NEI Nuclear Notes

From the Daily Express : Britain is "quite simply running out of power" and blackouts are almost inevitable within the next few years. This is the stark warning from the head of an energy think-tank who believes power cuts could be serious enough to spark civil disorder. Campbell Dunford of the respected Renewable Energy Foundation said: "It’s almost too late to do anything about it. Nothing will stop us having to pay very high prices for power in future." ... The “retirement” of a string of nuclear and coal-fired power stations will see 37 percent of the UK’s generation disappear by 2015, partly because of EU environmental directives. But here's what caught my eye: The [REF] report concludes: "A near fatal preoccupation with politically attractive but marginal forms of renewables seems to have caused a blindness towards the weakening of the UK’s power stations and a dangerous and helpless vulnerability to natural gas." Wow, I'm a bit stunned (an...

Dan Yurman has the story : It took the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) nearly three days of protracted negotiations in Vienna to reach agreement. Austria, New Zealand, and Ireland, were the last three countries holding out on approval due to reservations about granting a waiver to India since it has not signed the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. ... Austria, New Zealand and Ireland lifted their objection to the US proposal after India made a formal pledge to not share sensitive nuclear technology or material and to uphold its moratorium on testing nuclear weapons. The breakthrough reportedly came after US President George W Bush lobbied members of the NSG. ... Bush administration must now push it through Congress before legislators break for the November elections. ... Congress, starts its next session on Sept. 8, but it may not be able to approve the U.S.-India nuclear cooperation agreement. House Foreign Affiars Committee Chairman Howard Berman, (D-Calif), who opposes the deal,...

In what has seemed like forever since the agreement was first initiated (July 2005), today could be the day that the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement lives or dies. It's up to the Nuclear Suppliers Group to give the thumbs up or thumbs down and Dan Yurman will be following it closely . Stop by his blog every couple of hours to find updates to the status of the deal.

From the World Nuclear News : Japan's Toshiba Corporation expects orders for at least 33 nuclear power reactors by 2015, and plans to expand all its nuclear businesses over the period to 2020, according to the company's president. The predictions were made earlier this month in Strategies for Growth 2008 , the company's outline of the business directions planned for all its divisions. In a question and answer session, the company said that 33 units could be a conservative estimate, adding "we believe it is possible that the number of orders might increase." The Toshiba presentation does not say where it expects the orders for 33 units to come from but highlights the US, China, South Africa and the UK as countries with plans for new projects and where it is making sales efforts. The company plans to more than double its current annual sales target for the nuclear division, to ¥1 trillion ($9.6 billion) in 2020. ...

From the White House : We are determined to play an active role in making the advantages of the peaceful use of nuclear energy available to a wide range of interested States, in particular developing countries, provided the common goal of prevention of proliferation of nuclear weapons is achieved. To this end, we intend, together with others, to initiate a new format for enhanced cooperation. Bearing this in mind, we acknowledge with satisfaction the initialing of the bilateral Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the United States of America for cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy. We share the view that this Agreement will provide an essential basis for the expansion of Russian-U.S. cooperation in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy and expect this document to be signed and brought into force in accordance with existing legal requirements. Click here to read the rest.