Sizewell
The second stage of a public consultation into a new nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk is being launched today. EDF Energy and its Chinese partners want to build two new reactors on the site. The updated designs for Sizewell C will go on display at 23 public exhibitions around the county. The consultation runs until February.
ITV 23rd Nov 2016 read more »
EDF Energy 23rd Nov 2016 read more »
Energy bosses have been urged to reveal key details of their plans for Suffolk’s new nuclear power station when the long-awaited second stage of public consultation begins later this week. Richard Smith, who represents Leiston and Aldeburgh at Suffolk County Council, said he was concerned EDF Energy’s Sizewell C proposals would be missing important information.
Ipswich Star 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Moorside
Anti-nuclear campaigners are calling a new report into Moorside a “shocking eye opener” The Moorside Project is expected to get the go-ahead in 2018- with the promise of 21,000 jobs for our area- based in West Cumbria. But there are now fresh concerns over the planned designs of nuclear generators- which they say are a serious risk to the public. Marrianne Birkby from Radiation Free Lakeland says the report highlights numerous safety concerns. “It’s a shocking eye opener, we’re really hoping it’s going to be a wake-up call. It’s so reckless, it’s hair raising. “Chernobyl on steroids- in the report they say the AP1000 has weaker containment, fewer safety features- so it’s much more dangerous. “It’s all automatic- anything out of the ordinary hasn’t been accounted for- there’s less safety and no operating experience to draw on because it’s not operating anywhere.” Well we’ve put this to Nugen- the company behind the Moorside Project. They say the reactors they’re looking at offer “unequalled safety” with technology proven to be fit for purpose. This is their full statement: The UK nuclear regulators have a global reputation for their approach to nuclear safety. Concerns expressed in this report are for the regulators to address through the robust Generic Design Assessment process, through which Westinghouse are currently taking their AP1000 design. The regulators produce regular public updates on their scrutiny of all new reactor designs – and invite public comment. Currently the AP1000 is still under review, with an expected date for its design acceptance in 2017. NuGen firmly believes that the AP1000 design offers unequalled safety through its passive safety systems and proven technologies that are based on Westinghouse’s 50-year leadership in safe nuclear energy.
CFM Radio 21st Nov 2016 read more »
Hinkley
French energy major EDF has called in engineering firm Assystem to help build two European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) at Hinkley Point C nuclear facility in Somerset. According to Assystem, it has helped development of all EPRs worldwide – including EDF’s Flamanville plant in France, which has encountered several problems. However, Stéphane Aubarbier, the company’s executive vice-president, claims Hinkley Point project is already better prepared than Flamanville. “First, lessons have been learned from previous EPR projects. Second, the chosen project management methods are now global and ensure compliance with both costs and deadlines,” she said.
Process Engineering 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Slaughter and May has received £12m in legal fees from the government in relation to its advice on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project.
Legal Week 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Legal Business 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Torness
One of the two nuclear power reactors at Torness in East Lothian has been shut down today because of seaweed blocking its cooling system. In a letter to members of the site’s local liaison council, the station’s director, Paul Winkle, said that reactor number one was turned off this morning. The reactor is meant to provide 600 megawatts of electricity for over one million homes. The reactor was automatically tripped “due to an increase in seaweed levels as a result of the weather conditions in the area,” he wrote. “We are currently monitoring the weather and the seaweed levels and will confirm once we have returned the unit to service.” Though the closure will mean loss of power on the grid, and loss of earnings for the station’s French operators, EDF Energy, Winkle insisted it did not impact safety. “Cooling to the reactor was maintained at all times and there were no health or environmental impacts,” he said. The second reactor at Torness is also running at low power – 272 megawatts – because of “low-load refuelling”, according to EDF’s website. Torness reactors, sited on the coast, were previously closed by seaweed twice in 2013. They were forced to shut down in 2011 by a swarm of jellyfish. In June 2015, a reactor at EDF’s nuclear plant at Hunterston in North Ayrshire was also closed by seaweed.
The Ferret 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Herald 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Press and Journal 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
BBC 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
STV 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
East Lothian Courier 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
The National 23rd Nov 2016 read more »
Dounreay
Trade unions have warned of the potential of industrial unrest at the Dounreay nuclear site in a row over pay. The GMB, Unite and Prospect have called on Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) to increase its 1% pay offer. The unions said DSRL’s parent company Cavendish Dounreay Partnership had “significantly increased its profits year on year”. The Dounreay site near Thurso in Caithness is being decommissioned. Prospect negotiator Richard Hardy said: “Our members are working hard to decommission the site, yet much of the money this generates is flowing out of Caithness and Sutherland, reducing the economic benefit for the local community. “Everybody should get a share of the profits, not just the shareholders.”
BBC 23rd Nov 2016 read more »
Dalgety Bay
Contractors have refused to work at a Fife beach contaminated with radiation because of the risks involved. Ground investigations at the shore beside Dalgety Bay Sailing Club were expected to go ahead last month but the Ministry of Defence cannot find anyone willing to investigate the site. Stephen Ritchie from the MoD’s Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) said: “There’s a lack of appetite from contractors to come and work on the site to do the ground investigation survey. “There is a commercial risk involved if anything goes wrong and they are not prepared to carry that.”
Dundee Courier 18th Nov 2016 read more »
Energy Policy
Britain’s energy market has become so heavily distorted by subsidy payments for suppliers of low-carbon, renewable and nuclear power it is now “completely opaque”, Lord Darling of Roulanish claimed last night. During a session of the House of Lords economic affairs committee the former chancellor suggested that the UK’s energy market is failing to deliver value for money for consumers and sharply criticised a plethora of government subsidy schemes. “Who represents consumers?” Lord Darling asked. “Who on earth is responsible? This isn’t a market. It’s completely opaque.” The remarks came during a session on the economics of energy policy with Dermot Nolan, chief executive of Ofgem, Britain’s energy regulator. Mr Nolan appeared to acknowledge growing problems within the market after a steady erosion of free competition over the past 15 years. He blamed subsidy schemes designed to support the development of wind farms, solar panels and nuclear power stations, including the £18 billion Hinkley Point plant, which was approved this year. Mr Nolan said that he was “deeply sceptical” of subsidies, but this was the consequence of years of government policy to tackle climate change. He suggested that a “more elegant” way to support cleaner alternatives to coal and gas-fired power would be a carbon price paid by all generators. “It would be simplest to choose a carbon price,” he said. He also acknowledged that UK electricity prices have risen over the past decade when compared with other EU countries. “Our electricity prices are above the EU average,” he said.
Times 23rd Nov 2016 read more »
Areva
The Nuclear Safety Authority pointed to irregularities “similar to falsifications” at Le Creusot. The case could threaten EDF’s takeover of Areva’s reactors business. Last spring, when Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron came to tell Areva employees in Creusot (Saône-et-Loire) his confidence in the nuclear sector, despite the difficulties, they had hastily moved A meeting room in which 400 production files, suspected of containing “anomalies”, had begun to be examined. Six months later, a crane seizes a modular building under fine rain, raises it and carefully puts it on a square of prefabricated. At the bottom of the town of Le Creusot, in one of the historic cradles of the French metallurgy, Areva installs several hundred square meters of offices to reread this page page 6,000 records of nuclear parts forged here for sixty years – 2,4 Millions of pages will be digitized for the occasion. At the end of the summer, when Areva had to face the fact that the 400 suspicious files marked with two red bars – “barred files” – were not the only ones containing “irregularities”; Had no choice but to commit to putting everything back on the table. Fifty people are on the job and as many must be recruited, for a job that will take at least eighteen months.
Les Echoes 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Japan
There was no avoiding fearful memories of the Japanese nuclear disaster of 2011 on Tuesday morning after a powerful earthquake off the coast of Fukushima caused a cooling system in a nuclear plant to stop, leaving more than 2,500 spent uranium fuel rods at risk of overheating. But this time, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, the utility that operates three nuclear plants, restored the cooling pump at the Fukushima Daini plant in about an hour and a half. The Daini plant is about seven miles south of Fukushima Daiichi, the ruined plant where three reactors melted down five years ago after tsunami waves inundated the power station and knocked out backup generators.
New York Times 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Thirteen students from Fukushima High School were taken on a tour to the disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant on Nov. 18 to witness decommissioning work, in what could be the first of ongoing tours to the plant for students. The first- and second-graders included members of their school science club. The goal of the tour was to have young people, who will have to watch over decommissioning work in the future, think more about the issues faced in recovering from the nuclear disaster.
Mainichi 19th Nov 2016 read more »
The Nuclear Regulation Authority says potentially weak steel components manufactured by a Japanese company have not been used in domestic nuclear facilities, after its French counterpart ordered reactors that used the company’s parts to be checked. The NRA determined at a regular meeting Tuesday there is no comparable risk at the domestic nuclear facilities of 11 companies as portions of steel with excessive carbon concentrations had been removed from the components manufactured by Kitakyushu-based Japan Casting & Forging Corp. The NRA concluded that the removal of portions with higher levels of carbon was insufficient in the components used in the French reactors. The authority also determined there were no problems with critical parts at domestic facilities that were manufactured by other companies, including Tokyo-based Japan Steel Works Ltd.
Japan Times 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Vietnam
Vietnam’s National Assembly voted on Tuesday to abandon plans to build two multi-billion-dollar nuclear power plants with Russia and Japan, after officials cited lower demand forecasts, rising costs and safety concerns. The vote to scrap the country’s first atomic energy project deals a blow to the global nuclear business and to Japan’s drive to begin exporting reactors after the Fukushima disaster left its nuclear industry in a deep freeze. The Vietnamese government said in a statement that the decision, made in a closed session of parliament after discussion of a government proposal, was taken for economic reasons and not because of any technological considerations.
Reuters 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Morning Star 23rd Nov 2016 read more »
Sweden
Sweden says it wants to stop burning fossil fuels to make electricity by the year 2040. Policies and goals are wonderful things, but taking action to implement those policies and goals is where the hard work comes into play. Now Sweden is putting its money where its mouth is. It has announced a government subsidy that will cover 60% of the cost of installing a residential energy storage system up to a maximum of 50,000 kroner or $5,600. The credit applies to the battery, wiring, control systems, smart energy hub, and installation work for homes with rooftop solar systems.
Renew Economy 23rd Nov 2016 read more »
Switzerland
Switzerland risks becoming dependent on electricity imports as its citizens prepare for a plebiscite on whether to hasten its exit from nuclear power. The nation faces losing a third of domestic supplies and becoming a net buyer of power if it opts to start closing its five nuclear plants as early as next year. The Swiss will vote on Sunday and the anti-nuclear proposal has a slender lead in opinion polls.
Bloomberg 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
South Africa
South Africa’s government has slowed its nuclear power expansion plans, according to a draft energy paper, although state energy utility Eskom said the country should stick to its original plan of bringing a new plant online by 2025. South Africa has the continent’s only nuclear power station and is seeking to expand its nuclear, wind, solar and coal power capacity in the coming decades as electricity output barely meets demand. A draft blueprint of the government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) said it now aimed to increase nuclear power output by just 1,359 megawatts (MW) by 2037, compared with a previous target of adding 9,600 MW of new nuclear power by 2030.
Reuters 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
South Africa will postpone building nuclear power stations until the 2030s, providing a boost to a Treasury that is struggling to rein in big spending projects and avoid the country’s credit rating being downgraded to junk status. President Jacob Zuma’s insistence that the cash-strapped government press ahead with the nuclear plans triggered widespread criticism and was perceived to be at the heart of his battle with Treasury officials. On Tuesday the government announced that the first South African nuclear reactor to be built since the 1980s would only come online in 2037. Earlier plans suggested the new reactors would begin generating atomic power as soon as 2023.
FT 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
India
Just last month, the Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy announced that the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) will be commissioned next year at Kalpakkam. Despite an investment of over $100 billion (in 2007 dollars) on research, development, and constructing prototypes by countries such as the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan, fast breeder reactors have proven to be costly to build and operate, susceptible to severe accidents, and incapable of operating reliably. Given this history, the DAE’s pursuit of this technology makes little sense. The PFBR has been under planning since the early 1980s; it is to inaugurate the second phase of the DAE’s three-phase strategy, which was adopted in 1954. The one operating breeder reactor in India is the Fast Breeder Test Reactor, whose operating history has been patchy, it having operated for only 21 per cent of the maximum possible operating time (as of 2013).
Deccan Chronicle 20th Nov 2016 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Small and medium-sized businesses across Britain are missing out on energy-efficiency savings according to a new Scottish Power survey which has revealed only 1 in 10 claim to have decreased their energy consumption over the past year. The YouGov survey also found that over 60 per cent of SME business owners do not regard energy efficiency in the workplace as a key priority, while more than half of SME business owners do not have any active measures in place to try to be energy smarter. Meanwhile, Scottish Power has joined forces with the Carbon Trust to help more businesses take control of their energy outgoings and make effective savings. The partnership will bring to market new energy-efficiency tools and an online resource to help more firms improve their energy efficiency, reduce their energy costs and become more sustainable.
Scottish Energy News 23rd Nov 2016 read more »
Green Gas
Green gas produced from grass could meet the needs of 97 per cent of UK households by 2035 and pump £7.5bn into the economy each year, according to a new analysis by Ecotricity.
Business Green 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
Fossil Fuels
The number of British universities divesting from fossil fuels has leaped to 43, a quarter of the total. The surge means the UK leads the world in campus action to pull university funds from oil, gas and coal. Financial institutions and charities are also divesting and at least $2.6tn (£2.1tn) of assets are covered by such pledges around the world. Scientists have shown that most fossil fuel reserves cannot be burned without dangerous climate change. Campaigners argue this makes fossil fuel companies bad investments on both moral and financial grounds. The total number of UK universities that are divesting was published on Tuesday by the student group, People & Planet. It found 16 new institutions have committed to divestment, taking the total funds affected to more than £10bn.
Guardian 22nd Nov 2016 read more »
