Hinkley
THIS dramatic aerial photo shows the scale of the proposed building project at the new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point. EDF Energy, which has applied to build the new plant, this week released the picture, detailing how preparation works are progressing. Spokesman Gordon Bell said the site has dramatically changed since work began on the site of the proposed Hinkley C. He said: Contractors have found significantly more asbestos materials left over from the construction of the A and B stations than expected.
This is the West Country 9th June 2012 more >>
Plans to build Britain’s first nuclear power station for 20 years in the Westcountry have been hit by a barrage of new criticism. Police have warned that the massive construction project will become the focus of major protests and attract a small army of transient and foreign workers. Anti-nuclear campaigners say plans by EDF Energy to construct two reactors at Hinkley Point C in Somerset are “stumbling”, with 30 major issues still unresolved. In a submission to the National Infrastructure Directorate the body with the power to approve the plans Avon and Somerset constabulary says the French company has not offered enough money to pay for officers who will be diverted to police demonstrations and fight a wave of crime and disorder. The force has claimed that EDF’s findings on the socio-economic impact of the plant are “understated” and “outdated”.
Western Morning News 9th June 2012 more >>
National Grid has begun a consultation in Somerset to identify parts of land suitable for underground power lines. The company wants to link a planned new power station at Hinkley Point with Avonmouth. After opposition against the initial proposals for a 50 mile (80km) stretch of pylons, the firm is now considering putting some parts underground.
BBC 9th June 2012 more >>
Sizewell
SUFFOLK MP has joined calls for the region to be suitably financially acknowledged by developers of the proposed Sizewell C nuclear plant, but discouraged aspirations of massive windfall payments.
Norwich Evening News 9th June 2012 more >>
Radwaste
Nukiller Dump campaigners were in Ulverston today, the birth place of Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy fame collecting signatures on letters to hand in to the Town Council. In just two hours 75 people stopped to sign letters.
Radiation Free Lakeland 9th June 2012 more >>
Companies
POWER STATIONS that supply electricity to more than 1m homes in Britain could soon fall into the hands of the Kremlin or the Chinese state. Gazprom, the gas giant controlled by the Kremlin, plans to launch a bid for a plant that has been put up for sale by EDF Energy. The site at Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire provides power to nearly 800,000 homes. The French utility has hired Rothschild, the investment bank, to run the auction. Meanwhile, China Guodian Corporation, one of Beijings biggest state-owned utilities, has hired Goldman Sachs to bid for General Electrics Baglan Bay plant in south Wales. It generates electricity for more than half a million households.
Sunday Times 10th June 2012 more >>
Disarmament
Protesters have scaled a 165ft crane to campaign against nuclear weapons. Three people unfurled a banner reading “Nuclear disarmament – if not now, when?” on the arm of the Finniston Crane in Glasgow. They were also waving to people stopping to read their message. Officially known as the Stobcross Crane, the structure towers 50m above the banks of the river Clyde.
Lennox Herald 9th June 2012 more >>
Paisley Daily Express 9th June 2012 more >>
BBC 9th June 2012 more >>
STV 9th June 2012 more >>
North Korea
North Korea says it has no plans to conduct a third nuclear test “at present”, but has hit out at what it says is provocation from South Korea.
BBC 9th June 2012 more >>
Renewables
AMBITIOUS plans to generate all of Scotlands electricity from green energy sources by 2020 are likely to be ten years late, oil and gas chiefs will tell MSPs this week. Alex Salmond wants to generate the equivalent of 100 per cent of Scotlands electricity from renewables by the end of the decade, but North Sea industry officials will say it is very difficult to see how this will be achieved. The green energy revolution would need the biggest overhaul of lifestyles and the countrys energy system since the 1960s and 1970s. But the chances are extremely small that a number of key planks of the policy will fall into place in time. David Odling and Alix Thom, of Oil and Gas UK, will tell a Holyrood inquiry into the controversial renewables target that it should be treated with caution. The countrys electricity system alone would need to quadruple in size to meet the demands of recent winters and its doubtful that the massive capital investment needed to electrify the economy could be raised.
Scotland on Sunday 10th June 2012 more >>
Green Deal
An unremarkable suburb of Milton Keynes is causing a stir in environmental circles. The Lakes Estate is set to pioneer the Green Deal, the governments scheme to help homeowners cut their energy bills by installing insulation and replacing draughty windows. A consortium led by Milton Keynes council and backed by one of the Sainsbury familys charitable trusts has selected 165 homes that will take up the Green Deal before it is launched in the autumn. The partners have committed £5m to finance the work. Economists have even warned that levels of insulation installation could slump if utility companies, having been responsible for providing it for years under an existing scheme, opt out of taking part in its replacement. The Green Deal is a key part of the energy bill, which was proposed last month. Heralded as a game changer by Greg Barker, the climate change minister, it aims to make 14m homes more energy efficient. the scheme has been riddled with problems. Will the interest rates, estimated at 6% to 10%, be too high? What happens when houses are sold halfway through the repayment term? Are consumers going to be put off by the technical jargon? The Renewable Energy Forum, a charity that is critical of state support for certain technologies, produced a report sponsored by Calor Gas warning that hopes of serious energy savings from the Green Deal would prove illusory.
Times 10th June 2012 more >>
