SUN DAY Campaign: Wrap-up of News Story Excerpts (New Studies & Data on Sustainable Energy and Climate Change) for April 20-May 3, 2026

SUN DAY CAMPAIGN

(founded 1992)
8606 Greenwood Avenue, Suite #2; Takoma Park, MD 20912-6656 
301-588-4741;  sun-day-campaign@hotmail.com 
  
follow on BlueSky at: @sun-day-campaign.bsky.social
  
April 20–May 3, 2026                                                                                            
To:        Recipients
From:    Ken Bossong, editor  
Re.        News Story Excerpts (New Studies & Data on Sustainable Energy & Climate Change)
 

Note: News story excerpts provided below do not necessarily reflect the views of the SUN DAY Campaign or any of its respective members.

 
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
 
WEEKLY NEWS STORY EXCERPTS  
 
NEW STUDIES, DATA, AND RESOURCES:
 
Mixed/Multi-Sector:
 
Renewables Overtake Coal for the First Time as World’s Largest Electricity Source in 2025:
MSN.com, by Everett Sloane, April 22, 2026
and
and
For the first time on record, the world added enough renewable electricity in 2025 to outrun total growth in power demand, pushing fossil fuel generation into outright decline. The milestone was documented in Ember’s “Global Electricity Review 2026”. The result: global fossil fuel generation fell by roughly 0.2% year over year, and coal’s share of the worldwide electricity mix slipped below one-third for the first time. In the U.S., the pattern played out on a smaller but still visible scale. The Energy Information Administration’s monthly generation data shows solar output climbing steadily through 2025 while coal-fired generation continued its long slide.

======================================

Survey Says Support for Wind and Solar Energy Slips:

The Hill, by Ryan Mancini, April 22, 2026

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5843987-poll-shows-slip-in-wind-solar

A new Gallup poll shows that support for wind and solar energy has slipped, with a majority still favoring those energy alternatives. The poll found that 66 percent of Americans prefer the U.S. to put more emphasis on solar energy and 55 percent prefer the same with wind energy. Both dropped from Gallup’s previous polling on the question in 2021, when 73 percent preferred emphasis on solar and 66 percent preferred emphasis on wind.

====================================

Clean Power Grew U.S. Economy by $150 Billion and Supported 1.4 Million Jobs in 2025:
American Clean Power Association, April 28, 2026
and
According to the latest “Annual Clean Power Market Report” from the American Clean Power Association, the clean power sector invested $79 billion in new projects, supported more than 1.4 million jobs, and accounted for over 90% of all new electricity capacity added to the grid in 2025. Highlights from the report include:
**New Capacity Added: 50.3 GW (91% of all new grid additions)
**Total Economic Contribution: $150 Billion
**Direct Employment: 437,000+ Americans
**Industry Average Wage: $78,000 (15% above national average)
**Landowner Payments: $3.2 Billion in lease income
**State and Local Tax Revenue: $3 Billion
**Political Distribution: 79% of capacity located in Republican districts
**Total Operational Fleet: 363 GW (Enough to power 79 million homes)
 
====================================
 
New Report Highlights Clean Energy Investment Trends Amid Policy Uncertainty:
American Council on Renewable Energy, April 28, 2026
and
and
According to the report, “Clean Energy Investment Trends,” prepared for ACORE by S&P Global Energy’s consulting arm CERA Consulting, the clean energy market surged at the end of 2025, and investment in clean energy projects is likely to reach a record high in 2026. M&A surged in 2025—especially in natural gas-fired generation—as AI raced to secure power sources. Q1 2025 M&A exceeded total M&A activity in 2024. Investment in renewable projects in 2026 could surpass 2025 investment as developers race to meet demand growth and claim expiring wind and solar tax credits. 
 
====================================
 
U.S. Renewable Energy to Attract $120 Billion in Investment This Year:
Latitude Media, by Catherine Boudreau, April 28, 2026
According to a pair of industry reports from ACORE and the American Clean Power Association, the U.S. renewable energy sector is expected to attract $120 billion in investment this year and could install a record amount of new capacity - up to 62-GW - as developers race to meet demand growth and claim expiring tax credits for solar and wind projects. However, Trump’s permit delays and looming restrictions on China-linked components risk chilling investments. Policy uncertainty - combined with grid interconnection constraints and increasing competition from gas - could also adversely affect some investor interest. By 2028, gas is forecast to surpass onshore wind in newly installed capacity, but continue trailing solar and storage additions through the end of the decade.
 
===================================
 
Solar:
 
Solar as Well as EVs Soared Globally but Oil Fell in 2025:
ReNews.Biz, April 20, 2026
and
and
and
and
According to the International Energy Agency, global energy demand growth slowed in 2025. It reached 1.3% while solar PV became the largest contributor to global energy supply growth for the first time. Electricity demand increased by around 3%, more than twice the rate of overall energy demand growth. Solar PV generation increased by 600 terawatt-hours in 2025, marking the largest structural rise ever recorded for any electricity generation technology in a single year.
Solar PV accounted for more than 25% of the increase in global energy supply, followed by natural gas at 17%. Meanwhile, battery storage was the fastest-growing power sector technology, with around 110-GW of new capacity added during the year. Electric car sales increased by over 20% to more than 20 million units, representing around one in four new car sales worldwide. However, global energy-related CO2 emissions rose by around 0.4% in 2025.
 
===================================
 
Coal Mines, Landfills, and the Persistence of Solar Power:
CleanTechnica.com, by Tina Casey, April 23, 2026
The coal-to-solar transition has begun to emerge in the U.S., and the action is beginning to pick up as investors catch on to the land use opportunities presented by placing solar power plants on derelict surface mines as well as landfills and other industrial sites. In fact, the U.S. is sitting on a solar power gold mine of derelict surface mines. In a report last summer, the nonprofit organization Global Energy Monitor applied its coal mine tracking tool to identify 312 surface coal mines around the world that have been at or near the end of their useful lives since 2020. According to GEM’s calculations, those mines could host 103-GW of solar capacity, about enough to power a country like Germany for one year. GEM also spotted additional mining lands that are likely to be idled within the next five years, totaling another 185-GW.
 
===================================
 
Commercial Real Estate Companies Have Installed Over 1-GW of Solar Across the U.S.:
Solar Power World, by Kelly Pickerel, April 28, 2026
According to data compiled by solar buyer Black Bear Energy, the U.S. real estate industry has crossed 1-GW of installed on-site solar capacity. The 2025 Real Estate Solar Leaderboards shows that 1.086-GW has been installed across 2,157 projects from over 65 owners and managers. By the end of 2025, Prologis maintained its status as the industrial solar leader with a commanding 310.9-MW portfolio. Meanwhile, Public Storage emerged as the standout story in the 2025 report, claiming the No. 2 spot with 111-MW. Energizing 97.5-MW of solar within the last three years, the company has deployed 1,120 projects through a mix of self-funded initiatives and third-party owned leases for community solar markets, showcasing its commitment to rolling out solar at scale to generate new portfolio value.
 
===================================
 
Wind:
 
Global Wind Installations Hit Record in 2025:
ReNews.Biz, April 20, 2026
According to the Global Wind Energy Council’s “Global Wind Report 2026,” global wind installations reached a record 165-GW in 2025. Further, cumulative global wind capacity surpassed 1,299-GW, cementing wind as a cornerstone of modern energy systems. The council added that annual installations must double by 2030 to align with a net zero pathway and global climate targets.
 
========================================
 
U.S. Wind Capacity Additions Forecast to Reach 48-GW by 2030:
Review Energy, April 21, 2026
and
and
and
According to the “U.S. Wind Energy Monitor” report released by Wood Mackenzie, the U.S. wind sector is set to continue its recovery trajectory, with installations forecast to rise to around 11-GW in 2026 from 8.2-GW in 2025. The rebound follows a 49% year-on-year increase in 2025 and positions 2026 as the strongest installation year in five years. A key driver of near-term growth is a 15.4 GW pipeline of projects that have already cleared major commercial hurdles, pointing to incoming growth despite federal opposition, soaring costs, and permitting challenges. Land-based wind is expected to dominate U.S. additions in the next three years, accounting for around 24 GW between 2026 and 2028 (mostly onshore wind). Approximately 64% of this pipeline is already in advanced stages, including projects under construction, which reduces execution risk and improves certainty around delivery timelines. The West leads this year at 64% of connections, driven largely by Pattern Energy’s 3.5-GW SunZia project in NM. The Midwest is set to peak next year, and Texas may claim the top spot in 2028 with around 2.5 GW. Looking further ahead, Wood Mackenzie forecasts 48-GW of new wind capacity additions through 2030, supported by a sizeable pipeline of projects and improving execution visibility across both onshore and offshore segments.
 
=========================================
 
The World Is Embracing Offshore Wind - Even as the U.S. Retreats:
Canary Media, by Maria Gallucci, April 21, 2026
Offshore wind development has all but screeched to a halt in the U.S. amid the Trump administration’s unrelenting attacks. But in the rest of the world, it’s another story. Over 9-GW of new offshore wind projects came online last year, up 16% from the previous year’s installations, bringing the world’s total offshore wind capacity to about 92-GW, the Global Wind Energy Council said in its latest annual report. The sector is set to grow even more as nations in Europe and Asia seek out domestic clean power. Between 2027 and 2030, countries other than China are expected to add an average of 11-GW in offshore wind installations every year - almost triple the levels from 2022 to 2024, according to the research firm BloombergNEF. China alone could add the same amount over that three-year period.
 
=========================================
 
Bioenergy:
 
Total U.S. Output of Biofuels Remains Unchanged in January:
U.S. Energy Information Administration, April 27, 2026
and
and
and
The total volume of biofuels produced by the U.S. in January 2026 remained unchanged from the level produced in January 2025, although there were some fluctuations among the competing forms of biofuels. Fuel ethanol’s output rose slightly (up 0.84%) while production of biodiesel increased by 20%. Meanwhile, renewable diesel production fell by 10.34%. The mix of “other” biofuels (e.g., sustainable aviation fuel) remained unchanged. Taken together, fuel ethanol accounted for the largest share (73.17%), followed by renewable diesel (15.85%), biodiesel (7.32%), and “other” biofuels (3/66%).
 
==========================================
 
Densified Biomass Fuel Sales at 970,000 Tons in November:
Biomass Magazine, by Erin Krueger, April 27, 2026
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s “Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report.” U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 900,000 tons of densified biomass fuel in November. Sales of densified biomass fuel reached 970,000 tons during the month. Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel reached 169,016 tons at an average price of $239.40 per ton. Exports reached 798,240 tons at an average price of $203.33 per ton.
 
========================================
 
Storage:
 
Lots of Storage Applies for Grid Connection Under PJM's New Process:
Renewables Now, by Ivan Shumkov, April 29, 2026
and
and
and
U.S. regional transmission organization PJM Interconnection has received grid-connection applications for 811 new generation projects with a combined capacity of 220 GW, including 66.5-GW of storage and close to 30-GW of renewables. Beyond storage, projects entering the interconnection queue include 106-GW of gas-fired generation, 18-GW of nuclear, 15-GW of solar, 9-GW solar-storage hybrid and 5-GW of wind. Under its new interconnection study process, PJM expects to complete its reviews of the projects in one to two years, depending on the project.
 
===================================
 
Electric Vehicles:
 
Used Electric Car Sales Hit a Record High in March:
Inside EVs, by Tim Levin, April 20, 2026
Used EV sales are bouncing back strongly after the end of EV tax credits in September.
In March, according to Cox Automotive, Americans bought 42,924 secondhand electric cars. That is by far the best month for used EVs since Congress eliminated all EV tax credits at the end of the third quarter of 2025. From October through February, monthly used EV sales numbered roughly 30,000, plus or minus a couple-thousand units, according to Cox. But that's not all. Last month's used EV sales represented a new record, surpassing August's 40,960 units. That previous record came at the height of the tax-credit-fueled EV-buying frenzy, so topping it this quickly is impressive.
By admin at Thu, 05/07/2026 - 14:18

PA Governor Shapiro Calls Out 20th Century Utility Business Model

Gov. Shapiro to utilities: ‘The 20th century utility model is broken’

Shapiro said his administration will oppose rate case requests that don’t observe certain best practices for affordability.
May 1, 2026
 
Photo credit: Maxim Elramsisy / Shutterstock
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is fed up with his state’s utilities — and seemingly the entire investor-owned utility profit model — and this week sent them a remarkable letter challenging the entire premise of how they make money.
“As I’ve expressed publicly and privately, I believe the 20th century utility model is broken,” he wrote. “We can no longer simply prioritize corporate profitability to drive infrastructure development.”
 
Pennsylvania, which is part of the country’s largest energy market, is at the center of a nationwide conversation about load growth and who will have to pay for the infrastructure to meet it. PJM is grappling with a huge influx of data centers and other large loads, and there’s evidence that the new demand is translating directly to higher rates for customers.  
 
In Shapiro’s letter, there’s the strong implication that utilities are taking advantage of this load growth to earn even more in profits. He wrote that in 2025, 13 utilities operating in the state requested $975 million in increases — but that “those very same utilities had earned a total of $1.4 billion in profits in 2024.” Meanwhile, PECO Energy in March sought a $429 million rate hike, which would increase its subsidiary Exelon’s revenue by 11%. 
 
Research from PowerLines found that utilities nationwide are gearing up to spend even more in the coming years: $1.4 trillion over the next five years across 51 investor-owned utilities, more than 20% higher than last year’s estimate. 
 
Shapiro echoed his own February budget address, wherein he said Pennsylvania customers should not have to “pay a single dollar more” for a “safe and reliable utility system.” He said his administration is prepared to support utilities to raise the money to modernize their systems, both with new technologies and with tools to make the most of the existing grid — but also encouraged utilities to procure that capital in more affordable ways so as not to burden ratepayers. 
 
“Rising utility bills have themselves become drivers of inflation,” Shapiro wrote to his state’s utility leaders. “While there are many factors affecting those increases, several core causes are directly within your control and result from your policy and fiscal decisions, including the excessive rate requests several utilities have sought in recent years.” 
 
He recommended three practices that the state of Pennsylvania plans to use to evaluate rate case proposals, and 
  1. Raise cost-effective capital, with lower-cost debt representing a majority of a utility’s ratemaking capital structure, over more expensive equity. Shapiro specifically encouraged utilities to apply to the Department of Energy for loans. 
  2. “Explain in plain, clear language” why a proposed investment is necessary either for the grid’s reliability or safety, or else for the customer’s benefit. 
  3. “Transparent, justifiable equity returns” for utilities based on a benchmark arrived at via a public process — or in extraordinary circumstances, pegged to the Federal Reserve estimates of the stock market as a whole — rather than settlements that are challenging for the public to parse.
 
Pennsylvania utilities that want the Shapiro administration’s support for future rate cases will now be required to submit documentation of their compliance with these new practices to the “Special Counsel for Energy Affordability” alongside their filings. Shapiro added that his administration “will vocally and forcefully oppose rate case requests from utilities that fail to adhere” to these.
 
REPORT
North American PPA Market Report – March 2026
Bring clarity to your clean energy strategies in this new North American PPA market report from S&P Global Energy.
 
This new process would represent a significant departure from the way that IOUs typically do business: propose a cost of capital to be invested in the rate base (namely, in new infrastructure), then work with public utility commissions to determine a reasonable return that they can both finance and sell politically. As Rob Glen, who advises companies working on the energy transition and the grid, noted on LinkedIn, “it is not a market outcome—it is a regulatory one.”
 
But in an era where “electricity is the new price of eggs,” that political sell has been harder to make. And therefore Shapiro is proposing that markets truly drive the cost of equity. Glen described the third of these benchmarks, of “reverse-auctioning a portion of utility equity,” as its most disruptive element; it would essentially allow true competition between investors to inform the return rather than behind-closed-door negotiations alone. 
 
If Shapiro’s administration is able to pull off what he’s proposing — and especially if other states take up the same practices —  it could have a dramatic impact on how utilities set rates. And for Shapiro, that potential for sea change seems to be the point: “We have reached a tipping point,” Shapiro wrote, “and this is a moment to put your customers first and change the behaviors causing rate increases.”
 
Lisa Martine Jenkins is Latitude Media's editor. She was previously a reporter for Protocol, and her work has appeared in Heatmap, The Guardian, The Associated Press, and Civil Eats, among others.
By admin at Mon, 05/04/2026 - 14:04

$1 Billion boondoggle; Votgle Nuclear Folly

The billion-dollar boondoggle: how Vogtle became the US’s monument to nuclear folly
by Paul Hockenos
29 Apr 2026
 
In the quiet scrubland of Waynesboro, Georgia, two enormous concrete domes rise from the landscape. Vogtle Units 3 and 4, the first new nuclear reactors built in the US in more than 30 years, were once touted as the rebirth of US American nuclear ambition. Instead, they have become a monument to mismanagement and cost overruns – conclusive evidence that nuclear power is a nonstarter. Paul Hockenos reports.
 
image001.jpg
Credits Denton Rumsey | Shutterstock, all rights reserved.
 
The story of Vogtle is a cautionary tale illustrating that nuclear power cannot be delivered cheaply, quickly and reliably in democratic societies with up-to-scratch regulatory systems. Time and again, from South Korea’s reactors at Shin Kori and Shin Wolsong to Finland’s Olkiluoto-3 and France’s Flamanville EPR, on-the-ground experience has proven otherwise. Vogtle belongs squarely in that lineage, but with a uniquely US American twist: the financial burden has been shifted almost entirely onto the backs of ordinary consumers.
 
A promise of renaissance
The Georgia Public Service Commission approved the project in 2009: two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors, at a cost of USD 14 billion in total, online by 2016 and 2017. Clean, reliable emissions-free baseload power – an answer to climate change that didn’t depend on fickle solar output or fossil gas.
 
But by the time the reactors finally limped into commercial service – Unit 3 in July 2023 and Unit 4 in April 2024 – the price tag had swollen to more than USD 36.8 billion, cementing Vogtle’s place as the most expensive power plant ever built in human history. Not even the notorious cost spirals of European nuclear megaprojects come close: Finland’s Olkiluoto-3 ballooned to €11 billion, meaning that Vogtle surpassed that threefold.
 
This is not simply a cost overrun but rather a systemic indictment of the nuclear construction model: slow, labour intensive, technologically rigid and utterly incompatible with modern energy economics.
 
Ratepayers foot the bill
The primary victims of this financial misadventure are Georgia Power’s 2.7 million customers, many of whom were compelled to subsidize the reactors long before they produced a single kilowatt-hour of electricity. Thanks to a legislative instrument called Construction Work in Progress, households were effectively forced to act as involuntary venture capitalists, paying roughly USD 1,000 per household in advance charges.
 
Georgia Power collected USD 17 billion in profits during the construction period, while shareholder losses were capped at around USD 3 billion. Ratepayers, meanwhile, will carry billions in future costs for decades. This is why they pay the highest power bills in the US.
 
Now that the reactors are online, the financial pressure has only intensified. Residential electricity rates have jumped roughly 24 per cent, with new hikes expected. Analysts estimate that electricity from the new units is five times more expensive than equivalent capacity from solar plus battery storage – an astonishing figure in a region with some of the best solar potential in the US.
 
A cascade of failures
To understand how Vogtle spiralled into a USD-22-billion cost-overrun fiasco, one must examine the full sequence of missteps – a textbook example of how nuclear megaprojects fail globally.
 
One of the most consequential errors occurred before construction even began. Westinghouse launched the project without a completed reactor design, a mistake so fundamental it borders on negligence. This error echoed Europe’s nuclear struggles at Olkiluoto and Flamanville, where partially completed designs led to cascading construction problems. In 2017, Westinghouse – burdened by the Vogtle AP1000 debacle – filed for bankruptcy.
 
That collapse forced Vogtle’s owners to take over the direct management of the project, a role for which they were ill-prepared. What followed was a sprawling mess of renegotiated contracts and design revisions. Independent monitors documented that Georgia Power repeatedly provided ‘materially inaccurate cost estimates’, undermining any possibility of regulatory oversight. Nevertheless, the Public Service Commission allowed construction to continue and rejected its own staff’s recommendations to cancel the project – decisions that are costing Georgians billions.
 
Then came the workforce crisis. Because the US had not built a nuclear reactor in decades, the skilled labour pipeline had atrophied. Vogtle thus became a crash-course training ground for thousands of inexperienced workers. Attrition among electricians reached 50 per cent. Component failure rates hit 80 per cent at times, necessitating extensive and costly do-overs.
 
The result is damning: a project lost in its own complexity, burdened by the weight of an entire industry that had forgotten how to build what it claimed to champion.
 
What Georgia could have had instead
What makes Vogtle’s story especially tragic is not merely what Georgians must now pay, but what they could have had. The nearly USD 37 billion could have financed a diversified portfolio of renewable energy: solar farms, battery storage and energy efficiency upgrades that would have delivered more capacity at lower cost and in far less time.
 
Renewable energy has evolved into something antithetical to nuclear power: decentralized, modular and increasingly affordable systems that can be scaled rapidly without the all-or-nothing risks of nuclear megaprojects. Just about everywhere in the world, solar and wind are being installed in record volumes precisely because they are nimble, predictable and financially transparent. Nuclear, by contrast, requires vast upfront capital, long construction timelines and political intervention to remain viable.
 
Georgia, with its abundant sunshine and growing distributed-energy ecosystem, could have led the US South into a new era of affordable clean power. Instead, its utility regulators locked the state into a nuclear future that its customers regret.
 
The lessons of Vogtle
Vogtle Units 3 and 4 were marketed as a blueprint for America’s nuclear future. In reality, they have demonstrated that the economics of traditional nuclear construction in the US are fundamentally broken. Not broken at the margins, but broken at the core – structurally, financially and technologically.
 
This project, like so many others, depended not on engineering brilliance but on regulatory leniency, optimistic accounting and public subsidy. Its failures are not the product of unfortunate circumstance, but of a model that no longer fits the realities of modern energy infrastructure.
 
The legacy of Vogtle is thus a warning to policymakers, regulators and utility executives: nuclear power, in its large-scale conventional form, cannot compete in the contemporary energy economy – not on cost, not on time and not without burdening the very people it claims to serve.
 
For ratepayers, Vogtle is a generational misfortune. For the nuclear industry, it is another nail in the coffin of the ‘renaissance’ that never arrives. And for everyone concerned about climate change, it is a reminder that the clean energy transition cannot afford fantasies, wishful thinking or vanity megaprojects.
 
One would think the lessons of Vogtle incontrovertible. But in May 2024, the Biden administration’s energy secretary Jennifer Granholm attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the recently connected units. Her conclusions were very different: she predicted that 198 more such large-scale reactors will join the Vogtle units, which she considered a success story.
 
What Georgia has built is not a triumph of American ingenuity but rather a fraud that should speak the final word on nuclear power in the US.
 
The views and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union | Global Dialogue.
 
 
Paul Hockenos is a Berlin-based journalist and author of Berlin Calling: A Story of Anarchy, Music, the Wall and the Birth of the New Berlin.
By admin at Mon, 05/04/2026 - 13:59

[decomm_wkg] Starmer announced plans to “rip up rules to fire up nuclear power”

"The weakening of environmental protection is a slippery slope opening the way for increased radiation doses to members of the public and the workforce." - Pete Roche
By admin at Mon, 05/04/2026 - 13:56

Chornobyl at 40: Belarus

https://files.constantcontact.com/abc65024401/7ee258bf-32c2-48a3-bbd6-c0cec7c545aa.jpg?rdr=true

 

Beyond Nuclear Bulletin

April 30, 2026

 

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
Belarusians remember Chornobyl
 
When the Chornobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine exploded on April 26, 40 years ago, the fallout didn’t just affect Ukraine. Because of the prevailing weather conditions, by far the most radioactive fallout came down in Belarus, whose border is just 11 km away, even though the plume traveled thousands of miles, affecting Europe as well. To mark the anniversary, Belarusians in exile in Lithuania held a vigil, where Belarusian activist, Olga Karatch, (pictured), lit a black candle in remembrance of the many victims. She writes of the Chornobyl health coverup: “Information about radiation accidents was often concealed. Victims were misdiagnosed and forced to sign non-disclosure agreements. People died, and even doctors sometimes did not know the real causes — because of secrecy.”
 
 
Read More
 

GETTING TO ZERO
Turning back the Doomsday Clock
 
The Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) has begun in New York City but few who hope for global nuclear disarmament are feeling optimistic. True to form, the US began throwing up obstacles on day one. But Timmon Wallis, founder of NuclearBan.US, doesn’t let any of that discourage him in his book Nuclear Abolition. A Scenario. If the title sounds familiar, that’s because it’s meant as a counterpart to Annie Jacobsen’s chilling book, Nuclear War. A Scenario. Wallis looks at how the world could disarm, including through divestment and establishing nuclear-free zones, all with the aim of moving the hands of the Doomsday Clock (currently at 85 seconds to midnight) as far away from zero hour as possible.
 

 

DON’T BANK ON NUCLEAR
Sound economics matter
 
The new edition of Don’t Bank on the Bomb has just been published, but we shouldn’t be banking on new nuclear power, either. A new report — Debt, Delays, Dependencies. Why Public Banks Should Not Support Nuclear Power — makes the case that banks should reject the nuclear power hype that it’s “clean”, reliable and a solution to the climate crisis. 
 
The report points out that, especially for countries in the Global South, the rush to expand nuclear power worsens their economies and sets them up to be preyed upon by foreign entities such as Russia’s state-owned Rosatom. Banks must raise capital, but it must be done “in a way that is economically sound, environmentally responsible and socially just.”
 
 


NO TO NUCLEAR
Get your copy!
 
No To Nuclear. Why Nuclear Power Destroys Lives, Derails Climate Progress And Provokes War by Linda Pentz Gunter, is now available to order from Pluto Press. Written in a compelling and accessible style, the book covers a wide array of reasons to reject nuclear power, focusing on the human rights and ecological impacts while also covering the chief detriments including cost, time, health, safety, waste, and the link to nuclear weapons. Contact Linda to book an in-person or online event. When ordering the book, click the currency symbol in the menu at the top to select dollars or pounds and enter NUCLEAR30 at checkout to receive 30% off. And follow the book events and webinars on our dedicated page.
 
 

Beyond Nuclear | 301.270.2209 | www.BeyondNuclear.org

Donate
Facebook  X  Bluesky
By admin at Fri, 05/01/2026 - 14:27

Giant nuclear waste dump in Pennsylvania set to be dug up after decades of lawsuits and public outcry


Giant nuclear waste dump in Pennsylvania set to be dug up after decades of lawsuits and public outcry

By Andy Sheehan

 / CBS Pittsburgh

Add CBS News on Google

After decades of cancer cases and public outcry, the federal government this week will begin the long-awaited cleanup of a nuclear waste dump in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.

The site in Apollo served as a dumping ground for hundreds of 55-gallon drums containing radioactive nuclear waste, one of the largest such sites in the nation.

Now, after years of protests and multi-million-dollar class action settlements, this week the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin the massive job of cleaning it up. 

KDKA got an exclusive look at the painstaking, intensive and expensive process to rid the site of radioactive waste.   

Removing the radioactive waste

Stretching back to the Cold War, volatile material for the U.S. military and nuclear industry was developed and enriched in Apollo, and the waste was stored in 55-gallon drums. Now, hundreds of the drums lie buried in 10 trenches, and experts will spend the next several years removing them and the contaminated soil. 

"We're beginning active remediation," said Col. Nicholas Melin, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District. 

"We're very slowly removing 6-inch layers of material," he explained. 

"The federal government is committed to fully remediating this site. Over $400 million has been invested, and over the next six to eight years, we'll be moving at the speed of safety, very deliberately removing these materials," Melin said. 

Special backhoes will skim that top layer of soil off the top. Then, that soil will be tested for radioactivity, wrapped in special fabric packaging and stored in heavy-metal containers. Every week, trucks will take a half-dozen of the containers to Wampum in Lawrence County, where they will be shipped by rail to Utah to be permanently stored in an underground bunker. 

Protecting the community

To safeguard neighbors, there will be three layers of protection: enclosures over the trenches, on-site air monitors and an on-site water treatment plant to clean groundwater.

"Our final layer of protection is these air and water monitors around the perimeter, which are going to enable us to ensure that nothing escapes the perimeter that shouldn't," Melin said.

Even with all that protection and all the money spent, neighbors like Steve Brown are still nervous. He grew up running and playing near the nuclear waste dump, and still lives nearby in Parks Township, Armstrong County.  

"If they're going to spend that money, they should have just bought the whole village," Brown said. "It'd be cheaper."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the site is near abandoned mines, and the cleanup is essential to contain any potential spread.  

It's said that when this painstaking and costly process is concluded, the site will be as safe as your own backyard, and its legacy as a dumping ground for the nuclear age will be part of history. 

By admin at Fri, 04/24/2026 - 14:00

Big Win in California! CBG: California lawmakers reject latest bid to lift nuclear moratorium

Good morning everyone,
 
 
Please help amplify a relatively sizeable win for the good team out in California: https://www.lassennews.com/california-lawmakers-reject-latest-bid-to-lift-nuclear-moratorium-a-law-that-has-now-stood-for-50-year
By admin at Fri, 04/24/2026 - 13:55

NRC Completes Fastest-Ever Reactor License Renewal, Extending Operations To 2050

NRC Masthead

XInstagramFacebookYouTubeFlickrNRC HomepageOPA.ResourceNRC LinkedIn

No: 26-046 April 23, 2026
CONTACT: Office of Public Affairs, 301-415-8200

NRC Completes Fastest-Ever Reactor License Renewal,
Extending Operations To 2050
“This milestone proves we can deliver results quickly without compromising safety.”

ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed the operating license for a second time for H.B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant Unit 2, marking the fastest license renewal review in agency history and the first completed under new federal timelines aimed at accelerating nuclear energy decisions.

The 20-year renewal extends the plant’s authorization to operate through July 2050, allowing the South Carolina facility to generate carbon-free electricity for up to 80 years. The plant’s single pressurized water reactor is operated by Duke Energy Progress LLC.

“This milestone proves we can deliver results quickly without compromising safety,” Chairman Ho K. Nieh said. “By focusing on essential factors for sustained nuclear power plant safety and applying lessons learned from past renewals, our team was able to work efficiently while maintaining their commitment to enabling timely safety decisions.”

The review was completed within the 12-month timeframe established by Executive Order 14300, cutting six months from the NRC’s previous 18-month schedule, while maintaining the agency’s rigorous safety standards.

The NRC conducted its review on parallel tracks, issuing a final supplemental environmental impact statement in March 2026 and a safety evaluation in April 2026. These documents, along with additional details about the renewal, are available on the NRC website.

 

 ​​​​​

By admin at Fri, 04/24/2026 - 13:53

NRC Announces Opportunity to Request Hearing for Duane Arnold Energy Center Restart License Amendments

NRC Masthead

XInstagramFacebookYouTubeFlickrNRC HomepageOPA.ResourceNRC LinkedIn

No: 26-044 April 23, 2026
CONTACT: Office of Public Affairs, 301-415-8200

NRC Expands Wyoming’s Authority Over
Key Nuclear Materials as Rare Earth Development Grows

ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved an amendment to its agreement with Wyoming, allowing the state to take on expanded regulatory authority over certain radioactive materials tied to mineral processing, an area gaining importance as domestic rare earth development accelerates.

Effective April 30, 2026, the amendment enables Wyoming to regulate source material recovered during the processing of minerals such as rare earth elements, where uranium or thorium is not the primary product. This change reflects growing national interest in strengthening U.S. supply chains for critical minerals used in energy, defense, and advanced technologies.

“Our amended agreement reaffirms NRC’s commitment to enabling the safe and secure use of nuclear materials through strong partnerships with our state counterparts,” NRC Chairman Ho K. Nieh said. “Effective collaboration between federal and state regulators is fundamental to protecting public health and safety while fostering responsible innovation.”

Wyoming has regulated uranium recovery facilities and certain byproduct materials under an NRC agreement since 2018. This amendment expands that authority to include additional source material generated as a byproduct of other mineral processing activities, positioning the state to play a larger role in overseeing emerging sectors such as rare earth production.

Following a comprehensive review, the NRC determined Wyoming’s program is adequate to protect public health and safety and compatible with agency requirements. With this approval, the NRC will transfer regulatory authority for this category of materials to the state, including oversight of licensing, inspection, and enforcement. One existing NRC license will be transferred to Wyoming as part of the agreement.

A notice of the amendment was published in the Federal Register. Supporting documents and additional information about the NRC’s Agreement State program are available on the NRC website.

 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was created as an expert, technical agency to protect public health, safety, and security, and regulate the civilian use of nuclear materials, including enabling the deployment of nuclear power for the benefit of society. Among other responsibilities, the agency issues licenses, conducts inspections, initiates and enforces regulations, and plans for incident response. The NRC is collaborating with interagency partners to implement reforms outlined in new Executive Orders and the ADVANCE Act to streamline agency activities and enhance efficiency.


PDF icon26-044.pdf

​​​

By admin at Fri, 04/24/2026 - 13:39

[decomm_wkg] Department of Energy Seeks to Partner with Private Sector for Used Nuclear Fuel Recycling

EM Press Release Banner

Department of Energy Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center
550 Main Street, Room 7-010, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45202

Media Contacts: Toni Rutherford, Office of Envrionmental Management            April 22, 2026

                             Katie Steiger-Meister, Office of Nuclear Energy 

Media Mailboxes: IdahoUNF@emcbc.doe.gov, necommunications@nuclear.energy.gov

 

Department of Energy Seeks to Partner with Private Sector for Used Nuclear Fuel Recycling

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) and Office of Environmental Management (EM) have issued two Requests for Application (RFA) to advance the nation’s capabilities in recycling used nuclear fuel. The RFAs support President Trump’s executive orders to advance efforts to strengthen the nation’s nuclear industrial base and American energy independence.

NE’s RFA seeks proposals from industry on detailed plans to leverage the DOE authorization process to design, construct, and operate nuclear fuel recycling, processing, and fuel fabrication to support the deployment of advanced reactors and accelerate American innovation in nuclear material recycling technologies. EM’s RFA seeks visionary proposals from private industry for a commercial-scale demonstration of recycling defense-related used nuclear fuel at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) at the Idaho Site. Both RFAs underscore the administration's belief that American innovation, particularly within the private sector, is key to restoring our nation's nuclear leadership.

“Used nuclear fuel represents an immense, untapped energy resource for the United States,” said NE Assistant Secretary Ted Garrish. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Energy is partnering with the private sector in advancing a circular nuclear economy by transforming used fuel from waste into a valuable resource. These efforts are designed to deliver reliable power, reduce waste volumes, and re-energize the commercial nuclear sector to secure American energy dominance.”

"This initiative is a testament to President Trump's bold vision for American energy independence and our commitment to an unmatched national security posture," said EM Assistant Secretary Tim Walsh. "By unleashing the power of private industry, we will fast-track the development of advanced fuel cycle capabilities essential for the responsible management of our defense used nuclear fuel. This is a critical step in strengthening our domestic nuclear infrastructure and cementing America's place as the global leader in nuclear technology."

The RFAs represent an unprecedented opportunity for private sector ingenuity to lead the charge in America's nuclear renaissance. Through EM’s RFA, a selected offeror will secure a long-term lease for prime DOE property at INTEC. They will be entrusted with the full lifecycle of a cutting-edge, dedicated recycling facility — encompassing its financing, design, permitting, fabrication, commissioning, operation, maintenance, and eventual decommissioning. Similarly, NE’s RFA will provide an authorization pathway for industry to design, construct, and operate nuclear fuel recycling, reprocessing, and fuel fabrication facilities in the United States. Both RFAs will leverage private capital and expertise to accelerate critical infrastructure development.

Offerors are strongly encouraged to submit proposals showcasing a profound understanding of advanced nuclear fuel recycling, coupled with comprehensive and robust business, security, regulatory compliance, and proposed waste management plans. The selected offerors will be fully responsible for all project costs, demonstrating a true partnership between government and industry. While collaboration is welcomed, stringent national security protocols will govern the participation of any non-U.S. entities due to the export controlled nature of these recycling technologies, ensuring that all personnel involved can obtain the necessary security clearances and protect American interests.

DOE’s used nuclear fuel recycling programs will be a cornerstone of President Trump's nuclear renaissance, driving unparalleled innovation in the nuclear sector, fostering significant economic growth, and profoundly contributing to the nation's energy security and national defense objectives.

EM will sponsor an Industry Day event to explain and answer questions about their RFA’s solicitation process. Potential attendees should e-mail Aaron S. Nebeker, nebekeas@id.doe.gov, for more information on attending.

For more information on NE’s Initiative to Bolster Used Nuclear Fuel RFA, please visit the Advanced Nuclear Fuel Recycling Program webpage.

                                                                          -DOE-
 
US Department of Energy - Office of Environmental Management

 

STAY CONNECTED WITH EM:

facebook x youtube subscribe

 ​​​​​​​

By admin at Fri, 04/24/2026 - 13:24

Pages