It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, May 09, 2025
WWIII
Chernobyl shelter's drone damage includes 330 openings in outer cladding
Friday, 9 May 2025
The International Atomic Energy Agency has outlined the scale of the damage caused by a drone strike and subsequent fires to the giant shelter built over the ruins of Chernobyl's unit 4.
Hundreds of openings were cut during efforts to extinguish fires (Image: ChNPP)
The agency said that investigations continue to determine the extent of the damage sustained by the arch-shaped New Safe Confinement (NSC) shelter following the drone strike on 14 February.
The impact caused a 15-square-metre hole in the external cladding of the arch, with further damage to a wider area of about 200-square-metres, as well as to some joints and bolts. It took about three weeks to fully extinguish smouldering fires in the insulation layers of the shelter.
In its update on the situation, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said: "It took several weeks to completely extinguish the fires caused by the strike. The emergency work resulted in approximately 330 openings in the outer cladding of the NSC arch, each with an average size of 30-50 cm.
"According to information provided to the IAEA team at the site, a preliminary assessment of the physical integrity of the large arch-shaped building identified extensive damage, for example to the stainless-steel panels of the outer cladding, insulation materials as well as to a large part of the membrane - located between the layers of insulation materials - that keep out water, moisture and air."
The main crane system, including the maintenance garage area, was damaged and it is not currently operational, the IAEA said. The heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are functional but have not been in service since the strike. Radiation and other monitoring systems remain functional, the IAEA said. There has been no increase in radiation levels at any time during or since the drone strike.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said: "We are gradually getting a more complete picture of the severe damage caused by the drone strike. It will take both considerable time and money to repair all of it."
The shelter
Chernobyl unit 4 was destroyed in the April 1986 accident (you can read more about it in the World Nuclear Association's Chernobyl Accident information paper) with a shelter constructed in a matter of months to encase the damaged unit, which allowed the other units at the plant to continue operating. It still contains the molten core of the reactor and an estimated 200 tonnes of highly radioactive material.
However it was not designed for the very long-term, and so the New Safe Confinement - the largest moveable land-based structure ever built - was constructed to cover a much larger area including the original shelter. The New Safe Confinement has a span of 257 metres, a length of 162 metres, a height of 108 metres and a total weight of 36,000 tonnes and was designed for a lifetime of about 100 years. It was built nearby in two halves which were moved on specially constructed rail tracks to the current position, where it was completed in 2019.
It has two layers of internal and external cladding around the main steel structure - about 12 metres apart - with both breached in the drone incident. The NSC was designed to allow for the eventual dismantling of the ageing makeshift shelter from 1986 and the management of radioactive waste. It is also designed to withstand temperatures ranging from -43°C to +45°C, a class-three tornado, and an earthquake with a magnitude of 6 on the Richter scale.
According to World Nuclear Association, the hermetically-sealed New Safe Confinement allows "engineers to remotely dismantle the 1986 structure that has shielded the remains of the reactor from the weather since the weeks after the accident. It will enable the eventual removal of the fuel-containing materials in the bottom of the reactor building and accommodate their characterisation, compaction, and packing for disposal. This task represents the most important step in eliminating nuclear hazard at the site - and the real start of dismantling".
The New Safe Confinement was financed via the Chernobyl Shelter Fund which was run by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). It received EUR1.6 billion (USD1.7 billion) from 45 donor countries and the EBRD provided EUR480 million of its own resources.
On 4 March the EBRD allocated EUR400,000 from the administrative budget of the continuing fund for specialist-led damage assessment.
Elsewhere in Ukraine
The IAEA reported that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had lost one of its two remaining external power lines on Wednesday, which it said Ukraine's Ministry of Energy had told them was the result of military activity. Pre-war, the plant had ten external power lines.
Grossi said: "A secure supply of off-site power from the grid for all nuclear sites is one of the seven indispensable pillars of nuclear safety and security that we outlined early in the war. It is obvious that this supply is far from being secure. The vulnerability of the grid remains a deep source of concern for nuclear safety."
The plant has been under Russian military control since March 2022. It is located on the frontline of Russian and Ukrainian forces and has lost access to off-site power on eight occasions during the war, having to rely on emergency diesel generators to provide the power needed for safety functions.
Grossi said that he was in touch with both sides in the conflict as he seeks to organise the next rotation of the IAEA experts stationed at the plant. Reported differences over the route to be taken - via Ukraine or from the Russian side - and the safety situation has led to the current team now being at the plant for more than two months.
The IAEA teams based at Ukraine's three operating nuclear power plants and at Chernobyl "have continued to report about air raid alarms on most days over the past week", the agency added.
Foundation in place for new Dutch research reactor
Friday, 9 May 2025
The construction pit and foundation have been completed for the reactor building of the Pallas research reactor in Petten, the Netherlands. Preparations are now under way for the start of construction of the reactor building itself.
(Image: NRG-Pallas)
NRG-Pallas applied in June 2022 to the Dutch regulator, the Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection, for a permit to construct and operate the Pallas reactor. ANVS granted a construction licence in mid-February 2023. Preparatory work on the foundation began in May 2023. This work was carried out by Belgian construction firm Besix, which was awarded a contract in November 2022.
The building of the construction pit - a hole of about 50 metres by 50 metres and 17.5 metres deep - and the foundation has now been completed. This has involved digging 30 trenches measuring one-and-a-half metres wide, into which concrete was poured to create the so-called "diaphragm walls". The diaphragm walls are anchored with 380 bored piles placed within them. An underwater concrete floor 1.5 metres thick has also been constructed, and on top of this, a reinforced foundation slab measuring 50 metres by 50 metres and also 1.5 metres thick.
"This unique construction project has brought together all of our expertise and innovative capabilities. Both in terms of technical aspects and the stringent security requirements of a nuclear site, as well as the construction site surrounded by the dune area," said Nic De Roeck, managing director of Besix Nederland. "All of this introduced additional considerations for how we had to execute the work. I look back with satisfaction on how we carried out this challenging work together with NRG-Pallas and our partners; this was work at a Champions League level."
Peter Dijk, programme director and member of the Executive Board at NRG-Pallas said completion of the pit and foundation was "a significant step forward on the path to realising the Pallas reactor". He added: "This has laid the foundation for the next phase of construction. The arrival of the Pallas reactor is crucial for the production of medical isotopes."
Currently, NRG-Pallas, together with main contractor Spanish construction firm FCC Construcción and designer ICHOS, is preparing the next phase of the project.
Last month, FCC Construcción signed an agreement with NRG-Pallas to move the project forward through its successive phases. To this end, an agreement was formalised on the scope, schedule, budget and technical solutions for the construction of the first part of the Pallas reactor building.
A cross-section of the Pallas reactor building (Image: FCC Construcción)
The construction site is now being restructured so that work on the lower section of the reactor can begin later this year. Additionally, preparations are underway for the installation of the cooling water pipeline. The pipeline will extract water from the North Holland Canal and discharge it into the sea.
Although funding has been allocated in the coming years for the construction of the Pallas reactor, the Dutch government has yet to make a final decision on its construction. The European Commission has already approved, under EU state aid rules, the Dutch government's plan to invest EUR2 billion (USD2.2 billion) in the construction of Pallas.
Former Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Ernst Kuipers instructed the NRG-Pallas not to take any irreversible steps, but to continue with the preparations for the project in the meantime to avoid unnecessary delays.
The Pallas research reactor is to be built at Petten to replace the existing High Flux Reactor (HFR). The 45 MW HFR started operating in September 1960, since when its use has largely been shifted from nuclear materials testing to fundamental research and the production of medical radioisotopes. The reactor - operated by NRG on behalf of the European Union's Joint Research Centre - has for a long time supplied about 60% of Europe's and 30% of the world's medical radioactive sources.
Pallas will be of the "tank-in-pool" type, with a thermal power of around 55 MW, and able to deploy its neutron flux more efficiently and effectively than the HFR.
Article researched and written by WNN's Warwick Pipe
EU seeks to end all energy imports from Russia
Friday, 9 May 2025
The European Commission has published a roadmap for the European Union to end its dependency on Russian energy by stopping the import of Russian gas and oil and phasing out Russian nuclear energy. The commission said it will make legislative proposals next month.
The European Commission building in Brussels (Image: Dimitris Vetsikas/Pixabay)
In May 2022, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine three months earlier, the European Commission (EC) formally adopted the REPowerEU Plan, which aimed to rapidly reduce EU dependence on Russian fossil fuels. The plan recognised that nuclear will have a role to play in ensuring security of EU energy supplies, and highlighted the importance of coordinated action to reduce dependence on Russian nuclear materials and fuel cycle services.
"Despite the significant progress achieved under the REPowerEU Plan and via sanctions since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in 2024 the EU saw a rebound in Russian gas imports," the EC said. "More coordinated actions are therefore needed, as the EU's overdependency on Russian energy imports is a security threat."
Measures taken so far have reduced the volumes of imported Russian gas from 150 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2021 to 52 bcm in 2024 – with the share of Russian gas imports dropping from 45% to 19%, it noted. All imports of Russian coal have been banned by sanctions; oil imports have shrunk from 27% at the beginning of 2022 to 3% now.
In nuclear, more than 14% of uranium was sourced in the EU from Russia in 2024, while around 23% of the whole EU demand for uranium conversion services was satisfied from Russia and in uranium enrichment services Russia covered almost 24% of EU needs. Member States that are still using Russian-designed VVER reactors have made progress in replacing Russian nuclear fuel with fuel from other producers.
The EC has now published the REPowerEU Roadmap, which it says "paves the way to ensure the EU's full energy independence from Russia". The roadmap sets out a gradual removal of Russian oil, gas and nuclear energy from the EU markets "which will take place in a coordinated and secure manner as we advance our energy transition".
"The European Commission will seek to make Russian imports of enriched uranium economically less viable by presenting, next month, trade measures on the import of enriched uranium," the roadmap says. "This will level the playing field and encourage political and business decisions in the relevant Member States to accelerate investment and capacity-building, develop an EU value chain and diversify away from Russia in a gradual manner, while allowing for supplies from other international partners. Next month the Commission intends also to restrict new supply contracts co-signed by the Euratom Supply Agency for uranium, enriched uranium and other nuclear materials with Russian suppliers as of a certain date."
The EC also said the development of alternative nuclear fuels for Russian-designed VVER reactors operating in Member States and their licensing needed to be accelerated. It said contracting with alternative suppliers should progress quickly towards a complete replacement of Russian supplies.
The Commission is proposing to stop all remaining imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027.
EU Member States will be asked to prepare national plans by the end of this year setting out how they will contribute to phasing out imports of Russian gas, nuclear energy and oil.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Hungary opposes the EC's proposal. He said that cutting Russian gas and nuclear fuel imports threatens Hungary's energy security.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he respected attempts to reduce energy dependence on third countries but the Commission's proposals would harm the EU, raising prices in the bloc and damaging its competitiveness. "This is simply economic suicide to go to the point where neither gas, nor nuclear, nor oil, everything, must end just because some new Iron Curtain is being built between the Western world and perhaps Russia and other countries," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Article researched and written by WNN's Warwick Pipe
Construction of second Shidaowan Hualong One begins
Thursday, 8 May 2025
China Huaneng has announced the pouring of first concrete for the second Hualong One reactor of Phase I (units 1 and 2) at the Shidaowan nuclear power plant site in China's Shandong Province.
(Image: China Huaneng)
The company plans to construct four Hualong One reactors, in two phases, at Shidaowan with a total installed capacity of 4.8 GWe.
China's State Council approved the construction of units 1 and 2 of the Shidaowan plant on 31 July 2023. First concrete for unit 1 was poured on 28 July 2024.
Once all four Hualong One units are completed, each unit will generate more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which can reduce standard coal consumption by 3.12 million tonnes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 8.16 million tonnes, according to China Huaneng.
The first of two demonstration Guohe One (CAP1400) reactors at the Shidaowan site was connected to the grid in November last year. The CAP1400 is an enlarged version of the CAP1000 pressurised water reactor developed from the Westinghouse AP1000, with consulting input from the USA-based company. The design is intended to be deployed in large numbers across the country, as well as for export.
The Shidaowan site is already home to the demonstration High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor-Pebble-bed Module (HTR-PM), which entered commercial operation in early December 2023. The HTR-PM features two small reactors that drive a single 210 MWe turbine. It is owned by a consortium led by China Huaneng (47.5%), with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) subsidiary China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (32.5%) and Tsinghua University's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (20%), which is the research and development leader.
China Huaneng said that with the start of construction of the Shidaowan unit 2 Hualong One "the Phase I expansion project of Huaneng Shidao Bay Nuclear Power entered the full construction stage, and the construction of China's first comprehensive nuclear power base integrating third-generation and fourth-generation nuclear power technologies was further accelerated".
Article researched and written by WNN's Warwick Pipe
First BRICS expert session on nuclear energy held in China
Thursday, 1 May 2025
The first expert session within the framework of the BRICS Nuclear Energy Platform has been held in China, with leading experts discussing best practices for implementing modern solutions in the energy sector.
(Image: Rosatom)
The BRICS Nuclear Energy Platform was created in October 2024 and is intended to share experience and support the development of nuclear technologies among BRICS+ member countries. One of the platform's aims is to help companies, if required, with persuading their governments to see nuclear as a clean energy source, and also share assistance for dealing with other issues which may be hampering nuclear energy projects.
Held on the sidelines of the 16th China International Exhibition on Nuclear Power Industry in Beijing on 29 April, the first expert session was held within the framework of the BRICS Nuclear Energy Platform.
The event - with the theme 'Key factors influencing the development of nuclear energy' - brought together representatives of government agencies and specialised organisations of the BRICS countries and partner countries of the association, including China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Iran and others, as well as representatives from the ASEAN Energy Center and World Nuclear Association.
The discussion focused on new approaches to the efficient distribution of nuclear energy resources, current industry trends and prospects for cooperation between participating countries for balanced global development and energy security.
The welcoming speech was given by the Platform's Chief Coordinator Elsie Pule of South Africa and Celso Cunha, president of the Brazilian Association for the Development of the Nuclear Industry. Rosatom said that for representatives of countries new to the nuclear industry, the session "became an opportunity to adopt best practices in the energy and non-energy application of nuclear developments to address environmental and social challenges facing society".
"Young specialists in the nuclear industry need the help of experienced experts from countries with advanced technologies," said Chen Xin, deputy director of the Uranium Resources Department of China's State Nuclear Uranium Resource Development Company. "The session provided an opportunity for representatives of nuclear organisations of the BRICS countries to establish interaction for the implementation of joint projects."
Artem Goncharuk, director general of Rosatom East Asia, added: "The session once again confirmed the existence of a large and as yet untapped potential for joint work between BRICS organisations and partners. We will continue to move forward and will 'take a step, leaving a mark'. Work on preparations for the next expert session has already begun."
During 2025, the Platform plans to hold special expert-level events at major industry venues. The next session is due to be held on 21 May on the sidelines of the Nuclear Trade & Technology Exchange conference and exhibition in Brazil.
The intergovernmental BRICS organisation's members are currently Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the UAE, with more than 20 other countries also expressing an interest in joining the organisation which is widely seen as a counterbalance to the G7 grouping of industrialised nations.
BRICS member countries currently have about 390 GWe of operable nuclear power units with a further 66 MWe under construction.
Czech state takes 80% stake in new nuclear project
Thursday, 1 May 2025
The Czech government has announced plans for a state loan to finance construction of two new units at the Dukovany nuclear power plant, with a contract scheduled to be signed with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power next week.
From left: Stanjura, Fiala, Vlcek and Beneš make the announcement (Image: Gov.cz)
At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday the government decided to purchase 80% of shares in the Elektrárna Dukovany II project, with CEZ retaining a 20% stake. The 80% stake was valued at CZK3.6 billion (USD163 million).
It also approved a state loan to cover the construction, which will be repaid over a period of 30 years beginning from the issuing of a permit to operate the first of the new units.
The Czech Government will require European Commission approval of the financing method and investor model "which we expect to happen around 2026. Until then, the company Elektrárna Dukovany II will be financed by a bridging commercial loan".
Prime Minister Petr Fiala said: "Since the beginning of our government, we have been working to ensure the energy security and self-sufficiency of the Czech Republic for future generations. Nuclear energy, especially the construction of new nuclear sources, is strategically important for the future of the Czech Republic. The state's takeover of an 80% stake in EDU II will enable the implementation and financing of this project."
Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura said: "The state's majority stake will ensure control over the entire project and will probably simplify the process of approving state aid by the European Commission, the so-called notification. The minority stake of ČEZ then guarantees support from the professional capacities of the ČEZ Group."
Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček said: "The construction of new nuclear units represents a huge opportunity for our economy and the renaissance of the nuclear industry. The share of Czech industry in the order is approaching 60%, and when the contract is signed with the preferred supplier, the Korean company KHNP, contracts and agreements with Czech companies in the volume of approximately 30% will be concluded. Exactly as we agreed with KHNP during our February meeting in Seoul."
CEZ CEO Daniel Beneš said: "This step will also enable CEZ Group to implement additional investment projects focused on long-term competitiveness, sustainability and safety. Thanks to its unique experience with the construction and subsequent almost 40 years of safe operation of two nuclear power plants, CEZ is ready to provide its capacities and know-how for the preparation and construction of new sources."
Fiala, posting on social media, said that thanks to the decisions taken on financing, contracts with KHNP could be signed on 7 May.
The background
The Czech Republic currently gets about one-third of its electricity from the four VVER-440 units at Dukovany, which began operating between 1985 and 1987, and the two VVER-1000 units in operation at Temelín, which came into operation in 2000 and 2002.
In October 2023, Westinghouse, EDF and KHNP submitted binding bids for a fifth unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant, and non-binding offers for up to three more units - another one at Dukovany and two at the Temelin nuclear power plant. Westinghouse was proposing its AP1000, EDF was proposing its EPR1200 reactor, KHNP was proposing its APR1000. But in February 2024 the Czech government announced it was changing the tender to be binding offers for four new units, with Westinghouse not included because it "did not meet the necessary conditions".
Prime Minister Petr Fiala explained at the time that the decision to switch to binding offers for all four units was the result of the original tender suggesting that contracting for four units, rather than having separate processes, could have a 25% benefit in terms of costs.
In July last year, he announced KHNP as the preferred bidder, with contract negotiations to begin with the aim of signing contracts for the initial unit by the end of March 2025 - the target for test operation of the first new unit is 2036 with commercial operation in 2038. He said the winning tender "based on the evaluation of experts, offered better conditions in most of the evaluated criteria, including the price". The KHNP bid was for a cost of around CZK200 billion (USD8.6 billion) per unit, if two units were contracted.
Both EDF and Westinghouse appealed to the Czech Republic's competition authorities about the selection process - Westinghouse later withdrew its appeal and EDF's was rejected by the competition office last week.
Before oil prices started plunging last month, most banks and research firms had forecast US shale production would grow this year and next before plateauing later in the decade.
Diamondback Energy trimmed its own full-year production forecast Monday, and said that it expects onshore oil rigs across the entire US industry to drop by almost 10% by the end of the second quarter and fall further in the months after.
Diamonback Energy: production has likely peaked in America’s prolific shale fields.
The OPEC price war has made landfall in the US.
Following our report earlier that Saudi Arabia has declared a new price war on OPEC+ quota-busters such as Kazakhstan, and non OPEC+ members such as US shale producers, today after the close Diamondback Energy, the largest independent oil producer in the Permian Basin, made a historic pronouncement today when it said that production has likely peaked in America’s prolific shale fields (something we also mentioned earlier in the day) and will decline in the months and years ahead after crude prices plummeted.
Separately, the Texas company trimmed its own full-year production forecast Monday, and said that it expects onshore oil rigs across the entire US industry to drop by almost 10% by the end of the second quarter and fall further in the months after.
“This will have a meaningful impact on our industry and our country,” Diamondback Chief Executive Officer Travis Stice wrote. “We believe we are at a tipping point for U.S. oil production.” The outlook from Diamondback, one of the industry’s most prominent producers, marks a key shift for expectations within the sector. Before oil prices started plunging last month, most banks and research firms had forecast US shale production would grow this year and next before plateauing later in the decade. The Permian, they said, was apt to peak in the late 2020s or early 2030s depending on prices.
Not any more.
As Bloomberg notes, the US shale fields have been the engine behind the surge in US crude output over the past 15 years, making the country the world’s top producer and largely energy independent, much to the horror of OPEC. The ability of companies like Diamondback to quickly bring new wells online using hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, has bedeviled OPEC. But the prospect that shale may now have reached its peak and is facing years of painful decline, poses a huge threat to US President Donald Trump’s goal to turbocharge fossil fuel production.
While analysts and pundits have long said repeatedly that US shale is poised to peak, the industry had managed to prove them wrong by innovating and driving output to fresh records year after year.
So the assertion by Diamondback that the moment has finally come is extremely noteworthy.
“Today, geologic headwinds outweigh the tailwinds provided by improvements in technology and operational efficiency,” said Stice, who will step down as CEO at the company’s annual shareholder meeting later this month.
US oil futures, pricing in a global demand recession, have dropped about 20% since the start of April when Trump announced wide-ranging tariffs that triggered a global trade war. At the same time, OPEC and its allies have surprised markets with plans to increase oil supplies more than expected later this year in response to internal bickering, and particularly the unwillingness of some members such as Kazakhstan to comply with set production quotas.
It’s led to frustration spilling out both privately and in public comments from America’s oil bosses. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright sought to reassure the industry during a visit to Oklahoma last month, saying turmoil from the president’s trade war is likely to be fleeting.
“We can’t help but wonder if the last ‘letter to stockholders’ written by outgoing CEO Travis Stice was intended as much for government leaders in Washington, DC as it was for FANG shareholders,” Tim Rezvan, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets wrote in a note to clients.
Diamondback said the number of crews fracking wells, which it estimates has fallen 15% this year, will continue to shrink as shale operators dial back amid unprofitable oil prices.
The company now expects to produce about 488,000 barrels of oil per day this year, when taken at the midpoint of its new guidance released Monday. That’s less than 1% lower than the roughly 492,000 barrels-per-day view it gave three months ago.
The driller is the latest US operator to announce cutbacks in recent months. EOG Resources and Matador Resources are also dialing back activity, while Nabors Industries said that shale producers plan to cut 4% of their drilling rigs by the end of the year, citing a survey of nearly half the industry.
For the immediate future, Diamondback is cutting three drilling rigs and one of its frack crews, leading to a total of $400 million slashed from its budget this year, Stice said, the clearest indication that US output is about to fall off a cliff, because if the most efficient and lowest cost producers have no choice but to throttle output what does that leave for the smaller, less efficient frackers?
“We are taking our foot off the accelerator as we approach a red light,” Stice said. “If the light turns green before we get to the stoplight, we will hit the gas again, but we are also prepared to brake if needed.”
By Zerohedge.com
Winter Fuel Row Deepens as Labour Faces Internal Revolt
The UK government faces internal pressure to reverse cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance.
Prominent Labour MPs warn that even a policy reversal may not be enough to rebuild public trust.
With Reform UK and the Conservatives capitalizing on public anger, the issue is becoming a flashpoint ahead of future elections.
The government is under increasing pressure from its backbenchers to reverse winter fuel cuts amid warnings that even a U-turn would not go far enough to restore trust with voters.
There is talk that senior government officials are reconsidering government’s earlier decision to restrict winter fuel payments to pensioners who qualify for income-related benefits, which would block 9 million from claiming the allowance.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson denied that there will be “a change to the government’s policy,” despite some of the most vocal opponents to government’s curbs on the winter fuel allowance coming from within the Labour Party.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said voters “aren’t happy” with the winter fuel allowance cuts, and polling backs this up, despite assurances they would save the Exchequer £1.4 billion.
York Central MP Rachael Maskell told City AM that a “U-turn” on government’s decision on winter fuel payments or adjusting the threshold will not be enough to win back support: “they would have to follow with other decisions like not going ahead with [Personal Independence Payments] and [Universal Credit] cuts to disabled people to show that they have understood the culture change which is needed to start rebuilding trust with the public.”
Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent West, said: “The cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance were such a political turning point because they damaged those who were most vulnerable, the most. It showed that the leadership of the party had lost their political – and some would say moral – compass.”
Gardiner added that “raising the threshold above £11,500 is not the answer, neither economically or politically. Setting an arbitrary new threshold is no use. The government must create a policy everyone can accept as fair.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has called the winter fuel payment cuts a “terrible mistake,” and the Conservatives also spot a political opportunity in Labour MPs breaking from the party line.
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said: “After losing a key by-election, Labour is now scrambling to rethink their disastrous mistake.”
Stride added that “Labour’s decision to cut Winter Fuel Payments for millions of pensioners was reckless, cruel and out of touch. The Chancellor left our elderly struggling to heat their homes, at the same time as spending millions on inflation-busting pay rises for the unions and hotels for illegal immigrants.”
Kazakhstan’s oil firm KazMunayGas says it is fully prepared for oil price volatility.
National oil fund revenues have dropped 43% year-on-year, and Kazakhstan may need to tap into the fund again by fall to cover government spending as lower oil prices offset higher output.
The country is pushing ahead with refinery upgrades and international energy partnerships.
Kazakhstan’s national oil company KazMunayGas (KMG) says it is fully prepared to navigate recent oil price volatility, even as global benchmarks hit new lows and concerns mount over falling state revenues.
Despite the slump, driven largely by OPEC+ plans to increase output, KMG Deputy Chairman Aset Magauov stated that the company remains confident in its resilience.
“We don’t see any risks for KazMunayGas,” Magauov told reporters at a recent briefing. “We’ve prepared for various scenarios and identified cost-optimization measures. In principle, we are ready for any fluctuations.”
KMG, responsible for 26% of Kazakhstan’s total oil production and 80% of domestic refining, supplies about 70% of its crude to the local market. Because domestic fuel prices remain significantly lower and more stable than export prices, the company says much of its revenue is shielded from global price swings.
“Domestic sales remain unaffected by market volatility,” Magauov said. “Nearly all our gasoline and diesel production is sold inside Kazakhstan, further insulating us from export-driven shocks.”
Still, external pressures are mounting. Kazakhstan was the largest OPEC+ over-producer in recent months, and according to a research note from Halyk Finance, the country may be forced to make additional withdrawals from its National Oil Fund by the fall. Revenue from the fund fell by 43% year-on-year through April, as increased output failed to compensate for falling prices. The shortfall could complicate the government’s budget plans later this year.
At the same time, Kazakhstan is pursuing a series of strategic initiatives to strengthen its oil sector. These include ongoing talks with Russia’s Tatneft over a potential joint development of the Atyrau refinery and plans to privatize state stakes in the Atyrau and Pavlodar refineries — a move that could reshape the country’s refining landscape.
Kazakhstan is also advancing energy diplomacy. It is working to increase crude exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline under a pilot deal with Azerbaijan, and recently signed a strategic energy partnership with Vietnam focused on both hydrocarbons and clean energy.
Looking ahead, the government has ambitious long-term plans. In April, Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov announced that Kazakhstan aims to more than double its domestic refining capacity from 17.9 million tons in 2024 to 38 million tons annually by 2040.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
China Looks To Tighten Its Grip On This Key Middle Eastern Oil Hub
China’s Zhenhua Oil signed a long-term LNG deal with UAE’s ADNOC.
The UAE’s location and infrastructure make it a key energy and logistics hub, vital to both Chinese and U.S. strategic interests.
Despite past cooperation, recent UAE-China military and energy ties have complicated Washington’s relationship with Abu Dhabi.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) holds much greater geopolitical significance to both China and the U.S. than might be inferred from either its size or its current crude oil production of just under 3 million barrels per day (bpd). This is why any major new deals signed with it by either side are so thoroughly scrutinised by the other, and why both continue to leverage whatever economic means they can to attempt to increase their influence across the collection of emirates. The very recent five-year sales and purchase agreement signed between China’s state-owned oil and gas company Zhenhua Oil and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for around 800,000 metric tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) starting in 2026 is the latest deal to catch the U.S.’s attention, a senior Washington-based legal source who works closely with the Office of Foreign Assets Control told OilPrice.com last week. “Chinese LNG deals in the Middle East are always of interest to us, and so is whatever Zhenhua Oil is up to in the region,” he said.
It is the UAE’s geographical position next to Saudi Arabia and Oman with coastlines in both the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that is one reason for its oversized geopolitical importance. This makes it an ideal energy hub between the West and the East, supported further by its plethora of ports and storage facilities spread across the seven constituent emirates of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm Al Quwain. Fujairah is particularly well-positioned to offer alternative oil transit options that might come from supply disruptions from Iran and its regional proxies, especially the Houthis. This is due to its location both outside the Persian Gulf and a healthy 160 kilometres from the politically ultra-sensitive Strait of Hormuz, through which around 30% of the world’s oil has historically transited. This is a key reason why China made the UAE a focus of the Middle Eastern section of its multi-generational power-grab project, the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI), back when it was launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping. Through its ‘Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement’, first revealed anywhere in the world in my 3 September 2019 article on the subject and as analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order, Beijing exercises enormous influence over what happens in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz and wants to keep it that way. Through other similar deals in the region, China also has a hold over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, through which crude oil is shipped upwards through the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal before moving into the Mediterranean and then westwards.
In energy terms, UAE also offers rare LNG capabilities in the region, with its Das Island liquefaction and export terminal and the ongoing expansion of its LNG capacity through the Ruwais LNG project. In the U.S.’s eyes, China’s recent history in the LNG sector is most notably linked to its almost supernaturally prescient flurry of deal-making in the 12 months that preceded Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. In that case, Beijing’s attention was focused on Qatar, as analysed in full in my latest book. After that, LNG became the de facto emergency energy supply of the world, as it does not require the costly and time-consuming infrastructure build-out needed to move gas or oil through pipelines and can simply be bought fast in the spot market and shipped quickly to wherever it is needed. Following a long period of frank discussions between the team of then-U.S. President Joe Biden and Qatar’s leadership, China found the easy relationship that it had enjoyed with Doha in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine became more difficult. Nonetheless, Washington knows that in the event of another similar scenario – a larger country looking to ‘repatriate’ a smaller breakaway state, such as Taiwan – LNG will again be the go-to form of emergency energy.
The presence of Zhenhua Oil in the deal -- its first long-term LNG supply contract -- also does not sit well with the U.S. Established in 2003, it is the oil exploration and production subsidiary of Chinese state-owned defence contractor Norinco and is active across several geopolitically ultra-sensitive countries including Myanmar, Egypt, and Iraq. It is apposite to note in this regard that oil and gas developments in a foreign country legally allow the companies undertaking those investments to safeguard them by whatever means they deem necessary, including by the stationing of tens, hundreds, or thousands of heavily-armed security personnel around the sites. Indeed, it was Zhenhua that on 2 January 2021 made a multi-billion-dollar deal with Iraq’s Federal Government in Baghdad to prepay for four million barrels every month for five years to be delivered to China by Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO). This was exactly the same strategy that Russia used to take over Iraq’s oil industry in its northern semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in 2017, as also detailed in my latest book. So extraordinarily obviously dangerous to U.S. interests in the Middle East and elsewhere was this deal seen by Washington at the time that it eventually succeeded in forcing the Iraqis to suspend the arrangement.
Underlying all of this is that Washington’s recent history with the UAE has been chequered to say the least. In Donald Trump’s first term as U.S. president, it had played an instrumental part in his vision for a new relationship architecture between the U.S. and the Middle East. This was to have been centred on a series of relationship normalisation deals signed between the Arab countries and Israel, with the U.S. as the key broker, and the UAE became the first major Arab state to sign such an agreement on 13 August 2020. The emirate was also to have played a key role in securing India as the regional counterpoint to China’s increasing dominance in the Asia Pacific region. Washington believed that a then-recent clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley might mark a new push back strategy from India against China’s policy of seeking to increase its economic and military alliances through the BRI. The U.S. believed that this military assertiveness might also be echoed in India’s economic desire to finally make substantive progress on its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy as an alternative to the BRI programme. Additionally propitious for Washington in this regard was that India’s rapid economic development was expected to drive a huge expansion in its demand for oil and gas. Indeed, at the time, the International Energy Agency predicted that India would make up the biggest share of energy demand growth at 25% over the next two decades. Peculiarly to many perhaps, the UA.E. had a uniquely close relationship with India in the field of energy, as also detailed in my latest book.
That said, this positive-looking relationship between the U.S. and the UAE began to unravel after Trump left office. In the Christmas period of 2021, U.S. intelligence sources identified that China had been building a secret military facility in and around the big UAE port of Khalifa. Based on classified satellite imagery and human intelligence data, U.S. officials stated that China had been working for several months “to establish a military foothold in the UAE.” Just after Russia invaded Ukraine, the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan declined repeated requests from Washington to take a telephone call from then-President Joe Biden who wanted to ask the UAE for help in bringing energy prices down to help ease spiralling inflation in the West. And early February 2024 saw the UAE inform the U.S. that it would no longer allow its warplanes and drones based at the Al Dhafra air base to carry out strikes in Yemen and Iraq without notifying Emirati officials ahead of time. This prompted Washington to move its key fighting air assets to nearby Qatar.
However, as it stands, it is extremely difficult to imagine that Sheikh al Nahyan would decline a telephone call from Donald Trump. Moreover, the U.S. still has a presence on the ground in the UAE that it can leverage, most recently in the form of a strategic partnership agreed between ExxonMobil and ADNOC to establish world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen facility. Additionally, Washington believes that further deals could be available to it in the UAE’s US$13 billion expansion programme of its gas operations over the next five years. “This is linked to a big push to boost its LNG capacity, and they’ve asked India to invest in a big new plant [in Ruwais] connected to this, so we might be able to work something there as well,” the Washington source concluded.
By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com
‘Cold’ Manufacturing Could Be The Breakthrough Point for Solid-State Batteries
Penn State researchers developed a low-temperature (150°C) method to produce solid-state battery electrolytes.
Solid-state batteries offer greater energy density, safety, and charging speed, but have faced manufacturing and cost challenges that stalled commercialization.
While firms like Toyota, QuantumScape, and Solid Power push ahead with investment and prototypes, widespread adoption is still years away due to scaling hurdles.
Massive advances in Li-ion battery technology have been at the center of the global electrification drive, including the EV revolution. To wit, over the past decade, lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery cell costs have declined ~28% for every cumulative doubling of units produced, allowing rapid mainstream adoption.
However, like any other technology out there, Li-ion batteries come with a suite of drawbacks, including the ability to deliver peak charge deteriorating over time; they generate a lot of heat, necessitating weighty cooling systems and also come with a risk of explosion or catching fire if damaged in an accident.
EV makers consider solid-state batteries the “Holy grail” in the battery industry, often quoting insane performance and range. Unlike liquid electrolytes or polymer gel found in conventional lithium-ion batteries, solid-state batteries use a solid electrolyte including ceramics, glass, sulfides, or solid polymers. Solid-state batteries promise 2-10x the energy density of lithium-ion batteries, meaning more powerful batteries that don’t take up extra space and are also safer and more stable. They are also expected to charge faster.
And now, scientists have unveiled a novel manufacturing method that will bring solid-state batteries closer to becoming an everyday reality. Researchers at Penn State have demonstrated a manufacturing technique known as cold sintering which operates at significantly lower temperatures than traditional sintering.
According to Hongtao Sun, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering at Penn State, traditional ceramic-based solid-state electrolytes are typically composed of polycrystalline grains separated by grain boundaries. However, these grain boundaries hinder the transport of conductive ions, reducing the conductivity of the electrolyte.
To overcome these barriers, Sun's team used a novel method: co-sintering a poly-ionic liquid gel (PILG) with lithium aluminum titanium phosphate (LATP) ceramics. The result? A polymer-in-ceramic composite electrolyte with high ionic conductivity — all achieved at just 150°C.
That’s a huge improvement over traditional sintering methods, which require extreme temperatures of up to 900–1,000°C— hot enough to destroy polymer additives before the ceramic forms correctly.
"One of the fabrication challenges of LATP-based composite SSEs is that the sintering temperature for ceramic is very high, to the point that traditional sintering would actually burn up any additives such as the polymer compound before the ceramic could be properly densified," Sun said. "This is why we had to implement cold sintering, to keep temperatures much lower."
Sun and his team believe that the applications of this cold sintering technology will one day go beyond manufacturing more efficient solid-state batteries, saying it could have major implications for how companies use ceramic composite materials in general manufacturing, including for industries like semiconductor manufacturing.
However, in the final analysis, it’s probably going to be years before solid-state batteries become mainstream, having failed to do so due to a combination of technical challenges, high costs, and the existing dominance of lithium-ion technology. While promising in terms of energy density and safety, solid-state batteries face difficulties in scaling production and achieving the necessary performance at acceptable price points.
Toyota (NYSE:TM)is one of the biggest investors in solid-state batteries and even holds the highest number of SSB patents. Back in 2023, the world’s largest automaker raised the stakes further after announcing its intention to invest over $13.5 billion by 2030 to develop next-generation solid-state batteries. Toyota announced a goal to lower the cost of its batteries by 30% or more. More importantly, the company provided a prototype vehicle running on solid-state batteries, something many solid-state battery startups lack.
San Jose, California-based QuantumScape Corporation (NYSE:QS) is a development-stage company. QuantumScape is regarded as a leader in solid-state batteries and is backed by Volkswagen (OTCPK:VWAGY), Bill Gates, and SAIC Motors. The company’s batteries feature a cathode and solid-state ceramic separator that connects to an anode electric contact. The company is still in the development and early commercialization phase of its solid-state battery technology. While they have shipped samples of their QSE-5 battery to automotive customers for testing, they have not yet commercialized their batteries and are not generating any revenue.
Meanwhile,Louisville, Colorado-based Solid Power (NASDAQ:SLDP) sells its proprietary sulfide-based solid electrolyte and also licenses its solid-state cell designs. Unlike QuantumScape, Solid Power is already generating revenue: the company reported FY 2024 revenue of $20.14M (+15.7% Y/Y), beating the Wall Street consensus by $2.64M while FY GAAP EPS of -$0.54 missed by $0.05. The company has projected 2025 cash investments in the range of $100 million to $120 million, excluding any potential DOE grant.
With Penn State’s cold sintering breakthrough, the race toward commercial solid-state batteries takes a step forward. If researchers and manufacturers can clear the remaining hurdles, the “holy grail” of EV power may soon leave the lab and hit the road.
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