Nuclear Costs
In the midst of extensive media discussion about how much renewables cost, the costs of nuclear power hasn’t attracted as much attention. But given the prospect for steep increases in the amount taxpayers pay to subsidise the technology, a wider discussion about nuclear costs is probably on the horizon. Speakers at a Conservative party conference fringe event in Birmingham yesterday which Carbon Brief attended agreed that, despite protestations from politicians to the contrary, support for nuclear does amount to a subsidy from the taxpayer.
Carbon Brief 10th Oct 2012 more >>
New Nukes
The Monbiot & Theo Simon Debate.
Monbiot 9th Oct 2012 more >>
Radwaste
A PROPOSED nuclear repository could be built closer to home than South Copeland residents may have thought. A programme which aired on prime-time television suggested Cumbrias search for an underground nuclear waste dump could lead to Eskdale. Based on the West Cumbria MRWS Partnership’s final report, BBC Ones Cumbrias Nuclear Future programme said a geologist Dr Jeremy Dearlove had identified Eskdale and Silloth, in the north of the county, as the places most likely to offer the best rock formation for the site. But Cumbria county councillor for Eskdale, Sue Brown, said Mondays broadcast could have a detrimental effect on tourism, in and around Copeland. She said: I havent heard any suggestion Eskdale was being considered. So that comes as quite a surprise. I think there would be strong reaction from the nearby communities.
NW Evening Mail 10th Oct 2012 more >>
Westinghouse
A nuclear power station-building group which has its UK headquarters in Lancashire is in a two-horse race for a deal to build reactors on the continent. Westinghouse is up against a consortium led by Russian nuclear group AtomStroyExport in the bid to build two new reactors at the Temelin nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic. It follows the decision of the Czech government to rule out French firm Areva, which is one of only two companies with a licence to build reactors as part of the UKs nuclear renaissance along with Westinghouse. The move is seen as a major blow for Areva, which pulled out off the race to buy Horizon Nuclear Power, the company which will build two new power stations in the UK, a fortnight ago. Westinghouse UK chief executive Mike Tynan refused to comment on Westinghouses bid for Horizon, but insisted it remained fully committed to building its AP1000 reactors in the UK.
Lancashire Evening Post 9th Oct 2012 more >>
Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corporation is to buy a 20% stake in nuclear contractor Westinghouse Electric from US contractor Shaw at a price of JPY 125 billion (US$ 1.6 billion). Shaw said the deal should close in January 2014. Toshiba, which already owns a 67% stake in Westinghouse, said it was open to talks on the condition that Toshiba retains a majority stake, can expect to share long-term business prospects and strategies with partners, and secure positive synergies. Toshiba said it would fund the purchase with cash or loans, and added that it had received interest from other potential partners regarding the investment. Westinghouse is currently constructing four nuclear reactors in the US and a further four in China.
KHL Group 10th Oct 2012 more >>
Wylfa
Yesterday, there was only two companies left to bid for Horizon Nuclear and build Wylfa B. Today, if the report in ‘The Times’ is correct, this in the near future could go down to one. It seems that Toshiba and owner of Westinghouse; seen as a front-runner and heavyweight player in the nuclear sector, according to ‘The Times’ “wants to quit the nuclear industry altogether and is struggling to raise finance for the join venture.” It would appear that the days of nuclear energy are coming to an end, with Germany and Japan already committed to phase out their own nuclear plants, and investors very reluctant to invest in new builds due to ever growing costs.
Anglesey Telegraph 4th Oct 2012 more >>
Hunterston
AN SNP activist has said that nuclear power is too expensive. Mr Craig Wilson who works with Cunninghame North SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson wrote to the Largs ‘News’ to say: “The cost to the taxpayer for decommissioning nuclear power plants will be £950m in 2012-13 and £1.1bn for each of the following years. “SNP dogma isn’t the reason ‘Hunterston C’ isn’t being built – simple economics is.”
Largs & Millport Gazette 10th Oct 2012 more >>
Scotland
Oil-rich countries like Scotland have a “moral obligation” to invest in green energy, Alex Salmond said on Wednesday as he insisted his government would not cut oil production. The first minister was responding to accusations by climate scientists and environmentalists that he was guilty of “indefensible” energy policies after a Guardian analysis found that his oil and gas strategies could release 10bn tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. In a keynote address on Wednesday to a conference on low-carbon technologies, Salmond said there was no contradiction between pursuing “world leading” targets on renewable power, to produce 100% of Scotland’s electricity from renewable sources, while maximising oil and gas production. His government predicts that 24bn barrels of North Sea oil, worth some £1.5 trillion, can be produced over the next 40 years. Many senior climate scientists, such as James Hansen from Nasa, and Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall centre in Manchester, believe the world is already close to the tipping point for significant global warming.
Guardian 10th Oct 2012 more >>
Scotsman 11th Oct 2012 more >>
Sweden
Shocking security lapses at Swedish nuclear plants were laid bare today as four activists were arrested after spending 28 hours hiding undiscovered at one site. They were part of a 22-strong group which broke the chains of an outer gate and cycled into the Ringhals reactor site in the south-west of the country on Tuesday morning. Another 50 used ladders to scale the perimeter fences of the Forsmark site on the eastern coast, where most were arrested soon after their illegal entry. Campaigner Lauri Myllyvirta said he had spent all night on the roof of the Ringhals plant with three other activists and were only discovered when Greenpeace Sweden decided to tell the media they were there.
Morning Star 10th Oct 2012 more >>
On Tuesday, we told you about the 70 activists who poured onto two nuclear sites in Sweden in an effort to show how lax the security is at these plants. We didnt tell you that at least six of them hid overnight at two of the plants: four at Ringhals and two at Forsmark. They evaded security all night, and were only discovered when Greenpeace Sweden phoned the media early this morning to reveal their presence at the plants. This is despite the fact the operator Vattenfall said yesterday that security had worked exactly as intended. Oh dear.
Greenpeace 10th Oct 2012 more >>
Poland
Three companies keen to help Poland construct its first nuclear power plant have taken further steps to strengthen their local supply chain with the signature of two separate agreements with Polish entitites. Areva and EDF have followed up a series of supplier days in various Polish cities with the signature of a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Polish energy engineering company Energoprojekt. The agreement aims to combine the three companies’ respective engineering and industrial skills to add value to the Polish nuclear program.
World Nuclear News 8th Oct 2012 more >>
US
Following the NRC’s Japan Lessons-Learned Project Directorate we look at how US nuclear plant operators are planning for unexpected events and how supply chains can help meet new health and safety objectives. If there is one longstanding silver lining from the tragedy of Fukushima, it is that the nuclear industry will continue to use the event as a benchmark for improving safety at nuclear plants around the world. Of course, the same thing occurred following the Three Mile Island accident in the US in 1979, and the terrorist attacks in the US in 2001. Fukushima, however, will remain the industry barometer for what could go wrong, as two natural disasters combined to create the worst nuclear disaster in history.
Nuclear Energy Insider 10th Oct 2012 more >>
Australia
Australia switched on its first utility-scale solar farm on Wednesday, bringing the country a step closer to achieving ambitious renewable energy targets that traditional coal and gas power producers are now fighting to soften. The Greenough River Solar project, just outside the small town of Walkaway in the state of Western Australia, is a joint-venture between Western Australian state-owned Verve Energy and US conglomerate General Electric. It is expected to have a capacity of 10 megawatts, enough to power 3,000 homes. “The Greenough River solar farm demonstrates that renewable technologies can contribute to meeting Australia’s future energy needs on a sustainable, cost-competitive basis,” Jason Waters, chief executive of Verve Energy said on W ednesday. Australia has committed to getting 20% of its electricity from renewables by 2020 but big coal and gas-based utilities are arguing for those targets to be cut. The plant is General Electric’s first investment in Australian renewable energy, and plans are already underway to eventually expand it to 40MW.
Guardian 10th Oct 2012 more >>
Fusion
Things havent changed much in three decades. Technology Review reported earlier this year, researchers still say practical fusion power plants remain decades away. The New York Times editorialized Sunday on the latest fusion failure, A Big Laser Runs Into Trouble: After spending more than $5 billion to build and operate a giant laser installation the size of a football stadium, the Energy Department has not achieved its goal of igniting a fusion reaction that could produce energy to generate power or simulate what happens in a nuclear weapon. The latest deadline for achieving ignition was last Sunday, Sept. 30, the end of fiscal year 2012, but it passed amid mounting concerns that the technical challenges were too great to be mastered on a tight time schedule. Congress will need to look hard at whether the project should be continued, or scrapped or slowed to help reduce federal spending. We spend a lot of money on this effort money that could almost certainly be better spent on forms of carbon-free energy we could actually have a chance of deploying in time to avert catastrophic, irreversible climate change.
Climate Progress 9th Oct 2012 more >>
Climate
There’s been a recurrent theme over the years at Joe Romm’s popular blog Climate Progressthe argument that political leaders, and perhaps most prominently President Obama, need to step up and explain to the public why global warming is such a dramatic threat to our livelihoods and future. Indeed, Romm has called Obama’s failure to speak out about global warming, loudly and often, his “biggest communications mistake.”
Guardian 10th Oct 2012 more >>
Energy Efficiency
Funding gaps between the government’s current energy efficiency schemes and the soon to be launched Green Deal could cost 16,000 jobs in the sector over the next year, a coalition of insulation companies and industry bodies has warned.
Business Green 11th Oct 2012 more >>
Renewables
The Scottish government has launched a £103m fund aimed at boosting private sector investment in renewable energy technologies that may not be eligible for funding from the UK’s planned Green Investment Bank. The government also revealed plans for a new advisory group to help firms bidding for funds from the soon-to-be-launched Green Investment Bank. SSE and Scottish Enterprise unveiled plans to build a £20m centre for testing the next generation of offshore wind turbines. The Crown Estate has identified an urgent need for test and demonstration sites for machines that are currently in development, in order to help bring down the cost of offshore wind power. The new test centre, at the port of Hunterston, on the coast of North Ayreshire, will be able to host three full-scale wind turbines for offshore deployment. Siemens and Mitsubishi Power Systems Europe are expected to test their latest turbine technology on two of the berths as they already boast a partnership with SSE focused on developing the offshore wind supply chain.
Business Green 11th Oct 2012 more >>
Wind farm test centre.
Scotsman 11th Oct 2012 more >>
Herald 11th Oct 2012 more >>
£103 cm fund for boosting investment.
Scotsman 11th Oct 2012 more >>
David Cameron has today highlighted the success of the UK’s offshore wind and tidal energy industry, hailing them as “number one in the world” and an example of British enterprise and dynamism. In his annual address to the Conservative Party conference, the Prime Minister made no mention of climate change and only passing reference to the green economy.
Business Green 10th Oct 2012 more >>
On the same day as the Prime Minister hailed the UK as the global leader in offshore wind energy, one of the sector’s largest investors confirmed it had delayed plans for a wind turbine factory in Hull. Just days after it emerged that Siemens and six other green energy firms had written to the Prime Minister warning that they could shelve investment plans unless the government delivers a more stable policy environment, the German engineering giant confirmed it has postponed a final decision on its proposed new manufacturing plant.
Business Green 10th Oct 2012 more >>
Renewable energy technologies are quickly cementing themselves as a key pillar of energy sector development and as an economic powerhouse in their own right. In 2011, a number of forces contributed to impressive growth in renewable energy markets around the world. The most recent installment of Worldwatchs Vital Signs Online series analyzes the investment growth witnessed across the sector in 2011.
World Watch Institute 9th Oct 2012 more >>
Shale Gas
Shale gas is unconventional, unnecessary and unwanted. We risk embarking on a major experiment with the local environment in Lancashire, the South East, South Wales and Northern Ireland to get gas that won’t solve our energy problems, which is unlikely to cut energy bills and which, by supporting the Chancellor’s reckless dash for gas, will make it harder to meet our climate change targets.
FoE 9th Oct 2012 more >>
