Western powers want to sell nukes to India, never mind about the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)……
Western powers have taken a keen interest in the nuclear emergence of India …… making it an attractive
prospect for technology exporters.
If India joined the NSG, it would be the only member of the suppliers group that has not signed up to the 1970 nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT)
BRITAIN LOBBIES FOR NUCLEAR EXPORT GROUP TO ADMIT INDIA Yahoo 7 News, Reuters June 15, 2013 By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA – Britain has stepped up efforts to let India join an influential global body controlling nuclear exports, a move that would boost New Delhi’s standing as an atomic power but which has faced resistance from China and other countries. Continue reading
USA Federal Subsidies for Small Modular Reactors
Department Of Energy’s Small Modular Reactor Program
Savannah River Nuclear Development Site
Taxpayer Subsidies for Small Modular Reactors Taxpayers for Common Sense February 27, 2013 Download: Golden Fleece: Taxpayer Subsidies for Small Nuclear Reactors (pdf) “…..Federal Subsidies for Small Modular Reactors Federal support for SMRs is provided through a subsidy program for commercial nuclear power that can be traced back to the 1950s when federal subsidies for nuclear power reached astronomical levels. Not only did the government develop reactor and enrichment technology for the private sector, it also assumed legal responsibility for nuclear waste disposal, something never done for any other industry. In addition, the government issued multimillion-dollar development grants for many reactor technologies (most since abandoned) and distributed research reactors around the world. Continue reading
Japanese Red Cross Society radiation limits for emergency workesr
Red Cross radiation limit for relief workers too low, say critics Asahi Shimbun, By YURI OIWA June 13, 2013 The Japanese Red Cross Society has established a guideline for medical workers that sets an accumulated radiation dose limit of 1 millisievert for relief activities, although experts have said the ceiling is too low to allow workers to provide ample assistance to disaster victims.
“Radiation doses above 1 millisievert have no health effects,” said Yasushi Asari, a professor of emergency medical care at Hirosaki University. “There is no need for medical workers to use that threshold.”
Masahito Yamazawa, director-general of the Red Cross nuclear disaster preparedness task force, said during in-house discussions there were arguments for and against the 1-millisievert threshold. But the Red Cross determined that a 1-millisievert limit would still allow its workers to engage in relief activities in zones with high radiation levels because each relief mission usually lasts only up to a week, Yamazawa said.
One millisievert is the legal annual dose limit for members of the public during normal times.
Yamazawa added that allowances were also made for the fact that its medical relief squads include clerical workers.
“We have created the guideline out of a positive desire to help victims during a nuclear disaster,” Yamazawa said. “We will use it as a platform for further improvements if the need arises.”
Japanese Red Cross relief units fulfilled a total of 900 missions in communities ravaged by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. However, initially they were unprepared for a nuclear disaster, and that created a vacuum of relief squads in Fukushima Prefecture during the early stages of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Red Cross officials said they learned from that experience and decided to create the new guideline for nuclear disaster relief activities.
The guideline says relief squad members should carry dosimeters and iodine tablets at all times, and retreat to safety whenever they are in danger of being exposed to more than 1 millisievert in accumulated radiation. It also says relief workers should keep clear of zones that are off-limits to residents……
Cutbacks as TVA struggles to revive Bellefonte Nuclear Power Station, Alabama
TVA cuts 530 jobs, spending on Ala. nuclear plant Knox News, RAY HENRY – Associated Press (AP) June 12, 2013 The Tennessee Valley Authority will cut 530 jobs and trim millions of dollars in spending on its effort to revive a mothballed nuclear plant in Alabama, utility officials said Wednesday in a decision that calls into question the project’s future.
A total of 35 TVA employees and 495 contractors will lose their positions at the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Station northeast of Scottsboro, Ala. The budget will fall from $182 million to $66 million, a reduction of roughly 64 percent. Some of the affected TVA employees may be reassigned to other roles within the utility.
The decision comes as the price of natural gas has plummeted, making it difficult for the electric industry to justify the massive costs of new nuclear plants. Utilities in California, Florida, New Jersey and Wisconsin have either shut down plants or will halt operations in the future because they are too costly to repair or upgrade. While the industry proposed building a new wave of reactors just a few years back, only a handful are likely to be completed in the Southeast because of the same economics.
Finishing the first reactor at Bellefonte by 2020 was expected to cost roughly $4.9 billion……. Already, the TVA is under pressure to control its costs. An effort to finish another of its mothballed reactors at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City, Tenn., was originally expected to cost $2.5 billion. Finishing the project may require as much as $2 billion more, according to utility estimates…… http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jun/12/tva-cuts-400-jobs-spending-on-ala-nuclear-plant/
Rio Tinto’s losses mean that Rossing uranium mining’s future is precarious
Rössing Uranium fights on for survival INFORMANTE BY FLORIS STEENKAMP 12 JUNE 2013 Rio Tinto Rössing Uranium incurred an operational loss of N$474 million in 2012, some N$10 million more than the losses the mine made in 2011. Despite this, the mine will continue to battle on and bolster cost savings and operational efficiency to ensure its long term survival.
This was the message of the outgoing managing director of Rio Tinto Rössing, Chris Salisbury, on 6 June Swakopmund.
Uranium mines globally continues to operate in adverse economic conditions…… Since Japan and many other nations started to shy away from nuclear power generation as the future of clean energy, uranium market prices plummeted by more than 36%.
Uranium mines globally continues to operate in adverse economic conditions…… Since Japan and many other nations started to shy away from nuclear power generation as the future of clean energy, uranium market prices plummeted by more than 36%.
At the Rössing mine not even a production output increase of 36% and drastic cost-saving measures could avert the 2012 losses, as this market dip was too severe….. Salisbury confirmed that he will be assuming another position in the Rio Tinto Group in Australia and said a successor would be sourced within months.http://www.informante.web.na/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12165:roessing-uranium-fights-on-for-survival&catid=1:coastal&Itemid=103
Crisis developing as shortage of Fukushima clean-up workers gets worse
“We’re headed toward a real crisis “
Under the worst scenario, experienced workers capable of supervising the work will be gone as they reach their radiation-exposure limits
Stricken nuke plant struggles on, Yahoo 7 Finance, AAP Jun 10, 2013 Keeping the meltdown-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in north-eastern Japan in stable condition requires a cast of thousands.
Increasingly the plant’s operator is struggling to find enough workers, a trend that many expect to worsen and hamper progress in the decades-long effort to safely decommission it.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the utility that runs the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant that melted down in March 2011 after being hit by a tsunami, is finding that it can barely meet the headcount of workers required to keep the three broken reactors cool while fighting power outages and leaks of tons of radiated water, said current and former nuclear plant workers and others familiar with the situation at Fukushima…….less risky, better paid decontamination projects in the region irradiated by the Fukushima meltdown are another draw.
Some Fukushima veterans are quitting as their cumulative radiation exposure approaches levels risky to health, said two long-time Fukushima nuclear workers who spoke to The Associated Press.
They requested anonymity because their speaking to the media is a breach of their employers’ policy and they say being publicly identified will get them fired………….. Continue reading
Future of American nuclear industry hangs on Vogtle new nuclear plant construction
Nuclear power could become a bypassed technology — like moon landings, Polaroid photos and cassette tapes……..
with construction now roughly one-third complete, it is clear that much is not going as planned, and that the schedule — which is closely linked to cost because of growing interest expense on the incomplete asset — has slipped by at least 14 months and possibly more…
The reason that utilities choose nuclear plants, is that they can collect profits on their investments. In Georgia they can do so even before the plant is finished.
Nuclear Power’s Future May Hinge on Georgia Project NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD June 11, 2013WAYNESBORO, Ga. — The two nuclear reactors rising out of the red Georgia clay here, twin behemoths of concrete and steel, make up one of the largest construction projects in the United States and represent a giant bet that their cost – in the range of $14 billion – will be cheaper than alternatives like natural gas. But something else is at stake with the reactors called Vogtle 3 and 4: the future of the American nuclear industry itself. Continue reading
Uranium market looking sicker than ever
Spot uranium drops below US $40.lb 9 News Finance, 11 June 13 – Uranium spot price falls below US$40/lb – Spot market slow – Activity, but no sales in term markets.. By Andrew Nelson Stubborn uranium sellers have been holding off speculative buyers for a while now, unwilling to drop prices to get deals done. Consumers, on the other hand, have little short term requirement and many are out there cherry picking the market. That has been the way of things for quite a while now, that is until last week.
There were only four sales booked in the spot market last week, which saw 500,000 pounds of U308 change hands. More importantly, sellers finally started to buckle in their resolve and in turn, the spot price fell below what has been key psychological support at US$40/lb. This is the first time we’ve seen sub 40 price since March 2006…..with the price dropping to US$39.75/lb, one wonders whether the drop, at least in psychological terms, will turn into something much greater. US$40 has been tested time and time again, and now it’s finally been broken.
TradeTech reports that current spot demand remains thin and the only way to conclude deals at the moment is to drop prices, grin and bear it. …
no new transactions were concluded, leaving TradeTech’s Mid-Term U3O8 Price Indicator at US$44.00/lb, while the Long-Term Price Indicator was flat at US$57.00/lb.
There are still a number of analysts out there spruiking …. http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newscolumnists/other/8672944/spot-uranium-drops-below-us40-lb
San Onofre nuclear closure an added blow to nuclear industry’s investment hopes
“It’s difficult to get Wall Street to loan money against so much uncertainty,” “The four closures this year make Wall Street more apprehensive, not less apprehensive.”Other facilities are nearing the end of their projected lifespans and may need costly renovations while cheap natural gas has siphoned off market share. Potentially expensive regulations to bolster safety in response to a triple meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant in 2011 have raised the concerns of investors.
“The decision to shut down San Onofre is another sign that the economics of nuclear are under pressure given the low cost of alternative sources,” Travis Miller, a Chicago-based analyst forMorningstar Inc. (MORN), said in a phone interview. “Just five years ago, nuclear power plants looked like a gold mine.”…..
Dominion Resources Inc. (D) and Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) have announced in recent months that they will retire a unit each. Exelon Corp. (EXC) of Chicago plans to shut its 44-year-old Oyster Creek reactor, the oldest in the U.S. fleet, at the end of 2019.
The economic climate, coupled with an increase in renewable energy sources like solar and wind generation, may not bode well for new units, said David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based environmental group.
“It’s difficult to get Wall Street to loan money against so much uncertainty,” he said in a phone interview. “The four closures this year make Wall Street more apprehensive, not less apprehensive.”…….
“The decision to shut down rather than retrofit the San Onofre nuclear plant shows the changing economics of the power market,” Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, a Chicago-based advocate of cleaner energy, said in a telephone interview. “We suspect other nuclear plant owners may start reaching the same decision.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-10/san-onofre-seen-as-latest-setback-for-u-s-nuclear-power.html
Shortage of Fukushima cleanup workers will be worse if Japan’s nuclear power push goes ahead
Stricken nuke plant struggles on, Yahoo 7 Finance, AAP Jun 10, 2013“…….One Fukushima Dai-ichi worker, who has gained a big following on Twitter because of his updates about the state of the plant since the meltdowns, said veteran workers are quitting or forced to cut back on working in highly radiated areas of the plant as their cumulative exposure rises…………. Known as Happy-san to his 71,500 Twitter followers, he has worked in the nuclear industry for 20 years, about half of that at Fukushima.
He has worked at bigger contractors before, but is now at a mid-level contractor with about 20 employees, and has an executive level position.
“If things continue the way they are going, I fear decommissioning in 40 years is impossible. If nuclear plants are built abroad, then Japanese engineers and workers will go abroad. If plants in Japan are restarted, engineers and workers will go to those plants,” he said in a tweet………..
Other jobs are already so plentiful that securing enough workers for even the more lucrative work decontaminating the towns around the plant is impossible, according to Fukushima Labour Bureau data.
During the first quarter of this year, only 321 jobs got filled from 2,124 openings in decontamination, which involves scraping soil, gathering foliage and scrubbing walls to bring down radiation levels……….
“We’re headed toward a real crisis,” said Ryuichi Kino, a freelance writer and photographer who has authored books about the nuclear disaster and has reported on TEPCO intensively since March 2011.
Under the worst scenario, experienced workers capable of supervising the work will be gone as they reach their radiation-exposure limits, said Kino.
He believes an independent company separate from TEPCO needs to be set up to deal with the decommissioning, to make sure safety is not being compromised and taxpayer money is spent wisely. http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/stricken-nuke-plant-struggles-000105277.html
Prime Minister Abe increases drive to export Japanese nuclear reactors
JAPAN PM TO STEP UP NUCLEAR EXPORT DRIVE: REPORT Yahoo 7 News, 8 June 13, TOKYO (AFP) – Japan’s prime minister is expected to sign a nuclear cooperation deal with the Czech Republic this month, a report said Saturday, as Tokyo looks to build up its exports of the technology.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Czech President Milos Zeman have all but agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on mutual nuclear technology cooperation when they meet in Poland on June 16, the Nikkei business daily said.
Nuclear power has been a sensitive issue in Japan since a quake and tsunami wiped out the Fukushima atomic plant in 2011, sparking the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years, but Abe has been keen to promote the industry since taking office in December. The memorandum is expected to include a statement that the Czech Republic will use Japanese nuclear technology.
It will also make US nuclear plant builder Westinghouse Electric, a unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., the top candidate to win a $10 billion contract to build two nuclear reactors in the Central European country, the daily said.
Abe is due to meet the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary in Poland while on his way to the June 17-18 Group-of-Eight summit in Northern Ireland, the Nikkei added…….
After talks in Tokyo on Friday, Abe and French President Francois Hollande said they would cooperate in developing nuclear power technologies and promoting the sector’s exports to emerging economies. http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/17529581/japan-pm-to-step-up-nuclear-export-drive-report/
No nuclear renaissance- instead, a nuclear terminal illness
Nuclear plant closures show industry’s struggles, Anchorage Daily News, 8 June 13, LOS ANGELES — The decision to close California’s San Onofre nuclear plant is the latest setback for an industry that seemed poised for
growth not long ago.
In Wisconsin, a utility shuttered its plant last month after it couldn’t find a buyer. In Florida – and now California – utilities decided it was cheaper to close plants rather than spend big money fixing them and risk the uncertainty of safety reviews.
Meanwhile, the low cost of natural gas is discouraging utilizes from spending billions of dollars and lots of time to build nuclear reactors…………In places where utilities sell power into the open market, the low prices don’t offset the financial risk of buildingexpensive and time-consuming nuclear plants……….
Only three nuclear construction projects have moved forward, and they
are all under financial pressure. The Tennessee Valley Authority is finishing a long-mothballed reactor at its Watts Bar plant. Initially budgeted at $2.5 billion, the utility has said finishing the project could cost up to $2 billion
more.
Atlanta-based Southern Co. owns a 46 percent share of two new reactors being constructed at Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia, a project originally estimated at $14 billion. Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power recently asked regulators to raise its share of the construction budget by $737 million to roughly $6.85 billion.
It may cost more. Georgia Power and the companies designing and building the plant are in a legal fight that may cost the utility more money. Separately, an independent monitor hired by Georgia regulators has warned of additional potential costs.
SCANA Corp. announced this week that it expects its costs to rise by around $200 million and the construction schedule to slip while building two reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in SouthCarolina.
http://www.adn.com/2013/06/08/2931913/nuclear-plant-closures-shows-industrys.html#storylink=cpy
Safety upgrades required will cost U.S. nuclear plant operators $billions
U.S. plants covered under the directive are older, boiling-water reactors mainly similar in design to the Fukushima facility…..
Plant operators may have to spend nearly $3.6 billion over the next three to five years on modifications to the nation’s 102 nuclear facilities in response to the Fukushima accident, according to a Platts survey released on Thursday.
U.S. orders new safety upgrades at nuclear plants By CNN Staff June 7, 2013 –– Washington — U.S. regulators are directing 31 nuclear reactors similar in design to the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, where an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown two years ago, to take additional steps to help contain radiation and other damage from any accident that is not quickly halted.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission directive on Thursday requires enhancements to systems for venting accumulated pressure from containment structures during an emergency. Vents must also be able to safely handle rising temperatures, hydrogen concentrations and radiation levels.
The changes also aim to ensure that plant personnel can continue to operate vents safely if a reactor core melts down, the agency said. Continue reading
Nuclear economics; a fourth American nuclear plant bites the dust
California nuclear plant to shut: a case of unforgiving nuclear economics, Christian Science Monitor, Peter Spotts, 7 June 13 Southern California Edison is shutting the remaining two reactors at San Onofre, citing high repair costs and an NRC ruling that the utility says would delay reactor restarts.
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), a nuclear power plant set into the seaside bluffs in northern San Diego County, is closing after the high cost of repairs and a Nuclear Regulatory Commission board ruling prompted its owner, Southern California Edison, to pull the plug on the 45-year-old facility.The announcement Friday that San Onofre’s two functioning reactors were being shut down brings to four the number of reactors that nuclear utilities have slated for closure since last November. Meanwhile, nuclear utilities have three new reactors on the drawing boards.
At least for now, “we’re losing them faster than we’re building them,” quips David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer by training who focuses on nuclear-energy issues at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington…..
n early May, the utility Dominion shuttered its single-reactor Kewaunee nuclear plant in Carleton, Wis., a casualty of cheaper sources of electricity and an inability to build additional reactors to take advantage of what the company called economies of scale.
“Nuclear economics is tenuous at best,” Mr. Lochbaum says. “If you do everything right, you can make money at this. But if you stumble, there’s a big price to pay, and not just from a Fukushima-type tragedy.”
Financial setbacks can take their toll as well, he says, whether a setback comes from lost business or from hardware failures or human error that sets the stage for costly repairs……..
What looked to the utility to be a sensible $780 million investment in 2009 and ’10 to extend the lifetime of the two reactors turned into an economic albatross, Continue reading
Cameco’s Australian uranium project in doubt, with 4 year record low price
Spot Uranium Falls Below $40/Pound Benchmark for First Time in Four Years http://uraniuminvestingnews.com/14766/spot-uranium-falls-below-40pound-benchmark-for-first-time-in-four-years.html June 7, 2013,The West Australian reported that spot uranium prices fell to below $40/pound for the first time since August 2009, placing pressure on uranium explorers.
As quoted in the market report:
A hearty increase in the spot price is needed to force WA’s fledgling uranium sector into first gear, with Canadian giant Cameco indicating a price of more than $70/lb is needed before it can give the green light to its massive Yeelirrie or Kintyre deposits.
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of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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