THE worm may have turned on nuclear power, the obvious replacement for coal generation in this increasingly carbon constrained world.
It may be good news for coal producers, particularly those who mine thermal coal.
While emerging economies in Asia are looking at nuclear, the risks and costs associated with it may turn them towards coal, coupled with carbon capture and emissions controls technologies.
A couple of reports over the weekend show a cooling towards atomic energy, even though it has the benefits of having remarkably few carbon emissions.
Global Data reports that while advances in reactor technology are making nuclear generation safer than ever, there is still widespread suspicion of the power source.
The introduction of technologies such as the Generation IV reactor and the European Pressurised Reactor are boosting the profile of nuclear power in countries across the Middle East, north Africa and Asia.
Gen IV reactors offer a higher efficiency of about 40-50%.
It helps reduce the consumption of nuclear fuel compared to the existing generation of nuclear reactors.
The key advantage of the EPR design is the mitigation of situations resulting in a nuclear disaster. These include things such as a core meltdown, hydrogen accumulation – which can lead to an explosion – and the release of radiation from the containment building.
However, despite the improvements and reassuring stress tests initiated at plants around the world, the global public sentiment is still vehemently anti-nuclear.
Japan, Italy, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland have all experienced extreme public resistance and policy changes regarding nuclear power.
Perhaps more telling was the Financial Times interview with General Electric chief executive Jeff Immelt.
GE is one of the world’s largest suppliers of nuclear reactors yet Immelt said investment was moving away from such generation towards renewable energy and gas-fired power stations.
“When I talk to the guys who run the oil companies they say look, they’re finding more gas all the time,” he told the FT.
“It’s just hard to justify nuclear, really hard.”
While Immelt believes the market is leaning towards gas, it is hard for the fuel to replicate the baseload burn coal brings.
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