List of Tidal Power Plants and Future Tidal Stations- Facing Difficult Times
March 13, 2011Japanese Nuclear Meltdown Effect – Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY)
March 14, 2011The Tsunami Nuclear Energy Disaster which is unfolding in Japan highlights that Nuclear Energy can cause some very serious damage though the safety of the nuclear reactors are highly touted in the media by the Nuclear Energy Industry.These Nuclear Plants in Japan are quite old but so are most of the Nuclear Energy facilities in the West.Most of these Nuclear Plants are susceptible to serious natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis.In case of a nuclear meltdown the radiation from the Nuclear Plants can not only cause more deaths and injuries from natural causes but also make the area around the Nuclear Plant uninhabitable for hundreds of years.India and China are on a major Nuclear Energy Building Spree even though their nuclear plants have faced minor accidents in recent years.With this Nuclear Disaster,the protests in the se countries are set to grow with NIMBY becoming the biggest hurdle.Already protests are being held in Jaitapur in Maharashtra over damage to the ecology,expect the Japan’s nuclear reactor incident to basically kill this Areva-NPCIL plant.Nuclear plants in the US and Europe are already facing huge cost and time overruns.This new problem should cause those projects to also die off.
In the USA,Republicans are pushing for Nuclear Energy over other forms of Renewable Energy .This should hopefully bring them around to non-destructive forms of Renewable Energy like Solar and Wind Energy though I doubt it.Nuclear Equipment Suppliers like Areva,Toshiba and GE-Hitachi will face serious problems and would be interesting to see how their stocks react.Note GE-Hitachi are already losing the Nuclear Equipment Race while Areva is facing red ink due to its Finland Nuclear Plant Delays.The Nuclear Plant problems in Japan has seriously dented the Nuclear Energy Industry when it was starting to recover from the Three Mile and Chernobyl Disasters in the 1980s.With Japan facing such huge problems over safety of its nuclear plants,one wonders how safe the Nuclear Plants would be in countries like Pakistan.
Asia Keeps Close Eye on Japan’s Nuclear Problems
Problems at nuclear power plants in Japan over the weekend are being watched closely across Asia, where governments are contemplating dozens of new nuclear reactors despite opposition from environmental groups that have long argued the facilities are unsafe in a region prone to natural disasters.
China, Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian nations have more than 100 nuclear plants on the drawing boards as part of a regionwide effort to diversify energy sources beyond their traditional reliance on oil, natural gas and coal. The plants are viewed as a critical part of Asia’s scramble to keep up with demand as energy consumption soars.
The push has also driven up the price of uranium worldwide in recent years and created major new expansion opportunities for equipment makers such as General Electric Co.
In an early sign that radiation leaks from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant in northern Japan could embolden nuclear-power opponents elsewhere, Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters on Sunday that the incident would “impact the decision of whether to build nuclear plants in Thailand” and that the country would need to look closely at safety before deciding whether to go ahead.
“Some lessons we learn from Japan will be considered in the making of China’s nuclear power plans,” said Chinese Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Zhang Lijun, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. “But China will not change its determination and plan for developing nuclear power.”
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- Nuclear Energy Investing -Toshiba plans Major Investment to catch upto Areva even as Indian,Chinese markets see setbacks
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- Nuclear Energy in India faces external obstacles from old adversaries China and Pakistan
2 Comments
Thought. First invested in Solar have a vested interest in growth. Second have lived as a Merchant Mariner 18 years active, now retired in product transportation. Have a working education with LNG, Pug, Rug, sweet crude, and Bunker C. Piont is Big business has no long term investment game plan with energy. Cheap investment great return is there motto. Sad about Japan spent years working LNG with shipping company in Japan. Piont is Energy and its morphying into a energy menu. Wind, Solar, Nuc, Fossil fuel, Hydro, Bio, unknown all need assistances in giving are growing world a energy foundation. Old school business practices are being rewritten now.
Agree with you Big Business has no incentive to move into renewable energy,governments have to prod and push them into doing so until they attain grid parity.Global Warming may turn out to be the greatest failure of our capitalist system.Business is only concerned with profits and ROE.Take India or China most of the power capacity being added is massive 4000 MW Coal Plants.Protesters are being killed by the police while companies are buying up coal mines everywhere while paying lip service to renewables.The reason is the that thermal power plants give fantastic profits.