July, 2009

Company says it will “demobilize” the $3.5 billion project In an unexpected decision the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has denied an application by the U.S. Enrichment Corp. (USEC) ( NYSE:USU ) for a $3.5 billion loan guarantee for its American Centrifuge uranium enrichment plant. Company officials...

Ontario calls it a wrap. Will kerosene lamps now light Toronto? If you think the nuclear energy trolley has gone off its tracks in Ontario with the collapse of bid negotiations for Darlington, wait until you hear what Bruce Power has to say.  The firm announced on July 22 it will withdraw its applications...

How many Nobel Price winners are you on Facebook with? Steven Chu, the Secretary of Energy, (right) is now on Facebook and has embraced other new social media with enthusiasm.  He also has pages on Flickr and YouTube .  Contrary to Daily Show emcee John Stewart, his material is not so boring...

So long it's been good to know you Parts of this blog post were originally published in Fuel Cycle Week V8;N336 on )7/22/09 by International Nuclear Associates, Washington, DC. Exelon Corp. (NY SE:EXE ) gave up the ghost on July 21 after a ten-month struggle to execute a hostile takeover of NRG ...

Support in Congress is off to a strong start The US and the United Arab Emirates have a deal pending before  Congress that would allow transfer of civilian nuclear energy technologies and fuel to the that country.  In return, the UAE would agree not to develop uranium enrichment or fuel reprocessing...

Shaw Areva MOX Services and TVA in fuel negotiations The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Shaw Areva MOX  Services have kicked off negotiations for use of mixed oxide fuel (MOX).  TVA is considering using the nuclear fuel, which is manufactured in part from surplus weapons-grade plutonium...

Tennessee Republican opens with a great speech on nuclear energy, but slams the door shut on compromise with a House climate bill Even if you’ve been ignoring energy issues being debated in  Congress, you are unlikely to have missed the repeated media reports that Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) (right...

Can anyone really add up the numbers in the Darlington bids? Observers of the political turmoil now underway in Ontario over the media reports that AECL bid $26 billion to build two new ACR1000 reactors (2,220 MW) are in good company trying to make sense of these figures.  The news media, notably...

U.S. nuclear deals are still some way off U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now engaged in an official visit to India where she hopes to strengthen bilateral ties with that nation on behalf of President Obama.  As part of the agenda for this visit, Sec. Clinton hopes to sign formal agreements...

Mining the press releases of the uranium industry in western states for useful news Portions of this blog post were originally published in Fuel Cycle Week , V8N335 on 7/15/09 by International Nuclear Associates, Washington, DC. Energy Fuels gets planners' nod Energy Fuels ( TSE:EFR ) got a leg up...

It ain’t over until the fat lady sings A lot of people think Exelon at Victoria, TX,has taken its bat, ball,a nd glove, and hit the showers over its plans for twin GE-Hitachi 1,350 ABWR reactors there. This has been a hard luck site for the giant Chicago based utility. First, it spent tens of millions...

Next steps – select sites and build Under a new law now approved by its parliament this week, Italy  will in the next six months identify candidate sites for new nuclear reactors.  The law also requires the government to set up a regulatory authority to manage the process of building the plants...

Senate hearing is long on sound bites, short on financial commitment   In a rare display of political firepower, the Obama Administration sent four of its leading lights this week to testify before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on the subject of controlling greenhouse gases. ...

Exelon raises the stakes for its hostile takeover. NRG raises the costs of STP units 3 & 4. The nuclear industry in Texas more closely resembles the West of  oil wildcatting days than corporate, button down corner offices.  That's because Exelon, which is based on Chicago, is not going...

If licensed it will be the 4th uranium enrichment plant slated for start-up by 2014 The clock is ticking on the U.S. Russian “ Megatons-to-Megawatts ” program which ends in 2013.  Once it wraps up there could be as many as four uranium enrichment plants slated for start-up in 2014. There could not...

Harper government and Ontario province dig themselves into holes with AECL as the shovel Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper may come to regret  his blunt language reported in the Economist June 18 in which his spokesman called Atomic Energy Canada Limited (AECL) “dysfunctional.”  The...

Ameren calls it quits Ameren switched gears this week asking the NRC to stop its review of the utility’s license application for a new nuclear power plant at Callaway, MO.  The action by Ameren probably means the Callaway II new nuclear build is dead.  It is an exasperating defeat for pro-nuclear...