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Wylfa

UK Government is committed to at least “one more large nuclear plant” as a minister said they continue to talk to potential developers interested in the Wylfa Newydd site. Hitachi pulled the plug on the £16bn project last year after failing to reach a funding agreement with UK Government. The Government is now negotiating with EDF to enable investment in the planned Sizewell C nuclear power plant project in Suffolk but said there is the potential for more sites. The Anglesey community council where a Wylfa B would be sited said they remained supportive but were “tired of the uncertainty”. Energy minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan told Anglesey stakeholders: “We all appreciate that Wylfa Newydd is a great site and we have the commitment within our energy white paper and the 10-point plan that new nuclear investment is a critical part of our energy mix going forwards. “We have regular discussions with a number of potential developers and investors and that will continue because we are absolutely committed to having at least one more large-scale nuclear plant.”

Business Live 4th May 2021 read more »

Hinkley & Sizewell

The high fatality rate which the cooling systems of two British nuclear power stations may impose on marine life is worrying environmentalists, who describe the heavy fish toll they expect as “staggering”. The two stations, Hinkley Point C, under construction on England’s west coast, and Sizewell C, planned for the eastern side of the country, will, they say, kill more than 200 million fish a year and destroy millions more sea creatures. But the stations’ builders say their critics are exaggerating drastically. Objectors to the fish kill had hoped that the UK government agency tasked with conserving fish stocks in the seas around Britain, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), would be on their side. They have been disappointed to learn that Cefas is a paid adviser to the French nuclear company EDF, which is building the stations, and would raise no objections to the company’s method of cooling them with seawater.

Climate News Network 4th May 2021 read more »

Big Carl takes the strain: World’s largest crane lifts 1,600-ton steel ring as Britain’s latest nuclear power plant takes shape at Hinkley Point.

Daily Mail 4th May 2021 read more »

Climate Policy

The environment secretary George Eustice is under pressure from Downing Street after a leaked memo revealed that his department still had no plan to meet its carbon emissions targets. All ministers have been told by Boris Johnson to develop workable strategies to cut emissions in their sectors as part of his roadmap to net zero by 2050. However, an internal memo revealed that, despite being responsible for a tenth of the total UK emissions, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had yet to agree policies that can deliver this.

Times 5th May 2021 read more »

All the targets are set, for the next five years at least. Now is the small case of actually cutting carbon, a task currently overshadowed by an argument over the ‘true cost of net zero’. The impending Treasury Net Zero Review is a chance to tackle this head on, dispelling some of the greatest myths about a ‘crippling’ cost of decarbonising, and setting a precedent that can lead to all of government swinging in behind net zero. Her Majesty’s Treasury operates in the same way to an oil tanker. Years of ingrained thinking means things are slow to turn around. Once pointing in the right direction, though, there’s no stopping it. Initial signs that the review heralds a change of tune are positive. The interim net zero review, released late 2020, stressed that the effect of taking action on economic growth would be small, and that the cost of inaction dwarfs that associated with ditching fossil fuels. On total costs, Treasury itself says that macro-level estimates are highly uncertain, extremely speculative and based on a large number of assumptions. It also says that addressing market failures and underpinning a consistent policy environment can ensure the transition takes place as cheaply as possible. Any models run by HMT to estimate this ‘total cost’ will be subject to its own disclaimers on accuracy. Economy-wide models have long underestimated the pace of technological change, with recent research from UCL highlighting that the benefits of cumulative innovation, as well as those from investing early, are absent from the spreadsheets that spit out big and scary ‘total cost’ numbers.

ECIU 27th April 2021 read more »

Greenwashing

ScottishPower and Good Energy are calling for regulatory reforms to close “loopholes” in the energy retail market that allow for greenwashing. Greenwashing – a process whereby companies seek to make their products seem more environmentally friendly than they are – includes the use of renewable energy certificates without direct connection to the source through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) or investment into green energy, according to the two suppliers. Many suppliers sell ‘green energy’ utilising these renewable certificates, but this is misleading customers they continued.

Current 4th May 2021 read more »

Europe

An early draft of the EU’s upcoming renewable energy directive confirms the bloc’s objective of sourcing 38-40% of its energy from renewables by 2030, roughly doubling the share of solar, wind and other renewables in Europe’s energy mix by the end of the decade. The European Commission’s revised renewable energy directive will be presented on 14 July as part of a broader package of laws intended to meet the bloc’s updated climate goals for 2030. Only two weeks ago, policymakers agreed on a new European Climate Law which, for the first time, makes the bloc’s 2050 climate neutrality objective a legal obligation on the EU. The new law also sets an objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, although that goal will also take into account carbon removals from forestry and land use, making the gross target look more like a 52 or 53% reduction.

Euractiv 4th May 2021 read more »

France

The French not sufficiently prepared in the event of a nuclear accident. The ANCCLI – responsible for informing the population about nuclear risks – warned Tuesday morning of the ineffectiveness of existing prevention campaigns and calls on the government to review the entire nuclear emergency plan.

Europe1 4th May 2021 read more »

People living near nuclear plants in France are not sufficiently aware of what to do to in the event of a nuclear accident, according to an organisation that collects information on the nuclear industry. The ANCCLI, which aims to inform ordinary citizens about the nuclear industry, wants better simulation exercises and a more efficient distribution of iodine tablets so that those living and working near nuclear sites are better equipped to deal with any such accident. “In the country that is the most nuclearised in the world in relation to the number of inhabitants, methods of public protection are unsuitable and insufficient,” says the ANCCLI in a report released on Tuesday. France is home to 19 nuclear power stations run by EDF, as well as nuclear reprocessing sites and nuclear plants used for research. The ANCCLI also expressed concern that local people are not availing of supplies of iodine tablets, which can mitigate the effects of radiation by saturating the thyroid with stable iodine so that it rejects radioactive iodine.

RFI 4th May 2021 read more »

ANCCLI’s White Paper 9 – The post-accident: anticipation and preparation, at the heart of cross-border CLI discussions.

ANCCLI 4th May 2021 read more »

India

France remains desperate to sell its severely troubled EPR nuclear reactors to India, even though its own project at home and at both the sites outside of France have had severe cost and time overruns and continue to face safety issues. On March 3, 2021, Electricité de France, EDF, the sole operator of nuclear power plants in France, informed the country’s nuclear safety body, Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), of a design anomaly on three nozzles of the main primary system of the European Pressurised Reactor that it has been building at Flamanville in north-west France. The design flaw is serious as the main primary system contains water used to cool the reactor core and transfer energy from the nuclear reaction to the steam generators. The design dates back to 2006 and the nozzles were manufactured in 2011.

Media India Group 2nd May 2021 read more »

Finland

THE NUCLEAR POWER PROJECT of Fennovoima in Pyhäjoki, North Ostrobothnia, is set to be delayed further, writes YLE. The Finnish consortium of power and industrial companies stated last week that its effort to ensure the design and licencing materials meet the Finnish standards has taken longer than expected, predicting that a building permit for the plant could be secured by mid-2022 instead of 2021. The construction would therefore start in the summer of 2023 and the plant start commercial operation in 2029. The timetable is set forth in a supplement attached last week to the building permit application the consortium filed with the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in 2015. Fennovoima, the supplement reveals, has also raised its cost estimate for the project from 6.5–7.0 to 7.0–7.5 billion euros, citing its own operational and administrative costs.

Helsinki Times 4th May 2021 read more »

Floating Nuclear

Russia eyes building five more floating nuclear plants: report. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has reportedly approved a plan to power a far eastern copper mining venture by building as many as five floating nuclear power plants, according to a report in the RBC business newswire, marking a major advance in Moscow’s ambitions for its most controversial energy source.

Bellona 4th May 2021 read more »

Renewable Supplies

Great Britain’s windfarms set a new clean energy record on Monday after the blowy bank holiday weather helped onshore and offshore wind turbines make up almost half of the electricity system. The blustery bank holiday produced a new wind power record as turbines generated just over 17.6GW of electricity for the first time in the middle of Monday afternoon, enough to run more than 3.5m kettles. Windfarms generated 48.5% of the electricity grid in England, Scotland and Wales, which was more than the contribution made by gas plants, nuclear reactors and biomass burners combined. Gas plants powered 21.7% of the electricity grid yesterday afternoon, while nuclear reactors generated 12% and biomass power units contributed 6.1%.

Guardian 4th May 2021 read more »

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