James Hansen’s Generation IV nuclear fallacies and fantasies, REneweconomy, Jim Green, 28 Aug 2017, http://reneweconomy.com.au/james-hansens-generation-iv-nuclear-fallacies-fantasies-70309/
The two young co-founders of nuclear engineering start-up Transatomic Power were embarrassed earlier this year when their claims about their molten salt reactor design were debunked, forcing some major retractions.
The claims of MIT nuclear engineering graduates Leslie Dewan and Mark Massie were trumpeted in MIT’s Technology Review under the headline, ‘What if we could build a nuclear reactor that costs half as much, consumes nuclear waste, and will never melt down?’
MIT physics professor Kord Smith debunked a number of Transatomic’s key claims. Smith says he asked Transatomic to run a test which, he says, confirmed that “their claims were completely untrue.”
Kennedy Maize wrote about Transatomic’s troubles in Power Magazine: “[T]his was another case of technology hubris, an all-to-common malady in energy, where hyperbolic claims are frequent and technology journalists all too credulous.” Pro-nuclear commentator Dan Yurman said that “other start-ups with audacious claims are likely to receive similar levels of scrutiny” and that it “may have the effect of putting other nuclear energy entrepreneurs on notice that they too may get the same enhanced levels of analysis of their claims.”
Well, yes, others making false claims about Generation IV reactor concepts might receive similar levels of scrutiny … or they might not. Arguably the greatest sin of the Transatomic founders was not that they inadvertently made false claims, but that they are young, and in Dewan’s case, female. Ageing men seem to have a free pass to peddle as much misinformation as they like without the public shaming that the Transatomic founders have been subjected to. A case in point is climate scientist James Hansen ‒ you’d struggle to find any critical commentary of his nuclear misinformation outside the environmental and anti-nuclear literature.
Hansen states that 115 new reactor start-ups would be required each year to 2050 to replace fossil fuel electricity generation ‒ a total of about 4,000 reactors. Let’s assume that Generation IV reactors do the heavy lifting, and let’s generously assume that mass production of Generation IV reactors begins in 2030. That would necessitate about 200 reactor start-ups per year from 2030 to 2050 ‒ or four every week. Good luck with that.
Moreover, the assumption that mass production of Generation IV reactors might begin in or around 2030 is unrealistic. A report by a French government authority, the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, states: “There is still much R&D to be done to develop the Generation IV nuclear reactors, as well as for the fuel cycle and the associated waste management which depends on the system chosen.”
Likewise, a US Government Accountability Office report on the status of small modular reactors (SMRs) and other ‘advanced’ reactor concepts in the US concluded: “Both light water SMRs and advanced reactors face additional challenges related to the time, cost, and uncertainty associated with developing, certifying or licensing, and deploying new reactor technology, with advanced reactor designs generally facing greater challenges than light water SMR designs. It is a multi-decade process …”
An analysis recently published in the peer-reviewed literature found that the US government has wasted billions of dollars on Generation IV R&D with little to show for it. Lead researcher Dr Ahmed Abdulla, from the University of California, said that “despite repeated commitments to non-light water reactors, and substantial investments … (more than $2 billion of public money), no such design is remotely ready for deployment today.”…… http://reneweconomy.com.au/james-hansens-generation-iv-nuclear-fallacies-fantasies-70309/
August 28, 2017
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Reference, reprocessing, spinbuster |
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American Women Step Up as Nuclear Energy Advocates VOA August 25, 2017 Michelle Quinn
Women seen as powerful advocates,
Industry experts say that women who work in nuclear power can be powerful advocates for nuclear. They can help change attitudes of other women who tend to be more skeptical than men about nuclear energy’s benefits.
At the recent U.S. Women in Nuclear conference in San Francisco, women working in the industry talked about how more should be done to make nuclear power’s case to the public, and how they may be the best suited to do it.
“As mothers, I think we also have an important role to play in letting the public know that we support nuclear for the future, for our children,” said Matteson. “And we don’t know other mothers supporting nuclear power in a vocal way. We thought there was a gap to fill.”
Young women say they look at careers in this industry because they are socially minded.
‘Do something good for the world’
“I went into this wanting to do something good for the world,” Lenka Kollar, business strategy director at NuScale, a firm in Oregon that designs and markets small modular reactors. “Wanting to bring power to people. There are still more than a billion people in the world who don’t have electricity.”
Critics of nuclear energy say it doesn’t matter who is promoting it.
“Using mothers’ voices to argue for a technology that is fundamentally dangerous and that has been demonstrated by disasters like Fukushima to be not safe for the communities that surround the power plants or even cities that are hundreds of miles away is disingenuous,” said Kendra Klein, a staff scientist with Friends of the Earth, an environmental group…….https://www.voanews.com/a/american-women-step-up-as-nuclear-energy-advocates/4000185.html
August 26, 2017
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More young professionals qualify as future nuclear leaders: 2017 Japan-IAEA Joint Nuclear Energy Management School, Keiko Hanamitsu, IAEA Department of Nuclear Energy, Irena Chatzis, IAEA Department of Nuclear Energy“……….On the margins of the School, the IAEA signed Practical Arrangements with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF), and the JAIF International Cooperation Center (JICC). The Practical Arrangements formalize cooperation in the area of nuclear human resource development, including knowledge management, education, training and outreach. The JAEA, JAIF and JICC serve as secretariats of the Japan Nuclear Human Resource Development Network and also collaborate with the IAEA as the NEM School organizers, together with the National Institute of Technology, Fukushima College and the University of Tokyo.
Background The NEM School was launched in 2010 in cooperation with the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. The purpose of the School is to help address the need for an expanded global cadre of nuclear professionals, brought about by the increased worldwide interest in the use of nuclear technologies – from electricity generation to medical, agricultural and industrial uses. Since then, besides the annual NEM School hosted in Trieste, regional schools have been conducted in the UAE, Japan, the USA, South Africa and Russian Federation, benefitting more than 600 students from all over the world. The NEM School enables the transfer of IAEA-specific knowledge to Member States, furthering their capacity building efforts.
The NEM School focuses mainly on training of young professionals with managerial potential from developing countries on the different aspects of the nuclear energy sector. …..https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/more-young-professionals-qualify-as-future-nuclear-leaders-2017-japan-iaea-joint-nuclear-energy-management-school
August 26, 2017
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2 WORLD, Education |
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Educated women are the key to reversing climate change https://thenextweb.com/science/2017/08/24/educated-women-are-the-key-to-reversing-climate-change/#.tnw_mQzgoobNby RACHEL KASER — One author and activist thinks he’s found the answer to reversing climate change: the education and empowerment of women.
In a talk at Singularity University’s Global Summit last week, author Paul Hawken presented an extensive plan for how to reduce climate change. Specifically, he says family planning, and the ensuing population decline would result in 119.2 gigatons of CO2 saved by 2050, the largest estimated reduction in the presentation.
Educated women, he argues, have fewer children, lower mortality rates, and healthier families. Smaller families with healthier children would result in 59.6 gigatons of emissions reduced.
In order to get more girls in school, Hawken proposes making schools more affordable and more girl-friendly, and also reducing the time it takes for girls to get to school. The last might seem like a curious addition, but according to children’s rights organization Plan International, school in developing countries can be a four- or five-hour walk for some kids. Parents are more likely to keep young women at home to protect them from potential attacks on the long trip.
If women were to receive more education, it’s possible we might see an uptick in girls who go into STEM fields. This might also help improve climate change, if only because it increases the number of different viewpoints on the issue. As National Geographic points out, having more female researchers can help expand our knowledge base — and with it, our ability to improve on existing climate change solutions.
August 25, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
2 WORLD, climate change, Education, women |
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‘The fate of the sinful U.S. ends here’: North Korea threatens to envelop Guam in missiles in new video
North Korea is not known for subtlety in its propaganda videos, and the latest clip shows a North Korean missile headed toward the U.S. territory , National Post 22 Aug 17 The Trump administration should be “keeping its eyes and ears open from now on,” North Korea has warned in an incendiary new video that shows senior security officials being engulfed in flames and U.S. President Donald Trump looking over a field of white crosses with the warning: “The fate of the sinful United States ends here.”
North Korea is not known for subtlety in its propaganda videos, and the latest clip, published by the Uriminzokkiri outlet, shows a North Korean missile headed toward the U.S. territory of Guam, which Pyongyang has been threatening to “envelop” with missiles.
The video was released on the eve of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises between the American and South Korean militaries, which started Monday. The annual drills are mainly computer-based, but they nevertheless annoy North Korea and come at a particularly sensitive time.
Just this month, as tensions between Washington and Pyongyang mounted following the launch of North Korea’s second intercontinental ballistic missile, Trump warned North Korea that it stood to feel the “fire and fury” of the American military…….
The video ends with a calendar showing the days of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises (although they got the day wrong, showing them as starting on Sunday when they, in fact, started on Monday.)
Over the top come the words: “Time is not on the U.S.’s side.”
Is it just more bluster, or a real threat? Well, here’s a reason not to be too worried: The video was entirely in Korean. http://nationalpost.com/news/world/the-fate-of-the-sinful-u-s-ends-here-north-korea-threatens-to-envelop-guam-in-missiles-in-new-video/wcm/6ff2f547-bd6c-41b1-942d-dd33d2c7afe5
August 23, 2017
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Anglesey students experience work life at Horizon, North Wales Chronicle 1 Aug 17, A group of pupils from schools across Anglesey were given a taste of working life at Wylfa Newydd last week.
The year 11 and Sixth form students were given the opportunity as part of Horizon’s Work Insight Week……
Alongside an explanation of how to build and operate the proposed nuclear power station, the students got to visit the site and learn more about the scale of the Project and the opportunities Wylfa Newydd will bring.
August 4, 2017
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K-State receives two federal nuclear energy grants, Mercury, Kansas, 28 July 17, Two new grants awarded to K-State may help the university attract the best students and faculty in nuclear engineering.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a federal nuclear energy commission, awarded K-State’s mechanical and nuclear engineering department two grants totaling about $843,000. The commission awarded a $450,000 grant to help develop young faculty members’ careers and a $393,820 grant to continue the department’s nuclear research fellowship program for graduate students…….
The fellowship grant will cover tuition and fees for students pursuing graduate studies in nuclear engineering…..
A previous fellowship grant from the NRC helped the university recruit three doctoral students in nuclear engineering who plan to graduate in 2018, according to the university. The continuation of the program will assist the university in increasing the number of doctoral graduates in nuclear engineering, which is a direct measure of the success of the department, Bindra said.
July 29, 2017
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Westinghouse and partners get $7.5m funding from DOE for nuclear research, EBR 13 July 2017 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected Westinghouse Electric Company and university research partners to receive a total of $7.5m in funding to advance nuclear innovation in a number of areas.
For one of the projects, Westinghouse is investigating the neutron radiation effects on zirconium alloys produced via the additive manufacturing process (3D printing) for light water reactors……The funding that Westinghouse received is part of DOE’s more than $66 million in funding for nuclear energy-related and infrastructure research in 28 states through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP), Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) and Nuclear Energy Enabling Technology (NEET) program. http://nuclear.energy-business-review.com/news/westinghouse-and-partners-win-75-million-for-nuclear-innovation-from-the-department-of-energy-5870951
July 17, 2017
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Washington Examiner by John Siciliano | Jun 27, 2017, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Tuesday that one of his agency’s goals is to push nuclear energy.
“One of the things we want to do at [the Department of Energy] is to make nuclear energy cool again,” Perry said during a lengthy news conference at the White House Tuesday….”..when I was younger in the ’60s, and a lot of kids wanted to go into the nuclear energy field.”
But that isn’t the case now, he said, “because this industry has been strangled all too often by government regulations.”
He wants the U.S. to begin again to “bring us to that place where nuclear energy is part of a portfolio, and be able to sell it in great truthfulness and honesty about what it can add to America from an environmental standpoint and from a security standpoint.”…..
On the nuclear power side, the U.S. has the largest fleet of nuclear reactors in the world, although it is becoming too expensive to run many of the plants because of increased cost pressures and competition from natural gas.
Perry mentioned that the U.S. will engage with India on nuclear power development as part of a three-part plan to export energy technologies to foreign markets. The first part of new cooperation with India will be exporting liquefied natural gas, the second area will be on clean coal, and the third will be nuclear energy. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/perry-wants-to-make-nuclear-energy-cool-again/article/2627250
June 28, 2017
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Czech Republic nuclear power station hosts bikini contest to choose interns, DW, 25 June 17 A Czech nuclear power plant decided a bikini contest would be a good way to choose its next round of interns. Facebook users were asked to rate school graduates who posed inside a cooling tower. A Czech nuclear power plant operator apologized last week for using a Facebook bikini contest to choose its next intern.
Power generation conglomerate CEZ had 10 bikini-clad high school graduates pose in a cooling tower of its Temelin nuclear power plant, which was briefly closed for maintenance.
It then asked Facebook users to vote for their favorite, with the most popular winning a 14 day internship at the plant.
In a press release CEZ likened the photoshoot to its previous cultural enrichment programs, such as hosting the Bohemian Philharmonic at the plant in South Bohemia. The release said the experience was greatly enjoyed by the girls, who were required to wear hard hats and enclosed shoes at all times.
Local TV channel Jihoceske filmed a feature on the shoot, showing the models touring the Czech Republic’s largest power station which is about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north east of the state of Bavaria on the German border.
The competition caused an outcry among Czech news and social media.
“The competition is absolutely outside the bounds of ethics. In 2017, I find it incredible that someone could gain a professional advantage for their good looks,” Petra Havlíková, a lawyer for human rights non-profit Nesehnutí and an equal opportunities adviser, told aktualne.cz.
Undress and you get an internship – this can not be serious, it’s degrading, disgusting and primitive,” one internet user commented.
“Knowledge obviously does not matter,” noted another user……
A Russian first
The power plant was not the first to link the wonders of nuclear energy with the revealing bathing suit.
Russia used to host an annual beauty contest open to women working in nuclear industries or studying in nuclear-related subjects in Russia and former USSR countries. Women aged 18 to 45 would pose in front of a nuclear power plant. http://www.dw.com/en/czech-republic-nuclear-power-station-hosts-bikini-contest-to-choose-interns/a-39404100
June 26, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
EUROPE, spinbuster |
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Energy dept seeks to calm nuclear power fears, Joel Guinto, ABS-CBN News Jun 20 2017 MOSCOW – The Department of Energy on Monday stressed the need to calm the public’s fears over nuclear power, as it studied the feasibility of adding it to the country’s energy mix. The department aims to provide President Rodrigo Duterte with a menu of nuclear energy sources, including using the three-decade-old Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos told ABS-CBN News.
“The biggest challenge is social acceptability,” said Marcos on the sidelines of a summit hosted by the Russian State Atomic Energy Corp.
“We need to come up with a massive information campaign so that the people will know. They need to be educated on nuclear power,” he said.
The $2-billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was never used due to worries over its safety……
The energy department last month signed a memorandum of understanding with ROSATOM on nuclear energy cooperation, including winning public support.
Russian companies have also offered nuclear power barges to the Philippines to help meet growing demand in one of the world’s fastest growing economies. http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/06/19/17/energy-dept-seeks-to-calm-nuclear-power-fears
June 23, 2017
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Philippines, spinbuster |
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Nuclear Power is Becoming Irrelevant, Renewable Energy will Kill Nuclear Power, too, Energy and Capital, by Jeff Siegel 19 June 17 Forbes contributor James Conca recently wrote a piece entitled: Natural Gas Industry Blasts Nuclear Power with Fake News.
According to Conca, the American Petroleum Institute has flooded the airwaves in Ohio and Pennsylvania with anti-nuke commercials and has even “drawn AARP into the fray by pushing fear – fear of higher prices and fear of radiation. Just the opposite of what is true.”
While I don’t doubt that the oil industry would use its marketing muscle to convince folks that natural gas is better than nuclear, to deny that there is relevance to fear of higher prices and radiation is absurd.
On the cost side, Conca partly blames renewable energy subsidies, which, by the way, haven’t been around nearly as long as subsides for nuclear, and of course solar and wind will likely be free of many of those subsidies within the next ten years.
Don’t get me wrong. In a perfect world, there would be no subsidies at all, and all forms of energy would have to compete on a level playing field where free markets, not government intervention, dictated the winners and losers. But that’s never been the case for energy. And it’s certainly never been the case for nuclear.
Joe Romm, that liberal energy analyst that provokes the status quo with his annoying facts and sound data analysis wrote about this very thing back in 2008, and made some very valid points that I’m sure Conca would refute just on principle. Check it out …
From 1948 to today, nuclear energy research and development exceeded $70 billion, whereas research and development for renewables was about $10 billion. From 2002 to 2007, fossil fuels received almost $14 billion in electricity-related tax subsides, whereas renewables received under $3 billion.
The Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act caps the liability for claims arising from nuclear incidents. It reduces the insurance nuclear power plants need to buy and requires taxpayers to cover all claims in excess of the cap. The benefit of this indirect subsidy has been estimated at between $237 million and $3.5 billion a year, which suggests that it has been worth many billions of dollars to the industry. It could be argued that the value is considerably larger than that, since the industry might not have existed at all without it: “At the time of the Act’s passing, it was considered necessary as an incentive for the private production of nuclear power … because investors were unwilling to accept the then-unquantified risks of nuclear energy without some limitation on their liability.
One can make a case that such insurance was reasonable for a new, almost completely unknown technology in 1957. Extending it through 2025 is harder to justify. If investors aren’t willing to accept the risks of nuclear energy now, without taxpayers liable for any major catastrophe, perhaps the technology no longer deserves government support.
Conca also claims that the fear of radiation is not true. I’m not sure if he means the fear isn’t true or the potential of radiation isn’t true. Either way, both are quite accurate arguments from the oil and gas industry. Just ask the parents of this kid. [picture on original]……..
Of course, I don’t expect my opinion on this to sway nuclear power advocates. Those folks will go down with the ship, screaming from the top of their lungs that nuclear is clean, safe, and cheap. But it’ll never be as clean, safe, or cheap as where we’ll see renewable energy in another ten years. That’s a fact. And that’s without subsidies.
Meanwhile, while the solar and wind industries are beginning to ween themselves off subsidies, the nuclear industry is seeking more. This, despite the fact that the federal government has ponied up in excess of $85 billion for the nuclear industry since 1948. It seems to me that if the nuclear industry can’t stay competitive without government support after getting it for almost 70 years, it probably never will be able to compete without that support……https://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/nuclear-power-is-becoming-irrelevant/5930
June 21, 2017
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Leaders urge collective effort to secure nuclear’s future role, World Nuclear News, 20 June 2017 The nuclear energy industry needs to work together to secure its future role in the fight against climate change and energy poverty, five of its most prominent leaders said yesterday at the opening ceremony of the IX AtomExpo International Forum in Moscow.
Senior officials from the World Nuclear Association, the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), the OECD-Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom – which hosts the annual forum – said the global industry must cooperate to harness the attributes of nuclear power as a low-carbon, sustainable and reliable source of electricity……http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NP-Leaders-urge-collective-effort-to-secure-nuclears-future-role-20061701.html
June 21, 2017
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Energy Department Invests Nearly $67 Million to Advanced Nuclear Technology, Energy Gov,
JUNE 14, 2017 WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced nearly $67 million in nuclear energy research, facility access, crosscutting technology development, and infrastructure awards in 28 states. In total, 85 projects were selected to receive funding that will help advance innovative nuclear technologies….
These awards provide funding for nuclear energy-related research through the Nuclear Energy University Program, Nuclear Science User Facilities, and Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies programs. In addition, a number of nuclear technology developers will receive access to unique research capabilities and other assistance consistent with the goals and objectives of the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative…..
Nuclear Energy University Program
DOE is awarding over $31 million through its Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) to support 32 university-led nuclear energy research and development projects in 23 states. NEUP seeks to maintain U.S. leadership in nuclear research across the country by providing top science and engineering faculty and their students with opportunities to develop innovative technologies and solutions for civil nuclear capabilities.
Additionally, 19 universities will receive approximately $6 million for research reactor and infrastructure improvements providing important safety, performance, and student education-related upgrades to a portion of the nation’s 25 university research reactors as well as enhancing university research and training infrastructure.
Integrated Research Projects
The Department is awarding $11 million for three Integrated Research Projects (IRPs), which address well-defined but highly complex technical issues impacting key NE mission objectives. IRPs are multi-million, three-year projects executed by university-led consortiums that typically include multiple universities, industrial and international research entities, and the unique resources of the DOE national laboratories. IRPs comprise a significant element of DOE’s innovative nuclear research objectives and illustrate the Office of Nuclear Energy’s (NE) strategy to pursue R&D solutions most directly relevant to the near-term, significant needs of the NE R&D programs.
Crosscutting Research Projects
Additionally, nearly $6 million will be awarded for six research and development projects led by Department of Energy national laboratories, industry, and U.S. universities. Together, they will conduct research to address crosscutting nuclear energy challenges that will help to develop advanced sensors and instrumentation, advanced manufacturing methods, and materials for multiple nuclear reactor plant and fuel applications.
Nuclear Science User Facilities – Public Private Partnerships
Lastly, DOE has selected five university, four national laboratory, and five industry-led projects that will take advantage of NSUF capabilities to investigate important nuclear fuel and material applications. DOE will support 6 of these projects with a total of $2.3 million in research funds, and all 14 of these projects will be supported by over $10 million in facility access costs and expertise for experimental neutron and ion irradiation testing, post-irradiation examination facilities, synchrotron beamline capabilities, and technical assistance for design and analysis of experiments through the NSUF.
By supporting the five industry-led projects, DOE is accelerating its implementation of the GAIN initiative by providing these nuclear technology developers with access to world-class neutron and gamma irradiation and post-irradiation examination services. The GAIN initiative provides the nuclear community with a single point of access to the broad range of capabilities, people, facilities, materials, and data across the DOE complex and its National Laboratory capabilities. Visit here for details.
Since 2009, the Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy has awarded approximately $472 million to 103 U.S. colleges and universities to continue American leadership in energy innovation and to train the next generation of nuclear engineers and scientists through its university programs. Visit neup.gov for more information on today’s awards and Energy.gov for information on all of the Energy Department’s efforts to continue American leadership in nuclear energy innovation. https://energy.gov/articles/energy-department-invests-nearly-67-million-advanced-nuclear-technology
June 16, 2017
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DOE shells out $67M for advanced nuclear technology research http://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-shells-out-67m-for-advanced-nuclear-technology-research/445065/ Robert Walton@TeamWetDog June 15, 2017
Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Energy yesterday announced nearly $67 million funding for nuclear energy research this week, including facility access and infrastructure awards in 28 states, to support 85 projects in total.
- DOE said in a statement that the funding “sows the seeds for safer, more efficient, clean baseload energy” that will support the economy and energy independence.
- Among the awards, DOE will provide $31 million through its Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) to support 32 university-led nuclear energy research and development projects in 23 states.
-
Dive Insight:
The federal government has been signaling its interest in nuclear development, particularly advanced reactors and modular designs, for several years now. But the bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric, a nuclear development firm working on two projects in the United States, could add a new sense of urgency to the research as the time and cost of traditional nukes continues to face pressure.
“Investing in the future of nuclear energy is an important strategic priority for the Energy Department,” DOE Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Ed McGinnis said in a statement, “Nuclear energy technologies contribute to our economy, our environment, and our national security.”
In addition to the NEUP funding for universities, DOE also said 19 universities will receive approximately $6 million for research into reactor and infrastructure improvements. The agency will also award $11 million for three integrated projects which address well-defined but highly complex technical issues.
DOE also said almost $6 million will be awarded for six research and development projects led by Department of Energy national laboratories, industry, and U.S. universities, to address crosscutting nuclear energy challenges that will help to develop advanced sensors and instrumentation, and advanced manufacturing methods.
Finally, DOE said it has selected five university, four national laboratory, and five industry-led projects that will take advantage of NSUF capabilities. The agency will support six of these projects with a total of $2.3 million in research funds, and all 14 of these projects will be supported by over $10 million in facility access costs.
- But more traditional nuclear projects are continuing—despite turmoil in the industry.
Georgia Power and its parent company, Southern Co., have reached an agreement with Westinghouse to complete the long-delayed Vogtle nuclear plant expansion. The announcement helps alleviate fears the project may be permanently halted and the nuclear industry on hold, but it is also a reminder of the costs involved.
Under terms of the agreement, Westinghouse parent company Toshiba has guaranteed $3.68 billion in payments to Georgia Power for completion of the project. Vogtle is billions over budget and years behind schedule, and the completion date for two new reactors has been extended multiple times.
June 16, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Education, USA |
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The energy department last month signed a memorandum of understanding with ROSATOM on nuclear energy cooperation, including winning public support.
nuclear-news 