Investors fleeing from uranium mining
Uranium Spot Market a ‘Ghost Town’ With No Price Change, Ux Says, Bloomberg, , By Jason Scott – Aug 22, 2011 Uranium spot prices, depressed by the nuclear crisis in Japan , were unchanged last week amid low trading volume, says Ux Consulting co.
Uranium-oxide concentrate for immediate delivery sold for $50.50 a pound in the seven days ended yesterday, the same as the previous week, Ux said in an e-mailed report today. That’s based on the most-competitive offer tracked by the Roswell, Georgia-based company.
The spot price for the nuclear fuel has declined 24 percent since the week before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station. The crisis prompted some nations to put their atomic power plans on hold.
“A number of market participants have indicated that recent market activity has been very limited,” Ux said in the report. “This lack of activity has been described as the market looking like a ghost town.”…http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-23/uranium-spot-market-a-ghost-town-with-no-price-change-ux-says.html
With gas power more likely, why should Florida residents pay upfront for new nuclear power?
Nuclear power Florida: Progress Energy customers are being asked to pay more in upfront costs for nuclear power plants that are becoming much iffier propositions. – OrlandoSentinel.com, 22 Aug 11“…….the new nuclear industry is beginning to look a lot like the old nuclear industry.Progress announced a new price tag in 2008: $17 billion.The next update was $22.5 billion.And the first plant will not be operational until 2021. The Public Counsel’s Office thinks the real year may be 2027, if at all.Those “single-digit dollars” could hit $50 a month by 2020.Customers will be shelling out more money for an iffy proposition…..
There are other issues.
New drilling technology is producing an abundant supply of natural gas, which should stabilize prices. Natural-gas plants can be built much more cheaply and faster, and they release half the carbon as a coal plant. This makes them a lot more competitive with nuclear plants….
Our pre-payments are a form of loan guarantee. And we have little control over the risks Progress takes with them…
Nuclear industry subsidies and other payments to Japan’s local governments
2.5 trillion yen in nuclear money doled out to local governments since 1966, Mainichi Daily News, 19 Aug 11, Local governments have received at least 2.5 trillion yen in “nuclear money” in the form of subsidies, fixed property taxes and other payments since the start of nuclear power generation in Japan in 1966, a tally by the Mainichi shows.
But the total is certain to be much higher because many local governments are not releasing data on nuclear power-related fixed property taxes and donations. Continue reading
TVA to sell one nuclear reactor to pay for building another nuclear reactor
TVA plans sale of nuclear power unit to fund new project, Knox News, By Josh Flory, August 18, 2011 TVA plans to sell assets including one of its nuclear power units in order to generate the billions in cash needed to finish the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant. Continue reading
Down, down, continues uranium price
Uranium market sees thin activity and lower price, Industrial Fuels and Power, August 17th, 2011 The uranium spot price delivered no surprises this week as it slipped further by US$1.00 to US$50.50/lb. Three days earlier, TradeTech had noted a US$1.25 WoW fall to US$50.25/lb, attributing the drop to thin demand and supply “with a few sellers competing for even fewer sales opportunities.”
Buyers – this week utilities, traders and financial entities – are largely uninterested and reluctant to commit purchases. …http://www.ifandp.com/article/0013083.html
Florida’s new nuclear plants delayed – perhaps forever
Doubts cloud nuclear pay plan,Utility Products, Power Industry News, BY IVAN PENN, 14 Aug 11, Since 2009, Progress Energy customers have been paying for a nuclear plant that will not generate a kilowatt of power until 2016. Wait, make that 2018. Well, maybe 2021.
Now, more dismaying news. State consumer advocates say they have evidence the plant won’t open until 2027. Indeed, they openly wonder if the plant will ever be built. Continue reading
The Public Counsel’s case against Progress Energy’s plan for nuclear plant costing
Doubts cloud nuclear pay plan, Utility Products, Power Industry News, BY IVAN PENN, 14 Aug 11, “……The Public Counsel’s case rests on the opinion of William Jacobs, a former nuclear plant site manager for Westinghouse. His 35 years of experience in electric power generation and doctoral degree in nuclear engineering have made him a go-to expert for power companies and public utility commissions around the country.
Jacobs makes six points to support his argument that Progress plans to delay construction of the Levy plant until 2027:
* Progress is diverting the attention of key Levy project managers to other activities. Among them: Jeff Lyash, former president and CEO of Progress Energy Florida, whom Jacobs describes as the Progress officer responsible for the Levy project.
* Progress’ own analysis shows that trends in fuel costs are making nuclear power relatively less cost effective than other sources.
* The trend in natural gas prices and lack of progress toward legislation regulating greenhouse gases increase the utility’s “enterprise risk.”
* Progress had hoped to find a partner to share ownership (and financial risk) of the project, but that has become less likely because of cost increases and regulatory delays.
* Public support for nuclear plants has diminished since the meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima plant.
* Finally, Progress, having considered all those factors, seems to be planning for the possibility of delaying the plant opening until 2027.
Jacobs based that last conclusion on the redacted “Scenario Analysis” Progress gave to the Public Counsel’s Office.
In written testimony to the PSC, Jacobs wrote that Progress Energy’s “actions continue to demonstrate doubt as to the likelihood of completion of the project on the current schedule – if at all.” Jacobs uses “if at all” three times in his report referring to the possibility of the plant never getting built.
Progress turned over an unredacted version of the “Scenario Analysis” only after Jacobs completed his report. But the Public Counsel’s office had to agree to keep it secret……. http://www.utilityproducts.com/news/2011/08/1478674934/doubts-cloud-nuclear-pay-plan.html
Delay for India’s Jaitapur nuclear power project
First phase of Jaitapur nuclear project may be delayed by 1 year, Business Standard, 15 Aug 11, Sanjay Jog / Mumbai August 15, 2011, The commissioning of the first phase of the 9,900-Mw Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra is likely to be delayed by a year, since the developer, Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC), would first have to upgrade and strengthen the safety applications in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
The first evolutionary pressurised reactor (EPR) of 1,650 Mw would be operational in 2018-19 instead of the originally planned 2017-18. French nuclear energy firm Areva was asked by the country’s nuclear safety regulatory authority ASN to conduct a safety audit after the Fukushima disaster. The audit is expected to be completes by September….
TVA’s multi billion nuclear reactor dollar gamble in Alabama
TVA gambles on Bellefonte nuclear reactors, Footprints, August 11th, 2011 › Nuclear, SACE Reports › Dr. Stephen A. Smith › Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has long been concerned with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) push to add more nuclear reactors to their energy mix in spite of readily available energy efficiency and renewable energy alternatives. But TVA’s dogged pursuit to complete the nearly forty-year-old, antiquated Bellefonte site in Alabama is a unique and especially risky proposition. Simply put, finishing these two abandoned and degraded reactors is a multi-billion dollar bet TVA should not place. The risks to public health and safety, potential financial impacts to TVA ratepayers and U.S. taxpayers are too significant to ignore. Continue reading
Florida Power and light under scrutiny about planned nuclear costs
FPL’s $18 Billion Nuclear-Reactor Plans Leak Unanswered Questions Before Florida PSC, FLAGLERLIVE, Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida, 12 Aug 11, The state Public Service Commission on Thursday quickly wrapped up a hearing about Florida Power & Light’s proposal to collect $196 million next year to pay for nuclear-power projects. The commission is scheduled to rule on the request Oct. 24. FPL is seeking to collect the money from customers to help upgrade nuclear plants in St. Lucie and Miami-Dade counties and to take initial steps toward adding two new reactors…..
FPL’s proposal faced a series of attacks from attorneys for consumers and business and environmental groups. In part, they questioned whether FPL will ever build two new nuclear reactors and whether the company increased costs by trying to do an upgrade project quickly.
Also, two of those attorneys told the Florida Public Service Commission that FPL used out-of-date information during a similar 2009 hearing about the upgrade project. Joe McGlothlin, an attorney for the Office of Public Counsel, accused the company of “willful withholding” of information that would have shown higher project costs….
The arguments came on the first of several days of hearings about more than $335 million in nuclear-project costs that FPL and Progress Energy Florida hope to collect from customers next year. The Progress case is expected to start next week, with the company seeking $141 million. All but about $5.6 million of that amount would go toward a plan to add two new reactors in Levy County.
Hoping to encourage more nuclear energy, Florida lawmakers in 2006 allowed utilities to incrementally collect costs from customers rather than waiting until after projects are finished. That has led to the possibility, however, that customers could spend hundreds of millions of dollars on initial costs for nuclear plants that never get built…..
James Whitlock, an attorney for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said utility customers should not have to pay initial costs for the proposed Turkey Point reactors. He said FPL would use the money to try to get a license for the project but that new nuclear plants are not currently feasible.
“If the plant’s never built and never comes online, there won’t be any benefit (to customers),” Whitlock said….http://flaglerlive.com/26580/fpl-nukes-psc
Centennial uranium project not likely to go ahead
Powertech USA President Richard Clement said earlier this year that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan shook the uranium market enough to give Powertech pause when considering the future of the Centennial Project.
Powertech writes off millions after uranium mine land deal collapses, Coloradoan.com. 11 Aug 11, Powertech Uranium Corp. has written off $2.3 million it lost when a Centennial Project land deal with two Northern Colorado landowners fell through in June. Continue reading
U.S. taxpayers to pay nuclear build costs, and nuclear waste costs
Nuclear Power Boosts Bills and Piles On Radioactive Waste, Florida PSC to consider more rate hikes for nuke projects at FPL and Progress Energy, Kenric Ward, Sunshine State News, August 10, 2011 For an energy source once touted as too cheap to meter, nuclear power bills sure are piling up. U.S. taxpayers are on the hook for a growing, multibillion-dollar tab to dispose of tons of radioactive waste and Florida’s two biggest utilities are seeking another round of rate increases to help pay for new reactors. Continue reading
TEPCO, Japan’s largest utility, likely to go broke
The March disaster at the Fukushima complex in northeast Japan spawned the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl and has put the existence of Asia’s largest utility, known as TEPCO, in doubt.
Tepco said it has earmarked $5.1bn to compensate the victims of the crisis, who include about 80,000 people
evacuated from areas surrounding the Fukushima plant, 240km north of Tokyo.
Even before the pay-out began, Tepco posted a $15 billion net loss for the year to March 31, Japan’s biggest non-financial loss, according to Reuters news agency…..
Switching support to renewable energy? – Japan’s largest union wavers
Will Japan’s Largest Union Support Renewable Energy? In These Times, 11 Aug 11 By Akito Yoshikane, The Japanese Trade Union Confederation, also known as Rengo, said the country’s nuclear energy policy and the union’s support of it should bequestioned going forward. At an anti-nuclear gathering last Thursday in Hiroshima, the union’s secretary general told reporters, “We have to start discussions concerning nuclear energy from the beginning to decide what we should do in the future.”
That is a change from last August when the union promoted atomic power. …..
TEPCO nuclear company near financial disaster, even with government bailout
TEPCO teetering on financial edge, Chiaki Toyoda and Tadaaki Inoue / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers, 11 Aug 11The harsh business environment facing Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been brought to the fore after the utility posted a record quarterly group net loss, logging a 571.7 billion yen deficit for the April-June period due to the crisis at its Fukushima No. 1nuclear power plant.
TEPCO will receive financial support from a new organization to be set up later this month by the government, which will be tasked with securing funds for the utility to pay compensation to people affected by radiation from the crippled plant.
Yet the utility’s business operations will be precarious, Continue reading
1 This Month
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
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