Tuesday, November 16, 2010

NATO eyes 'fresh start' with Russia

China, India, Russia vow to deepen cooperationBeijing (AFP) Nov 15, 2010 - The foreign ministers of developing giants China, India and Russia pledged on Monday to step up cooperation in trade, energy and geopolitical affairs including climate change. The pledges were made in a joint communique after two days of meetings in the central Chinese city of Wuhan by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Russian and Indian counterparts Sergei Lavrov and S.M. Krishna. The communique also said China, India and Russia had deepened cooperation on international and regional issues during the talks, but stressed that such cooperation would not target "any other country". The foreign ministers said they supported a "multi-polar, equitable and democratic world order" and expressed their commitment to the use of "multilateral instruments" for finding solutions to global and regional issues.

China and Russia are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a grouping of mostly central Asian states that many view as a bid by China and Russia to counter global US influence. India is an observer country in the body. They also pledged to further explore potential cooperation in energy, high-tech sectors, innovation, aerospace, cultural exchanges and disaster relief, the communique said, without providing details. Noting that the global recovery remained "uneven, fragile and unbalanced", the three ministers called for worldwide coordinated efforts to promote "strong, sustainable and balanced" growth and oppose "all forms of protectionism". Russia's entry to the World Trade Organisation also received backing at the foreign ministers' meeting from China and India, already members of the global trade body. WTO chief Pascal Lamy said last month that Russia's 17-year membership bid was accelerating after significant progress in recent weeks.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/NATO_eyes_fresh_start_with_Russia_999.html Brussels (AFP) Nov 15, 2010 NATO will launch a "fresh start" with Russia this week with a deal to step up collaboration on Afghanistan and efforts to end suspicion over a European missile shield, the alliance's chief said Monday. NATO leaders meeting in Lisbon on Friday and Saturday are expected to endorse a plan to mount a missile shield that will defend Europe from ballistic missiles and invite Russia to join the system.
At a separate summit in the Portuguese capital, NATO and Russia are also expected to reach an agreement on their first ever joint review of common security threats and deepen their cooperation on Afghanistan.
"I think we are witnessing a fresh start in the relationship between NATO and Russia and maybe I could go further and say a fresh start in the relationship between Russia and the West," Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference.
"I think this is of huge strategic importance," he said.
The Western military alliance has made intense efforts to convince Russia that the system was not aimed against the former Soviet power but rather to counter threats from other countries armed with ballistic missiles.
Russia was deeply concerned about a previous US plan to install anti-missile systems in eastern Europe, but NATO wants to ease Russian concerns by inviting Moscow to join a new project.
"We will decide at the NATO-Russia summit in Lisbon to initiate a joint analysis as to how missile defence cooperation could be implemented," Rasmussen said.
"Cooperation would clearly demonstrate that this system is not directed against Russia," he said.

Top US officials urged START treaty ratification

Two top officials from the administration of President Barack Obama urged members of the US Senate to ratify the START treaty with Russia, saying US national security depended on it. "The New START Treaty also deserves prompt ratification. Our national security depends on it," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in The Washington Post.
The treaty -- signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Obama at an elaborate ceremony in Prague in April -- restricts each nation to a maximum of 1,550 deployed warheads, a cut of about 30 percent from a limit set in 2002.
The agreement, a top Obama foreign policy initiative, replaces a previous accord that lapsed in December 2009 and also requires ratification by Russia's lower house, the Duma.
Republicans have said they need to be sure that the US nuclear arsenal will be modernized and that the treaty will not hamper US missile defense efforts -- but some acknowledged privately that they did not want to hand Obama a major diplomatic victory before the elections.
Clinton and Gates said the treaty would create a more stable, predictable and cooperative relationship between the world's two leading nuclear powers.
"We will be able to count the number of deployed strategic weapons more accurately, because we will exchange more data on weapons and their movement than in the past," Clinton and Gates wrote.
"New START will also set the stage for future arms reductions, including negotiations on tactical nuclear weapons," they argued.
"It will help solidify the 'reset' of U.S. relations with Russia, which has allowed us to cooperate in pursuit of our strategic interests."http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Top_US_officiald_urged_START_treaty_ratification_999.html

S.Korea voices concern at N.Korea nuclear report

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/SKorea_voices_concern_at_NKorea_nuclear_report_999.html Seoul (AFP) Nov 15, 2010 South Korea said Monday it could not confirm a report that North Korea is building a light-water nuclear reactor, but that any such move would run counter to disarmament hopes. A US scientist who travelled to the North last week said Saturday he had been told by officials there that work has started on such a reactor.
"They were saying that they are constructing a small experimental light-water reactor (at Yongbyon), eventually of the size of about 25 to 30 megawatts," Siegfried Hecker said in footage carried by Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
Light-water reactors are generally used for civilian nuclear purposes. Experts say it is relatively difficult to extract plutonium from them to make atomic weapons.
Some Seoul analysts say the North may be stressing its overall atomic expertise in hopes of prodding the United States into resuming stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.
Foreign ministry spokesman Kim Young-Sun said the South has no information on its neighbour's capabilities in light-water reactors.
However, Kim said the project, if confirmed, "would be going contrary to expectations from members of the six-party talks and the international community."
The North promised to give up all nuclear weapons and nuclear-related programmes in a 2005 six-party agreement, Kim said.
"It is important for the North to sincerely carry out the promise and international obligations for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula."
The North quit the talks in April 2009 and staged its second nuclear test a month later.
In recent months it has expressed conditional willingness to resume talks, but in return it wants a lifting of sanctions and a US commitment to hold separate talks on a peace treaty.
The United States says the North must show willingness to denuclearise and mend ties with South Korea before the six-party talks can resume.
In 1994 the United States reached an agreement with the North Korea under which several countries were to build it two light-water reactors to generate electricity.
In return, the North was to shut down its plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon.
The deal broke down in 2002. The light-water reactors were never completed and the North restarted its original reactor.

Uncertainty on New START By: Peter Buxbaum | ISN Security Watch

As a "lame duck" session of the US Congress convenes this week, the White House is trying to ram the strategic nuclear treaty through the US Senate – but opponents are pushing back, for reasons of politics and policy.
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/ISN-Insights/Detail?lng=en&id=122086&contextid734=122086&contextid735=122083&tabid=122083

Saudi economists call Fed move ‘golden opportunity’ to de-peg By SARAH ABDULLAH | ARAB NEWS

Saudi economists call Fed move ‘golden opportunity’ to de-peg

By SARAH ABDULLAH | ARAB NEWS

Published: Nov 12, 2010 23:51 Updated: Nov 12, 2010 23:51
JEDDAH: With the US Federal Reserve’s recent decision to pump $600 billion into its economy as a stimulus to ward off increasing recessionary pressures, the question of whether Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states should keep their pegs to the US dollar has again taken center stage.
Voicing their opinions on the issue, several economists have come forward, calling the current turn of events, “a golden opportunity” to de-peg. They state that the US economy is experiencing an economic crisis and progressive weakening with economists fearing that future repercussions will include higher inflation rates in the Kingdom matching those of 2008.
“The time has come to lift the peg,” said Abdulrahman Al Saneh, professor of economics at the CBA in Jeddah, in an interview with Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, a sister publication of Arab News. “This is a golden opportunity to de-peg before the dollar’s expected decline forecast over the next six months.”
He maintained that the recent move by the US Federal Reserve is a temporary fix that will not resolve the crisis. Nonetheless he did add that the present stimulus will have a temporary positive effect on the Saudi riyal and other currencies pegged to it by increasing the purchasing power of the dollar and give a slight boost to the currencies linked to it.
“The recent stimulus will also have a temporary effect in helping to stabilize inflation in the Kingdom currently at 6 percent, but does not mean that the opportunity to de-peg should be ignored.” Al-Saneh said.
On the other hand, Turki Fadak, a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), stressed appropriate action needs to be carried out in light of the Fed’s stimulus plan.
“Steps need to be taken to reduce any negative effects of the recent actions of the US Federal Reserve. This can be done by purchasing bonds and increasing the level of exports following a revaluation of the Saudi riyal from 3.75 to 3.00 against the US dollar,” Fadak said, adding that beyond these measures de-pegging needs to be considered to curb rising inflation.
He further stated that the Fed’s actions will have not only a domestic impact within the US but also global implications that can lead to dollar depreciation in the short to medium term. This will cause other currencies to have to work harder to raise the price of their currencies against the dollar followed by a rise in the prices of dollar-denominated commodities such as oil and minerals on the global market, in addition to raising prices of imports from Europe and Asia.
“Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports are not large compared to other countries. Because our exports are small and we have few things to ship outside and with all of our products pegged to the US dollar, this helps the US market but has a negative effect on Saudi markets as competition increases in response to a weak dollar,” he said, adding that he expects gold prices to reach $1,500 before year’s end.
Agreeing Salem Bajaja, professor of accounting at the University of Taif, has said that he expects the recession to continue globally and locally effecting emerging currencies and causing them to raise and lower exports due to eroding purchasing power.
Bajaja advised de-pegging the riyal from the US dollar, tying it to a basket of currencies as an indication that the US is skeptical in restoring economic strength while speeding up the process of ratifying the GCC unified currency.
John Sfakianakis, chief economist of Banque Saudi Al Fransi, said the likelihood of the Kingdom de-peging its currency to the dollar is simply not in the forecast.
“In my opinion, I don’t believe Saudi Arabia or any of the Gulf States will choose to revalue or de-peg from the dollar as brought to light in 2007-2008,” Sfakianakis told Arab News.
He stated that the forces currently in play are not the same as those experienced in 2008 with Gulf States preoccupied with credit recovery and growth of the non-oil private sector.
“The inflation forecasts are not expected to reach double-digits through 2011, so there is no reason to de-peg. Gulf state economies are now more in sync with the US than in 2008 with today’s loose monetary policy serving both interests and upholding the viability of the Gulf dollar peg,” he said.
© 2010 Arab News

http://arabnews.com/economy/article188494.ece

Monday, November 15, 2010

Nuke waste panel in Texas votes to publish rules

MIDLAND, Texas — A commission overseeing low-level radioactive waste disposal in Texas voted Saturday to publish proposed rules that would guide the importation of nuclear waste from across the country for burial near the New Mexico line.
The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission voted 5-2 to publish the revised rules in the Texas Registry and allow for a 30-day comment period.
Bob Gregory, who voted against publishing the rules now, said he wanted a longer comment period and felt the commission was rushing.
"I am convinced that this is too much, too soon, too fast - if at all," Gregory said. "There are far too many questions remaining."
Commission Chairman Michael Ford disagreed, saying the panel has not moved too quickly and that the process has been thorough.
If the proposed rules are adopted, low-level radioactive waste from 36 other states will be dumped in a remote region of West Texas along with waste from Texas and Vermont, which make up the compact. Requests for importation would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/11/13/2628677/nuke-waste-panel-votes-to-publish.html#ixzz15N3B87ds

GOP, Reid headed for more conflict over Yucca, nuclear waste

WASHINGTON -- A new Republican majority in the House is poised to assert itself on nuclear waste matters in the upcoming Congress, with newly re-elected Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada set to guard again that the Yucca Mountain repository plan is not revived.
President Barack Obama with strong direction from Reid, the Senate majority leader, shut down the Nevada program once envisioned for burying 77,000 tons of highly radioactive used nuclear fuel and waste materials into the Nye County ridge, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

A blue ribbon commission that Obama established to study alternatives is expected to release a draft report next summer, with a final version due early in 2012. But there still is a twitch in the Yucca corpse. Two years ago the Department of Energy under President George W. Bush sought permission from government nuclear safety regulators to build out the Nevada site. Despite the change in White House leadership and policy, that application remains alive for now, if only on paper.
A variety of state leaders, congressional officials, energy consultants, environmental advocates and industry lobbyists said the ultimate fate of the Yucca program might be decided in the courts.
But in the meantime, they said, a stage is being set for low-grade conflict over the two years of the next congressional session, with a possible window for change opening when the blue ribbon commission issues its recommendations.
By the 2012 elections, the Nevada repository plan could be doornail-dead and long gone if a new nuclear waste management strategy emerges and gains consensus, or it could be poised for an attempted resurrection if one does not.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/gop--reid-headed-for-more-conflict-over-yucca--nuclear-waste-107602518.html?ref=518

Nuclear demand on hold Hill, president support power source, but economy lags

With political support now on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill, nuclear energy's long-awaited American "renaissance" is lacking one positive factor: the economy.
"The business environment is the principal driver," said Alex Flint of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), a Washington-base trade group. "How long is the recession going to last? When are we going to see the demand forecast pick up?"
The NEI's Steve Kerekes added: "The asterisk there is the impact of the recession. Electricity demand is still well below where it was in 2007."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/14/nuclear-demand-on-hold/

GE Executive Outlines Opportunity For Transformation Of US Energy Future

The evolution of a smarter power grid in the United States and the resulting impact it could have on the economy and environment were highlighted in a keynote address by GE's Bob Gilligan at the Advanced Energy 2010 Conference. Gilligan explained how even conservative adoptions of technology solutions could enable Americans to sustain and improve their energy-dependent lifestyles. "While revolutionary energy technologies are developed each day, the way we apply them to modernize and nurture our electrical infrastructure is really more of an evolution than a revolution," said Bob Gilligan, vice president-digital energy for GE Energy Services.
"What's important is taking steps today to lay the foundation for our growing energy appetite. We can then sustain ongoing efforts to improve our energy landscape."
Using conservative technology growth estimates, Gilligan laid out a scenario where the total U.S. energy consumption and emissions saved between 2010 and 2030 could exceed the entire electrical consumption and electrical CO2 output for all of 2010.i "The net result would be like 2010 never happened," he explained.
In addition to the energy and pollution savings, Gilligan's scenario saw the creation of 140,000 sustainable new jobs and an electrical landscape that includes 3.3 billion fewer customer outage minutes. These power reliability improvements could result in savings of $65.7 billion from reduced power interruptions by 2030.
Gilligan supported his call for an energy evolution with a bevy of facts about the future of energy, including:
+ Growing cities that will house more than 60 percent of the world's population and consume a vast majority of its power by 2030 cannot rely on an infrastructure designed a century ago
+ Global electricity demand is forecasted to increase 75 percent by 2030
+ Energy costs are increasing worldwide; US rates increased an average of 42 percent between 2000 and 2007
+ More than 40 percent of current environmental emissions are from electric generation
+ Approximately half of the transformer assets in the U.S. electrical infrastructure are at or approaching the end of their design life
"The good news is that we are not talking gloom and doom," Gilligan said.
"Our electrical future can be a story of potential, opportunity and global competitive advantage. With increased reliability, efficiency and sustainability, we'll be able to power traditional economic growth and be ready for the next generation of life-changing technology. We can do it by taking measured, affordable evolutionary steps. However, we, as a country, must act today."
Gilligan cited electric cars, along with increasing levels of wind and solar energy, as examples of technology-enabled advances on the not-too-distant horizon.http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/GE_Executive_Outlines_Opportunity_For_Transformation_Of_US_Energy_Future_999.html

Leaking Underground CO2 Storage Could Contaminate Drinking Water

This is not good news for coal

"The fear of drinking water contamination from CO2 leaks is one of several sticking points about CCS and has contributed to local opposition to it," says Jackson, who directs Duke's Center on Global Change.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Leaking_Underground_CO2_Storage_Could_Contaminate_Drinking_Water_999.html Durham NC (SPX) Nov 15, 2010 Leaks from carbon dioxide injected deep underground to help fight climate change could bubble up into drinking water aquifers near the surface, driving up levels of contaminants in the water tenfold or more in some places, according to a study by Duke University scientists. Based on a year-long analysis of core samples from four drinking water aquifers, "We found the potential for contamination is real, but there are ways to avoid or reduce the risk," says Robert B. Jackson, Nicholas Professor of Global Environmental Change and professor of biology at Duke.
"Geologic criteria that we identified in the study can help identify locations around the country that should be monitored or avoided," he says. "By no means would all sites be susceptible to problems of water quality."
Storing carbon dioxide deep below Earth's surface, a process known as geosequestration, is part of a suite of new carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies being developed by governments and industries worldwide to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions entering Earth's atmosphere.
The still-evolving technologies are designed to capture and compress CO2, emissions at their source - typically power plants and other industrial facilities - and transport the CO2 to locations where it can be injected far below the Earth's surface for long-term storage.
The U.S. Department of Energy, working with industry and academia, has begun the planning for at least seven regional CCS projects.
"The fear of drinking water contamination from CO2 leaks is one of several sticking points about CCS and has contributed to local opposition to it," says Jackson, who directs Duke's Center on Global Change.
"We examined the idea that if CO2 leaked out slowly from deep formations, where might it negatively impact freshwater aquifers near the surface, and why."
Jackson and his postdoctoral fellow Mark G. Little collected core samples from four freshwater aquifers around the nation that overlie potential CCS sites and incubated the samples in their lab at Duke for a year, with CO2 bubbling through them.
After a year's exposure to the CO2, analysis of the samples showed that "there are a number of potential sites where CO2 leaks drive contaminants up tenfold or more, in some cases to levels above the maximum contaminant loads set by the EPA for potable water," Jackson says.
Three key factors - solid-phase metal mobility, carbonate buffering capacity and electron exchanges in the overlying freshwater aquifer - were found to influence the risk of drinking water contamination from underground carbon leaks.
The study also identified four markers that scientists can use to test for early warnings of potential carbon dioxide leaks.
"Along with changes in carbonate concentration and acidity of the water, concentrations of manganese, iron and calcium could all be used as geochemical markers of a leak, as their concentration increase within two weeks of exposure to CO2," Jackson says.
The study was funded by the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory and Duke's Center on Global Change.
The study appears in the online edition of the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Nuclear Power Pros And Cons: Is It Key To America's Energy Future? (PHOTOS)

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/15/the-case-for-and-against-_n_781567.html#s178811

Nuclear Industry Can Lead a Revival in Skilled Labor and Manufacturing in the United States by Rod Adams

The Nuclear Energy Institute, the American Nuclear Society and the North American Young Generation in Nuclear have been investing time and money into focused workforce development programs for several years. The people leading the effort are taking the action to ensure that there are educated and trained people who are ready to meet the challenge of continuing to reliably operate and maintain our existing fleet of 104 nuclear reactors at the same time that we are reestablishing our nuclear plant manufacturing and construction industry.http://atomicinsights.blogspot.com/2010/11/nuclear-industry-can-lead-revival-in.html

Areva head says Mitsubishi Heavy might buy small stake

Image via WikipediaJapanese group Mitsubishi Heavy Industries could buy 2.0 percent of French nuclear engineering group Areva, marking a "strong symbolic" move, head of Areva Anne Lauvergeon said on Friday. Lauvergeon told French BFM radio: "If they take a small shareholding in Areva of about 2.0 percent, that would be something symbolically strong for future alliances."
But this outlook was not at all on the scale of the links between French auto group Renault and Nissan of Japan, she said.
Areva, a world leader in building nuclear power stations, which is controlled by the French state, announced in June last year that it would open up 15 percent of its capital.
In July this year the French presidential office said that this would happen by the end of 2010.
Sovereign wealth funds in Qatar and Kuwait, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been mentioned as likely shareholders.
On Thursday, Patrick Kron, head of the French industrial group Alstom which also builds power stations, said that he saw any entry of MHI into Areva as seriously problematic because the Japanese company was a direct competitor for Alstom.
Lauvergeon acknowledged that Alstom and MHI competed in building turbines, but played down the impact of any shareholder agreement for sales of turbines by Alstom.http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Areva_head_says_Mitsubishi_Heavy_might_buy_small_stake_999.html

Nuclear deal between Russia, Australia goes into force

A nuclear cooperation agreement between Russia and Australia went into force Thursday after their two leaders exchanged notes to ratify the deal. Under the agreement Australia will sell uranium to Russia, against the advice of an Australian parliamentary committee.
Legislators had called for the deal to be blocked unless Russia met a number of conditions, including speeding up reforms to separate civilian and military nuclear plants.
"To open a new page, we have a good event today, an exchange of ratification notes," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard at a meeting before the opening of the G20 summit in Seoul.
The agreement, which allows Australian uranium to be enriched in Russia and used in Russian nuclear reactors, was signed in Sydney in 2007 and ratified by the lower house of Russia's parliament this summer.
It last for 30 years but can remain in force indefinitely if there are no objections from either side.
The agreement means uranium supplied to Russia can be used only for peaceful purposes, must meet International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and can be used only in facilities agreed by Australia.
A previous agreement signed in 1990 specified that Australian uranium supplied to Russia could be enriched for use by third countries only.http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Nuclear_deal_between_Russia_Australia_goes_into_force_999.html

Italy strikes down nuclear plant ban: report

Italy's constitutional court has struck down a bid by three regions to ban new nuclear power plants amid strong public opposition to the return of nuclear energy, ANSA reported on Saturday. Laws in the three southern Italian regions -- Basilicata, Campania and Puglia -- banning plants from their territory were in violation of state jurisdiction, the news agency cited court officials saying.
The government had said in February that it would challenge the regions.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced shortly after regaining power in 2008 that Italy would begin building nuclear power stations again to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil and gas supplies.
Italy rejected nuclear power in a 1987 referendum after the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine and debate on where new plants could be built has been heated.
The government is planning to start producing nuclear power from 2020.http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Italy_strikes_down_nuclear_plant_ban_report_999.html

Russia seeks to unfreeze nuclear plant project in Bulgaria

Image via WikipediaRussia tried Saturday to unfreeze a long-stalled project for a new 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant in northern Bulgaria, reiterating readiness to fund the project directly or through loans. "Russia has the finances and readiness to implement the Belene nuclear power plant project in a way that will suit the Bulgarian side to the maximum, either through ensuring funding, loans, or equipment," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said after talks in Sofia.
Bulgaria already contracted Russia's Atomstroyexport to build the plant but lack of clarity about the project's total cost and the withdrawal last year of German utility RWE, which held a 49-percent stake in the plant, has forced Sofia to mull dropping the deal unless it finds a new strategic investor.
"We presented final figures (about the estimated cost of the plant) and now the Bulgarian experts need to assess them and give us their response," Putin said Saturday.
But he refused to go into details, saying that the figures could only be disclosed after approval by the Bulgarian side.
Russia offered in February to finance the construction of Belene's two 1,000-megawatt reactors by as much as 2.0 billion euros (2.8 billion dollars) but Bulgaria insisted on finding a new strategic partner before continuing construction.http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Russia_seeks_to_unfreeze_nuclear_plant_project_in_Bulgaria_999.html

Turkey to invite Toshiba for nuclear plant talks: report

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Turkey_to_invite_Toshiba_for_nuclear_plant_talks_report_999.html Ankara (AFP) Nov 13, 2010 Turkey will invite Japanese industrial giant Toshiba for talks on building a nuclear power plant after negotiations with South Korea hit snags, a Turkish minister was quoted saying Saturday. The invitation to Toshiba will be extended next week, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said in Seoul, where he accompanied Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Group 20 summit, Anatolia news agency reported.
Yildiz made the remarks after a meeting between Erdogan and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak failed to resolve differences on a possible deal to build a nuclear power plant in northern Turkey, estimated to worth about 20 billion dollars (14.6 billion euros).
"We failed to overcome (disagreements on) certain issues at this meeting... Some improved conditions were proposed and we said we would evaluate them," Anatolia quoted the minister as saying.
"But we will begin contacts with other countries as well. We have to enter into a speedy negotiation process," he said, adding that US and European companies would also be considered as possible partners.
The state power companies of Turkey and South Korea, EUAS and KEPCO, had signed a preliminary deal in March paving the way for talks aimed at concluding an inter-governmental agreement to build a nuclear power plant at Sinop, on Turkey's northern Black Sea coast.
Yildiz said earlier this week the talks had snagged on issues concerning financial terms, treasury guarantees and the distribution of shares in the planned company that would build and operate the plant.
Overriding opposition from environmentalists, Turkey signed a deal worth 20 billion dollars with Russia in May to build the country's first nuclear power plant, at Akkuyu on the southern Mediterranean coast.
Ankara's objective is to have nuclear plants up and running in at least two regions in 2023.

Uranium Energy Commences Major Drilling Program

Corpus Christi TX (SPX) Nov 15, 2010 - Uranium Energy is pleased to announce the start of drilling at the Company's 100%-controlled Salvo Project in Bee County, Texas. The objective of the current drilling program is to verify the historic resource and to expand on the resource by drilling new areas of mineralization. The exploration drill plan will consist of two phases, each utilizing two rigs. Phase One will consist of appro ... more

EDF Reactor Design Unlikely To Succeed

The Calvert Cliffs-3 nuclear facility.

by Staff Writers Washington DC (SPX) Nov 15, 2010 Even if it is propped up with extensive government subsidies or full cost-recovery from ratepayers, the "Evolutionary Power Reactor" (EPR) - which the French government-controlled utility, Electricite de France (EDF) plans to deliver for the troubled Calvert Cliffs-3 project and other sites in the United States - is "in crisis" to such a severe extent that it is likely to be an economic failure, according to a new report released by University of Greenwich Professor of Energy Studies Stephen Thomas. The Thomas report findings have special resonance in the U.S. given EDF's attempt to salvage the Calvert Cliffs-3 nuclear reactor project, which is considered a leading candidate for U.S. loan guarantees backed by American taxpayers.
In addition to Calvert Cliffs-3 in Maryland, the EPR was selected as the reactor design in the U.S. for Bell Bend in Pennsylvania, Nine Mile Point in New York and Callaway in Missouri (latter two applications currently suspended).
Commenting on the new report, Professor Thomas said: "From a business point of view, the right course for EDF and Areva seems clear. They must cut their losses and abandon the EPR now. In the short-term this will require some painful write-offs, for example, of investments in the UK and the USA, but in the long-term, the losses will be much greater if they continue to try to make the EPR work.
"Areva's main business is its reactor servicing and fuel activities and these would be little affected by the abandonment of the EPR. EDF already has too much nuclear generating capacity in France, so not ordering more reactors will save it from unnecessary capital expenditure at a time when it acknowledges its debts are too high."
As for recent moves by EDF in the U.S. market, the Thomas report notes: "While the political wrangling about how much Congress will be prepared to allow the US DOE to offer in loan guarantees, the deteriorating prospective economics for new nuclear reactors and the economic risk they pose to their owners may mean that relatively few loan guarantees are granted.
"The projects most likely to go ahead are those with the 'belt and braces' of Federal loan guarantees and a state regulatory body that commits to allowing the utility to recover its costs from consumers. Calvert Cliffs and Bell Bend would be exposed to the PJM electricity market and therefore could expect no support from the state regulator. If the Calvert Cliffs project does collapse and an existing project, such as Bell Bend cannot be brought in to replace it, it is hard to see how the EPR could survive in the USA."
The Thomas report draws the following major conclusions:
+ Construction has "gone dramatically wrong" at both of the sites in Europe where the EPR is currently being built. As Thomas notes: "The two sites in Europe where EPR is under construction, Olkiluoto and Flamanville, have gone dramatically wrong from the start of construction. It might have been argued that the problems at Olkiluoto were due to the lack of experience of the utility and the inexperience of Areva NP in carrying out the architect engineering. However, the fact that EDF, the most experienced nuclear utility in the world seems to be doing no better at Flamanville suggests the main problems are more related to the build-ability of the design itself than to specific issues at Olkiluoto."
+ The price at which the EPR is being offered is so high that all contests in which the EPR has been bid have either been abandoned (South Africa and Canada) or the contract has gone to a much lower bid from a competitor (UAE). In the report, Thomas explains: "As early as 1995 and again in 1997, there were concerns about the cost of the EPR then expected to be US$2000/kW but when other vendors began to claim they could build plants for US$1000/kW, [Areva] seems to have felt obliged to follow suit. While it did not claim US$1000/kW was possible, it did claim reactors could be built for less than US$1500/kW in 1998 and 2001, less than a quarter of the prices it is now offering a decade later. At US$6000/kW or more, it seems unlikely that EPR will be affordable except where huge public subsidies are offered and/or there is a strong likelihood of full cost recovery from consumers, no matter what the cost is."
+ Potential markets such as the USA, UK and Italy all look problematic. Reactor orders, if placed at all, will be much later than expected. The Thomas report explains: "As the reality of these high costs hits home, it is likely that even markets in which government support for new nuclear orders has been strongest, such as the USA and UK, will find it difficult to support the costs."
+ The process of obtaining safety approval in France, UK and the USA is incomplete and, even if successful, the features needed to achieve regulatory approval may add significantly to costs. The Thomas report points out: "The intuitively plausible notion that a new generation of nuclear reactors, starting without a blank sheet of paper could easily come up with a more rational and cheaper, yet safer design of reactor has been shown to be an illusion by the lengthy and still incomplete process of gaining safety approval. The Finnish and French authorities' decision to allow construction to start before full generic approval had been given looks particularly ill-judged."
+ Professor Thomas said: "From a political point of view, France has invested so much political and financial capital in being the world leader in nuclear technology, such a decision to abandon the design will be politically too painful until it becomes unavoidable. However, for the governments of countries like the USA and the UK, which have invested little political capital in the French nuclear dream, the sensible course is clear: stop all investment of public money in the doomed EPR technology."
Professor Thomas is the author of "Areva and EDF: Business Prospects and Risks in Nuclear Energy" (March 2009) and the co-author of "The Financial Crisis and Nuclear Power" (February 2009). He has been a researcher in energy policy for more than 25 years. Professor Thomas writes particularly on economics and policy towards nuclear power, liberalization and privatization of the electricity and gas industries and trade policy on network energy industries. He is a member of the editorial boards of: Energy Policy; Utility Policy; Energy and Environment; and International Journal of Regulation and Governance.http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/EDF_Reactor_Design_Unlikely_To_Succeed_999.html

Entergy Exploring Sale Of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Entergy_Exploring_Sale_Of_Vermont_Yankee_Nuclear_Plant_999.html
New Orleans LA (SPX) Nov 15, 2010 - Entergy has announced a process is under way to explore the potential sale of Vermont Yankee, its 605-megawatt nuclear plant in Vernon, Vt. The sale process is being conducted on a confidential basis and no additional details will be released at this time. While no decision has been made to sell the plant, the company expects interest from multiple parties. The plant has an outstandi ... more

Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

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