Environment

Terrifying reports from the Ukraine-Russia front underscore an inescapable new nuclear reality:  In the age of drone warfare, the myth of atomic reactor safety has been exploded.

 No matter how thick the containment domes, or how vehement the industry denials, a quantum leap in the killing power of weaponized drones has completely blown past official atomic safety assurances.

 The unwelcome new reality has been brought home by two recent features in the New York Times.

 A devastating, Pulitzer-level dispatch from C.J. Chivers in the Times Magazinecovering the Ukrainian killing fields seems to announce a total transformation in trench warfare.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/31/magazine/drones-weapons-ukraine-war.html

“The difficulty with nuclear power is that it produces the worst industrial waste that’s ever been produced by any industry on earth. This stuff remains deadly for literally, millions of years!” - Gordon Edwards, President, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility

“Your project is a remarkable example of cinema that seeks to raise awareness and drive meaningful change.” - Organizing Committee of the Festival Internacional de Cine Animal y Ambiental (FICAA).

In a landmark front page feature, the Los Angeles Times has made a powerful argument for shutting California’s last two atomic reactors.

The forty-year-old Diablo Canyon nukes are being subsidized by statewide ratepayers to the tune of nearly $12 billion in over-market charges slated to enrich Pacific Gas & Electric through 2030.  PG&E’s CEO, Patti Poppe, was paid more than $40 million in 2022.  The company has been convicted of more than 90 federal manslaughter charges stemming from fatal fires in San Bruno in 2010, and in northern California in 2017  

Taking up a quarter of the Times’s November 25 cover, the feature by Melody Peterson reports that a “glut” of solar-generated electricity is regularly shipped out of state at enormous losses to California rate payers.  Green energy capable of powering more than a half-million homes is regularly “curtailed.”

In my town the cherry trees now bloom as winter approaches, and the curious thing is that people no longer mention the lovely spring days in November without adding they they are aware it’s an indication of a climate collapse that may rapidly render human life on Earth impossible. Everyone not only knows it but says it.

They still never add that they want to engage in any sort of activism to compel a change of course, even as the U.S. government is handed over fully to the oil companies and other institutions of evil advertised with absurd lies.

“I’m just a consumer” is a phrase I often heard on shop floors during my youth when I lived in Columbus and other places in the U.S. It’s worth noting managers and department heads shared those feelings.

I admit I can understand why, and there are at least four good reasons for such sentiments.

Spending that Paycheck

First, we buy the merchandise we need in the weekly grocery store with the income from our employment, then run to pay the rent or mortgage, utilities, car payment, and so on. Spending that paychec reinforces that “I’m just a consumer” feeling. Writing these lines, I recall a coworker who often whined aloud how “it feels like I live for my car!” She wasn’t able to save for things she really wanted because the car, house, appliances, and so forth always needed repair and replacing.

Nuclear power zealots are engaged in their biggest push in years in the United States and internationally. Headlines of recent pieces online about nuclear power include: “Japan’s top business lobby proposes maximum use of nuclear energy.” And, U.S. “looks to resurrect more nuclear power.” And, “European nations back nuclear power ahead of major climate summit.” And, “The super-rich are looking at nuclear power for emission-free yacht voyages.” And, “France plans to turn nuclear waste into forks, doorknobs and saucepans.”

SLUGGO WASSERMAN:  The prime mover of today’s show is an outrageous column that appeared in the LA Times attacking Jane Fonda’s magnificent op-ed questioning the move to re-open the atomic reactor at Three Mile Island.

http://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/three-mile-island-restart-nuclear-energy-microsoft-jane-fonda-20241002.html

Jane Fonda has turned out to be one of the world's great activists.  She’s a wonderful human being, two-time Oscar winner, everybody in LA knows who Jane Fonda is.

She’s written one of the best op eds I’ve read on nuclear power.  It has appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  It’s about 3 Mile Island, which they want to reopen. 

Somebody in the American utility industry ate the brown acid at Woodstock and they keep coming up with these insane ideas.

Op-ed by Harvey Wasserman, published in The New York Times

While killing the attempt to regulate this potentially dangerous AI technology, Newsom has become America's deadliest opponent of renewable energy. In particular he is forcing continued operation of the embrittled, decrepit, uninsured nuclear plant at Diablo Canyon, which---at a cost of $8-12 billion over market prices---could turn all of California into a radioactive wasteland.

Newsom in 2018 signed an agreement to phase out Diablo this and next year while phasing in renewables and battery storage. Solar, wind, geothermal, storage and efficiency have all soared ahead of expectations. Diablo's power is a detriment, over stressing an obsolete grid while blocking far cheaper renewables. 10,000 megawatts of new backup storage far exceed Diablo's output. But Newsom's Public Utilities Commission has gutted the rate structure and devastated our once-booming rooftop PV industry, costing thousands of jobs and billions in income. Just yesterday he vetoed a bill guaranteeing the spread of panels on schools and more.