Comment: How is the nuke plant coming along in Finland, only 3 years behind, over budget, the French Way! This dude needs to stay in DC! NO TO NUKE POWER, IT IS NOT CLEAN, IT IS NOT GREEN, remember, we do not want to be like France, they have problems!
The News & Advance
Published: September 30, 2009
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu offered good news last week for those seeking to expand the renewable energy front in Virginia. In short, he said the state has great potential for producing clean power from wind and nuclear sources.
Chu also said the state would receive $16.1 million in block grants of federal stimulus money. The funds will be disbursed by state officials to local governments that submit the best plans for energy conservation programs.
On the broader subject of renewable energy, the secretary said “Virginia is a perfect example of having real economic opportunities in clean energy.” He pointed out the state is “a national leader in nuclear power” and that one-third of the state’s electrical energy comes from nuclear power.
Speaking on behalf of the Obama administration, he said, “We are eager to restart the nuclear program in the United States and we look forward to Virginia being part of that.” He added that the federal government is in final negotiations for $18.5 billion in loan guarantees for the first utility companies that build new nuclear reactors.
Those funds would help pay for new reactors such as the one Dominion Power hopes to build at North Anna. Areva in Lynchburg is also designing a reactor for a Maryland utility company, based on plants now under construction in Finland and France.
In a conference call to announce the block grants, Chu addressed the problem of disposing of spent nuclear fuel when he said he hoped the new reactors would produce a spent fuel that is less hazardous than the current generation of reactors, where some of the waste has been converted to plutonium that could be developed into weapons.
Potential stockpiles of nuclear waste have been the leading deterrent in the effort to expand nuclear power in the United States, but Chu said the administration is convinced “the nuclear waste issue is solvable.” Among the options is a new look at recycling spent fuel, “but there are even newer options, and new reactor designs where you don’t have to actively recycle in a conventional way.”
Turning to wind power, he said the state could be a leader in its potential to produce power from offshore wind farms. Turbines built off the coast, he said, could create 10,000 to 20,000 jobs that would stay in the state.
Chu didn’t mention the small, but growing, sentiment for wind power in Nelson County. The county’s supervisors held a hearing last week on a proposed set of regulations for wind turbines. If approved, the turbines would be constructed in areas where wind speed tests show enough power to sustain the production of electricity. At least two wind turbine dealers have sprung up in the county who are talking to homeowners.
The ordinance would allow one turbine on parcels of at least one acre. Parcels of five or more acres could have more turbines if the owners get conditional use permits. The turbines would be allowed to stand as tall as 100 feet.
Guidelines on the placement, color and noise levels of the turbines would be set in the ordinance, as well.
Officials in Amherst and Bedford counties have also begun working on ordinances to govern turbine operations, which have the potential of using the most renewable — and the cleanest — source of energy that exists. Nuclear energy runs it a close second because it does not produce emissions that foul the atmosphere the way fossil fuels do.
It’s exciting that, as Secretary Chu said, Virginia could be in the forefront of both forms of the cleaner production of renewable energy. That should be the way of the future.
http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/opinion/editorials/article/a_state_leader_for_producing_clean_energy/19912/
The News & Advance
Published: September 30, 2009
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu offered good news last week for those seeking to expand the renewable energy front in Virginia. In short, he said the state has great potential for producing clean power from wind and nuclear sources.
Chu also said the state would receive $16.1 million in block grants of federal stimulus money. The funds will be disbursed by state officials to local governments that submit the best plans for energy conservation programs.
On the broader subject of renewable energy, the secretary said “Virginia is a perfect example of having real economic opportunities in clean energy.” He pointed out the state is “a national leader in nuclear power” and that one-third of the state’s electrical energy comes from nuclear power.
Speaking on behalf of the Obama administration, he said, “We are eager to restart the nuclear program in the United States and we look forward to Virginia being part of that.” He added that the federal government is in final negotiations for $18.5 billion in loan guarantees for the first utility companies that build new nuclear reactors.
Those funds would help pay for new reactors such as the one Dominion Power hopes to build at North Anna. Areva in Lynchburg is also designing a reactor for a Maryland utility company, based on plants now under construction in Finland and France.
In a conference call to announce the block grants, Chu addressed the problem of disposing of spent nuclear fuel when he said he hoped the new reactors would produce a spent fuel that is less hazardous than the current generation of reactors, where some of the waste has been converted to plutonium that could be developed into weapons.
Potential stockpiles of nuclear waste have been the leading deterrent in the effort to expand nuclear power in the United States, but Chu said the administration is convinced “the nuclear waste issue is solvable.” Among the options is a new look at recycling spent fuel, “but there are even newer options, and new reactor designs where you don’t have to actively recycle in a conventional way.”
Turning to wind power, he said the state could be a leader in its potential to produce power from offshore wind farms. Turbines built off the coast, he said, could create 10,000 to 20,000 jobs that would stay in the state.
Chu didn’t mention the small, but growing, sentiment for wind power in Nelson County. The county’s supervisors held a hearing last week on a proposed set of regulations for wind turbines. If approved, the turbines would be constructed in areas where wind speed tests show enough power to sustain the production of electricity. At least two wind turbine dealers have sprung up in the county who are talking to homeowners.
The ordinance would allow one turbine on parcels of at least one acre. Parcels of five or more acres could have more turbines if the owners get conditional use permits. The turbines would be allowed to stand as tall as 100 feet.
Guidelines on the placement, color and noise levels of the turbines would be set in the ordinance, as well.
Officials in Amherst and Bedford counties have also begun working on ordinances to govern turbine operations, which have the potential of using the most renewable — and the cleanest — source of energy that exists. Nuclear energy runs it a close second because it does not produce emissions that foul the atmosphere the way fossil fuels do.
It’s exciting that, as Secretary Chu said, Virginia could be in the forefront of both forms of the cleaner production of renewable energy. That should be the way of the future.
http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/opinion/editorials/article/a_state_leader_for_producing_clean_energy/19912/
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