Professor Takes Issue with Greenpeace Estimates in Belgium

In Belgium, the local chapter of Greenpeace is calling on the government to close that nation's nuclear power plants earlier than scheduled.

Luckily, not everyone is buying it. One professor ran the numbers, and had this to say:

Professor Jacques De Ruyck, specialist in renewable energy, disagrees with the reasoning that Greenpeace puts forward to encourage the closing of the old nuclear power plants. The oldest nuclear power plants are producing just a small share of the electric energy we use, he says. Meanwhile, Greenpeace is not taking the rising demand for electricity into account. Instead, they estimate that the consumer will cut down on usage by 2.5 to 3 percent a year. “That gigantic percentage is unrealistic”, De Ruyck says.

If we try to both decrease our CO2 production and close the nuclear plants, we may face serious shortages. Electricity will become five times more expensive, De Ruyck says.

Currently, nuclear energy accounts for 55 percent of Belgium's electricity. Meanwhile, the Belgian Entrepreneurs Union has already asked the government to build a new nuclear power plant.

Comments

Matthew66 said…

I predict that Belgium will continue to derive the vast majority of its electricity from nuclear power. The only question is whether the nuclear power stations are located in Belgium, where they will pay Belgian taxes and enhance the Belgian economy, or whether they will be located in France, paying French taxes and enhancing the French economy.

February 21, 2007 at 3:28 PM

Joffan said…

I wonder how many of those 255 "clean energy projects" that Greenpeace is advocating are gas-fired cogeneration. Elsewhere I've seen that the classic renewable schemes have the potential to address only about 3-4% of Belgium's 2020 electricity requirements.

February 22, 2007 at 10:37 AM

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...

What Happens During a Refueling Outage?

You may have noticed over the past few weeks that a number of nuclear plants are shut down for refueling outages or are resuming operations after just returning from one. This type of routine outage usually occurs in the spring or fall when electricity demand is low so that nuclear reactors can replace about one-third of the spent fuel rods with new fuel and conduct other routine maintenance and repairs at the plant. To get a better sense of how refueling works at a nuclear energy facility, I spoke with Marcus Nichol, NEI’s senior project manager for used fuel storage and transportation, and asked him to explain the basics. Why does a nuclear plant need to replace one-third of its fuel? Nichol: The main purpose of a refueling outage is to replace older fuel that is depleted—meaning it can no longer efficiently produce energy from nuclear fission reactions—with new fuel. This “used fuel” has typically been used in the reactor for four-and-a-half to six years before it is pe...

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...

NEI Nuclear Notes

Search This Blog