Atomic Show #204 – Nuclear vendor CEOs discuss global market outlook

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On May 15, 2013, I had the opportunity to attend a session at the Nuclear Energy Assembly titled Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Supplying the Nuclear Energy Industry in the 21st Century.

The panel discussion was moderated by John Hamre, President and CEO of Center for Strategic and International Studies. Participants included E. James Ferland, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Babcock & Wilcox Company; Caroline A. Reda, President and Chief Executive Officer, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy; Michael W. Rencheck, President and Chief Executive Officer, AREVA Inc. and Daniel L. Roderick, President and Chief Executive Officer, Westinghouse Electric Company.

They discussed a number of challenges and opportunities including small modular reactors, competition with natural gas, market distortions caused by targeted subsidies, financial benefits to US of the Export-Import Bank, innovation, competing against government-owned corporations, and the obsolete nature of the prohibition against foreign ownership of US based nuclear power plants. (That last one was in response to a question from the floor. Some of you might recognize the source of the question. :-) )

Since it is difficult for many nuclear professionals to take the time away from their normal duties to attend meetings like the NEA, I thought it would be worthwhile to share this informative discussion with you.

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Is Levy County nuclear plant too expensive to compete with natural gas?

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On Saturday, May 11, 2013, the Tampa Bay Times published a lengthy piece by Ivan Penn titled Levy nuclear plant more costly than a natural gas facility that uses a detailed analysis with substantial “error bars” around cost estimates to show that under nearly all scenarios considered, the two reactor installation that has been proposed [...]

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Atomic Show #203 – Globally distributed atomic conversation

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Spectra Pipeline campaign is a teachable energy moment

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Kewaunee needs a “deus ex machina”; rising natural gas prices not quite enough

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On May 7, 2013, the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station is scheduled to stop generating emission free electricity for the last time. The plant is one of the better run and maintained facilities in the US, it has an operating license that is effective until December 2033, and it generates electricity for an average cost of [...]

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Nuclear energy saves lives

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Shale gas – boom, bubble, financial manipulation or smoking gun attack on competition?

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Salon.com published an article on Monday, April 1, 2013 titled Fracking: The next bubble?. The article includes an intriguing section that almost qualifies as a smoking gun in a somewhat convoluted way. The article suggest that the low natural gas prices that have prevailed in North America during the period from mid 2008-2013 have been [...]

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Dieter Helm – Nuclear saga cannot go on (Leaders must push to a happy ending)

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Dieter Helm has generously shared an April 2013 article written for Prospect Magazine titled Stumbling towards crisis. In that article Helm points to US energy decision making as a good example that serves as a contrast to UK energy policy making. He sees chosen path in the UK as almost guaranteeing a crisis. In his [...]

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Does nuclear energy need to do it all?

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At The Energy Collective, there is an active comment thread on a post titled Is Bill McKibben Really Serious About Climate Change? that has been sustained since March 8, 2013. Recently there was a comment that provided an opportunity to address a frequently expressed meme that is often used by people who oppose the use [...]

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Visual – How much material does it take to run a 3,600 MWe coal plant

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Utility companies that operate both coal and nuclear power plants rarely use the important communications techniques of comparison and contrast to help people understand the benefits of nuclear energy. There is some business logic behind that policy. I have a different set of interests and am not constrained by a need to protect any particular [...]

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Switch II Fission, the Sequel

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Last night I drove to Lexington, VA where the sustainability program was hosting a screening of Switch (to a smarter future). There was a decent crowd; perhaps 100 or more students, faculty and townspeople. It is an impressive documentary, with inside views of facilities that people rarely see. It also does a good job of [...]

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