Hinkley
Anyone who wants to be able to make submissions to the national Infrastructure Planning Commission regarding EDFs proposed Hinkley C nuclear power station in Somerset can register with the IPC from Friday, 2 December. The registration period is only open for 28 days or so. Unless you register within this period, you will have no voice in the IPCs deliberations.
IPC 30th Nov 2011 more >>
Herbert Smith has advised long time client EDF Energy on its application to the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) for development consent to construct and operate a 3.2GW nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
The Lawyer 28th Nov 2011 more >>
Plutonium
General Electric set out proposals on Wednesday to build a new nuclear reactor at Sellafield that would convert the UK’s stockpile of radioactive plutonium into electricity. The multibillion pound project would take plutonium – the residue from the UK’s nuclear power plants – and use it as fuel for a 600MW reactor that could provide power for 750,000 homes, according to GE Hitachi. The company’s “Prism” reactor has been in use for more than 30 years in the US, but if the new plant goes ahead it would be the first such plant in private operation outside the US. However, the government has still not decided which option it prefers for dealing with the UK’s plutonium – others include long-term storage, converting it for use in a th orium reactor or building a new mixed oxide fuel (‘mox’) processing plant – and GE’s proposal is likely to face competition. Ministers have been increasingly talking about the future of the stockpile, which costs about £2bn a year to maintain, and some in government want the plutonium to be classed as an asset rather than a liability. Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser, urged ministers earlier this year to find a use for the stockpile. A government decision is expected “shortly”, but no firm date has yet been set.
Guardian 30th Nov 2011 more >>
General Electric and Hitachi want to spend billions of pounds of taxpayers money converting Sellafields stockpile of plutonium the largest in the world into electricity. The joint venture has offered to build Britains first modern fast reactor to deal with the 100 tonnes of highly toxic nuclear waste stored on the sprawling site in Cumbria. The reactor would operate for 60 years, supplying enough electricity to to power 600,000 homes. Nuclear experts estimate, however, that the cost of building and operating the reactor would be 50 per cent higher than conventional new nuclear power plants. Danny Roderick, vice-president of the joint venture, claimed that the plan would be the best way to get rid of the waste, but he refused to comment on cost. He said that the proposal offered better value for money than an alternative championed by the French group Areva. Areva wants to build a plant that would recycle the stockpiled plutonium into Mox fuel, which could be burnt by reactors in Britain or overseas. The Mox plant would cost about £500 million to build but the fuel that these plants recycle is more expensive to make than conventional nuclear fuel. These higher costs could be passed on to consumers through higher bills. Ian Jackson, a nuclear expert with Chatham House, said: Im fully supportive of what is an exciting proposal.
Times 1st Dec 2011 more >>
Wylfa
AN NFU Anglesey meeting to discuss Horizons proposed Wylfa B development has been rescheduled for Tuesday, December 6, 7pm.Its at the Wylfa Learning and Development Centre, Cemaes and replaces a postponed meeting originally due in October. Speakers are Simon Kingsley and Ed Hodge, of Horizon, and land agent John Ikin. NFU Anglesey chairman Dewi Jones said: Many of our members have voiced deep concerns about the impact of the new power station and all the infrastructure work required and, in particular, the possibility of farmland acquisition by compulsory purchase.
Daily Post 1 Dec 2011 more >>
Radwaste
Taking on the Augean stables was one of the labours Heracles successfully overcame in Greek mythology. But Northamptonshire found no such champion yesterday as the High Court ruled against an attempt to block waste-disposal company Augean from burying radioactive waste in the county. The plan to dump 250,000 tons of nuclear waste a year at the site in Kings Cliffe near Peterborough caused outcry when it was approved by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles in May. Yet moves to block it have proved fruitless. Augean said yesterday it was “pleased” at the dismissal of the challenge to its plans to put waste with “small amounts of radioactivity” into its hazardous landfill facility in East Northamptonshire.
Independent 1st Dec 2011 more >>
Radhealth
The workers dealing with the wreckage caused by the Fukushima disaster may want to take note of the most recent breakthrough in treating radiation poisoning. Researchers have discovered that mice can survive a lethal dose of radiation if given with a newly discovered double-drug therapy – even if they get the cocktail 24 hours after exposure.
Daily Mai 30th Nov 2011 more >>
Carbon
FLAGSHIP government targets on cutting carbon emissions and helping homeowners save energy will not be met, energy firms warned yesterday. MSPs heard there are “grave concerns” among the main three suppliers in Scotland about meeting the terms of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT), aimed at saving 293 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. The Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) was also supposed to deliver £350 million of measures to 90,000 homes, avoiding 2.9 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. But Kevin Roxburgh, managing director of Scottish Gas, told Holyrood’s economy, energy and tourism committee that they were unlikely to be delivered. “We don’t believe the targets are achievable under the current programme,” he told MSPs. The firm is now looking for an extension, as well as talks with the government about how it can improve the programmes. CERT requires all domestic energy suppliers with more than 50,000 customers to make savings in the amount of CO2 emitted by householders. The committee also heard from Norman Kerr, director of Energy Action Scotland (EAS). He said: “EAS projections, and indeed the Cabinet secretary [Alex] Neil’s own figures, state that by the end of this year it is likely that there will be 900,000 households in Scotland living in fuel poverty, not 600,000. And the majority of that is caused by the fuel price increases that are biting just now.”
Scotsman 1st Dec 2011 more >>
New Nukes
The World is turning its back on nuclear power. Thats the key conclusion of the BBCs poll into public attitudes towards nuclear power released last week. Conducted in 23 countries, the poll found that for only 22% of those people asked, nuclear power is relatively safe and an important source of electricity, and we should build more nuclear power plants.
Greenpeace 30th Nov 2011 more >>
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP announced in October that the government would set out the 40 infrastructure projects that it would give new special priority status to, and this was to be via the National Infrastructure Plan. So what does it actually say? There is indeed a list of 40 items, but few of them are single projects – they are mostly packages of projects or funding programmes. This list includes 8 nuclear reactors (as 1 project).
Bircham Dyson & Bell 30th Nov 2011 more >>
Dounreay
DOUNREAYS demolition has yielded a £1 million windfall for the Far North. Its the first payment by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to a new community-led group that will invest the money in projects to sustain the area beyond the sites closure. Another £3m is earmarked to come from the NDA during operation of the low-level radioactive waste disposal facility between 2014 and 2023. As construction work got under way on the waste stores on Friday, Rob Gibson, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, collected a cheque for £1m from Nigel Lowe, director for Dounreay at the NDA, on behalf of the local community.
John O Groat Journal 30th Nov 2011 more >>
A RENEWED call for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to fund a long-mooted bypass round Thurso has been made by local councillor. Landward Caithness representative David Flear made the comments following the announcement by the nuclear clean-up quango that spent fuel is to be shipped by train to the Sellafield site in Cumbria for reprocessing. Mr Flear thinks that a legacy fund should be set up as a trade-off for the fuel leaving the Dounreay site.
John O Groat Journal 30th Nov 2011 more >>
Companies
A WARWICKSHIRE construction firm has opened a base in Cumbria to pursue opportunities in the nuclear sector. Morgan Sindall is already bidding for a place on the 15-year, £1.1bn Sellafield Infrastructure Strategic Alliance. But Graham Shennan, managing director of the Rugby-based company, said he expected other work to emerge in the nuclear sector over the next few years.
Business Desk 1st Dec 2011 more >>
A national plant hire firm will create new jobs in Cumbria after clinching a £2 million nuclear contract. Speedy Hire will supply lifting equipment to Sellafield and other nuclear sites under the deal with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
Cumberland News 30th Nov 2011 more >>
Shares in AEA Technology rebounded by 40 per cent yesterday after the privatised division of the UK Atomic Energy Agency allayed investors fears that it could collapse. The energy and environment consultancy said that Lloyds, its banker, had agreed to continue to lend to it for the foreseeable future.
Times 1st Dec 2011 more >>
Politics
The Tories are not so much ditching the huskies as catching a ride with the huskies only if they are going in their direction anyway. The Oxford professor Dieter Helm has written in these pages about the folly of investing so much in nuclear and renewables and not also investing in a non-renewable fossil fuel gas readily available globally and potentially cheap. Helm taught the prime minister’s adviser Steve Hilton at university and is close to another government green, the Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin. Officials confirm that as Britain is closing all its coal-fired power stations, there is a debate inside Whitehall on how much importance gas should assume within a future energy portfolio.
Guardian 30th Nov 2011 more >>
Iran
Israeli officials said in a report Wednesday that a mysterious explosion at an Iranian nuclear facility two days ago was no accident. The eyebrow-raising remarks surfaced in a Times of London story reporting that satellite images show smoke billowing from the uranium enrichment facility in the city of Isfahan.
New York Daily News 30th Nov 2011 more >>
An Iranian nuclear facility has been hit by a huge explosion, the second in a month, prompting speculation that Tehrans military and atomic sites are under attack. Despite denials by Tehran, satellite imagery seen by The Times confirmed that a blast that rocked the city of Isfahan on Monday struck the uranium enrichment facility there. The images clearly showed billowing smoke and destruction, negating Iranian claims that no such explosion had taken place. Israeli intelligence officials told The Times that there was no doubt that the blast struck the nuclear facilities at Isfahan and that it was no accident.
Times 30th Nov 2011 more >>
The Week 30th Nov 2011 more >>
The new IAEA report did not impress the Chinese or the Russians who were unwilling to allow it to prompt a new round of UN sanctions. This is one of the central problems with the Iran sanctions regime. It is really several regimes, applied to varying degrees by different countries. Even existing multilateral UN-backed sanctions are applied differently by different governments. The sum total is that it is indeed harder for the Iranians to do business. But their growing reliance on China as a trading partner – its role in the Iranian economy is growing markedly – means that innovative ways can be found to get around financial sanctions.
BBC 30th Nov 2011 more >>
Japan
Fukushima Crisis Update 22nd Nov to 28th Nov 2011.
Greenpeace 29th Nov 2011 more >>
Japan’s tsunami-stricken nuclear-power complex came closer to a catastrophic meltdown than previously indicated by its operatorwho on Wednesday described how one reactor’s molten nuclear core likely burned through its primary containment chamber and then ate as far as three-quarters of the way through the concrete in a secondary vessel.
Wall Street Journal 1st Dec 2011 more >>
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has announced the results of an analysis on the state of melted fuel in the plant’s Number 1 unit. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, and several research institutes made public their analyses on the melting of fuel rods at 3 of the plant’s units at a government-sponsored study meeting on Wednesday. The analyses were based on temperatures, amounts of cooling water and other data. TEPCO said that in the worse case, all fuel rods in the plant’s Number 1 reactor may have melted and dropped through its bottom into a containment vessel. The bottom of the vessel is concrete covered with a steel plate. The utility said the fuel may have eroded the bottom to a depth of 65 centimeters. The thinnest part of the section is only 37 centimeters thick. TEPCO also said as much as 57 percent of the fuel in the plant’s Number 2 reactor and 63 percent in the Number 3 reactor may have melted, and that some of the melted fuel may have fallen through reactor vessels.
NHK 30th Nov 2011 more >>
Japan’s bilateral civil nuclear cooperation accords with Jordan, Russia, South Korea and Vietnam could take effect in December, with Diet deliberations on them beginning Wednesday despite public concerns about exporting atomic technology in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
Mainichi 30th Nov 2011 more >>
US
A report prepared by the Union of Concerned Scientists in collaboration with independent experts quotes Kent Saathoff, a vice president of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, who said last month, If we dont get any rain between now and next summer, there could be several thousand megawatts of generators that wont have sufficient cooling water to operate next summer.
New York Times 16th Nov 2011 more >>
Taiwan
Environmental groups charged Monday that Taiwan’s government has not resolved how to deal with nuclear waste and proposed suspending operations at the country’s three nuclear power plants until the issue was dealt with. The environmentalists made the appeal at an environmental assessment meeting held by the Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on the government’s radioactive waste management policy. During the meeting, officials from the Atomic Energy Council (AEC), the country’s top nuclear regulatory body, presented a report on its proposed approach to dealing with nuclear waste that will become official policy if approved by the EPA assessment committee. One of the plan’s centerpieces was to have nuclear waste recycled overseas before shipping it back to Taiwan for permanent storage.
Taiwan News 28th Nov 2011 more >>
China
China may be using thousands of miles of underground tunnels to hide a nuclear missile arsenal that is far bigger than current estimates, according to researchers. They spent three years translating secret military documents, scouring the internet and studying satellite images for clues and concluded that China may have as many as 3,000 missiles, compared with general estimates of between 80 and 400.
Daily Mail 1st Dec 2011 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
AS workers strike today (Wednesday, November 30) over plans to clawback public sector pensions the Sentinel can reveal their contributions have been used to invest in nuclear weapons, tobacco, alcohol, bookies, oil and US arms firms including Raytheon.
Londonderry Sentinel 1st Dec 2011 more >>
Renewables
Construction company Carillion has warned 4,500 staff their jobs are at risk because of government plans for a dramatic cut in solar energy subsidies. The company has begun a statutory 90-day consultation period in its energy services division prior to the anticipated slashing of feed-in tariffs.
Guardian 1st Dec 2011 more >>
High Fearnley-Whittingstall: I’ve learned from other projects I’ve been involved with, like the Fish Fight campaign, and our Landshare website, that when you bring together people, communities, like-minded NGOs and companies, really big changes can happen. And frankly, changing the way we produce our power, so that it doesn’t deplete the Earth’s resources and mess up our climate, is change that’s as massive as it is urgent. But we have to start somewhere. And that’s why I am very happy to be involved in a scheme called Energyshare. It was launched just over a year ago with the specific aim of helping local groups, charities, housing associations and the like to generate their own renewable energy, many on a significant scale.
Guardian 1st Dec 2011 more >>
Energy Share Please Vote
Greener Leith, our local environment group at no2nuclearpower is in the final short list for a grant of up to £80,000 for a proposed Portobello and Leith Community Wind Turbine project. If the project gets the green light it won’t just generate green energy, it will also generate a surplus of hundreds of thousands of pounds over its lifetime, which will be used to support community projects in Edinburgh. To gain the £80,000 we have to win an online public vote – and we’re currently running a very close second. Therefore, I’m writing to ask you to help us get some more votes. We’re not asking for any of your money. Here’s what you can do to help. Go to the link below and vote for us. Although you have to register on the Energyshare website, the whole process should only take a couple of minutes, and you can opt out of any further communications. Second, once you’ve voted, please share the above link with your own friends and networks – the voting closes on 3 December and we need every vote to make the project a success.
Energy Share 30th Nov 2011 more >>
