Latest news with #nuclearreactors
The Independent
5 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
A Czech deal to build nuclear reactors worth $18 billion is unblocked after a court clears the way
A deal to build at least two nuclear reactors in Czechia was unblocked Wednesday, after an appeals court dismissed on Wednesday a lower court ruling that blocked the government from signing a deal with South Korea's KHNP power utility. The Supreme Administrative Court said that the ruling was not in line with law, meaning the signing of the deal could go ahead. KHNP won a lucrative public tender last year, beating a competing bid by France's EDF. The two new reactors will be built at the existing Dukovany power plant in an effort for the country to wean itself off fossil fuels. The contract between the dominant power company CEZ, where the Czech state has a majority stake, and KHNP was due to be signed on May 7 but EDF lodged a legal challenge at the regional court in the second-largest Czech city of Brno after the Czech anti-monopoly office dismissed its complaint about the tender. The regional court said on May 6 that the deal could not be signed before it rules on the EDF case, because then there would be no way to change it even if the French company won. CEZ and KHNP challenged that. The two new reactors will complement Dukovany's four 510-megawatt units that were completed in the 1980s. The total cost is estimated to be over over 400 billion koruna ($18 billion). The first new reactor is expected to become operational for a trial by 2036, the second about two years later.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Trump Plans to Tap Biden's Green Bank to Make Billions in Loans
The Trump administration plans to use a $400 billion green bank the president once sought to kill to finance billions of dollars in loans for nuclear reactors, geothermal power and critical minerals, according to details of the administration's fiscal year 2026 budget request. The funding would primarily support the construction of smaller nuclear reactors as well as untested advanced nuclear reactors that have struggled to gain traction. In all, the Energy Department wants to offer more than $67 billion in loan guarantees and other financing over the next two fiscal years, and is asking Congress to approve some $750 million to help pay for the costs of making some of those loans.
CBS News
3 days ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Emergency siren tests happening at two Pennsylvania power stations this week
Pennsylvania officials are warning Chester County residents not to panic if they hear alarms coming from two major power stations this week. The Limerick Generating Station in Pottstown and the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Delta will both conduct tests of their emergency alert siren systems this upcoming week. According to their website, Limerick Clean Energy Center's two nuclear reactors can produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of more than 1.7 million homes. Limerick sits on a 600-acre site and draws its cooling water from the Schuylkill River. The Peach Bottom facility also has two nuclear reactors that can generate 2,770 megawatts and can produce enough energy to power the equivalent of nearly 2 million homes. You can expect to hear the emergency siren coming from the Limerick Generating Station at 2 p.m. on Monday, June 2. Then, on Wednesday, June 4 the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station will conduct their emergency alert siren testing at 1 p.m. Both test alerts should last for about three minutes, officials say.
South China Morning Post
21-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's rare earth exports surged ahead of Trump trade war escalation
Overseas buyers may have stockpiled strategically important rare earths ahead of Beijing's export controls on the critical minerals amid China-US trade tensions and reliance on Chinese suppliers, data released by Beijing showed. Advertisement The export volume of rare earth elements – essential for consumer electronics, electric vehicles and defence systems – reached a nine-month high of 5,600 tonnes in March, up 20.3 per cent year on year. In April, sales were down but still rose 4.8 per cent year-on-year, to 4,785 tonnes. Specifically, outbound shipments of niche rare earth metals, including metallic scandium and metallic yttrium, increased by 20.9 per cent year on year in April to 525.5 tonnes, up 39.9 per cent from March. Shipments of dysprosium oxide, critical for the metal used in nuclear reactor control rods, increased by 24.1 per cent from a year earlier to 5.16 tonnes. Rare earths consist of 17 elements. On April 4, Beijing added seven of these – samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium – to its export control list after US President Donald Trump announced 'reciprocal tariffs' two days earlier. Advertisement Chinese authorities have not disclosed details about overseas rare earth sales.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
South Korean officials express confidence about Czech nuclear deal after court puts it on hold
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officials on Wednesday downplayed a Czech court's decision to put on hold an $18 billion project for South Korea to build two nuclear reactors in the country, describing it as a temporary setback and expressing confidence that the deal will eventually proceed. A South Korean consortium led by the state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power had expected to finalize the deal this week with a subsidiary of CEZ, the Czech Republic's largest electricity supplier. However, a Czech court blocked CEZ from signing the contract while it reviews a complaint from French company EDF, which lost the bid to the South Koreans. South Korean Industry Minister Ahn Dukgeun told reporters in Prague that the court's decision would only delay the signing of the official contract, and that all other procedures would proceed on schedule, assuming that the deal goes through. He said that the Czech government clearly didn't anticipate the court's decision to pause the agreement, and that CEZ plans to appeal. 'The Czech government did not think of (EDF's claims) as a major problem and invited us for the scheduled,' signing ceremony, Ahn said. 'It seems that the Czech government's judgement did not align with the court's ruling.' Lee Ju-Ho, South Korea's acting president, said that Seoul would communicate closely with the Czech side to ensure that the deal is finalized quickly. In July, CEZ selected KHNP over EDF as the preferred bidder to build two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors at the Dukovany plant. EDF filed a court complaint last week after the Czech Republic's competition regulator rejected its appeal over the bidding process. Before he was ousted last month over an ill-fated martial law imposition in December, former conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol had pledged to boost the country's nuclear power exports, arguing that they had suffered under the previous liberal government's push to reduce domestic reliance on nuclear energy. Yoon's government had set a goal of exporting 10 nuclear power reactors by 2030.
