Economy

2024-01-09 21:00:50

The United States has issued a request for proposals from contractors to help establish a domestic supply of uranium fuel enriched to higher levels for use in a next generation of reactors, a fuel that is currently only available in commercial quantities in Russia, the energy ministry said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Energy is seeking contracts of up to 10 years from enrichment service companies to produce so-called “high assay low enriched” (HALEU) uranium fuel, enriched up to 20%. , while the traditional uranium fuel used in current reactors is around 5%.

The ministry has approximately $500 million in funding for HALEU production under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and issued a tender late last year for additional HALEU production services. The program might be expanded in future years, depending on appropriations allocated by Congress.

HALEU is expected to be needed for a generation of reactors planned by companies such as X-energy and TerraPower, but production has been delayed because the reactors have not yet been built.

“It’s kind of a chicken or egg situation,” Jon Carmack, the department’s assistant secretary for the nuclear fuel cycle, said in an interview. Mr Carmack said the Government needed to invest enough money to show initial demand from producers, so they would build capacity, apply for licenses and begin plans to design and build the HALEU plant.

President Joe Biden’s administration views new reactors and maintaining the current fleet of nuclear power plants as essential to its agenda to combat climate change. Ali Zaidi, Mr. Biden’s national climate adviser, said increasing the domestic supply of uranium would strengthen energy security, create good-paying union jobs and boost economic competitiveness.

Nuclear proliferation experts warn that increased reliance on HALEU around the world might increase proliferation risks because the fuel is closer to fissile material for nuclear weapons than traditional fuels.

The only company currently selling commercial HALEU cargoes is TENEX, part of Russia’s state-owned Rosatom.

Centrus Energy, the only U.S. company licensed to produce HALEU and providing the Department of Energy with a small quantity of the fuel for demonstration purposes, was encouraged that the tender might lead to an increase in production at its Ohio factory. Centrus “looks forward to competing for the financing needed to expand production,” said Lindsey Geisler, a company spokeswoman.

European uranium enrichment company Urenco might also produce American HALEU, but it does not yet have a license to do so. Urenco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Writing by Jonathan Oatis and Andrea Ricci)

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#United #States #seeks #restart #production #higher #energy #uranium #Russia #January #p.m

2024-01-09 21:06:00

This is a similar approach to the dual-screen Yoga Book 9i launched by Lenovo last year, with just a few tweaks. Like Lenovo, Asus also gives users the option to type on the lower touchscreen via a virtual keyboard or a detachable physical Bluetooth keyboard. But what’s different is that Asus’ keyboard has a trackpad built into it, so you don’t have to combine it with an on-screen trackpad.

Asus envisions several different configurations for the new Zenbook Duo. There’s a standard laptop mode where the bottom screen is completely covered by a traditional keyboard and trackpad. You can also place the keyboard on the desktop and arrange the two screens vertically, using “dual screen” mode, or arrange them horizontally, using “desktop” mode. Finally, there’s “Share” mode, which ditches the keyboard entirely and lays the laptop flat on the table, with the two screens facing up and away from each other, so you can share your work with a colleague sitting across from you.

Coming to market a year later than its competitors, the Asus Zenbook Duo comes with more advanced hardware. It can be equipped with up to Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, 32GB memory, 2TB storage space and 75Wh battery. Interfaces include two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A port, HDMI output, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Bluetooth keyboard fits between the two screens when the laptop is not in use, and charges via Pogo pins that connect to the lower screen edge.

In the UK, the Zenbook Duo will be available at the end of January, starting at £1,699.99 (approximately $2,161).

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#ASUSs #Zenbook #Duo #laptop #screens #detachable #keyboard #ASUS

2024-01-09 21:50:08

Around 9:35 p.m. GMT, the greenback gained 0.18% once morest the single currency, to 1.0931 dollars per euro. It also recovered once morest the pound sterling (+0.30%) and the yen (+0.16%).

Operators now assign a probability of more than a third (34%) to the scenario of a monetary status quo from the Fed at least until May, whereas only a week ago they were betting at almost 80 % on a first drop from March.

“We believe that market forecasts still need to adjust significantly,” says Win Thin of Brown Brothers Harriman in a note, who sees a possible catalyst in Thursday’s publication of the CPI price index. to consumption in the United States in December.

Economists are therefore counting on a slight rebound in inflation in December.

Against the dollar, the euro also suffered from a poor indicator, according to which industrial production in Germany contracted once more (-0.7%) in November, while economists saw it growing. (+0.2%).

For Nicholas Cawley, of DailyFX, the euro/dollar parity evolves “within a narrow margin” depending on the indicators. “Macroeconomic data plays a central role at the moment,” according to the analyst.

“The market is trying to find a balance between rate forecasts, indicators and ordinary flows” on the foreign exchange market, explains the analyst.

The movements are clearer for emerging currencies, which suffer from changes in expectations regarding the monetary policy of the major central banks.

Thus, while currency traders are moderating their hopes of repeated rate cuts this year in the most advanced economies, certain countries have already started the maneuver, notably Brazil, Poland and Hungary.

In this context, the Polish zloty and the Hungarian forint fell on Tuesday once morest the “greenback”, one of the nicknames of the dollar, as did the Mexican peso, with operators anticipating a rate reduction at the next Bank meeting. central Mexico (Banxico), February 8.

Tuesday price Monday price 9:35 p.m. GMT 10:00 p.m. GMT EUR/USD 1.0931 1.0950 EUR/JPY 157.91 157.94 EUR/CHF 0.9318 0.9286 EUR/GBP 0.8599 0.8589 USD/JPY 144 .47 144.23 USD/CHF 0.8527 0.8480 GBP/USD 1.2710 1.2748
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#dollar #strengthening #market #navigating #sight #January #p.m

2024-01-09 23:02:10

After entrusting a mission to Jean-Christophe Ruffin in Cabo Delgado where there is a large gas project, this time it was Lionel Zinsou who was commissioned by TotalEnergies on Thursday January 4. The former Prime Minister of Benin, co-president of the Pan-African Investment Bank Southbridge, has agreed to evaluate the major’s land acquisition program in the Tilenga/EACOP project. Insufficient compensation, forced evictions, pressure and threats. A very controversial project, many criticisms were made during the land acquisition procedures.

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#UgandaTanzania #Lionel #Zinsou #evaluate #TotalEnergies #land #policy