6 July 2010

Sellafield

A new manufacturing line is to be installed at the Sellafield MOX Plant that will carry out work for Japanese utilities and might secure the plant’s future. As well as improving overall performance the new rod manufacturing line will ultimately replace the existing one, and this is “critical to achieving the planned throughput in SMP to secure long term operation,” Sellafield Ltd said. It is hoped that modifying the manufacturing area will improve reliability and allow faster production of fuel.

World Nuclear News 2nd July 2010 more >>

An Anglo-French consortium has clinched a deal to build a nuclear waste processing plant at Sellafield, said to be worth an eventual £1.5 billion. A group involving British firms Amec and Balfour Beatty and French outfit Areva will design and construct the new Highly Active Liquid Effluent Facility at the site.

Cumberland News 5th July 2010 more >>

Carlisle News & Star 5th July 2010 more >>

Dungeness

Dungeness may be put back on the Government’s list of new nuclear sites after a campaign by new Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins. The site was taken off a list of areas where new power stations might be built by former energy secretary Ed Miliband in November, prompting anger from Shepway District Council which argued the need for local jobs. But after a speech by Conservative Mr Collins in the House of Commons this week, energy minister Charles Hendry said the decision would be reconsidered.

Kentish Express 24th June 2010 more >>

Hinkley

Around £100 million a year could be pumped into the South West economy during the construction of a controversial new nuclear power station in the region. Once the plant at Hinkley Point on the Somerset coast is complete, the region could reap £40 million annually and sustain 900 jobs throughout its 60-year lifespan, an independent report estimates. The twin reactors form one of the biggest civil engineering projects ever undertaken in the South West, with economic benefits across the region. As anti-nuclear campaigners accused French power giant EDF Energy of attempting to buy off opposition, business leaders hailed the opportunities brought about by a massive boost to pay packets during tough economic times.

This is Somerset 5th July 2010 more >>

It is one of the biggest civil engineering projects ever envisaged for the South West – and would trigger economic benefits that could sustain hundreds of jobs for years to come. It sounds like the best news the region has had for a long time – and given that a stream of austerity announcements emerging from Whitehall sound gloomier by the day, the project in prospect is one we must surely grasp with both hands. But this is a nuclear project. And that necessarily means a whole catalogue of issues will need to be addressed by politicians, business leaders and whole communities. So the region must today begin a nuclear debate that will produce a clear understanding of Hinkley’s benefit and compromise. Otherwise we will fail a generation who currently survey an economic landscape devoid of opportunity.

This is Plymouth 5th July 2010 more >>

A continued unplanned outage on British Energy’s Hinkley Point B7 nuclear plant also supported firmer prices.

Reuters 5th July 2010 more >>

Bradwell

An occasional newsletter for supporters of the Blackwater Against new Nuclear Group (BANNG) Compiled by Andy Blowers, Chair of BANNG. In this issue, I look at what has been happening on the national and local scene over the last few months and the impact on the campaign against a new nuclear power station and spent fuel store at Bradwell.

Stop Oldbury 5th July 2010 more >>

Sizewell

A SENIOR firefighter has sought to reassure the public over the scale of a fire at Sizewell B nuclear power station. About 50 firefighters were at the scene for seven hours after fire broke out in a charcoal filter on Friday night. But Kevin Burton, an area manager for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service who was in charge of crews at the incident, said their presence was mainly precautionary and that the eat generated by the small blaze was less than that of lit a cigarette.

Lowestoft Journal 5th July 2010 more >>

A fire at the Sizewell B nuclear plant in Suffolk was brought under control after around 40 firefighters spent nearly seven hours tackling it. The fire broke out shortly before 9.00pm on Saturday night in a building housing a charcoal absorber which is used to filter out gases. Eight crews from Suffolk Fire and Rescue worked with the plant’s emergency response team to flood the absorber and they extinguished the fire soon after 3.30am.

info4fire 6th July 2010 more >>

A fire broke out at EdF’s 1,188MW Sizewell B nuclear power plant on 2 July, but the reactor is still expected to restart this quarter. The fire has been provisionally categorised as being of “no safety significance”, or a level 0 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, although a full investigation will take place. Sizewell B was already off line, having started an unplanned outage on 17 March amid problems with a pressurising component. The facility which comprises two turbines and one nuclear reactor was scheduled to return in June, but the outage was extended. The fire has not affected the plant’s anticipated third-quarter restart, a spokesman said. The extended Sizewell B outage will result in a total loss of 4-6TWh, the French utility confirmed earlier in the summer. EdF also shut down more nuclear capacity on 2 June, taking its 615MW Hinkley Point B unit 7 off line for an unplanned outage. The French utility is preparing a restart plan but may carry out additional unrelated maintenance while the unit is off line.

Argus Media 5th July 2010 more >>

Flamanville

Construction of Electricite de France SA’s EPR nuclear reactor at Flamanville in Normandy is running about 24 months late. The company is likely to publish a new calendar for Flamanville this month.

Bloomberg 6th July 2010 more >>

Nuclear Research

Germany’s Eon is to gain access to the results of research carried out by France’s Commissariat l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) after the two companies signed a cooperation agreement. The framework agreement covers the nuclear energy field and provides the basis for new research projects focused on the future use of nuclear energy, says Eon. The research will cover existing second-generation nuclear plants, third-generation technologies that are being or are about to be deployed as well as more advanced fourth-generation types. The agreement gives Eon access to CEA research results while also enabling CEA to expand its European focus to include types of reactors that are operated or are planned outside of France.

Utility Week 5th July 2010 more >>

Companies

Engineering group Poyry has acquired 100% of the shares of Brennus Ingenieurs Conseils, the company which runs Numex, Europe’s platform for operators of nuclear power plants. Numex is renowned by the nuclear energy industry for its plant-related maintenance experience and as a forum for best-practice maintenance procedures. The current members of Numex include nuclear operators in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Finland, UK, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.

New Statesman 5th July 2010 more >>

Chernobyl

THE Chernobyl tragedy began with a “controlled” experiment which went disastrously wrong. On April 26, 1986, at 1.23am technicians at Ukraine’s Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station allowed the power in the fourth reactor to fall. To carry out their tests, they deactivated several major safety systems that would have shut down the reactor in case of accident. The experiment went wrong. Two explosions blew the top off the reactor building and a fire started in the core which burned for several days. A cloud of deadly radioactivity dispersed into the surrounding environment, continuing to pour from the damaged reactor for 10 days.

Daily Post 6th July 2010 more >>

Energy Supplies

Electric cars must be taxed to pay for more power stations or they could drain the National Grid and even contribute to power cuts, an energy firm has warned.

Telegraph 6th July 2010 more >>

Burma

Energy Insecurity: How Total, Chevron, and PTTEP Contribute to Human Rights Violations, Financial Secrecy, and Nuclear Proliferation in Burma (Myanmar) reveals how these companies have deceived their shareholders, the public, and governments about their legal ability to disclose their financial details in Burma and presents new evidence on the revenues generated by the Yadana project for the Burmese military regime. Additionally, the report describes violent human rights abuses committed in the last year by the Burma Army providing security for the oil companies and the pipeline, and analyzes how the companies remain legally liable for such abuses.

Earth Rights 5th July 2010 more >>

Canada

The 25-year-old reactor at Point Lepreau was supposed to be refreshed, refitted and running full-tilt last September after a $1 billion repair. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the crown corporation that built the reactor, was to have demonstrated the efficacy of refurbishing nuclear reactors that would otherwise have to be retired.

Global Post 5th July 2010 more >>

Saudi Arabia

The Saudi cabinet agreed on Monday to sign a nuclear cooperation accord with France, which could open the way for French help in developing nuclear power in the oil-rich kingdom.

Middle East Online 5th July 2010 more >>

Trident

Liberal Democrat alternative plans for the nuclear deterrent “could start world war three”, an MP has warned. Speaking during defence questions in the Commons this afternoon, Tory MP Julian Lewis said placing nuclear warheads on cruise missiles was “more expensive and less effective” than the planned Trident replacement. He said: “As an alterative to Trident, the idea of putting nuclear tipped cruise missiles on Astute class submarines would be more expensive, less effective, put the submarine at risk and because you can’t know what sort of warhead is on a cruise missile until it has landed and could start world war three by accident.”

ePolitix 5th July 2010 more >>

Climate

The world is heading for an average temperature rise of nearly 4C (7F), according to analysis of national pledges from around the globe. Such a rise would bring a high risk of major extinctions, threats to food supplies and the near-total collapse of the huge Greenland ice sheet.

Guardian 6th July 2010 more >>