Utility ratepayers and taxpayers pay as nuclear debate continues

(This is an excerpt of an article from the New England Center for Investigative Reporting.)
 
By: Maggie Mulvihill, Shay Totten, and Matt Porter

The Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, MA.

BOSTON -- Over three decades, New England’s electricity consumers and nuclear plant owners have poured close to $1 billion into a federal nuclear-waste storage fund, holding up their end of a 1982 deal with the federal government to finance the permanent storage of thousands of tons of spent fuel from the region’s reactors.

The payoff?

An empty $11 billion hole in a Nevada mountainside, a broken promise from the U.S. government to remove the radioactive waste, and mounting bills that could still saddle New England with mothballed plants and hundreds of spent-fuel casks, turning communities into mini-nuclear waste dumps for decades, if not forever.

“It’s the most expensive dry hole we’ve ever built,” said Dave Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer and director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Nuclear Safety Project. “Who would trust the government with a dollar after they’ve wasted billions? We’ve messed this up as bad as we possibly could.”

(Continue reading)

First snow of the season

Snow fell this week in North Andover, just in time for Christmas. Here are some pictures of North Andover's first snow covering.

Winter concert brings spirit of the season to N. Andover

(This is an excerpt of an article published to patch.com)
 
'Tis the season to sing and play at North Andover High School.

Aaron Goldberg conducts NAHS's Brass Ensemble

NAHS's award-winning band and chorus played in their first concert of the year to an audience of about 250. The concert featured the school's 66-member symphonic band and 63-member chorus, along with a number of smaller specialized groups.

"Music is meant to be heard," said band director Aaron Goldberg, "so it's great for us to be out here performing."  (Continue reading)

Wednesday ((SOT)): Horsing around

"A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mister Ed."
                                                                                                          -"Mr. Ed" television show theme song

There were no talking horses at Methuen's Nevin's farm, but plenty of proud stallions and mares ready for their close-up.  That was the scene a few weeks ago when I pulled out my camera for a horse photo shoot.  Vanessa Wright, an equine photographer, taught me and about 15 others how to take the perfect "horse pictures."

Wright explained that taking pictures of horses is more than just "point and shoot," and that equine photography has its own special class.  I never thought of horse photography as a single field until I met my classmates.  Most of them specialized in horses, they either took photos at horse competitions or owned their own horses.

Most of the horses strutted there stuff in front of the camera as if they knew exactly what was going on.   Only one big black stallion shunned the cameras after a few minutes of shooting.  He quickly turned around with his rear end pointed straight at my lens, giving a big "grunt" as if to say "move along now."

The photo shoot proved a success, and I got to experiment with my new camera.  Some of the better shots are in the slide show below.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.