Read Greg Harmon's column on CPS Nuke duplicity in the Current

The San Antonio Current has matured into an important publication. Greg Harmon's web article, Nuke Collider: San Antonio delays $400 million nuke bond vote over Toshiba cost surge is a must read.

One can only hope that Mayor Castro will now take the time to seriously consider his political future and the future of our city. In this press conference he really looks like a man who is trying desperately not to admit that he was taken in by the nuclear cabal at CPS.

Greg reports on the lack of interest on the part of Castro and the city council in the Rifken Report: San Antonio: Leading the Way Forward to the Third Industrial Revolution.  An executive summary of the report was prepared by Solar San Antonio as well.

In the video below be sure to check out CPS's interim managers admission that CPS knew about the cost estimate increase for a week and a half. (The reporter's question and his answer begins about 4 minutes into the video.)  I didn't see a follow-up asking why they hadn't told the mayor, council and citizens about it immediately.  Also check out In the video of the press conference 4:21.  Then watch as the mayor tries to explain that the process has been a good one even though CPS lied to him and he and the city council couldn't be bothered to look at alternatives and citing how good CPS has been in the past to justify trusting CPS now.

By promoting the nuclear plant expansion San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will be remembered

Mayor Castro,

You are making a defining mistake for your career. Your vote in favor of the nuclear expansion will haunt you for your lifetime. For generations you will be remembered as the man who could have stopped the project but who made sure it moved forward.

Whenever workers who mine uranium are made ill, you will be remembered. Whenever land where the uranium is mined becomes permanently unusable because of radiation, you will be remembered.

When San Antonio is saddled with a plant that no one else will invest in because alternative sources of power became available, you will be remembered.

When we become dependent on foreign sources of uranium, you will be remembered. Whenever there is a planned release of radiation, you will be remembered.

Whenever there is an breakdown, you will be remembered. When water is not available for other uses, you will be remembered.

When future generations for the next 100,000 years have to deal with the radioactive waste produced by your plants, you will be remembered.

Nothing else you will do will be remembered as long as your decision to build the reactors will be.

Whenever Democrats consider candidates, you will be remembered as the man responsible for making new American nuclear plants, nuclear pollution and nuclear ruin possible.

Put it to a vote of the people. Then perhaps you will be remembered as the man who avoided making a mistake that would have harmed millions of people for thousands of years.

Remember our San Antonio mayor and city council infamously as "The Nuclear Eleven"

From Eric Lane:
The “Nuclear Eleven” is how this City Council should forever be remembered if they vote “Yes” on the proposed two new nuclear power plants.

It looks like City Council and the Mayor will be making the ultimate decision regarding the two new nuclear power plants proposed for STP.  But that decision will have a much vaster impact.  If they vote “Yes,” this City Council will, as we all know, for the first time in 30 years give the green light to restarting the nuclear power industry in this country. The implication is that they have studied this issue thoroughly and completely and have decided that nuclear power is in the best interests of San Antonio, South Texas, Texas, and, by extension, the United States.

Since there will be no public vote, these eleven folks have taken it upon themselves to make that ultimate decision.  If they vote “No,” other than upsetting a few very large business interests, most people will carry on with very little concern.  CPS will go back to the drawing board and come up with alternative energy scenarios.  And a huge, potential monstrosity will have been averted. 

If City Council votes “Yes,” then they should be held accountable for that vote.  It won’t be good enough to simply disappear into the political ether.  Why?  Because by voting in the affirmative they are guaranteeing San Antonio that we have nothing to worry about by going nuclear.

If there are cost overruns, if water becomes too scarce to run the nuclear plants, if uranium becomes too expensive or we become dependent on foreign uranium, if nuclear waste cannot be protected for the next 100,000 years, if there is an accident, a security breach, radiation leaks or any other number of potential risks, then this City Council and this Mayor should be held accountable by being remembered forever as the “Nuclear Eleven.”  They should not be allowed to hide in the fog of memory. 

It would be the height of irresponsibility to vote in the affirmative if City Council cannot guarantee there will be no problems.  The time to stop a problem is before it starts.  Not after.  If anything goes wrong the “Nuclear Eleven” should and will be held accountable.  From the day of any cost overrun, incident, or problem, their names, their political careers, their legacy will be forever tied to the Council vote on the nuclear power plants.

It won’t matter if the vote is 6 to 5, this City Council and this Mayor will forever be known and remembered as the “Nuclear Eleven.”

Eric Lane

Chair

Consumer Energy Coalition

P.O. Box 100806

San Antonio, TX 78201

Nuke advocate Patrick Moore cites China as a good example for wise and safe investing.

Patrick Moore said  "You think China would build 25 to 50 more nuclear plants, like they are proposing to do, if they thought the technology was risky or exorbitantly priced," at a pro-nuclear rally in San Antonio according to an October 13, 2009 article" CPS Energy Board Unanimously Approves Nuclear Power Expansion" by Jim Forsyth.

So apparently, we should build new nuclear plants because the Chinese communist dictatorship believes that it is safe technology.  These are the people who have brought extreme economic and environmental destruction upon their nation first through poor central planning and now by allowing out of control development and manufacturing.


Moore was in San Antonio as an employee of a pro-nuclear astroturf group that was founded by a public relations firm and is funded by the nuclear industry.

Deep Crack in Florida Reactor a Sign that Aging U.S. Reactor Fleet Should be Shut Down

From Beyond Nuclear:

Takoma Park, MD – A deep crack just discovered in the concrete containment wall of the Crystal River nuclear reactor on Florida’s west coast signals a disturbing trend in on-going cracking and corrosion and other dangerous wear-and-tear symptoms among the country’s fleet of aging reactors, Beyond Nuclear stated today.
 

Progress Energy, reported to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on October 7 that maintenance workers had found a deep crack in the concrete containment wall of its single-unit Crystal River reactor. The reactor is of the same pressurized water reactor design as the notorious Three Mile Island Unit 2 that melted down in 1979 as well as the Davis-Besse reactor near Toledo, OH, which was potentially weeks from a core melt accident in 2002 due to severe corrosion that had eaten through the wall of the reactor pressure vessel.
 
“The crack in Crystal River’s reactor containment building is the latest in a disturbing trend,” said Paul Gunter, Director of the Reactor Oversight Project for Beyond Nuclear. “As this country’s reactors age – with many extending their 40-year licenses – there is an ever greater risk to public safety due to cracking, corrosion and other problems of degradation. But historically, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has simply looked the other way, allowing the reactor owners to operate the plants in a dangerous state rather than mandate an immediate shutdown.”
 
Workers at Crystal River who were cutting through the concrete wall in a maintenance procedure found a half- inch wide crack just nine inches from the outer surface wall of the all important reinforced 42-inch thick concrete dome. The length of the crack has not been reported.
 
In addition to the age-related problems at Crystal River and Davis-Besse, Beyond Nuclear has tracked similar concerns at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station near Shippingport, Pennsylvania, where corrosion had eaten a rust hole through the reactor steel containment liner. Similarly, at the Oyster Creek reactor on the New Jersey shore, the discovery of reactor containment liner corrosion has become a contentious issue in federal court. 

Oyster Creek, the country’s oldest reactor at 40, recently received a 20-year license extension from the NRC. Crystal River is also seeking a 20-year extension.
 
The specific cause of the Crystal River cracking is now under Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) special inspection. The NRC acknowledges that it is evaluating whether containment cracking is a potential generic issue at other reactors of similar design. The Crystal River nuclear power plant had been shut down for refueling and maintenance. Workers were cutting an opening in the nearly four feet thick containment wall to remove and replace worn steam generators. Workers encountered the gaping crack nine inches from the containment dome’s outer surface and reported the defect to the NRC in a Daily Event Report.
 
“It’s time the NRC fulfilled its Congressional mandate to look out for public safety instead of risking lives to save nuclear utilities money,” said Gunter. “The Crystal River crack presents the NRC with an opportunity to keep this plant shut down and to seriously re-evaluate whether it should be granted a license extension,” Gunter concluded

CPS announces Nuke-tricity® program for supporters of nuclear power. Coaltricity® on the way!

CPS Energy recently announced a new sister program to Windtricity® and Solartricity® which allow ratepayers to encourage clean renewable safe electric generation.

CPS's Nuke-tricity® program will allow individual ratepayers to participate in the risk of a nuclear investment in a real and tangible way. When the expanded South Texas Nuclear Project begins producing electricity, members of Nuke-tricity will receive electricity at the exact total cost of production.

Candlelight Vigil Sunday October 4 at CPS Headquarters at 7 pm

Please join Energía Mía for a Candlelight Vigil focusing on a safe, affordable, non-nuclear energy future
Sunday, October 4th at 7:30 pm, outside the offices of CPS Energy at 145 Navarro

The CPS Energy Board of Trustees will vote the following day, Oct 5th, on whether to spend an additional $400 million and commit the city of San Antonio to more nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project. We hope that CPS Energy will protect our health and economic well being by supporting clean, safe and affordable energy through efficiency and renewable energy instead of nuclear power.

Learn more and take action online at: www.energiamia.org

Should San Antonio Put the Brakes on Nuclear Expansion? What do the experts recommend? October 3, 2009 at 1 pm

Cindy Weehler, of the Energia Mia Coalition, will speak this Saturday, October 3, at the next meeting of the San Antonio Area Progressive Action Coalition. 

The topic will be, "Should San Antonio Put the Brakes on Nuclear Expansion?  What Do the Experts Recommend?"

The meeting, free and open to the public, will take place this Saturday, October 3, at 1 pm, at the SAAPAC Center, 7122 San Pedro, Suite 114.  The SAAPAC Center is in the back of the Ocean Dental Building, at the NE corner of San Pedro and Sprucewood, 2 blocks inside Loop 410.

Please come to this informative session and learn what's really going on behind the decision to go nuclear.  And please invite friends and neighbors who may also want to hear the latest on the single biggest expenditure ever considered by CPS Energy and the City of San Antonio.

Photo by koert michiels used under creative commons.

Citizens Gain Ground in STP Intervention Over Water Concerns. Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Admits Four Additional Water Related Contentions for a Hearing.

From SEED, a statewide citizens action organization:

Citizen opposition to two proposed nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project (STP) continues with another success. Yesterday the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) Panel ruled that South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) had failed to adequately analyze the environmental impacts of radioactive contaminated water and water availability, issues or “contentions” raised by concerned citizens in their Petition to Intervene in the proposed expansion at STP. The Order is of national significance since STPNOC is the first in the nation to request licensing in 30 years.

“Citizens intervening in the South Texas Project’s licensing process gained significant legal ground yesterday when the ASLB Panel ruled that four additional contentions be admitted for a hearing,” said Karen Hadden, Executive Director of the SEED Coalition, one of the Intervenors. “Intervenors now have a total of five admissible contentions, with seven contentions related to fires and explosions and losses of large areas of the plant still pending.” The licensing process is likely to be delayed as a result of additional contentions. It was delay and construction problems that led to the first reactors at STP coming in six times over budget.

SEED Coalition, Public Citizen and the Bay City based South Texas Association for Responsible Energy (STARE) are Intervenors in the case. Attorney Robert V. Eye went before the ASLB Panel in June and argued the admissibility of 28 contentions challenging the license application for two additional reactors, Units 3 and 4, at the South Texas Project.

The first contention admitted in yesterday’s order is:

Craig Severance comments on CPS's change of strategy in Nuclear expansion debate

CPS is doing its best to shove nuclear power down the throats of San Antonians. Just like SAWS before Applewhite was stopped, the dinosaur faction within CPS is fighting to avoid environmentally friendly alternatives.

There is a green faction within CPS but if the nuclear expansion is approved there will be no money left for anything but window dressing. It is a shame that our CPS trustees are so foolish.

Below is a commentary by Craig Severance on the latest CPS ploy, which is to say that it is too late to pull out, because they already invested too much, an investment that was not approved by the rate payers and citizens of San Antonio. Craig responds to the Express News articleon the subject.

From Craig Serverance:

1. Do NOT blame the messenger here, the SA Express-News seems to be doing an excellent job of reporting what Council members, CPS, the Board, and the Mayor are telling them. They are especially doing a good job of showing how jaw-dropping this really is. If you got the jaw-dropping response from reading the story -- THANK the reporter, then get on the line and make noise to the policymakers.

2. It is clear CPS has switched strategies away from the "we will present the public with this choice" of whether or not to do the nuclear project, by having public meetings etc. supposedly to decide the merits of the nuclear project. Instead (did you catch this?) they now are emphasizing this is "a project well underway". In other words, we already made the decision years ago, have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on it, so just shut up & get out of our way. Thus, the Mayor's commitment to decide the project on its merits is being dumped by the wayside very quickly -- since they have lost the "merits" argument.

Why even consider nuclear when Geothermal energy which is clean, reliable and abundant in South Texas has yet to be exploited?

Here's a major event that is especially important since geothermal energy is proposed as a viable, steady, reliable and non-radioactive alternative to expansion of the South Texas Nuclear Project. If after all the possible geothermal resources have been exhausted then perhaps it will be time to look at nuclear.

The San Antonio Geothermal Symposium, is Saturday, September 19, 2009, at Trinity’s Chapman Center Auditorium.

Speakers will discuss the feasibility of residential and commercial geothermal air conditioning and electricity generation. The talks will be geared to the public as well as to energy professionals.

Please come to explore this often neglected generation source in which Texas has the potential to be the number one producer. South Texas has a particular feasibility for geothermal air conditioning and electricity generation. Geothermal is a clean, reliable source of energy that uses mature technology and is fuel-free. The cost and payback time for residential and small business geothermal are roughly equivalent to those of solar photovoltaics. The cost for central geothermal in Texas is projected to be lower than elsewhere because previously drilled spent oil and gas wells can be used for geothermal piping.

Registration starts at 8 am. The program runs from 9 am to 12:10 pm and then from 1 pm to 4 pm. Link to pdf of agenda.

Maria Richards , coordinator of Southern Methodist University’s Geothermal Laboratory, Stathis Michaelides, Chairman of the UTSA Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Glenn Kroeger, Chair of the Trinity University Department of Geosciences, will be among several speakers at this event.

The cost is $25 ($12 for students)

Registration includes continental breakfast, lunch and symposium presentations. Registered Professional Engineers will receive a certificate for 4.0 professional development hours.

The registration deadline is September 12. Seating is limited so registrations will be accepted on a first- received basis until the auditorium capacity is reached. Register by submitting the registration form or by calling 210-999-7601. Link to registration form.

The Chapman Center is located on the western edge of the Trinity University campus. Free campus parking is available in any student or faculty lot for this event. However, parking is not allowed on Rosewood Street. Link to map of Trinity University. Location of auditorium on Google Map.

The San Antonio Geothermal Symposium is sponsored by the Trinity University Engineering Science Department in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council Central Texas – Balcones Chapter, San Antonio Environmental Policy Office, San Antonio Clean Technology Forum, and University of Texas at San Antonio Mechanical Engineering Department.

Geothermal Resources of Bexar County