AREVA announced today that it has agreed to acquire U.S. solar company Ausra. Ausra is a California-based provider of large-scale concentrated solar power solutions for electricity generation and industrial steam production.

Utilizing Ausra’s management team and proven technology, this acquisition launches AREVA’s new solar energy business on a global scale.

Liddell Solar/Coal-Fired Power

By combining Ausra’s proven technology with AREVA’s years of project experience and world class Engineering, Procurement, and Construction skills, AREVA commits to building the most cost-effective concentrated solar power for energy customers around the world.
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In Tuesday’s Editorial section of the Seattle Times, Sid Morrison, Chairman of Energy Northwest’s executive board, talked about the need of nuclear energy to support renewable energy sources in meeting our future electric-energy needs.

Noting that “conservation and renewable-energy sources are an essential and responsible part of the answer to our future energy needs; they just aren’t the whole solution,” he acknowledges “the intermittent nature of wind and solar power is a real problem. On-again/off-again power destabilizes the regional transmission grid through dramatic power swings created by changing weather conditions.”

This is why Morrison calls for full-time baseload power:

Tired attempts to link commercial nuclear power to vastly overblown cost and risk factors and defense wastes are irresponsible. Used commercial nuclear fuel is a valuable commodity that can be recycled, as is the routine in many of the world’s nuclear-energy countries. Approximately 95 percent of the used fuel in every commercial reactor can be recycled safely, thereby reducing dependence on foreign energy sources and minimizing the need for new uranium mines.

He also points out that it will take “multiple sources of power, perhaps all the options available to ensure reliable, affordable, environmentally responsible power is available to grow a vibrant regional economy.”

His whole piece, “Nuclear Power should not be Blindly Dismissed as Part of Total Energy Solution,” is definitely worth a read.