Duane Arnold atomic reactor shutting down for good two months earlier than scheduled after damage from derecho

NRC file photo of Duane Arnold atomic reactor.As reported by CBS 2 Iowa.

Duane Arnold, a Fukushima Daiichi twin design (a General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactor), had long been scheduled for a "late" 2020 closure, as reported by The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, IA. More recently, the permanent closure for good date had been more precisely scheduled for late October 2020. But, as reported above, Duane Arnold has been closed even earlier -- August 24, 2020 -- due to damage from the severe derecho (hurricane force straight line winds) that recently struck the Cedar Rapids area.

See additional news coverage about the shutdown from the Gazette.

Once defueled, the reactor core can no longer have a meltdown, by definition. Plus, no more radioactive waste will be generated.

Of course, the high-level radioactive waste risks remain in the wet storage pool, as well as in the dry cask storage on-site. Plus there is all the "low" level radioactive waste, including from facility dismantlement, as well as radioactive contamination of the site, to deal with. (Radioactive waste and contamination, once generated, can't be "cleaned up" -- it merely gets moved from its current location, to a dump-site elsewhere, where it remains hazardous). Alas, that watch-dog work goes on. But still, Duane Arnold's closure is worth celebrating! Especially given the fact that Duane Arnold's electricity supply will be readily replaced by Iowa's ample wind power resources!

The incident leading to Duane Arnold's even earlier shutdown that previously announced -- hurricane force wind derecho damage -- underscores the point that, far from being a supposed solution to the climate crisis, atomic reactors are actually much too dangerous to operate in a world plagued by worsening extreme weather disasters.

As documented at Beyond Nuclear's "Reactors Are Closing" website section, Duane Arnold's closure marks the 10th reactor closure in the U.S. since 2013 -- a record number. This means there are now 94 commercial atomic reactors still operating in the U.S.

Moody's warns of nukes downgrade due to climate risks

According to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service, dozens of US nuclear power plants “will face growing credit risks” due to their physical vulnerability to the ever-worsening extremes of climate change. Flooding, hurricanes, severe heat and water shortages are cited as impacting nuclear plant owners’ credit rating unless they find effective mitigating solutions.

All the leading financial services had already warned nuclear owners at the dawn of the never realized Nuclear Renaissance that new construction would cause a credit downgrade. Only four new reactors ever went forward, with two now canceled before completion. Almost half the US reactor fleet was identified in the August 18 Moody’s report as being at financial risk due to the climate crisis.

Explosives removed from nuclear site

The Beirut explosion was frightening, and the damage devastating enough, resembling a scaled down atomic blast. But what if radioactive materials had been involved? 

That was on the minds of many when bomb disposal teams arrived at — and personnel were evacuated from —the Sellafield nuclear site in the UK, after dangerous and potentially explosive chemicals were found there last week. Organic peroxide — an unstable compound that can ignite a runaway scenario — was removed from the Magnox Reprocessing Plant, which separates plutonium from irradiated reactor fuel. 

As UK nuclear expert, David Lowry, points out, Sellafield has 154 tons of plutonium stored on site as well as “huge quantities of highly radioactive and chemically toxic liquid nuclear waste stored in decrepit tanks.” More

The Update: Victory in Virginia

A state moratorium banning uranium mining in the Commonwealth of Virginia has stood since 1982. But in 2007, a Canadian company called Virginia Uranium Inc., partnered with a landowner at Coles Hill in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, to try to overturn the ban. The reason? Beneath the Coles land lies the largest uranium deposit in the US -- not a very high quality one but nevertheless a potential, well, gold mine.

A coalition of citizens across Virginia, calling themselves Keep the Ban, have, since 2008, fought efforts by VUI to overturn the moratorium. Now it looks like they might finally have won. VUI failed to get legislation passed in 2013 to reverse the ban and even went as far as the US Supreme Court where it lost as well.

Last month, hopefully, came the final nail in the uranium coffin, when a state judge declared that Virginia had a right to protect its citizens from the "irreparable harm if uranium mining were to be allowed in the Commonwealth.”

8/12/20: Beyond Nuclear on Radio Sputnik's "Loud & Clear"

News, #energy, #environment, #nuclear, #regulation, #safety

Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear, is about nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, and Sputnik news analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, join the show.

Listen to the audio recording, here.