Britain’s nuclear power project plans in turmoil
EDF turmoil exposes Britain’s reliance on Hinkley nuclear plan, Reuters, 8 Mar 16 LONDON | BY KAROLIN SCHAPS Management upheaval at EDF (EDF.PA) has exposed Britain’s reliance on the French energy group’s ability to deliver a planned 18 billion pound nuclear power plant in southwest England.
EDF CFO Thomas Piquemal quit on Monday in protest over the balance sheet risk posed by the Hinkley Point C project, one of a series of expensive challenges that the debt-laden and state-controlled group faces..
EDF and the British and French governments are saying the project remains on track, but turmoil at the top of EDF could mean a further delay to a plan that is already two years behind schedule……..
When Hinkley Point was announced in 2013, nuclear reactor maker Areva (AREVA.PA) was meant to take a 10 percent stake in the project. EDF has since initiated the takeover of Areva’s struggling reactor business, leaving the French energy giant with a hefty 66.5 percent majority stake.
China‘s General Nuclear Corporation (CGN) has agreed to buy into one third of the project.
The departure of CFO Piquemal was linked to his unwillingness to take on too much risk for a group that has net debt of over 37 billion euros (£29 billion), according to a source close to the matter.
“Piquemal was not the only one in the executive committee to have doubts about Hinkley Point C,” the source said………http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-nuclear-edf-hinkley-idUKKCN0WA1PQ
transformer on fire at Oconee Nuclear Station
Transformer at Oconee Nuclear Station catches fire Mar 07, 2016 By Amanda Shaw SENECA, SC (FOX Carolina) – Oconee County Emergency Management said a transformer caught fire at the Oconee Nuclear Station. A transformer caught fire at the Oconee Nuclear Plant on Sunday.
Fire Chief Charlie King aid the transformer was away from a reactive building. Firefighters responded to the fire at 3:19 p.m. and said when they arrived on scene, the transformer outside the building was well involved in fire.
The fire was declared an unusual event, the lowest of four nuclear emergency classifications. An alert was also declared, the second level of emergency classification, due to a downed power line associated with the oil-filled transformer……..http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/31398906/transformer-at-oconee-nuclear-station-catches-fire#.Vty8iY8h4q0.twitter
Dramatic improvement in solar cell technology
Researchers make key improvement in solar cell technology, EurekAlart, 29 Feb 16 Low-cost alternative boosts maximum voltage WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY PULLMAN, WASH. – RESEARCHERS HAVE REACHED A CRITICAL MILESTONE IN SOLAR CELL FABRICATION, HELPING PAVE THE WAY FOR SOLAR ENERGY TO DIRECTLY COMPETE WITH ELECTRICITY GENERATED BY CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES.
Led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and in collaboration with Washington State University and the University of Tennessee, the researchers improved the maximum voltage available from a cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cell, overcoming a practical limit that has been pursued for six decades and is key to improving its efficiency. The work is published in the Feb. 29 issue of Nature Energy……..
The research was funded by the Energy Department’s SunShot Initiative, which aims to make solar cost-competitive with traditional energy sources. It was also supported in part by Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences.
The research is in keeping with Washington State University’s Grand Challenges initiative stimulating research to address some of society’s most complex issues. It is particularly relevant to the challenge of “Sustainable Resources for Society” and its theme of meeting energy needs while protecting the environment. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/wsu-rmk022616.php
Radioactive leak just one of many nuclear problems at Indian Point, USA
Indian Point Leak Foreshadows the End of the Nuclear Age, Fortune by David Z. Morris @davidzmorris
FEBRUARY 28, 2016, New York could be the next Fukushima as world governments roll back nuclear power.
The Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York State is leaking radioactive contaminant into nearby groundwater, and despite plant operator Entergy’s ELA 0.08% assurances that the leak has “no health or safety consequences,” Governor Andrew Cuomo called earlier this month for a full investigation by state environment and health officials.
The latest revelations add to a mounting list of recent accidents and problems at Indian Point, and Cuomo’s hard stance is nothing new, either. As of November of last year, Cuomo’s office actively opposed the continuing operation of Indian Point.
The plant’s problems are not isolated—leaks have been found at as many as 75% of U.S. nuclear plants. And closing Indian Point would put New York, and the U.S., in line with a sharp global move away from nuclear power following 2011’s meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daichi reactor. Japan shut down all of its nuclear plants after the disaster, and only began tentatively restarting a handful in 2015……..http://fortune.com/2016/02/28/indian-point-end-of-nuclear-age/
Climate Change Champion – Leonardo Di Caprio
How Leonardo DiCaprio became one of the world’s top climate change champions,Guardian. Suzanne Goldenberg, 1 Mar 16 The Oscar-winning actor’s environmental activism may not quite stretch back to What’s Eating Gilbert Grape but he has steadily schooled himself on the oceans and climate change since the 1990s
Leonardo DiCaprio was a climate champion long before the actor wrapped himself in an animal carcass, vomited up raw bison liver, and risked hypothermia for his Oscar-winning role in Revenant.
DiCaprio used his acceptance speech for best actor to urge a global audience to reject the “politics of greed”, and support leaders willing to take action against climate change.
“Climate change is real, it is happening right now, it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating,” the actor said.
The Oscars was probably the biggest audience to date for DiCaprio’s activism – but campaigners who have worked with the actor said he has been steeped in the issue for years, and is desperate about the need for action.
Over the last few years, DiCaprio has steadily donated his celebrity – and at least $30m in funding according to his foundation – to help advance the United Nations climate negotiations, protect coral reefs and tigers, and spread public awareness about the dangers of climate change.
The actor has become a fixture at events focused on global challenges since 2014, dropping in at the Davos economic forum to pick up an award last January, and holding a private chat on the sidelines with Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations secretary general, on the sidelines of the Paris climate negotiations last December.
DiCaprio marched with 400,000 through the streets of Manhattan and addressed the United Nations about the dangers of climate change in 2014, and has had private tutorials in climate science from some of the world’s best researchers.
Other actors – notably Mark Ruffalo, the best supporting actor nominee on Sunday – are avowed climate campaigners, and other wealthy individuals give to environmental causes. But DiCaprio operates at a different level of fame, campaigners said.
“There are many foundations and non-governmental organisations interested in oceans and many do great work. He has a megaphone that nobody else on the planet has. He is so respected and admired and influential all around the world from the general public to head of state, so when he says something people listen,” said Enric Sala, explorer-in-residence for National Geographic, who has worked with DiCaprio……….
The actor is currently at work on a climate change documentary that took him to Baffin Island in the Arctic last summer – and by DiCaprio’s own account that is highly unlikely to be the end of his activism.
“I am consumed by this,” DiCaprio told Rolling Stone last January. “There isn’t a couple of hours a day where I’m not thinking about it. It’s this slow burn. It’s not ‘aliens invading our planet next week and we have to get up and fight to defend our country,’ but it’s this inevitable thing, and it’s so terrifying.” http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/29/how-leonardo-dicaprio-oscar-climate-change-campaigner
Offshore wind parks: Interactions and local climate,
Science Daily February 29, 2016
- Source:
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
- Summary:
- In 2015 alone, more than 500 offshore wind turbines were connected to the grid in Germany. So far, mutual interactions of wind parks and their potential effects on local climate have been approximated with models only. Thanks to their wide installation, however, it is now possible for the first time to study their effects in reality……..https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160229082420.htm
Growth of renewable energy rendering nuclear power obsolete
The End of the Nuclear Age, Handelsblatt, BY KLAUS STRATMANN, 28 Feb 16
Even before the Fukishima disaster, it was clear that nuclear power was dangerous, unreliable and too risky for civil use. The growth of renewable energy is now rendering them obsolete, argues Handelsblatt’s energy expert. The pictures from Fukushima are etched on the collective memory of mankind. They drastically changed the perception of civil use of nuclear power, especially in Germany.
And yet work continues on new nuclear reactors worldwide. Isn’t that paradoxical?
Five years after the reactor catastrophe caused by an earthquake, there are still unsolved problems at the site of the Japanese nuclear power station, underlining the fact that nuclear accidents render helpless even the most technically sophisticated societies.
To this day, there is still no convincing concept for the recovery of melted fuel rods in the destroyed reactors. Nor are there realistic estimates of the costs caused by the catastrophe. However, nobody seriously doubts that they will ultimately amount to a figure in the high triple-digit billions…..(registered readers only) https://global.handelsblatt.com/edition/375/ressort/opinion/article/end-of-the-nuclear-age
France prepared to extend life of nuclear reactors: energy minister
28 Feb 16 PARIS (Reuters) – The French government is willing to support a 10-year extension to the life of the country’s nuclear reactors, operated by utility EDF, Energy Minister Segolene Royal told France 3 television on Sunday……http://news.yahoo.com/france-prepared-extend-life-nuclear-reactors-energy-minister-140401525–finance.html
Nuclear Deal Will Play A Role In Iran’s Elections
February 23, 2016 Iranians vote Friday for parliament and a committee that could someday choose the next supreme leader. Reformers aren’t getting traction as the benefits from the nuclear deal are slow to materialize. [incl audio] ……http://www.npr.org/2016/02/23/467768259/nuclear-deal-will-play-a-role-in-irans-elections
Iraq: missing radioactive material found
Radioactive material missing in Iraq found dumped near service station in Zubair http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-22/dangerous-radioactive-material-missing-in-iraq-found-dumped/7188158 A “highly dangerous” radioactive material that went missing in Iraq has been found dumped near a petrol station in the country’s south.
Environment Ministry spokesman Ameer Ali said it had not been damaged and there were no concerns about radiation from the material, the loss of which raised concerns it could be used to create a “dirty bomb” if acquired by Islamic State militants.
A dirty bomb combines nuclear material with conventional explosives to contaminate an area with radiation, in contrast to a nuclear weapon, which uses nuclear fission to trigger a vastly more powerful blast.
Reuters reported last week the material had been stolen in November from a storage facility belonging to US oilfield services company Weatherford near the southern city of Basra.
It was not immediately clear how the material ended up in Zubair, around 15 kilometres south-west of Basra.
“A passer-by found the radioactive device dumped in Zubair and immediately informed security forces which went with a special prevention radiation team and retrieved the device,” the chief of security panel in Basra provincial council Jabbar al-Saidi said.
“After initial checking I can confirm the device is intact 100 per cent and there is absolutely no concern of radiation.”
The material, which uses gamma rays to test flaws in materials used for oil and gas pipelines in a process called industrial gamma radiography, is owned by Istanbul-based SGS Turkey, according to the document and officials.
The material is classed as a Category 2 radioactive source by the IAEA, meaning that if not managed properly it could cause permanent injury to a person in close proximity to it for minutes or hours, and could be fatal to someone exposed for a period of hours to days. Reuters
Nuclear is a dead-end 20th-century technology
Why nuclear energy is on the ropes: It belongs there, Grand Forks Herald, 21 Feb 16 By Scott Stapf ” a former North Dakotan, I have read with interest in recent days the Herald editorial board’s endorsement of nuclear power for North Dakota and now the board’s boosterism for the deep borehole testing……..
The board’s new push in favor of the borehole testing ignores the fact the Department of Energy did not pick the site randomly. As someone who has been in Washington for more than 30 years, trust me when I say that officials picked a site where they thought it might work.
I know of no reason to believe that a successful test will not result in the federal government seeking the go-ahead to use the North Dakota site……..
Nuclear is a dead-end 20th-century technology. Just because there is an industry that wants to be kept alive on the dole of taxpayer financing and other backing is no reason for the rest of us to remain shackled to a costly, inefficient energy source that produces toxic waste that will threaten hundreds of generations to come. http://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/letters/3951505-letter-why-nuclear-energy-ropes-it-belongs-there
Zuma Son Said to Be Top Shareholder in Firm Buying Optimum
Franz Wild and Paul Burkhardt
-
Tegeta agreed to purchase Optimum for 2.15 billion rand
-
Deal agreed after mines minister Zwane met Glencore CEO
-
South African President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane is the biggest individual shareholder in a group that’s acquiring Glencore Plc’s Optimum colliery, a person familiar with the shareholding said. The group includes the Gupta family, whose links with the Zuma family have been criticized by opposition parties…….. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-18/zuma-son-said-to-be-top-shareholder-in-firm-that-bought-optimum
With energy storage renewables now have the lead over fossil fuel and nuclear energy
Energy storage gives renewables a jump-start Independent Australia, David Suzuki 20 February 2016, Given the speed at which technology and inventions are advancing, it’s a no-brainer to see that the barriers to a clean energy shift are more political and psychological than technological, argues Dr David Suzuki.
REMOTE AUSTRALIAN communities often use diesel generators for power. They’re expensive to run and emit pollution and greenhouse gases. Even people who don’t rely entirely on generators use Australia’s power grid, which is mostly fuelled by polluting, climate-altering coal.
Now, one company is showing that supplying Australia’s energy needn’t be expensive or polluting.
AllGrid Energy produces 10 kilowatt-hour solar-power batteries that take advantage of Australia’s abundant sunlight and growing demand for solar panels. Their lead-acid gel battery is less expensive than Tesla’s lithium Powerwall, also available in Australia.
Many AllGrid systems are sold in indigenous communities, providing affordable energy independence.
It’s an example of the rapid pace of renewable energy development — one that clears a hurdle previously confronting many clean-energy technologies: their variable nature. One advantage of fossil fuels is that they’re both source and storage for energy; renewables such as wind and solar are only sources.
Many argue that because solar and wind energy only work when sun shines or winds blow, and output varies according to cloud cover, wind speed and other factors, they can’t replace large “baseload” sources like coal, oil, gas and nuclear.
But batteries and other energy storage methods, along with power-grid improvements, make renewables competitive with fossil fuels and nuclear power — and often better in terms of reliability, efficiency and affordability.
With storage and grid technologies advancing daily, renewable energy could easily and relatively quickly replace most fossil fuel–generated electricity. In Canada, Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator contracted five companies to test a number of storage systems, including batteries, hydrogen storage, kinetic flywheels and thermal systems that store heat in special bricks.
Ontario is aiming to get about 50 per cent of its installed generating capacity from renewable sources by 2025……..
Because renewables don’t pollute or create greenhouse gas emissions, they also help lower costs for health care and the ever-increasing impacts of climate change. Although every energy source comes with consequences, the damage and risks from mining, processing, transporting and using coal, oil, bitumen and uranium, and from fracking and other extraction methods, are far greater than for clean energy.
And fossil fuels will eventually run out, becoming increasingly expensive, difficult to obtain, and ridden with conflict as scarcity grows. https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/energy-storage-gives-renewables-a-jump-start-,8692
EDF dodges making a decision on UK Hinkley nuclear station
The UK’s energy future was left up in the air after EDF dodged a decision on Hinkley Point C, the planned nuclear plant which will provide 7% of Britain’s electricity and employ 25,000 people by 2025.
The French giant said the first phase of construction would launch “very soon”, but failed to commit to a timescale or confirm whether it had funding in place, casting doubt on the future of the project. ……
Prime Minister David Cameron has been trying to smooth through the £18 billion construction costs of the plant in Somerset by wooing Chinese investors to back the project.
EDF has already sold a 33.5% stake to China General Nuclear Power Corporation, but today’s dividend cut could ignite fears the energy giant lacks the firepower to execute the plan.
The group confounded investor expectations by slashing the dividend to €1.10 for 2015 from €1.25 in 2014. It has also offered shareholders the choice of taking shares instead of cash……
Lower prices in the energy market have hurt EDF, particularly for wholesale electricity, which are stretching the company’s finances.
Earlier this month EDF Energy, the firm’s UK energy company, also cut standard gas prices by 5%.
The tumbling price of power has forced EDF to cuts costs and investments. It reduced operating expenses by €300 million last year and will seek to take out €700 million more within the next two years… http://www.standard.co.uk/business/fears-over-uks-energy-as-edf-dodges-hinkley-nuclear-plant-decision-a3181446.html.
Pressure on Electricite de France to abandon Hinkley Point C nuclear power project
EDF under pressure to abandon Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/edf-under-pressure-to-abandon-hinkley-point-c-nuclear-power-plant-project-a6873936.html
- John Lichfield Paris The giant French energy company EDF is under pressure to abandon or delay building the nuclear power station in Somerset which is at the heart of David Cameron’s strategy to “keep the lights on” in Britain in the next decade.
- An internal report to the EDF board has warned that for technical reasons it will be impossible to complete the two “new generation” nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point within the nine-year timetable. The report also suggests that the much-delayed project would be financially disastrous for the struggling French company, despite a commitment by the British Government to pay double the market rate for the station’s electricity.
- EDF is also reported to be having difficulty raising the £12.4bn it needs to build the two European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) in Somerset – a capital sum almost as much as it entire stock market valuation.
- The company’s powerful unions and several senior EDF executives are said to believe that the project could be suicidal for the world’s biggest generator of nuclear energy. They want EDF to abandon the project – or at least persuade Britain to wait for another three years until a more advanced generation of EPR reactors is available.
Nonetheless, the French government, which owns more than 80 per cent of EDF, is putting pressure on the company to fulfil its agreement.
The British Government would face huge embarrassment if Hinkley Point, intended as the first of three new mega-stations, was abandoned or postponed. In October last year, China agreed, amid much fanfare in London and Beijing, to invest £6.2bn in the project.
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