New Nukes
Towns and villages around a proposed new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point C in Somerset could be in line to receive a £128m windfall under new proposals outlined by the government. Campaigners opposed to the project dismissed the funding as a “social bribe” that only amounted to £3.3m annually over 40 years while wind farm developers complained they had to pay five times more in community benefits. Theo Simon, a spokesman for the Stop Hinkley campaign, said the offer to Somerset county council came at a time when there were £20m cuts taking place in its budget this year alone. “It’s not a lot of money – it’s talked about as if it’s a sort of compensation or reward, but it’s really an acknowledgement that people in Somerset still feel profoundly unhappy about the whole plan for Hinkley C. Rather than seeing it as compensation we should see it as a social bribe.” Simon said the kind of £90-plus “strike price” being talked about was already double the original figure proposed and would leave Somerset and the rest of the country saddled with much higher electricity bills. Vince Dale, founder of renewable power company Ecotricity said onshore wind developers were being made to pay £5,000 per megawatt to local people. “This is a further move by the government to rig the energy market against renewables in favour of nuclear and gas. Nuclear power is already being fast-tracked through the planning system and today they’ve announced nuclear will pay a fraction of the community benefit paid by wind power.”
Guardian 17th July 2013 read more »
Communities around 8 sites in England & Wales could be in line to receive benefits worth up to £1000/MW over 40 years from when the stations begin operating.
DECC 17th July 2013 read more »
Written Ministerial Statement.
Parliament 17th July 2013 read more »
Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, said taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for new nuclear. “Whilst wind farms and even shale gas developers have to pay community benefits, only nuclear stations will get a fat taxpayer subsidy to fund them,” he said. “Our entire energy policy is now absurdly distorted by the desperation to prop up EDF’s faltering Hinkley C project, with the government piling the costs onto the taxpayer to avoid the embarrassment of admitting they backed the wrong technology. We can’t go on like this.” Dale Vince, founder of green electricity company Ecotricity, accused the government of “rigging” the energy system in favour of nuclear and gas. “The Government shouldn’t be picking winners in the energy industry, they should be providing a level playing field for competition,” he said. “Are they really saying the impact of nuclear power in one fifth that of wind power?
Business Green 17th July 2013 read more »
A package worth £3.2m per year has been offered to communities near a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The deal, totalling £128m, will last for 40 years, which is the planned lifetime of Hinkley Point C. Somerset County and West Somerset councils will get the money but will also share it with Sedgemoor council. The government package is separate to the £100m pledged by the developer, EDF Energy, to build infrastructure.
BBC 17th July 2013 read more »
UK communities could be paid millions of pounds to host nuclear power plants, the government announced on Wednesday. Eight sites in England and Wales could be in line to receive benefits of up to £1,000 per megawatt hour of electricity produced for up to 40 years after the reactors come online. The funds will be tailored to the areas and focus on ensuring a local economic legacy from the projects, the government said. Overall payments to an area such as that surrounding Hinkley Point in Somerset, earmarked for two reactors, could reach £128m.
Guardian 17th July 2013 read more »
Telegraph 17th July 2013 read more »
This is the West Country 17th July 2013 read more »
U.K. communities near Electricite de France’s planned new nuclear power station in southwest England will get as much as 128 million pounds ($195 million) for hosting the project under government plans announced today.
Bloomberg 17th July 2013 read more »
How much would you want for a nuclear power station near your home? Government offers millions to bribe communities.
Daily Mail 17th July 2013 read more »
Nuclear Engineering International 17th July 2013 read more »
World Nuclear News 17th July 2013 read more »
Express & Star 17th July 2013 read more »
Utility Week 17th July 2013 read more »
Legal Challenges
Paul Dorfman: The National Trust for Ireland and Greenpeace have launched two independent legal challenges to UK Government plans for new nuclear power plants at Hinkley Point, Somerset, re-opening long-standing questions about nuclear safety. At the very least, if the application for judicial review is granted for either challenge, proposed French nuclear projects in England and Wales will inevitably be hit by very long delays. Greenpeace argue that Ed Davey “impermissibly put a positive gloss on a number of factual matters and ignored other facts and the context”. Significantly, planning permission for the two proposed reactors at Hinkley Point came after the decision by Cumbria Council to reject the long-term storage of UK nuclear waste in its area. And since Cumbria was the only area taking part in finding a national nuclear waste site, this leaves the Government with a very large hole in its waste policy process. This is important because the Government’s own policy on nuclear power commits it to be satisfied that “effective arrangements exist or will exist to manage and dispose of waste” from new nuclear power plants before giving planning permission. Here, Greenpeace argue that Cumbria’s decision meant this test could not have been met and the Government “failed to take into account or recognise the true significance of Cumbria’s decision”. As Greenpeace say, “over nearly 40 years governments have found it impossible, no matter the gloss it puts on it and despite intensive and expensive efforts to find any site specific solution to, or to make any real progress on finding any such solution, to the problem of ‘disposing’ safely of legacy waste.”
Ecologist 17th July 2013 read more »
Flamanville
This view of the mighty dome just installed on the new EDF nuclear reactor building at Flamanville in France is a mirror of the sight which should one day greet visitors to Hinkley Point in Somerset. The French energy giant which is planning to build Hinkley C, a twin-reactor power station on the Somerset coast to the same design as its French sister, called in one of the world’s biggest cranes to lift the huge dome into place at Flamanville.
South West Business 17th July 2013 read more »
Heysham
A third Heysham power station is still on the cards but may not happen until Heysham 1 is shut down. This is the view of power plant boss Ian Stewart, who said Heysham 3 was still “absolutely a potential for the future”. But Mr Stewart, Heysham 1’s station director, said it was unlikely three nuclear power stations would ever operate at Heysham simultaneously. Last year EDF Energy, owners of Heysham Power Stations, cancelled an agreement with the National Grid to set up a new connection to the grid from Heysham.
The Visitor 18th July 2013 read more »
Sizewell
A government funding pledge could be worth millions of pounds a year to communities surrounding the proposed site of Suffolk’s third nuclear power plant. The energy department announced a long-term investment in the area surrounding Sizewell C on top of a significant increase in business rate revenues, if EDF Energy’s bid gets the go-ahead. Business and energy minister Michael Fallon said local authorities hosting new power stations stood to benefit not only from a 50% share of the rates increase for up to the first 10 years of operation, but further funding from central government for an additional 30 years, to account for the scale and lifespan of nuclear power stations in eight sites in England and Wales, including Sizewell. The news has been welcomed locally, where communities could be in line to receive benefits worth up to £1,000 per megawatt of energy generated by Sizewell C over 40 years from the point of operation.
East Anglian Daily Times 17th July 2013 read more »
Hartlepool
A NORTH-East town will be offered tens of millions of pounds in return for residents accepting a nuclear power station on their doorstep. Hartlepool is among eight sites earmarked for new reactors that are now in line for “community benefits” promised by the Government. The package will offer up to £1,000 for every megawatt hour of electricity generated for 40 years, energy minister Michael Fallon announced.
Northern Echo 17th July 2013 read more »
Wylfa
Details of a funding package for the community around the planned Wylfa nuclear power plant on Anglesey have been revealed by the government. Communities around eight sites in England and Wales are set to receive up to £1,000 per megawatt hour over 40 years from when the stations begin operating. The Department of Energy and Climate Change is to work with the Welsh Government to provide a community benefits package around the site at Wylfa. In England, local authorities are set to receive a share of business rates but as this is a devolved matter for the Welsh Government the community around Wylfa is set to receive an equivalent package.
Insider Media 18th July 2013 read more »
EMR
In an attempt to defuse the problem that independent renewable generators will not be able to obtain ‘contracts for difference’ (CfD) under arrangements set out in electricity market reform, the Government is proposing a compromise that will favour the Big Six. Under the so-called ‘Backstop PPA’ proposal as mooted in House of Lords amendments by Lord Teverson to the Energy Bill, electricity suppliers will be required to offer power purchase agreements (PPAs) to independent developers, and things will be made easier for small electricity suppliers. However, the price of this compromise is that inevitably the Big Six will give PPAs to the independents that are worth rather less than the value of the CfDs are to the Big Six. In effect, the Big Six will be able to extract an economic rent for themselves of 10 per cent or more.
Dave Tokes Blog 17th July 2013 read more »
The government will today publish its long-awaited draft Electricity Market Reform (EMR) Delivery Plan, alongside a promise that the wide-ranging shake-up of the power sector will make the UK “the first country in the world with a low carbon electricity market”. The detailed draft delivery plan comes two weeks after the government announced draft strike prices for a range of renewable electricity technologies ahead of schedule, which detailed how much financial support renewables projects can access from next year. The new plan, which is now open for consultation, provides further information on the contract terms developers can expect to receive, the methodology the government used to calculate the strike prices, and the likely impact on energy bills. However, some campaigners warned the proposals still failed to provide enough information on how the government plans to deliver a decarbonised electricity network during the 2020s, adding that the modelling of a 200g/kWh scenario left the door open for significant investment in fossil fuels that would put the UK’s carbon targets at risk.
Business Green 17th July 2013 read more »
DECC Press Release 17th July 2013 read more »
In an exclusive interview, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary explains how Electricity Market Reform Delivery Plan will drive economic growth and hold down energy bills. Because you have greater certainty over the prices the cost of capital is lower. Also there is another effect in that with CfDs if the wholesale price goes above the strike price generators have to pay back, but with the Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) it was a one way system, you had a ROC over and above the wholesale price. With CfD that does not happen. The cost of capital is lower and there are no super profits to be earned if the wholesale price goes up. That is why it is a good deal for consumers and it is one of the reasons we think people will really welcome this, because you are getting green jobs and green growth, but you are also getting a better deal for households and businesses. We are showing EMR is expected to reduce annual household electricity bills by an average of £63 or nine per cent over this period from 2016 to 2030, compared to trying to get to the same policy goals using existing policy instruments. If you are trying to decarbonise – which we know we have to do under the Climate Change Act – if we continued with the current set of policies it would be more expensive. Obviously, we are also trying to reduce costs for consumers in many other ways, through product standards, through smart meters, through ECO, and through the Green Deal. But in this draft EMR plan our analysis shows it will reduce average bills compared to what they would otherwise have gone up by.
Business Green 17th July 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
Gas prices could fall by a quarter and help bring down household energy bills if Britain exploits its shale gas reserves, a report commissioned by Ed Davey, the Energy Secretary, suggests. The study by Navigant Consulting backs up David Cameron’s claim that shale gas drilling could help cut the cost of living for families struggling with average bills of more than £1,300 per year. However, it contrasts with the claims of Ed Davey, the Energy Secretary, that shale gas is “unlikely” to bring down household bills. He has said higher gas prices are probable regardless of the discovery of Britain’s shale reserves and used this argument to justify spending billions on wind farms and nuclear power stations. This week, Mr Davey criticised NPower, an gas and electricity company, for saying that green energy would be a major factor behind rising bills, criticising their “weird” assumption that gas prices would fall.
Telegraph 17th July 2013 read more »
Gas prices in Britain could halve after 2030 because of the global shale gas revolution, according to a report that is at odds with the latest government forecasts.
Times 18th July 2013 read more »
Companies
A raggle-taggle collection of French, Japanese, Spanish and American companies seem to be trying to outmanoeuvre each other by holding the government to ransom to secure huge guaranteed tariffs. Can your correspondents please explain to us why Britain, which pioneered so much fundamental nuclear research, is apparently so scandalously incapable of designing and building its own nuclear power stations? Was there a finite point at which one of our governments decided to allow our expertise to shrivel? If so, the party responsible should surely be named for leaving the country so exposed.
FT 17th July 2013 read more »
Europe
The European Commission has approved a 80 million euro ($105.1 million) loan by Dutch authorities for the construction of a new nuclear reactor which will be used to supply medical radioisotopes, it said on Wednesday.
Reuters 17th July 2013 read more »
European Commission 17th July 2013 read more »
France
France’s green party EELV submitted a proposal to parliament Tuesday calling for the creation of a committee of public inquiry into the costs of building European Pressurized Reactor nuclear plants, EELV said in a statement. State-controlled EDF is building France’s first ‘Third generation’ EPR plant at the Flamanville nuclear plant complex in Normandy, and the cost of the project has almost tripled since initial estimates to Eur8.5 billion ($11.1 billion). The 1.65 GW Flamanville 3 project is expected online in 2016, four years behind initial targets and EDF said Tuesday it had finally completed the installation of the dome on the reactor building after it was delayed due to faulty components. EELV said in its statement that the management of the Flamanville 3 project “strongly justifies studies by lawmakers, through an ad-hoc inquiry, of the shortcomings of the third-generation nuclear reactors.” EDF is engineer-architect for the project, while fellow state-controlled company Areva is supplier.
Platts 17th July 2013 read more »
Japan
Even as they continue to pour tonnes of water daily into the reactor fuel rods at Fukushima to stop a full-scale meltdown; even as they struggle to isolate why the place is leaking radioactive water into the Pacific; even as they cannot explain why caesium levels near to Reactor 2 are now higher than at any time since the earthquake struck the plant – even as all this is gong on, the Japanese nuclear industry is rousing itself from idling offline and looking to generate power once again. Ten nuclear power plants are actively lobbying to restart full operations, and most are sited at or near the coast, as is the Japanese way. Many – like Fukushima – are old plants now and desperate to get back into the game after sitting offline for this long period of national Japanese soul-searching.
Channel 4 News 17th July 2013 read more »
Iran
Iranian President-elect Hassan Rouhani said yesterday it was laughable for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say Tehran was getting close to Israel’s “red line” over its nuclear programme and derided the Jewish state’s ability to strike Iran.
Herald 18th July 2013 read more »
US
Policymakers in California are focused on replacing the generation capacity lost from the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) with renewable energy, energy efficiency and demand response. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Energy Commission held a workshop yesterday to discuss electricity infrastructure issues arising from the closure of the 2,200MW nuclear plant in northwestern San Diego County.
Argus 17th July 2013 read more »
Trident
Letter: An April 2013 New York Times report explored US concerns over declining defence spending in Europe as EU countries slash their budgets below the Nato-demanded 2 per cent of spending. It noted in passing that “American officials are quietly urging” Britain “to drop its expensive nuclear deterrent.” The article went on to quote a senior American official: “Either they can be a nuclear power and nothing else or a real military partner.”
Morning Star 17th July 2013 read more »
Nuclear Testing
President Obama’s declared commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, in Prague in 2009, and his administration’s work on securing the new START treaty, once more raised expectations that the President would use his second term to persuade the Senate to move where it failed to go in 1999 and gain the required 67 votes to ratify the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), a treaty that makes it very difficult for countries to develop nuclear bombs for the first time, or for countries that already have them, to make more powerful devices. As acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Rose Gottemoeller stated in 2012: “A lot has changed since 1999, and people have not had a chance to really look at the CTBT and understand what it can accomplish for U.S. national security.” To overcome partisan divisions in the Senate and counter much misinformation concerning the treaty, numerous civil society reports by, for example, the Arms Control Association, National Academy of Sciences and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, have been produced in the last three years to acclimatise Senators ahead of an informed and constructive debate, potentially leading to a vote. Once again, this case must be made clear, and this case must be made now. Ratifying the treaty is in the national security interests of the United States – not only would it complete work begun by President Eisenhower and continued by President Kennedy, but it would marginalise any country that chooses to remain on such a political trajectory.
Huffington Post 18th July 2013 read more »
Submarines
A BLACK Country company has reached a major milestone in an engineering project which is believed to be unique. TM Specialist Engineers, based at Oak Lane in Kingswinford, completed the trial assembly of a 60 tonne crane which will be used to defuel nuclear submarines.
Halesowen News 17th July 2013 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
What’s the point of nuclear weapons: Britain is the member of a club. Not a big club, only a select few are allowed entry. And one that means we are at the table with the big boys in the world. You know, America, France, China, India, Pakistan… Israel… North Korea… Countries with nuclear weapons. Why do we have them? Why for that matter do any of those nations have them? Why are some nations keen to spend fortunes on programmes developing these weapons – whilst their people go hungry? Because it means they are in that club – vanity. The ultimate in ‘willy-waving’; saying I have the ultimate weapon, I am on par with you. I am the same as you. I can stand up for myself, and stand up to you.
Huffington Post 16th July 2013 read more »
Renewables
Zero Carbon Britain: Rethinking the Future draws on the Centre for Alternative Technology’s 40 years of experience to create technically viable future scenarios. We bring together the latest knowledge from a wide range of disciplines, to explore synergies that create employment, increase wellbeing, have a positive impact on the economy, and future-proof us for the challenges of the 21st century. Here, we integrate new research in two key areas ‘keeping the lights on’ with a variable renewable energy supply, and ‘feeding ourselves properly’ on a low carbon diet. By combining cutting edge technology with a smart approach to agriculture and land use, energy supply and demand, buildings and transport, we show that it is possible for the UK to meet the challenge of climate change and acknowledge our responsibility as a long-industrialised nation to set the pace.
Zero Carbon Britain 16th July 2013 read more »
Climate
Andrew Neil – these are your climate errors on BBC Sunday Politics. Andrew Neil made several errors in discussing our 97% climate consensus paper and global warming on his show.
Guardian 17th July 2013 read more »
