India’s Dept of Atomic Energy wants help in winning hearts and minds towards nuclear power
More important, DAE touched upon the growing protest against nuclear energy in India and told US industry members they would have to address ideological opposition in this regard and also safety- related concerns and public awareness. US industry would also have to tackle issues relating to land acquisition and resource mobilisation.
DAE invites US firms to be part of India’s nuclear story http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/dae-invites-us-firms-to-be-part-of-india-s-nuclear-story-113092000753_1.html Sanjay Jog | Mumbai September 23, 2013 A high-level delegation of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in Vienna rolled out a red carpet for US industry to invest in the nuclear capacity addition programme. India proposes to increase its nuclear capacity to 63,000 Mw by 2032 from the present level of 4,780 Mw, with a mix of indigenous reactors and also through foreign technical cooperation.
The DAE, however, in no uncertain terms told the US industry delegation the companies would have to meet Indian regulatory requirements. Indian laws would be applicable to them, though the presentation did not make a mention of the civil nuclear liability law.
A couple of global nuclear reactor supplier companies have raised serious objections against our civil nuclear liability law. The DAE team, led by Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chief R K Sinha, was in Vienna to attend the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 57th general conference between September 16 and 19. Continue reading
Japan’s economy can move forward without nuclear power
Electricity in Japan Power struggle The Economist, Sep 21st 2013 | TOKYO “……….The LDP’s anti-nuclear coalition partner, New Komeito, also constrains the government somewhat. Meanwhile, rising business optimism appears to undermine the case that economic recovery depends on nuclear power. Probably no more than 12-15 reactors will be switched back on, says Kazuhiro Ueta, a renewable-energy specialist who sits on the government’s energy-advisory board. For the nuclear village, which once expected to supply at least half of Japan’s power, that would be a grave disappointment.
Instead, Japan is preparing for other long-term energy supplies. Since 2011 the number of independent power producers tapping renewable sources, such as solar power, has tripled, thanks in part to a new “feed-in” tariff system for renewables. Including hydro-electricity, renewables now represent 10% of the energy mix, leading to hopes that they might one day replace the share that nuclear power once claimed…………..
Long-overdue proposals to liberalise the electricity market may do much to diversify energy sources and lower electricity bills. The government’s plan, easier to push through now that TEPCO, the biggest utility, has been brought low by its handling of the Fukushima fiasco, is to split generation and transmission, with the residential electricity market open to new competition. If the reform succeeds, says Hiroshi Takahashi of the Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo, the share of nuclear power in the energy mix would fall as new, non-nuclear providers won customers. It would, at long last, give the public some say over Japan’s energy choices. http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21586570-shadow-fukushima-worlds-worst-nuclear-disaster-after-chernobyl-hangs-over-japans-energy
Japan’s big electricity companies put obstacles in the way of renewable energy
Since there are no regulations defining grid access, the restrictions can be imposed at will by the major utilities.
In a survey by the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation, in Tokyo, as many as 60 solar power providers said they had given up selling power because of the grid access problems.
a major stumbling block for renewable energy,
Renewable energy push blunted as ad-hoc rules stymie private upstarts, Japan Times, KYODO SEP 15, 2013 Ever since Japan kicked off a system to encourage the use of renewable energy for electricity in July 2012, businesses, civic organizations and even local government bodies have been trying to break into the tightly held power market.
Under the so-called feed-in tariff system, utilities are required purchase any generated electricity derived from five types of renewable energy for a fixed price and a set time.
But the momentum seems to be slowing. Several potential power suppliers are dropping their bids after coming face to face with restrictions that make it difficult for them to link to the power grids run by the utilities, which are essentially monopolies. Continue reading
America’s nuclear weapons spending – bloated and out of control
The post-Cold War nuclear warhead complex has become a gigantic self-licking ice cream cone for contractors,”
Nation’s bloated nuclear spending comes under fire Journal Review, 13 Sept 13, Matthew Daly reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press At Los Alamos National Laboratory, a seven-year, $213 million upgrade to the security system that protects the lab’s most sensitive nuclear bomb-making facilities doesn’t work. Those same facilities, which sit atop a fault line, remain susceptible to collapse and dangerous radiation releases, despite millions more spent on improvement plans.
In Tennessee, the price tag for a new uranium processing facility has grown nearly sevenfold in eight years to upward of $6 billion because of problems that include a redesign to raise the roof. And the estimated cost of an ongoing effort to refurbish 400 of the country’s B61 bombs has grown from $1.5 billion to $10 billion.
Virtually every major project under the National Nuclear Security Administration’s oversight is behind schedule and over budget _ the result, watchdogs and government auditors say, of years of lax accountability and nearly automatic annual budget increases for the agency responsible for maintaining the nation’s nuclear stockpile.
The NNSA has racked up $16 billion in cost overruns on 10 major projects that are a combined 38 years behind schedule, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reports. Other projects have been cancelled or suspended, despite hundreds of millions of dollars already spent, because they grew too bloated. Continue reading
Florida: costly high risk nuclear power should not be funded by the tax-payer
Americans may be divided on the use of nuclear power, but few people will defend the notion that massive utilities should be relying on taxpayers to build nuclear reactors. The bottom line is clear: Putting the full faith and credit of the U.S. government behind this costly, high-risk Vogtle reactor project is fiscally irresponsible
Policy wrongly puts risk of nuclear plants on public http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-front-burner-nuclear-loans-con-20130912,0,1513077.story By Ryan Alexander, September 12, 2013
Think what you want about nuclear power. Maybe it’s the best way to generate electricity or maybe it’s the worst. For Florida taxpayers, that debate may be less relevant than the one aimed right at your pocketbook.
At issue is the use of taxpayer-backed federal loan guarantees to finance nuclear-reactor projects — such as the Vogtle reactors in Georgia now awaiting a deadline for final agreement on loan-guarantee terms. If these terms are finalized, taxpayers will be left holding the bag in the event of a Vogtle default.
In February 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy conditionally offered Southern Company and its partners $8.33 billion in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees to build two nuclear reactors in Georgia. The subsidy would be provided through the same DOE program that awarded more than $500 million to the now defunct solar-power company, Solyndra. The Vogtle project is roughly 16 times bigger than Solyndra in loan-guarantee terms and perhaps every bit as troubled.
The project is already experiencing construction delays that could increase costs substantially, and its design, the AP1000, has never been built in the United States before or been successfully completed or operated anywhere in the world. Initial cost estimates of $14.1 billion are already being pushed up to $15.3 billion. With lawsuits being pursued by contractors designing the reactor, the cost could jump again to $16.2 billion.
All of this is unfolding against a backdrop of grim news for the nuclear industry in the U.S. Continue reading
Virginia Uranium still bribing politicians, yet uranium market has collapsed
Whatever Happened to Virginia Uranium? http://www.baconsrebellion.com/2013/09/whatever-happened-to-virginia-uranium.html By Peter Galuszka , 11 Sept 13, A big effort to mine uranium in Southside Virginia seemed stymied when the General Assembly failed to end a moratorium on such activity in the last General Assembly.
It would seem that exploiting a large deposit of ore in Pittsylvania County by a wealthy local family and some obscure Canadian investors had fallen away.
Two developments underline the uncertainty of the venture, which has been wrought with political turmoil involving expenses-paid trips for legislators to Paris and allies of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell making late night phone calls to twist local arms for the project.
First, Virginia Uranium keeps giving donations. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the firm has given $53,500 to state politicians this year. It is part of a whopping $324,650 in donations the firm has given since it ramped up in 2008.
The other noteworthy item is a story in today’s Wall street Journal that paints a very bad picture for the future of nuclear power. Uranium prices are at their lowest levels in eight years, trading at about $34 a pound Tuesday. For the Virginia project to work, they have to be well above $65 a pound.
What’s more, the Journal says, the market for the fuel hasn’t recovered since the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, which is still causing trouble. In the U.S., cheap and plentiful shale gas from fracking has priced nukes out. Germany is shutting its off by 2022 and even nuke-happy France plans on reducing its nuke load from 80 to 50 percent.
So, one might ask, why is Virginia Uranium still doling out dough?
Japan desperate to sell nuclear reactors overseas
Reactor makers look abroad as home market fizzles , Japan Times, BY KAZUAKI NAGATA 10 Sept 13, The Fukushima meltdowns and the continuing radiation crisis may have turned the public off of atomic energy at home, but it’s full steam ahead for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Japan’s heavy industries when it comes to exporting that technology to power-hungry economies abroad.
The marketing push being led by Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party, which brought Japan into the nuclear age, has angered nuclear protest groups, which, like many members of the public, blame the party’s cozy ties with big business for setting the stage for the Fukushima meltdown debacle.
Here are some questions and answers about Japan’s nuclear technology exports: How does the process of exporting nuclear plants work? Continue reading
Miserable market for uranium stops Colorado uranium mill build
Plan to build uranium mill in SW Colorado on hold The Associated Press September 8, 2013 DURANGO — A Toronto-based energy company is holding off on its plan to build a uranium mill in southwest Colorado.
The Durango Herald reports (http://bit.ly/15H4qMC ) Stephen Antony, president and CEO of Energy Fuels Resources Inc., told investors during a conference call Friday the company won’t build the Pinon Ridge mill in Montrose County unless there is an unexpected turnaround in uranium prices…..http://gazette.com/plan-to-build-uranium-mill-in-sw-colorado-on-hold/article/1506008he gaztte,
Should Southern California ratepayers have to pay $2.4 billion for closed down San Onofre nuclear plant?
California Utility Wants $2 Billion From Ratepayers For Shuttered Nuclear Plant http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2013/09/06/california-utility-wants-2-billion-from-ratepayers-for-shuttered-nuclear-plant/ Forbes, William Pentland, 6 Sept 13 Southern California Edison (SCE) wants at least $2.4 billion fromratepayers over the next seven years to cover the costs of the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant, according to the Associated Press.
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in southern California was initially shut down in January 2012 after operators discovered damaged tubing in the facility’s steam generators.
SCE decided to shut down the nuclear reactors permanently in June.
In August, SCE provided a proposal to recover the capital investment in SONGS to the California Public Utilities Commission, which claimed to need the money to compensate shareholders.
The California Division of Ratepayer Advocates has argued ratepayers should not be charged for a plant that is not producing power.
It is hard to disagree.
New Orleans suburbs resident to pay up for nuclear plant repairs
Entergy seeks bill increase to pay for nuclear plant repairs BY MARK BALLARD, The Advocate, mballard@theadvocate.com September 06, 2013 About 700,000 Entergy customers from the New Orleans suburbs to the Arkansas line already are paying to repair the Waterford 3 nuclear plant that has only 11 years left on its license.
Since January, Entergy Louisiana’s typical residential customers — who buy about 1,400 kilowatt hours of electricity monthly — have been paying $5.81 more each month for the nuclear plant repairs, according to the company’s calculations.
The repair is roughly the cost of building a brand-new generating plant that uses natural gas as fuel and would last another half century, said Casey DeMoss Roberts, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy. The Alliance is a New Orleans-based group that advocates on behalf of residential and small-business customers of big utility companies.
“Do we want to invest that much money into about a 30-year-old nuclear power plant, or should we retire the plant and invest that into a new natural gas or some other new generation source?” Roberts asked……. http://theadvocate.com/home/6913539-125/entergy-seeks-bill-increase-to
UK an ‘attractive opportunity’ for Russia to sell its nukes
Russian ambitions to build nuclear reactors in Britain are ‘realistic’, say ministers By Emily Gosdenhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10289525/Russian-ambitions-to-build-nuclear-reactors-in-Britain-are-realistic-say-ministers.html 05 Sep 2013
Ministers have opened the door to Russia building nuclear reactors on British soil, signing an agreement describing it as a “realistic longer-term ambition”.
The memorandum of understanding, signed in Moscow by energy minister Michael Fallon, said that “mutually profitable commercial relationships between Russian and British companies in third markets could form the basis in the longer term of commercial cooperation in the UK”.
This would be achieved through an “incremental, step-by-step approach”. Mr Fallon said: “Inward investment into our energy sector will depend upon all reactor technologies meeting the stringent and independent regulatory standards required in the UK and EU.”
The agreement came as Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation, commissioned Rolls-Royce to prepare the ground for its reactor to seek UK safety approval. Rolls-Royce, which already has a partnership with Rosatom, will “undertake engineering and safety assessment work” ahead of Rosatom’s reactor “potentially entering the first step of the UK’s formal regulatory approval process”.
Reactors have to pass a ‘generic design assessment’ from the Office for Nuclear Regulation before they can be built in the UK. EDF-Areva’s reactor design for proposed use at Hinkley Point in Somerset took five years to approve.
Rosatom said it viewed the UK as “an attractive opportunity” because most of the UK’s existing reactors are due to close in coming years.
Russia has made no secret of its desire to expand in the UK but has to convince politicians it can overcome security fears as well as safety concerns stemming from its role in the Chernobyl disaster. In June ministers agreed to create a joint working group on “cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy between Rosatom and DECC”.
Uranium price is tied to what’s going on in Japan, says UEC
Uranium Energy Cuts Output as Nuclear Fuel Prices Lie Low Bloomberg, By Gerrit De Vynck – Sep 5, 2013Uranium Energy Corp which mines and processes the nuclear fuel in Texas, is cutting production as prices trade at a seven-year low…..Uranium spot prices have fallen 22 percent this year amid delays in the restart of nuclear plants in Japan following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Last month, Cameco Corp. (CCO), the world’s third-largest uranium producer, dropped its projected sales volume from its German trading unit Nukem Energy GmbH to 8 million to 10 million from 9 million to 11 million pounds.
“This uranium price is tied to what’s going on in Japan,” said David Talbot, an analyst for Dundee Securities Corp. in Toronto. Once Japanese regulators approve more plant restarts, it will signal to the world to begin buying uranium again and the price will rebound, he said….. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-05/uranium-energy-cuts-output-as-nuclear-fuel-prices-lie-low.html
Investors wary indeed, as uranium prices continue their free fall
Market sources are not optimistic the spot U3O8 price will rebound in the near future. “You’ll see more sales that need to be done by year end and there will be more pressure on the sales side,” one market analyst said. “It doesn’t look encouraging for people who think prices will rebound” by December — it’s wishful thinking,” he said.
There has been no firm support since spot U3O8 prices dropped below $40/lb in June, the analyst said. “Some producer will have to announce either a delay in a [uranium mining] startup or that a major project will shut down production. There’s nothing else out there that would bolster the market,” he said.
Uranium spot price weakens further in the wake of low-priced deal Washington (Platts) Jim Ostroff, Sep 2013/303 The spot price of uranium has dropped by about $1 in the past week to come in at about $34/lb, as a trading company’s deal last week to sell material that level continued to depress prices, market analysts said in interviews Tuesday.
The last time U3O8 spot prices were below the current average was November 14, 2005, when price publisher Ux Consulting reported a weekly price of $33.95/lb. The company did not begin to publish a daily Broker Average Price until 2009. The BAP is based on information from Evolution Markets and Numerco.
“Spot uranium supply continues to outstrip demand even as discretionary and utility demand step forward to take advantage of declining prices,” Continue reading
Disaster for uranium industry as uranium glut grows
Japan’s nuclear energy intentions are the swing factor at present. … if Japan does not start turning back on more reactors, Japanese uranium stockpiles will continue to hit the market to pay for increased fossil fuel imports. Nor is it helping at present that the US is also talking about turning off reactors.
Meanwhile, traders and speculators stuck with material and producers suffering cash flow problems are ever more desperate to offload material.
No rush to buy uranium, 9 News Finance by FN Arena 2 Sept 13, The spot market for uranium was never of much interest until the big surge took prices up well over US$100/lb in 2006. In that era, legacy contract obligations at much lower prices impacted on the earnings potential of the large and long-established players, such as Energy Resources of Australia in Australian terms, while new kids on the block, such as Paladin Energy relished the opportunity to secure contracts at more spot-aligned pricing.
Fast forward to the post-Fukushima era of 2013 and the tables have turned. Those noughties contract obligations have largely run off and the uranium price is wallowing in the depths. Continue reading
India, Japan, negotiating purchase of nuclear reactors
India, Japan to restart nuclear talks today NEW DELHI, DHNS: Sep 3, 2013 India will continue to stonewall pressure from Japan to convert its unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests into a bilateral commitment, even as the two countries are set to restart negotiations on a proposed agreement for cooperation in civilian use of atomic energy on Tuesday.
Over two years after the accident at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant prompted Japan to pause talks with India for a bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement, the process is now set to resume. The negotiations, however, are likely to be tough, as New Delhi will resist Tokyo’s pressure to add a clause to the agreement providing for termination of bilateral cooperation in the event of a nuclear test conducted by India.
Sources told Deccan Herald that India would also insist on protecting its right to reprocess the fuel spent on nuclear reactors to be procured under the agreement with Japan.
Two officials of the Ministry of External Affairs—Joint Secretary (East Asia) Gautam Bambawale and Joint Secretary (Disarmament) Bala Venkatesh Varma—are in Tokyo to restart the talks……. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/354971/india-japan-restart-nuclear-talks.html
1 This Month
Protect Sazan Island from the Trump family! https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/protect_sazan_island_from_the_trump_family_loc/?bqFCVab&v=174511&cl=22707147157&_checksum=5e9dde668860e8231c33699735e16a1fbf22ab2cb01da50c999fe8732b9775ef&utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast_email&utm_campaign=174511
25 June- THE PUKE ON NUKES
Thursday, June 25, 2026
7pm Central Time (8pm ET, 6pm MT, 5pm PT) UTC – 5
From NRC & DOE Deregulation to Techno-Fascist Billionaires Going Nuclear, Plus a Few Songs from Atomic Cabaret REGISTER
26 June – Radiation Trainwreck at the NRC / Join the Protect Better Campaign – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4ZlZ5_qLSHGiLSCg8FF6Bg#/registration
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- June 2026 (152)
- May 2026 (306)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (268)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (257)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 