Our friends over at the Nuclear Energy Institute are getting the word out about nuclear power… they’ve become a corporate sponsor of the Washington Capitals.  They’ll have an ad on the dasherboard at the Verizon Center (where the Caps play their home games) and at the Kettler Iceplex in Arlington, VA (where the Caps practice), as well as having ads run on radio and TV broadcasts of the Caps’ games.
 
They’re coupling it with a great website that talks about the effects of climate change on outdoor games like ice hockey (which, of course, requires cold enough temperatures for lakes and ponds to freeze) and promoting nuclear energy as a necessary part of our carbon-free energy future.
 
A funny quote from NEI’s original article about the sponsorship:
 

A random, remarkable story: while standing in the beer line between periods at last week’s game against Chicago, I overheard two Blackhawks fans talking about seeing Alexander Ovechkin play in person for the first time. Fan A to fan B, “I think he is nuclear-powered.”

We hope you’ll check out their new site.  Kudos to NEI for getting the word out!

by Jarret Adams

Antinuclear activists lately have been trotting out that old chestnut that nuclear energy is not really CO2-free and that this claim is some type of deception. Here’s the short version: nuclear power plants do not produce CO2 while they are producing electricity. For each new AREVA EPR™ reactor that we build, we can avoid 10 million tons of CO2 emissions per year compared to a coal-fired plant.

Chart courtesy NEI.

Here’s the longer version: all power sources, including nuclear energy, renewables, fossil fuels and everything else, produce CO2 at various points during their respective lifecycles. There are emissions during the construction of new facilities, manufacturing of components, obtaining and refining the fuel, transportation to and from the facility, and so on. On the basis of lifecycle emissions, there is no energy source that does not produce some CO2 emissions when one includes full lifecycle and all related activities.

Nevertheless, even when one considers the lifecycle emissions of nuclear energy and renewables, they are very comparable. Reputable studies confirm this. A 2002 University of Wisconsin study showed that nuclear energy had 17 tons of CO2 emissions per Gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity compared with 14 tons of CO2 emissions per GWh for wind. For comparison, coal had 1,041 tons of CO2 emissions per GWh.

Several other studies, including 2008 study by the International Energy Agency (OECD), and a 2006 study by the U.K. Government, offer similar conclusions: nuclear energy lifecycle emissions are similar to wind and lower than solar photovoltaic. Here also is a great article from a UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) publication that lays it out well.

This should take nothing away from renewables – AREVA supports renewables. We are currently installing our M5000 offshore wind turbines off the coast of Germany and recently announced an agreement to build 80 more. These 5 MW turbines are the world’s biggest, and we hope to build hundreds of them around the world, including here in North America.

The point is that nuclear energy and renewables are complementary and are key elements in helping us move toward a low-carbon future. Anti-nukes seem to believe that a dollar spent on nuclear energy is a dollar taken away from renewables. This is not true. We need to begin investing more in both if we are serious about addressing our energy and climate change goals.

By Katherine Berezowskyj

Huge efforts continue in both funding and research to make sure that Smart Grid technologies becomes a reality for the U.S. Making the grid will be more efficient is key to meeting growing U.S. energy needs and reducing our current environmental impact from energy generation.

Today the Wall Street Journal discussed how stimulus funds are being awarded to help transform the U.S. power grid from a “largely electromechanical system into a digital network that gives utilities more efficient ways to send electricity to customers.” Providing the U.S. with successful Smart Grid technology means important reductions in wasted electricity “that could help cut pollution and electric bills.”

The Journal’s article also discussed the development of smart meters. These are devices which allow utilities monitor usage in real time, letting them change the variable prices based on demand.

Other ongoing work includes the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) research and development work on the generation, delivery and use of electricity. To help with the organization’s important Smart Grid research, AREVA’s Transmission and Distribution division (T&D) just announced that it will supply intelligent electronic devices to the institute. T&D will be donating 13 different devices as part of its ongoing commitment to critical smart grid development.

These devices will be installed in the institute’s labs in Knoxville, Tenn., Charlotte, N.C., and Lenox, Mass., which are acting as substations simulators. At these locations, EPRI will use the devices provided by AREVA T&D and other companies, to simulate a Smart Grid for running various scenarios and tests. The EPRI researchers, working with utilities, AREVA T&D, and other companies will study a variety of realistic Smart Grid situations and capabilities.

“The goal of this project is to provide a test best for new ideas to address the challenges facing the Smart Grid,” explained Paul Myrda, the Technical Executive at EPRI. This is just some of the important work that is contributing to towards a more efficient, more reliable, Smart Grid for the U.S.

Be sure to read the rest of the Wall Street Journal article “Stimulus Funds Speed Transformation toward ‘Smart Grid’”

For more information about AREVA T&D contribution of intelligent electronic devices, check here.

And if the AREVA Med recognition at the CGI event has you curious for more background on this effort, do see the interview with CEO Patrick Bourdet here:

http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2009/05/areva-enters-nuclear-medicine-market.html

By Jarret Adams

Secretary Chu

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Sept. 24 that he would “push for billions of dollars in new loan guarantee authority” to help facilitate the construction additional nuclear power plants.

“If you really want to restart the American nuclear energy industry in a serious way…we (need to) send signals to the industry that the U.S. is serious about investing in nuclear power plants,” Chu told Dow Jones. He added that there are four or five more that could go forward with additional loan guarantee support. In fact, the number is much larger than that.

While the Department of Energy (DOE) has received applications for loan guarantees that would total more than $100 billion, it only has enough to backstop loans of $18.5 billion, about four to five new plants.

Sec. Chu also noted that nuclear energy is an important factor in helping prevent CO2 emissions. “It’s part of how we’re going to get to the carbon reductions we need in order to avoid the worst of climate change,” he told Dow Jones.

This Op Ed from a retired Oregon State University professor hits the nail on the head:

“Loan guarantees are essential. They provide predictable financing and reduce the interest costs on private loans, which result in lower costs for consumers. The government already guarantees many billions of loans each year to help farmers, exporters, businesses and students. The government does not actually lend the money but agrees to pay it back in case the borrower defaults. If nuclear projects are properly managed, loan guarantees will cost taxpayers nothing.

The climate-change bill approved by the House would create a clean energy bank to provide loans for nuclear power and other types of low-carbon technologies. But the House arbitrarily placed a 30-percent limit on nuclear power’s share of the loans. If allowed to stand, the restriction would mean there would not be enough loans to go around for most of the nuclear plants now on the drawing board. The Senate needs to remove the restriction so that this country can benefit from a major expansion of nuclear power.

Being the largest source of carbon-free energy, nuclear power is part of the solution, not the problem. This is an enormous opportunity to contribute to the security and safety of ourselves and the rest of the world.”

N.Y. Times columnist Nicholas Kristof presents the CGI recognition to AREVA Med President Patrick Bourdet…

Clinton Global Initiative 2009

Today in New York, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) recognized AREVA and its subsidiary AREVA Med LLC for its pioneering work in developing new methods for producing medical-grade Lead 212─ a promising isotope for combating cancer.

As the world leader in clean energy generation, AREVA has rather unique expertise in radiochemistry and nuclear engineering that now we are using to help devise new ways to extract rare isotopes.

AREVA Med President Patrick Bourdet said, “Now that the project has reached important scientific and technical milestones, we are excited to share our optimism about our work. We are committed to the possibility that we can combat cancer with innovative new treatments, and the production of medical-grade lead 212 is a major step forward. We are honored by this recognition by the prestigious Clinton Global Initiative.”

This recognition by the CGI is also an acknowledgement of the work done in cooperation with our remarkable partners, the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Find out more information on AREVA Med LLC here.

And this is the second year in a row that AREVA has been recognized by the CGI. Last year ADAGE, our joint-venture with Duke Energy to build biomass plants, was spotlighted.

by Katherine Berezowskyj

If you are going to be at the GridWeek conference in our nation’s capital this week, be sure to check out booth #103. Here, AREVA’s Transmission & Distribution (T&D) division is demonstrating its unique system for integrating its Smart Grid technologies and renewable power generation.

AREVA T&D's Booth at GridWeek

AREVA’s Smart Grid Suite, which includes a range of e-terra products, helps to manage and optimize the grid efficiency. As part of AREVA’s work in grid efficiency, AREVA was awarded a Department of Energy grant in July to study global best practices in grid tools and operations for wind plants. This will provide the basis for the U.S. grid to operate with more wind power generation

This is a complimentary effort for expanding CO2-free power generation that supports AREVA’s rapidly growing renewable sector. Some of the major projects currently under development around the world include biopower (biomass to electricity) and offshore wind.

In this Sunday’s column, Pulitzer Prize winning author Thomas Friedman calls for more political bravery and will in regards to the US energy policy and energy independence…and in doing so he also brings up the role of nuclear power:

“France today generates nearly 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power plants, and it has managed to deal with all the radioactive waste issues without any problems or panics. And us? We get about 20 percent and have not been able or willing to build one new nuclear plant since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, even though that accident led to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or neighbors. We’re too afraid to store nuclear waste deep in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain — totally safe — at a time when French mayors clamor to have reactors in their towns to create jobs. In short, the French stayed the course on clean nuclear power, despite Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and we ran for cover.”

In an ongoing series highlighting our different social network efforts, today we would want to thank our Twitter Followers: