From the NEI Clip File

Here are some of the news clips we're reading at NEI today. More on the U.S. nuclear energy agreement with India: Experts in the nuclear industry now predict that these improved nuclear relations with India could lead to better global access to nuclear technology and material, according to Business Line:

Nuclear power industry experts feel that if things worked out well, this could be the beginning for India to not only gain global access to nuclear fuel, but also get new reactor technologies from the US and other countries. Countries such as Russia, UK and France have already indicated their willingness to participate in India's nuclear energy programme, but, due to the restrictions on India, this had so far not been possible.

According to the experts, these countries can help India develop new generation reactors like pressurised water reactors and standardised boiling water reactors that use low enriched uranium as fuel, if India could achieve full civil nuclear energy cooperation from the US.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, climatologists are warning that greenhouse gas emissions might increase hurricane intensity.

The most comprehensive computer analysis done so far -- at the Commerce Department's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. -- predicts that by 2080, greenhouse gases could cause a typical hurricane to intensify about an extra half-step on the five-step scale of destructive power, and that rainfall would be nearly 20 percent more intense.

So shouldn't we make greater use of clean-energy technologies like nuclear power, coal gasification, renewable-energy sources, and alternative carbon-free fuels?

The answer is yes.

The Department of Energy recently announced that the Yucca Mountain repository will have a dedicated train system to handle incoming nuclear waste.

Nuclear waste will be shipped to a national repository in the Nevada desert on dedicated railroad cars, rather than sharing trains with other cargo, the Energy Department announced Monday.

Although general freight trains will be an option, DOE's policy will be to use dedicated trains for the estimated 3,500 shipments of spent nuclear fuel and high-level defense waste bound for the Yucca Mountain repository, the department said.

The trains will carry waste from sites in some three dozen states to the repository planned 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. In addition to the train shipments, some 1,100 truck shipments will be needed, though they won't be affected by the transportation policy, officials said.

Using dedicated trains will be cheaper and more secure than regular freight trains, department officials said.

As always, check out NEI's Yucca Mountain resource book for the most comprehensive look at the project. ElectroNuclear president Paulo Figueiredo recently made a speech where he supported nuclear as Brazil's "most viable alternative" to hydro power:

With regard to pollution, specifically the emission of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, Figueiredo explained that each KW/hour of energy generated by burning coal emitted 955 grams, thermoelectric power plants burning diesel 818 grams and power plants using natural gas 446 grams. On the other hand, he said, a KW/hour of energy generated by a nuclear power plant emits a grand total of exactly 4 grams of carbon dioxide.

Figueiredo went on to report that at the moment 40% of the electricity generated in the world comes from coal-burning power plants, 15% from gas-burning plants and 10% from diesel. What that means, he explained, is that 65% of the world's electricity creates pollution as it is generated.

Finally, Figueiredo pointed out that only 3% of the electricity generated in Brazil comes from nuclear power plants. In France, 78% comes from nuclear power plants and in China over 12%.

Come back tomorrow for more news from the NEI Clip File.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics