German Chancellor Scholz speaks out against new nuclear power, Deutschlandfunk reports
September 2, 2023 https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/german-chancellor-scholz-speaks-out-against-new-nuclear-power-deutschlandfunk-2023-09-01/
FRANKFURT, – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he is against a new nuclear power debate in the country, in an interview released late on Friday with German radio station Deutschlandfunk.
“The issue of nuclear power is a dead horse in Germany,” said Scholz, leader of Germany’s social democrats (SPD).
Scholz’s coalition partner, the free democrats (FDP), recently demanded Germany should keep an nuclear option.
For new nuclear power plants to be built, significant time and investment would be required, Scholz said, estimating at least 15 billion euros ($16.16 billion) would have to be spent per power plant over the next 15 years.
On the widely debated topic of an industrial electricity price cap in Germany, the chancellor expressed doubt how this could be funded, naming options including taxpayer money and debt.
($1 = 0.9282 euros)
Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr; Editing by Leslie Adler and Josie Kao
Tax-payer funding to develop small nuclear reactors? Easy, get Defense and the Air Force to buy them.
The Department of the Air Force, in partnership with the Defense Logistics
Agency Energy, reached a critical milestone Aug. 31, in piloting advanced
nuclear energy technology with the issuance of the Notice of Intent to
Award a contract to Oklo Inc. Oklo Inc. will site, design, construct, own
and operate a micro-reactor facility licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The notice initiates the
acquisition process to potentially award a 30-year, firm-fixed-price
contract to the vendor after successfully obtaining an NRC license.
US Air Force 31st Aug 2023
Money thrown at Sizewell C to win hearts and minds.
The government has allocated a further £341m to get the Sizewell C
nuclear power station project shovel-ready. The extra money will help
prepare the Sizewell C site in Suffolk for construction, procuring key
components from the project’s supply chain, and expanding its workforce.
It would see activity ramp up at the Suffolk site, supporting continued
preparation works, such as constructing onsite training facilities for
1,500 apprenticeships and further development of the plant’s engineering
design.
The public relations campaign will also be stepped up in a bid to
wins hearts and minds in the Southwold-Aldeburgh area, where opposition to
the project is strong. The government plans “direct investments in the
local community ahead of work starting” to show that having a £35bn
construction project on your doorstep is not necessarily all bad news.
latest £341m tranche follows a £170m allocation last month and builds on
the government’s existing £870m stake in the project to help secure a
final investment decision before the next general election.
The Construction Index 30th Aug 2023
https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/money-thrown-at-sizewell-c-to-win-hearts-and-minds
The Golden Rule, a sailboat praised by anti-nuclear weapons activists, visits Milwaukee and Racine
WUWM 89.7 FM | By Chuck Quirmbach
A restored sailboat that peace groups say played a big role in ending atmospheric nuclear bomb testing will be in Milwaukee and Racine for the next few days.
The Golden Rule will be outside Discovery World on Milwaukee’s lakefront Sept. 1, then docked nearby in Lakeshore State Park Sept. 2-4, before sailing to Racine and being docked there Sept. 5.
The Golden Rule, a 34-foot wooden ketch, set sail in 1958 to interfere with nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean.
The four Quaker peace activists on the boat stopped for supplies in Honolulu, where the crew was arrested and prevented from continuing. Peace activists say the arrests sparked worldwide awareness of the dangers of nuclear radiation.
Other efforts continued, and according to the National Archives, culminated in the signing of the Limited Test Ban Treaty by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. After U.S. Senate approval, the treaty that went into effect on October 10, 1963, banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water.
The sailboat, now owned by Veterans for Peace, is nearing the end of a 15-month journey around the central, southern and eastern United States to raise awareness about what the peace movement feels is the growing danger of nuclear war and to build support for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Many activists are also worried about ongoing U.S. military aid for Ukraine, in its fight against Russia……………………………………………………………………………………..more https://www.wuwm.com/2023-09-01/the-golden-rule-a-sailboat-praised-by-anti-nuclear-weapons-activists-visits-milwaukee-and-racine
Focus on renewables, not nuclear, to fuel Canada’s electric needs
Relying on nuclear power goes against the evidence. The smart money is on renewables. Solar and wind energy make much more sense.
Policy Options, by Martin Bush, September 1, 2023
The demand for electricity continues to rise as countries transition to an electrified economy. To ensure an adequate and reliable supply during peak hours, governments must decide which energy technologies should be prioritized and developed to help with this transition.
Nuclear power is certainly in the running for providing this essential service, but it’s not the best option. Refurbishing aging CANDU reactors and investing in unproven nuclear technology, such as small nuclear reactors (SMRs), will waste money that could otherwise be invested in renewable energy solutions.
That’s where the smart money is – renewables – and all the evidence points to why. Electricity from nuclear energy is too expensive.
According to the World Nuclear Industry 2022 Status Report, nuclear energy’s share of global electricity generation in 2021 was 9.8 per cent – its lowest level in four decades – and substantially below its peak of 17.5 per cent in 1996.
Nuclear energy is being outpaced by non-hydro renewables, which in 2021 increased their share of global power generation to 12.8 per cent.
Between 2009 and 2021, utility-scale solar energy costs plummeted by 90 per cent, while similar wind energy costs dropped by 72 per cent. In contrast, nuclear costs increased by 36 per cent.
The cost of electricity generated by solar and onshore wind is in the range of 2.4 to 9.6 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour, (¢/kWh) while the cost of electricity from nuclear is estimated as anywhere between 14 and 22 ¢/kWh. It’s not even close.
In 2021, total investment in non-hydro renewable electricity capacity reached a record US$366 billion, 15 times the reported global investment in nuclear power plants of US$24 billion. Investments in solar energy were 8.5 times and wind six times the investments in nuclear energy.
Globally, the cost of renewable-produced electricity is now significantly below not only nuclear power but also gas. According to an analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, wind and solar power are now the cheapest form of new electricity in most countries, including Canada. Bloomberg anticipates it will be more expensive to operate existing coal or fossil gas power plants within five years than to build new solar or wind farms.
Unsurprisingly, it is wind farms and large solar installations that are being built in record numbers……………………………………………………………………………………… more https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/september-2023/renewables-not-nuclear-electric-canada/
Government bill for Sizewell C nuclear power plant passes £1bn mark
Government spending on the proposed nuclear power plant Sizewell C crossed
the billion pound threshold today after the government committed more funds
to the project. Ministers today allocated an additional £341m towards the
project on top of the government’s £870m stake, taking overall spending
commitments to £1.21bn.
City AM 29th Aug 2023 https://www.cityam.com/government-bill-for-sizewell-c-nuclear-power-plant-passes-1bn-mark/
US fighter jets capable of nuclear bombing to be based in UK.
US fighter jets capable of nuclear bombing to be based in UK. Two
squadrons of hi-tech F-35 As set to arrive at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk
imminently.
Telegraph 30th Aug 2023
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/30/f35-fighter-jets-nuclear-weapons-raf-lakenheath-suffolk/
Georgia Power customers could see monthly bills rise $9 to pay for the Vogtle nuclear plant
Georgia Power customers could see monthly bills rise $9 to pay for the
Vogtle nuclear plant. Residential customers of Georgia’s largest electrical
utility could see their bills rise $9 more a month to pay for a new nuclear
power plant under a deal announced Wednesday. Georgia Power Co. said
customers would pay $7.56 billion more for Plant Vogtle construction costs
under the agreement with utility regulatory staff.
Daily Mail 31st Aug 2023
Nuclear is the new green. (Really?)
Funds-Europe, 1 Sept 23, Piyasi Mitra examines the debate around the role of nuclear energy in Europe’s sustainable future.
The global pursuit of a net-zero future is fraught with challenges and choices. Integrating natural gas and nuclear into sustainable portfolios could potentially speed up the process, but the European Commission’s recent classification of these resources as climate-friendly prompted scrutiny and debate. Alarmed by the emissions and potential risks, organisations such as Greenpeace, Client Earth and WWF launched legal actions. So, is nuclear the key to a sustainable energy future?
Serious business
The position of the European Commission (EC) is this: “The taxonomy is an essential part of the EU sustainable finance framework in the broader context of the European Green Deal. It helps guide and mobilise private investment to transition towards climate neutrality.”
………………. The EC also announced its intention “to adopt a complementary Climate Taxonomy Delegated Act for some energy sectors, notably nuclear and gas, where they can comply with the criteria for activities under the taxonomy regulation”
Opinions on the topic vary widely. A spokesperson for the German investment funds association, the BVI, says: “It would have been better not to include nuclear energy and gas in the taxonomy because they are contentious and jeopardise the credibility of the taxonomy as a universal measure of sustainability.”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Challenges galore
All nuclear technologies share the same problem: cost. According to the International Energy Agency, about 25% of existing nuclear capacity in advanced economies is expected to shut down by 2025. On average, the nuclear fleet in developed economies – particularly in the US and the EU – is 35 years old, with most of these fleets nearing the end of their designed lifetimes, says Anthony Catachanas, CEO of Victory Hill Capital Partners. “The requirement for dealing with nuclear waste and decommissioning costs make it a less attractive investment proposition than other more sustainable energy sources.”
………………………………… A more practical technology is fusion. Nonetheless, the costs still need to be lowered as it will use the very expensive hydrogen molecule as feedstock, and the technology still needs to be proven.
………………… The costs associated with reactors, whether large or small scale, utilising fission technology are significantly prohibitive. “Besides, fission has a costly by-product in nuclear waste from an enriched uranium or plutonium process. Investing in this technology will be more difficult to explain to investors because the waste issue is unsustainable,” says Catachanas.
……………………………………………….environmental concerns about nuclear waste disposal and its impact on human health and biodiversity are real, and broader safety implications exist for people working and living near nuclear power plants.
……………………..Another drawback of nuclear power is that state or state-owned utilities are likely to remain the only suitable ownership models, says Joost Bergsma, CEO of infrastructure equity firm Glennmont Partners from Nuveen. He adds: “Nuclear does not immediately contain to solving Europe’s energy security issue, as the raw materials needed for nuclear energy generation often come from non-EU countries, and often countries with very different geopolitical agendas to ours.”
Renewables are a far more attractive option for fund managers, as they are cheaper than nuclear and fossil fuels and quick to build, says Bergsma. “Traditional renewables such as onshore and offshore wind and solar have proven reliability and are only growing more efficient. Beyond this, renewables hold the edge regarding public support and easy deployability.”…………… https://www.funds-europe.com/insights/nuclear-is-the-new-green—
New small nuclear reactor company merges with a dubious ‘special purpose acquisition’ company, -reactors for use by USA Air Force in Alaska
Nuclear power’s future is being disrupted. Investor interest in small
modular reactors is growing as demand for electricity is set to soar. Last
month Sam Altman, the (in)famous founder of OpenAI, posted a picture on
social media of an elegant A-frame wooden building in a verdant tropical
setting. It looks like a billionaire’s weekend pad. However, what the
image actually depicts is the putative design of a small modular (nuclear)
reactor invented by Oklo, a company that Altman has chaired since 2015.
And it was posted because Oklo has just merged with a special purpose
acquisition company created by Altman and Michael Klein, the Wall Street
dealmaker, valuing it at $850mn. That will make some observers wince. The
acronym “Spac” became toxic two years ago because the concept was badly
abused during the last credit bubble. Adding “nuclear” into the mix
risks making it doubly radioactive, in the public mind, given past
accidents at the Chernobyl and Fukushima plants (and current Russian
threats to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant).
Nevertheless, investors and
policymakers should pay attention. On Thursday the United States Air Force
announced plans to use Oklo’s reactor for the Eielson Air Force Base in
Alaska — seemingly the first potential use of commercial SMRs by the
Federal Government on American soil. …………………..
FT 31st Aug 2023
https://www.ft.com/content/0faade4f-d239-47ed-a041-f7a503fef500
Sen. Blumenthal: US Getting Its ‘Money’s Worth’ in Ukraine Because Americans Aren’t Dying.
“We’re losing no lives in Ukraine, and the Ukrainians are fighting heroically against Russia,” Romney said. “We’re diminishing and devastating the Russian military for a very small amount of money … a weakened Russia is a good thing.”
By Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/31/sen-blumenthal-us-getting-its-moneys-worth-in-ukraine-because-americans-arent-dying/
Sen. Romney recently called the proxy war the ‘the best national defense spending’ the US has ever done.
Fresh from a trip to Kyiv, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is arguing that the US is getting its “money’s worth” in Ukraine because Russia is taking losses and no Americans are dying, showing a lack of concern for Ukrainian lives.
“Even Americans who have no particular interest in freedom and independence in democracies worldwide, should be satisfied that we’re getting our money’s worth on our Ukraine investment,” Blumenthal wrote in the Connecticut Post.
“For less than 3 percent of our nation’s military budget, we’ve enabled Ukraine to degrade Russia’s military strength by half … All without a single American service woman or man injured or lost,” he added.
The argument has become a common talking point among hawks in Washington who want the US to keep fueling the proxy war against Russia. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) recently called the conflict “the best national defense spending I think we’ve ever done.”
“We’re losing no lives in Ukraine, and the Ukrainians are fighting heroically against Russia,” Romney said. “We’re diminishing and devastating the Russian military for a very small amount of money … a weakened Russia is a good thing.”
The hawkish senators’ comments came amid Ukraine’s faltering counteroffensive. Despite the lack of success on the battlefield, the Biden administration and most members of Congress want to keep funding the war, which they acknowledge would not continue without US support.
“As Zelensky is frank and forthcoming to say, Ukraine could not have survived without America and our allies,” Blumenthal said. “But his counteroffensive is far from an assured success. In the end, the only way he loses is if America pulls the plug.”
The Washington Post recently reported that US intelligence has determined Ukraine’s counteroffensive will fail to meet its main objective of severing Russia’s land bridge to Crimea. Despite the conclusion, the US is pushing Ukrainian commanders to go harder on the battlefield and complaining that Ukraine has become too “casualty averse.”
Leading up to the counteroffensive, the Discord leaks and other media reports showed that the US did not believe Ukraine could regain significant territory. But the Biden administration still pushed for the assault and rejected the idea of a ceasefire.
Ukrainian drone attacks Russian town near major nuclear plant
- Summary
- Drone attacks nuclear town
- No damage to nuclear power station
- Kursk power station is one of biggest
- Ukrainian drone shot down near Moscow
MOSCOW, Sept 1 (Reuters) https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-drones-attack-russian-town-home-nuclear-plant-2023-09-01/–
A Ukrainian drone attacked a town in western Russia which is home to one of the country’s biggest nuclear power stations, though there was no damage reported to the plant, Russian officials said.
Governor Roman Starovoit said a Ukrainian drone had damaged the facade of a building in the town of Kurchatov, just a few kilometres from the Kursk nuclear power station, early on Friday. He had earlier said there were two drones but clarified his remarks.
“There are no casualties,” Starovoit said. Starovoit did not mention any potential damage to the Kursk nuclear power plant.
The Soviet-era Kursk nuclear power station has the same graphite-moderated reactors as the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
An explosion and fire at the Chernobyl plant in 1986, in then Soviet Ukraine, was the world’s worst nuclear accident, spreading radiation across Europe.
Currently three RBMK-1000 reactors in Kursk are operational with one shut down, according to Russia’s state nuclear corporation.
Russia and Ukraine have in the past accused each other of plotting to attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine. Russian troops seized the station, Europe’s largest nuclear facility with six reactors, in the days after the Kremlin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Another drone was shot down approaching Moscow on Friday morning, said Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. That briefly disrupted flights to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport.
In the western Russian region of Belgorod another drone was shot down, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Michael Perry
New Brunswick Power has its head stuck in uranium
Tom McLean and Susan O’Donnell,, September 1, 2023 https://nbmediacoop.org/2023/09/01/commentary-nb-power-has-its-head-stuck-in-uranium/
NB Power seems to want to be a nuclear utility no matter how much it costs or whether or not the nuclear technology works because… well, just because. The utility’s 2023 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) released in July states that small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) are critical to developing a clean and cost-effective power grid in New Brunswick, although NB Power does not know when, or if, SMRs will become available or the cost.
Oh, and if the experimental SMRs are not available, the plan instead is to use wind and solar power, complemented by storage and biomass.
Why are renewables not the first choice for NB Power, given that wind and solar power costs are well known and very inexpensive, and storage cost is in free fall? The answer is not in the IRP.
In fact, the IRP suggests that SMRs are not critical since alternative pathways to a clean grid already exist without them. But NB Power wants to ignore that. The IRP states that integrating wind and solar instead, as an alternative to SMRs “… has not been studied in New Brunswick before.” Why has NB Power not undertaken this study?
Maybe because they won’t like the answer many researchers have already uncovered.
Wind, solar and storage are proven technologies with shrinking costs, and they outperform nuclear power on cost and reliability. Wind and solar are even predictable – meteorologists predict them every day with ample accuracy for power production.
With distributed generation, storage and inter-jurisdiction connections, New Brunswick can produce all its own power less expensively with renewables and without nuclear risk. The IRP’s poor assumptions about installed capacity, curtailment, storage, and use of interconnections are astounding. Properly deployed storage and interconnections significantly limit the amount of curtailment and required capacity. The IRP failed to note that interconnections provide both a source of capacity and a market for excess wind and solar production and, according to the previous 2020 IRP, the cheapest option for capacity is using interconnections.
Three years ago, the 2020 IRP showed the cost of the existing (non-experimental) NB Power nuclear plant at Point Lepreau as $117/MWh or 11.7¢ per kWh. NB Power currently sells power to residents at 12.27¢ per kWh. The cost of nuclear power has likely risen since 2020, meaning NB Power has either negligible returns or more likely, loses money on every nuclear kWh sold to New Brunswick households, and that cost does not even include the cost of transmission, distribution and administration. Is increasing the NB Power debt with every nuclear transaction the reasonable power cost Minister Holland has in mind when he talks about the expected costs of SMNR power?
Why is NB Power’s head stuck in uranium? Many jurisdictions have moved or are moving to a clean electrical grid with renewable power. For example, these countries are already managing higher penetrations of wind power than NB Power: Demark 55%; Ireland 33%; UK 25%; Germany 22%. The same for some US states: Maine 27%, South Dakota, 55%, Idaho 17%. The South Australia power grid broke records when it recently ran for over 10 days on 100% wind and solar power.
The 2023 IRP describes SMRs, a non-existing technology, as a critical piece of the future grid but ignores both existing storage technologies such as thermal storage for district heating and closed loop pumped storage hydro. If novel technology is desired, consider those coming to market in the next two years, such as 100-hour iron-air batteries at less than half the cost of lithium-ion batteries, and Canadian closed-loop geothermal technology currently in pilot.
The Point Lepreau nuclear generating station has matured into a big white elephant. Unplanned and intermittent shutdowns are a main reason NB Power loses money every year, and the original reactor build and refurbishment are responsible for three-quarters of the utility’s massive debt. Last year, NB Power applied for a 25-year licence renewal for the Lepreau reactor; the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission instead gave it 10 years, citing the huge public interest (mostly negative), and mandated another licence review in 2027.
By then, the exorbitant costs of the speculative nuclear SMRs will be clear but New Brunswick needs to start now on a prudent pathway to a clean grid using renewable power. Will we continue to support blind faith in a speculative uranium-fuelled future, or will we go with renewable wind and sunshine? Minister Holland and NB Power would do well to start a re-think now about which way the wind is blowing.
Tom McLean is a retired software developer living in New Maryland. Dr. Susan O’Donnell is the lead researcher of the CEDAR project at St. Thomas University.
GREEN SCREEN – THE ATOM: A LOVE AFFAIR + PANEL – Release date 21 September
https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/000/HO00013343/green-screen-the-atom-a-love-affair-panel
Brighton Energy Co-op and Brighton & Hove Energy Services Co-op, are
hosting a major international feature documentary: ‘The Atom: A Love
Affair’ this Zero Emissions Day (International Day of Peace). The film,
directed by Brighton-based BEC Member, Vicki Lesley, delves deep into the
past of the world’s most controversial energy source.
After the screening, Brighton Energy’s Co-founder & Chair, Will Cottrell,
will host a Q&A panel with the film’s Director Vicki Lesley, BHESCo’s
Founder & CEO, Kayla Ente MBE, a member of the Nuclear Consulting Group
which consists of experts in academia and NGOs on the topic of nuclear,
plus Professor of Science and Technology Policy at Sussex University, Andy
Stirling.
Brighton Energy Co-op 30th Aug 2023
https://preview.mailerlite.com/f7g0d4o9x9/2292976688839005469/m4i7/
Ratepayers on the hook for costs of Georgia nuclear reactor project
Investor-owned Georgia Power will recover capital costs associated with the over-budgeted construction of two new nuclear reactors from ratepayers, according to a preliminary agreement announced Thursday.
Georgia Power and the Georgia Public Services Commission’s public interest advocacy staff agreed to a $7.56 billion cap on the amount of capital construction costs placed in the rate base to fund completion of a pair of nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro, Georgia.
The PSC said it was “a significant reduction” from the $10.19 billion the utility said it needs to …………………………………..(Subscribers only)
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