Energy Policy
Finally, the UK’s energy policy is taking shape after months of confusion. At its heart is a realisation that, while some decisions are urgent, others can wait. Time and timing matter. The approach is practical as well as political but it won’t suit everyone. And it leaves the biggest issue of all – climate change – unresolved. The emerging policy thinking can be divided into three periods. In the short term, up to the election in 2015, the priority is to maintain stability. Open conflicts don’t add to credibility or encourage investment. That is why John Hayes, briefly an energy minister and an open opponent of wind power, has been “promoted” out of the Department of Energy and into the role of Minister with Portfolio. The medium term means roughly the period of the next Parliament from 2015 to 2020. The warnings that the UK faces a power supply shortage in this period which have come from people such as Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, are taken very seriously. The concern is reinforced by the view that at some point the UK will start growing again. No one wants to see a fragile recovery blighted by shortages of power and rising energy bills. To remove this risk the emerging policy is to encourage the companies to re-open mothballed gas fired power stations and to build a few more. The lives of old nuclear stations will be extended where possible. The idea of extending gas storage, noted in a post a few weeks ago, is being re-examined. All these steps serve to reduce the medium term risks. In the longer term, which begins after 2020, the UK will go for a mixture of offshore wind, gas, shale gas if it can be developed commercially, and perhaps some new nuclear if the negotiations succeed. The range of options available means that new nuclear is not essential. It may be desirable as part of a diverse mix but not at any price. If Centrica can walk away so can the UK taxpayer. The important clarity emerging from the last few weeks is that the government has understood that there is no need to rush. New nuclear could not come onstream before 2020 at the earliest and therefore cannot assist with the medium term challenge.
FT 15th April 2013 read more »
Westinghouse
The boss of the nuclear giant behind plans to build new power stations across Britain has welcomed Government support. Mike Tynan, chief executive of Westinghouse UK, said the nuclear industrial strategy would “form the foundation” for the development of the industry for decades to come. The plans include millions of pounds of Government cash for research projects and an added commitment to a new fleet of power stations to replace 16 ageing reactors which supply a fifth of the country’s power. Mr Tynan said the strategy’s emphasis on nuclear new build, fuel manufacturing and servicing reactors as key to Westinghouse.
Lancashire Evening Post 16th April 2013 read more »
Dungeness
Letter: Re plans to expand Lydd airport: while it is good to see the environmental issues being aired, one problem that is rarely mentioned is the fact that Lydd airport is adjacent to two nuclear reactors. We have been told that when the power station buildings were erected they were designed to sustain an impact from aircraft that might accidentally fly into them. But as I understand it, the aircraft they were talking about were light aircraft such as those that currently use the airport, not the much larger planes that are being proposed. Have Eric Pickles et al taken leave of their senses? Quite apart from any accident, doesn’t anyone involved in this proposal have any memory of planes being flown into buildings, not by accident but as an act of terrorism? I cannot understand why the question of national security in the event of a possible terrorist attack did not rule out this proposal from the very beginning.
Guardian 15th April 2013 read more »
Chernobyl
Pripyat, founded for the 49,000-plus Chernobyl nuclear power plant workers and their families, now stands empty within the Chernobyl exclusion zone in northern Ukraine. It was evacuated in 1986 after the explosion at reactor #4.
Guardian 14th April 2013 read more »
US
Two years after the Fukushima nuclear accident in northern Japan, the United States government is using lessons from that disaster to rewrite its plans for responding to radiation contamination, focusing on long-term cleanup instead of emergency response. But the proposals have set off vehement opposition from critics of nuclear power. On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency expects to publish in the Federal Register a draft document that would change its long-standing advice to state and local governments about how to limit long-term exposure to radiation after a reactor accident or a “dirty bomb” attack. By reducing the projections for how much radiation exposure is likely in the years after such an episode, the proposal could also reduce the amount of contaminated land that would have to be abandoned. But groups that oppose nuclear power said that the E.P.A. document, called Protective Action Guidelines, and the report prepared for the Department of Homeland Security would allow a sharp increase in the amount of radioactive contamination allowed in food and water, and the allowable doses from irradiation by radioactive particles that would be deposited in an accident.
New York Times 14th April 2013 read more »
Iran
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday defended his country’s controversial nuclear programme while on a tour of west Africa, calling it peaceful and arguing that Tehran has no use for an atom bomb.
Telegraph 15th April 2013 read more »
Japan
Efforts to remove highly contaminated water from a leaking underground storage pool at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant were delayed on Sunday when the plant’s operator said it had found yet another leak, this time in the pipes that would be used to move the water to above-ground storage containers.
New York Times 14th April 2013 read more »
The group, Green Action, filed a lawsuit asking the court to shut down the only two operating reactors in Japan at Ohi. The case is against nuclear utility KEPCO, the Ohi operator, and Japan’s government. The concern is that the Ohi reactors face a level of earthquake risk that they are not built to withstand and licensed for. As we’ve seen in the two years since the Fukushima nuclear crisis began, earthquakes and nuclear reactors are a terrifying combination. If the court agrees that the reactors should be shut down, Japan would be nuclear free again. The verdict could also have far-reaching consequences for the nuclear industry as a whole.
Greenpeace 15th April 2013 read more »
IAEA officials begin eight-day mission to examine water storage facilities at Japan’s failed Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant as TEPCO struggles to contain radioactive leaks.
Reuters 15th April 2013 read more »
China
The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), the state-backed company which overseas China’s commercial and military nuclear operations, has signed a ‘strategic co-operation agreement’ with renewables firm China WindPower (CWP) through its renewables subsidiary, CNNC Rich Energy. The joint venture proposes to construct 100MW of new energy projects this year, and a further 500MW of wind and 200MW of solar power projects by 2015, according to a statement on CWP’s website.
Out-Law 15th April 2013 read more »
Korea
The US recovered the front section of the rocket used in North Korea’s satellite launch in December, which gave away the status of the regime’s nuclear arms programme.
Telegraph 15th April 2013 read more »
The state-run nuclear power plant in South Korea is reported to be preparing for cyber attacks from North Korea: Seoul has severed its internal network from the internet. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, the only operator in South Korea, has said the network has been cut off in an effort to thwart any cyber attack launched by Pyongyang.
IB Times 14th April 2013 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
Police have arrested 47 people protesting outside a naval base where nuclear weapons are stored. Campaigners chained themselves to each other and blocked the entrance of the Faslane base in Argyll, home of the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons. The Scrap Trident coalition wants Scotland to be allowed to “lead the way to a world free of nuclear weapons” and more than 100 of its supporters demonstrated outside the base.
Guardian 15th April 2013 read more »
Daily Mail 15th April 2013 read more »
Independent 15th April 2013 read more »
Ekklesia 15th April 2013 read more »
ITV 15th April 2013 read more »
Metro 15th April 2013 read more »
A GWENT councillor is one of a group of campaigners who have chained themselves to the gate of a naval base in protest against the nuclear missiles stored there. Ray Davies, 83, a Caerphilly Labour councillor is one of around 20 protesters who have chained themselves to the north gate of the Faslane Naval Base, in Scotland, the home of the UK’s Trident weapons system.
South Wales Argus 15th April 2013 read more »
The SNP has welcomed what it claims is a “U-turn” in UK government policy regarding a contingency plan for nuclear weapons in the event of a Yes vote in the independence referendum. The nationalists were responding to a statement from Defence Secretary Philip Hammond in which the UK minister confirmed that major future contingencies were being planned by the MoD. Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, the Defence Secretary said that negotiations on the relocation of Trident would begin on day one following a Yes vote whilst Scotland was still technically part of the Union.
Newsnet Scotland 15th April 2013 read more »
Renewables
Judge gives energy firms the right to build wind farms 350 metres from homes. Energy firms will be allowed to build giant wind turbines just 350 metres from residential areas after a crucial ruling by a High Court judge.
Telegraph 15th April 2013 read more »
Guardian 15th April 2013 read more »
Times 16th April 2013 read more »
