Science
The US could bring a shuttered nuclear power plant back to life next year
For the first time, a shuttered nuclear power plant in the US could reopen thanks to federal support. The Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $1.52 billion loan to help restore a nuclear generating station in Covert Township, Michigan.
Although it’s still a controversial option among environmental advocates, nuclear energy could be on the verge of a renaissance as an alternative to fossil fuels. Nuclear power plants are already the biggest source of carbon pollution-free energy in the US, and can fill in for renewables when solar and wind power wane.
“It’s a powerful clean energy comeback story.”
“It’s a powerful clean energy comeback story,” White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said in a press release yesterday.
The DOE gave the loan to energy technology company Holtec to reopen the Palisades nuclear power plant that shut down in 2022. As part of its plan exit the nuclear power business, utility company Entergy sold the site to Holtec, which initially sought to decommission the five-decade-old plant.
With the Biden administration looking to meet its climate goals with help from nuclear energy and electricity demand rising in the US from data centers and manufacturing, the private sector has gotten more bullish on nuclear energy. Microsoft inked a deal in September to buy energy from the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant if it manages to restart by 2028.
Holtec is on a faster timeline, aiming to get Palisades back online by the end of next year. Once the 800-megawatt plant is up and running again, it should be able to generate enough electricity for 800,000 homes. Planning to stay in operation until at least 2051, the plant is expected to create up to 600 union jobs. If successful, it would be the first recommissioning of a retired nuclear power plant in the US. Holtec says the restart “lays the groundwork” for its larger nuclear energy ambitions of deploying next-generation small modular reactors in Michigan.
For Palisades to start up again, Holtec will first have to get approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And nuclear power plant projects have a history of facing construction delays and soaring costs. It’s one of the factors that has held the industry back for years. On top of that, nuclear energy still faces opposition from environmental justice advocates concerned about the risks that come with mining uranium and storing nuclear waste.
Last year, a coalition of 115 organizations sent a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm urging the DOE to reject funding requests from Holtec. “Restored operations at this atomic reactor would further impact and put at risk ecological and human health, impact to culturally significant sites in the vicinity, including potential burial sites,” Tom BK Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network said in a press release at the time.
In its announcement yesterday, the DOE claimed that the Palisades project would support the Biden administration’s environmental justice initiative of ensuring that 40 percent of the “benefits” from federal clean energy investments flow into marginalized communities. It says the plant is located in a “disadvantaged community” where residents pay higher energy costs than 97 percent of other communities in the US.
Along with the DOE’s loan to Holtec, the Department of Agriculture also announced $1.3 billion in grants to two rural electric cooperatives to lower the cost of electricity from the Palisades plant and renewable energy sources. Money for the grants and loan come from the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration’s big spending package on climate action and clean energy.
Science
NASA wants SpaceX and Blue Origin to deliver cargo to the moon
The agency wants Elon Musk’s SpaceX to use its Starship cargo lander to deliver a pressurized rover to the Moon “no earlier” than 2032, while Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will be tasked with delivering a lunar surface habitat no sooner than 2033. Both launches will support NASA’s Artemis missions, which aim to bring humans back to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.
Both companies are developing human landing systems for Artemis missions — SpaceX for Artemis III and Blue Origin for Artemis V. NASA later asked both companies to develop cargo-hauling variants of those landers, capable of carrying 26,000 to 33,000 pounds of equipment and other materials to the Moon.
NASA says it will issue proposals to SpaceX and Blue Origin at the beginning of next year.
“Having two lunar lander providers with different approaches for crew and cargo landing capability provides mission flexibility while ensuring a regular cadence of Moon landings for continued discovery and scientific opportunity,” Stephen D. Creech, NASA’s assistant deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars program, said in the announcement.
Science
Brazil leads new international effort against climate lies
Brazil and the United Nations launched a new international effort to combat disinformation on climate change. They announced the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change during the G20 Leaders’ Summit taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It’s a collaboration between governments and international organizations to boost research on misinformation swirling online and around the globe that they fear could slow action on climate change. There isn’t much information available yet, but they say they’ll fund nonprofit efforts to counter that spread of lies.
“Countries cannot tackle this problem individually,” President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in a press release.
“Countries cannot tackle this problem individually.”
Only Chile, Denmark, France, Morocco, the United Kingdom, and Sweden have joined Brazil in the initiative so far. Countries that make the commitment are expected to contribute to a fund administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The initial goal is to get more countries on board and raise $10 to 15 million over the next three years. The money is then supposed to be distributed to nonprofit organizations as grants to support research and public awareness campaigns on climate disinformation.
They haven’t yet named any specific groups they plan to work with; “calls for partnerships” are forthcoming. Some environmental organizations are already working together to study disinformation and push for measures to stop its spread, like the Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition that publishes reports on misinformation trends and advocates for more stringent content moderation.
A webpage for the new global initiative says environmental disinformation is “increasingly spreading through social media, messaging apps, and generative AI.” That has “serious” consequences, it says: “it undermines scientific consensus, obstructs authorities’ ability to respond effectively to the crisis, and threatens the safety of journalists and environmental defenders working on the frontlines.”
FEMA employees faced violent threats on social media in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in the US, for example. Accounts spewing misinformation about the storm and FEMA were also tied to content denying climate change, according to an analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) in October. Posts baselessly accused FEMA of seizing private property and confiscating donations — lies that risked deterring storm survivors from applying for assistance, and that raised fears that FEMA staff might face attacks.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also voiced his concerns during remarks today with both the G20 summit and a UN conference on climate change currently underway. “We must also take on climate disinformation,” Guterres said. “Our climate is at a breaking point.”
Science
Amazon and SpaceX attack US labor watchdog in court
Amazon and SpaceX are seeking to hamstring the National Labor Relations Board, asking a court to declare its processes for upholding labor law unconstitutional. But judges on a three-person panel appeared skeptical when the companies presented their arguments Monday.
In two separate cases before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the two companies argued that the NLRB is unlawfully forcing them to participate in administrative law proceedings over alleged anti-labor actions. The Amazon case centers around whether it’s required to bargain with the union at its JFK 8 fulfillment center on Staten Island, while the SpaceX case involves a charge by former employees who claimed they were fired after being critical of CEO Elon Musk.
A ruling in favor of the companies could undermine the NLRB’s power to enforce protections for workers. It comes just as vocal pro-union President Joe Biden is leaving office and deregulation-friendly President-elect Donald Trump takes over. Trump notably counts Musk among his chief allies after his massive fundraising push. The NLRB is an independent agency with five board members appointed by the president to 5-year terms.
During oral arguments, the judges mostly prodded attorneys on the finer points of the companies’ decisions to appeal, and the timeline of their objections. At one point, Judge James Graves Jr., an Obama appointee, expressed doubt that Amazon had even met the conditions for an appeal — suggesting it should have waited on the ruling from the district court first. Two days after Amazon’s notice of appeal, the district court denied Amazon’s request for a temporary restraining order on its NLRB proceedings.
Both companies are seeking to short-circuit the NLRB’s proceedings with a court order
George W. Bush-appointed Judge Priscilla Richman similarly pressed SpaceX’s counsel Michael Kenneally about why the company rushed to an appeal, rather than letting the case progress in a lower court. Kenneally said SpaceX waited as long as it felt it could to bring its challenge and accused the government of leaning on procedural arguments because it couldn’t defend the NLRB’s constitutionality. Graves appeared skeptical. “That sounds to me about like the argument that, ‘well, procedure doesn’t matter if I win on the merits, so just skip right over procedure,’” he said.
Both companies are seeking to short-circuit the NLRB’s proceedings with a court order, which requires demonstrating this would cause them irreparable harm. But in Amazon’s case, NLRB counsel Tyler Wiese called the company’s deadline for the district court “imaginary,” and said, “merely proceeding through an administrative process is not irreparable harm.”
Amazon and SpaceX both argue that the NLRB’s administrative proceedings are tainted because its board members or administrative law judges are unconstitutionally insulated from removal. They point to Article II of the Constitution, which says the president must “take care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” which they say includes removing officials.
Amazon also says the NLRB is violating the Seventh Amendment, which protects the right to a jury trial in certain civil cases. It argues that the NLRB shouldn’t be allowed to decide on financial remedies related to the case because it would deny the company due process. Cox said the board itself “improperly interfered with the [union] election by exercising its prosecutorial authority,” so failing to stop the proceedings would let the NLRB as as judge and prosecutor.
The NLRB says it feels confident in a 1937 Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Act. “It is nothing new for big companies to challenge the authority of the NLRB to enforce workers’ rights so as not to be held accountable for their violations of the National Labor Relations Act,” NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said in a statement. “While the current challenges require the NLRB to expend scarce resources defending against them, we’ve seen that the results of these kinds of challenges is ultimately a delay in justice, but that ultimately justice does prevail.”
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