11 July 2010

New Nukes

Britain will not get the cash needed to renew its ageing power generation capability without changes to market mechanisms to incentivise investment, the head of RWE nPower says.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Volker Beckers, chief executive of the German-owned company, which supplies electricity and gas to around 6.8m residential and business customers, says that simply putting a floor on the price of carbon is not the solution. Mr Beckers said he wants the market mechanisms that exist to incentivise investments in renewable energy in onshore and offshore wind and biomass to be extended to all low-carbon energy, including nuclear. French electricity giant, EDF Energy, which through its British Energy acquisition owns Britain’s current nuclear power stations, has called for a floor on the price of carbon – a measure that both main political parties supported in their election manifestos. However, RWE nPower does not believe such a floor would be sufficient incentive to invest in new nuclear plants.

Sunday Telegraph 11th July 2010 more >>

Letter Steuart Campbell: CONSIDERING that, in over 50 years’ operation, civil nuclear power in the UK has harmed no one and, because of the designs used, is unlikely to do so, Irene Soames’s conviction that we “are bound” to see a “catastrophic disaster” if the UK builds more nuclear power stations is baseless scaremongering. The “catastrophic disaster” we face is the effect of continued global warming due to burning fossil fuels.

Scotland On Sunday 11th July 2010 more >>

Both Labour and the Conservatives had made clear their intention to back the construction of new power stations. Detailed plans for new reactors, including Hinkley Point C on the Somerset coast, were drawn up. But the sight of Liberal Democrats marching into Downing Street sent a chill through the multi-national companies banking on a new generation of nuclear plants to keep Britain’s lights on. Richard Mayson sounds mightily relieved when he recalls the speed with which the new coalition moved to put their minds at rest. As EDF Energy’s director of planning and external affairs for Nuclear New Build, he is overseeing the plans at Hinkley. For a brief he moment could have been forgiven for thinking it was back to the drawing board.

This is Cornwall 10th July 2010 more >>

Emergency Planning

If it had been real life, it would have been the most audacious act of terrorism since September 11. When Exercise Lindisfarne got under way on Wednesday, March 17, at the Torness power station in East Lothian, it was to test the defences of Scotland’s nuclear industry. And it revealed just how slip-shod safety procedures are in what should be one of the country’s most secure facilities. During the role-playing exercise a “terrorist” with a stolen security pass penetrated the Torness nuclear power station. He damaged the reactor, caused casualties and took several staff hostage. The emergency response launched by the plant’s operators was so riddled with flaws that it failed to deal safely and promptly with the crisis. The exercise was ridiculed yesterday by the nuclear industry’s critics. “In the anniversary week of the 7/7 atrocities in London, when we know that a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility could cause major casualties across Scotland and northern England, this Keystone Cops approach is simply not acceptable,” said Pete Roche, an Edinburgh-based nuclear consultant. “If British Energy can’t get its counter-terrorism arrangements right, then its nuclear facilities should be closed before we end up with a terrible contamination problem.”

Sunday Herald 11th July 2010 more >>

Small Reactors

A new approach is being adopted by the nuclear industry , a new approach has been developed .the approach of small modular reactors. There are several advantages of this approach.

Market Oracle 10th July 2010 more >>

Nuclear Waste

Anti-nuclear protesters have reacted angrily to a report which suggested the burial of nuclear waste is the only safe method of disposal. Members of Radiation Free Lakeland, an activist group run by Marianne Birkby, have branded a potential site “the worst possible option” for the region.

Carlisle News & Star 10th July 2010 more >>

Hinkley

HUNDREDS of local businesses discovered last week how they could get a slice of the multi-billion pound boost predicted for the area if a third nuclear power station is built at Hinkley Point. EDF, which hopes to build two new reactors at Hinkley Point, held a supply chain event at the Express Park in Bridgwater last Tuesday. Alan Cumming, head of procurement and contracts, told the Mercury he was overwhelmed with the reaction from Somerset businesses.

Bridgwater Mercury 10th July 2010 more >>

Wylfa

MAGNOX North expects to restart one of two nuclear reactors at Wylfa power station on Anglesey at the beginning of next month. The reactor, which feeds into two 310-megawatt turbines, had previously been scheduled to return to service at the end of July and has been off line since April 8 for its biannual maintenance. A spokeswoman for the power plant said: “We still have some work ongoing and we want to get it right the first time, so we will not rush the restart.” The other reactor at the nuclear plant is operating normally.

Daily Post 10th July 2010 more >>

Chernobyl

Child victims of the fallout from the Chernobyl disaster are being denied charity holidays in Britain by immigration officials. Children looking forward to a month’s recuperation away from nuclear contamination are having their holiday plans ruined by the UK Border Agency (UKBA), which denies them visas, often just the night before they are due to travel. Since the disaster in 1986, British charities have helped thousands of young people from affected areas in the Ukraine and Belarus to have holidays with British families. Now those charities say their work is becoming impossible as the UKBA rejects so many visas at the last minute.

Independent on Sunday 11th July 2010 more >>

North Korea

NORTH Korea has said it is willing to return to international nuclear disarmament talks following the UN Security Council’s decision to avoid directly blaming it for the sinking of a South Korean warship.

Scotland On Sunday 11th July 2010 more >>