Politics
Eon has emphatically denied a claim in the Mail on Sunday that former energy minister John Hayes tried to get the company to speak out against green policy. The Mail reported that Hayes “secretly met” Eon-UK chief executive Tony Cocker on 13 March and urged him to warn of blackouts unless the government delayed the closure of coal plants such as Kingsnorth, in Kent. Such a move would be in breach of European legislation. Energy secretary Ed Davey “hit the roof” when told of this “treachery” and demanded Hayes be sacked, according to the report. Two weeks later, Hayes was moved to a minor role in Number 10.
Utility Week 15th July 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
The Energy Secretary Ed Davey has attacked the Taxpayers’ Alliance – accusing the campaign group of making “dodgy, back-of-fag-packet claims” about energy bills. The Liberal Democrat minister hit out after the low-tax pressure group published figures claiming that household energy bills could reach £2,000 per household by the end of the decade – with green charges and subsequent VAT increasing prices by 29 per cent. Its analysis was based on calculations from the investment bank Liberum Capital which predicted the rise in green energy taxes will mean average electricity bills reach £812 by 2020. The TaxPayers’ Alliance estimated gas bills could also rise by 29 per cent, using the forecasts to launch a campaign calling for an end to wind turbine subsidies. But the figures have been disputed by Mr Davey, who has written to the Taxpayers’ Alliance to express his anger. The letter, seen by The Independent, says: “Your calculations are wrong and there is no good foundation to your claim that by 2020 green charges and tax will account for £620 of average energy bills. It is disingenuous to seek to pin the blame on government policies using inflated assessments of their impacts while ignoring the main driver for price increases – rising global fossil fuel prices.”
Independent 14th July 2013 read more »
Radwaste
While the Keekle Head Inquiry has now finished and the inspector will mull over whether or not to allow radioactive waste into a new area of Cumbria, Lillyhall Landfill continues to be targeted as a nuke dump without so much as a planning application for using the landfill as a nuke dump – no need – as the radioactive waste is “exempt” under a recent deregulatory law. The plan is to dump as much as possible of decommissioned nuclear power plants into Lillyhall under the “exempt” law. Radioactive waste, rubble and soil from smashed up nuclear plants undergoing “decommissioning” i.e. dispersal are being trucked to Cumbria. If this “exempt” waste is so safe why is it being trucked hundreds of miles from Scotland and the South? Why not just put it in Scotland’s landfill? The answer is that it is NOT SAFE and NO ONE WANTS IT.
Radiation Free Lakeland 14th July 2013 read more »
World Nuclear
Global electricity generation from nuclear plants dropped by a historic 7 percent in 2012, adding to the record drop of 4 percent in 2011, just after the unfortunate Fukushima accident in Japan. It is estimated there are a total of 29 countries that are described as developing nuclear power programs for the first time. This includes three countries that have ordered nuclear power plants, 14 countries that are considering starting a nuclear power program and in which there is a “strong indication of intentions to proceed”, six countries show “active preparation for a possible nuclear power program” and a further six that are actively preparing for a possible nuclear power program with no final decision. The total number of countries listed as developing nuclear power programs has fallen since 2010, when there were 33.Three countries that have ordered nuclear power plants are Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Belarus.
Hurriyet Daily News 15th July 2013 read more »
France
Greenpeace say a dozen of its activists have entered an EDF nuclear plant in Tricastin, France, Reuters have reported.
ITV News 15th July 2013 read more »
Raw Story 15th July 2013 read more »
Greenpeace France Briefing.
Greenpeace 15th July 2013 read more »
US
A 30-second ad created by an organization called Friends of the Earth portrays supporters of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, also known as MOX, being constructed at the Savannah River Site, SRS as pigs in “lobbyist suits.” That probably tells you all you need to know about Friends of the Earth. Any discussion involving them is likely to end in character assassination and assigning scurrilous motives to their opposition. This time they are after Sen. Lindsey Graham for his support of MOX. Their attempt to make this a political issue is unfortunate because the completion of the MOX project is important to all Americans as it represents the mutually agreed upon method for Russia and the U.S. to eliminate the plutonium from at least 17,000 nuclear weapons. It should not be cast as a liberal, conservative, Republican or Democrat initiative. The project has enjoyed strong bipartisan support in South Carolina and in Congress.
Aiken Standard 14th July 2013 http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20130714/AIK02/130719727/1018/AIK02/column-pay-attention-to-debate-concerning-mox-plan
Japan
On 7/12/2013, Fukushima Diary reported “Tepco admitted leakage from reactor2&3 to the trench,”150,000,000,000Bq/m3 of Cs-134/137, 0.1 Sv/h” Tepco published the report in English one day after in Japanese. Because this is an important evidence, Fukushima Diary posts it here for reference.
Fukushima Diary 14th July 2013 read more »
Fukushima Diary 12th July 2013 read more »
India
The unit 1 at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant located in the Tirunelveli district, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has reached ‘critical’ condition on Saturday 13 July. The nuclear plant is all set to be commissioned before August-end.
Energy Business Review 15th July 2013 read more »
Micro-CHP
We knew 2012 was going to be a bumper year for micro-CHP sales – with continuing concerns over power supply in a post-Fukushima Japan and increasingly attractive market conditions for cogeneration in Germany. And in collating our latest edition of the Delta-ee ‘Micro-CHP Annual Roundup 2012’, we learned that global sales leapt by more than 50% in 2012. This means almost 44,000 units were sold around the world – compared with less than 29,000 the previous year. The value of the market increased again, this time to almost €700 million – with the increasing popularity of expensive residential fuel cell in Japan being the main reason. We predict growth in global market value to just less than €900 million for 2013.
Delta 10th July 2013 read more »
Trident
Letter: The good people in the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church will perhaps be dismayed to know that they are “a noisy and all too often hysterical minority” in the eyes of Peter Russell because they reject Trident (Letters, July 12). I wonder what he would consider to be an emotionally mature human response to the fact that even as I write a young man is sitting at a panel waiting to bring hell on earth to untold thousands in unknown cities, by merely turning a key. The country that once had the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world is now nuclear-free. Ukraine got rid of its nuclear weapons as part of its struggle for independence. We can do the same. Paradoxically, Ukraine’s move was welcomed by the UK and the US. So, why do they not rejoice that we in Scotland could now do likewise?
Herald 15th July 2013 read more »
Britain will be at risk of “nuclear blackmail” from rogue states such as Iran and North Korea if it downgrades the Trident programme, Dr Liam Fox, the former defence secretary, has warned. Under proposals supported by the Liberal Democrats, the number of Vanguard submarines equipped with nuclear missiles could be halved. The cuts would leave Britain without a nuclear deterrent for 10 months of the year.
Telegraph 15th July 2013 read more »
Britain’s fleet of four Trident submarines could be cut to two vessels under plans to be put to the Liberal Democrat conference this autumn. Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Chief Treasury Secretary, will set out the proposal on Tuesday after heading a review of the alternative options to the £25bn “like-for-like” successor to Trident fleet favoured by the Conservatives. The two Coalition parties are divided on the need for a full-scale replacement and the Liberal Democrat leadership faces pressure from some activists to support unilateral nuclear disarmament.
Independent 14th July 2013 read more »
Renewables
Greg Barker, the energy minister, said that town halls are too often prepared to “roll over rather than looking at the balance of community interest and visual impact” over fears that they will face costly legal battles in the High Court. The Government is rushing through changes to planning guidelines that for the first time give councils and residents the power to veto large solar farms. The new guidance on renewable energy, to be issued to local councils later in the summer, will make clear that the need for green energy, including solar farms, “does not automatically override environmental protections and the planning concerns of local communities”.
Telegraph 14th July 2013 read more »
Householders and landlords could get paid hundreds of pounds a year for heat generated by solar thermal panels, biomass boilers and heat pumps, Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker confirmed on Friday. The tariff levels have been set at 7.3p/kWh for air source heat pumps; 12.2p/kWh for biomass boilers; 18.8p/kWh for ground source heat pumps and at least 19.2 p/kWh for solar thermal. The new Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for householders is designed to drive forward uptake of renewable heat technologies in homes across Great Britain to cut carbon, help meet renewables targets and save money on bills. The scheme is a world first, and has been up and running for the non – domestic sector since November 2011.
Sustainable Housing 15th July 2013 read more »
Environmental campaigners have welcomed the successful testing of a radar system which could resolve safety concerns over installing wind turbines near airports. The technology underwent tests at Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire last week which proved its ability to detect the difference between aircraft and the movement of turbine blades, which it can block out on air traffic control screens. Existing systems are unable to identify each turbine with the same level of accuracy and airports are concerned about the crowded screens that would be produced by having a wind farm close by.
STV 14th July 2013 read more »
Herald 15th July 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
French President Francois Hollande has again ruled out exploration for shale gas during his presidency. The comments come as a French court was due to examine an appeal against a government ban on “fracking”. France has some of the most plentiful reserves of shale gas in Europe, but there are objections to shale exploration on environmental grounds.
BBC 15th July 2013 read more »
Telegraph 14th July 2013 read more »
David Cameron came under renewed pressure to sack his party’s elections adviser Lynton Crosby on Sunday night as environmental activists expressed concern about his links to the fracking industry.
Independent 14th July 2013 read more »
