Despite safety concerns, China resuming construction of nuclear plants
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, 12 Feb 15 BEIJING–Facing growing energy demands and struggling against air pollution, China this year plans to resume full-scale construction of nuclear power plants for the first time since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.
The country’s target is to triple the electricity generation capacity of its nuclear power plants to 58 gigawatts by 2020. That figure would approach the level of France, whose current nuclear generation capacity is second only to that of the United States.
But the variety of reactors that China wants to fire up has raised concerns that workers and engineers will be ill-prepared if a disaster strikes………
In November 2014, China’s National Development and Reform Commission applied to the Standing Committee of the State Council for permission to build six nuclear reactors in the coastal area of Shidao Bay and other regions. The six include China’s first domestically produced third-generation reactors and new-type reactors with little actual operating experience.
Some government officials are cautious about approving the application…….
In China, three major state-run operators of nuclear power plants have adopted separate technologies from the United States, France and Russia. The various types of reactors and technologies used in China have sparked concerns about safety at the nuclear plants.
In addition, workers at nuclear plants in China have had little experience in dealing with emergencies. Critics also say that the nurturing of nuclear engineers in the country is not keeping pace with the rapid increase in the number of nuclear reactors.
(This article was written by Nozomu Hayashi and Tokuhiko Saito.) http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201502120074
1,000 homes being torn down after decontamination
NHK has learned that at least 1,000 homes in Fukushima Prefecture will be demolished — even after they have been cleaned of radioactive fallout from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident.
Local officials say that’s a waste of time and money. They call on the government to run the decontamination work more efficiently.
NHK polled officials from 9 Fukushima municipalities where demolition is under way. Each municipality remains partly or completely evacuated.
Officials from 3 towns said about 1,080 houses are to be torn down despite being decontaminated as requested by residents. Naraha Town reports the largest number, around 870.
Officials say leaking rain and animal intrusions are damaging the homes while residents remain evacuated. They also say many evacuees have given up on returning and found new homes instead.
The government pays for both decontamination and demolition programs in evacuation areas. The Environment Ministry says decontamination takes about 2 weeks and costs about 8,300 dollars on average.
An official says the ministry tried to speed up decontamination work at local governments’ requests. He says the ministry will now pursue efficiency as well.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150212_30.html
Fukushima child tests positive for thyroid cancer in second survey
Feb 12, 2015
FUKUSHIMA – A child in Fukushima Prefecture has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer in the latest health survey to assess the impact of the triple core meltdown that tainted the region with radiation in 2011.
Seven others in the survey of 385,000 children in Fukushima Prefecture are also suspected of having thyroid cancer but have not received a definitive diagnosis, a prefectural committee said. The survey began in April 2014, three years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
The child diagnosed and the seven others tested negative in the first survey, which covered all 370,000 children in the prefecture who were 18 or younger at the time of the disaster. Those born a year after the meltdowns were not included.
“Despite the new results, I don’t think we need to change our previous view” that they were not affected by the radiation, said Hokuto Hoshi, who heads the panel.
In the first survey, 86 children were confirmed as having thyroid cancer and 23 were suspected of having it.
In both surveys, the thyroid glands were first scanned with ultrasound to measure the size and shape of any lumps, and assigned four grades of severity. Those children assigned the two highest grades were then given blood tests and cell biopsies.
The child confirmed to have thyroid cancer and the seven suspected of having it were between 6 and 17 at the time of the accident, according to Fukushima Medical University, which conducted the survey.
Source! Japan Times
Fukushima nuclear danger exceeds that of Chernobyl
Gundersen: New data shows Fukushima exceeds Chernobyl… Plumes seen emanating from both the Unit 3 fuel pool & reactor — Nuke Engineer: Broken fuel rods are above all 3 melted down reactors — Gov’t Experts: Unit 3 explosion may have damaged spent fuel & released even more radioactive material (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/gundersen-new-studies-show-fukushima-releases-exceed-chernobyl-nuclear-engineer-broken-spent-fuel-rods-above-all-3-reactors-melted-down-govt-experts-explosion-unit-3-damaged-stored-spent-fuel-re?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Arnie Gundersen, nuclear expert and chief engineer at Fairewinds, Jan 29, 2015 (emphasis added): Recent scientific studies from Japan show that 75% of the radiation created by the meltdowns was released more than 5 days after the catastrophe… This data… shows that the total gaseous and liquid radioactive releases from the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown exceedthe radiation released during and after the Chernobyl meltdown — while Fukushima Daiichi radioactivity continues to bleed into the Pacific Ocean… I first spoke to the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards in 2010 to share my evidence-based calculations showing that containments would likely leak significant amounts of radioactivity during a nuclear power failure… [They] informed me that, the nuclear industry and NRC simply assume that containments will never leak during nuclear emergencies… Unfortunately, those 3 explosions at Fukushima Daiichi prove that containment systems really do fail… How do we know?… First, you can see the violent explosions and the detonation shock wave on TV and video. The secondpicture though shows there are 2 distinct plumes exiting Unit 3 — one plume emanates from the spent fuel pool, but the other is directly over the reactor vessel… Third, TEPCO itself has admitted that hot gases raging at 250*F were released from the containment… No, it is not steam, because steam only exists at 212*F under normal atmospheric pressure.
Idaho National Laboratory Site’s Environmental Surveillance, Education and Research Program — Annual Site Environmental Report for 2011 (pdf): … [3 of Fukushima Daiichi’s] reactor cores overheated and melted, releasing hydrogen gas and fission products into their reactor containment structures… multiple hydrogen deflagrations occurred that damaged the containment structures and allowed more radioactive material to be released. It is possible that the large hydrogen explosion in Unit 3 may have damaged stored spent fuel and caused the release of additional radioactive material. The Fukushima reactor accident in Japan resulted in the release and global dispersal of radioactive contaminants. These contaminants were transported in air across the Pacific Ocean to the United States…
Radio VR, Aug 23, 2014: Thomas Drolet, who is Chairman, CEO and President at GreenWell Renewable Power Corporation [said] “As a technician and nuclear reactor engineer I can say that they will eventually succeed [at Fukushima Daiichi]“… The reactor itself is by far “the most difficult issue,” Mr, Drolet states. Each of the three damaged reactors has two main areas ofbroken fuel: in the spent fuel base, which is up high, and the reactor core. “Slowly and identically they have to remove that fuel, some of it damaged, some of it whole”…
Elementary particle ‘X-Ray’ for Fukushima reactors
The project is aimed at finding clues as to the location of the melted fuel, a step that is indispensable to its removal from the damaged reactors, in order to continue with decommissioning work.
Three reactors at the plant suffered meltdowns following the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the area in March of 2011. Extremely high radiation levels have been preventing experts from locating and determining the state of the melted fuel.
The experts will soon make use of a type of elementary particle called the muon to get a peek inside the reactors.
Workers wearing protective gear used a crane on Monday to install an observation device outside the Number 1 reactor building. The time they could devote to the task was limited, since radiation levels outside the reactor building are as high as 500 microsieverts per hour.
Muons are created when cosmic rays from space collide with the Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists say about 10,000 muons per square meter reach the Earth’s surface every minute.
Experts hope that observing the particles passing through the reactor building will create images of the nuclear fuel, in the same way an X-ray works.
After workers install another device at the Number 1 reactor on Tuesday, experts will conduct observations until March. It is believed that almost all the fuel in the reactor has melted and fallen down.
Experts also plan to use muons in a different way to probe the Number 2 reactor.
Fumihiko Takasaki, professor emeritus with the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, led the development of the observation devices.
He said the project, which was started soon after the disaster happened, is finally being used at the plant. He said he hopes the technology will help with the decommissioning of the reactors by determining whether the fuel is still in them.
Fukushima ice wall plan delayed by 2 weeks
February 9, 2015
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says a plan to fill in underground tunnels at the defunct facility will be delayed by 2 weeks.
TEPCO officials announced the new schedule at a meeting with the Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA, on Monday. The new timetable will start late this month.
TEPCO had initially planned to remove highly-radioactive water from the tunnels after building an ice wall to stop the water from leaking out of reactor buildings.
The workers poured cement into the tunnels while draining contaminated water. But blocking the water was not successful as it continued to flow through the buildings.
The officials said in the new plan, they will fill in areas where unblocked tunnels and reactor buildings join to stop the tainted water from seeping out.
NRA regulators mostly approved the plan. They will continue to probe what else is necessary to do.
The setback for water blocking effort is likely to affect the plan to build the ice wall.
TEPCO officials say the plan is already 2 weeks to a month behind schedule due to a fatal accident at the plant.
They say they do not yet know how the latest delay will affect the whole decommissioning project. They are still studying the next steps they need to take.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150210_04.html
Nuclear supplier nations not happy with India’s Liability Law
The nuclear ‘breakthrough’ is mostly hype: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/the-nuclear-breakthrough-is-mostly-hype-swaminathan-sa-aiyar/articleshow/46162264.cms Swaminathan SA Aiyar 8 Feb, 2015 ndian officials say the Obama visit broke a seven-year logjam in nuclear cooperation, opening the way for US firms to set up nuclear power plants in India.
The Modi-Obama meeting whipped up a lot of fizz and optimism. Problem: the key issue is not political at all but commercial. The entities that must be convinced are not US presidents but heads of nuclear corporations like GE and Toshiba-Westinghouse. And no corporation so far is convinced that India’s nuclear liability law has ceased to be a hurdle.
An Indo-US agreement was indeed reached on a completely separate issue — tracking the movement of US nuclear materials to ensure India did not divert these to military use. This was an additional roadblock in case of the US. But overcoming this does not settle the much bigger roadblock — unlimited liability — that all four supplier nations are complaining about.
Robotic snake set to examine innards of melted Fukushima reactor
Feb 7, 2015
HITACHI, IBARAKI PREF. – A snakelike robot designed to examine the interior of one of the three meltdown-hit reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is ready to begin its expedition.
Assessing the damage in the reactors is a crucial step in decommissioning the poorly protected plant, which was crippled by core meltdowns triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
Remote-controlled robots are essential for the job because the radiation in the reactors chambers is so high it would kill any person who got close.
Using information gathered by the robot, Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant operator, plans to repair the damaged chambers enough so they can be filled with water in preparation to remove the melted radioactive debris, an operation planned to begin in about a decade.
The 60-cm-long robot, developed by electronics giant Hitachi and its nuclear affiliate Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, was demonstrated this week at a Hitachi-GE facility northeast of Tokyo. It is expected to enter the No. 1 reactor as early as April, officials said.
It has a lamp at the front and is designed to crawl like a snake through a 10-cm-wide pipe into the containment vessel. From there it must dangle and descend onto a platform just below the reactor core’s bottom, an area known as the pedestal.
There, the robot is to transform into a U-shaped crawler and capture live images and temperature and radiation levels and transmit them to a control station outside the building.
Expectations for the robot probe are high after earlier efforts at assessment met with limited success.
“Depending on how much data we can collect from this area, I believe (the probe) will give us a clearer vision for future decommissioning,” Hitachi-GE engineer Yoshitomo Takahashi said.
After its exploratory trip, which will make the robot extremely radioactive, technicians plan to store it in a shielded box. They have no plans to reuse it.
Different robots must be designed for each reactor, since each is slightly different.
According to computer simulations, all of the fuel rods in unit 1 probably melted and pooled at the bottom of the containment chamber, but there had been no way of confirming that until now.
A brief fiberscope observation conducted in 2012 produced images that were scratchy and of limited use.
To assess the debris at the bottom of the damaged reactor chambers, which are usually filled with water, an amphibious robot is being developed for deployment next year.
The damage from the melted fuel burned holes in the reactors, thwarting efforts to fill them with cooling water. As a result, water must be pumped into them continuously, producing an endless stream of radiation-contaminated water that is hampering the plant’s cleanup process.
Source: Japan Times
Skeptical Fukushima residents monitoring radiation levels in their communities
Members of Fukushima Saisei no Kai (Resurrection of Fukushima) drive through Iitate village to measure radiation levels on Jan. 28.
February 08, 2015
On a recent day in late January, a minicar departed from the Iitate village office in Fukushima Prefecture with stickers attached that said, “We are driving slowly because we are measuring radiation levels.”
The vehicle, operated by Fukushima Saisei no Kai (Resurrection of Fukushima), a local residents’ nonprofit organization, is equipped with GPS and radiation measurement equipment, allowing it to record locations and airborne radiation levels.
“Although the level has decreased considerably from immediately after the Fukushima nuclear accident, it is still high,” said Mitsukazu Sugiura, 65, the driver of the vehicle, on Jan. 28.
Distrust of the central government, a need to know to make future plans and a desire to maintain ties with neighbors have led to groups of residents around Fukushima Prefecture taking the initiative to monitor radiation levels on their own.
All of Iitate village, which is divided into 20 districts, has been designated as an evacuation zone.
While the village government measures radiation levels at two locations in each district, it has also commissioned Fukushima Saisei no Kai to conduct more detailed measurements.
The organization’s vehicle is driven by village residents who commute from where they have evacuated to, such as Minami-Soma or Fukushima cities.
Twice a month in each district, group members conduct measurements along almost all areas along roads where residents lived.
Average radiation levels for each 100-meter-square area have been posted on the group’s website.
The near-term goal of the Iitate village government is to encourage residents to return with the planned lifting in March 2016 of the evacuation order. However, residents cannot erase concerns about radiation effects on their health as well as questions about the possibility of resuming agriculture.
Local farmer Muneo Kanno, 64, established Fukushima Saisei no Kai three months after the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant along with scientists and friends. Kanno felt that scientific data would be needed to decide whether to return to Iitate and resume farming.
“In order to tie it with the resurrection of the community, it will be important to have local residents directly involved,” he said.
Residents of the Okubo-Yosouchi district in central Iitate began measuring radiation levels near their homes and in the farm fields from 2013. The catalyst was the monthly meetings that were held for the 14 households in the hamlet that had gone their separate ways after the evacuation order was issued.
At those meetings, residents were curious about the radiation levels. However, some said the central government could not be trusted, so they decided they had to check for themselves what the radiation levels were.
Immediately after the nuclear accident, the residents were slow to evacuate because they were not informed by the central government about the estimated spread of radioactive materials.
Masuo Nagasho, 67, a former village government employee, suggested residents conduct their own measurements.
“The attraction of the village was the people,” he said. “What I most regretted was the destruction of ties between people and the life of the community that had led before to working together for festivals and rice planting.”
In 2014, the monitoring effort spread to the entire district, which has about 70 households. The measurement has provided the perfect opportunity for residents to maintain their neighborly ties by having lunch together. The meals are provided by a local women’s group.
TARGETING WATERS OFF NUCLEAR PLANT
Another citizens’ group, Umilabo, has been monitoring radiation levels off the coast of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant since November 2013.
One member, Riken Komatsu, 35, works at a fishcake manufacturing plant in Iwaki. He was born and grew up in the area, but when customers asked about the safety of the fish being used, he could only pass along data collected by Tokyo Electric Power Co., the Fukushima No. 1 plant operator, and the Fukushima prefectural government.
“I wanted to go out into the ocean and pass along data I was certain about,” Komatsu said.
He and other fishing enthusiasts began the project to collect soil from the seabed and fish, which were taken to the local aquarium for measurement of the amount of radioactive materials they contained.
In November 2014, 10 flatfish were caught about 1.5 kilometers off the coast from the nuclear power plant. Radioactive materials tend to accumulate in flatfish because it lives near the seabed. Although radioactive cesium was detected in five of the 10 flatfish, the concentration was less than half of the standard in the Food Sanitation Law of 100 becquerels or less per kilogram.
There has been no detection of radioactive materials for almost all of the fish born after the nuclear accident.
In the Oguni neighborhood of Date city’s Ryozenmachi district, a resident’s group began taking airborne radiation level measurements from six months after the nuclear accident. Data for each 100-meter-square area were listed on a map, and the information has been updated annually since.
“The radiation has no color or smell, but the map has enabled us to see it,” said Soyo Sato, 66, who heads the group.
The neighborhood has a mix of households that were designated for evacuation because of high radiation levels as well as those that were not so designated. Residents who were exempt from the designation used the data on the map to argue that there was very little difference in radiation levels with areas designated for evacuation.
That led to a settlement with TEPCO for compensation levels that were close to those offered to residents living in the designated areas.
Hideki Ishii, a project associate professor of landscape architecture at Fukushima University, has provided support for self-monitoring efforts.
“When residents see the actual data for their community that they collected, they will think more seriously about whether people can live there and if the compensation levels offered are appropriate,” Ishii said. “It also fosters the ability to not only think about the current situation, but also the future.”
Source: Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201502080025
About the Evacuate-Fukushima-Now battle cry, from a chronological perspective.
February 8, 2015
Someone somewhere commented:
“The Evacuate-Fukushima-Now battle cry hasn’t been thought out too well because it fails to recognize the moral questions that arise when non-victims speak for the victims—thinking that it is their job to rescue people who have decided to stay and haven’t asked for help.”
I wish to answer here to that partial judgment. Erroneous because that judgment was made much afterwards competely out of its historical chronological perspective:
The Evacuate Fukushima Now battle cry at the start of the Fukushima catastrophe was well justified and absolutely right in itself.
It was very soon countered by the Japanese government orchestrating a gigantic campaign about « decontamination » thru all the media, constructed and directed by government contracted big advertising-PR companies, playing very well on all the « furuisato » (hometown attachment) feelings of the Fukushima people ; their attachment to their lands, to their own history, to their own Fukushima dialect and cultural traditions, to their family ties etc., brainwashing the people that after a possible-to-be-made-decontamination program paid by government everyone everything would go back to the life of before, normal as before.
Due to that government huge mediatic campaign to control the situation, to keep the people to stay, promising them full decontamination, lying to them continuously that everything in Daiichi was under control, just a very local technical problem to resolve, they cut in the bud any possible evacuation idea.
The Government well-orchestrated mediatic campaign knew very well how to play on the Furuisato feelings of most the Fukushima people to manipulate them, resulting in the majority of people in Fukushima willingly participating in the brainwashing and PR campaign. The support Fukushima campaign came from the bottom up as much as from the government.
It is the same in every contaminated community: the deniers always outnumber those who understand the danger and want out. They get intimidated, bullied and silenced. All one can do is leave at one’s own expense.
To not forget that the majority of those Fukushima people did not have the financial means on their own to abandon everything behind to attempt to evacuate adventurously with their whole family in another prefecture, and that the government did all it could to deter them from evacuating, the people losing any possible damage claims if evacuating out of the prefecture, their properties devalued, their house credits still to be paid.
Due to all this the Evacuate Fukushima battle cry became very soon an empty battle cry, the Japanese anti-nuclear movement itself abandoned it very early to the benefit of the other battle-cries of « Kodomo wo Mamore » (protect the children), «Genpatsu Iranai » (we don’t need nuclear) and « Saikado hantai » (We are against the restart of nuclear plants).
The « Evacuate Fukushima Now » battle-cry was absolutely right, it was so damn right that the Japanese government spent millions on a mediatic campaign to cut it in the bud, to defeat that idea, to keep the people from evacuating, to make them stay by all means living with radiation, in contaminated environment. To after 4 years push now the evacuees of the 20kms evacuated zone to return to live in high radiation.
France wants to beat USA in selling nuclear reactors to India
US nuclear ‘breakthrough’ cloud on France deal, Telegraph New Delhi, Feb. 5:France has indicated it may want to use elements of the nuclear liability “breakthrough” India and the US have claimed, in setting up its own reactors in this country, signalling potential for competitive bargaining over the terms New Delhi offers to different nations.
India last year offered France and Russia – the two nations other than the US that have committed to selling nuclear reactors – an insurance pool created by Indian public sector firms to fund any compensation following an accident from their reactors.
The US had so far appeared unconvinced by the insurance pool plan. Its apparent turnaround during President Barack Obama’s India visit last week has sparked speculation in the capital’s diplomatic enclave that New Delhi may have offered Washington a particularly sweet deal……….
France is pandering to Modi’s pet initiative of “Make in India” by promising to build “large parts of the Areva reactors” in India. And unlike the US, France had also never sought any change in the nuclear liability law despite its concerns that the law was draconian and out of line with global standards, the senior French official said…….
The Indian foreign office also pointed to France’s acceptance of India’s liability law.”Every country has a different approach to this matter,” Akbaruddin said, citing the example of uranium India already sources from France. “With France, the template of our engagement is already set.” http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150206/jsp/nation/story_1764.jsp#.VNUrReaUcnk
In a controversial move, Japan’s govt aims to restart a nuclear reactor in June
Japan aims to restart nuclear reactor in June: sources BY AARON SHELDRICK TOKYO Fri Feb 6, 2015 (Reuters) – Japan’s government is aiming to restart a nuclear reactor by around June following a lengthy and politically-sensitive approval process in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, sources familiar with the plans said……..
But the move would be controversial in a nation where most oppose nuclear power, with memories still fresh of the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl in 1986……..
Kyushu Electric Power Co will be given the greenlight to restart two nuclear units in southwestern Japan, with June penciled in for the first unit, according to three sources familiar with the government’s thinking. They declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak with media.
By June, Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority is expected to have completed the final checks and appraisal of the reactors at Kyushu Electric’s Sendai station, letting Abe give the final go-ahead after local authority approval late last year.
A June restart would also mean local elections scheduled for April would be out of the way, giving the government some leeway to take such a potentially unpopular step…….
“We urge the government to take into full consideration the tremendous suffering from the nuclear power plant accident and make sure that future policy ensures the safety and peace of mind of all citizens,” Fukushima Governor Masao Uchibori said, when asked about restarts………
there is a chance restarts could be delayed as the units have been shut for more than three years and may need further maintenance. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/06/us-japan-nuclear-restart-idUSKBN0LA08320150206
Nuclear power makes worse the global water supply crisis that is being caused by global warming
World has not woken up to water crisis caused by climate change: IPCC head, Planet Ark, 04-Feb-15 INDIA Author: Nita Bhalla Water scarcity could lead to conflict between communities and nations as the world is still not fully aware of the water crisis many countries face as a result of climate change, the head of the U.N. panel of climate scientists warned on Tuesday.
The latest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts a rise in global temperature of between 0.3 and 4.8 degrees Celsius (0.5 to 8.6 Fahrenheit) by the late 21st century.
Countries such as India are likely to be hit hard by global warming, which will bring more freak weather such as droughts that will lead to serious water shortages and affect agricultural output and food security.
“Unfortunately, the world has not really woken up to the reality of what we are going to face in terms of the crises as far as water is concerned,” IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri told participants at a conference on water security.
“If you look at agricultural products, if you look at animal protein – the demand for which is growing – that’s highly water intensive. At the same time, on the supply side, there are going to be several constraints. Firstly because there are going to be profound changes in the water cycle due to climate change.”
Development experts around the world have become increasingly concerned about water security in recent years.
More frequent floods and droughts caused by climate change, pollution of rivers and lakes, urbanization, over-extraction of ground water and expanding populations mean that many nations such as India face serious water shortages.
In addition, the demand for more power by countries like India to fuel their economic growth has resulted in a need to harness more water for hydropower dams and nuclear plants……….http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/72777
China organising itself to market nuclear reactors to other countries
China nuclear power firms to merge in bid to boost global clout By Pete Sweeney and Charlie Zhu Feb 4 (Reuters) – China Power Investment Corp is merging with the State Nuclear Power Technology
Corp, as Beijing drives consolidation in its rapidly expanding nuclear power sector with the aim of eventually exporting reactors.
The Chinese power producer currently controls about a tenth of China’s nuclear power market, while the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp was formed in 2007 to handle nuclear technology transferred from U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co.
A merger between the two would create a firm with total assets of more than 600 billionyuan ($96 billion), industry experts estimate.
“The merger will help them expand in China, and the overseas market in the long run,” said Francois Morin, Beijing-based China director of World Nuclear Association……..
China, which now primarily provides financing and construction services to nuclear power projects overseas, is expected by some experts to start exporting reactors after 2020 and become a major exporter by 2030 when it has fully digested foreign technology and developed its domestic industry.
The global nuclear market is currently dominated by firms such as France’s Areva, Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corp and Japan’s Toshiba Corp, which controls Westinghouse………Westinghouse Electric Co has already handed over most of the intellectual property for its AP1000 reactor design to the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp……..http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/04/china-nuclear-ma-idUSL4N0VE05Q20150204
Will USA nuclear companies really be able to sell their reactors to India?
Is the India nuclear agreement really the ‘breakthrough’ Obama promised? WP, By Annie Gowen and Steven Mufson February 4 NEW DELHI — President Obama stood alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India’s capital just days ago and announced a “breakthrough understanding” that the two countries hoped would pave the way for U.S. firms to sell nuclear reactors to India.
But analysts and experts familiar with the negotiations say that the legal issues remain so complex that private U.S. companies may continue to shy away from new deals in India, despite the developing country’s fast-growing and dire power needs.
So far, the details of the agreement have been sketchy at best……….
Analysts say the real test will be whether the two U.S.-Japanese companies sign commercial contracts with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India……..
The key issue will be whether the conflict between international and Indian law can be waved away by a memorandum from India’s attorney general. The memorandum would have to say that the 2010 liability law “doesn’t mean what it says,” said a Washington lawyer familiar with the issues, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect his professional relationships.
A second obstacle has been the requirement in the Hyde Act of 2006 that the Indian government and an independent auditor annually provide information about the form, amounts and location of any uranium supplied to India to make sure it is not diverted for military use……..
India is a special case — and nonproliferation experts have special concerns about it. India’s first nuclear reactor dates to 1956; the country has 21 reactors at seven power plant sites.
The United States and Canada withdrew support for the nuclear program after the country exploded a nuclear device in 1974, and the United States and Japan imposed sanctions after the 1998 tests.
Members of Congress will want to be sure that India cannot skirt the Bush-era legislation and did not simply wear down American negotiators to achieve the present agreement………
Even if the thorny details of the liability question are worked out — a big “if,” analysts say — American companies still face the political realities of India. Although the government concedes that nuclear power must remain part of the country’s energy mix, particularly to counter rising greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power plants remain unpopular with local residents, and acquiring land to build plants can take years.
In the end, said M.K. Bhadrakumar, a former Indian ambassador who is now an analyst, the “breakthrough” touted by Obama and Modi may end up being more of a diplomatic success than a commercial breakthrough………http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/is-the-india-nuclear-agreement-really-the-breakthrough-obama-promised/2015/02/04/bc0b0dd2-abc1-11e4-8876-460b1144cbc1_story.html
1 This Month
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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