Arnie Gunderson -- Video on why the old GE designs are inherently unsafe.

Shelter in Place and Martial Law, there is a difference.

Bomb Scare in Waikiki causes Martial Law to be declared.   This is similar to Boston, although this was only 2 hours.     A lot of the tin foil hatters are saying that Big Gov wants to program America to accept martial law on a regular basis.    This will make it easier to quash large disturbances and make it seem "normal" at least in the news reports.

The nice terms of "shelter in place" are well known to prepper types and nuclear aware types.    And that has to do with being pre-prepared with necessary materials, tools, food, water, to take shelter in your own house during an extended civil disaster, nuclear meltdown, etc.

So they tried to sell us the term "shelter in place" which in fact has nothing to do with martial law for a manhunt, as was Boston.     Even the term "lockdown" or "stand down" is no where near the reality of "we have declared martial law".  There are video's floating on the internet of families being rousted out of their houses by "Swat" teams, and being marched out of their house with hands on their heads.    These look very credible, I just saw last night.   I was surprised it went this far.

Here is the "lockdown" in Waikiki.    There are just 3 "horizontal roads" in Waikiki and they are all one way,  so by shutting down one of them, indeed that is a crippling situation for one of the most dense human habitation and tourism areas in the US.  

For a better view of Nuclear Shelter in Place, refer to my easy to use checklist on how to prepare.
http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/p/radiation-preparation-resources.html

Report from steadily increasing radiation in Hawaii.

In response to a Hawaii based news blogger who puts full effort into his work, he asks an innocent question....are we in danger from Fukushima.

I answered with the following.

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I have been measuring radiation regularly on Oahu since about 9 months after Fukushima when I got my first Geiger.   I ending up shipping that one to a Japanese family with young kids who really needed it.   Then I bought another.

Oahu has been steady at around 12000 clicks per 8 hour period.   That is 25 clicks per minute.

Amazing, in round numbers, Oahu in the last 3 weeks has been 14400 clicks per 8 hours, or 30 clicks per minute  

This is a stable 20% increase, probably due to radiation in the water finally making its way here.    this will be cesium and strontium, as well as uranium and plutonium ALL which are quite nasty. 

This is not an emergency level.
At 100 clicks per minute for 1 year, you stand a significant chance of increase in cancer, but keep in mind, cancer in not the only end result of radiation, all kinds of weakness and openings for disease.

At 500 clicks per minutes for 90 days, you stand a significant chance of increase in cancer.

Fukushima continues to spews radiation into the air through steam releases from under ground coriums at water level (varies with tides).   Also TEPCO has large dug earthen pool with flimsy liners that were meant for final treatment water, but the final treatment system still has not been certified, so they have been putting highly concentrated strontium water in there.    The cesium was mostly removed by the initial treatment system.    Strontium is far more dangerous than cesium, as it acts like calcium and goes direct to the bones and doesn't leave.    Leukemia is a likely result, as well as other bone disease, and blood disease and weakness.  

These large earthen pools were formed with 4mil PVC liner.   Your average architectural or fish pond liner in Hawaii would be made with 20 mil or 30 mil liner.  

In the last 2 weeks, there are 5 to 7 really large earthen pools that TEPCO has admitted as leaking badly, these used to hold the highly dangerous and highly concentrated Strontium.

Also, some coriums remain in the reactor vessels (all the vessels are breached) and beneath the vessels.   They have been pouring water on them for YEARS to minimize the amount of criticality which releases massive radiation, they sometimes fail.

They also fail in keeping the spent fuel pool powered up with cooling circulating pumps, having failed three times in the last 6 weeks.    TEPCO is getting worse at their task of protecting the world.   They have no financial incentive to do this right.  The spent fuel pools are far more dangerous than the coriums if that is possible to believe.    There is far most mass in the spent fuel pools, and the nasty isotopes are higher..  

TEPCO has no right to be in charge of this plant anymore.  

I have studied this situation several thousand hours, and have a masters degree in the relevant sciences to understand it.

The world is in harm, several tens of billions of USD needs to be dedicated to accelerate the reduction of radioactive emissions. 

There are nuclear and US security implications for why no real action is being taken.   The nuclear village has failed us again.

Debris field in front of Asteroids

This research from UCLA.    What happened in Russia last night hasn't happened for 100 years on earth.  And we have not noticed a close flyby of a 15 story building by 15 story wide cube (Asteroid 2012 AD14 to put things in perspective), ever before.

So is this a coincidence?  Well the asteroid that hit Russia (now call it a meteorite since it hit) odds are 1 day in 100 years or 36500 to 1, or .0027%.  
They think that big of an  object gets kind of close to earth  every 40 years, but some say every 1120 years, lets use 40.    40*365= 14600

So that is one in 14600 odds, or .0068% chance on any given day.

The odds of both happening on the same day is .0027% * .0068% = .000018%, or about 539 million to 1 odds.     Hmmm

 It is obvious, the powers that be will do anything to not scare the sheeple.
There should have been warnings, not "don't worry".  
Stay near home, have your emergency supplies prepared.



These warnings extend into tomorrow and the next day, eyes open, no fear.

Above is the Zinc factory in Russia that had its roof and some walls blown out.



______________________________________________________________

"In more recent observations with Venus Express, the occurrence of IFEs is now lower than the average we find outside this region," study leader Christopher Russell of UCLA said in a statement.

Russell and his team think the answer to this riddle lies in a reduction of the debris that once clogged Oljato's orbital path. "

At one point in time Oljato shed boulders – mostly a few tens of meters in diameter – into its orbit and they formed a debris trail in front and behind Oljato," Russell said.

"These impactors then hit other targets as they passed between Venus and the sun. The large amount of fine dust released by these collisions was picked up by the solar wind, producing the IFEs observed by Pioneer, and was accelerated out of the solar system."

 http://news.yahoo.com/near-earth-asteroid-loses-magnetic-mojo-213921869.html

Magnetic Pole Shift Accelerating

If you like this stuff, please sign up as a follower, drop a comment.

Moral of the story---we shouldn't allow the most dangerous thing on earth (nuclear power plants and nuclear waste) to exist on our HOME PLANET, when we know for a fact that our home planet is not stable, and in fact is getting more unstable.
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I first noticed the magnetic pole shift around 2006, being a pilot and a solar engineer I often took measurements, and for a while nothing was lining up the way it used to, so I tried a few different compasses.   I thought it strange, and I thought it stranger that no one was talking about it.

I wouldn't say this was the "kick off" to my impression that things were getting wacky in the world.   Maybe the first was the doubling of property values in less than 2 years that let me get out from an underwater property to a nice profit.

But lets put it this way....the "experts" are often just making stuff up, to get their grant money and help their universities get federal funding.

NASA is downplaying magnetic shift saying "it happens all the time", as are  other parrots of the "don't panic the sheep" cartel.   These things are suspicious.   The experts can all justify their actions by rationalizing that avoiding panic is better than dealing with what is going to happen anyway.

Classic writing say that a north south magnetic pole shift happens every 320,000 years or so with wide variations, and that the last one was 700,000 years ago.

However, some pretty credible data cross correlated from the Black Sea, the Laschamp event in the Massif Central, and Greenland data, and shows a "rapid" 250 year complete pole shift, around 41,000 years ago, followed by a european super volcano around 39,500 years ago.

 http://phys.org/news/2012-10-extremely-reversal-geomagnetic-field-climate.html#nRlv

And let me throw this in....what about that really cool rise of Cro-Magnon man and epic cave paintings around 35,000 to 39,000?     Indeed, magnetic pole shift appears to occurs with a lessening of overall magnetic field, which allows more cosmic radiation in to the home planet, which allows for more DNA damage and the occasionally successful mutation that works better.    Saber toothed tigers probably kept the cancer rates in check pretty well.

We are in a period of very fast movement of the magnetic pole, and it appears the north pole has the itchy feet and the south pole is more stable.

But nothing to worry about....NASA says the pole flips "all the time", and other experts state that there is no evidence that a pole flip was harmful in the past (maybe check the IPhone data records), and that most people wouldn't even notice a pole flip.    Yeah, very reassuring, why don't you guy at least focus on detecting these 153,000 asteroids like the one that hit the earth in April 2012.    An amateur astronomer found it just days before it hit.

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2012/04/154300-pound-meteorite-hit-earth-last.html


Another near miss

Geiger Counter Interpretation Simplified Cheat Sheet Chart

Geiger Counter Interpretation Simplified

I made this chart.   Several other blogs have copied it nearly verbatim, and I am happy that others want to spread actionable information to protect people (would have been nice to get a proper credit though).   I had the chart translated to Japanese as I was sending a Geiger to Japan to help families address their real risk.   See bottom for the Japanese version.

This is a super condensed table on how to interpret Geiger Readings.   Use it to supplement your own research and getting a "block of knowledge".

If you take this radiation stuff at all seriously, then get a Geiger.   All the rest is guesswork.

Radiation Alert Inspector, $530 to $600 Amazon

And Here are LIVE radiation reports from independent reporting stations.

I am sending my Radiation Alert Inspector to Japan to a family that needs real data---soooo You won't see an Oahu based reporting station until I get my next Geiger delivered.

Japan –only 2 to 5 reporting sites
http://radiationnetwork.com/Japan.htm
Hawaii –
http://radiationnetwork.com/AlaskaHawaii.htm
US Mainland
http://radiationnetwork.com/




And in Japanese

Background Check (I don't mean with a Geiger Counter)

Universal background checks, what does it really mean?

It means if a father wants to give away his trusty Ruger 10-22 to his son, he will have to do a full background check on his son, cost about $200.   However, the Gun is only worth slightly more than that.

Plus, how can this possibly work? As my Dad gave me 4 firearms last year, he is in his seventies and don't hunt no more.... but who would ever know? What if this IMPOSSIBLE TO WORK" background check gets passed.... and then after its passed, dad decide to give me 3 more guns, and we write something up, transferred in 2011. Are we now both felons?

What if the neighbor wants to buy a gun, and I am forced to run a full background check on him? Many of these pistols, shotguns, rifles are only worth several hundred dollars. Now I run the background check, and the FBI send me a response which goes to the house next door by mistake, and that neighbor finds out the other neighbor had a felony for assault from 28 years ago, and spreads the word far and wide, effectively destroying that man in his own neighborhood. Huh, could be a problem right.

Or does the FBI not give out a reason, just a "no go", and the deal falls through, with both neighbors now suspicious over the other one.

The costs, implementation, penalties, the proof.

 The unintended consequences.

 Its all a big Charlie Foxtrot, and it won't keep guns out of the hands of criminals.      

How many of those Huffpost reader who were polled on whether they wanted "universal background checks" even thought it through as far as this writeup?

Maybe .5%?      Polls are wonderful, they sound great, yeah, save the kids.....and ignorance feeds into "this is only the beginning 2 shot" Biden, and they know it, if nothing else politicians know exactly how to play the public.

Sea Lions

On the sea lion die off current events

Indeed if you think of it, besides the tens of tons of uranium and plutonium that was detected in published EPA air samples, a vast amount settled out of the air into the Pacific.   Of course, cesium and strontium accompany the overall mess.

The sea critters have been directly and daily exposed to the toxic and radioactive heavy metals and body invaders.

Strontium, Uranium, and Plutonium stick around in your body, basically forever.

Cesium has about a 80 day biological half life.   It goes into your muscles and heart, but some of it is excreted.    However, if you are continually exposed to cesium, that doesn't help, you reach an equilibrium point and stay there.

Here is the data on tens of tons detected in the air.  My research.   EPA data.

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/p/uranium-aerosolized-into-atmosphere.html

How to Find Nuke Pro

How to find Nuke Pro, assuming you weren't already here.

Nice to pop number one on google.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=nuke pro

Charts of Seal Deaths and TEPCO fesses up

I love charts, they often tell you something that nothing else can.   They knock you upside the head.

See this one on seal "grounding" rates

TEPCO "fesses up", so expect some big move in the near future, announcement of Nuclear plant startups.    The power outage last week proves that TEPCO has learned nothing.

TEPCO officials denied Friday that the incident posed safety threats outside of the plant, but acknowledged they lacked sensitivity about how Fukushima residents felt about the loss of power and cooling.
"We learned that it only takes one rat, not even an earthquake or tsunami, to paralyze the plant," said Yukihiro Higashi, an Iwaki Meisei University engineering professor who is on a government nuclear regulatory panel overseeing Fukushima Dai-ichi safety.
"People in Fukushima are under constant fear of another serious incident that requires evacuation," Higashi said.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/fukushima-disaster-tepco-blame_n_2978681.html

Gamma Energy Chart

Here is another chart, it is hard to read as I did a screen capture. The full size chart is a download, but the service requires you to run an EXE program, which as you may know, can do anything at all to your computer, steal your passwords, beyond a zombie porn spam bot, whatever. So I won't ever run an EXE program. If you have more guts or less sense than me, here is the link
http://www.4shared.com/photo/J5RgNqnw/Rad-Chart.html?cau2=403tNull

 

Nuclear preparedness

As Fukushima goes without power today, and no fix in sight, topic of nuclear preparedness is, well, topical.

I made a nice "Shelter in Place" Checklist format in the early days of Fukushima, its here

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/p/radiation-preparation-resources.html

And here is my semi-famous Geiger Counter Interpretation Quick Chart

http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2012/04/geiger-counter-interpretation.html


AND HERE is a new resource, which goes into even more detail.    But FIRST get your shelter in place kit ready (ABOVE), you might need it in the next week if they don't fix Fukushima power supply.   Much of the below resources deal with nuclear attack, but in reality a Nuclear Plant meltdown is very similar, in fact the Nuke Plant can be far worse.   In the Nuke bomb, a very large perfect of the radiation is Iodine which goes away 1/2 every 8 days, if you can shelter 24 days, then 7/8's have become harmless, but there are still other isotopes with half lives of 30 years and more, Cesium and Strontium as notable mentions. 



VISIT THIS NEW LINK
http://preparedchristian.net/category/prep/signs-of-the-times/#.UUfwklc4GXQ

Cost of Nuke Plant Failure, 3 time France's GDP

This one came from Capt D, who is doing top notch work on shutting down San Onofre.

Capt D is quoting alot of information from Testosterone Pit, which is linked here also, just below.

 http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/3/13/potential-cost-of-a-nuclear-accident-so-high-its-a-secret.html#ixzz2NqUu3ZM6

And here is the French Paper report, using the Google tranlator which works pretty OK

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lejdd.fr%2FEconomie%2FActualite%2FExclusif-JDD-le-scenario-noir-du-nucleaire-595593

The French have 58 nuclear plants, and a single one of them could wipe out 3 years of GDP.  That would kill their country, and much of Europe as a domino effect.   See the chart below, France likes to group their highest devices all together similar to Fukushima to achieve "lower operating cost".    So usually they group 4 plants together, it one blows up it would affect the ability to prevent the others from blowing up.

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Look at these numbers and remember the USA cannot afford a Trillion Dollar Eco-Disaster like Fukushima either!


French Nuclear Disaster Scenario Was So Bad The Government Kept It Secret

Read more: http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/3/13/potential-cost-of-a-nuclear-accident-so-high-its-a-secret.html#ixzz2NqUu3ZM6

snip:

Catastrophic nuclear accidents, like Chernobyl in 1986 or Fukushima No. 1 in 2011, are, we’re incessantly told, very rare, and their probability of occurring infinitesimal.

But when they do occur, they get costly. So costly that the French government, when it came up with cost estimates for an accident in France, kept them secret.

But now the report was leaked to the French magazine, Le Journal de Dimanche. Turns out, the upper end of the cost spectrum of an accident at the nuclear power plant at Dampierre, in the Department of Loiret in north-central France, amounted to over three times the country’s GDP.

Hence, the need to keep it secret. 

The study was done in 2007 by the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), a government agency under joint authority of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Environment, Industry, Research, and Health.With over 1,700 employees, it’s France’s “public service expert in nuclear and radiation risks.” This isn’t some overambitious, publicity-hungry think tank.

It evaluated a range of disaster scenarios that might occur at the Dampierre plant. In the best-case scenario, costs came to €760 billion—more than a third of France’s GDP. At the other end of the spectrum: €5.8 trillion! Over three times France’s GDP. A devastating amount. So large that France could not possibly deal with it.

Yet, France gets 75% of its electricity from nuclear power. The entire nuclear sector is controlled by the state, which also owns 85% of EDF, the mega-utility that operates France’s 58 active nuclear reactors spread over 20 plants. So, three weeks ago, the Institute released a more politically correct report for public consumption. It pegged the cost of an accident at €430 billion.

Nuke is a Country Killer

A pronuker {can we just say puker} had this to say on The Huffington Post
Jeff Rosenbury

You are entitled to your own opinions. You are not entitled to your own facts.

Radiation in the small amounts leaked into the environment near Fukushima and Chernobyl slightly raises cancer risks. That is the reason the areas are off limits. Wildlife do just fine in the regions.

Nuclear power, even nuclear power gone wrong, is not a country killer.

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Hmmmm,
Mikhail Gorbachev seems to think otherwise, he wrote this

The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl 20 years ago this month, even more than my launch of perestroika, was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later. Indeed, the Chernobyl catastrophe was an historic turning point: there was the era before the disaster, and there is the very different era that has followed.

CommentsThe very morning of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear station on April 26, 1986, the Politburo met to discuss the situation, and then organized a government commission to deal with the consequences.

Read more at http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/turning-point-at-chernobyl#IfyMZHwzjURmTyYY.99

AND FOR JAPAN

German Report on Fukushima, Interview with ex Prime Minister Kan

Excellent video, German reporters in Japan, investigating Fukushima.

For anyone doubting how the Nuke Cartel operates, this is the smoking gun.

The whole lies, report fabrications, regulatory capture, are laid bare in this sub-titled report. At minutes 11 and 16 ex Prime Minister Kan details in no uncertain terms how the Nuclear Village operates through lies, extortion, personnel insertions into government and then back into TEPCO.

This is coming right from the top. This has been reviewed by a Japanese national who is also fluent in English and they agree that the translation is absolutely correct.

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985,000 cancer death from Chernobyl, and millions more disease.

No, not buying the pronuke lies.   ZING, bodyslam, you are down for the count.

_______________________________________________________________________

Post by the Nuke Pro on 3-16-2011 on Zerohedge

I got up at 3AM on 3-16-2011 and decided that I needed to form an opinion about how bad Fukushima really was.     We have family on the far other side of Tokyo from the Fukushima, and I wanted to be able to provide an opinion.  

Working with the available resources, many conflicted.  I determined that this was a serious and large problem.

Read that old story here.   Obviously my nuke knowledge was a lot less back then, but the call was correct, and actually it has turned out far worse than I envisioned at the time.

Nuke Pro Story on Zerohedge 03-16-2011 Fukushima

WHO and IAEA are Radiation Promoters

Why the WHO World Health Organization cannot be trusted

------------------------------------------

from

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/28/who-nuclear-power-chernobyl

Toxic link: the WHO and the IAEA

A 50-year-old agreement with the IAEA has effectively gagged the WHO from telling the truth about the health risks of radiation

• Fifty years ago, on 28 May 1959, the World Health Organisation's assembly voted into force an obscure but important agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency – the United Nations "Atoms for Peace" organisation, founded just two years before in 1957. The effect of this agreement has been to give the IAEA an effective veto on any actions by the WHO that relate in any way to nuclear power – and so prevent the WHO from playing its proper role in investigating and warning of the dangers of nuclear radiation on human health.

The WHO's objective is to promote "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health", while the IAEA's mission is to "accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world"

This is the actual agreement, making the WHO subservient to the nuke promoters IAEA

http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf20.shtml#note_c

Nuclear Secrecy blog and Sources of Information

I saw this at Nuclear Hotseat
 https://www.facebook.com/groups/NuclearHotseat/

It list many sources of information about nuclear bombs and power.    Check it out.   Placing this on my blogroll also.  Really good stuff.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Web-based Primary Sources for Nuclear History

Posted November 14th, 2011 by Alex Wellerstein Right now, across the world, there are students taking or planning on taking courses on the history of the atomic bomb. The history of the bomb has been and will probably always be (for better or worse) a relevant topic, and students are drawn to it for a variety of reasons. Some are better than others…

http://nuclearsecrecy.com/blog/2011/11/14/web-based-primary-sources-for-nuclear-history/

Nuclear Power Too Costly

We all know that the long term costs of nuke power are huge, but now the truth comes out...they don't even make sense now.   Vogtle is starting to admit the cost overruns.  Note that historically, cost overruns of 250% are the norm.

 Even at the original budget, Vogtle would have only returned 1.666% annual rate of return on investment.    No investor wants that, that is why they force the ratepayers to pay now, to become captive "investors".    It simple, because they can't find any real investors who want to take the deal. 

 

Who wants to invest in a project?   You have to pay your money now, and then in 6 to 8 years, then we will start paying you back at 1.666%.   Unless there are cost overruns, which must then chip in more money, whatever we tell you.   And if you don't pony up, we just stop the plant and you lose all your money.

OK who wants this deal?   

 

Nuke Pro Out.............

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130303/us-nuclear-costs/?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=politics

-------------------------------------------------------

Some leaders souring on nuclear power costs

     

RAY HENRY | March 3, 2013 12:33 PM EST |
Compare other versions »

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ATLANTA — As the cost of building a new nuclear plant soars, there are signs of buyer's remorse.
The second-guessing from officials in Georgia and Florida is a sign that maybe the nation is not quite ready for a nuclear renaissance. On top of construction costs running much higher than expected, the price of natural gas has plummeted, making it tough for nuclear plants to compete in the energy market.
In Georgia last week, Southern Co. told regulators it needed to raise its construction budget for Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia by $737 million to $6.85 billion. At about the same time, a Georgia lawmaker sought to penalize the company for going over budget, announcing a proposal to cut into Southern Co.'s profits by trimming some of the money its subsidiary Georgia Power makes.

Great letter from Utah Sheriffs on Gun Control

http://thedailyprep.com/utah-sheriffs-gun-conrol/

Kewaunee Lies Continue, At Least Its Dead

From this website, we used the data to plot historical electrical costs.

Historical Wisconsin Rate Information - Wisconsin Public Service

Dominion, the owner of  Kewaunee stated a main reason for shutting down is that the nuclear plant can't compete with traditional energy sources, and that the current rate were "low", when in fact they are the highest ever.

Hmmmm, I just wanted to check on that statement.   It seems that the truth is, the rates are the highest they have ever been in history, and nuclear cannot compete.    Wow.  

That is the amazing truth, nuclear cannot compete, even this low cost plant bought for around $380M cannot amortize it's debt service AND turn a profit.  

Once the nukers realize that we are going to make them clean up their plants, decommission them and incur the whole cost of doing so.....once the rats see that they are going to have to pay the piper, the rats will all start jumping ship.   He who panics first panics best.   And sure, much of the costs of cleanup will be socialized, ie. the taxpayer and rate payer will eat it in any scenario.    But good riddance

2 down, 102 to go!

Whales off Molokai, saying Aloha to Nuke!

http://enewspro.penton.com/preview/ecm_/ECM-06/20130225_ECM-06_636/display

 

TOP STORY

Closing Of Kewaunee Power Station Not Expected to Affect Regional Electric Reliability Dominion, one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, recently announced that the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) has concluded that the shutdown and retirement of Kewaunee Power Station in northeastern Wisconsin will not affect the reliability of the regional electric transmission system. Therefore, Dominion will proceed with its plans to close the 556MW, single-unit nuclear power station in Carlton, Wis., in the second quarter of 2013, as previously announced last fall. Kewaunee Power Station, located on Lake Michigan about 35 miles southeast of Green Bay, began commercial operation in 1974. It has one Westinghouse pressurized water reactor. Dominion acquired the station in July 2005. In February 2011, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) renewed the station's operating license for an additional 20 years — until 2033. Dominion was unable to find a buyer for Kewaunee after it put the station up for sale in April 2011. The decision to sell Kewaunee was part of a regular review of the company's portfolio of assets to determine which ones fit strategically and support its objectives to improve return on invested capital and shareholder value. The company also was unable to grow its nuclear fleet in the Midwest to take advantage of economies of scale. In addition, Kewaunee's power purchase agreements are ending at a time of projected low wholesale electricity prices in the region. "I want to reiterate that the employees of Kewaunee have been doing an outstanding job, and the decision to close the station is in no way a reflection on them," said Thomas F. Farrell II , Dominion chairman, president, and CEO. "They have my thanks and gratitude. The company is working to make the transition as smooth as possible for them and their communities." Farrell also said the company's top priority will be a continued focus on safety during the station's last weeks of operations and during decommissioning. "We intend to take all steps necessary to ensure the protection of the public, employees, and the environment," he said. "The station will have the resources it needs." The station will remain under the oversight of the NRC throughout the shutdown and decommissioning process. Following shutdown, Dominion plans to meet its obligations to the two utilities that purchase Kewaunee's generation through market purchases until the power purchase agreements expire in December 2013.