Sellafield
Britain’s biggest single nuclear project has run into serious trouble, with missed deadlines and cost overruns threatening the future of the nuclear reprocessing operation at Sellafield in Cumbria. Nuclear authorities have ordered a review of a monumental construction project at Sellafield that is millions of pounds over budget and more than four years late following a series of delays and financial mismanagement. The “Evaporator D” project was originally estimated to cost £90m and was due to be completed as early as 2010. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which has taken over responsibility for running Sellafield from the defunct British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, says that the actual costs are now estimated to be “around £400m” with a completion date no sooner than 2014. The review, however, is likely to conclude that the final costs could be substantially greater, with some commentators predicting that Evaporator D will soak up a further £100m of public funds. The delays threaten seriously to disrupt the operating timetable of Thorp, the thermal oxide reprocessing plant at the heart of the Sellafield operation that was scheduled for closure in 2018.
Independent 14th Feb 2012 more >>
Cumbria
Lord Clark non executive director of Sellafield is on a salary ‘not in the public domain’ he is also chair of the Lake District National Park Partnership. Lake District National Park meetings chaired by Lord Clark reveal a bias as he talks up the safety and economic importance of Sellafield and new nuclear developments while playing down the risks. Under his chairmanship the LDNPA SUPPORTS dangerous new build (9 new reactors) at Sellafield and is going merrily along on ‘steps towards geological disposal’ of high level nuclear waste under Cumbria. As well as Lord Clark’s salary as a non executive director of Sellafield, the LDNPA itself is in reciept of money from Managing Radioactive Wastes Safely (MRWS). Government has drastically cut the LDNPA’s budget and is now filtering taxpayers money to the Lake District National Park from MRWS ( a government quango set up to promote a geological dump in Cumbria).
Northern Indymedia 13th Feb 2012 more >>
Hinkley
Letter Giles Chichester MEP: I listened in disbelief to the radio as a Downing Street spokesman described wind power as a cost-effective energy source! If this is true, then why is it necessary for this Government to subsidise the construction and operation of these wind turbines? If we are seeking a cost-effective investment then it is clear that the privately financed Hinkley C nuclear power station has the edge over the Atlantic Array which will continue to require subsidies from electricity consumers.
Western Morning News 13th Feb 2012 more >>
Anti-nuclear protesters have taken squatting rights on farmland owned by energy giant EDF after it was given the go-ahead to clear the proposed nuclear power site in Somerset. Campaigners are angry over EDF’s plans to build a nuclear plant on the Hinkley Point C site near Bridgewater, which contains protected wetland, arguing that approval from the council to clear the site before planning permission has been approved sends out the message that it is a “done deal” for EDF.
Edie 13th Feb 2012 more >>
Construction News 13th Feb 2012 more >>
Nuclear Police
A government proposal to merge the UK’s two nuclear police forces would be costly, messy and could create a conflict of interest between protecting British weapons and foreign-owned power stations, the Defence Police Federation has warned. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) have launched a “scoping study” into whether to amalgamate the MoD police, which looks after nuclear bomb bases and other military sites, and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), which has responsibility for nuclear power plants. Both forces differ from the normal police in that they usually carry guns.
Guardian 13th Feb 2012 more >>
France
Until Fukushima the French public felt largely secure in the safety of their countrys nuclear facilities. No more. In a report certain to spur political and public debate, Frances Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety, or IRSN) has just issued its 2012 Barometer IRSN Perception of Risks and Safety for the French. Which is a detailed report about the French publics attitudes towards the countrys nuclear industry, and it makes for devastating reading.
Oil Price 14th Feb 2012 more >>
Japan
The Japanese Government has handed the Tokyo Electric Power Company a further £5.6 billion in support, but with a demand that if it is to give any more it will be in return for having a hand in running the company. The loan is only £50 million short of the annual losses that Tepco expects to suffer this year as it still reels from a wave of compensation claims in the wake of last years tsunami and meltdowns at its Fukushina Daiichi nuclear plant. Tepco lifted its compensation bill estimate yesterday to £13.9 billion.
The Times 14th Feb 2012 more >>
Iran
James Morris MP: The seismic changes we are witnessing in the Middle East present both hope for the future but also profound strategic dangers. The threat of Iran continues to be the most pressing issue facing the international community. Should we be concerned about their nuclear intentions, and what sort of threat does Iran really represent to the region? The truth is, we should be taking the threat of Iran very seriously. Europe and the West must not become distracted by economic woes into underestimating the challenge presented by the possibility of a nuclear armed Iran. Their words and actions paint a vivid picture of the danger the regime would pose as a nuclear power.
Conservative Home 14th Feb 2012 more >>
Israeli diplomats were yesterday targeted in simultaneous bomb plots which were blamed on Iran. A bomb attached magnetically to a car in the Indian capital New Delhi exploded and injured the wife of an Israeli official and two bystanders. Officials in Georgia said an explosive device was attached to the bottom of a diplomats car in the capital Tbilisi, but was found and defused before it detonated.
Daily Mail 14th Feb 2012 more >>
Guardian 13th Feb 2012 more >>
Korea
US and North Korean officials will meet on 23 February to discuss Pyongyang’s controversial nuclear programme, the US state department says.
BBC 13th Feb 2012 more >>
Daily Mail 14th Feb 2012 more >>
US
The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved Georgia Power’s spending on Plant Vogtle units 3 and 4 for the period including 1 January 2011 through 30 June 2011. The construction costs of the two nuclear power units are monitored by the PSC through monthly filings and construction monitoring reports filed every six months. Georgia Power, a unit of Southern Co, owns 45.7% of the new power units which are expected to commence operations as soon as 2016 and 2017. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has recently approved Southern Co’s request to build and operate the new reactors at its existing Vogtle site in Georgia.
Energy Business Review 13th Feb 2012 more >>
Poland
The supervisory Board of Polish utility Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) has approved a strategy plan for the period 2012-2035. The plan envisages the start-up of two new nuclear power plants in Poland before 2030. As part of its new strategy PGE aims to increase its generating capacity and to diversify its sources of generating technology.
Nuclear Engineering International 13th Feb 2012 more >>
PGE energy group faces opposition against building a nuclear power plant near the town of Mielno, in the Zachodniopomorskie region on the Baltic coast, whose residents voted against the project in the Sunday referendum, the town mayor Olga Roszak-Pezala told a press conference Monday. There were 2,237 votes against against government plans to build Poland’s first nuclear plant in the nearby village of Gaski, and 125 for, Mielno county said on its website Monday.
Warsaw Voice 14th Feb 2012 more >>
Submarines
A FIRE at a dry-docked Russian nuclear submarine in December could have sparked a radiation disaster because it was carrying nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, despite official statements to the contrary, a Russian news magazine has claimed.
Scotsman 14th Feb 2012 more >>
Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group (B&W NOG) has won a contract totaling about $600m in US. As per the contract, B&W NOG will manufacture nuclear components to support US defense programs, which includes the manufacture of naval nuclear power systems for submarines and aircraft carriers. Work will be performed over an eight-year period beginning in January 2012.
Energy Business Review 13th Feb 2012 more >>
Disarmament
A new series of films in which Dr Hans Blix assesses the state of play on nuclear disarmament.
Talkworks 13th Feb 2012 more >>
Renewables
Green community energy projects need more support, new report argues. The Government must radically overhaul the closed shop energy market by unleashing the community sector to enable more people across the country to play their part in developing a clean energy future, says a new think-tank report.
Respublica 13th Feb 2012 more >>
