Vultures Gather at TVA's Nuclear Money Sinkhole

On a bright and sunny spring morning on June the 2nd, 2011, the Turkey Vultures gather at the Bellefonte Nuclear sinkhole. This nuclear plant is located on non-stable Karst Terrain. Could the vultures be waiting on the TVA financial collapse? TVA debt, $25 billion with a Congressional mandated $30 billion cap, not counting the approximate $23 billion interest on their bond debt, TVA would not survive in private business. Bellefonte has not been approved for operation by the TVA Board but the TVA continues to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the plant.

Nuclear Power is not the answer, learn more at http://www.matrr.org/

Part 1 of a 2 part article from the Daily Sentinel:
http://thedailysentinel.com/news/article_9fd8e13a-8d6f-11e0-8788-001cc4c03286.html?success=1    

 Morganton, NC AP News Report on Bellefonte  http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TN_TVA_BELLEFONTE_TOUR_NCOL-?SITE=NCMOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

al.com article from Huntsville Times:  http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/06/bellefonte_nuclear_plant_may_b.html

                                                                      

Group challenges design of new nuclear plant - timesfreepress.com

AP 1000 reactors on the right of the artist concept photo. Photo by TVA.

Group challenges design of new nuclear plant - timesfreepress.com

The Truth About Nuclear Power Expansion. Political greed and payoffs, a Presidential connection.

Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant, $5 billion spent and not one kilowatt of nuclear power produced. The TVA completed and published a study in 1997 that Combined Cycle Natural Gas was the most economical means of producing power at Bellefonte. A 800mega-watt plant would cost under $900 million dollars. Bringing a gas line in from Marion County Tn. would cast another $150 million dollars. The completion of the nuclear plant at Bellefonte is estimated to cost between $3 and $5 billion. New nuclear construction per reactor unit will cost between $8 and $10 billion.

As the story below relates the nuclear power industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on political payoffs and propaganda.

Nuclear Links disclosing the deception of Bellefonte: http://arklite.blogspot.com/search/label/Bellefonte%20Nuclear%20Plant

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An article from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). http://www.ucsusa.org/news/media_alerts/nuclear-industry-spent-millions-to-sell-congress-on-new-reactors-0343.html?utm_source=SP&utm_medium=head&utm_campaign=NuclearSell-02-03-09head

(The article from UCS} "Nuclear Industry Spent Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Over the Last Decade to Sell Public, Congress on New Reactors, New Investigation Finds: (The propaganda, payoffs and treachery of the nuclear industry continues. They care not for the safety and risk thrown upon the public, their concern is money for their industry's bottom line.)

The nuclear industry claims that there is increased public support for nuclear power as a solution to climate change, and some members of Congress are arguing that massive incentives for new nuclear reactors are critical to passing a climate and energy bill. Today, the Obama administration is expected to propose tripling the amount of loan guarantees to the industry to $54 billion and there are proposals in Congress to add billions more through a new "clean" energy fund and other incentives to support nuclear power expansion. (I'll add, the nuclear industry is far from clean, it is deadly to the workers who manufacture nuclear fuels.)

Where did all this support for new nuclear reactors come from? Let's follow the money.

Growing support for new nuclear power comes after an extensive decade-long campaign in which companies and unions related to the industry have spent more than $640 million on lobbying and campaign contributions from 1999 through 2009, according to a new analysis by former Los Angeles Times reporter Judy Pasternak, now with the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. (See below investigative reports link.) In the first three quarters of 2009 alone, the nuclear energy industry spent $84 million lobbying Congress.

"In many ways, the nuclear power industry's efforts to win support are a textbook case of how the influence game is played in Washington," Pasternak reports. "Besides the money spent on lobbying and campaign contributions, the industry, led by the NEI [Nuclear Energy Institute], has created a network of allies who give speeches, quote one another approvingly and showcase one another on their Web sites. The effect is an echo chamber of support for nuclear power."

Two of the industry's celebrity spokespeople, former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and former Greenpeace activist Patrick Moore, have been stumping around the country, writing op-eds, and appearing on TV to extoll the virtues of nuclear power as the co-directors of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, but they rarely, if ever, mention that the NEI created the coalition and is its sole funder. "

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THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

An investigative report, Nuclear Energy Lobby, Deep Pockets, $645 million spent by lobbyists: http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/nuclear-energy-lobbying-push/story/nuclear-energy-working-hard-win-support/

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President Obama's connection to nuclear energy--Exelon Energy--big campaign contributions: http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/nuclear-energy-lobbying-push/multimedia/exelons-links-president-obama/ Hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaign funds, millions of dollars to nuclear lobbys in supporting deceit that radioactive nuclear power is safe, cheap, clean, reliable, it is none of the above. Money buys propaganda and politicians. The nuclear industry has Washington politicians in their back pocket in support of the nuclear deception.

More from UCS: http://www.ucsusa.org/

Dr. Arjun Makhijani to Visit Scottsboro

"A technological revolution has been brewing in the last few years, so it won't cost an arm and a leg to eliminate both CO2 emissions and nuclear power. We can solve the problems of oil imports, nuclear proliferation as it is linked to nuclearpower, and carbon dioxide emissions simultaneously if we are bold enough."--Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D.
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Dr. Arjun Makhijani, http://www.ieer.org/ , will visit Scottsboro and make a presentation on the Courthouse Square in Scottsboro on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 2PM by the bandstand. The following Press release was issued by the Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team a local Chapter of the Blue Ridge Enviromental Defense League, http://www.bredl.org/nuclear/index.htm

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PRESS ADVISORY
SEPTEMBER 19, 2008

EXPERT ADVISES NON-NUCLEAR ENERGY MIX
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The Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team (BEST), a local Chapter of the
Blue Ridge Enviromental Defense League, invites all to appear on the north side of
the Courthouse Square by the Bandstand in Scottsboro, Alabama at 2PM on September the
24, 2008. There, Dr. Arjun Makhijani, a recognized authority on energy issues, will share his
knowledge regarding nuclear energy and our energy future. He is president of the Institute
for Energy and Environmental Research in Tacoma Park, Maryland.
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"A technological revolution has been brewing in the last few years, so
it won't cost an arm and a leg to eliminate both CO2 emissions and nuclear power. We can
solve the problems of oil imports, nuclear proliferation as it is linked to nuclear power, and
carbon dioxide emissions simultaneously if we are bold enough," states Dr. Makhijani.
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“Those in attendance will learn about an alternative clean energy plan that will allow
our children and grandchildren a healthier and less risky future while ending our dependence
on foreign oil,” said BEST member Garry Morgan.
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Dr. Makhijani is the author and co-author of numerous reports and books on energy and environment related issues. He was the principal author of the first study of the energy
efficiency potential of the US economy published in 1971. He is the author of Carbon-Free
and Nuclear-Free: A Road map for U.S. Energy Policy (2007). He earned his Ph.D. from the
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California,
Berkeley in 1972, specializing in nuclear fusion.
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Winner of numerous awards, Dr. Makhijani has testified before Congress, and has
appeared on ABC World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News, CBS 60 Minutes, NPR,
CNN, and BBC, among others. He has served as a consultant on energy issues to utilities,
including the Tennessee Valley Authority.
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In case of rain, the session will be held at the Scottsboro Rec-Com, 701 South Broad
St., Rm 103, Scottsboro.

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For those who are interested in joining BREDL, http://www.bredl.org/membership.htm or joining with other citizens of the area surrounding Bellefonte who are concerned about the negative environmental and economic impact a nuclear facility may have on our area may contact Garry Morgan at email: arklite2go@yahoo.com If you prefer you may list a message within, I will not post email addresses.

Nuclear Information from Nuclear Information and Resource Service

An excellent pamphlet has been released concerning propaganda about Nuclear Power from the Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS). http://www.nirs.org/falsepromises.pdf The nuclear industry is conducting a disinformation/misinformation program, propaganda, concerning Nuclear Power. The nuclear industry's PAC, Nuclear Energy Institute, appears to be responsible for the propaganda campaign deceiving the public. Information concerning the hazards of radiation are also contained on the NIRS site. http://www.nirs.org/radiation/radiationhome.htm The NIRS site contains a wealth of information concerning the dangers of Nuclear Power.
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Links on my blog concerning nuclear hazards and debt of the TVA. http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/08/tva-and-nrc-complicit-in-deceiving.html
http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/07/atomic-safety-licensing-board-comes-to.html
http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/07/shocking-scientific-report-deaths-from.html
http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/07/close-look-at-tva-debt-by-experts.html
http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/07/nuclear-power-hazards-accidents-and-nrc.html
http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/06/cancer-risks-and-factors-for-jackson.html
http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/06/s-david-freeman-news-conference-in.html

TVA and the NRC Complicit in Deceiving the Public.

Financial Information hidden, restricted due to the TVA being broke. Even the TVA admits in their NRC application they can't explain how they will pay for the nuke plants by their omissions of facts and attempts at hiding their financial statements of construction. Although the COL Application, Part 1 states that the application contains "no restricted data" they do not disclose to the public how they will pay for the plant, COL Application, Part 1 Administrative and Financial Information, pages 1.1-7 thru1.1-12. They contradict their own COL Application and refuse to produce a financial disclosures by stating the information is "proprietary info, not to be disclosed." (The TVA is a public corporation their financial construction disclosures are not restricted and must be disclosed by law.) http://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/idmws/doccontent.dll?library=PU_ADAMS^PBNTAD01&ID=073200714
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The NRC states an organization must give financial disclosures to demonstrate they are capable of building Nuclear Reactors. The TVA coupled with the NRC has deceived the public and has not released and refuses to release financial disclosures due to the TVA violating the TVA Act in exceeding their Debt Cap of $30 billion.

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The TVA willfully violates the law and the NRC as the Regulatory Agency for reactor licensing is a party to the deception.

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TVA Debt link: http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/07/close-look-at-tva-debt-by-experts.html

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Note: I have pulled my support for Senator McCain from my blog for his deceiving the citizens of the United States about the dangers and costs of Nuclear Power.

More on the No Nuclear TVA Movement

"The TVA should be setting leadership examples instead of poisoning the enviroment." Comments by Mr. David Freeman. Link to the issue from the Chattanooga Times Free Press: http://timesfreepress.com/news/2008/jun/13/chattanooga-ex-tva-head-blasts-plans-nuke-plants/

Link to the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League: http://www.bredl.org/