“When the economy recovers such that it becomes easier for investors to secure finance for major infrastructure projects, the opportunities for nuclear new build and the chance to maintain and service these reactors will open up.

“Whatever decisions we make at the moment, we have to think long-term, 15 to 20 years from now.”

Highly-skilled jobs to stay for next 60 years?

By David Coates
Published on Wednesday 20 February 2013 08:17

Mike Tynan, chief executive of Westinghouse UK, said its Springfields Fuels facility at Salwick, near Preston, would continue to build fuel for the country’s power stations for the next decade as it bids to secure a deal to build part of the new fleet of reactors.

He said he was “extremely confident” Westinghouse would build its AP1000 reactor in the UK with a site close to Sellafield in Cumbria the most likely location for the next development.

The boss, whose business has its head office at Matrix Park on Buckshaw Village, near Leyland, said the company remained committed to the facility which employs hundreds of workers.

He said: “Springfields has been making the country’s nuclear fuel for 60 years and I am confident it will continue to do so for the next 60 years.

“When the economy recovers such that it becomes easier for investors to secure finance for major infrastructure projects, the opportunities for nuclear new build and the chance to maintain and service these reactors will open up.

“Whatever decisions we make at the moment, we have to think long-term, 15 to 20 years from now.”

Westinghouse is also looking to build to build the AP1000 in Europe, with opportunities in the Czech Republic and Poland, and in the Middle East.

The company has confirmed any fuel for reactors in the UK, Europe and the Middle East could be built at Springfields.

Mr Tynan said NuGen, the European consortium which has an option to build a reactor the Moorside site, next to Sellafield, had backed Westinghouse’s bid to secure the green light from regulators for the AP1000 through the Generic Design Assessment process.

He said: “We have a long-term relationship with GDF and Iberdrola (the utility giants which own the NuGen consortium) and we would very much welcome our involvement at Moorside.

The chief executive added there had been no discussions around developing the sites at Heysham, near Morecambe, Bradwell in Essex and Hartlepool in County Durham, which are earmarked for new reactors.

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/business/highly-skilled-jobs-to-stay-for-next-60-years-1-5428408

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/British_Nuclear_Fuels_plc_%28BNFL%29

“….The UK Government has pledged to cover 75 per cent of the cost of thousands of new electric car charge points at people’s homes, on the streets, at railway stations and on the public sector estate.

Funding for the scheme comes from the Government’s £400 million commitment to increase the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles and is available until April 2015…..”19 February 2013 By Edward Gen

“…  According to the WSJ Environmental Capitol blog,  Lux Research, a research and consulting firm that specializes in providing strategic analysis related to emerging technologies, believes high battery price, low oil prices, and low demand for new cars could limit the growth of hybrid electric cars.…”

Making Coal Car Batteries: The CO2 Impact

Posted on Jun 16, 2011

A London group with the comically oxymoronic name of Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership has been busy disproving its own sponsored premise. Turns out that manufacturing a battery for a typical “electric” car puts 3.8 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That’s two-thirds of the carbon emitted in the manufacturing of a complete medium-sized gasoline car.

What additional carbon dioxide would be emitted in the process of scrapping or recycling millions of “electric” car batteries every year? As the LCVP admits, that remains one of our “gaps in understanding.”

The inescapable fact is that no automobile will ever be “low carbon.” Merely making these rolling piles of metal and plastic and lithium is inherently energy- and carbon-intensive.

DbC will say it again: Cars-first transportation was and is a capitalist pipe-dream.

http://www.deathbycar.info/2011/06/ev-batteries-co2/

Is a nuclear-powered car in our future?

September 1, 2011

Stevens hasn’t set a date on when his prototype will be completed, but whether this technology will ever see the light of day is a valid question. Judging from his past online posts in forums and news sites, he’s been touting this system for years despite his claim that auto manufacturers could have it working in vehicles within two years. And even if Stevens manages to pull off a thorium-powered car, it’s likely to raise safety concerns.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20100035-48/is-a-nuclear-powered-car-in-our-future/

Nuclear power undermines electric cars’ green image

Updated 2012-03-25

“….The government is trying to restart dozens of nuclear power plants for the first time since the Fukushimi disaster last year that resulted from the March earthquake and tsunami. Nuclear power now has a terrible image problem because of the fire and radiation leaks at the plant.

Since electric cars run on juice from the nuclear power plants, owners are having trouble trying to replace the green halo that they thought they could proudly wear before the disaster, the Associated Press reports, via Bloomberg BusinessWeek. In Japan, just as in the U.S., electric cars were being seen as important symbols of a green future. Nissan’s Leaf electric, among others, is made in Japan where it is sold in addition to being shipped to the U.S.

Electric cars have the same problem in the U.S., but it is generally overlooked. Much of the electricity in the U.S. is made from coal, oil or nuclear generation……”

“…..In Japan, electric car drivers are already feeling the heat. With nuclear likely to remain a major source of power, “then the green image of the electric car will get bashed to bits, maybe to the extent it will be irreparable,” Ryuichi Kino, who has written books on nuclear power and hybrid technology, is quoted as saying by the AP….”

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2012/03/nissan-leaf-japan-electric-cars-nuclear-power-nukes/1#.USTK3HYgjxY

Why we will never have nuclear powered cars

January 4th, 2013

For one thing, the regulatory hurdles to getting a nuclear reactor into an automobile are likely to be insurmountable.  All nuclear power reactors must conform to strict safety and security guidelines.

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Tuesday, February 19, 2013 –

Japan Atomic Power Co. signed on Monday an agreement with a Kazakh nuclear research facility to develop nuclear plants in the Central Asian state.

The Japanese firm reached the agreement with the National Nuclear Center, a research facility under state-operated nuclear firm Kazatomprom, Kaznex Invest reported Monday.

Kazakhstan, the world’s top exporter of nuclear fuel uranium, had been negotiating with Russian nuclear firm Rosatom to build Kazakhstan’s first nuclear plant.

As late as June 2012, Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko said that the Russian nuclear agency was still waiting on Kazakhstan to choose a site for the nuclear site.

Image source : Kazakhstan’s ‘dirty’ election keeps Nursultan Nazarbayev in seat of power

see also,

https://nuclear-news.net/2013/01/18/japan-allegations-of-general-election-fraud-on-dec-16-2012-come-to-light/

According to the new agreement signed with Japan, the two countries will work together to build and launch nuclear plants and train personnel.

Japan also signed an agreement to enter a joint project to develop the Kokten-Kol deposit for tungsten and molybdenum.

“Talks on an investment accord between Japan and Kazakhstan saw a substantive agreement,” the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

“Kazakhstan has abundant reserves of rare metals, rare earths, oil and natural gas, and Japanese companies have shown strong interest in advancing into the country.”

Earlier this month, Japanese automobile firm Toyota announced it would launch a factory to produce SUVs in northern Kazakhstan.

http://www.universalnewswires.com/centralasia/economy/Japan-Kazakhstan-to-work-on-building-nuclear-plants/viewstory.aspx?id=13660

19 Febuary 2013

Earth Policy Institute

Wind has overtaken nuclear as an electricity source in China. In 2012, wind farms generated 2 percent more electricity than nuclear power plants did, a gap that will likely widen dramatically over the next few years as wind surges ahead. Since 2007, nuclear power generation has risen by 10 percent annually, compared with wind’s explosive growth of 80 percent per year.

Before the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, China had 10,200 megawatts of installed nuclear capacity. With 28,000 megawatts then under construction at 29 nuclear reactors—19 of which had begun construction since 2009—officials were confident China would reach 40,000 megawatts of nuclear power by 2015 and perhaps 100,000 megawatts by 2020. The government’s response to the Fukushima disaster, however, was to suspend new reactor approvals and conduct a safety review of plants in operation and under construction.

When authorities finally lifted the moratorium on approvals in October 2012, it was with the stipulation that going forward only “Generation-III” models that meet stricter safety standards would be approved. China has no experience in operating these more advanced models; several of the Generation-III reactors it has currently under construction are already facing delays due to post-Fukushima design changes or supply chain issues.

Over the course of 2011 and 2012, China connected four reactors with a combined 2,600 megawatts of nuclear generating capacity, bringing its total nuclear installations to 12,800 megawatts. Although officials still claim that China will reach 40,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity in 2015, the current pace of construction makes this appear increasingly unlikely. China’s inexperience with Generation-III reactors also casts doubt on its prospects for achieving what the government now sees as a more reasonable 2020 goal, some 70,000 megawatts.

The outlook for wind in China is much more promising. Wind developers connected 19,000 megawatts of wind power capacity to the grid during 2011 and 2012, and they are expected to add nearly this much in 2013 alone. An oft-cited problem for China’s wind energy sector has been the inability of the country’s underdeveloped electrical grid to fully accommodate fast-multiplying wind turbines in remote, wind-rich areas. Recent efforts to expand and upgrade the grid have improved the situation: by the end of 2012, 80 percent of China’s estimated 75,600 megawatts of wind capacity were grid-connected.

China should easily meet its official target of 100,000 megawatts of grid-connected wind capacity by 2015. Looking further ahead, the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA) sees wind installations soaring to at least 200,000 megawatts by 2020. With the seven massive “Wind Base” mega-complexes now under construction in six provinces—slated to total at least 138,000 megawatts when complete in 2020—the CREIA projection seems well within reach.

China’s overall wind energy resource is staggering. Harvard researchers estimate that China’s wind generation potential is 12 times larger than its 2010 electricity consumption.

Wind Power Potential in China Compared with 2010 Electricity Consumption’ data-cke-saved-src=’/images/uploads/graphs_tables/highlights35_potential.PNG’ />

Wind power clearly has its advantages. The immense wind resource cannot be depleted; wind farms can be built quickly; they emit no climate-destabilizing carbon; and no costly fuel imports are needed to run them. (China spends billions of dollars each year importing most of the uranium needed to fuel its reactors.) Wind power is also ideal for countries such as China that face severe water shortages: unlike coal and nuclear power plants, wind farms need no water for cooling. As concerns about climate change and water scarcity mount, wind becomes increasingly attractive compared to conventional electricity sources.

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For more information, see Earth Policy Institute’s Wind Indicator and the Plan B Update “Fukushima Meltdown Hastens Decline of Nuclear Power,” or visit our Data Center at www.earth-policy.org.

Copyright © 2013 Earth Policy Institute

http://www.environmental-expert.com/news/wind-surpasses-nuclear-in-china-356718?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+environmental-expert%2Fnews-air+%28Latest+News+%26+Press+Releases+-+Air+%26+Climate%29

Sandia took an early interest in cybersecurity education about 10 years ago, with the creation of a cyber defenders student internship program. Cook explained, “With the advent of modern microelectronics and communication systems several decades ago, Sandia had to develop a very deep understanding of cryptography and other foundational cybersecurity concepts — ranging from the device physics to the application level — to rigorously protect weapon systems.”

A Sandia reseracher inspects a Thunderbird supercomputer component. // Sandia National Laboratories

19 February 2013

Sandia National Laboratories on Tuesday will inaugurate a cybersecurity center to perform offensive and defensive warfighting techniques that onsite nuclear weapons scientists have been practicing for decades.

The Cybersecurity Engineering Research Laboratory, which began operating in 2011, draws from nuclear research and development to test hardware vulnerabilities in closed facilities and model cyberweapons on supercomputers, Sandia officials said. Cybersecurity is one of the New Mexico-based lab’s defense systems missions. 

“Sandia’s cyber R&D capabilities are rooted in our [nuclear weapons] mission, and specifically weapons use-control engineering and adversarial threat assessment,” said Ben Cook, a senior manager for Sandia’s research and development science and engineering group.

Officials on Tuesday are expected to showcase several of the new lab’s capabilities in deflecting cyberattacks against citizens, businesses and governments. “Sandia was doing cyber before the term cyberspace existed,” states the national laboratory’s website.  

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