SONE Newsletter 308 – May 2025

Posted by Wade Allison on 20 May 2025 in Newsletters

Tagged with: Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, EDF, Ed Miliband, Finland, Fusion, India, Italy, Netherlands, Regulation, Spain, Springfields.

This month

The Grid Blackout in Spain/Portugal 28th April 2025

As many in SONE appreciate, an electricity grid heavily reliant on solar and wind is likely to prove unstable because of intermittency and lack of inertia. These problems do not arise in the same way with thermal generators – coal, gas and nuclear – or even hydro. Such an accident inevitably demonstrates the benefit of nuclear as a thermal generator stabilised by the inertia of the heavy turbine spinning at 3000 rpm synchronised with the 50 Hz output.

On 28th April such a drastic instability occurred in the Iberian Peninsula with parts of South West France. As described by El Pais what happened was not expected or understood by the authorities. https://english.elpais.com/spain/2025-04-28/what-is-known-and-what-remains-unknown-about-the-massive-blackout-in-spain.html

At 12:32 p.m. local time, “a very strong fluctuation in power flows” was detected in the electrical grids. This fluctuation was due to a loss of generation, meaning a drop in electricity production, which in Spain comes mainly from nuclear plants, hydroelectric plants, combined cycles, and solar and wind farms. This power loss was caused by the sudden disappearance of 15 GW of generation for five seconds. To understand the scale of the problem, the five nuclear power plants in Spain have a combined installed capacity of 7.4 GW. The fluctuation caused by this drop, the causes of which are still being investigated, triggered the disconnection of the Spanish electrical system from the European grid, which relies on an interconnection with France. This disconnection “led to the collapse” of the system and the subsequent widespread blackout, according to Eduardo Prieto, Director of Operations Services at Red Eléctrica, in an initial press conference at 2:30 p.m. Later, at 7:00 p.m., Prieto reiterated this explanation and emphasized that this is an “absolutely exceptional event,” of a dimension never before seen in Spain.

Portugal has no nuclear plants at present and Spain is due to shut down its existing ones. The grid breakdown has highlighted the problem. An extended US discussion with guest speaker, Kathryn Porter of Watt-Logic, UK, is worth watching: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7324116892661559296/comments/.

The relevance to policy in the UK is emphasised by an article in the Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/8b3fa38d300cdcc6. The need is for decisions on nuclear deployment without delay, despite Miliband’s belief in renewables and aversion for nuclear.

An intriguing aspect is the behaviour of the Europe-wide grid. The transient created by the loss of Iberian power correlated with fluctuations in Latvia! Synchronising the phase of the extended grid at 50 Hz over many thousands of miles is challenging in principle. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rafael-segundo-1691702b_powersystems-blackout-spain-ugcPost-7325073049873969152-lo_7

More on grid vulnerability

A recent ominous posting highlighted the vulnerability of solar supplies to sabotage. Reuters: ‘Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters’.
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-found-chinese-inverters-2025-05-14/

LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter said. Power inverters, which are predominantly produced in China, are used to connect solar panels and wind turbines to electricity grids. In fact, they play the critical role in maintaining grid stability in the absence of spinning inertia.

The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) has issued an urgent warning, calling for restrictions to be placed on remote access to PV inverters from high-risk vendors.

Europe’s energy sovereignty is at serious risk due to the unregulated and remote control capabilities of PV inverters from high-risk, non-European manufacturers – most notably from China.

The risk is not theoretical. Modern inverters are required to be connected to the internet to fulfil essential grid functions or to participate in the power market. However, these connections also allow for software updates – meaning any manufacturer can alter the performance of these devices remotely. This introduces significant cybersecurity threats, including the potential for deliberate interference or mass shutdowns.

They state that 70% of all inverters installed in 2023 came from Chinese vendors, mainly Huawei and SunGrow and that these two companies alone already control remote access to 168 GW of PV capacity in Europe (DNV Report, p. 40). By 2030, this figure is projected to exceed 400 GW.

Any risk from nuclear power suddenly looks rather small!

Two debates in Parliament

Thank you to Virginia Crosbie for sending links to two debates in the Lords.

First on SMRs:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2025-01-22/debates/97C26536-2AC6-4AAB-96C9-5093260DDF70/SmallModularNuclearReactors

and then on power generation in Wales:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2025-04-29/debates/8498822E-01DE-4465-8D4F-EF77FC2999C1/WalesNuclearPowerGeneration

They include a rather profound comment by Lord Blunkett in praise of a loosely coupled grid that can be disconnected when appropriate:

My Lords, in the light of the outage in Spain and Portugal over the last 48 hours, are not devolved and diffuse sources of clean energy absolutely crucial to our security? What measures will the Government take on the back of what is happening in Spain and Portugal to ensure that we can disconnect from the grid if need be in order to maintain sources across the country?

Indeed.

More countries turn to nuclear, but not Australia yet

By 102 to 8 with 31 abstentions Belgium has voted to lift their nuclear power embargo. Italy, too, has adopted a plan to return to nuclear power.

Meanwhile in Denmark the Prime Minister and all the main political parties are in favour of discussing lifting the ban on nuclear power and they are raising funds in anticipation: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-28/new-danish-nuclear-power-fund-targets-raising-350-million.

No doubt Spain will be reconsidering its plans to close its existing plants when it draws conclusions from its recent blackout. Germany will also be discussing its future energy supplies. [Note added 19 May, FT reports that Germany accepts nuclear power.]

However, public policy is still holding out in one country. In their recent election Australians kept their backs turned on nuclear energy. Although it was a major source of disagreement between the incumbent Labor Party and the challenging Liberal Pact, the usual arguments such as “We don’t have time for nuclear” still won the day.

Significantly, the World Bank that has excluded support for nuclear energy up until now is considering changing its lending policy to allow nuclear power projects.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/world-bank-looking-into-potential-support-for-nuclear-energy

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

The over-cautious and bureaucratic US regulatory authority was under pressure from Congress to reform already. Now in the Trump era it may even be scrapped: https://www.eenews.net/articles/white-house-weighs-nrc-overhaul/. Fortunately the U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright is thought to be relatively balanced. On the subject of waste he said in a hearing in the House of Representatives on May 7 that storage of nuclear waste at commercial reactors across the country has been a mistake for 50 years and a “growing liability.” One day before the hearing, reprocessing was discussed between department officials and a White House representative. Wright said the Energy Department will issue a study soon on reprocessing. https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-assess-nuclear-waste-plutonium-102312556.html

SONE members visit to Springfields, 23rd Sep 2025 11 am

Members are reminded that places are limited and that if they wish to come they should book with John Assheton right away communications@sone.org.uk

On the subject Phillip Greatorex posts news that next year, 2026, marks the 80th Anniversary of the U.K Atomic Energy Programme, the formation of AERE Harwell, the Risley Engineering Design Office and the founding of the nuclear materials production facilities at Springfields and Windscale.

India and China expansion

The Consultative Committee of India’s Ministry of Power has met and outlined steps needed to meet the country’s target of a more than 10-fold increase in its nuclear energy capacity to 100 GW by 2047.

China’s State Council has approved five nuclear power projects with a total of 10 reactors, including eight Hualong One units. The installed capacity of China’s operational nuclear power reactors and those under construction has exceeded 120 GW, an official with the National Energy Administration (NEA) said.

China has officially launched the world’s first operational thorium-based molten salt nuclear reactor (TMSR-LF1), located in the Gobi Desert. The experimental reactor achieved full power in June 2024 and made history again in October 2024 by reloading fuel without shutting down: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hanspeterbeck_china-has-officially-launched-the-worlds-activity-7324283883238117376-1rFP.

Nuclear workforce

With global nuclear employment projected to rise significantly by 2050, the International Atomic Energy Agency forecasts that the industry will require over four million professionals to support the anticipated expansion in nuclear capacity. Yet, within workforce planning meetings, a familiar refrain echoes: “We just can’t find the people.”

It’s time to challenge the scarcity narrative. Nuclear isn’t short of talent; it’s short of imagination in how it attracts, trains, and supports the workforce of the future. An overemphasis on shortages leads to risk-averse hiring, recycled candidates, and constrained thinking. In reality, the figures tell a different story: [continues] https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/viewpoint-reframing-nuclears-talent-challenge-why-scarcity-is-a-myth-and-opportunity-abounds

EDF Chairman and CEO

French state-owned utility EDF has announced the appointment of Bernard Fontana as its Chairman and CEO, as of 7 May, by decree of France’s President Emmanuel Macron. Fontana was nominated for the role in March, to replace former CEO Luc Remont. He won parliamentary approval in a vote on 30 April, after telling lawmakers he would prioritise domestic nuclear projects and supplying cheap power to industry [emphasis added]. The board of directors of EDF officially approved the appointment of Fontana for a four-year term during a general meeting of EDF shareholders on 5 May.

District heating in Finland

Finnish small modular reactor developer Steady Energy is to build a non-nuclear pilot facility at the decommissioned Salmisaari B coal power station in central Helsinki to demonstrate the maturity and safety of its LDR-50 reactor for district heating. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/pilot-smr-plant-to-be-built-in-finnish-coal-fired-plant

Dutch-UK collaboration

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/uk-dutch-partnership-for-deployment-of-smrs-at-industrial-parks
“SMRs offer a compelling energy solution for powering this initiative, which will feature a national and international skills training centre, advanced technology hubs, AI and data-centre operations, agritech innovators, and medical isotope production facilities” said CVG CEO Chris Turner.

Note the item “agritech innovators” in the list. That is good to read! But in the future it will not be necessary to go overseas. With indoor farming, aquaponics and LED “sunshine” powered by off-peak nuclear heat and power, we can grow food at all times of day, all seasons of the year and all latitudes. Not just yet, perhaps, but in the foreseeable future. Then even the energy in our food will be nuclear based. At last the story of life’s quest to escape the threat of the weather’s unreliable energy will be complete – bring on the entrepreneurs!
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aquaponics-sustainable-solution-food-production-dr-walid-nosir-bhu5c/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/enhancing-food-security-saudi-arabia-through-education-dr-walid-nosir-zrlsc/

Steel tomorrow

Popular thinking is that you need coal to make steel. Not so! But you do need a powerful reducing agent in its place. Like hydrogen, produced in situ and cheaply powered by a small nuclear reactor. Who is working on this? See this Swedish steel company SSAB website: https://technologywealth.com/startups/ssab/. It is coming. Hopefully, such production will be established in time to continue making British steel at Scunthorpe in years to come. More British entrepreneurs required!

Fusion technology future

The enthusiasm for fusion energy is certainly attracting sources of funding, but a new report suggests that material properties able to withstand the neutron flux present the real hurdle – no surprise there. Excitement should be contained in the meantime.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nasr-ghoniem-a007b037_integrity-assessment-of-fusion-structures-activity-7329565436281344000-L2qg

Wade Allison
18 May 2025