G8 leaders are seeking a global target of a 50% cut of carbon emissions by 2050, but have stopped short of an outright endorsement of nuclear energy as a means of tackling climate change.

[CBC, Canadian Press, 7 July] SaskPower, Saskatchewan's provincially-owned utility, has made fourteen studies conducted over the past 36 years into the viability of nuclear power in the province publicly available. The release of the studies on the company's website comes two months after a consultant's report on possible plant locations was leaked to the media. That report recommended the Lake Diefenbaker region in southern Saskatchewan as the site for the province's first nuclear power plant. The Saskatchewan Party, long before taking office in November 2007, called on the previous New Democratic Party (NDP) government to make SaskPower's nuclear information public. Crown corporations minister Ken Cheveldayoff said, "We felt it was something that could be done for an open and transparent process." He added, "I think that anybody who has taken a look at it and studied it knows that Saskatchewan has looked at [nuclear power] from time to time, but really hasn't moved forward at all on it." Ann Coxworth, program co-ordinator of the environmental group Saskatchewan Environmental Society, said that the fact that the company had been considering the nuclear option since 1972 was not a big surprise. However, she commented, "I think it's helpful to have that material out in the public arena so that we can all share in the review of that material."

Uranium from Saddam Hussein's former weapons program has been removed from Iraq for ultimate use in civilian power generation. Cameco will process the material for sale alongside its other stocks.

Uzbekistan's Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine (NMMC) plans to modernize and expand its production and refining capacities, including those for uranium, according to Trend Capital . A program to upgrade the state-owned company's production and processing capabilities up to 2012 was decreed by the country's president in August 2007. Kuvandik Sanakulov, NMMC's director general, said that the company will "put into exploitation new uranium fields over subsequent years." He added, "The complex will increase mining and production of uranium oxide through the development of underground leaching of ore deposits." Sanakulov noted that, in line with NMMC's production development program, the first steps had been taken to develop the new Northern Kanimehk deposit. Drilling and the construction of geotechnological wells will start this summer. Germany's Nukem issued a $14 million loan to NMMC to upgrade its equipment. "The expansion of existing uranium production and refining capacities and the development of new mines through the investment of $165 million will help raise uranium output and export by one-and-a-half times," according to Sanakulov. According to the State Committee for Geology and Mineral Resources, Uzbekistan produced some 2270 tonnes of uranium in 2007.

This is my final post (and the longest) in the series that discredits Amory Lovins’ and the Rocky Mountain Institute’s “Nuclear Illusion” paper (pdf). Hopefully this series has opened many eyes to the flaws and inconsistencies of RMI’s claims. Let me briefly summarize the previous posts. Part One found that “micropower” is primarily made up of decentralized coal and gas plants, the generation from...

A big thank you to NEI Notes readers for making June a record setting month for traffic. Compared to May, Unique Visitors were up 42% and Page Views rose 27%. The fact that such a spike occurred during a month where Internet usage sees a seasonal decline is all the more remarkable. June's Top 10 most-read posts: 1. Obama's Energy Address in Las Vegas 2. Amory Lovins and His Nuclear Illusion...

Check out the answer at Depleted Cranium ! Read More...

Every once in a while, I feel the need to step away from politics and detailed technical considerations about the existing machinery designs for systems that can use nuclear heat to remind myself why fission has fascinated so many people for so long. The bottom line is that it is a clean, immensely dense heat source that is easily controlled by human beings. Pound for pound - or kilogram for kilogram...

Obama surrogates Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-MI), and Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) discussed the RNC's "Balance" ad with reporters in a just-completed conference call. Below is a transcription of the final question asked during the Q&A. Hi, it's Susan Demas, again, from MIRS newsletter. The ad says that Senator Obama is against nuclear power and I was...

Russia's nuclear regulator, Rostekhnadzor, has issued a licence to Rosenergoatom for the extended operation of unit one of the Kola nuclear power plant. The licence is valid until 6 July 2018. In June 2003, the service life of the unit was extended for 15 years following modernisation work conducted on the reactor since 1990 and the unit was also granted a five-year operating licence. The modernisation included an assessment of the life extension effectiveness; an integrated inspection; reactor upgrades; justification of the residual life of safety-important components; replacement of some equipment; and an in-depth safety assessment of the reactor. The Kola site hosts four VVER pressurized water reactors which each output 411 MWe. Four additional 300 MWe units are proposed as phase two of the Kola plant.

After a change of contractors, Russian officials have put forward the start-up dates of three new nuclear power reactors. Plans for southern Russia are being revised.

Leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations (the G8) are gathering in Hokkaido, Japan for their annual summit, expected to be the most pro-nuclear in years. Since the announcement of pro-nuclear stances by Italy and the UK, the sole country in the group not supporting the widespread use of nuclear power in the context of climate change is Germany. That country's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, will be hard pressed to resist her American, Russian, French, Japanese, British and Canadian counterparts, who will be keen to express pro-nuclear sentiment in official statements from the summit later this week. Merkel herself openly questions Germany's nuclear phase-out and her Christian Democrat party is preparing to do battle on the issue in the run-up to a 2009 general election. In addition, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh is sure to discuss the long-awaited US-India nuclear cooperation deal with President George Bush. Observers have suggested Singh may push through with the deal and risk losing the support of communist allies, and with them, his majority in parliament.

As an admitted media-obsessed political junkie, I enjoy watching any political ad; if there were campaign ads out there by candidates running for dog catcher, I'd probably watch 'em. With advertising budgets a bit bigger and the stakes a whole lot larger, the presidential campaign ads are, for me, must-see viewing. The latest TV spot from the McCain camp, " Balance ," really caught...

Germany and France remain far apart on how to generate electricity Foreign policy wonks are participating this weekend in an annual exercise of watching and reporting on the major western powers try to solve the world's problems. It is called the G8 conference and is a yearly gathering of the U.S., U.K. France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy, and Russia. Climate change and nuclear energy are on...

Granola politics rules in the green mountain state It's drop your jaw time in Vermont, again, in response to the latest antics of Vermont State Sen. Peter Shumlin (D-Windahm) over the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.  The Rutland Herald reports Shumlin, working with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gaye Symington, jammed two anti-nuclear critics on to what is supposed to be an impartial...