Dungeness
A key safety limit at one of Britain’s nuclear power stations is being raised to allow the life of the reactor to be extended, the BBC has learned. The regulator has agreed to increase the amount of weight graphite bricks at the core of the reactor at Dungeness B in Kent will be allowed to lose. The bricks, which degrade over time due to radiation, are vital for safety. The Office for Nuclear Regulation said it was a “robust” body but one expert accused it of “moving the goalposts”. The nuclear reactor at Dungeness B would have breached the safety margin within months which could have forced the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to prosecute or even shut it down. Steve Thomas, professor of energy policy at the University of Greenwich, said: “It doesn’t feel good when we come up against limits and the first thing they [the ONR] do is to move the goalposts.” Prof Paul Mummery, from Manchester University, agreed that the original limits were “conservative.” But he said the twin problems of graphite cracking and weight loss meant it may be “uneconomic” for EDF to keep all the 14 AGR reactors running in the long term because the regulator may insist on more inspections to demonstrate safety.
BBC 4th June 2014 read more »
Hinkley
Communities most affected by site preparation works for Hinkley C nuclear power station are being encouraged to apply to a multi-million pound fund set up to help mitigate potential effects. Preparatory work on the station is set to step up a gear this summer, and not-for profit community organisations are being asked to put forward projects which promote the economic, social or environmental well-being of their areas. Organisations applying must have a constitution and a bank account. Parish and district-partnered projects are also eligible.
Western Daily Press 3rd June 2014 read more »
This is the West Country 2nd June 2014 read more »
Sizewell
SIZEWELL residents yesterday decried “monstrous” plans to build a third nuclear power station at the Suffolk village. Together Against Sizewell C (Tasc), Theberton and Eastbridge Action Group (Teag) and the B1122 Action Group have been launched in communities surrounding the nuclear site. They recently staged a protest march along the B1122, the road which will be used by construction vehicles for the development. Surrounding communities have been blighted for half a century by the presence of nuclear power stations.
Morning Star 4th June 2014 read more »
Sellafield
Celebrity scientist Professor Brian Cox officially unveiled the Sellafield Story at the museum on Whitehaven Harbour. The Beacon Museum, which was facing closure, was re-opened after a revamp and the pledge of £1.6m over the next five years from Sellafield Ltd. There is now a whole floor dedicated to taking visitors through the last 60 years of nuclear energy in West Cumbria with interactive activities and easy-to-understand science.
NW Evening Mail 3rd June 2014 read more »
Politics
Allowing fracking companies to drill under peoples’ homes without their permission and watered-down standards for zero-carbon homes are expected to be the key green measures in the Queen’s speech on Wednesday. The proposals in the speech, which sets out the legislative programme for the year and is the last before the 2015 general election, marks a further hardening of the Conservative party’s attitude against environmental measures. Their coalition partners, the Lib Dems, see the survival of any zero-carbon home policy as a victory but failed to get other green proposals into the speech. Current laws of trespass require land- and home-owners to give permission for shale gas and oil drilling under their land, but the government intends to end this requirement in order to speed up fracking. Drilling can extend up to 3km horizontally underground from a central well pad. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said: “Not only does this bill defy public opinion, it denies people a voice. To allow fracking companies to drill under people’s homes and land without their permission is to ignore public interest in pursuit of the vested interests of a few.”
Guardian 4th June 2014 read more »
Supply Chain
A Wolverhampton nuclear engineering company has been bought by an Italian group in a £30 million deal bosses say will boost prospects for long term success.
Express & Star 3rd June 2014 read more »
Submarines
A “CATASTROPHIC” systems failure on board a Devonport-based nuclear submarine caused a mass-casualty incident, The Herald can today exclusively reveal. When HMS Turbulent’s air conditioning plants malfunctioned during a deployment in the sweltering heat of the Indian Ocean, it resulted in 26 casualties. Eight of those casualties were in a ‘life-threatening’ condition. Temperatures inside the boat soared to 60 degrees Celsius with 100 per cent humidity as the crew battled to fix the problem miles from land. With the three-year anniversary of the previously unreported incident having just passed, Ryan Ramsey, the submarine’s Commanding Officer at the time, today revealed: “I genuinely thought there was going to be a loss of life on board. People were going to die.”
Plymouth Herald 4th June 2014 read more »
US
The last time Congress made a serious effort on climate change, Joe Manchin campaigned for a Senate seat in West Virginia by shooting a rifle at a cap-and-trade bill. And Manchin, who won, is a Democrat. Four years on, Republican candidates who deny the existence of climate change may be shooting themselves in the foot – and Democrats might even be able to say the words “global warming” out loud on the campaign trail between now and November. The rules being announced by the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday represent a workaround – President Obama had to circumvent Congress and use his executive authority to enact the EPA’s new regulations on power plants. But they also mark a sea change on sea-level rise: in a year when big money and big policy changes have made climate change a legitimate mid-term election issue, it’s no longer political poison to talk about the threat to the planet. In 2014, it may even be a plus for some candidates trying to save it.
Guardian 2nd June 2014 read more »
Barack Obama’s plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants places widely different burdens on the states, and in some cases allows states to increase – not reduce – emissions, according to early analyses of the new rules. The new rules would require only modest effort from heavy coal states such as Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky while requiring big cuts from Texas, Louisiana, and New York, according to an analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance research company. The Bloomberg analysis also found the plan would allow for slight emissions rises in some states.
Guardian 3rd June 2014 read more »
Iran
It is increasingly unlikely that six world powers and Iran will meet their July 20 deadline to negotiate a long-term deal for Iran to curb its nuclear programme in return for an end to economic sanctions, diplomats and analysts say.In theory, an extension to the high-stakes talks should not be a problem if all sides want it. But President Barack Obama would need to secure Congress’ consent at a time of fraught relations between the administration and lawmakers.
Reuters 4th June 2014 read more »
Fusion
One of the holy grails of energy generation has long been fusion power, replicating the reactions that take place in stars like the sun. So far such efforts have proved very difficult – but one company claims to have found a solution that could provide the world with a huge, renewable and green source of energy. The Focus Fusion project is entering its final phase, with scientists aiming to prove that their concept really works.
Daily Mail 3rd June 2014 read more »
Renewables
The renewables sector has hit back at comments made earlier this week by Energy UK that it has an ’emotion-driven and expensive’ agenda. Speaking at the Eurelectric Convention yesterday (2 June), Energy UK’s chief executive Angela Knight pointed to the recent EU elections as an example of how views of the Union are changing, claiming this needs to be reflected in how energy decisions are taken.
Edie 3rd June 2014 read more »
European governments must stop handing generous subsidies to green energy technologies, the head of energy giant E.On has warned. Johannes Teyssen said that renewable power sources, such as wind and solar, were no longer in their infancy, so to continue to hand them special treatment had a distortive effect. Speaking in London at the annual conference of Eurelectric, the European electricity industry body of which he is president, Mr Teyssen said: “10 years ago renewables were in an immature state and needed to be nurtured.
Telegraph 3rd June 2014 read more »
Europe could save up to £66bn a year, cutting each household’s electricity bill by more than £100 in the process, by developing an EU-wide electricity market, according to a major new report released today. The predictions from trade association Eurelectric rely on a huge shake up of the continent’s energy market that would see national renewable energy subsidies phased out and replaced with a much strong carbon price covering the entire EU bloc.
Business Green 2nd June 2014 read more »
Renewables – Wave Power
Queenland-based wave energy developer Perpetuwave Power has been awarded a UK government grant to put towards the development and testing of its Australian made wave power technology at a purpose built facility in Cornwall.
Renew Economy 4th June 2014 read more »
Renewables – solar
Griff Rhys Jones has won a battle to stop a £20 million solar farm being built on countryside near his home. The actor and comedian claimed that the plan to install 42,000 solar panels on 94 acres of farmland beside the Alton Water reservoir at Tattingstone, near Ipswich, Suffolk, was “cack-handed and opportunistic”.
Times 4th June 2014 read more »
Community Energy
Co-operatives UK has successfully led a lobbying campaign that called on the Government to safeguard investment in community energy co-operatives. Realising the potential impact of provisions within the 2014 Budget Co-operatives UK rallied 70 community energy co-operatives, and the Social Economy Alliance, to back calls for an exemption for energy co-ops, so that they could continue attracting community investment.
Click Green 22nd May 2014 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Bill would exempt all small housing developments from new green standards and allow builders to pay their way out of full obligations. The coalition has effectively abandoned a pledge to make all new homes ‘zero-carbon’ by 2016, as new legislation in the Queen’s speech would not apply to housing built in small developments and companies would be allowed to buy exemptions from new green standards.
Edie 3rd June 2014 read more »
Climate
The world needs to spend $48 trillion between now and 2035 in order to keep the lights on and meet rising demand for energy, the International Energy Agency says in its World Energy Investment Outlook. The bad news is that if you spend all of that money, the IEA’s best guess is you get a 4 degree world. The good news is that if we can collectively muster another $5 trillion – then we can keep the lights on and avoid dangerous climate change, according to the IEA.
Carbon Brief 3rd June 2014 read more »
Telegraph 3rd June 2014 read more »
The world is not moving fast enough on investment in low carbon energy to tackle climate change, new research from the International Energy Agency has found. About $1.6 trillion is invested annually in the global energy supply, but while that represents a doubling of investment since the turn of the century, the amount needs to rise to $2 trillion if the world is to limit global warming to no more than 2C of temperature rises, the energy thinktank said. Energy efficiency will be key, the IEA said, with about $130bn spent on it globally each year at present, an investment that must rise to more than $550bn by 2035. Companies and governments are still investing heavily in fossil fuels, which could leave $300bn in ‘stranded assets’, such as coal-fired power plants and oil extraction infrastructure, it added.
Guardian 3rd June 2014 read more »
Europe is at serious risk of power blackouts and may lose control of energy security without a radical overhaul of its shambolic policies, the world’s top energy watchdog has warned. “In Europe we are facing the risk of the lights going off. This is not a joke,” said Fatih Birol, the International Energy Agency’s chief economist.
Telegraph 3rd June 2014 read more »
China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, will limit its total emissions for the first time by the end of this decade, according to a top government advisor. He Jiankun, chairman of China’s Advisory Committee on Climate Change, told a conference in Beijing on Tuesday that an absolute cap on carbon emissions will be introduced.
Guardian 3rd June 2014 read more »
