Judge: Vermont Yankee can discharge hot (105 degree F) water (into Connecticut River)

[jpak]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2008/05/25/judge_vermont_yankee_can_discharge_hot_water/

BRATTLEBORO, Vt.—An Environmental Court judge says Entergy Nuclear can release hot water from its cooling system at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon into the Connecticut River this summer.

However, Judge Merideth Wright says Entergy can't discharge the 105-degree water until July, and ordered that the company install temperature sensors at the Vernon hydroelectric dam.

Entergy Nuclear's state discharge permit says it can discharge up to 543 million gallons of up to 105-degree water, as long as the temperature of the Connecticut River didn't rise one degree above 76.7 degrees.

<not much more>

[madokie]

1. I'm sure that'll have some detrimental effects on the water quality

not to mention the fish or other aquatic beings.

[jpak]

2. clean and green - not

Don't need no salmon or shad in the CT...

[havocmom]

3. Solar and wind

No more nuke plants ever. It's a lie that they are safe.

They wanna send the waste out west and poach fish where the plants are. Tell em to keep their wastes and their hot water if it's all so safe.

[madokie]

4. Well I try too every chance I get

We worked real hard to stop blackfox here in my back yard years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Fox_Nuclear_Power_Plant

And I love this Woman Carrie Barefoot Dickerson
http://www.ecn.cz/temelin/CARRIE.HTM

[havocmom]

5. Forgot to ask if you started your stop watch

to tract the response time of the proponents of all those unsafe nuke plants?

Oh, that's right, they avoid these real life threads like the plague. ;)

[madokie]

8. You notice too

pouring more money and time into a failed program is insane when we are at a point where time is running out. If Nuclear was to ever be proven out to be good I would think it would have been by now. In the mean time we need to be switching our coal direct burn plants into using gasifier technology while we ramp up our wind and solar production, buying us some time if you will.
Its something that we could do as most all the infastructure is already in place and in use today. A gasifier is much cleaner, for instance around 60% less co2 right off the top. The co2 is much easier to capture in a gasifier also.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification




(snip)
Industrial-scale gasification is currently mostly used to produce electricity from fossil fuels such as coal, where the syngas is burned in a gas turbine.

Gasification is also used industrially in the production of electricity, ammonia and liquid fuels (oil) using Integrated Gasification Combined Cycles (IGCC), with the possibility of producing methane and hydrogen for fuel cells. IGCC is also a more efficient method of CO2 capture as compared to conventional technologies. IGCC demonstration plants have been operating since the early 1970s and some of the plants constructed in the 1990s are now entering commercial service.

Within the last few years, gasification technologies have been developed that use plastic-rich waste as a feed. In a plant in Germany such a technology—on large scale—converts plastic waste via syngas into methanol.<2>

[havocmom]

9. Our Gov (Schweitzer of Montana) agrees with you. He is working to solve the NOW problems

while getting people moving on the 'tomorrow' solutions. I see a LOT of big ol blades and tower parts going down the highway through my little rural community. :woohoo:

[madokie]

10. I like that,

working on the now problems while getting people moving on the tomorrow solutions. YES

[havocmom]

12. If you haven't read about Brian Schweitzer, I recommend looking into the man

A trained soils scientist, he worked in Arabia for a few years, making things grow in that desert area. As he learned about the Sauds, he did not, um, learn to love them, shall we say. He KNOWS America's REAL security requires energy independence and he is all about win/win solutions. Working on ways to address fuel needs for what we use now while also getting people moving on all the other means to address energy needs by means that are safe, clean and renewable. He knows the needs of food producers and knows we can meet lots of goals if we just get moving on addressing the problems NOW.

He is a real inspiration who knows we have to get over the counterproductive partisanship that is diverting the national attention from really solving critical problems.

Win/Win.

Read up on him. He has stood up to cheney/bush AND recently DHS and come off looking like a winner without breaking a sweat. A mover and shaker in the various efforts of coalitions of governors.

He is OK.

[madokie]

14. Yes you all are fortunate to have him at the helm

Everything I've read about him and anything he proposes I agree with. I really like his take the bull by the horns approach.

[One_Life_To_Give]

6. Clear as Mud

Is this because of the Cooling Tower failure, or has this been going on for the past 36 years?

Replacing with wind would be nice but current commercial wind capacity is only 1% of Vermont Yankees capacity. And the other wind projects are being held up in the courts, etc.

[havocmom]

11. And the longer we put off wind and solar the worse shape the nuke plants are in

Start seriously pronto. 40 years ago would have been better.

Using the excuse that wind won't fill the gap to keep from taking the steps to make wind fill the gap is just plain STUPID.

[One_Life_To_Give]

15. Raising electric rates on people who can't pay their bills now

or worse yet just shutting the lights off for 1/3rd of Vermonters isn't too smart either. We can't just start supplying 80/160V to houses when 1/3rd of the generation capacity goes offline. The new generators have to be put online first. When there is surplus generation capacity it will be real easy to get rid of these old fossils.

[bananas]

20. Nuclear is more expensive

there's no question about that anymore.

[One_Life_To_Give]

21. Before or After the plant is built?

A Capital purchase is amortized over 20yrs. This is a 36yr old plant with many major costs already fully expensed. So I really see no reason to doubt the NY Times article stating that buying power from Hydro Quebec would entail raising the electric rates for VT customers.

The only short term choice available is to either buy power from Hydro Quebec and pay whatever price they demand. Or keep VT Yankee running until a third alternative is constructed/brought online.

[Dead_Parrot]

22. More expensive than what? nt

[pscot]

7. Discharge that judge into the Connecticut River

The courts now side with business almost every time.

[havocmom]

13. Fascism

Corporations rule the day.

[Dead_Parrot]

16. So, what's the normal temperature range of the river?

How far out of it's normal range would this put it? What are the impacts?

Or did that information get filed under "Who gives a fuck? Nuclear is evil!"

[Massacure]

17. I'm betting it got filed under the "nuclear is evil" option.

I know for a fact that there are coal plants that use river water for cooling too. I was able to take a tour of a local coal fired power plant three years ago for an environmental science class back when I was still in high school, and they discharged cooling water to the nearby lake.

A little off topic, I also remember that every time we opened a door there would be a huge gust of wind because the place was negatively pressurized. I also remember coal soot being everywhere. It was quite and interesting tour actually.

[madokie]

18. fill me in on the name of the power plant you speak of

I'm not saying there isn't I'm saying your argument does not hold much water if the best you can do is 'I know for a fact,' thats all

[Massacure]

19. I toured the Pulliam power plant by Wisconsin Public Service

They cool using water from the mouth of the Fox River. I'm not sure how much the raise the temperature though.