2024-09-25 03:42

Resurrecting Three Mile Island will take years Nuclear revival faces regulatory hurdles, local opponents Potential uranium supply obstacle looms Regulators' busy workload may delay permitting NEW YORK/WASHINGTON Sept 24 (Reuters) - A plan by Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab to use the restart of a Three Mile Island nuclear reactor to help power its expanding data centers reflects the tech industry's hopes nuclear energy can be a quick and climate-friendly answer to its massive electricity needs. But it will be tough to swiftly meet soaring power demand from the data centers behind artificial intelligence with new or resurrected nuclear reactors, as companies will face high regulatory hurdles, potential fuel supply obstacles, and sometimes stiff local and environmental opposition. Microsoft and Constellation Energy (CEG.O) , opens new tab announced a deal to restart a unit at the plant in Pennsylvania on Friday, in what would be the first-ever restart for a data center. At the announcement, Constellation’s CEO Joe Dominguez called nuclear power the only energy source available that is both climate-friendly and reliable enough to support Big Tech’s needs, implying weather-dependent wind and solar energy may not be up to the task. The announcement follows a similar agreement in March in which Amazon.com (AMZN.O) , opens new tab purchased a nuclear-powered datacenter from Talen Energy , and other nuclear contracts for data centers are in the works, power industry sources say. The needs these deals aim to fill are huge. U.S. data center power use is expected to roughly triple between 2023 and 2030 and will require about 47 gigawatts of new generation capacity, according to Goldman Sachs estimates, which assumed natural gas, wind and solar would fill the gap. Climate conscious investors and regulators are keen to ensure this spike does not trigger a huge rise in greenhouse gas emissions. For Microsoft and Constellation, at least, the deal is likely to be challenging to bring to fruition. "Nobody has done this before," said Kate Fowler, global nuclear energy leader for Marsh, an energy insurance broker and risk advisor, about Three Mile Island's attempted restart. "There's going to be challenges that pop up." The Three Mile Island plant made global headlines in 1979 with a partial meltdown at its Unit 2 reactor, the worst nuclear incident in US history. The reopening plan covers the Unit 1 reactor at the Pennsylvania plant, which operated safely for decades before being closed five years ago. The $1.6-billion plan would restart Unit 1 by 2028 to offset Microsoft's data-center power consumption in the region. But key permits for the plant's new life have not yet been filed, regulators say. Getting them could be hard, especially against local opponents who remember the 1979 partial meltdown. Resuming the use of equipment and infrastructure that has been dormant for five years could also be tricky, said Edwin Lyman, a nuclear safety expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Constellation should expect to encounter problems that will be costly and time-consuming to fix," Lyman said. Three Mile Island also will require modified surface and groundwater permits, said Stacey Hanrahan, a spokesperson for the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. "Any modification request will be thoroughly reviewed, and the project's expected water demands will be evaluated for sustainability and potential adverse impacts to the environment and other users," Hanrahan said. OTHER HURDLES There are broader issues that could affect any number of other attempted tech-nuclear link ups in the U.S. For instance, Washington slapped restrictions on enriched uranium imports following Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Securing licenses from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission could also be tricky for any nuclear project. "The NRC currently really has a full plate," said Sola Talabi, a nuclear engineer and president of energy risk consultancy Pittsburgh Technical, noting license applications for different types of reactors the agency has never considered before, including high-tech modular plants and the restart of another decommissioned reactor. Even though President Joe Biden recently signed legislation to streamline the NRC's licensing process, consideration of the queue of new projects by the timelines laid out by companies will challenge NRC personnel and technical resources, Talabi said. For the Talen project, pocketbook issues have become a problem. Even though the plant is operating, Amazon's data center there faces challenges on the federal level from two regulated utilities who predict it could increase transmission costs that would raise power bills. Talen disputes the prediction that the public would face higher power bills or reliability problems from the data center, which could consume enough electricity to power all the homes in New Mexico. In general, simply purchasing power from nuclear plants to run data centers just means diverting it away from other consumers, creating competition for supplies on the grid that could potentially drive up power bills. In the meantime, the Three Mile Island project is posing a major test of public appetite for expanded nuclear power. Talabi said four years is likely enough for Constellation to address any technical issues at Three Mile Island, which could be substantial when sensitive components such as steam generators and reactor vessels have been closed for years. But he emphasized the importance of handling environmental and community concerns that may arise around the site. "Probably more than anywhere else in the country, the need for community engagement to ensure that we have societal acceptance is going to be critical for restart," Talabi said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/us-nuclear-plants-wont-power-up-big-techs-ai-ambitions-right-away-2024-09-24/

2024-09-25 03:11

WARSAW, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Climate change has made downpours like the one that caused devastating floods in central Europe this month twice as likely to occur, a report said on Wednesday, as its scientific authors urged policymakers to act to stop global warming. The worst flooding to hit central Europe in at least two decades has left 24 people dead, with towns strewn with mud and debris, buildings damaged, bridges collapsed and authorities left with a bill for repairs that runs into billions of dollars. The report from World Weather Attribution, an international group of scientists that studies the effects of climate change on extreme weather events, found that the four days of rainfall brought by Storm Boris were the heaviest ever recorded in central Europe. It said that climate change had made such downpours at least twice as likely and 7% heavier. "Yet again, these floods highlight the devastating results of fossil fuel-driven warming," Joyce Kimutai, a researcher at Imperial College London's Grantham Institute and co-author of the study, said in a statement. "Until oil, gas and coal are replaced with renewable energy, storms like Boris will unleash even heavier rainfall, driving economy-crippling floods." The report said that while the combination of weather patterns that caused the storm - including cold air moving over the Alps and very warm air over the Mediterranean and the Black Seas - was unusual, climate change made such storms more intense and more likely. According to the report, such a storm is expected to occur on average about once every 100 to 300 years in today's climate with 1.3 degrees Celsius of warming from pre-industrial levels. However, it said that such storms will result in at least 5% more rain and occur about 50% more frequently than now if warming from pre-industrial levels reaches 2 C, which is expected to happen in the 2050s. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/climate-change-doubles-chance-floods-like-those-central-europe-report-says-2024-09-25/

2024-09-25 02:56

MUMBAI, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee is expected to open higher on Wednesday, boosted by the broad uptick in Asian peers in the wake of China's steps to support the economy and increased odds that the Federal Reserve will opt for one more aggressive rate cut. The one-month non-deliverable forward indicated that the rupee will open at 83.56-83.58 to the U.S. dollar compared with 83.67 in the previous session. The rupee's winning run halted on Tuesday amid dollar buying by a large corporate and other importers alongside outflows related to a MSCI rebalancing that happened last Friday. In Wednesday's session, the rupee "will benefit in a sympathetic move" looking at the yuan, Srinivas Puni, managing director at FX advisory firm QuantArt Market Solutions, said. The dollar/rupee remains range-bound, with bias on the downside considering that the dollar is pressured by Fed rate cut expectations, Puni said. OFFSHORE YUAN CLIMBS PAST 7 The offshore yuan strengthened past the 7.00 handle against the U.S. dollar on optimism over China's stimulus package. China's central bank lowered the cost of its medium-term loans to banks on Wednesday, in a move consistent with broad policy measures announced a day earlier to shore up the economy. The yuan was further helped by weak U.S. consumer confidence data that increased the probability that the Fed will once more cut rates by 50 basis points (bps) at its next meeting in November. U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in September. U.S. consumer confidence has now "slipped to near the bottom of the narrow range it has been in over the past two years," ANZ Bank said in a note. Swaps are now pricing in a more than 60% probability of a 50 bps Fed cut at the November meeting, nearly double compared to a week ago. KEY INDICATORS: ** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 83.68; onshore one-month forward premium at 11.50 paise ** Dollar index up at 100.27 ** Brent crude futures down 0.2% at $75 per barrel ** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 3.74% ** As per NSDL data, foreign investors bought a net $243.3 million worth of Indian shares on Sept. 23 ** NSDL data shows foreign investors bought a net $1 million worth of Indian bonds on Sept. 24 Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-resume-rise-yuan-led-asia-rally-fed-outlook-2024-09-25/

2024-09-25 02:42

Sept 24 (Reuters) - Vertex Energy (VTNR.O) , opens new tab has filed for bankruptcy in a Texas court, just months after it paused renewable diesel output at an Alabama refinery over macroeconomic woes, the U.S. refiner said on Tuesday. Vertex said it will also explore a sale as part of a restructuring agreement with its lenders. The company is set to receive $80 million from Debtor-In-Possession (DIP) financing from lenders to fund bankruptcy proceedings and continue operations, the refiner said in a statement. In May, Vertex paused renewable diesel production at its refinery in Mobile, Alabama, citing macroeconomic woes which the company said might persist through next year. Renewable diesel can fully substitute traditional diesel, but it is much more expensive to make, and therefore, relies on government blending mandates and subsidies. A number of U.S. companies rushed to convert refineries into renewable diesel plants in recent years, betting on higher demand for the fuel from governmental policies designed to speed the transition away from fossil fuels. This has led to a supply glut, outpacing demand for low-emmission biofuels. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/vertex-energy-files-bankruptcy-explores-sale-2024-09-25/

2024-09-25 00:47

NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The dollar bounced off a 14-month low against the euro on Wednesday in choppy trading, but investors held onto bets that the Federal Reserve will make another large interest rate cut at its November meeting on weakening labor optimism. The yuan also eased on growing doubts about the impact of a new round of Chinese stimulus and after the initial rally on the news was seen as overdone. The greenback tumbled on Tuesday after data showed that U.S. consumer confidence dropped by the most in three years in September amid mounting fears over the labor market. “The narrowing in the labor market differential, which is sort of indicative of demand and supply conditions in the employment market, was a very bad omen for the U.S. economy,” said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay in Toronto. “Markets are interpreting this as a sign that the Federal Reserve is very likely to deliver a second emergency-sized cut at its November meeting,” he added. Traders are now pricing in 59% odds of a 50-basis point cut at the Fed’s Nov. 7 meeting, up from 37% a week ago, and a 41% chance of a 25 basis point reduction, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. The Fed last week kicked off an anticipated series of interest rate cuts with a larger-than-usual half-percentage-point reduction that Fed Chair Jerome Powell said was meant to show policymakers' commitment to sustaining a low unemployment rate now that inflation has eased. Data on Wednesday showed that sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell less than expected in August. This week's main U.S. economic focus will be the Personal Consumption Expenditures index for August on Friday. The euro was last down 0.41% at $1.1134 after earlier reaching $1.1214, the highest since July 2023. The dollar index rose 0.68% to 100.91. It earlier fell to 100.21, matching a low from Sept. 18, which was the weakest since July 2023. The greenback gained 1.03% to 144.68 Japanese yen and reached 144.75, the highest since Sept. 3. China's stimulus had earlier contributed to a stronger euro, with its resilience partly driven by a perception that a better outlook for Chinese demand could feed its way back through into Germany and through into Europe, said Jane Foley, senior forex strategist at Rabobank. Despite weak German economic data and concerns about the French budget, the euro has held up "extremely well" against the dollar this week, she said. France's budget deficit risks overshooting 6% of economic output this year, the country's new budget minister, Laurent Saint-Martin, told lawmakers in the National Assembly on Wednesday. The Chinese yuan gave back earlier gains a day after China's central bank unveiled its biggest stimulus since the pandemic to pull the economy out of its deflationary funk and back towards the government's growth target. The dollar was last up 0.33% at 7.033 yuan in offshore trading. The Chinese currency earlier reached 6.9952, the strongest since May 2023. Riskier currencies including some in emerging markets that had rallied on the stimulus also pulled back. “We are seeing a number of risk-sensitive asset classes essentially retracing from the levels that were reached in the aftermath of that announcement, and that's really on the basis of a skepticism among investors as to whether the measures that were announced will succeed in boosting growth in the real economy,” said Schamotta. The Australian dollar, which is viewed as a more liquid proxy for the yuan, also dipped on ebbing inflation in the country. Australian domestic consumer prices slowed to a three-year low in August, while core inflation hit its lowest since early 2022. The Aussie was last down 0.99% at $0.6823. It earlier hit $0.6908, the highest since February 2023. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 1.41% to $63,324. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/australian-new-zealand-dollars-scale-new-highs-china-boost-2024-09-25/

2024-09-24 23:21

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Fortescue (FMG.AX) , opens new tab said on Wednesday it has signed a $2.8 billion partnership with German-Swiss equipment manufacturer Liebherr to create one of the world's largest zero-emission mining fleets. The two companies had initially signed the deal to develop green technology-based trucks to haul iron ore out of Fortescue's mines in 2022 and have now agreed to increase the mining fleet - to be supplied by Liebherr - to 475 trucks from earlier 120. Fortescue, the world's fourth-largest iron ore miner, expects to buy 360 autonomous battery-electric trucks, 55 electric excavators and 60 battery-powered dozers to replace about two-thirds of its current mining fleet. The company's mining fleet consumed about 450 million litres of diesel in FY24 and accounted for 51% of its scope 1 carbon emissions. The iron ore miner has been exploring various strategies to produce green iron - the iron produced with a lower carbon footprint, while also expanding into production of hydrogen from renewable resources. "This is an important next step in our 2030 Real Zero target – to eliminate emissions from our Australian terrestrial iron ore operations by the end of the decade. The world needs Real Zero now – it simply cannot afford to wait," Fortescue Executive Chairman Andrew Forrest said in a statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/australias-fortescue-signs-28-bln-green-equipment-partnership-with-liebherr-2024-09-24/