Brazil revives nuclear power plant

A government-controlled firm is forging ahead with plans to resume expansion of Brazil's nuclear power program.

The Brazilian government has authorized the company, Electronuclear, to go back to work on the nation's third nuclear power plant.

Work on the Angra 3 reactor, near Rio de Janeiro, has been stalled for 22 years by a lack of money and political issues.

But the administration of President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva is turning to nuclear power to meet electricity needs that are growing with the country's booming economy.

"Things have changed a lot, and today it's clearer to everyone that nuclear energy has a role to play in the Brazilian electrical system, just like the other forms of producing electricity, which can't be dismissed," said Leonam Guimaraes, an Electronuclear spokesman.

Brazil is the 10th-largest energy consumer in the world, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. It's the third-largest consumer in the Western Hemisphere, behind the United States and Canada.

The two operational nuclear power plants in Brazil supply about 3 percent of the nation's electricity, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The other countries in the Western Hemisphere that use nuclear power to generate electricity are Mexico (where nuclear power generates 5 percent of electricity), Argentina (7 percent), Canada (16 percent) and the United States (19 percent), according to the atomic agency.

France generates more electrical power with nuclear reactors than any other nation (78 percent), followed by Lithuania (72 percent), Slovakia (57 percent) and Belgium (54 percent), the agency said.

Brazil's two reactors went into use in 1985 and 2000. They supply about half the electrical power used in the state of Rio de Janeiro, according to Electronuclear.

Electronuclear plans to begin construction work on Angra 3 in February and hopes that it will generate electricity by 2014, when Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament.

Environmental activists say authorities have not adequately planned an effective response in the event of an accidental release of radiation from Angra Three.

They also warn that building a third plant could adversely affect the environment, but Electronuclear has pledged to comply with each of 60 conditions the Brazilian government set in granting the country a license to restart work on the third reactor.

(Source: CNN)

World major economies see new nuclear dawn

Top economic powers have declared that the world is entering a new era of nuclear energy amid rising concerns over high oil prices and global warming, but Germany stood firmly as an exception.

The Group of Eight industrial nations got together with China, India and South Korea at the weekend in Aomori, a hub of Japan's nuclear energy industry on the northern tip of the country's main island of Honshu.

The 11 nations, which together consume two-thirds of world energy said in their joint statement that "a growing number of countries have expressed interest in nuclear power programmes."

"We are on the verge of a new nuclear age," John Hutton, Britain's energy secretary, told reporters.

He argued it was a "positive thing for the world," arguing that atomic power emitted little of the carbon dioxide that causes global warming and ensured energy supply.

The United States, Canada and Italy have all relaunched construction of nuclear power plants as oil prices soared five-fold since 2003. France and Japan are longstanding champions of nuclear energy.

Canada's natural resources minister, Gary Lunn, agreed that nuclear power "will see a very important role in the coming years."

Canada has built no nuclear power plant for three decades but is the process of constructing new reactors.

"We are committed to the safe use of nuclear energy for safe and peaceful purposes," Lunn said.

Italian energy minister Claudio Scajora also said he "strongly" supported the statement on nuclear power.

Since right-leaning Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi returned to power last month, Italy said it would begin building nuclear power stations, reversing a 20-year ban in an initiative likely to spark strong resistance.

But Germany has been the notable exception. The country in 2000 declared its intention to shut down all of its nuclear power plants, fulfilling a pledge of the Green Party which was then in power.

"Having heard other countries' positions, I think there is a nuclear power renaissance," Germany's administrative energy secretary, Jochen Homann, said in Aomori.

"But Germany has decided to abolish nuclear power generation gradually," he said.

"There are pros and cons about nuclear energy in Germany. Public acceptance is important and I can't make any prediction" on changes in public opinion, he said.

Nuclear power has faced major criticism throughout the industrial world, with some environmentalists arguing that it poses too much of a safety risk.

A 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine contaminated large parts of Europe, killing thousands of people.

The world's largest nuclear power plant, in Niigata prefecture northwest of Tokyo, was forced to shut down last year due to an earthquake, although no one was injured.

Despite nuclear power's image problem, Japan said on Saturday it would help build nuclear power plants in the United States, sensing opportunities for Japanese companies.

South Korean minister Lee Youn-Ho hailed nuclear power as "cost-efficient, stable energy source" in the backdrop of spikes in oil prices.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency said in a recent report that halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 would require building an additional 32 new nuclear power plants every year along with 17,500 wind turbines.

"I don't think it's an unreasonable forecast or estimate," US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said.

"We are really on the verge of a very substantial increase in the number of nuclear power plants," he said.

(Source: AFP)

Power: The Nuclear Renaissance

When it comes to building nuclear power plants, fluctuations in political thinking and public opinion are crucial. Not long ago, Canada's nuclear industry found itself facing a crisis of confidence. The last Canada Deuterium Uranium, or CANDU, reactors to be built in Canada, at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, east of Toronto, were ordered in the late 1970s. Its four units were to be completed by 1988 at a cost of $5 billion. Instead, they cost more than $14 billion and weren't completed until 1993, hammering Ontario deep into electricity-related debt. Other CANDU reactors have since been shut down long before their manufacturer's best-before date. Attempts to refurbish them have sometimes come in significantly over budget and behind schedule, as with rebuilt reactors at Pickering A Nuclear Power Station.

Tom Adams, executive director of Toronto-based Energy Probe, is a frequent energy commentator and a vocal critic of the nuclear industry. Just after the blackout that left much of North America in the dark in 2003, Adams told Canadian Business he was certain no new nuclear plants would be built in Canada because the experiences at Darlington, Pickering and other CANDU sites had been so bad. Today, he's not so sure. "Politicians are so excited, it's tough to say where things are going," he says. "There is a possibility they could overlook the record and the costs and just barge on forward."

The change is also felt at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which designs and manufactures CANDU reactors. David Torgerson, AECL's senior vice-president and chief technology officer, says governments "have realized that there is really no other option for large-scale energy production that can meet their requirements."

(read more)

(Source: Canadian Business Online)

UK nuclear power revival at risk of delays

Pensioned-off engineers will have to be brought out of retirement if the revival of nuclear power is not to be hit by serious delays, the Government has been warned.

A shortage of professional engineers and skilled trades is threatening plans to build new nuclear power stations around the country to ensure security of electricity supply and avoid the risk of blackouts, it is claimed.

Over the next 10 years the nuclear sector will need to recruit between 5,900-9,000 graduates and 2,700-4,500 skilled trades to meet nuclear needs, a London conference will be told today.

John Earp, president of the British Nuclear Energy Society, expects nuclear engineers will have to be brought out of retirement to help with the planning, training and development of a new "nuclear generation".

"They will have to act as a stop-gap because it is unrealistic to expect retired engineers now in their 60s to be working on reactors in another ten years," he said.

The shortage of engineers is expected to be a key issue, along with funding, potential sites and the waste storage needed to complete the first new nuclear plant by 2018.

Colin Brown, director of engineering at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, one of the conference organisers, said: "With the average age of an engineer 58, by the time the proposals come into force we are looking at an ageing population with most retired, unless we do something now."

The two-day conference will also hear John Hutton, Business Secretary, pledge government help to plug the engineering gap.

Other speakers include Bill Coley, chief executive of British Energy, which is in discussions about its future structure and role.

The Government is using its remaining stake in the company to attract new investors or partners to ensure a strong British role in the next nuclear power age.

(Source: Telegraph.co.uk)

Analysis: Companies race for nuclear plant

The United States may soon see a resurgence in nuclear power--if the government approves any of the applications for new power plants currently piling up in record numbers.

As of this month, nine different businesses have requested permission to build a total of 15 nuclear reactors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees U.S. nuclear power plant operation and licensing. The agency expects to receive applications for another 18 power plants, totaling 33 altogether, in the next year or so.

The last application the NRC approved was filed in 1974, and this recent onslaught of applications represents a steep rise in requests after a period of stagnation.

"We've had more applications, and there is an increase in the number of applications to build," said Ivonne Couret, public affairs officer for the NRC.

Several factors have influenced the recent rise in applications, including provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, experts say. The law provides risk insurance for companies venturing into the nuclear market after its 30-year lapse in growth.

But companies have to act fast to benefit from the insurance, which helps cover regulatory -- or litigation-related -- costs incurred in the application process through no fault of the company. The first two power plants to reach the construction phase can qualify for up to $500 million in coverage, and the next four up to $250 million. The availability of insurance has probably influenced the pace at which companies have begun to send in applications, said Eliot Brenner, director of public affairs for the NRC.

"Some companies are jumping in early to try and get these financial incentives," Brenner told United Press International.

(read more)

(Source: UPI)