Nuclear industry ‘s struggle to survive – launches huge public relations push
Given that offshore wind is expected to continue falling in price and is being built at the moment, unlike nuclear, the economic case for new reactors in the U.K. appears to diminish by the day.
Similar challenges face nuclear elsewhere in Western Europe.
But the situation in the U.S. is even worse. In America it is now no longer economically viable to keep existing plants running, let alone build new ones.
How the Nuclear Industry Is Fighting Back, The beleaguered nuclear power sector has launched a charm offensive in a bid to stay relevant. Greentech Media , APRIL 30, 2018 The West’s nuclear industry has embarked on its biggest public relations push ever in a bid to stay relevant to policymakers increasingly focused on renewables.
Recent weeks have seen a coordinated campaign by two of the sector’s top agencies to claw back support for a technology that is struggling to remain economically viable and is in danger of being sidelined in discussions over future energy pathways in Europe and North America.
In the U.S., the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) kicked off proceedings in an apparently low-key fashion. With little fanfare, the Institute’s website had a facelift in early March, dispensing with its former staid design and adopting a more modern look with bold type and plenty of video.
In the place of headlines about developments in nuclear technology, the NEI’s site now plays inspirational messages over images of children, cityscapes and electric cars. “Carbon-free. Available 24/7. Powering communities,” it says. “Vital to our clean energy future.”
Soon after, the NEI began talking up its annual briefing for the financial community, which, for the first time, was being streamed live on Facebook.
Ominously for an industry where new developments always seem plagued with delays, the livestreaming event started late due to technical problems.
Once underway, NEI president and CEO Maria Korsnick lost no time in stating the case for ongoing nuclear energy support. . …..
OECD’s nuclear group weighs in Less than 24 hours after the NEI event, the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) took the helm of the industry’s communications machine with the launch of a major report.
The Full Costs of Electricity Provision was unveiled by the NEA’s director-general, William D. Magwood IV, and senior economist, Jan Horst Keppler, along with NEI’s senior director of policy development, Matthew Crozat, and nuclear advocate Kirsty Gogan. …..
A glance through the 214-page document shows it to be a serious attempt by the NEA to reframe the parameters of current energy policy discussions and head off one of two major threats facing the sector.
While nobody disputes nuclear power’s ability to deliver significant quantities of baseload, [?] carbon-free energy, the industry has long wrestled with safety concerns and more recently found itself outflanked by the economics of Western electricity markets.
It is likely that the nuclear sector has learned to take safety accusations in its stride. For years, advocates have been claiming that nuclear power is safer than any other form of electricity generation (although Greenpeace disputes this).
Those arguments didn’t stop nations such as Germany or Italy from turning against nuclear in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, however.
And more recently, nuclear plant operators in Europe and, particularly, the U.S. have been worrying over an even bigger concern: cost. In markets such as the U.K., new nuclear is looking increasingly pricey next to renewables.
Last September, for instance, offshore wind — theoretically one of the most expensive forms of mainstream renewable energy generation — undercut the strike price for the U.K.’s Hinkley Point C project by almost 38 percent.
Given that offshore wind is expected to continue falling in price and is being built at the moment, unlike nuclear, the economic case for new reactors in the U.K. appears to diminish by the day, even though the government has restated its commitment to a diverse energy mix.
Similar challenges face nuclear elsewhere in Western Europe. Only two commercial nuclear reactors, Flamanville 3 and Olkiluoto 3, are under construction in the European Union. Both are massively delayed and over budget. But the situation in the U.S. is even worse.
In America it is now no longer economically viable to keep existing plants running, let alone build new ones.
The dire situation facing reactors in U.S. markets flooded with cheap gas and renewables is prompting desperate measures from plant owners in states such as Minnesota and New Jersey. And the NEA report is designed to force a rethink in how these markets are set up. …… Its main finding is that the external costs of the normal operations of electricity generation exceed the costs of other phases of the life cycle of electricity generation, as well as the costs of major accidents, “by at least one order of magnitude.”
…… The problem is that the NEA’s clear interest in promoting nuclear energy somewhat taints the impartiality of the report, opening it up to criticism from observers.
….A one-sided interpretation? Amory Lovins, the notoriously anti-nuclear Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) chief scientist and co-founder, pulled no punches over the NEA’s attempt to calculate all-in energy costs. A large body of literature, with widely varying quality and independence, has already done this, he said.
“NEA endorses a one-sided interpretation of that literature,” he said. “The workshop that framed and steered this report was co-chaired by two well-known nuclear advocates, making NEA an extension and official endorser of the nuclear industry’s main advocacy group.”
He offered up a long list of potential flaws in the report, including selective citations, assumed rather than observed technology costs, no analysis of financing cost, no mention of risk premiums or construction times, the use of old pricing data, and factually incorrect claims.
Some points of the analysis are largely or wholly correct, but most sections and the broad conclusions are not, he told GTM. “They will be credible only to the credulous or already-committed,” he said. …
Frustration and anger: Irish groups concerned at UK govt’s plans for nuclear reactors all too close to densely populated Irish East coast
This has been a lone battle’: Frustration at government approach to nuclear plant plans in UK http://www.thejournal.ie/hinkley-c-power-plant-3988366-May2018/
An Oireachtas committee is planning to write a submission to UK authorities to express its concern.
AN OIREACHTAS COMMITTEE will express its concerns to UK authorities about plans to build a new power plant on the west coast of England as environmental experts here claim the government has failed to consider the possible consequences for Ireland.
Attracta Uí Bhroin, of the Irish Environmental Network told the Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government that her intention was not to panic people or cause unnecessary concern, but her organisation wants to ensure Irish people’s rights are upheld.
Although the process for the new nuclear site at Hinckley Point in England, which is 250km from the coast of Ireland, began five years ago, it was only in 2016 that the news about the plans broke.
Hinkley Point C was given the final investment approval by French energy giant EDF, which has a two-thirds share and which is building the plant in conjunction with a Chinese company.
Speaking to TDs and senators today, Uí Broin pointed out that of the eight power plants the UK has planned as part of its energy expansion, “five are on the west coast of the UK, facing Ireland on the most densely populated east coast”.
Some of these plants are planned in locations closer than Hinkley Point C.
The potential economic impact of a nuclear leak or meltdown could be very serious, she explained. A 2016 ESRI report considered a scenario where there was a nuclear incident, but with no radioactive contamination reaching Ireland.
“Even then they estimated that impact economically could be in the order of €4 billion,” she said, explaining that an incident such as this would have serious implications for the agrifood and tourism industries in Ireland.
In the event of an incident where there is a risk of contamination, she said there are no detailed plans in place to protect Irish people, the water supply, or the country’s farm animals and produce.
“Not only would you not have fodder, you would not have livestock. You are talking about the national herd.”
She explained that the UK had made two screening determinations as part of its assessment process ahead of construction.
“There are serious questions about the adequacy of the assessment of impacts on Ireland in particular and the complacency of Ireland in respect of that assessment.”
Despite the fact that Ireland is the nearest state to the plant, Uí Bhroin said it was “entirely omitted” from the severe accident assessment.
She pointed out that other countries like Austria, Denmark and Germany had pushed back and insisted on being consulted and included in the assessment process.
Uí Bhroin was joined by Professors John Sweeney and Steve Thomas, who outlined some of the specific concerns around safety assessment and treatment of waste.
Sweeney was critical of the models used in risk assessments – some older models were used in calculations, for example, despite the fact that more modern ones exist.
Thomas spoke about some of the parts of the plant which are being made in France and which French regulatory authorities will not a clear for use in French nuclear plants.
Uí Bhroin said there was an “extraordinary level of frustration, anger and disappointment” among environmental groups at the government’s reaction to these plans.
“This has been a lone battle by Irish ENGOs [Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations],” she told the committee. She also said there had been a “lack of support and expertise from Irish bodies”.
Responding to the evidence from the witnesses, Green Party Senator Grace O’Sullivan said she was concerned about what impact the committee could have at this late stage.
“We are here not very late in the day.”
The public consultation deadline for the plans is 11 May.
Russia’s nuclear reactor ship raises fears of a maritime ‘Chernobyl
Green groups warn of maritime ‘Chernobyl’ as Russia launches floating nuclear power plant, Telegraph UK 1 MAY 2018
A controversial ship-borne nuclear power plant was launched from St Petersburg as part of a Russian plan to power remote seaside settlements.
The Akademik Lomonosov, which green groups have dubbed “a floating Chernobyl,” was towed from the shipyard where it was built in the Gulf of Finland on Saturday.
It will be towed through the Baltic Sea and around the coast of Norway to Russia’s Arctic port of Murmansk, where it will be loaded with nuclear fuel for sea tests……..Rosatom, Russia’s state owned nuclear energy monopoly, now says it will go into service in Chukotka, the far eastern province opposite Alaska, in 2019.
But the project has drawn fierce opposition from environmentalists alarmed at the prospect of a nuclear accident in stormy, ice-filled oceans.
The Lomonosov was originally meant to be tested at the shipyard in St Petersburg, but plans were changed for an arctic test after protests from other Baltic sea countries.
“To test a nuclear reactor in a densely populated area like the centre of St. Petersburg is irresponsible to say the least,” said Jan Haverkamp of Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe in a statement.
“However, moving the testing of this ‘nuclear Titanic’ away from the public eye will not make it less so: Nuclear reactors bobbing around the Arctic Ocean will pose a shockingly obvious threat to a fragile environment which is already under enormous pressure from climate change.”….. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/01/green-groups-warn-maritime-chernobyl-russia-launches-floating/
North Korea’s nuclear test site in fact fully operational?
North Korea nuclear test site ‘operational’ https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-test-site-operational-20180501-p4zcqp.html
Seoul: North Korea’s nuclear test site is fully operational, a specialised website reports, corroborating a similar announcement by the North Korean leader earlier.
Pyongyang offered to permanently close down the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in May in the presence of international observers and journalists after the two Koreas agreed on a complete denuclearisation of the Peninsula during a historical summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday.
“The two mountainous areas accessible by the South and West Portals remain viable, and could support future underground nuclear testing,” the website 38North said after analysing new radar data about the site.
The report also confirmed that the two central tunnels of the site were in good condition, contrary to earlier reports by Chinese experts who said they could have been irreversibly damaged after the sixth and most powerful underground nuclear test carried out by Pyongyang in September.
The report also confirmed Kim’s earlier assertion that Pyongyang was shutting down not defunct but rather operational nuclear facilities, including the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, the centre where it carried out all of its six nuclear tests.
During the historical summit, Kim had proposed that the site should be shut down publicly to highlight Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearisation.
38North said that although the north portal – used by Pyongyang for five of the six tests – seems to have been abandoned, they had detected construction of new tunnels in another section of the site.
38North – a website linked to the John Hopkins University in the United States – said that the new tunnels could allow the use of underground installations, dismissing analysis by other experts who said North Korea had announced the closure because the facility had become completely unusable.
Growing concerns in Scotland over dangers of nuclear weapons “convoys” travelling through towns and cities
Scotsman 30th April 2018 , The Scottish Government will this week face calls to hold a review into
concerns over nuclear weapons “convoys” travelling through towns and cities
in Scotland. The Greens have said the SNP government, which opposes nuclear
weapons, is responsible for community safety and emergency planning and
cannot dismiss the issue as being reserved to Westminster.
MSPs are preparing to debate the issue at Holyrood on Wednesday, where Green MSP
Mark Ruskell will call for a review.
Up to eight times a year, a convoy of heavy trucks containing weapon materials and nuclear warheads travels
between the Aldermaston and Burghfield atomic weapon plants in Berkshire to
the Royal Navy base at Coulport on Loch Long where the UK’s nuclear weapons
are stored. These trucks will often be carrying weapons materials for
maintenance or replacement. But a Freedom of Information request by Green
MSPs last year found that none of the relevant local authorities the trucks
pass through has conducted risk assessments in relation to the convoys.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/greens-seek-review-of-nuclear-convoy-safety-1-4732236
The UN’s climate change body releases its first annual report
http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/news/the-uns-climate-change-body-releases-its-first-annual-report, 1 May 18 The UN’s official climate secretariat has launched its first annual report into its work in combatting climate change.
The body is instrumental in delivering the commitments of the Paris Agreement and Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon emissions and prevent the rise in global temperatures.
“Climate Change is the single biggest threat to life, security and prosperity on Earth,” said executive secretary Patricia Espinosa.
“This annual report shows how UN Climate Change is doing everything it can to support, encourage and build on the global response to climate change,” she added.
The report covers what UN Climate Change sees as its key achievements over the past year including its official conference, COP23, in Bonn. The 30,000 people who attended helped ensure action on climate change was maintained, including the importance of commitments before 2020.
The conference also saw financial commitments of almost $1 billion made by member states on partners. Norway led a coalition pledging $400 million to support sustainable agriculture and forest management. Germany, the UK, and others also pledged $153 million to fight deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
The launch of the Talanoa Dialogues have been a central part of UN Climate Change’s work in 2017. This Fiji-led idea is designed to be a ‘global conversation’ to involve as many people in climate action as possible. The Dialogues aim to inform and inspire member states as they work on their climate commitments. UN Climate Change’s first-ever Gender Action Plan was also launched to increase the participation of women in the response to climate change.
The report also looks to the challenges throughout 2018, including the official adoption of the Paris Agreement’s work programme and procedures in December.
“Throughout 2018 and beyond, let us do all in our power, together, to accelerate action,” said Ms. Espinosa. “Only by doing so can we succeed in protecting our planet from climate change and securing a low-carbon, sustainable future.”
In addition, the report also details the agency’s total funding, with its running costs now reaching $98 million, covering its rolling programmes and activities. $29 million is set aside as part its core budget. Staff costs for its 400 employees are now at $1.5 million.
UK: Many cops guarding nuclear weapons found to be unfit
Daily Record 30th April 2018 , Dozens of elite gun cops tasked with protecting Britain’s nuclear weapons
at Faslane and other military sites are too unfit to carry firearms, it
emerged yesterday. A shocking report into the Ministry of Defence Police
reveals “concern” at the growing number who have been sidelined. The
crisis has emerged after tougher fitness tests equal to those taken by
other armed officers were introduced. Some MoD police – whose jobs include
guarding the nuclear submarine fleet at Faslane, SAS headquarters in
Hereford and GCHQ’s Cheltenham base – have failed the new tests. Others
have simply refused to take part, the Mail on Sunday reported.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/gun-cops-faslane-too-unfit-12451711
Rare eye cancer cases reported (not a mention of proximity to nuclear station)
Doctors are stumped after at least 36 people from SAME Alabama college are diagnosed with rare eye cancer that affects only six in every million
- Researchers are investigating the cause of ocular melanoma in two communities
- Eighteen people in Huntersville, North Carolina have been diagnosed
- A troubling and rising number of people affiliated with Auburn University in Alabama have been diagnosed as well
- The rare disease affects only six out of every one million people
- One woman started an Auburn ocular melanoma Facebook page where 36 people reached out saying they too have been diagnosed
- The university has launched its own investigation
A rare eye cancer has struck 18 people in North Carolina and reportedly 36 more in Alabama, leaving doctors stumped as they search for a cause.
Only six out of every one million people are diagnosed with ocular melanoma each year.
Four friends with the rare cancer who attended Auburn University together believe an investigation into their alma mater may find the cause.
In January, 18 patients within a 15-mile radius were diagnosed with the cancer in Huntersville, North Carolina.
The four friends with ocular melanoma, have learned of 36 other Auburn University grads or workers who have the cancer as well, according to CBS………
Although the situation in Auburn has not been dubbed a cluster, the group of patients with the cancer in Huntersville has been defined as a cancer cluster.
In Huntersville not only have 18 people have been affected, but four have died within a 15-mile radius due to the illness.
Oddly the cancer, although more typically found in men in their 60s, has affected majority women in their 30s or younger in the community.
Investigators studying the Huntersville cluster with accounts dating back to 2014, published a report earlier this month that said no cause of the cluster has been found.
The study investigated air, water and land related issues but it yielded no findings towards a cause.
‘It’s just hard to believe that there’s not a common thread here. I just keep thinking they need to do more,’ Mecklenburg County Commissioner Pat Cotham said to WCNC. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5675573/Rare-eye-cancer-strikes-communities-North-Carolina-Alabama.html#ixzz5EDN7ZUDA
Hitachi seeks talks to slash shareholding in UK nuclear business, seeks direct government funding
Nikkei Asian Review 29th April 2018 , Chairman to ask British premier May to take direct stake in Horizon power unit.
Hitachi will ask the U.K. government to take a direct stake in the company
that is to build and operate a nuclear power plant in Wales which is now
100% owned by the Japanese industrial company.
Hitachi expects the U.K. government will invite private British companies to participate and hopes
to reduce its own stake to less than 50%. Hitachi has recently concluded
that the risk of proceeding with the Anglesey project, at an estimated cost
of more than 3 trillion yen ($27.5 billion), is too great to manage on its
own as a private company.
It plans to withdraw from the project if restructuring negotiations fall through. Such a move would have significant
repercussions for nuclear power policy for both Britain and Japan. In
response to Hitachi’s concerns, the British government earlier this month
proposed that U.K. interests and Japanese public and private interests join
with Hitachi to move Anglesey forward. The three sets of shareholders would
each put 300 billion yen into the project, giving each a one-third stake.
According to sources, the company and the Japanese government see it as too
risky for Japanese interests to retain a majority shareholding and hope
that British interests will acquire a controlling stake.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Hitachi-seeks-talks-to-slash-shareholding-in-UK-nuclear-business
Legal discussions over failed nuclear plants – will result in tougher regulations
Tougher utility regulations advance, as attorneys argue over failed S.C. nuclear project https://www.postandcourier.com/business/tougher-utility-regulations-advance-as-attorneys-argue-over-failed-s/article_872a5b7c-4d5d-11e8-8743-b78c8b42b82a.html, By Andrew Brown abrown@postandcourier.com
Academy apologizes for Taoist blessings at nuclear project
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1100320.shtml
The Beijing-based academy apologized for not restraining the behavior of its partner, claiming the ritual was “against the spirit of science” in a statement released on its official Sina Weibo account on Monday.
He Zhanjun and Cao Yuxiang, employees at the academy’s Shanghai institute of applied physics, were suspended on Monday after the institute found they were present at the ritual but did nothing to stop it.
The Thorium Molten Salt Reactor Nuclear Energy System is a project developed by the academy and the Gansu government at a total cost of 22 billion yuan ($3.48 billion).
Seven officials from Minqin county, Gansu Province are also being investigated by a local discipline watchdog after pictures of the ritual went viral.
The photos showed a Taoist monk holding religious items and reciting incantations as a lamb was slaughtered and yellow papers with Taoist spells were burned in front of him.
The heated debate, whether for or against, was valuable in attracting public attention to projects involving large amounts of public money, noted Zhao Chu, a Shanghai-based columnist and military affairs specialist.
“At a time when knowledge and sciences are advocated, we should also reserve some respect for historical and cultural heritage as well as local and religious customs,” Zhao wrote in an article posted on news site qq.com on Tuesday.
Welsh anti-nuclear activists need to go to Japan
You can help get them there
By Linda Pentz Gunter
New nuclear build in the US is pretty much dead. If the two AP1000 reactors under construction by the bankrupt Westinghouse in Georgia are ever completed it will be a miracle — and not of the good kind.
Even in Japan, despite the nuclear promoting ardor of its misguided prime minister, Shinzo Abe, nuclear power is struggling to recover. Nuclear power plants will never be back in any kind of meaningful numbers in a post-Fukushima Japan. But of course one is too many.
Naoto Kan visited with a Welsh farming family who oppose Wylfa B. Kan spoke out against nuclear power during a 2015 visit. Photo: Julian Wynne
View original post 1,120 more words
The myth of nuclear deterrence
Why the arguments that promote it just don’t work
By Linda Pentz Gunter
In trying to argue the myth of deterrence, it is easy to feel as if one has landed in the middle of this brilliantly inspired January 9, 1986 segment of the British television comedy, Yes, Prime Minister. In it, Sir Humphrey tries to persuade the British Prime Minister that purchasing Trident missiles will provide Britain with a nuclear deterrent. But the argument quickly unravels.
But many a truth spoken in jest, as they say. The uncertainty over what the enemy probably does or does not believe is at the very heart of why deterrence remains deeply flawed and arguably a myth.
Nevertheless, deterrence is the cornerstone of nuclear weapons policy, perpetuating their possession by nine nations. If we are serious about moving the nuclear ban agenda forward, we cannot shy away from the deterrence argument.
View original post 751 more words
1 This Month
of the week – Shut Down Drone Warfare!
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Petition to revoke the licensing of the Near Surface Nuclear Disposal Facility (NSDF) at Chalk River. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7247
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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