Geopolitical risk and oil markets top this week’s pick of energy and commodities themes from S&P Global Platts editors. Plus, Ukraine’s role in European gas supply, steel scrap prices as a bellwether for economies, and a milestone approaches for US LNG exports.
Posts tagged ‘nuclear’
 
|
 
|
September 9, 2019 15:44 UTC 
(3)
Dynamics in the Japanese power market have been a major bearish force acting on the global LNG market this year. Weak power demand, increasing renewable generation, notably solar, and higher nuclear output have depressed fossil fuel needs, and LNG in particular, as S&P Global Platts Analytics highlighted in a recent report. Ahead of the Platts Analytics Client Seminar in Singapore, Bruno Brunetti and Andre Lambine explore key aspects of the Japanese power market. |
|
July 11, 2019 08:53 UTC
(0)
US-based uranium market participants are anxiously awaiting a decision from President Donald Trump on whether to take protectionist action on imports of the element that fuels nuclear reactors. Trump is weighing a decision on a January 2018 petition by US uranium producers Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy that asked him to require US nuclear plant operators to purchase 25% of their uranium annually from domestic producers, citing national security concerns of relying on uranium imported from the CIS nations. The decision is due July 15, although market sources have speculated the administration’s action may be delayed. |
|
January 31, 2019 10:03 UTC
(2)
This week marks the start of a new phase in London-Brussels relations. But it has nothing to do with Brexit, and it won’t be political power returning to Westminster as a result of the UK’s departure from the European Union. Instead, the power flowing across the English Channel will be of the electrical variety, as the Nemo electricity interconnector – the first direct connection between the UK and Belgium – begins commercial operations on 31st January. The 1 GW link will be capable of supplying enough power to meet the electricity needs of 2.2 million UK homes. |
|
January 21, 2019 10:25 UTC
(1)
Hitachi’s decision to down tools on its proposed £16 billion ($20.6 billion) nuclear project in Wales, announced on January 17, could be a blessing in disguise for British consumers. Instead of further subsidizing a globally declining industry, the government has simpler alternatives to ensure long-term energy security and affordable electricity prices for all. Natural gas, more renewables, storage and demand response are cost-efficient solutions with significantly lower risk than bankrolling the potentially ruinous cost of atomic fission. |
|
January 3, 2019 12:12 UTC
(2)
Years late and massively over-budget, Europe’s first EPR nuclear plants in Finland and France are on the verge of “energizing”, as the sector jargon goes. Barring last-minute glitches, this will be the final act in what must be the longest-running construction saga in the region. |
|
September 19, 2018 07:40 UTC
(3)
Recent expressions of support by the US and UK governments have highlighted a new class of very small nuclear power reactors. Microreactors, sometimes defined as reactors of less than 15 MW, have been identified as potential recipients of development funds by the UK government as part of its search for an “advanced modular reactor” for near-term deployment, while the US Congress passed legislation in July asking the Department of Energy to develop a report on the potential deployment of such units at military or energy facilities. |
|
December 8, 2017 08:00 UTC
(2)
A series of sweeping changes at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission would alter the agency’s mission to adapt to an evolving US nuclear industry, which is in the grips of a struggle for its economic survival. |
|
November 24, 2017 11:00 UTC
(4)
The UK government’s much heralded, pre-Brexit referendum “competition” to have a small modular reactor or SMR design manufactured in the country by the mid-2020s is struggling to regain momentum amid growing questions about the political will to proceed with the project. The idea of a “competition” to select an SMR design was announced by then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in his March 2016 Comprehensive Spending Review. Osborne allocated GBP250 million ($332 million) of funding to the initial phases of the competition and other nuclear sector spending in the 2016 CSR. |
|
|
October 10, 2017 00:01 UTC
(1)
Despite a draft Nuclear Safeguards Bill that will go some way towards addressing the new licensing requirements for nuclear fuel, equipment and radioactive material after Brexatom – as the UK’s departure from the European Atomic Energy Community has come to be known – the UK is nonetheless struggling to find a successor arrangement to the Euratom Treaty. |