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[1/4] South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers remarks to the U.S.-Korea Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 25, 2023. He said the two countries' economies had been facing new challenges and the economic slowdown was unsettling the investment environment. "Competition for technological hegemony, energy issues and climate crises are casting more uncertainties on business activity day by day," Yoon said. "This cooperation should extend beyond semiconductors to future emerging technologies such as AI, Quantum, SMR (Small Modular Reactors) and more," Yoon said. Core technologies from the United States and South Korea's advanced manufacturing capabilities would "create enormous synergies that will benefit both countries," he said.

☆ France to uphold electricity price caps until early 2025, finance minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, April 21 (Reuters) - France's cap on electricity price hikes will stay in place beyond 2023 and likely be phased out over a two-year period, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Friday, arguing power prices haven't "normalised" yet. "Electricity prices haven't returned to normal, so we will take a little more time to withdraw the price cap. I give us another two years until early 2025," Le Maire told broadcaster LCI in an interview. Le Maire, however, said the government will likely end similar household price caps for natural gas at the end of 2023, because gas prices have lowered significantly in recent months after spiking in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In addition to a 15% price hike limitation on energy tariffs, the government has also pressured retailers to guarantee affordable food prices.

☆ Nuclear fusion will not be regulated the same way as nuclear fission — a big win for the fusion industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The top regulatory agency for nuclear materials safety in the U.S. voted unanimously to regulate the burgeoning fusion industry differently than the nuclear fission industry, and fusion startups are celebrating that as a major win. As a result, some provisions specific to fission reactors, like requiring funding to cover claims from nuclear meltdowns, won't apply to fusion plants. Other differences include looser requirements around foreign ownership of nuclear fusion plants, and the dispensing of mandatory hearings at the federal level during the licensing process, Holland said. The electricity generated by nuclear fission is considered clean energy by the U.S. Department of Energy because it generates no greenhouse gas emissions. And these reactors deliver massive quantities of power: Half of the carbon-free energy generated in the U.S. comes from nuclear fission reactors.

☆ Opinion: No, nuclear power isn’t the ‘big bazooka’ climate fix you might think
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Opinion Paul Hockenos | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Berlin CNN —Germany’s exit from nuclear power on April 15 doesn’t single it out as a quirky anomaly or black sheep in a world otherwise enthusiastically embracing nuclear energy. Since a highpoint in the early 2000s, the number of operational nuclear reactors worldwide has fallen – from 438 to 411, according to this year’s World Nuclear Industry Status Report. While at the same time, renewable energy generation – clean tech like solar, wind, bioenergy and geothermal – has expanded by more than 30-fold. In fact, when matched up against renewables as a source of energy that doesn’t emit carbon, nuclear power falls egregiously short. Nuclear power may look like an attractive, big bazooka fix to rising emissions.

☆ Japan nuclear disaster: Fukushima's fishing industry fears Tokyo's next move may finish it off
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Emiko Jozuka Krystina Shveda Junko Ogura Marc Stewart Daniel Campisi | Emiko Jozuka | Krystina Shveda | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Ocean currents have since dispersed the contaminated water enough that radioactive Cesium is nearly undetectable in fish from Fukushima prefecture. A year before the 2011 disaster, government data shows Fukushima’s coastal fishing industry landed catches worth around $69 million. At the same time, ground and rainwater have leaked in, creating more radioactive wastewater that now needs to be stored and treated. This isotope is radioactive tritium, and the scientific community is divided on the risk its dissemination carries. He argues TEPCO should build more storage tanks to allow for the decay of the radioactive tritium, which has a half-life of 12.3 years.

☆ Column: Germany goes all in on energy transition with nuclear shutdowns
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Gavin Maguire | Thomson Reuters | Gavin Maguire Is The Global Energy Transition Columnist. He Was Previously Asia Commodities | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

To combat that vulnerability, and ensure Germany's energy system can accommodate a recovery in power demand from last year's stunted levels despite lower gas-fired and nuclear output, Germany's power producers must continue to retool the country's entire power system at record pace. FIT FOR PURPOSEThe key near-term challenge for Germany's energy producers is to generate as much power and electricity as was delivered before Russia's incursions into Ukraine upended power markets. The lower electricity generation totals also indicate that power producers may be struggling to lift overall generation levels given the falling supplies of nuclear power output and continued tight availability of natural gas. The extent of coal's demand growth will be determined by overall power demand needs in Germany over the coming months. But with low-emitting nuclear power now off the table, more coal use looks inevitable, at least over the near term.

☆ Germany has shut down its last three nuclear power plants, and some climate scientists are aghast
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

16 April 2023, Baden-Württemberg, Neckarwestheim: The Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant. The era of commercial power generation with nuclear power plants in Germany came to an end on Saturday with the separation of the Isar 2, Neckarwestheim and Emsland nuclear power plants from the power grid. Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty ImagesAs of Sunday, April 16, Germany is no longer producing any electricity from nuclear power plants. With the separation of the Isar 2, Neckarwestheim and Emsland nuclear power plants from the power grid, the era of commercial power generation with nuclear power plants in Germany came to an end on Saturday. Nuclear energy is also often more expensive than wind and solar power, Quaschning said, adding, "there are no longer any real advantages with nuclear energy."

☆ Lululemon used tiny organisms instead of fossil fuels to make the nylon for its new shirt
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Conventionally, nylon is mostly made from ingredients sourced from fossil fuels like coal, natural gas or crude oil. "It's been estimated that 8 to 10 percent of all human-associated nitrous oxide emissions come from this single industrial process" to make adipic acid, Wallace told CNBC. To make the nylon precursor used in the Lululemon shirts, Geno uses biological organisms instead of chemicals from fossil fuels. "Because nylon, like it or not, has a lot of good value," Reddy told CNBC. "Look at those first-generation replacement straws — they didn't work, and everybody's annoyed," Reddy told CNBC.

☆ Europe’s Largest Nuclear Reactor Launches as Continent Splits Over Atomic Energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Olkiluoto island, off Finland’s west coast, houses three nuclear reactors. Finland has started regular electricity output at Europe’s largest nuclear reactor, a move that contrasts with developments in other European countries, where opposition to nuclear power is stronger. The long-delayed Olkiluoto 3 reactor is the first new European nuclear-power facility to open in 16 years. Alongside two other nuclear reactors on the Olkiluoto island off Finland’s west coast, the new 1.6-gigawatt reactor will eventually produce nearly one-third of the country’s electricity.

Below are key extracts from the G7 climate, energy and environment ministers' communique, including the annex. RUSSIA"We condemn Russia's illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine;"We stand ready to support the sustainable and resilient recovery and green reconstruction of Ukraine." "Currently $13 billion fiscal support that can be used for domestic and foreign projects is prepared across the G7 countries." PLASTIC POLLUTION"We are committed to end plastic pollution, with the ambition to reduce additional plastic pollution to zero by 2040." Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by David Dolan and William MallardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ After 18 years, Europe's largest nuclear reactor to start regular output on Sunday
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Essi Lehto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HELSINKI, April 15 (Reuters) - Finland's much-delayed Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear reactor, Europe's largest, will begin regular output on Sunday, its operator said on Saturday, boosting energy security in a region to which Russia has cut gas and power supplies. Construction of the 1.6 gigawatt (GW) reactor, Finland's first new nuclear plant in more than four decades and Europe's first in 16 years, began in 2005. The plant was originally due to open four years later, but was plagued by technical issues. As a result of the startup, analysts have said Finland, the only Nordic country with a large power deficit, can expect lower electricity costs. Reporting by Essi Lehto; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Jan HarveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ After 18 years, Europe's largest nuclear reactor starts regular output
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Essi Lehto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The new reactor is expected to produce for at least 60 years, TVO said in a statement on Sunday after completing the transition from testing to regular output. "The production of Olkiluoto 3 stabilises the price of electricity and plays an important role in the Finnish green transition," TVO Chief Executive Jarmo Tanhua said in the statement. Construction of the 1.6 gigawatt (GW) reactor, Finland's first new nuclear plant in more than four decades and Europe's first in 16 years, began in 2005. Russian state export monopoly Gazprom shortly after ended shipments of natural gas to the Nordic nation. Reporting by Essi Lehto; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Jan HarveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/5] A demonstrator takes part in a protest against the shut down of the last three German nuclear power plants, in Berlin, Germany, April 15, 2023. An estimated 50,000 protesters in Germany formed a 45-kilometre long (27-mile) human chain after the Fukushima disaster from Stuttgart to the Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant. One of the long-running movement's early successes came in the 1970s when it managed to get plans for a nuclear plant in Wyhl in western Germany overturned. It was a Greens-coalition government that introduced the country's first nuclear phase-out law in 2002. "The nuclear phase-out is a Greens project ... and all parties have practically adopted it," said Rainer Klute, head of pro-nuclear non-profit association Nuklearia.

☆ Germany Quits Nuclear Power, Ending a Decades-Long Struggle
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Melissa Eddy | Erika Solomon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It began as a movement of pacifists chaining themselves to fences outside nuclear power plants. Germany’s three remaining reactors will be shut down by Saturday — ending nuclear power generation in Europe’s largest economy. Britain, Finland and France are doubling down on nuclear energy as a source of reliable electricity and extremely low carbon emissions. Last year, Poland signed with Westinghouse Electric to build its first nuclear power plant, some 200 miles east of the German border. In the United States, the Biden administration is backing technology to build a new generation of smaller nuclear reactors as a tool of “mass decarbonization.”

[1/5] A general view shows the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant, as Germany shuts down its last nuclear power plants in Neckarwestheim, Germany, April 14, 2023. Following years of prevaricating, Germany pledged to quit nuclear power definitively after Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster sent radiation spewing into the air and terrifying the world. Germany's commercial nuclear sector began with the commissioning of the Kahl reactor in 1961: eagerly promoted by politicians but met with scepticism by companies. With the end of the atomic power era, Germany has to find a permanent repository for around 1,900 highly radioactive casks of nuclear waste by 2031. The government also acknowledges that safety issues remain given that neighbours France and Switzerland still depend heavily on nuclear power.

☆ Exclusive: EDF warns of 1 billion euro loss due to French strikes, reviews hiring - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Benjamin Mallet | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - French utility EDF (EDF.PA) has warned drawn-out strikes at its nuclear reactors and hydro-electricity plants have cost it 1 billion euros ($1.10 billion) in lost output and that it is reviewing hiring plans for the year, three sources said. An EDF spokesperson told Reuters that a moratorium had been imposed on hirings. It comes as EDF's new chief executive draws up a plan to ramp up nuclear production and lighten the group's heavy debt load. The group had originally planned to hire between 3,000 and 3,500 people in 2023, mostly in nuclear production and sales, one of the sources said. The group's net debt rose to 64.5 billion euros in 2022, up from 43 billion a year earlier.

☆ Wind and solar power generators wait in yearslong lines to put clean electricity on the grid, then face huge interconnection fees they can't afford
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

The local utility in charge of overseeing the interconnection process told Pine Gate it would be more than $30 million. Pine Gate had to terminate the project because it couldn't afford the new fees, its vice president of regulatory affairs, Brett White, told CNBC. "Those projects ended up withdrawing from the queue or terminating, because they don't pencil anymore," White told CNBC. "There is Texas, and then there's the rest of the country with respects to interconnection," White of Pine Gate told CNBC. And that means getting those engineers out of some of the rote manual data entry and into the actual analysis," White told CNBC.

The EU has slapped 10 rounds of sanctions on Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but hundreds of millions of euros worth of trade with Russia's nuclear energy industry has not been directly affected. All EU countries must agree for the bloc to impose sanctions and Budapest - where Rosatom is to expand the Paks nuclear power plant - has vowed to oppose any curbs on the Russian nuclear energy industry. It was not clear when the EU would impose any new sanctions on Russia. EU nuclear agency Euratom said Russia provided a fifth of the uranium used by EU utilities in 2021, the latest data available, as well as a fourth of conversion and a third of enrichment services. “The future dependence on Russia in the nuclear fuel cycle depends on investment in the ‘global West’,” Euratom told Reuters.

☆ New CEO of UK's Rolls-Royce brings in new CFO, makes leadership changes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Shares in Rolls-Royce have surged 60% since the start of the year, lifted by optimism about a recovery in air travel and Erginbilgic's turnaround plans. The company on Friday named McCabe, a BP executive, as its new chief financial officer, to join later this year. New finance chief McCabe is currently senior vice president, finance for the customer and products division of BP. The previous civil aerospace boss Chris Cholerton was named group president, taking on responsibility for Rolls-Royce's nuclear operations, including temporarily as interim CEO of its small modular reactors (SMR) unit. Rolls-Royce said the previous SMR boss, Tom Samson, would leave with immediate effect.

☆ France's Macron announces water saving plan, says protests will not stop reforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to members of the media as he visits Savines-Le-Lac, South Eastern France, March 30, 2023. With the water plan, Macron and his government are looking to move to other topics. "There are protests, but it does not mean everything must stop," Macron said. Before his speech, Macron told reporters that protests would not stop him from adopting new policies. In some towns, half the water is lost to water leaks, with a nationwide average of 20%.

☆ Ukraine says Russian forces make progress in frontline city of Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"Enemy forces had a degree of success in their actions aimed at storming the city of Bakhmut," the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its regular nighttime report. Russian officials say their forces are still capturing ground in street-by-street fighting inside Bakhmut. [1/5] A tank is towed through a road, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, near the bombed-out eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 29, 2023. Russian forces shelled towns in central Zaporizhzhia region, including the contested centre of Hulyaipole, the Ukrainian general staff statement said. Rocket and artillery in the past 24 hours struck two areas of concentration of Russian forces, an ammunition depot and two fuel depots, it said.

☆ Hungary's foreign minister holds energy talks with Russia's premier
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUDAPEST, March 29 (Reuters) - Hungary's foreign minister held telephone talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak about gas and oil shipments as well as nuclear co-operation, the Hungarian minister said late on Tuesday. In a statement, Peter Szijjarto said Novak had reassured him that despite international sanctions, the Russian party would be able to do maintenance work on the Turkstream pipeline. "Thus Hungary's gas supply will continue without any disruptions," the statement added. The Turkstream gas pipeline will be stopped for maintenance from June 5 to 12, according to data on the website of Bulgarian gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz. Szijjarto reiterated in his statement that Hungary would block any European Union sanctions that would affect nuclear energy.

Repsol says the plant, which transforms used cooking oil into so-called sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), has attracted plenty of customers. But it is concerned Europe's investment environment will complicate the industry's efforts to take off. "Europe needs to step up and throw its weight behind a domestic SAF industry to ensure it does not fall behind." That's a bit under 1% of global aviation fuel demand," said Jonathan Wood, Neste's vice-president of renewable aviation. "America's programme of both federal and state incentives for SAF production is the mark of global leadership on the net-zero transition," IAG told Reuters.

☆ Erdogan says Putin may visit Turkey in April for power plant inauguration
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ANKARA, March 29 (Reuters) - Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin may visit Turkey on April 27 for the inauguration of the country's first nuclear power reactor built by Russia's state nuclear energy company Rosatom. "Maybe there is a possibility that Mr Putin will come on April 27, or we may connect to the inauguration ceremony online and we will take the first step in Akkuyu," Erdogan said in televised comments on private broadcaster ATV. Turkey will load the first nuclear fuel into the first power unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant and officially grant it nuclear facility status on April 27, Erdogan said in an earlier announcement on Wednesday. The Kremlin on Monday denied Turkish reports that Putin was planning to visit Turkey. The Kremlin said on Saturday that Putin and Erdogan discussed during a phone call the successful implementation of joint strategic projects in the energy sector, including the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.

☆ Strikes hit French nuclear output, disrupt EDF maintenance plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Forrest Crellin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoPARIS, March 24 (Reuters) - Strikes in France are impacting maintenance plans at EDF's (EDF.PA) nuclear plants, curbing production just as the utility hoped to rebound from a 34-year output low last year. At least 14 nuclear reactors in EDF's fleet of 56 have suffered some delay affecting their maintenance plans, data from the CGT union showed. For EDF that has meant nuclear power output in 2023 even lower than last year when it had swathes of reactors offline for repairs and checks for stress corrosion cracks. EDF declined to comment on the impact of the strikes on its maintenance plans. French nuclear safety watchdog ASN requested EDF revise its maintenance program due to new cracks discovered this month in some reactors.

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