NUKE NEWZ

Norwegian town initiates nuclear plant zoning work

15 April 2024

The municipality of Heim in Trøndelag county, Norway, has announced the start of regulatory work for creating a zone for the construction of a nuclear power plant and the cancellation of previous plans for the zone.

The proposed location for the plant (Image: Norsk Kjernekraft)

Among the recipients of the notification are the Directorate for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (DSA), the Norwegian Armed Forces, the Norwegian Water and Energy Directorate (NVE), grid operator Statnett and the Environment Agency. 

"The regulatory plan will lay the foundation for the establishment of nuclear power plants, preferably in the form of small modular reactors (SMRs)," the municipality said.

The notification refers to a proposal submitted by Norsk Kjernekraft on 2 November last year to Norway's Ministry of Oil and Energy (OED) for an assessment into the construction of a power plant based on multiple SMRs in the municipalities of Aure and Heim.

According to the preliminary plan, the plant will be located in a common industrial area in the border area between Aure and Heim. Other areas in the municipalities may also be relevant, Norsk Kjernekraft noted. The plant is planned to consist of several SMRs, which together will produce around 12.5 TWh of electricity annually, if the plant is realised in its entirety. This corresponds to an increase in Norway's power production of about 8%.

"In accordance with Sections 12-8 and 12-14 of the Planning and Building Act, the commencement of work is notified at the same time as the cancellation of the current zoning plans in the area," the municipality said. "Taftøy industrial park is the name of an older development plan located on Taftøyan, northwest of Heim municipality. To the west, the planning area borders Aure municipality in Møre and Romsdal county. To the north, the planning area borders the former 680 [road]. About 300 metres east of the planning area is the zoning plan for the Taftøyan cottage area."

It added: "The older regulatory plans have not been realised and will be repealed when the area plan for the Taftøy nuclear power is adopted."

The deadline for any responses to Heim's notification is 15 May.

"Planned measures are covered by regulations on impact assessments and must have a planning programme and an impact assessment," the municipality noted. "The need for investigation for such a regulatory plan is currently uncertain, but will probably be clarified when the investigation programme that Norsk Kjernekraft sent to OED is confirmed. Proposals for the planning programme will be submitted for consultation and put out for public inspection when the need for a study for nuclear power plants is clear."

Norsk Kjernekraft aims to build, own and operate SMR power plants in Norway in collaboration with power-intensive industry. It says it will prepare licence applications in accordance with national regulations and international standards.

"Heim and Aure municipalities are leaning forward to provide enough reliable power for industry and residents," said Norsk Kjernekraft CEO Jonny Hesthammer. "They are stepping up to the plate to get nuclear power in place as part of the solution together with renewables. In this way, security of supply is ensured, while the need for natural interventions can be reduced.

"Together with the two municipalities, Norsk Kjernekraft has submitted a report on the study programme to the Ministry of Energy. Now the municipalities are showing with action that they are serious, and the government and the ministries must take this on board. What we need now is precisely action, and no more delays."

Fuel loading to start at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa unit

15 April 2024

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) plans to begin loading fuel into unit 7 of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture following approval by Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority. It is not yet known when the reactor will be restarted.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant (Image: Tepco)

"We received approval for the test use of safety equipment to confirm the soundness of the equipment," the utility said. "From now on, we will carry out fuel loading and subsequent pre-use operator inspections to confirm the integrity of the equipment."

Tepco said it was starting the fuel loading process from around 16:00 (local time) on Monday, ahead of the unit's potential restart.

Additional regulatory inspections will still be required before Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 7 - which has been offline since August 2011 - can resume operation. In addition, consent must also be sought from the local governor. Although the central government has been seeking Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi's approval for the restart, he has yet to announce whether he will give his consent.

Tepco applied for Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) approval of its design and construction plan for Kashiwazaki-Kariwa units 6 and 7 in September 2013. It submitted information on safety upgrades across the site and at those two units. These 1356 MWe Advanced Boiling Water Reactors began commercial operation in 1996 and 1997 and were the first Japanese boiling water reactors to be put forward for restart.

In 2017, Tepco received permission from the NRA to restart units 6 and 7.

However, in early 2021, Tepco notified the NRA of malfunctions in intruder detection equipment on the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa site. In addition, it reported the unauthorised use of an ID card. In April 2021, the NRA issued an administrative order to Tepco prohibiting it from moving nuclear fuel at the plant until improvements in security measures there have been confirmed by additional inspections. This order was lifted in December last year after inspections confirmed that measures had been enhanced at the site.

Although it has completed work at the other idled units at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, Tepco is concentrating its resources on units 6 and 7 while it deals with the clean-up at Fukushima Daiichi. Restarting those two units - which have been offline for periodic inspections since March 2012 and August 2011, respectively - would increase the company's earnings by an estimated JPY100 billion (USD706 million) per year.

Eletronuclear responds to report on Angra 3 costs

15 April 2024

Brazil's Eletronuclear has highlighted the economic benefits of investing in completing the  Angra 3 nuclear unit, and stressed that an official study has yet to be completed into the likely final tariff paid by customers.

The Angra site (Image: Eletronuclear)

Last week the Federal Audit Court (TCU) published an analysis of aspects of the project to complete the nuclear power unit whose construction originally began in the 1980s before being halted.

According to the TCU analysis of tariff calculations, the price charged for its eventual output "will not respect the principle ... that the tariffs charged for public services are reasonable and accessible to the population". It adds that "regardless of potential positive externalities of the enterprise for national nuclear policy, the charges to consumers will be much higher if the construction of Angra 3 continues than if the project is abandoned".

The TCU said that when the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) makes its choice "it must justify its full decision in detail" and also "consider the costs of eventual abandonment of the work".

The TCU describes itself as "the external control institution of the federal government that supports the National Congress with the mission of overseeing the budget and the financial execution of the country and contributing to the improvement of public administration for the benefit of society".

In response to the TCU statement, Eletronuclear has said that the estimate of the higher cost than other energy generation options was based on what was a preliminary presentation in the past by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and the actual suggested price of electricity for Angra 3 would not emerge until a full study by BNDES is completed.

"Only after the completion of the independent studies, carried out by BNDES," will it be possible to assess the impacts of the Angra 3 project on the national electrical system. "Eletronuclear informs everyone that it works day in and day out so that operational, financial and construction efficiencies are duly appropriated, always for the benefit of Brazilian consumers for low tariffs. Furthermore, tax aspects may contribute to the fall in the value of the final tariff for the consumer," the company said.

Eletronuclear's statement added "the price of electrical energy produced by Angra 3 will certainly be competitive for a clean, non-polluting (not producing greenhouse gases), safe, reliable, constant" power source. It added that a recent study suggested that for every BRL1 billion (USD194 million) invested in the nuclear generation sector, BRL3.1 billion is generated in the production chain, generating 22,500 jobs in Brazil, 17,500 of which in the State of Rio de Janeiro.

Eletronuclear is currently holding a month-long public consultation on the tender to complete the works at Angra 3.

Brazil has two reactors - Angra 1 and Angra 2 - which generate about 3% of the country’s electricity. Work on the Angra 3 project - to feature a Siemens/KWU 1405 MW pressurised water reactor - began in 1984 but was suspended two years later, before construction began. The scheme was resurrected in 2006, with first concrete in 2010. But, amid a corruption probe into government contracts, construction of the unit was halted for a second time in 2015, when it was 65% complete. It resumed again in November 2022 - at the time of the project’s revitalisation, Eletronuclear’s aim at that time was to start operations by the end of 2026. However, work has again faced interruptions pending agreement with local authorities on "socio-environmental" compensation payments.

Brazil also began a process to identify sites for new nuclear power plants in 2022 - its National Energy Plan to 2050 said the country aims to add 10 GW of nuclear capacity in the next 30 years.

Work under way for first Westinghouse AP1000 in Ukraine

15 April 2024

Energoatom and Westinghouse's CEOs, Ukraine's Minister of Energy and the US ambassador have gathered at an event to mark the start of the project to build unit 5 at the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant.

(Image: Energoatom)

They oversaw the first bit of concrete being laid as part of concreting of the drainage channel. The new unit will be the first of a planned fleet of Westinghouse AP1000 reactors in Ukraine.

Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said: "This is a major geopolitical project of common interest for Ukraine and the United States. The technologies that we will build and develop together will push Russians out of the European nuclear energy market ... through cooperation in the construction of a new type of reactor for Europe."

Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin said: "Westinghouse is our reliable strategic partner: both in the development and loading of alternative fuel into the VVER reactors, and in the creation of a fuel production line in Ukraine and in the construction of new power units ... during the war, we have not stopped, but on the contrary deepened and accelerated our cooperation."

He said that once the two new units - 5 and 6 - at Khmelnitsky were built, and units 3 and 4 commissioned, the  plant's power capacity would exceed that of the six-unit Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and "will be the largest nuclear power plant in Europe".

Westinghouse Electric Company's President and CEO Patrick Fragman said: "We are opening a new stage, a new milestone in the cooperation between Westinghouse and Energoatom ... Ukraine will get energy that is clean, affordable and with the use of economically feasible technologies. This project will also create many jobs during construction, operation, repairs and maintenance."

US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said Ukraine needed more power facilities, especially with its current infrastructure being targeted by regular shelling: "I welcome the efforts and desire of the Government of Ukraine and the Ministry of Energy, Energoatom in the direction of the development of nuclear power industry. These units at the Khmelnitsky NPP will be the first of nine using AP1000 technology, which are planned to be built in Ukraine together with Westinghouse."

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.

Khmelnitsky's first reactor was connected to the grid in 1987, but work on three other reactors was halted in 1990, at a time when unit 3 was 75% complete. Work on the second reactor restarted and it was connected to the grid in 2004 but units 3 and 4 remain uncompleted. Last week, the Ukrainian Cabinet put forward a draft law on the construction/completion of units 3 and 4. Halushchenko said earlier this year that unit 3 could come into operation in as little as two and a half years.

Further Japanese research reactor free of HEU

12 April 2024

All remaining highly enriched uranium (HEU) from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's (JAEA's) Japan Materials Testing Reactor Critical Assembly has now been returned to the USA. Japan and the USA have been cooperating for many years to repatriate HEU from Japanese research reactors to the USA.

The announcement of the HEU transfer was welcomed by Prime Minister Kishida and President Biden (Image: The White House)

The Japan Materials Testing Reactor Critical Assembly (JMTRC) was built in 1965 in advance of operation of the adjacent Japan Materials Testing Reactor (JMTR). It was used to perform various critical experiments to collect data on characteristics of the JMTR core and in-core irradiation facilities.

The majority of the facility's HEU was repatriated to the USA between 2003 and 2009 following its decommissioning in 1996.

In December 2023, the US Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and JAEA transported the remaining HEU from the JMTRC to the USA.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, provided US technical support for the project and received the HEU upon its arrival in the USA. The HEU will be downblended to low-enriched uranium and/or dispositioned, permanently reducing the risk it could be used to produce an improvised nuclear device.

The removal of all the HEU from the JMTRC was welcomed by US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida when they met in Washington, DC, on 10 April. During the meeting, they confirmed further advance cooperation in strengthening global nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security.

The removal of the JMTRC HEU fulfills a commitment made by NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby and MEXT former Deputy Minister Yanagi Takashi in November 2021 and was completed more than two years ahead of schedule through the financial support of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

"This most recent removal highlights the shared commitment of the United States and Japan to minimise highly enriched uranium and the close partnership between our countries,” said Corey Hinderstein, Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Non-proliferation. "The Defense Threat Reduction Agency helped our teams achieve this milestone years earlier than would have otherwise been possible."

In May 2022, NNSA announced that more than 30 kilograms of HEU had been removed from three Japanese research sites and sent to the USA for downblending or disposal. In an operation taking four years to complete, all the HEU was removed from the University of Tokyo's Yayoi research reactor and JAEA's Deuterium Critical Assembly and Japan Research Reactor 4. The shipment of the HEU to the USA was completed in March of that year.

Since then, all HEU has been removed from the Kyoto University Critical Assembly and there has been a commitment to convert the Kindai University Teaching and Research Reactor - Japan's last remaining HEU-fueled research reactor - to high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) and to remove its remaining HEU to the USA.

NNSA's Office of Material Management and Minimization works with partner countries and international institutions around the world to eliminate the need for, presence of, or production of weapons-usable nuclear material. To date, the office has worked jointly with domestic and international partners and successfully converted or verified as shut down 109 research reactors and medical isotope production facilities and removed or confirmed the disposition of over 7340 kilograms of weapons-usable nuclear material - enough for approximately 328 nuclear weapons.

Final Zaporizhzhia unit being switched to cold shutdown

12 April 2024

International Atomic Energy Agency staff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant report that they have been told unit 4 is being transferred to cold shutdown - making it the sixth and last unit to do so.

(Image: Energoatom)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has been urging the Russian operators of the occupied plant to put all its units into cold shutdown, as part of efforts to minimise risks to nuclear safety and security.

In a message posted on its Telegram channel, the plant operators announced that on Friday at 07:00 local time, "specialists began cooling down the N4 power unit. The process is organised in accordance with all necessary norms and regulations. The work is progressing normally". 

The plant, which has been under Russian military control since early March 2022, stopped generating electricity in September 2022 but has kept one of its units in 'hot shutdown' to provide heating for the plant and the nearby town of Energodar, as well as for process steam for liquid waste treatment at the site.

Earlier this year four diesel steam generators were installed to handle the waste requirements, and the decision to move the unit into cold shutdown follows the official end of the winter heating season at Energodar. The advantage of cold shutdown is, the IAEA says, "there is an additional response margin of several days before the cooling of the nuclear fuel in the reactor might be challenged" and it also requires less cooling water.

Grossi said: "Switching to cold shutdown is a positive step for nuclear safety and security, although one that is currently overshadowed by the great military dangers facing the plant."

The director general was speaking as the IAEA's Board of Governors held an extraordinary meeting following the drone attacks on and around the plant over the past few days, which he said was the first time it had been directly targeted since November 2022.

Grossi, who is to address the United Nations Security Council on Monday, said the events of the past weeks had breached the five principles for nuclear safety and security agreed by the UN Security Council last May. These included that there should be no attack on, or from, a nuclear power plant.

He told the meeting: "As I have repeatedly stated - including at the Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors - no one can conceivably benefit or gain any military or political advantage from attacks against nuclear facilities. Attacking a nuclear power plant is an absolute no-go ... Sunday’s attack fortunately did not compromise nuclear safety in a serious way, but it would be irresponsible for us to assume future attacks will not. Rolling the dice is not the way to do it in nuclear safety."

He added: "I urge you to make this your highest priority and to support me and the IAEA in doing everything in your power to stop this devastating war becoming unconscionably more dangerous through further attacks on the Zaporizhzhia NPP or any other nuclear power plant."

In his update, Grossi said that the IAEA experts stationed at the Zaporizhzhia plant visited the main control rooms of all six units, the off-site radiation monitoring laboratory and the radioactive waste storage facility but were not granted access to parts of unit 2's turbine hall or some parts of the waste facility.

"In these extremely challenging circumstances, the presence of IAEA experts ... is more important than ever. Their impartial and technical work enables us to inform the world about events there in an independent and timely manner. In order to carry out these crucial tasks, they need prompt and unrestricted access to all areas that are important for nuclear safety and security," Grossi said.

He said that the IAEA teams stationed at the Khmelnitsky, Rivne and South Ukraine nuclear power plants and the Chernobyl site report that nuclear safety and security is being maintained "despite multiple air raid alarms that occurred over the past week".

The Russian operators of the plant said that representatives of Russia's nuclear regulator Rostechnadzor had visited Zaporizhzhia unit 4 this week "and checked its readiness for cooling down". They also reported that "work is under way ... to prepare for extending the operating life of power units and certifying personnel".

Licence issued to test BREST-OD-300 nuclear fuel module

12 April 2024

Russian nuclear regulator Rostechnadzor has issued a licence which will allow the production of mock-ups of fuel assemblies with depleted uranium for the BREST-OD-300 fast neutron reactor.

(Image: Rosatom)

The lead-cooled BREST-OD-300 reactor is part of Rosatom's Proryv, or Breakthrough, project to enable a closed nuclear fuel cycle. The 300 MWe unit will be the main facility of the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex (PDEC) at the Siberian Chemical Combine site. The complex will demonstrate an on-site closed nuclear fuel cycle with a facility for the fabrication/re-fabrication of mixed uranium-plutonium nitride nuclear fuel, as well as a used fuel reprocessing facility.

Rosatom and its TVEL fuel division said that the licence gives the go-ahead for Siberian Chemical Combine to test the entire production process. It says that the fuel developed for the BREST-OD-300 reactor is a mixed dense nitride uranium-plutonium fuel (MNUP) based on depleted uranium - a by-product of uranium enrichment for nuclear reactors - and plutonium extracted from irradiated nuclear fuel.

The MNUP fuel cannot be produced using standard technology and equipment and the process needs to be as automated as possible because of the use of radioactive plutonium extracted from used nuclear fuel. According to Rosatom "four production lines will be used - a line for the carbothermal synthesis of mixed uranium and plutonium nitrides, a line for the production of fuel pellets, a fuel rod assembly line, as well as a production line for complete fuel cassettes. Currently, commissioning of installed equipment is under way on the production lines".

The fuel fabrication/refabrication unit is the first of the PDEC facilities to be commissioned, with all the works scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024. TVEL said that "at the next stage, after obtaining the appropriate permission from Rostechnadzor to handle plutonium" the equipment will be used to directly produce MNUP fuel.

At a ceremony to launch testing of equipment, held during the recent AtomExpo 2024 event, Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev said: "Everything at this facility is unique - the technology itself, each piece of equipment, its layout, and each production site is a solution to a technological problem that no one else in the world has ever taken on."

The plan is that the use of secondary products will expand the resource base of the nuclear power industry "multifold" and reduce the volumes of radioactive waste. In January the steel reactor base plate and the lower tier of the containment for the BEST-OD-300 was installed - the target is for it to start operation in 2026.

According to the World Nuclear Association information paper on fast neutron reactors, "the BREST fast neutron reactor, of 700 MWt, 300 MWe has lead as the primary coolant, at 540°C, and supercritical steam generators. It is inherently safe and uses a mixed uranium and plutonium nitride fuel... no weapons-grade plutonium can be produced, since there is no uranium blanket - all the breeding occurs in the core ... fuel cycle is quoted at 5-6 years with partial refuelling at about 10 months. The initial cores can comprise plutonium and used fuel - hence loaded with fission products, and radiologically 'hot'. Subsequently, any surplus plutonium, which is not in pure form, can be used as the cores of new reactors. Used fuel can be recycled indefinitely, with onsite facilities. The nitride fuel has been successfully tested in the BN-600 reactor to a burn-up of 7.4%".

Initial operation of the demonstration unit will be focused on performance and after 10 years or so it will be commercially oriented. The plan has been that if it is successful as a 300 MWe unit, a 1200 MWe (2800 MWt) version will follow - the BR-1200.

Waste transfer milestone at Scottish plant

12 April 2024

The retrieval has been completed of more than 2100 tonnes of solid intermediate-level radioactive waste from five above-ground concrete bunkers at the Hunterston A Magnox nuclear power plant in Scotland. The project began 20 years ago.

The final box of solid ILW being sealed (Image: NRS)

Hunterston A - a twin Magnox reactor site - is 30 miles south west of Glasgow and was Scotland's first civil nuclear generating station. The plant, opened in 1964, ceased operations in 1989 after generating a total of 73 TWh of electricity.

Intermediate-level waste (ILW) was transported from the plant via underground tunnels and stored in one of five above-ground concrete bunkers that were constructed on site between the 1960s and 1980s. This waste consists of contaminated metallic components, debris removed from used fuel elements and 30,000 fuel element graphite sleeves.

Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS) - which is responsible for safely decommissioning the first generation nuclear and research sites across the UK - said the Hunterston A site holds the largest inventory of solid ILW across all its sites.

Creating an opening into bunker three through a 2.4m thick concrete wall (Image: NRS)

NRS noted that ILW becomes a site's highest radiological hazard once all the used fuel has been removed. Defueling of Hunterston A was completed in 1995. NRS said this waste is often located in hard-to-reach areas, making the task of retrieving it "a complicated business requiring, in some cases, many years of engineering work before it can begin in earnest".

The Solid Active Waste Bunker Retrieval (SAWBR) project was established to retrieve the ILW from the bunkers at Hunterston A.

The initial breakthrough of the first bunker was conducted manually in 2014 using core drills and wire saws to remove an 800mm-deep concrete slab. Then a remotely-operated vehicle broke through the remaining 400mm depth to create the first full opening.

A remotely operated vehicle removing waste (Image: NRS)

Remotely operated vehicles were used to recover the waste to a purpose-built facility constructed on the side elevation of the bunker. The waste was then loaded into three-metre-cube-size stainless steel boxes. The filled boxes were then transported to the site's ILW store pending future encapsulation at the solid intermediate level waste encapsulation (SILWE) facility before being returned to the ILW store for long-term storage.

NRS has now announced that the final box of solid ILW has been sealed.

"This is a fantastic achievement which has safely and compliantly reduced one of the most significant hazards on site," said Hunterston A Site Director Mark Blackley. "Over 85% of the ILW inventory has now been retrieved. This is a tremendous testament to everyone who has been involved in or who has supported this project. The remaining 15% of ILW inventory are residual sludges from the spent fuel storage ponds and acids. These are in the process of being recovered and treated."

Stuart Blair, Waste Operations Manager at Hunterston A, added: "The process to empty the bunkers has not been without its challenges. The team has overcome many technical challenges throughout, employing operational experience and innovation to progress the waste recoveries safely and efficiently.

"This represents a major milestone for the entire site with all colleagues across functions and departments playing a key role in supporting this achievement. Most of the team that has completed this work has been involved since day one of retrievals which makes the achievement especially satisfying. With safe and sustainable decommissioning, the process takes decades to complete, so I am also mindful of former colleagues who have contributed significantly over the course of the 20 years since the recovery concept was born."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

NRC should assess risks from climate change, report recommends

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission should address potential impacts of climate change–related hazards during the licensing process for nuclear power plants, the Government Accountability Office has recommended.

The Fort Calhoun plant in Nebraska, now shut down, was at risk in 2011 when Missouri River floods surrounded the plant (Image: Ammodramus)

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for the US Congress and is responsible for investigating federal government expenditures. It was requested to review the climate resilience of energy infrastructure. Its report examines how climate change is expected to affect nuclear power plants and NRC actions to address risks to nuclear power plants from climate change.

"Climate change is expected to exacerbate natural hazards - including heat, drought, wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, and sea level rise," the GAO notes. "In addition, climate change may affect extreme cold weather events. Risks to nuclear power plants from these hazards include loss of offsite power, damage to systems and equipment, and diminished cooling capacity, potentially resulting in reduced operations or plant shutdowns."

In its new report, titled Nuclear power plants: NRC should take actions to fully consider the potential effects of climate change, the Government Accountability Office says that while the NRC addresses risks to the safety of nuclear power plants, including risks from natural hazards, in its licensing and oversight processes it does not fully consider potential climate change effects.

In compiling its report, the GAO looked at data and spoke to nuclear personnel from November 2022 to the present day. Sources included staff from the NRC, the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the US Forest Service. It also visited the Palo Verde nuclear power plant in Arizona and Turkey Point plant in Florida - plants that were selected on the basis of their exposure to a variety of natural hazards exacerbated by climate change - and interviewed staff.

The GAO obtained NRC data on the location of all 54 operating US nuclear power plants, as well as the 21 shut-down plants that have used nuclear fuel stored in fuel pools or in dry storage.

The report concludes: "Commercial nuclear power plants in the United States were licensed and built an average of 42 years ago, and weather patterns and climate-related risks to their safety and operations have changed since their construction. NRC has the opportunity to consider climate risks more fully and, in doing so, to better fulfill its mission to protect public health and safety."

GAO makes three recommendations to the NRC. Firstly, it should assess whether its licensing and oversight processes adequately address the potential for increased risks to nuclear power plants from climate change. Secondly, it should develop, finalise and implement a plan to address any gaps identified in its assessment of existing processes. Thirdly, it should develop and finalise guidance on incorporating climate projections data into relevant processes, including what sources of climate projections data to use and when and how to use climate projections data.

The NRC was provided with a draft report and responded with written comments for the GAO to incorporate in the final publication. The NRC said it is already implementing or planning to implement additional climate change–related review data in its processes.

The commission noted that the "layers of conservatism and defence-in-depth incorporated into the NRC's processes provide reasonable assurance regarding any plausible natural hazard ... including those that could result from climate change".

Last year, the UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) asked site operators to complete a self-assessment questionnaire on their arrangements and resilience in relation to climate change effects. This stage aimed to understand the approach currently adopted by licensees for consideration of climate change in safety cases, including climate change projections used to define the design basis for external hazards affected by climate change. In March, it selected five sites to be taken forward to the inspection stage.

In February, ONR hosted a meeting with the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), the Dutch Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ANVS), and Belgium's Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) to discuss the implications of climate change on the nuclear sector.

12 April 2024

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

Increasing renewable energy to create more conflicts between environmental values

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

An Alberta environmental group opposes a solar power project over concerns it would damage antelope habitat and block their migration.

Homeowners in the province are fighting a renewable natural gas proposal over fears it would hurt air quality and strengthen already powerful odours.

As Alberta slowly builds a climate change-friendly energy grid, conflicts between different environmental values are going to become more frequent, experts say.

"All energy development has impacts," said Sara Hastings-Simon, a professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary.

"As we see more development happening, there will be more conflicts."

One example is the Aira solar project near the town of Bow Island in southern Alberta.

The project would provide 450 megawatts of carbon-free electricity to the provincial grid, but opponents fear its location would damage native grasslands and block herds of antelope as they migrate north from the U.S.

"Antelope can't migrate through chain-link fences," said Cliff Wallis of the Alberta Wilderness Association.

The company has promised to build lanes for the animals to pass through. But Wallis said antelope are unlikely to use them.

"All we're doing is opening up the door to these projects and not figuring out where is the best place to put them," he said.

Further north, near the town of High River, Benita Estes has been fighting a large biodigester project that would turn manure into enough natural gas to power 6,000 homes.

Proponent Rimrock Renewables concedes the plant's odours would sometimes exceed provincial guidelines, even with the upgraded control mechanisms it recently announced. 

"Biogas (projects) are great, if they're in small areas," Estes said. "This one is a monstrosity."

The Alberta Utilities Commission, which licenses renewable power projects, is tasked with weighing environmental concerns against each other. It recently turned down a solar project over concerns about impacts on native grassland.

Ryan Fournier, spokesman for Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, said the commission is up to the job.

"Each project proponent sends the department a submission that identifies wildlife species and vital habitats, assesses species concern, details how they will meet wildlife directive standards and proposes ways to minimize the risks," he said in an email. 

But Alberta needs to unpack more of the tools it already has to manage such conflicts, said Jason Wang of the clean energy think-tank the Pembina Institute. 

He points out Alberta has been divided into seven regions for land use planning. Two of those plans have been completed and one — the South Saskatchewan plan, where most renewables development is concentrated — is about to face a 10-year review. 

"The intention of these regional land use plans was to do that sort of long-term planning with communities," said Wang. "They can be challenging, but (the province) should finish that approach."

Part of the challenge is differentiating legitimate concerns from those with a not-in-my-backyard mindset, said Hastings-Simon.

"Some of the objections to renewable energy can be traced back to groups trying to prevent renewable energy," she said. 

"If done well, renewable energy has significant less impact," she said. "But we do need to think about where that's going to be."

Wallis, with the Alberta Wilderness Association, said environmental impacts have to be understood more broadly than just climate change. 

"We're facing two crises," he said. "We don't want to trade off biodiversity to mitigate only climate change.

"We can do both if we're smart about it."

Estes said projects such as the biogas one she opposes should be regulated for what they are. 

"They're trying to sell these projects as agricultural when they're actually industrial. It's not being put on industrial-zoned land."

Craig Snodgrass, who's in the middle of such quarrels as High River's mayor, said conflicts are likely to increase as Alberta's population grows.

"Everybody's trying to do more renewable things, but there's a negative side to it as well," Snodgrass said.

"A better way to manage that, that our government could be doing a better job of, is putting people first — looking at the human being first rather than putting industry first."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2024.

 

Developers to get cheap land leases in Canadian homebuilding push

Laura Dhillon Kane and Brian Platt, Bloomberg News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government will provide low-cost leases of public land to developers and push factory construction of homes as part of what it calls a “historic” plan to alleviate Canada’s housing crisis.

Companies that agree to build affordable homes will gain access to “surplus, underused, and vacant lands” owned by the public, the government said, while providing few specific details. The prime minister’s housing strategy, published on Friday, also includes low-interest loans for homeowners who want to add basement suites or laneway houses to their properties. 

The strategy should allow the country to build about 3.9 million homes by 2031, Trudeau said at a news conference. That would exceed the 3.5 million that the Smart Prosperity Institute has estimated is needed — if provinces and local governments join the initiative with “serious ambition,” Housing Minister Sean Fraser said in an interview.

There were two other points in Canada’s history when it faced a housing shortage close to the current scale, Fraser said. One was following World War II, when soldiers returned and displaced people flooded the country; the second was a generation later, when the baby boomers came of age and needed to house their growing families.

In both instances, the country stepped up to increase its housing stock. But after decades of underinvestment, combined with a growing population, Canada may be facing its biggest housing-supply challenge yet, in Fraser’s view

The federal government is the country’s largest landowner, but Fraser said it is opting for leasing land rather than selling it to keep it public and to retain more control over what gets built. The government says it will work with homebuilders and housing providers to build “on every possible site across the public portfolio.”

“This is the most ambitious plan to build houses in the history of Canada,” Fraser said. 

But many parts of the housing strategy need buy-in from provinces and cities — including use of land they own as well. Some premiers, including Quebec’s Francois Legault, have already balked at intrusions into their jurisdiction.

A statement from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office pointed to Canada’s housing record under Trudeau, including that it now takes 25 years to save for a down payment in Toronto according to National Bank. Poilievre has promised to incentivize cities to build more housing and penalize those that don’t.

The government’s plan also contains an “industrial strategy for homebuilding,” focusing on prefabricated homes, including 3D-printed properties. This element of the strategy includes a previously announced design catalogue to speed construction and earmarking $500 million in low-cost loans for innovative apartment projects.

Here are some of the other new measures in the housing plan: 

• Temporarily increasing the capital cost allowance tax rate to 10 per cent from four per cent to boost builders’ returns
• Creating a new program to allow homeowners to access up to $40,000 in low-interest loans to add a secondary suite to their homes
• Adding $50 million to a foreign credential recognition program to recognize newcomers’ expertise in residential construction and boosting training and apprenticeship programs to help Canadians join the skilled trades
• Consulting on a plan to restrict the purchase and acquisition of existing single-family homes by large corporate investors
• Consulting with the mortgage industry on making a tool available through the Canada Revenue Agency to verify borrower income for mortgages, in an effort to combat fraud
• Investing an additional $1 billion over four years in a program called Reaching Home, which provides funding to communities to help address homelessness

Trudeau has made a series of announcements in advance of the government’s April 16 budget related to helping younger Canadians with high housing costs. The lack of affordability has become a key political issue, helping to sink Trudeau’s popularity among under-40 voters. 

Previously announced measures in the housing strategy allowing first-time homebuyers 30-year amortization periods for mortgages on newly built homes and a fund for provinces to help pay for infrastructure if they agree to allow more dense housing.

Young Canadians squeezed by housing turn away from Trudeau

Laura Dhillon Kane, Bloomberg News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swept to power in 2015 with the help of younger Canadians captivated by his positive messaging and socially progressive views. That same group of voters may eventually be his undoing.

Trudeau’s chief rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, has been making huge gains with younger voters since he began attacking the prime minister forcefully on the cost of housing. In public opinion polling, the Conservatives now lead Trudeau’s Liberal Party by a 2-to-1 ratio among voters 18 to 29.

It’s been a dramatic fall for a prime minister who was the second-youngest ever to take office, who pledged to address youth issues and even appointed himself youth minister. While he fulfilled promises to legalize recreational cannabis and implement stronger climate policies, those issues have fallen down the list of priorities for young people.

One number helps illustrate his problem with voters in their twenties: 60 per cent. That’s the increase in national home prices since he took office. 

“If you can’t get into the housing market and you’re still living with mom and dad, that’s probably impacting your day-to-day quality of life more than X, Y, Z progressive social policy,” said Andrew Perez, a 37-year-old longtime Liberal volunteer and strategist and principal at Perez Strategies.

Support for Trudeau’s Liberal Party among 18- to 29-year-olds has averaged just 20 per cent over the past three months, trailing the Conservatives at 40 per cent and the left-leaning New Democratic Party at 25 per cent, according to weekly surveys by Nanos Research Group. The Liberals are also doing poorly among those 30 to 39 years old.

Provincial and local governments have much of the responsibility for where and how housing gets built in Canada, not the federal government. Still, Trudeau is keenly aware of his vulnerability on the issue and has been fighting back.

The government made a series of announcements ahead of the finance minister’s April 16 budget, most of them focused on improving housing affordability for Generation Z and millennials. The prime minister kicked it off in March in Vancouver — a key electoral battleground — standing behind a podium that bore the words “Fairness for Every Generation.” He’s set to unveil a new plank in his housing strategy Friday.

The Nanos data shows an eight-point jump for the Liberals among the youngest group of voters in the week after the announcements began, though it’s too short of a time period to see a trend. Overall, it’s a clear deterioration from Trudeau’s election in October 2015, when his party commanded 39 per cent of this voter bloc.

Jaide Kassam, 22, said she voted Liberal in the past mostly because her parents did. Now, after an internship with Ontario’s conservative-leaning provincial government, she found she identified more with conservative values, and now backs Poilievre. He’s doing more to appeal to young workers and students, she said.

While Kassam is hopeful she’ll be able to own a home one day, many members of Gen Z are less optimistic — and considerable doom and gloom has set in among millennials in their 30s. Perez said most of his peers in white-collar jobs aren’t homeowners, mainly because their parents can’t help with a down payment — a generational transfer of wealth increasingly viewed as necessary to enter the property market in Canada.

Urban, socially progressive Canadians who previously voted Liberal are now ready to “roll the dice on a right-wing, populist government,” Perez observed in an opinion piece published in the Toronto Star. Their values don’t actually align with Poilievre’s brand of “aggressive conservatism,” he argued, but they don’t see a path to economic mobility under the current government.

David Coletto of Abacus Data, whose polling has also shown the Liberals bleeding support among young people, pointed out that Poilievre is doing so well across all age groups that he doesn’t necessarily need to mobilize the youth vote in order to win — if his support holds until an election that’s due in 2025.

But winning among young people would be a “feather in his cap,” Coletto said.

A separate Nanos poll for Bloomberg showed that cost of living and housing affordability were the most important issues to voters under 35. The survey of 1,069 Canadians between March 31 and April 1 has a margin of error of 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. There are also margins of error involved in narrowing down polls to specific demographics.

Chief data scientist Nik Nanos said the results were worrying for the prime minister. “Considering the Trudeau Liberals built their coalition in 2015 on younger voters, trailing on these issues is a serious political disadvantage.”

 

Asking rent prices in March up 8.8% from year ago, but down from February: Urbanation

The Canadian Press

A new report says the asking rent for a home in Canada in March was up 8.8 per cent compared with a year ago, but down from February.

The report by Urbanation, which analyzes monthly listings from Rentals.ca, says the average asking rent for all home types was $2,181 last month.

On a month-over-month basis, asking rents in March were down 0.6 per cent.

Based on the report, the average asking rent for a one-bedroom unit in Canada was $1,915, up 11.3 per cent from a year ago, while the average asking price for a two-bedroom was $2,295, up 10.6 per cent from March 2023.

Overall, asking rents for purpose-built rental apartments in March increased 12.7 per cent compared with a year earlier to reach an average of $2,117. Condominium apartment rents averaged $2,321, up 3.9 per cent from March 2023.

The federal government has vowed to tackle the increasing financial pressure renters are facing. Late last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a bill of rights for renters, among other supports.

The bill of rights, to be developed and implemented in partnership with provinces and territories, would require landlords to disclose a clear history of apartment pricing "so renters can bargain fairly."

The measures would also make sure rental payment history is taken into account on credit scores, giving first-time buyers a better chance at getting a mortgage with a lower interest rate.

The increase in the national average came as the average asking rents for purpose-built and condominium apartments in B.C. fell 1.9 per cent year-over-year to $2,494.

Ontario had the second highest average asking rents last month, edging up 0.4 per cent from March 2023 to reach $2,410.

Alberta and Saskatchewan posted the fastest-growing rents, with total average asking prices up 18.3 and 18.2 per cent annually last month, respectively, to reach $1,728 and $1,297.

On a municipal basis, average asking rents in Vancouver moved down 4.9 per cent to $2,993 last month. While Vancouver rents remain the highest among Canada’s largest cities, it marks the first time since July 2022 that they fell below the $3,000-level.

Toronto's average rental prices also declined 1.3 per cent to $2,782, representing the third consecutive month of annual rent declines.

The strongest rent growth among Canada’s largest cities was in Edmonton, reaching an average of $1,507 in March — a 15.9 per cent gain from the same month in 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2024.

 

Boeing shares on longest losing streak since 2018

Esha Dey, Bloomberg News

The turmoil at Boeing Co. has put the planemaker’s shares on their worst run since its 737 Max aircraft was involved in a deadly crash off Indonesia five years ago. 

The recent troubles started early this year after a panel covering an unused door blew out mid-air during an Alaska Airlines flight. The near-calamity has led to regulatory probes, a sweeping management overhaul and a wider lack of confidence in the company’s safety controls. 

That’s fueled a retreat from Boeing shares that’s pushed them down 35 per cent this year, making it the second worst performer on the S&P 500 Index. 

On Friday, the stock dropped for the 10th straight session, marking its longest losing streak since November 2018. Just this month, Boeing reported its lowest deliveries in the first quarter since mid-2021, and an engineer at the company made allegations that brought its 787 Dreamliner aircraft under scrutiny as well. 

“Boeing’s first-quarter delivery announcement confirmed what the market has come to accept over the past two to three months, which is that the pace of activity at its Commercial Airplanes segment is slow,” Seth Seifman, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co., wrote in a note on Thursday. 

“The path forward on production is not very clear, and while demand should allow for significant growth over time, investors should keep nearer term expectations in check,” the analyst added. Seifman lowered his price target on the stock, but kept his buy-equivalent rating.

Read more: Boeing Hit by Damning FAA Report Faulting Safety Culture

Overall, Wall Street analysts are turning cautious. The share of buy recommendations on Boeing shares is now at the lowest since November 2021, hold ratings have almost doubled this year and the average price target has fallen 14 per cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.  

Meanwhile, earnings expectations have tumbled. Analysts’ average 2024 adjusted profit estimates have dropped a staggering 83 per cent over the past year, while revenue expectations have taken a 5 per cent cut. 

“A lower multiple is justified given uncertainty and risks related to the management change and ongoing investigations,” said Ronald Epstein, an analyst at Bank of America Corp. “Further, we feel there is downside risk to our cash flow projections.” Epstein also lowered his price target on Boeing this week. 

Still, despite all the chaos and challenges, analysts say the longer-term outlook for the company remains bright. That explains why even after this year’s continuous barrage of negative headlines, buy ratings still comprise more than 60 per cent of all recommendations on the stock. 

Boeing’s advantage is that demand is expected to stay in its industry, with the order book for top competitor Airbus SE already sold out into the end of the decade. And entering the plane-making business isn’t an easy one, which rules out the possibility of any sudden new rival. 

“The company will be able to continue to benefit from the robust global air travel demand environment and, in the long run, benefit from improved quality assurance,” BofA’s Epstein said. “In the short- to medium-term, however, there are risks.”

 

World's top fertilizer maker plans exit from Argentina, Chile

Kim Chipman and Jonathan Gilbert, Bloomberg News

Work is done on Nutrien Tower in Saskatoon, Sask., Friday, June 25, 2021. , THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards

Nutrien Ltd., the world’s largest maker of fertilizers, said it is seeking to sell its retail operations in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay in order to focus on Brazil and other global markets.

The Canadian company is prioritizing key markets in a bid to boost returns for investors, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. 

Nutrien, which has been in South America for more than a quarter of a century, is working to recover after sharply missing profit expectations in the last three months of 2023 amid plunging fertilizer prices that hurt retail results. 

The company said in its annual report that Argentina’s currency controls meant it lost money when it transferred currency out of the country because it had to use a more expensive exchange rate. New President Javier Milei has promised to scrap the controls as he seeks to deregulate the economy.

Its exit from the Argentine retail business comes as the country seeks to cheapen the herbicide and fertilizer market for farmers by reducing import taxes on both inputs. 

Other companies have also abandoned Argentina’s tough business environment in recent years, including HSBC Holdings PLC and Walmart Inc. Bayer AG ditched its Argentine soy seed business in 2021.

Nutrien didn’t say what it’s planning to do with its 50 per cent stake in Profertil SA, a urea and ammonia manufacturing venture it has with Argentina state-run oil company YPF SA. YPF, under new management appointed by Milei, is looking to divest assets to focus on shale drilling.

Nutrien on Friday said it would continue to support all customers and partners through its divestiture process.

Tesla executive Baglino leaves as Musk loses another top deputy

Ed Ludlow and Dana Hull, Bloomberg News

The departure of Baglino is likely to reinforce concerns among some investors about succession planning at Tesla.

, Bloomberg

Two of Tesla Inc.’s top executives have left the carmaker in the midst of its latest round of job cuts, according to people familiar with the matter.

Senior Vice President Drew Baglino resigned from the company, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. He’s been one of just four named executive officers at Tesla, leading engineering and technology development for its batteries, motors and energy products. 

The 18-year company veteran — who co-hosted earnings calls and shared the stage with Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk at multiple events, including Tesla’s investor day just over a year ago — is leaving along with Rohan Patel, Tesla’s vice president of public policy and business development.

Tesla and Musk didn’t respond to requests for comment. The carmaker’s shares dropped more than 3 per cent shortly after the start of regular trading Monday. The stock has fallen 33 per cent this year.

The shake-up coincides with Musk announcing the decision to cut headcount by more than 10 per cent globally amid the deteriorating outlook for electric-vehicle sales. The CEO lost another top deputy in August, when Zachary Kirkhorn stepped down as CFO after 13 years with Tesla.

The departure of Baglino is likely to reinforce concerns among some investors about succession planning at Tesla, where Musk has been CEO since 2008. The billionaire leads six other companies and doesn’t devote his full time or attention to the world’s most valuable automaker. Musk also said early this year that he preferred to build products elsewhere unless he’s awarded around 25 per cent voting control.

Musk’s biographer, Walter Isaacson, described Baglino as a personable engineer with an easy laugh. In his book on Musk published last year, Isaacson recounted a tense first meeting Baglino had with the CEO over how many battery cells Tesla would need to hit its range target.

“I never want to be in another meeting with Elon,” Isaacson quoted Baglino saying to Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel, who left the company in 2019 but joined its board of directors last year.

Isaacson writes that Straubel reassured Baglino, who’s quoted saying that Musk’s battery-cell calculation proved correct.

Baglino has netted about $96 million from periodic share sales since he was appointed a senior VP and had to start publicly disclosing his transactions, according to Bloomberg calculations. The sales have been executed under multiple pre-arranged trading plans, filings show.

Baglino and Tesla’s board chair, Robyn Denholm, set up share-trading plans late last year allowing them to sell significant sums of stock. Baglino made arrangements to potentially sell up to 115,500 shares through the end of this year, according to a regulatory filing.

DEI

Rogers investors advised not to support heir Edward as chair

Thomas Seal, Bloomberg News

Rogers Communications Inc. investors shouldn’t vote in favour of the reappointment of Chairman Edward Rogers because there aren’t enough women on the telecommunications company’s board, two proxy advisory firms said.

Only three of 14 directors on this year’s director slate are women — short of the minimum target of 30 per cent set by proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. 

In January, Martha Rogers and Melinda Rogers-Hixon stepped down from the board as part of a settlement to a long-running feud with Edward Rogers. The three are the children of late founder Ted Rogers; Edward holds sway over the company, which is Canada’s largest wireless provider and owns extensive cable television and sports assets. 

Glass Lewis said shareholders should withhold their votes for three other directors as well as Rogers: Trevor English, Robert Gemmell and David Robinson. ISS advised withholding votes for English and real estate magnate Michael Cooper — in the latter case because it believes he’s on too many other boards.

ISS advised shareholders to vote against the company’s restricted share unit plan because of the extent of director participation. It also gave an additional reason for withholding support from Edward Rogers — he’s a controlling shareholder while also sitting on the board nominations committee.

A representative for Toronto-based Rogers said nobody was available to comment on the matter. 

As in previous years, all of the proposed directors will be elected at the April 24 annual meeting because the Rogers family’s control trust holds about 98 per cent of voting stock in a dual-class share structure. 

That’s a setup Glass Lewis opposes, recommending one vote per share as a “safeguard for common shareholders by ensuring that those who hold a significant minority of shares are able to weigh in on issues set forth by the board.” For this reason, it says investors should withhold their vote for Gemmell, the governance committee chair. 

Glass Lewis also disputed Rogers’s characterization of several directors as “independent,” including former Toronto Mayor John Tory, Mohamed Lachemi, and English, the former chief financial officer of Shaw Communications Inc., which Rogers acquired last year in the biggest Canadian telecom deal ever.

The firm said nine of Rogers’ 14 proposed directors are insiders or affiliated with the company, which “raises concerns about the objectivity and independence of the board and its ability to perform its proper oversight role.” Neither English nor David Robinson — who’s a Rogers family relative — should be on the audit committee, “which we believe should consist solely of independent directors,” Glass Lewis wrote.