Nuclear power and events outside Australia
USA A sigh of relief, from moderate thinkers, that USA elected Obama and not Romney. Not much relief, as both are
beholden to the nuclear industry for much funding. However, to single out just one area – foreign policy – Romney would be surrounded by hawkish advisors, and far more likely to plunge USA (and the world?) into nuclear war.
CHINA The outside world has little insight into China’s politics. they are conducted in an ambience of secrecy and corruption. Yet China’s leadership changes, happening over the next 6 days, are of global importance.
And – of importance to the nuclear industry – China being always held up as the poster boy for that industry.
More than 2000 Communist Party delegates gather on Thursday to start the 18th Party Congress. Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang are almost certain to be promoted to the key positions of party boss and premier-in-waiting, a further five seats on the Politburo Standing Committee – the inner sanctum of power – are yet to be settled. A process of limited internal elections is under discussion, because there is no other mechanism to resolve internal differences. About 2300 party members will attend the week-long congress, which will ”elect” a central committee of about 200 members and 170 alternate members.
The Central Committee, in turn, is expected to convene a plenum meeting on November 15.
That meeting should then anoint the new 25-member Politburo and seven or nine-member Politburo Standing Committee.http://www.smh.com.au/world/china-politics/brawling-goes-on-as-party-delegates-meet-20121107-28yks.html#ixzz2BfB0dfD2
Australia’s energy white paper- there will be no nuclear power here for next two decades
Meltdown fears crush case for nuclear power, The Age November 7, 2012 Lenore Taylor National Affairs Correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald THE Fukushima nuclear accident has quashed consideration of nuclear power in Australia, with the government’s energy white paper arguing there is no compelling economic case for it and insufficient community acceptance.
And the Coalition won’t contest the conclusion when the long-awaited white paper is released on Thursday to set policy directions for the next two decades. The bipartisan reluctance to debate nuclear power comes despite the fact that some senior Labor and Coalition figures privately support the idea.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has said it should remain ”a live debate”. Foreign Minister Bob Carr said 
before he re-entered politics: ”I support nuclear power because I take global warming so very seriously … [it] should certainly play a role in Australia’s future mix of energy sources.”
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has said it should be considered ”in the mix” and Senator Barnaby Joyce has said: ”If we are fair dinkum about reducing carbon emissions … then uranium is where it’s going to be.”
But Labor and the Coalition are formally opposed to domestic use of nuclear power, and the Fukushima accident has reinforced that political judgment. The Greens are opposed to nuclear power and uranium mining. Continue reading
Cowardly backdown by Northern Territory Chief Minister, on nuclear waste dump
“Terry Mills is rolling over to Canberra and not standing up for territorians who have great concerns about the impact a nuclear waste dump will have for generations,”
Mills slammed over NT dump comments http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/mills-slammed-over-nt-dump-comments/story-fn3dxiwe-1226511626127 AAP November 06, 2012 ENVIRONMENTALISTS and opposition politicians are criticising the Northern Territory government after Chief Minister Terry Mills appeared to accept a nuclear waste dump would be built in the jurisdiction.
“I accept the premise of this, that there needs to be a site,” Mr Mills has told ABC radio. Continue reading
Community owned solar park in UK – world’s largest
World’s Largest Community Owned Solar Project http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php main_page=news_article&article_id=3455 by Energy Matters, 7 Nov 12 Last week, Westmill Solar Co-operative in the UK completed the acquisition of Westmill Solar Park, making the project the largest community-owned solar power station in the world.
The £16.5million facility is a 5MW solar farm covering 30 acres and consisting of over 20,000 solar panels. The power station is located near Watchfield, on the Wiltshire/Oxfordshire border.
Westmill Wind Farm is adjacent to the site, which was also started as a 100% community owned renewable energy project.
In the last year, the solar farm has generated 4,900 MWh of clean electricity, enough to power 1,500 households and avoiding over 2,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
“Westmill represents the best of what low carbon investment and renewable energy can offer and hopefully will inspire others to realise that when we get together we can make change happen and can engage positively with the threat of climate change,” said founder director Adam Twine.
The Westmill Solar Co-operative share offer attracted around 1650 investors in just 6 weeks- 50% more than was required. More than half of the Westmill members live within 40km of the project. Members will be entitled to a share in the profits generated by the electricity sold. Predicted internal rate of return to members is 9 – 11% over the 24 years of the project.
Aside from the environmental benefits and in addition to offering local residents a substantial return on their investment, the solar farm will boost the local economy by making sure the profits stay in the area, encourage tourism and raise the local area’s profile.
“Solar power will become the world’s greatest energy source in our lifetime; heralding a new era of sustainable and ‘democratic’ energy supply,” said Cooperative chairman Philip Wolfe.
“As the success of Westmill shows, solar energy enables ordinary people to produce clean power, not only on their roof tops, but also at utility scale.”
Queensland Premier Newman announces his Uranium Mining Cheer Squad
Uranium Implementation Committee announced The Premier Campbell Newman has announced the membership of the Uranium Implementation Committee which will establish a best-practice framework for the recommencement of uranium mining in Queensland. “Uranium exports will earn Queensland tens of billions of dollars over the next two decades, providing thousands of jobs across rural and regional areas,” Mr Newman said.
“The State Government has established an Implementation Committee to look at the orderly development and operation of a recommenced uranium mining and export industry in Queensland.”
The Implementation Committee will be chaired by Central Highlands Councillor, Paul Bell AM, who has just retired after serving eight years as President of the Local Government Association of Queensland.
“Cr Bell has spent decades representing the mining communities of Central Queensland and understands what it takes to build a successful resources industry which benefits everybody” Mr Newman said.
Other members of the Uranium Implementation Committee will be:
· Noeline Ikin, CEO Northern Gulf Resource Management Group
· Frances Hayter, Environment Director, Queensland Resources Council
· Dr Geoff Garrett, Queensland Government Chief Scientist and
· Dan Hunt, Acting Director- General, Department of Natural
Resources and Mines
· Indigenous leader, Warren Mundine, Director of the Australian Uranium Association and a former ALP National President (subject to final confirmation).
Mr Newman also released the Terms of Reference of the Uranium Implementation Committee which will be available on the Department of Natural Resources and Mines website.
tatements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2012/10/30/uranium-implementation-committee-announced
Sellafield ‘s scandalous 50 years of ignoring nuclear waste crisis
The plant is the UK’s largest and most hazardous nuclear site, storing enough high and intermediate level radioactive waste to fill 27 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Sellafield nuclear waste storage poses ‘intolerable risk’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-20228176 7 November 2012 Sellafield is the UK’s largest and most hazardous nuclear site An “intolerable risk” is being posed by hazardous waste stored in run-down buildings at Sellafield nuclear plant, a watchdog has found.
The National Audit Office (NAO) also said that for 50 years, the operators of the Cumbria installation failed to develop a long-term plan for waste. Costs of plant-decommissioning has also spiralled out of control, it said. Continue reading
Climate Change Authority’s disturbing idea to hold back commercial solar energy
Commercial solar – putting solar panels on the roofs of shopping centers and factories – currently represents just 3 per cent of the total solar industry.
SunWiz and Solar Business Services found the unintended consequences of tinkering with the SRES and LRET were likely to greatly outweigh any benefits.
Commercial solar should be encouraged, not discouraged, and the embedded barriers to greater commercial take up should be addressed. Rather than jumping at shadows and trying to fix a non-existent commercial solar boom, it would be better if the CCA helped us to get off the ‘solar-coaster’ and provide the stable policy footing for solar the industry and public so desperately want.
Putting the brakes on commercial solar? http://www.climatespectator.com.au/commentary/putting-brakes-commercial-solar, 7 Nov 2012 John Grimes One of the more peculiar proposals that has surfaced in the Climate Change Authority’s review of the renewable energy target is the suggestion of reducing the size of solar systems covered by the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme.This was a thought bubble in search of a home – neither a specific recommendation nor a detailed proposal.
It is the sort of tinkering that has dogged the renewable energy target since it was first established in 2001, and it is making
Australia’s solar industry nervous.
The Climate Change Authority explicitly recommended against merging the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme and the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target.
They also recommended that the SRES structure should remain largely unchanged.
However, the CCA went on to float the idea of a half-way house that would see smaller commercial PV systems placed into the large-scale scheme as a way of reducing the cost of the SRES. The CCA’s Discussion Paper states, “the Authority is continuing to consider whether the threshold for a small-scale solar PV system should be reduced below its current 100 kW limit to for example 10 kW.”
This would be an uncertain solution to a non-existent problem. Continue reading
Uranium’s market price now getting seriously (?terminally) low
Spot uranium price falls below $41/lb U308 on weak demand, good supply Washington (Platts)–6 Nov2012 The spot market price of uranium is now below $41/lb U3O8, according to price publishers TradeTech and Ux Consulting.
And given continued bearish sentiment in the market, some analysts are not ruling out the possibility that the spot price could fall $40/lb before the end of the year. UxC said that the price has not been $40/lb since March 2006.
TradeTech on Friday lowered its weekly spot price to $40.75/lb, down $2.25/lb from its October 26 price. Most of the decline occurred around October 31, TradeTech said, “driven by an increase in the supply” and weaker demand. “Sellers hoping to place material were faced with accepting lower prices well into the first and second quarters of 2013 to conclude transactions,” it said.
TradeTech’s daily price Monday also was $40.75/lb.
UxC on Monday cut its weekly spot price to $40.75/lb, down $1.75 from October 29. UxC said the questions now facing the market are whether the $40/lb support level will be broken and if it holds, what type of rebound in price might the market expect to see.
UxC’s broker average price on Monday was $40.69/lb, down 30 cents from Friday. The BAP bid-offer spread Monday was $40-$41.38/lb. The BAP is based on the price information from Evolution Markets and Armajaro Securities.
The Platts NuclearFuel price range for week was $39.50-$43/lb U3O8….. http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/8889209
Western Australian govt making some strangely anti-commercial decisions on energy
Dumb and dumber energy choices in the wild West, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 7 November 2012 The Western Australia energy system can proudly lay claim to some notable firsts for Australia. In 1986, it opened the nation’s first commercial wind energy plant near Esperance. Just last month, the state government formally opened the nation’s first utility-scale solar farm near Geraldton.
Now it may have a new but less admired “first” – a power plant that is built, but doesn’t operate, and is paid for by a state-sponsored tariff imposed on consumers. The Perth-based company Merredin Energy is in the throes of completing an 82MW peaking plant near the wheat-belt town of the same name. It is being built at an estimated cost of $95 million and proposes to use expensive and highly polluting diesel fuel, but it may never be switched on.
And if it isn’t, its owners might not care – under WA’s capacity payments system, they’ll likely make enough money simply for being there – around $15 million in its first year. In fact, they might prefer if the plant wasn’t used. Some analysts suggest it would difficult to run the diesel plant at a profit – even during critical peak periods – given the sky-high cost of diesel and the fact that WA power prices rarely jump to more than $300/MWh. Continue reading
Prince Charles in South Australia – exploring renewable energy developments there
Prince Charles to hear from SA green companies EnergyAustralia, ZEN Energy Systems, Oceanlinx and Petratherm Adelaide Now, Business Editor Christopher Russell November 07, 2012 SOUTH Australia’s credentials in renewable energy will be shown to the Prince of Wales today.
Wind, solar, wave and geothermal power will each be demonstrated to Prince Charles who is known internationally for promoting environmental initiatives. Continue reading
Australia assisting Ghana in solar energy development
Leading Australian Professor on Environment visits Ghana Accra, Nov. 6, GNA – Professor Ray Wills, Australia Clean Energy Expert and one of the top 100 Global Sustainable Energy experts is in Ghana to participate in a three-day West Africa Clean Energy and Environment Conference (WACEE) in Accra. Continue reading
Uranium One’s CEO gives “Yes – But” statement on future prospects, following latest loss
Uranium One’s CEO Discusses Q3 2012 Results – Earnings Call Transcript Seeking Alpha November 6, 2012 “…..This upcoming discussion does contain certain forward-looking information with respect to Uranium One’s operations and financial results. Actual future results may differ from expected results for a variety of reasons which are described in the cautionary statements regarding forward-looking information in our press release..
… during the quarter, we did determine that it would not be economical to mine, the South Zarechnoye satellite deposit due to lower uranium prices following the Fukushima incident together with a decrease in the resource base
resulting from recent exploration work.
As a result, we incurred non-cash expenses $79 million by writing down the carrying value of South Zarechnoye. This resulted in a net loss for the quarter of $61.6 million or $0.06 per share…… Uranium One now owns 100% of the Honeymoon mine
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 