GDA
THE UK nuclear safety watchdog has rejected a claim that it is making compromises in order to meet a Government target for resolving safety issues surrounding the design of the reactor chosen for the proposed Sizewell C power station. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has just announced that a further 12 issues with the UK version of the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) have been “closed out”, leaving only one issue to be resolved. A total of 31 outstanding issues were identified a year ago as part of a process known as the generic design assessment and ONR officials believe the remaining one can be resolved this month – in line with a Government timetable – if it receives “on –time” all the information it is seeking. But Pete Wilkinson, a Suffolk-based environment consultant and member of the Sizewell Stakeholder Group, believes settlement of the issues is being driven by political expediency.
East Anglian Daily Times 13th Dec 2012 more »
The Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency have confirmed that the UK EPR generic nuclear reactor design is suitable for construction in the UK. The regulators are satisfied that this reactor, designed by EDF Energy and Areva, meets regulatory expectations on safety, security and environmental impact. Additional site-specific approvals are required before this reactor can be built at any UK location.
ONR 13th Dec 2012 more »
Environment Agency 13th Dec 2012 more »
Commenting on the conclusion of the UK Nuclear Regulators’ (Office for Nuclear Regulation & Environment Agency) Generic Design Assessment for new nuclear reactors, John Hayes, Minister of State for Energy, said: “This is a key moment on the path towards nuclear new build and I welcome it wholeheartedly.”
DECC 13th Dec 2012 more »
Written Ministerial Statement 13th Dec 2012 more »
UK-based EDF Energy and France’s Areva have received generic design approval for the EPR rector from the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency. EDF Energy plans to build two EPR reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Areva had already signed memoranda of understanding with 25 British firms for the supply of components and services for the reactors.
Energy Business Review 14th Dec 2012 more »
The Manufacturer 13th Dec 2012 more »
Utility Week 13th Dec 2012 more »
Construction Index 13th Dec 2012 more »
PLANS to build a third nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast received a boost after industry watchdogs gave the all clear to a new reactor design. The Office of Nuclear Reaction (ONR) and the Environment Agency yesterday confirmed the UK version of the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) is suitable for construction. EDF Energy – which designed the reactor with Areva – would build two EPRs on the Suffolk coast if its plans for Sizewell C get given the go ahead.
East Anglian Daily Times 14th Dec 2012 more »
Olkiluoto
Areva Thursday defended the ability of its EPR to conquer new markets, arguing in particular that it is already drawing lessons from cost overruns and delays on the French and Finnish reactors. Chief executive of the specialist public Nuclear Luc Oursel, has also estimated that the cost of the Finnish EPR OL3 should be “close” to the Flamanville, identified by EDF in early December to around 8.5 billion euros.
Les Echos 13th Dec 2012 more »
French nuclear engineering firm Areva (AREVA.FR) raised its estimate Thursday of the cost of building the new generation reactor under construction since 2005 in Finland. Chief Executive Luc Oursel said the reactor in Olkiluoto will ultimately cost about 8 billion euros, same as a similar reactor it is building in Flamanville, in northern France. That’s well over the last cost estimate of around EUR6.4 billion. “Our estimation is that the whole project (in Finland) will have a cost in constant euros close to Flamanville,” Mr. Oursel said during a press conference.
Dow Jones 13th Dec 2012 more »
Energy Bill
2nd Reading timetabled for 19th December.
Parliament 13th Dec 2012 more »
Briefing: The Energy Bill was introduced into Parliament on 29 November 2012. This marked an important milestone in the implementation of the Electricity Market Reform which has been ongoing since 2010 in the UK. The most critical of the changes to come is the introduction of Contracts for Differences to support investment in low carbon generation including nuclear and carbon capture and storage. The first CfDs should be signed as early as mid 2014. However, recognising that large projects, particularly those in the nuclear industry, need to make their investment decision now if power is to be delivered by 2020, the Government is putting in place a transitional regime in the form of “investment contracts”.
Norton Rose Dec 2012 more »
Radwaste
Letter Prof Neil Chapman Chair of RWMD Technical Panel: Reaching a decision on whether to participate in the siting process for a national GDF requires confidence that there is a sound but flexible process and some prospect of achieving a safe, licensable and societally acceptable facility. A GDF that will provide the assured safety that is being sought can be achieved by balancing many factors – the wastes that are put in it, the engineering designs and materials that are chosen to build it, the way in which it is operated and the overall geological environment in which it is built. This means not just the rocks it is built in, but the total deep system, chosen for its stable properties and on the basis of what we know about how it has evolved over millions of years to be the way it is today. There are certainly indicators of a stable and suitable deep environment, but these need to be looked at in terms of total, balanced system behaviour, not just in isolation. There are few indicators that would say ‘stop’, on their own, without a considered evaluation of the larger geological environment and the engineering options for the GDF. Clarity on what factors can combine, and how, to make a geological disposal system provide permanent, passive safety is going to be essential. Some strong views have emerged on geological suitability, but they are being asserted outside the context of the type of integrated, balanced analysis just mentioned. Views differ, but there are accepted and tested methods for taking proper account of all types and levels of scientific knowledge and expert opinion when taking decisions.
Whitehaven News 13th Dec 2012 more »
Letter Dianne Standen: Any area subjected to a study will face up to a decade of economic and social blight. It is quite understandable that those communities and areas such as Silloth and Ennerdale, which have already been acknowledged by Dr Dearlove as potential sites for exploration, are actively concerned for their future. What is abundantly clear is that current storage facilities at Sellafield for high level nuclear waste are unsatisfactory and threaten both the economy, environment and safety of Cumbria. Four years have already been wasted. To extend that by another decade in what is likely to be a fruitless search for suitable geology in this area would be frankly irresponsible. The councils should give priority, and in its wake, employment, to lobbying for a safe surface facility and not waste valuable time, energy and money in seeking to place a nuclear dump in the county.
Whitehaven News 13th Dec 2012 more »
Radhealth
The FSA is reviewing the way it monitors radioactivity in food. An annual monitoring programme has been in place for more than 25 years and no food safety risks have been identified during this period. The Agency is asking stakeholders to submit their views on plans to update and improve the existing monitoring programme.
FSA 12th Dec 2012 more »
Sellafield
THE Beacon is likely to be saved from closure – thanks to nuclear intervention and the prospect of a big cash injection. Sellafield Ltd has stepped in with a rescue plan for Whitehaven’s harbourside tourist attraction doomed to close under Copeland Council’s massive spending cuts. But now The Whitehaven News can reveal the two will work together in partnership with the aim of keeping the facility to tell the Story of Sellafield as well as being a flagship visitor attraction for Whitehaven and Copeland.
Whitehaven News 13th Dec 2012 more »
BBC 13th Dec 2012 more »
EVERY effort will be made to ensure Sellafield’s 500 new jobs go to locals – and there has been a rush of applications over the past few days.
Whitehaven News 13th Dec 2012 more »
Nuclear Archive
A £14 million national archive centre for the nuclear industry is to go ahead in Caithness, near to the Dounreay experimental power complex. Project was first mooted in 2008 and will be constructed on land owned by the Highland Council. The archive will create up to 20 jobs and hold between 20-30 million digital, paper and photographic records from civil nuclear sites dating back to the 1940s.
Scotsman 13th Dec 2012 more »
Litvinenko
The government’s evidence relating to the death of Alexander Litvinenko amounts to a “prima facie case” that he was murdered by the Russian government, the coroner investigating his death has been told.
Guardian 13th Dec 2012 more »
Independent 14th Dec 2012 more »
Times 13th Dec 2012 more »
Scotland
Scottish Greens are calling on ministers to stop hand-wringing on the worsening issue of fuel poverty. Figures published today (13 Dec) by the Scottish Government show that recent energy price rises have pushed an extra 26,000 households in Scotland into fuel poverty. Around 29 per cent of Scottish households now spend over 10 per cent of their income on energy bills, and 185,000 of those households spend over 20 per cent. Scottish Greens say the National Retrofit Programme to insulate homes – first proposed by the party in 2009 – needs to be increased from the current £65million a year to at least £100million to make a real difference.
Scottish Green 13th Dec 2012 more »
Iran
Iran said progress was made in Thursday’s talks in Tehran with senior U.N. nuclear inspectors but gave no details other than they would meet again in mid-January. There was no immediate comment from the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about the one-day meeting over Iran’s disputed nuclear program, and no sign its inspectors would gain access to the Parchin military complex as requested.
Reuters 13th Dec 2012 more »
The United States stepped up pressure on Iran on Thursday over its nuclear program, imposing sanctions on seven companies and five individuals that it said provided support to the program.
Reuters 13th Dec 2012 more »
Nuclear Weapons
Who holds the world’s nuclear warheads? Get the full list by country. The cold war is long over, but there are still over 7,000 nuclear warheads deployed globally. How is the world’s nuclear arsenal distributed?
Guardian 13th Dec 2012 more »
Keeping a constant sea-bound nuclear deterrent is “complete insanity” that costs too much and is militarily illogical, a former defence minister has said. Sir Nick Harvey, who was armed forces minister until September, said the UK had to properly consider other options before any decisions were taken about whether to replace the Royal Navy’s four ageing Trident submarines. Giving evidence to a research paper compiled by the Nuclear Education Trust, Harvey made the case for alternatives to “like for like” replacement vessels, insisting the government needed to accept the world had changed, and so had the UK’s enemies.
Guardian 13th Dec 2012 more »
Renewables
A mix of offshore and onshore wind, along with contributions from solar power, could provide reliable and cost-effective power flow during all but a handful of days in a hypothetical four-year period under study.
Scientific American 12th Dec 2012 more »
While North American regulators continue debating the merits of feed-in tariffs, another developing country has adopted the policy renowned for rapidly developing renewable energy in the developed world. This week Jordan’s Electricity Regulatory Commission introduced tariffs that will be paid for generation from various renewable technologies. The move was in response to the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Law (REEL) passed in April that requires the national electric utility to purchase generation from renewable generators.
Renewable Energy World 12th Dec 2012 more »
Gas
The government has today given the go-ahead for shale gas exploration to resume, subject to strict controls to prevent earthquakes caused by the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey also today launched a study into how the development of shale gas could impact on the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Business Green 13th Dec 2012 more »
Guardian 13th Dec 2012 more »
Times 13th Dec 2012 more »
Towns and villages could be paid to accept gas “fracking” in their areas, after Britain lifted a ban on the controversial type of drilling.
Telegraph 13th Dec 2012 more »
Mark Lynas debate with Greenpeace’s David Santillo on fracking.
Guardian 13th Dec 2012 more »
Tyndall Centre: Irrespective of whether UK shale gas substitutes for coal, renewables or imported gas, the industry’s latest reserve estimates for just one licence area could account for up to 15% of the UK’s emissions budget through to 2050. Therefore, emissions from a fully developed UK shale gas industry would likely be very substantial in their own right. If the UK government is to respect its obligations under both the Copenhagen accord and low carbon transition plan, shale gas offers no meaningful potential as even a transition fuel.
Guardian 13th Dec 2012 more »
Shale gas may possibly offset the decline in the UK’s North Sea supplies. But David Cameron and George Osborne’s dreams of an energy revolution are a dangerous hallucination. Michael Liebreich, CEO of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, calculates it would take 2,400 fracked wells to offset North Sea declines. Erecting onshore wind turbines will feel like a breeze by comparison. On safety, regulation could make shale gas extraction safe in theory, but only if it is adhered to. Cuadrilla has drilled a mere three wells so far but has already broken the terms of its planning permission. Davey’s investigation of the earthquakes caused by Cuadrilla found “weaknesses in its management of environmental risks”, now being addressed.
Guardian 13th Dec 2012 more »
Just days after his return from Doha, Davey looks to have relinquished that leadership in favour of a doubtful bonanza from fossil fuels. The government’s embrace of shale gas will not only help explode Britain’s climate targets, but leave the UK exposed on the world diplomatic stage. The key question Davey repeatedly ducked at his press conference remains: if he accepts that avoiding catastrophic levels of climate change will require countries to leave vast stores of their hydrocarbons in the ground, how can he justify the UK’s frantic search to wring every last drop, and promote the gas industry above genuinely clean energy? Does he think other countries won’t notice?
Guardian 13th Dec 2012 more »
The immediate problem with shale gas is the hype that surrounds it. There may well be scope to produce this type of energy in Britain, but volumes are likely to be limited, infrastructure costs high and local opposition even higher.
Guardian 13th Dec 2012 more »
Local councils could lose their right to block large scale gas fracking projects around Britain, it emerged tonight, as the Government gave the green light for the resumption of onshore drilling.
Independent 13th Dec 2012 more »
