New Nukes
De Rivaz is under no illusion that 2011 is the year to deliver. By that he means starting the new nuclear programme. This hinges not only on achieving planning consents, but also on energy market reforms that will make the whole enterprise economically worthwhile. In fact he is so keen to underline the fact that 2011 is the ‘year of delivery’ that he repeats it no fewer than 20 times in the interview. Indeed, the first thing he says as we sit in his offices, which overlook Buckingham Palace gardens, is: ‘I am a man of action in a year of delivery. And 2011 is the year of delivery’. Until now, it has all been talk – about convincing a sceptical anti-nuclear nation that nuclear power is the only solution to a reliable source of carbonfree power. It has all been about persuading the Government to help push through the changes needed to get nuclear power stations built and to enable EDF to make money from its huge investments.
Daily Mail 13th Feb 2011 more >>
This is Money 13th Feb 2011 more >>
Electricity Market Reform
The nuclear industry could receive a £3.4bn windfall as a result of plans to set a carbon floor price, according to green campaigners. WWF and Greenpeace argue the coalition’s move to make low-carbon technologies more profitable by setting a minimum carbon price would provide a big boost to the nuclear sector. They argue the move breaches its promise not to provide subsidies for new nuclear power. WWF, said: “Giving windfall profits to existing nuclear plants, from which we are likely to incur further waste liability costs, is completely against the interest of the UK taxpayer.”
FT 14th Feb 2011 more >>
Hinkley
THREE Somerset councils scooped a top national planning award at the Royal Town Planning Institute’s annual awards ceremony held in London on Thursday. Sedgemoor District Council, West Somerset Council and Somerset County Council were short-listed from more than 120 entries overall to win the Planning Process award in recognition of their joint work on the proposed development at Hinkley Point C.
Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News 13th Feb 2011 more >>
Iran
Iran has appointed a nuclear scientist who is subject to UN sanctions and survived an attempt on his life as the country’s top nuclear official in a rebuff to international pressure to halt uranium enrichment. Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, who has links with the elite Revolutionary Guards and the defence ministry, will head Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, the main body that handles technical aspects of the nuclear programme.
FT 14th Feb 2011 more >>
Yahoo 13th Feb 2011 more >>
Submarines
The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) (NYSE:BWC) announced today that its subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) has been awarded a contract extension totaling approximately $79 million. The 2011 contract extension is for the continued manufacture and delivery of fuel and support activities for the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion program.
Your Industry News 14th Feb 2011 more >>
Climate
The independent status of Britain’s key climate change watchdog is under threat, environmental groups have warned, because it has been included on a list of quangos whose structure could be altered at the discretion of ministers. The committee on climate change (CCC) was established by the Climate Change Act 2008, the first piece of legislation of its kind in the world. It has already played a role in policing plans for reducing the UK’s carbon emissions and is respected by business groups, energy companies and green organisations.
Guardian 14th Feb 2011 more >>
Renewables
Solar power companies are considering a legal challenge to Government plans for a review of the “feed-in tariff” (FIT) scheme, set up last year to boost investment in green energy schemes.
After months of uncertainty, the announcement by the Energy Secretary Chris Huhne last week of a fast-track review has created “pandemonium” in the industry, critics claim, leaving all but the smallest domestic projects “impossible to finance” and costing Britain’s stuttering economy anything up to 18,000 new jobs.
Independent 14th Feb 2011 more >>
Europe could save €900bn (£762bn) and still hit its 2050 carbon reduction targets if it built fewer wind farms and more gas plants, a coalition of gas producers including Gazprom, Centrica and Qatar Petroleum has told the European commission. The industry is lobbying against the possibility of the commission setting new renewable energy targets and phasing out the use of gas. Next month, it will publish a draft “road map” energy strategy to 2050.
Guardian 14th Feb 2011 more >>
