Mixed Greens: Another knock to the nuclear revival

A combination of cheaper European power prices and carbon credits, falling demand for electricity and faltering government support for nuclear energy has placed in doubt Europe’s largest competitive tender for a nuclear project – the planned expansion of a Czech atomic plant near the German border. Bloomberg reports that the project was “one of the few prizes left for Europe’s nuclear power industry after the Fukushima disaster stopped projects from Switzerland to Romania.”

According to Bloomberg, the Czech Republic and the UK were seen as the the two European countries with the strongest commitment to new nuclear power build. Now projects in both countries are on shaky ground. The Czech project, by local utility CEZ, had Russian and US contractors prepared to bid for the $10 billion contract to build two new reactors. But this investment is now in doubt, with CEZ asking the Czech government, its majority shareholder, to guarantee future purchase price of electricity to ensure return on investment.

At the start of this month, Centrica bailed out of a plan to build new atomic plants in the UK. A day later, Electricite de France threatened to do the same unless the UK government ensured the project would be profitable. “The future of nuclear energy in Europe looks very dim indeed,” said Mycle Schneider, an independent consultant on energy and nuclear power based in Paris. “Nuclear is too capital intensive, too time-consuming and simply too risky.”

In other news…

The ACT has saved almost four million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the life of its Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme – which required all electricity retailers to reduce or offset greenhouse emissions from electricity generation. The ACT’s environment minister Simon Corbell said that in the final six months of the scheme, the 16 retailers providing power in the ACT surrendered 383,902 eligible certificates, representing the equivalent of 383,902 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (t CO2-e). The final report on the scheme will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly today.

Queensland’s state government has received more than 14,000 public submissions on the environmental impact of the Carmichael mine – a coal project by Indian miner Adani, proposed for about 160 kilometres north-west of Clermont in the state’s Central Highlands. The project will include open-cut and underground operations, as well rail infrastructure. ABC News reports that the submissions came from a range of sources, including 16 government agencies, 15 organisations and 22 local landholders.

New research from energy and carbon research firm RepuTex has found that proposed reform in EU Emissions Trading Scheme – in particular, plans to ‘backload’ or temporarily remove 900 million tonnes worth of permits – would likely flow through to the Australian carbon market. Findings of RepuTex’s February Carbon Price Outlook suggest that an Australian carbon price could range between $6.50 or $16 on average over FY2016-2020, depending on the scale and size of any reform in the EU ETS – but they would be unlikely to hit the high levels forecast by the Australian Government in 2011, RepuTex said.