Looking beyond Hinkley Point C

IN JUNE, EDF ENERGY ANNOUNCED it had completed the 49,000-metric-tonne concrete basemat for the second EPR reactor at Hinkley Point C in Somerset. The milestone was achieved “on schedule”, despite the coronavirus pandemic and a reduction of “more than half” in the number of workers on site since March. Completion came less than a year …

Kazatomprom workers returning to site, confirms spot market purchases

Kazakhstan-based Kazatomprom is mobilising employees and expects to have its sites back to normal staff levels within two to three weeks. The world’s largest uranium producer said on Monday it believed it could safely begin to bring staff back to its mine sites, after a four-month Covid-19-related shutdown. Production in the second half of the …

Power sector problems see greenhouse gas target missed

Problems in the power sector have seen Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions rise and the 2018 target being missed. Scottish government figures show source emissions increased by 1.5% largely because of the long-term shutdown at Hunterston nuclear power station. It led to more electricity being generated at the gas-fired Peterhead power station, where emissions doubled. A Scottish …

US uranium output shrinks 89% in 2019

US domestic production of uranium concentrate plunged 89% to 174,000 pounds of U3O8 (triuranium octoxide) last year, according to the latest annual report published by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). This also represents a steep decline compared to the 4.89 million pounds the US produced five years earlier. The production of uranium concentrate is …

Covid-19 Has Slammed the Energy Sector. Here’s a Hot Commodity That Could Keep Rising

Uranium has outperformed major commodities this year, even as the energy sector has suffered from a drop in petroleum demand tied to the coronavirus pandemic. The crisis was a “black swan event” that pushed supply-demand fundamentals into a “structural shortfall,” says Scott Melbye, executive vice president at Uranium Energy Corp. “Substantial global uranium mine disruptions” …