Russia's Rosatom set to invest in UK new nuclear development

Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom is expected to announce Tuesday plans to invest in the UK's ambitious new generation nuclear goals.

Rosatom head of international business Alexey Kalinin is speaking in London before a meeting organized by the Centre for Policy Studies as part of the Conservative Party conference where he will discuss Rosatom's willingness to develop a new nuclear skills base in the UK.

In April this year Rosatom had expressed interest in the 6 GW Horizon nuclear project, telling the London Daily Telegraph that it saw the UK as a "potentially attractive" market for nuclear development. However, the company did not place a bid by the Friday, September 28 deadline.

Tuesday's announcement comes shortly after French nuclear developer Areva backed out of plans to bid for the Horizon project with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding, having been the front-runner for the bid for months, in what was seen by many as a blow to the UK government's goal of encouraging 16 GW of new nuclear over the coming years.

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Czech Republic - CEZ Receives Three Bids for Temelin Nuclear Power Project

CEZ AS (CEZ), the Czech Republic’s largest producer of electricity, received three bids for its project to build two new reactors at the Temelin nuclear power station. 

Westinghouse Electric Corp., Areva SA (AREVA) and a Russian-Czech consortium led by Rosatom Corp.’s Atomstroyexport unit, the three bidders selected by CEZ in 2010, submitted their final offers today, the Prague-based utility said in an e-mailed statement.

The new third-generation reactors are intended to replace CEZ’s aged coal-fired plants, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and solidify the Czech Republic’s position as a regional power exporter. CEZ will choose the winner of the tender, whose value is estimated by analysts at $10 billion, before the end of 2013 and the construction should start no later than 2016, it said.

“The construction of new Temelin reactors is a key pillar of CEZ’s strategy,” Chief Executive Officer Daniel Benes said in the statement. “Today marks a significant step towards ensuring steady electricity supply for Czech customers for decades to come.”
 
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Hungary's nuclear power project vied by Rosatom

Russian firm Rosatom is keen to upgrade and expand Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant, including financing and construction of new power blocks.

An official from Rosatom was quoted by the business daily Napi Gazdasag as saying that the company intended to fully finance the estimated 3 trillion forints ($12.4bn) construction cost of the plant.
The Hungarian government is expected to float the construction tender for up to 3,000 megawatts (MW) in new nuclear power capacity at the Paks site to augment an aging fleet of power stations.

The current plant at Paks, which is located 100km south of the capital Budapest, generates 2,000MW of electricity by using four Russian-made VVER reactors to provide power to about 40% of the country's population.

Built in the 1980s, the Paks reactors are undergoing life span extension projects and are expected to generate power until 2030.

The new nuclear units are intended to increase Hungary's reliance on nuclear power to 60% of the electricity mix, and are expected to be operational between 2020 and 2030.

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Global nuclear power generation market to more than double to $300 bln by 2030 - Rosatom

Global nuclear power generation market to more than double to $300 bln by 2030 - Rosatom

The global market for nuclear power generation, according to Rosatom's estimates, will more than double by 2030, to $300 billion, the Russian state nuclear energy company's Director for Strategy and Investments Igor Karavaev said at the ATOMEXPO-2012 forum.

The market for radiation technologies (emissions management) will grow even more dynamically - four-fold to $267 billion, he said.

Nuclear power plant construction will almost double to $53 billion.

In terms of volume, the smallest market is currently the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and the production of secondary fuel (around $3 billion). However, that market will triple in size to $9 billion by 2030.

Meanwhile, the market for nuclear energy services will grow by a mere 20% to $22 billion by that time.
Rosatom aims to boost its own revenue five-fold to $75 billion by 2030 ($48 billion by 2020). The proportion of overseas operations in revenue should reach 50% in 2030, whereas that figure is now at around 30%, including the share of revenue from Rosatom's international assets - 25% (now it is less than 10%).

New products and services, including radiation technology and nuclear medicine, should account for about a third of Rosatom's revenue in 2030, versus the current 7%.

Nuclear energy generation and sales will still account for roughly half of Rosatom's revenue, while the share of nuclear fuel production (including production, conversion and uranium enrichment) in revenue will fall by almost half, to 12% (currently 40%). NPP and nuclear equipment construction, which currently accounts for about 5% of Rosatom's revenue, will only account for 2% by 2030.

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Russian, South African nuclear companies strengthen cooperation

By: Keith Campbell

Rusatom Overseas, the international arm of Russia’s State-owned nuclear energy group Rosatom, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) in Moscow on Monday. The MoU lays the foundation for the development of joint business projects in, for example, the production and marketing of radioisotopes, the manufacture of nuclear fuel and the fabrication of power equipment. It also opens the way for future cooperation in other, mutually agreed, areas.
“The South African nuclear industry has a great potential for growth, not only in the business of isotope production where South Africa is already playing a major role but also in areas such as fuel fabrication and nuclear manufacturing,” highlighted Necsa acting CEO Don Robertson.

“Local provision of both nuclear and conventional power plant equipment for the envisaged [South African] NPPs [nuclear power plants] will be a good undertaking for Necsa,” he added. “Partnerships such as the one reinforced by this memorandum will ensure that Necsa is in a good position to participate in the execution of many South African initiatives falling within the scope of this agreement.”

“Signing the MoU with Necsa allows us to make practical the implementation of initiatives on those prospective cooperation areas, which have been intensely studied by the specialists of our countries during last year,” pointed out Rusatom Overseas director-general Alexey Kalinin. “We see great potential in such cooperation and are looking forward to witnessing the first significant results.”

Cooperation within the framework of the MoU is intended by both sides to assist the execution of South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan 2010, which includes the construction of NPPs with a total capacity of 9.6 GW by 2030. Additionally, Necsa and Rusatom Overseas also plan to develop cooperation, including Rusatom’s parent group, in NPP construction projects in third countries.

The MoU was signed by Kalinin and by Necsa NTP executive director Ms Mapula Letsoalo in front of South African Energy Minister Dipuo Peters and Rosatom director-general Sergey Kirienko. The signing was one of the events at the Atomexpo 2012 exposition.

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South Africa’s power crunch means opportunity for global nuclear industry

JOHANNESBURG — Power-starved South Africa plans to increase its nuclear reactor capacity and energy companies from around the world are lining up to be involved.
The project has an estimated cost of 300 billion rand (more than $40 million), C said, but it is still unclear what contracts will be offered or how much of the business will be set aside for local companies.

South Africa is the only country in Africa with a nuclear power plant, the two-reactor Koeberg facility near Cape Town that has been operating since 1984. It is committed to building at least six more reactors at three or four sites by 2030 as part of a plan to decrease its dependence on electricity plants that run on greenhouse gas-emitting coal.
South Africa now depends on the coal plants for at least 90 percent of its energy needs, and Eskom, the state electricity utility, also is a major supplier to South Africa’s neighbors.
An energy crisis in 2008 blamed on poor planning led to frequent and widespread blackouts that hit output in mining and other key industries. The government fears energy supplies will be tight for the next few years, hobbling its efforts to expand the economy and create jobs in a country where a quarter of the work force is unemployed.
South Africa wants to build local skills and local business as it expands its nuclear capacity, Peters said.
“It is not just about building power plants, but how we build them,” she said at a nuclear seminar organized by a labor group. “We are not about to turn South Africans into mixers of concrete.”
Peters presented the plans for the reactors, along with those for wind and solar plants, just days after a quake and tsunami hit Japan in March 2011, sending three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant into meltdown there. Germany permanently shut down one of its aging reactors because of what happened at Fukushima. But Peters said she was confident the new nuclear technology South Africa planned to import was safe. No serious incidents have been reported at Koeberg during its 28 years in operation.
South Africa’s nuclear program, though, has had setbacks, including a failed effort with America’s Westinghouse to develop next-generation reactors. The multibillion rand (dollar) project missed several deadlines before it was abandoned, and prospects for customers were uncertain.
South Africa is not alone in forging ahead with nuclear projects following Fukushima. Turkey went ahead with plans to build its first nuclear power plant after Fukushima. And even as Japanese engineers were fighting to cool reactors, officials from Russia and Belarus were signing a deal for a $9.4 billion nuclear plant in Belarus.
South Africa is “one of several significant prospects on the radar,” said Ian Hore-Lacy, spokesman for the London-based World Nuclear Association, which represents the industry.
American and French companies involved in building Koeberg may have an advantage when it comes to involvement in South Africa’s nuclear buildup because of their long-standing relationships, Hore-Lacy said in a telephone interview. But he said Russian, Chinese and other companies can’t be discounted in the race for nuclear business here.
Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, known as Rosatom, has been among the most active in seeking South African business. Rosatom held a seminar in Johannesburg in early April to introduce itself to the South African government and business officials, and sent a vice president back later in April for more talks.
Alexey Kalinin, head of Rosatom’s foreign operations, said his company would get as much as 60 percent of supplies for projects in South Africa from South African companies. He said that could mean more than $15 billion in earnings for South African companies, $3.4 billion in tax revenues for the South African government, and 15,000 new jobs. He also said Rosatom was ready to draw South African companies into its global supply chain.
Rosatom’s Kalinin said his company was looking ahead to helping Nigeria develop a nuclear industry, and already was involved in uranium exploration and mining in Tanzania and Namibia.
South Africa “can be indeed regarded as a possible gateway to other African countries and a driver of nuclear energy development in the region,” Kalinin said.
Such expansion is just what Yves Marignac, a Paris-based energy expert and anti-nuclear campaigner, fears. He would rather see developing countries taking the lead in exploiting safe, clean renewable energy sources like wind and solar. South African officials say renewables alone can’t deliver enough energy.
Marignac, speaking in a telephone interview, also said he is concerned the nuclear energy industry may be pushing new markets to sign contracts before all the questions raised by the Japanese crisis are answered, and those answers turned into safer — and likely more expensive — technology.
“South Africa is probably one of the next big chances for the nuclear companies trying to sell reactors in the world,” said Marignac, who sees a race between “the ability of the companies to acquire new contracts ... and the ability of the international community to develop new standards.”
Peters, South Africa’s energy minister, said she won’t be rushed, and that safety is a top priority.
She also said South Africa is interested not just in building new reactors, but in developing an entire cycle, from mining more of its uranium resources to nuclear waste management. That presents a range of opportunities for foreign companies, as well as the possibility of South Africa one day exporting its own nuclear know-how.
Peters has faced challenges from South Africa’s powerful labor movement, concerned she is not choosing the energy options that will create the most jobs, and from a nascent South African anti-nuclear movement.
“We as South Africa are convinced that we need an energy mix,” Peters said. “We cannot discard any technology.”

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China Nuclear Company in Talks to Bid for Horizon, Express Says

State Nuclear Power Technology Corp, a nuclear company backed by the Chinese government, is in talks to fund a bid for Horizon Nuclear Power, the venture set up by German power makers RWE AG (RWE) and EON AG to build nuclear reactors in the U.K., the Sunday Express said, citing unidentified sources at Whitehall.

The Chinese company is in talks to join forces with Japan’s Toshiba Corp (6502), the owner of nuclear maker Westinghouse, for the bid, which would exceed $10 billion, according to the newspaper. Russian company Rosatom Corp also expressed an interest in Horizon, the newspaper said.

South Africa’s power crunch means opportunity for global nuclear industry

Schalk van Zuydam-File/Associated Press - In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, South Africa’s Koeberg nuclear power station is seen on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. The countyr’s power-starved plans to to increase it’s nuclear reactor capacity are drawing attention from energy companies around the world.

JOHANNESBURG — Power-starved South Africa plans to increase its nuclear reactor capacity and energy companies from around the world are lining up to be involved.

The project has an estimated cost of 300 billion rand (more than $40 million), South African Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said, but it is still unclear what contracts will be offered or how much of the business will be set aside for local companies.

South Africa is the only country in Africa with a nuclear power plant, the two-reactor Koeberg facility near Cape Town that has been operating since 1984. It is committed to building at least six more reactors at three or four sites by 2030 as part of a plan to decrease its dependence on electricity plants that run on greenhouse gas-emitting coal.

South Africa now depends on the coal plants for at least 90 percent of its energy needs, and Eskom, the state electricity utility, also is a major supplier to South Africa’s neighbors.

An energy crisis in 2008 blamed on poor planning led to frequent and widespread blackouts that hit output in mining and other key industries. The government fears energy supplies will be tight for the next few years, hobbling its efforts to expand the economy and create jobs in a country where a quarter of the work force is unemployed.

South Africa wants to build local skills and local business as it expands its nuclear capacity, Peters said.
“It is not just about building power plants, but how we build them,” she said at a nuclear seminar organized by a labor group. “We are not about to turn South Africans into mixers of concrete.”


Peters presented the plans for the reactors, along with those for wind and solar plants, just days after a quake and tsunami hit Japan in March 2011, sending three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant into meltdown there. Germany permanently shut down one of its aging reactors because of what happened at Fukushima. But Peters said she was confident the new nuclear technology South Africa planned to import was safe. No serious incidents have been reported at Koeberg during its 28 years in operation.

South Africa’s nuclear program, though, has had setbacks, including a failed effort with America’s Westinghouse to develop next-generation reactors. The multibillion rand (dollar) project missed several deadlines before it was abandoned, and prospects for customers were uncertain.

South Africa is not alone in forging ahead with nuclear projects following Fukushima. Turkey went ahead with plans to build its first nuclear power plant after Fukushima. And even as Japanese engineers were fighting to cool reactors, officials from Russia and Belarus were signing a deal for a $9.4 billion nuclear plant in Belarus.

South Africa is “one of several significant prospects on the radar,” said Ian Hore-Lacy, spokesman for the London-based World Nuclear Association, which represents the industry.

American and French companies involved in building Koeberg may have an advantage when it comes to involvement in South Africa’s nuclear buildup because of their long-standing relationships, Hore-Lacy said in a telephone interview. But he said Russian, Chinese and other companies can’t be discounted in the race for nuclear business here.

Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, known as Rosatom, has been among the most active in seeking South African business. Rosatom held a seminar in Johannesburg in early April to introduce itself to the South African government and business officials, and sent a vice president back later in April for more talks.

Alexey Kalinin, head of Rosatom’s foreign operations, said his company would get as much as 60 percent of supplies for projects in South Africa from South African companies. He said that could mean more than $15 billion in earnings for South African companies, $3.4 billion in tax revenues for the South African government, and 15,000 new jobs. He also said Rosatom was ready to draw South African companies into its global supply chain.

Rosatom’s Kalinin said his company was looking ahead to helping Nigeria develop a nuclear industry, and already was involved in uranium exploration and mining in Tanzania and Namibia.

South Africa “can be indeed regarded as a possible gateway to other African countries and a driver of nuclear energy development in the region,” Kalinin said.

Such expansion is just what Yves Marignac, a Paris-based energy expert and anti-nuclear campaigner, fears. He would rather see developing countries taking the lead in exploiting safe, clean renewable energy sources like wind and solar. South African officials say renewables alone can’t deliver enough energy.

Marignac, speaking in a telephone interview, also said he is concerned the nuclear energy industry may be pushing new markets to sign contracts before all the questions raised by the Japanese crisis are answered, and those answers turned into safer — and likely more expensive — technology.

“South Africa is probably one of the next big chances for the nuclear companies trying to sell reactors in the world,” said Marignac, who sees a race between “the ability of the companies to acquire new contracts ... and the ability of the international community to develop new standards.”

Peters, South Africa’s energy minister, said she won’t be rushed, and that safety is a top priority.
She also said South Africa is interested not just in building new reactors, but in developing an entire cycle, from mining more of its uranium resources to nuclear waste management. That presents a range of opportunities for foreign companies, as well as the possibility of South Africa one day exporting its own nuclear know-how.

Peters has faced challenges from South Africa’s powerful labor movement, concerned she is not choosing the energy options that will create the most jobs, and from a nascent South African anti-nuclear movement.
“We as South Africa are convinced that we need an energy mix,” Peters said. “We cannot discard any technology.”

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Russia Pitches Baltic Nuclear Plant to Europe

MOSCOW, February 27 (RIA Novosti)

Russia is holding talks with European energy companies on building the Baltic nuclear power plant in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the press office of Russia’s civilian nuclear power corporation Rosatom said on Monday.

“Currently, talks are underway with some major west European energy companies that have displayed serious interest in joining the project to build the Baltic NPP,” the press office quoted Sergei Boyarkin, director of the Rosatom program for managing engineering projects, as saying at a roundtable in the Latvian capital on nuclear power development in the Baltic region.

Russia started the construction of the two-unit Baltic Power Plant in Kaliningrad in 2010 a bid to combat an increasing energy crisis in the region. The units will each have 1,194 MW of capacity.

The first unit is to go into service in 2017. The construction of the second unit is planned to begin in 2012 and be completed in 2018. Each unit will have a service life of 60 years.