Orano warns of financial problems at Niger uranium plant
The West African nation increasingly seeks new partners, such as Russia, in its mining sector.
The Scotland Herald reports plans to build the UK’s only new coal-fired power station with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology suffered another serious setback this week after the French firm that operates near-by reactors warned that the proposed coal plant endangers the safety of the nuclear facility.
Scottish ministers have ordered a public inquiry into the £3 billion ($4.6 billion) Hunterston coal power station project after the local council rejected the plans in November following unprecedented public opposition.
The Scotland Herald reports that Ayrshire Power remains committed to the project at Hunterston in North Ayrshire but that EDF Energy has now lodged a formal objection:
EDF Energy says that the construction and operation of the controversial new plant could block the evacuation routes of staff and deprive its site of electricity and vital cooling water in an emergency. It is also worried that discharges from the coal plant could compromise reactor cooling systems.
In October the Longannet carbon capture and storage project , the last one standing in the UK government’s long-running £1 billion ($1.6 billion) CCS demonstration programme also fell through.
The setbacks to what was supposed to be the world’s biggest showcase for CCS will damage proponents of the technology – where CO2 emissions are sequestered underground – and the so-called ‘clean coal’ lobby.
Only two small coal CSS pilot projects exist worldwide: Schwarze Pumpe in Germany and Mountaineer Power Plant in West Virginia.
A 2011 European roadmap for energy use showed the use of coal for power generation dropping dramatically and that within 20 years all homes on the continent could be powered by wind-generated electricity.
3 Comments
Biddulph Art
The neuclar energy is the most dangerous in the world. This french outfit has a lot of balls saying what they are in this write-up.
Matt OConnell
state of the art nuclear enegy is the safest and cheapest enegy available,.
The US NAVY has been opeating with nuclear enegy for the last 30 years.
The greenies are against anything that makes sense inluing fracking because of a phony film.
there are new methods vailable an in use in Canada and in Texas that uses pulsating water and there are companies that process the water from chemical fracking
GET FACTS NOT GREENIE HYPE ! ! !
Lambsurvey
It is very clear that the French Nuclear company want to kill any competitive Energy Generation Process. Has anyone asked the French where they are disposing of the spent fuel rods which are highly radioactive??? This stuff has a long ‘Half-Life’ and can continue to be dangerous for CENTURIES after you & I are gone, leaving the earth unfit for Human habitation. We have to be careful what we do today if our childrens children, etc. are to live in a clean environment. And, this is NOT from a tree-hugging GREENIE speaking, just a very Experienced & Knowledgable Mining Engineer well versed in what Pollution can do to our Environment.