Nuclear energy development news roundup for 11/9/15

Proposed Xe-100 pebble-bed nuclear reactor is designed for an abundant target market

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Ontario's electricity system has not yet passed gas

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Ontario’s electricity system includes generators fueled by natural gas. This is suddenly a hot topic as a campaign lobbying councils to say no to this type of generation moves through municipalities. The “no gas” lobbying appeals to a desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, exploiting predictions of increased use of natural gas in generating electricity in the province. This article will explore what entities have been the key drivers of emissions in Ontario’s electricity system, the credibility of the body being cited predicting increased generation fueled by natural gas and, if all goes well, convince the reader they are not willing to decrease global carbon emissions at any cost. Background on the IESO’s pretend market My previous post reconstructed a method to estimate losses on electricity exports out of Ontario. The measure does not indicate Ontario would be better off if it didn’t export its excess, but that Ontario would be better off with data discipline and consistent me...
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Spilling on OPG's wasted hydro

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Ontario continues to waste its water rights on the Niagara river. I revisited some posts I've written on this topic today, and updated data to bring the graphics up to the end of 2015 A very quick refresher to explain this first graphic. The U.S. and Canada share water rights on the Niagara river. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) runs the Niagara river power plants in Ontario, and there are similar plants on the U.S side (R. Moses Niagara). When I first encountered the issue  in 2011, the U.S. side had additional generation because OPG could not get enough water through its turbines to utilize the full allocation. In March 2013 OPG completed the Niagara tunnel , which was to get more water to it's turbines. OPG claimed output would increase by 1.6 million megawatt-hours (MWh). I've collected Ontario generation data back to 2010, and compared monthly summaries to the U.S. Energy Information Administration data for the U.S. sites. The opposite of what should have happene...
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Hurting Michigan

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Parker Gallant has called for the Ontario government to "shutdown the intertie line with Michigan" - in an article that notes some of my work. I feel I should offer some support as Michigan is being a lousy neighbour and it would feel therapeutic, if nothing else, to respond. I'll try to stick to data. The system operator in Ontario (IESO) data indicates the Michigan intertie is the most lucrative for exports - but that's not saying much: exports at that intertie were bought in Ontario for an average of just 1.2 cents/kWh ($12/MWh) in 2020 - but were in such high demand another 0.9 cents/kWh of congestion rent was paid. Over the past 5 years congestion rents comprise 46% of the revenue on the Michigan intertie. The IESO's insiders' committees are considering how much of  this revenue to share with the exporters instead allowing it to solely benefit internal Ontario consumers. Action #1: hell no. Issue a ministerial directive that congestion rents will only b...
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