OilPrice.com | Alternative Energy | Nuclear Power

OilPrice.com | Alternative Energy | Nuclear Power Nuclear power news and developments within the sector. We also cover uranium news and other research that can impact the nuclear energy sector. http://oilprice.com/ Thu, 24 May 2012 20:36:55 GMT Oilprice.com (info@oilprice.com) Japan Shuts Down Last Nuclear Plant - What Now? http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Japan-Shuts-Down-Last-Nuclear-Plant-What-Now.html On 5 May Hokkaido Electric Power shut down the No. 3 reactor at the utility's Tomari Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in the Hokkaido village of Tomari, the last of Japan’s 54 NPPs that were still functioning after the crisis caused after the 11 March 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that destroyed Tokyo Electric Power Company’s six reactor Fukushima Daiichi power complex.According to preliminary estimates, fiscal losses from the disaster and the subsequent shuttering of the NPPs are to over $300 billion and rising.The event is hardly…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Fri, 11 May 2012 14:25:54 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Japan-Shuts-Down-Last-Nuclear-Plant-What-Now.html Overcoming the Impossible: Developing Nuclear Fusion http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Overcoming-the-Impossible-Developing-Nuclear-Fusion.html The ITER project, an acronym for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, seeks to do the possible with impractical tools. There is no doubt that humanity can accomplish fusion in a quick and dirty way by making a bomb, or run reactions that don’t produce useful amounts of energy outputs, but unlike fission the ability to run a steady state reaction that produces more energy than it takes to drive the reaction eludes us.The ITER effort is based on the tokamak, a donut looking thing that circulates fuel plasma around endlessly…

]]> james@pokemoncard.info (Brian Westenhaus) Wed, 09 May 2012 0:47:26 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Overcoming-the-Impossible-Developing-Nuclear-Fusion.html Uranium Stocks are Massively Undervalued http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Uranium-Stocks-are-Massively-Undervalued.html Sell-offs in today’s increasingly volatile markets can be lethal to those psychologically and financially not prepared for such fluctuations, but for the prepared, it is simply more than an opportunity to buy assets at discounted prices. This is doubly true for sectors that are more volatile than the broad market and the major indices tend to be. And one such sector is uranium. The fundamental story behind uranium is simple: more nuclear reactors are coming online, and these reactors need uranium as fuel. Moreover, the Megatons to Megawatts…

Read more...

]]> (Simit Patel) Sat, 05 May 2012 0:27:00 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Uranium-Stocks-are-Massively-Undervalued.html A Wealth of New Uranium Deposits Discovered around the World http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/A-Wealth-of-New-Uranium-Deposits-Discovered-around-the-World.html The Athabasca basin of Canada hosts some of the world’s largest and highest-grade uranium mines of similar aged rocks. Last week Fission Energy Corp. and its 50% joint venture partner ESO Uranium reported a significant anomalous radioactivity was encountered in the final hole of the companies’ Patterson Lake South property exploration program.Fission Energy Patterson Lake Uranium Prospect Property.The Fission exploration follows a find by Hathor Exploration Ltd.. But Fission has a much superior land holding and their find so close to…

]]> james@pokemoncard.info (Brian Westenhaus) Thu, 03 May 2012 17:51:54 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/A-Wealth-of-New-Uranium-Deposits-Discovered-around-the-World.html Mother Nature Mugs California's Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Mother-Nature-Mugs-Californias-Diablo-Canyon-Nuclear-Power-Plant.html On 11 March 2011 TEPCO’s Fukushima nuclear power plant was rattled by an offshore 9.0 on the Richter scale earthquake. The tremor subsequently generated a tsunami that effectively destroyed the complex, sending shock waves worldwide through the nuclear power industry, hoping that 24 years after Chernobyl, public amnesia and governmental commitments to curbing greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power was moving back into the mainstream.Instead of a nuclear renaissance, Fukushima refocused a most unwelcome spotlight on existing nuclear power…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:54:46 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Mother-Nature-Mugs-Californias-Diablo-Canyon-Nuclear-Power-Plant.html Pakistan Nuclear Power Plant in Karachi - Bad Idea http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Pakistan-Nuclear-Power-Plant-in-Karachi-Bad-Idea.html Pakistan is deep in a power crisis. Quite aside from distressing domestic consumers, the country’s episodic and erratic electrical generating capacity is also nobbling Pakistani exports. Endemic energy shortages have crippled Pakistan’s textiles industry, which account for 63 percent of Pakistan’s exports and whose mills employ 20 percent of the nation’s workforce. An example. In the past year half of Faisalabad’s 250,000 power looms have gone out of business because of natural gas shortages, which power the looms.…

Read more...

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:26:44 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Pakistan-Nuclear-Power-Plant-in-Karachi-Bad-Idea.html U.S. Nuclear Industry Must Find Vast Supplies of Uranium before Next Year http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/U.S.-Nuclear-Industry-Must-Find-Vast-Supplies-of-Uranium-before-Next-Year.html THE SUPPLY CRUNCH Although nuclear power growth will continue to be driven by emerging economies like China, India, South Korea and even Saudi Arabia, the biggest consumer of uranium in the world today is still the US. There are some 104 nuclear reactors operating in the US, generating about 20 percent of total US electricity. In terms of uranium consumed by utilities, that translates into 55 million pounds of uranium per year. Currently, however, uranium mining in the US only provides about 3.5-4 million lbs per year.In the late 1970s, the US…

]]> energydigital@oilprice.com (Energy Digital) Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:12:04 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/U.S.-Nuclear-Industry-Must-Find-Vast-Supplies-of-Uranium-before-Next-Year.html Japan to Reconsider Nuclear Power in an Attempt to Guarantee Electricity Supply http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Japan-to-Reconsider-Nuclear-Power-in-an-Attempt-to-Guarantee-Electricity-Supply.html Japan is facing an electricity crunch this summer, potentially so severe, that companies such as Komatsu, the world’s No. 2 maker of construction machinery, have said they will move factories overseas if electricity supply isn’t guaranteed. Bloomberg reports that all but one of Japan’s 54 reactors are now offline after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami last year crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station. The reactors, which previously supplied 30 percent of Japan’s electricity, have either…

]]> Burnss@oilprice.com (Stuart Burns) Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:11:20 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Japan-to-Reconsider-Nuclear-Power-in-an-Attempt-to-Guarantee-Electricity-Supply.html The Inevitability of the Nuclear Age http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/The-Inevitability-of-the-Nuclear-Age.html I am firmly convinced that one of the best investment opportunities in the world today is in nuclear power. In this article I will discuss why that is, and how one can go about making such investments. The first point to be made in any discussion of a coming nuclear renaissance is that peak oil is real. In other words, oil production will continue to decline over the next couple decades, at a time when population and energy demand are rising. This creates a situation in which the energy market is being hit on both ends: on the supply side, oil…

Read more...

]]> (Simit Patel) Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:49:57 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/The-Inevitability-of-the-Nuclear-Age.html California's Nuclear Power Woes http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Californias-Nuclear-Power-Woes.html What a difference a year makes. In early 2011, America’s nuclear energy community and its proponents were cautiously hoping that America’s troubled nuclear power industry could experience a renaissance, 32 years after Three Mile Island and 25 years after Chernobyl, the U.S. and USSR’s worst nuclear catastrophes. Given the rising concern about global warming, nuclear advocates never ceased to point out that nuclear power plants (NPPs) produced zero greenhouse gas emissions, unlike fossil fuel fired thermal power plants burning…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:18:54 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Californias-Nuclear-Power-Woes.html Time to Switch to Switchgrass http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Time-to-Switch-to-Switchgrass.html Scientists in the United States announced plans to use remote sensing data to map grasslands in and around Nebraska in order to determine what areas are best suited for cellulosic biofuel derived from switchgrass. USGS officials said it would take much of the "guesswork" out of deciding where to plant crops for the use of biofuels on U.S. grasslands. With what could be considered standard forms of alternative energy -- wind and solar power -- gaining momentum, most of the guesswork for biofuels may be in its future. Expensive gasoline does…

Read more...

]]> dg@oilprice.com (Daniel J. Graeber) Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:42:31 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Time-to-Switch-to-Switchgrass.html German Nuclear Plans Reveal Deep Flaws http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/German-Nuclear-Plans-Reveal-Deep-Flaws.html Ten months ago, in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) disaster two months earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that Germany would close all of its 19 NPPs between 2015 and 2022. It was an audacious move, as Germany’s NPPs produce about 28 percent of the country's electricity, but Merkel’s government felt it was necessary in order to forestall a similar fate overtaking one of the nation’s nuclear installations. Amid the glare of worldwide publicity, one fact largely overlooked…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Mon, 02 Apr 2012 0:11:33 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/German-Nuclear-Plans-Reveal-Deep-Flaws.html South Korea's Nuclear Energy Dilemma - Salesmanship Post-Fukushima http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/South-Koreas-Nuclear-Energy-Dilemma-Salesmanship-Post-Fukushima.html Prosperous, energy poor South Korea, largely bereft of indigenous energy resources, is forced to compete in an increasingly turbulent world market. As the U.S. Energy Information Administration notes, “South Korea was the world’s tenth largest energy consumer in 2008, and with its lack of domestic reserves, Korea is one of the top energy importers in the world. The country is the fifth largest importer of crude oil, the third largest importer of coal, and the second largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG). South Korea has…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Wed, 28 Mar 2012 23:30:50 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/South-Koreas-Nuclear-Energy-Dilemma-Salesmanship-Post-Fukushima.html South Africa Strides Towards Nuclear Future - Maybe http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/South-Africa-Strides-Towards-Nuclear-Future-Maybe.html While the 11 March 2011 nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima has caused a lot of soul searching among many countries with civilian nuclear energy programs, the picture changes when it comes to nuclear power ‘wannabe” nations. Many downplay safety concerns, preferring to see nuclear power generation of electricity as a quick fix to soaring energy import costs as well as a way to add a massive number of megawatts to the national grid at a stroke. And for those nations with a green conscience, an added benefit is that nuclear power plants…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Fri, 02 Mar 2012 2:32:26 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/South-Africa-Strides-Towards-Nuclear-Future-Maybe.html Hopes Build for Thorium Nuclear Energy http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Hopes-Build-for-Thorium-Nuclear-Energy.html There is much written to the effect that thorium might prove a more viable nuclear fuel, and an energy industry based upon it, than the current uranium-based process which serves to provide both energy and weapons - including "depleted uranium" for armaments and missiles. There are different ways in which energy might be extracted from thorium, one of which is the accelerator-driven system (ADS). Such accelerators need massive amounts of electricity to run them, as all particle accelerators do, but these are required to produce a beam of protons…

]]> profs@oilprice.com (Professor Chris Rhodes) Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:37:18 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Hopes-Build-for-Thorium-Nuclear-Energy.html Another Fukushima Casualty - Japan's Fast Breeder Reactor Program http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Another-Fukushima-Casualty-Japans-Fast-Breeder-Reactor-Program.html The 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that effectively destroyed Tokyo Electric Power Company’s six-reactor Fukushima Daichi complex have claimed another victim, Japan’s fast breeder reactor program. Fukushima’s effect on Japan’s atomic energy program has not had the consequences of a nuclear blast, but more the relentless drip of acid rain, slowly eroding public confidence in the country’s nuclear power industry, which last month saw 49 of the country’s 54 nuclear power plant (NPP) reactors idled. The…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:15:04 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Another-Fukushima-Casualty-Japans-Fast-Breeder-Reactor-Program.html The Darker Reality of India’s Nuclear Power Goals http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/The-Darker-Reality-of-Indias-Nuclear-Power-Sector.html India is betting heavily on nuclear power to meet its surging energy needs. While India currently has six nuclear power plants (NPPs) with 20 reactors generating 4,780 megawatts, seven other reactors are under construction and are expected to generate an additional 5,300 megawatts. This current rate of nuclear power generation pales into insignificance with New Delhi’s future plans, as on 22 February Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told a seminar at the India International Nuclear Symposium, "India plans to have a total installed…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:16:50 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/The-Darker-Reality-of-Indias-Nuclear-Power-Sector.html Norway Hopes to Develop Thorium Nuclear Power http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Norway-Hopes-to-Develop-Thorium-Nuclear-Power.html Norway holds a resource of 170,000 tonnes of thorium, which amounts to 15% of the world’s total of 1.2 million tonnes. There is far more thorium than that within the earth’s crust all told, averaging 8 ppm compared with around 2.8 ppm for uranium, but the above figures refer to richer ores, most commonly monazite sand which contains up to 12% of thorium. There is some opinion that thorium nuclear power might be a better environmental/energy-strategy for Norway than relying on carbon-capture which many consider to be uneconomic. However,…

]]> profs@oilprice.com (Professor Chris Rhodes) Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:53:26 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Norway-Hopes-to-Develop-Thorium-Nuclear-Power.html French Nuclear Anxieties Soar After Fukushima http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/French-Nuclear-Anxieties-Soar-After-Fukushima.html France began developing a massive nuclear energy program with minimal public debate after the first oil crisis in 1974 and continued to support nuclear power even after the 1986 Soviet Chernobyl disaster. French nuclear energy giant Areva SA, majority owned by the French state, operates the country’s 59 nuclear reactors, which generate 78.8 percent of France’s electricity, the highest percentage in the world. Until Fukushima the French public felt largely secure in the safety of their country’s nuclear facilities. No…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Tue, 14 Feb 2012 0:01:46 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/French-Nuclear-Anxieties-Soar-After-Fukushima.html Poland Gears Up to Build First Nuclear Power Plant http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Poland-Gears-Up-to-Build-First-Nuclear-Power-Plant.html Among the few "gifts" not forced upon Poland during its more than four decades as a Soviet satellite state was a nuclear power plant (NPP). But now, given the European Union and NATO state’s surging energy needs, Poland is about to construct its first NPP. Why the retrograde step? Simple – burgeoning energy needs. Poland currently depends on coal to supply 94 percent of its energy needs but authorities in Warsaw want to diversify the country’s energy matrix with nuclear, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and shale gas projects to align…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:47:32 GMT http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Poland-Gears-Up-to-Build-First-Nuclear-Power-Plant.html