15 June 2012

EMR

EDF Energy CEO Vincent de Rivaz barely looked up from his notes during his testimony on the proposed electricity market reform (EMR) to the Commons’ Energy and Climate Change Committee June 12. Perhaps that’s because de Rivaz — more, it seemed, than any of the other Big Six energy firms there — was “talking his book” as they say in the commodities trading world. Staring into his notes probably made it easier to stick to the script. After all, de Rivaz has a lot to lose. He’s already got the government to line up a carbon floor price, which few of his fellow energy firms wanted or believed would bring new investment, and which, as the UK’s only nuclear operator, will bring de Rivaz a windfall. He’s also on the verge of seizing a 15-, 20-, or 30-year contract for a guaranteed power price for new reactors. One careless, off-script remark could upset the whole apple cart. De Rivaz’ task is to get as much government assistance as he possibly can from the EMR to build four Areva EPR reactors, two each at Hinkley Point in Somerset and at Sizewell in Suffolk. If that means denying the reality of what is almost universally accepted — outside Whitehall and EDF corporate offices – as public subsidies, so be it.

i-Nuclear 14th June 2012 more >>

Juliet Davenport: If politicians and voters do want to see a different market develop, the current proposals in the Electricity Market Reform just play into the hands of the bigger players. Both seem to add to the complexity of the market (what happened to getting rid of red tape?) and make it more difficult for the non-traditional energy players such as the local authorities or communities to get involved. This is in stark contrast to the controversial Feed-in Tariff which, while it may have given the Treasury boys sleepless nights, actually brought about a small revolution. A revolution that saw over 320,000 new entrants into the energy market – many of which were social housing projects (over two thirds of Good Energy FIT customers are social housing) – and brought energy directly to people’s homes and businesses, cutting out the bigger players. No wonder there’s been such a backlash; by the back door we suddenly have hundreds of thousands of energy market players rather than just six – something any free market economist would welcome. It’s also a truly inspirational view of the future for the UK energy market.

Guardian 14th June 2012 more >>

Friends of the Earth has urged people write to energy secretary Ed Davey to demand that the government supports UK renewables as the Energy Bill passes through parliament. The organisation also wants those that support green energy to do something about it and switch to either Good Energy or Ecotricity.

Utility Week 14th June 2012 more >>

GDA

THIRTY technical issues still need to be resolved to the satisfaction of safety watchdogs before the design of the proposed Sizewell C nuclear reactors is given conditional approval, it has been disclosed. The latest report from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the UK nuclear safety and security watchdog, reveals that only one of 31 issues identified in the design of the proposed European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) has so far been resolved. EDF Energy wants to build two EPRs to form Sizewell C at an estimated cost of £6billion. Two reactors of the same type are also scheduled for Hinkley Point in Somerset. However, the technical features of the reactor, which is designed by French engineering company Areva, first have to be approved by the ONR, which is under pressure to meet an end-of-year deadline for the Government to be able to announce that no technical hurdles lie in the path of the construction of the new reactors. Safety inspectors are involved in a process called generic design assessment (GDA) aimed at resolving concerns. The Nuclear Free Local Authorities organisation is urging the Government to refrain from putting unnecessary pressure on the ONR to speed up the process. It says it fears nuclear safety could be compromised for political expediency. Pete Wilkinson, a Suffolk-based environment consultant who has advised Government departments on a range of radioactive waste issues, said the ONR was struggling to meet the Government’s deadline. “It is having to resort to pushing back the resolution of some key issues. The net effect is that critically-important generic design assessments are being delayed to allow a political deadline to be met,” he said.

East Anglian Daily Times 14th June 2012 more >>

Radwaste

Proposals for a nuclear facility in Romney Marsh have been opposed by neighbouring East Sussex County Council. Shepway District Council is currently considering plans to build an underground nuclear research and development facility in the marshes. However, the leader of East Sussex council has raised their concerns about a nuclear site being built close to their border at a council meeting. Peter Jones, council leader, said: “We have serious concerns about these proposals in a location close to our border.

Kent News 14th June 2012 more >>

Letter: Colin Wales makes an eloquent case for a referendum about a nuclear waste repository, and I tend to agree with his criticisms of the consultation process so far and of the information provided, though not necessarily for the same reasons. For one thing, it has not been made clear that the technical case for the waste forms proposed was based on the assumption of a repository flooded with mobile ground water, applying orders-of-magnitude safety factors at every stage of the calculation. Consequently, although a dry zone in which to site a repository is clearly desirable if only for convenience, it is certainly not essential. Of course NIREX emphasised the importance of geology, but in its legacy that was perhaps the worst of its many mistakes.

Whitehaven News 14th June 2012 more >>

Letter Ruth Balogh: Lest anyone start running with the idea that Cumbrians support going forward to the next stage of siting a nuclear dump here, let’s get some facts straight. he ISOS MORI poll asked people how much they knew about it, and then followed up by asking whether, based on what they knew, they supported the idea. A full 80 per cent of the overall sample had either ‘never heard of it’ (19 per cent), ‘heard of this but know almost nothing’ (25 per cent) or knew ‘just a little’ (36 per cent). In Copeland the figure was 62 per cent for respondents who knew so little. Surely the MRWS Partnership is not going to count this response as ‘support’? It seems more like woefully uninformed consent to us.

Whitehaven News 14th June 2012 more >>

Letter: Even though we are still supposed to be at the ‘talking’ stage, The Daily Mirror recently reported “Nuke ‘graveyard’ plan: Tons of deadly waste could be dumped below Lake District” and the Sunday Times outlined that “Britain may have found a final dumping ground for its vast stockpile of nuclear waste: deep under the Lake District.” Why, for the sake of a few hundred jobs, is Cumbria’s multi- million tourism industry being thoughtlessly undermined through this negative branding? What visitor would want to walk or holiday above the national stockpile of nuclear waste? Where are the voices of opposition from the custodians of the Lake District?

Whitehaven News 14th June 2012 more >>

Sellafield

An extra fence is being built around Sellafield as part of a series of measures to tighten security. Bosses at the nuclear plant say that the changes are designed to enhance the existing arrangements and “in no way suggest that the security level at the site has changed”.

Cumberland 14th June 2012 more >>

Whitehaven News 14th June 2012 more >>

ENGINEERING services firm Redhall has secured a £3.2m contract from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing facility. The Wakefield-based company announced its success as it posted pre-tax profits up by 33% for the first half.

Business Desk 14th June 2012 more >>

RADIOACTIVE mosquitoes are being blamed after contaminated swallow droppings were discovered at Sellafield. An Environment Agency report revealed that bird droppings from around the swallow nesting site were found to be radioactively contaminated. It is believed the swallows, which are nesting in the transport section at the atomic complex, were contaminated by eating mosquitoes which fly above Sellafield’s radioactive storage ponds.

Whitehaven News 14th June 2012 more >>

SELLAFIELD’s Thorp plant will stop reprocessing oxide fuel in six years’ time, it was confirmed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on Wednesday. Workers, trades union representatives and stakeholders were told during the afternoon just after The Whitehaven News went to press that 2018 is to be the cut-off point. It means that by then all site reprocessing will have ceased because Magnox fuel is due to end the year before. Although a large proportion of the 10,000 strong Sellafield workforce is employed on reprocessing, the anticipated number of job losses is not as great as first expected due to more focus on removing Sellafield’s high-hazard risks and increased NDA financial resources to accelerate decommissioning projects. It is also possibile that the government will eventually give the go-ahead for a second Mox plutonium recycling plant which will create thousands of new jobs and absorb losses.

Whitehaven News 11th June 2012 more >>

Politics

Porritt: Two years into this Government, it’s now clear that if the environment was any further down its list of priorities, it would have fallen off the bottom. Any thought on the part of our NGOs that “working the corridors of power” is still the best way of defending the environment is folly. Regrettable though it may be, it’s hard to imagine that this Government is going to be influenced by anything other than unremitting, full-on confrontation. And one can’t help but think that the NGOs may have lost their appetite for that. It’s a breathtakingly exciting and upbeat agenda – with jobs, skills and prosperity at its heart. But it’s hard to detect much enthusiasm among the established environment NGOs for making the running on this, even though we all know that this is the only way to get environmentalism reconnected with the bigger economic agenda. Which, in turn, is the only way to get environmentalism reconnected with the economy. Which, in turn, is the only way to get the environment back up that agenda all over again.

Independent 15th June 2012 more >>

Japan

This weekend, Japan, a year after being struck by a debilitating earthquake and tsunami that destroyed one of its nuclear reactors, is ready to bring back to life two of its suspended nuclear power plants.

IB Times 14th June 2012 more >>

Work to restart two reactors in the Fukui town of Oi, which are the first ready to resume generating power, could begin as soon as this weekend now that the mayor signed off on the plan. Once the work begins, it takes about three weeks to get a reactor operating at full capacity. The governor of Fukui now has to meet with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to inform him that the local governments are willing to accept the restart plan. The prime minister has to give final approval, which Japanese media reports said will likely happen Saturday.

Japan Today 14th June 2012 more >>

Russia

The state of Russia’s civilian nuclear power should be cause the entire planet to shudder: Radioactive waste deposal sites are full to the bursting point, and many reactors are outdated and fail to meet even the most basic of safety standards. In short, as one reads between the lines, a new disaster is pending.

Oil Price 14th June 2012 more >>

Iran

Iran has arrested the killers of two of its nuclear scientists, as the row continues over claims that Israel and the U.S. ‘sabotaged’ the country’s controversial nuclear program.

Daily Mail 14th June 2012 more >>

Trident

Two women aged 79 and 82 successfully blocked access to the Trident nuclear submarine base in Faslane, Scotland for fifteen minutes this morning (14 June). Joy Mitchell and Joan Meredith sat down in the road to the north gate of the base, preventing traffic from getting through.Work at the base has been disrupted since last week by the Faslane Peace Camp and Trident Ploughshares, a network of people committed to nonviolent direct action to disarm nuclear weapons. They have called for thirty days of action at the base to highlight the dangers posed by Trident.

Ekklesia 14th June 2012 more >>

THE UK must keep its nuclear deterrent because of the rise of rogue states, the government has said. Ministry of Defence (MoD) Minister Peter Luff said the government understood the “vital importance” of keeping the nuclear deterrent and remained committed to it, in answer to questioning from a Tory MP.

NW Evening Mail 14th June 2012 more >>

Letter: LIBERAL Democrat Minister Nick Harvey is proposing a Guantanamo Bay situation on the Clyde should Scotland become independent.

Herald 15th June 2012 more >>

Renewables

Following my revelation that George Osborne’s Treasury is seeking to slash the subsidies for onshore wind power – the cheapest form of renewable energy – the House of commons select committee on energy and climate change is to investigate. Conservative MP Tim Yeo, chair of the committee, said: “Government policy on wind power should be based on sound economics and engineering, not political pressure from a small vocal minority – whether that be green campaigners or anti-wind protestors.” Others have identified the key vocal minority more precisely: the backbench Conservative MPs who demanded David Cameron slash the subsidies for onshore turbines.

Guardian 14th June 2012 more >>

Scotland is leading the way in driving down the costs of offshore wind, Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has told major industry conference. Scotland has a quarter of Europe’s offshore wind capacity and planned offshore wind projects in the country have the potential to produce up to 10GW of electricity by 2020. Speaking at the Global Offshore Wind conference in London, Mr Ewing welcomed two pieces of research into cutting the cost of Offshore Wind – but told delegates that Scotland is already ahead of its UK counterparts in taking the actions recommended in the research.

Scottish Government 13th June 2012 more >>

Energy Efficiency

The UK has denied it has created a stumbling block for the adoption of the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive that could see the regulation’s ambitious policy proposals watered down. Plans to cut energy use by 20 per cent against predicted levels by the end of the decade and impose a requirement for utilities to deliver energy savings equivalent to 1.5 per cent of annual sales have been the subject of intense negotiations since being proposed last year. But a final round of debate yesterday resulted in proposals that mean cuts to energy use of about 17 per cent and a one per cent target for energy companies.

Business Green 14th June 2012 more >>

The UK government has succeeded in watering down a key EU-wide agreement on energy efficiency, to the dismay of green campaigners. Under the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), member states will be allowed to set their own targets for energy efficiency, instead of the original plan for a mandatory EU-wide target of 20% improvements in efficiency. The result is likely to be a smaller improvement, of 17%.

Guardian 14th June 2012 more >>

Greg Barker: The government’s announcement this week giving industry the green light to bring the green deal energy-efficiency market into operation is a game-changer. To frame the debate about the green deal entirely around loft insulation, as this Guardian report does, simply misses the point. The green deal will open up the energy-efficiency market. Rather than a market where you get what you are given from a limited number of big players, it will unlock unprecedented choice for consumers and it will empower small- and medium-sized businesses – the engine of our economy – to enter and to innovate.

Guardian 14th June 2012 more >>