New nukes
David Lowry: While unveiling to MPs in the Commons the consultation paper on The Future of Nuclear Power, trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling, told them that: “It will be for the private sector to initiate, fund, construct and operate new nuclear plants, and to cover the cost of decommissioning and their full share of the costs of long-term waste management costs.” But who is going to pay?
Guardian 23rd May 2007
After many false starts, the Government has fired the starting gun on a process to decide whether Britain will be one of the world’s leading nuclear energy users. The energy White Paper, published yesterday, gives companies, environmentalists and anyone else with a view on nuclear power 20 weeks to put in their submissions to the Department of Trade and Industry.
Telegraph 24th May 2007
That Tony Blair should wait until the dying days of his premiership before grasping the nettle of nuclear expansion has proved dangerously neglectful. Complacency engendered by our North Sea energy reserves has left us exposed. Eighty per cent of our energy is currently home-produced, yet, a dozen years from now, we will be importing almost all our gas and half our oil.
Telegraph 24th May 2007
The government is considering building nuclear power stations on the sites of old coal and gas-fired stations in Oxfordshire and the south-east, according to documents released yesterday as part of a consultation forced on it by the courts. A confidential report, commissioned by the DTI last year from leading energy analysts Jackson Consulting, has recommended a new generation of plants at existing or redundant civil and military nuclear power stations. But it says that many of these will be unavailable for years or will be unsuitable because they have limited connections to the national grid.
Guardian 24th May 2007
The government yesterday renewed its drive for new nuclear power stations but came under fierce attack over the future of energy generation as critics warned that years of delays mean the UK could face potential power shortages from 2015. The industry secretary, Alistair Darling, published a package of proposals to help cut carbon emissions and ensure the UK has secure energy supplies in the future as North Sea oil and gas begin to run out.
Guardian 24th May 2007
Editorial: Opposition was steamrollered in a sham consultation which lost the government a judicial review this year. Ministers will make more efforts to persuade the public this time round and they will have their work cut out. This week’s Guardian/ICM poll shows opponents of nuclear energy still outnumber supporters, by 49% to 44% – a rise in antipathy from the last poll on the issue at the end of 2005.
Guardian 24th May 2007
Letter: The letter on nuclear power from David Howarth MP and others (May 23) demonstrates remarkable complacency in the face of the imminent risks to Britain’s future security of electricity supplies and the longer term threat from climate change. The closure of all but one of Britain’s nuclear power stations over the next 15 years, together with the closure of many coal-fired stations, will create a generating gap as early as 2015.
Guardian 24th May 2007
A blueprint for a new generation of power stations was revealed yesterday as Tony Blair committed Britain to a nuclear component in energy supply. The Government announced a five-month consultation exercise on its plans for new nuclear plants by the private sector but a private consultants’ report for the Department of Trade and Industry raised suspicions that the consultation is a sham. Critics called the consultation a “farce” and nuclear power would be a “dangerous, dirty white elephant”. The report says new nuclear plants should be built predominantly in the South-east where the main demand for energy exists.
Independent 24th May 2007
While the Government’s undisguised enthusiasm for nuclear power took up most of the attention yesterday, the new Energy White Paper also contained new measures designed to bring down Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors. They range from carbon trading for commercial businesses to revised subsidies for renewable energy, from “smart” electricity meters for homes to the possibility of constructing a giant electricity-producing barrage across the estuary of the river Severn.
Jeremy Warner: Expensive, dangerous and likely to crowd out investment in renewables – that broadly summarises the view of this newspaper on nuclear energy. My own concerns about the options set out in yesterday’s Energy White Paper and “nuclear consultation” are less to do with the safety of nuclear, or its merits versus renewables, as its financial viability and the Government’s continued lack of urgency in pressing forward with plans to address Britain’s looming energy gap.
Editorial: The group given real cause to celebrate yesterday is the nuclear lobby. This will be remembered as the White Paper that proposed to clear the path towards a new generation of nuclear power stations in Britain. The reasons why this is deeply undesirable should be familiar by now. Meanwhile, its advantages are overstated. Perhaps the greatest danger posed by this White Paper is that it would enable nuclear investment to crowd out investment in renewable energy. This focus on nuclear energy also risks undermining efforts to tackle energy efficiency. Mr Darling insists a final decision on nuclear power will not be made until October. But the recent behaviour of the Government gives little cause for optimism. Tony Blair has become a strong nuclear supporter. But the position of his successor, Gordon Brown, is less clear cut. And it is Mr Brown who will be left with the job of paying for these dangerous follies. It is not too late for Britain to switch back to an environmentally friendly – and non-nuclear – energy track.
Independent 24th May 2007
British Energy said it was pleased a date had been set for a decision on new nuclear plants. Bill Coley, the chief executive, has long argued nuclear must be a part of the equation to make the UK a truly low-carbon economy. He said: “We believe our sites will be in a very good position if new build goes ahead. We have access to skills and established links with the local communities which are key factors in siting decisions.”
Independent 24th May 2007
The first of a new generation of nuclear plants should be built in southern England on existing reactor sites, according to a study that also warns ministers that tens of millions of pounds may have to be spent on flood defences and sea walls.
FT 24th May 2007
The British government is proud to announce the creation of Green plan. As our energy policy paper, published yesterday [Wednesday], makes clear, the only way to tackle climate change is central schemes and targets for everything from light bulbs to biomass. We need a Low Carbon Transport Innovation Strategy. We need a succession of five-year plans. We need Greenplan, modelled on the old Soviet economic planners at Gosplan, to take control. Or almost. Wednesday¹s policy paper contained some sensible if rather vague stuff about energy security and a new generation of nuclear power plants. But it also contained plans, some decided by the European Union, to micromanage exactly how and where carbon emissions will be cut.
FT 24th May 2007
Britain on Wednesday gave the green light to a new generation of nuclear power stations, publishing an energy white paper that will pave the way for billions of pounds of private investment in plants.
FT 24th May 2007
There were few surprises in the energy white paper something the industry was thankful for. Energy companies were pleased about the government’s clear support for nuclear power, and its pledge to make a decision on whether to back new reactors by the end of the year. Stephen Hale, director of Green Alliance, said: “Tony Blair’s legacy energy white paper is a millstone for Gordon Brown. Labour is investing political capital in nuclear power, an industry that has never delivered. We need a far stronger policy framework for the transport sector, for heat generation and a long-term carbon price that incentivises a step change in low-carbon investment.”
FT 24th May 2007
Amidst all the palaver over the UK government’s energy policy paper backing a new programme of nuclear power stations on Wednesday, one significant shift has so far been missed. Buried away on page 204 is a change that will give anti-nuclear campaigners some crumbs of comfort. “The Government has concluded,” it says, “that any nuclear power stations that might be built in the UK should proceed on the basis that spent fuel will not be reprocessed.” This is the clearest statement so far of ministers’ intention to abandon the decades-old policy of reprocessing uranium burnt in reactors.
RobEdwars.com 23rd May 2007
New Scientist 23rd May 2007
Darling’s statement Nuclear power is needed to help reduce carbon emissions and to ensure that the UK has secure energy supplies in the future, the prime minister has said. “We are not going to be able to make up through wind farms all the deficit on nuclear power,” Tony Blair told MPs. The government’s Energy White Paper has backed renewable energy and efficiency measures – but said the “preliminary view” supports more nuclear plants.
BBC 23rd May 2007
Is Hinkley Point the most suitable location for a new reactor? Hinkley Point, in Somerset, is the best place to build a new nuclear power station, according to a report commissioned by ministers. It lists 14 suitable sites around the UK but says existing nuclear plants in Southern England are the best choice. It also reveals the first UK nuclear reactor was sited at Harwell, in Oxfordshire in the late 1940s, because it was “a pleasant place to live”.
BBC 23rd May 2007
UK ministers have ended a 20-year standstill on nuclear power by giving the go-ahead to a new generation of reactors to help cut the pollution that is disrupting the climate. And the government has given the first indications of where up to 10 nuclear stations are likely to be built, at a cost of £1.2 billion ($2.4 bn) each. An expert report identifies the best sites as being next to existing reactors around the south coast of England, with Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk topping the list.
RobEdwards.com 23rd May 2007
New Scientist 23rd May 2007
Scotland
THE SNP Executive yesterday gave the green light for Scotland to have at least one active nuclear plant for another quarter of a century. The signal came even as ministers were vowing to oppose plans from the UK government for a new wave of nuclear plants. Jim Mather, the Scottish energy minister, yesterday signalled that the Executive would not intervene if British Energy chose to extend the life-cycles of the Scottish plants.
Scotsman 24th May 2007
Yesterday’s white paper on energy gave notice that the government sees new nuclear power stations as an essential component of the UK’s future energy strategy. In making the argument in favour of a third generation of nuclear power stations in terms of security of supply and low carbon emissions, Alistair Darling, the Trade and Industry Secretary, recognises that the nuclear option is not the most popular. However, no decision on new nuclear power stations should be made without a clear strategy for the disposal of nuclear waste. With both the SNP and the Green Party, which has backed its minority government against building new nuclear power stations, a very clear strategy for issues within the executive’s control is required urgently. The Hunterston station in Ayrshire is scheduled to be shut down in 2011, while Torness in East Lothian has a licence to operate until 2023, but both could have their lives extended. That prospect (which is backed by the Greens if there is an energy gap) makes it possible to delay a decision about building a new power station in Scotland, but not indefinitely. That allowed both Mr Darling and Mr Mather to sidestep the imminent prospect of a confrontation on nuclear power between Westminster and Holyrood, but the issue cannot continue to be ducked by the SNP if it wants to demonstrate credibility in government. There is much to be welcomed in the white paper, not least the creation of the world’s first mandatory carbon trading scheme for large companies and the redesign of the renewables obligation that should ensure the UK offshore wind resource stands a strong chance of being developed over the next 10 to 15 years.
Herald editorial 24th May 2007
Scotland can still generate around 20% more power than it needs. But the big, unanswered question is whether that apparently comfortable margin could be reversed over the next couple of decades as our two nuclear stations and other established generating plant reach the end of their operational lives. When the new Scottish government says the lights in Scotland will never go out, it risks betting its own long-standing and consistent hostility to any new nuclear capacity ever being built in Scotland against rapid and reliable operational returns from a variety of highly promising, but as yet unproven, alternative technologies.
Herald 24th May 2007
There is much misinformation flying about on Scotland’s future energy supply. Ian Bell’s contribution (May 23) was by no means the worst example. However, he somehow managed to discuss the energy issue without once pointing out it is a reserved matter, and MSPs have no power other than to block at the planning stage. So the onus is very much on Westminster to provide for future needs.
Herald letters 24th May 2007
NUCLEAR power, wind turbines (large and small), carbon-emitting power stations and solar power – if you want an exciting arena, then debating the
merits and problems of energy production is a good place to start. Our new SNP administration has brought the subject to the fore by dismissing nuclear as an energy choice. It seems that, along with the new concerns about generation, there is also the problem of what sources of energy Scotland is going to use in the future. A combination of more efficient use of electricity, by identifying waste, and the use of thermally and mechanically efficient CHP units would solve a lot of the problems of new pylons, wind farms and rising energy costs.
Scotsman 24th May 2007
Torness is expected to run for at least another 10 years The UK Government has played down suggestions of a showdown between Westminster and Holyrood over the generation of nuclear power. First Minister Alex Salmond has said there was “no chance” of any more being nuclear plants being built in Scotland.
BBC 23rd May 2007
Energy Efficiency
An on-line CO2 calculator, smart meters and real-time displays could be introduced to every home in the country under radical government plans to
make energy consumers more efficient.
Herald 24th May 2007
Companies
ScottishPower’s renewable energy division is to be hived off and incorporated into a beefed-up subsidiary of the utility’s new owner, Iberdrola, under funding plans revealed by the Spanish company yesterday. Bilbao-based Iberdrola said it intended to restructure its renewables business, incorporating all its renewable energy-related units in Europe into its Iberenova subsidiary. The plan is then to float up to 20% of the expanded division at some time in the fourth quarter, and use the cash raised to fund additional growth. Industry analysts believe the IPO could raise between E16bn (£10.9bn) and E20bn (£13.6bn).
Herald 23rd May 2007
Europe
The European parliament has urged the EU to pursue a “post-fossil fuel and post-nuclear energy vision” as its “next important project” in a declaration adopted on Monday. It says 33 per cent of electricity and 25 per cent of all energy use should be renewable by 2020. Both aims go beyond a 20 per cent renewables target backed by EU leaders. The declaration also calls for the creation of a decentralised European hydrogen fuel infrastructure by 2025.
EU parliament news 21st May 2007
The declaration
Nuclear Weapons
ICAN is a new campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Convention, launched by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and growing daily. Organisations and individuals are getting involved because nuclear weapons are not like other weapons – there is no other weapon that can kill hundreds of millions of people in a few hours and bring about the end of human civilisation.
A 6 minute ICAN video
