Nuclear Subsidies
Electricity firm EDF has confirmed it wants the UK government to sign 40-year contracts to support building new nuclear reactors in Britain – as the national energy regulator warned prices are likely to rise higher than expected. Energy experts said longer contracts for new nuclear power would help bring the price guarantee down from early estimates of £140-160 per unit to under £100, and bring down the overall cost because they would reduce risk and make it cheaper for EDF to borrow the estimated £12bn-£16bn building cost.
Guardian 19th Feb 2013 read more »
ITV 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Campaigners hit out at reports today that the government is to offer huge subsidies to energy firms building a new generation of nuclear power stations in breach of its coalition pledge. The 2010 coalition agreement promised that there would be no public cash for new nuclear power stations but reports today indicated that ministers were proposing to guarantee firms subsidies for up to 40 years. Labour MP for Newport Paul Flynn said on Twitter: “(Energy Secretary) Ed Davey says there will be nuclear subsidies – enormous ones. But it’s a secret until it is too late to change.” Britain was “being secretly seduced into a hideous nuclear black hole that could rob us for 50 years,” he added.
Morning Star 19th Feb 2013 read more »
New Nukes
James Smith chair of Carbon Trust: Nuclear power must prove itself in cost terms – but we should not be thinking of giving up now. We must make major investments in energy. Old coal and nuclear plants will have to close. And climate change has to be tackled or it will result in costly economic damage. Nuclear can deliver enormous quantities of low-carbon power. It can’t ramp up and down as demand fluctuates through day and night. But nuclear offers a secure base load. On paper, nuclear seems to offer the cheapest low-carbon carbon electricity. But new plants being built in Finland and France are taking far longer to build and costing far more than budgeted. It looks too that the cost estimates for new nuclear plants in the UK are soaring.
Guardian 19th Feb 2013 read more »
BRITAIN’S planned fleet of electricity-producing nuclear reactors could result in a massive business boost for a well-known Cumbrian firm. Bendalls of Carlisle is among 25 UK companies who recently signed a “memoranda of understanding” with Areva. The French nuclear giant plans to build what will be the first of the new reactor fleet at Hinkley Point, Somerset. The total value of the work covered by the MOU is £400 million. If all goes to plan Bendalls will be in line to build pressure vessels for two reactors which Areva and its partner EDF Energy would like to build.
NW Evening Mail 20th Feb 2013 read more »
Energy Supplies
Britain’s polluting coal-fired power stations must be kept open to “get us through” dramatic rises in wholesale gas prices over the next seven years – that is the unpalatable opinion of the outgoing head of Ofgem, the energy watchdog. Alistair Buchanan has warned that Britain faces five years of rapidly increasing electricity costs because of rising global gas prices at a time when new sources of energy generation such as renewables and nuclear are not sufficiently developed. Ministers might need to look at extending the life of some of Britain’s coal-fired power stations unless they could facilitate a “revolution” in energy efficiency, he adds. The Coalition has already abandoned its 2010 pledge not to subsidise nuclear reactors as it scrambles to attract investment to keep Britain’s lights on, with planned power plants running billions of pounds over budget and years behind schedule. In a bid to persuade France’s EDF to finalise its investment in Hinkley Point in Somerset, the Government is proposing extending a guaranteed minimum price for electricity from 20 years to between 30 and 40 years.
Independent 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Higher prices for gas and electricity are inevitable over the next 10 years, according to the outgoing energy regulator. Alistair Buchanan delivered a stark warning about Britain’s looming energy gap. As much as a fifth of our power generating capacity is due to be turned off over the next decade, in line with more stringent green targets. With new nuclear reactors not expected to come on line until beyond 2020, and renewable technologies either insufficiently developed or very expensive, the only viable option is to burn more gas. The domestic political cost of this could be high, since average household energy bills have already risen 159 per cent in the past decade. Our politicians would be wise to get moving on the fundraising, infrastructure and regulatory changes needed to make nuclear, renewables and clean carbon happen – as soon as is possible.
Independent 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Britain should brace for a “double squeeze” which will send households’ energy bills soaring, industry regulator Ofgem warned today. Its head Alistair Buchanan warned of a “rollercoaster” ride over the next five years as coal and oil-fired power stations shut down and no new energy sources are brought online. That will leave Britain even more reliant on imported gas – amid a bare-knuckle fight for supplies on the global market.
Morning Star 19th Feb 2013 read more »
The Treasury is understood to be predicting lower gas prices, owing to increasing supplies globally, arising from shale gas. But this analysis is at odds with that of the International Energy Agency, the gold standard for energy and emissions research, which notes that the low price of gas in the US – about $2 a unit, compared with about five times as much in Europe – will not translate into lower global prices for many years. The shale gas supply is being soaked up by demand within the US, where it is displacing coal for power generation, and the excess coal, a high-carbon fuel, is being exported to international markets instead.
Guardian 19th Feb 2013 read more »
There is indeed, as Mr Buchanan insisted, an energy gap opening up. Coal power stations are being decommissioned. Even in the increasingly doubtful event than nuclear can fill the gap, it will not do so before 2020. In the interim, Britain will have to get by with less energy. Even while power continues to flow to the plug, that will mean higher and more volatile prices. If and when the economic recovery materialises, demand for energy will rise, so this is one problem that will only get worse. The government’s response is a creakingly complex energy bill, which guarantees little but uncertainty. In the bizarre theology of a privatised electricity sector in which France’s nationalised EDF is the biggest player, it is regarded as unacceptably retrograde for ministers to decide anything directly, and policy must operate through incentive schemes. Consequently, instead of having anything as coherent as a new dash for gas or a green light for new nuclear, we have various “capacity payments”, “contracts for difference” and “feed-in tariffs”. If all these disparate levers were pulled in one direction at once, then just maybe the quasi-market could deliver a strategy by indirect means. Sadly, political divisions preclude this.
Guardian 19th Feb 2013 read more »
David Cameron’s team promised while in Opposition to ensure that a new nuclear plant would roll off the conveyor belt every 18 months from 2018. Yet for all the speeches, all the studies and reviews, we are further from fixing the problem than ever. As Alistair Buchanan, the head of the energy watchdog Ofgem, warned in this newspaper yesterday, we face “a unique challenge” in securing our electricity supply between 2015 and 2020 – one that cannot be met simply by papering Britain with yet more wind turbines. For now, the prospect of rolling blackouts remains a distant possibility (though it is utterly shameful that it cannot be ruled out completely). But in order to avoid them, we will almost certainly have to pay through the nose. It is not just gas: the costs of new nuclear capacity are also spiralling, thanks to the paucity of suppliers in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, the problems experienced by those building new capacity elsewhere, and the palpable desperation of our plight.
Telegraph 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Alistair Buchanan’s warning about the vulnerabilities of the UK energy supply system is serious and timely. The absence of a clear overall policy for energy supply and consumption means that in his words consumption levels are likely to be dangerously close to maximum capacity at times over the next few years and that UK consumers face the risk both of steadily rising prices and interruptions of supply. There is a case for having some new nuclear as part of a diverse and balanced system but the inability of the companies involved and the government to impose a cost ceiling means that any new nuclear now could impose a huge long-term burden on UK power consumers.
FT 19th Feb 2013 read more »
It is time for a revolution in the way that people save energy if they are to mitigate their soaring utility bills and keep the lights on, Ofgem has warned. The energy regulator said yesterday that building dozens of new gas plants to fill the generation gap looming in 2015 would not be enough unless a change in energy efficiency resulted in a dramatic fall in consumption. Warning that consumers faced even higher electricity and gas bills, Alistair Buchanan, Ofgem’s chief executive who steps down in June, predicted a “near-crisis” over energy supply. He said the Government needed to take action to revive its flagging Green Deal energy efficiency programme. “The big unknown is over the demand side,” said Mr Buchanan. “It has a direct benefit on security of supply. Can the Government get a revolution going on consumer habits to force through energy efficiency? Can they do that in three years?”
Times 19th Feb 2013 read more »
SSE: The Sunday Times suggested two silver bullets to solve supply problems: exploiting the UK’s shale gas reserves and building new nuclear power stations. Here, it missed the point entirely. Let’s start with shale gas. Even if we assume that it can be extracted economically in the UK, this process will take time from a standing start. Not only that, but it will also have no direct impact on the UK’s capacity for generating electricity – it would simply displace other sources. Shale gas has helped bring down power prices in the US but only because it was created as a by-product of shale oil and in such abundance that it produced a glut which could not be exported to command a much higher price. Only under these circumstances has it been possible for generators to use it to run their power stations more cheaply and produce electricity at lower cost. Even if these one-off conditions were replicated in the UK this could have the effect of making gas-fired power stations a more attractive investment in the long run, but the price of fuel is only one part of the reason they are not being built here at the moment – having a lot of fuel lying around doesn’t do much to address a capacity problem if you don’t have the power stations to utilise it. Similarly, deciding to build new nuclear power stations now will do nothing to avoid a capacity crunch in 2017, let alone before then. These are huge projects with long lead times, mammoth up-front construction costs and a recent track record littered with cost-overruns and failed projects. Despite being a mature, 60-year-old technology, it appears from the very fact that the Government is in talks about a price guarantee that it is still unable to stack up financially without public subsidy. At least there is an honest and public debate about the need to provide support to renewables until their costs have reduced and they are able to compete in the market on their own strengths. Why can this not be the case for nuclear? So, while The Sunday Times painted an accurate picture of the challenge facing the UK and the need for decisive action from government, it is naïve at best to argue that shale and/or nuclear can get us out of this predicament. What investors really need is a clear, single voice from the Government that does not pit one technology against another. Unambiguous confirmation of uninterrupted support for renewables and swift implementation of a capacity mechanism are what’s required to deliver the energy and capacity mix we need for a secure, low-carbon electricity supply at an affordable cost to the consumer.
SSE News 18th Feb 2013 read more »
Fuel Poverty
Ofgem’s predictions of further soaring energy prices are yet another slap in the face for hard-pressed folk across the country already struggling to afford to pay to heat their homes. Householders have seen their energy bills soar 159 per cent since 2004, hitting more than £1,400 for an average user after this winter’s round of increases. Ofgem declined to say how much prices could rise for Britain’s energy users. But when the average annual bill hits £1,500, there could be widescale problems. A study published last year predicted that bills of that level would leave four out of 10 people unable to afford their heating. Already we know that many people – especially the elderly – turn down the heat to save cash. But they do so in cold weather with drastic consequences. The official number of people who died at winter 2011 unnecessarily was 24,000. Only a small number of those deaths can be directly linked to fuel poverty but you can bet many unwell people were made worse because of inadequate heating. The deaths are the true sign of the failure of the Government and the energy companies to successfully find a solution to consistently rising prices. There could be more publicity for initiatives such as the Home Heat Helpline, which puts people on low incomes in touch with grants for insulation and discount and rebate schemes. The support is worth around £160. Improved energy-efficiency cuts heat loss and, consequently, the size of bills. The cost of improving homes is enormous but the solution is at hand, according to the Energy Bill Revolution. The government could use profits from carbon taxes. With the Treasury expected to rake in £60bn from the taxes over the next 15 years, the cash is clearly there. It’s time the government listened to such proposals before it’s too late and there are further fuel poverty deaths on its hands.
Independent 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Mike O’Connor, the chief executive of Consumer Focus, said: “We need to do more to ensure our homes do not leak energy and we are calling on government to use the funds they raise in carbon taxes to insulate our houses to modern standards, saving the poorest in society money on their bills, as well cutting carbon emissions and creating jobs.”
Telegraph 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Energy Bill
Companies including PZ Cussons, the soap and shampoo group, Cisco, the IT group and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) have signed a petition calling on the government to commit itself to a carbon-free power sector by 2030. The letter, which is also signed by groups such as Harland & Wolff, the shipbuilder, Dong Energy and Repsol, comes as the energy bill is passing through parliament. The bill paves the way for subsidies that will provide billions of pounds to ensure that generators of low-carbon electricity will receive a guaranteed price.
FT 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Radwaste
A group of West Cumbrian councillors today called for a reversal of the decision not to allow the underground storage of nuclear waste. At a heated meeting this afternoon they claimed there was no coherent reason for the decision. But their plea was rejected and the decision stands – Cumbria will not bury nuclear waste. This is John Bevir’s full report.
ITV Border 19th Feb 2013 read more »
THE leader of Cumbria County Council today robustly defended the decision to rule the county out of a search to find a home for an underground nuclear waste repository. Cllr Eddie Martin rejected claims his Conservative-dominated Cabinet bowed to pressure, and denied he had threatened to quit unless fellow Tories backed him in the vote. Cllr Martin also told today’s meeting that the county council had a poor relationship with government and called on the county’s nuclear industry to contribute more money to solving west Cumbria’s social problems.
Westmorland Gazette 19th Feb 2013 read more »
So, that’s the end of the road for the search for a nuclear dump in Cumbria. A meeting of the County Council’s Scrutiny Advisory Board voted unanimously to support the Cabinet’s decision to withdraw from the MRWS process. Effectively we judged that the call-in request was without foundation. MRWS is finished, and we can turn our attention to the immediate problem of cleaning up Sellafield.
Mealldubh 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Cumbria County Council’s decision to pull out of the search for a nuclear repository site has been unanimously upheld. The matter was discussed today in a meeting of the authority’s environment scrutiny panel following a ‘call-in’ of the original decision.
Carlisle News & Star 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Plutonium
The Government is currently deciding what to do with the UK’s civilian plutonium stockpile – the largest in the world. Some are concerned that it could become the target of terrorists intent on making a dirty bomb. The stockpile has come from nuclear waste that was reprocessed to extract plutonium which was to have been used to power a new generation of fast breeder reactors. But that project failed to be finished and now just over 100 tonnes of it is being stored at Sellafield in Cumbria. The stockpile grew even more when the UK received imports from Japan and Germany which it had hoped to convert into fuel – again this project has failed to deliver.The Government is considering a number of options. Rob Broomby investigates the difficult questions facing the Government whose decision will potentially bring in a bill for the taxpayer of billions of pounds. And how much of gamble will it be choosing what to do with this most deadly of substances?
BBC File on 4 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Sizewell
A SENIOR county councillor and one of the leading opponents of Sizewell C have clashed over an alleged lack of community consultation prior to the local authority’s decision to support the project in principle. Pete Wilkinson, a Suffolk environment consultant and former member of a Government radioactive waste watchdog, has accused the county council of adopting a “cavalier and contemptuous” attitude towards the public and other organisations and of contravening its duty to consider all views. The only formal report read by county councillors before they made their decision was a “flawed” Government study entitled: The Role of Nuclear Power in a Low Carbon Economy, he said. However, Guy McGregor, chairman of a joint county and district council task force examining the Sizewell C plans, said councillors had a good appreciation of the views of the local community through engagement with town and parish councils and other organisations.
East Anglian Daily Times 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Dounreay
Bo Wier looks at the challenges involved to complete one of the world’s deepest nuclear clean-ups, and at some of the innovative approaches being deployed to accelerate the programme whilst minimising cost.
Engineer Live 20th Feb 2013 read more »
Protests
The UK chief executive of energy giant E.ON repeatedly lobbied the then-energy secretary Ed Miliband and others over the sentencing of activists disrupting the company’s power plants, warning that any failure to issue “dissuasive” sentences could “impact” upon investment decisions in the UK. The warnings, which came while the government was still trying to persuade E.ON and others to invest in next-generation nuclear plants, have been described by activists as “wholly improper”.
Guardian 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Poland
Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski has indicated that plans to fund Poland’s first nuclear power plant have been shelved by the government:“in today’s circumstances it is not possible for the government to support the construction of a nuclear power plant.”
Poland News 19th Feb 2013 read more »
North Korea
North Korea has threatened South Korea with “final destruction” during a debate at the UN Conference on Disarmament , saying it could take “second and third steps” after a nuclear test last week.
Guardian 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Daily Mail 20th Feb 2013 read more »
Gas
New documents obtained by a Greenpeace/Energydesk FOI request have revealed government concerns about the security of gas supplies to the UK. The news comes as the boss of energy regulator Ofgem warned that gas supplies would be limited over the next decade and prices would rise. The documents detail discussions between UK and Qatari government officials over security concerns, some of them taking place aboard a UK warship, HMS Duke, in 2011. Concerns raised include: With 96 tankers moving around the world 24/7 LNG presented a ‘major energy security issue’. They had been ‘lucky’ so far due to tanker speed but measures now being implemented included ‘citadels’ on tankers and the use of barbed wire. There was discussion of ‘on board security teams’ with the concern raised that this may lead to an ‘arms race on the high seas’.
Energy Desk 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Submarines
The Devon-based submarine HMS Tireless has returned to Plymouth after a leak in its nuclear reactor. The Royal Navy said the small leak of coolant was contained within the reactor compartment of the Trafalgar-class hunter-killer vessel. The navy said that the incident “posed no risk to the public, the environment or the crew”. It added it was not yet known how long the repairs to the 28-year-old vessel would take.
BBC 19th Feb 2013 read more »
Hiroshima/Nagasaki
An exhibition of the Japanese bombings and its repercussions is on display at Edinburgh’s Central Library. Hiroshima-Nagasaki atomic bombings has been brought to the city after a partnership between Edinburgh City Libraries and Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA). “A nuclear weapon attack without any shadow of a doubt is the most unimaginable thing that could happen,” said Sean Morris, the secretary of the NFLA. “When you see the relics, the artifacts and some of the terrible destruction that was caused in these cities we start to realise we could never have a war like that. “There would not be much of a world left. By going to Hiroshima, you see the need for a world free of nuclear weapons.” The NFLA group lobbies for a ban on nuclear weapons and the restriction of the use of nuclear power as an energy source. Edinburgh and Glasgow are amongst 50 councils across the UK which works with the body. The Hiroshima-Nagasaki exhibition has toured schools and libraries across the UK since 2010, with this stop in Edinburgh the first time it has been in the Scottish capital.
STV 19th Feb 2013 read more »
