title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The Three Mile Island accident inspired Perrow's book "Normal Accidents", where a nuclear accident occurs, resulting from an unanticipated interaction of multiple failures in a complex system. TMI was an example of a normal accident because it was "unexpected, incomprehensible, uncontrollable and unavoidable". The World Nuclear Association has stated that cleanup of the damaged nuclear reactor system at TMI-2 took nearly 12 years and cost approximately US$973 million. Benjamin K. Sovacool, in his 2007 preliminary assessment of major energy accidents, estimated that the TMI accident caused a total of $2.4 billion in property damages. The health effects of the Three Mile Island accident are widely, but not universally, agreed to be very low level. The accident triggered protests around the world.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The 1979 Three Mile Island accident was a pivotal event that led to questions about U.S. nuclear safety. Earlier events had a similar effect, including a 1975 fire at Browns Ferry and the 1976 testimonials of three concerned GE nuclear engineers, the GE Three. In 1981, workers inadvertently reversed pipe restraints at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant reactors, compromising seismic protection systems, which further undermined confidence in nuclear safety. All of these well-publicised events undermined public support for the U.S. nuclear industry in the 1970s and the 1980s.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: On March 5, 2002, maintenance workers discovered that corrosion had eaten a football-sized hole into the reactor vessel head of the Davis-Besse plant. Although the corrosion did not lead to an accident, this was considered to be a serious nuclear safety incident. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission kept Davis-Besse shut down until March 2004, so that FirstEnergy was able to perform all the necessary maintenance for safe operations. The NRC imposed its largest fine ever—more than $5 million—against FirstEnergy for the actions that led to the corrosion. The company paid an additional $28 million in fines under a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: In 2013 the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was permanently retired when premature wear was found in the Steam Generators which had been replaced in 2010–2011.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The nuclear industry in the United States has maintained one of the best industrial safety records in the world with respect to all kinds of accidents. For 2008, the industry hit a new low of 0.13 industrial accidents per 200,000 worker-hours. This is improved over 0.24 in 2005, which was still a factor of 14.6 less than the 3.5 number for all manufacturing industries. However, more than a quarter of U.S. nuclear plant operators "have failed to properly tell regulators about equipment defects that could imperil reactor safety", according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: As of February 2009, the NRC requires that the design of new power plants ensures that the reactor containment would remain intact, cooling systems would continue to operate, and spent fuel pools would be protected, in the event of an aircraft crash. This is an issue that has gained attention since the September 11 attacks. The regulation does not apply to the 100 commercial reactors now operating. However, the containment structures of nuclear power plants are among the strongest structures ever built by mankind; independent studies have shown that existing plants would easily survive the impact of a large commercial jetliner without loss of structural integrity.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Recent concerns have been expressed about safety issues affecting a large part of the nuclear fleet of reactors. In 2012, the Union of Concerned Scientists, which tracks ongoing safety issues at operating nuclear plants, found that "leakage of radioactive materials is a pervasive problem at almost 90 percent of all reactors, as are issues that pose a risk of nuclear accidents". The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports that radioactive tritium has leaked from 48 of the 65 nuclear sites in the United States.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Following the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, according to Black & Veatch’s annual utility survey that took place after the disaster, of the 700 executives from the US electric utility industry that were surveyed, nuclear safety was the top concern. There are likely to be increased requirements for on-site spent fuel management and elevated design basis threats at nuclear power plants. License extensions for existing reactors will face additional scrutiny, with outcomes depending on the degree to which plants can meet new requirements, and some extensions already granted for more than 60 of the 104 operating U.S. reactors could be revisited. On-site storage, consolidated long-term storage, and geological disposal of spent fuel is "likely to be reevaluated in a new light because of the Fukushima storage pool experience". In March 2011, nuclear experts told Congress that spent-fuel pools at US nuclear power plants are too full. They say the entire US spent-fuel policy should be overhauled in light of the Fukushima I nuclear accidents.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: David Lochbaum, chief nuclear safety officer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, has repeatedly questioned the safety of the Fukushima I Plant's General Electric Mark 1 reactor design, which is used in almost a quarter of the United States' nuclear fleet.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: About one third of reactors in the US are boiling water reactors, the same technology which was involved in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. There are also eight nuclear power plants located along the seismically active West coast. Twelve of the American reactors that are of the same vintage as the Fukushima Daiichi plant are in seismically active areas. Earthquake risk is often measured by "Peak Ground Acceleration", or PGA, and the following nuclear power plants have a two percent or greater chance of having PGA over 0.15g in the next 50 years: Diablo Canyon, Calif.; San Onofre, Calif.; Sequoyah, Tenn.; H.B. Robinson, SC.; Watts Bar, Tenn.; Virgil C. Summer, SC.; Vogtle, GA.; Indian Point, NY.; Oconee, SC.; and Seabrook, NH. Most nuclear plants are designed to keep operating up to 0.2g, but can withstand PGA much higher than 0.2.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The United States 9/11 Commission has said that nuclear power plants were potential targets originally considered for the September 11, 2001 attacks. If terrorist groups could sufficiently damage safety systems to cause a core meltdown at a nuclear power plant, and/or sufficiently damage spent fuel pools, such an attack could lead to widespread radioactive contamination. The research scientist Harold Feiveson has written that nuclear facilities should be made extremely safe from attacks that could release massive quantities of radioactivity into the community. New reactor designs have features of passive nuclear safety, which may help. In the United States, the NRC carries out "Force on Force" (FOF) exercises at all Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) sites at least once every three years.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: A 2012 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded: “The currently defined uranium resource base is more than adequate to meet high-case requirements through 2035 and well into the foreseeable future.”


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: At the start of 2013, the identified remaining worldwide uranium resources stood at 5.90 million tons, enough to supply the world's reactors at current consumption rates for more than 120 years, even if no additional uranium deposits are discovered in the meantime. Undiscovered uranium resources as of 2013 were estimated to be 7.7 million tons. Doubling the price of uranium would increase the identified reserves as of 2013 to 7.64 million tons. Over the decade 2003–2013, the identified reserves of uranium (at the same price of US$130/kg) rose from 4.59 million tons in 2003 to 5.90 million tons in 2013, an increase of 28%.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The United States has the 4th largest uranium reserves in the world. The U.S. has its most prominent uranium reserves in New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming. The U.S. Department of Energy has approximated there to be at least 300 million pounds of uranium in these areas. Domestic production increased until 1980, after which it declined sharply due to low uranium prices. In 2012, the United States mined 17% of the uranium consumed by its nuclear power plants. The remainder was imported, principally from Canada, Russia and Australia. Uranium is mined using several methods including open-pit mining, underground mining, and in-situ leaching. As of 2017, there are more than 4000 abandoned uranium mines in the western USA, with 520 to over 1000 on Navajo land, and many others being located on other tribal lands.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: There is one gas centrifuge enrichment plant currently in commercial operation in the US. The National Enrichment Facility, operated by URENCO east of Eunice, New Mexico, was the first uranium enrichment plant in 30 years to be built in the US. The plant started enriching uranium in 2010. Two additional gas centrifuge plants have been licensed by the NRC, but are not operating. The American Centrifuge Plant in Piketown, Ohio broke ground in 2007, but stopped construction in 2009. The Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility in Bonneville County, Idaho was licensed in 2011, but construction is on hold.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Previously (2008), demonstration activities were underway in Oak Ridge, Tennessee for a future centrifugal enrichment plant. The new plant would have been called the American Centrifuge Plant, at an estimated cost of US$2.3 billion.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: As of September 30, 2015, the DOE is ending its contract with the American Centrifuge Project and has stopped funding the project.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Nuclear reprocessing has been politically controversial because of the alleged potential to contribute to nuclear proliferation, the alleged vulnerability to nuclear terrorism, the debate over whether and where to dispose of spent fuel in a deep geological repository, and because of disputes about its economics compared to the once-through fuel cycle. The Obama administration has disallowed reprocessing of spent fuel, citing nuclear proliferation concerns. Opponents of reprocessing contend that the recycled materials could be used for weapons. However, it is unlikely that reprocessed plutonium or other material extracted from commercial spent fuel would be used for nuclear weapons, because it is not weapons-grade material. Nonetheless, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, it is possible that terrorists could steal these materials, because the reprocessed plutonium is less radiotoxic than spent fuel and therefore much easier to handle. Additionally, it has been argued that reprocessing is more expensive when compared with spent fuel storage. One study by the Boston Consulting Group estimated that reprocessing is six percent more expensive than spent fuel storage while another study by the Kennedy School of Government stated that reprocessing is 100 percent more expensive. Those two data points alone can serve to indicate that calculations as to the cost of nuclear reprocessing and the production of MOX-fuel compared to the "once thru fuel cycle" and disposal in deep geological repository are extremely difficult and results tend to vary widely even among dispassionate expert observers - let alone those whose results are colored by a political or economic agenda. Furthermore, fluctuations on the uranium market can make usage of MOX-fuel or even re-enrichment of reprocessed uranium more or less economical depending on long term price trends.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Recently, as plants continue to age, many on-site spent fuel pools have come near capacity, prompting creation of dry cask storage facilities as well. Several lawsuits between utilities and the government have transpired over the cost of these facilities, because by law the government is required to foot the bill for actions that go beyond the spent fuel pool.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: There are some 65,000 tons of nuclear waste now in temporary storage throughout the U.S. Since 1987, Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, had been the proposed site for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, but the project was shelved in 2009 following years of controversy and legal wrangling. Yucca Mountain is on Native American land and is considered sacred. Native Americans have not consented to having any nuclear waste plants placed in this area. An alternative plan has not been proffered. In June 2018, the Trump administration and some members of Congress again began proposing using Yucca Mountain, with Nevada Senators raising opposition.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: At places like Maine Yankee, Connecticut Yankee and Rancho Seco, reactors no longer operate, but the spent fuel remains in small concrete-and-steel silos that require maintenance and monitoring by a guard force. Sometimes the presence of nuclear waste prevents re-use of the sites by industry.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Without a long-term solution to store nuclear waste, a nuclear renaissance in the U.S. remains unlikely. Nine states have "explicit moratoria on new nuclear power until a storage solution emerges".


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Some nuclear power advocates argue that the United States should develop factories and reactors that will recycle some spent fuel. But the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future said in 2012 that "no existing technology was adequate for that purpose, given cost considerations and the risk of nuclear proliferation".


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: A major recommendation was that "the United States should undertake...one or more permanent deep geological facilities for the safe disposal of spent fuel and high-level nuclear waste".


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: There is an "international consensus on the advisability of storing nuclear waste in deep underground repositories", but no country in the world has yet opened such a site. The Obama administration has disallowed reprocessing of nuclear waste, citing nuclear proliferation concerns.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The U.S Nuclear Waste Policy Act, a fund which previously received $750 million in fee revenues each year from the nation's combined nuclear electric utilities, had an unspent balance of $44.5 billion as of the end of FY2017, when a court ordered the federal government to cease withdrawing the fund, until it provides a destination for the utilities commercial spent fuel.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Horizontal drillhole disposal describes proposals to drill over one kilometer vertically, and two kilometers horizontally in the earth's crust, for the purpose of disposing of high-level waste forms such as spent nuclear fuel, Caesium-137, or Strontium-90. After the emplacement and the retrievability period, drillholes would be backfilled and sealed. A series of tests of the technology were carried out in November 2018 and then again publicly in January 2019 by a U.S. based private company. The test demonstrated the emplacement of a test-canister in a horizontal drillhole and retrieval of the same canister. There was no actual high-level waste used in this test.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: A 2011 NREL study of water use in electricity generation concluded that the median nuclear plant with cooling towers consumed 672 gallons per megawatt-hour (gal/MWh), a usage similar to that of coal plants, but more than other generating technologies, except hydroelectricity (median reservoir evaporation loss of 4,491 gal/MWh) and concentrating solar power (786 gal/MWh for power tower designs, and 865 for trough). Nuclear plants with once-through cooling systems consume only 269 gal/MWh, but require withdrawal of 44,350 gal/MWh. This makes nuclear plants with once-through cooling susceptible to drought.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Once-through cooling systems, while once common, have come under attack for the possibility of damage to the environment. Wildlife can become trapped inside the cooling systems and killed, and the increased water temperature of the returning water can impact local ecosystems. US EPA regulations favors recirculating systems, even forcing some older power plants to replace existing once-through cooling systems with new recirculating systems.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: A 2008 study by the Associated Press found that of the 104 nuclear reactors in the U.S., "... 24 are in areas experiencing the most severe levels of drought. All but two are built on the shores of lakes and rivers and rely on submerged intake pipes to draw billions of gallons of water for use in cooling and condensing steam after it has turned the plants’ turbines," much like all Rankine cycle power plants. During the 2008 southeast drought, reactor output was reduced to lower operating power or forced to shut down for safety.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is located in a desert and purchases reclaimed wastewater for cooling.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The price of energy inputs and the environmental costs of every nuclear power plant continue long after the facility has finished generating its last useful electricity. Both nuclear reactors and uranium enrichment facilities must be decommissioned, returning the facility and its parts to a safe enough level to be entrusted for other uses. After a cooling-off period that may last as long as a century, reactors must be dismantled and cut into small pieces to be packed in containers for final disposal. The process is very expensive, time-consuming, dangerous for workers, hazardous to the natural environment, and presents new opportunities for human error, accidents or sabotage.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The total energy required for decommissioning can be as much as 50% more than the energy needed for the original construction. In most cases, the decommissioning process costs between US$300 million to US$5.6 billion. Decommissioning at nuclear sites which have experienced a serious accident are the most expensive and time-consuming. In the U.S. there are 13 reactors that have permanently shut down and are in some phase of decommissioning, but none of them have completed the process.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: New methods for decommissioning have been developed in order to minimize the usual high decommissioning costs. One of these methods is in situ decommissioning (ISD), which was implemented at the U.S. Department of Energy Savannah River Site in South Carolina for the closures of the P and R Reactors. With this tactic, the cost of decommissioning both reactors was $73 million. In comparison, the decommissioning of each reactor using traditional methods would have been an estimated $250 million. This results in a 71% decrease in cost by using ISD.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: In the United States a Nuclear Waste Policy Act and Nuclear Decommissioning Trust Fund is legally required, with utilities banking 0.1 to 0.2 cents/kWh during operations to fund future decommissioning. They must report regularly to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on the status of their decommissioning funds. About 70% of the total estimated cost of decommissioning all U.S. nuclear power reactors has already been collected (on the basis of the average cost of $320 million per reactor-steam turbine unit).


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: As of 2011, there are 13 reactors that had permanently shut down and are in some phase of decommissioning. With Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant and Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Station having completed the process in 2006–2007, after ceasing commercial electricity production circa 1992.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The majority of the 15 years, was used to allow the station to naturally cool-down on its own, which makes the manual disassembly process both safer and cheaper.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Because the costs associated with the constructions of nuclear reactors are also continuously increasing, this is expected to be problematic for the provision of energy in the country.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: When reactors are shut down, stakeholders in the energy sector have often not replaced them with renewable energy resources but rather with coal or natural gas.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: This is because unlike renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, coal and natural gas can be used to generate electricity on a 24-hour basis.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The following companies have active Nuclear fuel fabrication facilities in the United States. These are all light water fuel fabrication facilities because only LWRs are operating in the US. The US currently has no MOX fuel fabrication facilities, though Duke Energy has expressed intent of building one of a relatively small capacity.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The American Nuclear Society (ANS) scientific and educational organization has both academic and industry members. The organization publishes a large amount of literature on nuclear technology in several journals. The ANS also has some offshoot organizations such as North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN).


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is an industry group whose activities include lobbying, experience sharing between companies and plants, and provides data on the industry to a number of outfits.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Some sixty anti-nuclear power groups are operating, or have operated, in the United States. These include: Abalone Alliance, Clamshell Alliance, Greenpeace USA, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Musicians United for Safe Energy, Nuclear Control Institute, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Public Citizen Energy Program, Shad Alliance, and the Sierra Club.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: In 1992, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that "his agency had been pushed in the right direction on safety issues because of the pleas and protests of nuclear watchdog groups".


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: There has been considerable public and scientific debate about the use of nuclear power in the United States, mainly from the 1960s to the late 1980s, but also since about 2001 when talk of a nuclear renaissance began. There has been debate about issues such as nuclear accidents, radioactive waste disposal, nuclear proliferation, nuclear economics, and nuclear terrorism.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Some scientists and engineers have expressed reservations about nuclear power, including Barry Commoner, S. David Freeman, John Gofman, Arnold Gundersen, Mark Z. Jacobson, Amory Lovins, Arjun Makhijani, Gregory Minor, and Joseph Romm. Mark Z. Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, has said: "If our nation wants to reduce global warming, air pollution and energy instability, we should invest only in the best energy options. Nuclear energy isn't one of them". Arnold Gundersen, chief engineer of Fairewinds Associates and a former nuclear power industry executive, has questioned the safety of the Westinghouse AP1000, a proposed third-generation nuclear reactor. John Gofman, a nuclear chemist and doctor, raised concerns about exposure to low-level radiation in the 1960s and argued against commercial nuclear power in the U.S. In “Nuclear Power: Climate Fix or Folly,” Amory Lovins, a physicist with the Rocky Mountain Institute, argued that expanded nuclear power "does not represent a cost-effective solution to global warming and that investors would shun it were it not for generous government subsidies lubricated by intensive lobbying efforts".


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Patrick Moore (an early Greenpeace member and former president of Greenpeace Canada) spoke out against nuclear power in 1976, but today he supports it, along with renewable energy sources. In Australian newspaper "The Age", he writes "Greenpeace is wrong — we must consider nuclear power". He argues that any realistic plan to reduce reliance on fossil fuels or greenhouse gas emissions requires increased use of nuclear energy. Phil Radford, executive director of Greenpeace US responded that nuclear energy is too risky, takes too long to build to address climate change, and by showing that the can U.S. shift to nearly 100% renewable energy while phasing out nuclear power by 2050.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Environmentalist Stewart Brand wrote the book "Whole Earth Discipline", which examines how nuclear power and some other technologies can be used as tools to address global warming. Bernard Cohen, Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Pittsburgh, calculates that nuclear power is many times safer than other forms of power generation.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: President Obama early on included nuclear power as part of his “all of the above” energy strategy. In a speech to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 2010, he demonstrated his commitment to nuclear power by announcing his approval of an $8 billion loan guarantee to pave the way for construction of the first new US nuclear power plant in nearly 30 years. Then in 2012, his first post-Fukishima state-of-the-union address, Barack Obama said that America needs “an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy,” yet pointedly omitted any mention of nuclear power. But in February 2014, Energy secretary Ernest Moniz announced $6.5 billion in federal loan guarantees to enable construction of two new nuclear reactors, the first in the US since 1996.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: According to the Union of Concerned Scientists in March 2013 over one-third of U.S. nuclear power plants suffered safety-related incidents over the past three years, and nuclear regulators and plant operators need to improve inspections to prevent such events.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: "Pandora's Promise" is a 2013 documentary film, directed by Robert Stone. It presents an argument that nuclear energy, typically feared by environmentalists, is in fact the only feasible way of meeting humanity's growing need for energy while also addressing the serious problem of climate change. The movie features several notable individuals (some of whom were once vehemently opposed to nuclear power, but who now speak in support of it), including: Stewart Brand, Gwyneth Cravens, Mark Lynas, Richard Rhodes and Michael Shellenberger. Anti-nuclear advocate Helen Caldicott appears briefly.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: As of 2014, the U.S. nuclear industry has begun a new lobbying effort, hiring three former senators — Evan Bayh, a Democrat; Judd Gregg, a Republican; and Spencer Abraham, a Republican — as well as William M. Daley, a former staffer to President Obama. The initiative is called Nuclear Matters, and it has begun a newspaper advertising campaign.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Founder of the Energy Impact Center, a research institute analyzing solutions towards net negative carbon by 2040, Bret Kugelmass believes that “even if we achieved net zero new emissions globally, we’d continue to add extra heat at the same rate we are adding it today,” explaining that we need to remove the already existent carbon dioxide in our atmosphere in order to reverse climate change, not just stop the generation of new emissions. Research efforts conducted by the Energy Impact Center have concluded that nuclear energy is the only energy source that is capable of becoming net-negative and effectively solving global warming.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The Gallup organization, which has periodically polled US opinion on nuclear power since 1994, found in March 2016 that, for the first time, a majority (54%) opposed nuclear power, versus 44% in favor. In polls from 2004 through 2015, a majority had supported nuclear power. support peaked at 62% in 2010, and has been in decline since.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: According to a CBS News poll, what had been growing acceptance of nuclear power in the United States was eroded sharply following the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents, with support for building nuclear power plants in the U.S. dropping slightly lower than it was immediately after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. Only 43 percent of those polled after the Fukushima nuclear emergency said they would approve building new power plants in the United States. A Washington Post-ABC poll conducted in April 2011 found that 64 percent of Americans opposed the construction of new nuclear reactors. A survey sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Institute, conducted in September 2011, found that "62 percent of respondents said they favor the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States, with 35 percent opposed".


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: According to a 2012 Pew Research Center poll, 44 percent of Americans favored and 49 percent opposed the promotion of increased use of nuclear power.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: A January 2014 Rasmussen poll found likely US voters split nearly evenly on whether to build more nuclear power plants, 39 percent in favor, versus 37 percent opposed, with an error margin of 3 percent.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Knowledge and familiarity to nuclear power are generally associated with higher support for the technology. A study shows that those who feel more educated about nuclear power also have a more positive opinion towards it; in addition, people who live near nuclear power plants also tend to be largely more in support of nuclear power than the general public.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: Decreasing public support is seen as one of the causes for the premature closure of many plants in the United States.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The low price of natural gas in the US since 2008 has spurred construction of gas-fired power plants as an alternative to nuclear plants. In August 2011, the head of America's largest nuclear utility said that this was not the time to build new nuclear plants, not because of political opposition or the threat of cost overruns, but because of the low price of natural gas. John Rowe, head of Exelon, said “Shale [gas] is good for the country, bad for new nuclear development".


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: In 2013, four older reactors were permanently closed: San Onofre 2 and 3 in California, Crystal River 3 in Florida, and Kewaunee in Wisconsin. The state of Vermont tried to shut Vermont Yankee, in Vermont, but the plant was closed by the parent corporation for economic reasons in December 2014. New York State is seeking to close Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, in Buchanan, 30 miles from New York City, despite this reactor being the primary contributor to Vermont's green energy fund.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: The additional cancellation of five large reactor upgrades (Prairie Island, 1 reactor, LaSalle, 2 reactors, and Limerick, 2 reactors), four by the largest nuclear company in the U.S., suggest that the nuclear industry faces "a broad range of operational and economic problems".


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: In July 2013, economist Mark Cooper named some nuclear power plants that face particularly intense challenges to their continued operation. Cooper said that the lesson for policy makers and economists is clear: "nuclear reactors are simply not competitive".


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: In December 2010, "The Economist" reported that the demand for nuclear power was softening in America. In recent years, utilities have shown an interest in about 30 new reactors, but the number with any serious prospect of being built as of the end of 2010 was about a dozen, as some companies had withdrawn their applications for licenses to build. Exelon has withdrawn its application for a license for a twin-unit nuclear plant in Victoria County, Texas, citing lower electricity demand projections. The decision has left the country's largest nuclear operator without a direct role in what the nuclear industry hopes is a nuclear renaissance. Ground has been broken on two new nuclear plants with a total of four reactors. The Obama administration was seeking the expansion of a loan guarantee program but as of December 2010 had been unable to commit all the loan guarantee money already approved by Congress. Since talk a few years ago of a “nuclear renaissance”, gas prices have fallen and old reactors are getting license extensions. The only reactor to finish construction after 1996 was at Watts Bar, Tennessee, is an old unit, begun in 1973, whose construction was suspended in 1988, and was resumed in 2007. It became operational in October 2016. Of the 100 reactors operating in the U.S., ground was broken on all of them in 1974 or earlier.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: In August 2012, Exelon stated that economic and market conditions, especially low natural gas prices, made the "construction of new merchant nuclear power plants in competitive markets uneconomical now and for the foreseeable future". In early 2013, UBS noted that some smaller reactors operating in deregulated markets may become uneconomic to operate and maintain, due to competition from generators using low priced natural gas, and may be retired early. The 556 MWe Kewaunee Power Station is being closed 20 years before license expiry for these economic reasons. In February 2014, the "Financial Times" identified Pilgrim, Indian Point, Clinton, and Quad Cities power stations as potentially at risk of premature closure for economic reasons.


title: Nuclear power in the United States

text: , the U.S. shale gas boom has lowered electricity generation costs placing severe pressure on the economics of operating older existing nuclear power plants. Analysis by Bloomberg shows that over half of U.S. nuclear plants are running at a loss. The Nuclear Energy Institute has estimated that 15 to 20 reactors are at risk of early closure for economic reasons. Nuclear operators in Illinois and New York have obtained financial support from regulators, and operators in Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania are seeking similar support. Some non-nuclear power generating companies have filed unfair competition lawsuits against these subsidies, and have raised the issue with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: Jean Edmond Dujardin (; born 19 June 1972) is a French actor and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian in Paris before guest starring in comedic television programmes and films. He first came to prominence with the cult TV series "Un gars, une fille", in which he starred alongside his lover Alexandra Lamy, before gaining success in film with movies such as "Brice de Nice", Michel Hazanavicius's "" and its sequel "", as well as "99 Francs".


title: Jean Dujardin

text: Dujardin garnered international fame and widespread acclaim with his performance of George Valentin in the 2011 award-winning silent movie "The Artist". The role won him numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor (the first for a French actor), the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role and the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor. He later appeared in Martin Scorsese's 2013 black comedy "The Wolf of Wall Street" and George Clooney's 2014 historical drama, "The Monuments Men".


title: Jean Dujardin

text: Jean Dujardin was born on 19 June 1972 in Paris and raised in Rueil-Malmaison, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, a commune in the western suburbs of Paris. After attending high school, he went to work for the construction company of his father, Jacques Dujardin. Dujardin began contemplating a career in acting while serving his mandatory military service a few years later.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: Jean Dujardin began his acting career performing a self-written one-man show in various bars and cabarets in Paris. He first gained attention when he appeared on the French talent show "Graines de star" in 1996 as part of the comedy group "Nous Ç Nous", which was formed by members of the "Carré blanc" theater.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: From 1999 to 2003, Dujardin starred in the France production of the originally Canadian comedy series "Un gars, une fille", alongside his future wife Alexandra Lamy, before transitioning to a career in film. The TV series charted the path of a relationship; each episode was less than ten minutes long. In 2005, he portrayed the titular surfer in the popular comedic film "Brice de Nice" and performed on its accompanying soundtrack.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: In 2006, Dujardin starred as racist, sexist secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath in the comedy "", a role which earned him an Etoile D'Or Award and a César Award nomination for Best Actor. The film's success spawned a sequel, "". In 2007, directed by Jan Kounen, he starred in the film "99F (99 francs)", a very successful existential parody of an advertising exec, adapted from the eponymous best-seller written by Frédéric Beigbeder. This same year, he ventured in drama for the first time on the silver screen, playing a tortured father and cop in Franck Mancuso's "Contre-enquête". In 2009, he appeared in "A Man and His Dog" alongside screen legend Jean-Paul Belmondo, with whom he has often been compared. In 2010, he starred alongside Albert Dupontel, playing his character's cancer in "The Clink of Ice", a French black comedy written and directed by Bertrand Blier.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: In 2011, Dujardin starred as movie star George Valentin in the silent film "The Artist", reuniting him with "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies" director Michel Hazanavicius and his co-star in that film, Bérénice Bejo. The film premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where he received the Best Actor Award. His performance garnered much critical acclaim and he received numerous nominations, including the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor and the Screen Actors Guild for Best Actor.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: On 15 January 2012, Dujardin won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He later went on to win the Screen Actors Guild for Best Actor, and the BAFTA for Best Actor. He was also nominated for the César award of the best actor but lost it to Omar Sy for his role in the second most ever viewed movie in France "Intouchables". Dujardin went on to win the Best Actor award at the 84th Academy Awards. In effect he is the fourth French actor to be nominated for an Oscar and the first to win the Best Actor. Following his Oscar nomination for his role in "The Artist", WME agency signed the actor.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: French film historian Tim Palmer has analyzed Dujardin's career and rise to success in France, noting how his formative roles were often unredeemable buffoons, very skillful portrayals of childlike men who aggressively and unabashedly reject the responsibilities and compromises of adult life. Dujardin's breakthrough roles as Brice de Nice and OSS 117 exemplified this tendency.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: In February 2012, Dujardin appeared in "Les Infidèles" with co-star and friend Gilles Lellouche. He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 other individuals. In 2013, Dujardin starred in Éric Rochant's "Möbius" with Cécile de France and Tim Roth.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: His second film that year was Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street", playing alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, and Kyle Chandler, among others. He appeared in "The Monuments Men", directed by George Clooney, and co-starring Clooney, Matt Damon, and Cate Blanchett, and starred in the French film "Le Petit Joueur".


title: Jean Dujardin

text: In late 2014, "La French", was released in Europe and subsequently in the United States in early 2015. He plays a French police magistrate who tries to dismantle the French Connection and bring down the Unione Corse.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: Dujardin has been married three times and has four children. His first marriage, to Gaëlle Demars, ended in 2003. They have two sons, born in 2000 and 2001. In 2003, he started dating his on-screen partner Alexandra Lamy of the comedy series "Un gars, une fille"; the two had originally met at the audition, and fell in love while shooting the series. They married in Anduze on 25 July 2009. In November 2013, it was announced that the couple had separated.


title: Jean Dujardin

text: He began dating French ice dancer Nathalie Péchalat in 2014 after following her to Japan to watch her perform in the world ice skating championships, and they had a daughter who they named Jeanne, in December 2015. They married on 19 May 2018 in a small ceremony. Nathalie Péchalat gave birth to daughter Alice in February 2021


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Jingle All the Way is a 1996 American Christmas family comedy film directed by Brian Levant. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad as two rival fathers, mattress salesman Howard Langston (Schwarzenegger) and postal worker Myron Larabee (Sinbad), both desperately trying to purchase a Turbo-Man action figure for their respective sons on a last-minute shopping spree on Christmas Eve. The film's title is borrowed from the lyrics of the popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells".


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Inspired by real-life Christmas toy sell-outs for such items as Cabbage Patch Kids, the film was written by Randy Kornfield. Producer Chris Columbus rewrote the script, adding in elements of satire about the commercialization of Christmas, and the project was picked up by 20th Century Fox. Delays to Fox's reboot of "Planet of the Apes" allowed Schwarzenegger to come on board the film, while Columbus opted to cast Sinbad instead of Joe Pesci as Myron. "Jingle All the Way" was set and filmed in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul at a variety of locations, including the Mall of America. After five weeks filming, production moved to California where scenes such as the end parade were shot. The film's swift production meant merchandising was limited to a replica of the Turbo-Man action figure used in the film.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Upon release, "Jingle All the Way" grossed $129 million worldwide and received generally negative reviews from critics. In 2001, Fox was ordered to pay $19 million to Murray Hill Publishing for stealing the idea for the film; the verdict was overturned three years later. "Jingle All the Way" is the third and final collaboration between Sinbad and Phil Hartman after "Coneheads" (1993) and "Houseguest" (1995), and the last film featuring Hartman to be released during his lifetime before his death in 1998. In 2014, the film was followed by a sequel in name only, "Jingle All the Way 2", starring Larry the Cable Guy.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Workaholic Minneapolis mattress salesman Howard Langston loves his wife, Liz, and nine-year-old son, Jamie, but is unable to find time for his family and often put in a bad light by his neighbor, divorcé Ted Maltin, who harbors unrequited feelings for Liz. After missing Jamie's karate class graduation, Howard resolves to redeem himself by fulfilling Jamie's Christmas wish of an action figure of Turbo-Man, a popular television superhero, despite Liz actually having asked him to buy one two weeks earlier, which Howard forgot about. On Christmas Eve, Howard sets out to buy the toy, but finds that every store has sold out, and in the process develops a rivalry with Myron Larabee, a postal worker father with the same ambition.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: In desperation, Howard attempts to buy a figure from a counterfeit toy brand run by con men dressed in Santa suits, which results in a massive fight in the warehouse that is broken up when the police arrive. Howard narrowly escapes arrest by posing as an undercover officer. Exhausted at his failure and out of fuel, Howard goes to Mickey's Diner and calls home, intending to tell his wife the truth. Jamie answers the phone but keeps reminding Howard of his promise to be home in time for the annual Holiday Wintertainment Parade. Losing his patience, Howard yells at Jamie, after which he feels guilty and depressed after Jamie scolds him for not keeping his promises. Howard finds Myron at the diner and they share their experiences over coffee, where Myron tells Howard of his resentment towards his own father for failing to get him a Johnny Seven OMA for Christmas. During their conversation, the two overhear a radio station advertising a competition for a Turbo-Man doll. The ensuing fight between Howard and Myron results in the diner's phone getting damaged, forcing Howard and Myron to race to the radio station on foot, where the DJ tells them that the competition was actually for a Turbo-Man gift certificate. The police are alerted, but Howard and Myron escape after Myron threatens the officers with a seemingly phony letter bomb. Officer Alexander Hummell, whom Howard has run into twice already, investigates the package only to have it detonate much to the men's shock.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Upon returning to his Suburban, Howard finds it stripped by car thieves, with "Meri xmAS" spray-painted on the windshield. He returns home in a tow truck only to find Ted putting the star on his Christmas tree. In retaliation, Howard attempts to steal the Turbo-Man doll Ted bought for his son, Johnny, but can't bring himself to steal from a child. Unfortunately, he is caught in the act and left alone while his family goes to the Christmas parade with Ted. After letting Jamie and Johnny out of the car, Ted attempts to seduce Liz, but she violently rejects him by hitting him with a thermos of eggnog that Ted offered to her. Meanwhile, remembering his promise to Jamie to go to the parade, Howard decides to attend as well, but runs into Hummell again. The ensuing chase leads to Howard hiding inside a storage room, where he is mistaken for the actor portraying Turbo-Man and dressed in the highly technological costume. As Turbo-Man, Howard uses his chance to present a limited-edition action figure to Jamie, but they are confronted by Myron, dressed as Turbo-Man's enemy, Dementor having bound and gagged the original actor. Despite Howard's pleas for Myron to stop, a long chase ensues, involving a jetpack flight. Myron acquires the toy from Jamie but is cornered by police officers, while Howard saves his son. Howard reveals himself to his family and apologizes for his shortcomings. The police return the toy to Jamie as Myron is arrested, but Jamie decides to give the toy to Myron for his son, proclaiming his father as his true hero. The crowd carries Howard away in celebration, while Myron, Liz and Jamie look on happily.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Later that night, Howard finishes decorating their Christmas tree by putting the star on top. However, when Liz asks Howard what he got for her, he shockingly realizes that he forgot to get her a gift.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: The film draws inspiration from the high demand for Christmas toys such as the Cabbage Patch Kids and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which often led to intense searching and occasional violence among shoppers, such as the Cabbage Patch riots, over finding the toys. Randy Kornfield wrote the film's original screenplay after witnessing his in-laws go to a Santa Monica toy store at dawn in order to get his son a Power Ranger. While admitting to missing the clamor for the Cabbage Patch Kids and Power Rangers, producer Chris Columbus experienced a similar situation in 1995 when he attempted to obtain a Buzz Lightyear action figure from the film "Toy Story", released that year. As a result, he rewrote Kornfield's script, which was accepted by 20th Century Fox. Columbus was always "attracted to the dark side of the happiest holiday of the year", so wrote elements of the film as a satire of the commercialization of Christmas.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Brian Levant was hired to direct the film. Columbus said Levant "underst[ood] the humor in the material" and "was very animated and excited, and he had a vision of what he wanted to do". Levant said "The story that was important to me was between the father and son ... it's a story about love, and a father's journey to deliver it in the form of a Turbo Man doll. The fact that I got to design a toy line and do the commercials and make pajamas and comic books was fun for me as a filmmaker. But at its root, the movie's about something really sweet. It's about love and building a better family. I think that's consistent with everything I've done."


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Arnold Schwarzenegger was quickly cast. He became available in February 1996 after Fox's remake of "Planet of the Apes" was held up again; Columbus also exited that project to work on "Jingle All the Way". The film marks Schwarzenegger's fourth appearance as the lead in a comedy film, following "Twins" (1988), "Kindergarten Cop" (1990) and "Junior" (1994). Schwarzenegger was paid a reported $20 million for the role. He enjoyed the film, having experienced last-minute Christmas shopping himself, and was attracted to playing an "ordinary" character in a family film. Columbus initially wanted Joe Pesci to play Myron. Comedian Sinbad was chosen instead, partly due to his similar height and size to Schwarzenegger. Sinbad was suggested for the part by Schwarzenegger's agent, but the producers felt he was unsuited to the role of a villain as it could harm his clean, family-oriented comedy act and reputation, although Sinbad felt the character would generate the audience's sympathy rather than hate. Furthermore, he missed the audition due to his appearance with First Lady Hillary Clinton and musician Sheryl Crow on the USO tour of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but Columbus waited for him to return to allow him to audition and, although Sinbad felt he had "messed" it up, he was given the part. He improvised the majority of his lines in the film; Schwarzenegger also improvised many of his responses in his conversations with Sinbad's character.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Filming took place in Minnesota for five weeks from April 15, 1996; at the time, it was the largest film production to ever take place in the state. "Jingle All the Way" was set and filmed in the Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minnesota at locations such as Bloomington's Mall of America, Mickey's Diner, downtown Minneapolis, Linden Hills, residential areas of Edina and primarily downtown Saint Paul. Unused shops in the Seventh place Mall area were redecorated to resemble Christmas decorated stores, while the Energy Park Studios were used for much of the filming and the Christmas lights stayed up at Rice Park for use in the film. The Mall of America and the state's "semi-wintry weather" proved attractive for the studio. Although Schwarzenegger stated that the locals were "well-behaved" and "cooperative", Levant often found filming "impossible" due to the scale and noise of the crowds who came to watch production, especially in the Mall of America, but overall found the locals to be "respectful" and "lovely people." Levant spent several months in the area before filming in order to prepare. The film uses artistic license by treating Minneapolis and Saint Paul as one city, as this was logistically easier; the police are labeled "Twin Cities Police" in the film. Additionally, the city's Holidazzle Parade is renamed the Wintertainment Parade and takes place on 2nd Avenue during the day, rather than Nicollet Mall at night. Levant wanted to film the parade at night but was overruled for practical reasons.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: The parade was filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood in California on the New York Street set, due to safety concerns. The set was designed to resemble 2nd Avenue; the parade was shot from above by helicopters and stitched into matte shots of the real-life street. It took three weeks to film, with 1,500 extras being used in the scene, along with three custom designed floats. Other parts of the film to be shot in Los Angeles, California included store interiors, and the warehouse fight scene between Howard and the criminal Santas, for which a Pasadena furniture warehouse was used. Turbo-Man was created and designed for the film. This meant the commercials and scenes from the "Turbo-Man" TV series were all shot by Levant, while all of the Turbo-Man merchandise, packaging and props shown in the film were custom made one-offs and designed to look "authentic, as if they all sprang from the same well." Along with Columbus and Levant, production designer Leslie McDonald and character designer Tim Flattery crafted Turbo-Man, Booster and Dementor and helped make the full-size Turbo-Man suit for the film's climax. Principal production finished in August; Columbus "fine-tun[ed] the picture until the last possible minute," using multiple test audiences "to see where the big laughs actually lie."


title: Jingle All the Way

text: TVT Records released the film's soundtrack album on Audio CD on November 26, 1996. It features only two of composer David Newman's pieces from "Jingle All the Way", but features many of the songs by other artists included in the film, as well as other Christmas songs and new tracks by the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Intrada Music Group released a Special Collection limited edition of Newman's full 23-track score on November 3, 2008.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: As Schwarzenegger only signed on for the film in February and the film was shot so quickly, only six and a half months were available for merchandising, instead of the ideal year. As such, merchandising was limited to a 13.5-inch replica $25 Talking Turbo-Man action figure and the West Coast exclusive Turbo-Man Time Racer vehicle, while no tie-in promotions could be secured. Despite this, several critics wrote that the film was only being made in order to sell the toy. Columbus dismissed this notion, stating that with only roughly 200,000 Turbo-Man toys being made, the merchandising was far less than the year's other releases, such as "Space Jam" and "101 Dalmatians". The film's release coincided with the Tickle Me Elmo craze, in which high demand for the doll during the 1996 Christmas season lead to store mobbing similar to that depicted for Turbo-Man.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: The world premiere was held on November 16, 1996, at the Mall of America in Bloomington where parts of the film were shot. A day of events was held to celebrate the film's release and Schwarzenegger donated memorabilia from the film to the Mall's Planet Hollywood.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: The film was released on VHS in October 1997, and in November 1998 it was released on DVD. It was rereleased on DVD in December 2004, followed by an extended director's cut in October 2007, known as the "Family Fun Edition". It contained several minutes of extra footage, as well as other DVD extras such as a behind the scenes featurette. In December of the following year, the Family Fun Edition was released on Blu-ray Disc.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: In 1998, Murray Hill Publishing sued 20th Century Fox for $150,000, claiming that the idea for the film was stolen from a screenplay they had purchased from high school teacher Brian Webster entitled "Could This Be Christmas?" They said the script had 36 similarities with "Jingle All the Way", including the plot, dialogue and character names. Murray Hill President Bob Laurel bought the script from Webster in 1993, and sent it to Fox and other studios in 1994 but received no response and claimed the idea was copied by Kornfield, who was Fox's script reader. In 2001, Fox were found guilty of stealing the idea and ordered to pay $19 million ($15 million in damages and $4 million in legal costs) to Murray Hill, with Webster to receive a portion. Laurel died a few months after the verdict, before receiving any of the money. On appeal, the damages figure was lowered to $1.5 million, before the verdict itself was quashed in 2004 after a judge decided the idea was not stolen, as Fox had bought Kornfield's screenplay before he or anybody else at Fox had read "Could This Be Christmas?"


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Opening on November 22, "Jingle All the Way" made $12.1 million in its first weekend, opening at #4 behind "", "Space Jam" and "Ransom"; it went on to gross $129 million worldwide, recouping its $75 million budget. The film was released in the United Kingdom on December 6, 1996, and topped the country's box office that weekend.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews and an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "Arnold Schwarzenegger tries his best, but "Jingle All the Way" suffers from an uneven tone, shifting wildly from a would-be satire on materialism to an antic, slapstick yuk-fest." On Metacritic the film has a score of 34% based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Emanuel Levy felt the film "highly formulaic" and criticized Levant's direction as little more advanced than a television sitcom. Although he felt that the script did not provide sufficient opportunity for Hartman, Wilson and Conrad to give exceptional performances, he opined that "Schwarzenegger has developed a light comic delivery, punctuated occasionally by an ironic one-liner," while "Sinbad has good moments". Neil Jeffries of "Empire" disagreed, feeling Schwarzenegger to be "wooden" and Sinbad to be "trying desperately to be funnier than his hat" but praised Lloyd as the "saving grace" of the film.


title: Jingle All the Way

text: "The New York Times" critic Janet Maslin felt the film lacked any real plot, failed in its attempt at satire, should have included Myron's only mentioned son and "mostly wasted" Hartman, while Levant's direction was "listless". Similarly, the BBC's Neil Smith criticized the film's script, its focus on the commercialization of Christmas, as well as Schwarzenegger's performance which shows "the comic timing of a dead moose," but singled out Hartman for praise. "Chicago Tribune" critic Michael Wilmington panned the film, wondering why the characters (primarily Howard) acted so illogically: "Howard Langston is supposed to be a successful mattress manufacturer, but the movie paints him as a hot-tempered buffoon without a sensible idea in his head." Jack Garner of "USA Today" condemned the film, finding it more "cynical" than satirical, stating "this painfully bad movie has been inspired strictly by the potential jingle of cash registers." He wrote of Levant's directorial failure as he "offers no ... sense of comic timing," while "pauses in the midst of much of the dialogue are downright painful." Trevor Johnston suggested that the film "seems to mark a point of decline in the Schwarzenegger career arc" and the anti-consumerism message largely failed, with "Jim Belushi's corrupt mall Santa with his stolen-goods warehouse ... provid[ing] the film's sole flash of dark humour."


title: Jingle All the Way

text: IGN's Mike Drucker praised its subject matter as "one of the few holiday movies to directly deal with the commercialization of Christmas" although felt the last twenty minutes of the film let it down, as the first hour or so had "some family entertainment" value if taken with a "grain of salt". He concluded the film was "a member of the so-corny-its-good genre," while "Arnold delivers plenty of one-liners ripe for sound board crank callers." Jamie Malanowski of "The New York Times" praised the film's satirical premise but felt it was "full of unrealized potential" because "the filmmakers [wrongly] equate mayhem with humor." Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars, writing that he "liked a lot of the movie", which he thought had "energy" and humor which would have mass audience appeal. He was, though, disappointed by "its relentlessly materialistic view of Christmas, and by the choice to go with action and (mild) violence over dialogue and plot." Kevin Carr of 7M Pictures concluded that while the film is not very good, as a form of family entertainment it is "surprisingly fun."


title: Jingle All the Way

text: Over 18 years after the release of the original film, a stand-alone sequel, "Jingle All the Way 2", was released straight-to-DVD in December 2014. Directed by Alex Zamm and produced by WWE Studios and 20th Century Fox, the film has a similar plot to the original, but is otherwise not connected and has none of the original cast or characters. The lead roles were instead played by Larry the Cable Guy and Santino Marella.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: Tyrese J. Haliburton (born February 29, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones and was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in the 2020 NBA draft. Listed at and , he plays the point guard position.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Haliburton was a consensus three-star recruit from Oshkosh North High School, whom he led to a state championship in his senior season. As a freshman with Iowa State, he set the program's single-game assists record. He had breakout success as a sophomore and was named to the second team All-Big 12 Conference despite suffering a season-ending wrist injury.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: In 2019, Haliburton led the United States to a gold medal and earned all-tournament team honors at the FIBA Under-19 World Cup in Heraklion, Greece.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: Haliburton played basketball for Oshkosh North High School in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. As a sophomore, he was named to the All-Fox Valley Association (FVA) second team and defensive team. In his junior season, Haliburton averaged 18 points, six assists, and five rebounds per game, earning FVA Player of the Year and Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division I All-State accolades with his team falling just short of the State Tournament.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: As a senior hungry to bring Oshkosh North their first boys basketball state title in school history, he averaged 22.9 points, 6.2 assists, 5.1 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 1.7 blocks per game, leading Oshkosh North to a 26–1 record. On February 18, 2018, he scored a career-high 42 points in a win over Kaukauna High School and West Virginia recruit Jordan Mccabe. Haliburton scored 31 points, including 24 in the second half, and shot 18–of–18 from the free throw line in a Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I state championship victory over Brookfield East High School, his program's first state title. He was named "Oshkosh Northwestern" All-Area Player of the Year, Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year, and FVA co-Player of the Year. Haliburton was selected to the WBCA Division I All-State team and the "USA Today" All-USA Wisconsin first team.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: Considered a three-star recruit by major recruiting services, he committed to playing college basketball for Iowa State on September 18, 2017.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: On November 6, 2018, Haliburton made his college debut for Iowa State, posting 12 points, four rebounds, and four assists in a 79–53 win over Alabama State. He scored a season-high 16 points in an 82–55 victory against Omaha on November 26. On December 9, Haliburton recorded 15 points and 17 assists, with one turnover, in a 101–65 win over Southern. His 17 assists were the most by an Iowa State player in any game, surpassing the previous record set by Eric Heft in 1974. Through 35 appearances in his freshman season, Haliburton averaged 6.8 points, 3.6 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. He was the only NCAA Division I true freshman, other than Zion Williamson, to accumulate at least 50 steals and 30 blocks. Haliburton had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.5, which led the Big 12 Conference and ranked second in Division I.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: Haliburton was named Big 12 Player of the Week on November 11, 2019, during his sophomore season, after averaging 13.5 points and 13.0 assists in wins over Mississippi Valley State and Oregon State. On November 27, he scored a season-high 25 points, to go with nine rebounds and five assists, in an 83–76 loss to Michigan at the Battle 4 Atlantis. On January 4, 2020, Haliburton recorded 22 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in an overtime loss to TCU, the first triple-double by an Iowa State player since Monté Morris in 2016. He was subsequently named Big 12 Player of the Week for the second time. After fracturing his left wrist on February 8 during a game against Kansas State, Haliburton was ruled out for the rest of the season. He averaged 15.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game as a sophomore. Haliburton was named to the second team All-Big 12. After the season, he announced that he would enter the 2020 NBA draft and forgo his remaining college basketball eligibility.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: Haliburton was selected with the 12th pick by the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the 2020 NBA draft. On November 27, 2020, the Kings officially announced they had signed Haliburton. On December 23, 2020, Haliburton made his NBA debut, coming off the bench in a 124–122 overtime win over the Denver Nuggets with 12 points, four assists, two rebounds and a block. On April 14, 2021, Haliburton recorded a career-high six steals in a 123–111 loss to the Washington Wizards.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: On May 2, 2021, Haliburton suffered a left knee injury against the Dallas Mavericks. Although an MRI later revealed no ligament damage, it was announced Haliburton would miss the last seven games of the 2020–21 season for the Kings as precaution. After the season, Haliburton finished third in Rookie of the Year voting and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: On January 29, 2022, Haliburton posted a career-high 38 points along with seven assists, three rebounds, and two steals in a 103–101 loss against the Philadelphia 76ers. On February 5, Haliburton posted a career-high 17 assists, along with 13 points, six rebounds, and two steals in a 113–103 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: On February 8, 2022, Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson were traded to the Pacers in exchange for Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, and Domantas Sabonis, and a 2023 second-round pick. On February 11, Haliburton made his Pacers debut in a 120–113 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, logging 23 points in addition to six assists, three rebounds, and three steals. Haliburton and Desmond Bane were the winners of the 2022 Clorox Clutch Challenge, an event for the 75th season at the 2022 NBA All Star Weekend.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: On November 21, Haliburton was selected Eastern Conference Player of the Week, leading the Pacers to a 3–0 record while averaging 21 points, 11 assists, and 4 rebounds. On November 29, Haliburton became the first player in NBA history to record 40 assists and 0 turnovers in a 3-game stretch. On December 10, Haliburton scored a season-high 35 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the field and a career-high 7-of-8 three-point shooting, along with 9 assists and 3 steals in a 136–133 loss against the Brooklyn Nets.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: Haliburton played for the United States at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup in Heraklion, Greece. On June 30, he scored a team-high 21 points, shooting 8–of–9 from the field, in a 102–84 group stage win over Lithuania. Haliburton averaged 7.9 points and 6.9 assists per game, shooting 69 percent from the field. He led the United States to a gold medal and was named to the all-tournament team.


title: Tyrese Haliburton

text: Haliburton's father, John, is a referee, but not in the NBA. Haliburton is a cousin of former basketball player Eddie Jones, who had a 14-year NBA career and was a three-time NBA All-Star.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Owain ap Gruffydd (), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr (, anglicised as Owen Glendower), was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander who led a 15 year long Welsh War of Independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wales during the Late Middle Ages. He was also an educated lawyer, he formed the first Welsh Parliament (), and was the last native-born Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Owain Glyndŵr was a direct descendant of several Welsh royal dynasties including the princes of Powys via the House of Mathrafal through his father Gruffudd Fychan II, hereditary Prince () of Powys Fadog. And through his mother, Elen ferch Tomas ap Llywelyn, he was also a descendant of the kings and princes of the Kingdom of Deheubarth as well as the royal House of Dinefwr, and the kings and princes of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and their cadet branch of the House of Aberffraw.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: The rebellion began in 1400, when Owain Glyndŵr, a descendent of several Welsh royal dynasties, claimed his ancestral title of Prince of Wales, following a dispute with a neighbouring English lord. In 1404, after a series of successful castle sieges and several battlefield victories against the English, Owain gained control of the country and was officially crowned Prince of Wales in the presence of French, Spanish, Scottish and Breton envoys. He summoned a national parliament, where he announced plans to reintroduce the traditional Welsh laws of Hywel Dda, establish an independent Welsh church, and build two universities (Wrexham Glyndŵr University is named in Glyndŵr's honour). Owain also formed an alliance with King Charles VI of France, and in 1405 a French army landed in Wales to support the rebellion.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Under Owain Glyndŵr's leadership, an internationally recognized independent Welsh state was briefly established in 1404, it lasted for 5 years until February 1409, when the English forces had captured Owain's last remaining strongholds of Aberystwyth Castle and Harlech Castle, which effectively ended Owain's territorial rule in Wales. Glyndŵr ignored two offers of a pardon from the new King Henry V and refused to surrender, he retreated to the Welsh hills and mountains with his remaining forces, from where they continued to resist English rule utilising guerilla tactics for several more years until Owain disappeared in 1415, when he was recorded to have died of natural causes by one of his supporters, Adam of Usk.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: The English named Glyndŵr a rebel, yet the Welsh created him a folk hero. As well as becoming a national hero, Glyndŵr has since been anointed as a legend in Welsh folklore. Despite the large bounty placed on him by the English crown, Glyndŵr was never betrayed or captured, and he acquired a mythical status along the likes of Cadwaladr, Cynon ap Clydno and King Arthur as a folk hero awaiting the call to return and liberate his people, "Y Mab Darogan" (The Foretold Son). Additionally, Glyndŵr became a famous character in a play created by William Shakespeare, spelt in the work as "Owen Glendower"; Glyndŵr appears as a king in Shakespeare's play "Henry IV, Part 1".


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Owain Glyndŵr was born in 1354 in the northeast Welsh Marches (near the border between Wales and England) to a family of "Uchelwyr" – nobles descended from the pre-conquest native Welsh royal dynasties – in traditional Welsh society. This group moved easily between Welsh and English societies and languages, occupying important offices for the Marcher Lords while maintaining their position as Uchelwyr. His father, Gruffydd Fychan II, hereditary Tywysog of Powys Fadog and Lord of Glyndyfrdwy, died sometime before 1370, leaving Glyndŵr's mother Elen ferch Tomas ap Llywelyn of Deheubarth a widow and Owain a young man of 16 years at most. Through his mother, Glyndŵr was also a descendant of Llywelyn the Great of the Gwynedd royal House of Aberffraw.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: The young Owain ap Gruffydd was possibly fostered at the home of David Hanmer, a rising lawyer shortly to be a justice of the King's Bench, or at the home of Richard FitzAlan, 3rd Earl of Arundel. Owain is then thought to have been sent to London to study law at the Inns of Court. He probably studied as a legal apprentice in London, for a period of seven years. He was possibly in London during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. By 1384, he was living in Wales and married to Margaret Hanmer; their marriage took place 1383 in St Chad's Church, Holt, although they may have married at an earlier date in the late 1370s according to sources. They started a large family and Owain established himself as the squire of Sycharth and Glyndyfrdwy.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Glyndŵr joined the king's military service in 1384 when he undertook garrison duty under the renowned Welshman Sir Gregory Sais, or Sir Degory Sais, on the English–Scottish border at Berwick-upon-Tweed. His surname Sais, meaning "Englishman" in Welsh refers to his ability to speak English, not common in Wales at the time. In August 1385, he served King Richard II under the command of John of Gaunt, again in Scotland. In 1386, he was called to give evidence at the High Court of Chivalry, the "Scrope v Grosvenor" trial at Chester on 3 September that year. In March 1387, Owain fought as a squire to Richard FitzAlan, 4th Earl of Arundel, in the English Channel at the defeat of a Franco-Spanish-Flemish fleet off the coast of Kent. Upon the death in late 1387 of his father-in-law, Sir David Hanmer, knighted earlier that same year by Richard II, Glyndŵr returned to Wales as executor of his estate. Glyndŵr served as a squire to Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV of England), son of John of Gaunt, at the short, sharp Battle of Radcot Bridge in December 1387. From the year 1384 until 1388 he had been active in military service and had gained three full years of military experience in different theatres and had seen first-hand some key events and noteworthy people.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: King Richard was distracted by a growing conflict with the Lords Appellant from this time on. Glyndŵr's opportunities were further limited by the death of Sais in 1390 and the sidelining of FitzAlan, and he probably returned to his stable Welsh estates, living there quietly for ten years during his forties. The bard Iolo Goch ("Red Iolo"), himself a Welsh lord, visited Glyndŵr in Sycharth in the 1390s and wrote a number of odes to Owain, praising Owain's liberality, and writing of Sycharth, "Rare was it there / to see a latch or a lock."


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: The names and numbers of Owain Glyndŵr's siblings cannot be certainly known. The following are given by Jacob Youde William Lloyd:


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Tudur, Isabel and Lowri are given as his siblings by the more cautious R. R. Davies. That Owain Glyndŵr had another brother Gruffudd is likely; that he possibly had a third, Maredudd, is suggested by one reference.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Owain married Margaret Hanmer, also known by her Welsh name Marred ferch Dafydd, daughter of Sir David Hanmer of Hanmer, early in his life.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Owain's daughter Alys had secretly married Sir John Scudamore, the King's appointed Sheriff of Herefordshire. Somehow he had weathered the rebellion and remained in office. It was rumoured that Owain finally retreated to their home at Kentchurch.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: A grandchild of the Scudamore's was Sir John Donne of Kidwelly, a successful Yorkist courtier, diplomat and soldier, who after 1485 made an accommodation with his fellow Welshman, Henry VII. Through the Donne family, many prominent English families are descended from Owain, including the House of de Vere, successive holders of the title Earl of Oxford, and the Cavendish family (Dukes of Devonshire).


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Owain's sons were either taken prisoner or died in battle and had no issue. Owain had additional illegitimate children: David, Gwenllian, Ieuan, and Myfanwy.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: In the late 1390s, a series of events began to push Owain towards rebellion, in what was later to be called the Welsh Revolt, the Glyndŵr Rising or (within Wales) the Last War of Independence. His neighbour, Baron Grey de Ruthyn, had seized control of some land, for which Glyndŵr appealed to the English Parliament. Owain's petition for redress was ignored. Later, in 1400, Lord Grey informed Glyndŵr too late of a royal command to levy feudal troops for Scottish border service, thus enabling him to call the Welshman a traitor in London court circles. Lord Grey had stature in the Royal court of King Henry IV. The English Courts refused to hear, or the case was delayed because Lord Grey prevented Owain's letter from reaching the King.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: On 16 September 1400, Owain Glyndŵr instigated a 15-year Welsh Revolt against the rule of King Henry IV of England. With the use of guerilla tactics, the Welsh troops managed to inflict a series of defeats on the English forces and captured key castles across Wales, rapidly gaining control of most of the country. News of the rebellion's success spread internationally across Europe and Glyndwr began receiving naval support from Scotland and Brittany, He also received the support of King Charles VI of France who agreed to send French troops and supplies to aid the rebellion. In 1403 a Welsh army including a French contingent assimilated into forces mainly from Morgannwg and the Rhondda Valleys region commanded by Owain Glyndŵr, his senior general Rhys Gethin and Cadwgan, Lord of Glyn Rhondda, defeated a large English invasion force reputedly led by King Henry IV himself at the Battle of Stalling Down in Glamorgan, South Wales. Medieval historian Iolo Morganwg wrote that while raiding English held territories in Wales, Glyndŵr and his rebels took from the powerful and rich and distributed the loot among the poor, hence why Glyndŵr is often also viewed as a Robin Hood figure.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Sources state that Glyndŵr was under threat because he had written an angry letter to Lord Grey, boasting that lands had come into his possession, and he had stolen some of Lord Grey's horses, and believing Lord Grey had threatened to "burn and slay" within his lands, he threatened retaliation in the same manner. Lord Grey then denied making the initial threat to burn and slay and replied that he would take the incriminating letter to Henry IV's council and that Glyndŵr would hang for the admission of theft and treason contained within the letter. The deposed king, Richard II, had support in Wales, and in January 1400 serious civil disorder broke out in the English border city of Chester after the public execution of an officer of Richard II.These events led to Glyndŵr formally assuming his ancestral title of Prince of Powys on 16 September 1400 at his Glyndyfrdwy estate. With a small band of followers which included his eldest son, his brothers-in-law, and the Bishop of St Asaph in the town of Corwen, possibly in the church of SS Mael & Sulien, he launched an assault on Lord Grey's territories. After a number of initial confrontations between King Henry IV and Owain's followers in September and October 1400, the revolt, a prequel to the War of the Roses (Lancastrian and Tudor dispute) began to spread. Much of northern and central Wales went over to Glyndŵr. Henry IV appointed Henry Percy – the famous "Hotspur" – to bring the country to order. The King and English parliament on 10 March 1401 issued an amnesty which applied to all rebels with the exception of Owain and his cousins, Rhys ap Tudur and Gwilym ap Tudur, sons of Tudur ap Gronw (forefather of King Henry VII of England). Both the Tudors were pardoned after their capture of Edward I's great castle at Conwy on 28 May 1401. In June, Glyndŵr scored his first major victory in the field at Mynydd Hyddgen on Pumlumon. Retaliation by Henry IV on the Strata Florida Abbey followed by October. The rebel uprising had occupied all of North Wales, labourers seized whatever weapons they could, farmers sold their cattle to buy arms, secret meetings were held everywhere, and bards "wandered about as messengers of sedition", castles fell into Glyndŵr's hands as he assumed the Prince of Wales title. Henry IV of England heard of a Welsh uprising at Leicester, Henry's army wandered North Wales to Anglesey, and drove out Franciscan friars who favoured Richard II, all the while Glyndŵr who was in hiding had his estate forfeited to John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset. Glyndŵr had been offered a pardon on 10 March 1401 but rejected the plea. On 30 May Hotspur, having won a battle near 'Cadair Idris', left his command for the English army and began dealings with Glyndŵr. During this time in the spring of 1401, Glyndŵr appears in South Wales, and by Autumn the counties Gwynedd, Ceredigion (which temporarily submitted to England for a pardon) and Powys adhered to the rising against the English rule. Glyndŵr's attempts at stoking rebellion with help from the Scottish and Irish were quashed with the English showing no mercy and hanging some messengers.In 1402, the English Parliament issued the Penal Laws against Wales, designed to establish English dominance in Wales, but actually pushed many Welshmen into the rebellion. In the same year, Glyndŵr captured his archenemy, Baron Grey de Ruthyn. He held him for almost a year until he received a substantial ransom from Henry. In June 1402, Glyndŵr defeated an English force led by Sir Edmund Mortimer near Pilleth (Battle of Bryn Glas), where Mortimer was captured. Glyndŵr offered to release Mortimer for a large ransom but, in sharp contrast to his attitude to de Grey, Henry IV refused to pay. Mortimer's nephew could be said to have had a greater claim to the English throne than Henry himself, so his speedy release was not an option. In response, Mortimer negotiated an alliance with Glyndŵr and married one of Glyndŵr's daughters. It is also in 1402 that mention of the French and Bretons helping Owain was first heard. The French were certainly hoping to use Wales as they had used Scotland: as a base from which to fight the English.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Glyndŵr facing years on the run finally lost his estate in the spring of 1403, when Prince Henry as usual marched into Wales unopposed and burnt down his houses at Sycharth and Glyndyfrdwy, as well as the commote of Edeirnion and parts of Powys. Glyndŵr continued to besiege towns and burn down castles, for 10 days in July that year he toured the south and south-west Wales until all of the south joined arms in rebelling against English rule, these actions induced an internal rebellion against the King of England with the Percy's joining the rising. It is around this stage of Glyndŵr's life that Hywel Sele a cousin of the Welsh prince, attempted to assassinate Glyndŵr at the Nannau estate.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: In 1403 the revolt became truly national in Wales. Royal officials reported that Welsh students at Oxford University and Cambridge University were leaving their studies to join Glyndŵr's. And also that Welsh labourers and craftsmen were abandoning their employers in England and returning to Wales. Owain could also draw on Welsh troops seasoned by the English campaigns in France and Scotland. Hundreds of Welsh archers and experienced men-at-arms left the English service to join the rebellion.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: In 1404, Glyndŵr's forces took Aberystwyth Castle and Harlech Castle, then continued to ravage the south by burning Cardiff Castle. Then a court was held at Harlech and Gruffydd Young was appointed as the Welsh Chancellor. There had been communication to Louis I, Duke of Orléans in Paris to try (unsuccessfully) to open the Welsh ports to French trade.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: By 1404 no less than four royal military expeditions into Wales had been repelled and Owain solidified his control of the nation. In 1404, he was officially crowned Prince of Wales () and held a Senedd (parliament) at Machynlleth where he outlined his national programme for an independent Wales, which included plans such as building two national universities (one in the south and one in the north), re-introducing the traditional Welsh laws of Hywel Dda, and establishing an independent Welsh church. There were envoys from other countries including France, Scotland and the Kingdom of León (in Spain). In the summer of 1405, four representatives from every commote in Wales were sent to Harlech. Machynlleth may have been chosen due to its central location in Wales and the recently acquired possession of three nearby castles: Castell-y-Bere, Aberystwyth Castle and Harlech Castle. The current Parliament House () in Machynlleth is associated with the 1404 Senedd but the present building is more recent. Local tradition is that the stones used came from the original 1404 building.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: In February 1405, Glyndŵr negotiated the "Tripartite Indenture" with Edmund Mortimer and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. The Indenture agreed to divide England and Wales among the three of them. Wales would extend as far as the rivers Severn and Mersey, including most of Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. The Mortimer Lords of March would take all of southern and western England and the Percys would take the north of England.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Although negotiations with the lords of Ireland were unsuccessful, Glyndŵr had reason to hope that the French and Bretons might be more welcoming. He dispatched Gruffydd Yonge and his brother-in-law (Margaret's brother), John Hanmer, to negotiate with the French. The result was a formal treaty that promised French aid to Glyndŵr and the Welsh. The immediate effect seems to have been that joint Welsh and Franco-Breton forces attacked and laid siege to Kidwelly Castle. The Welsh could also count on semi-official fraternal aid from their fellow Celts in the then independent Brittany and Scotland. Scots and French privateers were operating around Wales throughout Owain's war. Scottish ships had raided English settlements on the Llŷn Peninsula in 1400 and 1401. In 1403, a Breton squadron defeated the English in the Channel and devastated Jersey, Guernsey and Plymouth, while the French made a landing on the Isle of Wight. By 1404, they were raiding the coast of England, with Welsh troops on board, setting fire to Dartmouth and devastating the coast of Devon.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: 1405 was the "Year of the French" in Wales. A formal treaty between Wales and France was negotiated. On the continent, the French pressed the English as the French army invaded English Plantagenet Aquitaine. Simultaneously, the French landed in force at Milford Haven in west Wales, and attempted to capture Pembroke Castle before they were bought off. The combined forces of French and Welsh marched through Herefordshire and on into Worcestershire to Woodbury Hill. They met the English army just ten miles from Worcester. The armies took up battle positions daily and viewed each other from a mile without any major action for eight days. Then, for reasons that have never become clear, the Welsh retreated, and so did the French shortly afterwards.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: By 1405, most French forces had withdrawn after politics in Paris shifted toward peace with the Hundred Years' War continuing between England and France. On 31 March 1406 Glyndŵr wrote a letter to be sent to Charles VI King of France during a synod at the Welsh Church at Pennal, hence its name. Glyndŵr's letter requested maintained military support from the French to fend off the English in Wales. Glyndŵr suggested that in return, he would recognise Benedict XIII of Avignon as the Pope. The letter sets out the ambitions of Glyndŵr of an independent Wales with its own parliament, led by himself as Prince of Wales. These ambitions also included the return of the traditional law of Hywel Dda, rather than the enforced English law, establishment of an independent Welsh church as well as two universities, one in south Wales, and one in north Wales. Following this letter, senior churchmen and important members of society flocked to Glyndŵr's banner and English resistance was reduced to a few isolated castles, walled towns, and fortified manor houses.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Glyndŵr's Great Seal and a letter handwritten by him to the French in 1406 are in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. This letter is currently held in the Archives Nationales in Paris. Facsimile copies involving specialist ageing techniques and moulds of the famous Glyndwr seal were created by The National Library of Wales and were presented by the then heritage minister Alun Ffred Jones, to six Welsh institutions in 2009. The royal great seal from 1404 was given to Charles IV of France and contains images and Glyndŵr's title – – 'Owain, by the grace of God, Prince of Wales'.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: During early 1405, the Welsh forces, who had until then won several easy victories, suffered a series of defeats. English forces landed in Anglesey from Ireland and would over time push the Welsh back until the resistance in Anglesey formally ended toward the end of 1406.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Following the intervention of French forces, battling ensued for years, and in 1406 Prince Henry restored fines and redemption for Welsh soldiers to choose their own fate, prisoners were taken after the battle, and castles were restored to their original owners, this same year a son of Glyndŵr died in battle. By 1408 Glyndŵr had taken refuge in the North of Wales, having lost his ally from Northumberland.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Despite the initial success of the revolution, in 1407 the superior numbers, resources, and wealth that England had at its disposal eventually began to turn the tide of the war, and the much larger and better equipped English forces gradually began to overwhelm the Welsh. In times of war, the English changed their strategy. Rather than focusing on punitive expeditions as favoured by his father, the young Prince Henry adopted a strategy of economic blockade. Using the castles that remained in English control, he gradually began to retake Wales while cutting off trade and the supply of weapons. By 1407 this strategy was beginning to bear fruit, even though by this time Owain's rebel soldiers had achieved victories over the King's men as far as Birmingham, where the English were in retreat. and by 1409 they had reconquered most of Wales. Later, then on 21 December 1411 the King of England issued pardons to all Welsh except their leader and Thomas of Trumpington (until 9 April 1413 from which Glyndŵr was no longer excepted). Edmund Mortimer died in the final battle, and Owain's wife Margaret along with two of his daughters (including Catrin) and three of Mortimer's granddaughters were imprisoned in the Tower of London. They were all to die in the Tower in 1413 and were buried at St Swithin, London Stone.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Glyndŵr fought on until he was cornered and under siege at Harlech Castle; but he managed to escape capture by disguising himself as an elderly man, sneaking out of the castle and slipping past the English military blockade in the darkness of the night. Glyndŵr retreated to the Welsh wilderness with a band of loyal supporters; he refused to surrender and continued the war with guerrilla tactics such as launching sporadic raids and ambushes throughout Wales and the English borderlands. In 1409, it was the turn of Harlech Castle to surrender.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Glyndŵr remained free, but he had lost his ancestral home and was a hunted prince. He continued the rebellion, particularly wanting to avenge his wife. In 1410 Owain led a suicide raid into rebel-controlled Shropshire, and in 1412 he carried out one of the final successful raiding parties with his most faithful soldiers and cut through the King's men; in an ambush in Brecon, he captured, and later ransomed, a leading Welsh supporter of King Henry's, Dafydd Gam (). This was the last time that Owain was seen alive by his enemies, although it was claimed he took refuge with the Scudamore family. The last documented sighting of him was in 1412 when he ambushed the king's men in Brecon and captured and ransomed a leading supporter of King Henry's. In the autumn, Glyndŵr's Aberystwyth Castle surrendered while he was away fighting. But by then things were changing. Henry IV died in 1413 and his son King Henry V began to adopt a more conciliatory attitude to the Welsh. Royal pardons were offered to the major leaders of the revolt and other opponents of his father's regime. As late as 1414, there were rumours that the Herefordshire-based Lollard leader Sir John Oldcastle was communicating with Owain, and reinforcements were sent to the major castles in the north and south.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Glyndŵr twice ignored offers of a pardon from the new king Henry V of England, and despite the large rewards offered for his capture, Glyndŵr was never betrayed by the Welsh. His death was recorded by a former follower in the year 1415, at the age of approximately 56.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Nothing certain is known of Glyndŵr after 1412. Despite enormous rewards being offered, he was neither captured nor betrayed. He ignored royal pardons. Tradition has it that he died and was buried possibly in the church of Saints Mael and Sulien at Corwen close to his home, or possibly on his estate in Sycharth or on the estates of his daughters' husband: Kentchurch in south Herefordshire or Monnington in west Herefordshire.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: In his book "The Mystery of Jack of Kent and the Fate of Owain Glyndŵr", Alex Gibbon argues that the folk hero Jack of Kent, also known as Siôn Cent – the family chaplain of the Scudamore family – was, in fact, Owain Glyndŵr himself. Gibbon points out a number of similarities between Siôn Cent and Glyndŵr (including physical appearance, age, education, and character) and claims that Owain spent his last years living with his daughter Alys, passing himself off as an ageing Franciscan friar and family tutor. There are many folk tales of Glyndŵr donning disguises to gain an advantage over opponents during the rebellion.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Adam of Usk, a one-time supporter of Glyndŵr, made the following entry in his Chronicle in the year 1415: "After four years in hiding, from the king and the realm, Owain Glyndŵr died, and was buried by his followers in the darkness of night. His grave was discovered by his enemies, however, so he had to be re-buried, though it is impossible to discover where he was laid."


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: Thomas Pennant writes that Glyndwr died on 20 September 1415 at the age of 61 (which would place his birth at approximately 1354).


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: In 1875, the Rev. Francis Kilvert wrote in his diary that he saw the grave of "Owen Glendower" in the churchyard at Monnington "[h]ard by the church porch and on the western side of it ... It is a flat stone of whitish-grey shaped like a rude obelisk figure, sunk deep into the ground in the middle of an oblong patch of earth from which the turf has been pared away, and, alas, smashed into several fragments."


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: In 2006, Adrien Jones, the president of the Owain Glyndŵr Society, said, "Four years ago we visited a direct descendant of Glyndŵr, a John Skidmore, at Kentchurch Court, near Abergavenny. He took us to Mornington Straddle, in Herefordshire, where one of Glyndŵr's daughters, Alice, lived. Mr Skidmore told us that he (Glyndŵr) spent his last days there and eventually died there... It was a family secret for 600 years and even Mr Skidmore's mother, who died shortly before we visited, refused to reveal the secret. There's even a mound where he is believed to be buried at Mornington Straddle." Historian Gruffydd Aled Williams suggests in a 2017 monograph that the burial site is in the Kimbolton Chapel near Leominster, the present parish church of St James the Great which used to be the chapelry of Leominster Priory, based upon a number of manuscripts held in the National Archives. Although Kimbolton is an unexceptional and relatively unknown place outside of Herefordshire, it is closely connected to the Scudamore family. Given the existence of other links with Herefordshire, its place within the mystery of Owain Glyndŵr's last days cannot be discounted. , his final resting place remains uncertain.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: During the First World War, Prime Minister David Lloyd George unveiled a statue to Glyndŵr in Cardiff City Hall.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: A statue of Glyndŵr by the sculptor Simon van de Put was installed in The Square in Corwen in 1995, and in 2007 it was replaced with a larger equestrian statue by Colin Spofforth.


title: Owain Glyndŵr

text: A monument was erected in Machynlleth in 2000, on the 600th anniversary of the beginning of the Glyndwr Rising. The plinth of the monument has an by the poet Dafydd Wyn Jones, which he has translated as: