. It is crunch time for South Africa’s state-owned national nuclear company, the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), which ran out of operating capital several months before its financial year-end. The company is desperately awaiting an annual grant allocation of some R500-million from government for its new financial year, which commences on 1 April […]
An explosive letter, dated 17 October 2019, from the current Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa) board to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Energy, reveals startling new information relating to the misuse of Necsa’s funds by the former board under fired former chairman Kelvin Kemm and former CEO Phumzile Tshelane. The letter […]
The energy industry is in the grip of massive change, with the cost of renewables and battery storage – without subsidies – beating gas, as well as existing coal and nuclear on costs. This is the view of Jim Robo, the CEO, president and chairman of NextEra, the biggest and most successful utility in the […]
Akademik Lomonosov, which Rosatom describes as the world’s first floating nuclear power plant and the world’s northernmost nuclear power installation, set sail recently from Murmansk for its final destination of Pevek. Upon completing the 4700 km journey to Pevek, Akademik Lomonosov will become a central part of the Chukotka region’s power supply, replacing the Bilibino […]
A concrete work milestone has been reached at the Rooppur nuclear power plant’s (NPP’s) Unit 2 construction project. This week saw the completion of concrete works for the Unit 2 of Rooppur NPP (Bangladesh) turbine hall foundation slab, said Rosatom. The slab structure contains 3782 t of rebar and 23 550 m3 of concrete. Sergey […]
Interest in small modular nuclear reactors is showing a resurgence. The travelling wave nuclear reactor (TWNR), based on the breed and burn principle, is one of the options being considered. Any optimal energy technology for the future must meet stricter standards than in the past; in addition to being economically attractive, it now must also […]
The International Energy Agency (IEA) says wind and solar energy need to play a much greater role in order for countries to meet sustainability goals, but it is extremely difficult to envisage them doing so without help from nuclear power. Nuclear power today makes a significant contribution to electricity generation, providing 10% of global electricity […]
Following a lengthy period of shutdown in 2017 and 2018 which resulted from safety scares, the production of radioisotopes by NTP Radioistopes (SOC) started up again in November 2018 and ran until February this year, at which point it was stopped again for a short period to ensure that the system is working properly and […]
Hitachi has announced its intention of pulling away from two large nuclear projects in the UK due to failed financial negotiations. The company’s Wylfa Newydd and Oldbury-On-Severn projects, which were expected to be the future home of new advanced boiling water reactors, which were approved by Britain’s nuclear power regulator in December 2017, will now […]
Following a landmark judgement in the Cape Town High Court on 26 April 2017 that stopped the procurement of 9,6 GW of new nuclear power reactors by Eskom and Necsa in its tracks, nuclear sector governance in South Africa is heading for the courts again. Since the financial crisis at Eskom, the Nuclear Energy […]
