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Current status of Fukushima’s nuclear reactors

Fukushima Nuclear Crisis Update for February 28th – March 1st, 2012, Greenpeace by Christine McCann – March 2, 2012“”…..Reactor Status The Fukushima Daiichi plant chief, Takeshi Takahashi, admitted this week that the plant is fragile, and its reactors remain highly vulnerable to ongoing earthquakes and the risk of a tsunami. “I have to admit that it’s still rather fragile. Even though the plant has achieved what we call cold-shutdown conditions, it still causes problems that must be improved,” Takahashi said.

TEPCO is continuing to struggle with how to handle large amounts of radioactive water, the byproduct of keeping nuclear fuel in the crippled Fukushima Daiichi reactors cool. The utility is pumping several hundred thousand gallons of water into the reactors each day; the water then becomes contaminated. Experts estimate that 10,000 tons of radioactive water leak from the reactors each month; in January and February alone, 28 new leaks were discovered. TEPCO says it will take at least six years to repair the leaks, and approximately 25 years to remove the fuel. Storage of the radioactive water is becoming an increasingly urgent issue. TEPCO currently has space to store 165,000 tons; 125,000 tons are already being stored. The utility has destroyed nearby forests to create room for more storage containers.

TEPCO announced that Quince II, a Japanese-made robot, has discovered radiation levels measuring 220 millisieverts per hour in reactor #2 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The robot, which was designed by researchers at the Chiba Institute of Technology, was created to explore the interior of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, where radiation levels remain too high for humans to enter. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/nuclear-reaction/fukushima-nuclear-crisis-update-for-february-/blog/39340/

March 3, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

One stop nuclear shop AREVA suffering, as nuclear industry declines

Areva, which has been designed as a one-stop nuclear shop, has been affected by massive impairments on its uranium assets and a slowdown of the nuclear industry following Japan’s Fukushima disaster

Areva Accelerates Disposals By GERALDINE AMIEL, WSJ, March 2, 2012, PARIS—French state-controlled nuclear energy company Areva SA announced two asset disposals as part of a plan to boost competitiveness and better position it to face a slowing civil atomic industry, one year after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. Continue reading →

March 3, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, France, Uranium | Leave a comment

Debts force First Uranium to sell off assets

First Uranium to sell two South African assets for $405 mln, Mar 2, 2012  (Reuters) – First Uranium Corp said it would sell two assets in South Africa for $405 million, as the gold and uranium miner scrambles to liquidate itself to pay off its debts.

The company will sell Mine Waste Solutions, a tailings recovery project, to South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti Ltd for $335 million in cash.

First Uranium also said it would sell its stake in First Uranium Ltd, which owns the Ezulwini Mining Co, to Australian miner Gold One International Ltd for $70 million. Gold One will also provide a $10 million loan facility to First Uranium.

The company said it is moving ahead with plans to liquidate the company and will use the proceeds to pay its securityholders and shareholders…. http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE8210CP20120302?feedType=RSS&feedName=investingNews

March 3, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Kazakhstan says Japan will continue to buy its uranium

Japan to Purchase Contracted Kazakh Uranium, Kazatomprom Says Bloomberg,  By Nariman Gizitdinov and Yuriy Humber – Feb 23, 2012 Kazatomprom (KZAP), the state nuclear company in the world’s biggest uranium-producing nation, said its Japanese customers will take delivery of the fuel they agreed to buy even as the country idles its atomic stations.

The supply contracts with Japan haven’t changed, Chief Executive Officer Vladimir Shkolnik told reporters in Almaty, Kazakhstan, today without identifying the buyers…..
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-24/japan-to-purchase-contracted-kazakh-uranium-kazatomprom-says.html

February 25, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Kazakhstan, Uranium | Leave a comment

Ratepayers to take all financial risks, nuclear company to take profits!

“It exposes ratepayers to all the risk.” The nuclear industry’s answer to its post-Fukushima challenges, he said, “is to simply rip out the heart of consumer protection and turn the logic of capital markets on their head.”

His message to policymakers is simple, Cooper said. “This is an investment you would not make with your own money. Therefore, you should not make it with the ratepayers’ money.”

The Nuclear Industry’s Answer to Its Marketplace Woes, Greentech media Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) financing shifts the risks of nuclear energy to utility ratepayers. HERMAN K. TRABISH: FEBRUARY 22, 2012 A sign of the nuclear industry’s difficult situation in the aftermath of Fukushima is a proposal before the Iowa legislature that would allow utility MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, to build a new nuclear facility in the state using Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) financing (also called advanced cost recovery).

“Investment in nuclear power is the antithesis of the kind of investments you would want to make under the current uncertain conditions,” explained nuclear industry authority Mark Cooper, a senior fellow for economic analysis at Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment. “They cannot raise the capital to build these plants in normal markets under the normal regulatory structures.”

CWIP would allow the utility to raise the money necessary to build a nuclear power plant by billing ratepayers in advance of and during construction.

“Construction Work in Progress was intended to circumvent the core consumer protection of the regulatory decision-making process,” Cooper explained. “It exposes ratepayers to all the risk.” The nuclear industry’s answer to its post-Fukushima challenges, he said, “is to simply rip out the heart of consumer protection and turn the logic of capital markets on their head.”

The Staff of the Iowa Utilities Board concurred with Cooper. Its recommendations to the legislature followed his arguments in “Nuclear Socialism Comes to the Heartland of America,” his most recent paper on nuclear economics. In it, Cooper found that CWIP could increase average utility bills as much as $70 per month “before any power is generated by the reactors.”

His message to policymakers is simple, Cooper said. “This is an investment you would not make with your own money. Therefore, you should not make it with the ratepayers’ money.”

CWIP exposes ratepayers to all the risks inherent in nuclear energy, Cooper explained. Continue reading →

February 23, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

First Uranium company teeters on the brink of collapse

What will happen to First Uranium? First Uranium is looking at a distress sale of assets to settle upcoming debts, a move that would have a number of implications for shareholders Christy Filen , 22 Feb 2012   JOHANNESBURG (MINEWEB) – 

It is no secret that First Uranium is in a pickle. Releasing a forecast that shows its cash will run out by the end of March will be cold comfort to shareholders and creditors alike…. First Uranium has turned to what is conceivably its only option and that is a distress sale of its assets in an effort to settle upcoming debts….. As if this wasn’t enough First Uranium’s Ezulwini operation is not making the gradeand its Mine Waste Solutions (MWS) is fighting licensing issues with environmentalists and the Department of Mineral Resources. In terms of the results of an impairment exercise of the Ezulwini Mine’s assets, an impairment adjustment of $180m was recognised in the company’s financial statements…. “The Company’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon its ability to bring these proposed transactions to fruition” said First Uranium….. http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page34?oid=145826&sn=Detail&pid=102055

February 23, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, South Africa, Uranium | Leave a comment

How the nuclear lobby’s devious marketing distorts “incentives”

 the NRC’s decision on Vogtle  was “a non-event” because, he said, “The morning after the license was issued, nobody on Wall Street woke up and said, ‘Hey! Now I’m going to buy in!'” The licensing decision had, he said, “no effect on the economics.”

The Nuclear Industry’s Answer to Its Marketplace Woes, Greentech media Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) financing shifts the risks of nuclear energy to utility ratepayers. HERMAN K. TRABISH: FEBRUARY 22, 2012 “……..An example of incentive distortion is “the sunk-costs argument” now being used by Southern Company for the Vogtle reactors under development in Georgia with CWIP financing. Construction there is reportedly both behind schedule and over budget. Southern Company, Cooper said, is arguing that, with as much as $4 billion in sunk costs, “It’s cheaper to finish this project than to start something else.”

Some nuclear developers, he added, will simply tell regulators that have authorized the spending of billions in ratepayer funds, “If you don’t give me the next $50 million, I’m going to abandon this project.” Continue reading →

February 23, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Thorium reactors won’t save the nuclear industry

Nuclear power entrepreneurs push thorium as a fuel, Washington Post, 20 Feb 12,   “…..  a small group of scientists, entrepreneurs and advocates see the post-Fukushima era as the perfect opportunity to get the United States to consider a proposal they have made with no success for years. What about trying a new fuel, they say, and maybe a new kind of reactor?…..  They’re pushing the idea of adapting plants to use thorium as a fuel or replacing them with a completely new kind of reactor called a liquid-fluoride thorium reactor, or LFTR (pronounced “lifter”). The LFTR would use a mixture of molten chemical salts to cool the reactor and to transfer energy from the fission reaction to a turbine..

….‘Small boatloads of fanatics’ Although the idea of thorium power has been around for decades — and some countries are planning to build thorium-powered plants — it has not caught on with the companies that design and build nuclear plants in the United States or with the national research labs charged with investigating future energy sources.

“There are small boatloads of fanatics on thorium that don’t see the downsides,” said Dan Ingersoll, senior project manager for nuclear technology at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. For one thing, he said, it would be too expensive to replace or convert the nuclear power plants already running in this country: “A thorium-based fuel cycle has some advantages, but it’s not compelling for infrastructure and investments.”

He also pointed out that thorium would still have some radioactive byproducts — just not as much as uranium and not as long-lived — and that there is no ready stockpile of thorium in the United States. It would have to be mined.

Overall, he says the benefits don’t outweigh the huge costs of switching technologies. “I’m looking for something compelling enough to trash billions of dollars of infrastructure that we have already and I don’t see that.”……    most U.S. nuclear energy industry executives are wary of both approaches to thorium, saying that neither utilities nor investors are eager to gamble on an unfamiliar technology….

February 21, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Japan’s nuclear crisis resulting in its record trade deficit

Japan’s trade deficit ballons to record high as nuclear crisis pushes up fuel imports Washington Times, By Associated Press,  February 19 TOKYO — Japan posted a record high trade deficit in January after its nuclear crisis shut down nearly all the nation’s reactors for tougher checks, sending fuel imports surging. Exports were hurt by a strong yen and weak demand.

The 1.48 trillion yen ($18.7 billion) deficit reported Monday highlights Japan’s increased dependence on imported fuel after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami sent the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant into multiple meltdowns…. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/worldbusiness/japans-trade-deficit-ballons-to-record-high-as-nuclear-crisis-pushes-up-fuel-imports/2012/02/19/gIQABX1HOR_story.html

February 21, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

Nuclear education for North Dakota

Senate hopeful Sand spearheading nuclear energy education effort Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) 16 Feb 12,  – A Candidate for U.S Senate is spear-heading an effort to educate North Dakotans on nuclear power. Republican Duane Sand is organizing a nuclear power symposium, to educate people about its benefits.

Sand hopes the public, local government officials, and nuclear power companies will attend. He eventually wants to bring a nuclear power plant to the state,… http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/59214/

February 16, 2012 Posted by | marketing, USA | Leave a comment

Rating agency casts gloom on nuclear industry’s future in America

“In our opinion, the current market conditions combined with nuclear projects’ long planning and construction timelines will prevent the construction of additional new units until at least the end of this decade,” the report said.

US nuclear revival unlikely absent more regulatory support: S&P, Washington (Platts)–15Feb2012  The likelihood of a US “nuclear renaissance” this decade is faint and changes in state regulatory treatment of nuclear projects is needed before utilities outside Georgia and South Carolina build new reactors, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s said Wednesday.

A sluggish economy has depressed demand and low natural gas prices have allowed utilities to postpone or cancel plans for new nuclear units in favor of new gas-fired generation, S&P analyst Dimitri Nikas wrote in a report. Continue reading →

February 16, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear power quite likely to be abandoned for Iowa

Nuclear Power – ‘Off the Table’, Blog for Iowa, February 15, 2012 , Paul Deaton MidAmerican Energy made it clear today that if HF 561, or some form of it, does not become law, nuclear power will be “off the table” in Iowa and the electric utility will deal with it by increasing their use of natural gas to generate electricity as demand increases and coal burning power plants are taken off line.

There was no equivocation on this point by Dean Crist, vice president of regulation for the electric utility.

Crist was on WHO Newsradio with Mark Cooper, senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School, Silver Spring, MD. Each had different ideas about HF 561 and what it would or would not do for Iowa rate payers.
It boiled down to answering this question, “does the legislation change the dynamic, or construct for approval of a potential new nuclear reactor in Iowa?” The simple answer is yes, it does..

February 16, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

USA’s Energy Secretary Chu’s trip to promote nuclear power to Georgia

OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Chu to tout nuclear in Georgia  The Hill, By Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman – 02/14/12   State of play: Energy Secretary Steven Chu will tout the Obama administration’s support for nuclear energy Wednesday at a Georgia power plant whose owner recently won approval to build the first new U.S. reactors in more than 30 years.

Chu will tour the Vogtle nuclear power plant near Waynesboro, Ga., and “highlight steps the Obama Administration is taking to restart America’s nuclear energy industry,” according to the Energy Department…… Chu will meet with Southern Co. President Thomas Fanning and Georgia Power President W. Paul Bowers. Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Co., owns the Vogtle plant….

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.)has called on President Obama to hold off on finalizing the loan guarantee until the Energy Department makes improvements to its loan program, recommended in a White House-mandated report released last week…… http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/210651-overnight-energy

February 15, 2012 Posted by | marketing, USA | Leave a comment

Upfront costs for nuclear reactors, even if they’re never built

Critic: Proposed MidAmerican nuclear plant is “socialism” Des Moines Register 14 Feb 12, A steady critic of MidAmerican Energy’s proposed nuclear plant in Iowa said legislation backing the project amounts to “socialism” and would cost average ratepayer more than $800 a year.

Iowa lawmakers are considering a bill, House File 561, backed by MidAmerican, that would allow the investor owned utility to charge ratepayers for up front costs for the project, even if the reactors are never built.

That bill stalled last year in the Iowa Senate, where it now is before the Commerce Committee and has substantial support.

Mark Cooper, senior fellow at Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment, said the legislation amounts to “nuclear socialism.” “Building new nuclear reactors is entirely uneconomic,” Cooper said. “Nuclear reactors cannot compete with a range of alternatives on price. Construction is so risky, the capital market has said they won’t fund them at normal rates.”

“Under normal market conditions, this power wouldn’t be supplied. The utilities recognize that,so they are pushing for special treatment,” Cooper said. “They want suspension o fmarket forces and suspension of consumer protection.”….  http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120214/NEWS/120214020/1007/NEWS05

February 15, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Global problems of the nuclear industry

Nuclear Problems, Environmental Research Web, 12 Feb 12, The European Pressurised-water Reactor (EPR) being built at Olkiluoto in Finland is now unlikely to be completed until 2014- five years late- and $3bn or more over-budget. Similar problems face the EPR being built at Flammanville in France.

And similar problems have emerged at the two 1.7GW EPRs being built at Taishan in China, 140km west of Hong Kong: variable concrete quality, unqualified or inexperienced subcontractors, poor documentation, language issues.
Unit 1 is meant to be ready in 2013, Unit 2 in 2014, followed by two more. China has also had some problems with rapidly deploying its re-engineered version of the Westinghouse AP1000,  Continue reading →

February 14, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs | Leave a comment

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