Companies
A corporate collaboration agreement signed in Moscow today should take UK-Russian collaboration on nuclear energy projects to a new level. The deal was signed during an official visit by David Cameron in which he hoped to “forge a stronger relationship with Russia.” Cameron said “We have agreed to work together on a range of issues, including the development of nuclear energy, and I’m delighted that this means Rolls-Royce will be working with Rosatom.”
World Nuclear News 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Rolls-Royce, one of the few remaining powerhouses of UK manufacturing, is to collaborate with Russian state-owned atomic energy corporation, Rosatom, in the area of civil nuclear power. Sir Simon Robertson, the Chairman of the UK power systems developer, said: “I believe that this collaboration will yield significant benefits as nuclear reactor new-build programmes develop globally.”
Share Cast 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Cameron also raised the issue of Litvinenko, who was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London, but the British government does not expect Russia to change its mind. Hague said this meant there would be “no prospect” of a resumption in counter-intelligence sharing while Litvinenko’s suspected murderer Andrei Lugovoi remains in Russia, despite the Russian ambassador to London calling for a resumption in counter-intelligence sharing this on Friday ahead of the trip.
Guardian 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Scotland
As many as 600 companies which could produce goods and services for the “green economy” are being targeted as part of a new economic strategy. The move to a low-carbon economy is the most significant addition to the Scottish government’s strategy.
BBC 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Dounreay
THOUSANDS of rare, tiny plants have been uprooted and replanted to avoid being damaged by the construction of a £100 million nuclear waste dump. The habitat of the Scottish primrose – Primula Scotica – is restricted to the northern shores of Caithness, Sutherland and Orkney, where it enjoys relatively mild winters and cool summers. When experts came to draw up plans for a disposal site for low-level waste from the decommissioning and closure of the Dounreay complex in Caithness, they had to consider how to protect the plant.
Scotsman 13th Sept 2011 more >>
Opinion Polls
THE UKs support for nuclear energy has increased in spite of the Fukushima disaster, according to a poll commissioned by the British Science Association. A full 41% of the roughly 2,000 people asked said that they thought the benefits of nuclear power outweighed its risks, a 3% increase from last year. The amount who believed that the risks outweighed the technologys benefits fell by 8%, dropping to 28% of those polled.
The Chemical Engineer 12th Sept 2011 more >>
France
Shares in French utility major EDF sharply extend their losses, falling 6 percent in big volumes after news of an explosion at the French nuclear site of Marcoule.
Reuters 12th Sept 2011 more >>
One person has been reported killed and four injured in an explosion at a nuclear waste processing plant in France. An oven reportedly exploded at the Marcoule nuclear site near Nimes in the south of France. The site produces MOX fuel, which recycles plutonium from nuclear weapons, and is partly used by the French nuclear power company Areva. Part of the process involves firing superheated pellets of plutonium and uranium in an oven to reduce them in size to make them easier to store. Local newspaper Midi Libre reported that one person had been killed and four others injured, including one seriously, in the explosion at 11.45am (10.45 BST). The papers said the body of one male worker at the plant had been “found carbonised”, but it added that there was no evidence that the explosion had “caused any radioactive leak”.
Guardian 12th Sept 2011 more >>
BBC 12th Sept 2011 more >>
EDF subsidiary firm Socodei, confirmed no off-site release of radiological or chemical material had occurred. Energy firm EDF hopes to build a third nuclear power station at Hinkley Point. The explosion triggered a blaze in the furnace room that was brought under control at 1.06pm. A spokesman for Socodei said: The Nuclear Authority of Safety, the prefecture, the Local Commission of Information and the labour inspectorate have been advised. An investigation will be carried out in order to determine the precise causes of this tragic accident and the thoughts of everyone at Socodei are with those affected. It is the first time that such an event of this scale has occurred on site.
This is the West Country 12th Sept 2011 more >>
France was yesterday quick to play down the significance of an explosion in a nuclear waste recycling plant in the south of the country which killed one man and injured four others.
Belfast Telegraph 13th Sept 2011 more >>
Independent 13th Sept 2011 more >>
Daily Mail 12th Sept 2011 more >>
New Scientist 12th Sept 2011 more >>
New Statesman 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Independent 12th Sept 2011 more >>
France came close to having its own Fukushima disaster on Monday after one person was killed and four were injured in an explosion at a nuclear waste treatment plant.
Telegraph 12th Sept 2011 more >>
One person has been killed and several injured in an explosion at a nuclear plant in southern France, leading to the potential risk of a radioactive leak.
Telegraph 12th Sept 2011 more >>
An explosion this morning (12 September) at a facility owned by EDF subsidiary Socodei is not a nuclear incident, according to the French regulator. ASN, the French Nuclear Safety Authority, said the blast that occurred this morning (12 September) at the Centraco nuclear waste processing facility “does not involve any radiological issue and no protective action was required for the population”.
Inside FAC 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Operator Socodei said that there has been no release of chemical or radioactive material at the Centraco site and that there is no risk of such a release going forward. The furnace, which was brought into service in 1999, melts down low level radioactive metal waste such as valves, pumps and tools, and non-ferrous metals by induction. The resulting melted down waste, in the form of ingots, is ten times smaller in volume than the initial material. The area that houses the furnace is intact and the two on site furnaces have been stopped.
Construction Index 13th Sept 2011 more >>
A brief history of French nuclear accidents.
Reuters 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Here is a ‘by numbers’ look at France’s nuclear power use and consumption.
Telegraph 12th Sept 2011 more >>
The European Commission said it would work with French authorities to monitor the Marcoule nuclear waste treatment site in the south of the country, after an explosion on Monday killed one person.
Reuters 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Our first thoughts are for the family of the worker who died and those who have been injured at the Marcoule nuclear facility in France today. The French government must ensure local people are kept fully up to date with the situation and the potential radioactive releases. Information is still emerging and we do not know the cause of the explosion, but it serves as yet another tragic reminder of the dangers of nuclear power and the urgent need for governments to follow the lead taken by Germany in phasing it out.
Greenpeace 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Japan
Japan is understandably skittish about nuclear energy, but that hasn’t stopped Prime Minister Yoshihoko Noda from claiming that the stuff is necessary to save the economy. Because after relying heavily on nuclear, it seems improbable that Japan could get back on track without running any nuclear plants at all. But it may actually possible for Japan to permanently shut down its nuclear plants by 2012 without sacrificing the economy or increasing greenhouse gas emissions–though it will cost approximately $280 billion in investments by 2020. A study from Greenpeace (PDF), which uses data from the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies and the German Aerospace Center, outlines a scenario where Japan massively ramps up its solar and wind capacity up from 3,700 MW today to 47,200 MW by 2013, while load reduction strategies (i.e special pricing for peak energy demand times) slash energy demand by 11,000 MW, or the equivalent of 10 to 12 nuclear reactors. At the same time, gas power plants could be used when wind and solar power aren’t readily available.
Fast Company 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Trust 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda gave a former government spokesman the cabinet post responsible for the Fukushima nuclear crisis on Monday, acting to limit the damage to his new cabinet after the previous minister quit over gaffes. Yukio Edano was named trade minister, a job that oversees energy policy, making it a key role in a country still coping with the affects of meltdowns at the Fukushima power plant. The plant was damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, causing the world’s worst nuclear accident for 25 years.
Reuters 12th Sept 2011 more >>
A line dividing the no-go zone around the Fukushima nuclear plant and the area deemed safe from radiation cuts right across this coastal city but the “good” part is starting to look very much like the ghost town on the other side.
Trust 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Japan’s new prime minister has promised to restart nuclear plants following safety checks ordered after the crisis at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda also said in his first policy speech since taking office two weeks ago that the country should reduce its reliance on atomic energy over the long term, but offered no specifics. More than 30 of Japan’s 54 reactors have been idled, causing electricity shortages amid sweltering summer temperatures.
Independent 13th Sept 2011 more >>
Wales Online 13th Sept 2011 more >>
US
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has voted to kill Yucca Mountain again, sort of. The project has become more complex than nuclear physics. Yucca Mountain, a volcanic structure 100 miles from Las Vegas, was the governments lead candidate for a nuclear waste repository, but President Obama, making good on a campaign pledge, cut funding for an Energy Department plan to build there, meaning that the country would have to restart the search for a burial spot.
New York Times 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Iraq
Letter: Nuclear weapons were the sanctions committees major concern when I served on it, not the threat of immediately deployable biological and chemical weapons, which popped up in the second half of 2002. I believed that the mere possession of a nuclear weapon by Iraq would trigger a disastrous chain reaction of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. Weighing that danger against the three reasons mentioned in your editorial, we may still come to the conclusion that the war was a bad choice, but it becomes far less obvious.
FT 13th Sept 2011 more >>
Iran
The Bushehr plant located in Tehran, Iran has it reached 40% of its 1,000MW capacity, after it was connected to the main national power grid in August this year.
Energy Business Review 13th Sept 2011 more >>
Local Energy Revolution
Sheffield shines out as the soar-away winner of the solar stakes in the UK, with more solar power generation added in the city per household than in any other British city, according to a league table published on Monday. Northern cities have been the unexpected winners from the boom in renewable energy that has followed the introduction of feed-in tariffs to pay for power generated by households, which are popular as they offer a guaranteed income stream as well as free electricity. Nearly 2 megawatts of capacity have been added in Sheffield in the last 15 months, and Leeds comes second in the league table, with more than 1MW of capacity added. They are followed though at quite a distance by Bristol, Bradford and Birmingham, when renewable energy installations per person are counted. London has added more renewable power than anywhere else, with more than 3.2 megawatts of capacity added in the 15 months since feed-in tariffs became available. But when assessed per head, it comes only sixth in the UK. Sheffield has benefitted from a strong push by the local council to encourage the take-up of renewable power, and in particular by plans to give people living in social housing access to the technology, said Colin McNaught, knowledge leader on renewable energy for AEA Group, which carried out the research on which the league table is based. Around the UK, in the first 15 months to 30 June 2011, more than 160MW of low carbon electricity generation has been applied for under the feed-in tariff scheme, with a total of 44,460 separate installations, according to data collated by the electricity regulator Ofgem and the Department of Energy and Climate Change. About three quarters of the installations are solar power, though in Scotland wind is predominant.
Guardian 12th Sept 2011 more >>
Fuel Poverty
The London Assembly will tomorrow question representatives from the energy and energy efficiency industry, along with national and local government, about how fuel poverty can be eradicated in the capital. The Assemblys Health and Public Services Committee is investigating the role that suppliers and the Mayor can play in helping to reduce fuel poverty in the capital. With energy prices rising this autumn, fuel poverty is getting worse and London has historically lost out on national energy efficiency programmes, compared to other parts of the UK.
London Assembly 12th Sept 2011 more >>
