Areva
New delays reported at Flamanville. EDF seeks an equity position. The NRC has questions about digital instruments & controls for the EPR. Areva’s engineers and executives may feel like they’re working inside a pressure cooker this month. Bloomberg and AFP wire services indicate the French government is calling for “urgent measures” to stem the tide of red ink flowing from a cost overrun for the Flamanville 1,650 MW EPR reactor of one billion euros ($1.3 billion). The new cost estimate for the reactor is now reported to be [E]5 billion ($6.5 billion or $3,000/Kw). There is also a reported schedule delay from 2013 to 2015 for start-up of the new reactor.
The Energy Collective 31st July 2010 more >>
EDF
THE Chinese billionaire owner of Hutchison Ports (UK), which owns the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich International, is poised to take on EDF’s power network – the biggest electricity network in the UK.
East Anglian Daily Times 30th July 2010 more >>
Sizewell
Britain’s Sizewell B nuclear plant is expected to restart in the third quarter of 2010 following an unplanned outage that began in mid-March 2010, operator EDF said in its first half financial results on Friday. The 595 megawatt Sizewell B1 and 594 Sizewell B2 nuclear power units were taken offline due to a moisture problem.
London South East 30th July 2010 more >>
Cumbria
Sixty-five nuclear workers were axed yesterday in a “shattering blow” to the west Cumbrian economy. All staff at Westlakes Scientific Consulting (WSC), which has bases in Whitehaven and Dovenby, near Cockermouth, were given redundancy notices a fortnight after the firm slumped into administration. The business is a subsidiary of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). Uni bosses blame a downturn in sales and ballooning pension liabilities for its demise.
Cumberland News 31st July 2010 more >>
Renewables
According to a study conducted for NC WARN by Duke University researchers, the cost of solar power has for the first time been determined to be a better deal than nuclear. Simultaneous to word of this study is a similarly upbeat view from Worldwatch Institute, whose annual survey of the global state of renewable energy affairs prompts them to state that renewables are at a tipping point.
Tonic 31st July 2010 more >>
Solar photovoltaic systems have long been painted as a clean way to generate electricity, but expensive compared with other alternatives to oil, like nuclear power. No longer. In a “historic crossover,” the costs of solar photovoltaic systems have declined to the point where they are lower than the rising projected costs of new nuclear plants, according to a paper published this month.
New York Times 26th July 2010 more >>
Professor Keith Branham on nuclear power vs renewables.
Talk Works Extra Video 21st July 2010 more >>
Trident
Defence chiefs have been left stunned and angry by the Treasury’s refusal to finance the £20 billion cost of replacing Britain’s ageing nuclear deterrent. In a break with historical precedent, George Osborne, the Chancellor, has ruled that the entire cost of the new system must be found from within the day-to-day defence budget. The ruling has caused disarray within the Ministry of Defence where officials are already struggling to find cost savings of 20 per cent – or £7 billion – from next year’s budget.
Sunday Telegraph 1st August 2010 more >>
Paul Rogers on our need for a rethink to achieve sustainable security.
Talk Works Extra 23rd July 2010 more >>
