Catastrophic nuclear accidents, like Chernobyl or Fukushima, are very rare, we’re told incessantly. But when they occur, they’re costly. So costly that the French government, when it came up with estimates, kept them secret. But the report was leaked: an accident at a single reactor in a thinly populated part of France could cost over three times France’s GDP.
Energy
Chevron Whacked By Record Fine so Small it Might Not Notice
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Chevron Whacked By Record Fine so Small it Might Not Notice
The California Division of Occupational Safety & Health just slammed Chevron with massive, record-breaking penalties related to the refinery in Richmond—the one that ended up in a fireball last August and caused 15,000 people to seek medical treatment. Purpose: to teach the mega-company an excruciatingly painful lesson. Alas….
Libya, An Energy Asset Security Nightmare
by Oilprice.com • • Comments Off on Libya, An Energy Asset Security Nightmare
Contributed by Jen Alic of Oilprice.com. Libya—awash with roving militias and undergoing a near-total evacuation of Westerners from oil-producing Benghazi—is doing its best to make cosmetic security changes in an atmosphere of growing uncertainty. But much of the country’s south and half of its border regions are not even under government control.
The Rise Of Coal In China: “Blackest Day” Still In The Future
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Rise Of Coal In China: “Blackest Day” Still In The Future
China has tried over the years to come to grips with its pandemic pollution, yet in Beijing, through a combination of factors, it reached catastrophic levels in mid-January and set another record. Result of the white-hot pace of economic growth. And of coal consumption: this year, China is set to burn more coal than the rest of the world combined!
German Spy Agency: Geopolitical Consequences Of US Oil Boom
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on German Spy Agency: Geopolitical Consequences Of US Oil Boom
Much digital ink has been spilled about the US oil & gas boom, and whether or not it will lead to energy independence, or even turn the US into an oil exporter. Now a “confidential” report by the German version of the CIA, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, seeped to the surface. It sketched out the boom’s geopolitical consequences. Biggest loser? China.
Corruption At “Decontaminating” Radioactive Towns In Japan
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Corruption At “Decontaminating” Radioactive Towns In Japan
On Friday, the mayor of Futaba, a ghost town of once upon a time 7,000 souls near Fukushima No. 1, told his staff that evacuees might not be able to return for 30 years. Or never, for the older generation. He spoke in Kazo, Saitama Prefecture, where the town’s government has settled. It was the first estimate of a timeframe. But it all depends on successful decontamination. And that has turned into a vicious corruption scandal.
The Biofuel Subsidy Scams
by Contributor • • Comments Off on The Biofuel Subsidy Scams
Corporate subsidies, in an era of fiscal-cliff attacks on Social Security and Medicare, have dodged attention despite their magnitude and absurdity. Take the renewable-fuels subsidy ecosystem—and a train of tankers filled with biodiesel that shuttled back and forth across the US-Canadian border, twelve times, without unloading its cargo. It generated millions of dollars in profits.
Ukraine Crushed in $1.1bn Fake Gas Deal
by Contributor • • 1 Comment
Contributed by Jen Alic, OilPrice.com. The folks at Gazprom are having a good snicker, reveling in the mockery that has been made of a Ukraine-Spain gas deal that would have loosened Russia’s gas grip on Kiev. Everyone wondered how Russia would respond to Ukraine’s attempt at gas independence. This is what happens when you mess with Gazprom.
US Power Grid Vulnerable to Just About Everything
by Oilprice.com • • 4 Comments
Putin and Merkel Tango in Moscow, Gazprom Stirs Up Old Ghosts, But Deals Are Signed
by Wolf Richter • • 2 Comments
Last week, the German Parliament passed a resolution that asked Chancellor Merkel to needle Russian President Putin about the resurgence of repressive, antidemocratic tendencies in Russia. It did not go unnoticed at the Kremlin. And it paved the way, so to speak, for her trip to Moscow on Friday—to re-cement their “strategic partnership.”