New Nukes
Alan Cumming wants your help building EDF’s third-generation nuclear power plants, which, if all goes to plan, means four multibillion-pound projects and more than 150 contracts up for grabs. There are many questions hanging over the future of nuclear power in the UK, and in particular over energy company EDF’s plans to start building four new power stations in 2012. But Alan Cumming can’t really answer any of them. As deputy director of procurement, construction and project controls, rather than planning, public policy, great unknowns or hopeless causes, Cumming isn’t best placed to talk about the implications of the new coalition government, the odds of securing planning permission after the abolition of the Infrastructure Planning Commission or when EDF really needs a decision on a floorprice for carbon credits to determine whether the plants are financially viable.
Building 9th July 2010 more >>
Energy giant EdF is looking to create fully developed supply chains ahead of the hoped for start of work on Britain’s first nuclear power stations for 20 years at Hinkley in Somerset. It is encouraging potential bidders to see themselves as part of a nuclear supply chain that could be involved in all four of EdF’s new stations in the UK and up to 30 overseas.
New Civil Engineer 8th july 2010 more >>
EDF Energy has awarded Faithful+Gould a professional services consultancy agreement to support its UK Nuclear New Build project. The initial three-year deal will see Faithful+Gould providing quantity surveyor and contract management support in the areas of procurement and contract management.
Build.co.uk 9th July 2010 more >>
The leader of a North West manufacturing group has warned the region it risks missing out on the opportunities presented by the nuclear industry if it does not act now. Paul Fewtrell, head of the Manufacturing Advisory Service North West (MAS-NW), said “urgent action” was needed to ensure work in areas including building the next generation of nuclear reactors, providing fuel and handling waste. The body has been appointed as the national leader to co-ordinate small businesses across the country to seize the oportunities of the fast-growing sector. It will provide specialist market information and product development advice to firms looking to take advantage of the manufacturing opportunities, which are estimated to be worth around 85% of the multi-billion cost of a new reactor.
Lancashire Evening Post 9th July 2010 more >>
Nuclear Waste
Allerdale and Copeland councils will step up efforts to ask the public whether they want an underground nuclear waste dump. Both councils have “expressed an interest” in being involved in the process to find a site for a deep geological facility for the UK’s atomic waste. They have not committed themselves, can pull out at any time and stress the public will have the final say. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), says burial of waste is the only safe method of disposal. It wants communities to volunteer to host underground repositories in return for investment in community projects. However, the NDA this week warned the scheme could be under threat if ministers cut its budget as part of austerity measures to reduce the deficit. That has prompted fears the promised cash rewards, potentially worth up to £1bn, for areas that volunteer for dumps might also be slashed. Despite that, the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership, the group set up to invesigate the possiblity of a repository in west Cumbria said it would press on with the process.
Cumberland News 9th July 2010 more >>
Waste Transport
Waste being transported Sizewell to Willesden.
You Tube 8th July 2010 more >>
Local anti-nuclear campaigners will march around the perimeter of the Olympic Park this Saturday and stage a symbolic ‘die in’ to highlight the threat posed by the regular movement of nuclear waste trains through London, including through the Olympic site.
Ekklesia 9th July 2010 more >>
Hinkley
Contractors and suppliers looking to win work on a new £500m nuclear power plant in Somerset can now sign-up to a pre-qualification website to register their interest. The online service follows a series of supplier days in Bridgwater this week for the Hinkley Point scheme which were over-subscribed by companies desperate for contracts.
Construction Enquirer 9th July 2010 more >>
The owners of Hinkley Point, EDF Energy, have plans for Hinkley C, a third nuclear power station at the site, and is preparing to consult local people for a second time.
BBC 8th July 2010 more >>
BBC Somerset’s Matt Faulkner spoke to the energy minister Charles Hendry about the plans for Hinkley C.
BBC 8th July 2010 more >>
Sizewell
“HUGE” opportunities will be available for local businesses as plans for a Sizewell C nuclear power station take shape, according to the company behind the project. More than 200 firms attended the first supply chain event in the region to be organised by EDF Energy, which aims to build four new EPR nuclear reactors in the UK by 2025, including Sizewell C.
East Anglian Daily Times 10th July 2010 more >>
Scotland
Letter from RSPB, FoE & WWF: It is encouraging that Scottish and Southern Energy plans to develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at its gas-fired power station at Peterhead. Unlike the plans to construct a new, largely unabated coal-fired power station at Hunterston, which will result in a massive net gain in climate-wrecking emissions, this is a real attempt to tackle emissions from existing electricity generation. Scotland has the capacity to move to an entirely renewable electricity supply and this should be our priority. There is merit, however, in demonstrating how emissions from existing fossil fuel plants might be reduced both for the short-term benefits and in order that such technology can be shared with other countries. Retrofitting carbon capture on an existing plant will help Scotland meet our gas emissions reduction targets whereas constructing a new power station will result in massive additional emissions. As well as resulting in a huge increase in greenhouse gas emissions, the proposal at Hunterston would destroy more than 30 hectares of an important wildlife site. We urge the Scottish Government to reject the application of a new, largely unabated coal plant at Hunterston, work to unlock the potential for renewables and demonstrate the potential of CCS on existing plants.
Scotsman 10th July 2010 more >>
Herald 10th July 2010 more >>
Burma
With about a third of the country in poverty, the junta could invest in health, education or job creation, but instead, new evidence suggests Burma is spending billions on outlandish military projects, including a secretive nuclear weapons program. Turnell says the junta is “absolutely paranoid about international interference in the country.”
Time 9th July 2010 more >>
Korea
North Korea said on Saturday it was willing to return to nuclear disarmament talks and signalled satisfaction that a U.N. Security Council statement did not lay blame on it for the sinking of a South Korean navy ship.
Yahoo 10th July 2010 more >>
Renewables
NORWEGIAN oil giant Statoil is looking to Scotland to take ambitious plans to develop the world’s first floating wind farm to the next stage. The company has begun testing “Hywind” – the world’s first full-scale floating wind turbine – eight miles off the south-west coast of Norway. And it was revealed yesterday that Statoil has identified two potential sites off the Scottish coast – one in the west and one in the east – as the location for a larger demonstrator project of up to five floating turbines.
Scotsman 10th July 2010 more >>
The U.S. Departments of Energy and the Interior have picked a former nuclear site in Nevada to be transformed into a zone for testing “cutting-edge” solar energy technologies. The research will take place on 25 square miles of land owned by the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, an area larger than the size of Manhattan, the Energy Department said today in a statement.
Bloomberg 8th July 2010 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
A Japanese artist named Isao Hashimoto has created a series of works about nuclear weapons. One is titled “1945-1998 and shows a history of the world’s nuclear explosions.
FAD 9th July 2010 more >>
