AP1000
The head of an international energy giant has revealed it is close to sealing a multi-billion pound deal to build some of the UK’s next generation of nuclear power stations. That would see its AP1000 reactor built on land owned by Horizon which has been earmarked for a new power station at Wylfa on Anglesey and Oldbury, Gloucestershire. The deal has potential to safeguard the future of more than 1,000 jobs at Westinghouse’s fuel factory at Salwick, near Preston, which would power any new AP1000 reactor.
Lancashire Evening Post 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Oldbury
More than 30 people took part in the march and rally. A demonstration has been held against plans for a new nuclear power plant in South Gloucestershire. Campaign group Shepperdine Against Nuclear Energy (Sane) said it was concerned about safety and damage to the environment. Horizon Nuclear Power said it was listening to concerns, but it was about “achieving an acceptable balance”.
Stop Oldbury 1st December 2010 more >>
West country members of the Stop Nuclear Power Network are urging people to join them in a protest at a Government public consultation meeting they brand as undemocratic, which will discuss the Government’s revised draft National Policy Statements on energy infrastructure – they include the role of nuclear power in the UK’s future energy mix. The event is one of only three that will take place around the country.
Stop Oldbury 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Hinkley
Campaigners say a power firm is “jumping the gun” by applying for planning permission for preparatory work on the new Hinkley Point reactor before the main plans are approved.
BBC 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Burnham-on-sea.com 30th Nov 2010 more >>
This is Somerset 1st Dec 2010 more >>
French energy company EDF is “jumping the gun” by applying to destroy over 400 acres of Somerset countryside – even before it has permission to build on the site – according to the local campaign group Stop Hinkley.
Stop Hinkley 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Wylfa
A RADICAL shift to a low carbon economy is both necessary and desirable, and the economic opportunities that it will bring are increasingly obvious. However, the nuclear programme, so important for Wylfa and North Wales, is about a year behind where we had hoped it would be and we are very little further forward in building the gas storage capacity our economy so urgently needs.
Daily Post 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Nuclear reactors
Five of the UK’s 19 nuclear reactors remained offline Wednesday, forcing more expensive gas- and oil-fired generators to supply the system at times of peak demand. They included the Heysham 1-1, 1-2 and 2-8 reactors in Lancashire, the Hartlepool-2 reactor in County Durham and the Oldbury-2 reactor in Gloucestershire.
Platts 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Nuclear Science
The observation of an unexpected nuclear reaction by an unstable isotope of the element mercury has thrown up a rare puzzle. The enigma is helping theorists to tackle one of the trickiest problems in physics: developing a more complete model of the atomic nucleus.
Nature 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Radwaste
An artists impression of the proposed geological high level nuclear waste repository was completed outside Kendal Town Hall on Tuesday. To mark the series of Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership ‘drop in’ sessions taking place in Lakeland towns and villages, Radiation Free Lakeland have been producing a retelling of Beatrix Potter’s stories. The new tales feature descendents of, for example Mrs Tiggywinkle and Mr MacGregor. The recent double page adverts in all local media present information provided by the Nuclear Decomissioning Authority but filtered through the ‘Partnership’ which includes Churches Together and Cumbria County Council. The NDA’s artist impression of a proposed geological disposal repository leaves out crucial details. These details would include a series of “Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion.”
Get Noticed Online 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Cumbrians have been invited by a partnership of local councils to discuss the question of west Cumbria becoming a home for the deep burial of the country’s higher activity nuclear waste, and to give their views at a series of drop-in sessions across the county.
Carlisle News and Star 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Letter from Tim Knowles: Pete Wilkinson makes some important points in his letter. Safety is clearly the most important issue in deciding whether this community should take part in the Government’s search for somewhere to locate a repository for higher activity radioactive wastes. The Government has made it clear that this is a voluntary process. It is up to the people living in this area to decide whether or not it should come to West Cumbria. If we are not convinced that a repository would be safe then we will not agree to have it here. The West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership brings together a wide range of organisations from across Cumbria, such as local authorities, parish councillors, the Lake District National Park, Churches Together in Cumbria and the National Farmers Union. Not surprisingly, this community partnership has placed the issue of safety at the top of its agenda. We have considered a number of aspects of safety in our work so far. When the NDA publishes the latest results of its work on safety issues next year we will be looking at this in more depth. The points raised by the Nuclear Waste Advisory Associates will be an important part of those discussions and we are keen to hear how the NDA responds to the concerns raised in their report. Our aim in talking to the public at this stage is simply to give people the chance to learn more about this process, to find out what questions they want us to be asking and to get their initial views. We want people to be involved at every step. We are not expecting people to give us their final view on whether West Cumbria should take part in the search for a site. We do not yet have all the information we need to take that decision. We will be consulting local people again later next year before the partnership makes its recommendation on whether or not this area should go to that next stage. Even if this area does take part in this process we can say no to a facility up until the point when work could start on building it, probably more than a decade from now.
Whitehaven News 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Letter from Ruth Balogh: Cumbrians have been invited by a Partnership of local councils to discuss the question of West Cumbria becoming a ‘home’ for the deep burial of the country’s higher activity nuclear waste, and to give their views at a series of drop-in sessions across the county. People may be wondering what environmental groups have to say about this, since the mention we get at the end of the material circulated could easily be missed. Cumbrians should know that I have been invited to join this partnership. First there was one place on offer, and now there are two, so things are improving! But I have declined for several reasons, including the following: the partnership is so dominated by the nuclear industry, there could never be a properly balanced discussion; the fact that this process exists at all means that government can cite it as providing a ‘solution’ to the problem of nuclear waste – rather crucial for the credibility of the programme to build new plants, even though it only applies to existing waste; the process puts more weight on public acceptability than on the science and geology of hosting a repository; and from what the evidence tells me so far, deep disposal doesn’t seem the best option. Finally, there is a perception that this will go ahead irrespective of what people really think. Otherwise why revisit an idea roundly rejected when Nirex proposed it more than a decade ago and which didn’t even include high level waste ? The problem with this process is that there is no proper provision for full scientific scrutiny of proposals as in the Nirex Inquiry – and we know that we cannot rely on the nuclear industry to do this on our behalf. If I were a team of several scientists with the right expertise to critique the industry’s proposals, I might join in, because that’s what’s really needed. This process runs the risk of making bad scientific and engineering decisions that nonetheless seem publicly acceptable. Even worse, if we continue to court the deep disposal idea and it turns out to be flawed and the geology remains unsuitable, then we will have wasted time better spent exploring other solutions – eg dry storage at the site of origin. Nuclear waste policy has been consigned to the ‘too difficult’ box both by successive governments and by the nuclear industry for too long. This time, let’s get it right. A well-informed debate is essential. Cumbrians who want to understand some of the arguments and evidence not mentioned in the current discussions should go to www.nuclearwasteadvisory.co.uk and www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk
Whitehaven News 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Letter from J Rowntree: With regard to the letter from Councillor Knowles (November 25), does he honestly not think, like the majority of local people do, that no matter how unsuitable the geology proves to be that this project will be given the go-ahead? As has been written on your page in the past, what the nuclear industry wants it gets from this area’s council. I wish the six Lotto numbers of eight score draws were as easy to predict as our council and ‘partnership’s’ response to anything nuclear is!
Whitehaven News 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Low Level Waste
COPELAND Council will have a crucial role to play in whether the former Keekle Head opencast coal site near Pica is allowed to bury lower levels of radioactive material. And the borough council planning panel will be asked by its own officers to recommend refusal. Final decision rests with the county council but because of a delay in prospective developers supplying information it has passed the planning application back to Copeland for its view. And when the proposal goes to the next meeting of Copeland Council’s planning councillors (on December 8) the recommendation will be one of refusal.
Whitehaven News 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Sellafield
Speaking for the first time after a series of controversial cost-cutting moves which recently resulted in 800 job losses, the site’s American boss emphasised the need to make Sellafield more efficient, more secure with the hope of winning new orders to benefit both the site and the community. But after a year in which parent company Nuclear Management Partners has saved well over £100 million (the target is £1billion over the next five years) Bill Poulson would not be drawn on whether there would be any more large-scale redundancies.
Whitehaven News 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Nuclear Research
WORK started this week on a multi-million pound nuclear research facility which will create 45 jobs. The £20m scheme at Westlakes Science and Technology Park in Moor Row, will house the staff and postgraduate students when it is complete next September. A joint venture between Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the University of Manchester, the centre will have close links with the existing National Nuclear Laboratory at Sellafield.
Whitehaven News 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Companies
E.ON has sold its 3.5 per cent stake in the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom for €3.4bn (£2.8bn). The German energy giant, which is raising money to expand outside Europe, sold 2.7 per cent to the Russian state bank VEB and 0.8 per cent on the stock market. As its earnings in Europe drop due to a tax on its nuclear power plants in Germany and demand falls due to the economic crisis, E.ON is seeking to lower its €45bn debt burden and raise money to expand outside the continent. The company plans to generate €15bn through divestments in the next three years.
Independent 2nd Dec 2010 more >>
Alstom, the French turbine group, has been invited to consider taking a stake in Areva as part of the state-owned nuclear group’s long-awaited capital increase. The French government has asked Alstom to participate in a fundraising next year after the group’s chief executive raised objections to the proposed entry of rival Mitsubishi Heavy Industries into Areva’s share capital.
FT 2nd Dec 2010 more >>
Litvinenko
Vladimir Putin probably had prior knowledge of the plot to murder the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London, one of America’s top diplomats alleged in a leaked embassy cable.
Telegraph 2nd Dec 2010 more >>
Aldermaston
A one-day strike by workers at the firm that builds warheads for Trident, the UK’s nuclear weapons system, has been called off.
BBC 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Pakistan
The leaked US cables on the Pakistani nuclear arsenal reveal a serious and growing threat of nuclear terrorism that has been deliberately played down by western governments, counter-proliferation experts said yesterday.
Guardian 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Security around Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is “foolproof” and there is “no question” of bomb components falling into the hands of terrorists, the country’s high commissioner to London said.
Telegraph 2nd Dec 2010 more >>
Bulgaria
Bulgarian state-owned utility NEK and Russian state-owned Rosatom have signed an agreement to form a joint venture to build the Belene nuclear power plant in Bulgaria. NEK will hold a 51pc stake in the joint venture. Finnish state-owned utility Fortum has reserved the right to purchase a 1pc stake in the project company in addition to providing nuclear technology and safety advice. French engineering firm Altran has also reserved the right to purchase a 1pc stake and will provide engineering advice. Rosatom will hold the remaining stake.
Argus Media 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Kazakhstan
Even today, the horrors of the Semipalatinsk test site are still palpable. At a small orphanage in nearby Semey, two toddlers lie in cots. Their heads are deformed to enormous size, their eyes flutter upwards into their sockets. Nurses believe they are victims of contamination caused by the nuclear experiments. On a tour of Semey, organised and paid for by the Kazakh government, the Guardian was shown a cancer clinic where a new “nuclear medicine” department is soon to be built and a cabinet of misshapen babies in pickling jars at the city’s medical university. The genetic consequences of radiation exposure are disputed but doctors say cancer rates in eastern Kazakhstan are 50% higher than the national average. Koloskova’s youngest son died aged 44 after severe kidney problems. “Maybe the tests were to blame,” she said. China, Russia and Europe are already jockeying for access to the Central Asian state’s huge reserves of oil and natural gas. Now bountiful supplies of uranium to fuel a new generation of nuclear power plants are another energy target.
Guardian 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Iran
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said the United States welcomed Iran’s decision to join talks in Geneva, which she said should focus “first and foremost” on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
STV 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Finland
French nuclear firm Areva has said that the construction work on its Olkiluoto-3 European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) in Finland is progressing as per schedule. The first fuel is scheduled to be loaded in late 2012, marking the official completion of the work. Subsequently, the plant operator will carry out a series of power escalation tests, in preparation for connection of the facility to the grid in 2013.
Energy Business Review 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Disarmament
Republican opposition to the US–Russia arms-control treaty is based on politics, not science.
Nature 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has called on the US Senate to ratify a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia.
BBC 2nd Dec 2010 more >>
Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia will deploy nuclear weapons and ‘strike forces’ if it were shut out of a Western missile shield.
Daily Mail 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Coal & Gas
The energy select committee, chaired by Tim Yeo, is broadly in favour of the Government’s plans to introduce an Emissions Performance Standard (EPS), which would set a specific limit on carbon dioxide released from power stations. However, it warned in a new report that little is known about the effect on bills if companies are forced to fit equipment that captures carbon dioxide from power plants and stores it underground.
Telegraph 2nd Dec 2010 more >>
The first near carbon-free gas-fired power plant in the UK is set to begin operating within a year in response to government efforts to stimulate carbon capture and storage technology. The pilot plant is to be built by Powerfuel, a mining and power company, and Calix, an Australian cement maker that has pioneered a method of removing carbon dioxide from gas before it enters power station turbines.
FT 2nd Dec 2010 more >>
