VLS Study: Widely Misunderstood in U.S., the French 'Nuclear Miracle' is Plagued by Fast-Rising Reactor Costs and 'Crowding Out' of Renewables
‘SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt., Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The so-called "French nuclear miracle" embraced by some U.S. policymakers as a model for this nation is a misconception masking a pattern of fast-rising nuclear reactor construction costs and a "crowding out" of investments in renewable energy, such as wind, solar and hydro-electric power, according to a new study by Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment. Study author Mark Cooper, the VLS Institute's senior research fellow for economic analysis, said:  "The problems in the French nuclear industry are similar to the problems that have long afflicted the U.S. industry, so there it no reason to believe that things will change if the U.S. follows the French path.  If the U.S. nuclear industry is relaunched with massive subsidies, this analysis shows the greatest danger is not that the U.S. will import French technology, but that it will replicate the French model of nuclear socialism.  Nuclear power will remain a ward of the state, as has been true throughout its history in France; a great burden on ratepayers, as has been the case throughout its history in both France and the U.S.; and it will retard the development of lower-cost renewables alternatives, as it has done in France and portions of the U.S."’

Kyiv Post: Russia strengthens control over nation’s nuclear power industry
‘Russia is likely to continue monopolizing the supply of fuel to the nation’s nuclear power plants, after the Ukrainian government – in typical non-transparent fashion – picked a Russian state company to build Ukraine’s first producer of nuclear fuel. Not only was U.S. Westinghouse unfairly passed over during the selection process, critics say, but the Russian state looks set to control the fuel producer after it’s built. Just months after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for a merger of the two countries’ nuclear industries, the Kremlin policy of global energy diplomacy is becoming one of energy hegemony in its own backyard. “We are already dependent on Russia for gas and oil; now we will be dependent on them for nuclear energy, too,” Serhiy Pashinsky, an opposition lawmaker and member of the parliament’s fuel and energy committee, said. The Ukrainian Energy Ministry, which announced on Sept. 7 that Russian state-owned TVEL had won a competitive evaluation to build the nuclear fuel plant, denied that politics had been involved in the process. “The only politics involved here was that we are finally going to get the plant built,” said Petro Chernov, director of the department for atomic energy and the nuclear industry at the ministry.’
 
KEYT.com: Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant Faces Some Problems with Re-Licensing
‘The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in Avila Beach is in the midst of applying for license renewal. However, the discovery of a fault close to the plant has some local officials asking for further seismic studies. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding a two day public workshop in San Luis Obispo to discuss recent seismic studies...to not only inform.. but to answer questions from officials and residents alike. Seismologists.. representatives with P-G and E.. .the Nuclear Regulatory Commission... local governments and environmentalists are gathered in San Luis Obispo to discuss past and present seismic studies surrounding the plant.Particular interest surrounds the 2008 discovery of the shoreline fault.. which lies less than a mile from the plant.’