2009 September 02 « nuclear-news

AREVA going to court over Finland nuclear reactor runaway costs

areva-medusa1 Areva’s half-year results yesterday night brought new information about the Olkiluoto-3 EPR nuclear fiasco:

– The cost-overrun is now estimated at 2.3 billion EUR, while the original price offered to decision makers back in 2002 was 2.5 billion, and price contracted in 2005 was 3.2 billion EUR. The estimated final cost at the moment thus reached 5.5 billion EUR! (And there is still long way to go, with construction only half-way through!)

– Areva is taking its Finnish customer, TVO, to arbitrary court to claim those additional costs from them, although it was a fixed price, turn-key contract (a good lesson for future Areva customers about its habits).

– Areva now even threats to suspend construction works until TVO agrees to modified contracts.

Their original press package that inludes recorded audio and detailed presentation (58 slides) can be found here:

http://www.areva.com/servlet/finance-en.html

September 2, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Finland | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

South Africa’s nuclear company Eskom makes huge loss

Corporate Toughest of times for Eskom
World Nuclear News28 August 2009
Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned utility, has reported a record annual loss and has warned of a funding gap for an expansion program needed to prevent a repeat of the blackouts the country experienced in 2008.

The company, which supplies about 95% of South Africa’s electricity and more than 60% of Africa’s, reported a loss of 9.7 billion rand ($1.25 billion) for the year ended 31 March. In the previous year, Eskom made a loss of 210 million rand ($27 million)………….

World Nuclear News

September 2, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, business and costs, South Africa | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

No public scrutiny for Florida nuclear waste storage

Florida Power and Light’s “dark” business
“…………..As storage of nuclear waste continues to pose concern across the country, an FPL land use change at Turkey Point raises questions about potential safety and environmental risks
Poder 360 By Siobhan Morrissey Sept 09

“…………….Plans for the dry cask storage facility have sparked controversy because the project has not been aired at public hearings. Instead, the project was moved along quickly and quietly, with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) granting certification on May 18, roughly six weeks after receiving FPL’s application and without an opportunity for public input. Without fanfare, the approval slipped the notice of interested parties such as the Sierra Club, the Tropical Audubon Society and Clean Water Action. Miami-Dade County officials and environmentalists maintain the utility company and the regulatory agency did an end run to avoid public scrutiny……………

Currently, FPL places the spent nuclear fuel onsite in wet storage structures that resemble cavernous, stainless-steel-lined swimming pools. But it’s getting crowded in the pools, so the utility is resorting to dry cask storage.

“They’re simply running out of room in the spent fuel pools for the current two [reactor] units,” says Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “You never want to get below a certain point [of capacity]. You have to start several years in advance.”…………………

But how did FPL manage to avoid a public discussion of the environmental concerns? FPL presented the proposed dry storage facility as an amendment to an existing certificate that DEP issued last October when the utility sought permission to ramp up its power output. In the industry, this is commonly known as “uprating.” FPL plans to begin increasing its power output at Turkey Point by 14 percent as early as 2011.

It’s a problem nuclear power plants across the country face,

Poder 360° – FPL’s “dark” business

September 2, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radioactive, wastes | Leave a comment

India: nuclear deal will cause problems

A Different Perspective on the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal
MONTHLY REVIEW Peter Custers Sept 09
The U.S.-India nuclear deal was initiated through a framework agreement signed by India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Bush in July 2005.

India, at the instigation of Washington, agreed to separate its civilian and military nuclear production facilities, and place all civilian production facilities under the inspection regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in return for U.S. economic, technological, and military cooperation. The nuclear deal, which took three years to complete, is officially aimed at promoting India’s access to uranium and to civilian nuclear technology, through enlarged importation of both………….
……From its very start, the U.S.-India nuclear deal has generated huge controversies, both in India and internationally. The intent here is to lay bare the implications of the deal for the creation of waste,……………
fears that the controversial deal will enhance the danger of a nuclear conflagration in South Asia appear to be well grounded, even if we leave aside all other interrelated objections that have been raised……………..
the side effects in terms of generation of nuclear waste are so ponderous that, from this perspective too, implementation of the deal needs to be preempted…………….
the U.S.-India nuclear deal is bound to result in huge quantities of extremely dangerous waste that cannot be sold on the market, but needs to be put aside, at great risk to humans and to our natural environment……………….

A Different Perspective on the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal – Monthly Review

September 2, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, India, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radioactive, wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear sites fear they’ll get USA nuclear waste dump

Nuclear sites fear they’re the alternative to Yucca Mountain
Kansas city.com By LES BLUMENTHAL McClatchy Newspapers 1 Sept 09
It is among the nastiest substances on earth: more than 14,000 tons of highly radioactive waste left over from the building of the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal……………….

Local leaders and lawmakers from the sites where the waste is now stored, however, are increasingly concerned the Energy Department will leave it in place, even though that might violate legally binding cleanup agreements.

There’s no backup plan for dealing with the waste. A promised commission to study the issue has yet to be appointed.

“We don’t want to become a long-term repository without even having a discussion,” said Gary Petersen of the Tri-City Industrial Development Council, near Hanford, Wash. “All of this waste is supposed to be going to Yucca. Without Yucca, everyone in the weapons complex has a problem.”

Jared Fuhriman, the mayor of Idaho Falls, the largest city near the Idaho National Laboratory, agreed.

“We are all concerned,” Fuhriman said. “Where are we going to store the waste we have?”

If Yucca is closed, a search for a new site for a national repository likely would start with the 31 states on the original list of potential locations. In addition to Hanford and the Idaho National Laboratory, the states with possible sites include Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi and Pennsylvania……………..

The biggest concern has been the liquid waste, stored in aging and occasionally leaking underground tanks. Current plans call for the waste to be vitrified, or solidified into glass-like logs, and shipped to Yucca Mountain. The logs would be encapsulated in two-foot diameter, 14.5-foot-long stainless steel containers that would weigh about four tons each. The waste treatment plant would generate about 480 glass logs a year and somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 by the time the last of the waste is processed.

Nuclear sites fear they’re the alternative to Yucca Mountain – Kansas City Star

September 2, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radioactive, wastes | Leave a comment

Bulgaria: right wing opposition to nuclear plant

Bulgaria Right-Wingers Call for Halt of Nuclear Plant Plan
novinite.com September 1, 2009,

Bulgaria’s biggest right-wing party has reiterated its calls on the new government to give up the planned Belene project as it is still undecided whether to scrap or push ahead the construction of the multi-billion nuclear power plant.

“The price tag of the nuclear power plant at the Danube river town will stand at no less than EUR 10 B,” Martin Dimitrov, leader of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), said at a press conference on Tuesday.

According to him Belene nuclear power plant will not benefit local consumers, which makes it completely useless.

“Freezing the project is no solution to the problem,” Dimitrov added.

UDF leadership has repeatedly warned that the construction of the plant will translate into a BGN 1300 tax burden for each Bulgarian taxpayer, electricity hikes for decades on end, outdated and dubious Russian nuke units…………….

…………According to reports and non-governmental organizations RWE AG’s plan to expand in Bulgaria’s nuclear market is on the brink of collapse because financing for the project couldn’t be obtained.

Bulgaria: Bulgaria Right-Wingers Call for Halt of Nuclear Plant Plan – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency

September 2, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, business and costs, EUROPE | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs | Leave a comment

Film shows why uranium mining is bad for Virginia

Why is SCC and the Alliance concerned about uranium mining and milling in Virginia?
The Alliance Acethecat 2 Sept 09
This short film really sums it up! It’s about the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia. Their plight mirrors our own if uranium mining and milling EVER takes place in Virginia. URANIUM MINING & MILLING HAS NEVER BEEN DONE SAFELY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! WHILE SOME SAY THAT THEY WANT (AND NEED) A “STUDY”, THE ONLY TRUE INFORMATION CAN COME FROM WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE PAST.

Studying “how” to mine and mill uranium in Virginia is much different than studying “should” we mine and mill uranium in Virginia. REMEMBER: All uranium mining and milling has been done with the “latest technology” since its inception. ALL OF THAT TECHNOLOGY HAS FAILED!
Since mining and milling has NEVER been done in an area with our population (OVER 500,000 people within 120 miles of the proposed mine and milling operation and many, many more down stream to the Atlantic Ocean) and our net precipitation (greater than evaporation) any “study” of “how” to mine and mill uranium in Pittsylvania County, or anywhere else in Virginia, will be a THEORY.

… THE Alliance … THE Alliance … THE Alliance …: Where the Green Ants Dream

September 2, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | Leave a comment

Financial crisis hurts some Eastern Europe nuclear plans

Financial crisis hurts some Eastern Europe nuclear plans

By Anna Mudeva

SOFIA (Reuters) 1 Sept 09

– Domestic political squabbles, funding woes and other hurdles threaten a number of nuclear power plant projects in central and southeast Europe

…………..Analysts say the global economic crisis has made banks reluctant to provide loans for nuclear plants, which cost around 3 billion euros ($4.30 billion) per 1,000 megawatt reactor, for a pay-off that takes decades.

Equipment suppliers and engineering companies are also unwilling to give fixed price tags during volatile times, which makes planning and calculation of costs difficult.