UN and US Officials Ramp Up Attacks on Oil Industry

Irina Slav - Jun 08, 2024

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• The UN chief's impassioned speech condemning the oil industry was not the only one this week.
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• A group of Democratic Representatives wrote a letter to the Department of Justice urging the institution to open an investigation into Big Oil.
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• Calls for the ban of advertising for the oil and gas industry don't seem to be getting a lot of traction.
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"The Godfathers of climate chaos -- the fossil fuel industry -- rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies," the secretary-general of the United Nations said this week in a speech on the occasion of World Environment Day.

Antonio Guterres then went on to paint an apocalyptic picture of our immediate future, which features a mass extinction—all because of the oil and gas industry—and suggested advertisers stop working with the industry and governments ban oil and gas advertising altogether. Yet advertising bans are unlikely to stop people from using oil products, including Guterres himself.

The UN chief's impassioned speech condemning the oil industry, however, was not the only one this week. His bold demand for a ban on oil and gas advertising was also not unprecedented. Attacks on the oil and gas industry from various national and international officials have been on the rise recently amid a faltering transition—even as reports come in that the buildout of low-carbon electricity generation capacity is breaking records.

Earlier this week, before Guterres' speech and his suggestion that oil companies should be hit with a windfall profit tax, a group of Democratic Representatives wrote a letter to the Department of Justice urging the institution to open an investigation into Big Oil. The motive for the investigation was the claim that US oil companies had colluded with OPEC to keep fuel prices high and, more interestingly, had failed to share their profits with end consumers by using them to keep prices at the pump low.

The idea that would sound eccentric and not really embody the spirit of a free market in any other context apparently sounded logical enough to its authors, who then went on to urge the DoJ to "investigate rigorously to uncover and punish wrongdoing."

"If U.S. oil companies are colluding with each other and foreign cartels to manipulate global oil markets and harm American consumers who then pay more at the pump, Congress and the American people deserve to know," the legislators said.

What the US oil companies were, in fact, doing during the pandemic lockdown year of 2020 was curbing production in response to a massive slump in international prices that pushed many a smaller producer to the brink and some over it. Reducing production is what any company would do when faced with a market awash with it due to a sudden drop in demand. Yet for the Jerrold Nadler-led group of Representatives, the oil and gas is as special a case as it is for Antonio Guterres and the other attendants at the World Environment Day celebration.

No other industry has been subjected to such pressure from legislative and international circles with the singular aim of squeezing it as much as possible to force it to essentially stop doing what it does. It is ironic in a sense because the authors of that letter to the DoJ, if they get what they want—punishment for the industry—might inadvertently cause even higher prices at the pump as producers curb output to capture higher prices and make up for the hypothetical penalties. It seems to be a problem for some legislators in the US that there is still a free market in the country.

The United Nations' Guterres and some Canadian legislators also seem to have a problem with the free market, hence the suggestion that governments ban oil and gas advertising—oblivious to the fact that people don't put gasoline in their cars because of advertising but because of basic needs to get from one place to another in the fastest and most comfortable way.

Besides, if the idea is to ban any oil product advertising, almost any advertising would need to be banned because of the versatility of oil derivatives and their ubiquitous use—including in transition industries such as wind and solar power and electric vehicles.

In fairness, calls for the ban of advertising for the oil and gas industry don't seem to be getting a lot of traction. In Canada, after an MP tabled a bill for such a ban, other legislators from the same party, the NDP, criticized the proposal, saying, "We already have legislation around false advertising, and we are more interested in advancing ideas that can actually help people," and that "It is not helpful to pick fights that just polarize people and get in the way of the real solutions we need."

The idea of a windfall profit tax specially leveled on the oil and gas industry to pay for alleged climate damages is another one that seems to have the favor of many in top political circles who are no doubt wondering how governments would foot the bill for the transition. Yet, the effect of actual windfall profit taxes, such as the one in the UK, seems to be discouraging wider adoption. Because this effect has been counterproductive, leading to lower investments and consequently lower local oil and gas production.

In theory, this is exactly what windfall tax and ad ban proponents want: lower oil and gas production. What they don't want are the consequences of that lowered production such as a cost of living crisis compared to which the current one would look like a picnic and, as a result, riots. It seems those anti-oil activists need to reconcile their attitude to the energy industry with their future career plans.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

California Goes After Big Oil Profits

By Irina Slav - Jun 11, 2024

California’s Attorney General this week added a so-called disgorgement remedy to a lawsuit filed against Big Oil majors last year, demanding that they gave up profits made on allegedly illegal business practices.

The original lawsuit accused Big Oil of downplaying the risks associated with the use of oil and gas, and climate change. It targeted Exxon, Chevron, BP, and ConocoPhillips.

“Big Oil has been lying to us – covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our planet. It has been decades of damage & deception. California is taking action to hold big polluters accountable,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a Tweet at the time.

Now, Attorney General Rob Bonta who is leading the charge against Big Oil has added a clause that requires “a party who profits from illegal or wrongful acts to give up any profits they made as a result of that illegal or wrongful conduct. The purpose of this remedy is to prevent unjust enrichment and make illegal conduct unprofitable.”

In other words, California claims that the oil and gas industry selling oil and gas it extracts and refines amounts to illegal activity or a wrongful act. It also claims, in the original lawsuit, that Big Oil made billions in profits while causing billions in damages resulting from climate change. The companies named in the suit were also accused of deceiving the public about their business and climate change.

The American Petroleum Institute was quick to react to the news.

“This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of taxpayer resources,” said API General Counsel Ryan Meyers. “Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not a patchwork of courts,” he added.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Project Revived After Years of Delays

By Eurasianet - Jun 10, 2024

China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan have signed an intergovernmental agreement to construct a railway connecting Kashgar in China to Andijan in Uzbekistan.

The project has been in the planning stages for over 20 years and is expected to cost around $8 billion.

The railway is seen as a major economic development project for Central Asia, providing a direct rail link between China and South Asia and the Middle East.


After spending some time on a sidetrack, the long-planned China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway may be ready to get back on the main line. The heads of state of the three participating nations have approved an intergovernmental agreement to transform the railway from “a vision into a reality,” according to the Xinhua news agency.

It was a virtual signing ceremony for what, to date, has seemed like a chimerical project. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov each affixed his signature to the agreement via video link. Specifics of the agreement were not immediately disclosed.

Official statements stuck to generalities. According to a Xinhua report, the agreement establishes “a solid legal basis for the construction of the project.” A Kyrgyz government statement, meanwhile, said the three states had settled on “the basic principles and mechanisms of cooperation,” including “financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the railway.”

Mirziyoyev chose to focus on the future, not the present, in remarks delivered during the virtual ceremony. “This road will allow our countries to enter the wide markets of South Asia and the Middle East through the promising Trans-Afghan Corridor,” the Podrobno.uz outlet quoted the Uzbek president as saying.

Participants in the signing ceremony did not mention the project’s cost or a construction timeline. Xi indicated only that the participants would strive to complete the railway “as soon as possible.” The Podrobno report mentioned the railway’s route would stretch from the western Chinese hub of Kashgar to the Uzbek city of Andijan in the Ferghana Valley, passing through Torugart, Makmal and Jalalabad.

The project’s cost has been widely viewed as the biggest obstacle to date. Plans to build the railway date back more than 20 years. The June 6 agreement doesn’t offer much clarity about financing. Completing the railway could come close to costing $8 billion, according to one estimate.

Late last year, Japarov said he hoped the project could launch in 2024, but acknowledged that funding hadn’t been lined up.

In late May, the Kyrgyz president and Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong spoke about a need to create a joint investment fund. In March, Kyrgyz officials floated a trial balloon about establishing a public-private partnership mechanism to finance and operate the railway.

By Eurasianet.org

Aging Grid and Shady Deals Undermine Uzbekistan's Solar Ambitions

By RFE/RL staff - Jun 10, 2024

An investigation uncovers questionable subcontracting practices and potential corruption in Uzbekistan's solar energy sector.

Despite receiving billions in international funding, many solar plants are plagued by technical issues and low productivity.

Uzbekistan's aging electrical grid and increasingly frequent dust storms further hinder the country's renewable energy goals.



Uzbekistan's gaping power deficits and the government's desperate attempts to plug them are hardly a secret these days.

Only last week, President Shavkat Mirziyoev welcomed Russian leader Vladimir Putin to Tashkent for a two-day trip that turned into three days of talks, with Moscow's energy assistance to its Central Asian ally topping the bill.

Alongside confirmation that Moscow's nuclear energy giant Rosatom will build a small power plant in the country, the trip brought a pledge from Putin to nearly quadruple pipeline capacity next year, potentially upping Gazprom's annual natural gas exports to the country to 11 billion cubic meters.

Just a few years ago, Uzbekistan was a net energy exporter.

But given a rapidly growing population of around 35 million and a growing economy, Tashkent's dependency on imports -- and Russia -- looks set to deepen.

One way to offset that dependence somewhat would be to make good on a stated ambition to expand the share of renewable energy to 40 percent of Uzbekistan's total by 2030.

And officials have certainly been talking a good game when it comes to green energy -- not least to institutional partners who have lent billions of dollars to fund the effort.

But the findings of a recent investigation by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service into the country's ostensibly booming solar power sector raise questions about how this campaign is being executed -- with weak infrastructure and the familiar allegations of corruption seemingly bogging down the government's lofty ambitions.

The Solar Power Project And Its Secretive Subcontractors

Uzbekistan currently has at least $13 billion of renewable energy projects on the go.

The Sherabad Solar PV Park in Surxondaryo Province, currently being built with money from the Asian Development Bank, is one of many being funded with institutional debt.

The principal contractor for the $260 million, 457-megawatt (MW) project is Masdar, a company from the United Arab Emirates that specializes in renewables.

The agreement for the Sherabad solar project was struck in 2021, becoming Masdar's fifth project in the country at the time and second only behind the 500 MW wind farm in Zarafshan in terms of generating capacity.

Mirziyoev personally visited the site to kick-start construction on June 1 of that year.

But beyond Masdar and the roughly 94,000 homes that the company expects the plant to power, there are at least two other beneficiaries of the project -- subcontractors Hex Solar and Osmon-Energy.

The engagement of these two companies on the Sherabad project is not mentioned in publicly available documents.

But RFE/RL's Uzbek Service received copies of documents that appear to confirm that Hex Solar is the main subcontractor to build the facility.

Public records show Hex Solar was registered on January 1, 2020, at 863 Nukus Street in Tashkent.

An RFE/RL reporter who travelled to that address was unable to find the company's office, however.

A LinkedIn profile of a company with the same name provides another address -- in Russia's southwestern Astrakhan region.

LinkedIn users who listed Hex Solar as a place of work, such as engineer Baxtiyar Kasimov, indicate ongoing duties at "Nur Sherbad Solar PV 500 MW."

A second document seen by RFE/RL attests to a subcontracting agreement reached between Hex Solar and Osmon-Energy.

That document states that Osmon-Energy has "experience in the required field of work and has completed work of the same type and level or above the required level."

Yet Osmon-Energy was incorporated even more recently than Hex Solar -- just two days after construction began on the project slated for completion in 2026.

In the subcontracting agreement from that month seen by RFE/RL, the sum transferrable to Osmon-Energy for its work is 45.8 billion soms ($3.6 million) -- quite a windfall for a days-old firm.

An RFE/RL reporter who visited the Tashkent address for Osmon-Energy listed in the agreement was unable to find any trace of the firm.

But a source employed by the company confirmed its existence and claimed Osmon-Energy was making very healthy profits from the Sherabad Solar PV Park subcontract.

"Employees are paid in cash. This makes it easy to embezzle money," the source, who requested anonymity, told RFE/RL. "And they are paid at a very low rate. So, let's say [Osmon-Energy] charges more than $700,000 for every 10 megawatts installed -- they will pay workers only $18,000 [from that]."

The source added that Osmon-Energy was far from the only overnight company to win big from subcontracting "around 30 major [solar power] plants" being built in Uzbekistan.

Userbay Seitrzaev, one of three men listed as a founder of Osmon-Energy (Abduzhalil Baimukhamedov and Olimjon Ibragimov are the others), denied any accusation of corruption when contacted by RFE/RL, insisting that construction work at Sherabad was under "strict control."

Hex Solar's founder as per official company documents is a Chinese citizen, Cui Xiao.

RFE/RL was initially unable to reach Cui for its investigation published in Uzbek last month.

When contacted by RFE/RL with questions on the findings of the investigation -- and about whether his business was linked to Russia -- Cui said: "We are preparing a lawsuit against you. We can have discussions in court."

Masdar did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the subcontracting arrangements.

New Solar Plants, Old Grid

At the same time, experts have questioned the quality and productivity of Uzbekistan's new solar energy plants.

In an interview with the private media agency Anhor.uz this year, Ivan Butuk, director of marketing and digital transformation for the company Energy Eco Sources, said that most new solar stations in the country had been installed incorrectly.

"[Some] 20-30 percent of those that I encountered were assembled with serious errors or were incomplete. That is to say that, while part of the equipment was missing, they were presented by contractors and owners as finished."

Butuk said the plants should be shut down and rebuilt for several reasons.

"They should be stopped immediately and reinstalled.... In addition to being a waste of the money invested, they are only 40 percent safe, inconvenient to use and maintain, and do not produce enough energy for their [installed capacity]," he told Anhor.uz.

The Sherabad solar power plant suffered a setback in January of this year.

Photos and videos shared on social networks showed solar panels apparently damaged beyond repair by strong winds on January 28. Two days later, the Uzbek Energy Ministry acknowledged that 91 panels had been destroyed, but noted they had not been fully installed and were easily replaceable.

Other experts say that Uzbekistan's ability to harness the power of the sun -- the country enjoys roughly 300 sunny days per year -- is severely compromised by its aging electrical grid.

According to the recent calculations of one Tashkent-based research group, 62 percent of Uzbekistan's power-distribution networks, 74 percent of its substations, and half of its transformers are some 30 years old.

Two years ago, a 100-MW-capacity $100 million solar power plant built by Total Eren -- a daughter company of French energy giant Total -- started work in the Tutli neighborhood of Nurobod, a district in Samarkand Province.

The plant was supposed to provide energy to more than 80,000 households. Yet residents of Tutli told RFE/RL that they are still suffering the same power outages as before.

Nurobod's district administration responded to such complaints with a statement saying the power plant was connected to the main power grid and that the Tutli microdistrict was not slated to receive electricity from the plant directly.

Another enemy of solar power in Uzbekistan is climate change.

Because while Uzbekistan is edging toward a hotter, drier climate, it is also suffering from dust storms with growing regularity.

Dust and sand can significantly reduce the output of solar facilities, while ramping up servicing costs. This is something Uzbek authorities cannot prevent.

As for human factors, the government has "a chance to make it right" in the words of Kerry Adler, CEO of SkyPower, a North American energy company.

Adler witnessed the very beginning of the authorities' drive for renewables in 2017, when Mirziyoev personally invited him to invest in the country.

In an interview with VOA in 2020, Adler explained that a lack of government guarantees had prevented his company's slated $1.3 billion investment in a network of solar power plants from ever getting off the ground, despite what the businessman claimed was initial investment of $10 million in project preparation.

"We will never participate in any corrupt activities. We will not pay for a contract, nor would we even give a gift, nor will we make a promise," Adler said then, without directly accusing anyone of requesting a bribe.

"And I think that this is a country, from what I understand from people who have lived there and done business there, that historically has come from a different type of a culture."

Four years after the interview, SkyPower's project has still made no progress.

By RFE/RL

NUKE NEWZ

Wyoming Breaks Ground on Bill Gates’ Next-Gen Nuclear Facility

By Charles Kennedy - Jun 10, 2024

Bill Gates-backed TerraPower began construction on Monday on what is positioned to become America’s first next-generation nuclear power facility, in Kemmerer, Wyoming, and the most advanced nuclear facility in the world. 

“This is a big step toward safe, abundant, zero-carbon energy,” the Associated Press cited Gates as saying in Kemmerer on Monday. “And it’s important for the future of this country that projects like this succeed.”

Gates told the audience gathered in Wyoming on Monday that they were “standing on what will soon be the bedrock of America’s energy future.” TerraPower, co-founded by Gates, is seeking to “revolutionize” power generation, with ground broken in Wyoming on Monday to prepare the site for reactor construction. TerraPower applied in March for approval of a construction permit for an advanced nuclear reactor using sodium instead of water for cooling. 

While the technology for non-water-cooling reactors has been available for some time, Gates’ work in Wyoming represents the first time in 40 years that a private company has attempted to launch an advanced reactor commercially, AP reported, citing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). 

The new facility is next to a coal-burning power plant, the Naughton Power Plant, which will cease using coal in 2026, shifting to natural gas only, which it will also halt around 2036. Naughton is planning to obtain clean energy from the TerraPower reactor.  

America’s first next-gen nuclear facility is a race against Russia, which is also developing reactors that rely on sodium for cooling. 

Russian state-run Rosatom has just received approval for the site of its new BN-1200M nuclear power facility in the Sverdlovsk region. The BN-1200 is a sodium-cooled fast reactor that will eventually serve as Unit 5 of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant project in the region. Rosatom plans to obtain a license for the construction for the BN-1200 in 2027, according to Nuclear Engineering International. 

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

IAEA mission reviews Sri Lanka siting process

10 June 2024

The seven-day Site and External Events Design Review Service (SEED) mission reviewed Sri Lanka's selection process to identify potential sites for the construction of its first nuclear power plant. The country has already identified six candidate sites from three different regions.

As part of the mission, geophysical studies were carried out at a potential site in Pulmoddai (Image: J Gunatilake, University of Peradeniya)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) SEED mission was carried out at the request of the Government of Sri Lanka and hosted by the Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Board (SLAEB) under the purview of the Ministry of Power and Energy by a team of experts from Canada, Pakistan and Turkey, as well as one IAEA staff member. As well as reviewing the site survey report, the siting process, siting criteria, data collection process and application of the management system for siting activities, the team also visited and observed one of the candidate sites in Pulmoddai, near the Trincomalee region.

Among its recommendations to optimise the site evaluation process to select the most favourable site, the team suggested that SLAEB should further align the siting process to the IAEA Safety Standard Series No SSG-35, Site Survey and Site Selection for Nuclear Installations. It also recommended that additional site-specific information should be collected and incorporates into the siting process.

The team noted as a good practice that SLAEB has been conducting collaborative siting studies "in an open and transparent manner with stakeholder organisations, such as the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, Central Environmental Authority and the Department of Geology of University of Peradeniya".

"Sri Lanka is comprehensively screening site-specific external hazards in the site selection process, while following the IAEA safety standards and adopting best practices," mission team leader and IAEA Nuclear Safety Officer Ayhan Altinyollar said.

"Sri Lanka has identified nuclear as a clean and green energy source to fulfil the future electricity demand in Sri Lanka," said SLAEB Chairman Rexy Denzil Rosa. "In March 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers made a strategic and knowledgeable commitment towards the country's nuclear power planning programme. Interpretation and application of IAEA safety standards within the context of site selection for a nuclear power plant is crucial for a strong nuclear power programme in Sri Lanka."

SEED missions are expert review missions that assist countries going through different stages in the development of a nuclear power programme, with a choice of modules offering focused reviews on areas such as site selection, site assessment and design of structures, systems and components, taking into consideration site specific external and internal hazards. The final SEED mission report will be delivered to the Government of Sri Lanka within three months, the IAEA said.

In 2022, a team of IAEA experts carried out a review of Sri Lanka's readiness to commit to a nuclear power programme in an Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review which focused on the first stage of the IAEA's Milestones Approach for countries that are newcomers to nuclear energy.

The next stage of the siting process - which Sri Lanka has already begun - will include evaluation, comparison and ranking studies of the candidate sites.

Ukraine-France, EDF-Energoatom nuclear cooperation agreements

10 June 2024

Ukraine's Energoatom and France's EDF sign a cooperation agreement, while the two countries have renewed their cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which was originally signed in 1998.

The agreements took place in the presence of the presidents (Image: Ukraine Presidency)

Thursday's agreement between the two state-owned nuclear power giants covers the study of EDF's gigawatt-scale EPR and Nuward small modular reactor technologies as well as "exchange of experience in the operation of nuclear power plants, maintenance of safety, reliability and efficiency of reactors".

The exchange of experience will also include the supply of nuclear fuel for VVER reactors for countries wanting to diversify their supply away from Russia.

Energoatom's Chairman Petro Kotin said: "Ukraine, like France, has unique experience in the nuclear industry. Therefore, our active cooperation and joint efforts in increasing the role of nuclear energy on the European continent will contribute to the achievement of climate goals and ensuring the stable production of clean and safe electricity."

On the same day, the governments of the two countries exchanged letters putting into place a 20-year renewal of their 1998 agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The renewal, signed by Ukraine's Economy Minister Yulia Svyridenko and French Foreign Minister Stephane Séjournay, creates the legal framework for cooperation in the field of maintenance of nuclear facilities and renews the agreement which expired four years ago.

The ministers also signed agreements relating to French finance and support for Ukraine's critical infrastructure and wider backing for Ukrainian enterprises. The agreements came during a visit to France of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has 15 nuclear units which could generate about half of its electricity, including the six at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which has been under Russian military control since early March 2022. The country has plans for nine new Westinghouse AP1000 units in the future, as well as exploring potential deployment of small modular reactors. France also has plans for a new era of nuclear energy construction. It already derives about 70% of its electricity from nuclear energy and has plans for as many as 14 new reactors.

Italian interim storage facility takes shape

10 June 2024

Construction has started at the Garigliano nuclear power plant in Italy of a facility for the interim storage of wastes generated through the decommissioning of the plant, which shut down more than 40 years ago.

Construction site of the DT2 waste storage facility (Image: Sogin)

Societa Gestione Impianti Nucleari SpA (Sogin) - established in 1999 to take responsibility for decommissioning Italy's former nuclear power sites and locating a national waste store - has now completed the laying of the foundation slab for the new DT2 storage facility.

Once completed, the DT2 facility - measuring 70 metres in length, 18 metres in width and 13 metres in height - will house about 1800 cubic metres of low and medium-level radioactive waste. This waste will exclusively come from the dismantling activities of the power plant and, in particular, from the dismantling work of the systems and components inside the reactor vessel, which began in December last year. The waste will subsequently be transferred to the national repository, once available.

This storage facility will include an operational handling area, a service building functional to the operation of the depot and a storage area equipped, among other things, with an overhead crane for the remote handling of radioactive waste containers, in which there will also be corridors for their inspection.

Civil works are scheduled to be completed in June 2025, with commissioning expected in the first half of 2026.

"This is a significant result for the advancement of the decommissioning and safe management programme of the site's radioactive waste, which will allow the dismantling of the systems and components of the reactor building of the power plant to be completed," Sogin said.

Garigliano, a 150 MWe boiling water reactor, was connected to the grid in January 1964 and was shut down in 1982. Italy operated a total of four nuclear power plants starting in the early 1960s, but decided to phase out nuclear power in a referendum that followed the 1986 Chernobyl accident. It closed its last two operating plants, Caorso and Trino Vercellese, in 1990. State-owned Sogin was established in 1999 to take responsibility for decommissioning Italy's former nuclear power sites and locating a national waste store.

SMR planned for Yakutia may become two-unit project

10 June 2024

The regional and federal ministries are "actively working" to change the existing plans for Russia's first land-based small modular reactor project in Yakutia into a two-reactor scheme, after assessing likely future energy demands.

How the SMR could look (Image: Rosatom)

Work is already under way on the project - in February it was announced that construction of worker camps and a new road to the site was taking place, and Rosenergoatom was officially designated as the operating organisation by parent company Rosatom.

The small modular reactor (SMR) is a water-cooled RITM-200N 55 MW reactor that has been adapted from the RITM-200 series used to power Russia's latest fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers. It will be built near Ust-Kuyga in Yakutia (also known as Sakha) in Russia's Arctic north, with the aim of commissioning in 2028. Nuclear regulator Rostekhnadzor granted the construction licence in April 2023 and the expected service life is 60 years with a five-year refuelling schedule.

On Thursday, on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, an agreement on ensuring the appropriate electric power infrastructure as part of the project was signed by Rosatom's Deputy Director General Kirill Komarov and Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Sakha Kirill Bychkov.

The regional government and federal agencies will create the distribution networks, power transmission lines and substations required for the SMR to supply the existing power needs and the proposed mining expansion in the region.

Komarov said: "The Yakut SMR NPP will provide stable and low-carbon generation for large industrial consumers, thus becoming the regional power centre. Clearly, once the SMR is commissioned, it is necessary to ensure its capacity loading will become possible following the establishing of new industrial enterprises as well as social and transportation infrastructure. This, in turn, will lead to the growth of the regional population. Taking into account the development of the current and prospective deposits of Yakut Ust-Yansk and Verkhoyansk Districts, the consumption of the mining factories will exceed 90 MW of electric capacity."

Bychkov said: "We will put every effort to support the development of the Arctic territories of Yakutia that have huge potential for creating a mining cluster. As for the electric power consumption by the population and equivalent consumer categories, it is planned to increase power supply up to 5 MW in Ust-Kuyga and 7 MW in Deputatsky ... the estimations we have made with Rosatom show that 55 MW of capacity provided by one RITM-200N reactor unit will not be sufficient for the respected industrial cluster, that’s why we are working with federal ministries and agencies on the topic of transitioning to a two-unit design."

Rosatom says the SMR plant "will become the heart of one of the largest mineral resource centres in Russia" with the development of the Kyuchus, Deputatsky, and Tirekhtyakh deposits and broader infrastructure works to "create a developed area that is comfortable for work and life".

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 SCI-FI-TEK 70 YRS OLD

OPG investigates fusion as future option for Ontario

10 June 2024

Ontario Power Generation has signed a memorandum of understanding with Stellarex Inc to explore the development and deployment of fusion energy in Ontario which will see them work together to identify potential future siting and deployment of a stellarator fusion energy device in the province.

Stellarex Chairman Richard Carty (left) and OPG representative Jason Van Wart (right), sign the MoU watched by Minister Todd Smith (standing) (Image: CNW Group/OPG)

Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the two partners will also explore establishing a centre of excellence for fusion energy in Ontario.

Fusion energy technology development company Stellarex is a spinout of Princeton University in the USA, dedicated to the near-term realisation of commercial fusion energy production using stellarators. The stellarator approach to fusion energy uses extremely strong electromagnets to generate twisting magnetic fields to confine plamsa and create the right conditions for fusion reactions. Stellarators offer increased plasma stability compared with tokamaks, which use a torus-shaped magnetic chamber to confine the plasma, require less injected power to sustain the plasma, and allow for the burning plasma to be more easily controlled and monitored. However, stellarators are more complex than tokamaks to design and build.

Stellarex has already established supply-chain and fusion ecosystem relationships in Ontario and in the Canadian nuclear sector, and has MoUs with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Hatch, and Kinectrics, as well as several academic institutions in the province.

"Ontario Power Generation has watched with interest as fusion-related technology has progressed over the past few years," OPG Senior Vice President, Enterprise Strategy and Energy Markets Kim Lauritsen. "As the technology moves toward commercial implementation, this MOU recognises the role fusion may play as Ontario’s demand for clean energy increases over the next several decades."

“The world is watching Ontario as we build the next generation of reliable, affordable and clean nuclear power, including the first Small Modular Reactor in the G7," Ontario Minister Todd Smith said at the MoU signing, which took place during a tour of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France. Ontario's well-established supply chain and experienced operators give the province a "nuclear advantage" and making it "the place to be when it comes to the growing fusion-related industry, creating another opportunity for more good-paying jobs in our communities", he added.

OPG is preparing to construct the first of up to four GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy BWRX-300 small modular reactors at its Darlington site. It has already completed early-phase site preparation works, with plans to complete construction of the first unit by end of 2028 for commercial operation by the end of 2029.

In May, Stellarex signed an MoU with Germany's Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics - home to Wendelsten 7-X the world’s largest stellarator-type fusion device - to partner in specific areas of fusion energy science and technology, including the optimisation of plasma confinement and power/particle control, by leveraging their shared expertise.

In another initiative to explore bringing fusion energy to Ontario, Vancouver-based General Fusion - a private company which aims to build a commercial fusion power plant based on Magnetised Target Fusion technology - signed an MoU in early 2022 to collaborate with Bruce Power and Nuclear Innovation Institute to evaluate the potential deployment of a fusion power plant in Ontario.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Melissa Etheridge’s new docu-series focuses on her concert for women in prison

Essiy Park, June 11, 2024

A new two-part docuseries called Melissa Etheridge: I’m not broken is set to premiere on Paramount+ on July 9. The series will center around Etheridge’s efforts to put on a show for women incarcerated at the Topeka Correctional Facility. I’m not broken it is named after an original song that Etheridge wrote in honor of those women, which he performed for them at the show.

“The docuseries explores themes of female incarceration, redemption, substance abuse, generational trauma, grief and healing,” a press release from the show says. “Etheridge connects with women through music as an act of empathy, understanding and hope.” Overcoming substance abuse issues is a cause that is close to Etheridge’s heart, as she lost her 21-year-old son, Beckett, to opioid addiction in 2020. (Panel)

 

Government of Canada Releases Updated Critical Minerals List

From: Natural Resources Canada

News release

June 10, 2024                                                                   Sudbury, Ontario                                                 Natural Resources Canada

Critical minerals, and the clean technology and energy sources they enable, present a generational economic opportunity for Canada. Canada’s Critical Minerals List is a key resource in determining where to focus Canadian efforts related to sustainable mining exploration and extraction, advanced manufacturing, clean technology, as well as information and communications technologies and semiconductors. Critical minerals are the building blocks for the green and digital economy and demand for them will only grow throughout the global energy transition.

Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced that the Critical Minerals List has been reviewed and updated following substantial consultations to focus our efforts in developing robust critical minerals value chains. To determine which minerals are considered critical, Canada released its first Critical Minerals List in March 2021 with a commitment to review the minerals identified as critical every three years. The list guides federal policy and programs and signals government areas of priority to stakeholders. Public consultations took place with provincial and territorial governments, other government departments, industry, Indigenous groups and other interested or affected stakeholders.

An analysis was undertaken to review all minerals included in the 2021 Critical Minerals List and consider potential candidates for addition. These analyses resulted in an updated Critical Minerals List that retains all 31 minerals from the 2021 list and an additional three minerals, namely high-purity iron, phosphorous and silicon metal, for a total of 34 critical minerals. These materials are integral to a variety of products, critical to the energy transition are often those in short supply and they are those that are critical to our future economic prosperity.

For example, silicon metal is essential to the manufacture of chips and semiconductors, used in almost any and everything electronic. High-purity iron ore is essential to green steel and integral to decarbonization. Phosphorus combined with potash is essential for food security through the production of fertilizers. Phosphorus can also be used in Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries, another strategic opportunity in the EV value chain for Canada.

Critical minerals are the foundation on which modern technology is built upon. They’re used in a wide range of essential products, from mobile phones and solar panels to electric vehicle batteries and medical applications. By building critical minerals value chains, we can be the global supplier of choice for critical minerals and the clean energy and technology sources they enable. 

Quotes

“By updating Canada's Critical Minerals List, we are taking a proactive step to ensure that Canada's efforts to seize the generational economic opportunity presented by our critical minerals wealth is well informed by the most accurate market trends, geopolitical factors and science. Investments in critical minerals projects create good jobs for workers, more avenues for Canadian innovation and lower emissions across the country — all of which form an important part of our plan to build a cleaner Canada and a prosperous, sustainable economy.” 

The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources 

Quick facts

• Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy is part of Canada’s strengthened climate plan, 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Clean Air, Strong Economy, which advances Canada’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. 

• In March 2021, the Government of Canada announced the Canadian Critical Minerals List entitled Critical minerals: an opportunity for Canada, including 31 minerals that are either currently produced or have the potential to be produced in Canada.

• As part of the update to Canada’s Critical Minerals List, the Government of Canada conducted consultations with provinces and territories, industry, Indigenous groups and other interested or affected stakeholders. All provinces and territories’ priorities have been considered in the development of the updated national list. The consultation on Canada's Critical Minerals List and its methodology was launched on December 11, 2023, and remained open until February 16, 2024.

• There is no global definition of critical minerals so, as part of the List’s review, an updated set of criteria has been created. To be deemed a “critical mineral” in Canada, a mineral must meet both of the following criteria:

  o    the supply chain is threatened; and

  o    there is a reasonable chance of the mineral being produced by Canada

        as well as one of the following criteria:

  o    essential to Canada’s economic or national security; or

  o    required for the national transition to a sustainable low-carbon and digital economy; or

  o    positions Canada as a sustainable and strategic partner within global supply chains.

Related products

• Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy
• Canada Announces Critical Minerals List - Canada.ca
• Consultation: Update of Canada's Critical Minerals list and methodology
• Critical minerals: an opportunity for Canada

Botswana says it’s in talks about increasing stake in De Beers



10th June 2024
By: Bloomberg



Botswana said it’s in talks over increasing its shareholding in De Beers, as Anglo American prepares to end its almost century-long relationship with the iconic diamond producer.

As part of a turnaround plan to fend off an approach from BHP Group, Anglo last month said it planned to sell or separate De Beers, in which it holds an 85% stake. The remainder is owned by Botswana, the southern African nation that holds the company’s biggest diamond mines.


“We are going to increase the shares that we have in De Beers,” Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi told a political rally in Palapye, about 300 km north of the capital Gaborone.

The government would also play a central role in selecting a new investor to replace Anglo at De Beers, according to the president. It would require an investor prepared for the cyclical nature of the diamond business, he said.


That volatility created frustration within Anglo, where De Beers’s erratic performance eroded returns from more coveted commodities, such as copper. Last year, the business made just $72-million, though traditionally its profits have ranged between $500-million and $1.5-billion as the diamond industry swings from boom to bust.

De Beers CEO Al Cook is targeting annual core profit of $1.5-billion by 2028, as he overhauls the business. That reset includes renewing the company’s focus on promoting natural stones — and ditching a venture into lab-grown gems — while expanding its retail footprint through its own jewelry stores.

The company will also dip its toe into polishing its own stones, part of the industry dominated by mostly family run firms in India and Belgium.

Edited by Bloomberg