Rolls-royce Share Discussion Threads

[datait] 02/9/2024 15:33

Take profits now ffs or lose a fortune what goes up must come down

[smurfy2001] 02/9/2024 15:31

Talk about an overreaction.

Rolls-Royce, BAE and other defence contractors slide on defence spending fears

[supermarky] 02/9/2024 15:30

Defence CUTS! UNBELIEVABLEALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS WELFARE AND THE NHS.INSANITY

[vas007] 02/9/2024 15:27

What hell is going on.?

[skinny] 02/9/2024 15:26

Because it is in auction.

[charliecrocodile] 02/9/2024 15:26

II don't have live quotes for RR right now. :(

[datait] 02/9/2024 15:25

🤣🤣🤣

[datait] 02/9/2024 15:14

Braces for crash landing 😬

[spacedust] 02/9/2024 15:12

Cutting defence to fund other illegal wars

[datait] 02/9/2024 15:09

Timbrrrrrrrrrrrr

[stewar06] 02/9/2024 15:03

Rachel Reeves is planning defence cuts so its sent shares down in RR BA and BAE.

[stewar06] 02/9/2024 14:47

Harry's coming back, its crashed all airline stocks

[pal44] 02/9/2024 14:35

What happened today??

[skinny] 02/9/2024 14:17

What are you trying to say :-

[thegrafter] 02/9/2024 14:13

VW , Ed Miliband is just a totally useless idiot , always has been and always will be , just like the whole Labour Party for that matter !

[vikingwarrier] 02/9/2024 12:59

Ed Miliband’s silence on nuclear power is deafening

Energy Secretary’s nuclear foot dragging is steering us towards a catastrophic precipice
Andrew Orlowski
2 September 2024 • 11:00am
Andrew Orlowski

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Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband has been far more active when it comes to wind and solar than nuclear power Credit: Stefan Rousseau/Stefan Rousseau

Mayday, mayday! Ed Miliband sent out an SOS last week. Sharp-eyed energy analysts noted that the filename of his open letter to the director of the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) was unfortunately named: “SOS Chris Stark letter clean power 2023.pdf”. A distress signal, already?

He really should know the ropes by now. Miliband has eased into the same job, energy minister, that he occupied 14 years ago. The department now formally has two goals, both enshrined in the name: energy security and net zero. But there is only one technology option that allows him to achieve this: nuclear power.

However, the nuclear industry is getting worried. Contracts should have been inked by now to build the first of a new generation of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). Weary of delays, Rolls-Royce SMR scaled back its own plans in April. One of the six bidders, EDF, withdrew entirely in July.

“We should have heard by early August that two would emerge, but we have been surprised to hear nothing,” one industry source familiar with the process told me last week.

“Labour have kicked the SMR down-select process into the long grass, and this puts inward investment into the UK in danger.”

A small modular reactor provides only a fraction of the power of a gigawatt plant. But they should prove to be smaller, cheaper and faster to build, tapping into new construction techniques. In a densely crowded nation where so much commercial development is mired in planning rows and lawfare, and where acquiring greenfield land is expensive, the SMRs look particularly attractive as they can be dropped onto existing brownfield sites.

Nuclear energy is already the most environmentally friendly energy source, using vastly less land than other renewables. It takes up 31 times less space than solar and 173 times less than wind, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute.

However, to date Miliband has been far more active when it comes to wind and solar. One of his first acts upon taking office was to approve several major solar projects that had been caught up in planning rows and Miliband’s Great British Energy has also partnered with the Crown Estate to develop offshore wind.

Rural voters will get a shock when they see what is coming next from the wind lobby: new wind turbines three times taller than the ones we see in the UK today are to be allowed, where the tip reaches almost to the top of the Shard.

As well as using less land, SMRs instead will not require thousands of miles of new transmission pylons, either. So what’s not to like?

It’s almost a decade since chancellor George Osborne trumpeted a new nuclear renaissance built around SMR technology. The previous government established Great British Nuclear – a rebranded British Nuclear Fuels – a quango with a goal to create 24 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity by 2050. Both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were nuclear boosters. So why has the Government gone quiet?

Miliband has been supportive of nuclear power in the past. In 2009, he urged the Trades Union Congress’s annual conference to get behind atomic energy, arguing that “ ‘Nuclear Power: No Thanks’ today means ‘climate change no doubt’ tomorrow”. A typically tortured phrase, but a recognition of nuclear power’s value.

You wouldn’t think that today. Recent messages from Miliband on X, formerly Twitter, have promoted renewables but not the SMR programme that he most needs.

Perhaps now he’s in his old office, the student activist within Miliband has been reanimated. Last week he caved in to Greenpeace and decided not to oppose a judicial review request on oil and gas exploration licences in the North Sea. Greenpeace, of course, is the NGO that’s the most active opponent of nuclear power.

Miliband seems far too easily shamed by the pious environmentalists too. Recall how in his first stint as energy minister, Miliband slapped the carbon capture requirement on new coal plants after being berated by the late actor-activist Pete Postlethwaite following a climate change movie. One suspects that making green NGOs happy is the part of the job that Miliband likes the most.

By dragging his feet on nuclear, Miliband is storing up trouble for us all. For we’re heading towards a catastrophic precipice. This will be our first winter without coal. At the same time, four of our ageing but reliable nuclear reactor fleet will soon close too.

The four plants – one in Hartlepool, two in Heysham and one in Torness – provide a reliable five gigawatts of base load generation and are due to shut down by 2028. In all, we’re losing a massive 15 gigawatts of energy production by the end of the decade, according to David Turver, an energy analyst.

If Miliband’s wishes come true and he extinguishes gas generation too, then we’ll be around 30 gigawatts short, reckons Turver. That means we will have to beg our neighbours to keep our lights on, transmitting power via interconnectors. Not only does this come at a steep price, it’s not secure or reliable. Both France and Norway have already politely declined to sell us power when they deem they have none to spare. It is difficult to square that with greater “energy security”.

As a new nuclear era dawns, the UK is competing with other governments for both capital and know-how. “There’s only so much capacity and so many scientists able to build this stuff,” one industry insider says. “If Britain doesn’t become a fast mover in SMRs at the same time it’s rejected hydrocarbons, then it’s in serious trouble.”

Miliband has assembled a clever sixth form student common room of his favourite thinkers and theorists around him. But this team is conspicuously lacking the skills and experience in engineering, science and business that he needs. Eventually, theory will be tested on a live patient. Unfortunately, that is going to be us.
Related Topics

Net Zero, Nuclear power, Ed Miliband, Energy industry

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[pal44] 02/9/2024 09:50

Topped up this morning now onwards

[skinny] 01/9/2024 12:38

May be of interest :-

[thegrafter] 01/9/2024 09:49

Here's a great little update on some recent buys !! https://www.marketbeat.com/instant-alerts/otcmkts-rycey-sec-filing-2024-08-31/

[dancing piranha] 30/8/2024 19:22

The chart currently looks like someone is slowly, gently, prizing the cork out of a bottle of the best...

Buy below 500p while you can!

[dudishes] 30/8/2024 13:23

498 good enough for me thankyou

[bigbigdave] 30/8/2024 07:03

BARCLAYS RAISES ROLLS-ROYCE PRICE TARGET TO 540 (495) PENCE - 'OVERWEIGHT'

[thegrafter] 29/8/2024 10:12

An interesting little read about our history and glad to read work is now back on schedule at the site , keep on building the future Rolls !! https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/our-stories/discover/2024/remarkable-archaeological-findings-unearthed-at-rr-bristol.aspx?utm_source=invd-cas&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=subscribers-story&utm_term=&utm_content=

[bountyhunter] 28/8/2024 21:15

Japan has hydrogen, but Rolls-Royce surprises with something better: The most powerful fuel in history..