News August 2017

Oman has agreed to invest up to $120m in a uranium mine in Spain, at a time when energy-rich Gulf States are looking closer at nuclear power. The sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Oman has an option to acquire 37 per cent of Berkeley Energia, which is developing the Salamanca mine about three hours west of Madrid. It will also have the right to uranium supply from the mine, known as an offtake. The money will allow London and Australia-listed Berkeley Energia to finish construction of the mine, which is due to start production in 2019. The move comes as Gulf governments invest more in alternative energy as they look to move away from domestic oil production. The Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the United Arab Emirates is due to start suppl ying electricity next year. It is the country’s first nuclear power plant. The deal is subject to shareholder approval. But any supply from the mine to Oman will need the approval of Euratom, the pan-European body that regulates the use of nuclear energy. Uranium prices have fallen to their lowest levels in more than a decade as many governments have scaled back their nuclear power programmes following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. But nuclear proponents say in order to meet global climate change goals as well as power electric cars cleanly, nuclear power will have to be an option.

FT 30th Aug 2017 read more »

For the second time in a week, Duke Energy has canceled a planned nuclear project. Duke said Tuesday it’s dropping plans to build the proposed Levy Nuclear Plant on Florida’s Gulf Coast. That’s after it canceled plans for the W.S. Lee nuclear plant in South Carolina last Friday. The company had won federal construction and operating licenses for both plants in late 2016, though it had not started construction. Spokeswoman Ann Marie Varga said up until last year, Duke considered Levy a viable option. But that was before the project’s lead contractor, Westinghouse, filed for bankruptcy, and troubles surfaced at other projects. “As a result of the Toshiba-Westinghouse bankruptcy, Westinghouse and Toshiba will no longer construct and support new nuclear projects such as Levy,” Varga said. Varga says cost overruns and delays at two other Westinghouse projects in South Carolina and Georgia and slowing energy demand also were factors. As part of Tuesday’s announcement, Duke unveiled plans to spend $6 billion in Florida – building solar farms, installing electric vehicle charging stations, and improving the electric grid. That came as part of a rate agreement with regulators, customers and environmental groups.

WFAE 29th Aug 2017 read more »

French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot reiterated on Wednesday that France will need to close several nuclear reactors in order to meet a target to cut the share of atomic energy in power generation to 50 percent by 2025. Hulot, who said in July France will need to close up to 17 of its 58 reactors, did not specify a number, but said that the Fessenheim plant – long earmarked as a closure candidate – would be among them.

Reuters 30th Aug 2017 read more »

Bulgaria has started building a radioactive waste repository near the country’s only nuclear power plant on the Danube River. Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova on Tuesday called the project at Kozlodui “extremely important for the development of nuclear energy in Bulgaria.” The low- and mid-level radioactive waste that will go into the repository comes mainly from the decommissioning of four old nuclear reactors. Bulgaria shut the four Soviet-era reactors at Kozlodui over safety concerns and as a precondition for joining the European Union in 2007. The country has two Russian-built reactors remaining at Kozlodui. The repository is scheduled to start operating in 2021.

ABC News 29th Aug 2017 read more »

World Nuclear News 30th Aug 2017 read more »

Euractiv 30th Aug 2017 read more »