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World Nuclear Power Reactors 1951–2024
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21 February 2013
“Not Possible” for Polish Government to Support Nuclear Project
Polish treasury minister Mikolaj Budzanowski unexpectedly stated that “in today’s circumstances it is not possible for the government to support the construction of a nuclear power plant”. In a 18 February 2013 interview with Polish daily Parkiet, Budzanowski added:”I am convinced that it is worthwhile to develop the shale [gas] project, regardless of the opinion of other European countries“. Unlike nuclear power, the minister says,”shale [gas] is a matter for today". State-owned energy (...)
18 February 2013
Worldwide First Reactor to Start Up in 2013, in China
The first unit of the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant was connected to the Chinese electricity grid in Liaoning province on 17 February 2013. The first phase of the “first nuclear power plant and largest energy project in northeast China” is to comprise four 1000
MW
units at a cost of 50 billion yuan (about €5.9 billion or
USD7
.9 billion), according to China Daily. The construction of this standardized
CPR1000
started in August 2007 and was scheduled to come on line by October 2012. The four (...)
14 February 2013
Crystal River Reactor Shut Down for Good
Nuclear operator Progress Energy, now owned by Duke Energy, has decided not to complete repair and uprating of its 36-year old Crystal River reactor that has been offline since late 2009. The 825
MW
Pressurized Water Reactor (
PWR
) in Florida,
US
, had been shut down for regular refueling, maintenance and steam generator replacement when significant deterioration (delamination or crack) in the concrete containment was identified. Repair was evaluated as a possible option but by 2012 it was (...)
11 February 2013
Nth Delay Announced for Olkiluoto 3 in Finland
On 11 February 2013, the Finnish nuclear operator Teollisuuden Voima (
TVO
) announced that the European Pressurised Water Reactor (
EPR
) at Olkiluoto would not be connected to the grid until 2016, seven years after its originally planned start-up date of 2009.
TVO
were quick to blame the constructors,
AREVA
, saying that they had not received adequate scheduling information and that the design of the instrument and control equipment had not proceeded as planned.
AREVA
responded by claiming (...)
3 February 2013
Uncertain Future for Nuclear New‑build in Bulgaria
The future of the Belene nuclear power plant in Bulgaria remains unclear following a national referendum on the 27 January 2013. The power plant has had a long history of starts and stops since construction first begun in 1987. The most recent halt was in March 2012, when the Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, stated: “We just can’t afford to pay the total cost of the project, which will reach some 10 billion euros. And there is no way we can make future generations pay”. After 25 years in the (...)
1 February 2013
Slovak Government Announces Two‑Year Delay on Mochovce Project
The Slovak Economy Minister Tomas Malatinsky was quoted by local media as saying that the third and fourth units at the Mochovce nuclear power plant would instead of being completed later this year are now expected to be finished in 2015. In addition, the estimated cost of completion is thought to have risen again, this time from €2.8 to €3.7 billion. Construction started at the Mochovce units in 1987 and was halted following the political changes in the region. In October 2004, the (...)
1 February 2013
Update1: New Blows for
UK
Nuclear Sector
Update 1, 4 February 2013 On 4 February 2013,
UK
energy company Centrica announced that it would withdraw from any new-build project in the country. In 2009, Centrica took an option for a 20% interest in the construction of new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point and Sizewell, as well as a 20% share in
EDF
Energy’s eight operating nuclear units in the
UK
. Centrica’s
CEO
Sam Laidlaw complained that “since our initial investment, the anticipated project costs in new nuclear have increased (...)
20 January 2013
IAEA
‑Japan Reactor Status Incident: “Clerical Error” Explanation Not Credible
The reactor-by-reactor assessment of the status of the Japanese nuclear power plants (see Table-1) shows that the recent—subsequently revoked—re-categorization by the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (
JNES
) of 47 units from “In operation” to “Long-term Shutdown” (
LTS
) status of the International Atomic Energy Agency (
IAEA
) was perfectly coherent (see Historic Move:
IAEA
Shifts 47 Japanese Reactors Into “Long-Term Shutdown” Category). The explanation given by the
IAEA
that the (...)
19 January 2013
UPDATE1
:
IAEA
Reactor Status Modification Reversed on Japanese Government Request
The Japanese government has requested the reversal of the reactor status of 47 Japanese reactors from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s “Long-term Shutdown” (
LTS
) category to “In operation”. On 16 January 2013, the same 47 units were reclassified as in
LTS
(see Historic Move:
IAEA
Shifts 47 Japanese Reactors Into “Long-Term Shutdown” Category). However, the operation was reversed on 18 January and commented on by the
IAEA
in a press release on 19 January 2013. An
IAEA
(...)
16 January 2013
Historic Move:
IAEA
Shifts 47 Japanese Reactors Into “Long‑Term Shutdown” Category
In an unprecedented move, the International Atomic Energy Agency (
IAEA
) has shifted 47 Japanese nuclear reactors from the category “In Operation” to the category “Long-term Shutdown” (
LTS
) in its web-based Power Reactor Information System (
PRIS
). The number of nuclear reactors listed as “In Operation” in the world thus drops from 437 yesterday to 390 today, a level last seen in Chernobyl-year 1986 and a dramatic step of the
IAEA
’s official statistics in recognizing industrial reality in (...)
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