27 May 2010

New Nukes

EDF Energy will announce today that it has received sufficient reassurances from the energy and climate change secretary, Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne, to continue planning for a new generation of nuclear plants in Britain. There were fears that the Lib Dems’ manifesto commitment to halt the construction of any more nuclear reactors, and recent sceptical signals from Huhne, could derail its £20bn building programme. But Vincent de Rivaz, the chief executive of EDF in Britain, will tell a conference he is convinced that both sides are committed to the same goal: new reactors without subsidies and at a viable cost.

Guardian 27th May 2010 more >>

Voters of all three main political parties support nuclear power and are in favour of changes to the planning system to make it easier to build new nuclear plants, according to a major poll by YouGov for EDF Energy. Nearly two thirds (64 per cent) of all voters now say that nuclear power is needed as part of a balanced energy source for the UK.

The Engineer 26th May 2010 more >>

Nuclear Banks

BankTrack, in cooperation with a number of working partners, today launches, a new website mapping the involvement of 45 leading commercial banks in funding nuclear power projects and companies active in the nuclear sector. BankTrack considers nuclear energy a grave danger for people and planet. The renewed interest in nuclear energy also poses a severe obstacle to achieving a sustainable solution to the climate crisis. The website provides information on 867 transactions, involving a total of 124 banks providing finance to over 70 nuclear companies. Between 2000 and 2009, these banks provided a total amount of 175 billion euro to the nuclear sector.

Bank Track 26th May 2010 more >>

Nuclear Reaction 26th May 2010 more >>

Radioactive Waste

Posiva, which is owned by the power utilities TVO and Fortum, plans to have the facility deep in the bedrock at Olkiluoto ready to begin operations by 2020. In order to do so, it needs official approval of current plans. There will also be a need for expansion in order to fit in spent fuel from the two new reactors that Parliament is likely to approve before going on summer recess. The schedule calls for Posiva to file an application for a construction licence late next year. Time is running short, if the company is to stay on schedule. There are still questions that need to be answered, especially about the reliability of the barrier that will surround the canisters holding the radioactive waste. A researcher working with the project recently contacted YLE with the claim that Posiva is cutting corners at the expense of safety. The source, who does not want to be named, says the company is hiding data.

YLE 26th May 2010 more >>

Companies

Engineering group Weir has struck a deal with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industriesto develop and install pumps for Britain’s next generation of nuclear power stations.

Reuters 27th May 2010 more >>

Sizewell

Peat excavated from the building site of a new nuclear power station could be used to convert a farm-sized area into lowland heaths. But the greatest potential for restoring this threatened habitat comes from felling forests.

ENDS 25th May 2010 more >>

Wylfa

AN internet hacker took over an anti-nuclear campaigner’s email and contacted his friends telling them he was stuck in Malaysia and desperately needed £1,500 to get home. However, Dylan Morgan, who runs the Cwpwrdd Corner bookshop in Llangefni, told the Mail this week he is fine, and firmly on Welsh soil. Several of Mr Morgan’s friends contacted him after receiving a disturbing email with the subject ‘Emergency’ from his Hotmail account.

Holyhead & Anglesey Mail 26th May 2010 more >>

Cumbria

COPELAND MP Jamie Reed will urge the new coalition government to make sure West Cumbria receives full support for its £2billion Energy Coast projects. Mr Reed will also urge parliament: “The notion of no new nuclear without any public subsidy at all should be abandoned. Public money will inevitably be used to support the civil nuclear constabulary, development of the national grid, establishment of a deep underground repository and much else. “Funding for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority must not only be maintained, it must be increased. The NDA has to be maintained and unequivocally supported.”

Whitehaven News 26th May 2010 more >>

Sellafield

SELLAFIELD’s biggest industrial union, the GMB, has pulled out of talks with the company over the site’s planned 800 job cuts.

Whitehaven News 26th May 2010 more >>

SELLAFIELD’S new warning sirens go “live” this week. The aim is to make it easier for the public and workers to tell the difference between separate types of incidents. There will be two different sounds – one warning of an incident confined to the site and another which could affect the community if radioactivity escapes outside.

Whitehaven News 26th May 2010 more >>

THE Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and two other government guangos within the Department of Energy and Climate Change has been hit by a £20.2 million cut. The NDA, the biggest of the agencies, says it is too early to say what might be affected but a spokesman told The Whitehaven News: “What it won’t impact on is the high-hazard work at Sellafield: removing the hazard from the old silos and ponds will be protected.”

Whitehaven News 26th May 2010 more >>

NEW Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne, known for an anti-nuclear stance in the past, made a hush-hush first visit to Sellafield yesterday. The visit was described as private. There was no Press conference but local stakeholders were given the opportunity to ask questions at a meeting last night in the Sellafield Business Centre. Accompanying Mr Huhne was Charles Hendry, Tory energy minister in the coalition government.

Whitehaven News 26th May 2010 more >>

A £250 million new plutonium plant has been opened at Sellafield. It will supplement an existing facility which has been used to store plutonium produced on the site over many years.Sellafield is believed to hold one of the world’s biggest plutonium stockpiles and is the main reason for the site having its own armed police officers in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. The additional state-of-the-art plant, known as Sellafield Product and Residues Store, is described as one of the biggest nuclear stores in the world. It incorporates some of the most advanced nuclear security features ever used in a building of this type.

Whitehaven News 26th May 2010 more >>

Nuclear Weapons

The government has said it will be “more open” about the UK’s nuclear weapons capability after announcing it will retain a maximum of 225 warheads.

BBC 26th May 2010 more >>

Guardian 27th May 2010 more >>

Times 27th May 2010 more >>

FT 27th May 2010 more >>

Daily Mail 27th May 2010 more >>

Express 27th May 2010 more >>

CND Press Releae 26th May 2010 more >>

UK Foreign Office Minister of State Alistair Burt has travelled to New York to attend talks at the Review Conference of the NPT. The Minister’s arrival follows a significant announcement by the British Government to help enhance confidence and transparency between nuclear and non-nuclear weapons states, by making public the maximum number of nuclear warheads that the UK will hold in its stockpile. In the announcement to Parliament, Foreign Secretary William Hague stated that the UK’s overall stockpile of nuclear warheads will not exceed 225 warheads, and the UK will retain up to 160 operationally available warheads.

News on News 27th May 2010 more >>

The key question as the conference enters the endgame is whether the P-5 nuclear weapon states are willing to drop their demands for the removal of so many of the disarmament commitments that are important to the non-nuclear countries, including references to a nuclear weapons convention or time bound framework to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons

Open Democracy 26th May 2010 more >>

Iran

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today urged Barack Obama to accept an offer to export the country’s uranium to Turkey as a “last opportunity” to resolve the crisis with Tehran. He also warned Russia not to support new UN sanctions, triggering a furious rebuke from Moscow.

Guardian 27th May 2010 more >>

Iran and Russia have clashed over Tehran’s nuclear programme after the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched an extraordinary attack on a country that has traditionally been one of his few allies.

Telegraph 27th May 2010 more >>

Middle East Online 26th May 2010 more >>

Italy

GDF Suez is keen to take part in the Italian nuclear power rebirth but only with at least two other partners, the utility’s chief executive said on Wednesday.

Reuters 26th May 2010 more >>

Czech Republic

AMEC, the international engineering and project management company, has signed a five year contract with Czech utility CEZ for the management of radioactive waste at their nuclear power plant in Dukovany.

Build 26th May 2010 more >>

Smart Grid

An energy-saving trial that will shut down home appliances when peaks of demand threaten to overwhelm the network began this week. About 300 homes in Sandwell in the West Midlands have received fridge-freezers that turn themselves off when the grid is overstretched. Altogether, 3,000 homes will take part in the two-year trial, run by npower. Energy companies plan to offer grants and cheaper tariffs to encourage all households to switch to such appliances. If all homes had smart fridges, Britain’s annual emissions would fall by two million tonnes, the equivalent of taking 700,000 cars off the road or closing a large coal-fired power station.

Times 27th May 2010 more >>

Climate

The Government promised yesterday to support a European plan to raise the target for cutting greenhouse gases this decade. Chris Huhne, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, urged other European Union members to raise their sights and increase the target from 20 to 30 per cent by 2020.

Times 27th May 2010 more >>