Nuclear Subsidies
The Government is planning to write a blank cheque to the nuclear industry by underwriting the cost of new reactors according to a group of leading academics. The taxpayer would be left to cover budget overruns or delays. Costly setbacks are almost inevitable with such complex construction projects. The proposal would break a long standing Government promise. Last night environmentalists accused the Government of plotting to squander public money to protect the profits of energy giants. Richard George of Greenpeace said: "Promising no subsidy for the nuclear industry, while plotting to give a massive subsidy to the nuclear industry, is a new level of betrayal for this Government and its shambolic energy strategy. Offering to pick up the tab when new reactors go over-budget would commit billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to a desperate attempt to swim against the tide of history."
Independent 22nd Oct 2012 more >>
Letter: Dr Paul Dorfman, University of Warwick; Dr David Toke, University of Birmingham; Professor Andy Stirling, University of Sussex; Dr Nick Eyre, University of Oxford; Professor Tom Burke, Visiting Professor, Imperial and University Colleges; Jeremy Leggett, Professor Peter A Strachan, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen Business School; Andrew Warren, Director, Association for the Conservation of Energy; Professor Brian Wynne, University of Lancaster: Coalition Energy Minister John Hayes, is now considering a major U-turn in energy policy by giving a blank cheque to nuclear by "underwriting" construction cost over-runs. This is despite the fact that the key to nuclear is its spiralling cost over-runs. Whatever one’s view of the risks and benefits of nuclear energy, it is clear that construction cost over-runs are highly likely. The taxpayer and consumer must not end up footing a multi-billion pound bill for what seem to be inevitable nuclear construction cost over-runs.
Independent 21st Oct 2012 more >>
Britain’s energy policy is in trouble. Plans to have five more nuclear plants running by 2025 look like missing their targets without significant foreign investment, part of which, until recently, it was hoped would come from China. But since a Chinese consortium suspended interest in UK projects, the future of the five has looked questionable and pressure is on to lure back Chinese investors or find others.The Government is getting anxious, and believes it is time to splash some cash around, which is why a U-turn on a promise never to subsidise nuclear power with taxpayers’ money is expected in the forthcoming Energy Bill. The Energy minister, John Hayes, is already flagging up a change in policy, saying that the Government is mulling underwriting the construction of nuclear plants. Opponents of nuclear power are furious. A group of academics whose letter we publish today accuses the Government of reneging on its promises not to underwrite nuclear power and of handing over to nuclear power companies the same "blank cheque" that the Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, promised back in May to withhold. If opponents of the current pro-nuclear strategy are to make headway, they must articulate an alternative course more clearly.
Independent 21st Oct 2012 more >>
Energy Bill
The Energy Bill is full of plans to spur the construction of pricey low-carbon power stations, fuelled by renewables such as offshore wind. The bill will raise the price of electricity but provides no extra measures to manage demand. Yet conservation is the cheapest way to cut carbon emissions. McKinsey, a consultancy, found that demand-reduction schemes could curb electricity use by 40% by 2030, saving more than £10 billion ($16 billion) a year. A parliamentary committee has called the bill’s neglect of the demand side of the equation “fundamentally flawed”.
Economist 20th Oct 2012 more >>
Energy Costs
Highly paid energy bosses who are imposing above-inflation price increases on their customers can claim staff discounts on their power bills that save them around £150 a year. Senior executives and managers at five of Britain’s six energy giants are entitled to cuts in their household fuel bills of up to 12 per cent while they impose increases of up to 9 per cent on consumers.
Daily Mail 22nd Oct 2012 more >>
Urenco
SOME of the biggest names in private equity are thought to be circling nuclear fuel maker Urenco, in a move that could spark political repercussions. Chancellor George Osborne has hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to sell the UK government’s stake in Urenco, which was formed in 1971 with the Dutch and German government. Britain’s stake could be worth up to £3 billion, valuing Urenco at about £10bn. German utility firms E.ON and RWE have already put their holdings up for sale following the German government’s decision to close its nuclear power plants following the accident at Fukushima.
Scotsman 22nd Oct 2012 more >>
Liverpool Daily Post 21st Oct 2012 more >>
Radwaste
Extracts from the BBC1 programme aired on 8th Oct. “In the New Year, councillors in Cumbria will decide whether to reject the option of building the store under the beautiful local countryside – or whether to agree to more work to find a geologically suitable site. No other region in Britain is now volunteering for such a controversial project. So what are the benefits and the risks that Cumbria has to weigh up? Chris Jackson reports for a special Inside Out”
Radiation Free Lakeland 21st Oct 2012 more >>
At last weeks Lake District National Park meeting, the members placidly sat around the table while being spoon fed propaganda from their own officers and government. Some members did express horror when I said that they have been manipulated both over the Monkey Puzzle tree and into going along with the plan for a geological dump. The biggest nuclear dump can be under our feet in the National Park thats fine! The only caveat the NP have expressed is that we should not be able to see the above surface facilities. For goodness sake when will they wake up and start doing their job of actually protecting the Lake District?
Radiation Free Lakeland 21st Oct 2012 more >>
Germany
A new poll finds that a large majority of Germans back the government’s decision to phase out nuclear power and switch to renewable energies within a decade, despite rising electricity bills. The poll for German news magazine Focus published Sunday found that 72 percent continue to support the country’s energy switchover. Only 24 percent were opposed to the policy.
3News 22nd Oct 2012 more >>
Japan
After our interview in September, Mr Shimokobe held a news conference to announce the creation of a safety committee, made up of Japanese and foreign experts, whose task will be to keep reactors from blowing up. This month it concluded that Tepco had underplayed the risks of nuclear power for decades for fear of inciting public opposition. “For people in society, just the thought of Tepco’s name is disgusting,” Mr Shimokobe admits. Unlike his predecessors as chairman, Mr Shimokobe is not a company veteran, but a lawyer specialising in corporate bankruptcies and restructurings, and he clearly enjoys an outsider’s freedom to criticise.
FT 21st Oct 2012 more >>
Iran
Iran and the United States have both denied scheduling direct bilateral negotiations on Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.
Herald 22nd Oct 2012 more >>
Independent 22nd Oct 2012 more >>
Telegraph 21st Oct 2012 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
The leader of the SNP has said that if his party won power in an independent government it would make nuclear weapons illegal. Alex Salmond told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that Trident, which currently resides at Faslane Naval base on the Clyde, would have to go.
BBC 21st Oct 2012 more >>
Huffington Post 21st Oct 2012 more >>
Times 21st Oct 2012 more >>
ALEX Salmond has said Trident could be relocated to the US or France after independence, as he ruled out the prospect of a “Cyprus-style” leaseback scheme that would see the nuclear weapons system remain in Scotland. The First Minister’s comments came amid growing concerns that it would be prohibitively expensive for the UK government to move the submarine-based system, which is based in Faslane on the Clyde, south of the Border if Scots vote to leave the UK in 2014. The SNP conference agreed to change policy and back Nato membership last Friday, but only on the condition that Scotland got rid of the Trident system to which the party has long been opposed.
Scotsman 21st Oct 2012 more >>
The US and French facilities Alex Salmond refers to as a potential base for the UK’s four Vanguard-class nuclear missile submarines are the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in the state of Georgia and L’Ile Longue Submarine Base, near Brest. These specialist facilities have the “deep water” channels that military planners find favourable for the stealthy departure and return of the submarines, as well as the expensive and complex support infrastructure needed to keep the vessels serviceable and their crews trained.
Scotsman 22nd Oct 2012 more >>
Ideally, all the UK’s nuclear weapons would be scrapped if Scotland won independence. Do you agree with him?
Guardian 21st Oct 2012 more >>
Alex Salmond has said an independent Scotland would resist pressure to keep Trident missiles on the Clyde as his party stakes its claim to be the country’s most effective opponent to the Tories. Scotland’s first minister rejected suggestions that independence would allow the rest of the UK to continue using the Trident base on the Clyde on a lease, in the same way UK forces have bases in Cyprus or the US has its base in Guantánamo Bay.
Guardian 21st Oct 2012 more >>
