New Nukes
The government has given the green light to building the first new nuclear power plant in a generation. But while many have welcomed the move away from fossil fuels, there remain concerns about cost, safety and ownership of the plants. Columnist Simon Jenkins debates the issue with Craig Bennett, director of policy at Friends of the Earth.
Guardian (Video) 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Letter: A rational approach to deciding on the allocation of investment resources between alternative forms of energy generation should surely start with estimates of the Energy Return on Energy Invested. In the early years of oil recovery in Saudi Arabia the EROEI ratio was about 100 units of energy produced for every energy unit invested. Today, the ratio is estimated at an average of 19:1 for oil (only 5:1 for tar sand oil), as we reach the end of “easy oil”. Wind and natural gas are estimated at an average of 18:1 and 10:1 respectively. The highest estimate for EROEI in nuclear is 15:1, but the lowest estimates are about 1:1. The late energy economist Dr David Fleming estimated that the full life-cycle analysis figure for new nuclear power generation would be negative, bearing in mind the continuing energy cost of safely disposing of the waste. The EROEI figure for Hinkley Point should be published to enable the public to compare its efficiency with alternatives. This is particularly important as the “investment” must be seen as adding to the public debt, since the government is guaranteeing the return.
FT 29th Oct 2013 read more »
Hinkley
Greenpeace has dropped its legal challenge to block the £16 billion nuclear plant planned for Hinkley Point in Somerset, after deciding there was no chance of defeating the Government in High Court. However, the Independent reported “well-placed sources” suggested that Greenpeace was concerned about diverting manpower to a “lost cause” while it was also fighting Russia’s detention of 30 activists for “hooliganism”. Greenpeace denies these claims.
Bath Chronicle 28th Oct 2013 read more »
A DEAL struck between the British Government, French energy giant EDF and Chinese investors for a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset has been welcomed by Stroud MP Neil Carmichael. The Conservative politician has hailed the agreement to build the UK’s first new-generation nuclear power station as ‘good news for jobs’ and said constituents in Stroud could expect to share in the benefits.
Stroud News 28th Oct 2013 read more »
UK companies are set to receive most of the contracts for the new £16bn Hinkley Point nuclear power station, including some work on the most complex equipment. Project developer EDF Energy has selected fellow French firms Areva and Alstom to lead manufacturing of the plant’s reactor system and turbines, respectively, but UK firms are already lined up to undertake a large amount of sub-contracted work. A total of 57 per cent of the value of the project is due to go to British companies, assuming they can put together suitable proposals, including Costain for the marine elements of the project and Laing O’Rourke, which together with the French firm Bouygues TP will lead civil construction.
Engineer 29th Oct 2013 read more »
Nuclear Jobs
AN engineering giant based in Warrington says Birchwood will be the base for some 300 new jobs to be created by the company. Amec, which has major offices at Birchwood Park, has revealed it will be creating the jobs in the nuclear arm of its business. It aims to bring in a wide range of disciplines, including safety consultants, project managers and mechanical and electrical engineers, a number of which will be based at the company’s Birchwood laboratories.
This is Cheshire 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Decommissioning
As the UK embarks on building what could be a new generation of nuclear power plants, work continues to decommission the first generation of nuclear power stations at sites including Trawsfynydd in Snowdonia which will take an estimated 90 years to complete.
BBC 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Sellafield
Reading-based Interserve has completed four-year works on a large UK nuclear evaporator module. Interserve’s industrial team has built 11 modules for the Sellafield nuclear site and one is three times larger than the other ten modules it has built. Guy Bruce, managing director of industrial at Interserve, said: “The last module has truly tested our established engineering practices. Everything about it has been on a significant scale, from the design and construction of the bespoke stainless steel scaffolding, to the five and a half kilometres of pipework installed, to the 8,100 individual pipe butt, support and fabrication shop welds.
Insider Media 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
Nuclear power gets twice the price of solar! The UK government’s policy to pay more for nuclear power than for power from solar PV is in direct contradiction of EU rules on state aid. The Hinkley C nuclear power station is to be paid more than twice as much as German solar pv arrays of 10MW or more, energy expert David Toke of Aberdeen University has calculated. And even smaller arrays are being paid considerably less than the price paid to EDF at Hinkley.
Ecologist 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy companies should expect a “serious duffing up” when they appear in front of the energy and climate change (ECC) committee. The committee has called on energy suppliers to give evidence on Tuesday following a series of price rise announcements. The committee says it wants to explore the “reasons and justification” behind the price rises, the difference pricing policies between energy suppliers, and how transparency around energy company profits can be improved.
Carbon Brief 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Top executives from the UK’s six largest energy companies are expected to face serious criticism when they come before a group of MPs. The bosses have been called in front of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, following recent price rises. So far, four companies have announced increases that average 9.1%. The energy firms are expected to insist that the rises were largely due to increasing wholesale prices. But Andrew Wright, the acting chief executive of regulator Ofgem, is expected to tell the MPs that wholesale prices have risen by less than the rate of inflation.
BBC 29th Oct 2013 read more »
FT 29th Oct 2013 read more »
A glut of polls this week has shown more clearly what the country thinks about government levies on energy bills. The results tell us both why the measures are under attack, and also how environmentally-conscious politicians can protect funding for renewables. there’s a widespread gut feeling that it’s right for the UK to tackle climate change and switch to a less polluting renewable energy supply. Arguments for supporting renewables will reach an audience that’s prepared to listen – but those arguments need to be made, or there may not be enough of a political cost to stop the government abandoning its green commitments.
Carbon Brief 28th Oct 2013 read more »
David Cameron has said he is “frustrated” by the dominance of the so-called ‘big six’ energy suppliers and called for far greater competition. The prime minister said he wanted a ‘big 60’ energy market, with greater choice for consumers and “healthy” competition keeping prices down.
BBC 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Dungeness
A nuclear power station automatically shut down its reactors after debris blown by hurricane-strength winds fell onto its power lines and led to a loss of supply. It could be up to a week before the two units at Dungeness B plant in Kent – one of Britain’s nine nuclear power stations – are up and running again. But a spokeswoman for EDF Energy, which runs the site, said she hoped energy would be restored much sooner and that the public should “absolutely not” be concerned by the shut-down.
Telegraph 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy Business Review 29th Oct 2013 read more »
Utility Week 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Scotland
Scottish ministers have championed action on climate, nature conservation and the marine world, but Stuart Housden of RSPB Scotland says the evidence shows a real gap between action and words.
Guardian 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Europe
Thirteen European environment ministers and dozens of business leaders urged the European Union on Monday to adopt “ambitious” energy and climate goals for 2030 to create a low-carbon economy in Europe to spur investment. In a 40-page document released at a green growth conference in Brussels, they also said the 28-nation bloc should reform the structure of the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS) and offer a strict emissions cut pledge at a climate summit next autumn. Last week, Britain said the EU should cut emissions by 50% by 2030 to avoid the worst effects of climate change. A decision on the EU’s 2030 target will form the basis of the its potential emissions reduction offer as part of United Nations’ climate negotiations on a global climate deal. Governments are under pressure to offer large cuts by a September summit hosted by UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon.
Reuters 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Uranium
After this Thursday’s debate and vote in the parliament of Greenland, the reality now is that Greenland no longer has a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy towards uranium mining and export. As we in Inuit Ataqatigiit, the largest opposition party, have made it clear again and again that we did not agree with the government’s proposal to lift the zero-tolerance policy on uranium. We have made it clear that we oppose uranium mining in Greenland, and that we did not agree with the decision-making method chosen by the government on this issue.
Arctic Journal 28th Oct 2013 read more »
French nuclear energy giant Areva signed a deal with Mongolia’s state-owned Mon-Atom on Saturday to develop two uranium mines in the Gobi desert, officials said.
Channel News Asia 27th Oct 2013 read more »
Japan
Japan’s nuclear regulator has told the bungling bosses of the beleaguered Fukushima nuclear plant to take “drastic steps” to mitigate a spate of mishaps at the power station.
Morning Star 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Germany
Wind and solar power peaked at 59.1 percent of German power generation earlier this month. It happened at noon on a very windy and sunny October 3 — the German holiday commemorating reunification. (Germany hit 61 percent, a record, and 59 percent peaks earlier this year.) Solar and wind provided 36.4 percent of total electricity generation over the entire day with PV accounting for 11.2 percent.
Green Tech 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Turkey
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe left Japan Monday for his second trip to Turkey this year. Abe will be on a three-day trip in the Eurasian country with an itinerary that may include a summit with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The rest of his stay is expected to be spent promoting nuclear technology.
Japan Daily Press 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Iran
IRAN’S deputy foreign minister has said he made proposals to the UN nuclear watchdog chief after pledging “a new approach” to easing international concerns about indications of illicit nuclear bomb research by Tehran. UN inspectors want to resume an investigation into what it calls the “possible military dimensions” of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme. Tehran says it is enriching uranium solely for electricity generation and medical treatments.
Herald 29th Oct 2013 read more »
China
Confident China unveils its secretive nuclear submarine fleet for the first time in four decades.
Daily Mail 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Telegraph 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Jordan
Energy-poor Jordan said Tuesday it has picked two Russian firms to build and run its first nuclear power plant, which is expected to cost around $10 billion (7 billion euros).
Middle East Online 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Renewables
In the race for commercial solar power, Wal-Mart is killing it. The company now has almost twice as much capacity as second-place Costco. A better comparison: Wal-Mart is converting more sun into energy than 38 U.S. states.
Bloomberg 25th Oct 2013 read more »
Developers are racing to install large-scale solar parks on land across the UK in unprecedented numbers. The rush has been sparked by concerns that Britain’s ageing electrical grid has limited capacity for renewable energy. Environmental campaigners are concerned by the size of the solar farms being proposed. They argue that using agricultural land for energy production is swapping one form of dependency for another. A 28MW solar installation has been proposed for Mapperton Farm in Dorset. The land is owned by Conservative MP Richard Drax, who has in the past opposed wind turbines off the Dorset coast. Local campaigner Bill Newman says the solar proposal is too big, it will blight the countryside and will essentially be substituting food production for energy. “We’ll be swapping one form of dependency for another,” he said. But Good Energy, the company behind the project reject the charge. They say the land will remain as pasture once the solar farm is in place. “Our design will enable sheep to be grazed between and around the panels,” they commented.
BBC 29th Oct 2013 read more »
Climate
It is technically and economically feasible to phase out net greenhouse gas emissions almost entirely by 2050 finds a new report. If you plan to be around in mid-century you may find yourself living in interesting times. We could have solved climate change – or it could have spiralled beyond hope of repair. Here’s the good news. A report published by the energy consultancy Ecofys and the Global Call for Climate Action, a campaigning NGO, says technological options available today and in the near future could reduce emissions to zero for roughly 90% of current sources of GHG emissions. The remaining emissions could be offset by carbon sinks.
RTCC 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Nuclear Testing
From 29th Oct 1971: Within a few days the tiny island of Amchitka in the Aleutians will be rocked by a five-megaton underground weapons test. The nuclear blast, codenamed Cannikin, and the largest ever undertaken by the US, takes place in the face of official protests from Canada, Japan, and the State of Alaska, and against the wishes of a large proportion of the US scientific community.
Guardian 29th Oct 2013 read more »
