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news & information about the UK nuclear industry

New Nuclear

Wylfa

The government will today make an announcement on the planning application for the £20bn Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station, on Anglesey. Last week, developer Horizon Nuclear Power withdrew from the project after talks with the government about an alternative funding mechanism broke down. However, the planning application has not been withdrawn, meaning energy secretary Alok Sharma must either grant a development consent order (DCO), reject the application or apply for an extension to make his decision. The Planning Inspectorate filed its report to Sharma’s office in July 2019. The government has since delayed its decision on two occasions, with a ruling originally scheduled for October last year. That deadline was adjusted to March this year but was further delayed due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Other potential developers will also be keeping a close eye on the ruling. NCE understands that the DCO application could be taken on by a third party, should one be willing to step in. A new developer would be able to make minor changes to Horizon’s DCO, however any major changes would require a new DCO application to be filed.

New Civil Engineer 30th Sept 2020 read more »

Sizewell

Two wildlife charities have warned the building of a new nuclear power station in Suffolk could result in a catastrophic loss for nature. The RSPB and the Suffolk Wildlife Trust say Sizewell C would leave a whole range of species with an uncertain fate. However, energy company EDF says 250 hectares of land will be set aside for wildlife as part of the project.

ITV 30th Sept 2020 read more »

Ipswich Star 29th Sept 2020 read more »

David Lowry’s submission to the Planning Inspectorate public consultation on Sizewell “C” says the so called “Sustainability appraisal key findings” on nuclear benefits generally and Sizewell C specifically to combatting climate change, as presented on page one of the Sustainability Statement are fake. The Applicant asserts that Sizewell C ‘s CO2 equivalent emissions would be “similar to wind and lower than solar”. This is untrue. Nuclear power will not provide any useful dent in curbing harmful emissions, as when the carbon footprint of its full uranium ‘fuel chain’ is considered- from uranium mining, milling, enrichment (which is highly energy intensive), fuel fabrication, irradiation, radioactive waste conditioning, storage, packaging to final disposal – nuclear power’s CO2 emissions are between 10 to 18 times greater than those from renewable energy technologies, according to a recent study by Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, California. (https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/ReviewSolGW09.pdf )

David Lowry’s Blog 29th Sept 2020 read more »

Hinkley

Amazing time-lapse video shows Hinkley C progress over four years. Hinkley Point C got the go-ahead four years ago today, with the signing of the Final Investment Decision. Since then 2,500 companies in Britain have won contracts on the project and new figures show that spending with businesses in the South West has already passed £2.2bn.

This is the West Country 29th Sept 2020 read more »

Nuclear Finance

It is looking increasingly likely that the British Government is about to cave-in to EDF’s demand that the British energy consumers should pay what could be massive cost overruns for building Sizewell C nuclear power plant. But what has not been discussed so much is how the contract the Government is likely to offer EDF will reduce deployment of renewable energy schemes. A report in The Times signals that EDF chiefs is meeting the Chancellor to complete the details for how to dress up what is in effect a blank cheque for Sizewell C. It reported that the withdrawal of Hitachi from the Wylfa site was a ‘shock’. Hitachi’s move which has been expected for a year, is not a shock to people in the energy industry. It became apparent (to me at least!) long ago that new nuclear plant can only be built if they are given an effective blank cheque (that is the promise of an unlimited supply of cash) from some state-backed energy monopoly. EDF will be expecting the same sort of contract as given to them for Hinkley C which allows nuclear electricity generation to crowd out production from future renewable energy plant. EDF will be given so-called ‘baseload’ contracts that mean that when electricity wholesale prices are low or even negative they will still get paid the same level of high premium prices. Meanwhile future wind and solar pv projects will be effectively forced offline by the nuclear power plant because they will not receive premium prices.

Dave Toke’s Blog 29th Sept 2020 read more »

Bradwell

CAMPAIGNERS claim plans to build a nuclear power station off the coast of Essex could collapse before the end of the year. The Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group says there is growing “hostility” towards proposals to build a power station in Bradwell and believes the scheme could even be shelved in the coming weeks. Group chairman Prof Andy Blowers made the bold claim after seeing Japanese firm Hitachi pull out of plans to build its own nuclear power station in north Wales. He says Hitachi’s decision underlines the “huge expense” associated with building nuclear power stations and believes the Bradwell B project will be binned because of the costs and scale of opposition. Both Colchester and Maldon councils have rejected planning applications for the power station in the past month. The applications were jointly submitted by the China General Nuclear Power Group, also known as CGN, and energy firm EDF. A spokesman for the Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group said: “CGN is now fully aware of the mountain it has to climb to get anywhere near planning permission for its massive nuclear juggernaut, which will utterly destroy the environment and wellbeing of the Blackwater region. “Widespread public protest and influential councils have produced a powerful coalition of outright opposition to the proposals.

Essex Gazette 28th Sept 2020 read more »

THE company behind the proposed new nuclear power station at Bradwell has said its focus is on “progressing” the application, despite claims by campaigners that the project could be abandoned in the coming weeks or months. Local anti-nuclear campaigners, Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG), is suggesting that the cards are stacking up against Bradwell B following the announcement last week that the proposed Wylfa nuclear plant on Anglesey in Wales will not now go ahead. Plans for the Wylfa plant were pulled by Japanese company Hitachi. BANNG argues that the Wylfa project, which was supported by the local Welsh community, could only have been saved by UK government financial support to underwrite energy prices – which has not happened.

Maldon News 28th Sept 2020 read more »

Letter sent to Morning Star; Most of Carlos Martinez’s article “We must work to prevent a potentially disastrous new cold war,” 24 September) made much sense. But I take issue with his assertion that the rise of China poses “no threat whatsoever to ordinary people of the West.” It does, in a particular way. China General Nuclear Corporation, owned by the Chinese-State, wants to build a giant 25 billion pound nuclear power plant at Bradwell, on the Blackwater Estuary, in Essex, around 70 miles for central London as the crow flies. Beijing wants to go into a perverse political partnership with this terrible Tory Government, against popular wishes. Already, local councils have voted against the project.

David Lowry’s Blog 28th Sept 2020 read more »

Sizewell C

The Irish public is being asked for its views on the potential impact of a proposed nuclear power station in the east of England. The nuclear facility in Suffolk, known as Sizewell C, is backed by EDF Energy and China General Nuclear Power Group and will take between nine and 12 years to construct. Once completed it will have an operational life of 60 years before it is decommissioned. The UK planning authority has reviewed the planning application for the power station and concluded that it is “not likely” to have any “significant adverse transboundary effects” on Ireland. Under UN and EU law, countries are required to engage in “transboundary” public consultation processes where a project is likely to have significant effects on the environment of neighbouring states. Each planning authority in Ireland has received a notice of this consultation process, and members of the public and other interested parties have until October 28 to give their views. Sky News reported last week that there was no guarantee the station would go ahead, with negotiations still to take place over how much the UK would set aside to support the construction of the plant.

Times 29th Sept 2020 read more »

EDF chair Jean-Bernard Lévy will this week demand clarity from chancellor Rishi Sunak regarding Britain’s plans for funding nuclear power. According to The Times, Lévy is expected to speak to Sunak via video link on Wednesday. It comes after developer Horizon Nuclear Power withdrew from the £20bn Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant on Anglesey this month. Enabling work at the site was suspended in January 2019 after Hitachi, the parent company of Horizon, pulled funding over cost concerns and lack of investors.

New Civil Engineer 29th Sept 2020 read more »

World Nuclear Industry Status

The size of the global nuclear fleet has been stagnant for 30 years, and last year was no different. According to the 2020 World Nuclear Industry Status Report, released Thursday, there were 408 nuclear reactors online across the world as of July 1, 2020—a decline of nine units since the middle of last year and roughly on par with the number of reactors in operation in 1988. The bulky 361-page industry report was compiled by an international team of independent experts led by Mycle Schneider, a consultant based in Paris. Over the last 15 years, it has become well-known for offering accurate but often sobering assessments of the state of nuclear energy across the globe. Last year, Schneider pointedly asserted that “the world is experiencing an undeclared ‘organic’ nuclear phaseout.” Although the 2020 report is overflowing with data, several key trends stand out. First, although the raw number of worldwide reactors is well below its all-time high of 438. Second, China continues to be the main driver of new nuclear energy, but over the long term its intentions are uncertain. Third, reactor construction delays and cost overruns continue to plague the nuclear industry and, notably, early indications suggest that small modular reactors may be no exception.

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 25th Sept 2020 read more »

Sizewell

The deadline is nearing for people who want to apply to become “interested parties” who will have their say on the examination of the application to build Sizewell C. The deadline is nearing for people who want to apply to become “interested parties” who will have their say on the examination of the application to build Sizewell C.

East Anglian Daily Times 27th Sept 2020 read more »

Building Sizewell C on the Suffolk coast will be “too expensive”, former energy secretary Ed Davey has said. Speaking on the BBC’s Politics East, the new Liberal Democrat leader said that investment should be made into renewable energy instead of nuclear power. He argued that the economic case for nuclear power, including Sizewell C, is “not there anymore” due to the falling costs in offshore wind farms. However, despite Sizewell C’s £20billion price tag, developer EDF Energy says the project will provide huge benefits to the county. The French state-owned energy giant has said the project, which is an exact replica of the Hinkley Point C power plant in Somerset, will bring 7,500 jobs to the region at the height of construction work. It also says it will be cheaper due to the fact it is a replica of the Hinkley power station, which is currently being built. Mr Davey, who was energy minister when the Hinkley Point plant was approved, said: “What I would say going forward, and this applies to Sizewell, is I think the problem with nuclear is that it’s just too expensive. “When we were going ahead with the Hinkley Point C, it was cheaper than offshore wind.

East Anglian Daily Times 27th Sept 2020 read more »

World Nuclear Industry Status Report

The production of renewable energies progressed in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, resisting better than that linked to nuclear power, which fell in the face of a drop in demand, underlines a report released on Thursday. In the 1st quarter of 2020, “the deployment and production of renewable energies resisted the effects of the pandemic better (…) than the nuclear energy sector” , noted the 2020 edition of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report , an annual report devoted to the subject.

La Tribune 24th Sept 2020 read more »

We all knew that 2020 would be an incredibly tough year for nuclear energy. In the United States, the sector has been on the decline for years, saddled with hazardously aging infrastructure and a flood of cheap natural gas thanks to the West Texas shale revolution that the nuclear sector simply can’t compete with. As such, the domestic nuclear sector has become increasingly dependent on government handouts to stay afloat and has saddled the taxpayer with the staggeringly high cost of maintaining radioactive nuclear waste in the form of spent nuclear fuel. COVID-19 only exacerbated the situation, by causing the bottom to fall out of energy demand and placing nuclear energy, which has largely fallen out of favor in the U.S., near the bottom of a long list of energy industries and industrial and economic sectors in general waiting for government bailouts. During the lockdown phase of the pandemic, “renewables have taken a bigger slice of the market because many nations had decided to give new green technologies priority into the grid” reported Bloomberg Green in a May article titled “Nuclear Is Getting Hammered by Green Power and the Pandemic.”

Oil Price 27th Sept 2020 read more »

Flamanville

Joint press release from the “Sortir du nuclear” Network, Greenpeace France, France Nature Environnement, France Nature Environnement Normandy, CRILAN, Stop EPR Ni at Penly Ni Ailleurs. On March 25, 2020, in full confinement, the government published a decree extending to 2024 the validity of the decree authorizing the creation of the Flamanville EPR, which previously set April 2020 as its deadline for commissioning. Our associations strongly denounce the government’s obstinacy in tolerating the continuation of this catastrophic project, despite the many poor workmanship and scandals that affect it and the considerable sums already swallowed up. Dangerous and patched up even before starting, this reactor should never be in service. In addition, this amending decree published hastily in full confinement ignores the fact that the current state of the reactor, riddled with poor workmanship, no longer corresponds to what was required in the initial decree, and that EDF does not clearly has more of the financial and technical capacities required to complete the work. With regard to European case law, being satisfied with a simple modification of the dates is therefore manifestly illegal, and above all profoundly dishonest.

Crilan 27th Sept 2020 read more »

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