Hinkley
Qatar’s energy minister has said the gas-rich Persian Gulf sheikhdom would consider investing in the £25bn Hinkley Point nuclear project in Somerset. Speaking to The Telegraph ahead of today’s Opec meeting in Vienna, Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada said: “We are looking at making further energy investments in Europe and the UK” adding that backing the construction of Britain’s first atomic plant in over 25 years was one of the options under review. News of the potential investment in the project from Qatar comes as the consortium behind the project led by EDF Energy and fellow French state-owned Areva seek additional funding from investors.
Telegraph 27th Nov 2014 read more »
Wylfa
EMERGENCY evacuation exercises should be conducted on Anglesey in case of a “serious nuclear accident” at Wylfa, energy campaigners have said. The People Against Wylfa B (PAWB) group has accused Horizon Nuclear, UK energy regulators and both Welsh and UK governments of treating island residents as “sacrificial lambs” due to the lack of preparations for how best to evacuate the island’s population. PAWB spokesman Dylan Morgan said: “Horizon Nuclear has failed to date to begin real-time, regular, annual emergency evacuation exercises of the population of Anglesey, in the event of serious nuclear accident at any of the proposed mega nuclear reactors at Wylfa.
North Wales Chronicle 27th Nov 2014 read more »
Sellafield
Nuclear Free Local Authorities calls on Public Health England and the Environment Agency to fully investigate new radioactive particles found on beaches close to Sellafield. The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) calls today on public health bodies to investigate and analyse further recent deposits of radioactive particles found on beaches close to Sellafield. It also calls on the same agencies to urgently consider asking the local Council to put warning signs on Seascale beach as an interim contingency public safety measure.
Radiation Free Lakeland 27th Nov 2014 read more »
Energy Markets
Britain no longer has a real energy market and the Coalition’s reforms are “the biggest expansion of state power since the nationalisations of the 1940s and 1950s”. Nominally private companies still generate and deliver electricity that consumers pay for but just about everything, from prices to outcomes, are now heavily determined by politicians. the result is a “vast ramshackle Public Private Partnership combining the worst of all worlds – state direction of investment funded by high cost private sector finance”. Devastatingly, as he notes cogently, almost all sorts of generation that currently take place in Britain – be it zero, low or high carbon – now benefits from handouts or various kinds of price supports. The unfashionable truth is that the privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1980s and the introduction of genuine competition in the 1990s was a triumph. The real hero was Lord Lawson of Blaby, energy secretary in the 1980s. The rot really set in when Tony Blair decided in 2007 to impose a target that a predetermined proportion of energy would be generated from renewable energy, mainly wind and solar. Ed Miliband’s influence on the UK’s energy policy during his time in government was also catastrophic. The return of regulation was helped by the fact that energy prices had started to rise again for the first time in years, and the increase was blamed (entirely wrongly) on privatisation and markets. Paradoxically, the interventions of the Labour and coalition years seem almost designed to dramatically hike prices.
Telegraph 26th Nov 2014 read more »
Catherine Mitchell: The global energy system is in a time of rapid technological change, which in turn is fundamentally altering the economics of energy. This technological change is both within energy technologies, for example, rapid price falls of solar energy, but also the IT revolution is enabling different ways to operate and manage the energy system – for networks and markets. This has implications for the conventional utility model, business models and customer relationships with their energy use but also for the role of regulation and Regulators. This is leading to two types of countries – those that are enabling, or at least not constraining, the change in energy systems; and those which, for various reasons, are ignoring or attempting to constrain it. While constraining change may slow it down, countries cannot stop it completely – and the question is whether by constraining change in the energy system countries are setting themselves up for a very disruptive time at some point in the future with a wider loss of innovation within their economies, as opposed to a more managed transformation.
IGov 26th Nov 2014 read more »
Radhealth
Comment on ‘Updated investigations of cancer excesses in individuals born or resident in the vicinity of Sellafield and Dounreay’: premature all-clear for nuclear power, by I Fairlie and A Körblein. Bunch et al fail to discuss the leukaemia increases over the full period, 1963–2006. A highly significant increase is found in Seascale ward (O=6, E=0.91, SIR=6.67, 90% CI: 2.9, 13.0). The ratio of the SIR in Seascale (SIR=6.67) to the SIR in Copeland and Allerdale County excluding Seascale (SIR=0.90) yields a relative risk (RR) of RR=6.67/0.90=7.4 (P=0.0002). Near Dounreay the increase in leukaemia risk is not significant (RR=1.64, P=0.227). For all malignancies and over the whole study period 1963–2006 a significantly increased risk is found near Sellafield (RR=3.3, P=0.0004), but the increase is not statistically significant near Dounreay (RR=1.22, P=0.274).
British Journal of Cancer 20th Nov 2014 read more »
Chernobyl
A drone’s-eye view of CHERNOBYL: Eerie footage reveals a city left to decay after devastating nuclear disaster.
Daily Mail 27th Mov 2014 read more »
US – radwaste
Last February’s explosion at the WIPP dump for long-lived intermediate-level nuclear waste from the US’s nuclear weapons program remains unexplained, writes Jim Green. But with the site’s history of ignored warnings, ‘missing’ safety culture, lack of supervision and dubious contractor appointments, it surely came as no surprise – and further accidents appear inevitable.
Ecologist 27th Nov 2014 read more »
Iran
History is littered with nuclear near misses. Letting Iran have the bomb would threaten botyh world peace and the Iranian people.
Guardian 27th Nov 2014 read more »
Protest
TWO ANTI-nuclear protestor who allegedly chained themselves a to car at the entrance of Devonport Naval Base are to return to court next year. Nicola Clark, aged 39, of Bridgwater, Somerset and 56-year-old Theo Simon, of Shepton Mallet, Somerset were arrested on July 25 this year following an incident at the base’s Camels Head Gate during rush hour.
Plymouth Herald 27th Nov 2014 read more »
Renewables – Scotland
Renewable energy in Scotland from wind farms, hydro power plants and other clean technologies provided the single largest source of electricity to the country for the first time, in the first half of 2014, new industry figures will show on Thursday. Analysis by the trade body Scottish Renewables shows that renewables produced nearly one third more power than nuclear, coal or gas in the first six months of the year, generating a record 10.4 terawatt hours (TWh) during the six-month period.
Guardian 27th Nov 2014 read more »
Utility Week 27th Nov 2014 read more »
Renewables – Dorset
CAMPAIGNERS have warned Dorset will fail to meet its own renewable energy target unless planners allow on-shore wind farms to be built. The Dorset Energy Partnership (DEP) is made up of representatives of councils across the county – along with community and business leaders. The group set a target to produce 7.5 percent of the energy demand by renewable sources by 2020. The DEP believe that by March 2015, only 2.6 percent of the demand will be produced from renewable sources – roughly one third of the target with five years remaining.
Dorset Echo 27th Nov 2014 read more »
Community Renewables
Our community-owned renewable energy project has reached a crucial milestone with the submission of a detailed planning application to Highland council. The project, which has been jointly developed by two Edinburgh-based community organisations, aims to generate clean, renewable energy, contributing to Scottish Government efforts to tackle climate change. The two wind turbines at the heart of the project will also generate a financial return that will be shared between local community organisations near the project and the non-profit groups that developed the initiative, Greener Leith and PEDAL Portobello.
Greener Leith 28th Nov 2014 read more »
Microgeneration
Micro power news.
Microgen Scotland 27th Nov 2014 read more »
Fuel Cells
Edinburgh Napier University has struck a pioneering ‘green’ deal which will cut CO2 emissions while driving down energy costs. The property and facilities department has commissioned the installation of a fuel cell, a small highly efficient generator that converts natural gas to electricity and heat, at the university’s Merchiston campus.
Scottish Energy News 28th Nov 2014 read more »
