Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:
Niger coup: Good for Tuareg rebels, bad for uranium investors
‘The military junta announced it will audit all uranium exploration permits awarded before last month's coup Niger. Evidence has emerged that the permits enriched the Ousted president and devastated the Tuareg people. The military junta that Niger's President Ousted transparency raised expectations and feels stocks sliding over the weekend with the announcement that it would audit all uranium and gold contracts. The announcement came just days after a coalition of pressure groups petitioned the junta to Renegotiate mining contracts awarded under Ousted President Mamadou Tandja. The world's third-largest uranium deposit lies in northern Niger, the Poorest area in what the UN calls the world's poorest country. With more governments backing clean, uranium-fueled nuclear energy to replace coal-burning power, foreign investors from China, Australia, South Africa, America, and Canada have flocked to the landlocked Saharan state.’
Areva Plans April Visit to Windhoek
While Areva’s new chief in Niger, Mahamadou Laouel Kader, makes approaches to the military junta in power in the country, the Superior Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD), to organise a trip by Areva’s CEO Anne Lauvergeon to Niamey, she is scheduled to visit Namibia from April 15 to 17.
Niger: More than half of Niger’s children live in poverty
‘Society - At least 60% of Niger’s children live in poverty despite the huge efforts made to maintain their rights, according to a joint report made by UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Niger’s government.The report says that poverty, which is rife in rural areas, is mainly in the reg ions of Dosso, Maradi, Tillabery and Zinder. The report says in these regions, two-thirds of children suffer from poverty.’
Poll: Finnish support for new nuclear reactor declines
‘Public support for building a sixth nuclear generating facility for Finland has sharply declined in the past four years. Nevertheless, a poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by Suomen Gallup indicates that more than half of Finns are still in favour of more nuclear construction. Only about a third of respondents would grant licences to all three applicants, while six per cent would grant licences to two of the applicant companies. The survey on the popularity of energy alternatives does not indicate any great changes in attitudes toward energy questions. Attitudes toward nuclear energy in general have changed little, while the popularity of fossil fuels as a source of electricity has declined steadily.’
British Energy sale to French was a poor deal, MPs conclude
‘The Government's sale of British Energy to France's EDF was a good price but a bad deal, an influential committee of MPs will conclude this morning. The state received £4.4bn for its 36 per cent stake of the nuclear operator – out of a total £12.5bn price tag – thanks to peak energy prices at the time of the contract, says the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). But the deal has done little to address the danger of energy shortages from 2016 as demand rises and obsolete power stations are retired. The ostensible purpose of the sale was to ensure the building of new nuclear power stations, without public money, to help plug the looming energy gap. But the deal with EDF did not include any binding commitment to build nuclear reactors, either with or without a subsidy. And the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) also failed to establish whether the supplier had ever built a nuclear power station without public money in the past. Even worse, Decc neither knows how much nuclear generating capacity will be required to meet future energy needs, nor does it have convincing contingency plans.’