Nuclear Security
NFLA calls on nuclear regulator and nuclear industry to improve on alarming number of nuclear security incidents.The NFLA is alarmed to hear that there have been 398 security incidents at UK nuclear sites in the past four years.
NFLA 12th May 2014 read more »
The Scottish National Party has raised concerns over reports that security at Britain’s nuclear power stations is being breached eight times every month. An investigation by the Sunday Post revealed there had been almost 400 security breaches at nuclear power plants in the UK since 2010. A Freedom of Information request by the newspaper revealed that there were 42 breaches recorded last year. In 2012 there were 121 incidents, there were 116 in 2011 and 145 in 2010. Commenting, SNP Energy spokesperson Mike Weir said: “These revelations of 398 security breaches since 2010 at nuclear power plants across the UK are of great concern – as is the fact the information has only come to light through Freedom of Information requests. Speaking to the newspaper, independent nuclear expert John Large said: “It is deeply worrying that the ONR admit there are existing weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the nuclear plants. “But on matters of nuclear safety and more so in security of nuclear facilities the ONR is compulsively secretive – so much so that it will not engage in any public debate.”
Newsnet Scotland 12th May 2014 read more »
Radhealth
Radiation Safety Handbook Volume 2. Advice to Ministry of Defence units (including defence agencies) on individual aspects of radiation protection for specific uses.
MoD 9th May 2014 read more »
Thorium
Bob Alvarez: The United States has tried to develop thorium as an energy source for some 50 years and is still struggling to deal with the legacy of those attempts. In addition to the billions of dollars it spent, mostly fruitlessly, to develop thorium fuels, the US government will have to spend billions more, at numerous federal nuclear sites, to deal with the wastes produced by those efforts. And America’s energy-from-thorium quest now faces an ignominious conclusion: The US Energy Department appears to have lost track of 96 kilograms of uranium 233, a fissile material made from thorium that can be fashioned into a bomb, and is battling the state of Nevada over the proposed dumping of nearly a ton of left-over fissile materials in a government landfill, in apparent violation of international standards.
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 11th May 2014 read more »
Energy Supplies
While electrifying the global economy won’t be easy, the International Energy Agency (IEA) argues that it’s necessary if countries are going to prevent the world warming by six degrees. The good news is, policymakers already have much of the necessary technology at their fingertips – they just need to learn how to harness its potential, the organisation says. Here’s an in-depth look at the IEA’s Harnessing Electricity’s Potential report. More nuclear power and some fossil fuel power with carbon capture and storage (CCS) will also be necessary, it says. But the IEA has scaled back the amount of energy it expects to get from these sources by 2050 due to delays in getting CCS demonstration plants up and running and cost overruns on recent nuclear projects.
Carbon Brief 12th May 2014 read more »
Gazprom has again threatened to cut off Ukraine’s gas supplies after setting a new deadline for the crisis-ridden east European state to pay the $3.5bn (£2.8bn) the energy giant says it is owed. The warning to pay by June 2 follows pressure from the Russian government on Gazprom to test the West’s commitment to protect the vital gas route for supplies into Europe. Dimitry Medvedev, Russia’s prime minister, wanted Gazprom to go further and set a deadline of Tuesday but Alexey Miller, Gazprom’s chief executive, decided to give Ukraine more time.
Telegraph 12th May 2014 read more »
Proliferation
The mood was cheerful as the international Non-Proliferation Treaty conference ended in New York last Friday, but the atmosphere was sustained at the expense of tackling the real world nuclear challenges. Rebecca Johnson reports from the conference, and examines what role the NPT really plays in today’s world.
Open Democracy 13th May 2014 read more »
Ireland
THE Government has raised the prospect of building a nuclear power plant to provide electricity to homes and businesses. The Green Paper on Energy says it would be “technically possible” to construct a small nuclear reactor to replace the coal-burning Moneypoint plant in Co Clare, which is expected to close in 2025.
Irish Independent 13th May 2014 read more »
Could the future of the Moneypoint power station in Co Clare be nuclear? Very unlikely, it seems. This country has a legal prohibition on the development of nuclear power, but the fact that the ‘nuclear option’ has been included in the Green Paper on Energy is, in itself, evidence of an evolving attitude to our energy needs. The question is, do we want an ‘Irish solution to an Irish problem’ by continuing to ban nuclear energy on our own soil but ignore the fact that electricity we take from the grid may come from nuclear plants in England or France? There is no easy answer, but it is something we need to discuss.
Irish Independent 13th May 2014 read more »
Germany
As Germany prepares to phase out nuclear energy, major utilities want to hand over the decommissioning of their nuclear plants to a public foundation. But the government says the firms need to accept responsibility.
Deutsche Welle 12th May 2014 read more »
Iran
Talks between six world powers and Iran on the country’s controversial nuclear programme are to resume in Vienna. Negotiators are expected to begin trying to draft an agreement that will provide a comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.
BBC 13th May 2014 read more »
Iran’s nuclear programme is a clear and present danger and the country cannot be allowed to get the capability to make nuclear arms, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday described as “stupid and idiotic” Western expectations for his country to curb its missile development, taking a defiant tone ahead of another round of nuclear talks.
Reuters 12th May 2014 read more »
Renewables
Approximately 6.5 million peopled were employed by the renewable energy industry worldwide last year, according to the latest figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Business Green 12th May 2014 read more »
The number of people working in the global renewable energy industry grew by 14% to 6.5 million in 2013, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena). However, employment in renewable energy in the UK is stagnating, according to the most recent government data.
Guardian 12th May 2014 read more »
Renewables – wind
Paying the wind not to blow? It sounds crazy. The Scottish Sunday Times reports windfarms were paid £35m for “wasted energy” in the financial year 2013/14. But the payments are probably cheaper than alternative strategies and are only a small fraction of the money spent on balancing the grid. The newspaper writes: “About £35m has been awarded since the start of the financial year to the owners of 21 renewables projects – all of them in Scotland – because Britain’s power network could not cope with the energy they produced.” Constraint payments are preferable to over-engineering the grid with excess capacity that will hardly ever be used, a spokesman for National Grid says. “You would not build a motorway to deal with a once-a-year traffic jam,” he argues. Grid upgrades to accommodate new renewable electricity capacity are not always finished until after windfarms come online. But if the UK is to meet its ambitious carbon-cutting targets it needs to get capacity installed as soon as possible. So paying gas and wind firms to switch on – or off -to keep the grid in balance is probably a necessary evil.
Carbon Brief 12th May 2014 read more »
Renewables – offshore wind
Offshore wind farm investors can expect lower risks and higher returns than those investing in airports and roads, according to a detailed new analysis of the costs faced by the burgeoning sector. Innovative Financing of Offshore Wind, published by FTI Consulting late last week, found that the offshore wind market was worth more than €21bn at the end of 2013, with near to 7GW of capacity installed across the world. The considerable scope for the sector to cut the levelised cost of energy would be achieved only if governments gave long-term stable policy signals to industry that offshore wind could become a key part of the energy mix.
Business Green 12th May 2014 read more »
Community Energy
The government will today face fresh calls to offer more support to the growing number of communities wishing to install wind turbines, solar panels and other renewable energy technologies, in a new report which warns current policies do not go far enough. Researchers at the University of East Anglia will argue that the government’s ‘Big Society’ ethos and its new renewable community energy strategy will fail to deliver the deep changes needed to get grassroots environmental projects off the ground.
Business Green 12th May 2014 read more »
Energy Efficiency
The Scottish government is offering households up to £7,300 towards the cost of making energy efficiency improvements to their home. The £15m Green Homes Cashback scheme that comes into force for a year from June is the Scottish government’s equivalent of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF) launched in England and Wales at the beginning of this month. Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing said that “rising energy prices remain a huge concern” for the Scottish government, and claimed that Scotland spends an average of £36.48 on energy efficiency for low income households compared with £3.52 in England, £31.31 in Wales and £27.55 in Northern Ireland.
Business Green 12th May 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Last Thursday (8 May) the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee published a 100 page report on The Economic Impact on UK Energy Policy of Shale Gas and Oil. The report is strongly supportive of going ahead with fracking, as soon as possible. The peers clearly regard the nascent fracking industry under threat from too much environmental regulation, asserting “There is no reason why effective regulation should not be transparent and speedy as well as rigorous. Delay is not only costly and wasteful, it can also drive investors elsewhere.” But one area where the peers are sanguine about safety worries me: the release of radon gas into the methane gas stream, when the gas is released by fracking. I gave evidence to the committee on this worry.
David Lowry 13th May 2014 read more »
Anti-fracking campaigners have claimed victory after an energy company abandoned its plans to drill beneath their homes in the South Downs national park. Celtique Energy has told residents it will not drill horizontally under their land, though it will push ahead with a vertical well at its own site. The development, which followed a “legal blockade” by the local landowners around the site, is the latest in a growing controversy over underground drilling for shale gas. However the landowners’ victory may be shortlived – ministers intend to change the trespass law that allows owners to refuse permission for drilling under their land, despite opposition from three-quarters of the public.
Guardian 12th May 2014 read more »
National parks are “not the place to start” fracking for shale gas, Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw has said. The energy chief, who has invested in fracking in Lancashire with Cuadrilla, was speaking as the Government prepares to offer up vast swathes of Britain – including national parks – to companies to search for shale gas and oil. The plans have come under fierce opposition from groups including the National Trust, which has led calls to ban fracking in national parks amid concerns over the safety and environmental impacts of the practice.
Telegraph 12th May 2014 read more »
Australia is planning to open nine new mega mines in an area larger than Britain, which geologists say could yield at least 27 billion tonnes of coal. The deposits in the 96,000 square mile (250,000 sq km) Galilee basin are among the biggest global reserves of thermal coal — the type most suited to electricity generation. However, expoiting them would make the area the world’s seventh-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The University of Technology, Sydney, has calculated that if all nine mines planned for the Galilee go ahead then, in 16 years’ time, the yearly extra emissions will equate to putting another 7.59 million cars on the road.
Times 13th May 2014 read more »
Climate
China, as the world’s largest emitter, will without doubt have a huge bearing on the future direction of global climate change efforts. Any deal agreed at next year’s Paris climate summit will have to get to grips with the impact of China’s rapidly growing economy to have any chance of limiting warming to 2C. Critics of climate action have often said that the effect of European carbon cutting policies will be dwarfed by China’s thirst for coal, rendering them worthless. And yet the signs are that China’s coal consumption may be slowing, aided by the introduction of tough new environmental laws and pledges by Beijing and other cities to reduce coal burning following a series of air pollution incidents.
Business Green 12th May 2014 read more »
Scientists have long suspected the west Antarctic ice sheet is vulnerable to collapsing under rising temperatures – potentially raising global sea levels by several metres. Now new research suggests the process may already be underway. It won’t happen quickly – probably taking several centuries, say the researchers. But beyond a certain point, the process will be unstoppable, they warn.
Carbon Brief 12th May 2014 read more »
Guardian 12th May 2014 read more »
