NEI Nuclear Notes

From the World Nuclear News : Japan's Toshiba Corporation expects orders for at least 33 nuclear power reactors by 2015, and plans to expand all its nuclear businesses over the period to 2020, according to the company's president. The predictions were made earlier this month in Strategies for Growth 2008 , the company's outline of the business directions planned for all its divisions. In a question and answer session, the company said that 33 units could be a conservative estimate, adding "we believe it is possible that the number of orders might increase." The Toshiba presentation does not say where it expects the orders for 33 units to come from but highlights the US, China, South Africa and the UK as countries with plans for new projects and where it is making sales efforts. The company plans to more than double its current annual sales target for the nuclear division, to ¥1 trillion ($9.6 billion) in 2020. ...

From Reuters: Britain said on Thursday it was making 18 more sites available for the next generation of nuclear power stations and gave operators four weeks to pick the ones they wanted. "Interest in building new nuclear power stations in the UK is strong," Business Secretary John Hutton said in a statement on the Government News Network. That's putting it mildly. Currently, the U.K. derives about 19 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy and, while the goal is to increase the percentage dramatically, no target was given in the article.

Looks like they can't build that next generation of U.K. nuclear power plants fast enough. From The Telegraph : Street lights in suburban areas are to be switched off after midnight as part of council plans to save energy. A series of trial blackouts will be carried out over the next few weeks by local authorities in the Home Counties, Hampshire and Essex among others. Buckinghamshire council is reported to be switching off more than 1,700 lights along 25 miles of road in an attempt to meet energy targets. It says the scheme will save £100,000 and reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 600 tons a year. If the trials are successful, all street lamps across the country could be turned off between midnight and 5am. Other areas taking part in the scheme include Maldon and Uttlesford in Essex, while parts of Hampshire have already carried out pilots. Residents' groups, police organisations and motoring groups have expressed fear that the darkness could cause increases in crime and road tra...

Found this clip on YouTube today that gives a nice overview of the decision by the U.K. government to approve a new generation of nuclear power plants. As for the Greenpeace spokesman who claimed that replacing gas-fired generation with nuclear-generated electricity wouldn't make a dent in greenhouse gas emissions, how in the world does he explain why France, which generates about 75% of its electricity from nuclear energy, has one of the smallest carbon footprints in the world? For more on total lifecycle emissions, click here .

Now that the U.K. seems poised to embark on building a new generation of nuclear power plants , Ireland -- which already draws on nuclear-generated electricity from the U.K. grid -- is considering its options . Rod Adams has some more thoughts. For more, click here .

Details from Idaho Samizdat .

Visit The Poliblogs .

Over in the U.K., former rocker Bob Geldof isn't shying away from sporting his pro-nuclear energy credentials at a blog sponsored by Lexus on hybrid vehicles . From The Guardian : Luxury car maker Lexus may have got more than it bargained for when it signed up Bob Geldof to take part in a blog debate about the green credentials of its hybrid models. Geldof, as well as talking about hybrid cars, airs his views on climate change, branding renewable energy initiatives such as wind farms "Mickey Mouse" and insisting "to really help the planet, we have to go nuclear, fast". [...] On the wider question of making an impact on climate change he said: "We may mess around with wind and waves and other renewable energy sources, trying to make them sustainable, but they're not. They're Mickey Mouse ... but to really help the planet, we have to go nuclear, fast." Geldof added: "In the UK, we'll soon have to scramble for more nuclear power. On this...

Spiked is on the case.

Details from the Guardian .

Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not be deterred. Click here for details from his speech earlier this week.

For a while now, I've written that folks ought to be careful when reading public opinion polls concerning nuclear energy in Europe. For the most part, as we've pointed out here at NEI Nuclear Notes, these polls were taken before the 2005 crisis over natural gas supply that took place involving Russia and Ukraine -- an event that clearly demonstrated the need for diversity in Europe's energy portfolio. Well, I'm happy to announce that the polls have finally caught up to reality. From The Times (London): An overwhelming majority of people believe that nuclear power will have a role to play in meeting Britain’s future energy needs, despite continued opposition from environmental campaigners. The latest in a monthly series of ethical reports compiled for The Times describes a growing groundswell of support for a new generation of nuclear power plants. Nearly two thirds of those surveyed by Populus said they believed that nuclear power will form part of an overall energy ...

From Dow Jones : The U.K. government Thursday gave the preliminary go- ahead to the design of four nuclear reactors, even though it has yet to decide whether to formally support nuclear power. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Areva (CEI.FR), GE Energy, a unit of General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse Electric Co., a unit of Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.TO) have all submitted individual designs for the four reactors. "This means the designs have gone through the first phase of the process - the preliminary safety case for each reactor design has been assessed," a spokeswoman for the government told Dow Jones Newswires. Before the generic designs of the nuclear power plants are completely approved or pre-licensed, the government's new Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, established just last week by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown, must consider the designs more carefully. "It is likely that the number of designs to be considered during phase...