This is a GUEST editorial from my friend, Rod Adams, from Atomic Insights. I suspect...but don't know for sure but I suspect that Rod is a moderate Democrat in political inclination but probably votes, like most Americans, for any candidate he believes addresses his interests. Rod was an engineering officer on a nuclear submarine and is gifted in his understanding of the science behind atomic power.

But his whole life's focus is atomic energy and the politics, in part, behind the anti-nukers campaign. Here is his post from Atomic Insights that show how carbon interests (Gas/Oil/Coal) attack each other and are together on propping up the anti-nuclear movement. This article focuses on one gas oriented utility in Maryland.

David Walters

Smoking Gun Part 8 - (Gas industry firing at coal with Sierra Club assist)
Every once in a while I come across articles that directly support the notion that much of the energy source debate is really a marketing battle, though the stated topic might be "energy security", "environmental concerns", or "global warming".

This is a short diary on the issue of public power. When I worked on the 2001 San Francisco public power campaign (as part of the Labor Task Force for Public Power) we did a lot of research in state and out of state on how publicly owned utilities (as in "owned by public entities" not companies that issue stock owned by individual members of the public) we discovered something awesome: on average, public power entities provided power cheaper than regulated monopoly private utilities.

[From the point of view of Aussie nuclear vs wind discussion on Nuclear Australia. This applies, everywhere, however. It's why wind cannot be a substitute for base load power--David Walters]

Critics of nuclear energy sometimes point to Germany's planned nuclear
phase-out policy as an example of the industry's limited future. Let
us put aside the very credible discussions regarding the possibility
of that policy being reversed for a moment and turn the tables.

How are German renewables performing?

As reported in the Herald Sun, Terry McCrann digs into the performance
record of one of the largest wind powered systems in Europe.

Germany's E.ON Netz operates the grid which has one of the biggest
'feed-in' wind power sources in Europe. Each year it produces a
WindReport. The latest makes interesting, sober, reading.

Germany has 18,300MW (megawatts) of installed wind capacity --
close to half Australia's total installed electricity generation
capacity, about double Victoria's.

E.ON Netz draws on 7600MW of that.

Over at DMI Blog, former New York Governor Mario Cuomo has been writing a series of posts on new priorities for progressive politicians. Today, he turned to his suggestions for strengthening the economy, including his ideas for energy policy.

In the nuclear energy business, Cuomo is best known for leading the opposition to the opening of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant on Long Island -- a plant that was complete and ready to begin providing reliable, emission-free electricity to a region that has traditionally paid some of the highest utility rates in the nation.

[From the good folks at NEI Nuclear Notes....

It's official.

The proponents of the initiative measure to repeal the California nuclear power construction ban have received a ballot title and summary from the California Attorney General's office.

The proponents can now begin to collect signatures.

Under California law, the signature-collecting process lasts 150 days. The deadline for collecting 433,871 valid signatures for the initiative on repeal of California's nuclear power construction ban will be February 4th of 2008.

Progressives, anti-racists and those fed up with the system:

RECONSTRUCTION PARTY ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
CAMPAIGN TO BUILD THE PARTY
AND SUPPORT MALCOLM SUBER FOR NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL

There is going to be a "Labor Conference to Stop the War" held on October 20, 2007, at ILWU Local 10 in San Francisco. The conference is endorsed and has the full support of ILWU Locals 10 and 34 as well as the ILWU Northern California District Council.

The San Francisco Labor Council has a proud record of leadership and participation in the peace movement as well as other movements for social justice. The entire labor and progressive community nationally needs to support this conference.

Solutions to Nuclear Power (NP) spent fuel represent something of a contradictory issue of anti-NP activists. It's always been a rather curious undertaking for the average pro-nuclear observer to see anti-atomic activists twist themselves into so many knots over spent fuel disposal/recycling/reuse.

On the one hand, the small amount of nuclear waste around is nasty stuff, similar to any heavy metal. Even after reprocessing or reuse under the best of circumstances there is going to be something left that needs disposal. But it's getting from here...the open fuel cycle that only allows once through usage and creates the largest quantity of waste.

We have this 77,000 tons (I've seen smaller numbers so know I just say "multiple tonnage"  of nuclear spent fuel) of spent fuel. We have several million tons of 'depleted uranium' (DU) that is the favorite, until recently, of the US army for making cannon rounds that punch through armor.

Why are there only 270 MWs of surplus available for today's peek load of 48,000 MWs????

This is from the World Nuclear News site:

True Tales from Europe on Wind, Nuclear and CO2.

Left Manifesto for Nuclear Energy

Left Atomics: A Call for a Re-discussion on Nuclear Energy

Well gee. All those Daily Koz regs. Boy.

We need nuclear energy to fight fossil fuels. That's why I'm here. That's why a lot of people on the Daily Koz are here. I'm here to join them.

I work at a power plant in San Francisco. OK, the only power plant in San Francisco. I'm a union member for the last 22 years here. The IBEW. A conservative union as far as unions go. I'm also a socialist, and, I'm very pro-nuclear. That makes me very contrarian, I suppose.

One of the problems I have with some anti-nuclear activsts is their share ignorance of the technology. Harvy Wasserman, who writes on the rather interesting Counterpunch.org web site, is one of these "screamer" types and blurts out just about anything to try to scare people. It amounts to lieing but I think he realy means it. A sad and desperate man who will say anything to oppose nuclear energy. Oh well. More later. More on socialim and Marxism.

David