Free Republic

Isn’t it interesting how just a small drop in gasoline consumption – coupled with polls that show almost 60% of the American public favor greatly expanded drilling (and President Bush’s largely symbolic canceling of the existing executive order limiting drilling) – can cause such a large drop in the world market price of oil? Obviously the market-makers for petroleum think that America may, at long last, be starting to get serious about drilling our way out of our dependence on foreign countries that hate us. The price has dropped today to $126 from a high of $146.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Iran should open its nuclear installations to international scrutiny to clear suspicions about its nuclear ambitions, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said on Sunday. "We support calls that Iran demonstrates through total opening of its installations that Iran is not conducting nuclear program with military purposes and goals," he told reporters on the sidelines of a security conference in Singapore.

TEHRAN -- Iran plans to build 19 more nuclear power plants and will soon solicit international bids for their construction, a lawmaker said in a report published Monday. "Contracts for the construction of 19 nuclear power plants, each with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, will be put into international tender in the near future," Kazem Jalali was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. Jalali, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said the bids would be in line with legislation that calls for production of 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power...

Iran's first nuclear power plant will be operational within three months, providing electricity to Iran's national power grid by the summer, according to Iranian Energy Minister Parviz Fattah. Russia says its fuel can only be used at and for the Bushehr plant. Russia, which is building the Bushehr plant for Iran, started delivering nuclear fuel to the facility a week ago as part of a compromise effort to alleviate concerns over Iran's nuclear intentions while supporting Iran's right to a nuclear energy program. ... The United States, several European nations, and Israel suspect Tehran has been trying to acquire nuclear...

Egypt's president announced plans Monday to build several nuclear power plants — the latest in a string of ambitious such proposals from moderate Arab countries. The United States immediately welcomed the plan, in a sharp contrast to what it called nuclear "cheating" by Iran. President Hosni Mubarak said the aim was to diversify Egypt's energy resources and preserve its oil and gas reserves for future generations. In a televised speech, he pledged Egypt would work with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency at all times and would not seek a nuclear bomb. But Mubarak also made clear there were strategic reasons...

BEIJING -- Westinghouse Electric Co. signed deals today to build four nuclear power plants in China and to transfer technology for its newest reactor to a Chinese partner, a cost of gaining a foothold in the country's fast-growing industry. Westinghouse President Steve Tritch described the deal for third-generation AP1000 reactors as "multibillion-dollar contracts," but said the Chinese buyers asked the company not to disclose details. The deal calls for Westinghouse to hand over technology for the AP1000 to China's government-owned State Nuclear Power Technology Corp., making it the basis for Chinese efforts to develop a nuclear industry. "The signing of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. nuclear reactor builders will likely have to weigh the potential for a commercial aircraft strike when they design new plants, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Tuesday. The NRC's proposed rules are meant to protect new reactors against a deliberate hit by a jet like those that rammed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the commission said. "This is the most recent step in a broad, proactive effort to improve the security of reactors initiated by the NRC after September 11," NRC Chairman Dale Klein said. "We need more technical analysis...

With the U.S. on the verge of building a new generation of nuclear power plants, potential owners are racing to identify and lock down the best sites in order to secure billions of dollars in federal subsidies pledged to first-comers. Their efforts will test local and national attitudes more than two decades after nuclear accidents made headlines. They also represent a considerable financial gamble for the utility industry, which is moving ahead at a rapid pace despite uncertainty ranging from environmental opposition to finding a home for radioactive nuclear waste. In one case, the zeal to secure a promising site...

WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Department on Friday set rules on how utilities can qualify for a $2 billion pool of federal risk insurance that is meant to spur construction of the first new nuclear plants in 30 years. The first six new projects to apply for building licenses could qualify for the funds, which would reimburse utilities for delays from unforeseen legal issues and bureaucratic snags, the Energy Department said. The incentives, required by energy legislation Congress passed last year, seek to jump-start the nuclear industry from a 30-year hiatus in building new plants. The nation's...

China and Russia to construct floating nuclear power plants 28-03-06 Russia and China look set to take their already substantial energy cooperation to a new level, as a Russian official from the country's top civilian nuclear body said that Beijing was ready to join efforts to construct floating nuclear power plants. "China has openly stated it was willing to cooperate in this field, including in terms of investment," said Vitaly Ryabov, a department head at the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power. The official's comments echo a source in a Russian delegation that visited Beijing last fall who said that China...

In its first comprehensive look at nuclear power in nearly 30 years, the California Energy Commission recommended Friday that the state continue its moratorium on construction of nuclear plants. The commission issued a report that was triggered by the "renewed enthusiasm" about nuclear power in Washington and overseas, commissioner John Geesman said. California has barred construction of nuclear plants since 1976. The 198-page report puts California at odds with the Bush administration, which has advocated nuclear power development in the face of rising gas prices and as a way to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Commission...

The new director of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power is confident that in the next 25 years, Russia must build 40 nuclear power units. The cost of this gigantic program, according to specialists, could reach $60 billion...

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday the government may consider building a new generation of nuclear power stations, in a speech delayed briefly by anti-nuclear activists. "The issue back on the agenda with a vengeance is energy policy," Blair told the Confederation of British Industry. "Energy prices have risen. Energy supply is under threat. Climate change is producing a sense of urgency." Nuclear power currently provides one-fifth of Britain's electricity, but the nation's 12 nuclear power plants are aging and unless replaced will provide just 4 percent by 2010. A government policy paper on energy resources will be...

Westinghouse, GE, and their nuclear rivals are chasing $50 billion in Chinese power-plant deals Power to the People's Republic! That could easily be the slogan of the nuclear power executives winging their way to Beijing these days to pitch next-generation reactor designs, downplay rivals' plans, and woo the Communist Party leadership. President Hu Jintao's government is committed to spending $50 billion to increase nuclear power generation capacity from 8.7 million kilowatts today to 40 million kilowatts by 2020. That's one of the largest buildouts in the industry's history. And by the time that $50 billion is spent, some 30 new...

WASHINGTON, DC, September 23, 2005 (ENS) - The country’s largest consortium of nuclear power companies said Thursday it has selected two sites, in Alabama and in Mississippi, to build two nuclear reactors. If their applications for construction and operating licenses are approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, these will be the first new nuclear power plants built in the United States since the 1970s. NuStart Energy Development LLC, a consortium of 11 companies that operate nuclear generating plants around the country, selected the two sites from a candidate list of six. PICTURE Bellefonte The Bellefonte facility is located about six...

A consortium of eight companies said on Thursday that it would spend about $100 million to prepare applications to build two nuclear reactors, in Mississippi and Alabama, a step that seems to move the industry closer to its first new reactor order since the 1970's. The announcement was made by NuStart Energy, a consortium of companies that has substantial government financing. The consortium selected a site in Claiborne County, Miss., adjacent to Entergy Nuclear's Grand Gulf reactor, and another in northern Alabama, next to the Tennessee Valley Authority's long-abandoned Bellefonte nuclear construction project. The Energy Department is committed to sharing...

.... Shutting down the two reactors would mean immediate, substantial increases in the emissions, because it would increase reliance on fossil fuel plants, probably tripling emissions in Vermont and doubling them in New Jersey.....Some environmentalists say the goals can be met even without the two nuclear plants, Vermont Yankee and Oyster Creek, and without other nuclear plants whose licenses will expire in the next few years....."We just have to bust the myth that we need to be using more energy," said Rob Sargent, senior energy policy analyst for the State Public Interest Research Groups, a nonprofit consumer organization.....The debate has...

The US government may have set its security standards for nuclear power plants too low, and guards say they may not be ready to stop a terrorist attack of September 11 magnitude. A nuclear regulatory commission (NRC) document "raises serious questions about whether the government has set security requirements for nuclear plants too low and allowed nuclear plant operators to provide security on the cheap," Time reported. Even plant guards worry they would be unable to thwart a big terrorist operation, saying they lack the necessary training and weapons, the magazine said. The plants could also be vulnerable to an...

Despite concerns over safety, including uncertainty over how long the reactors will be able to keep running, some licenses have been renewed through 2040 FORKED RIVER, N.J. -- Obscured by scrub trees and unkempt shrubs not far from the Atlantic Ocean, the Oyster Creek nuclear plant, which has generated electricity since Richard Nixon became president in 1969, is looking at a prolonged life, as regulators allow utilities to run reactors decades longer than first anticipated. Driven by demand for cheap power, utilities are seeking to keep existing reactors operating until as late as 2040 and beyond. Regulators have approved license...

WASHINGTON Citing a need to keep information from terrorists, regulators say the government will no longer reveal security gaps discovered at nuclear power plants. Officials say subsequent enforcement actions taken against plant operators will also remain secret. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced the change in policy during its first public meeting on power plant safety since Nine-Eleven. It drew barbs from critics who said the secrecy would erode public confidence in the agency. Until now, the N-R-C has provided regular public updates on vulnerabilities its inspectors found at the country's 103 nuclear power reactors, such as broken fences or weaknesses...