Thread by @BjrnPeters3

I'm at #Kerntechnik2022, the 1st German nuclear industry conference since 2019. It is a different mood today. While back then, the engineers were celebrating decommissioning, the industry offers all support necessary for a lifetime extension.

In their keynotes, the previous and current presidents of the industry association, @Kerntechnik_D, Ralf Güldner and Thomas Seipolt, say they are pessimistic for our NPPs but believe the phase-out is transitory. New SMR technology will eventually make its way to Germany.

@PreussenEl's CEO, Guido Knott, presents his Plan for decommissioning. Interesting fact: per NPP, only 6000 tons of nuclear waste needs to be disposed of - that's nothing. He insists on the fact that no-one is better suited to deconstruct an NPP than the experts who operated it.

In the after noon, I will be presenting a paper on the future of nuclear energy and the technology's construction & operating cost reduction potential. Nuclear energy will only win against King Coal if it is cheaper in Total Cost of Ownership and as easy to handle it.

Jan Prášil from the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade reports on the Czech plan to introduce existing and new nuclear energy. Issue: no SMR is ready to be deployed, but dearly needed to produce Power and (!) hydrogen. Nuclear hostility from DE & AT isn't helpful.

"Das Verständnis der Details ergibt sich aus dem Verständnis des Ganzen, nicht umgekehrt." (@herbertsaurugg, Austrian crisis researcher, speaking about blackout risk and consequences)

The eqivalent to the nuclear INES scale of risk is the probability of large, lengthy, and potentially deadly grid disruptions. Has happened five times since 2000 in Europe but nil times in NPPs here.

Interesting for a statistical physicist having specialized in non-linear dynamics: @herbertsaurugg expects, additional to stress from demand increase and skills shortage, grid disruption through 'complexity overflow', w/ massive supply chain issues.

@urencoglobal has started systematic PR and social media work. Long overdue but very professionally done. Good presentation by Chris Breuer.

In my speech, I presented my paper on the Global Renaissance of Nuclear Energy. What are the success factors for the transition from a world with ~450 reactors to one with 10,000s of reactors? Design-to-cost, Design-to-simplicity, inherent safety features.

Götz Ruprecht, CEO of @DualFluid, presents the reasons for the enormous cost advantage of the patented Dual Fluid technology. His speech triggers a lot of curiosity, many questions, and good wishes for the technological and corporate development.

@Tiefseher, historian and journalist with @welt, presents his ideas on currencies in his dinner speech.
USD: long-term loss, but still 2/3 of reserve currencies.
Bitcoin: a speculation object.
Renmimbi: no trust yet in Chinese government but increasing influence.
EUR: worsening.

His conclusion: Never put all eggs into one basket, gold should be in that basket. And real assets. Cash might be in danger.
Good advice, Daniel D. Eckert!

I skipped the technical sessions in the morning - too far outside my field of expertise.

Now, Lukas Aebi from @KernenergieNews reports that the power coverage gap is increasing, as all countries around Switzerland plan to import more power in the future.

Peter Berben from @ENGIEgroup speaks about the Belgian situation. Nuclear represents 55 pct of all power.

Engie tries to sell the lifetime extension to the Belgian government, i.e., against subsidies. In this market situation, one wonders why.

Outright wrong: They believe they need an Environmental Impact Assessment for a lifetime extension. Never before, however, was an EIA demanded for the continued use of existing infrastructure. EIAs are required only for new buildings. I own 2 legal expertise on this.

One of them is publicly available:
kernd.de/kernd-wAssets/…

The other one from TU Bochum will be published soon. If you need a copy -> direct message.

@MyrtoTripathi from @voicesofnuclear explains the global dimension of the energy transition. The main challenge is that the least part of energy is power. Fuels and industrial process heat are bigger than the power sector.

Nevertheless, France's official policy is still a longterm energy strategy for a nuclear phase-out. The plans to replace its nuclear fleet with modern NPPs still hasn't made it a law.

The French nuclear build-out will not be compromised by uncertainty. This sends a clear signal to future staff, financial markets and suppliers.

In the new rassemblé nationale, pro-nuclear forces are dominant.

New nuclear technologies might play an interesting role.

But even in France, there are anti-nuclear NGOs. But Myrto, as most important French voice speaking out for nuclear, increasingly gets invited to radio and TV shows.

When do @EDFofficiel and @Framatome_ start to support her organizations financially?