Nuclear Power

[longwalks1]

And where is Poland going to get the Ur from.   

[NeilT]

Hmmm.


Country   tonnes
Kazakhstan   21,227
Canada   7351
Namibia   5613
Australia   4553

[morganism]

A lot of classified "art" on laser tuned seperation, and the table top wakefield accelerators will prob be able to remake worn out fissionables soon.

Re-using waste by adding protons and picking up free neutrons is a plausible scenario...

I hate to see all the systems being shut down too early, but heat, and flooding are going to make them un-operable soon. They just have to be too close to rivers. And the Phoenix Palo Verde plant in the desert has to be shut down in peak summer because the cooling ponds are too warm to cool the system.

[NeilT]

If you look around the world most Nuclear plants are located by the sea.  Heat doesn't bother them in the way it does for river cooled.  But sea level rise and events like Tsunami do.

One of the things that held up the Hinckley Point C reactor was the stop and re-design to withstand any level of weather event that could plausibly happen in the location.  Including generator back up for at least a week in the event that the reactors themselves had to be shut down and the power line infrastructure was destroyed.

But this planning is done and will be re-used for any future reactors.  That should negate most of the sea level rise and storm/Tsunami issues.  Heat won't be a problem for the sea as the "heat sink" is too large.

The ability to re-use and re-burn more spent fuel is also a real boon if it happens.  Reducing the waste and decommissioning issues.

[interstitial]

Helion fusion technology looks pretty promising if the hype is to be believed. They are working on the 7th generation now and expect to complete a commercial 500 mw reactor by 2030. It looks to be quick to build and far less regulated because fusion reactions can not runaway. They are permitted as particle accelerators. The only radioactive material is a short 12 year half life shielding material and atoms reused in the reaction. Another advantage is electricity is extracted from the magnetic field and does not require water, a boiler and cooling towers. This eliminates much of the infrastructure required. More detailed information on is this the nuclear technology we are looking for thread.

[vox_mundi]

Russia Has Tested a Nuclear-Powered Missile and Could Revoke a Global Atomic Test Ban, Putin Says
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/russias-nuclear-powered-cruise-missile-successfully-tested-putin-says

https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-nuclear-test-missile-ukraine-war-2204f967c8739216ded2efc3f71a6e0f

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has successfully tested an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, while also warning that the country’s parliament could revoke its ratification of a treaty banning nuclear tests.

In a speech at a forum of foreign policy experts, Putin announced that Russia has effectively completed the development of the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile and will work on putting them into production.

“We conducted the last successful test of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered global-range cruise missile,” he said without elaborating. His statement was the first announcement of a successful test of the Burevestnik, which translates as “Storm Petrel.” It was first mentioned by Putin in 2018.

Little is known about the Burevestnik, which was code-named Skyfall by NATO, and many Western experts have been skeptical about it, noting that a nuclear engine could be highly unreliable.

https://twitter.com/Marco_Langbroek/status/1708986602947592541

Whatever its exact design might be, Burevestnik's core concept raises serious safety concerns. There is the matter of what radioactive material the missile might release as it flies along and the question of what happens to its nuclear power source, no matter what it is, when it reaches its target. If Russia has been launching full-up Burevestnik prototypes this can only mean some amount of nuclear material has been strewn about even if in tests where everything has gone according to plan.

See also: https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,776.msg220177.html#msg220177 https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,776.msg220708.html#msg220708
https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,776.msg290683.html#msg290683

[sidd]

Karabus at Register: ten years of false certifications

"29 times"

"several plants over a period that stretched for over a decade."

https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/20/nuclear/

sidd

[vox_mundi]

First Planned Small Nuclear Reactor Plant In the US Has Been Canceled
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/11/first-planned-small-nuclear-reactor-plant-in-the-us-has-been-canceled/

The US has approved a single design for a small, modular nuclear reactor developed by the company NuScale Power. The government's Idaho National Lab was working to help construct the first NuScale installation, the Carbon Free Power Project. Under the plan, the national lab would maintain a few of the first reactors at the site, and a number of nearby utilities would purchase power from the remaining ones.

With the price of renewables dropping precipitously, however, the project's economics have worsened, and backers started pulling out of the project.

The final straw came on Wednesday, when NuScale and the primary utility partner, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, announced that the Carbon Free Power Project no longer had enough additional utility partners, so it was being canceled. In a statement, the pair accepted that "it appears unlikely that the project will have enough subscription to continue toward deployment."

NuScale CEO John Hopkins tried to put a positive spin on the event, saying, "Our work with Carbon Free Power Project over the past ten years has advanced NuScale technology to the stage of commercial deployment; reaching that milestone is a tremendous success which we will continue to build on with future customers." But none of those potential customers had advanced any project nearly as far as the Carbon Free Power Project, so it is now uncertain whether the company can build any commercial reactors before the decade ends.

The same is now true for nuclear power in general in the US. No large reactors are planned, and the last few projects of that sort were either canceled or ran horrifically over budget. And, while some other reactor designs are being considered for separate projects, none have cleared the hurdle of approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

[vox_mundi]

note to self: don't eat glow-in-the-dark potato ...

PhD Student Bioengineers Potato Plant to Detect Gamma Radiation
https://phys.org/news/2023-11-phd-student-bioengineers-potato-gamma.html



A researcher at the University of Tennessee Herbert College of Agriculture has developed a potato plant that can detect gamma radiation, providing reliable indications of harmful radiation levels without complex monitoring technologies.

Ph.D. student Rob Sears engineered the plant, also known as a phytosensor, to indicate high radiation levels through changing leaf fluorescence. When exposed to gamma radiation, the plant's leaves produce a green glow, allowing for accurate warnings that are visible across long distances. Since potatoes are grown across the world in both hospitable and adverse climates, they are the ideal plant for the research as well as for the eventual mass implementation of the developed varieties.

Sears says that potatoes reproduce through tubers in the soil, spreading across diverse terrain while producing genetically identical offspring that provide consistent results.

As nuclear energy continues to be used across the world, there is an increased demand for effective and easily accessible radiation detection methods. Since phytosensors are affordable, easy to interpret and require no mechanical maintenance, they have the potential to improve the safety and well-being of workers and residents who are in close proximity to radiation sources.

----------------------------------------------------------------

the other way to tell if they're radioactive...

Deformed Vegetables, Fruit Reportedly Pop Up Around Japan Nuclear Plant
https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/07/deformed-vegetables-fruit-reportedly-pop-up-around-japan-nuclear-plant



----------------------------------------------------------------

[Sigmetnow]

note to self: don't eat glow-in-the-dark potato ...

the other way to tell if they're radioactive...

Deformed Vegetables, Fruit Reportedly Pop Up Around Japan Nuclear Plant
https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/07/deformed-vegetables-fruit-reportedly-pop-up-around-japan-nuclear-plant

Deformed plants are not an indication they are radioactive, and in all probability they are quite safe to eat.

[Sigmetnow]

Exploding Costs for the Final Storage of Nuclear Waste

The final storage of nuclear waste is leading to an explosion in the cost of nuclear power and these costs have not yet been integrated into the €/KWh consumers pay for electricity.

The latest estimation and calculation conclude that nuclear power will be soon even without the inclusion of nuclear waste storage 8 to 10 times more expensive than renewables from wind or solar.

According to new calculations, the controversial 🇩🇪 German nuclear waste repository Schacht Konrad in Salzgitter will be more expensive than planned. The Federal Company for Final Disposal (BGE) assumes that a further 2.64 billion euros will be needed until completion, according to company sources. According to the BGE, around 2.83 billion euros had already been spent on the construction phase by the end of 2022, meaning that the new estimate is around 5.5 billion euros. The Peine-based company had previously calculated total costs of 4.6 billion euros.

In the middle of the year, BGE had already announced that the plan for completion by 2027 could no longer be achieved because the work was around two years behind schedule.

"Around two thirds of the radioactive waste destined for the Konrad repository comes from nuclear power plants and nuclear industry operations. In addition, the Konrad repository is to receive materials from the dismantling of GDR nuclear power plants as well as waste from federal research facilities," according to the Federal Company for Final Disposal.

The costs of nuclear waste storage are widely ignored and underestimated but the taxpayer and future generations will pay a high price for the irresponsible behavior of the last generations.

11/23/23, https://x.com/alex_avoigt/status/1727735315052245266
⬇️ from: pic.twitter.com/ZCOou32bsA 

[morganism]

Palo Verde plant in Phx, AZ. is planning to bury that plant in-situ, in concrete.
They got a green energy grant to offset taxes since they portrayed themselves as a alt energy company.

[Sigmetnow]

Palo Verde plant in Phx, AZ. is planning to bury that plant in-situ, in concrete.
They got a green energy grant to offset taxes since they portrayed themselves as a alt energy company.

Maybe it’s the heat getting to them.  Or the drought.  But Arizona lately seems to welcome new and wacky ideas, the way California used to do.  Not sure that’s a good thing.  Sorry.

[SteveMDFP]

Palo Verde plant in Phx, AZ. is planning to bury that plant in-situ, in concrete.
They got a green energy grant to offset taxes since they portrayed themselves as a alt energy company.

Utterly irresponsible.  Compared to the half-life of the various different isotopes in there, the duration of concrete is trivially short.  Deep burial needs to be done.  Only Finland has been responsible in this task:

FINAL RESTING PLACE
https://www.science.org/content/article/finland-built-tomb-store-nuclear-waste-can-it-survive-100000-years

[morganism]

Yup, and the entire Valley, of which Phoenix is a part, is all loose infill. Well, there is caliche, from the last flooding episode. It's the cement which holds the whole place together.
 
The plant is out nearer to bedrock, but not on it. Closer to Calif deserts, and it's faults (all of them)

[interstitial]

is it the waste they are planning to bury in concrete or the plant after processing the waste there.

[Sigmetnow]

Rolls-Royce puts flying taxi business up for sale …
Tue, Nov 28, 2023

[But among other things:] The company is also pursuing plans to build out its nuclear micro-reactor capacity, which it says could benefit the defence sector.
Mr Erginbilgic said: “If you think about energy generation logistic issues in defence, you can easily see why microreactors will come in... handy.”
The company is working on a microreactor of between 1 to 10 megawatts, with the reactor vessel able to fit inside a small shipping container for easy transport. …

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rolls-royce-sell-1-5bn-102739443.html

[morganism]

(They are planning to entomb the entire facility (palo verde) in a concrete block.)


Microsoft is going nuclear to power its AI ambitions
Microsoft is looking at next-generation nuclear reactors to power its data centers and AI, according to a new job listing for someone to lead the way.

Based on the new job listing, it looks like Microsoft is betting on advanced nuclear reactors to be the answer. The job posting says it’s hiring someone to “lead project initiatives for all aspects of nuclear energy infrastructure for global growth.”

Microsoft is specifically looking for someone who can roll out a plan for small modular reactors (SMR). All the hype around nuclear these days is around these next-generation reactors. Unlike their older, much larger predecessors, these modular reactors are supposed to be easier and cheaper to build. For comparison, the last large nuclear reactor to be built in the US finally came on line this summer roughly $17 billion over budget after seven years of delays.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission just certified an SMR design for the first time in January, which allows utilities to choose the design when applying for a license for a new power plant. And it could usher in a whole new chapter for nuclear energy.

Even so, there are still kinks to work out if Microsoft wants to rely on SMRs to power the data centers where its cloud and AI live. An SMR requires more highly enriched uranium fuel, called HALEU, than today’s traditional reactors. So far, Russia has been the world’s major supplier of HALEU. There’s a push in the US to build up a domestic supply chain of uranium, which communities near uranium mines and mills are already fighting. Then there’s the question of what to do with nuclear waste, which even a fleet of SMRs can generate significant amounts of and the US is still figuring out how to store long term.
(more)
https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/26/23889956/microsoft-next-generation-nuclear-energy-smr-job-hiring

[morganism]

 Electrified cloth extracts uranium from seawater
By David Szondy
December 17, 2023

    Facebook
    Twitter
    Flipboard
    LinkedIn

Cathode showing accumulation from uranium-spiked water
Cathode showing accumulation from uranium-spiked water
ACS
View 1 Image

A team of scientists from China's Northeast Normal University has developed an electrochemical method for extracting uranium from ordinary seawater that has the potential to supply humanity with an effectively unlimited energy source.

By current estimates, there are about 8 million tonnes of known reserves of uranium on land. That's enough to fuel the world's nuclear reactors for centuries based on current technology, but in the sea there is an estimated 4.5 billion tonnes in the form of dissolved uranyl ions. If we could extract this economically, it would vastly extend our energy future. Even better, as uranium is removed from seawater, more would leach in from the Earth's crust, providing our descendants with over a billion years worth of nuclear fuel at any projected scale.

Led by Rui Zhao and Guangshan Zhu, the Northeast Normal team is looking at a novel way to extract these radioactive riches. Extraction isn't a new idea. In the past, other researchers have looked at using polymer mats, conductive fibers, and other methods. Now, Northeast Normal is looking at a flexible cloth woven from carbon fibers coated with two specialized monomers and treated with hydroxylamine hydrochloride. The porous cloth provides tiny pockets for the amidoxime, which captures the uranyl ions.

The capture itself seems almost like a school chemistry experiment in its simplicity. The cloth was placed in either seawater or a solution of uranyl ions where it acted as a cathode. Meanwhile, a graphite anode was added. When a current was run between the two, bright yellow, uranium-based precipitates accumulated on the cathode cloth in the same way that bronze coats a baby shoe as a parental memento.

In tests, the team reported extracting 12.6 mg of uranium per gram of water over 24 days, which is a higher amount and at a faster rate than other materials tested or simply allowing uranium to naturally accumulate on cloth.


Self-Standing Porous Aromatic Framework Electrodes for Efficient Electrochemical Uranium Extraction

Electrochemical uranium extraction from seawater provides a new opportunity for a sustainable supply of nuclear fuel. However, there is still room for studying flexible electrode materials in this field. Herein, we construct amidoxime group modified porous aromatic frameworks (PAF-144-AO) on flexible carbon cloths in situ using an easy to scale-up electropolymerization method followed by postdecoration to fabricate the self-standing, binder-free, metal-free electrodes (PAF-E). Based on the architectural design, adsorption sites (amidoxime groups) and catalytic sites (carbazole groups) are integrated into PAF-144-AO. Under the action of an alternating electric field, uranyl ions are selectively captured by PAN-E and subsequently transformed into Na2O(UO3·H2O)x precipitates in the presence of Na+ via reversible electron transfer, with an extraction capacity of 12.6 mg g–1 over 24 days from natural seawater. This adsorption–electrocatalysis mechanism is also demonstrated at the molecular level by ex situ spectroscopy. Our work offers an effective approach to designing flexible porous organic polymer electrodes, which hold great potential in the field of electrochemical uranium extraction from seawater.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.3c01291

[Sebastian Jones]

Electrified cloth extracts uranium from seawater
By David Szondy
December 17, 2023

    Facebook
    Twitter
    Flipboard
    LinkedIn

Cathode showing accumulation from uranium-spiked water
Cathode showing accumulation from uranium-spiked water
ACS
View 1 Image

A team of scientists from China's Northeast Normal University has developed an electrochemical method for extracting uranium from ordinary seawater that has the potential to supply humanity with an effectively unlimited energy source.

By current estimates, there are about 8 million tonnes of known reserves of uranium on land. That's enough to fuel the world's nuclear reactors for centuries based on current technology, but in the sea there is an estimated 4.5 billion tonnes in the form of dissolved uranyl ions. If we could extract this economically, it would vastly extend our energy future. Even better, as uranium is removed from seawater, more would leach in from the Earth's crust, providing our descendants with over a billion years worth of nuclear fuel at any projected scale.

Led by Rui Zhao and Guangshan Zhu, the Northeast Normal team is looking at a novel way to extract these radioactive riches. Extraction isn't a new idea. In the past, other researchers have looked at using polymer mats, conductive fibers, and other methods. Now, Northeast Normal is looking at a flexible cloth woven from carbon fibers coated with two specialized monomers and treated with hydroxylamine hydrochloride. The porous cloth provides tiny pockets for the amidoxime, which captures the uranyl ions.

The capture itself seems almost like a school chemistry experiment in its simplicity. The cloth was placed in either seawater or a solution of uranyl ions where it acted as a cathode. Meanwhile, a graphite anode was added. When a current was run between the two, bright yellow, uranium-based precipitates accumulated on the cathode cloth in the same way that bronze coats a baby shoe as a parental memento.

In tests, the team reported extracting 12.6 mg of uranium per gram of water over 24 days, which is a higher amount and at a faster rate than other materials tested or simply allowing uranium to naturally accumulate on cloth.


Self-Standing Porous Aromatic Framework Electrodes for Efficient Electrochemical Uranium Extraction

Electrochemical uranium extraction from seawater provides a new opportunity for a sustainable supply of nuclear fuel. However, there is still room for studying flexible electrode materials in this field. Herein, we construct amidoxime group modified porous aromatic frameworks (PAF-144-AO) on flexible carbon cloths in situ using an easy to scale-up electropolymerization method followed by postdecoration to fabricate the self-standing, binder-free, metal-free electrodes (PAF-E). Based on the architectural design, adsorption sites (amidoxime groups) and catalytic sites (carbazole groups) are integrated into PAF-144-AO. Under the action of an alternating electric field, uranyl ions are selectively captured by PAN-E and subsequently transformed into Na2O(UO3·H2O)x precipitates in the presence of Na+ via reversible electron transfer, with an extraction capacity of 12.6 mg g–1 over 24 days from natural seawater. This adsorption–electrocatalysis mechanism is also demonstrated at the molecular level by ex situ spectroscopy. Our work offers an effective approach to designing flexible porous organic polymer electrodes, which hold great potential in the field of electrochemical uranium extraction from seawater.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.3c01291

OMG, what an unbelievably terrible idea! The last thing we need is unlimited supplies of uranium. We have no idea how to take care of the nuclear we have already created, now imagine everyone can produce as much uranium as they want! Nukes for all! What could possibly go wrong?

[SteveMDFP]

OMG, what an unbelievably terrible idea! The last thing we need is unlimited supplies of uranium. We have no idea how to take care of the nuclear we have already created, now imagine everyone can produce as much uranium as they want! Nukes for all! What could possibly go wrong?

This is an alternate way of mining uranium.  *Mining* uranium is only a significant problem for the area of the mine, with environmental degradation. Whether this development amounts to anything useful depends on the economics of the two alternatives.

Yes, nuclear waste disposal is a major problem in the world.  But that's the case regardless of how it is mined.

Yes, nuclear proliferation is a major problem in the world.  But "raw" uranium is useless until the U235 is separated out and concentrated.  At 5% you can run a reactor.  You need something like 90% enrichment to make a bomb.  This process is very expensive and difficult.  It's taken Iran years and years to approach this level.  Obtaining the raw uranium from seawater rather than mined doesn't alter anything about high-level enrichment and proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Uranium for power does have shortcomings.  There are also potential advantages to this low-carbon power source.  Regardless of whether it is to have a substantial or minimal role in the global energy situation, a more economical and probably less environmentally destructive appproach to mining is a net good.

[Sebastian Jones]

  Regardless of whether it is to have a substantial or minimal role in the global energy situation, a more economical and probably less environmentally destructive appproach to mining is a net good.

Yes, that's true.
And if this method proves viable and able to pump out as much mineral as we want, presumably the price of it would decline.
At the risk of sliding off topic, I'm thinking gold here- its artificial value results in enormous environmental costs.
But nukes remain in the realm of Panglossian.

[morganism]

Japan has done this with kelp, this is just a refinement of the process. Tabacco leaves also soak up radionuclides.

In AZ, and all along the Colorado river, mine waste from mining uranium is a major hazard from dust ,water table contamination, and tailings runoff. That doesn't even include the fallout from the testing in NV.

Even if this is just used for remediation, i think it's a win for the environment, and public health.

That said, AI is going to give us easier isotope separation tech. That is why the RU invasion, and the lack of a stronger world response, is the major factor going into weapons escalation. Now everyone will want to have a nuke arsenal to protect from aggressive neighbors.

[morganism]

 Nuclear Power Comeback Update: Poland Authorizes Small Modular Reactors

Nuclear power is back in fashion in many countries because of its potential to decarbonize even energy-intense industry quickly. In its latest success, Poland has authorized the construction of 24 small nuclear reactors at six sites across the country.

https://backreaction.blogspot.com/



 

[morganism]

Electricity That's Too Cheap To Meter

By @edent · electricity environment solar · 4 comments · 650 words

Nuclear power was sold to the world as a safe, clean, and economically viable source of electricity. We were told that it would be "too cheap to meter"1. Even the most ardent proponent of nuclear power will have to admit that hasn't come to pass. Construction costs for nuclear power stations are dwarfed only by their decommissioning costs. Yes, politics and regulation conspire to increase the price - but nuclear hasn't made electricity particularly cheap. Indeed, we mostly seem to be paying more than ever for our power.

Well, not quite.

On Christmas Eve, my electricity company emailed me to say that I would have several hours of free electricity. They would charge me £0.00 per kWh. More than that, at a few specific times they would pay me for my electricity use!

Here's the graph of my half-hourly prices:

Graph of electricity prices. Some are negative.

Most factories and heavy industrial plants weren't running the day before Christmas. UK power usage spikes when everyone boils a kettle at the end of a football match or other similar event - but there was nothing so momentous happening at 3AM. So supply outstripped demand.

Anyone with a smart-meter could have been paid to charge their car, run their tumble dryer, or stay up until the wee hours playing on their console.

And was it nuclear power which did this? No.

Dashboard showing electricity prices in the negative. Around two thirds of the electricity is being provided by wind.

As shown on the live grid tracker about two-thirds of the day's electricity came from renewables. It was pretty overcast, and our solar panels barely made 1kWh.

It wasn't mined uranium which gave us power which literally had to be given away; about 62% of the electricity came from wind.

At this point, the nuclear lobby will start whinging about subsidies (both nukes and renewables are generously subsidised) and how wind can't provide a base load (which is fair). But although sticking a bunch of turbines in costal waters is an engineering marvel - it's pretty cheap compared to building and maintaining a nuclear power station.

Wind - and other renewables - have done what nuclear couldn't. They have provided such an abundance of electricity that consumers are paid to use it.
History and the Future

It's worth looking at the original quote from 1954 about electricity becoming too cheap to meter:
(more)

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/12/electricity-thats-too-cheap-to-meter/

[Sigmetnow]

NEWS: First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in operation.

At a cost of $30 billion, the new 1,114 megawatt (MW) Unit 3 reactor, and a fourth (beginning operation by March 2024), join two existing reactors at Plant Vogtle in Georgia.

Source: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61106&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=EIAsocial&utm_id=FirstUpdate
 
12/26/23, 11:48 PM  https://x.com/sawyermerritt/status/1739870817830285329

[Sigmetnow]

Spain confirms nuclear power phase-out, extends renewable projects deadlines
December 27, 20231

MADRID, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Spain on Wednesday confirmed plans to close the country's nuclear plants by 2035 as it presented energy measures including extended deadlines for renewable projects and adjusted renewable auctions.

The management of radioactive waste and dismantling of the plants, whose shut down will begin in 2027, will cost about 20.2 billion euros ($22.4 billion) and will be paid for by a fund supported by the plants' operators, the government said.

The future of the country's nuclear plants, which generate about a fifth of Spain's electricity, was a hot issue during the recent electoral campaign, with the conservative opposition People's Party (PP) pledging to reverse the planned phase-out. More recently, one of the main business lobbies called for extending the use of these plants.

Among other measures were changes to the rules governing development of new green energy projects and renewables auctions.

The government agreed to extend key administrative deadlines for new projects. The deadline to obtain a building permit, for example, was increased by six months to 49 months.

Renewable auctions may now include qualitative criteria to take into account social and environmental standards to "recognise the added value of European products," the Energy Ministry said in a statement.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/spain-confirms-nuclear-power-phase-out-extends-renewable-projects-deadlines-2023-12-27/

[morganism]

(RECA compensation bill was pulled from the mil budget before passage. Comp for miners and downwinders)

‘We’re running out of time’: Program for Arizonans exposed to radiation set to expire in June
Survivors, politicians and Navajo Nation officials react after legislation to compensate more downwinders and miners fails in Congress
(...)

The actual collection of this tax was from taxpayers directly. The combination of the tax being new, tax incidence being a relatively small portion of the population, and taxpayers being mostly on their own recognizance lead to a fairly large “tax gap”, which is the wedge between taxes theoretically owed to the government (per the law) and those actually reported by taxpayers.

America re-instituted the income tax in the early 1900s (via a constitutional amendment, this time) as a result of that most cherished of American traditions: widespread populist revolt over tax rates. Specifically, tariffs on imported goods hit the pocketbook of the emerging middle class the worst. The middle class exercised (and exercises) substantial political heft in America, and directed its representatives to move more of the tax burden to the wealthy. The term of art for this in tax policy is “progressive” taxation (where one’s effective tax rate goes up with income and/or wealth); any tax on consumption (including tariffs) will almost definitionally be regressive (the opposite), because the wealthy consume less of their income and/or wealth than other social classes.
(more)

https://www.azmirror.com/2024/01/09/were-running-out-of-time-program-for-arizonans-exposed-to-radiation-set-to-expire-in-june/

[SeanAU]

They never mentioned this in the Glasgow COP26 in 2021

ROFL Golly what could be going all so wrong all over the world?

- it's green, cheaper in the long-term, and will ensure the UK’s energy security -

WHOA Baby! That's waaaaay too much truth in one sentence. But the wind, the sun?

UK reveals massive nuclear power expansion plan

The UK government announced plans on Thursday for what it described as the country’s “biggest expansion of nuclear power for 70 years” to boost its energy security and meet carbon emission goals.

The ambitious Civil Nuclear Roadmap presented by British ministers includes a plan to build a £30 billion ($38.2 billion) nuclear plant and a multimillion-dollar investment program to produce an advanced uranium fuel and “smarter regulation.”

The measures should quadruple the country’s nuclear power by 2050 to 24 gigawatts, enough to provide a quarter of the UK’s electricity needs.

“Nuclear is the perfect antidote to the energy challenges facing Britain – it's green, cheaper in the long-term, and will ensure the UK’s energy security,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

“This is the right long-term decision and is the next step in our commitment to nuclear power, which puts us on course to achieve net zero by 2050 in a measured and sustainable way,” he added.

The UK intends to build a fleet of eight new reactors by 2050 to wean itself off the fossil fuel. The government is also committed to investing up to £300 million ($382 million) into making the HALEU fuel required for new high-tech reactors, which is currently only commercially produced in Russia.

According to Jess Ralston, an analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, the government is pouring a multimillion-pound investment of public money into the nuclear industry to “unleash further private sector investment.”

“The challenge is the industry has a record of running overbudget and behind schedule, so this does little to increase the UK’s energy security any time soon,” Ralston told The Guardian.

Other experts are also skeptical about the initiative, arguing that the UK has been “exploring” a new private-led nuclear plant for years.

“Labor supports expanding the UK's nuclear power fleet, which must form a critical part of our future energy mix,” Jack Abbott, an expert in the clean energy sector, told the BBC.


EDF Energy plans to extend life of four UK nuclear power plants
French energy company to invest a further £1.3bn in its British nuclear fleet up to 2026
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/09/edf-energy-uk-nuclear-power-plants 

UK government sets out plans for ‘biggest nuclear power expansion in 70 years’
Ministers hope to build fleet of reactors to meet quarter of electricity demand by 2050
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/11/uk-government-sets-out-plans-for-biggest-nuclear-power-expansion-in-70-years

Watch the anti-nuke critics come pouring out of the walls now .... but both Tories and Labour agree. Ouch!

[Sebastian Jones]

I suppose it will only be when- or if- global corporations figure out how to monopolize the sun and the wind that people such as Sunak  will stop bloviating about 'green nukes'.
Imagine if they put that much money and energy into massively building out PV, wind and batteries.

[Sigmetnow]

Earth already receives about the same energy from the Sun in an hour than humanity consumes in a year.
Solar panels just need to catch a tiny amount of it to power our entire civilization!

1/13/24, https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1746251228114284740

[morganism]

Uranium Energy Corp to Resume Uranium Production in Wyoming's Powder River Basin
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 17, 2024

Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE American: UEC) has given the green light to recommence uranium production at its Christensen Ranch In-Situ Recovery (ISR) operations located in Wyoming. This move marks a notable step in the company's strategy, especially considering its 100% unhedged position in the uranium market.

The Christensen Ranch ISR operations, known for their prior production capabilities, are fully permitted and stand ready to contribute once again to the uranium supply chain. The production process will be supported by the Irigaray Central Processing Plant (CPP), a fully operational facility with a current licensed capacity of 2.5 million pounds of U3O8 per year. This plant serves as a central hub for four fully permitted ISR projects in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, including Christensen Ranch.

Uranium Energy Corp has scheduled the first production for August of this year, with funding secured through existing cash reserves. The company's approach of remaining 100% unhedged allows it to sell produced uranium at prevailing spot market prices, which, as of January 15, 2024, stood at $106 per pound U3O8, as reported by UxC.

Looking ahead, Uranium Energy Corp will be providing further details on the expected volumes for the first year of production. A critical aspect of the pre-production phase is the recruitment and training of additional operations personnel. This step is crucial for a successful ramp-up of uranium production, with the company aiming to hire from local communities such as Buffalo, Gillette, Casper, Kaycee, and Wright.

Amir Adnani, the President and CEO of Uranium Energy Corp, expressed his enthusiasm for this milestone, stating, "This is the moment we have been working towards for over a decade, having acquired and further developed leading U.S. and Canadian assets with an exceptional, deeply experienced operations team."

He highlighted the favorable market conditions, citing various supply shocks that have bolstered the uranium market, with recent prices surpassing the $100 per pound level. Adnani emphasized, "With this exciting backdrop, we are pleased to announce our production restart in Wyoming."

Further expanding on the company's strategic plans, Adnani mentioned initiatives to resume production at their South Texas Hub and Spoke platform, promising more updates as milestones are achieved.

In preparation for this production restart, extensive work was undertaken at the Christensen Ranch wellfields and satellite processing plant in 2023. These efforts included the reinstallation of equipment, reattachment of piping, and various electrical testing, repairs, and upgrades.

Additional progress has been made, including the development of a detailed wellfield startup plan, drilling to identify additional resources, and an application to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to expand the Irigaray CPP's licensed capacity from 2.5 to 4 million pounds U3O8 per year. Operations will initially resume in Mine Units (MU) MU7, MU8, and MU10, as shown in Figure 1.
(more)

https://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Uranium_Energy_Corp_to_Resume_Uranium_Production_in_Wyomings_Powder_River_Basin_999.html

[morganism]

One of first US uranium mines opens near Grand Canyon after eight years

Pinyon Plain’s start comes amid US’s push to boost production, but tribes fear contamination of water and cultural sites.

A uranium mine in Arizona located just 7 miles south of the Grand Canyon national park has begun operations, one of the first in the US to open in eight years.

The opening of the Pinyon Plain mine comes as the US seeks to boost domestic production of the mineral needed for nuclear energy and accelerate divesting from fossil fuels.
In the Grand Canyon, uranium mining threatens a tribe's survival
Read more

But the mine has faced decades of fierce opposition from the Havasupai Tribe, who fear that its operations could contaminate its sole source of drinking water and damage important cultural sites.

“It’s a very, very sad situation – it’s upsetting a lot of tribes in this region,” said Carletta Tilousi, a former Havasupai council member who has been leading the tribe’s opposition to uranium mining in the south-west. “But I think we all knew this was eventually going to happen.”

The Pinyon Plain mine lies within the new Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni national monument that Joe Biden designated last year, and is owned and operated by Energy Fuels Inc.

Uranium mining in the region had ceased for years, amid a federal ban on new mining claims around the Grand Canyon. Permitted mines unaffected by the ban sat dormant due to low uranium prices.

But an agreement at Cop28 to triple nuclear energy production as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has boosted demand. Energy Fuels Inc began operations at the Pinyon Plain mine in December and has also begun ramping up production at its Pandora and La Sal mines in Utah, near Moab.

The company cited rising uranium prices in a statement about its activities, as well as “increased buying interest from US nuclear utilities, US and global government policies supporting nuclear energy to address global climate change, and the need to reduce US reliance on Russian and Russian-controlled uranium and nuclear fuel” among their reasons to ramp-up production. The US still buys uranium from Russia, despite sanctions imposed after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but lawmakers have been seeking to divest from the country.
(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/23/us-uranium-mine-grand-canyon

[morganism]

Border package contains $2 billion for uranium enrichment

The Senate’s border and Ukraine spending package contains more than $2 billion in funds for uranium processing, as the U.S. works to reduce global reliance on Russian energy exports.

The text of the bill, released Sunday night, includes $2.72 billion in unspent grant funding for domestic uranium enrichment, with the goal of bolstering nuclear fuel development. Another $98 million would go to domestic isolation and production of isotopes, a major Russian export. The package would also put $149 million toward the National Nuclear Security Administration to respond to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is the sixth largest producer of uranium worldwide. The Biden administration has made attempts to isolate the country as an energy exporter, and it is working to reduce general foreign reliance within the renewable energy supply chain.
(more)

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4449461-border-ukraine-package-2-billion-uranium-enrichment/

(I really dislike the standard US nuke plant designs (they are still scaled up submarine reactors), but if we are going to do it, i think we should just build the breeder reactors, so we don't have the environmental damage and water table poisoning that we get with uranium mining)

[KiwiGriff]

[Freegrass]

Great video on SMR's. Why they're not getting off the ground.

I think that geothermal will be the last nail in the coffin for nuclear energy. Drill a hole, and you've got reliable baseload power that comes with a free battery in the case of EGS.

[gerontocrat]

Freegrass,

China has a different view and doing something about it......

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202404/16/WS661dcf47a31082fc043c2252.html

Nuclear power's share in energy mix on the rise

Carbon-free electricity generator seen as key to meeting environmental goals


An aerial drone photo taken on Feb 22 shows construction on the second phase of the Zhangzhou nuclear power project in Zhangzhou, Fujian province. The project uses Hualong One reactors, which are third-generation reactors developed domestically. [PHOTO/XINHUA]

Nuclear power generating capacity in China is expected to continue increasing in the coming years with its share in the country's energy mix set to keep climbing, according to an industry report.

China is expected to further expand its installed nuclear power capacity, which will account for 10 percent of China's total power output in 2035, up from 5 percent in 2021 and equivalent to reducing 900 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to a blue book — China's Nuclear Energy Development 2024 — released by the China Nuclear Energy Association on Monday.

The share of nuclear power generation is expected to reach 18 percent by 2060, which is similar to the current average level for members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it said.

The Chinese government has been implementing an active, safe and orderly development of nuclear power in recent years, with the scale and pace of nuclear power development entering a new normal, Zhang Tingke, vice-chairman and secretary-general of the China Nuclear Energy Association, said on Monday.

According to the blue book, China's nuclear power generation has continued to grow over the past few years, and future power supply growth will come mostly from non-fossil energy sources amid its green energy transition.

Nuclear power generation in China reached 433.37 billion kilowatt-hours last year, ranking second worldwide and equivalent to reducing the burning of standard coal by more than 130 million tons compared with coal-fired power generation, it said.

In 2023, China's nuclear power projects under construction steadily advanced, with five new nuclear power units launching construction. The investment in nuclear power construction was 94.9 billion yuan ($13.11 billion) last year, the highest level in five years, it said.

According to CITIC Securities, the accelerated approval of nuclear power projects is expected to lead to the growth of China's related industry chain, further facilitating the country's goal of reducing carbon emissions sooner than planned.

It estimates that the value of investments in new nuclear power plants will hit 231 billion yuan by 2025.

Nuclear power is seen as a carbon-free low-cost alternative in China's energy transition, and its role has become increasingly important in recent years, said S&P Global Commodity Insights.

China's energy policy is leaning toward strong growth in nuclear, in line with several European countries where it has assumed greater importance with the diversification from Russian oil and gas, it said.

S&P Global Commodity Insights projects the share of nuclear power to be higher in the generational mix of coastal provinces at 15 percent in 2035, up from 11 percent in 2021, while China's nuclear generation capacity will reach 145 gigawatts in 2035, more than double the 2025 target level.

In China's latest 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), the government has called for nuclear generation capacity expansion to 70 GW in 2025.

According to the blue book, China continues to lead the world in the number of nuclear power units under construction at 26. Total planned installed capacity of 30.30 GW is currently under construction, ranking tops worldwide, it said.

Wang Shoujun, president of the Chinese Nuclear Society, said after more than 30 years of development, China has risen from being a novice to a pioneer in the nuclear power industry.

The country's nuclear power industry has witnessed huge progress in localizing nuclear technology, including its third-generation Hualong One pressurized water nuclear reactor design — a Chinese reactor with full proprietary intellectual property rights — which is also one of the most widely accepted third-generation nuclear power reactors in the market, Wang said.

The country has also been consistently pushing forward research and development of large advanced pressurized water reactors and high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, with numerous technological breakthroughs in onshore commercial modular small reactor construction as well as numerous advanced nuclear energy systems, Wang added.

[Freegrass]

Freegrass,

China has a different view and doing something about it......

I know, but that's China.
They’re Confucianists.
They take Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno to the extreme.

By the time we in the west decide and actually build one of those new nuclear facilities, it would already be too late, coz batteries, wind, and solar prices will keep dropping.

Just imagine if we could get (advanced) geothermal to work.
That would be the nail in the coffin for "nukelar".