Nuclear Power








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Nuclear Power

Trump wants to speed up the process of obtaining new nuclear licenses and overhaul regulatory agencies

Donald Trump, the U.S. president, ordered on Friday that the independent nuclear regulatory agency of his country reduce regulations and expedite new licenses for power plants and reactors. He hoped to shorten a lengthy process to just 18 months. This requirement is part of an executive order signed by Trump last Friday to increase U.S. production of nuclear energy amid a surge in demand for data centers and artificial intelligent. The licensing process for nuclear reactors can sometimes take more than a decade in the U.S. This is a system designed to prioritise safety, but has also discouraged new projects....

Environment

Trump will sign an order to boost nuclear energy as early as Friday, according to sources

Four sources said that U.S. president Donald Trump would sign executive orders on Friday to help jumpstart the nuclear industry. These orders will ease the approval process for new reactors, and strengthen the fuel supply chain. Trump, on his first official day in office, declared an emergency energy situation due to the rise in demand for power that has been seen in the last two decades. Chris Wright, energy secretary, said that the race to develop the power sources and data centres needed for AI was "Manhattan Project 2", in reference to the massive U.S. project during World War II,...

Environment

Trump will sign an order to boost nuclear energy as early as Friday, according to sources

Four sources said that U.S. president Donald Trump would sign executive orders on Friday to help jumpstart the nuclear industry. These executive orders will ease the approval process for new reactors, and strengthen the fuel supply chain. Trump, on his first official day in office, declared an emergency energy situation due to the rise in demand for power that has been seen in the last two decades. Chris Wright, energy secretary, said that the race to develop the power sources and data centres needed for AI was "Manhattan Project 2", in reference to the massive U.S. project during World War...

Energy Markets

US Nuclear regulator starts special inspection at Quad City nuclear power plant

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection of the Quad Cities Generating station in Marseilles (Illinois) after discovering inoperative safety-related vacuum breaks, the agency announced on Monday. Constellation Energy operates the two-unit nuclear power plant. According to a press release from the NRC, operators discovered that vacuum breakers designed to maintain structural integrity of containment systems during major events had become inoperative because certain valves hadn't been reopened following testing during a recent fueling outage. The report said that the incident compromised the system's capability to regulate the containment pressure. This warranted a special inquiry, and the system...

Mineral Resources

US to expedite Utah uranium mining permit

The U.S. The U.S. The department announced in a press release that the environmental review of the project will be finished in only 14 days. These studies can take many years due to the environmental impact of uranium mines. The prior administration's policies of climate extremism have created an energy crisis that is alarming. "President Trump and his Administration are working quickly and strongly to resolve this crisis," stated Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum. He said that the expedited review of mining projects was exactly what we needed to ensure our energy future. The Velvet-Wood Mine Project in San Juan...

Nuclear Power

Talen Energy considers alternative options for data center supply after Amazon's setback

Talen Energy, the U.S. energy company, is looking at alternative arrangements for supplying electricity to data centres after regulators rejected a plan that would have fuelled an Amazon data centre directly from Talen’s Pennsylvania nuclear plant. The prospect of striking direct deals with Big Tech data centers has sparked a huge interest in independent U.S. energy producers such as Talen. This is what has pushed the shares of these companies to new highs. Co-located arrangements in which power plants are located near or at the data centers could eliminate the year-long waiting times for connecting to the wider electrical grid....

Electric Utilities

Utility Talen Energy reports quarterly loss due to higher expenses

Talen Energy, a utility, reported a first-quarter loss on Thursday. Higher interest and energy costs were to blame, and its shares fell 3.3% during premarket trading. Interest rates that are higher for longer burden utilities, as they make the cost of investing in power grids and infrastructures such as roads and bridges higher. Talen reported that its interest costs increased 25.4%, to $74 millions during the quarter. Total energy expenses also rose 10.8%, to $235,000,000. The loss for the quarter was also due to the absence of gains from the $650 million sale of a Data Center last year to...

Energy Markets

Constellation Energy's first-quarter earnings misses estimates due to rising costs

Constellation Energy, the largest U.S. energy company, missed Wall Street's expectations on first-quarter profits. The major U.S. utility was hit by rising costs for building and operating its electricity infrastructure. Interest rates that are higher for longer can increase the cost of utilities and make it more costly to invest in electrical grid infrastructure. The net income of the company fell by around 87% compared to a year ago, and was $118 million for the quarter reported. Constellation Energy reported that interest expenses increased by nearly 15% compared to a year ago, to $146 millions in the quarter January-March. Total...

Power Markets

Constellation Energy's operating costs increase causes Constellation Energy to miss its first-quarter profit estimate

Constellation Energy, a U.S. utility, missed Wall Street's expectations for the first quarter profit on Tuesday. Higher operating and interest costs pushed its shares lower by nearly 5% during premarket trading. The net income of the company fell by around 87% compared to a year ago, and was $118 million for the quarter reported. The higher interest rates for longer can be a burden on utilities, as they make it more expensive to invest in critical infrastructure like electrical grids. Constellation Energy reported that interest expenses increased nearly 15% compared to a year ago, to $146 millions in the quarter...

Power Markets

Entergy, the electric utility in South America, is looking to add more nuclear energy.

Entergy, the U.S. electric company, is planning to upgrade its existing nuclear plants in the South of the United States while considering advanced nuclear technology. This was announced by executives on Tuesday. In recent years, U.S. Nuclear Power, which is almost carbon-free, has become increasingly popular, especially as Big Tech struggles to balance its growing electricity demands with climate-driven energy commitments. Entergy announced on a conference call with investors that it recently completed a refueling shutdown at its River Bend Nuclear Plant and is planning work to clear the site for the expansion of the 967 megawatt St. Francisville plant...

Energy Markets

Sam Altman resigns as Oklo Chairman

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is stepping down as chairman of Oklo's nuclear technology startup, opening the door to a possible tie-up. Shares of Oklo fell more than 11 percent in Tuesday's extended trading. Jacob DeWitte will become chairman of Oklo, the company that aims to build its first small nuclear reactor module by 2027. Caroline Cochran said that the startup would continue to "explore potential strategic partnerships with OpenAI and other leading AI companies", in a press release. Altman's AltC Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition corporation, will acquire Oklo in the U.S. by May 2024. After decades of stagnation...

Power Markets

US pays part of the loan to Michigan nuclear plant for restart

The Energy Department announced on Tuesday that a Michigan nuclear reactor, which hopes to be the United States' first to restart after permanent shutdown, has received approximately 10% of the $1.52 billion U.S. funding approved during former president Joe Biden’s term. The Department's Loan Programs Office approved the disbursement of nearly $47 Million of the loan guarantee for the Palisades Nuclear Plant Holtec Inc hopes will reopen this year. The loan guarantee, which was approved by Biden's administration, was a conditional loan that was made to Palisades. This was the second time the Trump administration has disbursed money. The original...

Europe

Energy Markets

Swedish Parliament backs funding bill for new nuclear energy

The Swedish parliament approved a bill Wednesday that will finance a new nuclear reactor generation, which the government claims is essential to energy security as well as achieving net-zero emissions by 2045. The government is planning four large-scale nuclear reactors with an installed capacity of approximately 5,000 MW, or their equivalent in small modular reactors. According to the government, half of this should be operational by 2035. Niklas Wykman, Minister of Financial Markets in Sweden, said that the issue was about ensuring Swedish jobs and tackling climate change. The government has stated that without nuclear energy, new industries such as...

Power Markets

Moody's upgrades CEZ's outlook after the government takes a stake in the nuclear project

Moody's Ratings Agency has upgraded the outlook of Czech utility CEZ to "positive" after the Government announced last month that it would take a 80% stake in the multi-billion dollar nuclear power project run by the Group. In a statement released on Wednesday, Moody's confirmed CEZ's Baa1 rating. In April, the government announced that it had agreed to acquire a majority stake in CEZ subsidiary Elektrarna Dukovany II (EDU) which will manage the project of at least 18 billion dollars for new nuclear units supplied by South Korea’s KHNP. Moody's stated that "the positive outlook for CEZ reflects...the removal of...

Energy Markets

VCI, Germany's chemical sector sales company, says that the first quarter of 2013 saw a 1.8% increase in sales.

VCI, the industry lobby, said that the quarterly sales of the German chemical industry increased by 1.8% compared to last year. This was due to higher demand, and the pull-forward effect from U.S. clients stocking up. The industry has been strained by high production costs, increasing bureaucracy, and a stagnant economy in Germany. Tariffs from the United States have made the situation worse. VCI reported that sector-wide sales increased to 54.8 billion euro ($61.73billion) in the first three months, up 4.4% from the previous quarter. The German chemicals association has confirmed its annual forecasts for Germany’s third-largest industry despite the...

Western Europe

East Asia

Electric Utilities

Oklo, South Korea's KHNP enter into agreement to develop Aurora nuclear facility

Nuclear technology company Oklo announced on Tuesday that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the development of Oklo’s planned Aurora powerhouse with South Korea’s nuclear plant operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. In morning trading, shares of Oklo rose 1.9% to $49.71. Oklo said that the MOU also outlines plans for collaboration on the development of advanced nuclear technology worldwide. The nuclear industry is in high demand because it's considered a cleaner fuel source and more reliable than solar or wind energy. The U.S. president Donald Trump signed Friday executive orders to jumpstart nuclear industry. These orders...

Power Markets

Energy Minister: Turkey is in talks with Candu about nuclear plants

Alparslan Bayraktar, Turkish Energy Minister, said that Turkey has been in discussions with Candu Energy of Canada and other companies about plans to build Turkey's second and third nuclear plants. Bayraktar, who spoke to journalists during a trip to southeast Turkey Monday, said that Turkey wanted to "put names" on the projects it planned for this year. "Russia, South Korea, and China are all interested in the second or third power plant. He said that in addition to the countries and companies mentioned above, we were also in negotiations with other nations. Canada is one of them. "The Candu company,"...

Nuclear Power

China's lunar chief accuses the US of interfering with joint space programmes between other nations

On Wednesday, the chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program accused the United States of interfering with Beijing’s efforts to cooperate in space programmes with Europe and other partners. Wu Weiren told foreign media in a rare, exclusive interview that China had a policy of "open space diplomacy" in contrast to the U.S. and was open to cooperating with both developing and developed nations on lunar exploration. Wu said that the International Lunar Research Station, an initiative led jointly by Russia and China, to establish a permanent lunar base by 2035 was progressing well. Already, 17 countries and organisations have...

Energy Markets

Officials say that China and Russia may build a nuclear power plant on the moon to power a lunar station.

A senior official revealed on Wednesday that China was considering building a nuke plant on the Moon to power an International Lunar Research Station with Russia. China wants to be a major spacepower by 2030 and send astronauts to the moon. Its planned Chang'e-8 lunar mission in 2028 will lay the foundation for the construction of a permanent manned lunar base. Pei Zhaoyu, Chief Engineer of the 2028 Mission, presented in Shanghai that the energy supply for the lunar base could be based on large-scale solar panels, as well as pipelines and cables built on the surface of the moon....

Environment

The Supreme Court's top cases

In the current term of the U.S. Supreme Court, there are cases that involve guns, gender affirming medical care for minors who identify as transgender, online pornography and religious rights, TikTok and preventive healthcare. There are also cases involving funding Planned Parenthood, job discrimination and federal regulatory powers over nuclear waste storage, vape products and voting rights. Take a look at the recent and upcoming cases that the justices will be deciding. 'GHOST GUN' On March 26, the court upheld a federal rule targeting "ghost guns", which are largely untraceable, imposed by former Democratic President Joe Biden in an effort...

Nuclear Power

US Targets Chinese, Hong Kong firms over alleged role of Iranian drone procurement

As part of the Trump administration's "maximum-pressure" campaign against Tehran, the United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on six entities in Hong Kong and China that they accused of involvement in an Iranian drone acquisition network. The U.S. Treasury Department announced that entities involved in the procurement of components for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on behalf of a firm under U.S. sanction, Pishtazan Kavosh Gostar Boshra and its subsidiary Narin Sepehr Mobin Isatis were also key suppliers to Iran's UAVs and ballistic missile program. We were unable to reach PKGB and NSMI immediately for comment. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated...

Electric Utilities

Japan's Kansai Electric increases FY profit forecasts on nuclear energy, demand

Kansai Electric Power Co, Japan's largest nuclear power company, has raised its profit forecast by 40% for the fiscal year that ends in March to 365 billion Japanese yen ($2.4billion) due to higher nuclear power runs as well as stronger earnings from its transmission and distribution businesses. Kansai Electric has five nuclear reactors with a combined power of 4.6 gigawatts. This was the case as of December 31. The company increased its nuclear capacity factor forecast, an indicator of nuclear power load to 85% on Friday from the previous expected 80%. Kansai Electric expects its profit in the transmission and...

Fossil Fuels

Helion raises $425 mln from SoftBank's venture arm, strikes $5.4 bln evaluation

Helion, a start-up working to create electricity from nuclear combination, on Tuesday stated it has raised $ 425 million in endeavor financing from a group of financiers led by SoftBank Group's Vision Fund 2. The Everett, Washington-based Helion said the financing will help it speed up the development of its next generation combination reactor design, which intends to take advantage of the very same responses that power the sun to make carbon-free electrical power without lasting radioactive waste. The business has an agreement with Microsoft to start providing power in 2028. Helion is amongst the lots of public and personal...

Fossil Fuels

Microsoft offer signals growing demand from information centers to power AI

U.S. energies are lastly signing concrete supply deals with datacenter operators as the artificialintelligence wave triggers a rise in power need, paving the way for greater earnings in the coming quarters. Data centers are expected to represent 8% of the power produced in the U.S. by 2030, compared to 3% in 2022, according to a Goldman Sachs report in May. Here are some deals announced by utilities in 2024: Constellation Energy signed a special handle Microsoft to restart among the systems at the 3 Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Under the agreement, the utility will provide 835 megawatts (...

Nuclear Power

Iran significantly speeding up uranium enrichment to near bomb grade, IAEA says

Iran is drastically. accelerating its enrichment of uranium to as much as 60% pureness,. near the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, U.N. nuclear guard dog chief Rafael Grossi informed Reuters on Friday. The International Atomic Energy Firm later validated in a. private report to member states that Iran was accelerating. uranium enrichment, a process that refines the raw material so. that it can be utilized as fuel in civil nuclear power generation. or, potentially, nuclear weapons. The IAEA findings will deepen alarm in Western nations. that say there is no reason for enhancing uranium to such. a high...

Nuclear Power

Iran plans uranium-enrichment growth at Natanz, Fordow, IAEA report says

Iran has notified the U.N. nuclear watchdog of plans to set up more uraniumenriching centrifuges at its Fordow and Natanz plants in addition to bring devices recently installed there online, a private report by the guard dog said on Thursday. The report to member states seen information what Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Company it plans to do, though it has actually done little to follow through up until now, having pledged to include thousands of centrifuges after a resolution versus Iran by the 35-nation IAEA board of governors. Iran already has well over 10,000 centrifuges operating at...

Energy Markets

Japanese utilities book special gains by offering nuclear fuels

Japan's Hokkaido Electric Power and Chugoku Electric Power stated on Thursday they had actually scheduled remarkable profits for the AprilSeptember period from offering previously gotten nuclear fuel. Neither utility has actually been able to restart any nuclear power plants given that the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster which triggered stricter security requirements in Japan. Hokkaido Electric booked a special profit of 19 billion yen ($ 124 million) for the 6 months ended Sept. 30 by selling nuclear fuel obtained through long-term agreements. It began selling some of its fuel in the 2021 fiscal year, reserving remarkable gains of 5.7 billion yen...