Turkey in the Straw

Bianet, a Turkish news outlet that publishes in English, reports that the Global Action Group, "among them many well-known singers, actors and intellectuals," are not too happy that Turkey is considering building a nuclear energy plant.

Here are their complaints. Take a deep breath; you've heard it all before.

Every nuclear power plant creates waste, and no country has yet to find a satisfactory solution for that waste. It represents an ecological problem, whether it be buried or thrown into the sea.

Nuclear power plants are dangerous. Like everywhere else, people in Turkey still remember the disaster of Chernobyl. Should there be a leak in a power plant, all living beings in a wide radius would be affected, people would die or become ill, and ecosystems would be wiped out.

Nuclear power plants are not sensible investments. While it takes around 5 billion dollars to build one, building delays can make the costs spiral. For Turkey, wind and solar energy are alternatives which would make financial and environmental sense. They are not being exploited sufficiently at the moment, but that is no excuse for not rethinking the country’s energy policy.

Instead of nuclear power plants, Turkey needs energy efficiency and conservation.

The second point has a apocalyptic zeal that's fairly entertaining if not very plausible. Throw in a giant lizard and the circle of nuclear life is complete.

---

A closer look at Bianet suggests that Turkey, or at least Bianet, is troubled by nuclear energy on many fronts.

See here:

The Chamber of Electrical Engineers, (EMO), said they object to plans to build a nuclear energy plant, brought onto agenda by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler. "Nobody has the right to drag Turkey into new disasters and to turn the country into a garbage dump for the nuclear plant market lobbyists," said EMO.

And here:

The Turkey Environmental Platform (TÜRÇEP) has announced that "there will be no votes for those who support the building of nuclear power stations, those who close their ears to our demands for decarbonisation, those who ignore renewable energy and possible energy savings."

Of course, it's hard to say from these articles how broad-based the opposition is in Turkey and how much is being whipped up by the media there.

Here's some background on what Turkey is doing:

The Turkish Electricity Trading and Contracting Co. Inc. (TETAŞ) will accept the bids, after which the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK) will conduct an inspection to ascertain if the applicants meet the necessary technical and financial requirements. TETAŞ will select one company among the bidders and will submit the name of this company to the Cabinet for approval.

The ministry will assign the winning company suitable land free of charge. In addition to this, the company will also be given a guarantee that the state will purchase electricity from it until 2031 at a specified minimum price to prevent operating losses.

See the site for a full article. Nuclear energy may may not have created any tumult beyond the usual suspects, but if any of our Turkish friends visits the site, perhaps they can comment further.

Fluor Invests in NuScale

You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...

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