AP1000
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is being asked to withhold certification for the new Westinghouse-Toshiba AP1000 nuclear reactor until flaws in its design exposed by Japan’s nuclear disaster are resolved. Two utilities plan to install the untried reactor in Georgia and South Carolina. Public interest groups Thursday filed a legal motion petitioning the NRC to require the resolution of design issues with the Westinghouse-Toshiba AP1000 nuclear reactor before the certification of the reactor’s design and operating procedures.
Environmental News Service 11th Nov 2011 more >>
Legal Motion.
NCWARN and FoE 10th Nov 2011 more >>
Fairwinds Report on AP1000s.
NCWARN 10th Nov 2011 more >>
Energy Costs
With the price of domestic gas and electricity soaring, the cost of keeping warm, never off the politicians radar screens for long, is firmly back on the agenda. The latest wheezes to emerge from the coalition are some mild utility-bashing from the prime minister, and a green deal from the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, which is intended to make it easier to borrow money for energy-saving home improvements. I may have missed it, but I am not aware of either man stating the unpalatable truth: if we are to deal both with climate change and with the security of our energy supply, the price of carbon-intensive energy and at the moment that means energy in general is going to have to rise. Carbon price has to be the centrepiece of any policy on climate change. A price on carbon acts in more subtle ways than any regulator will be able to, encouraging a switch away from coal and towards nuclear energy and renewables, encouraging energy efficiency in every choice we make, and in the last resort, encouraging us to do without products, services and activities where the energy cost is just too high.
FT 12th Nov 2011 more >>
Radwaste
Cumbria County Council and the relevant district Copeland or Allerdale can veto plans for a nuclear waste repository, the Government has confirmed. The next phase of public consultation into proposals to bury high-level waste starts on November 21. Most of this waste is already in west Cumbria, stored above ground at Sellafield. The Government had previously said that any proposal for a repository would need local authority backing. But is was not clear what ministers meant by local authority. Energy Minister Charles Hendry has now confirmed that both tiers of local government must sign up to the concept, as well as the Government. If either the county or the district council for the area objects, then a repository cannot go ahead.
Cumberland News 11th Nov 2011 more >>
Radhealth
Very low levels of radioactive iodine-131 have been detected in Europe but the particles are not believed to pose a public health risk, the U.N. nuclear agency said Friday, saying it was seeking to find the source. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Vienna-based U.N. watchdog, said it did not believe the radioactive particles were from Fukushima. THe origin remains a mystery. It has been spreading for about two weeks.
Reuters 11th Nov 2011 more >>
Daily Mail 12th Nov 2011 more >>
Bradwell
Costain has been awarded a £2million contract to demolish an offshore steel sheet pile barrier wall at the former Bradwell nuclear power station, in Essex. Bradwell, which ceased power production in 2002 after 40 years of operation is due to enter a 100-year care and maintenance period in 2015.
Nuclear Enginnering International 10th Nov 2011 more >>
Sizewell
Charles Hendry, Minister of State at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, was speaking at a House of Commons reception hosted by Dan Poulter, MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich on behalf of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Anglian Water. Mr Hendry said the need to replace much of the UKs coal-fired and nuclear generating capacity over the next 10 to 15 years was a major challenge but also a huge opportunity. This included EDFs proposals for a new nuclear plant at Sizewell, the growing off-shore wind industry and a continued role for oil and gas. In Suffolk I see a real microcosm of what Britain can do, he added. A new nuclear plant at Sizewell would created thousands of jobs, with around 80% of the work involved in a nuclear power project involving non-nuclear skills, so offering huge and wide-ranging employment opportunities.
East Anglian Daily Times 10th Nov 2011 more >>
Wylfa
NUCLEAR chiefs will bid to keep Wylfa generating to 2014 – securing 650 jobs on Anglesey for another two years. The Anglesey nuclear power station secured permission in October 2010 to extend the operational life of the two reactors to next December. But now the plant could generate up to 2014 under plans that may see one reactor closed and the fuel left used to power the remaining one. Adding another two years to the operational life of Wylfa will delay the start of de-fuelling, during which hundreds of nuclear staff will be retained at the plant for a further three years.
Power Engineering 11th Nov 2011 more >>
Sellafield
Sellafield has lifted its employment freeze to take on new workers and several west Cumbrian firms have won a slice of £100 million worth of new work at the site. One of the companies is Thomas Graham and Sons Ltd, which has won a £25.3m contract and will take on extra staff.
Cumberland News 11th Nov 2011 more >>
Chernobyl
It is no surprise to the Chernobyl charities that the UK Border Agency is now being described as dysfunctional and a rogue agency, out of the control of government ministers. During the last four years UKBA has placed ever more obstacles in our path, under the guise of improving child protection. Their actions have been wholly disproportionate and totally hypocritical in the light of recent revelations and have amounted to sabotage of our work.
Chernobyl Children 10th Nov 2011 more >>
Letter from Linda Walker: control: the treatment meted out by the UK Border Agency to Chernobyl children’s charities over the last four years has been inexplicable. The children invited to the UK through these charities get permission for the visit from their schools, local authorities and ministries. If they were not returned on the appointed date, the charities would soon be in trouble. They stay with CRB-checked families, and the charities put many other child protection measures in place. These children could not be trafficked, are as safe as we can make them from any kind of abuse and surely present no threat to the security of our country. So why is it that: every child from five years upwards has to be fingerprinted; children on return visits must be fingerprinted every time they apply for a visa; officials from Minsk or Kiev phone our host families demanding to know how the children’s names are spelled and whether they will be fed properly; UKBA directors insist, although they are not a child protection agency, that they have the right to decide which families are suitable to host, and cannot allow the charities’ trustees to make this decision.
Guardian 10th Nov 2011 more >>
Dalgety Bay
To the fury of locals, a buried cache of radioactive WWII munitions could see Dalgety Bay in Fife become Britain’s first nuclear no-go zone. Jonathan Brown visits the scene of an explosive row.
Independent 12th Nov 2011 more >>
IEA
The good news is that on 8 November the International Energy Agency released its 2011 World Energy Outlook. While it will cheer nuclear advocates, overall the report makes for grim reading. Pulling no punches, the report states at the outset, There are few signs that the urgently needed change in direction in global energy trends is underway. Stripped of its cautious language, the IEA report essentially noted that should present trends continue, the worlds governments through a lack of progressive initiative embracing alternative energy sources would continue to rely on tried and true fossil fuels, resulting in increased pollution, more fossil-fuel dependency and increasingly upward energy prices. For environmentalists, this is all good news, but the report contained a caveat virtually anathema to all green movements, that accordingly, governments should reconsider their reluctance to embrace nuclear power, as it does not generate greenhouse gases.
Oil Price 11th Nov 2011 more >>
Iran
AMERICAN officials have distanced themselves from support for a military strike on Irans nuclear facilities by saying the move would have unintended consequences in the region. US defence secretary Leon Panetta said such a move would only disrupt Irans nuclear programme rather than destroy it.
Daily Mail 12th Nov 2011 more >>
There is no nuclear threat but if we attack Iran, there soon will be.
New Statesman 11th Nov 2011 more >>
Tensions continue to mount over Irans nuclear weapons plans, following a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The nuclear watchdog claims to have found credible information that Iran had carried out tests that would help develop a nuclear bomb.
Money Week 11th Nov 2011 more >>
Google releases satellite images of Iranian facilities which UN says may be used to develop nuclear weapons.
Daily Mail 11th Nov 2011 more >>
Microgeneration
CBI attacks solar cuts, but the industry is despondent after meeting Barker. In amongst the gloom one academic says the 50% job cuts will be a blip because solar will be cost-competitive within 10 years regardless of the feed-in tariff. Micro CHP could replace gas boilers by 2025; Nottingham shows what solar could have done for solar housing all over the UK; Bath Community Solar undaunted.
Microgen Scotland 11th Nov 2011 more >>
Geothermal
Just behind Cleggs office in Whitehall a 328ft (100m) borehole is being dug for green heating, at huge expense. Workmen on the project claim that whenever the Lib Dem leader is in his office, the drilling stops. They allege that, each time this happens, they are told to go home and the cost to the taxpayer increases by £1,000 per day.
Telegraph 12th Nov 2011 more >>
Scotland
George Osborne has agreed to hand over £100 million to the Scottish Government to spend on green energy projects after a long-running battle between Alex Salmond and the Treasury. Mr Salmond has been arguing that the Scottish government is entitled to the money held in the fossil fuel levy fund, currently about £200 million. The Chancellor used a trip to the Highlands to reveal that an agreement had been reached that would allow the SNP Administration to spend half the money in the fund. The other half will go towards the setting up of the UK Green Investment Bank. FoE said: The Scottish government needs to significantly increase investment in energy efficiency and demand reduction measures, through, for example, reversing its recent cuts to walking and cycling budgets and fully funding a nationwide, free and universal home insulation scheme. If it doesnt, then we have little confidence that it will meet its legally binding carbon reduction targets.
Times 12th Nov 2011 more >>
