Vietnam plans 8 nuclear power plants by 2030

Vietnam has announced plans to build eight nuclear power plants by 2030 as the Southeast Asian country strives to meet rising energy demand.

Last year, Vietnam signed a deal with Russia under which a Russian firm will help build the first plant. Construction is to start in 2014 and be completed in 2020.

Construction of the two plants with the total capacity of 4,000 megawatts is expected to cost $11 billion.

Electricity of Vietnam has started building the Song Bung No. 4 hydro-power plant, which will cost 4.9 trillion dong, Dau Tu newspaper reported without saying where it got the information.

The plant will be in the central province of Quang Nam and its first hydropower unit may start operating in 2013, the newspaper said.

Cameco /quotes/comstock/11t!cco (CA:CCO 23.18, -0.65, -2.73%) /quotes/comstock/13*!ccj/quotes/nls/ccj (CCJ 22.19, -0.71, -3.10%) announced today it is pursuing long-term co-operation opportunities with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co., Ltd. (CGNPC) to supply uranium fuel for its growing fleet of nuclear power plants.

CGNPC, China's largest clean-energy enterprise, with the largest number of nuclear power plants under construction in the world, needs uranium to fuel its four existing reactors and others currently under construction. CGNPC indicates that it has about 20,000 megawatts (MW) of nuclear capacity under construction and expects to have over 50,000 MW on line by 2020.

NEW DELHI: China is expected to announce its decision to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan’s Chashma province at the meeting of Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting in New Zealand on Thursday. Chinese official media said Beijing will go ahead with its decision to “finance” the construction of two 650-mw nuclear power plants. India’s opposition to China’s plans to help the nuclear proliferation rogue in its neighbourhood is not being shared by the US and other members of the NSG.

The write up in the daily comes after the recently concluded visit of Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani during which Chinese defence minister Liang Guanglie announced that “China would join hands with Pakistan to bring military relations to a new high” . China’s plans to build two nuclear reactors came to light when state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced in April this year that it will export nuclear power reactors to Pakistan in a $2.375-billion agreement.

Extract Resources Ltd., an explorer seeking to develop the world’s second-largest uranium mine, said its Namibian venture is expected to begin production in 2014 and is “well timed” to meet a projected increase in demand.

Supply is expected to fall short of demand by 2015, driving up prices, Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Leslie said. Nations may rely increasingly on nuclear power after the BP Plc disaster in the Gulf of Mexico prompts stricter regulation and calls for alternatives to oil, he said in an interview in Sydney today. “Nothing makes an impact to the extent that nuclear would.”

Extract, about 15 percent owned by Rio Tinto Group, seeks to gain from a nuclear power revival as countries turn to the technology to meet energy demand and curb carbon emissions. The company expects its Rossing South mine to produce more than 15 million pounds of uranium oxide a year and become the second biggest after Cameco Corp.’s McArthur River mine in Canada.

Korea Electric Power Corp., South Korea’s biggest electricity provider, said in March that it and Korea Resources Corp. may make a joint bid for a stake in Extract.

Extract moved its headquarters to London from Perth, Australia, after appointing Leslie and Chief Financial Officer Peter Sydney-Smith. The London base puts Extract in the middle of “one of the biggest capital markets in the world” and makes travel to its African mine easier, said Leslie.

The company, whose shares are listed in Australia and Toronto, is keeping its office in the Western Australia capital.

The Coca Codo Sinclair dam is to be completed in 2016, when it will cover 35% of the country's energy needs, Glas said

SHREVEPORT, La., June 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), said today that construction of the John W. Turk, Jr. Power Plant will continue under an option to sell in other markets the power originally planned to serve the company's Arkansas retail customers.

The projected completion date for the Turk Plant is October 2012.

BEIJING (Commodity Online): Is uranium turning out to be the hottest commodity—hotter than gold—in China? China has been trying to amass gold reserves to emerge as the largest yellow metal owning country in the world. But China’s craze for commodity investment does not just stop by gold alone. Uranium is one commodity that the dragon country is heavily investing in these days.

According to Thomas Neff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, China will double the amount of uranium it stockpiles this year, to 5,000 metric tons.

He said China is stepping up investments in uranium as part of its push to develop nuclear power on a massive scale, and state-owned companies have already been scouting uranium investments abroad.

Countries have been investing in uranium in the wake of new nuclear power plants that are coming up across the world. Combined with the fact that America is considering new nuclear power plants as well, uranium bulls have reason to be more excited these days.

ianadds wrote:For our Canadian and Australian Friends..
Extract Seeks to Develop Second-Biggest Uranium Mine, Moves Base to London
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-25/extract-seeks-to-develop-second-biggest-uranium-mine-moves-base-to-london.html

Extract Resources Ltd., an explorer seeking to develop the world’s second-largest uranium mine, said its Namibian venture is expected to begin production in 2014 and is “well timed” to meet a projected increase in demand.

Supply is expected to fall short of demand by 2015, driving up prices, Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Leslie said. Nations may rely increasingly on nuclear power after the BP Plc disaster in the Gulf of Mexico prompts stricter regulation and calls for alternatives to oil, he said in an interview in Sydney today. “Nothing makes an impact to the extent that nuclear would.”

Extract, about 15 percent owned by Rio Tinto Group, seeks to gain from a nuclear power revival as countries turn to the technology to meet energy demand and curb carbon emissions. The company expects its Rossing South mine to produce more than 15 million pounds of uranium oxide a year and become the second biggest after Cameco Corp.’s McArthur River mine in Canada.

Korea Electric Power Corp., South Korea’s biggest electricity provider, said in March that it and Korea Resources Corp. may make a joint bid for a stake in Extract.

Extract moved its headquarters to London from Perth, Australia, after appointing Leslie and Chief Financial Officer Peter Sydney-Smith. The London base puts Extract in the middle of “one of the biggest capital markets in the world” and makes travel to its African mine easier, said Leslie.

The company, whose shares are listed in Australia and Toronto, is keeping its office in the Western Australia capital.

HANOI (AFP) - – Food and drinks giant PepsiCo plans to invest 250 million dollars in Vietnam to tap growth in the fast-developing country, the company said in a statement obtained Wednesday.

The investment will be made over three years, Saad Abdul-Latif, chief executive officer of PepsiCo Asia, said in the statement.

Rival Coca-Cola announced in September that it planned to double its investment in the country to 400 million dollars.

First Solar Inc. announced plans Thursday to build two manufacturing plants - one in the United States and one in Vietnam - that will each employ about 600 people when completed in 2012.

JAPAN will take its last operational nuclear reactor offline next weekend, but the country may not be nuclear-free for long.

Since the earthquake and tsunami devastated the country's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility on 11 March last year, all but one of Japan's 54 reactors have been taken offline for routine maintenance or safety checks. With public opposition to nuclear power strong, none has yet restarted. Japan's last operational reactor, on the northern island of Hokkaido - will go offline on 5 May.