Hinkley
A number of multimillion-pound contracts on the £18bn Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant are being renegotiated, Building understands. EDF said last week it will make a final investment decision on the power plant in Somerset “within weeks”, after it secured £6bn of investment from China General Nuclear Corporation (CGN). The French energy giant also announced it had agreed final terms on five major contracts with suppliers. However, sources have told Building that while a final investment decision is now expected to be “a formality”, several major contracts agreed over the last three years are currently being renegotiated due to cost inflation. These contract values include those where final terms have been agreed, sources said. One source told Building: “There’s a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with contracts at the moment. Discussions are happening all the time. “Also, a lot of contracts were originally negotiated during the recession. Now firms are finding that they don’t necessarily need the work.” The news comes after a Kier and Bam joint venture announced last week it had signed a new contract for the enabling works worth £203m, more than double the widely reported figure of £100m when the contractors were selected in 2012.
Building 29th Oct 2015 read more »
Letter: Any nuclear plant will be a sitting duck for terrorists.
Western Daily Press 30th Oct 2015 read more »
ABWRs – GDA
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has completed Step 3 of the Generic Design Assessment of Hitachi-GE’s UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor. The nuclear reactor design planned for Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey has completed a crucial ‘safety and security’ assessment. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has completed Step 3 of the Generic Design Assessment of Hitachi-GE’s UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) nuclear power station design. This looks at the safety and security arguments presented by Hitachi-GE to underpin the safety and security claims. ONR has concluded that sufficient progress has been made by Hitachi-GE to move into the final assessment stage, which Hitachi-GE expects to complete in December 2017. Jane Bowie, ONR’s Head of GDA, said: “We are now ready to start the fourth and final step of the assessment process. Throughout step 3, interactions with Hitachi-GE have been positive; they are responsive and open to constructive challenge and engagement. “There is still a lot of work to be undertaken by Hitachi-GE, and they will have to maintain high quality, on-time delivery to achieve their target DAC date of December 2017.”
Daily Post 30th Oct 2015 read more »
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has completed Step 3 of the Generic Design Assessment of Hitachi-GE’s UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) nuclear power station design. The third phase of GDA looks at the safety and security arguments presented by Hitachi-GE to underpin the safety and security claims. ONR has concluded that sufficient progress has been made by Hitachi-GE to move into the final assessment stage, which Hitachi-GE expects to complete in December 2017.
ONR 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Engineer 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Dungeness
Damian Collins MP: We need Dungeness C. Dungeness has a smaller area of land available to build a new reactor, than locations like Hinkley Point, because of the strict habitat regulations that protect areas of the shingle that have never previously been disturbed by building works. However, land was set aside for a ‘C’ station when Dungeness B was built, and more space has also become available at Dungeness A because of the excellent progress that has been made of the decommissioning of the old power station. I recently met with Penultimate Power UK who are looking to invest in new technologies that allow nuclear power stations to run from smaller reactors which can be constructed offsite, and then installed at the location. This new approach is potentially much more affordable that the tens of billions of pounds required to build Hinkley Point C. A new power station built around smaller modular reactors could also well suit locations like Dungeness.
Folkestone Herald 30th Oct 2015 read more »
New Nukes
Today Pennsylvania is again at the centre of a shift in the energy industry and Three Mile Island is caught up in it. An abundance of natural gas piped out of the Marcellus shale in recent years has helped push power prices down so sharply that nuclear energy has struggled to compete in some parts of America. Three Mile Island’s remaining reactor, Unit One, is one of many fighting to survive—but this time its troubles are about costs, not safety. In America and Europe slumping commodity prices are adding to the burden on nuclear power that was already growing after the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster in Japan. America’s shale revolution, Europe’s growing supply of subsidised renewable energy and sluggish electricity demand in both markets have sharply cut wholesale power prices. That makes it harder for many nuclear plants to cover their running costs, leading their owners to shut them down. Perversely, at a time when countries around the world are pledging to cut carbon emissions, such closures often lead to the burning of more fossil fuels. Adding renewable-energy capacity does not solve the problem: when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, nuclear energy still provides the best low-carbon source of reliable “baseload” electricity. Sweden’s nuclear industry is in particular trouble. Western governments tend to tilt the ground against nuclear plants by subsidising the alternatives or imposing heavy taxes. That means their nuclear industries will continue to ebb. More than three-quarters of nuclear plants in the rich world are 25 years old or more. In the coming years the number of them shutting down is only likely to accelerate.
Economist 31st Oct 2015 read more »
John Hayes MP: we should welcome this week’s news that the first nuclear power station for a generation will be built at Hinkley Point C in Somerset. Aided by Chinese investment and a partnership with EDF, it’ll be Britain’s first reactor since the building of Sizewell B began in 1988 and the first ever built without state funding.
Spalding Today 31st Oct 2015 read more »
Radwaste
A recent fire at the state-owned radioactive waste dump in Nevada, prompted authorities to shut down a 140-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 95 for nearly 24 hours. “Whatever caught fire on Sunday in the state-owned radioactive waste dump at the US Ecology site near Beatty packed a powerful punch. We don’t know exactly what caught fire. We’re not exactly sure what was burning in that pit,” Fire Marshal Chief Peter Mulvihill said in a conference call with reporters. There was some energetic burning” that blew a hole in the cover soil that caps trench No. 14, where low-level radioactive materials were buried in unlined, clay terrain in the 1970s.”
Cumbria Trust 31st Oct 2015 read more »
LLW Repository’s application to dispose of more radioactive waste in Cumbria and alter its permit conditions has been approved.
ENDS 30th Oct 2015 read more »
LLW Repository Ltd has received a revised environmental permit to allow continued disposal of wastes at our site near Drigg, in West Cumbria. The news is the culmination of seven years’ hard work within the organisation. Obtaining a permit for disposal is a major milestone for LLWR and was a key objective of the NDA when awarding the new contract for managing LLWR in 2008. In October 2013 LLWR submitted an application to the Environment Agency (EA) – supported by an Environmental Safety Case submitted in May 2011 – to vary its environmental permit, and the EA went on to consult on the application before arriving at a decision.
LLW Repository Ltd 29th Oct 2015 read more »
Infrastructure
Chancellor George Osborne will today insist better infrastructure is vital to improve the lives of British people as he commits to £100 billion of spending in this Parliament for new roads, rail, flood defences and other vital projects. Launching the new National Infrastructure Commission, led by former Cabinet minister Lord Adonis, the Chancellor will set out plans to ‘get Britain building’, saying that infrastructure will be at the heart of next month’s Spending Review.
HM Treasury 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Chancellor George Osborne will today pledge £100bn on new infrastructure projects, and confirm the government’s new infrastructure commission will focus on boosting energy networks. One of the Committee’s key focus areas initially will be the UK’s energy sector, exploring strategies for achieving a better balance between supply and demand. This remit could lead the Commission to consider the role of smart grids, demand response programmes and energy storage in meeting the UK’s energy needs. Osborne has in the past declared his ambition for the UK to become a world leader in energy storage, hailing it as a key technology for boosting the rollout of electric vehicles and providing energy security.
Business Green 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Infrastructure investment will be at the heart of November’s spending review, George Osborne is to say when he launches the national commission for major projects.
Guardian 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Energy Policy
The UK Government’s pursuit of a new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point C represents not just a colossal waste of money, but could also be real danger to the UK’s national security, write Professors Alex Russell and Peter Strachan of Robert Gordon University. “Let us hope that the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s actions do not lead to the radicalisation of unemployed steel workers who are now being joined by unemployed renewable industry personnel.” The Conservative government, arguably, has completely lost the plot in continuing to pursue its so called energy policy that depends so heavily on building a new fleet of nuclear power stations to keep the lights on in Britain. The government want to have 16 GW of new nuclear power stations built in the UK all using EDF’s troubled Generation-III design, of which Hinkley Point C (3.2 GW) is only the first instalment.
Energy Post 26th Oct 2015 read more »
Lord Deben has defended a raft of green policy rollbacks by the new Conservative government, admitting the Climate Change Committee (CCC) that he chairs vastly underestimated improvements in offshore wind farms and the subsidies they would use up. Speaking to BusinessGreen, Lord Deben also said the government is justified in scaling back support for domestic solar panels, ending financing for the Green Deal, and scrapping the zero carbon homes target for new buildings. Deben insisted the government had little choice but to take drastic action to get spending under control. “What does a government do in those circumstances?” he asked. “It’s got to face up to that issue.” Deben said he had also been a long-time critic of the government’s Zero Carbon Homes target, which was scrapped during the summer, having warned the requirements for onsite low carbon generation on new developments were distracting from the policy’s primary aim of improving the energy efficiency of the UK’s housing stock. He also said the government was right to take its time over deciding a replacement policy for the Green Deal, which was shelved in July, arguing ministers need to ensure the next scheme will deliver success.
Business Green 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Energy Costs
We’ve been hearing a lot about keeping bills low for families and businesses. And almost as predictable as the leaves changing colour and the nights drawing in, the cost of renewable subsidies on energy bills is once again under scrutiny. Our new report, published earlier this month, puts the bill payer at the centre of this debate. We wanted to provide the full picture and not just half of it. Our analysis shows that renewables are actually cutting the wholesale price of electricity and lessening the impact of subsidies on bill payers. The report looks at something called the Merit Order Effect (MOE). MOE describes how, at times when they are generating, the electricity from renewable sources will be cheaper than from other sources, such as fossil fuel power stations.
Good Energy 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Poltics
Jamie Reed was invited to meet ITV producers of the show three days after he resigned from the Labour frontbench as shadow health minister. Mr Reed was the first MP to stand down in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s landslide victory in Labour’s leadership contest. He emailed and tweeted his resignation minutes after the result because Mr Corbyn is opposed to nuclear power – a key industry in Copeland. Mr Reed explained why he had turned down the offer to appear on the jungle-survival reality TV show, saying: “I’m a politician, not a celebrity – and I don’t want to be one.”
Whitehaven News 29th Oct 2015 read more »
Companies
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) will take an equity stake in Areva NP, the reactor manufacturing subsidiary of struggling French nuclear giant Areva, the Japanese company said Oct. 30. MHI also said it is discussing a deal to take a stake in the parent company of the state-owned group of nuclear power businesses. “The capital investment will be highly recoverable from the initial investment,” Mitsubishi Heavy President Shunichi Miyanaga said at a news conference in Tokyo to announce the company’s financial statements. “We believe there is no potential risk in the deal.”
Asahi Shimbun 31st Oct 2015 read more »
France
{Human Tranlation] Because Areva lodged a formal legal complaint against Antinuclear Coordination Southeast, a group of retired nuclear scientists, specialists and politicians have now stood up to defend us. These retired experts are testifying for us, as we are again being summoned by the Courts who are now considering whether to place us under formal police investigation. They include former nuclear scientists (Polytechnique graduates, Physicists, Doctorsof Medicine and a Faculty Professor), a former nuclear worker, an elected councillor (who refused to approve the agreement between Areva and the municipality of Avignon) and a former MEP. They are bringing us their testimony … and powerful evidence !
Coordination Antinuclear South East 28th Oct 2015 read more »
India
India’s efforts to boost its nuclear power capacity more than 10-fold by 2032 have been stymied by rules that leave suppliers liable for accidents.
Livemint 28th Oct 2015 read more »
US
US utility Exelon will defer any decision about the future operations of its Clinton nuclear power plant for a year after the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) regional transmission organization acknowledged the need for changes to the design of the southern Illinois electricity market.
World Nuclear News 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Trident
DAVID Cameron would “not push the nuclear button”, Jeremy Corbyn has suggested, as delegates gathering for Scottish Labour’s three-day conference in Perth are being urged to back calls for a set-piece debate on Trident. Mr Corbyn, a leading member of CND, replied: “I suspect David Cameron would not push the button either, actually. I don’t argue the deterrent point, I argue the world would be better off if we all adhered to the non-proliferation treaty and nuclear states took steps towards nuclear disarmament as they are required to by that treaty…” The Prime Minister says he is fully behind maintaining Trident and replacing it with a new generation of nuclear submarines, which new analysis estimates has risen in price from £100 billion to £167bn. A final vote at Westminster on renewal is due by spring. While a head of steam was raised over the debate on Trident at Labour’s UK conference in Brighton last month, it never happened due, some suggested, to a lack of support from the trade unions, which back the nuclear deterrent because of the thousands of defence jobs it maintains. Today, a similar process on choosing topical debates will be undertaken at the Scottish Labour conference, where some senior figures would also like the deeply divisive issue of Trident not to be debated.
Herald 30th Oct 2015 read more »
What’s truly bizarre is that all these manoeuvres and discussions seem to occur in splendid isolation from any consideration of options other than full replacement of Trident (or, more accurately, the Vanguard-class submarines that launch the Trident missiles) or complete disarmament.
New Statesman 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Faslane-based nuclear deterrent Trident will cost £167billion to replace, according to a Tory MP. The figure is almost 10 times more than expected by Prime Minister David Cameron who believed it would be an estimated £15billion to £20billion. But Tory MP Crispin Blunt said replacing the ageing fleet of four submarines would be much higher. He said: “My office’s calculation – based on an in-service date of 2028 and a missile extension until 2060 – is the total cost is £167billion. “The successor Trident programme is going to consume more than double the proportion of the defence budget of its predecessor.
Daily Record 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Renewables – offshore wind
Lord Deben, the chairman of the UK’s independent climate change advisory body, has admitted mistakes five years ago on the future costs of offshore wind power are the root cause of government cut-backs to renewable energy support. Lord Deben said the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) predicted offshore wind farms would deliver efficiencies of 27 per cent, when the reality turned out to be significantly greater at 40 per cent. “The efficiency in offshore wind turned out to be much greater than anything we thought,” said Deben, who was not chair of the CCC at the time of the forecasts. “That was a mistake in the calculations which arose simply because technology has improved so much. “Because of the certainty of the market, the huge change in the cost of offshore wind, as with solar, has been remarkable.” The government has faced criticism in recent months for announcing a wave of cuts to renewable energy support, including ending subsidies for new onshore wind farms and proposing to cut feed-in tariffs for solar panels by up to 87 per cent. But Deben suggested the renewable energy industry has benefited from the underestimates, arguing the £7.6bn cap on the Levy Control Framework would deliver a significant expansion of wind power and other renewable energy technologies.
Business Green 30th Oct 2015 read more »
The Green Investment Bank (GIB) yesterday unveiled its backing for a £1.5 billion wind farm off the Suffolk coast, its eighth deal to date in the offshore wind sector. The Edinburgh and London-based bank has joined Siemens Financial Services, Macquarie Capital and German energy group RWE Innogy as 25 per cent joint equity partners in the Galloper wind farm. Although the partners haven’t detailed how much they have each committed to the project, it is thought GIB is investing around £100 million. The joint venture has also secured £1.37bn of debt facilities from a consortium of 12 commercial banks plus the European Investment Bank (EIB), making it the UK’s first construction-ready offshore wind project finance deal.
Scotsman 31st Oct 2015 read more »
Renewables – AD
Anaerobic digestion (AD) could provide cheaper power than nuclear plants were the Government to throw its weight behind expanding the industry. That view has come from the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA), whose chief executive Charlotte Morton welcomed figures showing rapid growth for the sector in Scotland. Morton said that developments in Scotland showed the “excellent” return on investment gained from the continued deployment of AD capacity. “With a commitment from the Government to support the technology to scale – a commitment which currently does not exist – AD can deliver baseload energy that is cheaper than new nuclear by the time Hinkley Point C is built, and that can help decarbonise UK heat, farming and transport.” ADBA figures showed the industry had grown by two-thirds in Scotland in the past year. There 27 working projects, up from 16 a year earlier, while a further 43 have planning approval and another 12 are awaiting planning permission.
MRW 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Microgeneration
This week’s Micro Power News – includes news of more Treasury attacks on Community Energy.
Microgen Scotland 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Energy Storage
A new design for lithium-air batteries overcomes several big hurdles that have stood in the way of this concept. Lithium-air cells can store energy much more densely than today’s lithium-ion batteries, making them particularly promising for electric cars. The design, published in Science, uses a spongy graphene electrode and a new chemical reaction to drive the cell. It loses much less energy and can be recharged many more times than previous attempts at lithium-air batteries. The hope for lithium-air batteries is that they will take in regular air to fuel the chemical reaction that releases electricity: lithium ions move from the positive electrode to the negative one, where they are oxidised. At present the engineers behind the new effort, at the University of Cambridge, have only made laboratory test units which operate in pure oxygen, rather than air.
BBC 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Climate
Low ambition in countries’ climate pledges means avoiding dangerous warming will be harder and more costly than it could have been, according to new UN analysis.
Carbon Brief 30th Oct 2015 read more »
BBC 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Telegraph 30th Oct 2015 read more »
Guardian 30th Oct 2015 read more »
