NEI Nuclear Notes

From Mohamed ElBaradei , the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency: "There will be, in the short term, a slowdown in some countries. But others like France, India or China [won't see] an impact on their [nuclear] programs," he says. A little more: "For example, China and India are expanding by five to eight times their use of nuclear energy by 2020 or 2022. Brazil is expanding its nuclear-power program. South Africa is looking seriously to do so," he says. "All these large emerging countries, with large populations and development challenges, have to rely on nuclear energy. Lots more at the link. The article says the ElBaradei has political ambitions in his native Egypt, but I’ve read in various other places that his international profile might make that difficult because Egyptian voters might not think he is attuned to homeland issues. Well, we’ll see. I make no bones about finding ElBaradei an altogether admirable figure. He gathered en...

Mohammed ElBaradei, the previous head of the IAEA, is in Canada to talk about energy security. When I read something like this from him: There is a broader sense that without stability you will not really have energy security," he said in an exclusive interview with the [Calgary] Herald. "You will not have energy security unless you have a global security system that enables everybody to feel that they have enough to have a decent life. If you continue to have sort of an obscene gap between the rich and the poor and the instability, that will definitely have an impact on your energy security. Energy security is just the tip of the iceberg." I remember why I find him an admirable figure – he did a terrific job at the IAEA promoting the needs of smaller countries and tempering some inflammatory rhetoric from a few of the more powerful member countries. The growing interest in nuclear energy throughout Asia and Africa likely owes at least a nod in the direction of...

What’s the value of nuclear energy? Let’s let Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh tell us : "Nuclear energy is vital to meeting our energy and developmental needs, particularly those of large, developing countries like India," Mr. Singh said. We’d add that that’s a pretty good formulation for large, even smaller, developed countries, too. But what’s the occasion? Addressing a function in New Delhi to honor Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. Singh said India is geared up for a major expansion of its nuclear program "in which international cooperation will be an important component." Actually, Mr. ElBaradei has stepped down, which is most likely why he’s being honored just now. As for why India might be doing that: The global Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008 lifted its ban on selling nuclear fuel to India, and, as a result, nuclear power is expected to rise to 40,000 megawatts of installed generating ca...

Now, here’s the thing: if you go to a conference about some topic in your field, you’re likely to eat some bad food, catch up with colleagues you never liked and end up with a bag full of plastic from various widget vendors. So cynical. Listen and you might well also hear some ideas that charm you, some statements that surprise you. At the 2009 Scientific Forum in Vienna, we heard this from Mohamed ElBaradei of the IAEA, which sponsors the forum: This year we have chosen a timely topic: without energy there is no development, and development is life. Well, that’s not bad – poetic, in fact, a distillation of a truth. Still, it struck us as rather an odd if highly appealing utterance. Then, there’s this: In his presentation, Ashok Khosla, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), introduced the concept of Gross National Happiness, which underlies a fundamental shift in the approach to economic development. And this: The Forum’s ope...

And here we had just gotten used to Mohamed ElBaradei – we were almost fans: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday formally appointed Yukiya Amano of Japan as its new director general from December 1, succeeding Mohamed ElBaradei. The 150 member states of the UN nuclear watchdog approved Amano -- who has been Tokyo's ambassador to the IAEA -- by acclamation on the first day of the agency's annual week-long general conference. And the takeaway on ElBaradei, who served for 12 years: ElBaradei, 67, has frequently come under fire, particularly from the United States, for being too soft on Iran, which is suspected of seeking to develop the atomic bomb under the guise of a civilian nuclear energy programme. That’s probably why were fans – he kept the agency’s balance between superpowers to the right of him and developing nations to the left of him. We’re not sure “He didn’t rat out his members” qualifies as retirement card material, but he face...

Some Monday nuclear tastiness: Well, we don’t know : The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is willing to support Kenya in exploiting nuclear power as a source of energy. IAEA Director General, Dr. Mohammed El Baradei, said Friday that in order for Kenya to achieve rapid industrialization there was the need to add nuclear energy in its current energy mix. "Kenya might have other sources of energy but in order to industrialize faster, there is need for nuclear energy," Dr. Baradei said. What we can’t tell from the story is whether Kenya wants nuclear energy or if Dr. El Baradei is making some stray comments – other stories on this seem to root from this one. We think he’s saying that the IAEA is offering Kenya help in developing a domestic industry. Then we came to this: Dr. Baradei was speaking when he met President Mwai Kibaki at his Harambee House office here late Thursday. Quite a chatty guy, our Dr. El Baradei. These are members of the ...

If everything is timing, now was not the right time for the International Atomic Energy Agency to start a fundraising effort: The International Atomic Energy Agency chief urged 145 member states on Monday to come to grips with an IAEA funding crisis undermining its ability to prevent nuclear proliferation threats. Opening the IAEA's annual assembly, Mohamed ElBaradei called for urgent steps to increase funding of the U.N. watchdog, modernise equipment and enhance its legal authority to verify the nature of nuclear programmes in suspect countries. In case you think ElBaradei might be unwilling to raise the rhetoric to alarming levels: "It would be a tragedy of epic proportions if we fail to act (for lack of resources) until after a nuclear conflagration, accident or terrorist attack that could have been prevented." Yes, that certainly would be a tragedy, wouldn't it? While we don't want to suggest even for an instant that the IAEA shouldn't...

According to report from the IAEA. Per Reuters , Nuclear power production could as much as double by 2030 as countries seek relief from rising fossil fuel costs and a remedy against global warming, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Thursday. "Nuclear power, in step with growing global demand for energy, will continue expanding into the next two decades," said a summary of the latest annual version of the IAEA's Energy, Electricity and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period to 2030. Global nuclear power generation, now estimated at 372 gigawatts yearly, is likely to rise to anywhere from 473 gigawatts to 748 gigawatts, the report by the Vienna-based U.N. agency said. A gigawatt is one billion watts. The low end of the forecast would assume that all nuclear capacity now under construction or in the pipeline got built and current phaseout policies remained in place, it said. The high-end projection reflects "government and corporate announcements about lon...