Nuclear Load Following. PV Magazine 5th Sept 2017 In 2015, Électricité de France put out a pamphlet titled Flexible nuclear generation to foster the development of renewable energy as one of its
“50 Solutions for the Climate.” The pamphlet boasts of the flexibility
of EDF’s nuclear fleet, showing a 1.3 GW nuclear power plant increasing
and decreasing its output by 70% within 30 minutes. The documentation
centers on the Golfech plant, and shows these impressive feats of rapid
ramping, with two cycles up and down within a 24 hour period. And while EDF
noted that such cycling was prompted by daily changes in demand, it also
stresses that such capabilities will be able to make nuclear power a good
complement to the fluctuating output of wind and solar on the grid.
However, in Northern Germany a situation has played out which challenges
this line of reasoning. In February the Brokdorf nuclear power plant was
taken offline after damage to its fuel rods was found. According to a local
nuclear supervisory authority, the operation of the plant in
“load-following” mode had contributed to unexpected oxidation of the
rods. As of July, the plant was operating in “safe mode,” and
politicians from Germany’s Green Party are calling on a Swiss reactor
near the German border with similar problems to be shut down.
So can nuclear accompany high levels of renewable energy? This is a technical and
economic question, and one that has ramifications for the future of the
technology. Nuclear power plants are regularly ramped up and down in
France, to partially respond to the shift in electricity demand from day to
night. Additionally, in other nations plants such as the Brokdorf facility
are ramped to respond to fluctuations in wind and solar generation,
although the vast majority of nuclear power plants are not.
The nuclear industry claims that all currently deployed boiling water reactors (BWR)
and pressurized water reactors (PWR), which make up the entire nuclear
fleet in the United States and the majority in Europe, can ramp quickly.
However, IASS Potsdam Senior Fellow Craig Morris, who has written
extensively about nuclear energy and renewables, has stated that “no
nuclear fleet worldwide is ramping to any significant extent, so we
actually have no idea whether ramping will work in practice.”
While developed nations should prioritize rapid decarbonization over short-term
costs, there is not now and never will be an unlimited amount of money to
pour into this problem. The nuclear industry knows this, and as such the
attempt to cast nuclear power plants as a suitable accompaniment to high
levels of wind and solar is ultimately a desperate act by an industry which
is in severe crisis in both Europe and the United States.
Nuclear reactors may be able to ramp (within limitations), but ultimately nuclear is
fighting for space on the grid with wind and solar. As such the building of
new nuclear power plants, and in some cases the extension of licenses for
old ones, can limit the transition to renewable energy https://www.pv-magazine.com/magazine-archive/balancing-act/
September 11, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
2 WORLD, spinbuster |
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Chain reaction? NuScale seeks to reignite UK small nuclear reactor plans
US nuclear technology specialist NuScale Power has this week unveiled a new
action plan, in an attempt to kickstart UK efforts to establish the country
as a pioneer in the development of small modular reactors (SMRs).
Last year the UK government launched a competition to accelerate the development of
SMRs, amid predictions the technology could help cut greenhouse gas
emissions and curb the cost of nuclear power.
However, the promised £250m, five year R&D programme has been beset by delays and earlier this summer
reports suggested a ‘crunch’ meeting was recently called between government
officials and potential SMR developers over the competition.
NuScale, which is backed by US engineering giant Fluor Corporation, this week sought to
highlight the UK’s potential role as an SMR hub with the publication of an
action plan detailing how it could deliver the technology by the 2020s. The
five-point UK SMR Action Plan sets out how the firm would partner with UK
industry to deliver a multi-billion pound SMR venture, which could see UK
firms provide more than 85 per cent of the content required for UK
reactors. https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3016958/chain-reaction-nuscale-seeks-to-reignite-uk-small-nuclear-reactor-plans
September 11, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
technology, UK |
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Big failure doesn’t merit big payouts The Times and Democrat 10 Sept 17 “…… there are stories within the nuclear story that make South Carolinians angry. One is the eye-popping sums of money doled out to executives at the two utilities while ratepayers are being asked to pay for failure.
The two companies were warned about serious problems plaguing the nuclear project, an independent analysis by Bechtel Corp. shows. Santee Cooper and SCE&G (whose parent company is Scana) were advised to hire someone to enforce contractor accountability.
In the report dated February 2016, Bechtel wrote the project suffers from “major project management issues that must be resolved for project success.”
But there was no resolution – even as executives with Scana were reaping rewards for their roles in the project.
Filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show Scana paid executives more than $21 million in performance bonuses over the past decade, including money for work on the nuclear project. The filings do not say exactly how much of the $21 million was based on the failed project.
Last year, Scana’s top five executives received $3.3 million in performance-based pay, according to the federal filings examined by The State newspaper of Columbia.
Nearly half of last year’s performance pay went to Scana chief executive Kevin Marsh and represents about a quarter of his $6 million in total compensation.
The filings said Marsh’s $1.4 million performance-based bonus for 2016 was paid, in part, because of his “oversight and support of our nuclear construction activities.”
Meanwhile, Santee Cooper President Lonnie Carter became the first utility executive to depart after the nuclear project was abandoned. He won’t suffer in retirement for doing so, with his severance package being more lucrative than the $540,929 paid to him annually as a state employee.
The Bamberg County native will get $1 million in the first year of retirement, $800,000 annually for the next two decades and then $345,000 yearly for the rest of his life. He is 58.
No matter how the world of big finance works, don’t ask a South Carolinian to understand this…… In the world of the S.C. nuclear project and the two utilities, it appears those at the top are being paid in excess – even when the end result is failure.
September 11, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
business and costs, USA |
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Abandoned North Sea Wells May be Emitting ‘Significant’ Amounts of Methane, Study Warns, DESmog Blog, By Kyla Mandel • Monday, September 4, 2017 Abandoned offshore oil and gas wells in the North Sea may be a source of significant methane emissions finds a new study, which claims to be the first to measure the amount of methane leaking from offshore wells.
According to the study published recently in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, about one third of the region’s wells could be releasing between 3 and 17 thousand tonnes of methane into the North Sea each year. “This poses a significant contribution to the North Sea methane budget,” it states.
But despite the scale of emissions that may be leaking from abandoned wells, these emissions are not currently being monitored by regulators or operators.
Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and – pound for pound – can trap much more heat in the atmosphere over the course of a couple of decades.
The study comes as operators begin planning for the end of oil and gas extraction from the North Sea – over the next couple decades hundreds of oil rigs will need to be decommissioned. Yet, under current rules, operators are not required to monitor inactive or abandoned wells, opening up a regulatory gap as the North Sea moves into a new phase.
As the study’s authors write: “Our and other recent studies clearly document strongly increased CH4 [methane] emissions in areas with oil and gas operations, which may counteract our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by switching supply from coal to gas.
“Therefore, it is important to improve our surveying and monitoring efforts and adapt the respective regulatory frameworks (national and international), because the regional aggregate of thousands of wells with fairly low gas flows can be substantial.”
The study measured three abandoned offshore wells in the Central North Sea where shallow gas pockets were releasing methane. From this they were able to create a model to measure the impact across the region at depths limited to the upper 1000 meters of the ocean sediment.
Due to the shallow depths at which the methane is released, not all of it remains in the oceans. The scientists found that a large portion — 42 percent — of the methane emissions leaking from the abandoned wells reach the atmosphere where they will contribute to rising temperatures………
More and better data is needed in order to start addressing this issue of so-called fugitive emissions, Haekel argued. He and his team plan to make another trip to the North Sea this month to continue gathering more data from other wells.
The CCC is also planning to study the issue of fugitive emissions from conventional petroleum production both onshore and offshore.
“We need these numbers to have a proper discussion about energy conversion, going from oil and gas and coal to renewables,” Haeckel said, adding that the wells his team are studying in the North Sea are just one part of the bigger picture.https://www.desmog.uk/2017/09/04/abandoned-north-sea-wells-may-be-emitting-significant-amounts-methane-study-warns
September 11, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
2 WORLD, climate change |
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Amid nuclear setbacks, Virginia utility pauses plans for new reactor, SOUTH EAST ENERGY NEWS 
BY, Jim Pierobon, September 6,
Dominion Energy has paused development activities on a fifth reactor at a Virginia nuclear power plant, according to a company spokesperson.
The move comes amid ever-growing scrutiny now that construction on two reactors in South Carolina has stopped and plans for others in the region have been scrapped…….
“Dominion is clearly realizing its bet on more nuclear in Virginia was a colossal mistake and waste of ratepayer subsidies,” said Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and an outspoken opponent of additional reactors in Virginia.
Jim Little, a consultant who represents the industry on South Carolina’s Nuclear Advisory Council and chairs the Carolinas Nuclear Cluster, cut to the chase in a primer on the industry’s status for an executive conference in early August.
“Would you be willing to continue investing in an established business with flat revenues (and) increasing costs (electricity) while competing against an agile field of competitors (renewables and natural gas) who enjoy market advantage of lower costs, quicker deployment schedules, support of government subsidies and favorable public opinion?”
……Dominion’s choice of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and their Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor technology for North Anna 3, or NA3 as it’s known, is viewed by critics as a major risk because such a reactor has never been built in the U.S. The higher estimated cost of $19 billion alone is a hurdle all its own.
Little and Adams agreed that neither GE nor Hitachi has a program underway to foster the size and depth of a supply chain for the pipes, valves, pressure vessels and other parts, along with the engineering skills, needed to complete one of its reactors on time and on budget. The ever-shrinking U.S. nuclear construction supply chain along with an aging workforce pose a significant obstacle to on-time, and on-budget construction, according to industry veterans.
Will ratepayers pick up the bill?
Perhaps the most salient question facing Dominion is whether it will be permitted to charge ratepayers for all of its development work to date.
“The State Corporation Commission has repeatedly warned Dominion not to expect to be granted the right to charge ratepayers for continuing development of NA3,” said Ivy Main, a frequent critic of Dominion and active member of the Sierra Club.
“Three years ago Dominion persuaded the General Assembly to allow them to charge ratepayers for the majority of its development costs to that point, about $500 million,” Main said. “So Dominion may feel it can always allow them to recover development costs even when the SCC turns them down. We hope this time our legislators stand up for their constituents and say no.”
The tally thus far for pursing a fifth reactor reportedly exceeds $600 million.…. http://southeastenergynews.com/2017/09/06/amid-nuclear-setbacks-virginia-utility-pauses-plans-for-new-reactor/
September 11, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
business and costs, USA |
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Dr. Sitakanta Mishra , from an article in Indrastra, 3 Sept 17
A Prognosis Despite the promising future of thorium-based nuclear systems, critics point to several inherent drawbacks. First, though uranium is in short-supply, the post-Fukushima uranium market is not very competitive. Uranium is still available or supplied in plenty by many countries, especially in India after the Indo-US nuclear deal. Secondly, thorium-based programs have been discarded by many countries as they are expensive and time-consuming.
Skeptics believe that “the likelihood of a rapid expansion of nuclear power” in India is “very dim” The goal post of the three-stage program (and PFBR) has been shifted several times, and the final shape of the planned AHWR300-LEU is definitely far away; in the worst case, it may not fructify at all. Since the thorium utilization in FBR is a long way off, the AHWR was designed to give a quick start for the technological developments of thorium cycle.
September 11, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
general |
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Nuke scandal reveals bedrock corruption, Lancaster News South Carolina , By Phil Noble, Sunday, September 10, 2017 The current scandal of SCANA’s (S.C. Electric and Gas parent company) and Santee Cooper’s nuclear debacle is arguably the biggest scandal in our state’s history in the last 100 years.
It involves over $9 billion in wasted money that millions of South Carolinians are being asked to pay and the wholesale corruption of our State House that enables it all to happen.
It is a sordid scandal of long-term political corruption, short-term corporate incompetence (or worse) and the total denial of responsibility by all who are at fault……http://www.thelancasternews.com/content/column-nuke-scandal-reveals-bedrock-corruption
September 11, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
general |
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