The elected president of Venezuela Edmundo González Urrutia had to flee to Spain and is currently in exile in that country after the regime issued an arrest warrant against him for subversion. González Urrutia obtained 67% of the votes in the election day of July 28, against 30% for Nicolás Maduro with 83.5% of the votes verified with published tally sheets, winning in all states (source: resultadosconvzla.com). We reject the arrest warrant, and the fraud intended by the National Electoral Council – CNE of Venezuela, proclaiming Nicolás Maduro as president-elect for a new presidential term and its ratification by the Supreme Court of Justice-TSJ, both without showing the voting minutes or any other support.  EnergiesNet ” Latin America & Caribbean web portal with news and information on Energy, Oil, Gas, Renewables, Engineering, Technology, and Environment.– Contact : Elio Ohep, editor at  EnergiesNet@gmail.com +584142763041-   The elected president of Venezuela Edmundo González Urrutia had to flee to Spain and is currently in exile in that country after the regime issued an arrest warrant against him for subversion. González Urrutia obtained 67% of the votes in the election day of July 28, against 30% for Nicolás Maduro with 83.5% of the votes verified with published tally sheets, winning in all states (source: resultadosconvzla.com). We reject the arrest warrant, and the fraud intended by the National Electoral Council – CNE of Venezuela, proclaiming Nicolás Maduro as president-elect for a new presidential term and its ratification by the Supreme Court of Justice-TSJ, both without showing the voting minutes or any other support.
10/14 Closing Prices / revised 10/15/2024 08:30 GMT | 10/14 OPEC Basket  $77.18 –$1.25 cents | 10/14 Mexico Basket (MME)  $68.73 –$ 1.60 cents 08/31 Venezuela Basket (Merey)  $62 15   +$1.66 cents  10/14 NYMEX Light Sweet Crude $73.83 -$1.73 cents | 10/14 ICE Brent Sept $77.46 -$1.58 cents | 10/14 Gasoline RBOB NYC Harbor $2.11 -2% | 10/14 Heating oil NY Harbor  $2.27 -3% | 10/14 NYMEX Natural Gas $2.49 -5.2% | 10/11 Active U.S. Rig Count (Oil & Gas)  586 +1 | 10/15 USD/MXN Mexican Peso19.3870 (data live) 10/15 EUR/USD  1.0906 (data live) | 10/15 US/Bs. (Bolivar)  $37.88800000 (data BCV) | Source: WTRG/MSN/Bloomberg/MarketWatch

U.S. Seeks to Boost Nuclear Power After Decades of Inertia – NYTimes

The Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia, whose two new reactors cost $35 billion, nearly double the initial estimates.Credit...Kendrick Brinson for The New York Times
Measures moving through Congress to encourage new reactors are receiving broad bipartisan support, as lawmakers embrace a once-contentious technology.
The Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia, whose two new reactors cost $35 billion, nearly double the initial estimates. (Kendrick Brinson for NYTimes)

Brad Plumer, NYTimes

WASHINGTON
EnergiesNet.com 03 04 2024

The House this week overwhelmingly passed legislation meant to speed up the development of a new generation of nuclear power plants, the latest sign that a once-contentious source of energy is now attracting broad political support in Washington.

The 365-to-36 vote on Wednesday reflected the bipartisan nature of the bill, known as the Atomic Energy Advancement Act. It received backing from Democrats who support nuclear power because it does not emit greenhouse gases and can generate electricity 24 hours a day to supplement solar and wind power. It also received support from Republicans who have downplayed the risks of climate change but who say that nuclear power could bolster the nation’s economy and energy security.

“It’s been fascinating to see how bipartisan advanced nuclear power has become,” said Joshua Freed, who leads the climate and energy program at Third Way, a center-left think tank. “This is not an issue where there’s some big partisan or ideological divide.”

The bill would direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the nation’s nuclear power plants, to streamline its processes for approving new reactor designs. The legislation, which is backed by the nuclear industry, would also increase hiring at the commission, reduce fees for applicants, establish financial prizes for novel types of reactors and encourage the development of nuclear power at the sites of retiring coal plants.

Together, the changes would amount to “the most significant update to nuclear energy policy in the United States in over a generation,” said Representative Jeff Duncan, Republican of South Carolina, a lead sponsor of the bill.

In the Senate, Republicans and Democrats have written their own legislation to promote nuclear power. The two chambers are expected to discuss how to reconcile their differences in the coming months, but final passage is not assured, particularly with so many other spending bills still in limbo.

“If Congress was functioning well, this is one of those bills you’d expect to sail through,” said Mr. Freed.

Nuclear power currently generates 18 percent of the nation’s electricity, but only three reactors have been completed in the United States since 1996. Although some environmentalists remain concerned about radioactive waste and reactor safety, the biggest obstacle facing nuclear power today is cost.

Conventional nuclear plants have become extremely expensive to build, and some electric utilities have gone bankrupt trying. Two recent reactors built at the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia cost $35 billion, double the initial estimates.

In response, nearly a dozen companies are developing a new generation of smaller reactors a fraction of the size of those at Vogtle. The hope is that these reactors would have a smaller upfront price tag, making it less risky for utilities to invest in them. That, in turn, could help the industry start driving down costs by building the same type of reactor again and again.

The Biden administration has voiced strong support for nuclear power as it seeks to transition the country away from fossil fuels; the Department of Energy has offered billions of dollars to help build advanced reactor demonstration projects in Wyoming and Texas.

But before a new reactor can be built, its design must be reviewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Some Democrats and Republicans in Congress have criticized the N.R.C. for being too slow in approving new designs. Many of the regulations that the commission uses, they say, were designed for an older era of reactors and are no longer appropriate for advanced reactors that may be inherently safer.

“Tackling the climate crisis means we must modernize our approach to all clean energy sources, including nuclear,” said Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado. “Nuclear energy is not a silver bullet, but if we’re going to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, it must be part of the mix.”

Among other changes, the House bill would require the N.R.C. to consider not just reactor safety but also “the potential of nuclear energy to improve the general welfare” and “the benefits of nuclear energy technology to society.”

Proponents of this change say it would make the N.R.C. more closely resemble other federal safety agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, which weighs both the risks and benefits of new drugs. In the past, critics say, the N.R.C. has focused too heavily on the risks.

But that provision updating the N.R.C.’s mission was opposed by three dozen progressive Democrats who voted against the bill and said it could undermine reactor safety. The specific language is not in the Senate’s nuclear bill.

Even if Congress approves new legislation, the nuclear industry faces other challenges. Many utilities remain averse to investing in novel technologies, and reactor developers have a long history of failing to build projects on time and under budget.

Last year, NuScale Power, a nuclear startup, announced it was canceling plans to build six smaller reactors in Idaho. The project, which had received significant federal support and was meant to demonstrate the technology, had already advanced far through the N.R.C. process. But NuScale struggled with rising costs and was ultimately unable to sign up enough customers to buy its power.

Brad Plumer is a Times reporter who covers technology and policy efforts to address global warming. More about Brad Plumer

A version of this article appears in print on March 2, 2024, Section A, Page 19 of the New York edition with the headline: Once Pariah, Nuclear Power Finds Broad Political Support. be

Share this news

Support EnergiesNet.com

By Elio Ohep · Launched in 1999 under Petroleumworld.com

Information & News on Latin America’s Energy, Oil, Gas, Renewables, Climate, Technology, Politics and Social issues

Contact : editor@petroleuworld.com


CopyRight©1999-2021, EnergiesNet.com™  / Elio Ohep – All rights reserved
 

This site is a public free site and it contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of business, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have chosen to view the included information for research, information, and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission fromPetroleumworld or the copyright owner of the material.