Photo: Dan ZelazoEver since Germany shut down eight of its nuclear power plants in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, nuclear proponents have raged against the decision. Their claim: This cannot possibly be good for the German economy, its energy security, or the climate. The latest example of this rage is a piece in The New Republic: "How Germany Phased Out Nuclear Power, Only to Get Mugged by Reality." Before digging deeper into the arguments, let's figure out just what reality we're talking about. As I've written before, Germany, Europe's biggest economy, is aggressively pursuing a transition away from both …

There's ample evidence that pretty much everyone in Congress -- even vocal critics of the government’s investment in Solyndra -- is into loan guarantees for energy, whatever they tell the cameras after a few of these relatively risky ventures inevitably fail. Rep. John Boehner, for instance, requested loans to enrich uranium under the same loan guarantee program that governed Solyndra, and Rep. Fred Upton requested loans to finance four other clean energy programs. Republicans ... have said the failure of Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy after receiving $535 million in federal loan guarantees, shows President Barack Obama was wrong to …

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was shut down in March, after earthquake and tsunami damage led to meltdowns, radiation leaks, and evacuations. But an expert panel, convened by Japan’s Atomic Energy Commission, says that fully decommissioning the plant will take at least 30 years. Closing Fukushima Daiichi doesn't just mean shutting down damaged reactors. That part of the process is more or less complete. But the containment vessels now need to be repaired, which alone could take a decade. Only after they're fixed can workers begin removing fuel rods, a process that took 10 years at Three Mile Island and …

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.)Photo: Republican ConferenceCross-posted from Climate Progress. So far this week, four of the world's top five oil companies have announced more than $24 billion in third quarter profits. And by the logic of Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), that should mean those oil companies deserve more subsidies, not less. Speaking at a town hall meeting Oct. 22 in his home state of Florida, Stearns displayed a very sketchy grasp on how subsidies should work, explaining to Climate Progress that incentives should be given to mature companies, not early-stage companies. "When somebody is successful, then you give them the …

Fishermen trawling a nuclear-plant-fed reservoir in Córdoba, Argentina have caught a three-eyed wolf fish. Like everyone else who's writing about this story, I'm illustrating this post with a picture of Blinky, the nuclear fish from The Simpsons, because the real fish is super ugly.  They don't know for sure yet whether the fish's mutation is related to radiation from the power plant. (You'd sorta think it would be, huh? But we believe in the scientific process here.) After all, animals sometimes have truly weird mutations that have nothing to do with humans at all, let alone humans playing around with …

In recent years, energy subsidies have risen to become a first-tier political issue. Lots of folks are thinking and talking about them, which is absolutely a Good Thing. However, the discussion has remained narrow and legalistic in a way that obscures some larger realities. The usual question that gets asked is, who gets more direct subsidies -- fossil-fuel industries or renewables industries? The answer to that question can be found in an updated report from consultancy Management Information Services Inc., which tries to tally up every kind of direct subsidy -- tax credits, regulation, R&D money, etc. -- from 1950 …

Radiation has a sneaky way of spreading, and in Tokyo, citizens have identified 20 sites contaminated by radioactive cesium from the Fukushima meltdown. The government wasn't planning on testing in Tokyo, but citizens and a nuclear research center started their own investigation and came up with positive results. Here's the response the city's head of health and safety gave the New York Times about the results: "Nobody stands in one spot all day…And nobody eats dirt." Also, radioactive material probably fell on concrete and got washed away! Nothing to worry about! Not particularly reassuring, especially given the Japanese government's record …

In hyping the Solyndra faux scandal, Republicans have gone after the loan-guarantee program with guns blazing. It is, they charge, an example of big government trying to "pick winners." And by golly they just can't support big government picking winners! Except, uh, turns out they can. In their haste to condemn everything connected to Obama, Republicans have stepped on a bit of a rake. After all, history -- recent history! -- is replete with examples of Republicans pushing for loan guarantees for energy businesses in their districts. (I poked a bit of fun at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.] …

Yesterday, an E.U. commission got behind environmental standards that could keep tar-sands oil from being used in Europe. Another nuclear reactor in Japan shut down. Clean energy investments can only go so far in keeping China's emissions down. The country will meet its environmental goals in the short term, researchers say, but it’s growing too fast for its emissions to stay manageable for long. Investors see the solar industry as "a real mess." The government want to take fries -- wait, all potatoes -- away from our kids. (Okay, only on some days.) The potato industry is responding by touting …

This is bad news for nuclear advocates: Nuclear power turns out even more expensive than we thought. According to a study by Arthur D. Little, the four German nuclear utilities (E.ON, RWE, EnBW, Vattenfall) face costs of at least $25 billion for decommissioning their reactors. After the Fukushima disaster, Germany decided to say goodbye to nuclear by switching off eight reactors immediately while the remaining nine are scheduled for a gradual phaseout by 2022. Of the many myths about nuclear power, we kinda knew that the myth "nuclear power is cheap" is not true. The stunner is how expensive it …