The Dalai Lama and nuclear energy

An amazing surprise for anti nuclear groups

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama, a revered spiritual leader whose influence is felt far beyond the boundaries of Tibetan Buddhism, startled his followers and the anti-nuclear community this week. In an interview with the news media in Tokyo, he said that there is a role for nuclear energy in the development process. His comments follow a tour of the earthquake and tsunami devastated areas in Japan about 40 miles from Fukushima.

He said that he is in support of nuclear energy for peaceful means as a way to bridge the socioeconomic gap in developing nations and in the absence of more efficient alternative energy sources.

"There are still many developing countries with a huge gap between rich and poor … millions of people's live remain under the poverty level."
He added that energy sources like wind and solar are too inefficient to put into realistic practice to meet the needs of developing nations.

The Dalai Lama's influence extends to many new age communities and even into the philosophical underpinnings of some American environmental groups. So it must come as a profound shock for them to find that he is urging both opponents and proponents to look at the issue "holistically."

The Dalai Lama also addressed some of the emotion laden communication that has been in the forefront of opposition to nuclear energy. In a statement that could just as easily come from an expert on probabilistic risk assessment, the Dalai Lama said that no amount of preparation can completely rule out danger.

Read more good news about nuclear energy exclusively at CoolHandNuke online now.


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Bids for new Czech reactors due July 2012

Three international consortium are competing for Europe's biggest nuclear project

Indy 500 racers prepare to start their engines

It's a case of "gentlemen start your engines" as the race to win up to $28 billion in new nuclear reactor construction begins in the Czech Republic.  The state-run utility CEZ has released the technical documentation that goes with a tender it announced two years ago.  It set a deadline for bids of July 2012.  Three international consortium led by Areva, Atomstroyexport, and Westinghouse are chasing the work which initially involves two new reactors but could evolve over time to five new units.

Contracts to build the reactors are expected to be announced by the end of 2013. Daniel Benes, CEZ CEO, said the first two units are expected to be in revenue service by 2025. Currently, the Czech Republic has six reactors that produce a third of its electricity.  The addition of five more would boost that percentage to about 50% and position CEZ to be a leading exporter of electricity to Germany and Poland.  Germany is shutting down its 17 reactors with eight already offline.

According to Czech English language wire service reports, Anders Jackson, head of European operations for Westinghouse, called the tender "one of the biggest opportunities we see in Europe."  

U.S. President Obama reportedly lobbied on behalf of Westinghouse during a state visit to Washington, DC, by Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas in October.  Next month Russian President Dimitry Medvedev is expected to visit Prague with lobbying for the nuclear project on his to do list.

Being a neighbor is not always good for business

The Russian bear has its eyes
on Europe's energy needs

While Prague is a former Iron Curtain country, doing business with the Russians isn't always a given just because the country is still in Moscow's perceived political sphere of influence.  CEZ CEO Benes told French wire services Oct 30 he's wary of being tied too closely to the Soviet Union for energy.

"If we lose our nuclear power, we will find ourselves at the mercy of Russian gas. There is no other way. Renewable sources won't cover our energy needs."

Two of the Czech Republic's reactors at Temlein are 1,000 MW Russian VVER designs, but they were built by a Czeck firm (Skoda Pizen) and uses equipment and fuel from Westinghouse.  The Dukovany plant has four 440 MW VVER type reactors also built by Skoda Pizen.

Local content may still be a key factor

In previous statements CEZ officials said that one of the key evaluation factors for the winning bid would be how much local component manufacturing and construction work went to Czech firms.  It appears with the release of the technical documents, that the utility is backing off this requirement.  Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Kocourek said Nov 4 the contract will not specify how much contract work and local jobs must be associated with a bid. However, he also said "We welcome statements about this {topic] from bidders."

Vitkovice Ironworks

That didn't stop Sergei Kirienko, head of Rosatom, from visiting Prague Oct 27 offering promises of up to 120 billion CZK ($6.57 billion) to 12 Czech firms if the Russians win the bid.  He singled out machine engineering firm Vitkovice Machinery Group as one of the potential beneficiaries of these contracts,. However, a spokeswoman for the company declined to confirm to Czeck English language wire services any details of potential contracts.

Kirienko also dismissed the prospects of Westinghouse pointing out its AP1000 reactor design had been repeatedly held up in terms of safety review and approval by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  In an unrelated statement, the NRC has said it expects to issue the design certification for the AP1000 by the end of 2011 and combined construction and operations licenses for four of the units, at two separate reactors sites, in the first part of 2012.

Guaranteed Fuel for Nine Years

Another surprise in the bid documents is a requirement that the vendor guarantee fuel for the first two new reactors for at least nine years.  Assuming the reactors have a refueling cycle of about 18 months, that comes to the first fuel load for both reactors plus a total of eight fuel outages with new fuel for about a third of each reactor each time.

Given the amount of fuel involved, it is no surprise that the Czech's have focused on reliable fuel services as a key element of the bids. For instance, to calculate total fuel supplies over nine years, consider that a Russian built and fueled 1,000 MW VVER reactor uses 163 fuel assemblies.  An 1,150 MW Westinghouse AP1000 uses 157 fuel assemblies.  The 1,600 MW Areva EPR uses 241 fuel assemblies.  All three reactors are PWRs.  The Russians may bid a 1,200 MW VVER design which would increase the amount of fuel required for the first load and for refueling over the next nine years.

Austria's symbolic protest

While all the attention has been focused on the bid process, across the border in fiercely anti-nuclear Austria, that activity has not set well with the government.  Austrian Environmental Minister Nikolaus Berlakovitch said the Czech Republic is failing to heed the lessons of Fukushima.

Austrian officials said they would block the transmission of electricity from the new reactors through their country.   This appears to be a somewhat hollow threat since the Czeck Republic shares its western border with Germany which is likely to be the biggest customer for power from new reactors at Temelin.

Alan Svoboda, VP for Sales at CEZ, rejected the criticism from Austria.  He said the Czechs will defend their right to build the reactors against any interference.

US & Czech Republic sign cooperation agreement

On September 29 U.S. and Czech nuclear energy government officials signed a bilateral nuclear R&D agreement.  Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman and Miroslav Horak, Director of the Rez Nuclear Energy Institute jointly announced the agreement in Washington, DC.  The scope of work includes a cooperative relationship with Texas A&M University.

The agreement has little bearing on the Temlin project since it covers advanced reactor design concepts, coolant experiments, and work on nuclear waste.

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