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Article today: Delay to small nuclear reactors as ministers battle over costs
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/1c817cda-8e97-11ed-a303-61858d68dcd6?shareToken=de6f378da7a9237bee1d1b58944e42a5
A funding deal for the first fleet of mini nuclear reactors is not expected to materialise for at least another 12 months, amid a row in government over the cost of Britain’s wider nuclear ambitions.
Current power demand is high due to low temperatures, no wind and virtually no solar available at this time of year.
Really highlights why renewables are not a simple solution. https://gridwatch.co.uk/
UK needs SMR come, come on UK Gov get finger out.
Octopus energy were offering households over £1 per kW if they could feed any power back into the grid yesterday evening, just goes to show how desperate the situation is.
Its viable IMO because this is not the first time RR have split the atom. They make small, highly efficient reactors already and all they are proposing to do is to make them a bit bigger and put them in a much simpler environment than their current reactors operate in. The decarbonisation of the uk is coming for that there is no doubt, mainly from wind however in the foreseeable future there is NO current technologies capable of storing enough of the power needed when the wind does not blow.
£ for MW on capital expenditure a RR SMR is cheaper than biomass. In 2015 a local Biomass plant was built for £138m.
"Estover's £138m 27.7MWe biomass CHP plant in Cramlington, Northumberland was financed in September 2015.
£48m of equity was committed by John Laing Group plc and the UK Green Investment Bank plc alongside £90m of debt from Barclays Bank plc, with an export credit guarantee from EKF."
This puts biomass in this example at £4.98m per MW. RR SMR's 470MW plant is about £4.26m. I also think the environmental credentials of biomass are questionable.
ATAT
Early development is fine by me, often most these statements are more about PR, but it shows RR continue to explore emerging technologies and hopefully steal a march on their competitors.
Looking forward to the Ultrafan engine, got the impression that development was scaled back a bit, Do you have any info on current progress?
I agree if its on the cards, IAG will make a move very soon. EasyJet are getting it together now, FY22 looks like it will be as forecast. If Q1 2023 update shows a move to profit the share price will move so I suspect any offers will be made before that.
Taken a position on easyjet this last week as it looks like they are are getting it together and are a possible take over target for IAG. I also wanted some exposure to the narrow body market.
Anyway I read a while ago about the RR and EasyJet partnership on sustainable fuels but didn't take a lot of interest in it.
In doing a bit research on EasyJet and coming across this on their website:
"Together with Rolls-Royce, we are pioneering the development of hydrogen combustion engine technology, capable of powering an easyJet sized aircraft in the future. Hydrogen has zero carbon emissions and the potential to also significantly reduce non-CO2 effects from aviation. And when we speak about “easyJet-size aircraft”, this means we are addressing the narrowbody aircraft segment, which is absolute key to achieving decarbonisation at scale."
It would suggest that RR are working on a Hydrogen engine for the narrowbody market.
Might not be long. Good article in times about airbus picking up and mentions Rolls will benefit from orders.
Airbus said: “The groundwork continues throughout all sites to secure [a] rate [of] 75 and adapt to the higher proportion of A321s.”
The company also reported that it had delivered 42 of its long-haul, wide-body, twin-aisled A350s, the aircraft that runs exclusively on engines built by Rolls-Royce and that competes with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
In good news for Rolls, Airbus said: “On wide-body aircraft, the company is exploring, together with its supply chain, the feasibility of further rate increases to meet growing market demand as international air travel recovers.”
No I don’t agree. Our T/O and net profit are up year on year.
We have added to bottom line and shareholder funds are increasing month to month. We do not see any recession. Imports and transportation costs are rising massively but we just keep marking up and pushing on.