New Nukes
The energy sector has so far pursued new-build nuclear on trust – it’s time for the government to deliver. Janet Wood reports from an IBM-sponsored Utility Week discussion group. Times have changed, and public acceptance is no longer a unique barrier to new nuclear in the UK. That’s not to say that some people will not do their utmost to delay or disrupt any construction, but that would be the case with any large project and the public as a whole broadly accepts the need for nuclear power. What is needed now is government support, in the form of progress on setting the new-build framework. That was the consensus across a range of representatives from utilities, contractors, investors and other stakeholders who met to discuss innovation in new nuclear at a Utility Week round table discussion supported by IBM.
Utility Week 8th Dec 2010 more >>
The UK government has published proposals on how operators of new nuclear power stations will have to make secure financial provision for decommissioning without recourse to the taxpayer, in line with the government’s policy that there should be no subsidy for new nuclear. As per the proposals, new nuclear operators will be required by law to put money aside from day one to pay for the eventual decommissioning costs and their full share of waste disposal. The consultation on draft Funded Decommissioning Programme Guidance sets out how operators will be required to meet their obligation to have decommissioning plans and secure funds in place before constructing a new power station. The government also published a consultation on a Waste Transfer Pricing Methodology, which sets out how a price will be determined for the disposal of new build higher activity waste in a planned Geological Disposal Facility.
New Statesman 9th Dec 2010 more >>
Campaign groups say UK officials are underestimating the costs of disposing of nuclear waste and that the taxpayer will end up footing the bill. Both CND and Greenpeace said the UK should be focusing any public incentives to the renewable sector to help the UK meet its goal of 15 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020. ‘Rather than using public money to support a mature technology like nuclear, it should be providing the incentives to maximise the UK’s clean energy industry in order to make deep cuts in our carbon emissions and generate a green economic recovery,’ said Greenpeace nuclear campaigner Ben Ayliffe.
The Ecologist 9th Dec 2010 more >>
Planning
The long-awaited Localism Bill suffered further delays yesterday. Originally expected on 22 November, then even more confidently predicted for today (including by me – sorry!), it is now expected next week. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) claim that they have never set a date for it. The Energy and Climate Change Select Committee of the Commons has been given a 25-day reprieve in publishing its report on the revised National Policy Statements as it announces a second oral evidence session next week. Under House of Commons Standing Orders, the committee would have had to report by 22 December, being 39 days before the ‘relevant date’ of 31 January 2011 announced when the NPSs were published. Yesterday, the Commons agreed to postpone the deadline until 14 days before the relevant date, i.e. 17 January. I’m glad someone is paying attention to the deadline. The committee is to have a second oral evidence session on 14 December. This will be at 11 a.m., provisionally in Committee Room 17. Witnesses at 11 a.m. will be the RSPB, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Friends of the Earth; and then at 11.45 a.m. the committee will hear from the Nuclear Industry Association, the Royal Town Planning Institute, Energy UK, Citibank and the Renewable Energy Association.
Bircham, Dyson Bell 9th Dec 2010 more >>
NDA
THE Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) came under fire yesterday after it mothballed plans to create the UK’s first nuclear archive in Wick.
John O Groat Journal 8th Dec 2010 more >>
Calder Hall
A History of the World: Stuart Maconie goes in search of Britain’s atomic past, discovering the world’s first nuclear power station, tucked away in a remote and beautiful corner of the Cumbrian coastline.
BBC4 8th December 2010 more >>
Sizewell
A THREE-storey office block on the Sizewell A power station site was ablaze this morning.
Evening Star 8th Dec 2010 more >>
Wylfa
The first issue of the new newsletter for Wylfa Site is available to view at either of the following links. Please click on either the English or Welsh version to open.
Magnox North 8th Dec 2010 more >>
Trawsfynydd
TWO hundred new jobs could be created if plans to speed up decommissioning at Trawsfynydd Power Station get the go ahead. The decommissioning work would be completed by 2016, six years earlier than planned, saving £126m. But work to lower the two cooling towers would not begin until around 2020 and be completed by 2025 which is three years later than planned when the site will enter full “Care and Maintenance” status.
Caernarfon Herald 9th Dec 2010 more >>
Dounreay
A large Bronze Age burial cairn has been uncovered at the site of a proposed £100m nuclear waste dump on the north coast of Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland. Archaeologists found no remains in the cairn or its central cist, and that suggests the 4,000-year-old site at Dounreay was robbed of its artefacts in the past. An archaeological survey was made on the area head of construction work on the store for low-level radioactive waste. Highland Council approved plans for the dump in 2009: it will be constructed on a former military airfield.
Archaeo News 9th Dec 2010 more >>
THE prospect of rock-blasting at the site of Dounreay’s low-level radioactive waste dump is causing fresh concern to neighbouring residents. Test explosions went ahead on Friday on the ground earmarked for up to six subsurface vaults, to the immediate east of the defunct fast reactor complex. Site operator DSRL intends seeking consent to carry out blasting after the construction of the £100 million-plus dump begins in April. Householders and crofters in the small settlement of Buldoo are concerned about the added nuisance this will cause to them and their livestock.
John O Groat Journal 1st Dec 2010 more >>
Waste Transport
A Canadian electric power company is postponing a shipment of 16 old generators with radioactive contents across three of the Great Lakes but remains committed to the plan, despite claims by environmentalists that it’s too risky, a spokesman said Thursday. Bruce Power Inc. is awaiting a license from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to send the generators, each the size of a school bus, to a recycling plant in Sweden aboard a 387-foot cargo vessel. It would depart from a port on Lake Huron’s Owen Sound and traverse Lakes Erie and Ontario, plus the St. Lawrence River, before reaching the Atlantic Ocean.
Wall Street Journal 9th Dec 2010 more >>
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations to require licensees to notify federally recognized tribal governments in advance of shipments of irradiated reactor fuel and certain other nuclear wastes through tribal reservations.
Energy Business Review 9th Dec 2010 more >>
Nuclear Skills
TWI is gearing up to provide training to meet the skills needs of the UK and global nuclear new build programmes. In the UK, provision of suitably qualified welders, welding engineers, welding inspectors, NDT operators and welding coordinators is crucial to ensure that the supply chain has the skills in place to satisfy the competence requirements of the nuclear new build programme. Cogent has identified potential shortages in these areas and TWI, as a member of the National Skills Academy Nuclear, is working with industry bodies, employers and training centres to plan appropriate provision.
NDT News 9th Dec 2010 more >>
Depleted Uranium
Britain was one of only four countries on Wednesday to vote against a United Nations call for transparency from states which use depleted uranium weapons in conflict. The Uranium Weapons Network (UWN) accused Britain of hypocrisy after it voted against the UN general assembly resolution, which was supported by 148 countries. France, the US and Israel also voted against it. At present there may be hundreds of sites in Iraq contaminated by the weapons, with many likely to be in populated areas, according to the UWN.
Morninbg Star 9th Dec 2010 more >>
Burma
Burma is building secret nuclear and missile sites deep in the jungle with North Korea’s help, according to witnesses in the country cited in US diplomatic cables.
Telegraph 10th Dec 2010 more >>
BBC 10th Dec 2010 more >>
Guardian 10th Dec 2010 more >>
Guardian 10th Dec 2010 more >>
Japan
Japan is the only non-nuclear weapons state under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty to operate a ‘full’ or ‘closed’ fuel cycle, involving extraction of plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel and reprocessing to manufacture new fuel elements. This process involves handling of significant quantities of fissile materials, which could be used for military purposes. Japan’s decision to manage its nuclear energy sector in this way, rather than the cheaper ‘once-through’ cycle involving using nuclear fuel once and moving spent fuel to a long-term waste storage facility, has long been controversial in permitting Tokyo to handle quantities of plutonium sufficient to produce nuclear weapons.
Oil Price 10th dec 2010 more >>
Germany
A package of energy bills, including an amendment to Germany’s atomic energy law extending the operating life of the country’s 17 nuclear power reactors – by eight years for units entering operation before 1980 and by 14 years for those starting up after 1980 – was signed into law by president Christian Wulff on 8 December.
Modern Power Systems 9th Dec 2010 more >>
India
Areva is preparing for the construction of new nuclear power plants in India after signing an agreement with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).
Modern Power Systems 9th Dec 2010 more >>
Switzerland
Westinghouse Electric has won a contract valued at approximately EUR130m to provide two new emergency power buildings with related power systems for Axpo’s Beznau nuclear power plant in Dottingen, Switzerland.
Energy Business Review 9th Dec 2010 more >>
US
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) has submitted its application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to renew the certification for its advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) technology. GEH is seeking to extend the design certification for 15 years beyond June 2012, when its original ABWR certification is set to expire. The application includes an important design update to reflect the current NRC requirement for an aircraft impact assessment.
Energy Business Review 9th Dec 2010 more >>
Venezuela
The US has privately scorned Hugo Ch vez’s nuclear ambitions as empty bluster despite Venezuela’s energy deals with Iran and Russia.
Guardian 9th Dec 2010 more >>
Energy Efficiency
A group of 30 organisations led by Friends of the Earth has written to ministers urging them to introduce minimum standards of energy efficiency for any property put up for rent.
BBC 9th Dec 2010 more >>
