Radwaste
More than 700 people have responded in a UK-wide government consultation over choosing a site for an underground repository for nuclear waste. Last year, Cumbria County Council voted against staying in talks to find a burial site. The government then enabled district councils to make the decision. In its consultation summary, the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC) said “opinions were divided” on where authority should lie. It stated: “A few respondents agreed with the proposal that the district council should be the ‘representative authority’. “On the other hand, some respondents felt that county councils were best placed to represent the community and hold the Right of Withdrawal. “Concerns were raised by a few respondents about county councils being excluded from having a participative role in the process.”
BBC 8th March 2014 read more »
The BBC recently published a report on the DECC “Summary of Responses” to the Review of the Siting Process for a Geological Disposal Facility. If you have read the DECC summary and in particular the explanation of terms used*, you may well be left wondering if it is possible for a text to be any more ambiguous. DECC has obviously worked hard to dumb the summary down to the lowest possible level and the BBC report captures its truly unscientific quality.
Cumbria Trust 10th March 2014 read more »
Dounreay – Vulcan
A LEAK at a test nuclear reactor in Caithness that the Defence Secretary last week claimed had caused no environmental pollution led to a tenfold rise in radioactive gas emissions, official figures reveal. The figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) came after Philip Hammond admitted to MPs on Thursday that there was a leak from the test reactor at HMS Vulcan near Dounreay. Opposition MPs yesterday demanded an inquiry and First Minister Alex Salmond accused the Ministry of Defence of subverting democracy.
Scotsman 10th March 2014 read more »
SCOTLAND’S Environment Secretary is to make a parliamentary statement about a radiation leak at a nuclear test reactor. Richard Lochhead will voice concerns Holyrood ministers and the wider public were “kept in the dark” on the issue by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). He proposes to address the Scottish Parliament tomorrow about the incident at the UK Government’s Vulcan Nuclear Reactor Test Establishment at Dounreay, Caithness.
Herald 10th March 2014 read more »
Energy Supplies
The immediate problem which has preoccupied a huge amount of Whitehall time for the last year is the risk that generating capacity falls short of what is needed (in tabloid English: the lights go out) because no one is investing. Why are they not investing ? Because the current policy embedded in last years’s Energy Bill and the electricity market reform process offers no incentive for anyone to invest in anything other than renewables or new nuclear. For those supplies prices are guaranteed on generous long term take or pay contracts. But new nuclear is ten years away, and wind power is intermittent. At the same time existing coal stations are being closed down because they produce too much pollution. To keep the lights on something has to provide back up power, and soon. But who will invest in capacity which might only be used 10 or 20 per cent of the time? After much agonising and hundreds of notes an answer has emerged from Whitehall. The Government will invest. Under the energy legislation this is close to impossible and so in a lovely sleight of hand worthy of Yes Minister the investment will be labelled as a matter of national security. The details are not yet all fully agreed but the current plan is for up to a dozen stations which are currently mothballed to be re-commissioned. These will be gas fired but some argue for including coal as well. They will be controlled by National Grid to avoid any suggestion that the Government is enriching the energy companies. The remit is to create a strategic electricity reserve for use if we ever get close to a brown out.
FT 9th March 2014 read more »
Household gas bills could rise if the Ukraine stand-off deteriorates into war, Ed Davey, the energy secretary, has warned. But Mr Davey told Britain’s energy companies they must not use the crisis as an “excuse” to raise bills, as they buy their gas in advance so should be insulated from short-term price spikes. Russia supplies 30 per cent of the European Union’s gas demand and experts say that there would be a significant rise in prices across the continent if war breaks out or sanctions are imposed on Moscow.
Telegraph 9th March 2014 read more »
Times 10th March 2014 read more »
The biggest independent gas power generators have warned the Chancellor that freezing the carbon tax would make blackouts more likely and in the long run would push up household energy bills. InterGen, Vitol and Macquarie have written to George Osborne urging him to reconsider plans to scrap a big increase in the tax at this month’s Budget. The Government has hinted strongly that, despite last-minute pleas, it will go ahead with the move in an effort to cut manufacturers’ energy costs. Citing the need to help British heavy industry and save jobs, Michael Fallon, the Energy Minister, will say today that “without further action on energy costs, the competitiveness gap between Europe and the United States is becoming unbridgeable”.
Times 10th March 2014 read more »
Energy Costs
Heavy industry will be granted more relief from rising energy costs in an attempt to tackle the “clear and present danger” of job losses, Michael Fallon will pledge on Monday. The energy and business minister will admit that costs are undermining the UK’s competitiveness and that current compensation for manufacturers is failing to offset the growing burden of green levies on energy bills.
Telegraph 10th March 2014 read more »
Old Nukes
Many nuclear power plants in Europe have passed their expiration date and pose a threat to millions of people, yet they continue to be heavily integrated into energy programs across the continent, a new study commissioned by Greenpeace warns. Most nuclear power plants are built to last roughly 30 years. The average European plant is now reaching that age, and many others have long surpassed it.
Common Dreams 6th March 2014 read more »
Emergency Planning
Bigger evacuation zones: German govt advisory board suggests stricter risk plans after possible nuclear disaster. Safety zones around nuclear power plants should be expanded – and cities like Munich or Hamburg included: Three years after the Fukushima-1 draws the Commission of Experts of the Federal Government lessons from the meltdown in the Japanese nuclear power plant, and proposes stricter rules for disaster relief.
Sued Deutsche 10th March 2014 read more »
Fukushima
It is now three years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster began in March 2011. Here are the stories of five of the victims who have struggled over these three long years to rebuild their lives. Like tens of thousands forced to flee the second biggest release of radioactive particles in history, they have been ignored and abandoned by their government and TEPCO, owner of the disaster site. They fear being forgotten and that life will get even worse if they are forgotten. Greenpeace brought six activists to Japan to meet them to help spread their stories and keep them in peoples’ minds.
Greenpeace 10th March 2014 read more »
Three years after the worst nuclear accident in a generation, the Japanese prefecture is reporting a rise in the number of children showing cancer symptoms. But is this directly related to the disaster, or is the testing more rigorous? Three years after the plant suffered a triple meltdown that released huge quantities of radiation into the atmosphere, medical authorities in Fukushima prefecture are reporting a significant rise in the number of thyroid cancer cases among local children and young adults. The results have prompted a bitter debate about the potential effects the meltdown had on the health of hundreds of thousands of children. Either the higher-than-normal rates of thyroid cancer are connected to the nuclear accident, or they are the inevitable result of a testing regime unprecedented in size, and conducted using state-of-the-art medical equipment.
Guardian 9th March 2014 read more »
Chernobyl
Elena, 30, who left her native Ukraine in 1989 and grew up in Perth, Scotland, announced on Friday she was suffering from the potentially fatal disease. She said: “I’m fighting it with everything I have.” Elena’s career has been blighted by health complaints, including a long-running liver problem which forced her to retire last year. Prof Karol Sikora, an oncologist who also advises the Ukrainian government, said: “It is possible there is a relationship between the radiation from Chernobyl and Elena’s cancer.
Daily Star 10th March 2014 read more »
Iran
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says it would be ”difficult and challenging” to reach a long-term nuclear deal with Iran.
Reuters 9th March 2014 read more »
Independent 9th March 2014 read more »
Herald 10th March 2014 read more »
Green Deal
A government-backed company set up with £244m of public money to finance the green deal energy efficiency programme has fallen foul of the advertising watchdog after claiming that its loans are the cheapest on the market. In an embarrassment to ministers, an investigation team from the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against the Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC),which is part-funded by the publicly owned Green Investment Bank. Officials from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have attended the GDFC’s meetings. But the GDFC has breached advertising rules with claims in a brochure that green deal payment plans – for loans to insulate homes, install new boilers and other energy efficiency schemes – are typically the cheapest available.
Guardian 9th March 2014 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Small businesses are falling victim to the fight over cutting household bills. Home insulation was the unlikely spark that ignited a bitter battle between the big energy companies and the Government over soaring household bills – a clash of titans that led, ultimately, to ministers agreeing to reduce industry targets to insulate homes in return for knocking £50 off bills. Caught in the crossfire, however, were the small businesses that install that insulation. Inevitably, there have been casualties. The impact of the cuts to the Energy Company Obligation scheme has been devastating as work dries up. According to the Association for the Conservation of Energy, almost half the 40,700 jobs that the Government estimated the sector would support this year have been lost or not created in the first place.
Times 10th March 2014 read more »
Renewables
Chris Huhne: Cheap batteries will revolutionise the renewable energy market. The big power companies will struggle to keep up as a solution emerges to the problem of storing wind and solar power. News this week, from opposite ends of the planet, that points to the convulsion of change about to hit the global economy. The first report came from Palo Alto, California, headquarters of the Tesla electric car company. Tesla’s car produces no carbon emissions (so long as the electricity that charges its batteries is also low carbon). Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, announced it would invest in a $4bn-$5bn “gigafactory” doubling the world’s production of lithium-ion batteries. These power your mobile phone, but also Tesla’s high-end luxury electric cars. The objective is to cut battery prices by 30% in three years, and to halve them by 2020.
Guardian 9th March 2014 read more »
THE first wave energy farm in Europe is being planned for Irish waters and is due to begin operating in 2018.
Irish Independent 10th March 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
A top US official has eased fears among the world’s largest oil exporters in the Persian Gulf over security guarantees now that America has become less reliant on imports of energy due to domestic shale oil and gas. At a conference in the United Arab Emirates over the weekend, Penny Pritzker, the US commerce secretary, said that America still has a shared “commitment to preserve security and stability throughout the Gulf.”
Telegraph 9th March 2014 read more »
Desmond Tutu et al: The US secretary of state, John Kerry, is about to make what may be the biggest decision on global climate policy of his term. The verdict on whether to approve or reject the Keystone XL pipeline, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, could, at one stroke, confirm or condemn US prospects for climate leadership. This is a policy decision that will have truly global significance. Keystone has been called the “fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet”. According to experts, it would end any hope of the US meeting existing international commitments to cutting emissions by 17% by 2020, let alone forge new action.
Guardian 9th March 2014 read more »
