Iran starts to fuel up first nuclear power plant

BUSHEHR: Iran began fuelling its first nuclear power plant on Saturday after decades of delay and amid international fears it is seeking an atomic bomb and not just electricity.

State television showed live pictures of Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi and his Russian counterpart looking on at what appeared to be a fuel rod suspended from the ceiling.

“The beginning of the first stage of the physical start-up has taken place,” said Sergei Novikov, spokesman for Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Russia has built and supplied the fuel for the Bushehr plant, work on which was initially started by German company Siemens in the 1970s, before Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

Iranian officials say it will take two to three months before the plant starts producing electricity once the uranium-packed fuel rods are moved into the

Hoping for better ties with Pakistan, terrorism issue is crucial: Krishna

Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna said that India is hoping for better ties with Pakistan; however the issue of terrorism is vital.
During the 40-minute meeting between Iranian Parliament’s speaker Ali Larijani and SM Krishna, they discussed regional issues of common concern including the current situation in Afghanistan. Krishna informed Larijani about the two attacks on the Indian embassy in Kabul. Krishna also apprised Larijani of the recent meeting of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Thimphu, Bhutan. He said that India wants cordial relations with Pakistan; however, the issue of terrorism remains New Delhi’s core concern. Larijani noted that terrorism is the common challenge for Iran and India. Krishna arrived in Iran for a four-day visit on Saturday during which he is also expected to discuss the $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project. India walked out of the 2,775 kilometres long gas pipeline project in 2008 mainly due to the huge transit fee demanded by Pakistan.

Turkey, Iran and Brazil agree on fuel swap deal

Turkey’s Foreign Minister said on Sunday that an agreement had been reached between Iran, Turkey and Brazil over procedures to revive a stalled UN backed nuclear fuel swap deal.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Iran for a summit of non-aligned countries, also held talks on the nuclear issue with Iran’s leadership Sunday. Turkey’s foreign ministry said a formal announcement might be made on Monday after any final revisions by the Brazilian and Iranian presidents and the Turkish prime minister. Iran later said it would only swap its LEU for higher grade material and only on its own soil, conditions other parties in the deal said were unacceptable. It denies seeking to build an atomic bomb. Turkey and Brazil, both non-permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, have offered to mediate to find a resolution to the impasse at a time when world powers are in talks to impose a fourth round of U.N. sanctions on Iran. The Brazilian and Turkish leaders have been trying to revive a deal reached last October in which Iran would ship much of its stockpile of enriched uranium abroad for further processing; the uranium would then return as fuel rods for a medical research reactor. Mr. Erdogan suggested to reporters in Turkey before leaving for Iran that the uranium swap could take place in Turkey.

Arms Supplier To Afghan Rebels, Charlie Wilson Dies

Former U.S. Congressman Charles Wilson, whose political career was made famous with the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War,” died Wednesday at the age of 76.
Officials at a Texas hospital says Wilson suffered a heart attack.
The Democratic Representative was known for his push to support Afghanistan in fighting off the Soviet invasion in the 1980’s.
Wilson served 12 terms, from 1972 to 1996, representing Texas’ Second Congressional District and was nicknamed “Good Time Charlie” for his partying ways.

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Arms Supplier To Afghan Rebels, Charlie Wilson Dies was first posted on February 12, 2010 at 2:23 pm.

Iran Now Capable Of Enriching Uranium Above 80%: Ahmadinejad

The Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran is now capable of enriching Uranium above 80 percent level. Addressing a rally Ahmadinejad said that Iran has no intentions of making a nuclear bomb but if it does it would do that candidly. Ahmadinejad said that the first consignment of 20 percent enriched Uranium and 20 percent of Atomic fuel has been prepared.
Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran had the capacity to enrich uranium up to a level of 100 percent — but he said the country had no intention of refining the material to that level. Salehi said Iran would have “good news” on improved nuclear enrichment centrifuges in coming months.
Ali Akbar Salehi also said the production of 20 percent nuclear fuel would be limited to the needs of a Tehran medical reactor of around 1.5 kg per month.

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Iran Now Capable Of Enriching Uranium Above 80%: Ahmadinejad was first posted on February 12, 2010 at 3:06 pm.

China struggles to fuel its nuclear energy boom

BEIJING: China is driving ahead with an ambitious programme to expand its atomic energy capacity over the next decade, raising questions about its ability to find the uranium it will need, at home or abroad.

Total capacity reached 9.1 gigawatts by the end of 2008, and the government fully expects to hit its official 40 gigawatt target well before the 2020 deadline.

China currently operates 11 reactors and has 17 under construction, but has 124 more on the drawing boards, according to industry group the World Nuclear Association (WNA).

The expansion programme will cause its demand for uranium to rocket 10-fold by 2030, making it the world’s second biggest consumer of the radioactive metal following the United States, according the WNA forecasts.

Zhang Guobao, the country’s senior energy official, has repeatedly stated that China intends to raise the bar “by a large margin”, and those in the know believe it should easily smash its existing targets.

Pan Zhiqiang, director of science and technology at the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), one of the country’s two major state-owned nuclear developers, said last month that “reaching 70 GW before 2020 will not be a big problem.”

“There are also estimates that by 2030, total capacity will reach 200 gigawatts, and by 2050, 1,000 gigawatts,” he said.

Concerns have been raised about the availability of sufficient fuel to feed the growing demand in China and elsewhere, but Pan discounted any immediate problems.

He claimed there was “absolutely no problem” finding the uranium to run 40 gigawatts of capacity, either within China’s borders or through overseas acquisitions.

Over the longer term, however, others concede that acquiring enough of the key ingredient in nuclear power generation could be a big challenge.

“The uranium market in the future faces a lot of uncertainties with not a small supply shortage,” said Zhou Zhenxing, who heads the uranium development unit at the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC), the second of China’s big nuclear firms.

RAISING THE BAR

When China announced in a 2006 policy document that it would aim for 40 GW of nuclear capacity by 2020, sceptics noted this meant finding the wherewithal to bring at least two reactors into operation every year. They also pointed out plans were already behind schedule, with no new projects due until 2011, and bureaucratic problems had already delayed others.

But momentum was quickly regained. China had 11 reactors in operation by the end of last year, using a variety of “second-generation” designs from Russia, Canada and France as well as its own research institutes, and there are now another 24 — with 25.4 GW of capacity — approved or under construction.

U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric, now owned by Toshiba is building four of its new AP1000 reactors in coastal Zhejiang and Shandong provinces, securing a much-needed showcase for its untested “third-generation” designs. In exchange, China was granted a generous technology transfer agreement that would make the AP1000 the model for its own “localised” reactors.

Meanwhile, France’s Areva agreed to build two of its European Pressurised Reactors for the Taishan nuclear project in southeast China’s Guangdong.

China’s own nuclear contractors are already looking well beyond the 40 GW target, with Zhou of CGNPC saying his company was already planning to increase capacity to 34 GW by 2020, up from the current level of 3.94 GW.

For a FACTBOX on China’s nuclear power plants and plans, click on

With every province and region keen to grab a stake in the lucrative nuclear sector, both CGNPC and CNNC have been scouring the country for potential projects. Every province along the eastern coast is building new reactors, and a multitude of cities in China’s interior are also lobbying to become the country’s first inland nuclear plant.

URANIUM SCRAMBLE

The need to feed such growing capacity has required the two state-owned giants to hunt the globe for new sources of fuel — with CGNPC chasing uranium reserves in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Australia and Namibia, and CNNC signing deals to explore and develop in Mongolia and Niger.

China has been developing its own uranium mines since the 1950s, mainly in the remote northwest. But total output is a state secret, and it is unclear whether it will be enough to power the dozens of reactors due to go online before 2020.

According to figures from the China Nuclear Industry Association, China has currently developed only a third of the uranium required to fuel 40 gigawatts of capacity by 2020, and exploration needs to be stepped up if China wishes to avoid being exposed to the volatile foreign market.

“The exploitation rate of Chinese uranium mines is actually very low right now, so there is room to improve the supply volume,” said He Kun, a professor at the Nuclear and New Energy Technology Research Institute at Tsinghua University.

Zhou of CGNPC said his company alone would need more than 10,000 tonnes of uranium per year by 2020.

With CGNPC likely to control about half of China’s nuclear capacity by then, that would put total annual demand at around 20,000 tonnes, a massive increase on the 769 tonnes produced in 2008, according to World Nuclear Association estimates.

Pan of CNNC conceded that there was an urgent need to develop new mines for the longer term.

“Uranium supplies don’t constitute an obstacle to the development of nuclear power in China, but we must strengthen our prospecting work, and our research into prospecting technologies. This is absolutely crucial.”

Pan said the supply problem has been overstated, however, noting that both Japan and South Korea have managed to keep their reactors running despite having no uranium of their own.

“Uranium is a commodity and we can import it, and also participate in international uranium mining projects. People say that uranium isn’t very plentiful, but I don’t agree.”

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China struggles to fuel its nuclear energy boom was first posted on December 10, 2009 at 8:24 pm.

New Uranium Units Not to Confront IAEA: President Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN : New Uranium Units Not to Confront IAEA: President Ahmadinejad, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that Iran’s plan to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants was not aimed at confronting the UN atomic watchdog, which censured Tehran last month.

He also said Iran will continue to build the new plants, adding that sites for five of the 10 units had been finalised.

“The news that we announced (about the new plants) was not to confront the board of the agency, as we had assigned the (Iranian) atomic energy organisation to locate several sites (for the new plants) months ago,” the state television website quoted him as saying.

“We recently even asked them (Iran’s atomic agency) about the delay” in identifying the sites, Ahmadinejad said, adding that Iran has always “acted on its decisions, which are definite.”

Soon after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) condemned Iran for building its second uranium enrichment plant late last month, Ahmadinejad announced his government’s decision to build 10 new plants.

Iranian Vice President and atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said at the time that the plan to build the new plants was a response to the IAEA decision.

“The decision taken today is a firm reply to the indecent move by the five-plus-one in the latest IAEA meeting,” Salehi said on November 29, refering to the six world powers comprising the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany who backed the IAEA resolution.

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New Uranium Units Not to Confront IAEA: President Ahmadinejad was first posted on December 9, 2009 at 5:58 pm.