When Only a Rolls Will Do

Something you might not know:

Rolls-Royce has signed a contract with China Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation (CNPEC) to provide six Rod Control Systems (RCS) and eight Neutron Instrumentation Systems (NIS). These systems will operate with the new Chinese designed CPR1000 nuclear power plants and will be manufactured in the Rolls-Royce facility in Meylan, France.

I hadn’t seen Rolls-Royce mentioned in a story in a long time, so thought it might be a good idea to see what it’s up to these days.

Following the global acquisition of ODIM ASA, Rolls-Royce is in the process of fully integrating ODIM Numet - the nuclear division of ODIM ASA, into its overall product and service offering to its commercial nuclear customers.

So now you know. (Well, okay, that’s a little obtuse even for a press release. ODIM Numet is an engineering and fabrication firm focused on the CANDU reactor. Buying it broadens the kinds of reactors for which Rolls-Royce can build parts.)

The Rolls-Royce site is actually interesting to browse through. it explains its broad range of offerings very clearly (the press release above an exception) and you can learn a lot about the work of nuclear plant suppliers.

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It could be worse:

Despite efforts to expand the perception of the IAEA as simply the world's "nuclear watchdog," the agency's role in nuclear verification has garnered the greatest attention amongst UN member states.

And for good reason, given the essential geopolitical importance of the role. I get that the IAEA does a lot more:

The label "does not do justice to our extensive activities in other areas, especially in nuclear energy, nuclear science and applications, and technical cooperation," said IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano as he presented his first report to the UN General Assembly.

But it’s not a pejorative “label” and the IAEA can be sure any country wanting its services will know what it does. This can’t be the biggest fish in the IAEA fry pan. Let’s assume Amano got caught by a pesky reporter on a particularly sour morning.

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Activists rappelled down from a high bridge, broke through police lines and chained themselves to German train tracks Sunday, trying to halt a shipment of nuclear waste as they protested Chancellor Angela Merkel's plans to keep using nuclear energy.

German activists can be nothing if not demonstrative:

Some protesters poured flammable liquid on a police vehicle and set it alight.

Feels very 1969, doesn’t it? We’ve followed the tortuous story of Germany deciding to keep its nuclear plants operating in the face of no alternative when it comes to keeping its carbon emissions low. The specific event being protested is less important than that decision. Regardless, all the excitement happened near or on those train tracks.

Police used water cannons and pepper spray and wrestled with activists to break up the protest, but some still reached the rail line.

That sounds like 1969, too, unfortunately.

But don’t look over here for a mighty tut-tut. If some Germans want to protest nuclear energy, power to them – even atomic power. How effective such a protest is depends on a lot of factors – sometimes, it leads to conciliary statements, sometimes to stiffened spines – but this is another country’s issue and will be worked out to suit it.

The story doesn’t really finish – it doesn’t tell if the train was halted. CNN finishes it up:

[Nicole Ramrath of the Lueneburg police] described the protests overnight as "peaceful." About 3,500 protesters sat on the tracks, and police asked each person individually whether they would like to move and whether they would then leave the site, she said.

The majority dispersed, but several hundred protesters had to be carried off the track and kept in an outdoor detention area to keep them from returning, Ramrath said.

Consequently:

A train carrying nuclear waste in Germany is back on the move Monday after thousands of protesters blocked the track by sitting on it.

Another story said it was about 14 hours late.

An ongoing story, no doubt – a train with many boxcars.

At the protest. I can’t quite read the words on the back of those shirts – maybe it’s just the name of the group.

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

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