A 250 pound bomb has been found off the coast of Hinkley Point. Mariners are being advised to avoid the area of the bomb which is thought to date back to the Second World War.

Somerset Live 16th Aug 2017 read more »

BBC 16th Aug 2017 read more »

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged his support to Sellafield workers – but failed to directly back the new Moorside project. During a visit to Copeland yesterday, Mr Corbyn said he was behind workers who are balloting on strike action, but the question on many people’s lips as to whether he would personally support the proposed nuclear complex remained unanswered. Mr Corbyn said: “I know there’s been a problem over the pensions funds (at Sellafield) and unions are quite rightly protesting at the way in which their pension in being damaged and the opportunities for future pensions is damaged. When asked specifically for his views on the £10bn Moorside plant, which will create 20,000 jobs, he said: “The Government is apparently looking at the options and costs involved of the Toshiba programme and what the strike price will be in the end of it, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens with that.”

Whitehaven News 17th Aug 2017 read more »

Christiana Figueres and colleagues note that turning around global carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 may not be feasible through renewable energy alone. Low-carbon nuclear power will be needed as well.

Nature 16th Aug 2017 read more »

The head of nuclear at one of Britain’s leading engineering companies says the sector will not have the engineering capacity to develop a new generation of nuclear power plants, if the government fails to commit to a clear policy strategy. The country hasn’t built a nuclear power plant in decades and government inaction has presided over a failure to train new engineers, while experienced engineers gradually retire. Alistair Smith, nuclear development director at Costain told Financial Times, “It’s 20 years since we built a nuclear power station. These people are not just sitting around waiting to start again. We’ve just got Hinkley Point C started and resources on that project are already starting to look scarce.” About 1,800 people are already employed at Hinkley and about 25,000 jobs are expected to be created by the project over the next decade. Mr Smith said there were a limited number of UK contractors with the capabilities to deliver projects as big and complex as nuclear power stations and companies needed to see more clarity before decisions are made on investing in the necessary skills.

Power Engineering International 14th Aug 2017 read more »

It is now commonly accepted that rapid growth in electricity demand will be an important feature of the world energy scene this century. Increasing levels of urbanisation (particularly but not exclusively in the developing countries), the gradual electrification of transportation and the proliferation of devices that rely on secure power supplies seems to guarantee this. Surely then, there must be a future for any technology that can produce large quantities of power reliably, comparatively cheaply and without notable negative environmental impacts? Advocates of nuclear power claim that it does all of these, yet it is seen as likely to play at best a marginal role in meeting electricity requirements. It is increasingly being seen as an irrelevance.

Nuclear Engineering International 4th July 2017 read more »

No Need For Nuclear: The Renewables Are Here. 17 videos from CND Conference in Conway Hall, London, 17th June 2017. Session One. What is wrong with nuclear power? 1. Dr Ian Fairlie: Radiation and radioactivity dangers. 2. Dr David Toke: Nuclear and renewables costs compared. 3. Prof Tim Mousseau: Continuing effects at Chernobyl and Fukushima. 4. Prof Andrew Blowers: The legacy of nuclear power. Session Two: The Politics of Nuclear Power. 5. Prof Steve Thomas: Why Hinkley Point C is unlikely to ever start. 6. Kelvin Hopkins MP: Can Labour change its policy on new nuclear build? 7. Dr Molly Scott Cato MEP: How would the Green Party do it differently? 8. Chris Baugh, PCS: Jobs: the Trade Union perspective. Session Three: UK Energy Demand, Energy Supply. 9. Andrew Warren: Energy Demand; do we really need new nuclear? 10. Dr Tom Burke: Recent changes in UK Energy Policy. 11. Antony Froggatt: Effects of proposed Brexit and Euratom exit on nuclear policies. 12. Dr Doug Parr: UK Energy and Industrial Strategies; Is nuclear an answer to climate change? Session Four: The Renewables. 13. Prof David Elliot: Renewable energy options. 14. Prof Godfrey Boyle: Future renewable scenarios for the world, Europe and the UK. 15. Alasdair Cameron: Winning the renewables argument. 16. Amelia Womack: Where we’ve done well.

CND 7th Aug 2017 read more »

Britain will not have enough skilled workers to build a new generation of nuclear power stations unless ministers remove the uncertainty hanging over UK energy policy, industry executives and labour leaders have warned. Tens of thousands of engineers and construction workers will be needed to complete the Hinkley Point C power station and several other planned nuclear plants over the next two decades. Thousands more are needed to decommission the existing fleet of nuclear reactors – all but one of which are due to reach the end of their operational lives by 2030. About 1,800 people are already employed at Hinkley, where work started in March on the first permanent concrete structures. About 25,000 jobs are expected to be created by the project over the next decade. Hinkley Point C was delayed for many years before winning approval last September. The next two major nuclear projects, at Wylfa in Anglesey and Moorside in Cumbria, are shrouded with doubts over how they will be financed. If the “new build” programme goes ahead as planned, the number of workers needed in the UK nuclear sector would grow from almost 88,000 this year to just over 100,000 in 2021, according to the latest annual assessment by the Nuclear Skills Strategy Group, which includes representatives from government, regulators, industry and unions. The skills shortage is exacerbated by the ageing demographic profile of the existing nuclear workforce. Many technical specialists joined the industry during its last major growth period in the 1980s. An average 6,830 full-time jobs are expected to be created across the UK nuclear sector every year until 2021 and a fifth of them will be replacements for people leaving the sector.

FT 14th Aug 2017 read more »

It might seem strange for us to focus on Hinkley Point in Somerset for our front page story, but what happens at Hinkley will almost certainly have a direct impact on what happens at the nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk in the years to come. This Campaign has always maintained that a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK, including the proposed Sizewell C, is completely untenable and with all that is happening at Hinkley Point, it now seems to be increasingly the case. The new nuclear power station: Hinkley Point C, is now subject to a ‘full review’ following a statement from its developer Électricité de France (EdF) that it expects the project to be years late and billions of Euros over budget. The anticipated completion date has already been extended from 2025 to 2027, and the cost, shared with China State Nuclear Company (CGN), is already likely to increase by up to 3bn Euros. The latest forecasts reveal that Hinkley Point C could cost energy bill payers in the UK £50bn over the life of the project, compared to the original estimate in 2013, of £6bn. The National Audit Office in the UK has labelled the HInkley plans as ‘risky and expensive’ and it has urged the Government to have an alternative plan in place in case the project is delayed or cancelled. This at a time when offshore wind power will be up to 50% cheaper than nuclear, and certainly far safer and far better for the environment. Technological advances, including larger more efficient turbines and economies of scale in manufacturing, have resulted in the cost of offshore wind power tumbling to an all-time low. It is anticipated that the guaranteed price is expected to be so low, that it could be free of subsidy altogether. Millions is now being invested in battery power, which is making wind and solar energy storage a reality across the world. Technological advances have resulted in production being doubled in Western Europe, paving the way for a green energy revolution that will consign nuclear power to the economic and environmental scrapheap.

Shut Down Sizewell 13th Aug 2017 read more »

Caledonian has delivered the first of 1,496 offsite accommodation suites to the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset. The Nottinghamshire-based business was appointed by EDF Energy to design and build what is said to be the largest hotel-style development in Europe since Eurodisney. Caledonian tendered for the £50m project with Laing O’Rourke as part of an international supply chain.

Insider Media 14th Aug 2017 read more »