22 May 2010

Coalition

The coalition has pledged that it will not provide any subsidies to the nuclear industry. This, you might think, is likely to present a wee bit of a problem. Nuclear is a deeply uneconomic technology. So are some kinds of renewables at the moment, but the technology on which renewables depend is in its infancy. Improvements in renewable technology, further commercialisation and economies of scale - if we can ever get renewables off the ground - will reduce these costs over time. Not so with nuclear. The technology has been around and in commercial use for over 50 years now. It is unlikely that further major cost reductions can be achieved. That is why nuclear still depends, for its very existence, on huge levels of government subsidy.

Inverness Courier 21st May 2010 more >>

The coalition government has published its programme for the next five years, paving the way for a new nuclear power station programme and pledging a Green Deal to give homeowners access to finance to make their homes more energy efficient.

Construction Manager 21st May 2010 more >>

Tucked away in this week’s policies statement from the Tory-Lib Dem coalition is a paragraph that shocked me. Since the Lib Dems have principled objections to more nuclear power plants, it says, they will be allowed to opt out of policy-making or Commons votes involving these nasty things. Has nobody noticed that the new Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne, is himself a Lib Dem? He proclaimed on Thursday: ‘The renewables industry will come of age under this government.’ Last week, he said there is no reason to stop a consortium building some new nuclear power stations in Britain, but ‘on the key principle that there will be no public subsidy’.

If even half of what Huhne says is sincere, if Britain does not start some nuclear plants fast, by 2020 you are likely to find your lights going out without touching any switches, and the whole economy imperilled.

Daily Mail 22nd May 2010 more >>

Nuclear Subsidies

RADIATION Free Lakeland is backing a letter sent by the Nuclear Free Local Authorities group to the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne. Marianne Birkby says that RFL fully endorses the NFLA call for an end to the taxpayer picking up the tab for the nuclear industry’s waste. She explains: “The proposed “fixed unit price” for “waste disposal” amounts to billions of pounds in subsidy that makes the politicians’ expenses scandal look piffling in comparison.

Get Noticed Online 22nd May 2010 more >>

Nuclear Costs

Letter from Neil Criaig: Colin McInnes admirably sets out the nuts and bolts of sea turbine cost and efficiency, showing that the 4 billion to be spent will produce 400MW. His price comparison of this as being equal to a 1,650MW nuclear plant, excluding greater maintenance costs for turbines, may well be what our government is aiming at. It is not, however, what nuclear need cost. Westinghouse (a company which used to be owned by British Nuclear until our government forced it to sell it to Japan) is selling its AP 1000 generator off the shelf for 1,200 per KW for the first reactor, which may fall to 800 per KW for subsequent reactors, so for the same 4bn we could get 4,500MW of electric capacity, 11 times as much.

Of course we won’t get that because even self-styled “pro-nuclear” politicians want massive amounts of time and money-consuming regulation which, as can be seen, triples the cost, even though it still leaves nuclear less than a third of the cost of turbines and nearly a tenth of that of windmills. However, it is important that, whatever the final cost, the people are aware of the true options.

Scotsman 22nd May 2010 more >>

A snap examination of the 1 ,588MW of electricity- producing wind farms in Scotland showed that they were only producing 25MW.

As a Hyperion Triga Reactor, which can be carried on the back of a lorry, produces 27MW, the further construction of wind farms seems utterly stupid.

Scotsman 22nd May 2010 more >>

Dounreay

Letter from Geoffrey Minter: Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL), through their contractors, recommenced monitoring at Sandside Bay at 9am on Tuesday. Two nuclear fuel fragments were detected at 9.45am and 12.45pm approximately on that day; the first initially assessed as being in the Dounreay Particle Advisory Group (DPAG) devised “minor” category and the second in its “relevant” category - the latter being the most radioactive of the last 44 detected since 2008. Sandside’s four-mile coastline is the off-site location where the vast majority of Dounreay’s errant intermediate level radioactive waste (ILRW) naturally beaches; 151 fuel rod particles and an unidentified radioactive object have now been detected here and repatriated to Dounreay since 1997. Three comparatively very low radioactivity “hot spots” have been found at two other off-site locations - two at Murkle beach and one at Dunnet beach. Happily, it is now not envisaged, after 11 years since our access and use consent of Sandside’s coastline was first requested by UKAEA in March 1999, that it will be necessary for the Sandside Estate company to suspend vehicular monitoring consent again.

John O Groat Journal 21st May 2010 more >>

Dungeness

Damian Collins, MP for Folkestone and Hythe says on the day following the announcement of the new Cabinet, I wrote to Chris Huhne, the new Secretary of State for Energy requesting an update on the consideration of Dungeness as a potential site for a new power station, and I look forward to updating you on his response. A new power station at Dungeness could create thousands of new jobs.

Romney Marsh Times 22nd May 2010 more >>

US

Areva said Friday it had been awarded a $2 billion loan guarantee from the American government to help build a uranium enrichment facility in Idaho.

Reuters 21st May 2010 more >>

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 42 university-led nuclear research and development (R&D) projects for grants totaling $38m. These projects, funded over three to four years through the Department’s Nuclear Energy University Program, will help advance nuclear education and develop the the next generation of nuclear technologies.

Energy Business Review 21st May 2010 more >>

Bangladesh

Bangladesh said on Saturday Russia had formally agreed to assist the energy-starved South Asian country in building nuclear power plants.

Yahoo 22nd May 2010 more >>

Iran

There are “indications” that Iran may be willing to hold fresh talks with world powers on its controversial nuclear programme, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Friday.

EU Business 22nd May 2010 more >>

Iran will hand an official letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency chief on Monday about its nuclear fuel swap agreement with Brazil and Turkey.

Yahoo 21st May 2010 more >>

Lula and Erdogan have shown that dealing with proud and prickly nations like Iran, showing respect, friendship and a willingness to dialogue, however difficult and time-consuming, yields far better results than sanctions, threats and military confrontation.

Middle East Online 21st May 2010 more >>

Iran intends to go ahead with a deal reached with Turkey and Brazil for a nuclear fuel swap despite a new sanctions resolution against Tehran pending at the United Nations, an Iranian parliamentarian said today.

Independent 22nd May 2010 more >>

Japan

Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd filed a plan with the government on Friday that will delay by five months until October the start of constructing in Aomori Prefecture a plant designed to produce plutonium-uranium mixed oxide, or MOX fuel. Due to the postponement, completion of the plant, which will be built in the village of Rokkasho, is now being targeted in March 2016, from the originally planned June 2015.

Japan Today 22nd May 2010 more >>

Pakistan

The Pakistan government will allocate some Rs18 billion ($213 million) for the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in the upcoming development budget for 2010-11 to complete 19 ongoing nuclear energy-related projects under public sector development programs, according to a report in the Daily Times newspaper.

World Nuclear News 21st May 2010 more >>

Trident

The Government could make significant savings on Britain’s nuclear weapons deterrent without compro- mising its credibility, according to a study from an independent think tank. Dispensing with the current practice of “continuous-at-sea deterrence” – which relies on one nuclear armed Vanguard- class submarine always being on patrol – could extend the life of the four boats well beyond 2024.

The new policy could also mean that the existing fleet is not replaced by as many submarines. That would save more than £11 billion, according to Nick Ritchie and Paul Ingram, authors of the report published by the Royal United Services Institute. Their report suggested one submarine could remain in port on enhanced alert, being ready to sail at short notice if intelligence warned of an imminent attack.

Devon Herald Express 22nd May 2010 more >>

THE South Somerset Peace Group next meets at the Minster Rooms, Ilminster, on Tuesday, May 25. Veteran campaigner Pat Arrowsmith will speak to the group about the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, discussing Trident and Britain’s role in ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

This is the West Country 22nd May 2010 more >>

CND chairwoman Kate Hudson has launched an email campaign targeting Defence Secretary Liam Fox and Defence Minister Nick Harvey after the government said there would be no compromise over Trident. “I am very relaxed about explaining to our Liberal Democrat colleagues that the system is actually the best value for money,” Mr Fox said. “We believe that Britain needs a credible nuclear deterrent.”

Morning Star 21st May 2010 more >>

The Lib Dems have got seats on both the new National Security Committee and the more secretive NSC (Nuclear Deterrence and Security) committee. The second panel deals with the state’s greatest secrets, relating to our nuclear weapons. It will be attended by Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne: two men who oppose nuclear weapons now have access to our nuclear secrets.

Telegraph Blog 21st May 2010 more >>