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South Africa’s Minister of Energy says that S.A. has called of the deal with Russia to develop nuclear power

SA no longer has agreement with Russians on nuclear, says Radebe, Fin 24, Jun 04 2018 Khulekani Magubane  Cape Town – Minister of Energy Jeff Radebe told eNCA on Sunday evening that South Africa no longer had an agreement with the Russians to procure for the development of nuclear energy for the country.

Speaking to journalist and political analyst Karima Brown on the news network’s show The Fix, Radebe said he was of the view that government did not appeal the court ruling in 2017 which invalidated the nuclear deal at that time.

The energy portfolio in national government has seen unparalleled instability with at least five ministers of energy in the past eight years, and a subsequent lack of clarity as to whether the Intergovernmental Framework Agreement which mentions nuclear would still be pursued and what role nuclear would play in the energy mix…….https://www.fin24.com/Economy/sa-no-longer-has-agreement-with-russians-on-nuclear-says-radebe-20180604

 

June 6, 2018 Posted by | politics international, Russia, South Africa | Leave a comment

Court of Appeals rules that lawsuits can go ahead , seeking refunds for ratepayers, regarding V.C. Summer Nuclear Station

SCE&G ratepayers’ lawsuit over failed nuclear project can proceed, S.C. Court of Appeals says, Post and Courier, By Thad Moore tmoore@postandcourier.com Jun 4, 2018 

      A slate of lawsuits seeking refunds for South Carolina Electric & Gas ratepayers can go forward, the state Court of Appeals says.

SCE&G had tried to have four cases tied to its failed nuclear project tossed, arguing the courts shouldn’t decide how much electricity-users pay for service. Ratepayers sued for lower bills and refunds after the costly expansion of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station crumbled, saying they shouldn’t pay for a project that won’t produce power.

In an order handed down last week, the Court of Appeals sided with the ratepayers — at least enough to keep their case alive. It agreed with a trial court’s decision not to dismiss the cases…….https://www.postandcourier.com/business/sce-g-ratepayers-lawsuit-over-failed-nuclear-project-can-proceed/article_cd86ab38-680c-11e8-bed3-f794c9e49995.html

June 6, 2018 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Wildfire season has already begun close to Hanford nuclear reservation

Wildfire Season Starts Off With A Bang At Hanford https://www.opb.org/news/article/northwest-wildfire-season-2018-hanford-nuclear-reservation/  by Anna King June 5, 2018  Firefighters scrambled Sunday night at the Hanford nuclear reservation to corral a 2,800-acre wildfire. Hanford officials said the wildfire started Sunday evening. 

The fire, which was put out by midnight, was likely started by lightning and driven by blustery winds. It didn’t burn any buildings at Hanford or any areas where radioactive waste is stored.

Still, Hanford spokespeople said the fire is a good wakeup that the fire season has started in earnest. They’re concerned about tall dried grasses and brush from last year’s wet conditions — and this year’s drier conditions.

Hanford workers have been clearing firebreaks along highways that run through the 586-square-mile reservation.

Last summer, there were two large fires that burned across the Hanford Reach National Monument, BLM, state and private ground near the desert nuclear reservation. The East Saddle Mountain Fire was 17,465 acres and the Silver Dollar Fire burned 30,909 acres.

June 6, 2018 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Britain’s Tories have done a complete U turn about subsidising nuclear power – the reason why

Dave Toke’s Blog 4th June 2018 , For the sake of artificially massaging down the price paid for electricity
from the proposed Wylfa nuclear plant the Government is about to commit the
country to pay for billions of pounds of almost inevitable construction
cost overruns.

In doing so the Tories will be junking their opposition to
doing such a thing. In 2010 The Conservative Party election manifesto
stated that: ‘we agree with the nuclear industry that taxpayer and
consumer subsidies should not and will not be provided – in particular
there must be no public underwriting of construction cost overruns’

There was a very good reason for this manifesto commitment. None of the nuclear
power plant currently operating in the UK were constructed according to
their original cost estimates. They were built during the time when
electricity was nationalised, and so the costs were spread around all
consumers and there was limited transparency about the economics of
building nuclear plants.

The Tories decided that there should be no more
wastage of public money on nuclear plant which soaked the public purse.
They wanted competition in electricity generation. Nick Butler in the
Financial Times has made some perceptive comments on this peculiar deal. He
is one of the few who has done some serious thinking about how it can
possibly be the case that the Wylfa project will be sold on a ‘cheaper’
price than Hinkley C despite the fact that the projected cost of building
Wylfa is actually higher than Hinkley

The remarkable thing is that despite
this effort at price fakery, the price agreed will still be a lot higher
than that available for installing large amounts of onshore wind offshore
wind and solar power.
http://realfeed-intariffs.blogspot.com/2018/06/wylfa-how-tories-are-deliberately.html

June 6, 2018 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

This New Zealand broadcaster out to get an award for sheer nuclear ignorance

Mark Richardson calls for nuclear-powered transport 

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/06/mark-richardson-calls-for-nuclear-powered-transport.html04/06/2018 Mark Richardson has put forward the idea that New Zealand shouldn’t bother with electric vehicles, but rather focus on nuclear-powered transport.

The broadcaster made the suggestion on Three’s The Project NZ, following a segment with a family which is testing an electric car and two electric bikes.

“The problem with these electric vehicles, which is you know, people just assume this is the future, [but] let’s do it properly – it’s about time we started looking at nuclear power again,” Richardson said.

When co-host Kanoa Lloyd questioned what he was talking about, Richardson said the vehicles on Star Wars are nuclear-powered and they go very fast.

Co-host Jeremy Corbett reminded him that the Star Wars movies are not documentaries.

Traditional electric vehicles take too long to get to a destination and require people to stop too often, said Richardson.

Corbett said perhaps the need to recharge an electric vehicle allows drivers to stop and enjoy the ride, but Richardson had a suggestion for something better.

June 6, 2018 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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