In this exclusive interview with Energy Post, the man in charge of EDF’s flagship new research centre just outside Paris, Jean-Paul Chabard, explains where the company sees its future opportunities. With an R&D budget of €650 million, EDF has the largest R&D effort of any utility in Europe. The EDF Lab at Paris-Saclay, which opened in March, houses half the company’s 2,000-strong R&D staff. Chabard says “electrical storage is the … [Read more...]
Hinkley Point C delay: how to exploit this attack of common sense in energy policy
Without Hinkley Point C, the potential to have a real and considered debate about the future shape of the electricity system has loomed into view, writes Bridget Woodman, Course Director, MSc Energy Policy, at the University of Exeter. According to Woodman, the UK government’s decision to delay a final go-ahead on the project makes it possible to start debating the sorts of options being considered widely around the world, with measures to … [Read more...]
As Hinkley Point C put on ice: the UK needs to get over energy megaprojects
The UK needs to get over the idea that megaprojects are the solution to everything, writes David Elmes, Head of Warwick Business School Global Energy Research Network. As the traditional investors in British oil, gas and electricity look smaller and less able to take on large projects, the UK needs an industrial energy strategy centred on a mix of smaller and larger projects. Courtesy of The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Brexit offers chance to finally put an end to the EURATOM treaty
All EU Member States are automatically obliged to be part of the EURATOM treaty, which promotes the development of nuclear power throughout the EU. It is high time to put an end to this situation, Â writes Hans-Josef Fell, president of the Energy Watch Group and a former member of the German parliament for the Greens. According to Fell, Brexit will offer a unique chance to dissolve EURATOM: since the UK will have to leave EURATOM as a result of … [Read more...]
Nuclear energy in the UK after Brexit
Opinions differ as to how Brexit will affect the UK’s plans for 19 GWe of new nuclear power, in particular the controversial Hinkley Point C project by French state-owned electricity company EDF, which will consist of two 1650 MW EPR reactors from French supplier Areva. Dan Yurman, nuclear expert and publisher of the blog NeutronBytes, has made a roundup of reports and opinions about the future of nuclear energy in the UK. … [Read more...]
Carbon pricing is not enough to help nuclear power
Politically feasible carbon pricing is not likely to provide the long-term revenue needed to support existing or new nuclear power projects. Instead, project-specific activities should be undertaken to keep existing nuclear in operation and to drive investment in new nuclear power plants - with the cost of these activities recovered as a cost of controlling carbon, writes Edward Kee, CEO of Nuclear Economics Consulting Group. Courtesy of World … [Read more...]
Uranium prices “set to double” on the back of new nuclear renaissance
The negative sentiment around uranium is starting to change, writes James Stafford of Oilprice.com, as the world is starting to build more nuclear reactors. He notes that “billionaire investors” are already placing heavy bets on a uranium recovery. Analysts expect prices to double by 2018. … [Read more...]
Is the EPR nuclear reactor fit for the current market?
Areva’s third-generation EPR nuclear reactor has had a troublesome start, with heavy delays and cost overruns in the two units under construction in Finland and France. Two other units that are being built in China are doing better. But is it a wise decision for the UK to let EDF build an EPR at Hinkley Point C? Quentin Philippe, investor at London-based private equity fund Actis, takes a critical look at the EPR. He concludes that not all its … [Read more...]
The fight over the EU’s nuclear ambitions – and what it means for European energy research
A leaked “strategy paper” in the German media has thrown  up fresh questions over what Europe intends to spend its innovation budget on. In the paper the European Commission and member states set out broad goals for the nuclear industry, including developing small modular reactors. Nuclear opponents reacted furiously. In her new Brussels Insider column, for the Energy Post Weekly premium newsletter, Sonja van Renssen investigates the fight over … [Read more...]
Renewable energy versus nuclear: dispelling the myths
Don’t believe the spurious claims of nuclear shills constantly putting down renewables, writes Mark Diesendorf, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies at UNSW Australia. Clean, safe renewable energy technologies have the potential to supply 100% of the world’s electricity demand – but the first hurdle is to refute the deliberately misleading myths designed to promote the politically powerful but ultimately doomed nuclear … [Read more...]
Time for Europe to stop supporting Ukraine’s risky nuclear power sector
Three decades after Chernobyl, nuclear power remains a mainstay of Ukrainian energy supply, writes Iryna Holovko, campaigner of NGO CEE Bankwatch Network in Ukraine. Despite persistent safety problems, the Ukrainian government has approved lifetime extensions for four of its 15 nuclear units since 2010, and two more could be greenlighted later this year. What is more, Holovko adds, Ukraine’s nuclear sector survives in part thanks to European … [Read more...]
New paradigms for the nuclear energy sector
A wave of innovation is sweeping across the nuclear sector – so much so that it is difficult for financiers to pick winners at this stage. But the biggest innovation in nuclear energy may come in the form of a new investment paradigm that involves private investors much more than in the past, writes specialised nuclear energy reporter Dan Yurman. Article courtesy of World Energy Focus. … [Read more...]
How to protect nuclear plants from terrorists
The risk of terrorists obtaining nuclear material to make a dirty bomb, or hijacking a nuclear plant, is real, observes Allison Macfarlane, a Professor at George Washington University and former Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. According to Macfarlane, countries with nuclear plants need to improve security quickly before it’s too late. They can learn from the United States, whose nuclear power plants are among the most … [Read more...]
Russia: a global energy powerhouse that’s much more than a petro-state
Russia is not what you think. Most discussion about its energy influence has focused on oil and gas, particularly gas, and Russia and is routinely described, as a petro-state. But this is only partly accurate, writes Scott L Montgomery, Lecturer at the University of Washington. According to Montgomery, Russia has been building an altogether new kind of energy state, one with more global influence than even OPEC. This has profound implications for … [Read more...]
EU expects large nuclear new-build programme despite escalating costs
The European Commission estimates that nearly three quarters of a trillion Euros will need to be spent on nuclear power over the next decades to enable it to maintain a market share of about one-fifth of the EU electricity mix in 2050. At the same time it notes that the cost of building new nuclear plants has risen 50% in the last decade. Critics say the Commission is too optimistic and has not analysed what the advent of renewables and changing … [Read more...]
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