Hinkley
Vincent De Rivaz, chief executive of EDF, reassured the audience at the Nuclear Industry Association’s annual conference that the UK’s flagship nuclear new build project will not be derailed. Recent problems have beset French compatriot and reactor developer, Areva, and speculation has grown that Chinese partners in the Hinkley Point nuclear plant development are seeking a bigger stake.
Penn Energy 8th Dec 2014 read more »
IT takes a long time to build a nuclear reactor. Ten years or thereabouts. And it seems to have taken that long to get to the point where we can reasonably confident it will even happen at Hinkley Point in Somerset. There are still some doubts. EDF is yet to finally commit and financial challenges at one of its partners, Areva, have raised questions. But in all likelihood the project will be confirmed early in the new year. For Bristol businesses, that opens a raft of opportunities. James Durie, right, executive director of Bristol Chamber of Commerce & Initiative at Business West, said: “With Hinkley now moving forward we are working hand in glove with Somerset Chamber and EDF, the main contractors, to make sure all businesses in Bristol and the West of England area including our 18,000 members are aware of the opportunities that Hinkley brings.
Bristol Post 10th Dec 2014 read more »
Wylfa
ANGLESEY Council has raised concerns over the “lack of detail” in proposals for the Wylfa Newydd power station. The authority said it was disappointed with the information released by Horizon Nuclear Power in its first round of public consultation (PAC1), which closed on Monday, for the proposed new nuclear power plant to replace the current Wylfa station in Cemaes Bay.
News North Wales 9th Dec 2014 read more »
NDA
Consultation begins on our Draft Business Plan 2015 to 2018 that sets out our key objectives and plans for delivering our priorities over the next three years. Our total planned expenditure for 2015/16 is £3.31 billion, of which £2.09 billion will be funded by UK government and £1.22 billion by income from commercial operations. Planned expenditure on site programmes will be £2.91 billion, while non-site expenditure is expected to be £0.19 billion. This non-site expenditure includes skills development, socio-economic support to communities, research and development, insurance and pension costs, fees to SLCs, implementing geological disposal and NDA operating costs.
NDA 8th Dec 2014 read more »
Energy Costs
Investing in low carbon energy generation could lower future household energy bills and insulate the economy from volatile fossil fuel prices, the government’s official climate change advisor says. But only if the government commits to implementing long-term climate policies. A new report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) assesses the impact of the UK’s low carbon policies on consumer energy bills. It expects households to pay more to decarbonise the UK’s energy sector in the coming decades, but says that doing so should ultimately save people money as well as helping the UK hit its legally binding climate goals. The committee’s conclusion mirrors that of government analysis earlier this month that showed energy bills would rise significantly if the UK fails to implement climate policies.
Carbon Brief 10th Dec 2014 read more »
Annual household energy bills have risen by £490 on average in the past decade with most of the increase due to the hike in wholesale gas prices, according to a report from the government’s climate change advisers. This puts the cost of government measures to support low-carbon policies at around £100 a year on domestic bills but the average household is also around £165 better off thanks to those policies – due to people installing new boilers, insulation and more efficient electrical appliances.
Guardian 10th Dec 2014 read more »
Households with electric heating face paying £360 a year in green levies by 2030 – more than a quarter of their total energy bill, the Government’s official climate change adviser has warned. The 7 per cent of UK homes – almost 2 million households – who rely on electricity for their heating will be the hardest hit by the Government’s drive for green energy because subsidies for the technologies are levied solely on electricity bills, a report by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) shows. These households, typically isolated rural homes or urban flats, already paid an estimated £90 – about a tenth of their £925 annual energy bill – to subsidise wind farms, solar and nuclear power in 2013. The figure is double that paid by households who use gas for heating.
Telegraph 10th Dec 2014 read more »
The cost per household of subsidising wind and solar farms and other sources of low-carbon electricity will double in five years and treble by 2030, according to a government advisory body. Households already pay an average of £45 a year to support low carbon power and this will rise to £100 in 2020 and £175 in 2030, the committee on climate change says today. Britain’s legally binding climate change targets could also double the cost of electricity for businesses over the next 15 years. The committee says that the average household’s energy bills have increased by 75 per cent since 2004 to £1,140, when general price inflation was 23 per cent.
The Times 10th Dec 2014 read more »
PLEX
Greenpeace let the government sue because they did not fulfill its obligations under the Espoo Convention. Under that treaty, the government should organize a transnational participatory process and environmental impact assessment (EIA) if the nuclear power plants of Tihange 1, Objective 1 and Objective 2 longer wants to keep open than foreseen in the Law on Nuclear Exit. The environmental afternoon went with a bailiff to the Cabinet of Minister of Energy and Environment Marie-Christine Marghem (MR), where she was received for an extensive interview.
De Morgen 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Nuclear Safety
It’s almost unbelievable. It sounds like the beginning of a plot from a bad spy novel. But here’s the headline from a December 1 article from Bloomberg News, brought to my attention today: Russia-U.S. Face Off Against Europe on Nuclear Safety. That’s right: The government of the United States and the government of Russia are teaming together in an attempt to gut new post-Fukushima nuclear safety requirements proposed by European nations.
Green World 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Academia
David Smythe: This page is about some expert earth scientists who seem to have compromised their skills and experience in the service of government or industry. In the list we find senior earth science researchers who have justly won their positions in academia, who have received prizes awarded by their peers, and who may then be invited to serve on government committees – but then become lazy in their pronouncements and judgment, assuming that their academic credentials can substitute for facts, meticulous research and clear thinking. It’s as if some of them leave their critical faculties outside the door of the committee room. Some academics have industrial links which might not be properly disclosed. There is nothing wrong in principle with industry-university links, including research project funding by industry. But once in receipt of such funds, it can be very difficult for a researcher to criticise either the funding organisation or even the industry in general. He who pays the piper calls the tune. This restriction equally applies to government-funded research, such as that carried out by the British Geological Survey, for which I worked for fourteen years. There can be a conflict of interest between open academic or professional disclosure and the commercial or political aims of business or government.
David Smythe 9th Dec 2014 read more »
China
Shares in China’s largest nuclear power producer, CGN Power Co Ltd surged 24.1 percent in their Hong Kong trading debut on Wednesday as investors bet on a government-backed sector primed for growth. CGN Power raised about $3.2 billion after pricing the deal at the top of a HK$2.43 to HK$2.78 per share marketing range. By 0142 GMT (08:42 p.m. EST), the shares in the state-controlled company were trading at HK$3.31, compared with their IPO price of HK$2.78, retreating from the day’s high of HK$3.48. The benchmark Hang Seng index .HSI was indicated to open down 0.2 percent.
Reuters 10th Dec 2014 read more »
FT 10th Dec 2014 read more »
Czech Republic
French energy companies are interested in developing the Czech’s nuclear program, according to country’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls. During his visit to Prague on Tuesday, Valls told a Czech-French business forum that state-controlled companies such as utility Electricite de France and nuclear engineering giant Areva “are ready to react to the decision” to expand the country’s nuclear energy output, according to Associated Press.
Sputnik 9th Dec 2014 read more »
US
No utility executive could propose a nuclear reactor ”in good conscience” in the U.S. today, the director emeritus of Argonne National Laboratory said in Chicago Monday. Alan Schriesheim became the first industry executive to lead a national laboratory when he took the helm of Argonne in 1983, after serving as Exxon’s head of engineering and the director of its research lab, which developed more efficient processes for producing components of gasoline.
Forbes 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Canada
After public hearings on a proposed underground nuclear waste dump along Lake Huron, a review panel will recommend if the Canadian federal government should approve the project. A decision to issue the construction license to Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is expected by mid-2015. The Ontario government owns the company, one of the largest power companies in North America. It provides more than half of the electricity for the province. Currently, the company uses storage buildings in Kincardine, Ontario, for all the low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste produced from its 20 nuclear reactors. The site is home to the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, the world’s largest nuclear generating station with eight nuclear reactors. The power company plans to build a permanent place to bury nuclear waste at the Bruce site to replace its temporary one.
Great Lakes Echo 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Sweden
Alstom Power Sweden has signed a five-year service agreement for the turbine systems in support of the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant located in Sweden. Under the terms of the agreement, signed with OKG AB, Alstom will be responsible for annual maintenance, including inspection and commissioning of steam turbines, generators and associated auxiliary systems for Oskarshamn 1, 3 and to some extent 2, during ordinary maintenance outages.
Energy Business Review 10th Dec 2014 read more »
Hungary
Russia has inked an agreement for the development of two nuclear reactors of 1, 200MW each in Hungary. Construction on the two new units of the Paks nuclear power plant is expected to commence in 2018. The agreement was signed by Atomenergoproekt, which is a subsidiary of Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, with Hungary’s Paks, in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
Energy Business Review 10th Dec 2014 read more »
FT 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Iran
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said on Tuesday it had no information about the illicit procurement of equipment for the Arak research reactor as alleged in a report by a U.N. panel of experts and based on a briefing by a member country. The panel, which monitors compliance with the U.N.’s Iran sanctions regime, said in a report seen by Reuters on Monday that Tehran’s illicit procurement of banned nuclear technology appeared to have continued in breach of sanctions.
Reuters 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
China sent a high-profile official posing as an “academic” to attend an international conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons in Vienna, despite declining earlier to participate in the meeting, a report said Tuesday. While the United States and Britain participated in the Vienna conference, the other three officially recognized nuclear weapon countries — Russia, France and China — had shunned the event. However, an anonymous conference speaker told Sputnik that Beijing had sent an official to the event.
IB Times 9th Dec 2014 read more »
A woman who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the age of 13 gave a spellbinding account and powerful statement at an international conference on nuclear weapons here, sharing her horrific experiences with attendees.
Asahi Shimbun 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Almost 160 states have gathered in Vienna for an international conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons – the third on this subject within two years. Speaker after speaker has underlined the extraordinary danger of keeping so many nuclear weapons – the current tally is around 16,000 – when the detonation of just one, by accident or design, would be catastrophic. Recent scientific research demonstrates how much worse the impact of nuclear use would be than even that previously anticipated on every level: economic, medical, environmental, climatic, existential. All this has been drawn on by the participants, together with the expectation that the changing security context means an increased likelihood of acquisition and use by non-state actors.
CND 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz stated at the opening of the third Сonference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons that as long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use on purpose or accidentally also exists.
Sputnik 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Pope Francis called on world leaders, activists and people of faith to pull together to rid the world of the threat of nuclear weapons.
Tablet 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Distributed Energy
A new report by Navigant Research projects that distributed generation will roughly double in the next nine years. Distributed generation (DG) is the decentralized production of electricity by small-scale systems — most often in the form of rooftop solar, but it can include biomass, wind, and other forms of renewable power as well. Navigant Research’s analysis also included natural gas and diesel generators of 6 megawatts or less, along with solar arrays of one megawatt or less and small wind turbines of 500 kilowatts or less. According to their forecast (unfortunately behind a paywall) the total capacity for DG installed around the world will grow from 87.3 gigawatts in 2014 to 165.5 gigawatts in 2023. Most of the growth is anticipated to come from the deployment of solar. Geographically, the biggest increase in the projection was in Western Europe, with North America and the Asian Pacific not too far behind.
Climate Progress 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Renewables – solar
UK domestic solar installs are a better investment than ever before, according to new research carried out by Green Business Watch.
Solar Portal 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Renewables – wave
Scottish Green Party calls for increased funding for wave power, blaming lack of government support for losses at two leading wave companies.The Scottish government has been accused of abandoning wave power after one leading company has been forced into administration and another has had to shed most of its staff. The Green MSP for Lothian, Alison Johnstone, has written to the Scottish energy minister, Fergus Ewing, accusing him of failing to do enough to back wave power. “Ministers need to reassess their priorities because they are abandoning wave, while leaving the door open to unwelcome energy developments such as fracking,” she said.
Guardian 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Family doctors prescribing double glazing and loft insulation for patients living in cold, damp homes can transform lives and slash the huge sums spent by the NHS on cold-related ill health, a ground-breaking trial has shown. The pilot project in Sunderland found GP and outpatient visits plummeted by a third after patients’ homes were made warmer and cheaper to heat to the tune of hundreds of pounds a year. The impact of cold weather on health is estimated to cost the NHS £1.5bn a year and over 18,000 people died prematurely last winter. However, energy bills have soared in recent years, leaving millions of people in fuel poverty and unable to heat their homes properly.
Guardian 9th Dec 2014 read more »
Climate
Limiting warming to no more than two degrees has become the internationally accepted target for climate policy, as we saw in the first blog of our series of pieces looking at the two degrees limit. Scientists think the risks of climate change increase as temperatures rise. Two degrees isn’t a ‘safe’ level of climate change, but nor is it a red line with only chaos beyond, as we’ll see in part three. It is a readily understood and useful marker of how we’re doing at limiting dangerous climate change that has helped focus minds on the scale of the challenge. It’s also what the world’s governments have committed to achieving.
Carbon Brief 9th Dec 2014 read more »
European Union insistence on a right to challenge nations about their plans for fighting climate change in the run-up to a United Nations summit in 2015 has opened a rift at UN climate talks in Lima. Washington said a review of national pledges for curbing rising greenhouse gas emissions before the UN summit in Paris next December was “not fundamental” and Beijing signalled hostility to the idea of letting other nations challenge its policies. The dispute has implications for the deal, which could either be a patchwork of purely national offers to fight climate change beyond 2020, or one where countries and outside observers are able to challenge and influence the scope of national pledges.
Independent 9th Dec 2014 read more »
