Radwaste
PLANS have been announced for a large scale opinion survey to find out what people in West Cumbria think about the possibility of a nuclear waste repository being sited here. It will fall short of the referendum which Arlecdon resident Peter Fox called for at the recent public consultation meeting in Whitehaven. MORI has been commissioned by the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership to carry out a statistically representative poll by telephone around March 8. MORI will call up people randomly. A Partnership spokesman said: Some people have suggested there should be a referendum before a decision is made. However we concluded that a referendum would not be appropriate at this point. This is partly because it is not yet known where a repository might be sited and therefore there is only general information available on key issues such as safety, geology and the impact of constructing these facilities.
Whitehaven News 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Interview with Dr Chris Busby on why putting nuclear waste into a hole in the ground is not a solution.
Radiation Free Lakeland 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Various letters: (a) Is it a question of when, not if, we have more nuclear related sites dotted round our shrinking countryside? (b) Coun Knowles makes it clear that the siting partnership could recommend overriding the wishes of the potential host community, in some circumstances. The implication in his reply suggests that the councils would also be able to include an unwilling host community in the process. It would be helpful if he could be explicit on this important matter.
Whitehaven News 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Students at Workingtons Stainburn School will make four-minute radio podcast news reports about the consultation for an underground radioactive waste repository in West Cumbria.
Times & Star 9th Feb 2012 more >>
About 100 people attended a lecture about why West Cumbria could be an unsuitable site for an underground nuclear waste repository. New protest group Save Our Lake District Dont Dump Cumbria! invited Professor David Smythe, emeritus professor in geology, to talk about the areas geology at Cockermouth School last Thursday. The group is against proposals being investigated by the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership for an underground store. The talk was based on Prof Smythes research of West Cumbria, other sites abroad and the 1995 to 1996 planning inquiry on Sellafield site Longlands Farm.
Times and Star 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Radhealth
What is the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, and on what science does it base its reassuring claims? More than 40 studies have turned up clusters of childhood leukemia in the vicinity of nuclear facilities, reckons Ian Fairlie, an independent consultant on radioactivity in the environment and a former member of the Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters. Fairlie describes this as a mass of evidence difficult to contradictyet it continues to be contradicted, on the basis of the Hiroshima studies. Generally when a cancer cluster is detected in the neighborhood of a reactor, the matter gets referred to a government committee that dismisses the findings on the grounds that radioactive emissions from facilities are too low to produce a cancer effecttoo low, according to RERF risk estimates.
Global Research 26th Jan 2012 more >>
Hinkley
A SPECIALIST report investigating the costs of installing a new power line across the North Somerset countryside has revealed that overhead cables are the cheapest option. The Infrastructure Planning Committee (IPC) commissioned the report to look at the cost of various options of installing a new 400,000 volt power line from Avonmouth to Hinkley Point.
Clevedon Mercury 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Cumbria
Representatives of Britains Energy Coast Business Cluster (BECBC) signed a memorandum of agreement between the group and the national Nuclear Industry Association (NIA).
NW Evening Mail 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Nuclear Skills
GEN II has landed a £25million deal to train Britains next generation of nuclear workers. The training firm has beaten off national competition to win the eight-year contract with Sellafield Ltd. Under the agreement, it will train about 80 apprentices a year at the Energus training centre, Lillyhall.
Whitehaven News 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Fuel Poverty
More than 5.5 million households are suffering under fuel poverty, many being forced to choose between heating or eating. Meanwhile the Big Six energy suppliers increased their profit margins by 733 per cent in just three months last year. Enough is enough. Today The Independent supports a campaign to force energy companies to share their profits with the needy. The aim is simple: to make essential home energy affordable to all.
Independent 10th Feb 2012 more >>
Caroline Lucas: We are proposing three simple and sensible solutions. First, we are calling on the Government to impose a similar levy to the one it has imposed on North Sea oil companies and the big banks. Over time, such a levy could raise billions, revenues that could be ring-fenced and used to ensure that every home is insulated and highly energy-efficient starting with the homes of the fuel-poor. This would form part of a Green New Deal and would help to create thousands of new skilled jobs. Second, to prevent energy companies from passing the cost of any levy on to customers, we want the Government to give Ofgem the power to cap prices. This could be linked to the wholesale price to make energy prices fairer. Third, we want the Government to launch a public inquiry into the Big Six energy companies. The industry has a huge problem in terms of trust, and it is in the interests of energy suppliers themselves that these issues be addressed. We then need to devise appropriate reforms that ensure we have a market and an industry that serve people and planet before profit. Energy provision should be viewed not merely as a market commodity, but as a crucial public service on which we all rely.
Independent 10th Feb 2012 more >>
The Big Six exert a far tighter stranglehold on energy than their counterparts in other industries with large calls on household budgets. The results of this oligopoly are over-the-top prices, confusing bills and poor customer service.
Independent 10th Feb 2012 more >>
Windfall taxes on businesses must be the exception rather than the rule; companies must be able to plan for their tax liabilities and not be penalised for success. But energy companies are currently being rewarded for failure. Tony Blair imposed a windfall tax on privatised public utilities, and Gordon Brown levied one on bankers’ bonuses. The Coalition should back the campaign and act against these slothful, failing monoliths of a market economy which otherwise serves us well.
Independent 10th Feb 2012 more >>
British Gas
Rising gas prices and strong demand for energy from Asia have helped BG Group to post an impressive rise in profits. Fourth-quarter pre-tax profits at the oil and gas company were up nearly 36 per cent to $1.9 billion (£1.2 billion), ahead of expectations. Revenues rose from $4.3 billion to $5.7 billion. Strong economic growth in Asia has lifted gas prices, as have the effects of the Fukushima nuclear disaster last March. Japan has closed most of its nuclear reactors and needs to import more gas to generate power.
Times 10th Feb 2012 more >>
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic wont build new nuclear power plants and instead plans to expand its existing capacity, abandoning the envisaged construction of as many as 18 new reactors, Hospodarske Noviny reported, citing a minister. A realistic plan is to build two new reactors at the Temelin power plant and extend operations of the Dukovany station until 2035, the newspaper said, citing an interview with Industry and Trade Minister Martin Kuba.
Bloomberg 8th Feb 2012 more >>
US
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved combined construction and operating licenses (COLs) February 9 for the Southern Corp. to build two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at its Vogtle site in the US state of Georgia. The COLs for the Southern Corp.s twin AP1000s are the first licenses issued for the construction of new reactors in the US in 34 years. In a 4-1 vote, the commission instructed the staff to issue the licenses within 10 business days.
i-Nuclear 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Energy Business Review 10th Feb 2012 more >>
IB Times 10th Feb 2012 more >>
BBC 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Reuters 9th Feb 2012 more >>
FT 9th Feb 2012 more >>
World Nuclear News 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Poland
Among the few gifts not forced upon Poland during its more than four decades as a Soviet satellite state was a nuclear power plant (NPP). But now, given the European Union and NATO states surging energy needs, Poland is about to construct its first NPP.
Oil Price 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Thorium
Conventional nuclear power (fission) is controversial and carries inherent risks, but no other energy source has a chance of securing our energy needs for the future. Nuclear fusion for many scientists the ultimate goal of energy production is still a long way off. Cywinski is part of a team of scientists who are working towards an entirely new type of nuclear reactor: one that could be operated safely and without generating long-lived radioactive waste. This new reactor could even consume the toxic waste generated by conventional nuclear reactors, removing it from the ecosphere. It’s called the Accelerator-Driven Subcritical Reactor (ADSR), or Energy Amplifier, and in a recent lecture hosted by the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, Cywinski outlined his vision of an ADSR-powered future.
Guardian 9th Feb 2012 more >>
Renewables
Solar Aid: must watch.
You Tube 7th Feb 2012 more >>
Climate Change Minister insists industry will expand this year, as solar firms vent fury over changes that could see tariff drop to 12.9p this year.
Business Green 9th Feb 2012 more >>
The Government today unveiled plans for further cuts to solar subsidies, sparking concerns over the future of the industry and thousands of clean-tech jobs. Energy Minister Greg Barker claimed the reforms to payments for small-scale solar would mean a bigger scheme that could deliver an “extraordinarily ambitious” 22GW of panels – the equivalent of 3.3 million installations for homes and businesses.
Independent 9th Feb 2012 more >>