nuclear-news

It could be ‘game over’ for the nuclear industry in Japan, and beyond

We are on the cusp of a solar revolution. One third of our global electricity consumption occurs during hours where solar power production is occurring. Meaning we can deliver solar for 33 per cent of the world’s electricity without even considering storage.

Wind power is coming down in price too, due to innovation, efficiency, and the scale up of projects and technology. As is the maturing Chinese wind industry. China is already aiming for 18 per cent wind power in its total energy supply mix by 2025 and 50GW of solar by
2020.

The end of nuclear, CLIMATE SPECTATOR, Matthew Wright , 8 May 2012 “…….The ongoing fallout of the Fukushima disaster means one of the world’s leading industrial powerhouses has taken a big hit. The sun has set on plans for new reactors to increase nuclear capacity in Japan to 50 per cent.

If electricity supply remains stable through the coming summer without any nuclear restarts then it will be game over for the nuclear utility industry in Japan. This is quite possible given that local governments and popular opinion are against restarts.

The Japanese industrial economy is largely based on Germany where
eight reactors are already disabled. The Japanese believe that
anything Germany can do they can also do, which gives them the resolve
to consider a nuclear free future.

Now with the Socialist Party winning France’s elections, promising to
shut half the nation’s fleet of reactors by 2025, it is clear that all
reactor programs in the west will be wound down over time.

That leaves China, a country spooked by what happened in Japan, but a
country which is also the great hope of nuclear evangelists the world
over.
The problem for China is that straight after Fukushima it couldn’t
trust its flagship Generation II design, so it’s been shelved. No new
nuclear reactors will be built to the prevailing specification, as
major safety concerns remain over the old technology. This includes
what makes up its entire existing fleet of reactors.

So the only option for China is to attempt to follow the very troubled
nuclear programs in the west. Third Generation designs from French
Areva and Westinghouse in the US remain unproven, with monumental cost
overruns and project delays and none completed to date. Current
projects proposed and in initial stages of construction in China have
70-80 per cent imported content, increasing costs massively. This has
forced China to revise down their 2020 target for nuclear by more than
50 per cent

All the while solar electricity keeps coming down in price with every additional solar panel installed, to the point where even people in remote parts of India and Bangladesh can now afford electricity for lighting, telecommunications and motors.

We are on the cusp of a solar revolution. One third of our global electricity consumption occurs during hours where solar power production is occurring. Meaning we can deliver solar for 33 per cent of the world’s electricity without even considering storage. Rooftop
solar power doesn’t have to compete in the wholesale market, so it
will be competitive in most the world’s retail markets by 2015, while
grid competitiveness will be achieved in the period 2018-2020.

Wind power is coming down in price too, due to innovation, efficiency, and the scale up of projects and technology. As is the maturing Chinese wind industry. China is already aiming for 18 per cent wind power in its total energy supply mix by 2025 and 50GW of solar by
2020.

Once we’ve got the bulk of the world’s power from renewable sources
then we can fill any gaps with pumped hydro storage and (most
importantly to Australia) solar thermal with molten salt storage.

These provide reliable baseload, intermediate and peaking dispatchable
power capacity to power our refrigerators, traffic lights, hair
dryers, air conditioners and LCD televisions.

Riding the coal/LNG/uranium train will turn out to be far more
disruptive and disastrous than our previous folly of riding on the
sheep’s back well after it became too old to carry us any further….

Joining the rest of the world in a 21st century renewable-powered
clean tech economy is our only sensible option.
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/nuclear-power-and-Japan-end-of-nuclear-Fukushima-d-pd20120508-U3UUW?opendocument&src=rss

May 10, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general