Despite “commitments”, Urenco Almelo continues to enrich Russian uranium

Yesterday, the ANVS, the Dutch nuclear supervisor, authorized the
transport of up to six shipments of fissile enriched uranium from Russia to Urenco in Almelo. This is remarkable because after the Russian invasion, almost two years ago, the uranium-enriching state-owned company in Almelo claimed to be "very concerned" about developments in Ukraine and therefore "stopped all contracts" with Russia.
Local newspaper Tubantia now reports that Urenco is enriching uranium from Russia for "a French nuclear power plant operator." It would, according to a Urenco spokesperson, be a breach of contract not to do so. Continue reading

Hinkley Point C could be delayed to 2031 and cost up to £35bn, says EDF

[The Guardian]: "As nuclear plant is hit by further delay, real cost will be far higher after inflation is included, as project uses 2015 prices.
The owner of Hinkley Point C has blamed inflation, Covid and Brexit as it announced the nuclear power plant project could be delayed by a further four years, and cost £2.3bn more.
The plant in Somerset, which has been under construction since 2016, is now expected to be finished by 2031 and cost up to £35bn, France’s EDF said. However, the cost will be far higher once inflation is taken into account, because EDF is using 2015 prices.
The latest in a series of setbacks represents a huge delay to the project’s initial timescale. In 2007, the then EDF chief executive Vincent de Rivaz said that by Christmas in 2017, turkeys would be cooked using electricity generated from atomic power at Hinkley. When the project was finally given the green light in 2016, its cost was estimated at £18bn."

Nuclear electricity production in 2022 down 16.7% compared with 2021

From WNN:

In 2022, 13 EU countries with nuclear electricity production generated 609,255 GWh of nuclear electricity - down 16.7% compared with 2021, according to figures released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. It noted this is the lowest level registered in the period from 1990, the first year for which comparable data are available for all EU countries.

IEA: Binnen afzienbare tijd staat alle vervuilende elektriciteitsopwekking in de schaduw van wind en zon

In the IEA-report on renewables published yesterday, the following is notable:

Over the coming five years, several renewable energy milestones are expected to be achieved:

  • In 2024, wind and solar PV together generate more electricity than hydropower.
  • In 2025, renewables surpass coal to become the largest source of electricitygeneration.
  • Wind and solar PV each surpass nuclear electricity generation in 2025 and 2026 respectively.
  • In 2028, renewable energy sources account for over 42% of global electricity generation, with the share of wind and solar PV doubling to 25%.

And keep in mind that the IEA has a long standing tendency to underestimate renewables and  overestimate nuclear in their scenarios

Advertising Authority slams claims made by Borssele Nuclear Power Plant about ‘recycling’ of nuclear waste as misleading

EPZ, the operator of the Borssele nuclear power plant, has long claimed that it recycles "95 percent" of its nuclear fuel, and that only "5 percent" remains as nuclear waste. Following a complaint by Laka, the Board of Appeals of the Dutch Advertising Authority, ruled yesterday that these are misleading environmental advertisement claims. In its ruling, the Board blames EPZ all the more because these misleading claims appear on EPZ's website under the header “Environment & Health”, where 'unsuspecting visitors should expect accurate and balanced information about nuclear fuel and nuclear waste'. Continue reading

Next week: Russian uranium transport from Rotterdam to Germany

(Nederlandse versie) On Sunday, September 11, the Mikhail Dudin arrives in the port of Rotterdam; a ship carrying Russian uranium. There it will be transferred to trucks that will then transport it across the Netherlands on Monday to Lingen, Germany, where the uranium will be processed into fuel rods. This was announced this morning by the Russian Ecodefense, Bündnis AgieL from Germany and Laka in a joint press release. A few weeks ago, it was already known that a transit license had been issued by the Dutch regulator ANVS for the transport of Russian uranium through the Netherlands. As far as is known, this will be the first transport of Russian uranium in the Netherlands and Germany after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading

So how flexible is nuclear power in France now really?

(Nederlandse versie) Laka sometimes gets the question that if nuclear power plants in France can be used flexibly, can nuclear power not be used as a intermittent source of electricity, complementing wind and solar?
The short answer then is, that if nuclear power plants can be used flexibly, it does not mean that in France nuclear power plants will come to the rescue as soon as the sun sets. Coincidentally, Dutch nuclear energy research center NRG recently reported that they are investigating precisely this for French EDF: How to make nuclear fuel more resistant to "transients" (changes in reactor power), because, according to experts at NRG: "At the moment, [French] nuclear power plants are designed to operate at a constant power: it's on or off." Continue reading

URENCO 1970‒2020: FROM THE TREATY OF ALMELO TO ATOM AUSSTIEG

New brochure focusing on the uranium enrichment consortium Urenco.
The Treaty of Almelo was signed on 4 March 1970 ‒ an agreement between the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and West Germany on setting up a company with the aim of enriching uranium: Urenco. The origin of uranium enrichment is military and until then enrichment was primarily the monopoly of the United States and Soviet nuclear-weapon states. Continue reading