DOE: Climate Change will Disrupt Energy Supply

[Bill USA]

Climate change is going to affect energy supply -- including nuclear power plants...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/11/climate-change-energy-disruptions/2508789/

The report cites prior climate-related energy disruptions. Last year in Connecticut, the Millstone Nuclear Power Station shut down one reactor because the temperature of water needed to cool the facility — taken from the Long Island Sound — was too high. A similar problem caused power reductions in 2010 at the Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey and the Limerick Generating Station in Pennsylvania.

Reduced snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains last year cut California's hydroelectric power generation 8%, while drought caused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop the transport of oil and coal along the Mississippi River, where water levels were too low, according to the report. Also, in September 2010, water levels in Nevada's Lake Mead fell to a 54-year low, prompting a 23% loss in the Hoover Dam's generation.

The DOE report cites research indicating that nearly 60% of current thermoelectric power plants, which need water cooling to operate, are located in water-stressed areas.

(more)

[tularetom]

1. Ya think?

As the report points out, it already is affecting hydro power here in California.

[NYC_SKP]

3. I'll bet you know this one too:

On older maps of California, pre-1900, Lake Tahoe is easy enough to see but a much larger body of water exists, entirely within the state.

Until the late 19th century, it was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River.

I know you know this one!

Where did all that water go?

[tularetom]

4. I was there in 1969 the last time that lake had water in it

It was a historically wet winter and the Kings River overflowed into the lake basin. The flood waters rose to levels I had never seen in my lifetime almost reaching the town of Corcoran where we lived for awhile.

JG Boswell, the nation's largest recipient of crop supports, owned most of the basin and a lot of land just outside it. He stood to lose millions of dollars worth of cotton if the lake water overtopped the levees.

He stacked junk cars on top of the levee to contain the rising waters. A lot of local people were more or less conscripted by sheriff's deputies to aid in the flood fight.

I go back a long way with that lake. As a kid in the 50's I worked on survey crews laying out some of the levees and irrigation structures and preparing to level the dry lake bottom.

Nowadays I drive past the former lake on Highway 41 on my way to the coast. And I wonder how many of the people driving by even realize the size of the body of water that once existed there or even that there was a lake.

Here's an article that tells more about Boswell and the 1969 floods:
http://articles.latimes.com/1997-02-13/news/mn-28291_1_tulare-lake

[Jessy169]

2. There is plenty that could be done, but not enough that will be done

Why?

Here's one reason:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101668344