Nuclear free future is looking like a better commercial option for Japan
a welcome step toward moving away from reliance on centralised nuclear power production to a model of dispersed electricity producers linked by a high-tech “Smart Grid”…..
“The vested interests dominate a lot of the political process, but we are seeing a challenge from the local government level,” said Rikkyo University professor Andrew DeWit, adding that Son was also attracting interest from a range of companies and non-profits.
Sticking with nuclear could be costlier Japan option, By Linda Sieg, TOKYO Jul 26, 2011, TOKYO (Reuters) – Can Japan afford to go nuclear-power-free? The country’s atomic power industry and many big business clients say “No”, arguing the step would boost electricity bills and pollution and hasten the hollowing out of Japanese manufacturing.
But the Fukushima nuclear disaster is galvanising a coalition of safety-conscious voters and future-minded companies who increasingly believe that Japan cannot afford to stick with the status quo if it wants to be globally competitive. Continue reading
Nuclear company moves to ensure that consumers cop their building cost overruns
Consumer, not Georgia Power, would be on hook for potential Vogtle overruns, By Kristi E. Swartz , The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 28 July 11, At an energy committee meeting in their downtown Atlanta chambers, Public Service Commission members said they would support only a July 18 deal reached between Georgia Power and the PSC’s advocacy staff, one that removed a recommendation calling for Georgia Power’s profits to be reduced should the costs to build two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle exceed budget by $300 million. Additional costs, with PSC approval, would show up in customers’ monthly utility bills.
A consumer watchdog group on Thursday continued to press for an agreement that would make Georgia Power — and not consumers — pay for any major cost overruns at its Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project, but Georgia utility regulators remained resistant. ….
Commissioner Tim Echols was more pointed, saying approval for such a plan would “chill the construction of nuclear plants in the United States.”
Attorney Clare McGuire for Georgia Watch argued that consumers would be left with no protection against bill increases should the project go beyond its budget. “Georgia Power doesn’t want to be held to costs beyond its control,” McGuire said. “The ratepayers have no choice.”….http://www.ajc.com/business/consumer-not-georgia-power-1055562.html
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Nuclear industry’s massive costs have been underestimated
Kenichi Oshima, a professor of environmental economics and policy at Ritsumeikan University, has done some calculations and has reached a completely different conclusion….
“If we were to funnel funds earmarked for reprocessing and the nuclear budget, it would be very feasible to get power generation with renewable sources of energy off the ground.”
Contrary to power company figures, cost of nuclear power generation highest: research Mainichi Daily News, 23 July 11 Utility companies across the country continue to tout the low cost of nuclear energy on their websites. Continue reading
Move to keep old Japanese nuclear reactors beyond use by date
UPDATE 3-Japan utilities push to extend life of nuclear plants, Jul 22, 2011
* Chubu says to beef up tsunami defences at Hamaoka by Dec 2012
* Debate intensifies as safety fears square off vs economy worries
By Kaori Kaneko and Osamu Tsukimori, TOKYO, July 22 (Reuters) – Two Japanese utilities moved on Friday to extend the life of reactors at a pair of central coastal nuclear plants, fuelling already fierce debate over energy policy in the wake of the Fukushima radiation crisis.
A nuclear cost chain reaction – explosively expensive
So, the construction of nuclear is stalling and the costs are rising. Contrast that with renewable energy, where installations are surging, and most of the technologies are coming down in price as they mature and reach scale....
Nuclear power’s real chain reaction: spiralling costs, The Guardian (UK) Damian Carrington, 22 July 11, Time is money, they say, and the new nuclear power plant being built byEDF at Flamanville in France is now at least four years behind time and €2.7bn over budget. EDF blamed the delay on two fatal construction accidents and dealing with safety analyses prompted by the Fukushima disaster. Continue reading
More delays, more cost blowouts for France’s “new generation” nuclear plant
The reactor has already faced repeated delays and run billions of euros over budget…….
France delays new generation nuclear plant, News Tribune, July 21, 2011 – Tacoma, WA, PARIS — France’s electricity giant announced Wednesday it is delaying its new generation nuclear reactor for two years after a pair of deadly accidents and safety reviews prompted by the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. Continue reading
Pakistan wants to join the nuclear power cartel
Pakistan wants to join Nuclear Suppliers Group, The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2011., By Zia Khan, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has offered to join four nuclear export control regimes, including the Nuclear Suppliers Group, if the international community recognises it as a nuclear weapons state, but remains unwilling to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
At a meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, the country’s top political and military leadership said Pakistan wished to be part of global non-proliferation efforts but only if it was accepted as a nuclear weapons state…..
Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua later told The Express Tribune that Pakistan was willing to join four ‘technology cartels’ that control the international trade of nuclear and missile technologies: the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Australia and the Wassenaar groups.
The MTCR and the NSG deal with the international trade of missile and nuclear technologies while the Australia and the Wassenaar groups manage trade in conventional small weapons and various materials used in the manufacturing of arms respectively.
Janjua said Pakistan’s ‘principled’ position on Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was the same. About NPT, she added that Islamabad considered it as a ‘discriminatory’ arrangement and will not sign the CTBT unless the United States and India do the same….http://tribune.com.pk/story/210107/pakistan-wants-to-join-nuclear-suppliers-group/
Rossing uranium mine workers on strike for fairer pay
“It is the second largest employer after Namdeb. Rössing already made a loss last year, so this is big stuff.”
Rössing workers defy court order, Namibian 15 July 11, By: DENVER KISTING, YESTERDAY afternoon, Rössing Uranium employees ignored an order by Judge President Petrus Damaseb, who had ruled that their three-day strike was illegal and they must return to work immediately.
This means that by this morning, the accumulated loss for the uranium giant as a result of the strike amounted to approximately N$22,5 million. In court papers filed at the High Court in Windhoek yesterday, the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mpho Mothoa, said Rössing has lost approximately N$2,5 million per shift. It has three shifts per day. Continue reading
The end of nuclear, an economic boon for Germany
a shift to a renewable energy powered economy comes with costs. However, this price tag is modest in comparison to the heavy burden that nuclear brings. Over the last 40 years, the German nuclear industry has been pampered with more than 200 billion Euros in subsidies. In comparison, renewable energy technologies have been incentivized by about 4.8 billion Euros in 2010. By replacing fossil fuel imports and avoiding health costs, renewables already pay off today.
Auf Wiedersehen! Germany’s goodbye to nuclear power will accelerate the transition towards a low-carbon economy, THE HILL, By Arne Jungjohann: Director for the Environment Program of the Heinrich Böll Foundation-07/08/11 ……….A decade ago, Germany started transitioning towards a low carbon economy. The share of renewable power has tripled. Wind farms, solar modules, biogas, and hydro power provide 18 percent of Germany’s power supply. Today, renewables are a reliable and indispensable pillar of Germany’s power supply that keep trains running and factories humming. The sector is fast growing and provides 370,000 good-paying jobs – much more than the 22,000 jobs in Germany’s lignite coal industry. Many of these jobs are within traditional industries, such as steel workers, farmers and the ceramic and glass industries. Continue reading
Nuclear Suppliers Group restricting sales of atomic technology
Export Group Could Restrict Key Atomic Tech Sales. Global Security Network June 20, 2011 The 46-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group has acted to prohibit its members from furnishing nuclear fuel enrichment and reprocessing systems to countries outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Deccan Chronicle reported on Monday (see GSN, May 27).
The initiative prompted apprehension from India, which in 2008 received a waiver allowing it to import sensitive material and technology even as a nuclear-armed state that has not joined the treaty……http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110620_7198.php
Another nuclear crisis would wipe out investment in uranium
While currently abandonment of nuclear power remains an option limited to affluent countries, one more cataclysm may nail the coffin lid of the nuclear power industry shut for good…., as another nuclear debacle in the U.S. following in the wake 1979’s Three Mile Island accident will undoubtedly prove too much, even for Madison Ave.’s PR spin doctors. No NPPS have been built in the U.S. since Three Mile Island and should bad things happen at Ft. Calhoun, where the Missouri’s water’s are still rising, the global market for uranium fuel for NPPs worldwide is going to crater, beginning with the U.S.
Kazakhstan’s Uranium Industry Could Lose Its Luster, By. John Daily, OilPrice.com, 18 June 11-– What a difference a year and a tsunami make!
Western investors have been salivating over the post-Soviet space’s energy riches since the 1991 collapse of communism. While focusing on the Caspian’s hydrocarbon reserves other mineralogical riches awaited development as well, none more so than Kazakhstan’s vast uranium deposits. Continue reading
The devil, as usual, is in the details. For instance, the cost of a nuclear reactor per unit of electrical generating capacity declines with increasing size……There are economies of scale associated with security, too ….Nuclear power advocates have long promised far more than they can deliver, ignoring essential hurdles such as cost, safety, and performance. Decades of experience, however, have proven those promises to be hollow and hazardous. The notion that “small is beautiful” for nuclear reactors is not just fanciful; it is whistling past the graveyard of the “nuclear renaissance” that never was
The problems with small nuclear reactors, THE HILL, By Dr. Arjun Makhijani – 06/15/11 “…… the enthusiasts of small reactors are back, promoting “small modular reactors” (SMRs) which, they say, can solve the central economic problem of large reactors that each cost so much and take so long to build that it becomes a “bet the farm” risk. But this is hype and hope more than substance. Unfortunately, Congress and the administration are buying into it. Continue reading
Only lawyers see growth, as nuclear industry faces wind-down in Europe
Nuclear Twilight in Europe |
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| OilPrice.com by John Daly , 15 June 2011 |
| It is becoming evident to many that the March nuclear catastrophe at Japan’s six reactor Daichi Fukushima complex has dealt a huge, possibly fatal, blow to the nuclear industry’s hopes of a revival. |
For first time,U.S. utilities name nuclear wastes as their top worry
While respondents of the annual survey have cited nuclear waste disposal and storage as a concern in the past, respondents ranked it as a top concern for the first time this year,
US Utilities Concerned About Water, Nuclear Waste Disposal – Study WSJ, DOW JONES NEWSWIRES,-By Cassandra Sweet, * JUNE 13, 2011 U.S. utilities are increasingly concerned about adequate water supply and nuclear waste disposal and storage, Continue reading
India’s unrealistic nuclear power plans
Nuclear trade with India risks boosting arms race – The West Australian,Scott Ludlam,13 June 11 “……I have spent time in India studying the nuclear industry, which is famous for its unrealistic projections of future civil nuclear prospects. Continue reading
1 This Month
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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