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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Money, not Fukushima, is nuclear industry’s biggest hurdle

Nuclear industry’s other big hurdle: finance NRG put brakes on new plant; industry aims at loan guarantees By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch, 1 April 11,

NEW YORK — While public outrage over radiation seeping from Japan’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant is a huge setback for proponents of nuclear power, securing financing for new reactors poses perhaps an even bigger challenge in the United States….. Continue reading →

April 2, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

The uranium boom- over before it’s begun

virtually impossible to get new financing to develop projects for which there will be no economic justification. This will all be reflected in a slow, inexorable decline in share prices

The bull market in uranium is over, – MoneyWeek. By Dominic Frisby Mar 31, 2011 “The worldwide backlash against the nuclear power industry is only beginning to be felt and promises to deal a devastating blow long-term to the uranium stock sector. The catastrophic events in Japan were followed by a precipitous drop in uranium share prices, which have just had their obligatory dead cat bounce. Continue reading →

April 1, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear energy not safe for USA, but fine to export to ‘developing’ countries

For the United States, nuclear power has become an export industry….“Most of the action that one can really care about, frankly, is in the developing world,”

Nuclear Industry Thrives in the U.S., but for Export – NYTimes.com By MATTHEW L. WALD March 30, 2011 THE American nuclear renaissance is going strong, even if hardly any nuclear reactors are being built in the United States.

Japan’s continuing nuclear calamity has heightened concerns about the future of nuclear power and its safety, Continue reading →

March 31, 2011 Posted by | marketing, USA | 1 Comment

Solar energy stocks up, as Germany turns against nuclear power

Solar Stock Winners: German Elections Propel Stocks by Eric Rosenbaum  03/29/11 – NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Solar stocks experienced a surge on election results in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party suffered big losses, and with the German electorate citing anti-nuclear energy policy as a primary issue. The long-term implications of the Green Party election victories in Germany have to be viewed as a positive for green energy,…..All solar stocks, from the German solar manufactures to the Chinese and U.S. solar companies, rallied on Monday after the German election results. German solar companies Conergy, Q-Cells, Solon and Solarworld were all up on Monday, with one-day returns between 8% and 12%, and Conergy leading the way..”

March 31, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Germany | Leave a comment

Entergy can’t sell its Vermont nuclear power plant

Entergy Abandons Bid To Sell Vermont Nuclear Power Plant, WSJ.com By Naureen S. Malik  MARCH 30, 2011 NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Entergy Corp. (ETR) ended a bid to sell its Vermont nuclear power plant Wednesday after failing to find a buyer for the reactor, which may be required to shut down next year.

The second-largest U.S. nuclear-power generator put the Vermont Yankee plant up for sale last November amid strong opposition in Vermont to it operating for an additional 20 years. The reactor’s operating license expires in March 2012.Opposition to the plant grew after the New Orleans-based company reported several leaks of radioactive material from underground pipes. State officials said Entergy had told them the piping didn’t transport radioactive materials…..Entergy Abandons Bid To Sell Vermont Nuclear Power Plant – WSJ.com

 

March 31, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

AREVA’s nuclear plant could cost Ameren $10 billion

Expert: New Ameren nuclear plant cost could balloon to $10 billion St. Louis Business Journal – by Kelsey Volkmann, March 30, 2011, The cost of Ameren’s proposed second nuclear plant in Callaway County could balloon to more than $10 billion, an energy expert said Wednesday. Continue reading →

March 31, 2011 Posted by | business and costs | Leave a comment

Bill Gates marketing small nukes to China, where nuclear industry is less regulated

“right now the regulatory environment here in the United States means it would take decades just to certify. By partnering with the Chinese, they can move ahead and commercialize the technology around the world when it’s proven.”

Nuclear Industry Thrives in the U.S., but for Export – NYTimes.com By MATTHEW L. WALD March 30, 2011 “……At a clean energy conference in Washington in January, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., then the American ambassador to China, said that he had recently run into Bill Gates in China. Mr. Gates is an investor in a new kind of reactor, part of a class called “small modular reactors,” Continue reading →

March 31, 2011 Posted by | marketing, technology, USA | Leave a comment

Uncertain future for nuclear-related industries

an accident or other significant event “could result in increased regulation, less public support for nuclear fueled energy, lower demand for uranium and lower uranium prices.”

Japan’s material adverse change: from financings to M&A | Financial Regulatory Forum   Reuters.com, by John Mackie, 28 March 11“………the business and legal communities cannot stand still, as they deal with several quite-unexpected ripple effects. Both M&A and capital markets transactions have suffered, and disclosure practices are now coming under review. Set against a backdrop of plummeting stock prices, companies in nuclear-related industries are caught in their own battle to sustain themselves………. Continue reading →

March 29, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Wall Street spooked on nuclear industry’s future outlook

the nuclear industry has also been working hard to increase its share of the market, hiring armies of lobbyists to press their case with power brokers on Capitol Hill……In the words of one long term industry analyst, “Three mile island turned from a $1 billion dollar asset into a $2 billion liability in just 90 minutes.”..Wall Street was spooked then and it’s even more spooked now……

AUDIO Correspondents Report – Nuclear re-think in the US 27/03/2011 ELIZABETH JACKSON: ABC Radio The crisis in Japan is causing many countries elsewhere in the world to look again at their nuclear industry – the United States is certainly one of them.Of the 104 reactors in operation, 23 of them in the US are similar to the stricken Fukushima plant, and two of them are also perched precariously over a Pacific Rim fault line. Continue reading →

March 28, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Australian expert, Barry Brook, downplays Japan’s nuclear problem

“I think overtime people will become more understanding of small risk and big benefits that nuclear brings,”

Japan’s nuclear crisis is mainly public panic, not radiation risk: Australian expert By Vienna MaCANBERRA, March 26 (Xinhua) — Japan’s nuclear crisis was mainly public panic, not radiation risk, an Australian expert told Xinhua, expressing optimism over the future development of international nuclear industry.


However, workers are still trying to contain radiation leaks at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants in Japan, since reactors were damaged by the massive earthquake and tsunami.

Although prevailing winds would likely carry contaminated smoke or steam released from nuclear power plant away from the densely populated city to dissipate over the Pacific Ocean, millions in Tokyo of Japan remained indoors, fearing a blast of radioactive material from Fukushima.

The crisis has triggered global alarm and reviews of safety at atomic power plants around the world. Continue reading →

March 28, 2011 Posted by | marketing | Leave a comment

Shares in uranium likely to be doomed

Even more ominous in this new environment is the fact that storage pools for spent uranium rods are now recognized as a threat. Every reactor has one of these glowing pools, specifically because the world has not found a way to dispose of nuclear waste…..

the developed world will eventually turn very sharply away from nuclear energy and towards cheap and abundant natural gas…….

Is Uranium A Buy Again? Beware of These Radioactive Stocks ETF DAILY NEWS, byn George Wolff, 27 March 11, “………The industry’s future is “red hot” according to CBS Business News writer David Phillips. Cameco and other uranium miners are already spending heavily on the construction of new mines and processing facilities. They’re still scrambling in anticipation of the global nuclear boom which seemed so inevitable before the Japanese disaster……

But, in the wake of the Japanese crisis, I believe that the optimists touting a rebound in the nuclear industry are premature at best. At worst, they may be flogging a dead horse. Continue reading →

March 28, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Russian nuclear czar – selling $6 billion enriched uranium to USA?

Rosatom Signs $2.8 Billion Contract to Enrich Uranium for U.S.  Bloomberg, By Ilya Khrennikov – Mar 26, 2011 Rosatom Corp., Russia’s government- owned nuclear holding company, agreed a contract valued at about $2.8 billion to supply enriched uranium to the U.S., Russian state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta said, citing the company.The accord includes an option to double supplies, possibly boosting the value of the deal to $6 billion, Kommersant said in a separate report, citing Rosatom Chief Executive Officer Sergei Kirienko.….Rosatom Signs $2.8 Billion Contract to Enrich Uranium for U.S. – Bloomberg

March 28, 2011 Posted by | marketing, Russia, Uranium | Leave a comment

How many $trillions is the nuclear industry going to cost?

No insurance company would — or will, or can — insure such risks. So who insures them? You do. Canada’s Nuclear Liability Act, proclaimed in 1976, caps the liability of nuclear operators at $75 million. Beyond that, the taxpayer pays.

Nuclear power is the worst option,  TheChronicleHerald.ca, By SILVER DONALD CAMERONSun, Mar 27 – “…….The first major unknown cost is insurance. Nobody knows what a catastrophic nuclear accident might cost. If the crippled Japanese reactors suffer meltdowns, how many lives will be lost, how many people will be injured, how much property will be rendered unusable? In 1996, informed observers speculated that the cost of a catastrophic accident at Darlington, Ont., could reach $1 trillion. Continue reading →

March 28, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Canada | Leave a comment

Uranium industry’s optimism doesn’t seem justified

insurance liability caps granted to the American nuclear power industry,  for example, produce an annual indirect subsidy of $33 million for every reactor in the United States…..liability costs to the Japanese government arising from Fukushima Daiichi, while still impossible to estimate, were presumably large, and might make other governments see that offering subsidies to renewable energy sources might be a comparative bargain…

Uranium Processor Still Optimistic About Nuclear Industry, NYTimes.com, By IAN AUSTEN : March 25, 2011 OTTAWA — On the same day earlier this month that the  Canadian company Cameco, a global leader in uranium mining and processing, gathered its executives from around the world for a strategic planning session, news broke of Japan’s staggering earthquake….. Continue reading →

March 26, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Canada, Uranium | Leave a comment

China selling off old nuclear reactor models to Pakistan

China to Sell Outdated Nuclear Reactors to Pakistan, Voice of America, Stephanie Ho | Beijing March 24, 2011 China is pressing ahead with nuclear energy cooperation with Pakistan, despite concerns that it is shipping decades-old technology to its South Asian neighbor. This comes as China suspended approvals for new nuclear power plants within China to review safety standards following the recent earthquake/tsunami disaster in Japan.  Continue reading →

March 26, 2011 Posted by | China, marketing | Leave a comment

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