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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Nuclear lobby getting jittery?

Half-Hearted Nuclear Energy Cannot Continue, Leaders be “All In”  Energy Collective, Rod Adams, 31 Mar“…..leaders need to be “all in”; they cannot engage in a half-hearted attempt to make nuclear somewhat competitive by following all of the existing rules and making only marginal changes in heat source and heat engine designs that work well when the fuel is coal, oil, or natural gas. They also need to make friends with others who have made the same basic technical choice and not engage in destructive competition against other nuclear energy entrepreneurs who do not have much market share to take anyway….

[quoting Helm] “after a decade of unprecedented mergers and acquisitions—coupled with a good dose of financial engineering—most of the big players are in poor shape to do much investing anyway.” Helm is not talking specifically about nuclear here, but I think that the thought process applies. ……  They must be willing to use new paradigms and techniques and to adopt good ideas that may have been invented somewhere else.

The leaders must also recognize the political aspects of the technology and be unafraid to take advantage of skillful marketing that takes direct aim at the long line of dark grey suits that represent the established energy industry. ….

Focused leaders who have a deep understanding of nuclear technology, politics and human nature need to be willing to throw hammers that may result in some blowback. They must keep pressing forward to develop the energy supply products that their customers want – even if they don’t yet know it….

[again quoting Helm[ ” a revealing commentary on solar energy as a scam that is making a certain type of investor rich] . -.. http://theenergycollective.com/rodadams/203536/dieter-helm-nuclear-saga-cannot-go-leaders-must-push-happy-ending

April 3, 2013 Posted by | marketing | Leave a comment

Wind Energy races ahead, as nuclear production falls in USA

wind-nuclear-BAD NEWS FOR HOMER SIMPSON HTTP://QZ.COM/68344/US-RENEWABLE-ENERGY-PRODUCTION-NOW-TOPS-NUCLEAR-POWER/   US renewable energy production now tops nuclear power  By Todd Woody — March 28, 2013

US president Barack Obama has pursued an energy policy he describes as “all of the above,” a bit of Bill Clinton-style triangulation that seeks to boost production from carbon-intensive oil and gas drilling while promoting clean technologies like solar and wind.

So how’s he doing?

New data released yesterday from the US Energy Information Administration offers a snapshot of the energy landscape in Obama’s first term.   Energy production from natural gas grew 16% while coal-fired power fell more than 4%, thanks to a glut of cheap natural gas from the fracking boom. It’s a trend likely to continue as shale gas reserves are tapped and new emissions regulations effectively bar the construction of new coal-fired power plants.

Renewable energy production jumped nearly 24% but remains only 11% of the US’ total energy production. But the trend lines tell the story: Wind energy, for instance, grew 89% while electricity production from nuclear power plants fell 4%.

And this factoid should warm the hearts of anti-nuke activists: The US now gets more energy from renewable sources—wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and biomass—than it does from nuclear power plants.

While there are new nuclear projects winding their way through the regulatory process, don’t expect a nuke boom. Multibillion-dollar price tags, waste disposal issues and growing water shortages are likely to limit nuclear power’s contribution to the nation’s energy mix in the coming decades.

Mr. Burns just might want to start looking for another job, perhaps as a wind farm magnate.

March 29, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Vermont Yankee nuclear plant not financially viable?

nuke-plant-sad“Entergy’s financial problems must not become nuclear safety problems,” Tim Judson, president of Citizens’ Awareness Network and one of the petition’s authors, said in a public statement. “Unfortunately, that may already be happening, and the NRC must act now. Entergy is in this business to make a profit, and the pressure on the company to cut costs, delay maintenance, and drive these plants to the edge is just too great.”…..

 The NRC’s inquiry into Vermont Yankee’s finances comes one month after the Swiss financial services firm UBS Securities downgraded Entergy’s stock from “neutral” to “sell.”

UBS released a report earlier this year that suggested Entergy could improve its financial outlook if it closed Vermont Yankee.

Entergy document cites drastic  fall in value of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, raising questions about its viability VT Digger, by Andrew Stein | March 21, 2013 Thursday marked the one-year anniversary that Vermont Yankee’s initial 40-year operating license expired, and the aging nuclear plant finds itself on rough financial footing.

In a November 2012 filing with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Entergy Corp. informed investors that in March of last year the company estimated that the fair value of its Vermont Yankee plant had dropped to $162 million — three times less than the carrying value of $517.5 million.

The fair value is “based on the price that Entergy would expect to receive in a hypothetical sale of the Vermont Yankee plant,” the filing says. The cash flow projections “depend on pending legal and state regulatory matters, as well as projections of future revenues and expenses.”

The news of Vermont Yankee’s devaluation was brought to light almost a year later.  Continue reading →

March 22, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Fukushima casts a continuing gloom over uranium market

Japan’s Nuclear Woes Still a Key Factor in Uranium Market, By Melissa Pistilli – Uranium Investing News, March 21, 2013,  The uranium sport price remains unchanged from last week’s indicator of $42.25 per pound U3O8, according to TradeTech. “Currently, spot uranium supply and demand are relatively in balance, with neither buyers nor sellers highly motivated to conclude transactions,” the industry consulting firm reported…….

Ongoing problems at the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant aren’t helping Japanese citizens’ perception of the safety of nuclear power. A recent power outage Monday left four fuel storage pools without fresh cooling water…..

March 22, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

South Carolina’s nuclear power to get ever more costly

nukes-hungry“The cost trends clearly suggest that nuclear reactor construction is not only more costly than the alternatives today, but will be a great deal more costly than many more alternatives in the future,”

Report: Gov’t incentives favor nuclear over renewable energy in SC The State, South Carolina,  15, 2013 By SAMMY FRETWELL — COLUMBIA, SC — As SCE&G and other utilities work to complete atomic power plants, the law that made construction possible gives power companies less incentive to use solar, wind and other forms of alternative energy.

That’s one conclusion in a broad study that criticizes the way South Carolina, Georgia and Florida have helped utilities afford the multi-billion dollar costs of building nuclear power plants.

The report, released Thursday through the Vermont’ Law School, said ratepayers in the three Southern states are being soaked for the high costs of building atomic reactors. It recommends that the nuclear reactor projects be cancelled to save money in the long run because the projects are still years from completion and will cost billions more than originally projected. SCE&G is spending $10 billion on two new reactors at Jenkinsville because of a special financing method allowed by the state Legislature six years ago. Already, the company has incurred more than $280 million in extra costs building the plants, the report said. The plants are expected to become operational in 2017 and 2018.

Historically, utilities have had to show that power plants are up and running properly before they could recover the costs for construction, Vermont researchers said. Now, laws adopted in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida have allowed utilities to charge ratepayers for nuclear power plants before the reactors are built. Continue reading →

March 16, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Misleading information masks true level of radiation received by Fukushima workers

text ionising63 workers exposed to higher radiation than logged in their records,
March 02, 2013, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN  by Toshio Tada and Jun Sato
Dozens of workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
were exposed to radiation levels higher than those registered in their
personal records, according to a health ministry investigation. Continue reading →

March 4, 2013 Posted by | employment, Fukushima 2013, Japan | Leave a comment

For economic reasons, USA’s nuclear power may simply disappear

terminal-nuclear-industry current market forces challenge the economic viability of existing nuclear power plants, with new reactors representing an extremely unattractive investment prospect.
 
Allowing existing reactors to simply run out their licensed lifetimes in the current scenario, nuclear power may simply disappear

US May Face Inevitable Nuclear Power Exit Science Daily, Mar. 1, 2013 — In a 2012 report, the Obama administration announced that it was “jumpstarting” the nuclear industry. Because of the industry’s long history of permitting problems, cost overruns, and construction delays, financial markets have been wary of backing new nuclear construction for decades.

The supposed “nuclear renaissance” ballyhooed in the first decade of this century never materialized. And then came Fukushima, a disaster that pushed countries around the world to ask: Should nuclear power be part of the energy future? In the third and final issue in a series focused on nuclear exits, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by SAGE, turns its attention to the United States and looks at whether the country’s business-as-usual approach may yet lead to a nuclear phase-out for economic reasons. Continue reading →

March 2, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

In dismal uranium market, Rio Tinto cuts back, slashes jobs

graph-down-uraniumNamibia’s Roessing uranium mine to slash jobs Global Post, 1 Mar 13, The Roessing uranium mine in Namibia, a unit of British mining giant Rio Tinto, said Friday it plans to cut 17 percent of its workforce due to slowing demand for nuclear fuel…. As with many other uranium producers, Roessing is buckling under low metal prices and reduced demand, the company’s managing director Chris Salisbury told reporters.

“Since the Japanese tsunami in 2011, uranium demand has remained depressed and the uranium price has fallen by more than 36 percent,” he said.

Japan shut down its nuclear power plants after the tsunami destroyed the Fukushima nuclear plant, and a number of other countries including Germany have also signalled they plan to reduce or phase out their facilities.

“With the utility sector in Japan essentially shutdown, there is little prospect of a turnaround in the near term,” he added.

At the same time electricity and water costs have gone up…. Roessing Uranium Limited is owned 68.6 percent by British mining giant Rio Tinto and is one of two operating uranium mines in Namibia. .http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130301/namibia-s-roessing-uranium-mine-slash-jobs

March 2, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, Namibia, Uranium | Leave a comment

Vogtle new nuclear plant, delayed, and running over budget

nuclear-costsUtility: New nuclear plant in Ga. over budget
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/feb/28/us-nuclear-plant-georgia/#ixzz2MJuEFTt6
The Associated Press , Feb. 28, 2013   A utility says a
first-of-its-kind nuclear plant under construction in eastern Georgia
will go over budget.
Atlanta-based Southern Co. said Thursday that finishing Plant Vogtle
(VOH’-gohl) will now cost an estimated $6.85 billion, up from $6.11
billion.
The firm also moved back the completion dates for the massive project.
While the two reactors at the plant were supposed to start producing
power in April 2016 and April 2017, those dates have now shifted to
late 2017 and late 2018.
Utility officials say completing the nuclear plant remains cheaper
than the alternatives.
Georgia’s Public Service Commission must ultimately decide whether to
approve the new budget.
Plant Vogtle is one of three U.S. nuclear plants under construction.
The nuclear industry has struggled historically to meet construction
budgets.

March 1, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Financial realities lead to scrapping of costly Los Alamos expansion plan

U.S. NUCLEAR LAB READY TO SHELVE COSTLY FACILITY PLAN NextGov 22 Feb 13, The Los Alamos National Laboratory is proposing to shelve plans to build an expensive new plutonium research facility and instead permanently parcel out work to an array of smaller buildings, the institution’s director said on Thursday.

“I’m concerned that in the current fiscal crisis, it may no longer be practical to plan and build very large-scale nuclear facilities,” Charles McMillan, who heads the New Mexico research site, said at a three-day conference on nuclear deterrence in Arlington, Va. “A new path forward is needed.”

A study team at Los Alamos has suggested scrapping plans to construct a $6 billion Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement plant in favor of replacing the nuclear facility’s intended functions with a more attainable constellation of structures, he said. Continue reading →

February 24, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Radiation risk causes doctors to go on strike – Wuhan, China

flag-ChinaWuhan doctors on strike over X-ray radiation  Shanghai Daily, February 22, 2013 Some hospital workers in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province reportedly went on strike after three gynecologists developed thyroid cancer, which they believed was caused by their frequent exposure to X-rays.

The three women doctors at the Wuhan Union Hospital were diagnosed with cancer last month, today’s Beijing News reported. They blamed the hospital in a statement made to the public on Monday.

The statement said they performed surgeries on a floor directly underneath two X-ray machines in two bone surgery rooms overhead. The two rooms were not insulated with radiation-proof materials. The hospital did not inform or warn them of the risks…… http://www.china.org.cn/china/2013-02/22/content_28035886.htm

February 24, 2013 Posted by | employment, radiation | Leave a comment

Huge financial risk for South Dakota with uranium mining

We are being asked to take a huge risk with our water and environment with a company of very dubious financial stability

This market has fallen to about $40 per pound and may go lower

 We should not take this risk.

Uranium mine too great a risk for South Dakotahttp://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/76549/group/homepage/Powertech (USA), Inc., a Canadian company with just 10 employees owned by a stock market hedge fund, is planning a massive uranium mining operation near Edgemont. Continue reading →

February 24, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Cash strapped Japanese nuclear power companies selling uranium back to original sellers at a lower price!

exclamation-A senior official of a major utility said the move was exceptional because it likely meant selling the uranium for less than the import price.

Japan Atomic Power takes rare step of selling uranium to pay off loans http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/02/21/national/japan-atomic-power-takes-rare-step-of-selling-uranium-to-pay-off-loans/#.USfWWB1wpLt

KYODO

flag-japan A Japanese nuclear power company has taken the rare step of selling some of its uranium, apparently to help repay loans amid its faltering business conditions, according to sources.

Japan Atomic Power Co. apparently needs to secure money to repay loans due in April amid uncertainty over when it can resume operating its three idled reactors.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. is considering taking similar action as it continues to face funding difficulties following the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 complex, the sources said. Continue reading →

February 22, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, Japan, Uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear power on the wane, and cheap gas is hastening that decline

Flag-USAAnother casualty of the shale gas boom: Nuclear power WP by  Brad Plumer February 21, 2013   The last few years have seen all sorts of drastic upheavals in the U.S. energy sector. Cheap natural gas is dominating. Wind and solar are growing. Coal is dwindling.

Now we can add another trend to the list: Nuclear power is on the decline. Since 2010, the amount of electricity generated from America’s nuclear reactors has fallen about 3 percent, or 29 billion kilowatt-hours. That’s a sizable drop.

So why is nuclear on the wane? Part of the story here is that America’s fleet of reactors is aging, which means they need to be taken offline more frequently for repairs. The San Onofre plant near San Diego, for instance, has been out since January 2012.

But a huge part of the story here is competition from cheap shale gas. This month, Duke Energy decided to close its Crystal River nuclear plant in Tampa rather than pay $1.5 billion to repair a cracked dome. The reason? It was easier to build new natural-gas turbines to replace the lost electricity. Last fall, Dominion Power announced that it would close its Kewaunee reactor in Wisconsin for similar reasons.

And that’s just the start: One energy analyst told Bloomberg that at least four other U.S. reactors are now at risk of early retirement “due to new power market economics.” Not only that, but the gas boom is killing off future reactors, too: Back in 2011, NRG scrapped plans for two new nuclear units in Texas. The reason? Other sources were cheaper and easier, including gas and wind.

February 22, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

No costs for nuclear firms that built Fukushima reactors, but residents must pay back compensation

uranium-enrichment the firms that helped design and build the Fukushima reactors, such as General Electric, Toshiba and Hitachi, are not required to pay a cent in compensation.

Aslihan Tumer, Greenpeace’s international nuclear project leader, says some of the companies are continuing to profit from the reactor.

“Nuclear suppliers are completely protected from accepting any liability or being held accountable in case of an accident,” he said.

Residents paying back Fukushima compensation ABC News, By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy Feb 19, 2013  Nearly two years on from the meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant, there are accusations the nuclear industry is evading its responsibilities.

The disaster has mostly dropped out of the news in Japan and its victims remain largely hidden after being placed in tiny, so-called temporary apartments across the country.

The ABC has learned that TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima plant, is handing out what are called “temporary compensation” payments – money handed out to victims of the meltdowns, but which must be repaid….. Continue reading →

February 22, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, Fukushima 2013, Japan | Leave a comment

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