South Korea plans to increase the portion of atomic power in its energy mix. Pic: Getty Images
Energy
In its massive march to meet climate targets and maintain emissions, South Korea said on Thursday it plans to increase the portion of atomic power in its energy mix.
As it stands, the country has a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) set by the previous administration to cut emissions by 40% from 2018 levels by 2030.
But according to Bloomberg, President Yoon Suk Yeol – who took office on May 10 – has touted nuclear energy should be included in the country’s net-zero path along with renewable sources.
Currently, the country gets most of its electricity (around 60%) from coal and natural gas, while 30% is from nuclear.
The new government is expected to release a detailed plan with timelines and goals for achieving the NDC after “discussions with relevant people in the industry and a cost analysis” takes place.
This is good news for uranium bugs and explorers such as 92 Energy (ASX:92E), which has just flagged its “strongest radioactivity to date” at the GMZ Uranium discovery within the Gemini Project in the Athabasca Basin, Canada.
Other ASX uranium explorers to keep on your watch-list include Valor Resources (ASX:VAL), Boss Energy (ASX:BOE), Aura Energy (ASX:AEE) and Okapi Resources (ASX:OKR).
The only two uranium explorers with projects in Australia and drill rigs ready include DevEx Resources (ASX:DEV) and Vimy Resources (ASX:VMY), located within the Alligator Rivers Uranium Province (ARUP) in the Northern Territory.
NOW READ: DevEx has big plans to mark a big return to uranium exploration
INF has included its wholly owned Spanish subsidiary, Extremadura New Energies in the major private-public alliance SOI H2-ALEX (‘the Group’).
The Group is focused on green hydrogen developments in the south-west Iberian Peninsula and specifically the Alentejo and Extremadura regions in Spain and Portugal.
In alliance with around 30 entities, the Group’s pipeline of work includes the advancement of an Iberian green hydrogen project and pipeline from Lisbon in Portugal to Puertollano in Spain, with a branch extended to Cáceres.
Extremadura New Energies CEO, Ramón Jiménez, highlighted the importance of the initiative and stressed that hydrogen will play a key role in the delivery of an environmentally and socially viable project in Cáceres.
“The new project designed by Extremadura New Energies is proposing the use of green hydrogen for calcining and roasting of the lithium bearing materials instead of natural gas,” he said.
“This is in addition to the use of 100% renewable energy and the incorporation of electric vehicles, allowing us to develop an environmentally and socially viable project with the minimisation of the major emitting sources of energy.
“The carbon footprint makes this plant unique in Europe and meets the highest standards of sustainability.”
VUL has updated the market this morning, confirming that the City Council of Landau, which covers part of Vulcan’s geothermal production license at Insheim, as well as the Landau Süd production licence where Vulcan has a brine offtake agreement with the operator, has voted in support of a few project developments.
These include voting to a) support geothermal energy production in the area, and b) take a positive stance towards the extraction of lithium from geothermal brine, upon consideration of climate protection goals as well as the interests of the regional-urban development in the area.
In its decision the council said: “It is an undisputed fact that the (local) expansion of renewable energies is of particular importance for solving the challenges … of climate change and maintaining globally interconnected supply chains is for the international economy.”
“Geothermal energy can make a significant contribution here, as it is available independently of the sun and wind, i.e. it is base-load capable … the lithium content in geothermally extracted thermal water in the Upper Rhine Graben offers a great opportunity to make an important contribution to combating the climate crisis.”
VUL said the positive City Council vote towards geothermal energy and lithium extraction is an important development milestone and first step of the community to enable geothermal-lithium development, marking a significant point in the progress of the Zero Carbon Lithium business in Europe.
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