Japan:
¶ Former Prime Minister Kan held a press conference, in which he announced he wants to get Japan away from nuclear power by 2025, increasing dependence on renewable resources. He is working politically with others to get the plan to do this through the parliament. [The Wall Street Journal]
World:
¶ The Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency are both predicting solid growth in nuclear power generation by 2035. Their work does not address important economic, scientific, and political facts that might indicate otherwise. [Inter Press Service]
¶ While other solar manufacturers are losing money at the moment, First Solar is profitable because its business model includes development of power plants. [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]
US:
¶ Apparently differing from yesterday’s news reports that San Onofre’s reactors might be back online by the beginning of 2013, the owners, Edison International, say there is no timeline to restart the reactors. The statement seems to indicate they are still unsure of how the restart would be done, and have not yet decided whether to replace steam generators in both reactors. [Reuters]
¶ Edison International also says its Edison Mission Energy unit could file for bankruptcy unless bondholders agree on a plan to restructure $3.7 billion of debt. [Fox Business]
¶ Millstone is in talks with the NRC about using new Areva fuel assemblies. Since these are hotter in the spent fuel pool, the plant will have to construct a large number of additional dry casks. [I checked into what this might imply – it looks like denser uranium fuel is likely what is intended, rather than MOX.] [theday.com]
¶ New Jersey power company PSEG is asking the state’s regulators to approve an investment of up to $883 million for an expansion of the utility’s solar power programs. [Reuters]
¶ New York utility ConEd has bought two California solar farms with a combined output of 70 MW. [Fresno Bee]
¶ New England’s governors agreed to release a request for proposals to increase renewable power production in their states. [North American Windpower]
geoharvey 
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