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Nuclear utility Vattenfall in crisis – third consecutive annual loss

doom and gloomNuclear tax and low prices continue to impact Vattenfall, World Nuclear News, 04 February 2016 Swedish utility Vattenfall has announced a loss of SEK19.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in 2015, its third consecutive annual loss. It attributed this partly to continued low electricity prices and unprofitable Swedish nuclear power reactors…….

Vattenfall CEO Magnus Hall said, “The major challenge in 2015 continued to be the impact that today’s very low electricity prices have on Vattenfall’s profitability and the valuation of our assets. Unfortunately, combined with new regulatory requirements, this led to further write-downs, mainly on the values of Swedish nuclear power and German lignite in the summer.”

He added, “Continued falling prices and a nuclear tax corresponding to SEK0.07 per kilowatt-hour have put Swedish nuclear power in a critical situation…….http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/C-Nuclear-tax-and-low-prices-continue-to-impact-Vattenfall-0402164.html

February 8, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, Sweden | Leave a comment

Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage might or might not work for global nuclear salesmen

India Joins Nuclear Liability Pact, Opening Door to Foreign Reactor Investments http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2016/02/05/397765.htm By Rajesh Kumar Singh and Stephen Stapczynski | February 5, 2016  India’s decision to join a global treaty on nuclear accident liability may help it woo reactor suppliers, including Westinghouse Electric Co. and General Electric Co., that have been reluctant to sell technology to the nation.

The country ratified the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, also known as CSC, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Thursday. India’s current law allows operators to hold suppliers responsible for accidents, making international equipment makers hesitant to sign deals as the nation seeks to expand nuclear power capacity more than 10-fold by 2032………

India’s decision to join a global treaty on nuclear accident liability may help it woo reactor suppliers, including Westinghouse Electric Co. and General Electric Co., that have been reluctant to sell technology to the nation.

The country ratified the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, also known as CSC, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Thursday. India’s current law allows operators to hold suppliers responsible for accidents, making international equipment makers hesitant to sign deals as the nation seeks to expand nuclear power capacity more than 10-fold by 2032.

One Step

Ratifying the CSC is the latest effort the government has taken to ease suppliers’ concerns that they would be open to liability claims in case of a nuclear accident. Joining the treaty “marks a conclusive step in the addressing of issues related to civil nuclear liability in India,” the country’s external affairs ministry said in a statement Thursday.

In 2011, India capped suppliers’ liability, saying claims by the nation’s nuclear plant operator can’t exceed the amount of compensation paid by the utility. That was followed last year with the creation of a 15 billion rupees ($222 million) insurance pool to shield the operator, Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd., and the suppliers against claims. The government also last year issued a note explaining the law, including the sections that leave suppliers exposed to lawsuits.

No Modification

“The ratification is a very important step for the comfort of foreign vendors,” said Sekhar Basu, secretary at India’s Department of Atomic Energy.

Westinghouse Electric expects to reach a deal with India by the end of this year to provide at least six nuclear reactors, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Roderick said in December. France’s Areva SA signed an accord in 2009 to supply six 1,650-megawatt reactors at Jaitapur, a coastal town in India’s western province of Maharashtra.

“Ratifying the CSC is a step in the right direction towards unlocking the market potential for further nuclear development in India,” Jeff Benjamin, senior vice president of new plants and major projects at Westinghouse, said by e-mail. General Electric and Areva didn’t respond to requests for comment outside normal business hours.

The ratification doesn’t change the country’s existing liability laws, according to R. Rajaraman, emeritus professor of physics at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of Physical Sciences.

“This will not lead to a re-think or a modification of our liability act,” Rajaraman said in an e-mail. “That would not be politically feasible.”

Vikas Swarup, spokesman for India’s External Affairs Ministry, didn’t respond to requests seeking comment. Calls to Jagdish Thakkar, a spokesman at the prime minister’s office, weren’t answered.–With assistance from Archana Chaudhary.

February 8, 2016 Posted by | India, marketing | Leave a comment

Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) does not override India’s nuclear liability law

Nuclear still unclear: Does ratification of CSC fix problems of nuclear law?   Now that India has ratified the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) for Nuclear Damage, the question is whether this paves the way for firms like GE, Westinghouse and Areva setting up nuclear plants in India or whether the Indian Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CNLD) Act still effectively acts as a deterrent. The Financial Express, By:  | New Delhi | February 5, 2016  Now that India has ratified the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) for Nuclear Damage, the question is whether this paves the way for firms like GE, Westinghouse and Areva setting up nuclear plants in India or whether the Indian Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CNLD) Act still effectively acts as a deterrent. Considering that, on his visit to India less than six months ago, GE CEO Jeff Immelt was quite dismissive of the changes proposed by India, it would appear it isn’t quite the done deal that was made out by the government which, after the ratification in Vienna, said “this marks a conclusive step in the addressing of issues related to civil nuclear liability in India”.

While in India, Immelt had said “the world has an established liability regime … it has been accepted and adopted … I can’t put my company on risk … India can’t reinvent the language on liability”. All that the ratification means, for all practical purposes, is that India considers its nuclear liability law to be in conformity with the CSC; it doesn’t mean that the CSC will now override the Indian law. Indeed, as the FAQs released by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) last year in February make clear, India has believed its law to be in conformity with CSC for a long time. “Based on the presentations by the Indian side …”, the MEA’s FAQs read, “there is a general understanding that India’s CLND law is compatible with the CSC”; at another place, the FAQs states “the provisions of the CLND Act are broadly in conformity with the CSC”.

The MEA sought to downplay the concerns of investors like Immelt on Clauses 17 and 46 – and, to a lesser extent, even clause 6 – of the CLND. While clause 6 talks of the central government, from time to time, reviewing the operator’s liability, clauses 17 and 46 deal with supplier liability and possible suits based on this – the initial no-faults liability under the law is that of the operator of the plant, not the supplier, but the operator can file a damages claim against suppliers later. ……..
 the MEA says, there were two amendments to this clause that specifically tried to include suppliers in the provision but these were not adopted by Parliament. And, apart from the funds that will be available from the CSC – each nuclear supplier contributes to this fund which is to be used in case of an accident – the government also talks of the Rs 1,500 crore Indian nuclear insurance pool set up which potential suppliers can use to insure themselves. The question, the lawyers of nuclear suppliers are asking is: in case of an accident, will courts go by the written law or by the MEA’s FAQs and the government’s intent in creating the insurance pool. Immelt made his answer quite clear; that of the other suppliers is not clear as yet. http://www.financialexpress.com/article/fe-columnist/nuclear-still-unclear-does-ratification-of-csc-fix-problems-of-nuclear-law/207722/

February 8, 2016 Posted by | India, Legal | 1 Comment

Hinkley nuclear project – one crisis after another

Hinkley Point nuclear power station lurches into another crisis after director of £18bn project quits, This Is Money By EMILY DAVIES FOR THE DAILY MAIL 4 February 2016 Hinkley Point nuclear power station lurched into another crisis after the director of the £18bn project quit……..His resignation comes just days after EDF delayed giving approval to construction of Hinkley Point C as it struggles to find the billions of pounds to finance the deal.

Hinkley Point, in Somerset, has been beset with delays and cost overruns since 2010. EDF agreed a subsidy deal over Hinkley Point in 2013 and currently has a 66.5 per cent stake in the project, after Chinese utility CGN took a 33.5 per cent stake in the project.

But EDF has £28bn net debt and needs to find an estimated £41bn to extend the lifespan of 58 French nuclear plants. The company is said to be pressuring the French government, which owns 85 per cent of EDF, to take some of its stake in Hinkley Point.

And this week it emerged that the power station could be further put off, as five French union members on EDF’s 18-seat board came out in opposition of the project.  http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3430400/Hinkley-Point-nuclear-power-station-lurches-crisis-director-18bn-project-quits.html#ixzz3zKCwnvD2

February 8, 2016 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Nuclear Terrorism: 296,000 Radioactive Shots Per SECOND (Bq) per Liter of Water (34 oz) Near Entergy’s Indian Pt. Nuclear Power Station; Compare to M134 Gun at 100 Rounds Per Second

miningawareness's avatarMining Awareness +

296,000 Radioactive Shots Per SECOND (Bequerels) per Liter of Water (34 oz) in groundwater test wells for Entergy’s Indian Pt. Nuclear Power Station. Compare to a M134 MiniGun at 100 Rounds Per Second.

The idea of a gunshot analogy is not our invention, but rather from Los Alamos Nuclear Lab, Number 23 1995, Los Alamos Science, where they compare radiation damage types to rifles, shotguns, etc.

How long would an individual get by with shooting a gun of any sort at people in public? And, yet the nuclear industry-utilities get by with it all of the time. They are allowed by law to legally leak long-lived lethal radioactive materials into the environment on a routine basis throughout the entire nuclear fuel chain. Being a New Orleans based company, Entergy’s just apparently decided to add radioactive lagniappe (a little something extra).

Water (H2O) and Carbon are the foundations of life…

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February 8, 2016 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

February 7 Energy News

geoharvey's avatargeoharvey

Science and Technology:

¶ Does shrinking ice in the Arctic lead to worse snow storms along the East Coast? It’s very possible says leading Arctic researcher Judah Cohen. In Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, at least five of the top 10 snow storms on record have occurred since 1990. [Washington Post]

September Arctic sea extent compared to 1981-2000 average portrayed by yellow line (NASA) September Arctic sea extent compared to 1981-2000 average portrayed by yellow line (NASA)

¶ The ice cover across the Arctic hit a new low throughout January. The Colorado-based National Snow and Ice Data Center tracked the lowest ice extent ever for January. The record-low ice extent was driven by unusually high air temperatures over the Arctic Ocean – more than 6° C (10.8° F) above average. [Nunatsiaq News]

World:

¶ The Ugandan company Kiira Motors recently showed off what it claims to be the first solar-powered bus in Africa – the Kayoola…

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February 8, 2016 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Taiwan 6.4 M Earthquake Reminder: Ring of Fire is Exceptionally Bad Location for Nuclear Power Stations

miningawareness's avatarMining Awareness +

Like Japan, Taiwan is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is an exceptionally bad location for nuclear power stations. About 90% of the world’s earthquakes and 81% of the world’s largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire. On Friday, Sakurajima volcano erupted in Japan and on early Saturday, local time, a large earthquake occurred in Taiwan.
"This dynamic earth: the story of plate tectonics" 1996, Kious, W. Jacquelyne; Tilling, Robert I., USGS Unnumbered Series General Interest Publication “The ‘Ring of Fire’, also called the Circum-Pacific belt, is the zone of earthquakes surrounding the Pacific Ocean- about 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur there. The next most seismic region (5-6% of earthquakes) is the Alpide belt (extends from Mediterranean region, eastward through Turkey, Iran, and northern India.” (“This dynamic earth: the story of plate tectonics” 1996, Kious, W. Jacquelyne; Tilling, Robert I., USGS Unnumbered Series General Interest Publication) http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/7000097

Recent 6.4 Magnitude Earthquake: Early Saturday in Taiwan. (Friday UTC: 2016-02-05 19:57:27 (UTC)
Taiwan 6.4 M 2016-02-05 19:57:27 (UTC) regional map fault

“Taiwan…

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February 8, 2016 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

February 6 Energy News

geoharvey's avatargeoharvey

World:

¶ Aviva stadium, home of the Ireland rugby team, will be fully powered by renewable energy for the upcoming 2016 Six Nations tournament. The move is expected to save almost 2,500 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2016 alone. The stadium has teamed up with SSE Airtricity, who will supply green electricity and gas. [edie.net]

The move is expected to save almost 2,500 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2016 alone The move is expected to save almost 2,500 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2016 alone

¶ Global energy efficiency investment will reach $5.8 trillion by the year 2030, according to a report from the International Renewable Energy Authority. By 2030, yearly energy efficiency investment will total around $385 billion, the report says. The focus will be buildings, manufacturing, and transportation. [Sustainnovate]

¶ Danish energy giant DONG Energy released its 2015 financial results, reporting a 13% increase in operating profit over 2014 figures. DONG said the the increase was thanks primarily to…

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February 8, 2016 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

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