NUCLEAR ENERGY REPORT - 2012 OECD

Published on Saturday June 16 2012 (AEST) .

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Katter's Party Wants Queensland Opened To Uranium Mining

Published on Tuesday June 19 2012 (AEST)

Katter's Australian Party (KAP) has urged the Queensland government to open up the state to uranium mining. 

The previous Labor government had a ban on uranium mining and new Liberal National Party Premier Campbell Newman pledged just last week to uphold it. 

His promise came with Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson calling for the prohibition to be lifted but now Queensland KAP leader Rob Katter has joined the debate, saying the state is missing a multi-billion dollar opportunity. 

 Mr Katter says Queensland has over 50,000 tonnes of uranium reserves, worth $20 billion. He says it's sitting there, being wasted while other states are taking advantage of the massive growth in global demand for nuclear power. 

"It will create jobs and bring in a new royalty revenue stream which the government desperately needs to pay down debt," Mr Katter told parliament. 

"The only reason these reserves are off limits is Labor's decision to put Green preferences before the good of Queensland." 

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Australia's Resource Minister Martin Ferguson Calls On Queensland Reverse Uranium Ban

Published on Wednesday June 13 2012 (AEST)  

RESOURCES Minister Martin Ferguson will today call on Queensland's new conservative government to lift its ban on uranium mining, arguing it already allows exploration and that Australia is on track to triple its exports by 2030. In a speech to an international uranium conference in Adelaide this morning, Mr Ferguson will ask Premier Campbell Newman to overturn his pre-election promise to ban uranium mining, arguing the state already has an estimated resource base of at least 37,000 tonnes. 

 

With global demand expected to grow strongly, Mr Ferguson will argue that uranium exports present a major opportunity for the nation. His call to the Queensland government comes after former Labor premier Anna Bligh resisted calls for uranium mining to be allowed in her state. Mr Ferguson's push follows the NSW government's decision to lift its ban on uranium exploration in March, which Mr Ferguson said might pave the way for future legislation to allow the mining of any discoveries. In his speech, Mr Ferguson predicts global population growth and increased industrialisation, combined with continuing efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, will continue to drive demand for cheap and reliable energy supplies. Nuclear power would inevitably be a part of this. 

"The world cannot ignore its great advantage of helping to lower carbon emissions while fostering economic growth," Mr Ferguson will say. Australia is the world's third largest uranium producer with exports worth $610 million in 2010-11 and, with the nation having 33 per cent of the world's identified recoverable uranium resources, "there is a potential to climb even higher in the global export standings". Mr Ferguson says Australia is working to improve access to international markets, negotiating a bilateral agreement with the United Arab Emirates as well as working on a change in government policy to allow uranium sales to India. 

Mr Ferguson will argue that, while countries such as Switzerland and Germany have decided to remove nuclear energy from their energy mix following Japan's Fukushima meltdown last year, other countries such as France, Britain, the UAE, Russia and China have already recommitted to its use. 

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Global Nuclear Power Generation Market To More Than Double To $300 Bln By 2030 - Rosatom

Published on Wednesday June 06 2012 (AEST)

 

Global nuclear power generation market to more than double to $300 Bln by 2030 

- Rosatom The global market for nuclear power generation, according to Rosatom's estimates, will more than double by 2030, to $300 billion, the Russian state nuclear energy company's Director for Strategy and Investments Igor Karavaev said at the ATOMEXPO-2012 forum. The market for radiation technologies (emissions management) will grow even more dynamically - four-fold to $267 billion, he said. 

Nuclear power plant construction will almost double to $53 billion. In terms of volume, the smallest market is currently the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and the production of secondary fuel (around $3 billion). However, that market will triple in size to $9 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, the market for nuclear energy services will grow by a mere 20% to $22 billion by that time. Rosatom aims to boost its own revenue five-fold to $75 billion by 2030 ($48 billion by 2020). The proportion of overseas operations in revenue should reach 50% in 2030, whereas that figure is now at around 30%, including the share of revenue from Rosatom's international assets - 25% (now it is less than 10%). 

 New products and services, including radiation technology and nuclear medicine, should account for about a third of Rosatom's revenue in 2030, versus the current 7%. Nuclear energy generation and sales will still account for roughly half of Rosatom's revenue, while the share of nuclear fuel production (including production, conversion and uranium enrichment) in revenue will fall by almost half, to 12% (currently 40%). 

NPP and nuclear equipment construction, which currently accounts for about 5% of Rosatom's revenue, will only account for 2% by 2030. 

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Turkey To Build 23 Nuclear Units

Published on Wednesday June 06 2012 (AEST)  

 Turkey is determined to build nuclear power plants, and will establish 23 nuclear units by 2023, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yıldız said yesterday at a panel discussion titled. 

“The New Energy Corridor.” 

Part of the World Economic Forum. There are more than 440 nuclear power plants in the world, and while nuclear power plants involve risks, they also offer many opportunities, Anatolia news agency quoted Yıldız as saying. 

“We are a country without a nuclear power plant. However, we are determined to have nuclear power plants. We want to meet our increasing energy needs by erecting at least 23 nuclear units by the year 2023. This implies building nuclear power plants in three regions of Turkey,” Yıldız said. 

At least half of all nuclear power plants are located in three countries, the United States, France and Japan, Yıldız said, adding that there was a relationship between a country’s development and its nuclear power plants.

 “We can see that accidents, as in Fukushima, do not [negatively] affect decisions to have and operate nuclear power plants,” Yıldız said.

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