Here is a brief update on what’s going on in the nuclear
energy world.
The Obama administration has finally authorized the
guaranteed loan bailout for building the two new Vogle reactors in
Georgia. Construction is already behind
schedule and over budget. Again, I say,
if these reactors ever do come on line, the electricity they will produce will
have to be subsidized by the taxpayers, just like the construction costs.
There are huge rumors about multiple nuke plant closures in
the next couple of years, due to age, cost of upgrades and maintenance, and the
biggest issue…their inability to economically compete with natural gas and
renewables. The exponential growth of
renewables is leading to rapid deployment of thousands of megawatts of capacity
in a very short space of time, and at decreasing costs. The private sector and Wall Street are
beginning to understand that here is an investment potential that is guaranteed
to make money. In the upcoming year or
two, major changes will be made in how utilities set their rates for energy
generation and their costs of transmission and distribution, and this will open
the door to even more investment. Very
complex stuff!
On the back end of nuclear power, Fukushima continues to
bewilder the industry, with new leaks of radioactive water announced just this
week. In spite of “global” help, they
are still unable to come up with any methodology or technology to clean up the
mess. Current estimates are 50 years
and $130 billion. Lots of wiggle room!
In the US, a major blow to repository storage comes from the
pilot plant in New Mexico, where contaminated military waste is supposedly
being stored, monitored, and evaluated in the salt formation geology. An unknown leak has released traces of
plutonium up at the surface of this facility.
So much for that process of containing even more radioactive wastes for
10,000 years!
The fuel fabrication plant in South Carolina, which is
supposed to convert nuclear warheads into MOX fuel, has jumped from $4 billion
already spent, to over $30 billion, and years behind schedule. Then there is the cost of retrofitting
reactors to accept this type of fuel.
The hope of new small modular reactors, thorium fueled reactors, and of
course, the endless supply of fusion power continue to be “holy grail” concepts
that are decades away from any real commercial applications, and will
ultimately be completely unaffordable.
The world is slowly begin to recognize the huge costs of
nuclear wastes, with the UK estimating the decommission and cleanup of their
Sellafield site at over $130 billion, Germany beginning to estimate $35 billion
to cleanup their nuclear program, and Japan having no clue as to how much it
will cost to eliminate their nuclear plants.
Taiwan has recently tied the opening of two new units to a complete plan
as to where their wastes will go.
Interesting times, as we plod along, and keep adding new
wind, solar, and other renewables to our energy mix. Think of what we could do if the Koch brothers were in the renewable
business!
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-57e6-Sellafield-shutdown-costs-to-reach-70-billion#.UweNT85Bspt
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