UN nuclear watchdog chief pushes back on Moscow’s calls for objectivity after Kursk plant visit

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3 months ago

August 29, 2024

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The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has pushed back against Moscow’s calls for further objectivity, following an inspection at the nuclear facility in the embattled Russian region of Kursk.

Last week, Russia accused Ukraine of attempting a drone strike at the Kursk nuclear plant during a lightning cross-border incursion that has been under way since early August and which Moscow is still trying to repel.

CNBC could not independently verify the incident and has reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“What we need to do is to objectively, not to stoke any hysteria or anything like that, but to indicate when a danger exists. And here it does. It objectively [exists],” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.

“The spokesperson of the Russian ministry of foreign affairs rightly says, be objective. Yes, we are being objective. We are saying here that this nuclear power plant … is within range of a potential artillery strike, which means that the danger exists. Is this danger inherent to the technology? Absolutely not,” he said, adding that these facilities hold “strategic value” in military conflicts because they serve national energy infrastructure.

“They are, I wouldn’t say pawns, but they are factors in a wider confrontation,” he noted.

His comments come after Russia on Wednesday urged more objectivity from the IAEA in the performance of its duties.

“We see both the assessments and the work of this structure [the IAEA], but each time we want a more objective and clear expression of this structure’s position, not in favor of our country, not in favor of confirming Moscow’s position, but in favor of facts with one specific goal: ensuring security and preventing the development of a scenario along a catastrophic path, to which the Kiev regime is pushing everyone,” Maria Zakharova, official representative of the Russian foreign ministry, said Wednesday on Sputnik radio, according to a Google-translated report from Russian state-owned news outlet Ria Novosti.

Grossi on Thursday acknowledged that parties at war are likely to retain a “strategic ambiguity that surrounds any military operation,” translating into less disclosure over their activities.

“I also understand these attempts to drag me, or us, the agency, into their own preferred narrative that we need to avoid,” he said.

Grossi led a delegation to inspect the Kursk facility on Wednesday, telling reporters in a subsequent briefing that “the core of the reactor containing nuclear material is protected just by a normal roof. This makes it extremely exposed and fragile, for example, to artillery impact or drone[s] or missiles.”

On Thursday, Grossi explained that the Kursk nuclear plant contains reactors of the Soviet RBMK-type, similar to the ones present in the Chernobyl facility, which suffered one of the worst nuclear disasters in history in 1986.

This make of reactors lacks a reinforced roof, meaning that “if there was an attack, or, wittingly or unwittingly, or as a result of any exchange, there could be a possibility of an impact on nuclear material. And therefore release of radioactivity into the atmosphere,” Grossi said.

Recounting his on-site findings, he described the Kursk facility as still operating in “relatively normal conditions,” but noted “indications around the perimeter of the plant of impacts of projectiles, shrapnel markings, so on, which indicate or could indicate the existence of these kinetic events in the past.”

The risk of nuclear detonation as a result of nearby military activity has been a chief concern since the February 2022 start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Moscow’s subsequent occupation of the Ukrainian plant in Zaporizhzhia — the largest nuclear power facility in Europe

Nuclear concerns have only mounted since this month’s start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive on the territory of Russia, which is the fifth-largest owner of nuclear reactors globally, according to the World Economic Forum.

Clashes between Moscow and Kyiv intensified at the start of the week, with Russia launching a massive barrage of 236 drones and missiles on what the Ukrainian air force described as “critical Ukrainian infrastructure.”

Referencing the offensive, the permanent mission of Ukraine to the IAEA reported in a note that “due to fluctuations in the national power grid caused by Russia’s attack, at 17:10 (EEST}, power unit 3 of the South Ukraine NPP was disconnected from the grid.”

“The Russian Federation continues to deliberately target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, intending to disrupt the operation of the country’s nuclear power plants, which provide most of Ukraine’s electricity. Russian attacks pose a significant risk to the stable operation of nuclear facilities in Ukraine and the safety of millions of people,” the mission said.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Environment

A 100-MW solar farm just broke ground in Wisconsin

Published

14 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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A 100-MW solar farm just broke ground in Wisconsin

Wisconson solar — Image: National Grid Renewables

National Grid Renewables has broken ground on its 100 MW Apple River Solar Project in Polk County, Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin solar farm, which will use US-made First Solar Series 6 Plus bifacial modules, will be constructed by The Boldt Company, creating 150 construction and service jobs. Apple River Solar will generate over $36 million in direct economic benefits over its first 20 years.

Once it comes online in late 2025, Apple River Solar will supply clean energy to Xcel Energy, which serves customers throughout the Upper Midwest. According to National Grid Renewables, the solar farm will generate enough energy to power around 26,000 homes annually. It will also offset about 129,900 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year – equivalent to taking 30,900 cars off the road.

“We are excited to see this project begin as it underscores our dedication to delivering clean, reliable and affordable energy to our customers,” said Karl Hoesly, President, Xcel Energy-Wisconsin and Michigan. “This project is an important step in those goals while bringing significant economic benefits to Polk County and the local townships.”

Electrek reported in February that Xcel Energy, Minnesota’s largest utility, expects to cut more than 80% – and possibly up to 88% – of its emissions by 2030, putting it on track to hit Minnesota’s goal of net zero by 2040. It also says it’s on track to achieve its clean energy goals for all the Upper Midwest states it serves – Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Michigan.

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Tesla announces 500 kW charging as it finally delivers V4 Supercharger cabinets

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15 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Tesla announces 500 kW charging as it finally delivers V4 Supercharger cabinets

Tesla has announced that it will finally deliver 500 kW charging as it is about to install its long-awaited V4 Supercharger cabinets.

The rollout of Supercharger V4 has been a strange one, to say the least.

Tesla has been deploying the new charging stations for two years and calling them “Supercharger V4”, but it has only been deploying the charging stalls.

Supercharger stations are made of two main parts: the stalls, which are where the charging cable is located, and the cabinets, which are generally located further back and include all the power electronics.

For all these new “Supercharger V4”, Tesla was actually using Supercharger V3 cabinets. This has been limiting the power output of the charging stations to 250 kW – although

Today, Tesla officially announced its “V4 Cabinet”, which the automaker claims will enable of “delivering up to 500kW for cars and 1.2MW for Semi.”

Here are the main features of the V4 Cabinet as per Tesla:

Faster charging: Supports 400V-1000V vehicle architectures, including 30% faster charging for Cybertruck. S3XY vehicles enjoy 250kW charge rates they already experience on V3 Cabinet — charging up to 200 miles in 15 minutes.
Faster deployments: V4 Cabinet powers 8 posts, 2X the stalls per cabinet. Lower footprint and complexity = more sites coming online faster.
Next-generation hardware: Cutting-edge power electronics designed to be the most reliable on the planet, with 3X power density enabling higher throughput with lower costs.

Tesla reports that its first sites with the new V4 Cabinets are going into permitting now. The company expects its first sites to open next year.

We recently reported about Tesla’s new Oasis Supercharger project, which includes larger solar arrays and battery packs to operate the charging station mostly off-grid.

Early in the deployment of the Supercharger network, Tesla promised to add solar arrays and batteries to all Supercharger stations, and Musk even said that most stations would be able to operate off-grid.

While Tesla did add solar and batteries to a few stations, the vast majority of them don’t have their own power system or have only minimal solar canopies.

Back in 2016, I asked Musk about this, and he said that it would now happen as Tesla had the “pieces now in place” with Supercharger V3, Powerpack V2, and SolarCity:

It took about 8 years, but it sounds like the pieces are now getting actually in place with Supercharger V4, Megapacks, and this new Oasis project.

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Hyundai is launching an AI-powered EV next year to keep pace in China

Published

16 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Hyundai is launching an AI-powered EV next year to keep pace in China

Hyundai has a new secret weapon it’s about ready to unleash. To revamp the brand in China and counter BYD’s surge, Hyundai is launching a new AI-powered EV next year. The new model will be Hyundai’s first dedicated electric car for the world’s largest EV market.

With the help of Haomo, a Chinese autonomous startup, Hyundai will launch its first EV equipped with generative AI. It will also be its first model designed specifically for China.

A Hyundai Motor official said (via The Korea Herald) the company is “working to load the software” onto the new EV model, “which will be released in the Chinese market next year.” The spokesperson added, “The level of autonomous driving is somewhere between 2 and 2.5.”

In comparison, Tesla’s Autopilot is considered a level 2 advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) on the SAE scale (0 to 5), meaning it offers limited hands-free features.

With Autopilot, you still have to keep your eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel, or the system will notify you and eventually disengage.

Haomo’s system, DriveGPT, unveiled last spring, takes inspiration from the OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT.

The system can continuously update in real-time to optimize decision-making by absorbing traffic data patterns. According to Haomo, DriveGPT is used in around 20 models as it looks to play a bigger role in China.

Hyundai hopes new AI-powered EV boosts sales in China

Electric vehicle sales continue surging in China. According to Rho Motion, China set another EV sales record last month with 1.2 million units sold, up 50% from October 2023.

Over 8.4 million EVs were sold in China in the first ten months of 2024, a notable 38% increase from last year.

BYD continues to dominate its home market. According to Autovista24, BYD accounted for 32.9% of all PHEV and EV (NEV) sales in China through September, with over half of the top 20 best-selling EV models.

Tesla was second with a 6.5% share of the market, but keep in mind these numbers only include plug-in models (PHEV).

2025-Hyundai-IONIQ-5-prices — 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 (Source: Hyundai)

Like most foreign automakers, Hyundai is struggling to keep up with the influx of low-cost electric models in China. Beijing Hyundai’s sales have been slipping since 2017. Through September, Korean automaker’s share of the Chinese market fell to just 1.2%.

Last month, Hyundai opened its first overseas digital R&D center in China to help kick off its return to the region.

According to local reports, Hyundai is partnering with other local tech companies like Thundersoft, a smart cockpit provider, and others in China to power up its next-gen EVs

With its first AI-powered EV launching next year, Hyundai hopes to turn things around in the region quickly. The new model will be one of five to launch in China through 2026.

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