business and costs « nuclear-news

Inadequate insurance for Koodankulam nuclear power plant

Koodankulam N-plant insured for Rs 8,000 cr
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/insurance/koodankulam-n-plant-insured-rs-8000-cr-846 By R Srividhya May 02 2012 , Chennai, The controversial Koodankulam Nuclear Plant in Tamil Nadu has been insured by United India Insurance for a sum of Rs 8,000 crore carrying a premium of Rs 35 crore. However, the insurance covers only the equipment and infrastructure and does not include the nuclear reactor and possible human losses arising out of a possible reactor failure.

The installation and erection process of the plant has been insured with the company for the past seven years, company officials said and would continue till the commissioning of the plant.

“After the commissioning of the plant, which is expected to happen in a few months, the coverage would only be for the cold zone, outside the reactor area and would not include the reactor region, known as the hot zone,” said PK Mahapatra, deputy general manager, United India Insurance. About 60 per cent of the risk has been reinsured with Swiss
Re.

May 3, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, India | Leave a comment

The confused issue of the ever-growing costs of nuclear power

Does nuclear power have a negative learning curve? Think Progress By Joe Romm on Apr 6, 2011 ‘Forgetting by doing’? Real escalation in reactor investment costs Drawing on largely unknown public records, the paper reveals for the first time both absolute as well as yearly and specific reactor costs and their evolution over time. Its most significant finding is that even this most successful nuclear scale-up was characterized by a substantial escalation of real-term construction costs. Continue reading →

May 3, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Losses and falling demand for uranium – AREVA to sell off nuclear radiation measurement unit

Areva Said to Commence Sale of Nuclear Unit Canberra , Bloomberg, By Anne-Sylvaine Chassany and Francois de Beaupuy – May 2, Areva , the largest nuclear reactor maker, has started a process to sell its nuclear radiation measurement unit Canberra, three people with knowledge of the plans said.
The state-controlled company based in Paris sent financial information to potential bidders for the asset, which may fetch as much as 400 million euros ($526 million), said the people, who declined to be identified as the talks are private. Canberra posted earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about 30 million euros, they said.

Areva Chief Executive Officer Luc Oursel, who took over from Anne Lauvergeon in June, plans to sell at least 1.2 billion euros of non-strategic assets by the end of 2013 to shore up a balance sheet that’s been impaired by the acquisition of uranium mines in Africa, losses at a nuclear reactor under construction in Finland and falling demand for nuclear fuel following last year’s accident at an atomic plant in Japan…. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-02/areva-said-to-commence-sale-of-nuclear-unit-canberra.html

May 3, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

Report on financial problems in investing in new nuclear power

Around the world, solar power and wind power are growing fast, while the number of operational nuclear reactors in the world is shrinking

THE FINANCIAL RISKS OF INVESTING IN NEW NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

www.energyfair.org.uk, March 2012 Since most of the cost of nuclear electricity is in the capital cost of nuclear plants, since build times can be 7 years or more, and since payback times can be 30 years or more, investors in new nuclear plants are exposed to financial risks from inaccurate estimates and from changes in markets in the future.

There is increasing recognition in the business world that investing in new nuclear power stations is commercially risky.
This report describes five major types of risk for any investor considering putting money into new nuclear plants, with particular emphasis on the situation in the UK: Continue reading →

April 30, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Reference, UK | Leave a comment

China joins the frenzy to sell nuclear reactors to Britain

CHINA POWERS UP £6BN NUCLEAR BID , Express UK, April 29,2012 By Tracey Boles ONE of China’s state-backed nuclear companies is in talks to invest more than $10 billion (£6 billion) in Britain’s new nuclear reactors.

According to Whitehall sources, the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation is considering funding a bid for Horizon, the nuclear venture put up for sale by German utilities RWE and Eon. It is in talks about joining forces with Japan’s Toshiba which owns
Westinghouse, the reactor designer formerly owned by the UK government. Over time, the tie-up could be worth $60 billion (£37 billion), sources said. Continue reading →

April 30, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMR’s) – last forlorn hope of the nuclear industry

There just isn’t any proof that small reactors are going to be any more economic than larger ones…. it’s all about hype and hope

Small nuclear reactors generate hype, questions about cost STL Today 29 April 12, “…..Ameren Missouri and Westinghouse Electric Co. announced plans to pursue a $452 million federal subsidy to advance development of small modular reactors that could be built alongside the utility’s much larger Callaway nuclear plant near Fulton, Mo.
While some utilities are still pursuing full-scale plants, there is a parallel push for smaller reactors that could be easier for utilities to finance and minimize sticker shock for regulators and consumers.
But despite a lower total cost, there’s no evidence yet that tiny fission factories would be able to produce electricity at a competitive cost in an era of abundant, cheap natural gas. Continue reading →

April 30, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Reference, technology, USA | Leave a comment

Excessive radiation levels received, but 16 Fukushima workers have to stay on

How’s this for injustice to workers? An illustration of three things: the heroism of Japan’s Fukushima “liquidators”, the nuclear industry’s ruthless lack of concern for its workers, and the desperate situation of the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Workers with high radiation levels to stay at N-plant http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120427006236.htm Jiji Press 28 April 12, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday that a total of 16 employees whose cumulative radiation doses have exceeded 100 millisieverts, a government-set limit, will continue to work at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. According to TEPCO, the 16 are engaged in equipment operation and radiation control and have advanced expertise and extensive experience at the nuclear plant crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami last year.

Following the accident at the plant, the health ministry raised the cumulative dose limit to 250 millisieverts for workers there. But this measure will expire at the end of April. The cumulative limits revert back to 50 millisieverts per year and 100 millisieverts over a five-year period.

As the 16 people are vital for containing the plant’s nuclear crisis, the company will keep them at work and take steps to reduce radiation levels at the quake-proof building used for its disaster response team, it said. With TEPCO taking such measures as covering some ceilings and floors with lead in the quake-resistant building, radiation levels there have fallen to 0.7 microsievert per hour from 1.6 microsieverts, according to the utility.

April 28, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | employment, Japan | Leave a comment

Squabble in UK over who gets the lucrative nuclear decommissioning job

Union fury as US firms eye nuclear work The Independent MARK LEFTLY 23 APRIL 2012 A swath of US firms are preparing to bid to oversee the multibillion-pound decommissioning of 10 obsolete Magnox reactor-powered nuclear stations, angering unionsthat want the work to go to British outfits. Continue reading →

April 23, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Financial folly – pipe-dream of Small Modular Reactors for Missouri

“what already is clear.. is that Ameren and Missouri are embarking on financial folly.”

“other electric utilities are using cheaper natural gas, which has made nuclear energy especially uneconomical. In addition, renewable energy and energy efficiency would be more inexpensive alternatives.”

Federal aid sought to build nuclear reactors in Missouri Reactors would be built in Missouri for Callaway plant and for export throughout the world. Kansas City Star, BY JASON HANCOCK AND STEVE EVERLY, 19 April 12, JEFFERSON CITY –– Westinghouse Electric Co. and Ameren Missouri announced Thursday they would seek federal funds to help build a new generation of smaller and safer nuclear reactors.

If Westinghouse wins some of up to $452 million in investment funds from the U.S. Energy Department, then St. Louis-based Ameren would apply for licenses to allow up to five 225-megawatt reactors to be built at the company’s nuclear power plant in Callaway County……
Missouri also could turn into a hub for manufacturing the new reactors — known as Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, or SMRs — to be exported around the world, Gov. Jay Nixon said…… Continue reading →

April 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Dubious plan by Lynas to sell 300,000 tonnes of converted radioactive wastes

The anti-Lynas groups also questioned today whether the market “can fully absorb the colossal amount produced given that Lynas will be producing at least 300,000 tonnes of contaminated waste every year.”

Locals say market won’t buy Lynas’ recycled waste, ww.themalaysianinsider.com/mobile/malaysia/article/locals-say-market-wont-buy-lynas-recycled-waste/ The Malaysian Insider ,21 April, By Shannon Teoh KUALA LUMPUR, — Lynas Corp’s plans to recycle waste from its controversial RM2.5 billion rare earth plant in Kuantan into a commercial product will not be accepted by the market, local residents opposed to the refinery said today.(Jan 26 ) Continue reading →

April 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

BHP Board might not approve development of world’s biggest uranium mine

Acting chief executive of the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy Nigel Long said the state’s mining industry was not solely reliant on the expansion of Olympic Dam because there were other “exciting opportunities” ahead,

“The decision to press the pause button is a decision to be made by the BHP board, but we see a very good future for other projects in South Australia regardless…..

The BHP board will be considering whether to approve the project at a time when cost pressures in Australian mining are rising and profit margins are contracting.

BHP has Olympic hurdles to overcome, Financial Review 17 APR 2012 The South Australian government says it is not inclined to grant BHP Billiton an extension on an approvals expiring in December that cover the $US20 billion expansion of the Olympic Dam mine at this stage. Jamie Freed and Lucille Keen Continue reading →

April 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Britain’s nuclear pickle, as French firms demand more subsidies for building reactors

The comments will send a shockwave through Whitehall because they come just weeks after the German utilities RWE and E.ON said they would not proceed with plans to build new nuclear plants at Wylfa in Wales and Oldbury in Gloucestershire.

“UK energy policy is being manipulated and subverted to make it possible for French nuclear power companies (EDF and Areva) to start building four new reactors in the UK – two at Hinkley Point in Somerset and two at Sizewell in Suffolk.”

GDF Suez’s nuclear reservations hit government energy policy French firm needs more financial incentives if it is to proceed with new nuclear plant in Cumbria, says CEO Gérard Mestrallet, Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk, 16 April 2012 The government’s energy policy has suffered a fresh blow when GDF Suez, the French firm behind plans to build a new nuclear plant in Cumbria, said it needed more financial incentives if it was to proceed. Continue reading →

April 18, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

Paladin Uranium shares go further down

Paladin misses targets, shares drop, Peter Ker April 16, 2012 Shares in Paladin Energy are sliding lower this morning, after the uranium miner revealed it had missed production targets yet again and had been forced to reduce its annual production targets.
Uranium production at Paladin’s flagship Langer Heinrich mine was 10 per cent below the company’s target during the first three months of2012, while its secondary mine also missed its production targets.

The missed targets, combined with concerns over Paladin’s debt, was pushing shares were down by 3 cents to 1.77 shortly after 11am…. Many analysts are concerned about Paladin’s debt levels, and the company is looking to sell minority stakes in its non-producing assets as a way to boost cashflow.

Concerns over the debt situation prompted Patersons Securities to downgrade Paladin to a sell earlier this month. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/paladin-misses-targets-shares-drop-20120416-1x2od.html#ixzz1sQlkNcbp

April 18, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, business and costs | Leave a comment

60 years of government welfare to the nuclear industry. Time to stop this.

Stop the nuclear industry welfare programme After 60 years, the taxpayer should not continue to subsidise multibillion-dollar corporations in the nuclear energy sector Bernie Sanders and Ryan Alexander guardian.co.uk, 13 April 2012 ‘It is shocking that the nuclear industry continues to receive so much federal support at a time of record debt.’
The US is facing a $15 trillion national debt, and there is no shortage of opinions about how to move toward deficit reduction in the federal budget. One topic you will not hear discussed very often on Capitol Hill is the idea of ending one of the oldest American welfare programmes – the extraordinary amount of corporate welfare going to the nuclear energy industry.

Many in Congress talk of getting “big government off the back of private industry”. Here’s an industry we’d like to get off the backs of the taxpayers. Continue reading →

April 14, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, politics, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

UK’s messy situation – the economics of new nuclear reactors

Japan, the nation who cannot even restart its own reactors or bring the Fukushima disaster to a close, will be allowed, no encouraged, to sell the UK its own technology right back, and presumably for a profit.

The Nuclear Powers of Japan and United Kingdom Enformable, 13 April 12, “……The history of nuclear energy economics in the UK is equally complex. The once-mighty UK nuclear fleet, which at the beginning of the 1990s generated over 25% of the nations power, has fallen hard in more recent years. Continue reading →

April 13, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Reference, UK | Leave a comment

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