Nuclear Subsidy
The UK could fail to win European Commission approval for power price guarantees in time to allow nuclear station developers to attract funding to meet policy targets, according to a senior government official. The commission must rule on whether the guarantees – contracts for differences (cfds) that would mean payments to nuclear plants to make up any shortfall if electricity prices fall below an agreed strike price – breach European Union (EU) rules banning state aid. “We will put our formal submission in in the next few months,” Tim Abraham, head of EU policy in the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) told Utility Week. He conceded that the commission was not certain to reach a decision quickly. Decc nevertheless plans to submit the required legislation to parliament in May, to allow passage of the legislation in 2013 and first cfds in 2014.
Utility Week 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Wales
A leading UK government scientist has called for two new hydro-electric power stations to be built in North Wales, to help provide renewable energy for the rest of the UK. Professor David Mac Kay, chief scientist at the Department of Energy and Climate Change used a speech to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers last week to argue in favour of combining wind farms and pumped storage stations to help meet the UK and in particular Englands renewable energy needs.
Wales Online 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Hinkley
EDF Energy, Britain’s biggest nuclear power producer, stopped output from its 480 megawatt (MW) Hinkley Point B-8 nuclear reactor on Sunday due to an unplanned outage, it said.
Reuters 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Platts 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Berkeley
GIANT old boilers squeezed their way through Berkeley and Sharpness on the first leg of their long journey to be recycled. The first of five huge water tanks, weighing 300 tonnes each, from the former Berkeley Nuclear Power Station were bound for Sharpness Docks yesterday. There they were loaded on board a ship, bound for smelting in Sweden. The major step in decommissioning the power station follows years of dismantling and safety work since the Magnox site was taken out of service in March 1989.
Gloucestershire Citizen 20th Mar 2012 more >>
Daily Mail 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Sellafield
NuGeneration, the GDF Suez and Iberdrola joint venture planning to build a nuclear power station in Cumbria, has been granted an electricity generating licence by regulator Ofgem. The licence is an early stage in the company’s plans for a new nuclear plant, which would be sited at Moorside, a site adjacent to the Sellafield nuclear complex. The site was deemed suitable for a new nuclear station when it was named in a National Planning Statement in 2011. The company expects to take a final investment decision on the nuclear plans in 2015 and bring a new plant into operation around 2023.
Utility Week 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Radwaste
Under this land it is planned to build the worlds first waste dump for highly radioactive waste. Say No before 23 March 2012 Contact Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership Freepost RSKT-LTXU-HAYC, West Cumbria MRWS Partnership Copeland Borough Council, Copeland Centre, Catherine Street, Whitehaven CA28 7SJ.
Radiation Free Lakeland 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Companies
Two energy sector companies, NRL Group of Cumbria and Enersense International of Finland, have formed Enerel, an alliance to provide a service to the UKs nuclear new-build programme, due to begin later this year.
Recruiter 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Nuclear Research
AREVA has signed a collaboration agreement with the Dalton Nuclear Institute, The University of Manchesters centre for nuclear research and education. Initially, AREVA will sponsor two PhDs in Materials research, and this will be followed by other collaboration and participation in a pan-European network of academic nuclear research. The doctorates will involve studies in France, Manchester and also in West Cumbria where the University has established the Dalton Cumbrian Facility with experimental capabilities for radiation science research.
Energy Business Review 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Korea
The United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Monday it had received an invitation from North Korea to visit, three years after its inspectors were expelled from the reclusive Asian state for the second time.
Reuters 19th Mar 2012 more >>
BBC 20th Mar 2012 more >>
Japan
Farmers in Japans Fukushima face years of additional losses as consumers continue to doubt the safety of produce from the region devastated a year ago by the tsunami and nuclear fallout, which may taint crops for decades.
Bloomberg 18th Mar 2012 more >>
Jordan
Energy officials have expanded their search for a reactor site in Mafraq amidst ongoing resistance from residents of the northern city. The search for a potential site for the countrys first nuclear reactor in Mafraq has expanded by a 40 kilometre radius in line with a Cabinet decision, according to the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC). Officials are searching for a site near the Khirbet Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant, which, according to current plans, is to serve as the main water source to cool the 1,000 megawatt reactor.
Al Arabiya News 19th Mar 2012 more >>
India
The government of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has decided the stalled nuclear power plant at Koodankulam should be completed. The commissioning of the plant has been delayed by protests from local people over safety concerns. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said the government had studied experts’ reports and concluded the plant was safe.
BBC 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Iran
What would be the consequences of an Israeli or American military strike on Iran and could the conflict yet be avoided, asks Radio 4 Analysis presenter Edward Stourton. In late 2004, in an atmosphere of frenzied speculation about war with Iran, Jack Straw – then Britain’s Foreign Secretary – told the BBC that military action was “inconceivable.” “If I’d not done so, in my view we would have been involved in a firestorm inside the Labour government.”
BBC 19th Mar 2012 more >>
China
World’s biggest polluter spends £4bn a year on wind and solar power generation in single region as it aims to cut fossil fuel use.
Guardian 19th March 2012 more >>
