Weightman Report
Costs for nuclear new build could rise in the wake of the findings of a report by the chief nuclear inspector assessing the implications of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Mike Weightman this week published the interim report, which identified 25 areas recommended for review to further improve safety measures in the industry. These included the layout of UK power plants, emergency response arrangements, dealing with prolonged loss of power supplies and the risks associated with flooding. The report also calls for a plan to be published in June outlining how each of the 25 areas will be addressed. One nuclear industry source said: It asks whether there are diverse ways of connecting the grid if power goes down. Are there alternative transport options?
Building Magazine 20th May 2011 more >>
THE SEVERN Estuary is a nuclear timebomb just waiting for a terriorist to attack, Newport West MP Paul Flynn has told the House of Commons Mr Flynn believes the region should ‘look again’ at the lessons of Fukushima, the nuclear facility in Japan that was shaken to its’ core by the massive earthquake to hit the Far East earlier this year.
Wales and West Media 19th May 2011 more >>
Western Mail 19th May 2011 more >>
The UKs current nuclear safety measures are adequate, concludes the interim report from the countrys chief nuclear inspector in the wake of the Japanese nuclear crisis at Fukushima. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne presented inspector Mike Weightmans initial findings to Parliament yesterday, pending a full report in September. Weightmans report concludes that the UK has a strong safety culture and immediate safety improvements to the countrys operating reactors are not necessary.
Energy Efficiency News 19th May 2011 more >>
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, responded to an urgent question asked by Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, in the House of Commons on Wednesday 18 May on the implications of the Weightman Report.
Parliament 19th May 2011 more >>
Nuclear plants in the UK need to learn lessons from the crisis at Japans Fukushima Dai-ichi power station, an interim report from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has concluded.
Health & Safety at Work 19th May 2011 more >>
New Nukes
The majority of the world will continue to use nuclear energy, recent events at Fukushima notwithstanding, according former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Hans Blix. In an interview with AFP, Blix said that the nuclear industry would adopt changes following on from the experiences at the Japanese plant, struck by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami, and in the process become better and safer. “Fukushima is a bump in the road and will also lead to a further strengthening of the safety of nuclear power,” he said.
World Nuclear News 19th May 2011 more >>
Nuclear Industry Association
FORMER Cumbrian MP Lord Hutton has been made the next chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA). The former energy secretary will take over in mid-June following the end of Lord ONeills three-year tenure at the head of the UKs nuclear trade association. Lord Hutton was at the forefront of UK energy policy at a time when the many benefits of low-carbon nuclear power were re-assessed and new nuclear build became official UK government policy.
Whitehaven News 19th May 2011 more >>
Radwaste
Radiation Free Lakeland’s letter of objection to Keekle Head being used as a low level wste dump.
Radiation Free Lakeland 19th May 2011 more >>
Hosting a permanent nuclear waste repository is not high on the list for most municipalities. But residents of the Swedish town of Östhammar are 77 percent in favor. Transparency on the part of politicians and industrial leaders has made the difference.
Der Spiegel 19th May 2011 more >>
Dungeness
“Fukushima in the making” – that is how anti-airport campaigners branded the air crash risk to Dungeness power station this week. Despite being branded “scaremongering rubbish” by pro-airport groups, campaigners likened the dangers posed to the nuclear plant to the tsunami-hit Japanese station Fukushima Daiichi and even the Titanic. The claims emerged during the government inquiry into Lydd Airport’s plans for a runway extension and new terminal.
Kent Online 18th May 2011 more >>
Hinkley
On the day that the government’s interim report (1) on safety following the Fukushima nuclear accident was published, a hypothetical modeling of a similar tsunami event at Hinkley Point power station in Somerset shows that it would have disastrous consequences. This new analysis has been prompted both by the seriousness of the radiation releases into the environment from the Japanese nuclear plant and by continuing revelations about the extent of the damage, which shows that the situation at Fukushima is still not under control.
Stop Hinkley Press Release 18th May 2011 more >>
What would have happened to the fallout if a Tsunami damaged Hinkley Point on 11th March 2011.
Stop Hinkley 18th May 2011 more >>
THE closing date for the latest Hinkley Point consultation has been extended to May 31. People are invited to give their comments on the extra information provided by EDF Energy on their Environmental Statement forming part of its planning application for Site Preparation Works. The 11-day extension has been granted after requests for more time from the public to look at the changes.
This is the West Country 18th May 2011 more >>
Three Somerset councils have accused EDF Energy of penny-pinching over compensation for building a nuclear power station. The company has offered a community benefits package totalling £20m, but the councils say this is derisory compared with what is paid by nuclear operators elsewhere in Europe. In a joint statement, Somerset CC, Sedgemoor DC and West Somerset DC said they wanted to make sure Somerset residents dont get short-changed if the proposed Hinkley Point C power station is built. The application is with the Infrastructure Planning Commission. It would take around nine years to build, be operational for at least 60 years and possibly require radioactive waste storage for a further 100 years. They said EDF Energys £20m offer would thus equate to less than £120,000 per year.
Local Government Chronicle 19th May 2011 more >>
Dounreay
Offshore clean-up contractor Land and Marine recovered 50 particles from the seabed before bad weather caused a suspension of its operation.The companys platform, the 60m-long barge LM Constructor, has now been towed to shelter in Thurso Bay until the weather improves. The latest phase of work offshore started on May 6 when a remotely-operated vehicle returned to the seabed to seek out high activity fragments.
DSRL 17th May 2011 more >>
Wylfa
PLANS for Wylfa B received a massive boost after Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said he could see no reason why the Governments nuclear energy programme could not go ahead. He said the Governments policy had been delayed following the earthquake in Japan which triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Mr Huhne added he would consider all 26 recommendations made by Dr Mike Weightman, who was asked to review potential dangers in the UK to nuclear power.
Daily Post 19th May 2011 more >>
Sellafield
THE worlds biggest open air nuclear fuel storage pond is being emptied at Sellafield. Heavily radioactive sludge makes it a high hazard, priority clean-up project and one of the most challenging ever to be tackled. But Sellafield has come up with the solution to help make sure the old pond can be safely decommissioned and prevent any radiation escape to the environment. It comes in the shape of a machine known as the Sludge Retrieval Hood, designed and built to suck up the radioactive sludge from the floor of the Pile Fuel storage pond. This is a 60-year-old facility which has looked after irradiation fuel and isotopes from the two Windscale reactors which stopped operating after the 1957 fire which caused Britains worst nuclear accident. The sludge retrieval project has taken nine years of work requiring significant engineering as well as the design of bespoke equipment to operate in an underwater, radioactive environment.
Whitehaven News 19th May 2011 more >>
Terror
Preventive capacity building and partnerships across all sectors against the threat of radiological and nuclear terrorism is the focus of the INTERPOL Global Radiological and Nuclear Terrorism Prevention Conference in Lyon this week.
IB Times 20th May 2011 more >>
Japan
Japan’s nuclear crisis remains very serious but there are some signs of progress, the head of the U.N. atomic agency said on Thursday.
Reuters 19th May 2011 more >>
The cost of protecting Tokyo Electric Power Co.s debt from default surged to a record amid reports the utility will post Japans largest corporate loss when it announces earnings today following the Fukushima nuclear crisis. Credit-default swaps on Tokyo Electrics debt jumped 221 basis points to 726, topping BP Plcs record set last year amid the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Bloomberg 20th May 2011 more >>
Fukushima could have avoided a meltdown but lost its chance due to inaction. Also a questionmark is being raised over whether the reactor was damaged by the earthquake before the Tsunami hit.
Daily Tech 19th May 2011 more >>
A radiation alarm went off at Tokyo Electric Power companys (TEPCO) Fukushima power plant even before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which served as a contrary to earlier theories the reactors were damaged by the natural catastrophes.
IB Times 19th May 2011 more >>
Japanese workers have entered the last of three reactor buildings hit by nuclear fuel meltdowns at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima plant, operator Tokyo Electric said on Thursday, as it moves to stabilise a facility that has been leaking radiation for more than two months.
Reuters 19th May 2011 more >>
This is the moment (pictured) the Japanese tsunami destroyed a sea wall designed to protect the Fukushima nuclear plant and surged towards reactors. Tons of water can be seen destroying the wall and sweeping away reactor equipment, cars and other machinery in pictures released by plant owners. The tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the plant, causing the reactors to melt down and numerous explosions as engineers tried to release a build up of radioactive hydrogen gas.
Daily Mail 19th May 2011 more >>
US
Entergy Corp. (ETR), the second-largest U.S. nuclear operator, and Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) said the industry may need to retrofit reactors or bolster safety systems after a pressure-relief system failed in Japan, contributing to the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Venting systems at Tokyo Electric Power Co.s Fukushima Dai-Ichi reactors were designed to allow engineers to release pressurized gas into the atmosphere to avoid dangerous hydrogen explosions. The systems were installed in the U.S. and in Japan after the partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island Unit 2 in 1979.
Bloomberg 19th May 2011 more >>
Iran
The United Nations nuclear watchdog is investigating whether Iranian officials hacked into computers and mobile telephones left unattended by inspectors monitoring Iran’s nuclear sites, diplomats say. The suspected security breaches could further complicate exhaustive efforts by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to determine whether Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability under the guise of its civilian programme.
Independent 20th May 2011 more >>
Guardian 19th May 2011 more >>
South Africa
South Africa needs to start the international procurement for its planned nuclear plants early next year so it can build the first 1,600 MW plant by 2023 and avoid blackouts, the energy minister said on Thursday.
IB Times 19th May 2011 more >>
France
French nuclear generation will be lower by at least 2pc over the next week after the 1,300MW Cattenom 3 unit was taken off line unexpectedly today. The unit was taken down as a result of a steam generator fault and the grid does not expect it to come back on line until 25 May. Potential nuclear generation on 25 May of 47,784GW will be 2,744GW lower than forecast by the grid on 17 May as a consequence of the outage at the Cattenom 3 unit, and because the 1,240MW Belleville 2 unit will be taken off line on 24-25 May.
Argus Media 19th May 2011 more >>
Energy Efficiency
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has today quietly announced that the Carbon Trust and the Energy Saving Trust will no longer receive core grant funding from next April. The two flagship government-backed green bodies will instead be required to bid for government funding through competitive tendering processes, as part of efforts to deliver better value for money and help tackle the deficit.
Business Green 19th May 2011 more >>
The government’s flagship environmental policy, the “green deal” whereby millions of households are to be fitted with energy-saving technology, is likely to be rejected by homeowners because of its high cost, campaigners have warned. Ministers unveiled the green deal with fanfare this month, as the centrepiece of the energy bill, but problems with its implementation are already apparent, even according to the government’s own calculations.Under the scheme, from 2012 firms, including utilities but also retailers such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer will offer households loft and wall insulation, double glazing and other energy efficiency measures designed to reduce heating bills. The householder pays nothing up front, but the equipment and installation cost will be added in instalments to the household’s energy bills for years. A report from the environmental thinktank E3G and research by the Green party MP Caroline Lucas suggest that householders’ bills are likely to be so high there will not be enough of an incentive to “energy refurbish” a home.
Guardian 19th May 2011 more >>
Trident
DAVID Cameron has admitted that he fears Hampshire backbencher Julian Lewis will never be satisfied with the Government over Britains nuclear defence even if he ordered a submarine to be parked in the Solent and handed him the missile codes. During a jokey exchange at Prime Ministers Questions, the New Forest East MP called for an alliance of Conservative and Labour MPs who support replacing the Trident deterrent to be formed.
Daily Echo 19th May 2011 more >>
Secretary of State for Defence, Dr Liam Fox, made a statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday 18 May on the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
Parliament 19th May 2011 more >>
