Nuclear power industry winding down world-wide
Is Nuclear Power Being Phased Out? Aol Energy, By Shifra Mincer, December 8, 2011 Nuclear is not so hot these days. The percentage of nuclear electrical generation worldwide is shrinking as countries slow or halt new construction and in some cases even close existing plants in favor of other types of power, according to the latest Vital Signs Online (VSO) report released by the Washington DC-based think tank Worldwatch Institute. Although nuclear provided 6% of the world’s energy in 2001, it constituted only 5% of the world’s energy portfolio in 2010.
“Not only is nuclear too risky from a health and security point of view, it’s also just too expensive,” said Director of Worldwatch’s Climate and Energy program, Alexander Ochs. “Whereas renewable energy sources are growing at rates of up to 70% and more on an annual basis, nuclear energy is the only major energy technology experiencing negative growth.”
The report found that world nuclear capacity fell from 375.5 GW at the end of 2010 to 366.5 GW in 2011. Only four countries added new nuclear between 2009 and 2010: The Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and the United States.
And in 2011, only two countries, India and Pankistan, are constructing new reactors. During the first 10 months of 2011, 13 nuclear reactors were closed globally, reducing the world’s total from 441 in the beginning of this year to 433 currently…..
In 2012 nuclear power more costly, more problematic
Experts: Even Higher Costs and More Headaches Ahead for Nuclear Power in 2012 Market Watch, WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2011 – Given Long-Term Uncontrollable Costs and Short-Term Pressure from Needed Post-Fukushima Safety Regulations, Nuclear Reactors Even Less Able to Take on Natural Gas, Other Alternatives
With the Fukushima disaster, earthquake-related reactor shutdowns, further reactor project cost escalation, infighting at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and cheap natural gas, 2011 was a year the nuclear power industry would prefer to get behind it as quickly as possible. But, looking ahead to 2012, experts see continuing challenges that will make it extremely difficult for the nuclear power industry to expand in the U.S. beyond a small handful of reactor projects that government agencies decide to subsidize by forcing taxpayers to assume the risk for the reactors and mandating that
ratepayers pay for construction in advance.
A new paper presented by Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School, suggests that the cost of nuclear power, which already had risen sharply in 2010 and 2011 before the Fukushima disaster, could climb another 50 percent due to tighter safety oversight and regulatory delays in the wake of the reactor calamity in Japan. The Cooper paper is available online at
http://www.markcooperresearch.com/Nuclear-Safety-and-Nuclear-Economics-Post-Fukushima.pdf ….
USA’s ‘nuclear renaissance’ is just not going to happen
Report: U.S. nuclear renaissance unlikely after Fukushima Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2011 A new study released Wednesday said that the regulatory fallout from the Fukushima power plant disaster in Japan in March will short-circuit the U.S. nuclear renaissance of new power plant construction.
The report, “Nuclear Safety and Nuclear Economics,” was written and presented by Mark Cooper, a frequent critic of the nuclear power industry. The report can be found here. Cooper is a senior fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the Vermont Law School.
Cooper said that past nuclear disasters, such as the one at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania in 1979, have tended to greatly raise regulatory barriers and have also severely multiplied the cost of reactor construction. After Three Mile Island, for example, the report said, the cost of nuclear power plant construction doubled in most cases and trebled or quadrupled in some rare instances.
“This is an important moment to compare what is really likely to happen over the next 10 years with the industry’s expectations” of a nuclear renaissance, Cooper said. “When that comparison is performed properly, it becomes clear that we are witnessing not a revival but a collapse in expectations for new reactor construction.”
The report comes just days after a panel appointed by the Japanese government released a scathing assessment of the reponse to the disaster, which was caused when a huge earthquake generated a tsunami that struck the facility….
A recently updated online report by the World Nuclear Assn. said that as few as four of the 26 new nuclear facilities that have been proposed or planned in the U.S. will be finished by 2020. But it did not mention Fukushima and instead said the primary reason was the fact that a boom in domestic natural gas production has “put the economic viability of some of these projects in doubt.” http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/12/a-new-study-released-today-said-that-theregulatory-fallout-from-the-fukushima-power-plantdisaster-in-japan-last-marchwill-pro.html
2012 will be an even worse year for the nuclear power industry
Experts: Even Higher Costs and More Headaches Ahead for Nuclear Power in 2012 Market Watch, WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2011 – “………Highlights of the new Cooper paper include the following: Fukushima has stimulated vigorous reviews around the world, in part because of the severity of the accident, in part because it is the worst accident affecting a nuclear reactor in a market economy and in part because it occurred in a nation that was assumed to have a high standard of safety and superb technical expertise.
The challenges perceived by those responsible for nuclear safety around the world in the wake of the Fukushima accident are quite substantial. Continue reading
Nuclear company AREVA failing in nuclear and uranium sales
Tough times for French nuclear giant Areva, Daily Press, Virginia, 27 Dec 11 These are difficult days for French nuclear giant Areva. The company announced earlier this month it would shed 1,500 jobs in Germany and suspend a controversial nuclear enrichment plant project in Idaho. It is trying to offset losses this year that could exceed $2 billion, the Associated Press reported.
Areva partnered with Newport News Shipbuilding to build a $363 million plant that would manufacture nuclear power plant components. Located off Huntington Avenue in Newport News, the plant is stalled indefinitely due to a lack of new nuclear projects in the U.S.
Another pertinent detail about Areva: the company said its earnings could be hurt by the drop in new reactors being built worldwide — fallout from the nuclear disaster in Japan. The company said this will also depress the price of uranium….. http://www.dailypress.com/news/science/dead-rise-blog/dp-tough-times-for-french-nuclear-giant-areva-20111227,0,2218239.story?track=rss
Jan’s govt suggests nationalising Tepco, at least temporarily
Tepco asked to consider temporary state control, BBC News 27 Dec 11 Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which operates Japan’s disaster-hit nuclear plant, has been asked to consider temporary state control. Energy minister Yukio Edano suggested it as one possible way to try to strengthen its financial position. Continue reading
Tepco asks Japan’s government for additional 6 billion pounds
Japan‘s biggest utility, known as Tepco, faces costs of trillions of yen for compensation and cleanup, and the Japanese government agreed only two months ago to provide £7bn through a bailout fund. Continue reading
UK’s nuclear industry not viable: taxpayers will cop the bill
Greenpeace said the latest cost overrun proved that the nuclear power industry’s financial viability was fundamentally flawed. Doug Parr, chief scientific officer at Greenpeace, said: “For all the claims of the government that it will be the power giants like EDF that will foot the cost of the next generation of nuclear, the reality yet again is that the hard-pressed taxpayer will end up footing the bill.”
UK taxpayers face extra £250m bill for nuclear waste clean-up Nuclear Decommissioning Authority faces 17.5% fall in income after asset sales drop by £150m and spending rises by £80m Terry Macalister, guardian.co.uk, 25 December 2011 Sellafield nuclear power station in Cumbria – The site’s mixed-oxide reprocessing plant, which will shut after Japan decided to end its atomic programme, has cost upwards of £1.2bn so farThe taxpayer will have to stump up almost £250m more to bail out the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in the next financial year after falling asset sales and rising expenditure cut its income by 17.5%. Continue reading
Turkish govt asks Russian nuclear firm to ‘educate’ Turkey’s anti nuclear residents
Turkey surprises Russian nuclear firm with new conditions, Today’s Zaman, ERCAN BAYSAL , ANKARA, 26 Dec 11 Russian firm Atomstroy export received two additional conditions from the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry on their contract for Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.
The ministry announced the additional conditions to the Russian firm in its response to Atomstroyexport’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) report. One of the additional conditions placed by the ministry asks the firm to persuade the residents of Akkuyu and be sensible to their objections regarding the nuclear plant. Continue reading
Study finds Fredericksburg uranium sites not commercially viable
Uranium report says local sites not viable, Fredricksburg.com, By RUSTY DENNEN, 19 Dec 11 Uranium mining and milling in Virginia would present human health and safety and environmental risks, which could be mitigated with best-management practices, according to a long-awaited National Academy of Sciences study released Monday.
And, of interest to the Fredericksburg area, it concludes that only Virginia Uranium’s proposed Coles Hill site in Pittsylvania County would be commercially viable among Virginia deposits, for now. The site is about 180 miles southwest of Fredericksburg. Continue reading
China might not save the nuclear industry, as they had hoped
Even before Fukushima, China’s government was asking tough questions of its nuclear growth ambitions. Late last year, its State Council Research Office issued a report outlining a number of concerns about the expansion program.
Since Fukushima, China’s government has pressed the pause button on nuclear expansion
the new generation AP1000 reactors that make up a large portion of the proposed nuclear capacity are not yet in operation anywhere in the world. It is an as yet unproven technology
there is reason for the people of China to be asking questions about the country’s ability to deliver large-scale, hi-tech projects as memories of July’s tragic Wenzhou high-speed rail crash, in which 40 passengers died, are still fresh in their minds….. Nuclear will remain a fringe source of power in China
China’s nuclear ambitions move to the slow lane, BY: PAUL GARVEY , The Australian, December 19, 2011 CHINA has been the one ray of hope in a miserable year for the global uranium industry. But sadly for uranium stocks, it looks increasingly likely China’s substantial nuclear reactor development program will take much longer to roll out than planned.
With the nuclear industry under review across Europe and Japan in the wake of the Fukushima disaster earlier this year, China has represented one of the only, and certainly the largest, growth market for uranium. Continue reading
Huge share price falls for uranium companies over past 2 years
Fukushima affects uranium stocks, Star Tribune, 18 DecShare prices of global uranium majors continue to suffer the aftereffects of an earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant last March.
That’s the assessment of Sydney, Australia-based Resource Capital Research, which noted share prices for selected companies have declined substantially.
An analysis noted that Cameco shares declined by nearly 50 percent over the past year, while Uranium One shares had dropped by nearly 45 percent. Energy Resources of Australia stock fell by 82.1 percent.
“The Merril Lynch Uranium Equity Index (a global basket of uranium equities) is down 2 percent over the past month, down 7 percent over three months and down 54 percent over the past 12 months,” the firm said in a report earlier this month. …..
The uranium spot price was pegged at $52.25, down from $67.75 prior to the Fukushima disaster. In the near-term, Resource Capital Research said Fukushima will continue to weigh on the market, “including Germany’s decision to close reactors and the potential for disposal of surplus utility inventory.”…..
two year continuing fall in uranium companies’ share prices
Fukushima affects uranium stocks, Star Tribune, 18 DecShare prices of global uranium majors continue to suffer the aftereffects of an earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant last March.
That’s the assessment of Sydney, Australia-based Resource Capital Research, which noted share prices for selected companies have declined substantially.
An analysis noted that Cameco shares declined by nearly 50 percent over the past year, while Uranium One shares had dropped by nearly 45 percent. Energy Resources of Australia stock fell by 82.1 percent.
“The Merril Lynch Uranium Equity Index (a global basket of uranium equities) is down 2 percent over the past month, down 7 percent over three months and down 54 percent over the past 12 months,” the firm said in a report earlier this month. …..
The uranium spot price was pegged at $52.25, down from $67.75 prior to the Fukushima disaster. In the near-term, Resource Capital Research said Fukushima will continue to weigh on the market, “including Germany’s decision to
close reactors and the potential for disposal of surplus utility inventory.”…..
New nuclear plants wildly over-priced. Calvert Cliffs plan for new unit is dead
Report: EDF may drop plans for Calvert Cliffs reactor, Baltimore Sun DECEMBER 16, 2011 This is the brilliant-report-of-the-painfully-obvious headline of the day: “EDF Considers Dropping New Nuclear in Maryland,” from Dow Jones. The French EDF’s plans for a third nuclear unit at Calvert Cliffs have been deader than Lehman Brothers for more than a year.
The French company’s partner, Constellation Energy, pulled out of the deal. They couldn’t reach an agreement with Washington on subsidies to build the plant. With the plunge in natural gas prices and the failure of federal climate-change legislation, new nuclear plants, with all their complexity and financial risk, are wildly overpriced. The Fukushima disaster in Japan has made nuclear energy politically incorrect again…. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/hancock/blog/2011/12/report_edf_could_drop_plans_fo.html
Three major companies stepping back from uranium mining
After Fukushima, suddenly the expected darling of local mining investment, has turned into a pariah. Both the Areva and Marenica statements refer to events after Fukushima, highlighting the uncertainty that has entered the industry since the nuclear disaster in Japan……
Perhaps it is a case of both Kalahari Mineral and Extract Resources taking what they can get and opting out of an industry that is fast turning into a lame duck. [or a dead cat – I haven’t got a picture of a lame duck]
Namibia Economist 16 Dec 11 When three major players in one industry, all announce substantial shifts in strategy and/or focus in a very short span, it signals a fundamental change in the underlying assumptions. These past two weeks saw one surprise after another as first Extract Resources, then Marenica, and finally Areva announced a dramatic turn in their strategies which probably points to a change of heart and a significant reappraisal of prospects and strategies. Continue reading
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