New Nukes
Areva of France and Toshiba of Japan will learn in the next six months which has won the competition to work on one of the biggest nuclear projects, worth up to £20bn ($32.4bn). RWE and Eon German energy groups expect to decide in the spring whether to choose French or US-Japanese technology to build from four to six reactors in the UK, which is planning the biggest expansion of nuclear power in Europe.
FT 10th Dec 2009 more >>
Reuters 10th dec 2009 more >>
France’s Areva has staked its export growth on the EPR reactor and is hoping it will beat American rival Westinghouse to become the standard-bearer for a new generation of plants. But delays in building nuclear reactors, cost overruns and design concerns could undermine plans by the world’s largest nuclear reactor builder to grab a leading share of the global atomic energy renaissance.
Reuters 9th Dec 2009 more >>
Jonathan Porritt: Right now, those who still feel that nuclear power has no role to play in a genuinely sustainable world are completely downcast at having to fight those same old battles all over again – this time with the added problem of a growing number of serious environmentalists who’ve thrown in their lot (holding their noses as they go) with the nuclear option. It has to be said that there’s no enthusiasm for the fight. How could there be? And at the moment, there’s no clear sense of where the leadership is going to come from. Who is going to rub people’s noses in the continuing scandal of nuclear waste mismanagement, and remind people that this government promised time after time that there would be no expansion of nuclear power in this country until it had sorted out the problems of nuclear waste? Who is going to hold to account politicians and industry leaders for whom secrecy remains the default mindset? Who is going to expose the near-fraudulent accounting practices endemic within the nuclear industry that continue to blind people to the true economic costs and penalties involved in nuclear power? Who is going to interrogate the philosophical and moral implications of one generation imposing on the next a set of problems and security hazards for which they themselves have absolutely no solution? And who is going to take on those sincere but utterly misguided environmentalists who’ve “gone nuclear” over the last few years because they feel there’s no alternative?
24 Dash 8th Dec 2009 more >>
Tony Staunton CND: The threat of climate change has led some in the environmental movement to back nuclear power as a green source of energy. But nuclear power is not part of the solution – it is part of the problem.
Socialist Worker 8th Dec 2009 more >>
Bradwell
Residents of Essex are this weekend being asked to have their say on proposals to a build a new nuclear power station in the area. Bradwell, near Chelmsford, has been confirmed in by the Government as a potential site for a new nuclear power station.
DECC 9th Dec 2009 more >>
Greenbang 9th Dec 2009 more >>
Hinkley
Town councillors have told EDF to deliver more benefits to Burnham-on-sea if Hinkley C goes ahead.
Burnham-on-sea.com 9th Dec 2009 more >>
David Heathcote-Amory has raised the pylon issue in the House of Commons.
Burnham-on-sea 10th Dec 2009 more >>
Scotland
SCOTLAND would meet its 2020 renewable energy targets three times over if all the schemes currently planned were granted permission. There are enough on- and offshore wind farms, hydro projects and marine renewable schemes in the pipeline to generate 26,073 megawatts of electricity, according to a new report by Scottish Natural Heritage. This is more than three times that needed to meet the 2020 targets of 50 per cent of electricity generated from renewables which would require about 8,000MW. SNH said the statistics showed “excellent” progress was being made towards renewable energy in Scotland.
Scotsman 9th Dec 2009 more >>
SCOTLAND has such ideal conditions for renewables it could play a key role in enabling Europe to meet green energy targets, according to a new report. With perfect conditions for wind farms, hydro schemes, wave and tidal schemes, Scotland has an opportunity to be a European leader in the sector, according to the report by Wood Mackenzie, commissioned by the Scottish Government. The report came as the European Commission confirmed more than 100 million of funding was to be pumped into renewables projects in Scotland.
Scotsman 10th Dec 2009 more >>
Wales
The Wales Yearbook Welsh Politician of the Year Awards included MP of the Year: Newport West Labour MP Paul Flynn, “for being unafraid of speaking his mind on issues like the war in Afghanistan” and Campaigner of the Year: Ynys Mon Labour MP Albert Owen, “for campaigning vigorously on a number of local issues including the bid for a new nuclear power station at Wylfa.”
Western Mail 9th Dec 2009 more >>
Nuclear Waste
New reactors will pile up radioactive waste, which already grows by 12,000 tons a year, the International Energy Agency in Paris estimated. That has prompted scientists to call again for the world to start building permanent dump sites, a request made periodically ever since the first commercial atomic plant began generating power in Sellafield, England, in 1956.
Bloomberg 20th Oct 2009 more >>
Nuclear Research
The government has announced a package of support for the civil nuclear industry, including a multi-million pound upgrade of nuclear laboratories. Business secretary Lord Mandelson said the measures, which include a new research centre in Sheffield, would provide “real help”. He announced an additional £8 million to upgrade nuclear laboratories at Manchester University’s Dalton Nuclear Institute as well as the creation of a “nuclear low-carbon economic area” in the North West and Yorkshire.
Professional Engineering 9th Dec 2009 more >>
NDA
Efforts to reduce the costs of the decommissioning of the UK’s nuclear legacy could jeopardise the building of new reactors, unions have warned. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is taking part in a review of government spending, the Public Value Programme, which will dictate spending next year. The NDA said it was considering putting work on hold and scaling down some projects. Unions said cuts in spending could result in thousands of redundancies in the nuclear sector and leave it ill-equipped to meet the challenge of building the new reactor fleet. The first new reactor, one of 10, is slated to come online in 2018.
Professional Engineering 9th Dec 2009 more >>
Pre Budget Report
Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report at least sounded environmentally friendly, with an additional £200 million for energy efficiency promised from April. The Chancellor said he will help “up to 125,000 homes” replace inefficient boilers, and he guaranteed more cash for wind turbine and solar panel users (at least for those plugged into the national grid). He will also try to boost the number of electric cars and vans by exempting the former from company car tax for 5 years, and allowing a “one hundred per cent first year capital allowance” for the latter.
Telegraph 10th Dec 2009 more >>
More than 100,000 ageing boilers could be scrapped and exchanged for newer, more energy-efficient models, under a £50 million plan. The scheme, similar to the car scrappage programme introduced last April, will offer grants of up to £400 for 125,000 households with old, inefficient boilers. By replacing them with a new, more efficient condensing boiler and better controls, households could cut their bills by up to a quarter, according to the Energy Saving Trust. In a family home that could amount to a saving of £235 a year.
Times 10th Dec 2009 more >>
Ed Matthew, Friends of the Earth campaigner, said: “The PBR was a golden opportunity for the chancellor to demonstrate genuine global leadership in developing a low-carbon future, but he has chosen to be timid when he needed to be bold. The economy doesn’t need green tinkering, it needs a complete low-carbon overhaul.”
Guardian 10th Dec 2009 more >>
John Sauven, Greenpeace’s executive director, said: “Alistair Darling peppered his speech with references to a low-carbon economy, but failed to announce the scale of change that would actually give us one. A bold chancellor would have scrapped Trident, saved 100bn and used the cash to create a green investment bank. This would help British companies invest in clean technology, and bring thousands of jobs.”
Scotsman 10th Dec 2009 more >>
Electricity Demand
Industrial demand for electricity is continuing to plunge in Britain, despite signs of an upturn in the nation’s economic fortunes, according to new government figures. Sales of electricity to factories, mines and other manufacturing sites fell by 11.3 per cent to 22.3 terawatt hours in the three months to September 30, down from 25.05 terawatt hours in the same period last year. Anglesey Aluminium, owned by Rio Tinto, closed its smelting operation at the end of September after gradually scaling back production for several months. It had been Britain’s largest single user of electricity, consuming up to 255 megawatts of power enough to supply a city the size of Southampton. The plant was supplied by a direct link from the nearby Wylfa nuclear power station, which is scheduled to close next year.
Times 10th Dec 2009 more >>
Renewables
In the turbulent waters off the shores of Orkney, in the far north of Scotland, an array of bizarre machines is being deployed in a drive to harness the power of the sea. The European Marine Energy Centre at Stromness is playing host to nearly a dozen experimental devices designed to capture the energy of the tides and the waves. It is too early to tell if any of them will work on a large scale or ever succeed commercially.
BBC 9th Dec 2009 more >>
Turkey
Authorities have officially ended the latest effort to introduce nuclear power in Turkey. A notice on the Turkish Electricity Trading Company’s website said the tender for new reactors had been cancelled. It brings a disappointing end to a troubled process to deliver reactors up to 4800 MWe, wanted by Turkish authorities since the 1970s. A tender for the construction and operation of a new nuclear power plant, according to rules drawn up by the Turkish Atomic Energy Commission, ended in September 2008 with only one bid.
World Nuclear News 9th Dec 2009 more >>
Abu Dhabi
EDF is set to take the lead in a fresh bid by a French consortium to sell at least two nuclear reactors to Abu Dhabi, the new head of the French nuclear power giant said on Wednesday.
Reuters 9th Dec 2009 more >>
Iran
Iran’s defence minister has threatened to target Israeli nuclear and other “unconventional” sites if it comes under attack. Ahmad Vahidi’s warning came after Iran accused western-backed Saudi Arabia of handing over a missing Iranian nuclear scientist to the US and claiming that Washington is holding 10 more of its officials.
Guardian 10th Dec 2009 more >>
Trident
For the British government to renew its nuclear weapons arsenal, it’s going to cost £97 billion. Just think what else you could do with all that money. Think of the world class renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes you could build with it. It’s not as if the UK’s defence industry – one of the government’s pets – is going to starve. The missile in last night’s Greenpeace projection onto Big Ben is heading in the right direction. It’s time to bury Trident. It’s time for Alistair Darling, the UK’s finance minister, to cut the crap and cut Trident.
Greenpeace Nuclear Reactions 9th Dec 2009 more >>
Disarmament
Russia and the US will sign a new nuclear arms deal shortly, the Russian foreign minister said.
Belfast Telegraph 10th Dec 2009 more >>
When President Obama called for a world free of nuclear weapons in Prague, Czech Republic, this spring, many dismissed this part of his speech as idealistic rhetoric. But the abolition of nuclear weapons is not an unrealistic fantasy. It is a practical necessity if the American people are to have a secure future. President Obama should use his Nobel speech this week to reaffirm his commitment to this essential and obtainable goal.
CNN 9th Dec 2009 more >>
