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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

TEPCO shareholders to lose their whole investment

After repaying borrowings due this year and next, Tepco should have 8 trillion of net debt,

Tokyo nuclear firm protected, but not shareholders. Reuters , Mar 24, 2011  By John Foley HONG KONG — The owner of Japan’s stricken nuclear reactors should emerge from the wreckage intact. But shareholders in Tokyo Electric Power, whose Fukushima complex was damaged by this month’s earthquake, could lose their entire investment. Continue reading →

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

Iowa residents will pay up in advance for nuclear reactor build

“Advanced cost recovery is nothing more or less than a tax on ratepayers to fund nuclear reactors that the capital market won’t touch,”

Possible nuclear expansion costs to Iowans: $50 a month, Des Moines Register, 25 March 11, Iowa’s average MidAmerican customer could see their monthly bills spike by $50 or more a month under a proposal being considered by the state’s legislature, according to a report released today Continue reading →

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

Italy and Switzerland halt nuclear programs

Italy Puts Nuclear Plans on Hold for a Year  Voice of America, 23 March, Italy has declared a one-year moratorium on plans to re-establish a nuclear power industry, in response to a Japanese nuclear crisis that has raised concerns across Europe about the safety of the technology.

The Italian Cabinet approved the moratorium Wednesday, halting any decision-making and research into suitable locations for nuclear plants….. Switzerland reacted to the Japanese nuclear crisis by suspending the approval process for three nuclear plants. Italy Puts Nuclear Plans on Hold for a Year | Europe | English

March 24, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Italy | Leave a comment

China, Germany, now USA, put the brakes on nuclear development

corporations are bracing for a potential U.S. regulatory backlash that will elevate costs. Governments from China to Germany moved swiftly last week to brake further nuclear development,

UPDATE 3-NRG, eyeing Japan, first to slow US nuclear plant work | Reuters, 22 March 11, NRG pull-back is first sign of U.S. impact from quake * US nuclear builders face uncertainty amid NRC review, By Eileen O’Grady, HOUSTON, March 21 (Reuters) – U.S. nuclear power developer. NRG Energy Inc has all but stopped work on a majo project in Texas, the first U.S. company to slow down ambitious growth plans in the wake of the crisis in Japan.

NRG, which has worked closely with Tokyo Electric Power Co to develop the Texas reactors, said there was too much regulatory uncertainty to continue pouring cash into the project.NRG’s move is the first sign that

as regulators sought time to apply any lessons learned from the crisis on Japan’s east coast.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s order for a review of all plants raises uncertainty about potential design changes and timing of new license approvals, NRG Chief Executive David Crane said. He also noted that low natural gas prices are challenging the economics of new nuclear power plants.

“The economics related to the capital budget are right on the edge of viability,” Crane told Reuters in an interview.

NRG and its partner Toshiba Corp (6502.T) will reduce the scope of development work at Nuclear Innovation North America, which has been working to build new units at the South Texas Project nuclear station in Matagorda County, 90 miles (145 km)southwest of Houston.

UPDATE 3-NRG, eyeing Japan, first to slow US nuclear plant work | Reuters

March 22, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Germany’s nuclear operators might scrap payments to renewables fund

UPDATE 1-German nuclear firms dodge green fund issue | Reuters, Mar 21, 2011 Report says they might scrap payments FRANKFURT,   – Germany’s nuclear operators dodged addressing a report that they might scrap payments of 300 million euros ($425.3 million) this year into a fund subsidising green energy after they had to close plants for safety checks.Sueddeutsche Zeitung, citing company sources, said last week’s enforced shutdown of reactors built before 1980 for security checks in light of the nuclear crisis in Japan, had prompted the four German operators to consider stopping the payments. [POWER/DE]…..UPDATE 1-German nuclear firms dodge green fund issue | Reuters

March 22, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Germany | Leave a comment

Japan’s taxpayers will cop the bill for nuclear disaster

Japanese Taxpayers Likely to Shoulder Nuclear Liability – Law Blog – WSJ, 21 March 11, By Ashby Jones At the end of the day, who’s going to pay to compensate the victims of the problems at Japan’s nuclear reactors?Had the earthquake and resulting issues happened in the U.S., the answer would likely be quite complicated. In Japan, it’s simpler: the Japanese taxpayer will shoulder the burden, according to this WSJ story by Andrew Dowell and Erik Holm. Continue reading →

March 22, 2011 Posted by | business and costs | Leave a comment

first nuclear, then uranium, shares tumble

Nuclear sell-off sweeps to uranium mining, Financial Times, By William MacNamara in London,  March 20 2011 The sell-off slamming the nuclear power industry has swept to uranium mining, the source of nuclear fuel, with a range of miners’ shares opening this morning at least 15 per cent lower than levels preceding the earthquake in Japan.
Shares in Cameco, the major Canadian uranium producer, have fallen 20 per cent since March 10 despite Jerry Grandey, chief executive, saying that the impact of the Japanese nuclear crisis on the company’s sales would be “minimal”….

March 22, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear power – uninsurable, cannot exist in private market system

the question is not whether government should ban nuclear power. The question is whether it should stop propping it up.


How to “Ban” Nuclear Power, by Kevin Carson , Mar 17, 2011 “……….the actual problem is that governments worldwide have been actively intervening for decades to prevent the market from banning nuclear power. Precisely because the stakes are so high and there’s so much room for unforeseen things to go wrong, nuclear power is uninsurable on the private market. Continue reading →

March 19, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs | 1 Comment

The nuclear resuscitation – finished before it really got started

Diesendorf expects events in Japan will see nuclear power continue its decline – ”despite the claims of its proponents, it is already an industry in stagnation” – and will drive renewable expansion. ”China and India were doing a lot already on renewables … enough to wipe out nuclear.” He foresees increasing emphasis on wind, on solar, and on concentrated solar thermal power.

Is this the end of the nuclear revival?, The Age, Jo Chandler, March 19, 2011 “……Professor Frank von Hippel.”This is definitely in the Chernobyl league now. If the reactors go, that’s bad, of course. But the real concern at this point is if those … spent-fuel pools catch fire. There are many Chernobyls’ worth of radioactive material in there.”……. Continue reading →

March 19, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs | Leave a comment

Westinghouse, Toshiba, AREVA, Rosatom marketing nuclear power to Czech Republic

U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co., a subsidiary of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., France’s state-owned nuclear engineering giant Areva SA and a consortium led by Russia’s Atomstroyexport submitted preliminary bids.

Czechs pledge to develop nuclear energy program  Bloomberg, BusinessWeek. 18 March, PRAGUE The Czech Republic’s prime minister says his country will go ahead with plans to develop its nuclear energy program despite Japan’s nuclear crisis. Continue reading →

March 18, 2011 Posted by | EUROPE, marketing | Leave a comment

French nuclear company chief “in no doubt” that Britain needs nuclear

Mr de Rivaz said his “determination to press ahead was undimmed” and added that he was in no doubt that “what Britain needs is nuclear”.

UK industry must press on, says EDF chief, FT.com , By David Blair and Sylvia Pfeifer in London March 17 2011 The British nuclear industry will have to work harder to keep the public’s trust in the aftermath of Japan’s disaster, Continue reading →

March 18, 2011 Posted by | marketing, UK | Leave a comment

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