Energy Efficiency
The UK energy sector had better start boning up on the thoughts of Amory Lovins. Mr Lovins, of the Rocky Mountain Institute, is meeting Government ministers in London in November to discuss how Britain’s energy sector can meet the multi-billion challenges of the future. Promotion of the smart grid will be at the heart of a major consultation on more efficient energy use to be launched by the Government in the next few weeks. Led by Greg Barker, the refreshingly open-minded Conservative climate change minister, it will look at how the UK can use technology to reduce energy use. Some estimates say that 10pc of grid capacity could be saved through more sophisticated demand responses, such as smart meters in everybody’s home.
Telegraph 10th Oct 2010 more >>
Radwaste
Greenpeace delivered radioactive waste to the door of the European Parliament today to remind MEPs in their last plenary session before considering a new nuclear waste law that there is no solution to nuclear waste.
Stop Oldbury 9th Oct 2010 more >>
Radiation Free Lakeland have been given permission to publish the full text of an article published in Geoscientist in 1997. The article describes the Nirex Inquiry into proposed “geological disposal of high level nuclear waste in West Cumbria” following years of research costing £400M. The conclusion: “The Planning Inspector’s comprehensive dismissal makes it hard to contemplate a return to this site, even ten years in the future. However this is a success of the British planning system, which enables “the reasonable man” to take a cool and balanced look at the problem, then simply say: “No, not here”.
Get Noticed Online 9th Oct 2010 more >>
Also See Nirex case didn’t hold waterby Dr Rachel Western, Safe Energy Journal 112, March – May 1997 more >>
US/EDF
Constellation Energy Group Inc. pulled out of negotiations on a $7.5 billion loan guarantee to build a nuclear reactor in Maryland with Electricite de France SA, potentially damaging the French utility’s U.S. expansion plans and the companies’ partnership. The cost of the U.S. government loan guarantee that the companies’ joint venture, UniStar Nuclear Energy, would need to build the Calvert Cliffs 3 reactor is too high and creates too much risk for Constellation, the Baltimore-based utility said in a statement yesterday. The statement said the next step is up to EDF.
Bloomberg 10th Oct 2010 more >>
Washington Post 9th Oct 2010 more >>
“EDF is extremely disappointed and shocked to learn that Constellation has unilaterally decided to withdraw from the Calvert Cliffs 3 project,” the company said. Constellation Energy had said on Friday it was unable to obtain a workable US federal loan guarantee for their joint venture, Unistar, to build the third generation reactor.
EDF said they had been “at the finish line” in the loan guarantee process and that Constellation had withdrawn “in spite of our repeated efforts to substantially decrease their exposure and risk to the project.” No decisions have been made regarding the future of Calvert Cliffs 3, Constellation Energy said.
Telegraph 10th Oct 2010 more >>
Canada/Sweden
The head of Bruce Power says he doesn’t expect a ruling on his plan to ship decommissioned steam generators over to Europe until sometime in November. Duncan Hawthorne says it will be at least four weeks before the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission can rule on plans to ship 16 school bus-sized steam generators from a facility in Owen Sound to Sweden for recycling. He says it turned out to be a lengthy hearing with 79 interventions, and since the report is delayed, the project may be delayed several months. Hawthorne says there was a lot of misinformation floating around and that created unnecessary concerns among people along the Great Lakes.
CTV News 9th Oct 2010 more >>
US
Video exploring the results of decades of indecision, inaction and broken agreements about nuclear waste.
PBS 24th Sept 2010 more >>
Iran
Iran is ready to hold talks with six major powers over its nuclear program “in late October or early November,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday.
Reuters 9th Oct 2010 more >>
Mail on Sunday 10th Oct 2010 more >>
According to security experts, a computer worm that has infested Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant was launched by another state. It has disrupted the production of nuclear material, proving that a cybermissile can have as much impact as an airstrike. Like America and Britain, two other big players on the cyber block, Israel will not say anything about the paternity of the so-called Stuxnet worm, even if its officials are privately celebrating another setback to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Sunday Times 10th Oct 2010 more >>
IRAN revealed for the first time yesterday that some personnel at the country’s nuclear facilities were lured by promises of money to pass secrets to the West, but added that increased security and worker privileges have halted the spying. The stunning acknowledgment by vice-president Ali Akbar Salehi provides clear government confirmation that Iran has been fighting espionage at its nuclear facilities.
Scotland on Sunday 10th Oct 2010 more >>
Middle East
Despite its massive oil and gas reserves, the Gulf is desperately short of power and it is more lucrative to sell the oil and gas overseas, than use it to generate electricity for domestic use. So more and more Gulf states are looking to nuclear to power their growing economies and populations. But it is an untried and untested technology in this part of the world which means there are no laws, regulations or infrastructure to support it. So is it really viable? Nima Abu Wardeh talks to Joseph Huse, Regional Managing Partner of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, about the challenges the region faces in powering its future.
BBC 10th Oct 2010 more >>
Trident
Whether Britain decides to build a full new nuclear arsenal or, as you suggest, scale back its arsenal and rely on the United States’ nuclear umbrella, it will still be operating on a faulty theory known as nuclear deterrence. I wouldn’t advise someone to go out in a rainstorm by himself or with a friend with an umbrella that works only in theory. Nuclear deterrence is not a universal truth. Deterrence has come close to failing, most notably during the Cuban missile crisis. Its reliability in the future can only be presumed, but never proved.
New York Times 9th Oct 2010 more >>
Letter Cllt Michael Carr NFLAs: I WAS pleased to read in the Belfast Telegraph (News, October 6) the speech from the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, about climate change and nuclear weapons disarmament and non-proliferation. Climate change and the proliferation of nuclear weapons are two of the most pressing issues affecting our world today and strong diplomacy from the UK and the Republic is essential. As a country which is legally precluded from developing nuclear energy or nuclear weapons, Mr Cowen’s speech comes from a spirit of integrity and consistency.
Belfast Telegraph 9th Oct 2010 more >>
Renewables
A group of companies has come up with a radical proposal that it claims will open up thousands of kilometres of coastline to zero-carbon power: floating windmills. Project Deepwater was launched last year by firms including BAE Systems, the defence giant, and the utility EDF Energy to research ways of overcoming the engineering problems that limit offshore turbines to water depths of 40 metres or less. That is not a problem in the shallow North Sea but it is in the much deeper waters off Britain’s west coast, where winds are stronger.
Sunday Times 10th Oct 2010 more >>
