Radhealth
A two-day Symposium will be held at the New York Academy of Medicine, New York City, New York, US on March 11-12, 2013, the second anniversary of the Fukushima accident. The Symposium will be addressed by international panel of leading medical and biological scientists, nuclear engineers, and policy experts who will make presentations on, and discuss the bio-medical and ecological consequences of the Fukushima disaster.
No2nuclearpower 9th Jan 2013 more »
Hinkley
THE significant increase in job opportunities arising from the construction of a new nuclear power station in the South West was highlighted at a meeting in Exeter. The Civil Engineering Contractors Association South West training and development forum was briefed on the new nuclear power plant planned for Hinkley Point, in Somerset, by NNB Generation Company, a subsidiary of EDF Energy.
Exeter Express & Echo 10th Jan 2013 more »
Harwell
A large part of the Harwell site has now been formally released from the last remaining nuclear regulations, and is available for new development. The final stage of a clean-up process that has taken several decades was ratified by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Baroness Verma, who signed orders to revoke the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) responsibility for the 27 hectares of land. The land will now be released to the partnership that is developing the wider Harwell Oxford campus. Representing about 20% of the total site, the land, around the size of 40 football pitches, will now be transferred to the wider Harwell Oxford campus that houses a range of high-tech businesses and research organisations.
Nuclear Engineering International 9th Jan 2013 more »
Nuclear Skills
The UK’s nuclear energy industry will soon benefit from a new skills development initiative – the National Nuclear Gateway project – after the approval of funds from a non-governmental commission. The National Skills Academy for Nuclear has gained approval via the Growth and Innovation Fund for the project, funded by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and matched against nuclear employer investment.
World Nuclear News 9th Jan 2013 more »
Politics
Let’s be kind and note that the two flagship green pledges – to reform the electricity market and deliver an energy system fit for the 21st century and to overhaul the energy efficiency of the nation’s leaky homes – are both underway, albeit with significant concerns.
Guardian 9th Jan 2013 more »
Labour issued a list of 30 areas where it said the government had failed to deliver on its commitments, including overseeing an approximate 50 per cent drop in renewables investment in its first full year afte the election and cutting investment in flood defences. It also accused the coalition of failing to meet its over-arching commitment to be the “greenest government ever”.
Business Green 9th Jan 2013 more »
Nuclear Development
Upwards of $350m for thorium reactor research in China; space-based nuclear power; and a sliver of hope that a comprehensive US nuclear waste legislation bill will be up for discussion by the year’s end. 2013 looks like a year of technological change and eventful government decision making.
Nuclear Energy Insider 9th Jan 2013 more »
Companies
UK-based power systems provider Rolls-Royce has acquired PKMJ Technical Services, a nuclear engineering services business in the US. Rolls-Royce, which develops techniques and solutions to manage, improve and extend the lifetime of nuclear power plants, would accelerate its growth in nuclear services market with the latest acquisition.
Energy Business Review 9th Jan 2013 more »
Proliferation
NORTH Korea’s launch of a long-range missile in mid-December was followed by a flurry of global condemnation that was almost comical in its predictability and impotence. However, the launch underscored a larger reality that can no longer be ignored: the world has entered a second nuclear age. The contours of the second nuclear age are still taking shape. But the next few years will be especially perilous, because newness itself creates dangers as rules and red lines are redefined. In the Middle East, south Asia, and east Asia, rivalries unfold in a nuclear context. This has changed military postures across the Middle East. Part of the Israeli nuclear arsenal is being shifted to sea,. Israel also is launching a new generation of satellites to provide early warning of other countries’ preparations for missile strikes. If Iran’s mobile missiles disperse, Israel wants to know about it immediately. Thus, the old problem of Arab-Israeli peace is now seen in the new context of an Iranian nuclear threat. The two problems are linked. How would Israel respond to rocket attacks from Gaza, Lebanon, or Egypt if it faced the threat of nuclear attack by Iran? Pakistan has doubled the size of its nuclear arsenal in the last five years. Its armed forces are set to field new tactical nuclear weapons – short-range battlefield weapons. India has deployed a nuclear triad – bombers, missiles, and submarines – and in 2012 tested an intercontinental ballistic missile. India almost certainly has a multiple warhead, in development, and has also launched satellites to aid its targeting of Pakistan’s forces.
Scotsman 10th Jan 2013 more »
US
Two stricken California reactors may soon redefine a global movement aimed at eradicating nuclear power. They sit in a seismic zone vulnerable to tsunamis. Faulty steam generators have forced them shut for nearly a year. A powerful “No Nukes” movement wants them to stay that way. If they win, the shutdown of America’s 104 licensed reactors will seriously accelerate. The story of San Onofre Units 2 & 3 is one of atomic idiocy. Perched on an ocean cliff between Los Angeles and San Diego, the reactors’ owners cut unconscionable corners in replacing their multi-million-dollar steam generators. According to Russell Hoffman, one of California’s leading experts on San Onofre, inferior metals and major design failures turned what was meant to be an upgrade into an utter fiasco.
Truth Out 8th Jan 2013 more »
In the US everything is about to change – again. And it could have a big impact on efforts to tackle climate change. Over the past four years the story of the US has changed dramatically from gas guzzling road block to change– to leader in emissions reductions. Support for renewable energy and its falling cost, the stagnant state of the economy and fracking – a new technology for extracting gas from rocks – have led to an unexpected fall in US emissions. New data from the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) suggests that in just one year, between 2011 and 2012 US carbon dioxide emissions fell by a startling 3.4%. Compared to 2009 emissions are down just over 2%. But the latest forecasts from the EIA suggest the same dynamics which pushed emissions down may now drive them up.
Energy Desk 9th Jan 2013 more »
Czech Republic
The upgrade of Temelin, a nuclear power station, has become the backdrop of a power struggle between the Unites States and Russia. Worryingly, a discussion on Czech energy policy is being silenced by the competition of foreign strategic interests.
Open Democracy 9th Jan 2013 more »
France
France’s president has said the country will maintain its costly nuclear arsenal despite looming military budget cuts, saying the weapons are essential for defence. François Hollande said yesterday that global security threats have made nuclear weapons essential for France, the only country in continental Europe to have them. The statement came in his annual greeting to soldiers.
Scotsman 10th Jan 2013 more »
Iran
The much-awaited new round of diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear programme will have to be awaited a while longer. Tehran has declared itself ready for talks this month, but the office of the EU foreign affairs chief, Cathy Ashton, whose job it is to arrange the negotiations, has yet to get a clear Iranian response to its suggestion of a mid-January meeting in Istanbul.
Guardian 9th Jan 2013 more »
Pakistan
India accused Pakistan of the “barbaric and inhuman” mutilation of two soldiers killed in a Kashmiri border attack as the crisis between the two nuclear-armed neighbours intensified.
Telegraph 9th Jan 2013 more »
Trident
Between now and 2016, Britain must decide whether to replace the four submarines which carry nuclear-tipped Trident II missiles with a like-for-like replacement. The capital cost of replacing the four existing boats, which are ending their service lives, will be £25bn. The construction programme will consume at least one-third of the Ministry of Defence’s equipment budget after 2020. Given such costs, Britain’s nuclear deterrent will be the subject of heated arguments this year. While the government is ultimately likely to approve the full project, it must make its case in the face of a growing chorus of politicians and analysts who are considering whether the country should go for cheaper alternatives, such as submarines armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. Some are asking whether Britain and France should work jointly on a nuclear deterrent rather than pour money into separate, parallel programmes. A few well-known public figures question the sense of the UK having nuclear weapons at all. “I think [the UK nuclear arsenal] is completely past its sell-by date,” says Michael Portillo, defence secretary in a previous Conservative government. “It is neither independent, nor is it any kind of deterrent because we face enemies like the Taliban and al-Qaeda, who cannot be deterred by nuclear weapons. It is a tremendous waste of money and is done entirely for reasons of national prestige.”
FT 9th Jan 2013 more »
Renewables
Good Energy has made good on its pledge to introduce a discounted energy tariff for people living near its wind farms, with the official launch of a new Local Tariff that offers a 20 per cent discount on the company’s standard energy prices.
Business Green 10th Jan 2013 more »
Seven pioneering British bioenergy projects have been awarded a total of £292,000 of government funding, as part of the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) £2m wetlands biomass to bioenergy initiative. The latest round of funding awards is intended to help the seven projects move from the design phase towards developing detailed project plans, which will then be put forward for the next round of funding later in the year. example, Adapt Commercial Ltd, a spin-out company from the University of East Anglia, was awarded over £36,000 to help develop plans for a specially designed gasification and anaerobic digestion capable of processing wetland biomass. Meanwhile, AB Systems was awarded over £12,000 to support a project designed to dry wetland biomass and turn it into usable briquettes, and EcoCZERO was awarded £50,000 to help fund work to mechanise the harvesting of reeds and other wetland biomass. According to government projections, sustainably-sourced biomass could provide up to 11 per cent of the UK’s primary energy supplies by 2020 and experts maintain that biomass harvested from reeds and other plants growing in wetland areas could provide a sustainable fast-growing source of energy that does not impact on agricultural land, forests, or food supplies.
Business Green 10th Jan 2013 more »
Aquamarine Power Ltd., a developer of wave-energy devices backed by ABB Ltd., is talking with possible new strategic investors to help bring its technology to market. The company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, plans to add one or two investors to provide funds and know-how, Chief Executive Officer Martin McAdam said.
Bloomberg 9th Jan 2013 more »
NGOs
WWF-UK, one of the country’s leading environmental charities, has today named Lang Banks as its new Director of WWF Scotland. Banks, succeeds Dr Richard Dixon, soon to be Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland.
WWF 9th Jan 2013 more »
