Nuclear Subsidy
‘No subsidy for nuclear” has been the mantra of Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat energy secretary, ever since he arrived at Whitehall ready to row back on his long-held blanket opposition to atomic power. The steadfast denial of public money for nuclear is baffling to the experts, who say that £40bn of new stations is clearly not – with the present subsidy regime – cost competitive with gas or coal.
However, with nuclear needed to keep the lights on in the UK and the need to switch Britain’s power to a lower carbon system ever more pressing, compromises are being made behind closed doors. “The Government’s definition of a subsidy is literally a bag of cash delivered personally by George Osborne to each nuclear power plant,” says Peter Atherton, utilities analyst at Citigroup. “This is laughable. What’s going to happen will be an economic transfer of risk from company to consumer. Of course it’s a subsidy.” Consumers will foot the bill for this increase in price, as the Government effectively taxes fossil fuel plants according to the amount of carbon dioxide they emit and incentivises the construction of nuclear power and renewables.
Sunday Telegraph 14th Nov 2010 more >>
In interviews with The Sunday Telegraph, the bosses of RWE npower, E.ON UK, EDF Energy, Centrica and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) set out their hopes that the Government’s imminent white paper on the UK market will finally force up the price of electricity enough to make low-carbon nuclear power achievable.
Sunday Telegraph 14th Nov 2010 more >>
Radwaste
The ‘Managing Radioactive Waste Safely’ Partnership is piling on radioactive rubbish with an advertising campaign sent to every house in the Lakes with the aim of “implementing geological disposal” in Cumbria. The nasty “partnership” process is aimed solely at steering “volunteer” communities into accepting deep disposal of high-level nuclear waste in return for money. The safer option of above-ground and retrievable waste management and nuclear phase out is not even on the agenda. If the “volunteer” process fails then the government “will look at other options” to force “disposal.” We take this to mean forcing an underground high-level nuclear dump on communities.
Northern Indymedia 13th Nov 2010 more >>
Scottish Waste
Hunterston in North Ayrshire could become the dustbin for Scotland’s nuclear waste under plans being proposed by the US company that is decommissioning Britain’s old reactors. Energy Solutions, based in Salt Lake City in Utah, wants to bury large amounts of radioactive waste from the defunct nuclear station at Hunterston in a hole up to 50 metres deep on the site. This will free up space in a newly-built shed nearby to take waste from other nuclear sites in Scotland. Evidence suggests that this could include radioactive waste from nuclear plants at Chapelcross in Dumfries and Galloway and Torness in East Lothian. Debris from the Faslane naval base on the Clyde and the old nuclear submarines berthed at Rosyth on the Forth could also end up at Hunterston.
Sunday Herald 14th Nov 2010 more >>
Hunterston
Radioactive waste has leaked into the Firth of Clyde from a defunct nuclear power station at Hunterston in North Ayrshire, the Sunday Herald can reveal. Heavy rain caused contaminated silt from the site to flood onto the foreshore, in breach of safety procedures. The Government’s environmental watchdog is now investigating whether to take legal action. The revelation has prompted condemnation from politicians and local residents, who are critical of Hunterston’s safety record. They want tough action to prevent any further leaks from the site.
Sunday Herald 14th Nov 2010 more >>
Hinkley
National Grid is funding an independent study into the costs of different technologies used to transmit power. The Institute of Engineering and Technology is also examining the best applications of underground cables, under sea cables and pylons. National Grid wants to build overhead pylons from Avonmouth in Bristol to Hinkley Point in west Somerset.
BBC 13th Nov 2010 more >>
Wylfa
HORIZON, the joint venture company behind the proposals to build a new nuclear power station at Wylfa, have taken to the road to get the views of Anglesey and North Wales residents about the wide ranging scheme. Elgan Hearn caught up with Head of Site Development, Alan Smith and Horizon spokesman Leon Flexman to discuss the £8bn project. THE Wylfa B project, according to Horizon, is not just about building a new nuclear power station. Next year, Horizon will be holding two rounds of public consultations as their plans for the power station firm up before a formal application can be submitted to the UK Government’s Infrastructure Planning Committee.
Holyhead & Anglesey Mail 10th Nov 2010 more >>
Scotland
THE “lights could go out” over Scotland unless new power stations are built in the next two years to ward off a looming electricity crisis, the head of one of Scotland’s most successful companies has warned Alex Salmond. Rupert Soames, chief executive of power supply firm Aggreko, told the First Minister that the National Grid will lose a third of its capacity by 2018 as a string of nuclear, gas and oil-fired power stations across the UK are retired – including several in Scotland. Mr Soames claimed that no other industrialised country in the world is at risk of losing so much of its energy supply at the same time – and without a realistic back-up plan.
Scotsman 13th Nov 2010 more >>
Herald 13th Nov 2010 more >>
Into the gales of hot air which politicians, up to and including the First Minister, have inflicted on the country about Scotland’s potential for becoming “the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy”, is injected a chill wind of warning, blown into the public weather system by the respected head of one of the country’s most successful companies.
Scotsman 13th Nov 2010 more >>
RUPERT SOAMES, the head of temporary power group Aggreko, keeps saying it – but is anyone listening? It is not the first time Soames has warned that, unless the UK gets serious about replacing a 30 per cent drop in energy production due by 2018, the lights will go out. But First Minister Alex Salmond, for one, wasn’t listening – instead he decided to give the lecture on the gaping holes in his energy policy a miss. But he should be listening. Not just because of Soames’s impressive parentage (Sir Winston Churchill was his grandfather) or his fruity, entertaining mode of speaking, but because Soames is a world expert about what happens when energy supply goes badly wrong.
Scotsman 13th Nov 2010 more >>
The UK system that encourages green energy development should be scrapped to ensure a new generation of fossil fuel and nuclear power stations, according to one of Scotland’s most senior business leaders. Rupert Soames, the head of temporary power group Aggreko, has called for the abolition of the Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROC) system. Speaking after a controversial speech in the Scottish Parliament on Friday in which he called for carbon reduction targets to be postponed for 10 years, Soames told the Sunday Herald that the current Ofgem review into the future of energy policy needed to ensure a wider energy mix. Failure to do so would, he said, risk ageing power stations closing down or falling foul of the European Large Combustion Plant Directive when it comes into effect by 2015, and could lead to the “lights going out” in the next few years.
Sunday Herald 14th Nov 2010 more >>
Turkey
Turkey will invite Japanese industrial giant Toshiba for talks on building a nuclear power plant after negotiations with South Korea hit snags, a Turkish minister was quoted saying Saturday.
AFP 13th Nov 2010 more >>
