Industry News
Next Up in Nuclear: Small Modular Reactors
The Obama administration’s next move in boosting energy techonlogy will be nearly $500 million in support of small modular reactors. Individually, these nuclear reactors would produce less energy than traditional reactors, but could be used more flexibly and operate more efficiently. Here’s what to know about the next thing in nuclear.
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In Defense of Nuclear Energy (24 January 2012)
It seems fortuitous that just one year after the worst nuclear disaster the world has experienced in decades, hearings to decide the future of the nuclear power plant at Indian Point, New York are scheduled to take place. The licenses of the plant’s two reactors are set to expire in 2013 and 2015. Their possible renewal has sparked new debate weighing the virtues of nuclear energy.
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Hyperion Power Generation (23 January 2012)
DENVER, CO January 23, 2012 - Hyperion Power Generation Inc. (HPG) announced today that it will respond to the Department of Energy's request for comments on the recently released draft Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for Small Modular Reactors.
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Energy Department takes first step to spur US manufacturing of small modular nuclear reactors (20 January 2012)
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the first step toward manufacturing small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in the United States, demonstrating the Administration’s commitment to advancing U.S. manufacturing leadership in low-carbon, next generation energy technologies and restarting the nation’s nuclear industry. Through the draft Funding Opportunity Announcement announced today, the Department will establish cost-shared agreements with private industry to support the design and licensing of SMRs.
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Are tiny nuclear reactors the power plant of the future?
They’re easy and cheap to build, ostensibly safer, and more portable: A fleet of small nuclear reactors about the size of a train car might be what powers us in the future.
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Opinion today: Nuclear fears result from many half-truths (12 January 2012)
Howard Weaver, of Mexico, writes about people need to stop scaring the public with half-truths about nuclear plants in the Readers' Page of today's Post-Standard.
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Top ten stories of 2011 (19 December 2011)
It’s time again for our cover on the top ten stories of the year. In some years, it is difficult to pick the top story of the year. Unfortunately, that is not the case this year.
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Nuclear power is a key part of SA's future (09 December 2011)
A reliable supply of affordable electricity is a key component of a strong and successful economy for any modern country competing in global markets. It is a prerequisite for growth and development, especially for emerging economies such as South Africa's.
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Bill Gates developing safer kind of nuclear reactor with China (08 December 2011)
``The idea is to be very low cost, very safe and generate very little waste,'' said the billionaire during a talk at China's Ministry of Science and Technology.
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Could small nukes be the energy answer? (05 December 2011)
Federal agencies eye small reactors to cut greenhouse gas emissions
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There's power in that waste (04 December 2011)
A team of engineers have developed a machine that munches garbage and turns it into fuel.
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Wind and solar power far too expensive (03 December 2011)
The Media's self-styled commitment to "the right to know" is very selective. When it comes to disclosing what people could have to pay for power generated from "renewables", the media has no interest.
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Emerging states try to end coal addiction with nuclear (02 December 2011)
DURBAN – South Africa, the host of UN global climate talks, is faced with a conundrum – it wants to wean itself off of coal-powered plants seen as primate culprits of greenhouse gas emissions and find a cleaner energy source.
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Modular Nuclear Power Units offer advantages, Dan Ervin (01 December 2011)
In the national debate over alternative energy sources, nuclear power stands out as clean, reliable and productive.
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Nuclear power seen as climate change mitigation option (01 December)
Mitigation improvements derived from nuclear energy and hydropower could contribute more to reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than what Annex 1 countries could achieve under the Kyoto Protocol in the next year, International Atomic Energy Agency head of planning and economic studies Holger Rogner said on Wednesday.
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Any new disaster could spell the end of nuclear industry – economist (01 December 2011)
The Fukushima Daiichi disaster that struck Japan in March following a major earthquake and tsunami would slow nuclear power growth and another big accident could mean the end of nuclear as a long-term energy option, despite the relative safety of the technology, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency principal economist Jan Keppler said this week.
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Nuclear the best bet (29 November 2011)
David le Page (Stop giving the government a free pass on nuclear power, November 25) falls into the trap of assuming that nuclear and renewable energy are alternatives.
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SA sets up nuclear oversight body, to name participants ‘in due course’ (28 November 2011)
The South African government has confirmed the establishment of a body known as the National Nuclear Energy Executive Coordination Committee (NNEECC) to “lead, monitor, and ensure oversight” of the implementation of the country’s nuclear energy policy. However, the identities of those appointed to the committee have not yet been disclosed.
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R1tn nuclear tender raises graft fears (24 November 2011)
Concern is mounting about the government's planned R1-trillion nuclear power station tender, with opposition parties demanding reassurances from Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe that the tender will not be "mired in corruption" like the R70-billion arms deal.
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Committee to monitor nuclear programme (14 November 2011)
The high-level National Nuclear Energy Executive Co-ordination Committee that the Cabinet approved last week is meant to monitor the planned nuclear expansion programme, according to the Department of Energy
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Residents use radioactive mud as an acne cure (12 November 2011)
Experts warn old mine dumps could cause birth defects and brain disorders
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Energy Costs Will Rise ‘Viciously’ Without Atomic Power, IEA Outlook Says (09 November 2011)
“If we do not have an international legally binding agreement soon, and if it doesn’t give a boost to a major investment wave of clean energy technologies by 2017, the door to 2 degrees will be closed forever,” Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist in Paris, said in an interview yesterday.
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A New Nuclear Age: Thorium Powered Nuclear Plant to be Built in India (07 November 2011)
The Guardian in the UK is reporting that India has started the process of building the world’s newest thorium fueled prototype nuclear power plant. As prototypes go, this is a big one with a proposed rating at 300MW or about 30% of a customary 1GW uranium fueled station. This commitment deserves congratulations. Finally thorium has a toehold on the world power generation markets and its far less worrisome than a uranium solution.
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Scrapping wind farms in favour of nuclear and gas will save each of us £550 (07 November 2011)
Shelving expensive wind farms in favour of cheaper nuclear and gas-fired power stations would save every Briton almost £550, it is claimed.
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Evaluation of first renewable-energy project bids begins as first deadline closes (05 November 2011)
The evaluation of the first bids received under South Africa’s tender for the procurement of 3 725 MW of renewable energy capacity from independent power producers (IPP) would begin during the “coming week”, the Department of Energy (DoE) revealed at the weekend, after the first bid window closed at midday on Friday.
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Faster synthesis of fluorine radioisotope imaging agents (03 November 2011)
A palladium-containing fluorination reagent can be used to quickly synthesise aromatic molecules labelled with fluorine-18, a positron emitter used in molecular imaging. The electrophilic reactions catalysed by the palladium compound allow fluorination to be carried out at a late-stage in the synthesis of positron emission tomography (PET) tracers, reducing the loss of radioactivity before use. The unstable isotope, with a half life of just 110 minutes, is generated in a cyclotron by proton bombardment of water enriched with oxygen-18 and needs to be used in clinical settings as fast as possible.
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India plans 'safer' nuclear plant powered by thorium
Use of relatively low-carbon, low-radioactivity thorium instead of uranium may be breakthrough in energy generation
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SA nuclear power programme closer to R400bn – DG (25 October 2011)
South Africa’s nuclear power procurement programme would cost about R400-billion and not R1-trillion, Department of Energy director-general Nelisiwe Magubane said on Tuesday.
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Environmentalist supports nuclear power (23 October 2011)
As a life-long environmentalist and ecologist interested in pursuing environmentally sustainable policies, I attended the Governor's Energy Conference in Richmond last week. My perspective on the subject is somewhat unusual. I was a founding member of Greenpeace and served for nine years as president of Greenpeace Canada and seven years as a director of Greenpeace International. My academic training is in forest biology, with a doctorate in ecology. Yes, I am a passionate environmentalist, but one who professes a balance of environmental, social and economic priorities.
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India Wants South African Uranium (19 October 2011)
India hopes to acquire uranium from South Africa, which is party to a treaty that bars signatories from conducting nuclear trade with states that do not have a full-scale safeguards agreement in place with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Indo-Asian News Service reported on Tuesday (see GSN, Oct. 13).
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S.Africa nuclear bid could be worth $125.7 bln: minister (19 October 2011)
PARIS (Reuters) - South African Energy Minister Dipuo Peters confirmed that a tender proposal for construction of 9,600 megawatts of nuclear power by 2030, currently under review by the cabinet, could be worth at least 1 trillion rand.
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Nuclear projects not necessarily less job rich than renewables - Peters (11 October 2011)
Energy Minister Dipuo Peters says the Department of Energy (DoE) will seek to take full advantage of the jobs potential within the broad portfolio of technologies outlined in the Integrated Resource Plan 2010 (IRP2010) and has dismissed the argument that a possible nuclear roll-out would result in fewer jobs than would be the case should that capacity be replaced by renewable energy projects.
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No process in motion for new SA nuclear plants (10 October 2011)
Cape Town, South Africa --- ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 10 October 2011 - The South African Department of Energy has confirmed that reports of a tender process being underway for the construction of six new nuclear power plants in the country “are factually incorrect.”
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South Africa to Respond to $126 Billion Nuclear Bid Report (07 October 2011)
Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa will respond today to a report it's poised to seek bids for a record 1 trillion rand ($126 billion) tender to build six nuclear plants by 2030.
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AREVA RESPONSES TO M&G QUESTIONS
1. U.S. diplomatic cables (“Wikileaks”) between 2007-2009 depict Areva as having “French government support ... a network of partnerships ...[and] strong political connections [in South Africa]” which gave it the edge over Westinghouse in the political lobbying process for the first nuclear tender. The cables suggest Areva was able to skillfully negotiate the transfer of political power from Thabo Mbeki to Jacob Zuma, and its lobbying and political influence are central to the company’s bid for the new nuclear build tender. Please comment.
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Battle for South Africa's R1-trillion nuclear contract (07 October 2011)
South Africa is poised to issue the largest tender in its history -- an estimated one-trillion-rand contract to build six new nuclear reactors by 2030.
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No decision yet on nuclear power plants
THE government on Saturday said it had not made a decision yet on the numbers of nuclear power stations that will be built or which vendors would be used for such projects.
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SA mulls R1 trillion nuclear tender
South Africa may solicit binds worth 1 trillion rand ($125.1 billion) for the construction of six nuclear power plants by 2030, the Mail & Guardian newspaper reported, citing unnamed government and industry sources.
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Small scale nuclear could stimulate African development (06 October 2011)
Nuclear power is the most reliable and sustainable source of electricity to power economic development into the future, Stratek Business Strategy Consultants CEO, nuclear physicist Dr Kelvin Kemm said on Thursday at a presentation hosted by combustion and energy systems firm Saacke.
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What is the Benefit of Nuclear Energy? (22 September 2011)
There is more than one benefit to nuclear energy. The questions that swirl around nuclear energy are concerned with comparing the benefits to the potential harm the failure of a nuclear reaction might cause.
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Nigeria seeks electricity from nuclear power (16 September 2011)
NIGERIAN President Goodluck Jonathan revived the country’s Atomic Energy Commission yesterday, urging members to push ahead with plans to develop nuclear power in Africa’s most populous nation.
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RON DERBY: Nuclear dithering makes third coal plant inevitable (16 September 2011)
What Energy Minister Dipuo Peters didn’t say yesterday — when she said SA is postponing the building of nuclear power plants for a year
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IAEA still sees "significant" nuclear energy growth (12 September 2011)
The U.N. atomic agency still expects significant growth in the global use of nuclear power over the next two decades, despite a slowdown in the wake of Japan's Fukushima accident, its head said on Monday.
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UPDATE 1-S.Africa to build new nuclear plants (15 September 2011)
South African energy minister Dipuo Peters said on Thursday she had signed off on a proposal for new nuclear power plants which will go to cabinet soon.
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Profitable today, competitive tomorrow (14 September 2011)
Nuclear and gas will compete to provide future baseload power generation in Europe, as standard coal-fired power plants will no longer be profitable, the latest study by the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) on electricity prices concludes.
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Eskom Says ‘Firm Commitment’ Needed for South Africa’s 2023 Nuclear Plan (06 September 2011)
South Africa needs to make a “firm commitment” now on building additional nuclear reactors to get new capacity online in 2023, said Kannan Lakmeeharan, divisional executive for power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s delivery unit.
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Nuclear research paralysis in SA despite nuclear build programme (19 August 2011)
The announcement of the closure of the pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) project has affected the prominence given to high-temperature nuclear research in South Africa, leading to the shunning of such research, despite interest and funding from international countries and organisations seeking to develop the technology, says North West University (NWU) Postgraduate School for Nuclear Science and Engineering director Professor Eben Mulder.
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Don't count out nuclear just yet (16 August 2011)
As harrowing as the Fukushima debacle has been, it hasn't dimmed the hopes of nuclear technologists, suppliers and manufacturers. In fact, it may even have helped them.
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Eskom signs uranium deal with Russia (15 August 2011)
POWER utility Eskom yesterday signed a long-term contract with Russian state uranium trader Tenex to supply enriched uranium, according to the head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, which owns Tenex.
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An all-round nuclear vision (05 August 2011)
The head of Russia's state nuclear energy company has been given a demonstration of how virtual reality is being used in the development of new reactor models and in planning new plant sites.
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South African Nuclear Generation Will Be State-run - Minister (01 August 2011)
JOHANNESBURG--South Africa will diversify its energy base to include nuclear energy and generation will be run by the state, said the minister of public enterprises Monday.
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SA moving towards nuclear energy says Minister (01 August 2011)
South Africa is moving towards nuclear energy, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba has said.
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