama); Dresden 1 (Illinois); Duane Arnold (Iowa); Indian Point 1 (New York); Peach Bottom 1 (Pennsylvania); Rancho Seco (California); and Zion 1 and 2 (Illinois). Six of these 10 plants have already permanently shut down but are still awaiting full cleanup, according to Democratic Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts. Markey requested the GAO report and is one of the strongest nuclear industry critics in Congress. "This report should open the eyes of the American people to the irresponsibility of many nuclear plant owners," said Markey. "While happily pocketing their profits today, many plant owners are shirking their duty to save for tomorrow." Markey warned that if utilities do not set aside enough money, taxpayers may get stuck with billions of dollars in clean-up costs. The Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's main trade group, said many of the utilities invest their decommissioning funds in the stock market and the GAO report reviewed the status of those funds during the year 2000, when there was a downturn in the market. "It's not surprising that there may be some individual firms who may not be where they want to be" with their decommissioning funds, said a spokesman for the trade group. Many of the plant owners are seeking 20-year extensions on the original 40-year licenses for their facilities, which will give the firms more time to come up with the decommissioning funds that will be needed, the NEI spokesman added. Government regulations limit commercial nuclear power plant licenses to an initial 40 years of operation, but licenses can be renewed for another 20 years if the plant can be operated safely over the extended period. Of the 125 nuclear power plants that have been licensed in the United States since 1969, three have been completely decommissioned. Of the remaining 122 plants, 104 have operating licenses and 18 plants have been shut down but not fully cleaned up. Story by Tom Doggett REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/