Nuclear Transport
EMERGENCY services have declared the incident closed after a nuclear train derailed in Barrow on Monday. The incident happened at Salthouse Junction, near Barrow train station, shortly after 2pm. A spokesman from International Nuclear Services Ltd (INS), a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) responsible for the management and transport of nuclear material, said the train had been on the way to Sellafield carrying empty nuclear flasks. He said: “The flasks were being transported from Barrow and had been shipped to the UK from Japan.” A statement from Direct Rail Services, the train operator responsible for the afflicted service, said: “Work will now focus on recovering the derailed rolling stock. An investigation will be carried into the cause of derailment in accordance with Rail and Nuclear Transport Regulations.”
NW Evening Mail 16th Sept 2013 read more »
With video.
NW Evening Mail 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Carlisle News and Star 16th Sept 2013 read more »
New Nukes
CBI Director General, Mr Cridland urged the government and EDF to get Hinkley Point C “over the line” to jump-start infrastructure building and said he was “quietly optimistic” that a decision would be reached soon. It comes as the 2013 infrastructure survey by KPMG and the CBI revealed that more than three-quarters of companies do not believe the UK’s energy infrastructure will improve in the next five years. Mr Cridland’s thoughts were echoed by Kier Group chief executive Paul Sheffield, who told Construction News this month that indecision over the strike price for nuclear power “is stopping everything getting off the ground”. Mr Sheffield said the “pecking order” of renewables such as onshore and offshore wind would depend on how much of the UK’s future energy requirement would come from nuclear power stations. “Until there is an answer on whether nuclear is going to go ahead, all other technologies are waiting,” he said.
Construction News 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Liberal Democrats
Natalie Bennett: The Lib Dems are wrong on nuclear power – the arguments don’t add up. As Japan and much of the world rows back on nuclear power, why have the Lib Dems made a U-turn to support it? The arguments for nuclear don’t stack up. There’s some explanation for why the government still has it as policy, but it remains puzzling that Liberal Democrat party policy should have been changed to back it, reversing one of its trademark stances. Perhaps all we can see as an explanation is that this is no longer the same party that its activists, members, and voters, have known over the years.
Guardian 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Caroline Lucas: As Liberal Democrat opposition to nuclear power joins opposition to secret courts and tuition fees on the bonfire of Lib Dem commitments, voters could be forgiven for wondering whether the party has any “red lines” of policy or principle left. The weasel-worded capitulation on nuclear power suggests it has a role to play “providing concerns about safety, disposal of radioactive waste and cost are adequately addressed and … without allowing any public subsidy for new build”. As the Lib Dem leadership well knows, the new energy bill has been crafted precisely to give generous subsidies to nuclear through so-called contracts for difference. It is thought likely that, for Hinkley C alone, a transfer of £30bn-£50bn from British householders and businesses to the French company EDF will be required. Moreover, it is proposed that nuclear operators’ liability be capped at just £1bn per plant, when the total costs of the Fukushima disaster, for example, may well exceed £300bn. There are far cheaper, safer, quicker, more efficient ways of addressing the climate challenge than pursuing nuclear power. Accelerating the deployment of energy-efficiency measures, demand-response, demand-reduction and distributed-generation policies, and renewable technologies, would help drive wholesale electricity costs down and deliver more value for money as a pathway to decarbonising electricity generation.
Guardian 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Mark Lynas: Uniquely in the industrialised world, the UK now has a three-party consensus both on the reality of climate change and the clear need for new nuclear capacity to mitigate it. While Friends of the Earth and others provided predictable negative soundbites in response, the truth is that this consensus now includes much of the business community, and even – to an extent – the mainstream environmental groups. Friends of the Earth, for example, has quietly but admirably accepted a scientific review of the evidence for and against nuclear power carried out on its behalf by academics at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The review makes clear how most of the standard anti-nuclear arguments – on proliferation, waste and safety for example, have much less factual basis than most greens assume, and concludes that if gas replaces nuclear generation in future then the UK’s carbon emissions will inevitably rise. The Lib Dems have realised that in a world facing serious challenges like climate change and energy security we don’t have the luxury of saying ‘no’ to everything. The task for the UK now is to go forward and make the major investments in both nuclear and renewables that can put us firmly on a track towards clean energy.
Guardian 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Pete Roche: The Liberal Democrats have voted to accept nuclear power, in what The Guardian called ‘a historic reversal of their long-held opposition to atomic energy’. But if we look more closely at the motion the Glasgow Conference accepted we can see that, were Liberal Democrat Ministers to stick to a normal interpretation of its meaning, then new reactors would be no more likely to get built after the vote than they were last week. The only way Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey can go ahead with new reactors is by redefining the crucial words in the motion by using Orwellian Newspeak.
Spinwatch 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Emergency Planning
Worried about a nuclear disaster? Get a warning sent to your mobile: Government starts trial of text messaging system for major emergencies.
Daily Mail 17th September 2013 read more »
Energy Policy
Boris Johnson, has been known to pen a comment or two on the subject of climate change after a glance out of the window. This weekend, after spying wind turbines through the windscreen of his Previa, the Mayor of London turned his fancy to energy policy. According to his latest epistle in the Sun on Sunday, realism and decisive action are needed to meet the country’s growing energy demand, reduce dependence on imported gas and avoid power shortages. He reckons nuclear power and shale gas production will cut bills and keep the lights on, without further blighting the countryside with a “parade of waving, white-armed old lunatics, gesticulating feebly at each other across the fields and the glens” (wind turbines, to the rest of us). Johnson’s rousing call for increased investment in shale gas and nuclear power will strike a chord with many – not least those who have taken a look at the government’s plans to increase energy supply and cut carbon emissions. But by knocking wind power out of the picture, his proposal would create quite a hole in the UK’s generation capacity, as well as its ability to reduce its impact on the climate – though just for a decade or so. In the meantime, there are always gas imports.
Carbon Brief 16th Sept 2013 read more »
There’s an increasingly shrill discussion among utilities about the threat to their business from distributed energy, as their customers shift to getting their own power from local renewable resources. Reports and news stories – e.g. “Adapt or Die” – suggest changes to the business model are imminent as power generation shifts from massive to medium scale and from remote to local. The change is 20 years too late, and many utilities (and their ratepayers) are already screwed.
Renew Economy 17th Sept 2013 read more »
Politics
Green-minded politicians must show that their policies are compatible with growth, writes Gregory Barker MP. Each new political generation has to adapt our enduring Conservative ideals to meet the political and economic realities of their day. The environmental challenges for mankind have never been greater. However, we mustn’t allow discredited old economic ideas that draw their inspiration from a Socialist past to find a new lease of life by masquerading as green solutions. Conservatives have made huge practical advances on environmental issues in government. We need to take more pride in talking up our achievements and we certainly mustn’t now cede lea dership of the sensible green agenda to the Left.
Telegraph 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Radhealth
A new study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, evaluates the risk for leukemia in children living near nuclear power plants. The researchers examined cases of leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in children that were born and diagnosed in Great Britain sometime between 1962 and 2007. They looked at 9,821 children under the age of five that lived within five km of a nuclear power plant and compared them to 10,618 children under the age of five with the same cancers and 16,760 children of a similar age with other cancers. The statistical analysis evaluating the risk showed no evidence of an increased risk of leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant. The authors note that their findings are not compatible with some of the other research, including a recent German case.
National Monitor 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Radwaste
Applications for radioactive waste dumps would be considered by the Planning Inspectorate under the nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) regime under proposals unveiled by energy secretary Ed Davey. A consultation document on the government’s Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) programme, published yesterday, proposes that geological disposal facilities are brought within the NSIP regime set out in the Planning Act 2008. The proposal would mean that the Planning Inspectorate would consider any development consent application for a geological disposal facility in England. It would make a recommendation to the energy secretary, who would make the ultimate decision on whether to refuse or grant planning permission. The consultation document said that the government’s view is that it would “not be appropriate” for decisions on geological disposal facilities to be made locally. It said: “Any planning application will need to take account of community views where they are relevant – but there is no requirement for community support inherent in the planning process itself.” The consultation proposes that the government publishes a National Policy Statement specifically for a geological disposal facility, which would be “generic”, rather than site-specific. It said that the secretary of state would determine any applications in accordance with this document.
Planning 13th Sept 2013 read more »
Japan
Japan’s trade minister said on Tuesday the government would like to consider lowering the dependence on nuclear power 2 1/2 years after a massive earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima plant in northeast Japan. All nuclear reactors in Japan went off line this week, for only the third time in more than three decades, after Kansai Electric Power Co shut down its Oi No. 4 reactor for planned maintenance.
Japan Today 17th Sept 2013 read more »
Japan has shut down its last working nuclear reactor for a scheduled maintenance without specifying a potential date for the restart. The shut down of reactor 4 at Kansai Electric Power’s Ohi nuclear power station in Fukui prefecture in western Japan, leaves the country without nuclear power supply for the second time in 40 years.
Energy Business Review 17th Sept 2013 read more »
Syria
Bashar al-Assad, or his forces, may have stopped using chemical warfare against rebels in the Syrian civil war though they are of course still bombarding them with conventional weapons. Now there is a possibility of a meeting between President Barack Obama and the newly-elected Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, at the UN. It would be the first meeting between leaders of the US and Iran since the Iranian revolution in 1979. There is optimistic talk of breaking the deadlock, and finding a diplomatic solution to the long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme. There are those in Britain who could, and should, seize the opportunities presented by a potentially new, sober, era in international affairs. They could look again at Britain’s nuclear weapons and David Cameron’s determination to replace the existing four-submarine Trident nuclear missile fleet with one boat always on patrol maintaining what is called the “continuous at sea deterrence” (CASD).
Guardian 16th Sept 2013 read more »
The use of chemical weapons in Damascus should, at the very least, give us pause to reflect on the principles guiding our nuclear weapons policies. The civil war in Syria has been raging for two years. And yet it was only by witnessing the effects of chemical weapons use first-hand, through the power of social media, that the international community was shocked into action, driven by a sense of moral outrage and humanitarian responsibility. While images from Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been imprinted on our memories, the humanitarian aspects of the nuclear weapons debate have somehow slipped out of mainstream policy discourse. Perhaps this is the right moment to bring them back in, to help us demonstrate the responsible, principled leadership we believe in, and to use them as a positive driver for change.
Open Democracy 16th Sept 2013 read more »
US
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will conduct extensive tests for nuclear and chemical contamination in the sediment of the Kiski River. The surveys, which are scheduled for Monday through Wednesday, result from the EPA’s continuing testing of areas near the Babcock & Wilcox nuclear waste dump in Parks Township. Neighbors have long worried about contamination of the river across Route 66 from the dump and a former plutonium-processing plant. When two nuclear fuel plants discharged radioactive and chemical waste into the river starting in the late 1950s, residents joked that the Kiski had a “special glow.” “If they do find an issue in the sediment, that could impact the recreation on the river if people are afraid of the river,” said Bob Kossak, manager of the Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority and president of the Kiskiminetas River Watershed Association.
Trib Live 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Submarines
A fire has broken out on a Russian nuclear submarine undergoing repairs, but no injuries or radiation leaks have been reported. Russian news reports said the fire on the Tomsk submarine at repair yards in the Pacific coast city of Bolshoi Kamen had been extinguished with foam on Monday. The Tomsk, capable of firing cruise missiles, has been undergoing repairs since 2010. Reports said all its weaponry had been removed and the reactor was shut down, although it was not clear if any nuclear material remained in the reactor.
Guardian 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Renewables
Reacting to the announcement made by Fergus Ewing MSP, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, ahead of the Scottish Renewables Marine energy conference in Inverness today (Monday 16 Sept), that the Scottish Government has awarded consent to MeyGen to construct a 86MW (megawatt) tidal project in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, Michael Rieley, Policy Manager for Scottish Renewables, said: “Scotland has just been given another reason to be proud of its burgeoning marine energy industry now that Europe’s largest tidal stream energy project will be calling Scotland home. This is by far one of the most important milestones for the tidal energy sector to meet. This latest announcement to come from the marine industry is further proof that all the hard work to win the global energy race is paying off. Not only will new projects like this mean a step further towards meeting our renewable energy targets, but it will also lead to further jobs being created, increased investment, and a significant contribution towards tackling climate change.”
Scottish Renewables 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Marine energy in Scotland faces a “make or break” year with thousands of job opportunities and multimillionpound investment at risk unless a clear policy on the cost of bringing electricity from sea to shore is set, industry leaders and environmentalists warned yesterday. The firm behind Europe’s largest tidal energy scheme, approved by the Scottish Government this week, said that the future of such projects was under threat unless the UK government ended outdated charges for connecting power to the national grid within the next 12 months. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Scotland feared that without a clear resolution to ongoing transmission pricing reforms by the end of this year uncertainty over costs for marine-generated energy would send developers heading overseas. The charges, levied by UK energy regulator Ofgem, mean that firms transporting power from Scotland’s islands are charged significantly more than companies closer to the mainland. Lang Banks, the director of WWF Scotland, said: “This is a make or break year with electricity market reforms. “By the end of this year I think we need to have an answer to this. Scotland and the UK still have the lead on wave and tidal power. However, other countries are snapping at our heels. “Ofgem says it is ‘minded’ to have a transmission regime that helps the islands but both Ofgem and the UK government are still going around in circles on this.
Times 17th Sept 2013 read more »
Six vast underwater turbines are to be lowered into the tidal currents of the Pentland firth in the first phase of one of the largest tidal energy schemes in Europe. Permission to install the six squat machines, which look like underwater propellers, has been granted by Scottish ministers as a demonstration project to prove they work, with more than 50 of the machines eventually due to be installed on the seabed off Caithness.
Guardian 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Guardian 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Business Insider 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Scottish Power Renewables has announced it will install several tidal devices made by engineering firm Alstom at its major Sound of Islay project. It follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the companies. The tidal array, between Islay and Jura on the west coast of Scotland, will include up to four Alstom devices and four Andritz Hydro Hammerfest turbines. The Islay development will be capable of generating up to 10MW of electricity in total.
BBC 16th Sept 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser to the government, has warned of the “enormous environmental consequences” of attempting to fulfil the UK’s gas needs by fracking and has played down the idea that it would have a major impact on the UK’s energy market. King, who left his government post in 2007, has been appointed special representative on climate change to the foreign secretary, William Hague, with effect from 1 October. But, in contrast to many of the coalition’s senior figures, who are eagerly espousing shale gas as an alternative to investment in renewable energy, he does not believe gas from unconventional sources can be relied on to power the UK.
Guardian 16th Sept 2013 read more »
