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Vogtle's reprieve: snatching defeat from the jaws of defeat: Last year, the V.C. Summer twin-reactor AP1000 project in South Carolina was abandoned after the expenditure of at least US$9 billion. Last month, the last remaining reactor project in the US ‒ the Vogtle twin-reactor AP1000 project in Georgia ‒ came close to being abandoned due to massive cost overruns.
IPCC bets on the renewables revolution: The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a landmark report warning that global warming must be kept to 1.5˚C. In the IPCC's low-carbon scenarios, nuclear power accounts for only a small fraction of energy/electricity supply (even if nuclear output increases) whereas renewables do the heavy lifting.
California strives toward 'carbon neutrality': In September, California Governor Jerry Brown announced a plan that raises the state's level of ambition with regard to its carbon footprint. Not only will electricity in the state be carbon-free "as soon as possible, but no later than 2045", the entire Californian economy will be "carbon neutral". The likelihood of any nuclear power in the mix is small. California has only two remaining nuclear power reactors, slated for closure in 2024 and 2025.
ICAN Nobel Peace Prize Ride: On the road to a future free of nuclear weapons: A diverse group of supporters of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons recently participated in a Peace Ride, cycling 900 kms from Melbourne to Canberra, Australia's capital, taking with us the Nobel Peace Prize medal and a giant copy of the UN's Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The treaty currently has 69 signatories and 19 state parties and the UN has announced its expectation of an early entry into force.
Unraveling the New York nuclear subsidy scam: In its 2016 Clean Energy Standard, the New York State Public Service Commission quietly authorized charging ratepayers up to US$7.6 billion over 12 years on their electric bills to subsidize nuclear giant Exelon to keep running upstate nuclear plants it threatened to close (FitzPatrick, Ginna, and Nine Mile Point). The nuclear subsidy scam started in New York, and it's getting exported to other states.
‒ Transatomic Gen IV startup shuts down
‒ USA: Another nuclear power plant bites the dust