Rocketing nuclear reactor costs send AREVA into the red!
While the rocketing costs of the OL3 EPR have dragged down AREVA’s results for years, this is the first time that they have sent the company into the red…..AREVA’s losses are ultimately borne by French taxpayers.
AREVA covers up extent of massive nuclear reactor cost overrun Greenpeace International by jmckeati – June 24, 2010 French nuclear giant AREVA were force to issue a profit warning yesterday. It has had to find an extra 400 million euros to cover the additional costs of building its so-called flagship European Pressurised Reactor at Olkiluoto in Finland. Continue reading
Veterans die as UK govt delays nuclear compensation case
“The Ministry of Defense is spending lots of money to fight this as it now realises that it will not only have to apologise and admit what happened, but will also have to compensate a lot more people than they originally expected.
(UK) Nuclear test veteran fears he may not live to see final decision, Burton News & Staffordshire Newspaper by ROB SMYTH, 24 June 2010, A NUCLEAR test veteran has described how he believes his battle for compensation from the Government may not be won in his lifetime. Continue reading
Uranium company director Ken Talbot and Arkaroola corruption charges
The death of Ken Talbot in an airplane crash puts a stop to the legal proceedings that have been ongoing over corruption charges, and the murky history of uranium miner Marathon resources.
The charges concerned $300,000 allegedly paid by Talbot to Nuttall while Nuttall was a Minister of the Crown. Nuttall was sentenced in July this year to seven year’s jail…………
Arkaroola uranium hunter on bribery charges, The Independent Weekly, HENDRIK GOUT17 Oct, 2009 The owner and director of the largest shareholder in the company which the state government allows to explore the Arkaroola wilderness for uranium, Marathon Resources, is awaiting trial on charges of having bribed a government minister.
Ken Talbot of Talbot Group Investments Pty Ltd is accused of corruptly making payments to Gordon Nuttall, then a Labor minister in the Queensland Government…………In December 2008, Gordon Nuttall and Ken Talbot were committed to stand trial on 35 corruption charges. Continue reading
Radioactive waste problem at London’s Olympic Games site
Tonnes of radioactive waste casts doubt over London’s Olympic stadium legacy• Presence of waste on site could complicate redevelopment after 2012 Games | UK news | The Guardian, Ian Griffiths 20 June 2010,
The development of the Olympic site in east London after the Games have finished could be in jeopardy because of radioactive waste buried beneath the site, experts have warned. Continue reading
Review: Resources tax, GNEP to IFNEC, Renewables
Australia: Mainstream media continues to publicise the billionaires’ revolt against Resources Super Profit Tax – as though it’s going to end Australia’s resources industries. (At the same time, China signing up for long term resources buying). Uranium market remains in the doldrums. ERA’s annual profit halved. Moves in Parliament to get REAL renewable energy legislation. Victorian Labor opposing uranium sales to Russia. Senator Scott Ludlam keeps asking those awkward nuclear questions.
International: USA gets new renewable energy coalition. GNEP rises up again under a new name – International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC). South Africa abandoning Pebble Bed Nuclear Reactor project. China selling nuclear reactors to Pakistan, seeing that USA is selling them to India. USA’s proposed Climate Bill is in fact a massive bailout for nuclear industry. Punjab children retarded due to uranium contamination. Anti nuclear protest at APEC. – the week that has been.
Tim Flannery goes anti nuclear?
Time Flannery, previous darling of the Australian nuclear lobby – seems to have got off his pro nuclear horse – well – to some degree anyway. He’s just against it for Australia.
But – that’s incurred the wrath of quite a few pro-nuclear columnists – he seems to be out of favour now
Flannery, quoted 20 June 2010, “Why should we take the most expensive option in this country, which has always been recognized as having the most expensive and difficult option.
We are going to see a whole lot of other technologies and innovations which are now well under way which we could use instead of nuclear power……. Such as concentrated PV technology, geothermal technology, wave power, wind power.”
The Uranium Mining Gamble
The gambling is going on in both uranium markets. Some corporations gamble on selling old weapons uranium. Others gamble on digging uranium out of the ground and selling it – (if it goes belly up – well in Australia they’ll try to blame the Rudd government)
Companies Bet on Market for Enriched Uranium, Online Casino Guide, 21 June 2010, Changes in technology and vagaries like future arms control agreements can affect companies like Urenco and USEC.
Companies Bet on Market for Enriched Uranium | Online Casino Guide
…. projects such as BHP’s uranium and copper mine at Olympic Dam in South Australia. This requires billions of dollars in upfront investment projected to be recouped by cash flows in 2020 or later. The relatively high rate of return required is a function of many risks, including cost pressures and assumptions about the uranium market in 2020….. FT.com 20 June 2010,
Discredited Global Nuclear Energy Partnership resuscitated under a new name
In October 2007 a panel of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences condemned the plan – the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) as unproven and risky, and concluded that the program, even if pursued, would not be ready in time to deal with the commercial nuclear waste accumulating at 104 U.S. commercial power reactors and the waste expected to be added from any future reactors. The U.S. Senate and Congress were unwilling to pass funds for this grandiose plan.
The GNEP languished, discredited – until now. The same plan is now resuscitated, and re-launched under a new name – The the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC)
GNEP becomes the IFNEC
Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Steering Group Members Approve Transformation to the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation Department of Energy – U.S. Department of Energy , 18 June 2010,
The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Steering Group met in Accra, Ghana on June 16-17, 2010 and approved unanimously several transformative changes to reflect global developments that have occurred since the Partnership was established in 2007. The transformation includes a new name – the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation Continue reading
UK rejects loan for nuclear technology
The announcement is a blow both to the company and the nuclear sector
UK Axes GBP80 Mln Sheffield Nuclear Industry Loan – WSJ.comBy Selina Williams Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones) 17 June 2010, –The U.K. government Thursday axed an GBP80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd. for equipment to make the large forgings for nuclear power stations as part of broader spending cuts. Continue reading
Sweden’s pro nuclear decision by no means a sure thing
The Riksdag voted in favor of renewing nuclear power—….by the near-divided vote of 174-172. The left-leaning opposition party has vowed to reverse the legislation if it gains power in September’s general election…..Even if the overturn of the ban stands, political will alone does not new nuclear power plants make–as neighboring Finland can attest
Sweden Goes Nuclear (maybe) TIME, by Eben Harrell Friday, June 18, 2010, The Riksdag, Sweden’s parliament, voted on June 17 to overturn a three-decades old ban on new nuclear reactors in what many see as a test-case for the long-predicted “nuclear renaissance ” in Europe.The legislation annuls a a referendum in 1980 in which Sweden’s population voted against renewing or replacing the country’s fleet of 12 power plants…….
But yesterday’s vote is no simple victory for nuclear supporters. Continue reading
Low price continues for uranium
Uranium oxide price shows no sign of moving | Industrial Fuels and Power News . Trading June 17th, 2010 by IFandP Newsroom The uranium spot market remains in the doldrums. The weekly spot price for uranium oxide hovered at US$40.75 in the week ended June 14 with no change from the previous week, according to Ux Consulting Co, a view echoed by TradeTech. Three transactions were reported with the gap between buyers and sellers remaining narrow at around US$1.00…… Uranium oxide price shows no sign of moving | Industrial Fuels and Power
Australia’s national organisations in favour of super profit resources tax
It’s wrong for billionaires to hijack this debate and hold the country to ransom with their $100 million scare campaign.”
Australia needs a robust tax system with fair and efficient taxation of mining super profits The Australian June 14, 2010 A JOINT statement by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Australian Council of Social Service, Australian Conservation Foundation and the Consumers’ Federation of Australia.
NATIONAL organisations representing social and community sector, unions, environmental and consumer groups have called for the voices of ordinary Australians to be heard in a tax debate that has been dominated by powerful vested mining interests. Continue reading
Miners want 15% profit – Olympic Dam uranium mine expansion might not proceed
Broker casts doubt on viability of Olympic Dam expansion, Sydney Morning Herald, BARRY FITZGERALD, June 17, 2010
BHP BILLITON’S proposed Olympic Dam expansion in South Australia’s outback could have no ”economic value” under the Rudd government’s hotly debated proposal to subject resource company super profits to an additional 40 per cent tax……. the assessment of mining analysts at Morgan Stanley, ”Our modelling of this project shows that the resource super profits tax reduces the net present value of the project to an extent that it becomes negative, and return on invested capital falls below the minimum hurdle rate of 15 per cent used by the mining industry.
BHP Billiton’s managing director, Marius Kloppers……. said that although BHP had not shelved or frozen projects in response to the proposed tax, Olympic Dam was the sort of high capital expenditure project with long lead times that was ”most disadvantaged”……But BHP has yet to commit to the project. Approval from the SA, Northern Territory (ore is exported from Darwin) and federal governments is needed and is planned for the first half of next year. The final proposal with all the permits and conditions attached is then likely to go before the board in the latter half of next year.
New tax on nuclear brings uncertainty into nuclear industry
if the plan is approved, other countries could adopt similar measures…the new move will bring uncertainty in the European nuclear sector,
Huge nuclear tax on the cards in Germany, World Nuclear News, By Rumyana Vakarelska, 15 June 2010 The German Ministry of Finance has envisaged an additional €2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) per year ‘windfall tax’ on nuclear operators as part of the 2011 Federal Budget and its financial plan up to 2014………..According to the German Finance Ministry the charge “will be necessary, as part of an overall energy concept, to prolong the operational life of nuclear power plants.” At a time when Germany is looking for tens of billions of euros in budget savings, the ministry said that the money will be used to meet nuclear decommissioning and final repository costs.….. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 