Since beginning this blog, I have called for some kind of price on carbon dioxide (CO2), either through a tax or a cap-and-trade system. My reasoning is that this would spur investment in nuclear power, which is, demonstrably, the cleanest way to make electricity on a large scale. Other supporters of a CO2 price, like...
Monthly Archives: July 2010
A cold-blooded look at the CANDU: problems and opportunities
“Look what happened to the CANDU,” a senior official at Rosatom, the Russian nuclear conglomerate, recently told Platts. “It’s a good reactor, but nobody is building it.” Why the post mortem, for a reactor that at six a.m. today was cranking out 62.6 percent of Ontario’s electricity? Because, said the official, a Rosatom analysis indicates that if...
Jacques-talk from Areva: the yellow jersey gets the attention
All businesspeople love sports analogies. Most analogies border on cheeseball; many don’t even apply to the situation. But last Friday, Jacques Besnainou, CEO of Areva North America, used one that actually fit the point he was trying to make. “At the Tour de France, everybody watches the yellow jersey,” he said, referring to the...
Light water nuclear arrives in Canada: NB breaks with AECL
Canada’s first light water–based power reactor will be built in New Brunswick, if an agreement between Areva, the Province of New Brunswick, and NB Power is implemented. The reactor would be one of Areva’s “mid-size” machines, the 1,100 MW Atmea PWR or the 1,250 MW Kerena BWR. Both are exactly in the range of...
Wind missing in action, again, as heat wave smothers Ontario
Anybody who thinks wind and other intermittent renewable energy sources are the answer to Ontario’s power supply problems needs to monitor the electricity system operator’s website. Here we are, in a major heat wave, and the provincial wind fleet is operating at a ONE PERCENT CAPACITY FACTOR. That’s right: wind, the mainstream greens’ preferred power...
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