This piece from Jonathan Bruegel at IEEFA makes the surprising (to me) point that, despite planning new #nuclear, the French government has taken the action needed to extend the lives of existing plants beyond 40 years, as has happened in the US. I'd be very surprised if this wasn't a quicker and cheaper option than new build, and quite possibly a cost-effective complement to renewables.
#Iran ’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps ( #IRGC ), has posted a video with a caption saying: “Isfahan’s nuclear site is completely safe”.
According to the World Nuclear Association, the #Isfahan#Nuclear Technology Centre includes a #uranium conversion facility (UCF), which produces uranium hexafluoride.
Orlen Synthos Green Energy, a joint venture of two large chemical companies in #Poland, officially applied for the permits to place four small modular #nuclear reactors BWRX-300 in south of Poland. These reactors would allow to rapidly decarbonize their chemical power plants by providing electricity and heat which is currently obtained from fossil fuels.
If only there was a way we could have prevented #Iran from developing #nuclearWeapons... Oh, wait! We did, but then #Trump cancelled the #treaty for literally no good reason. Now, Iran has an active #nuclear weapons program, and we're all on the brink of annihilation. How can anyone seriously consider voting to put him back in the #WhiteHouse?
The Israeli military has conducted missile strikes against Iran, a snr #UnitedStates#military ofcl told NPR Thurs. There are also reports of explosions in #Iraq & #Syria.
Iran's Fars News Agency says explosions were heard in the central city of #Isfahan, according to the Reuters News Agency.
The extent of Israel's strikes & the weapons used weren't clear.
"Some reports from foreign news agencies about incidents in these facilities is incorrect," reported the news agency, which is aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (#IRGC).
The Famous Photo of Chernobyl’s Most Dangerous Radioactive Material Was a Selfie
The Elephant’s Foot would have killed anyone within a couple of minutes.
by David Goldenberg January 24, 2016 Updated: August 10, 2022
"... This picture first came to America in the late 1990s, after the newly independent Ukrainian government took over the plant and set up the Chornobyl Center for Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Radioecology (spelling often gets changed as words go from Russian to English). Soon after, the center invited other governments to collaborate on nuclear safety projects. The U.S. Department of Energy tapped the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL)—a bustling science center up in Richland, Washington—to help..."
"Does the US Need More Nuclear Energy?" - Colorado Mesa University
Arguing the affirmative is Jessica Lovering, Ph.D.
Arguing the negative is Mark Z. Jacobson, Ph.D. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hcKq_yHWHg#Nuclear
IEA chief Fatih Birol has criticised 🇪🇺 Europe for falling behind 🇨🇳 China & the 🇺🇸 US after making “two historic, monumental mistakes” in energy policy, by relying on Russian #gas & turning away from #nuclear power https://buff.ly/4azicZu
Dark clouds gathering over #Germany industry sector, which is now admitted even by RWE CEO Markus Krebber:
Companies and investors have scouted other countries offering attractive subsidies and cheaper energy prices. “You’re going to see a bit of recovery, but I think we’re going to see a significant structural demand destruction in the energy-intensive industries,” Krebber warned.
German electricity sector strategically depends on coal and gas for its dispatchable generation. Krebber now admits that shutdown of #nuclear power plants was a huge mistake:
Echoing criticism in Germany over the country’s energy policy, Krebber said then-chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision in 2011 to shut down its nuclear fleet without replacing the fuel with another energy source aside from Russian pipeline imports was a “mistake”.
Then he dismisses the current narrative dominated by “we’ll just replace it by X” where “X” changes every few years in a vicious cycle: renewables industry comes up with new snake oil, investors hype it as “the future solution”, prototypes are built and fail, and we’re back to square one. Investors cash profits and the grid is still screwed. Krebber says what every single grid engineer was saying for the last two decades of anti-nuclear hysteria worldwide:
“When you know exactly what you want to shut down, you need to immediately start thinking about how do I get the new technology in the ground?” he pointed out.
What we should of course keep in mind is that as recently as in 2021 the same Krebber categorically rejected any idea of extending operations of nuclear power plants:
Imagine Defeat
We're sleepwalking off a cliff when it comes to #Ukraine. We need to imagine what defeat looks like if we're going to snap out of it.
Jeffrey Gedmin
..."By 2027, #Poland will be on the path to its own #nuclear weapons. It was a grave mistake, Warsaw will explain, that Ukraine ever gave theirs up in the 1990s—and placed faith in the security assurances of Britain and the United States.s."...
I've said repeatedly that no one will ever give up nuclear weapons again after Ukraine - and that salvaging any hope of nuclear proliferation control was one of the many reasons Russia needs to lose this war.
Putin knows this, of course, but obviously doesn't care. Now they (and China) have functionally ended sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme, and it strikes me as rather unlikely they'd tolerate a new such regime against any other dictatorial state trying to insure its longevity through nuclear weapons.
Erosion and sea level... a near future crisis compounder.
(Translated)
"An impressive hole has formed near the Flamanville EPR, on the side of the road
This is one of the images from this day of April 9, 2024. A large hole 6 meters deep formed alongside the road, in the town of Flamanville (Manche)."