Toshiba has reportedly opened up talks with Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management to broker a deal for its Cumbrian nuclear plant NuGen.

New Civil Engineer 20th Sept 2018 read more »

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s new Technical Working Group on Nuclear Power Plant Operations convened last week to discuss the economic challenges facing the nuclear energy industry. While 55 nuclear power reactors are currently under construction around the world, and 30 more are in the planning stages, a significant number of plans have shut down in recent years. And many of these closures occurred before their licenses to operate expired. Economic factors are the primary culture for many of these premature shutdowns.

Daily Energy Insider 18th Sept 2018 read more »

Nuclear power could contribute to achieving the Paris Agreement targets on climate change, but it would need help of its own to do that, a new report from the International Atomic Energy agency said.

Oil Price 19th Sept 2018 read more »

A Chinese energy company says it would consider pulling back from control of a new UK nuclear plant to appease political sensitivities. China’s leading nuclear energy company CGN is due to operate the Bradwell plant in Essex with French energy company EDF. Under a 2016 agreement, CGN would have a 66.5 per cent stake and EDF would have the remainder when it starts generating electricity in the late 2020s or ealry 2030s. However, CGN’s chief executive Zheng Dongshan told the Financial Times (FT) CGN would be willing to consider “not being the majority operator”. Mr Zheng added: “We understand the political and local sensitivities.

iNews 18th Sept 2018 read more »

Possible Chinese withdrawal from Bradwell B ‘not surprising but still a surprise’ says BANNG. The news (Financial Times, 18 September, 2018) that the Chinese company behind Bradwell B is considering withdrawing its interest in the project because of political sensitivities ‘is not, perhaps surprising, though it comes as a surprise, nonetheless’ says BANNG’s Andy Blowers. The project may be doomed anyway as the site is totally unsuitable and is widely opposed by communities all around the Blackwater. The Chinese withdrawal, should it come, would reflect widespread concerns about the security issues surrounding their investment into a highly sensitive part of the UK’s national infrastructure. Recent manoeuvres off the disputed, Chinese-built, artificial islands in the South China Sea have increased tensions in the area and provoked warnings of Chinese investment withdrawal from the UK. It is possible that the Bradwell project could be an early victim of deteriorating relations between the two countries. In any event the project was already looking doubtful. It is facing considerable challenges in delivering vast quantities of cooling water by pipeline and the need to avoid polluting the Marine Conservation Zone which gives protection to the Colchester Native Oyster and other marine life. Most of the site is vulnerable to flooding and it will be a heroic feat to demonstrate that highly radioactive spent fuel can be safely and securely stored on the site until the end of the next century.

BANNG 18th Sept 2018 read more »

Workers looking to start on the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant are facing a wait of more than six weeks to get security clearance. Contractors are fuming at the delays which they fear are putting off workers from joining the job. One site source said: “I’ve worked on virtually every big nuclear site over the last few decades and it still took me eight weeks to get clearance.” Security checks for site workers are carried out by independent agencies and administered by G4S under an £80m contract awarded by client EDF Energy. Another source said: “The contractors are up in arms about this because the checks are taking so long.

Construction Enquirer 17th Sept 2018 read more »

Protesters seeking an injunction to stop the dumping of mud from Hinkley Point nuclear power station off the coast of Cardiff have had their application adjourned after the energy company behind the dumping admitted it had given inaccurate information to the High Court. In documents submitted to the court in Cardiff by NNB Generation Company (HPC) Ltd – a wholly owned subsidiary of the French energy giant EDF – it was argued that the dumping did not require an environmental impact assessment (EIA) under European regulations. However, the company’s barrister James McClelland told the court that an environmental statement was made by the company at the time it sought approval for the whole Hinkley Point C power station in Somerset, the successor to two previous nuclear power stations on the same site. Dozens of peaceful protesters assembled outside Cardiff Civil Justice Centre before the hearing, not all of whom were able to get seats in the court room. Opponents of the dumping say they fear radioactive particles present in the mud could pose a health threat. More than 100,000 people have signed petitions against the dumping.

Wales Online 17th Sept 2018 read more »

Plans to dump mud dredged from near the Hinkley Point nuclear sites in the Bristol Channel off the south Wales coast are the focus of fierce controversy. Work has already begun this month but opponents are not backing down. More than 100,000 people have signed petitions and protests have taken place outside the Welsh Assembly renewing calls for Natural Resources Wales to suspend the licence. Those opposed to the dredging argue we cannot say for sure that the 300,000 tonnes of mud that could be deposited near Cardiff is safe because a full range of tests is needed to establish there is no radioactive – and these have not been carried out. The site the mud will be dumped in is a sub-tidal sandbank just a mile off the coast of Cardiff.

Bristol Post 19th Sept 2018 read more »

The application for an Injunction opened today MONDAY 17th SEPT at the High Court in Cardiff. Protesters are optimistic. The judge gave an adjournment for 7 days to NNB GenCo (EdF) whose lawyer changed their defence to claim the EIA for the new Hinkley Point Nuclear Power station covers dumping in Welsh waters. The judge gave them 7 days to show that from the 2000-page EIA covering the development in England. Barry&Vale FoE think NNB GenCo on a loser. Natural Resources Wales has accepted that the Hinkley Point EIA does not cover dumping in the Welsh part of the Severn Estuary, where EIA is mandatory due to its Special Area of Conservation status. Moreover, an EIA for a project in Wales has to be advertised in Wales and subject to consultation by the Welsh public, which the nuclear station’s EIA was not.

Barry & Vale FoE 17th Sept 2018 read more »

A new report released by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has highlighted the potential role that nuclear power could play to help meet the climate change targets. Titled ‘Climate Change and Nuclear Power 2018’, the report is an updated version of the one that was released in 2016 and includes the latest scientific information and analyses on the link between energy production and climate change. The report said that nuclear power has the potential to deliver large quantities of electricity needed for global economic development while contributing in mitigating climate change. Global electricity demand is expected to almost double by 2050.

Power Technology 18th Sept 2018 read more »

The World Nuclear Association has appealed to the United Nations and the nuclear industry to take decisive action for clean energy. “I am running out of patience,” said the organisation’s head, Agneta Rising, “I want more action and I want nuclear energy to be part of the solution because we know there is no sustainable energy future without nuclear.”

World Nuclear News 18th Sept 2018 read more »

Developers must clarify whether dumping mud from near a nuclear plant is covered by an environmental impact assessment (EIA), a judge has said. Judge Milwyn Jarman said EDF’s evidence was “not accurate on a very important point” on whether material dredged from the seabed near Hinkley Point C site in Somerset was included in the EIA. Campaigners want an injunction to halt the dumping that began last week. A High Court hearing in Cardiff has been adjourned for seven days. About 300,000 tonnes is to be dredged from the seabed near the building site and deposited in the Cardiff Grounds, a mile off the coast of the Welsh capital. Energy firm EDF, which is behind the £19.6bn plan to build the nuclear plant, argued the mud dump was addressed in a main environment statement that formed part of the main planning application for Hinkley Point C and was approved by the UK Government. But the judge said that was not clear from a witness statement the company had submitted to court. The firm’s barrister James McClelland accepted the wording could have been made clearer. Legal action is being brought by the Campaign Against Hinkley Mud Dumping, which includes Super Furry Animals keyboard player Cian Ciaran. Campaigners asked for a temporary injunction to be imposed until the next hearing, but the request was turned down. Neil McEvoy AM said campaigners were planning to organise a blockade in an effort to halt the dumping.

BBC 17th Sept 2018 read more »

Hundreds of campaigners gathered outside the Civil Justice Courts in Cardiff today to press for a legal injunction to halt the dumping of allegedly radioactive mud in the sea off Penarth. The mud is being dredged from the shores adjacent to the Hinkley Point Nuclear power complex on the Somerset Coast and is being bropughjt across the channel by hopper to be dumped on the Cardiff Grounds – just a mile off shore from Penarth. More than 200 demonstrators gathered outside the Cardiff Civil Justice Courts this morning support an application by the Campaign Against Hinkley Mud Dumping to stop 320,000 tonnes of Hinkley Mud being dumped in the sea off Penarth. This afternoon Penarth AM Neil McEvoy said that “Defence” (i.e. the Welsh Labour Government) wants to “adjourn for a week to get their statement in order. They want to continue for a week with the dumping.”. There was also an issue regarding faulty paperwork submitted by Welsh Labour Government being deficient. Later Neil McEvoy added “They file wrongly and they are allowed to continue dumping in the meantime. Interim injunction not granted.”

Penarth News 17th Sept 2018 read more »

NFLA and KIMO call for halt in dredging of mud from the Hinkley Point site and an independent re-evaluation of the technical and scientific issues with the material, and consider raising concerns with the OSPAR Commission.

KIMO International 17th Sept 2018 read more »