Glorious new financial jargon from the nuclear lobby – the “International Bank for Nuclear Infrastructure (IBNI)”
International Bank for Nuclear Infrastructure (IBNI) will become the ‘Gold Standard’ of nuclear finance.
the IBNI will have an estimated 30+ sovereign governmental member shareholders, each with aligned views on nuclear energy and other global policy objectives. …….. IBNI – as a specialised ‘global nuclear infrastructure bank’ – will have a global mandate to finance and support nuclear sector projects, programmes and industries in all its member countries .
where the bank aims to achieve the most significant global impacts will be in catalysing a highly significant ‘capital multiplier impact’, which represents the total quantum of global financial markets capital mobilised relative to each dollar of public investment (by sovereign shareholder member states) in the bank.
IBNI will become the ‘Gold Standard’ of nuclear finance.
Why nuclear energy needs exclusive global multilateral infrastructure bank By Daniel Dean, 18 Mar 2024 https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/why-nuclear-energy-needs-exclusive-global-multilateral-infrastructure-bank/—
The mobilisation of trillions of dollars of global capital necessary for the nuclear sector to scale in the near-term can be supported by a new kind of financial institution – an international multilateral infrastructure bank focused exclusively on nuclear energy, writes Daniel Dean, IBNI-IO SAG chairman.
Attaining current policy objectives, including 2050 Net Zero, will require global nuclear technologies to scale to an unprecedented magnitude and at breakneck speed.
COMMENT on Lie number 1. Attaining 2050 Net Zero may well be impossible anyway, but there is zero likelihood of nuclear power to have anything meaningful to do with it, other than to slow down real solutions – energy conservation and renewable energy .
This historically unmatched scaling will also require the very rapid mobilisation of multiple trillions of dollars of capital into the sector.quick online loans. Existing nuclear project delivery and financing mechanisms rely mainly on governmental support and attract very limited risk appetite from the global financial markets. Such existing models will be insufficient for catalyzing the very significant quanta of capital necessary required to enable nuclear to scale as quickly as possible to achieve multiple 100s of GW’s of additional global nuclear generation capacity. If the world is going to achieve its ambitious climate, clean energy, energy transition and energy security goals in this short period of time, there simply needs to be a fundamental change in the approach toward financing nuclear infrastructure.
Scaling of the nuclear sector faces numerous and multidimensional impediments. These interrelated impediments span a broad spectrum and include among others: public policy; regulatory, markets and ESG frameworks; social license; geopolitical; commercial and risk allocation models; and perhaps most importantly, affordability and accessibility. Each of the nuclear sector’s impediments is manifested in the form of financial risk. Clearly, the nuclear industry will need to do its part through increased on-time and on-budget performance and other progressive improvements, alongside the key roles of governments, owner-operators, end-users/ratepayers and all other stakeholder groups that will each need to do their part. However, the ‘sum of these parts’ (e.g. what each stakeholder can individually do) does not add up to a solution that will enable nuclear to scale.
The mobilisation of the necessary capital required for nuclear to scale, requires formulation of systemic and multidimensional risk mitigation solutions. The nuclear sector is currently caught in a ‘vicious circle’, whereby nuclear cannot and will not scale without access to a ‘runway’ of cost-efficient capital and such capital is not accessible unless nuclear becomes sufficiently de-risked due to scaling. Nuclear’s ‘vicious circle’ needs to be very rapidly transformed into a ‘virtuous circle’, which will require immediate risk mitigation solutions and unlocking capital flows well before scaling can begin.
From a financial risk management perspective, the nuclear sector poses excessive financial risk as it is measured in the form of the Value at Risk (“VaR”) metric. From a financier’s perspective, VaR can be described simply as: the amount of at-risk capital deployed and the probability of loss.
Because nuclear sector financings are both highly capital intensive and the real and perceived risks of the sector are viewed to be high, it is intuitive that the nuclear sector’s VaR profiles currently compare unfavourably against many other alternative asset classes.
Well that one sure is true!
A new nuclear investor
The proposed International Bank for Nuclear Infrastructure (IBNI) will be a new multilateral nuclear infrastructure bank that will be focused on enabling nuclear technology to rapidly scale and become both highly affordable and accessible within all its member countries, globally. Importantly, IBNI will finance and support both the production and supply chain (supply side) as well as the customer side (demand side) of the nuclear sector in member countries ranging from developing countries to highly developed ‘nuclear mature’ countries. The bank will act as the global early and long-term patient capital provider and it will finance and support all areas of the nuclear value spectrum on a technology-, vendor-, and country-neutral basis including new-build (Gen. III/ III+, Gen IV and future fusion, other); life-extensions and re-starts; refinancing and restructurings; fuel cycle (mining through repository); production and supply chains; nuclear infrastructure; and decommissioning and nuclear waste management projects, programs and industries.
IBNI will be capitalised, governed and operated using models similar to those that have been proven mission-successful by the world’s major global multilateral banks, which have been in existence for many decades. Those models include the World Bank Group (WBG); the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In other words, the IBNI will have an estimated 30+ sovereign governmental member shareholders, each with aligned views on nuclear energy and other global policy objectives. Whereas those existing ‘multilateral development banks’ like the WBG, EBRD and ADB are generally focused on missions such as economic development and poverty eradication (and generally, within defined geographies, developmental and/or income strata), IBNI – as a specialised ‘global nuclear infrastructure bank’ – will have a global mandate to finance and support nuclear sector projects, programmes and industries in all its member countries (not limited to geography, developmental status or income level). The existing multilateral banks are currently not providing any material support for the nuclear sector. While the change in longstanding policies of these institutions toward nuclear is highly encouraged and would be complimentary (not competitive), these institutions are ill-equipped to be seen as a substitute for IBNI’s proposed role as the global nuclear financing institution.
On the one hand, the bank will use its own capital to directly co-finance and support qualified nuclear projects based on the principle of ‘additionality’ (i.e. ‘bridging gaps’ throughout the nuclear value spectrum where existing public and private funding and financing are not adequately accessible on a cost-efficient basis). It is anticipated that the bank’s main commercial operating arm, the IBNI Ordinary Operations Fund will be a self-sustaining entity that will issue long-term debt in the global ‘sovereign and supranational bond markets’. Based on the strong shareholder liquidity and support offered by the bank’s shareholders, it is envisaged that the fund will achieve ‘triple-A’ credit ratings or the highest credit quality that will allow IBNI to borrow funds at the lowest cost and in turn, pass along lowest cost financing for the benefit of the bank’s programme participants. Certainly, accessing least-cost capital is one critical element that will drive down nuclear generation costs and enable nuclear technologies to achieve affordability targets, which are critical for enabling nuclear to scale.
On the other hand, and most importantly, where the bank aims to achieve the most significant global impacts will be in catalysing a highly significant ‘capital multiplier impact’, which represents the total quantum of global financial markets capital mobilised relative to each dollar of public investment (by sovereign shareholder member states) in the bank. IBNI’s advisory team projects that the bank should reasonably target a ‘capital multiplier impact’ of more than 100x, from the bank’s targeted establishment date in 2024/25 through 2050. Accordingly, the potential for the highly significant ‘capital multiplier impact’ effect targeted by IBNI will provide the highest value for money for each public dollar invested. Thus, a comparative investment in the bank would represent the most efficient means of achieving both national and global policy objectives, relative to strictly inward investments in a countries own nuclear sector’s domestic and bilateral initiatives (which the bank would not compete with).
COMMENT: utterly convincing? Not really.
Managing nuclear risk
In order to accomplish the bank’s core mission of scaling nuclear to attain a sustainable 2050 Net Zero World, IBNI will need to enable multidimensional risk mitigation solutions that will rapidly and sufficiently reduce nuclear sector VaR profiles to levels that become acceptable and in line with other similar infrastructure asset classes.
IBNI will implement programmes and offer customised financial product lines that will be engineered to systemically and progressively ‘flatten’ the VaR curves all across the nuclear sector. This ambition goes well beyond the necessary goal of developing market confidence through the necessary demonstration of global fleet deployments of serialised, repeatable, successful nuclear projects delivered within schedule and budget. IBNI will also serve as a global aggregator of an adopted set of universal nuclear-specific standards and criteria and the bank will aim to become a global institutional repository of nuclear financing expertise, which will become relied upon by investors, lenders and financing institutions for their own evaluation of nuclear sector financing transactions. Borrowing from the World Bank’s phraseology, IBNI will become the ‘Gold Standard’ of nuclear finance. While currently there are discrete elements of nuclear-specific financing standards and expertise available (from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, and Equator Principles IV, International Finance Corporation Standards, for example), there is, by no means, the necessary comprehensive set of nuclear-specific financing standards and criteria, such as those that pertain to every other asset class which are available from the existing major multilateral financing institutions like the World Bank. Nuclear is a very unique asset class that deserves its own global financial institution that would have deep expertise within the sector and an understanding of the unique multidimensional risk elements of nuclear finance. Such an institution would be able to adopt a set of standards and criteria specific to these unique elements.
Without an IBNI, and despite the valiant combined efforts of individual governments, sporadic international cooperation and the nuclear industry itself, the nuclear sector’s ability to scale will most likely continue to be constrained and the ‘vicious circle’ will persist unbroken.
COMMENT. Yes – agreed – the nuclear sector’s ability to scale will most likely continue to be constrained and the ‘vicious circle’ will persist
IBNI offers a unique ‘whole of the world’ proposition that will enable the global nuclear sector to rapidly and efficiently break the ‘vicious circle’ that persistently plagues the sector. Only through a global and systemic approach toward mitigating nuclear’s multidimensional risk elements and sufficiently ‘flattening’ the nuclear sector’s VaR curves can the sector’s ‘vicious circle’ be transformed into a ‘virtuous circle’. IBNI offers this unique global risk mitigation solution which will enable the mobilisation of trillions of dollars of global capital necessary for the nuclear sector to scale in the near term.
This article first appeared in Nuclear Engineering International magazine.
New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau nuclear plant ranked as poor performer among international peers
Consultant ranks Lepreau in ‘bottom quartile’ in multiple performance categories
Robert Jones · CBC News · Mar 20, 2024
Since 2014 the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station has been one of the poorest-performing reactors among dozens of similar facilities in five countries, a pair of unflinching reports commissioned by N.B. Power about the troubled plant suggest.
The U.S.-based energy consulting firm ScottMadden found N.B. Power spent less on upkeep at Lepreau since it completed a major refurbishment in 2012 than owners of more reliable reactors, and they provided evidence that Lepreau’s troubles may be connected to a failure to invest enough on maintenance.
The reports also suggest Lepreau’s performance may worsen in future years if amounts spent on keeping ahead of trouble are not increased significantly………………………………………………………..
Lepreau, originally commissioned in 1983, had a disappointing production record in its first 25 operational years that has continued over the last decade, despite a major overhaul of its reactor and nuclear components between 2008 and 2012.
In the 11 years from 2013 and 2023, Lepreau suffered 400 more days of downtime than originally projected, costing the utility up to $1 billion in lost production and repair costs that have been battering the utility’s finances…………………………………………………………………………. more https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-power-point-lepreau-poor-1.7148879
Bulgarian nuclear experts question economic viability of new nuclear project
By Emiliya Milcheva and Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg 18 Mar 24
Bulgarian nuclear experts are questioning the economic feasibility of the country’s plan to build two US nuclear reactors at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, raising questions on funding and whether the country has the means to purchase energy from these plants.
“It will be very difficult to find banks to finance the project,” Valentin Kolev, energy expert and a member of the American Association of Energy Engineers told Euractiv. “If we assume that we will produce 15 terawatt-hours per year, in 20 years of operation, it makes 300 terawatt hours. At a price of €17.6 billion for the two reactors, a price of close to €60/MWh would result, but this is only the investment. Fuel costs and much more are not included. The price cannot be below €100-125.”
Energy Minister Rumen Radev said that the electricity from the new Kozloduy NPP reactors will cost €65/MWh.
Bulgaria will build the two nuclear reactors with loans, and only 30% of the construction costs will be financed with money from the state budget, according to an investigation by Euractiv.
At the end of last year, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov told Euractiv that Greece, Serbia, and North Macedonia were interested in signing long-term contracts for the purchase of electricity from the future seventh and eighth units of the Kozloduy NPP. However, Bulgaria has not been able to attract the three neighbouring countries as investors.
European companies also showed no interest in building the new plant, with the Bulgarian parliament voting to open negotiations with the Korean company Hyundai. The nuclear reactors will be based on the AR-1000 technology of the American company Westinghouse.
Bulgarian Energy Minister Rumen Radev sets the final price for the new reactors at €13 billion, but most experts claim that the price will exceed €17.5 billion.
Kolev recalled the HSBC investment study for the abandoned Belene nuclear power plant project, set to comprise two Russian reactors. This study calculated the cost of electricity at €75/MWh, which led the government to abandon the project as the return on investment would not be high enough.
“For now, it is not clear how the new nuclear plants will be paid for,” Neykov commented.
Another Bulgarian energy expert – Georgi Stefanov – also expressed fears billions of euro might be spent from the state budget, but in the end, nothing would be built.
“The construction of a power plant should be looked at like this: How much money do we need, how much money will we earn, and then how much money will we pay for the disposal when the NPP is closed, and for the maintenance of the nuclear waste?” Stefanov said……………………………….https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/bulgarian-nuclear-experts-question-economic-viability-of-new-nuclear-project/
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Deadlines, costs, production: France’s nuclear company EDF in a moment of truth
By Paul Messad | Euractiv France, Mar 18, 2024
EDF, the French state-owned energy giant faces criticism for rising costs and delays in its nuclear projects, its existing reactors have also been encountering problems. Euractiv looks at the implications of these challenges for EDF and the wider nuclear energy industry.
January 23, 2023: EDF, Europe’s leading energy company, announces a further extension of the costs and construction times of its two 3rd generation pressurized water reactors (EPR) located at Hinkley Point in England. The budget could increase by 70 to 90% compared to initial estimates and the start-up could be four to six years late.
……….the delays are “not likely to undermine the confidence of the British government in its nuclear strategy” , defends SFEN. Proof of this would be its reinvestment of more than a billion pounds sterling in two other reactors built by EDF in England, at Sizewell.
For others, on the contrary, the Anglo-Saxon situation is symptomatic of the challenge faced by the largest nuclear operator in the world, in whose confidence is eroded as projects progress, while it aims, in particular, at the construction of six, then 14 EPRs in France, and one (or even four in total) in the Czech Republic for which the authorities are awaiting guarantees.
Especially since another project tarnishes the image of the French giant. On the continent, EDF is in fact building an EPR in France, in Flamanville (Normandy). But as in England, construction is experiencing significant delays (12 years) and additional costs (+470%). The start-up of the reactor planned for “mid-2024” could even be further delayed .
……………………..In France, the government intends to get started since it plans to build six EPRs — and possibly eight others. Estimated costs and deadlines for the first six: 52 billion euros and a first commissioning in 2035.
For once, according to Les Échos , costs have already been revised upwards… by 30%. When questioned, the CEO of EDF, Luc Rémont, “does not confirm any figures” .
“We will be there when we have made all the optimizations [engineering design, component manufacturing, etc., Editor’s note] ,” he explained on the sidelines of the Franco-Czech nuclear summit organized in Prague. on March 8 and 9.
The deadlines, already “very demanding” , he agreed at the end of November, have since been postponed to 2040.
This back and forth annoys the Minister of the Economy and Energy. “EDF must learn to keep its costs and its schedule ,” criticized Bruno Le Maire at the beginning of March in Le Monde .
Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia…
It must be said that EDF is playing on its international reputation.
In Prague, Mr. Rémont accompanied the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who came to defend EDF’s candidacy for the construction of one, or even four reactors in total, in the Czech Republic.
However, the country’s authorities have emphasized their commitment to respecting deadlines and costs.
“We are interested in the lowest possible price, the highest possible guarantees that the plant will be built on time ,” Jozef Síkela, Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, told Euractiv .
Clearly, it is not because EDF is the only European company in the running that it will be chosen. Worse, the company is walking on eggshells, competing, as in 2009 on the reactor issue in the United Arab Emirates, by a subsidiary of the South Korean KEPCO.
“Fifteen years later, the Flamanville EPR […] is still not in service. Three of the South Korean reactors in Abu Dhabi are there and the last one very soon [with delay, Editor’s note]” , reminded the former representative of EDF to the European institutions (1987 to 2000) Lionel Taccoen, resumed on
The situation may seem all the more worrying as EDF is also interested in building reactors in the Netherlands, Bulgaria , Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland where the French firm was recently defeated .
In addition, the Czech authorities have left the door open for the American Westinghouse to propose a new offer. The latter has also won several contracts for reactors in Europe in recent years. …………………….
The other dark spot on EDF’s picture lies in the management of its existing fleet and in particular the annus horribilis 2022 where, in the midst of the energy crisis, production has fallen back to pre-1990 levels .
“The year in which France should have shone is exactly the year in which we had a 50% reduction in the fleet,” argued to Euractiv at the end of January Xavier Daval, vice-president of the Renewable Energies Union, the main actors’ union. of the sector in France.
We will now have to wait until 2027, according to EDF , to once again reach production levels slightly higher than those of 1995 (around 360 TWh over the year), far from the 400-420 TWh reached between 2002 and 2015.
As if more was needed, EDF discovered at the beginning of March new “indications” of corrosion , a nightmare of 2022, on one of the reactors in the park.
Nevertheless, the company and the nuclear industry benefit more than ever from government support. France, like the fifteen other European states, which are part of the “nuclear alliance”, supports the emergence of 30 to 45 large reactors by 2050 . Will EDF be the main architect? https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/frances-edf-faces-uphill-battle-as-europes-demand-for-nuclear-reactors-grows/
Money is “The Achilles Heal” of the nuclear state
Paul Richards, 19 mar 24
Integrated, with the first lies, and weasel words, becoming memes out of public and private orations, Lewis Strauss, uttered during his term in the quasi-U.S. government, Atomic Energy Commission [AEC]1953 to 1958.
Even after being rebuked by, U.S. electricity cartels, behind the meter, Lewis Strauss, modified his orations.
“Our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter…
….will travel effortlessly over the seas and under them and through the air with a minimum of danger and at great speeds, and will experience a lifespan far longer than ours, as disease yields and man comes to understand what causes him to age….” Lewis Strauss. 1954 National Association of Science Writers Founder Day Dinner.
Strauss, then promised the Plutonium Economy overproduction of nuclear or carbon, fuelled heat, resulting in excess electricity, and the ensuing growth we have suffered in the 21C, the primary cause of global warming.
This legacy linear economy business model, reflects the fundamental flaw, in the so-called modern economic theory, putting profit before the Planet and people
EU to use Russian assets to buy arms for Ukraine – Scholz
The German chancellor has clarified that profits obtained from Moscow’s funds held in the EU will be used to arm Kiev
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that interest accrued from Russian assets frozen in the EU will be used to purchase weapons for Ukraine.
Soon after Russia launched its military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries froze approximately $300 billion of funds belonging to the Russian Central Bank. Of that sum, the Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear holds around €191 billion ($205 billion), which has accrued nearly €4.4 billion in interest over the past year.
Speaking at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Berlin on Friday, Chancellor Scholz said: “We will use windfall profits from Russian assets frozen in Europe to financially support the purchase of weapons for Ukraine.
The German leader also announced plans to establish a “new capability coalition for long-range rocket artillery,” with procurement to take place “on the overall world market.”
The German chancellor did not provide specifics, and it remains unclear whether he was referring to an entirely new initiative, or to a “long-range” scheme announced by President Macron in February.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last month suggested using the interest from frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine. However, Politico, citing an anonymous EU official, reported on Thursday that Malta, Luxembourg and Hungary had “expressed reservations” about the plan earlier this week.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that any actions taken against its assets would amount to “theft.” It has stressed that seizing the funds or any similar move would violate international law and undermine Western currencies, the global financial system, and the world economy.
Visa & Mastercard: The Real Threat To The Digital ID Control System
March 11, 2024 By Corey Lynn and The Sharp Edge
The question isn’t whether Visa and Mastercard are at the forefront of the Digital ID control system, the question is whether Visa, Mastercard and central banks will be able to pull it off without the implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). A “Digital ID” may sound convenient and harmless, but the intention behind it is far reaching – compiling and connecting data and biometrics while removing every form of privacy in order to control how one spends their money, achieves access to services, and ultimately takes control over all assets. This will have an impact on all areas of life, including education, healthcare, food, agriculture, transportation, real estate, and technology, which of course will all be controlled through the Digital ID connected to banks, and a person’s social credit score. This isn’t an imaginary scheme. These intentions are well documented by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), central banks, the World Bank, financial institutions, credit card companies, and government.
In simple terms, the Bank For International Settlements’ (BIS) blueprint proposes that all private property in the real world, such as money, houses, cars, etc., would be “tokenized” into digital assets within an “everything in one place” global unified ledger. Of course, smart contracts on a “programmable” platform with rules on how each asset can and cannot be used are the key ingredient.
By using fear of cyber attacks on any single institution, big Gov and financial institutions want everyone to believe that consolidating all data and assets of a person’s life into tokens under a Digital ID will somehow protect them from attacks by having everything in one location.
Though many are under the impression that the battle is against the ushering in of CBDCs, it would seem that all of the appropriate financial rails and interoperability are already in place, or darn close to it, to expand on the mountain of identity verification processes already dialed in, to initiate the all-in-one Digital Identity and lock those dominoes into place.
This digital world they intend to manifest is being fashioned to look like a convenient and necessary way everyone must live, and as they build these “rails” of prison cells, consumers are sinking further into debt and relying more and more on credit cards. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York issued a report noting that credit card balances in Q4 of 2023 increased by $50 billion to a record high of $1.13 trillion, while also reporting a rise in delinquencies. The report states that credit card delinquencies increased over 50% in 2023. Total household debt also rose by $212 billion reaching $17.5 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the report.
Visa and Mastercard are at the forefront of this takeover and if they succeed, the monitoring, tracking, and control will be immeasurable and there will be no going back. Consumers need to think twice before using credit cards and use cash as often as possible, while state legislators need to get on board with implementing creative legislation with independent systems that not only provide protection for the citizens of their state, but build strong financial freedom with the ability to operate utilizing cash, precious metals, and unique structures as pointed out in this article.
“I get why China would be interested. Why would the American people be for that?” – Neel Kashkari, President of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, ‘The Threat of Financial Transaction Control,’ the Solari Report, February 24, 2024.
HSBC leads Sizewell C investment push as time ticks on final investment decision
Britain’s largest bank by market capitalisation is trying to rally an effort to push a final investment decision over the line for the delayed Sizewell C nuclear super project.
According to a Bloomberg report today, HSBC is discussing the possibility with investment funds to provide a debt facility that would be guaranteed by the UK’s export finance agency.
The report said that people familiar with the matter said the move would help the project, Sizewell C, which in January received government approval to begin the process of building the site, due to take nine years to complete.
But delays have come thick and fast due to inflationary cost rises and the logistical challenges involved with building a massive nuclear power station, so much so that the project is now scoped for a bill with the potential to reach £40bn.
The UK government is working in tandem with Barclays to find equity investors for the project in the hope of reaching a final investment decision this year, with gas giant Centrica having declared an interest.
Sizewell C was proposed by a consortium of EDF Energy and China General Nuclear Power Group, which own 80 per cent and 20 per cent of the project respectively.
The site, along with the also-delayed multi-billion pound Hinkley Point C and another planned major reactor that was unveiled in the nuclear strategy back in January, will form the backbone of the UK’s nuclear energy drive.
Complimenting the large projects, which are estimated to be able to provide power for around six million people each, are small module reactor programmes to be taken up by private investors.
In recent months, the UK government has reportedly been wooing the United Arab Emirates to step in to help fund Sizewell C in place of China.
However the National Security & Investment Act 2021 and the National Security Act 2023 could prove barriers to any foreign state gaining influence through investment in critical infrastructure.
In Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget last week, he announced a £160m deal with Japanese technology giant Hitachi to buy back two sites on which the latter had committed to build power stations.
UK Steps Up Sizewell Nuclear Push With State-Backed Loans
Mar 14, 2024, William Mathis and Priscila Azevedo Rocha, Bloomberg News, https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/uk-steps-up-sizewell-nuclear-push-with-state-backed-loans-1.2046821
HSBC Holdings Plc is in talks with investment funds about loans to help to finance the construction of the UK’s Sizewell C nuclear plant, as the government steps up efforts to get a key energy project off the drawing board this year.
The bank is in discussions with funds to provide the debt that would be guaranteed by the country’s export finance agency, according to people familiar with the matter. That would help Sizewell offset risks of financing a long-term project, while securing cheaper capital, the people said, asking not to be identified as the negotiations are private.
HSBC, Sizewell and UK Export Finance all declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the development of the project’s commercial structure is subject to sensitive discussions
Securing state-guaranteed funding would be an important milestone for a project that could cost more than £40 billion ($51 billion). The UK government has vowed to get as much as 25% of the country’s power from nuclear plants in coming years as part of a push to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Declining output from Britain’s fleet of aging reactors means new plants will be needed by the end of the decade.
So far, the only one under construction is Electricite de France SA’s Hinkley Point C. That plant has been repeatedly delayed, while the projected budget has ballooned to as high as £47.9 billion.
The UK government is working with Barclays Plc to drum up equity investors for the Sizewell project, with bids due later this year. Centrica Plc is seen as a potential anchor investor, with Chief Executive Officer Chris O’Shea saying the company has been in talks with the government.
HSBC is working for Sizewell C Ltd., the operating company set up by EDF to build the copy of Hinkley. The second project should cost less than its forerunner, according to EDF.
The UK has gradually increased its own exposure to Sizewell C, boosting investment in the project to more than £2 billion earlier this year to become the majority shareholder. The government is taking on more construction risk than it did for Hinkley, as it trials a different approach to financing to try to get new projects over the line.
The huge costs involved make it tricky. In 2019, the government offered to take a third of the equity in a £20 billion project in Wales, and provide all the debt during construction plus guaranteed power prices. That wasn’t enough to convince the developer Hitachi Ltd. to proceed.
With assistance from Jessica Shankleman and Francois de Beaupuy.
Dounreay workers vote on strike action after pay talks stall
https://www.gmbscotland.org.uk/newsroom/gmb-scotland-ballot-at-dounreay.html 13 Mar 24
Workers at Dounreay nuclear site are being balloted on industrial action after long-running pay talks stalled.
Members of GMB Scotland and other unions are voting on industrial action including working to rule, overtime bans and strikes after a pay offer was overwhelmingly rejected.
Discussions with management at the Caithness site have been continuing for 18 months and Keir Greenaway, GMB senior organiser in public services, said workers cannot be expected to wait any longer for a fair offer.
He said: “This delay would be unacceptable at any time but when our members have been enduring an unprecedented cost of living crisis, it is beyond the pale.
“Managers insist they are bound by civil service rules but have chosen not to seek exemption from those rules for their own reasons.
“We have heard a lot of words but seen no action by management and words do not pay our members’ bills.
“They deserve to see a fair pay offer urgently and will take whatever action is necessary to secure one. Enough is enough.”
Dounreay joined Magnox Ltd last year and then became part of Nuclear Restoration Services, which is responsible for the clean-up of the Caithness site and 11 others across the UK.
A ballot on industrial action by GMB Scotland, Unite and Prospect members is now open and will continue for three weeks.
NuScale nuclear power is among Top 5 Industrials Stocks That May Fall Off A Cliff In Q1
As of March 15, 2024, five stocks in the industrials sector could be flashing a real warning to investors who value momentum as a key criteria in their trading decisions.
The RSI is a momentum indicator, which compares a stock’s strength on days when prices go up to its strength on days when prices go down. When compared to a stock’s price action, it can give traders a better sense of how a stock may perform in the short term. An asset is typically considered overbought when the RSI is above 70, according to Benzinga Pro.
Here’s the latest list of major overbought players in this sector………………………………………………………
NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE:SMR)
- On March 14, NuScale Power posted downbeat quarterly sales. “Over the course of 2023, we made significant progress towards commercializing our SMR technology, including continued activities to ensure readiness for manufacturing of our first NuScale Power Modules, building traction amongst data centers and further developing industrial applications for SMRs, such as process heat, hydrogen, and ammonia production,” said John Hopkins, President and Chief Executive Officer of NuScale Power. The company’s stock gained around 55% over the past five days and has a 52-week high of $9.27.
- RSI Value: 84.89
- SMR Price Action: Shares of NuScale Power gained 2.3% to close at $7.24 on Thursday…………………………………………………………………………..
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)
- On March 7, General Electric said that GE Aerospace reaffirmed its guidance, presenting a longer-term financial outlook, including achieving operating profit worth $10 billion in 2028. The company’s stock jumped around 12% over the past month and has a 52-week high is $175.81.
- RSI Value: 72.30
- GE Price Action: Shares of General Electric fell 2% to close at $166.75 on Wednesday.
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Anglesey nuclear power plant plan resurrected almost four years after being shelved due to costs
This Is Money, By JOHN ABIONA , 7 March 2024
Plans for a nuclear power plant in North Wales look set to be revived almost four years after the project was shelved.
Jeremy Hunt said the Government has bought the Wylfa site on Anglesey and a second at Oldbury-on-Severn in south Gloucestershire from Hitachi for £160million.
The Japanese firm walked away from building the plant at Wylfa in September 2020 having suspended the project the year before due to rising costs.
But yesterday the Chancellor, who referred to the island by its Welsh-language and constituency name, said: ‘Ynys Mon has a vital role in developing our nuclear ambitions.’
Ministers are also pressing ahead with plans for small modular reactors (SMRs) with six companies including Rolls-Royce bidding to win the contract.
These will complement Somerset’s Hinkley Point C and Suffolk’s Sizewell C nuclear power stations…………………………………………….more https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-13165945/Anglesey-nuclear-power-plant-plan-resurrected-four-years-shelved.html
Fukushima fishers strive to recover catches amid water concerns
Amid voices of support from across the country for seafood products sourced from Fukushima Prefecture, the local fishing community is pushing ahead with efforts to revitalize the industry despite apprehension about the ongoing decommissioning of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
While Fukushima Prefecture has yet to experience significant reputational repercussions, the fishing industry remains concerned about the decommissioning work, which is expected to take several decades, coupled with the discharge of the treated radioactive water from the crippled plant that began about half a year ago…………………………….
With government subsidies and other initiatives, the prefecture’s seven fishery cooperatives aim to increase the catch to surpass 50% of pre-disaster levels………………………………………………… https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/03/06/japan/society/fukushima-fishermen-fight-recover-catch/
Nuclear: the bill for EDF’s future EPR2 reactors is already skyrocketing
EDF has significantly increased the cost of its program to build six new
EPR2 nuclear reactors, the newspaper Les Echos reported on Monday, citing
new estimates from the company. According to Les Echos, EDF now
estimates the cost of its program to build six new EPR2 nuclear reactors at
67.4 billion euros, compared to 51.7 billion euros in an estimate made
public at the start of 2022, an amount expected to be subject to regular
updates. That’s a jump of 30%.
La Tribune 4th March 2024
Le Figaro 4th March 2024
https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/le-cout-du-nouveau-nucleaire-francais-s-envole-20240304
Market has ‘made its decision’ about nuclear energy being too expensive
Labor MP Andrew Charlton says the market has “made its decision” about nuclear energy being too expensive.
Mr Charlton joined Sky News Australia to discuss the latest developments in nuclear energy across the world.
“We saw recently the small nuclear reactor in Idaho was cancelled because of rising costs – that was a market decision to say no to nuclear,” he said.
“Let’s remember, this small nuclear reactor in Idaho is the one that the Liberal Opposition called the future of clean energy – it’s now being cancelled, it’s being scrapped.
“The truth is that the market has made its decision about nuclear energy; it knows that nuclear energy is by far the most costly type of new energy that we could add into the grid, and that’s why it’s not part of the government’s plan.”
1 This Month
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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