Tarsands To Go Nuclear

The Greening of Alberta's Tar Sands will result in a green glow of radiation.

So along with Greenhouse Gas emissions there will be more destruction of the Athabasca water basin when it is used to cool a nuke plant planned for the Tarsands.

Nuke plants require vast amounts of water as coolant, the result is hot water returned to mix with the original source water.

Henuset and Hank Swartout - founder and executive chairman of Precision Drilling Corporation - are co-directors of Energy Alberta Corporation. The new firm has an exclusivity agreement with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited to develop nuclear power in Alberta. Later this year in early 2008, AECL and Energy Alberta hope to file an application with the Alberta Energy & Utilities Board for a permit to construct a 750 megawatt generating plant.

The partnership estimates that a two-reactor nuclear plant over its 50-year lifetime would be 15% less expensive than its natural gas equivalent (including capital and decommissioning expenses as well as operating costs). Crucially important in Henuset's view, the long-term price of uranium to fuel those reactors is more likely to remain stable than natural gas. "Nuclear power is a natural hedge against rising gas prices," he states. His firm's nuclear-versus-gas cost projection assumes an Alberta gas price of $7.04 per gigajoule in the year 2015, which the former oilman considers highly conservative.

Energy Alberta is well aware that its project faces high hurdles. Because these power stations are large, big sums of money must be raised. In fact, nuclear power ranks as the most capital-intensive form of electricity generation, although its operating costs are correspondingly low. Time is another factor. The period required to win regulatory approval and construct a nuclear facility is estimated to be 10 years. Further, there are rival forms of power generation, notably coke and coal gasification (see accompanying article).

Perhaps most formidable of all, North Americans have lived inside a "no-nuke" bubble for several decades; hostility toward the technology among many people is deeply emotional as well as intellectual. In response, Henuset points out that uranium-fueled power continues to develop rapidly elsewhere in the industrialized world.

And the folks behind the push to go nuclear are none other than the Alberta PC party. The same folks who brought you the unplanned, unorganized, rapid expansion of the Tarsands. And though they ousted Ralph Klein for his failure to plan for the boom, they have elected Steady Eddie Stelmach in his place who promises more of the same.

David McColl: Why An Energy Economist Helped Oust Ralph Klein

A fair amount of technical and economic analysis of these issues has already been done by the Alberta Energy Research Institute, the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy and other organizations. McColl himself has researched and co-authored studies on the oilsands development, nuclear options and related subjects for the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) and Energy Alberta Corporation.

What's still missing, the Calgary consultant maintains, is any meaningful political response. McColl, who holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Waterloo and a master's in economics from the University of Alberta, has been president of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives' youth wing for more than two years. From that post, he helped instigate the party leadership review which led to the ouster of Ralph Klein as the province's premier. "Many Albertans had a discouraging sense of public policy drift, even paralysis, at the Cabinet level," says the 26-year-old economist.

Also See:

Nuke The Tar Sands

Dion Pro Nuke

Cutting Your Nose

Energy

CANDU

Peak Oil

Tar Sands



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
peak-oil, Tarsands, water, Pembina, Klein, oil, nukes, nuclear, gas, water, drought, Alberta, Canada,

AECL, candu, nuclear, nuclear-power, EnergyProbe, privatization, Conservatives, Flaherty, Munn, Government, Alberta, tarsands, nuke, nukes, power, energy,

Closing The Barn Door

Alberta premier promises public input on nuclear plant

Sure but the Nuke Alberta gang has already has announced that it has a site.

Calgary-based Energy Alberta revealed plans for what could become the province's first nuclear power plant yesterday but remained tight-lipped on a consumer who would use the majority of its energy. Energy Alberta announced it has filed an application with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for a license to own and operate a nuclear power plant 30 km west of Peace River.

Public transparency about this company and its links to the Government would go along way to really revealing whose pushing this.And that is not something we will get from this government regardless of 'public hearings'.

An upstart Alberta firm with no experience in nuclear energy has taken its first official step to build the province's first nuclear power plant, saying yesterday that it has the backing of a large but unnamed company working in the province.

The provincial government is open minded on potential future energy sources, said Jason Chance, spokesman for Alberta Energy Minister Mel Knight.

Energy Alberta Corp., run by Calgary entrepreneur Wayne Henuset, has filed an application for a licence to prepare a site for its proposed $6.2-billion nuclear power plant with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Formed in 2005, Energy Alberta is also backed by Hank Swartout, founder and former CEO of Precision Drilling Trust, the company he built into the country's largest driller of oil and natural gas wells.

Besides the Stelmach government loves public hearings.It's a sop to democracy in by the One Party State. The public can have their say and the government will ignore their recommendations.

Also See:

Nuke The Tar Sands

Dion Pro Nuke

Cutting Your Nose

Energy

CANDU

Peak Oil

Tar Sands



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
peak-oil, Tarsands, water, Pembina, Klein, oil, nukes, nuclear, gas, water, drought, Alberta, Canada,

AECL, candu, nuclear, nuclear-power, EnergyProbe, privatization, Conservatives, Flaherty, Munn, Government, Alberta, tarsands, nuke, nukes, power, energy,

CANADIAN NUKE NEWZ

MoU sees KAERI, Alberta cooperation on SMRs

20 April 2023

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Alberta to collaborate on the deployment of small modular reactor (SMR) technology - including the Korean-designed SMART reactor - in the Canadian province.

KAERI President Joo Han-Gyu signing the MoU with Alberta (Image: KAERI)

The MoU was signed on 19 April by KAERI President Joo Han-Gyu, Alberta Minister of Jobs, Economy and Northern Development Brian Jean and Alberta Minister of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism Rajan Sawhney.

KAERI said that since Alberta took an "ambitious initiative" to deploy SMR technology along with other Canadian provinces, KAERI and Alberta have discussed clean energy cooperation based on KAERI's SMR technology, particularly the SMART (System-integrated Modular Advanced Reactor).

"This mutual cooperation agreement was promoted to discuss the issue of applying SMART technology with almost no carbon emissions to supply necessary steam to oil sands (tar sands) mining areas in Alberta," KAERI said. "Based on this agreement, the two sides plan to share in advance the information necessary to confirm the feasibility of SMART construction and further obtain licences.

"Korean companies, including Hyundai Engineering, have already been promoting projects that utilise SMART technologies for Alberta oil sand mining. This mutual cooperation agreement is expected to promote the activities of these companies."

The signing of the MoU followed a visit by the Canadian ministers on 28 February to KAERI to discuss ways of supplying high-temperature and high-pressure steam for oil sand mining through the use of the SMART reactor. They also visited KAERI's research facilities, including the SMART-ITL and SMART-MCR simulators.

Commenting on the MoU, Joo said: "It is time to translate the net-zero emission commitment into actions, and SMR technology is crucial in carbon reduction actions. A deployment of SMART in Alberta will be the pioneer in the battle against climate change."

Jean added: "Alberta is a global leader in providing safe, clean and reliable energy that helps power the world. The Government of Alberta is open to exploring all technologies, including SMRs, to help energy production thrive in a low-carbon future. Through this agreement with KAERI, we are continuing to explore deploying SMR technology and strengthening Alberta's position as a world-leading responsible energy producer for years to come."

"I am proud of the agreement we are making as a result of our trade mission to Korea, and am excited about the potential for SMR technologies, such as KAERI," Sawhney said. "This is yet another example of continued global interest in Alberta and the diverse opportunities that Alberta offers."

SMART is a 330 MWt pressurised water reactor with integral steam generators and advanced safety features. The unit is designed for electricity generation (up to 100 MWe) as well as thermal applications, such as seawater desalination, with a 60-year design life and three-year refuelling cycle.

While the basic design is complete, development had been stalled by the absence of any orders for an initial reference unit. Developed by KAERI, SMART received standard design approval from the Korean regulator in mid-2012. KAERI had planned to build a demonstration plant to operate from 2017.

Alberta has been considered in the past as a possible location for large-scale nuclear power plants, but a 1000 MWe electricity generation plant proposed for the north of the province was shelved in 2011. The province's interest in SMRs is centred on their potential as an economically attractive and carbon-free source of steam and process heat to support extractive industries including the production of natural gas from the province's extensive oil sands deposits.

Alberta is one of four Canadian provinces - the others are New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan - that have agreed to a joint strategic plan outlining their strong support for the path forward on SMRs.

Invest Alberta - a Crown corporation of the Government of Alberta - last month signed an MoU with ARC Clean Technology Canada Inc to jointly pursue activities to support commercialisation of ARC's ARC-100 SMR technology in the province. That followed the signing of an MoU in January with X-Energy Canada to develop economic opportunities supporting the potential deployment of the Xe-100 SMR. It has also supported SMR developer Terrestrial Energy in its efforts to expand its operations into Alberta.

Terrestrial SMR completes Canadian pre-licensing review

19 April 2023

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has completed Phase 2 of the vendor design review (VDR) of Terrestrial Energy's Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR). The regulator said that no fundamental barriers to licensing the small modular reactor design were identified during the review.

An IMSR400 plant (Image: Terrestrial Energy)

The VDR is an optional service provided by the CNSC to provide an assessment of a nuclear power plant design based on a vendor's reactor technology. It is not a required part of the licensing process for a new nuclear power plant but aims to verify the acceptability of a design with respect to Canadian nuclear regulatory requirements and expectations, providing early feedback during the design process.

In February 2016, a service agreement was signed between the CNSC and Terrestrial for the conduct of a Phase 1 VDR of the IMSR. During this phase, CNSC staff assessed how the vendor's design processes demonstrate intent to meet CNSC requirements. The Phase 1 review of the ISMR was completed in November 2017.

The CNSC entered into an agreement with Terrestrial in May 2018 to conduct the second phase of the VDR of the reactor design. Phase 2 of the review focuses on identifying whether there are any potential fundamental barriers to licensing.

The VDR involved a comprehensive review of the IMSR design covering 19 'focus areas' defined by the CNSC and required Terrestrial's preparation of hundreds of technical submissions. Its scope included a systematic review of Terrestrial's engineering management processes, confirmatory testing programme for IMSR components and systems, reactor controls and safety systems, defence-in-depth strategy, safety analysis, and the requirements for safeguards, security, fire protection and radiation protection.

CNSC staff have now concluded that there are no fundamental barriers to licensing the IMSR plant.

"The IMSR design requires further advancement in some areas for CNSC staff to confirm that it meets all Canadian regulatory expectations. Terrestrial will be required to perform additional work to address the technical clarifications and findings raised in this review, should it or another proponent pursue a licence for the design," the CNSC noted.

"The VDR is a comprehensive pre-licensing regulatory review, and its completion is a breakthrough for Terrestrial Energy," said Terrestrial CEO Simon Irish. "Its scope and conclusion provide commercial confidence to proceed to licensing and construction of IMSR plants.

"It is the first technology review completed by a major regulator of a nuclear plant design that uses a Generation IV reactor technology to supply heat at high temperature, and the first time for molten salt reactor technology," he noted.

"This review is a major step to bring molten salt technology to commercial markets and IMSR plants to large industrial companies seeking practicable high-impact solutions to decarbonise industrial production."

Terrestrial's IMSR is a 4th generation reactor that uses molten salt as both fuel and coolant, with integrated components, which can supply heat directly to industrial facilities or use it to generate electrical power. The use of molten salt as both fuel and coolant also enables passive, or inherent, safety features to be built into the reactor design. The design integrates the primary reactor components, including the graphite moderator, into a sealed and replaceable reactor core unit with an operating lifetime of seven years. Terrestrial's IMSR400 configuration, with twin reactors and generators, will mean an overall power plant design with a potential output of up to 390 MWe.

New Brunswick, Saskatchewan enhance collaboration on SMRs

18 April 2023

The governments of Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance cooperation on the development of small modular reactor (SMR) technologies in both Canadian provinces.

ARC's vision of an ACR-100 plant, which has been selected for deployment at Point Lepreau, New Brunswick (Image: ARC)

This new agreement builds on a previous MoU signed in December 2019 that committed to New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan working together to advance SMRs in Canada. Alberta joined in April 2021. Through this work, participating provinces released a joint strategic plan in March 2022 outlining the path forward on the development of SMRs.

The new MoU provides the ability for the two provinces and their utility Crowns - SaskPower and New Brunswick Power - to formally share experiences, knowledge and successes on deployment plans, supply chain development, Indigenous relations, labour market development, regulations and other areas.

"Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have established a strong working relationship on SMR development over the years," said Don Morgan, minister of Crown Investments Corporation of Saskatchewan. "This renewed partnership will bring mutual benefit to both provinces by capturing opportunities stemming from the work on nuclear energy development across Canada and internationally. Together, we can accelerate the progress of decarbonising power grids and industrial facilities using SMR technologies."

In June 2022, SaskPower announced the selection of the GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 as the preferred SMR technology for initial grid-scale deployment in Saskatchewan - the same model Ontario Power Generation selected in December 2021 for its Darlington New Nuclear Project.

"New Brunswick has expertise to share from four decades of reliable nuclear operations," said Natural Resources and Energy Development Minister Mike Holland. "We are committed to playing a leadership role nationally and globally on clean and renewable energy. Nuclear energy is a key resource in the transition to a low-carbon future and our two provinces are well positioned to lead this evolution."

SMR technologies are also recognised in New Brunswick's Climate Change Action Plan as an important part of achieving net-zero electricity emissions by 2035.

ARC Clean Technology Canada Inc's ARC-100 is a 100 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor based on proven technology developed at the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II reactor, which operated successfully at the US government's Argonne National Laboratory for 30 years. It has been selected for deployment in New Brunswick, with a fully operational unit at the Point Lepreau nuclear site by 2029. The Belledune Port Authority is also considering using an ARC-100 for the provision of energy for hydrogen production and other industries as part of a future expansion at the port in northern New Brunswick.

New North American nuclear training programme launched

19 April 2023

Westinghouse Electric Company, Spanish engineering firm Tecnatom and US consulting and training services provider Accelerant Solutions have agreed to form the Nuclear Excellence Academy (NEXA), a nuclear training programme for utilities in the USA and Canada.

(Left to right): Billy Mack of Accelerant Solutions, Pamela Cowan of Westinghouse, and Francisco Sanchez of Tecnatom after the signing of the Teaming Agreement (Image: Westinghouse)

The three companies have signed a Teaming Agreement to launch NEXA, which they say will "leverage the companies' unmatched knowledge of industry standards and digital technology innovations to provide in-person, digital and on-demand training for nuclear personnel at American and Canadian utilities. The programme ensures practical, cost-effective, and compliant approaches to nuclear operations".

The partners said the programme "unites the industry expertise of Westinghouse and Accelerant Solutions with Tecnatom's world-class digital products and services to offer the current and future nuclear fleet a comprehensive and efficient solution for training needs".

Pamela Cowan, President of Global Engineered Systems and Solutions at Westinghouse, said: "This effort demonstrates Westinghouse's commitment to provide innovative solutions to our customers. NEXA uses a digital platform to optimise the learning process, enhancing competencies, worker engagement, and performance excellence for the long-term".

"NEXA offers a solution to utilities seeking to retain and hire nuclear professionals who have the highest qualifications," said Francisco Sanchez, Vice President of Safety, Operation and Training at Tecnatom. "The training will be standardised to fit the needs of all utilities."

"This agreement ensures that centralised nuclear training delivered through NEXA is innovative, cost-effective, and compliant," said Billy Mack, President of Accelerant Solutions, which says it has partnerships with all 28 American utilities that operate nuclear power plants.

Writing in a blog in February, Mack said: "NEXA brings together the right people with the right experience and the right technology to modernise and transform nuclear training. Through sound analysis, design, and development, NEXA finds the right place and balance for VR/AR, adaptive learning, gamification, AI, and SME mentorship in nuclear training".

Canadian education system

Last month, leaders from Canada's nuclear industry wrote to the country's ministers of education to highlight the need for more female engineering graduates.

"Among the rapid advances being made in the nuclear sector is the development of small modular reactors (SMRs) which harness nuclear fission to generate heat to produce energy ... However, there are not enough university graduates or skilled tradespeople required for the construction, installation, operation and regulation of SMRs," the letter said.

It continued: "Ensuring that Canada has a diverse labour force with the right skillsets to succeed is fundamentally important to safety. Diverse voices bring a broader range of viewpoints and ideas to innovation, which results in a better safety outcome in the nuclear sector. Having a diverse nuclear workforce is to everyone's advantage - but we're falling far short, particularly with respect to gender equality."

The letter calls for the Canadian educational system to promote greater interest in STEM subjects overall, and "particularly among K-12 girls (the school grades prior to college), so that more of them go on to pursue studies and careers in STEM. Very specifically, we must encourage greater interest in the nuclear sector if we are to meet the 2050 net-zero goals that policy-makers have set for us."

It concludes: "For decades, Canada has been a leading industrialised economy and an innovator in nuclear technologies. But we will never reach our net-zero goals without a significant shift in our educational system. We have to do better to prepare our workforce of the future."

The signatories of the letter include: Rumina Velshi, President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission; Lori Clark, President and CEO of New Brunswick Power Corporation; Rachna Clavero, President and CEO of CANDU Owners Group; Fred Dermarkar, President and CEO of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd; Tim Gitzel, President and CEO of Cameco; Ken Hartwick, President and CEO of Ontario Power Generation; John MacQuarrie, President and CEO of BWX Technologies; Joe McBrearty, President and CEO of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories; Rupen Pandya, President and CEO of SaskPower; Michael Rencheck, President and CEO of Bruce Power; Laurie Swami, President and CEO of Nuclear Waste Management Organization; and Jay Wileman, President and CEO of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy.

Urenco, Cameco sign supply deals for Bulgaria's Kozloduy

21 April 2023

Urenco and Cameco are joining Westinghouse in the supply chain for one of the Kozloduy units in Bulgaria as the country diversifies its nuclear fuel supplies.

Kozloduy supplies about one-third of Bulgaria's electricity (Image: Kozloduy NPP)

The long-term agreement will see Urenco's enrichment facilities in Europe - which are in the UK, Netherlands and Germany - receive natural uranium (UF6) from Cameco and supply enriched uranium product for fabrication into nuclear fuel rods by Westinghouse.

Urenco CEO Boris Schucht said: "Urenco is ready to support countries seeking to increase their energy security and independence and I am pleased to welcome Kozloduy as our newest customer. We are fully equipped to provide Bulgaria with a reliable nuclear fuel supply - alongside our partner organisations. We are looking forward to a very trustful and long-term partnership."

Cameco said that the 10-year supply contract was for it to supply natural uranium hexafluoride to meet the full requirements of Kozloduy unit 5 through to 2033.

The switch of supply from Russian-produced fuel for the VVER-1000 Kozloduy unit 5 was confirmed in December when Westinghouse signed a 10-year contract to supply it with fuel. In a tweet following the new agreements, Westinghouse said: "We're excited to partner with Cameco for the next decade in supplying VVER-1000 fuel to Kozloduy Nuclear Plant."

The Russian war with Ukraine has led to a number of plants and countries in Europe seeking to switch from Russian-supplied fuel and Bulgaria's National Assembly voted in November for an acceleration of the diversification process.

At the end of last year, a separate agreement was signed with France's Framatome relating to the supply of nuclear fuel for the sixth unit at Kozloduy. The Bulgarian Ministry of Energy said at the time that having different nuclear fuel suppliers for the two units at Kozloduy was intended to meet European Union requirements to ensure security of supply.

The Kozloduy plant is in the northwest of Bulgaria on the Danube River and provides about 34% of the country's electricity. It features two Russian-designed VVER-1000 units currently in operation, which have both been through refurbishment and life extension programmes to enable extension of operation from 30 to 60 years.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Guess Who’s Leading the Charge for Nuclear Power in Canada?

Small reactors make no economic sense, despite the boost by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and lobbyists.

David Climenhaga 10 Jan 2022 | Alberta Politics

‘Real solution’ for Canada? Former heads of nuclear regulatory committees in the UK, US, Germany and France just announced that ‘nuclear is not a practicable means to combat climate change.’ 

Image via Shutterstock.


Small nuclear reactors don’t make any more economic sense now than they did back in the summer of 2020 when Alberta Premier Jason Kenney took to the internet to tout the supposed benefits of the largely undeveloped technology being promoted by Canada’s nuclear industry.

In a year with plenty of gripping issues to choose from, these were the big draws in our pages.

Now that Kenney has taken to Twitter again to claim atomic energy is a “real solution that helps reduce emissions” and that so-called small modular reactors can “strengthen and diversify our energy sector,” it’s worth taking another look at why the economics of small nuclear reactors don’t add up.

As I pointed out in 2020, “as long as natural gas is cheap and plentiful, small nuclear reactors will never make economic sense.”

Natural gas is somewhat more expensive now than it was then, but not enough to make a difference to that calculation when the massive cost of any new nuclear-energy project is considered.

Even “small modular reactors,” so named to reassure a public skittish about the term nuclear and wary of the costs and risks of atomic reactors, are extremely expensive. It would be more accurate to call them “medium-sized nuclear reactors.”
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For example, two such reactors built by Russia starting in 2006 were supposed to cost US$140 million. They ended up costing US$740 million by the time the project was completed in 2019.

Getting approvals for smaller reactors is time consuming, too. As environmentalist and author Chris Turner pointed out yesterday, the first small nuclear reactor approved in the United States “submitted its application in 2017, got approval late last year, could begin producing 700MW by 2029 if all goes perfectly. Solar will add double that to Alberta’s grid by 2023.” Indeed, the estimated completion date of the NuScale Power project may be even later.

The small reactors touted by many companies, often entirely speculative ventures, are nothing more than pretty drawings in fancy brochures. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, there are about 50 concepts, but only a couple in the United States and Russia with massive amounts of government money behind them are anything more than pipedreams or stock touts’ pitches to investors.

And small nuclear reactors are less economical than big reactors, so power companies aren’t interested in building them; all but one proposed design requires enriched uranium, which Canada doesn’t produce, so they won’t do much for uranium mining in Alberta; and all the safety and waste-removal problems of big nukes continue to exist with small ones.

These points are documented in more detail my 2020 post, which also discussed why smaller reactors will never create very many jobs in Alberta, although they could be a boon to Ontario if the technology took off.

Kenney’s most recent tweet — which provides a link to a slick video touting nuclear power produced by the British newsmagazine the Economist, was posted on Jan. 6.

By coincidence, presumably, a communique issued the same day by the former heads of nuclear regulatory committees in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany and France concluded that “nuclear is not a practicable means to combat climate change.”

“The central message, repeated again and again, that a new generation of nuclear will be clean, safe, smart and cheap, is fiction,” the communique states.

Nuclear energy is neither cheap enough nor safe enough to provide an effective strategy against global climate change, the communique authors argued. “To make a relevant contribution to global power generation, up to more than 10,000 new reactors would be required, depending on reactor design.”

Among their key points:

Nuclear power more expensive than renewable energy on a similar scale
None of the problems of waste disposal have been solved
It’s so expensive financial markets won’t invest in it, so it requires massive public subsidies
No one is prepared to insure against the full potential cost of environmental and human impacts of accidental radiation releases
Construction timelines are too long for it to make a contribution to stopping global warming


So why are Canadian provinces like Alberta so enthusiastic about the idea?

Well, it provides a way for governments captured by the fossil fuel industry to show they’re doing something about climate change without actually doing anything about climate change.

Of course, just because nuclear power generators might reduce the carbon footprint of oilsands extraction, that doesn’t mean the oil extracted would not be burned elsewhere, contributing to climate change.

For a government like Kenney’s United Conservative Party, it’s also an opportunity to make positive-sounding announcements about new jobs in a new industry on days when news media would otherwise be concentrating on the latest scandal — nowadays pretty well every day.

Moreover, the UCP Government is being actively lobbied by the Canadian Nuclear Association, “the voice of the Canadian nuclear industry since 1960,” which “promotes the industry nationally and internationally.



Are Thousands of New Nuclear Generators in Canada’s Future?

READ MORE

According to the Alberta Lobbyist Registry, Calgary-based New West Public Affairs, a firm with close ties to the Kenney government headed by former Harper government minister Monte Solberg, has been engaged to “facilitate introductions for the Canadian Nuclear Association and share information on small modular reactors” with various government departments.

New West was hired “specifically, to generate support for the technology and to identify if there is an opportunity in Alberta’s mining and oil and gas sectors for the deployment of new low carbon energy sources, including nuclear,” the registry entry says.

The CNA is also using Ottawa-based Earnscliffe Strategies, one of Canada’s best-known lobby firms, to seek “support for clean electricity — including nuclear electricity — as a foundation for emissions reduction in Canada.” In addition, Earnscliffe is lobbying for “support for the research and development of small modular reactors.”

Kenney and lobbyists.

David Climenhaga   is an award-winning journalist, author, post-secondary teacher, poet and trade union communicator. He blogs at AlbertaPolitics.ca. Follow him on Twitter at @djclimenhaga.

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=NUKE+ALBERTA

A Little Golf A Little Hustle

Alberta suddenly has become a destination of preference for U.S. Ambassador Dave Wilkins.Though his presence in the province has been downplayed despite his visiting the largest American city north of the 49th Parallel.

There are 75,000 Americans who call Calgary home -- more than any other city in the nation.

U.S. Consul General for the region Tom Huffaker says Calgary may indeed have a higher number of American ex-pats than any other city on the planet.

And this Saturday, Huffaker is calling all to share some food and good times to celebrate the great relationship that exists between Canada and the U.S.

The Can-Am Celebration, formerly known as the American Picnic, will take place at Heritage Park starting at 10:30 a.m.

Dignitaries at the Calgary Economic Development-sponsored function include Huffaker and U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins.

Last weekend he shot a little golf and shot the shit with Prince Ed over the royalty review.

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins reportedly button-holed Stelmach last weekend in Banff about the key Hunter recommendation not to "grandfather" out any oilsands plants "on the grounds of fair treatment for all participants."

In October he will return to address that august body the Whitecourt Chamber of Commerce. Whitecourt is softwood lumber country, and it just so happens Alberta is named in the U.S. softwood suit.

Whitecourt is the site of three mills:

• Blueridge Ranger Lumber Sawmill (owned by West Fraser)
• Millar Western Sawmill / Pulp Mill (owned by Millar Western Forest Products)
• Alberta Newsprint Company Pulp & Paper Mill.

• 
  

It is also being courted as a site for a nuclear power plant by a Franco Canadian company. One in competition with Canadian Candu and American G.E. reactors.

Furthermore, Areva is talking to the federal government about forming a partnership with AECL. (Ottawa is also in discussions with Areva's American competitor, General Electric.)

So why is he visiting? Talk a little softwood, a little G.E.?

Nuclear Power Discussion is Back ( 9/26/2007 )

Nuclear power is back in the spotlight in Whitecourt. Areva Canada President, Armand Laferrere, attended town council last night, to give a presentation on his company in relation to nuclear power. Laferrere says Whitecourt would be the perfect site for his companies next project. He also said he was encouraged by the reaction from council members. Areva is the world's leading nuclear power plant provider, and currently has 98 plants worldwide.

Areva Canada does not build nuclear reactors, that is done by its parent company in France. In Canada Areva is involved solely in uranium mining in Saskatchewan. Given the fact that Whitecourt's sits right on the Athabasca river, this is an advantage for the companies expansion in competition with Energy Alberta who plans a nuke plant in neighbouring Peace River.

It's late afternoon in Saskatoon and Armand Laferrere's flight back home to Toronto doesn't leave for a couple of hours yet.

The president of Areva Canada Inc. doesn't seem to mind the wait. The day is typically busy for the smartly dressed Frenchman -- leaving Toronto in the early hours of the day for a morning business meeting in Alberta, and then hopping on another plane to give an afternoon presentation to the Canadian Nuclear Workers Council in Saskatoon before heading home.

Laferrere is talking about excited American customers who have already purchased equipment to compliment Areva's newest reactor, the EPR, although it's still in the licensing process. The model is being built in Finland and France, he explained, and is a third-generation plant that has buyers eagerly awaiting the day they can purchase the technology. The EPR, perhaps, is the model he would like to see in Western Canada.

"Saskatchewan has been pro-nuclear for a while because uranium is involved with it. The friendly atmosphere for nuclear in Saskatchewan, which we're already used to, seems to be spreading even further west, which is good news for the industry," Laferrere said. "I think public opinion is moving at astounding rates right now. Alberta is very seriously considering a nuclear build. Even British Columbia, which used to be very anti-nuclear, is starting to think about it -- much quicker than we thought."

Sitting in a nearly empty hotel conference room, Laferrere makes it clear that when the opportunity arises, he would like to see an Areva reactor in Western Canada. With the recent nuclear announcement coming from Alberta, Laferrere is keeping a close eye on the situation. Although plans for a nuclear reactor there aren't a done deal, Calgary-based Energy Alberta Corp. said its partner, Atomic Energy of Canada, would use Candu reactor technology if its applications are approved.

"We're interested in working in Alberta, definitely, and we're continuing contacts for that," he said. "The business model is not the kind of business model Areva would use; we would rather partner with an existing utility. But still everything that goes on in the industry is positive for the industry, and I'm watching it very closely. We just wouldn't do it this way."

With buzz around the nuclear horizon in the West, Laferrere notes that without uranium mining in Saskatchewan, Areva would be at a significant disadvantage in the industry. Though a provincial election could alter some contacts in his address book, he doubts any major changes would take place if a new party came into power.

A nuclear power plant in White court would be a carbon offset to the pollution spewed by the lumber processing plants. And in effect would allow them to continue spewing, without having to add scrubbers and new technology to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Whitecourt is also a hub into the Tarsands. Which is another reason the nuclear industry is looking at it. In the global economy the way big oil treats the environment, using up fresh water for tarsands extraction, creating deserts of sand from the extracted mud, whether in Ecuador or Whitecourt, it's all the same.
Long term pain for short term gain.

As bobert the blogger writes from the Amazon jungle on Blogging It Real he compares the situation of Ecuadorian oil workers, many working for Canadian companies, with those in Whitecourt. Of course some of those Ecuadorian workers may be coming here soon.

I’m in the Amazon. In a place called las joyas de sachas. It should be a pretty town, but it is the text book definition of an ecological and human disaster. The girl here is in a "soccer pitch" and that dark horizontal line is indeed the petrol vein. This is the place that Texaco came tearing into, and pulled out as much crude oil as possible with very little given to environmental and human health. The public outcry of Texaco’s handicraft forced them to change their name to Chevron. You know, a new name means a new history, no?

Despite Texaco / Chevron rubbing the slate clean, the after effects of their work in the Amazon is still devastating, as all the new petroleum developers continue to follow a few basic rules: pay nothing to environmental sustainability, pay very little to the Ecuadorian government (only $4 - $7 of every barrel of oil pulled out of Ecuador, actually stays in Ecuador), and pay the workers next too nothing.

Oil workers in sachas get paid about $120 a month, when the work is good. If it is slow, or there is maintenance to be done on the pipeline, that number goes down…a lot. The rates of cancer, according to some local doctors, are skyrocketing! Cancer is just about ready to takeover as the number one killer in sachas. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment, to have a first world disease compete among diseases of the poor for the champion of morbidity. I can see the mayor now, broadcasting to all how 25 oil workers died from cancer, while only 14 pregnant mothers died on the road to the hospital to give birth (this is quite a common occurrence, as despite the abundance of Texas tea, locals can hardly afford anything, let alone a working vehicle with petrol in it).

So now, I’m curious. About 6,000km to the north and a little to the west is Alberta. Canada’s very own American State. In June I was passing through the town of Whitecourt, another oil town. Whitecourt is struggling, in its own way, as it can’t build enough houses or schools to accommodate the growing population that is seeking fortune on the oil fields. Car dealers can’t keep up with the demand for hummers, and the guy selling big screen TV’s is struggling to keep inventory in his store for more than a day.

At the local Boston Pizza, the young oil workers, almost all high school drop-outs who abhor any idea of higher education as salaries of $100,000 for a guy without grade 12 math is pretty hard to turn down, are doing lines of cocaine in the bathroom. They just can’t spend their money fast enough, so it goes up their nose. Without their grade 12, and the mentality of a spoiled kid in the candy store, they spend and spend.

What I can’t figure out is why my pals in Whitecourt, who don’t have enough math skills to do their own taxes, have the right to furiously spend money as if it were on fire. And in the light of the bonfire comes the chatter of how Alberta needs private healthcare, more private schools, and won’t give one cent from the oil boom to other provinces who are struggling with public debt.

Meanwhile in the broiling Amazon, oil workers only have the right to work, get paid next to nothing and die from being poisoned. Oil is oil. Be it from Alberta or Ecuador. The world market says there is no difference between oil pulled out of ground by a group of guys who get paid $100,000 a year compared to another group of guys who do the very same job, and sell the proceeds to the very same market, for about $1400 a year.

Halliburton and friends should have an annual worker exchange program! The boys from Alberta should come down to the Amazon and get cancer, and the Ecuadorians should enjoy a month in Whitecourt complete with nightly visits to Boston Pizza’s bathroom.

In many ways Alberta is the whitewash of oil. It justifies the extraction, because life is good for those who do it. But, the grim reality is that most of the world’s oil is pulled out of the ground by the desperate of the earth, who either have to suffer through bad health or brutal violence, and in the case of Iraq…both! If the entire world’s oil was pulled out of the ground with same lifestyle and mentality as it is in Alberta, we would be paying a solid $20 a gallon for fuel. No questions there.

But most of the world’s population enjoys bargain prices on oil, and complain about the imposed taxes that get thrown in there. It’s the brutality of labour conditions coupled with trade policies that ensure that next to no money remains in the communities of oil workers; money that could be put into safety equipment, transportation systems and basic social services that could do something about the monthly occurrence of a dead-would-be-mother lying in the ditch 20km from the nearest hospital. Spikes in energy prices might occur from time to time when speculators smell war, or hurricanes, but the baseline price, is based on places like sachas. Places torn open and left to rot, with absolutely no capacity to take care of those in need.

It’s the same philosophy that lies in Whitecourt, only seen through the fun-house mirror that is the global economy.

SEE:

RONA Vs Greenpeace

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Alberta Tories Support Nuking the Tarsands

At least one Alberta Tory knows the difference between power and energy. Though apparently one delegate at this weekends PC Convention thinks the Liberals are still in power in Ottawa.

Nuclear power is for creating electrical energy, the use that is being looked at for the Tarsands is to produce steam for injection into the oilsands to release the bitumin, which is neither efficient nor cheap. Nuclear power to just produce steam is like hunting flies with a shotgun.

Also Saturday, delegates voted to explore using nuclear power plants to assist oilsands development.

Delegate Bill Dearborn of Medicine Hat said the oilsands need a nuclear option as a bulwark against any future federal raids on Alberta's resource-based economy.

"We're familiar with these Liberal governments in Ottawa that have imposed unfair taxes on the oil and gas industry in the past,'' he said.

But delegate Don Dabbs said he has participated in a past provincial study on nuclear power and that it's not the way to go to generate steam power for the oilsands.

"A reactor to generate steam is not the principal purpose of a nuclear reactor. It's for electrical energy.

"It's a very expensive source of steam.''

Thomas Savery (1650-1715)
Thomas Savery was an English military engineer and inventor who in 1698, patented the first crude steam engine, based on Denis Papin's Digester or pressure cooker of 1679.

Thomas Savery had been working on solving the problem of pumping water out of coal mines, his machine consisted of a closed vessel filled with water into which steam under pressure was introduced. This forced the water upwards and out of the mine shaft. Then a cold water sprinkler was used to condense the steam. This created a vacuum which sucked more water out of the mine shaft through a bottom valve.

Boilers

The high-pressure steam for a steam engine comes from a boiler. The boiler's job is to apply heat to water to create steam. There are two approaches: fire tube and water tube.

A fire-tube boiler was more common in the 1800s. It consists of a tank of water perforated with pipes. The hot gases from a coal or wood fire run through the pipes to heat the water in the tank, as shown here:

In a fire-tube boiler, the entire tank is under pressure, so if the tank bursts it creates a major explosion.

More common today are water-tube boilers, in which water runs through a rack of tubes that are positioned in the hot gases from the fire. The following simplified diagram shows you a typical layout for a water-tube boiler:

In a real boiler, things would be much more complicated because the goal of the boiler is to extract every possible bit of heat from the burning fuel to improve efficiency.

Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR or CANDU).

The CANDU reactor design has been developed since the 1950s in Canada. It uses natural uranium (0.7% U-235) oxide as fuel, hence needs a more efficient moderator, in this case heavy water (D₂O).**

** with the CANDU system, the moderator is enriched (ie water) rather than the fuel, - a cost trade-off.

The moderator is in a large tank called a calandria, penetrated by several hundred horizontal pressure tubes which form channels for the fuel, cooled by a flow of heavy water under high pressure in the primary cooling circuit, reaching 290ƒC. As in the PWR, the primary coolant generates steam in a secondary circuit to drive the turbines. The pressure tube design means that the reactor can be refuelled progressively without shutting down, by isolating individual pressure tubes from the cooling circuit.

A CANDU fuel assembly consists of a bundle of 37 half metre long fuel rods (ceramic fuel pellets in zircaloy tubes) plus a support structure, with 12 bundles lying end to end in a fuel channel. Control rods penetrate the calandria vertically, and a secondary shutdown system involves adding gadolinium to the moderator. The heavy water moderator circulating through the body of the calandria vessel also yields some heat (though this circuit is not shown on the diagram above).

Steam generator (nuclear power)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an article about nuclear power plant equipment. For other uses, see steam generator.

Steam generators are heat exchanger used to convert water into steam from heat produced in a nuclear reactor core. They are used in pressurized water reactors between the primary and secondary coolant loops.

In commercial power plants steam generators can measure up to 70 feet in height and weigh as much as 800 tons. Each steam generator can contain anywhere from 3,000 to 16,000 tubes, each about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. The coolant is pumped, at high pressure to prevent boiling, from the reactor coolant pump, through the nuclear reactor core, and through the tube side of the steam generators before returning to the pump. This is referred to as the primary loop. That water flowing through the steam generator boils water on the shell side to produce steam in the secondary loop that is delivered to the turbines to make electricity. The steam is subsequently condensed via cooled water from the tertiary loop and returned to the steam generator to be heated once again. The tertiary cooling water may be recirculated to cooling towers where it sheds waste heat before returning to condense more steam. Once through tertiary cooling may otherwise be provided by a river, lake, ocean. This primary, secondary, tertiary cooling scheme is the most common way to extract usable energy from a controlled nuclear reaction.

These loops also have an important safety role because they constitute one of the primary barriers between the radioactive and non-radioactive sides of the plant as the primary coolant becomes radioactive from its exposure to the core. For this reason, the integrity of the tubing is essential in minimizing the leakage of water between the two sides of the plant. There is the potential that if a tube bursts while a plant is operating; contaminated steam could escape directly to the secondary cooling loop. Thus during scheduled maintenance outages or shutdowns, some or all of the steam generator tubes are inspected by eddy-current testing.

In other types of reactors, such as the pressurised heavy water reactors of the CANDU design, the primary fluid is heavy water. Liquid metal cooled reactors such as the in Russian BN-600 reactor also use heat exchangers between primary metal coolant and at the secondary water coolant.

Boiling water reactors do not use steam generators, as steam is produced in the pressure vessel.

See:

Sustainable Capitalism

Tarsands To Go Nuclear

Nuke The Tar Sands

Dion Pro Nuke

Cutting Your Nose

Energy

CANDU

Peak Oil

Tar Sands


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