Nuclear Regulation
The nuclear safety regulator is facing a leadership crisis and is ill-equipped to deal with a mounting workload linked to China’s plans to invest £8 billion in the British industry, experts have warned. The Office for Nuclear Regulation is responsible for ensuring the safety and security of 15 nuclear reactors, hazardous sites such as Sellafield and the transport and disposal of high-level nuclear waste. It also oversees the safety case for new reactors. In recent months, it has been plagued by desertions, including the departure of Andy Hall, the chief inspector, and Alasdair Corfield, the finance director. Neither has been replaced. The ONR has been struggling to recruit experienced staff and is advertising more than 20 vacant positions, including experts in the transportation of radioactive materials, cybersecurity, radiation protection and nuclear fuel safety. David Lowry, a nuclear industry consultant, said that he was “very concerned that the ONR doesn’t have the staff and expertise it needs” at a time when Chinese, French and Japanese companies are planning a huge expansion and existing UK reactors are approaching the end of their lives. Andy Blowers, who has served on a government committee dealing with the handling of nuclear waste, said that the ONR was thinly stretched, adding: “There are staffing pressures which mean they cannot cope.”
Times 12th Jan 2016 read more »
A couple decades ago, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) published what it called the “bathtub curve.” This curve charted the expected and observed performance of nuclear reactors from initial operation until final shutdown. The main finding of note was that when a reactor first comes online, typically there are a large number of problems as the operators learn the technology of that specific reactor, issues resulting from construction deficiencies surface, etc. After a shakedown period of a year or two, reactor operations typically settle down for quite a while, with most reactors operating relatively efficiently. But as time goes on, problems associated with reactor aging–components being exposed to extraordinarily high heat and radiation as well as the simple reality that all things mechanical break down over time–begin to materialize and safety issues begin to mount again. As we have been seeing at reactors across the nation, especially those in competitive markets, when aging-related safety problems arise, so do economic problems. It takes a lot of money to operate and maintain aging reactors, and some, like Crystal River, San Onofre, Trojan, Maine Yankee and more, have elected to close permanently rather than continue to pour money into them.
Green World 11th Jan 2016 read more »
New Nukes
As part of developing this hypothesis, we have discussed various literatures related to understandings of ‘the deep state’, drawing attention to less visible power structures which may impinge upon ‘conventional’ energy policy decision making. In her blog Jessica argued that the deal with China somehow ‘disproved’ our hypothesis (because the UK government would not risk China gaining access to sensitive submarine-related nuclear activity), while also making the claim (that has been frequently encountered) that to even pose the question regarding the linkages between submarine-related nuclear activity and civilian nuclear power somehow represents a ‘conspiracy theory’. We were grateful for this intervention; however, we felt that it mischaracterized key parts of our argument, and thus we responded to Jessica’s comments on the POLET Network blog. We hope these dialogues can continue.
SPRU 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Terror
Simple and affordable drones readily available on the high street could be turned into flying bombs by lone wolf ISIS terrorists, security experts have warned. A report by the Oxford Research Group’s Remote Control Project lists a range of British targets which could be struck by the toy drones – including nuclear power stations, a G7 summit or the prime minister’s car.
Daily Mail 11th Jan 2016 read more »
New Reactor Types
A Canadian nuclear technology company has raised CAD$10 million (£4.8m) for a project. Terrestrial Energy aims to bring its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology to industrial markets in the 2020s. MSRs are nuclear reactors that use a fluid fuel in the form of a molten fluoride or chloride salt, different to conventional nuclear systems that use solid fuel. As an MSR fuel salt is a liquid, it functions as both the fuel – producing the heat – and the coolant – transporting the heat away and ultimately to the power plant. The company claims IMSR will offer reliable power solutions for electricity production, both on and off-grid and also energy for industrial process heat generation.
Energy Live News 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Politics
The PM has been accused of double standards over climate change, ahead of a Commons committee appearance. Select committee chairmen Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour) and Angus MacNeil (SNP) said he has scrapped UK schemes aimed at cutting emissions, despite pledging internationally to protect the climate. They singled out the decision to axe a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project promised in the Tory manifesto. The government said the CCS scheme had always been “subject to affordability”. David Cameron is due before the Commons Liaison Committee later, which is made up of MPs who chair Commons select committees. He will be questioned on climate change, as well as the conflict in Syria.
BBC 12th Jan 2016 read more »
The government has failed to meet its own targets for cutting the environmental impact of the state’s operations, according to a Defra report quietly published last month. The “greening government commitments”, which began when David Cameron declared he would lead the “greenest government ever” in 2010, were intended to deliver big cuts in carbon emissions, domestic flights, waste and water usage. Efforts fell short on all counts, though the reductions that were achieved still saved taxpayers £185m in the last year.
Guardian 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Edie 11th Jan 2016 read more »
China
Fifty years ago, when China first revealed its nuclear power ambitions, most in the West dismissed them as Maoist propaganda, but there is nothing imaginary about the nation’s current boom in nuclear energy – and not everyone is happy about it. Scientists and conservationists fear the ever-increasing commercial and environmental pressure to expand the nuclear power sector means not enough attention is being paid to safety. Within a couple of decades, Hong Kong could be in close proximity to as many as 39 reactors, spread across Guangdong province. Two of them are nearing completion just 140km west of Hong Kong, in Taishan, in what has been labelled by green groups as the “most dangerous nuclear power plant in the world”. Rather than being the third plant successfully using the technology, Taishan, surrounded by dense Pearl River Delta conurbations, is more likely to be operating untested EPR reactors, the first fully functioning ones on the planet, should they go into service. Both units are two years behind schedule and last April the news got a whole lot worse, when Pierre-Franck Chevet, head of French nuclear safety agency Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), reported that a “serious anomaly affecting a crucial component of the nuclear power plant” had been detected.”We are very worried about Taishan and the design flaws in the reactor vessel and we would like to know what CGN are doing,” says Frances Yeung Hoi-shan, energy group leader for Greenpeace Asia. “We simply don’t know. Investors were informed that the plant would not open until 2017 but there was little detail.” It comes as no surprise that Greenpeace Asia has consistently rejected nuclear power as part of Hong Kong’s energy mix – the parent group was initially set up to protest nuclear weapons testing, after all – but it has a separate concern about the proliferation of nuclear plants in Guangdong and how transparent the safety processes will be. In April, the environmental group wrote to the Hong Kong government requesting information about Taishan 1&2 and Yeeng was not impressed with the reply, which only reaffirmed that any major incidents would be reported as an extension of the protocol set up for Daya Bay and that “tests” were being carried out.
South China Morning Post 10th Jan 2016 read more »
Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and wider concerns over the safety of Chinese nuclear facilities, China’s central government suspended its consideration of proposals for construction of nuclear power plants at inland sites. But in the last couple of years, pressure has been renewed to build nuclear plants at sites away from the coast. Beijing is now mulling over the decision to build new nuclear plants inland as an alternative to coal power, which has been the cause of disastrous air pollution in parts of the country. As we have argued elsewhere, there is a growing tension between the government’s plan for rapid expansion of nuclear power and its commitment to safety. The final decision over inland nuclear construction will decide how this tension is resolved. For now, Chinese policymakers face a risky decision. All of China’s nuclear power plants are currently located in coastal provinces. But in the second half of the last decade, plans were drawn up to start construction of nuclear power plants in inland areas.
China Dialogue 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Canada
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has announced its plan upgrade the 3,512MW Darlington nuclear power station located in Clarington, with an investment of C$12.8bn ($9bn).
Energy Business Review 12th Jan 2016 read more »
Reuters 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Iran
Iran has removed the core of its Arak heavy water nuclear reactor and filled it with cement as required under a nuclear deal signed with world powers last year, the semi-official Fars news agency has said, citing an informed Iranian source. Any such move, reducing the plant’s ability to produce plutonium, might signal imminent implementation of the nuclear deal and clear the way for Tehran to receive relief from economic sanctions. Separately, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said that EU nuclear-related sanctions on Iran could be lifted soon.
Independent 12th Jan 2016 read more »
North Korea
North Korean nuclear test: Can a country so technologically backwards really produce an H-Bomb?
Mirror 11th Jan 2016 read more »
China checking hundreds of people for radiation poisoning after North Korean nuclear bomb tests.
Mirror 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
Police accused of harassing peace campaigners following nuclear bomb convoy. SCOTLAND’S police force has has been accused of harassing peace campaigners who followed a nuclear bomb convoy by road around Glasgow and Stirling on Saturday afternoon, January 9.
The National 12th Jan 2016 read more »
Jeremy Corbyn has said Britain should be part of a “nuclear-free world” and suggested that he is prepared to speak at an anti-Trident CND rally.
Telegraph 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Hydrogen
Researchers have taken a step towards creating a low carbon process to make hydrogen fuel on an industrial scale, in a move that could have major implications for the nascent hydrogen fuel industry. The innovative process promises to create a material which can better catalyse the production of hydrogen from water, reducing the cost and environmental impact of production. In a paper published last month in the journal Nature Chemistry, researchers described how they used a new process to produce an altered version of the enzyme hydrogenase – a biological material which can be used as a catalyst to split water to produce hydrogen and oxygen – which they strengthened by enclosing it in a protective protein capsid.
Business Green 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Renewable UK
RenewableUK has today announced Hugh McNeal, a top civil servant at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), is to take up the post of chief executive at the influential trade body. McNeal, who is currently Director of Change at DECC and who has previously held senior posts at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), is to join RenewableUK in April.
Business Green 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Scottish Energy News 12th Jan 2016 read more »
Renewables – offshore wind
The London Array offshore wind farm smashed its monthly output record during December, according to new figures released late last week. The giant 175-turbine offshore array generated 369,000MWh of clean power, well in excess of its previous monthly best of 317,000MWh, which was set last November.London Array Limited, which is owned by a consortium of E.ON, DONG Energy and Masdar, said the capacity factor for the month reached 78.9 per cent.
Business Green 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Renewables – tidal and wave
Britain’s wave and tidal energy sector is shackled by “detrimental” regulatory burdens that continue to inhibit industry growth, the Renewable Energy Association’s (REA’s) Ocean Energy Group has claimed. Speaking at an Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into the prosperity of environmental objectives and policies, the head of REA’s Ocean Energy Group Stephanie Merry warned that EU directives are detrimental to marine energy projects in regards to time, cost and human resource implications for smaller companies.
Utility Week 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Scottish Energy News 12th Jan 2016 read more »
Renewable Supplies
The flurry of records set by the UK’s renewable energy industry in recent days has continued, with confirmation Scotland’s wind industry smashed output records last year. An analysis by WWF Scotland of data provided by WeatherEnergy revealed that wind generation rose 16 per cent last year to 10,392,439MWh, delivering enough power for 97 per cent of Scottish households or 2.34 million homes. The news came as leading wind turbine manufacturer Vestas called on the government to lift planning restrictions that are stopping the company from delivering wind farms that could potentially operate without recourse to subsidy. The WWF analysis shows that wind farms in Scotland delivered enough power to supply over 100 per cent of Scottish households during six of the last 12 months. Moreover, December set a new monthly output record of 1,352,399MWh of electricity, with enough wind power provided to meet the electrical needs of 148 per cent of Scottish households or 3.59 million homes.
Business Green 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Analysis by WWF Scotland from data provided by WeatherEnergy, found in six out of 12 months last year, wind generated enough power to supply more than 100 per cent of Scottish household needs. Power output from wind turbines rose to “record” levels in 2015, with wind producing enough electricity to power 97 per cent of Scottish homes, a report suggests.
Daily Record 11th Jan 2016 read more »
STV 11th Jan 2016 read more »
RE News 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Energy Live News 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Blue and Green Tomorrow 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Scottish Energy News 12th Jan 2016 read more »
100% Renewables
Renewable energy could supply Russia and Central Asian countries with 100% of their electricity needs by 2030, writes Paul Brown – and cut costs significantly compared to nuclear power and CO2-abated fossil fuels.
Ecologist 11th Jan 2016 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Britain should focus its housing energy efficiency efforts on retrofitting existing stock rather than trying to improve new-build performance, a senior building industry executive has claimed. Speaking exclusively to edie, Chris Tinker, an executive board director at Crest Nicholson – one of the largest housebuilding companies in the UK – said that new builds are already very high up on the efficiency curve. “I think you need to look at what your payback is for every pound you invest”, Tinker said. “New homes are a long way up the curve already and as a country we would arguable get a higher degree of payback from investing in existing housing stock. “You’d be better to take the same pound and invest in more insulation, more double-glazing and so on. “That isn’t to say I don’t think new-builds can be improved further, but there is definitely a limit.”
Edie 11th Jan 2016 read more »
