Poland and Westinghouse sign agreement for first reactor in Poland.

[Statistical]

Westinghouse Electric Company LLC today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with leading Polish energy provider Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) to collaborate on delivering the AP1000™ nuclear power plant in response to Poland's initiatives for nuclear capacity.

Under the agreement, Westinghouse and PGE will jointly study the feasibility of building new nuclear reactors in Poland based on the AP1000™, the world's most advanced and mature Generation III+ design, which includes innovative features such as modular construction, advanced passive safety systems, and a solid portfolio of construction projects that are currently on time and within budget.

Bob Pearce, Director, International Project Development, says that the agreement with PGE is an important step in offering Poland a genuine solution to the country's most challenging energy issues. "We welcome the opportunity to partner with PGE in supporting Poland's nuclear energy program, and look forward to collaborating on meeting their economic and energy priorities. With Poland's need to reduce its carbon footprint by 2020, nuclear energy and the AP1000 PWR are the right solutions for providing reliable baseload electricity that is sensitive to the needs of the environment."

Pearce adds that Westinghouse is committed to building long-term partnerships in Poland. "The AP1000 PWR provides a greater opportunity for localization of supply for these projects, resulting in jobs and long-term economic benefits for the people of Poland. We welcome the opportunity to develop a clean, reliable, and secure energy source utilizing the significant skills of the Polish people."

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/westinghouse-and-pge-agree-to-partner-on-delivering-nuclear-energy-solutions-for-poland-92192524.html

Another country which didn't get "nuclear energy is dead" memo. That would be India, China, Jordon, and UAE just this week. Some kind of global fax machine outage.

A lot of activity globally for this dead industry. Glad to see AP1000 being considered in another European project. I think that "portfolio of projects on-time and on-budget" is a slam on Areva (French nuclear supplier).

[NNadir]

1. Areva had some FOAKE costs in Finland, I think, but I wouldn't count them out.

I confess that I'm something of a Francophile myself, although when I used to go to France a lot, my French friends and I would have this sort of fun rework of French American, um, difficulties, especially on Victory in Europe days.

I love that country, the art, the design, the food, the science, the mathematics.

To be sure, France has its problems, but, well, I love that country...

I keep telling my boys to learn to speak French.

As for Areva...

The EPR projects in China, from what I understand, are going quite well.

What I like about the EPR is that it is designed for flexible fuels, MOX, thorium...

From what I understand, this reactor is designed to produce burn-ups of 60 GW-day/ton, no small feat with a light water moderated reactor.

Areva should drop its wind business though. It's just a distraction from serious business.

Much of the world's nuclear manufacturing infrastructure was destroyed by ignorance. Nevertheless, it seems to be making a very nice comeback, and I'm very encouraged by all the forges, mills, etc, etc, being built around the world. France was really the most recent country to build a strong and vibrant nuclear infrastructure from the ground up. They really got into it when everybody else was fumbling back to fossil fuel hell.

Now they are lighting the way.

[Statistical]

3. Yeah I got nothing against the French.

Finland EPR site isn't doing to well but it was first one so growing pains are to be expected.
It will take 7 or 8 reactors build in multiple countries to have a representative sample of time / costs / complications / realistic expectations

I just think Westinghouse was making a dig at Avera.

The AP1000 is also rated at 60GWd/MTU. Some existing GenII Westinghouse designs have been retrofitted to handle 60GWd/MTU.

Really the only thing that is holding burnup back is that per unit of energy uranium is insanely cheap.

I mean even at 45GWd/MTU and $60,000 per ton of uranium that is 18,000 kWh of energy for a $1. To put it into perspective if gasoline was as cheap (in terms of energy per $) gasoline prices right now would be about 0.2 cents per gallon. A fillup 20 gallons would be 4 cents.


So to anyone who thinks uranium is expensive. If you could fillup an SUV for 4 cents how many companies would be interested in raising fuel efficiency of vehicles? :)

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Public acceptance of nuclear energy is up over 50% in Poland

THAT is a big change -- IIRC, the Poles were positively phobic about nuclear energy even ten years ago, and it seemed to have extended back to the Communist regimes, even pre-dating Chernobyl.

Here's the relevant section from Wikipedia's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the_European_Union">Nuclear power in the European Union article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the_European_Union#Poland">Poland

Poland has no active nuclear power stations. In the 1980s, the planned Żarnowiec Nuclear Power Plant had been nearing completion when the Chernobyl disaster led to increased safety fears and growing local protests. The project was cancelled in 1990.

Around 95% of the nation's electricity is currently produced by burning coal (of which Poland has the EU's largest reserves) but with the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, in 2006 the nuclear option was reviewed. A 2006 feasibility study suggested it optimal to build a 11.5 GWe capacity nuclear power plant. However, this proving unaffordable in the immediate future, Poland decided to build a 4.5 GWe nuclear power plant by 2030. In 2007, a draft energy policy proposed a 10 GWe nuclear capacity by 2030 to provide 10% of electricity. The deadline gives an estimated ten years for investment and construction and five years of public campaigning.

In July 2006, Poland joined Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia to build a new nuclear power plant to replace the Ignalina units being shut down due to pressure from the EU. Poland would invest 22% with these other countries into the project, which will be operational by 2015. The total costs of the project amounts to EUR 6 billion. Poland is guaranteed to have 1,200 MWe from the power plant and is in the process of upgrading transmission capacity between Lithuania and Poland.

In a public opinion poll, 60% of the population supported construction of a nuclear power plant in Poland to reduce its dependence on foreign sources of energy. Additionally, 48% supported construction of a nuclear power plant in their neighborhood, citing local benefits that include lower energy costs.

(Footnotes removed; format changes are mine. Complete article may be read at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the_European_Union#Poland">Nuclear power in the European Union: Poland

Four power plants with inked contracts in one week? That's an impressive post-mortem.

--d!