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Миналата неделя бе отбелязана първата годишнина на безпрецедентна катастрофа, която разтърси Северна Япония. На 11 март 2011 г., цунами, предизвикани от силно земетресение, навлезли в зоната около атомната електроцентрала Фукушима Daiichi, изключване на охладителните възможности на три от най-старите реактори на централата. В дните и седмиците, които последваха, тъй като работниците се борят да се охлади и демонтаж на растението, реактори 1, 2 и 3 отиде в срив. Серия от експлозии и пожари доведоха до освобождаването на радиоактивен газ, и страховете от замърсяване в крайна сметка предизвика евакуацията на около 100,000 души от непосредствена близост, около 30,000 никога няма да могат да се завърнат по домовете си. Първата годишнина от това ужасяващо събитие на най-тежката ядрена катастрофа, тъй като аварията в Чернобил през 1986 г. е време, за да отбележат повече от 20,000 души, които загинаха в първоначалното земетресение и цунами, както и смелостта на тези, които са рискували експозицията на радиоактивност, до си възвърне контрола на растението и да се предотврати по-нататъшно бедствие. Но също така е време да погледнем напред и да разгледа това, което сме научили от Фукушима и какво означава това за бъдещето на енергетиката в Япония и по целия свят. "Момент на възможност" за Япония В резултат на срив, японската общественост се обърна решително срещу ядрената енергия, отбелязва изразена промяна в нация, това е след като един от най-ангажираните защитниците в света и производители на гражданската атомна енергия. Япония е по използването на ядрената енергия от 1960, и през 2010 г. тя генерира 30% от електроенергията си от атомни централи. През изминалата година обаче, по-голямата част на ядрени мощности в Япония са били затворени за рутинна поддръжка или "стрес-тестове" и все още не е възобновено. Днес, всички с изключение на две от търговските реактори в Япония са били затворени , с последния, който е предвиден да се публикуват още през април. Страната също така е изоставен съществуващите планове за изграждане на нови реактори. Прочетете останалата част на този пост
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In early April, leading French nuclear company AREVA signed a series of strategic agreements with the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) to foster a strategic civil nuclear partnership between France and China. With presidents Francois Hollande and Xi Jinping in attendance, the two governments finalized a letter of intent to build a facility for treating and recycling spent nuclear fuel in China. Citizens protest nuclear energy in China. Just three months after the agreement, China cancelled a planned China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) nuclear fuel processing project in Heshan, Guangdong province, in the wake of opposition from local residents. Although China has both official support and the technological capacity for nuclear energy development, emerging public resistance to nuclear projects is an increasing challenge. In 2011, nuclear power provided 13 percent of the world’s electricity, but less than 2 percent in China. The country still relies heavily on coal—accounting for 68.5 percent of electricity generation in 2012—because of its lower cost and greater accessibility. Meanwhile, China’s carbon emissions have grown at an average annual rate of 7 percent since 2000, reaching 7.57 billion tons in 2011, according to the International Energy Agency. China, Climate Policy, greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power, wind power Read the rest of this entry “I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that’s beyond fixing. And that’s why today I’m announcing a new national climate action plan, and I’m here to enlist your generation’s help in keeping the United States of America a leader, a global leader in the fight against climate change.” - President Barack Obama, 6/25/2013 President Obama presented his Climate Action Plan at Georgetown University yesterday. (image source: whitehouse.gov) Climate change policy is back on the political agenda. In a powerful speech at Georgetown University yesterday, President Barack Obama found the right words for the scale and urgency of the climate problem. He announced a Climate Action Plan outlining a wide array of actions his administration will take to reduce harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, expand renewable energy, increase energy efficiency, and strengthen America’s resilience to climate impacts. Throughout the speech, President Obama struck down critics’ claims, which have been bolstered by wealthy special interest groups, that climate protection poses a threat to the country’s economy. If implemented promptly, the plan can lead to much needed reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and re-engage the United States with other climate leaders in the international community. However, the plan also reinforces the President’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy, which is at odds with the necessity for swift and significant emission reductions to avoid catastrophic climate impacts. President Obama yesterday restated his pledge to reduce U.S. GHG emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 – an insufficient target given the urgency of the climate crisis and the scale of the U.S. contribution to global emissions on an absolute, historical, and per capita basis. Perhaps the most important policy announcement in the President’s climate action plan is a memorandum directing the Environmental Protection Agency to set standards by 2015 to reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency first proposed carbon standards for new power plants over a year ago that would effectively halt the construction of new coal plants without carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. Although the shale gas boom has already made it unlikely that new coal plants would be built anyway, the proposed regulation would nevertheless be an important step toward passing carbon standards for existing power plants that could accelerate the phase-out of coal power. carbon standard, CCS, Climate Change, Climate Policy, coal, greenhouse gas emissions, Keystone XL, nuclear power, President Obama, renewable energy, shale gas Read the rest of this entry U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman promoted international collaboration on shale gas, CCS, and nuclear. Image source: doe.gov Last month, I attended two events on U.S. international collaboration on energy issues, both of which involved presentations and panel discussions featuring high-level representatives from government, business, academia, and non-governmental organizations. Despite some discussion of renewable energy and climate change, U.S. government and business representatives centered the discussion largely on shale gas, “clean” coal, and nuclear power. The first event was the third U.S.-India Energy Partnership Summit, co-convened by Yale University and The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) of India. Panelists discussed experiences and opportunities for collaboration on sustainable energy initiatives, from joint research and development of technologies to promoting policies and financial mechanisms that encourage clean energy investment. The Summit was chaired by Rajendra K. Pachauri, President of TERI North America and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A forum for sustainable energy collaboration between the United States and India is especially important in the context of stagnating international climate negotiations, where the two countries have often assumed adversarial roles. Although the Summit demonstrated the promise of mutual interests, I was disappointed by the focus of several of the high-level speakers on fossil fuels and nuclear energy. The nature of the energy partnership described by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman centers largely on “clean coal” technology and shale gas exploration, as well as tighter standards for nuclear energy in India. Dr. Charles Ebinger, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, reinforced this position by highlighting the central role that the coal industry plays in the Indian economy, including as a large employer. Dr. Ebinger also took a rather pessimistic view of India’s ability to expand the share of renewable energy, claiming that renewable energy could not account for more than 20 to 25 percent of the country’s energy mix by 2030 or even 2040. CCS, Europe, India, nuclear power, shale gas, U.S. Department of Energy, United States Read the rest of this entry Last Sunday marked the first anniversary of an unprecedented catastrophe that struck northern Japan. On March 11, 2011, a tsunami—triggered by a major earthquake—swept into the area surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, disabling the cooling capabilities of three of the plant’s oldest reactors. In the days and weeks that followed, as workers struggled to cool and dismantle the plant, reactors 1, 2, and 3 went into meltdown. A series of explosions and fires led to the release of radioactive gas, and fears of contamination ultimately prompted the evacuation of approximately 100,000 people from the immediate area; some 30,000 may never be able to return to their homes. The Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant, 25 March 2011 (Source: econews) The first anniversary of this horrific event—the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl accident in 1986—is a time to commemorate the more than 20,000 people who died in the initial earthquake and tsunami, as well as the courage of those who risked radioactive exposure to regain control of the plant and prevent further calamity. But it is also a time to look forward—to examine what we have learned from Fukushima and what it means for the future of energy in Japan and around the world. A “moment of opportunity” for Japan In the aftermath of the meltdown, the Japanese public turned decidedly against nuclear power, marking a pronounced change in a nation that was once one of the world’s most committed proponents and producers of civilian atomic energy. Japan has been using nuclear power since the 1960s, and in 2010 it generated 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear plants. In the past year, however, the vast majority of nuclear facilities in Japan have been shut down for routine maintenance or “stress tests” and have not yet been reopened. Today, all but two of Japan’s commercial reactors have been shut down, with the last one scheduled to go offline as early as April. The country has also abandoned any existing plans to build new reactors. Angela Merkel, Asse, chernobyl, Daiichi, Deepwater Horizon, energy, energy roadmaps, europea, Forsmark, Fukushima, Georgia Power, Germany, japan, Low-Carbon Development, Noda, nuclear, nuclear accidents, nuclear power, nucular energy, Olkiluoto, renewable energy, renewables, Southern Company, Three Mile Island, United States, Upper Big Branch, Vogtle, Waynesboro, Yucca Mountain Read the rest of this entry This coming weekend (January 14–15), Peace Boat and five other international non-governmental organizations will host the Global Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World in Yokohoma, Japan. The event was organized in the aftermath of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the resulting disasters at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. An image of the Biblis nuclear power, one of the nuclear power plants permanently shutdown in Germany shortly after the events at Fukushima (Source: The Open University). The overarching goal of the conference is to facilitate discussion of a nuclear power free world. Regional and international experts, activists, and people affected by radiation exposure from nuclear power plants will come together to generate a roadmap promoting the decommissioning of these facilities worldwide. Participants will discuss policies that support renewable energy over nuclear energy and create action plans for implementing these policies in Japan and other countries that depend heavily on nuclear. The Worldwatch Institute recently published an article, “Global Nuclear Generation Capacity Falls,” discussing the current status of the nuclear industry. Last year saw a decline in global nuclear generating capacity, stemming largely from the events at Fukushima and several countries’ reactions. Germany, for example, decommissioned more than 8 gigawatts of nuclear capacity immediately following Fukushima. China, a country that still plans ambitious nuclear capacity growth in the future, suspended its nuclear power plant permitting process pending further review. Japan, which has relied heavily on nuclear energy for decades, took many of its reactors offline, leaving only 10 of its 54 nuclear reactors connected to the grid following the earthquake. China, Climate Change, European Union, Germany, japan, nuclear power, renewable energy Read the rest of this entry The World Bank and other MDBs are increasing funding for renewable energy Commercial lending for sustainable energies has slowed in the wake of the financial crisis, but support from multilateral development banks is on the rise. This multilateral support, however, only accounted for almost one-eighth of the global sustainable energy investment in 2009. Recent estimates suggest that the public financing needed to achieve a stabilized global temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius far exceeds this amount. Despite this limited means, support from multilateral banks is critical in developing countries transitioning to a sustainable energy sector, as these institutions provide technical assistance, concessional loans, and guarantees that can help mitigate the perceived risks associated with renewable energy technologies. The banks also play an important role in building the conditions that enable investors and commercial financiers to plan investments in these sectors. ADB, carbon capture and storage, climate finance, EIB, finance, IDB, nuclear power, project finance, renewable energy, renewable energy finance, World Bank Read the rest of this entry This post is excerpted from an upcoming Worldwatch report on nuclear power in a post-Fukushima world. With the crisis at Fukushima still unfolding as of early April 2011, the long-term impact of the disaster remains highly uncertain. In mid-March, however, London-based bank HSBC undertook a first analysis of some of the areas where the nuclear sector has been and might be affected. These include: Fukushima, japan, nuclear, nuclear power, renewables, stock markets - Safety reviews of reactors in several countries (e.g., Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the U.K., and the United States); - Immediate shutdown of older reactors (e.g., Germany); - Limited or no further lifetime extensions for aging reactors (e.g., Germany, the U.K., the United States); - Suspension of new plant approvals (including in China, which was expected to account for 40 percent of new installations over the next decade); - Review of reactors under construction in seismically active zones; - Higher safety and other costs (as yet hard to quantify) for new and existing nuclear facilities that would render nuclear power less economic or uneconomic; and - Re-evaluation of planned energy policy in all nuclear countries, with a greater focus on energy efficiency measures and natural gas and renewables installations. Read the rest of this entry