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Rolls-Royce making fortune from ‘untested new nuclear market’.

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament condemns the firm’s plans for AI-assisted small modular reactors

 14 August 2025, Morning Star

ROLLS-ROYCE has been accused of making a fortune out of a “toxic, untested new nuclear market” over plans to power artificial intelligence (AI) with small modular reactors (SMRs).

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) made the comments after the engineering firm’s chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic claimed that its plans to power energy-intensive AI with its nuclear reactors could make it Britain’s most valuable company.

“There is no private company in the world with the nuclear capability we have. If we are not market leader globally, we did something wrong,” he told the BBC.

SMRs are smaller and quicker to build than traditional nuclear plants, but the technology remains unproven.

Rolls-Royce has already supplied SMRs to power dozens of nuclear submarines and has signed a deal to develop six for the Czech Republic while developing three for Britain.

“SMRs are an absolute disaster,” said CND general secretary Sophie Bolt. “Should a working model actually be built, they will produce far more toxic radioactive waste than regular nuclear reactors. 

“Rolls-Royce is making a fortune out of this toxic, untested new nuclear market.

“We are bombarded with plans to rapidly expand nuclear sites across the country, but there is still no plan for what to do with the toxic waste generated or deal with legacy waste. 

“Britain and its workers need a new green deal, one that leaves nuclear in the 20th century, and puts genuine renewables and anti-militarism at the heart of its security strategy. 

“This has been outlined in the Alternative Defence Review, a report supported by CND and the RMT union, which acts as a roadmap for this transition which puts workers at the heart of change.”…………………………………………(Subscribers only)

August 17, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

The cost of the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent

Research Briefing, 12 August, 2025 Claire Mills, Esme Kirk-Wade, https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8166/


Since the acquisition of the UK’s first strategic nuclear deterrent in the 1950s, the cost of procuring and maintaining it, and which Government department should finance it, has always been a matter of debate.

Ascertaining precise costs for the nuclear deterrent can be difficult, as this information is not easily available from public sources. The nuclear deterrent is also supported by an overarching, and complex, network of programmes, infrastructure, equipment and people, which is referred to as the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE). Separating out individual costs for the nuclear deterrent from within that structure is not straightforward, particularly since 2023 when the government started reporting all nuclear-related spending as a single line (the DNE) in its departmental estimates.

Synergies between the civilian nuclear sector and the defence nuclear enterprise complicate that picture further.

Cost of the existing ‘Trident’ nuclear deterrent

The UK’s nuclear deterrent is provided by four Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) which house the Trident II D5A missile and associated Mk4A/Holbrook warhead. The decision to procure Trident, as the nuclear deterrent is often referred, was taken in the early 1980s. Spending on the programme was largely complete by the time of the 1998 Strategic Defence Review. Total acquisition expenditure on the programme was £12.52 billion, which equates to approximately £23 billion in 2024/25 prices.

Prior to 2023, annual in-service costs, which also included the costs of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) and the Nuclear Warhead Sustainment Capability Programme, basing, decommissioning and disposals, were estimated at 6% of the defence budget (£3 billion for 2022/23). In 2023, the decision was taken to bring all nuclear-related programmes and expenditure, including the in-service running costs of the deterrent, under one heading: the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE), and to ringfence it within the MOD budget. The intention is to provide greater flexibility within the nuclear programme and to try and insulate the rest of the conventional equipment plan from any changes in nuclear spending. In doing so, direct comparisons of in-service costs for the nuclear deterrent over time are no longer possible.

Replacing the nuclear deterrent

A programme is currently underway to replace the Vanguard-class submarines from the early 2030s.

The estimated cost of the design and manufacture of a new Dreadnought- class of four SSBN is £31 billion, including inflation over the life of the programme. A £10 billion contingency has also been set aside, making an upper-end estimate of £41 billion in total acquisition costs for the Dreadnought class. In May 2025 the Ministry of Defence said that £3.37 billion of the contingency had been accessed as of March 2024. It also said that the remainder had been allocated to future years, suggesting that the full £10 billion in contingency funding will be spent.

In 2016 the goverment said that it expected in-service costs for the nuclear- deterrent, once the new Dreadnought SSBN entered service, to continue at approximately 6% of the defence budget. Following the decision in 2023 to amalgamate all nuclear-related spend under a single DNE budget, however, the government said that an “equivalent comparison” for future in-service costs was no longer possible.

A programme to replace the UK’s nuclear warhead was also confirmed in February 2020. In the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, the government announced £15 billion for the programme within the current Parliament (to 2029).

Wider costs

The decision to amalgamate nuclear spending under one budget heading: the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE), reflects the increasing interdependence between the nuclear deterrent and the Royal Navy’s other conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarine programmes, including the new AUKUS-SSN being developed in conjunction with the US and Australia. This is particularly relevant to the costs associated with basing, infrastructure and nuclear propulsion.

There are various costs associated with replacing the nuclear deterrent that are not part of the capital costs of the Dreadnought programme or the sovereign warhead programme, but fall within wider spending on the defence nuclear enterprise. Those costs include the UK’s participation in the US-led Trident Service-Life Extension programme, extension of the service-life of the current Vanguard-class SSBN, and various basing and nuclear infrastructure projects.

Spending on nuclear programmes across of the whole Defence Equipment Plan to 2033 is currently forecast at £128 billion. That represents a £10 billion increase on the original forecasts in the 2023-2033 equipment plan.  

Who will pay for it?

In line with convention, the Dreadnought programme will be funded from the Ministry of Defence’s departmental budget.

There has been a longstanding debate over budgetary responsibility for the nuclear deterrent, with frequent calls made for the capital costs of the replacement programme to be removed from the MOD budget. 

August 16, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Nuclear developers turn to Special Purpose Acquisition Companies.

Three nuclear energy developers are seeking to raise more than $500mn
through mergers with special purpose acquisition companies as investors
rush to tap into an atomic energy boom.

Terra Innovatum, Terrestrial Energy
and Eagle Energy Metals said the transactions, which they expected to be
completed by the end of the year, would accelerate the development of small
modular reactors.

Several other companies developing nuclear technologies
are considering listings via initial public offerings, including Holtec
International and Quantum Leap Energy, a division of ASP Isotopes.
“Investors now realise that nuclear energy is here to stay because it is
needed to power the artificial intelligence revolution and this is
turbocharging interest, particularly in the US,” said Nick Lawson, the
chief executive of Ocean Wall, an investment group advising ASP Isotopes on
the QLE spin off.

Shares in nuclear energy companies surged near record
highs last week as optimism about a nuclear renaissance gathered pace owing
to AI power demand and political support from the Trump administration.
Last month Westinghouse outlined plans to build 10 large nuclear reactors
in the US at a meeting in Pittsburgh attended by President Donald Trump,
who has set a target of quadrupling American nuclear power capacity in the
next 25 years.

FT 11th Aug 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/087f3fac-52ca-4ca7-8827-734125af4a2b

August 12, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, USA | 1 Comment

How industry is positioning itself for the giant Golden Dome budget.

…What emerges from these individual fundraising rounds, tests and production increases…is companies who see a generational windfall… 

. 

PART 3  |  AUGUST 6, 2025

Welcome to the third part of our four-part newsletter series on the funding, technology and mission of the Golden Dome missile defense initiative, where we break down the highly ambitious space-based military program, from its history to its planned architecture to its budget and to the role of AI. We’ll keep you up to date on what stands to become one of the most expansive military defense systems in United States history.

Today, we’ll talk more about industry’s visions for Golden Dome, and how some companies are already positioning themselves to win Pentagon contracts.

Almost immediately after President Donald Trump announced the idea that came to be known as Golden Dome, space and defense companies started making their case for how their technology could be a fit for the program. 

As a result, industry officials have several visions for what Golden Dome might include and how it might work. While Gen. Michael Guetlein, recently appointed program manager for Golden Dome of America, only recently kicked off a 60-daysprint to deliver an architecture, some of the pitches and procurements already out there may offer ideas on the range of possibilities and the technologies involved.
Many of the defense industry’s largest players have started touting a vision for Golden Dome. 
Among them:
L3Harris is touting its history and pedigree to develop part of the system. The company has built a missile-tracking satellite that successfully demonstrated the ability to track a hypersonic missile from space, the Missile Defense Agency confirmed April 25. L3Harris has also recently expanded its manufacturing capabilities, ramping up its ability to produce infrared sensing payloads — a central technology for the Golden Dome missile-defense shield that relies heavily on space-based capabilities. In addition, the company announced plans to leverage its AI partnerships with Palantir and Shield AI in the interest of securing Golden Dome contracts. And in July, L3Harris named Rob Mitrevski, who recently oversaw the company’s expansion of infrared sensor payload production capacity, as president of Golden Dome strategy and integration — signalling the company’s intent to steer its growing portfolio of work on Golden Dome.

Northrop Grumman, too, is discussing its experience as a lead contractor for the Space Development Agency’s Tracking Layer. In a recent interview with SpaceNews, Raymond Sharp, vice president of Northrop Grumman’s missile defense solutions business unit, said the company is “all in” on Golden Dome, and hopes to cement a systems-integrator role that goes beyond supplying components. The company would incorporate modular networking technologies that it’s already developed for other military contracts into Golden Dome concepts to demonstrate “plug-and-play” integration — a key requirement for a system expected to absorb a range of sensors, weapons and decision-support software from across the industrial base.

Northrop also intends to offer components — in a second-quarter earnings call, CEO Kathy Warden said the company is significantly ramping up solid rocket motor production and plans to offer a space-based interceptor concept soon, saying that ground-based tests are already happening. During an Aug. 5 meeting with reporters, Northrop Grumman executives said the company’s billion-dollar investment in solid rocket motor production facilities put the company in a strong position to capitalize on the demand likely to be generated by Golden Dome.

Similarly, Lockheed Martin announced it hopes to conduct orbital tests of space-based interceptors, which is thought to be a key part of Golden Dome, in 2028. However, the company has not clarified whether those interceptors will rely on kinetic or directed energy weaponry and probably won’t announce those details until an architecture is released.

Booz Allen Hamilton unveiled a concept for a megaconstellation of 2,000 smallsats operating as an artificial intelligence-powered network that the company is calling “Brilliant Swarms.” The company said the satellites would serve as both detection systems and as “kill vehicles” that would de-orbit targets by physically slamming into them — no space-based missiles required.
The project is also expected to attract disruptors to the Pentagon’s business. Reutersreported in April that executives from SpaceX, Anduril and Palantir met with the Trump administration to pitch a Golden Dome architecture that involves a constellation of 400 to 1,000 missile detecting and tracking satellites and another constellation of 200 attack satellites that would target and disable missiles with lasers or with missiles of their own. The trio is reportedly being considered a frontrunner for Golden Dome, though SpaceX CEO Elon Musk disputed Reuters’ claims and those reports came prior to the public dissolution of Trump and Musk’s relationship. More recently, Reuters reported that the administration is looking to expand the companies involved in Golden Dome to reduce reliance on SpaceX. Officials have reached out to companies like Amazon, Rocket Lab and Stoke Space about participating in the effort in an attempt to reduce the role SpaceX would play.

At the same time, more traditional space companies are also now seeing a potential lane for defense work. For example, Voyager is working to paint a clear line between the technology it’s already been building and the presumed needs for an advanced missile defense system. Voyager plans to offer up its propulsion technology — the company has developed  a solid propulsion roll control system designed to stabilize a missile’s flight trajectory — to Golden Dome. Voyager has also pitched edge computing systems it’s developing in partnership with Palantir. 

Redwire, which includes spacecraft, sensors and digital engineering systems, is also offering up many of its core technology for Golden Dome.

Top-down visions

Some aspects of what will become Golden Dome are likely already underway; last week we mentioned that BAE Systems had won a $1.2 billion Space Force contractfor 10 medium Earth orbit missile (MEO) tracking satellites. The satellites will become part of the Resilient Missile Warning Tracking Epoch 2, which marks the second phase of the Space Force’s program to develop a missile-tracking network in MEO. The constellation is intended to help defend against evolving missile threats, particularly hypersonic weapons that have become a key focus for U.S. defense planners, and as a result will be integrated into the overall Golden Dome project.

Several other space industry firms are presenting themselves as capable of handling the work necessary for building the Golden Dome.
Take Rocket Lab, which in recent months took several steps to expand into the military sector and pursue coveted status as a prime contractor for the Pentagon and a worthwhile partner for high-value contracts. Those steps include a $275 million acquisition of Geost, which produces electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensor payloads that are already used in U.S. military satellites, with plans for more acquisitions down the road.
Other companies have been busy raising funds or ramping up their own capabilities, such as Sophia Space, which raised $3.5 million in pre-seed funding to develop orbiting data centers, which it hopes to demonstrate as useful for Golden Dome through a memorandum of understanding with Axiom Space.

Apex recently raised money in a $200 million Series C, which it will use to increase satellite bus production — similarly arguing that they would be useful for missile defense. And Quantum Space raised $40 million to develop its national security-focused Ranger spacecraft, also hiring to its executive team former Defense Department official Richard Matlock, who previously worked in missile defense.

What emerges from these individual fundraising rounds, tests and production increases — whether it’s Virgin Galactic’s work on suborbital spaceplanes or Ursa Major’s contract to test a hypersonic-capable engine — is companies who see a generational windfall.  

Uncertainty about the scope of Golden Dome translates to uncertainty about which firms and which technologies will make their way into the program. It also means it’s way too early to guess who the winners will be. But with the size of Golden Dome’s $25 budget, many space companies will look to show off their capabilities. 

 follow all our coverage at SpaceNews.com,

August 11, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Miliband’s Nuclear Quango Chief In Line for £200,000 for Working Three Days a Week

 Guido Fawkes 4th Aug 2025, https://order-order.com/2025/08/04/milibands-nuclear-quango-chief-in-line-for-200000-for-working-three-days-a-week/

Great British Energy – Nuclear (not to be confused with the inexplicably separate quango Great British Energy) is searching for a new chairman. ‘GBE-N’, as it is known in the ever growing domain of government bodies poking around in the energy industry, is in charge of delivering small modular reactors (SMRs) in the UK, among other things. That programme has been ongoing since at least 2015…

Now Red Ed is looking for a new head for the organisation – and a live job advert shows a cool salary of more than £203,268 per annum for just three days a week. Meltdown for taxpayers…

The government is banking on deploying SMRs in the 2030s. The new chair will oversee that target with a “more agile, programmatic and faster delivery approach than has been achieved previously”. That won’t be hard, because currently zero SMRs have been delivered. It’s such a civil service priority it’s a three day a week role…

August 7, 2025 Posted by | employment, UK | Leave a comment

Sizewell C to give jobs to hundreds of ex-offenders

 Hundreds of ex-offenders will be hired to work on the construction of the
Sizewell C nuclear power station as part of a drive to generate broader
social and economic benefits from big public infrastructure projects.
Sizewell C, which was given the final go-ahead last month, is already
working with local prisons in Suffolk to design training courses in
welding, construction, engineering and hospitality that are aimed at
equipping inmates with the skills needed to work on the plant.

 The Observer 3rd Aug 2025, https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/a-second-chance-sizewell-c-to-give-jobs-to-hundreds-of-ex-offenders

August 7, 2025 Posted by | employment, UK | Leave a comment

EDF shifts nuclear strategy to domestic projects

August 5, 2025, https://www.modernpowersystems.com/news/edf-shifts-nuclear-strategy-to-domestic-projects/?cf-view&cf-closed

rance’s state-run utility EDF is planning to reduce its overseas sales workforce by 60 positions including 10 in management, and withdraw from certain international nuclear projects to concentrate on a domestic construction programme under its new CEO Bernard Fontana, as reported by Reuters. France is retreating from its position as a global leader in nuclear power, amid rising global demand, allowing new competitors to emerge as high costs and design challenges hinder its international competitiveness.

M. Fontana aims to accelerate the modernisation of France’s nuclear fleet, expressing a commitment to focus on domestic projects rather than the international operations that have previously included reactor construction in China, Finland and Britain. Recent changes include focusing on tenders in the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland, while deprioritising projects in Poland, India and Canada. This shift is expected to cut costs and reallocate resources to higher-priority initiatives. EDF’s recent international projects have experienced significant delays and cost overruns. In 2024, it lost a bid for two new reactors in the Czech Republic to South Korea’s KHNP. 


The French government identifies the new French nuclear programme as a priority. President Emmanuel Macron announced plans in early 2022 for six new reactors to replace ageing plants, with projected costs of €67bn ($78.7bn). But the company is indebted owing to costly repairs made to its nuclear fleet in recent years. EDF is considering the sale of certain renewable energy assets in North America and Brazil.

August 6, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

Sellafield nuclear plant contractors to strike

 BBC 5th Aug 2025,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg38w4xly3o

Workers supplying the Sellafield nuclear site have voted in favour of strike action over pay.

Almost 40 workers at Fellside Combined Heat and Power facility, the plant supplying the steam and power to the Cumbria site, will take industrial action on 19 and 20 August after rejecting two pay offers.

Owned by PX Ltd, Unite workers are also undertaking an overtime ban.

PX Ltd said it was unable to comment as another meeting was due to take place with the union on Wednesday. A spokesperson for Sellafield said the site was not “directly involved in the dispute”.

The final pay offer was 3.5 to 5% depending on a set of criteria, Unite said.

Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “PX Limited can clearly afford to pay our members for the vital work they do but is choosing to put profits over people.

“This dispute is completely caused by the employer’s greed.”

A spokesperson for Sellafield added: “As always, the safety and security of the Sellafield site, our workforce and the local community will be our priority during any industrial action.”

August 6, 2025 Posted by | employment, UK | Leave a comment

Sizewell C nuclear costs could hit £100bn including financing, modelling shows

Total for nuclear power station project set to be billions of pounds higher
than official government estimates.

The true cost of the Sizewell C power
station in Suffolk could be tens of billions of pounds higher than official
government estimates once financing costs are factored in, according to
official modelling seen by the Financial Times.

The UK government last week
said the mostly debt-funded project would cost an estimated £38bn in real
2024 prices to build. Under the financial structure of the deal, investors
will be rewarded if the project is built for less than £40bn, and not
obliged to put in further funds if costs rise above £47.7bn — which is
considered unlikely.

But financial modelling — prepared as part of the
wider fundraising process and seen by the Financial Times — gives a range
of roughly £80bn-£100bn in nominal terms over the period of construction
for the two scenarios, once debt interest and payments to shareholders are
factored in. That would imply costs of roughly £65bn-£80bn in real 2024
terms, although the exact costs will depend on inflation rates and spending
rates across the lifetime of the project.

 FT 2nd Aug 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/5f54592e-50ba-4a1e-8219-7a4eb01f74ed

August 4, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Russia’s Nuclear Ambitions Face Funding Crisis

Oil Price, By Eurasianet – Aug 02, 2025

  • Russian energy entities, including Rosatom, are experiencing significant financing difficulties, raising doubts about their ability to fulfill international energy project commitments.
  • Kazakhstan has decided to independently build thermal power plants originally contracted to Russia’s Inter RAO due to a lack of promised financing, and is increasingly turning to China for nuclear power plant construction.
  • Rosatom is seeking government financial support to maintain its global leadership in the nuclear energy market and carry out new projects, citing limited financing options due to international sanctions.

Russian energy entities are experiencing financing woes, raising questions about whether Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear energy agency, will be able to fulfill its obligations to build Kazakhstan’s first atomic power plant.

Already, financing troubles have caused another Russian state-controlled firm, Inter RAO, to lose out on constructing three thermal power plants in Kazakhstan. 

During a July 30 appearance before the Russian State Commission on Energy, Andrei Petrov, a top Rosatom official, openly acknowledged that Rosatom was seeking government support. The entity has the resources to complete ongoing work, but by 2027, it will need a financial injection to carry out new projects, Petrov indicated.

Rosatom officials have been somewhat cagey in specifying exactly what kind of support they are seeking and have shied away from specifying an amount. For example, Rosatom’s chief, Alexei Likhachev, recently stated the entity is seeking the “provision of special resources” from the government, according to a report published by the Interfax news agency.

In 2024, a Rosatom official, referring to a program to develop floating nuclear power plants, indicated that Rosatom had limited financing options due to international sanctions on Russia, and required state-subsidized low-interest loans in order for the company to maintain its industry lead in several areas. Rosatom presently enjoys a roughly 50 percent share of the global nuclear energy market, with operations even in several NATO member states, such as Turkey and Hungary.  

“The only way to maintain leadership with this product [floating nuclear power plants] is to subsidize exports even more than we already are,” Interfax quoted Vladimir Aptekarev, a top official at the Rosatom subsidiary Atomenergomash JSC, as saying in 2024, citing Chinese competition.

The Russian government, given the immense burden on the state budget imposed by its war effort in Ukraine, has so far resisted pleas from energy entities for increased support. Rosatom officials have acknowledged that the lack of assistance has hindered efforts to build new types of thermal and nuclear units, known as units Shelf-M and Elena-AM.

The Russian government’s cash crunch appears to be responsible for delays in construction of three planned Kazakh thermal power plants near Kokshetau, Semey and Ust-Kamenogorsk. Inter RAO signed a contract to build the three plants at an estimated cost of about $2.7 billion, with financing to be provided by Russian state-connected institutions. But the money never materialized.

On July 31, Deputy Kazakh Prime Minister Roman Sklyar confirmed that Kazakhstan was ditching the contract with Inter RAO, adding that it would build the plants on its own, according to media reports.

“When the company [Inter RAO] took on the obligation to build these facilities, it was supposed to receive export financing at a low rate. Unfortunately, they were unable to do this, so it was decided to build them independently,” he said.

The Kazakh government’s decision to move on from Inter RAO on the thermal plant projects instantly sparks questions about the fate of Rosatom’s deal to build Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power station. ……………………… https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Russias-Nuclear-Ambitions-Face-Funding-Crisis.html

August 4, 2025 Posted by | business and costs | Leave a comment

Sizewell C will cost more than Hinkley: Is it worth it?

Priced in ‘real’ terms today, the £47.7bn cost ceiling will rise further with inflation,
potentially over £60bn. The total tally for the UK’s latest bet on
nuclear power, Sizewell C, is highly likely to rise above the cost of
Hinkley Point C.

The question is, will the potential savings for low-carbon
power next decade justify the cost? Taken together, the impact of project
overruns and inflation could push up the estimated £38 billion price tag
of the nuclear power project, in 2024 prices, by between almost £10bn and
£20bn or more.

That is because the £47.7bn upper cost threshold set for
the project by government – which Energy Voice reported on the day a
final investment decision was made would be funded by £36.6bn of new debt
finance from the UK National Wealth Fund (NWF) – is a moving target.


Priced in ‘real’ terms today, that cost ceiling will rise further with
inflation, making the true cost of Sizewell C likely to be far greater than
the incomplete nuclear power station in Somerset, despite the fact that as
a replica it was meant to be cheaper due to economies of scale. Independent
analysis from the House of Commons Library shows energy bills would need to
rise to cover the extra spend. SNP Energy spokesperson Graham Leadbitter MP
said: “This toxic overspend now totals £48bn.” A major financier of
the project, the sovereign fund NWF, has conceded that the ultimate cost of
the Suffolk project could balloon well above the £38bn price tag confirmed
by ministers this month, already nearly double the initial £20bn estimate.

 Energy Voice 30th July 2025. https://www.energyvoice.com/all-news/577297/sizewell-c-will-cost-more-than-hinkley-is-it-worth-it/

August 3, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

TEPCO logs net loss in April-June on Fukushima plant cleanup.

The company booked an extraordinary loss of 903 billion yen, as it prepares for the removal of nuclear fuel debris

August 1, 2025 (Mainichi Japan), https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250801/p2g/00m/0bu/008000c

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Thursday it posted a net loss of 857.69 billion yen ($5.8 billion) for the April-June period, pressured by a special loss related to decommissioning work at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The second largest quarterly loss since the 2011 nuclear crisis is a sharp deterioration from a profit of 79.24 billion yen in the same period a year earlier.

Operating profit rose 2.9 percent to 64.70 billion yen in the quarter on sales of 1.43 trillion yen, down 4.5 percent.

The company booked an extraordinary loss of 903 billion yen, as it prepares for the removal of nuclear fuel debris, considered the most challenging phase of the decommissioning work.

“We are not expecting any big spending over the next three years and (the special loss) won’t be a problem for our decommissioning work,” TEPCO vice president Hiroyuki Yamaguchi said at a press conference.

TEPCO said Tuesday the full-scale removal of melted fuel debris, initially set for the early 2030s, will be delayed to fiscal 2037 or later, raising concerns that its target of completing the work to scrap the power plant by 2051 will become increasingly difficult to meet.

The company said it has about 700 billion yen earmarked for future demolition work.

August 3, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, Japan, wastes | Leave a comment

AtkinsRéalis eyeing U.S. market for nuclear technology push.

COMMENT -For nuclear industry trackers…

Re the last two paragraphs, you have to wonder, do they really believe this stuff or are they shameless grifters?

Nicolas Van Praet,  July 28, 2025, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-atkinsrealis-eyeing-us-market-for-nuclear-technology-push/

AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. is moving to deploy its nuclear-reactor technology into the United States, a surprise push one analyst said could bolster the company’s revenue and exposure to American investors if it manages to clinch deals against growing competition.

The Canadian engineering company has “begun to explore opportunities for alternative large nuclear reactor technologies, notably Candu reactors, in the U.S.,” Joe St. Julian, president of the nuclear operations at AtkinsRéalis, said in an e-mailed statement Monday. Talks have started with U.S. regulatory agencies, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the National Nuclear Security Administration, to assess licensing and other potential concerns, the company said.

The Financial Times was first to report on the corporation’s plans.

AtkinsRéalis chief executive Ian Edwards has reshaped the engineering company, previously known as SNC-Lavalin, by selling oil and gas assets and pivoting toward a simplified business model centred on engineering services and consulting work. Pushing its nuclear business hard is a big part of the new strategy.

AtkinsRéalis joins several nuclear energy multinationals weighing moves into the U.S., attracted by President Donald Trump’s aim to quadruple America’s atomic energy capacity over the next 25 years to meet rising demand for electricity. The President signed executive orders in May directing the Department of Energy to expedite construction of 10 large reactors by 2030, heralding what the White House science policy director called an “American nuclear renaissance.”

AtkinsRéalis holds an exclusive licence for Canada’s Candu reactor, which uses a heavy water technology to process natural uranium as fuel. It is marketing the 740-megawatt Enhanced Candu 6 along with a proposed 1,000-megawatt model called the Monark.

Executives with the Montreal-based company acknowledge that countries typically favour their own sovereign nuclear technology, which would give Pennsylvania-based reactor builder Westinghouse home-field advantage in any new contracts (Westinghouse is Canadian-owned). But they’re betting Westinghouse won’t be able to build 10 reactors at the same time, leaving room for Candu.

Analysis: Armed with Canadian taxpayer support, AtkinsRéalis and Westinghouse are competing to export nuclear reactors. Which one will prevail?

“We are positively surprised by this development,” Desjardins Securities analyst Benoît Poirier said in a note. He had believed a U.S. contract was not possible for AtkinsRéalis given past failed attempts to bring Candu reactors stateside as well as “the current protectionist geopolitical climate” in Canada and the U.S.

On top of that, the competitive landscape is more intense in the U.S., the analyst said, with international players such as Kepco (Korea Electric Power Corp.), legacy firms such as Westinghouse, and small modular reactor disruptors such as GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, NANO Nuclear Energy Inc., NuScale Power Corp., Oklo Inc., TerraPower, X-Energy Inc. and newcleo all vying for a piece of the pie.

“If AtkinsRéalis does secure a new-build reactor south of the border, it would not only represent incremental growth but also boost visibility with U.S. investors,” Mr. Poirier said. Despite the company’s share price run-up over the past two years, the stock remains significantly “under-owned” outside Canada, with U.S. ownership at just 8 per cent of the total, he said.

By comparison, Canadian companies such as Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. 

CP-T -1.07%decrease

 and TFI International Inc. 

TFII-T -3.15%decrease

 have U.S. ownership levels above 30 per cent. Plane maker Bombardier Inc. 

BBD-B-T -0.02%decrease

 has grown its U.S. investor base to nearly 20 per cent in recent years from about 5 per cent as it recentred the business to focus on luxury jet sales, defence, and service and maintenance.

AtkinsRéalis said the U.S. is one of its core markets for engineering services and that it has taken the current trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. into account in its strategic evaluations for ramping up its nuclear offering there. It said it intends to use its new technology centre in Richland, Wash., to further develop and apply “innovative nuclear and environmental cleanup technologies.”

Nuclear accounted for 12 per cent of revenues at AtkinsRéalis last year. The business is growing rapidly, however, and now employs about 4,000 people, up from 3,000 in 2022. Much of its recent hiring is in preparation for anticipated new reactor sales in Canada and abroad.

Last fall, the company won a joint contract to build two nuclear reactors in Romania, the first Candu reactors to be built in the world since 2007. The Canadian government will loan $3-billion to Romania’s nuclear power operator to finance the deal – funds that will be directed exclusively to Canadian providers of goods and services working on the project.

Executives with the engineering firm estimate that countries will need 1,000 new nuclear reactors by 2050. Assuming the company’s Candu solution nabs 5 per cent of that business (there are six large-scale reactor technologies globally, including Candu), they peg the market potential at $750-billion.

July 31, 2025 Posted by | Canada, marketing | 1 Comment

Meet Charles Emond, the Canadian backing Sizewell C with £1.7bn

The chief executive of La Caisse, the second biggest infrastructure investor in
the world, is a fan of the UK and wants to put another £6bn into British
assets. “There’s always risk in a transaction,” says Charles Emond.

The chief executive of La Caisse is keen to stress that he and the other
equity investors named last week in the financing of the Sizewell C nuclear
power station project are not getting a completely free ride from British
taxpayers and electricity billpayers.

Billpayers will have £1 a month
added to their electricity bills from this autumn to help finance the
gigantic project. UK taxpayers will stand ready to foot the bill if the
construction costs rise above a certain point. But the equity investors
putting in £8.5 billion aren’t entirely free of exposure if things go
wrong, he says.

 Times 27th July 2025, https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/energy/article/meet-charles-emond-the-canadian-backing-sizewell-c-with-17bn-t9hdhkspn

July 31, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, Canada | 2 Comments

Sizewell C loans could see project cost rise above Hinkley to £47.7bn

The National Wealth Fund said it will provide a loan facility for the nuclear power station of up to £36.6bn, pushing the upper limit to £47.7bn.

July 22nd 2025, https://www.energyvoice.com/renewables-energy-transition/576872/sizewell-c-loans-could-see-project-cost-rise-above-hinkley-to-47-7bn/

Project costs for the Sizewell C nuclear power station could rise to an upper threshold of £47.7 billion as a result of a new government loan extension.

The National Wealth Fund (NWF) has increased the size of its loan facilities to provide a debt buffer in case project costs rise, the government has confirmed.

The government’s new sovereign fund said in a statement that Treasury has recapitalised the fund from a prior capitalisation of £27.8bn so it can provide a loan facility for nuclear power station Sizewell C of £36.6bn.

The NFW, which started operating in October, will act as a lender of record for the project and continue to have the capacity to invest across its mandated sectors, a spokesperson said.

According to the statement, an additional £5bn of debt will be guaranteed by France’s export credit agency Bpifrance Assurance Export.

An energy department spokesperson told Energy Voice that “in order to finance a project of this size, the project partners have made available finance to fund costs up to £47.7bn (real) to safeguard taxpayers in the event of cost overruns”.

“This is based on a remote scenario for the project and is not what the company is managing the project to,” the government spokesperson said.

“The central target in terms of costs is around £38bn real, but as is standard for big and complex projects, we have secured a financing which contains contingency in case of overruns.”

According to people close to the matter, one of whom cited project documents, while Sizewell C is estimated to cost £38bn, the lower threshold for financing is £40bn, with a higher upper threshold of £47.7bn.

The newly secured loan capital would raise the projected upper limit of financing for the power station by nearly £10bn if it was fully drawn down over the course of the project’s lifecycle, they indicated, although a spokesperson for the fund said that would be unlikely. He said the facility provided for the effect of inflation.

“It is likely that NWF would not be exposed to the full amount of its debt provision, meaning its total debt exposure is likely to be less than the nominal maximum it has provided for,” the fund’s spokesperson said.

This increase would provide for a maximum project cost of £47.7bn, which would make the nuclear project more expensive than stalled Somerset nuclear power station Hinkley Point C, which is estimated to cost in the region of £46bn.

The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) confirmed this morning that it had secured investors to commit a total of £38bn to Sizewell C. That included investment commitments from EDF, Centrica, Amber Infrastructure Group and Canadian fund La Caisse.

Together Against Sizewell C chair Jenny Kirtley said: “The scale of potential exposure of public funds to the Sizewell C project is revealed as a staggering £54.589bn in the government’s FID subsidy scheme.

“So much for claims made by EDF and government that there would be huge cost savings from ‘lessons learned’ from the Hinkley Point C build.”

She added that “future generations will have the responsibility to protect the Sizewell C site until the late 2100s and are depending on us to get it right”.

Sizewell C, which reached a final investment decision in the early hours of Tuesday, is expected to be a more efficient replica than its delayed and long-awaited Somerset counterpart, with efficiencies estimated to be between 20% and 25% greater than the first two reactors at Hinkley.

Supply chain ‘incentivised to keep costs down’

Investors insist that they are confident that costs will not overrun, yet Somerset nuclear power station Hinkley Point C is years overdue and over budget.

“The project supply chain is strongly incentivised to keep costs down and investors will see lower returns if there are overruns, reducing risk for taxpayers,” DESNZ told Energy Voice by email.

The new Suffolk nuclear power station at Sizewell is expected to be delivered by the mid-2030s.

Yet Hinkley Point C, which secured a contract-for-difference to operate in 2015, is still not fully built.

Project owner EDF received a dressing down from the French auditor earlier this year, which insisted that it should refinance Hinkley before investing in another nuclear power station in the UK, Sizewell C.

EDF has subsequently reduced its stake to 12.5%, representing an equity commitment of £1.1bn. Centrica has agreed to invest £1.3bn in a 15% stake, while Amber Infrastructure Group and Canadian fund Le Caisse have committed to take an initial 7.6% and 20% stake respectively.

The UK government said it will initially take a stake of 44.9% in Sizewell C, which is expected to reduce if Amber and La Caisse’s combined stake rises to 30%, according to a person familiar with the matter.

July 27, 2025 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

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