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Nuclear expansion is a pipe dream, says report
John Vidal, The Guardian
· Hope for new era of cheap, clean power is a ‘myth’
· Building more stations would increase terror risk
A worldwide expansion of nuclear power has little chance of significantly reducing carbon emissions but will add dangerously to the proliferation of nuclear weapons-grade materials and the potential for nuclear terrorism, says a leading research group that has analysed the possible uptake of civil atomic power over the next 65 years.
The Oxford Research Group paper, funded by the Joseph Rowntree charitable trust, says that the worldwide nuclear “renaissance” planned by the industry to provide cheap, clean power is a myth. Although global electricity demand is expected to rise by 50% in the next 25 years, only 25 new nuclear reactors are currently being built, with 76 more planned and a further 162 proposed, many of which are unlikely to be built. This compares with 429 reactors in operation today, many of which are already near the end of their useful lives and need replacing soon.
For nuclear power to make any significant contribution to a reduction in global carbon emissions in the next two generations, the paper says, the industry would have to construct nearly 3,000 new reactors – or about one a week for 60 years.
“A civil nuclear construction and supply programme on this scale is a pipe dream, and completely unfeasible. The highest historic rate [of build] is 3.4 new reactors a year,” says the report.
The paper – Too Hot to Handle? The Future of Civil Nuclear Power – comes as the UK government consults on a new generation of nuclear power stations and at a time of increased terrorist activity.
(4 July 2007)
The 24-page report is available online as a PDF: Too Hot to Handle? The Future of Civil Nuclear Power .
Nuclear demand will outstrip supply: CEO
Reuters, Star Phoenix
Uranium spot prices are unsustainable at current levels over the long term, the chief executive of miner Cameco Corp. CCO.TO said on Wednesday, but he also forecast global demand for the nuclear fuel outstripping production for the next eight or nine years.
Jerry Grandey told reporters at the company’s head office that he expects uranium demand to grow at three per cent annually for the next decade, forcing utilities to continue to depend on inventories to fill the gap.
The supply-demand imbalance has driven prices up sharply over the past few years.
(30 June 2007)
US, Russia pledge to expand nuclear energy cooperation
CCTV
The United States and Russia have pledged to expand nuclear energy cooperation and make nuclear energy available to developing countries.
The statement was issued after US President, George W. Bush’s meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin at the Bush family’s retreat in Maine.
The statement says the US and Russia will help secure finance for new nuclear plants and will assist in developing necessary regulations, safety standards and training programs. While agreeing to help other nations to benefit from safe nuclear energy, the two countries also stressed they will continue controlling the spread of technology that allows them to make the material needed for nuclear weapons.
They also promised to develop solutions in dealing with the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste.
(4 July 2007)
“CCTV International (CCTV-9) is the English-language 24-hour news channel of China Central Television, China´s largest national TV network.”
Barack Obama’s Nuclear Ambitions
Jeffrey St. Clair & Joshua Frank, Dissident Voice
It is fast becoming one of the most important issues of the 2008 presidential campaign. Oil prices are expected to rise to even higher levels as the United States dependence on foreign crude is becoming increasingly unstable. And the perceived threat of global warming is making even the most skeptical of politicians nervous. The future of planet Earth, they claim, is more perilous than ever. Al Gore has made an impact.
But the Gore effect is like a bad hangover: all headache no buzz. The purported solution to the imminent warming crisis, nuclear technology, is just as hazardous as our current methods of energy procurement.
…Barack, for the second quarter in a row, has surpassed the fundraising prowess of Hillary Clinton. To be sure small online donations have propelled the young senator to the top, but so too have his connections to big industry. The Obama campaign, as of late March 2007, has accepted $159,800 from executives and employees of Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear power plant operator.
The Illinois-based company also helped Obama’s 2004 senatorial campaign.As Ken Silverstein reported in the November 2006 issue of Harper’s, “[Exelon] is Obama’s fourth largest patron, having donated a total of $74,350 to his campaigns. During debate on the 2005 energy bill, Obama helped to vote down an amendment that would have killed vast loan guarantees for power-plant operators to develop new energy projects … the public will not only pay millions of dollars in loan costs but will risk losing billions of dollars if the companies default.”
“Senator Obama has all the necessary leadership skills required to be president,” says Frank M. Clark, chairman of Exelon’s Commonwealth Edison utility.
These gracious accolades come from one of Exelon’s top executives, despite the fact that Obama proposed legislation in 2006 that would require nuclear plant operators to report any hazardous leaks. While introducing the legislation Obama noted the failure of Exelon to report a leak of radioactive tritium into groundwater near one of their Illinois plants. But the senator’s criticism of nuclear power goes only so far.
(4 July 2007)
