"Times they are a-changin"

To quote Bob Dylan - 

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

There's a battle outside

And it is ragin'

It'll soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin'.

~

It has been a very busy week; hurricanes blowing right along side the winds of political rhetoric. And squeezed in between the many lines written in the press are some lines of good news and a feeling, a surge going in the right direction in the world of things nuclear.

On Thursday, August 30th, the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board hearing denied a construction/operating license for the Calvert Cliffs-3 reactor. In this instance the protesting group was the NIRS (Nuclear Information and Resource Service) which based their case on the fact that Electricite de France (EDF) ownership of this project violated the Atomic Energy Act's prohibition against "foreign ownership, control or domination" of a U.S. reactor. For more information on this read what is available on the NIRS website at www.nirs.org

On Wednesday, August 29th, Exelon Corportion gave up on a planned twin-reactor project in Victoria County in Texas. It seems the abundance of natural gas at a lower price and the possibility of a carbon emissions charge unlikely turned the tide, in this case, Exelon, against pushing further on the nuclear front. For more on this read Unraveling the Nuclear Renaissance by Matthew L. Wald in the NY Times Unraveling the Nuclear Renaissance

On Monday, August 27th, Edison Company in California at their sick and failing San Onofre Nuclear Plant made the decision to transfer tons of fuel from reactor Unit 3 into storage. They are still undecided on a start up date for Unit 2. San Onofre has always topped the list of reactors with safety issues and of course in my own opinion should be permanently shut down on this basis alone. 

And earlier this month the court ruling which came down putting a hold on all NRC licensing until the issue of storage of spent fuel is addressed.

So for those of us fighting the good fight it seems as Dylan so aptly put it - "The times they are a-changin".

"The Times They Are A-Changin'"

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.