nuclear costs « nuclear-news

The Emperor’s New Nuclear Clothes

Washington’s resolute reaction to the shrinking renaissance affirms the brilliance of Hans Christian Anderson’s ending to his fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes”:

“But he has nothing on!” everybody shouted at last. And the emperor shivered, for it seemed to him that they were right; but he thought within himself, “I must go through with the procession.” And so he carried himself still more proudly, and the chamberlains walked along holding the train which wasn’t there at all.

Honey, I Shrunk the Renaissance: Nuclear Revival, Climate Change and Reality, CleanEnergy Footprints, by Peter Bradford, 15 Oct 10, “………Where have all the reactors gone?The 18 applications to build 27 new reactors that were on file at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in January 2009 (with five more applications for seven units expected by the end of 2010) were hailed by a compliant press to constitute “a nuclear renaissance.” Continue reading →

October 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactors, uranium | 1 Comment

Utah State must rule on vexed question of “blended” radioactive wastes

The Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah has challenged the idea of blending wastes to get around limits at the Utah site and urged state authorities to prohibit it.

Utah: NRC ruling leaves nuke waste rules to state, The Washington Post, By PAUL FOY, The Associated Press, October 15, 2010; SALT LAKE CITY — Federal regulators have put off a decision on whether blended radioactive waste can be buried in Utah.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission decided this week to develop a new set of rules assessing the dangers of blended waste based on the risks at individual disposal sites….. Continue reading →

October 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | 1 Comment

BHP Billiton calls for carbon price – in order to promote its uranium mining

BHP has an interesting little asset called Olympic Dam in South Australia where it is considering a major series of upgrades. Expanded Olympic Dam output would exceed one quarter of global mined uranium. …..Olympic Dam is the world’s largest known uranium deposit,

BHP: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? The Star, by Mark Taylor | 15 Oct 10 Why would BHP BHP CEO Marius Kloppers express support for a carbon tax? The mining industry has its fair share of climate skeptics. Geologists and model-based climatologists have very different views of the world. Does BHP stand to gain or lose from a carbon tax? Continue reading →

October 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, spinbuster, Uranium | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, uranium | Leave a comment

USA – Nuclear power a dead cat now, despite politicians’ hype

The good news is that this time reality has set in before hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent to build plants fated eventually to be canceled or to come on line at costs far above the costs of providing the same energy services in other ways.

Honey, I Shrunk the Renaissance: Nuclear Revival, Climate Change and Reality, CleanEnergy Footprints, by Peter Bradford, 15 Oct 10, The “nuclear renaissance” has proven to be a promotion that cannot pass economic muster. Continue reading →

October 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

American families unwilling to cop the financial risk exposure of nuclear power

The struggle for a nuclear renaissance has been and remains a struggle over allocation of economic risk. U.S. power markets allocate that risk to investors and lenders, who will not put up the money for new nuclear…… southeastern states decided to allocate that risk to their customers, some of whom have begun to rebel. Congress is being asked to allocate it to taxpayers. However, with each new reactor requiring the allocation of close to $100 in risk exposure to every family in America, this is proving a tough sell.

Honey, I Shrunk the Renaissance: Nuclear Revival, Climate Change and Reality, CleanEnergy Footprints, by Peter Bradford, 15 Oct 10, “……Did the nuclear renaissance jump, or was it pushed? In truth, the nuclear renaissance has always consisted of the number of plants that government was willing to build. This is true not only in the United States but also in every other country now building new nuclear units. Continue reading →

October 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

India’s nuclear negotiations run into trouble with Japan

The deal with Japan is crucial also for implementation of India’s nuclear pacts with the US and France. Both French nuclear major Areva and a US’s General Electric use reactor vessels from Japan Steel Works Limited and GE is hugely dependent on Hitachi Limited for nuclear reactors

India-Japan N-deal runs into hurdlesJayanth Jacob , Hindustan Times New Delhi, October 15, 2010 Negotiations for a crucial civil nuclear cooperation pact between India and Japan have run into hurdles over Tokyo’s insistence on stringent provisions for New Delhi’s non-proliferation actions and commitments as well as clauses dealing with a future nuclear test. Continue reading →

October 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Yet more delays in reviving Point Lepreau nuclear reactor

Point Lepreau delayed until fall 2012. CBC News – New Brunswick , 14 Oct 10, The $1.4-billion Point Lepreau refurbishment project is now delayed until the fall of 2012, NB Power said Thursday.The refurbishment of Atlantic Canada’s only nuclear reactor is now three years behind schedule……..The project was supposed to be completed in September 2009……. CBC News – New Brunswick – Point Lepreau delayed until fall 2012

October 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Canada | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactor | Leave a comment

Old nuclear plants have low market value, new ones not viable

..Constellation’s finances have stabilized but demand for electric power has fallen, reducing not only the market value of old power plants but the viability of building new ones.

Constellation’s fallout with French firm unfortunately the new business as usual, The Washington Post, By Steven Pearlstein, October 14, 2010 If you were looking for an example of the erosion in standards of business behavior, you couldn’t do better than the story of Constellation Energy and its recent falling-out with the French nuclear energy company EDF….. Continue reading →

October 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, EDF, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear “renaissance” looking riskier than ever, with cancellation of Maryland plant

There’s no gainsaying that nuclear construction projects are looking riskier all the time, especially in the United States, where many factors have conspired to spoil dreams of a big nuclear renaissance: declining energy demand since the onset of the global economic crisis (down 4 percent since 2007 in the States); plummeting natural gas prices (down almost half from what they were a few years ago); collapsing prospects for enactment of a U.S. climate bill (which would have raised the costs of fossil-fuel-generated electricity); and soaring reactor construction costs (with EDF’s current reactor 40 or 50 percent more expensive than originally billed).

Cancellation of Maryland Plant Delivers Double Whammy IEEE Spectrum: Bill Sweet , October 13, 2010 Continue reading →

October 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, EDF, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

UK nuclear industry teetering as two sites dropped from plan

“The apparent withdrawal of these two sites, in the heartland of the nuclear industry, is excellent news for local people”. – Jean McSorley

(UK) Greenfield sites dropped from list of new nuclear reactors, Two sites in Cumbria appear to have been dropped from the government’s list of proposed areas for new reactors Tim Webb * guardian.co.uk, 13 October 2010 The government has scrapped plans to build nuclear reactors on greenfield sites, according to documents seen by the Guardian, in the latest blow to the industry’s stuttering programme. Continue reading →

October 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

India will not change its Nuclear Liability Law to accomodate USA nuclear salesmen

they (the US) also know in a parliamentary system of democracy the bill becomes the law of the land…The minister was replying to questions on whether the government was planning amendments to the Civil Nuclear Liabilities law, which fixes stiff liabilities on suppliers in case of accidents,

Govt rules out any amendments in civil nuclear law, The Hindu, New Delhi, October 13, 2010 Government on Wednesday ruled out any amendments to the recently-enacted civil nuclear law to accommodate concerns of American companies on the issue of suppliers’ liability as a package during the coming visit of President Barack Obama to India next month. Continue reading →

October 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Did Stuxnet computer worm damage Iran’s uranium enrichment facility?

A sophisticated malworm such as Stuxnet could potentially include code that would cause uranium enriching centrifuges to explode under high pressure, or at a certain date. Did it actually do it? There were reports that Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at the Natanz facility was attacked by Stuxnet and sustained damage. An earlier report suggested that in 2009 that site suffered a serious nuclear accident that reduced the number of uranium enriching centrifuges by at least 25%. Was Stuxnet the reason?

A Cyber War Against Iran: Whodunit?, THE HUFFINGTON POST, by Haggai Carmon:, 13 Oct 10, The Iranians are frantically looking for those responsible for infecting their nuclear and industrial facilities with Stuxnet, an extremely sophisticated and dangerous viral computer malworm………… Continue reading →

October 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, Uranium, weapons and war | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear regulators cutting corners on safety, just as oil regulators did

another case of regulators cutting corners to accommodate industry’s needs, just as the now-renamed and revamped Minerals and Management Service did for the oil and gas industry before the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Nuclear watchdog groups say corners cut on fire safety, Politics AP – MiamiHerald.com, By RENEE SCHOOF 14 Oct 10, WASHINGTON — Nuclear watchdog groups say that an internal report by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on fire safety at nuclear plants shows that regulators don’t have enough information to know whether its new fire rules will ensure safety…… Continue reading →

October 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Just how much is President Obama beholden to the nuclear industry?

President Barack Obama has called for an increase to $54 billion in loan guarantees. The U.S. needs a “new generation of clean, safe nuclear power plants,” Obama said in his State of the Union address Jan. 27. …
The administration must weigh its support for nuclear power against limiting the risk that taxpayers will be stuck with the bill should a nuclear utility default,

Constellation Nuclear-Loan Pullout Tests Obama Resolve to Revive Industry, Bloomberg, By Jim Snyder and Katarzyna Klimasinska – Oct 13, 2010 A U.S. loan-guarantee program is testing how much risk the Obama administration is willing to take to revive the nuclear-power industry. Continue reading →

October 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Demolition of nuclear reactor – cost not mentioned

Westinghouse Begins Demolition of Retired Test Reactor Outer Structure at Waltz Mill Site Nuclear Power Industry News – , Oct 12 2010 – Edited By Chris Reed -Westinghouse Electric Company announced last week it has begun the demolition and removal of the retired test reactor outer structure at its Waltz Mill facility here. This project is part of the site’s continued remediation plans, which include decontamination or removal of structures and areas used as part of test reactor operations conducted from 1959 to 1962.
The test reactor vessel was previously removed in 2000; the remaining structure, a large, white-domed containment building used to house the test reactor, is not needed for current site operations.