New Nukes
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano told a meeting to discuss the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that more than 60 countries were considering using nuclear power to generate electricity. He said between 10 and 25 new countries were expected to bring their first nuclear power plants online by 2030.
Reuters 4th May 2010 more >>
Nukes vs Wind
Capital costs for a nuclear power plant amount to about 3,000 pounds per kilowatt of capacity according to IPA Energy + Water Economics, an economic consultant in London. That’s about the same as for offshore wind. It’s double the price for onshore turbines and five times what a gas-fired plant would cost. Those estimates don’t include fuel costs. Caldecott said wind power could lead to cheaper bills over the life of a plant if the cost of fuel is factored in because imported fossil fuels have “volatile prices.” Brown’s Labour Party plans to spend 60 million pounds upgrading ports to smooth fabrication of wind turbines offshore. The Liberal Democrats have said they’d direct 400 million pounds to improve those facilities. The Conservatives haven’t announced specific spending on ports. In March, General Electric Co. said it would build a new plant in Britain to make offshore wind turbines, and Clipper Windpower Plc in February started work on a factory to make offshore turbine blades. Siemens AG is also studying whether to build a new wind-power facility in the U.K. They’ve said they’d only invest if the government follows through with the cash promised cash for ports.
Business Week 5th May 2010 more >>
Companies
The nuclear industry is a family affair for a new Cumbrian engineering company. Father-and-son team Geoff and Richard Tubman, along with and Geoff’s niece Lynne Thornton have launched Numech – Nuclear and Mechanical Services Ltd – from their premises in Stanley Street, Workington. And they hope the growth of the nuclear industry in west Cumbria will provide them with plenty of business.
Cumberland News 5th May 2010 more >>
Energy Supplies
Britain faces a medium risk of disruption to its energy supplies in the future, according to new research. The energy security of the eurozone’s largest economies is highly vulnerable in the short term, with Italy at “extreme” risk, global analysts Maplecroft said. Over the long term, all eight Middle Eastern members of Opec are at high risk because of their dependence on fossil fuels and failure to invest in alternative energy sources, the research found. Maplecroft’s Energy Security Risk Index ranked countries based on factors such as their reliance on oil and gas, the security of the sources of their energy imports and their future growth.
Independent 6th May 2010 more >>
Nuclear Research
Rolls-Royce is to open two nuclear technology centres at Imperial College London and the University of Manchester to focus on material properties, modelling of processes in nuclear plants and safety and reliability, with applications in both civil nuclear power and submarines.
FT 6th May 2010 more >>
Sizewell
The next wave of nuclear power plants will all have a major impact on carbon emissions. The challenge for the region’s businesses will be to tap into the huge markets these developments will throw up. Caroline Williams, chief executive at Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, said: “There is no doubt whatsoever that the economy and sustainability are among the biggest challenges facing businesses in Norfolk and across the UK in 2010.
Eastern Daily Press 5th May 2010 more >>
Oldbury
LIBERAL Democrat leader Nick Clegg says his party would scrap a planned nuclear power station near Bristol and guarantee an electrified rail link to London. He said that halting the next generation of nuclear power plants, which includes a new reactor planned for Oldbury, would allow any public money indirectly spent on them to be directed towards creating 100,000 jobs in green industries.
This is Bristol 5th May 2010 more >>
Radhealth
In December 2007, a team of German epidemiologists reported a 220 per cent increase in leukaemia amongst children living within 5km of nuclear power stations in Germany. They also showed that the closer the children were to each of the 16 reactors, the higher the risk of contacting all types of cancer, especially leukaemia. The media frenzy and public outcry that followed in Germany was understandable. Whereas previous studies around the world had indicated a possible link between childhood leukaemias and proximity to nuclear power stations, the findings from this research were unequivocal and absolute. What’s more, the work was paid for by the German government.
Institute of Engineering & Technology 16th Apr 2010 more >>
Radiation Free Lakeland have issued a warning following the death of a scrap metal worker in India. The Lakes-based campaigners say the radiation related death of the Indian worker raises concerns for the people of Cumbria.
Get Noticed Online 5th May 2010 more >>
Nuclear Production
Annual generation of nuclear power has continued on a slight downward trend, decreasing 2% last year to 2558 TWh, according to the latest estimates.
World Nuclear News 5th May 2010 more >>
Terror
Perhaps we ought to be concerned a bit less with Mr. Shahzad, a failed terrorist now in custody, and significantly more with Sharif Mobley a New Jersey native, a former high school wrestler and, until shortly before he moved to Yemen to allegedly join Al Qaeda, a maintenance worker at five nuclear power plants along the East Coast.
New York Times 5th May 2010 more >>
Electric Cars
Adverts claiming Renault’s new fleet of electric cars reduced CO2 emissions by 90% have been banned in Britain. The small print pointed out this was due to the French average electric mix, which gets a much larger amount of its power from Nuclear than the UK.
Edie 5th May 2010 more >>
Nuclear Ships
Nuclear-powered deepsea containerships that would only need re-fuelling every five years or so could eventually replace today’s conventional oil-dependent vessels.
International Freighting Weekly 5th May 2010 more >>
France and Iran
Letter from David Lowry: Your leading article excoriates Iran for its atomic ambitions, but overlooks one important aspect. France – a member of the UN Security Council-backed six-nation negotiating group on Iran – is severely compromised by its own international atomic engagements with Iran, providing a complex conundrum. Paris has had a complicated commercial involvement with Tehran on uranium enrichment technology development the very technology at the centre of the stand-off for more than 35 years. In 1974 France signed an agreement with Iran that created a company called Sofidif, which is still trading. In 1975 Sofidif took up a 25 per cent share in the international Eurodif consortium that built a large uranium enrichment facility in Pierrelatte in the South of France. Sofidif still exists, still holds the same share in Eurodif and is still active and the Iranian state atomic energy organisation still has a representative on the Sofidif board. I wonder if this was raised with President Sarkozy during his recent White House dinner with President Obama?
Times 5th May 2010
The Times, letters, May 5, 2010 more >>
Iran
Iran’s president has agreed in principle to accept Brazil as mediator on a deal for providing it with nuclear fuel, Fars news agency reports. The proposed UN-backed international deal to swap Iran’s low enriched uranium for high-enriched nuclear fuel broke down earlier this year. The idea was to ensure Iran had nuclear fuel for medical purposes, while reducing its bomb-building potential. Iran denies international claims it is trying to develop atomic weapons.
BBC 5th May 2010 more >>
Japan
Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency says it has restarted a controversial nuclear reactor, more than 14 years after its operations were suspended. A spokesman for the agency said work began at the plutonium-fired reactor in the northern fishing town of Tsuruga after the government gave the go-ahead. The facility, called Monju, was shut down in 1995 following a fire.
BBC 6th May 2010 more >>
A new company should be formed later this year to support Japanese exports of nuclear power technology and knowledge. The Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (Meti) has agreed to set up the firm with involvement from utilities the Tokyo, Chubu and Kansai electric power companies as well as with reactor vendors Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The Innovation Network of Japan – a joint venture of government and industry – may also join. The move is seen as a reaction to South Korea’s success in exporting to the United Arab Emirates and directed towards winning new nuclear contracts with the emerging nuclear countries of south-east Asia.
World Nuclear News 5th May 2010 more >>
North Korea
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il, arrived in Beijing today , South Korean media said for talks likely to focus on propping up his country’s shaky economy. China, North Korea’s main benefactor, is also likely to urge Kim to return to nuclear disarmament talks that he abandoned last year. Kim’s last visit to China in 2006 brought promises of economic cooperation between the two neighbours, and vows from the North Korean leader to seek progress towards “denuclearisation”. But both goals have stalled.
Guardian 6th May 2010 more >>
US
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) expects to receive the first design certification requests for small modular reactors from 2012, Chairman Gregory Jaczko told a Senate subcommittee dealing with clean air and nuclear safety today.
Argus Media 5th May 2010 more >>
Malaysia
MALAYSIA’S government hopes to construct the country’s first nuclear power station by 2021. Peter Chin, Malaysia’s minister for energy, green technology and water, says that the country’s Economic Council has given the go-ahead for the ministry to begin the search for suitable sites for a nuclear power station, although it is expected that it will be 12–15 years before commercially viable power is produced.
Chemical Engineer 5th May 2010 more >>
China
EDF has signed agreements with China National Nuclear Corporation and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Company (CGNPC) to become a partner in China’s nuclear programme. The agreement is intended to strengthen the engineering collaboration between the companies, which started with the construction of the nuclear plants of Daya Bay and Ling Ao in Guangdong Province. This agreement will see increased liaison between the two groups, particularly in the fields of training, project management and R&D.
Modern Power Systems 5th May 2010 more >>
Disarmament
Following the opening of the UN Nuclear Disarmament Summit yesterday in New York, international trade union representatives will today hand over a petition for nuclear disarmament signed by more than 6.7 million workers to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The web- and paper-based petition, “No to Nuclear Weapons”, is the result of campaign action led by the ITUC, its Japanese affiliate RENGO and Global Union Federation UNI.
Scoop 4th May 2010 more >>
Germany made the very encouraging declaration to the assembly that they want to see NATO endorsed US nuclear weapons stationed there to be removed, a measure that would certainly build confidence for further US-Russian negotiations. Disappointingly however, so far the Nuclear Weapons States have offered nothing new to the usual rhetoric of preventing non-proliferation and justifying their retention of nuclear arms on the grounds of national security. China, whilst emphasizing their no-first use policy against non-Nuclear Weapons States, said they would keep a minimum number of weapons necessary to maintain a credible deterrent.
Ekklesia 5th May 2010 more >>
The need has “doubled” to create a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East as Britain, Russia and the United States have done nothing to carry out a 1995 pledge to set it up, Egypt told a UN conference here Wednesday.
Middle East Online 5th May 2010 more >>
