China’s nuclear reactor building spree

Chinese officials say the nation’s humming economy means that no fewer than eight, million-kilowatt class nuclear reactors must enter service each year to help keep the nation’s electricity supply in pace with demand, while not adding more pollutants to the already fragile environment. China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd. General Manager Liu Wei told reporters …

Trump’s energy budget makes coal and nuclear a priority over renewables

President Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget energy priorities emphasize coal, nuclear and national security over renewable energy and climate change. The Energy Department’s renewable energy office’s budget is slashed by 70 percent, from $2.3 billion to just under $700 million, in the new fiscal 2020 budget request to Congress rolled out on Monday. Instead, the funds …

Uranium Week: Even More Complicated

Congress has now weighed into the 232 debate, potentially further delaying a decision from the White House. Congress moves to curb presidential power Uncertainty constraining uranium market volumes Last week the chairman of the US Senate Finance Committee, Republican Charles Grassley, directed his staff to work with senators on both sides of the aisle to …

The nuclear necessity

Many Americans, including me, had our views of nuclear power strongly shaped by the 1979 film The China Syndrome. This polemic’s alarming message was amplified when the Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurred just days after its release. Splitting uranium atoms to generate electricity had once been touted as a miraculous solution to the world’s …

Husab operations halted due to safety concerns

MINING operations at Swakop Uranium’s Husab mine in Erongo were stopped on Tuesday after workers aired concerns over their safety in light of claims that unchecked explosives and detonators were discovered on the site. Sources on the mine told The Namibian that about 500 workers in the mining department stopped working yesterday already and will not return …

IEA: Nuclear Power Decline Could Challenge Energy Security

The share of nuclear power generation in the global energy mix is set to decline through 2040 if there is no policy support to promote investment, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). “Nuclear energy plays a major role in both energy security and sustainability in today’s energy mix,” Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s Executive …

Want to whip climate change? Go nuclear, says Alberta advocate

Want to whip climate change? It’s time to embrace the nuclear option, which is, in fact, nuclear power. So argues Alberta’s most enthusiastic advocate for nuclear power, engineer Sean Wagner, who runs the Alberta Nuclear Nucleus blog to educate folks on the benefits of nuclear energy. Alberta uses 10 to 11 gigawatts of electrical power …