New Nukes
Response to Euan McLeod: Since the industrial revolution the growth of low-cost energy production has been an overwhelmingly civilising influence while carbon emission per unit of energy production has been steadily falling with a transition through wood, coal, oil, gas and nuclear fission. Future energy production will need to meet the rising expectations of the developing world while reducing dependence on fossil fuels rather than satisfying personal ideologies.
Scotsman 19th June 2009 more >>
E.ON has plans for two nuclear plants that Golby expects to be up and running towards the end of the next decade, part of a massive programme of investment to replace the nation’s ageing generators. The German power firm promulgates the need for a mix of energy sources and is also behind the London Array wind farm planned for the Thames estuary and a controversial coal-fired plant at Kingsnorth in Kent, the first new coal station in Britain for more than 20 years. But if Kingsnorth has become a lightning rod for environmentalists, nuclear remains for many the most chilling option. E.ON, in partnership with another German company, RWE, is building nuclear plants at Wylfa in Anglesey and at Oldbury in Gloucestershire.
Guardian 19th June 2009 more >>
Supply Chain
SHEFFIELD Forgemasters International is expanding its role as a supplier to the global nuclear power industry with new contracts for civil nuclear reactors in Argentina and South Korea.
Sheffield Star 18th June 2009 more >>
Nuclear Skills
GOVERNMENT minister Ed Miliband is today due to open West Cumbria’s £20m flagship nuclear academy, which he has described as an extremely important addition to Britain’s energy facilities.
West Cumberland Times and Star 19th June 2009 more >>
Nuclear Transport
Workers at the Carlisle-based nuclear rail freight company DRS are backing strike action after talks failed to resolve a pay dispute. The train drivers’ union ASLEF confirmed yesterday that workers at the firm – which delivers nuclear materials to Sellafield – are backing industrial action, but the details of the ballot result are yet to be made public.
Carlisle News and Star 18th June 2009 more >>
Uranium
A global shift toward nuclear power is prompting countries to rush to lock in long-term access to tight supplies of uranium, and China and India look to be the next players to get in on the action. A tie-up between Rosatom, the Russian state-owned producer, and Canada-based miner Uranium One announced this week is just the latest in a series of moves on the part of Asian and European countries to lock in uranium supply to fuel construction of dozens of new reactors over the next decade.
Guardian 18th June 2009 more >>
Hinkley
Tenders will be invited this summer for two major jobs on the new £4 billion Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station, despite the controversial scheme not having planning approval. Utilities giant EDF Energy said it would press on with work to find a contractor for the job as it warned it would “not tolerate” significant planning delays of the kind that have plagued other major infrastructure developments in the past.
Construction News 18th June 2009 more >>
Wylfa
With Anglesey Aluminium Metals having recently announced that its cheap power deal with the nearby Wylfa plant is due to come to an end in the next few months and is unlikely to be renewed, plans are being drawn up to construct a £600 million power station capable of enabling the company to produce its own power.
Career Engineer 18th June 2009 more >>
Rio Tinto said it was too early to say whether a proposed new biomass power plant could secure the future of its primary aluminium smelter in Britain, which is expected to close in September.
Reuters 17th June 2009 more >>
Her Majesty’s Principal Inspector of Nuclear Installations, David Simister, has told the Celtic League he is `content with the operators response’ following a fire at the Wylfa nuclear power plant. The HSE-NII were responding to a League query about the fire. The HSE-NII have yet to respond to League revelations that the most recent fire at Wylfa was in a turbine hall that had been the subject of fire safety concerns earlier this year.
Agence Bretagne Presse 18th June 2009 more >>
Sellafield
A LEAK of radioactivity at Sellafield which has lasted for half a century has finally been plugged. The radioactive water is known to have seeped into the ground under the nuclear site for up to 50 years.
NW Evening Mail 18th June 2009 more >>
Flamanville
French energy giant EDF this week insisted that construction of its flagship Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor in France was “on time and on budget” amid claims that the project was running late and that costs were increasing. University of Greenwich professor of energy studies Stephen Thomas said industry journal Nucleonics Week had cited a number of problems and issues with welds in the steel liner of the containment building and errors in the installation of steel reinforcement (see box).
New Civil Engineer 18th June 2009 more >>
Japan
Japanese utilities need to generate about 40 percent of electricity from nuclear power by 2020, up from 26 percent in the year to March 2008, to help achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals, the trade ministry said.
Yahoo 19th June 2009 more >>
North Korea
Intelligence sources in Seoul have stepped up suggestions that Pyongyang is also about to test an intercontinental ballistic missile possibly one with the range to hit the US. A Japanese report suggested that the missile might be aimed at Hawaii.
Times 19th June 2009 more >>
Iran
President Barack Obama faces mounting difficulties in carrying out his longstanding plans to negotiate with Tehran over its nuclear programme as his administration comes under domestic pressure to strike a tough line on the country’s disputed election.
FT 19th June 2009 more >>
A less combative approach to Iran by the US, brought about by the Obama administration, coupled with the presidential candidacy of the moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi in Iran, raised hopes among many that Iran might change its uranium enrichment plans, as the UN has requested, if Mousavi were to win.
New Scientist 18th June 2009 more >>
The remarkable story of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme, which began as an expression of western modernity but has now hardened into a statement of reaction, isolation and rage.
New Statesman 18th June 2009 more >>
Canada
AECL’s nuclear-power business has also suffered in recent years. Its CANDU reactors were once thought superior because they could be refuelled without shutting down. But rival technologies have improved. Potential foreign buyers of the company are waiting to see whether AECL’s latest, previously untried design wins a competition this summer to build a new reactor for Ontario’s provincial government. Should the province select either of two rivals a French consortium headed by Areva or an American consortium headed by Westinghouse, both of which use different reactor technology the new CANDU design will probably be aborted.
Economist 18th June 2009 more >>
US
A new energy project was launched today based around a new nuclear power reactor on the site of the former uranium enrichment plant at Piketon, Ohio. The plant is being proposed by a group dubbed the Southern Ohio Clean Energy Park Alliance which consists of site owner USEC, the utility Duke Energy, Areva and UniStar Nuclear Energy.
World Nuclear News 18th June 2009 more >>
Trident
Nick Clegg’s rejection of Trident may be well intentioned, but he fails to grasp that this is about protection, not just kudos.
Guardian 18th June 2009 more >>
