Nuclear Costs
Letter from Gerry Wolff: Steuart Campbell is himself misrepresenting the cost of nuclear power, quoting the misleading figures successfully spread by the nuclear industry. A report from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in 2005 concluded that, once realistic construction and running costs were factored in, a kilowatt-hour of electricity from a nuclear generator would cost as much as 8.3p – substantially more than claimed by the nuclear industry. Since then, nuclear costs have risen.
Scotsman 4th Feb 2009 more >>
Al Gore speaking about climate change at last week’s US Senate committee on foreign relations: “I came to the Congress in 1976 as a very strong supporter of nuclear power. I have grown sceptical. I am not opposed to it, but there is now in the industry absolutely zero ability to predict with any confidence what the cost of construction is.” Now skip to Finland, where the French state-owned nuclear company Areva is building Europe’s first new reactor in years, one of a type expected to be chosen for Britain. The Finnish nuclear authority has already found 2,200 “quality deficiencies”, the plant is three years behind schedule, and its cost has spiralled to $6.2bn – 50% more than the original estimate. Everyone is blaming everyone else. Now Elfi, a consortium of Finnish industries, calculates that the delays will create an extra $4bn of indirect costs for electricity users.
Guardian 4th Feb 2009 more >>
Nuclear Waste
Letter from Hugh Richards: EDF boss Vincent de Rivaz says one way to start convincing the public that nuclear power is the solution to our energy problems is to “make all decisions public and transparent” (Friday Interview, 30 January). We as taxpayers are being asked to take responsibility for significant amounts of spent fuel – something omitted by Rivaz. Spent nuclear fuel contains most of the radioactivity from the new reactors, but neither government nor its regulators have assessed its “disposability”, or the health effects of managing it. The Nuclear Industry Association says a repository dealing with legacy wastes could readily accommodate the smaller volumes of easier-to-handle wastes from the new nuclear plants. But the spent fuel from EDF’s planned European pressurised reactors in England would be hotter and more radioactive than that from the EPR at Olkiluoto, in Finland. There are serious doubts it could be disposed of in the deep geological repository for legacy waste.
Guardian 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
Companies
GDF Suez SA, the world’s second-biggest utility, will today announce an alliance with Iberdrola SA of Spain as part of its plans to bid for nuclear projects in the U.K.. GDF Suez aims to build two Evolutionary Power Reactors, or EPRs, in the U.K..
Bloomberg 4th Feb 2009 more >>
Germany’s Siemens and Russia’s state nuclear company have pledged to look at closer cooperation in what Russia said could lead to a powerful alliance in the world nuclear market.
Reuters 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
FT 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
GDA
The Generic Design Assessment (GDA) team when constituted was expected to take until 2012 to complete its work and found difficulty in recruiting its experts; most of those in the UK are either retired or approaching retirement. But the manning up of the team with French experts risks compromising the independence of the GDA, which it is supposed to maintain. It is in all our interests that unwarranted haste will not dilute the detailed examination of the inherent disadvantages of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Sanders Research 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
Sellafield
A BITTER dispute over the use of foreign workers on construction projects has exploded into a series of wildcat strikes across the UK – includig Sellafield.
North West Evening Mail 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
Contractors at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing complex in Cumbria have returned to work after a 24-hour walkout over the use of foreign labour.
BBC 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
Heysham
Nuclear power firm British Energy said yesterday it was ready to restart another reactor hit by technical issues. The company has been dogged by long-term problems at its Heysham and Hartlepool sites, but said a “comprehensive” return to service for Reactor 1 at its Heysham 1 plant was due in the “coming days”.
Yorkshire Post 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
Scotland
A Holyrood report due to be published today will call for nuclear power to be kept on the agenda. The Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee is expected to say the nuclear option should not be ruled out over fears that renewable power generation will not grow fast enough. The government has set a target of cutting emissions by 80% before 2050.
Building 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
US
The desperate, dangerous nuclear power industry has dropped a $50 billion stealth bomb meant to irradiate the Obama Stimulus Package. It comes in the form of a mega-loan guarantee package that would build new reactors Wall Street wouldn’t finance even when it had cash. The vaguely worded bailout-in-advance provision was snuck through the Senate Appropriations Committee in the deep night of January 27. It would provide $50 billion in loan guarantees for “eligible technologies” that would technically include renewable sources and electric transmission. But the handout is clearly directed at nukes and “clean coal.” Unable to get private financing, the industry is back yet again. In the interim, the projected cost of building new reactors has soared to more than $10 billion each, and continues to climb steadily. The Congressional Budget Office now predicts that half the nuclear utilities using such a loan program will go into default.
Huffington Post 3rd February 2009 more >>
Iran
President Obama’s ambition of bringing Russia in from the cold was graphically underlined when Iran announced that it had successfully launched its first home-built satellite into orbit, using a rocket that the West believes is part of its long-term ballistic missile programme.
Times 4th Feb 2009 more >>
BBC 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
Guardian 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cautioned Tehran of “consequences” if it did not give up sensitive nuclear work and said world powers would discuss a new Iran strategy in talks on Wednesday.
Reuters 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
Trident
THE SNP yesterday stepped up calls for Scotland to be rid of nuclear weapons. The call came at a conference in Edinburgh where the SNP MP Angus Robertson said Scotland could “help lift the nuclear shadow”. But the Nationalists came under attack from Labour, who accused them of wanting to give up nuclear weapons when other countries had them and “rogue nations” wanted them.
Scotsman 4th Feb 2009 more >>
Herald 4th Feb 2009 more >>
Carrick Gazette 4th Feb 2009 more >>
THE conference on Trident in Edinburgh yesterday underlined our commitment to make the world a safer place by ridding ourselves of weapons of mass destruction. Majority opinion in Scotland is opposed to the Trident weapons system.
Scotsman 4th Feb 2009 more >>
Arms Control
President Obama will convene the most ambitious arms reduction talks with Russia for a generation, aiming to slash each country’s stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 per cent. The radical treaty would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 each, The Times has learnt. Key to the initiative is a review of the Bush Administration’s plan for a US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, a project fiercely opposed by Moscow.
Times 4th Feb 2009 more >>
By the treaty’s deadline of June 1, 1991 2,692 weapons had been destroyed – 846 by the US and 1,846 by the Soviet Union. Under the treaty both nations were allowed to inspect each other’s military installations.
Times 4th Feb 2009 more >>
A supercomputer with the processing power of two million laptops is to be built by IBM for the US government to help manage its nuclear arsenal.
Times 3rd Feb 2009 more >>
Climate
Although emissions of carbon dioxide fell, its total decline since the baseline year of 1990 was 8.5%, substantially short of Labour’s manifesto pledge of 20% by 2010. The decline by 2007 increases to 12.8% if it includes carbon credits bought from emission reduction programmes overseas.
Guardian 4th Feb 2009 more >>
Over half of Britain’s poorest households are ineligible for help from an £852m scheme to cut fuel bills with grants for home insulation and heating, a report from the National Audit Office reveals today. The report discloses that £34m has been given to people who already have energy-efficient homes and are comparatively well off. The report on the Warm Front Scheme run by the Department of Energy and Climate Change says that the mismatch is caused by complex eligibility rules that mean many of the 1.9 million poorest households cannot get a grant.
Guardian 4th Feb 2009 more >>
