This is Not Cool

I’ve been pretty hands off on the ongoing restart operation at the Palisades Nuclear facility on Lake Michigan. Generally, I wish them all the luck in the world, number one because I’m downwind, number two because low carbon electricity is good, and number three because a huge bipartisan majority exists that desperately wants this proof of concept to work, and has committed massive public funding to making it happen. (see below)

But this most recent incident does not sound normal or very auspicious for the effort.

Holtec International:

COVERT TOWNSHIP, Michigan – Holtec’s Palisades Nuclear Power Plant continues to perform the work necessary to return the plant to safe and reliable operation, including fuel-loading-related activities, plant testing and restoration, and preparations for the next stages of startup. This Holtec Highlights issue summarizes the present status.

Fuel Loading Activities

Palisades entered Mode 6 (Refueling) and began loading fuel into the reactor vessel on August 30, 2026. During fuel-loading activities, one fuel assembly tilted from its upright position after it had been placed, and the fuel-handling machine grapple had been disengaged. Plant personnel responded promptly in accordance with established procedures, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was notified. Plant personnel evaluated the incident and determined that it did not trigger the safety reporting requirements under NRC regulations. Fuel loading remains paused while Holtec addresses the affected fuel assembly.

Continue reading “Reactor Restart Hits “Tilt””

Related to the other post on this page.
Just as post Hurricane damages far inland continue to weigh on the economy, Florida’s coastal cities, even with no storms this year, are suffering some of the worst flooding ever from ever rising, climate enhanced King Tides.

Local news report above correctly describes the tidal mechanism, and the moon’s orbital characteristics that make Fall the worst tidal season, but no mention of sea level rise or climate.

Report from WBTV – Charlotte NC.
Two years post Hurricane Helene, Bat Cave, North Carolina is still crippled from the climate fueled storm’s impacts.

Readers here will vividly remember how Hurricane Helene came ashore, moved hundreds of miles inland and exploded with flooding rains over the “climate haven” mountains of North Georgia and Western North Carolina. The steep hillsides and narrow river valleys turned out to be vulnerable death traps for people living in vulnerable areas.
Many losses were tragically predictable, but some of those affected lived in areas that had not previously flooded.
As recovery has progressed, some local communities are making the same mistakes, as residents economically crippled by the flood have moved to campers and mobile homes, the best shelter they can afford, in some of the most vulnerable areas.
Billions have been spent in recovery, but needed billions more may never come.
Communities like Bat Cave, as related above, have lost crucial tax base that funds critical services like Fire/Rescue, and face an economic death spiral even as road and infrastructure repairs continue.

Pro Publica:

Part of what made the storm so devastating to the region when it hit, 400 miles inland from where it made landfall, is that the Appalachian Mountains’ typically porous soils were already saturated by recent rainfall. The rainwater hit bedrock and raced down steep mountain slopes like water on a slide. It overran the banks of normally shallow creeks and rivers, carrying the earth above it. One in 4 of those who died from the storm in North Carolina did so because of mud and landslides.

Continue reading “Bat Cave NC Struggles a Glimpse of Climate Hobbled Future”

Gavin Newsom: “We are in the Great implementation.”

Guardian:

It’s a mistake for Democratic politicians not to talk about  climate change, and the reason they don’t is “because they don’t know how to talk about it”, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Wednesday in an interview with the Guardian and the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting and New York Climate Week, Newsom also predicted that the midterm elections in November would bring “the end of Donald Trump’s presidency as we know it”. To prevent Trump from stealing those elections, voters must turn out in such overwhelming numbers that he “couldn’t possibly contest” the outcome. If the US president nevertheless declares a national emergency or otherwise attempts to invalidate the results, Newsom said, then “we the people have to step up. The courts have to intervene. Congress has to do its job and stand up for the rule of law.”

Commenting on Covering Climate Now and the Guardian reporting that 80% to 89% of the world’s people and 74% of Americans want their governments to take stronger climate action, Newsom condemned the “climate hushing” most Democrats have practiced since Trump returned to the White House in 2025. “I talk about [climate change] all the time,” he said. He agreed that Democrats must be “laser-focused” on voters’ affordability concerns, but the key is to “connect the dots” between those concerns and the economic impacts of extreme heat, droughts, floods, and other consequences of overheating the planet.

Continue reading “Climate Hushing a Mistake, Renewables SuperCharge Economies Messages from Climate Week”

New channel I did not know existed – MSFox.

Seriously, how far we have come that Fox News has to explain market economics to Republicans?

No squishy snowflake wishful thinking here.
Unabashed Oil guy with long industry experience explains in short form how it is that the current crisis will push global oil prices to a new, higher baseline, from which it will never retreat.

Thank you sir, that’s what we’ve been saying.

(He dismisses the impact of clean energy, but clearly explains the dynamic by which, I believe, this transition is going into overdrive)

What happens when the world’s biggest exporter of one of the most important substances for modern civilisation decides to stop exporting it?
We might be about to find out.
Primer on US diesel and the coming fuel crunch, inc why it could be especially grisly for Britain.

Sky News Ed Conway has come forward with a series of some of the most valuable explainers since the outset of the Iran war and the global energy crisis.

No matter what this miserably incompetent and out of control administration does from here, every option just super charges the rush away from fossil dependence.

OilPrice.com:

Heavy trucks were supposed to be the place where batteries stopped working.

Electric cars could manage school runs and commuting, critics conceded. But long-distance freight needed range, rapid refueling and maximum payload. Batteries would be too large, too heavy and too slow to charge. Buses might electrify predictable urban routes, but serious trucking would require diesel, hydrogen or renewable liquid fuels.

The market is beginning to deliver a different verdict. Global sales of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles rose 86% in 2025, exceeding 520,000 units, according to new data from the International Council on Clean Transportation. China accounted for nearly 90% of sales, but the European market also accelerated: zero-emission trucks rose from roughly 2.5% to 4.5% of new sales, while the battery-electric share of buses increased from 18.5% to 24.8%.

Continue reading “What Happens If US Diesel Stops Flowing? Crucial Explainer.”

AgroLatam:

Heavy rainfall is delaying corn and soybean harvest activity across parts of the U.S. Midwest on Tuesday, September 22, while persistent drought continues to pressure winter wheat planting and livestock pastures farther south and west, according to USDA agricultural weather data.The sharp regional contrast matters as U.S. farmers enter a critical fall window when field conditions can influence harvest speed, crop quality, input costs and ultimately expectations for commodity supplies and prices.

Across the Corn Belt, cool and mostly cloudy conditions are slowing evaporation after heavy rainfall left portions of the region unusually wet. Additional rain developed Tuesday across eastern Iowa, northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, further limiting opportunities for producers waiting to resume fieldwork. As of September 20, topsoil moisture was rated 38% surplus in Ohio and 28% surplus in Iowa, according to USDA data, underscoring how rapidly field conditions have shifted in some major corn and soybean areas.

Continue reading “Extreme Weather Impacting Harvests Nationwide”

Problem:
A gas commonly used in electric transformers is also one of the most potent greenhouse gases.
Solution:
See below.

Inside Climate News:

China’s electric grid has a dirty secret: Despite leading the world in renewable energy expansion, it is also the largest emitter of the planet’s most potent greenhouse gas.

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is a synthetic chemical that plays a critical role as an electrical insulator in high-voltage equipment. The gas is odorless, invisible, non-toxic and non-flammable. But it is also a climate killer, 24,300 times more effective at warming the planet than carbon dioxide on a pound-for-pound basis. Once released, sulfur hexafluoride remains in the atmosphere for 1,000 years.

Emissions come primarily from the electric power sector, where the gas is used in circuit breakers and other high-voltage equipment to prevent electricity from arcing. Nearly indestructible, SF6 serves as a critical backstop for any modern electric grid, ensuring that electricity flows only when and where it is needed. However, when electrical equipment in China reaches the end of its useful life, much of the gas is likely vented into the atmosphere.

National Grid:

The use of SF₆ has served the electricity supply industry well from the 1970s onwards, due to its excellent electrical insulating properties and even better arc quenching abilities.

Prior to this, vastly complex circuit-breakers were used, which required a large amount of compressed air at high pressure as well as taking up a lot of space. The use of SF₆ in transmission switchgear allowed utilities to compact and miniaturise substations, meaning smaller footprints and less obtrusive designs. It has also driven down costs, both in switchgear capital investment and ongoing maintenance.

Continue reading “Super Greenhouse Gas is Vital Part of Electrification”

In this morning’s monthly Global Temperature Briefing from Berkeley Earth, Zeke Hausfather and Robert Rohde predicted that, after a slow start, 2026 may end up as a record warm year, to be followed in all likelihood, by another record in 2027, pumped by the historically strong El Niño currently developing in the Pacific.

August was the hottest August in the historical record, the graph below shows a sobbing extent of global areas where temperatures were warmer than normal, or record high.

Continue reading “Berkeley Earth: 2026 Now Likely to Set Temp Record”