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Nucleus 2/2001 edition
Leading economist challenges Greens to face truth on nuclear
"Nuclear is a clean way to generate electricity that does not cause global warming. Yet there is nothing the green movement likes less than nuclear power. In Europe, closing nuclear power plants is at the centre of Green Party political platforms.
"This ugly choice is going to confront the green movement with a moment of truth. What does it like less: global warming or nuclear power?
"There isn't a third way. Solar power simply cannot do what is necessary ...
"One can wait for fuel cells to be perfected for automobiles at some point in the future and then hope that they also can be used in the home to generate electricity, but that means doing nothing about global warming today.
"Nuclear power is one of the few examples in which human sociology has completely dominated hard science. Serious studies consistently show that, to generate the same amount of electricity, more people will die if coal is used than if nuclear is the energy source.
"Remember a year ago when two workers died in a nuclear (fuel facility) in Japan? Their deaths were in the headlines in every newspaper in the world. How many people do you think die every day in the coal mining industries of the world?
"In America, we kill about 36 per year. In China, they reportedly kill 10 000 per 'normal' year ... About 55 people per day die in the world's coal mines. Few of those deaths make headlines ...
"The fatality equation is clear. Nuclear is much safer than coal. It is also safer than gas; the number of American deaths in oil and gas exploration is more than twice that in coal mining.
"The environmental side effects are equally clear. Coal piles are slightly radioactive. Millions of tonnes of fly ash have to be dumped somewhere. Burning coal causes global warming. Nuclear is cleaner.
"This leaves members of the environmental movement
between a rock and a hard place. They don't like global warming, and
they don't like nuclear power. But, if they want to prevent global warming,
they are going to have to embrace nuclear power."
Lester Thurow ( Massachusetts Institute of Technology ) writing in the
daily newspaper USA Today
US industry briefs finance analysts on nuclear's 'increasing value'
The USA's 103 nuclear power units are setting new performance and safety records – and new nuclear plants could now be ordered in the US within the next five years.
That's the prediction of nuclear industry executives in a briefing for Wall Street financial analysts.
"The value of nuclear power plants in today's market has increased significantly in the last year, and we see that value continuing to increase," affirms Nuclear Energy Institute chairman Christian Poindexter.
He highlights the following achievements:
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last year's average capacity factor is estimated at 90%, up from 86% in 1999
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nuclear generation grew about 5% and produced some 20% of the nation's electricity in year 2000
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nuclear production costs (1.83 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity) are now below average coal-fired costs, and are the lowest of any large, expandable fuel source
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the owners of one-third of US nuclear power plants say they will seek permission to run their plant's working lives to 60 years
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the industry continues to consolidate, with ownership and operation increasingly in the hands of a few large companies, for whom nuclear is a core business
Nuclear exit would cost Swiss at least 62
billion francs
Anti-nuclear activists' calls to replace Swiss nuclear power plants with renewable energy and/or radically greater electricity efficiency would cost at least 62 billion Swiss francs (about 40 billion euros) reports a new study by Germany's Bremen energy institute.
An earlier analysis by the institute said that replacement by natural gas would be "the economic equivalent of a major earthquake".
Details of the studies can be found at www.aspea.ch (in French) and www.atomenergie.ch (in German).
Meanwhile, Switzerland's five nuclear power reactors have achieved another record year, producing more than 25 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. The units' high efficiency was also shown in most of their load factors being over 90%.
French nuclear industry creating global leader
France has begun radically restructuring its nuclear industry, to create a global market leader.
The government plans urgently to set up this year a new holding company bringing state-owned nuclear organisations into a single structure, as well as forming a separate "new technologies" branch.
Meanwhile, France's Framatome and Germany's Siemens have merged their nuclear businesses into Framatome Advanced Nuclear Power. The new giant has sales over 3 billion euros, 13 000 employees, and offices on every continent.
Russia switching on new nuclear plant: Rostov-1
Russia has started up Rostov-1 nuclear plant and is due to first link it to the electricity grid in mid-March, heading for full power by third-quarter 2001.
Construction of Rostov-1 – a VVER-1000 – started more than 20 years ago. It is the first unit to be commissioned in Russia since Balakovo-4 in 1993 and is part of the "renaissance" of nuclear power in the country.
Russian nuclear plants set post-Soviet industrial record
Russia's nuclear plants generated more than 130 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity last year – making nuclear the country's first industrial sector to exceed Soviet-era output levels.
The 18% increase in nuclear electricity during 2000 was achieved by improved performance of existing plants, without commissioning any new ones.
Now, Rostov-1 is going on line and four more nuclear units are under construction: Rostov-2, Kalinin-3, Balakovo-5 and Kursk-5.
New simulators aiding safety across Eastern Europe
New simulators have just been installed at nuclear power plants in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Russia and Armenia.
The work involved national companies and partners from Belgium, Russia and the USA.
The simulators train operators in routine and safety skills.
Armenia nuclear plant back on-line after more safety upgrades
Armenia's only operating nuclear power unit, Metsamor-2, is again producing 35% of the nation's electricity, after three months of safety improvements.
The improvements strengthen the 21-year-old Russian-designed reactor's resistance to severe earthquakes and guard against fires.
The upgrades are part of technical aid begun in 1997, funded by the USA and the European Union.
The EU wants Metsamor-2 to close by 2004. But it is now able to run safely well beyond then, assert Armenian sources.
India’s nuclear plants work safely throughout severe earthquake
The two Indian nuclear power stations closest to the epicentre of the recent severe earthquake went on operating normally at full power throughout.
The two-reactor Kakrapur station – 300 km from the epicentre at Bhuj – is designed to withstand high-intensity quakes, as are all of India's 14 operating nuclear power units.
India's 14 power reactors have a total generating capacity of 2720 MWe – with firm plans to expand to 8100 MWe by year 2012. Russia is about to begin building two 1000-MWe power reactors at Kudankulam at the southernmost tip of India.