Solar, Wind, and Nuclear: South Africa’s New Electricity Plan

The New York Times Green blog has an article on;

The week after the quake and tsunami set off the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan, South Africa’s cabinet ratified a controversial 20-year Integrated Resource Plan that calls for nuclear power to fuel nearly a quarter of the country’s new electricity production.

Monbiot Defend Himself, and Counter-attacks

In his latest blog entry, George Monbiot address reaction to his controversial refusal to oppose nuclear power.

Some Quotes:

“I did point out that most of the countries that might abandon nuclear power are likely to replace it not with renewables but with fossil fuel, and that this is a major change for the worse.”

…

“Even if you accept the official figure, Chinese coal mining alone kills as many people every week as the worst nuclear power accident in history – the Chernobyl explosion – has done in 25 years.”

…

Fukushima and a Brave, or Crazy, Reporter

Fukushima No. 1's scary shadow | The Japan Times Online

"Until March 11, visitors to the plant would have driven up to the reception center, which is surrounded by trees blocking it off from the six reactors. On the glass doors, two cartoon characters would have welcomed them inside for a talk by Tokyo Electric Power Co. on the 40-year-old plant's safety record.

The quake and tsunami broke the glass door and drove a crack through the wall sign advertising the center. While I'm photographing it, a security guard in a protective suit approaches. "You can't come here," he says. "Where is your suit?" I don't have one, I tell him. "You must leave the area.""

Consideration of Nationalizing TEPCO

Nationalization of Tepco seen as possibility | The Japan Times Online

"Tepco is expected to face a huge damages bill in line with a law on compensation over nuclear plant accidents, but it remains unclear whether it will have the financial capacity to pay it. "Since the government has been promoting nuclear energy as official policy, it is necessary for it to ultimately take responsibility," Genba [national policy minister] said, indicating the government will step in to cover expenses that can't be handled by the utility."

Extensive European Study Refutes Super Grid's Clean Benefits

Pöyry: European 'super grid' useless, demand-side management better - POWER-GEN WorldWide

From the Article:

The impact of the weather on the generation of renewable energy is not only expected to lead to more unpredictable prices but will also see greater importance placed on thermal capacity to act as a back up, causing significant dilemmas for investors, the report has found.

These plants become more important to maintain system security, but will find themselves operating less and less, and hence becoming less profitable. However, in countries where hydro accounts for a significant percentage of renewable energy such as those in Scandinavia, there is much less of a requirement for thermal to provide back up support.

The report says: “We have little doubt that investors will face major challenges developing appropriate investment and divestment strategies to deal with this kind of future ahead. Thermal assets may be highly valuable if the market evolves in one direction, but they also face the strong possibility that the intermittency from wind and solar can create power stations that for most of the time do not make a profitable contribution.”

Dilbert: Dogbert Works the Green Angle

Dilbert, March 29, 2011

FIT's End Britain's Free Market

Back to the future: Britain?s 'free market' model ends in failure

Another Industry Executive Rejects New Generation Construction

Former TXU exec said cost too high to build new power plants | Electric Power News | Energy Central

Another speech has been given echoing the opinions of John Rowe noted here earlier this month. The thesis is that the current low natural gas pricing, and bountiful supply, are already driving down the price of electricity. With the profits of generators now more dependent on the price of natural gas than the performance of their existing assets, and demand not rebounding to pre-recession levels, there is no point in building anything - and if there was and it's profitability is going to depend on gas price anyway, it would be gas.

Engineering for the 1000 Year event:

The Japan Times Online today reports that "Signs of disaster were there to see"  There aren't many times that I feel like I live in the New World, but the article made me feel it:

Nuclear News Out of Japan - The Canadians Cited as Contemptable There.

I won't pretend to be a nuclear expert, but there are a couple of reads from closer to Fukushima that may interest this blog's readers.

For data folks, the measurements updated regularly on pages at the MEXT site(Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology-Japan).  Curious amateurs, like me, can pretty quickly view different times and see their is a definite trend in the radiation measurements, in the air anyway.  Which is down.  It appears beyond ridiculous that there are North Americans ignorantly, or stupidly, worried about their own safety, given the trials people are undergoing in Japan.