Twitter

Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

Korea offers six reactors to Poland (World Nuclear News – April 25, 2022)

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) has submitted to Poland what the country called a “technical and price offer” for the construction of six APR-1400 reactors.

The KHNP delegation was led by CEO Jeong Jae-hoon with support from head of business development Yoosik Nam. Their offer provided for “the construction of six APR1400 reactors with a total capacity of 8.4 GW, the first of which could start operating in accordance with the schedule adopted in the Polish Nuclear Power Programme, i.e. in 2033,” said the Polish Ministry for Climate and Energy.

Read more

Why does Ottawa’s ‘Green Bond’ program exclude nuclear, one of the cleanest of all energy sources? – by Tim Armstrong (Toronto Star – April 23, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

So far, the federal government hasn’t explained why nuclear energy has been excluded from its recent ‘Green Bonds,’ loans to expand sources of clean energy in Canada

The federal budget, recognizing the urgent need to fight climate change, includes new, positive incentives for the development of clean energy.

But the nuclear energy leadership, labour, and management alike, raise serious questions as to the budget’s failure to remove the sector’s exclusion of the right to apply for funding under the government’s $5 billion Green Bond Framework (GBF).

Read more

Revival Of Nuclear Energy Will Spark Uranium Market – by Jon Markman (Forbes Magazine – April 11, 2022)

https://www.forbes.com/

War in Ukraine is causing an energy reset. Western governments are rethinking dependence on Russian oil and gas, and it is a big opportunity for investors.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last week that Britain will begin developing small scale, modular nuclear power plants. The new energy path is a big win for uranium assets. It’s time for investors to consider buying Cameco Corp. (CME).

Read more

A man called ‘Gitty’: Saskatchewan CEO is a global nuclear power player – by Joe O’ Connor (Financial Post – April 14, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

How did a guy who grew up playing road hockey in this prairie province end up being on the board of the World Nuclear Association? Joe O’Connor has the story

Tim Leier’s phone lit up at 6:19 a.m. on April 1. It was “Gitty” texting him from the Prague airport to let him know he would do his best to get to Leier’s cottage on Emma Lake north of Saskatoon the following evening.

They had been planning a get-together of old hockey buddies who have been running around as a pack ever since they met at North Battleford Comprehensive High School 45 years go.

Read more

FINAL RESTING PLACE: Finland is set to open the world’s first permanent repository for high-level nuclear waste. How did it succeed when other countries stumbled? – by Sedeer El-Showk (Science.org – February 24, 2022)

https://www.science.org/

After passing through a security gate, the van descends into a tunnel that burrows under the forests of Olkiluoto, an island off Finland’s west coast. The wheels crunch on crushed stone as a gray, wet October day gives way to darkness.

“Welcome to Onkalo,” deadpans Antti Mustonen, a geologist here. Onkalo—“cavity” or “pit” in Finnish—will be the world’s first permanent disposal site for high-level nuclear waste, and a triumph for Finland.

Read more

World looks to Canada to fill potash, uranium void left by Ukraine – by Robert Tuttle, Jen Skerritt and Joe Deaux (Bloomberg News – March 24, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Buyers scrambling for supplies of potash and uranium are looking to Canada to fill gaps caused by the war in Ukraine.

The northern nation has been approached by those seeking potash and uranium, said Canada’s Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson. The country is one of the world’s main sources of the two commodities and buyers are anxious to secure supplies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted trade flows.

Read more

Does France’s emphasis on nuclear power guarantee its energy independence? – by Alison Hird (RFI France – March 23, 2022)

https://www.rfi.fr/en/

As the Ukraine crisis continues to push fuel prices up, France’s championing of nuclear power as a way of ensuring its energy sovereignty sounds great. But a group of researchers says it’s a red herring given France imports all its uranium.

President Emmanuel Macron announced late last year that France would begin building new nuclear plants. “To guarantee France’s energy independence and achieve our objectives, in particular carbon neutrality in 2050, we will for the first time in decades relaunch the construction of nuclear reactors in our country,” Macron said.

Read more

Saskatchewan releases plan to advance small modular nuclear reactors – by Taz Dhaliwal and Connor O’Donovan (Global News – March 28, 2022)

https://globalnews.ca/

The Saskatchewan provincial government, along with the governments of Ontario, New Brunswick and Alberta, has announced a strategic plan outlining a path towards the use of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), which it hopes can advance SaskPower’s goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Currently, 76 per cent of electricity in Saskatchewan is generated by fossil fuels, according to the province. “Saskatchewan will not make a final decision on whether it will be building an SMR for several years but SaskPower has been working diligently on planning work to help inform that decision,” SaskPower Minister Don Morgan said at a Monday morning press conference.

Read more

Is nuclear energy green or not? Federal government sending conflicting messages, critics say – by Ryan Tumilty (National Post – March 18, 2022)

https://nationalpost.com/

The Liberal government is being accused of sending conflicting messages about the nuclear industry and how it can help adapt to a green environment. The week the Liberal government put $27.2 million into a promising new small modular nuclear reactor — but at the same time its green bond program, meant to boost environmentally-friendly programs, specifically excludes investments in nuclear power.

The conflict shows mixed support at best for the industry, say critics. Chris Keefer, president of Canadians for Nuclear Energy, said excluding nuclear from green bonds did not make sense, because Ontario had shown it could help decarbonize a grid.

Read more

The view from England: Uranium is hot once again – by Chris Hinde (Mining.com – March 16, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

I live high on a cliff, within sight of two extremes of evolution, both rare. One is a set of dinosaur footprints on the foreshore of the Bristol Channel, and the other is a nuclear power station under construction across the water in Somerset.

The footprints are properly old, being left in Triassic mudstones by one of the first Sauropods perhaps 210 million years ago (I find it helpful to visualize this time span as numbers being counted very quickly for almost three years; with Homo sapiens arriving one day ago).

Read more

Opinion: Fracking, nuclear and research are Europe’s best energy bets – by Bjorn Lomborg (Financial Post – March 15, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

We must invest in sensible alternatives to Russian oil and gas, not engage in wishful thinking about renewable energy

The devastating Russian invasion of Ukraine has captured global attention. While the world’s focus is rightly on the human toll and suffering, the crisis has highlighted the need to end reliance on Russian oil and gas. To achieve that ambition, we must be pragmatic and invest in sensible alternatives, not engage in wishful thinking about renewable energy.

Every single day, the world spends more than US$1 billion on fossil fuels from Russia. As Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted, that money is now paying for the “murder of Ukrainian men, women and children.” We must end this reliance.

Read more

Uranium Fever – Uranium Mining, Culture, Health and the Environment in the Four Corners Region – Curated by Peter Soland (Centre of Southwest Studies – Fort Lewis College)

 

Welcome to “Uranium Fever: Uranium Mining, Culture, Health, and the Environment in the Four Corners Region.” This digital museum exhibit showcases images and documents from Fort Lewis College’s Center of Southwest Studies’ collections on uranium mining and uranium mill tailings removal.

During the post-World War II era, government officials and industry executives harkened to a mythologized version of the country’s frontier legacy to promote a uranium boom that fueled the Cold War arms race and nuclear energy development.

Read more

Russia seizes Europe’s biggest nuclear plant in ‘reckless’ assault (Kitco/Reuters – March 4, 2022)

https://www.kitco.com/

LVIV, Ukraine/KYIV, March 4 (Reuters) – Russian invasion forces seized Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant on Friday in what Washington called a reckless assault that risked catastrophe, although a blaze in a training building was extinguished and officials said the facility was now safe.

Combat raged elsewhere in Ukraine as Russian forces surrounded and bombarded several cities in the second week of the assault launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read more

Why nuclear power is the answer to our looming climate crisis – by David Olive (Toronto Star – February 19, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/business/

It is worrisome that by 2050, humanity might still be relying on fossil fuels for about 70 per cent of its energy consumption, down hardly at all from 80 per cent today.

Renewables, including hydropower, solar, wind and biofuels, will account for just 27 per cent of energy consumption by 2050, according to projections by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Read more

Gas, fracking, nuclear: Three energy sectors on Europe’s rethink list as war threatens Ukraine – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – February 16, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In the fall, when Russia began deploying more than 100,000 troops to Ukrainian border areas, prices for all forms of energy, especially natural gas, rose – and kept rising. The painful energy bills triggered a reassessment of Europe’s energy policies.

How did Europe become so dependent on gas imports? Would the lights go out if Russia were to invade? Did Europe vastly overestimate the ability of green power to fill the energy gap? Was it a mistake to phase out nuclear and coal-fired plants?

Read more