We don’t do nuclear investment – says World Bank
World Bank says no nuclear investment http://www.skynews.com.au/businessnews/article.aspx?
id=928794 November 28, 2013 The World Bank and United Nations have appealed for billions of dollars to provide electricity for the poorest nations but say there will be no investment in nuclear power.
‘We don’t do nuclear energy,’ said World Bank president Jim Yong Kim on Wednesday, as he and UN leader Ban Ki-moon outlined efforts to make sure all people have access to electricity by 2030. Kim said $US600-800 ($A659-878) billion a year will be needed to meet the campaign target of universal access to electricity, doubling energy efficiency and doubling the share of renewable energy by 2030. In some countries, only 10 per cent of the population has electricity.
So far, the campaign has a pledge of one billion US dollars from the OPEC Fund for International Development, Bank of America has raised $US500 million through the world’s first ‘green bond’ and Norway has committed to spend two billion krone (US$325 million) on renewable energy efforts in 2014.
Kim said the World Bank is preparing energy plans for 42 countries that would be ready in June, but said any money raised would only go to new power sources. ’Nuclear power from country to country is an extremely political issue,’ Kim told reporters.
‘The World Bank Group does not engage in providing support for nuclear power. We think that this is an extremely difficult conversation that every country is continuing to have. ’And because we are really not in that business our focus is on finding ways of working in hydro electric power in geo-thermal, in solar, in wind,’ he said.
‘We are really focusing on increasing investment in those modalities and we don’t do nuclear energy.’
Kim highlighted private financing for power expansion in Nigeria and Ivory Coast and said efforts were being made to launch a similar deal for Myanmar, where the government has launched major reform efforts. ’We are working and moving very quickly to try to ensure that Myanmar experiences a clear democracy dividend,’ Kim said. The World Bank chief said it had been difficult to find long term capital for poorer countries but insisted: ‘We will show investors that sustainable energy is an opportunity they cannot afford to miss.’
The future of the uranium market melting away
Of course, the nuclear lobby is well-heeled and has its silver-tongued apologists who will do their best to discredit such stories. Beyond the despicable aspects of this, you should consider, from an investment point of view, the risk that the industry loses control of the public relations battle as more stories emerge – and legal consequences ensue……uranium stocks are a no-go as a long-term investment.
Meltdown Coming? The Uranium Story You Haven’t Heard Money 
Morning 27 November 2013 by Chris Mayer “……You remember the nuclear disaster at Fukushima? It was a horrible human tragedy that is still playing out – and in ways I am sure you will be surprised to learn.
The disaster also set back the so-called nuclear renaissance that was then in swing. Uranium prices fell like a piano tumbling down a flight of stairs, only recently crashing down to five-year lows and laying waste to uranium stocks.
But it’s been over two years since the meltdown at Fukushima, and memory is short. Here is Barron’s over the weekend, on its optimistic appraisal of Cameco, the world’s largest publicly traded producer of uranium:
‘Cameco shares recently rallied after stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings, but are still flat for the year. They fetch just 15.2 times what the company has earned, well below its decade median of 24 times, and the low-cost producer generated net profit margins near 22% even when uranium prices slumped. Improving prices can only energize the stock.‘
Among the ‘reasons for optimism‘, Barron’s included ‘gradual progress toward the cleanup in Japan‘.
Barron’s piece inspired me to write to you today. As a long-term investor, I am not tempted – at all – by the apparent bargain in uranium stocks. Continue reading
Warren Buffett is going for Renewable Energy
Here’s What Warren Buffett Thinks About Renewable Energy The Motley Fool By Jason Hall | November 27, 2013 |
“Rule No. 1: Never Lose Money. Rule No. 2: Never Forget Rule No. 1.”
–Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is famous for both his legendary investing acumen, and his simple, straightforward investing advice. For years, alternative energy has been viewed as non-competitive with traditional energy production from coal and other fossil fuels, making them money-losers for most investors.
Buffett’s own Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B ) subsidiary MidAmerican Energy is heavily investing in alternative energy sources, including both wind and solar. And considering that MidAmerican produces more than $1.2 billion in annual “ammo” for Buffett’s “elephant gun,” the story on renewables is clearly changing.
Should investors follow t… (registered readers only) http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/11/27/when-it-comes-to-renewable-energy-buffetts-not-blo.aspx
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy wants to build a laser uranium enrichment facility in Kentucky
GE Hitachi, Energy Dept. in talks over Ky. uranium Chron, By DYLAN LOVAN and ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press | November 27, 2013 LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy said Wednesday that it is entering negotiations with General Electric’s nuclear division on a proposal to replace an aging uranium enrichment plant in Kentucky with a new facility.
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy wants to build a laser enrichment facility that would make use of the depleted uranium kept at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The Energy Department announced that it has selected GE Hitachi to begin exclusive negotiations for the sale of the uranium inventory.
GE Hitachi spokesman Chris White said Global Laser Enrichment that uses a unique laser technology would extract natural uranium from Paducah’s stores of depleted tails. The uranium would be used to fuel commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S., he said.
The negotiations are just beginning and there is no timetable on building a new plant, White said…….http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/GE-Hitachi-Energy-Dept-in-talks-over-Ky-uranium-5017015.php
Navajos copped uranium pollution, now they’re to do the clean-up
they always give the dirty jobs to indigenous people
NAU seeks Navajos for uranium cleanup training http://www.sunherald.
com/2013/11/25/5146098/nau-seeks-navajos-for-uranium.html BY FELICIA FONSECA Associated PressNovember 25, 2013 FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. — Northern Arizona University is using federal grant money to address two of the most widespread problems on the Navajo Nation — unemployment and uranium contamination.
A $200,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will allow the school’s Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals to train up to 40 people over three years to safely handle radioactive materials and to find a job in a place where the unemployment rate hovers around 50 percent.
About 4 million tons of uranium ore were mined from the reservation from 1944 to 1986 for wartime weapons, leaving a legacy of death and disease. Families still live among the contamination that the tribe and federal government are working toward cleaning up. The top priority is the former Northeast Church Rock Mine near Gallup, N.M. Continue reading
Canada’s nuclear industry not dead yet, but dying?
Nuclear faces long road as Ontario maps its energy future SHAWN MCCARTHY The Globe and Mail Nov. 25 2013 Canada’s nuclear industry is looking to persuade Ontario that it’s not dead yet. Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli will launch in the coming weeks a revised long-term 
energy plan that will spell out how the current government expects to feed the province’s appetite for electricity over the next two decades. The new road map comes as the nuclear sector – which will supply more than half the province’s electricity this year – battles to maintain its share of that market by proposing long-term, multi-billion-dollar projects in order to refurbish existing plants and sell the province new reactors.
But the industry is confronting a myriad of challenges: including assumptions about weak demand growth as a result of to economic shifts and greater efficiency and conservation; the low price of natural gas that is fuelling a boom in gas-fired power in the United States; the Liberal government’s aggressive commitment to build new wind and solar capacity, and even the possibility of buying electricity from Quebec.
Taken together, those factors could add up to a sharply diminished role for nuclear in Ontario, even as the country’s domestic reactor company, SNC-Lavalin Inc.’s Candu Energy Inc., struggles to make sales abroad. ……..
Some critics question whether even the refurbishments are needed, let alone the new reactors. Nuclear power suffers from that fact that its high, upfront capital costs must be amortized over 30 years in the case of refurbishments, and 50 to 60 years in the case of new reactors. Given the rapid technology transformation, a long-term bet on nuclear is fraught with the risk of the province being saddled with an expensive white elephant, York University’s Mark Winfield said…….
Ontario is currently moving towards a much greater reliance on wind power, backed up by natural gas generation when the wind turbines aren’t producing as much as expected…… http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/nuclear-faces-long-road-as-ontario-maps-its-energy-future/article15595098/
Uranium market not a good prospect – Goldman Sachs gets out
Goldman Sachs to sell uranium unit BUSINESS DAY, BY SCOTT DISAVINO AND DAVID SHEPPARD, NOVEMBER 25 2013 NEW YORK — US BANK GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP HAS PUT ITS URANIUM TRADING BUSINESS UP FOR SALE, A SOURCE FAMILIAR WITH THE MATTER SAID ON FRIDAY, THE LATEST SIGN THAT WALL STREET’S MOST STORIED COMMODITY TRADER IS PARING BACK PARTS OF THE BUSINESS.
The move comes as other US banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, look to exit physical commodity trading in the wake of increased government scrutiny, squeezed trading margins and forecasts for tepid demand in certain markets……
The move to sell also comes as uranium prices languish at their lowest since 2005. Spot prices of U3O8 (triuranium octoxide), a material that is converted to uranium hexafluoride for the purpose of uranium enrichment, have ranged from $34-$35 a pound since September, less than half the price prior to the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011……
Financial firms started to get into the uranium business in the mid-2000s when prices were rising on expectations demand would grow with the nuclear renaissance. Reuters http://www.bdlive.co.za/world/americas/2013/11/25/goldman-sachs-to-sell-uranium-unit
Japan’s mafia gangs exploiting homeless people in Fukushima nuclear cleanup
TV: Mentally disabled are working at Fukushima Daiichi, says journalist — Many men forced to go to plant — Homeless treated like ‘disposable people’ (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-journalist-says-theres-mentally-disabled-workers-at-fukushima-many-men-forced-to-work-at-plant-homeless-treated-like-disposable-people-video
Atomic Mafia? Yakuza cleans up Fukushima, neglects basic worker
RT News, , Nov. 20, 2013: Homeless men employed cleaning up the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, including those brought in by Japan’s yakuza gangsters, were not aware of the health risks they were taking and say their bosses treated them like “disposable people.” […] While some workers voluntarily agreed to take jobs on the nuclear clean-up project, many others simply didn’t have a choice […] many of the workers were brought into the nuclear plant by Japan’s organized crime syndicates, the yakuza. […] Although a special task force to keep organized crime out of the nuclear clean-up project has been set up, investigators say they need first-hand reports from those forced to work by the yakuza […]
Anonymous former Fukushima worker: We were given no insurance for health risks, no radiation meters even. We were treated like nothing, like disposable people — promised things, and then kicked us out when we received a large radiation dose.
Tomohiko Suzuki, journalist who worked at Fukushima plant: The government called Tepco to take urgent action, Tepco relayed it to subcontractors — and they, eventually, as they had a shortage of available workers, called the Yakuza for help. […] They were given very general information about radiation and most were not even given radiation meters. They could have exposed themselves to large doses without even knowing it. Even the so-called Fukushima 50 […] at least three of them were enrolled by the yakuza.
Aleksey Yaroshevsky, RT: : There are 25% more openings for jobs at Fukushima plant than applicants, according to government data. Gaps filled, says Suzuki, by the homeless, the desperately unemployed and even those with mental disabilities. Watch the broadcast here
TEPCO’s plan to restart 4 nuclear reactors by 2015
TEPCO eyes restarting 4 reactors by 2015 November 23, 2013 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN by Mari Fujisaki and Takashi Ebuchi.) Tokyo Electric Power Co. hopes to have four nuclear reactors in Niigata Prefecture back online by 2015, including two planned for next summer, despite the crisis at its hobbled Fukushima nuclear plant.
The company intends to reactivate the No. 1 and No. 5 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant during the first half of 2015 after restarting the No. 6 and No. 7 reactors as early as July 2014, sources said. Both plans will be included in the utility’s rehabilitation program when it is revised toward the end of this year.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant has seven reactors. TEPCO estimates that for each reactor restart its annual profit will increase by about 100 billion yen ($1 billion)……
it remains unclear whether TEPCO can restart the reactors under its proposed time frame. NRA screenings could drag on if regulators demand detailed investigations to confirm that no active faults run immediately under the reactors.
Consent of local communities is also essential, but Niigata Governor Hirohiko Izumida remains cautious. He has criticized plans to restart the two reactors next summer as a pipe dream.
Meanwhile, TEPCO will speed up streamlining its operations while expanding investments, the sources said……http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201311230052
Another uranium company stops operations, with poor market prospects
Company slows uranium mining in northern Arizona, Yahoo 7 Finance 21 Nov 13,Uranium mining company to temporarily halt operations in northern Arizona amid low ore prices. FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The only two uranium mines operating in Arizona and an associated mill in southern Utah are set to cease operations temporarily as prices for the ore decline.
Energy Fuels Resources Inc. said uranium at its Arizona One Mine in the north part of the state will be depleted in early 2014, and the nearby Pinenut Mine and the White Mesa Mill in Blanding, Utah, will be placed on standby next year.
The move comes after the company stopped short of extracting uranium at another mine south of the Grand Canyon near Tusayan and as per-pound prices for uranium on the spot market dip to a five-year low, in the mid-$30s. The company plans to maintain the sites so that they can begin operating if the uranium market improves……..
Environmentalists are looking to the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to ensure that the company doesn’t leave anything behind that would harm wildlife or the landscape.
“It’s a good thing on the one hand, but there’s a systemic problem in the regulations by the land management agencies that allow these mines to blink on and off at will without any review or revision in their plans of operation,” said Roger Clark of the Grand Canyon Trust. http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/company-slows-uranium-mining-northern-153826141.html
Scandal-ridden South Korea wants a piece of the UK nuclear action!
Scandal-hit Korean group makes UK nuclear bid, Ft.com, 19 Nov 13 By Guy ChazanA Korean nuclear company that has been rocked by a domestic safety scandal is close to becoming a major investor in the UK – a development that could hit public confidence in the country’s much-vaunted nuclear renaissance. Korea Electric Power, or Kepco, is in talks to join the NuGen consortium, which has an option to build a reactor near Sellafield in Cumbria……
Some UK industry figures have expressed concern.
“Why would you want anyone with that kind of safety record?” said one person with knowledge of the NuGen negotiations. He said it risked “damaging the public perception of nuclear in the UK”.
But such concerns are likely to grow as more and more overseas state-owned groups enter the British marketplace. “If major pieces of UK energy infrastructure – not just nuclear – are owned by investors from afar, it’s going to give rise to a level of public disquiet that we haven’t seen so far,” said Nick Pidgeon, head of the Understanding Risk Research Group at Cardiff University.
The NuGen development highlights how reliant the UK is on foreign investors for its nuclear renaissance. Continue reading
Yet another uranium company makes wider losses
Energy Fuels makes efforts to sustain current drop in uranium prices Proactive Investors by Deborah Bacal 16 Nov 13 Energy Fuels (TSE:EFR)(OTCQX:EFRFD), which recently gained a majority stake in one of the largest and highest grade uranium projects in the U.S. through its acquisition of Strathmore Minerals, reported widened third quarter losses as a result of a drop during the period 
in both uranium spot and term prices, which it sees rising in the future.
For the three months to September 30, America’s largest conventional uranium producer, which says it has a strategy in place to beat current low prices, reported net loss was $70.47 million, or $4.30 per share, compared to $19.16 million, or $1.41 per share, a year ago. Revenues fell slightly to $24.5 million from $25.03 million.
As a result of the downward trend in prices through to the end of the quarter and Energy Fuels’ expectations to place the Pinenut mine on stand-by in July of next year, the company said it recorded an impairment loss of $60.26 million in the period. ince July 1, the spot price of uranium dropped from $39.65 per pound to its current price of $35.35 per pound, the company noted, and the long term price declined from $57.00 per lb. to $50.00 per pound.
Australian uranium miner Paladin in a poor situation, battles to survive
Weak uranium price hurts Paladin http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/national/19838677/weak-uranium-price-hurts-paladin/ Nick Sas, The West AustralianNovember 15, 2013, Paladin Energy has underscored the enormity of its battle for survival, admitting its African uranium mines lost $US14.9 million ($15.9 million) in the September quarter despite record production. Continue reading
Radiation fears severely damaging South Korea’s seafood traders
Fish Is Off the Menu in South Korea Over Radiation Fears Koreans Avoid Seafood Over Fears of Fukushima Contamination, WSJ, By KWANWOO JUN 14 Nov 13, SEOUL—”There have been no buyers yet,” said fish trader Choi Mi-ja as the clock ticked toward 3 p.m., some 10 hours after her store at the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market opened for the day.“In 26 years in this business, I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Ms. Choi added, standing by tanks where live, locally bred flatfish and Russian-imported king crabs were displayed.
Ms. Choi’s predicament provides a taste of the psychological impact of Japan’s nuclear crisis on South Korea’s seafood industry. Sales of marine products have plummeted in recent months as three out of every four Koreans say they have cut back on fish consumption following leaks of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.
The fears come despite Seoul imposing some of the toughest restrictions on seafood imports from Japan. Since September, it has blocked all fishery imports from eight prefectures surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi plant, on Japan’s Pacific coast.
Around 80% of seafood consumed in South Korea is caught locally, where there is no evidence of any impact from the nuclear disaster. Despite the facts, many Koreans are shunning seafood……..http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303289904579196893701088208
Finland nuclear power consortium sees exodus of 15 members
More partners pull out of Fennovoima nuclear project UUTISET, 14 Nov 13, The consortium of Finnish power companies backing a planned nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki, western Finland is shrinking. Some 15 members of the Fennovoima public power consortium announced Thursday that they were pulling out of the project, leaving 45 partners still on board. Thursday’s development saw 15 members of the Voimaosakeyhtiö SF announce their withdrawal from the planned nuclear power project in Ostrobothnia, western Finland. Voimaosakeyhtiö is a power consortium comprising 67 companies who jointly own Fennovoima.
Among the companies that decided to withdraw support from the nuclear power plant are Boliden Harjavalta, Boliden Kokkola and Componenta.
Back in 2012, Finnish retail cooperative S-Group and the German-based power giant E.ON announced that they were leaving the project behind. E.ON sold its 34 percent stake in the consortium, saying that the move was part of a strategy to sell off all of its Finnish operations.
S-Group said it shed its three-percent shareholding to focus on investments that would benefit its shareholders.
Fennovoima still in talks with Rosatom
About 45 companies remain as partners to the project. However their support is still conditional, given that Fennovoima is still in talks with Russian nuclear contractor and proposed minority owner, Rosatom.
The remaining consortium members include mining company Talvivaara, steel company Outokumpu, dairy company Valio and a group of regional energy companies…….http://yle.fi/uutiset/more_partners_pull_out_of_fennovoima_nuclear_project/6934299
1 This Month
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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