Nuclear Subsidies
UK government agrees to subsidise nuclear power companies’ prices. Years of lobbying by nuclear companies has finally paid off, as the Government will on Thursday reveal plans to subsidise the price that they are paid for generating electricity. Companies hoping to build Britain’s new nuclear stations, including EDF and Centrica, will score a victory in the electricity market reforms – the biggest shake-up since privatisation. The Government will agree to four measures providing investors with certainty that they will make money from nuclear and wind power, which carry huge up-front capital costs. Firstly, it will fix the price that some low-carbon generators can get for their electricity, awarding contracts to companies that can build capacity at the lowest cost. Secondly, it will propose artificially raising the price of European Union carbon allowances to a set level. It will also propose paying companies to make back-up power available, even if plants are not producing, and introducing restrictions on emissions from coal stations.
Telegraph 16th Dec 2010 more >>
One share price worth watching on Thursday will be Drax, the coal-fired power station business, which could be a loser from Chris Huhne’s electricity market reforms, due at lunchtime. The reforms are deeply complex and will take two years to construct if it’s possible at all. If not, then a simpler “feed-in tariff” is the alternative, again working in combination with a higher carbon floor price. Either way, nuclear should win and operators of existing nuclear sites should get a particularly smart windfall as prices for their electricity jumps. Today’s proposals do represent a subsidy for nuclear but the price of that will be borne by consumers directly on their bills, reflecting the necessary and unavoidable cost of creating a reliable, secure and green energy supply for Britain.
Telegraph 16th Dec 2010 more >>
Energy analysts say the Coalition’s plans will put Britain on course for a “high cost, low carbon” electricity market where consumers pay the price for environmentally friendly generating technology. According to uSwitch the plans will cost households more than £500 a year on top of the current total average energy bill of £1,157. Mr Huhne’s officials dispute that figure and insist that the direct costs of specific government policies will be much lower. Consumers will not easily accept Mr Huhne’s argument that his measures will mean price rises are smaller than might otherwise have been the case. He said: “That’s going to be a very hard sell, because for many consumers, all they are going to notice is that their bills are going up.” Many of Mr Huhne’s fellow Lib Dems oppose nuclear power and he has insisted that there will be “no specific subsidy” for new nuclear plants, which each cost around £4 billion to build. But the carbon price may be seen as a disguised subsidy for existing nuclear plants, since it will allow their owners to sell electricity much more cheaply than power produced by fossil fuel plants.
Telegraph 16th Dec 2010 more >>
Chris Huhne: nuclear and most renewables – particularly wind and tidal stream – are low-carbon sources of power that share the characteristic of high up-front costs and low running costs: the mix that investors most dislike when faced with uncertainty. So on Thursday the Coalition begins a consultation on a reform that would reshape this market more fundamentally than at any time since the 1980s.
Telegraph 16th Dec 2010 more >>
THE Government was yesterday urged to continue trying to secure funds for a company to build components for the nuclear industry, after it controversially withdrew an £80m loan.
The planned loan to Sheffield Forgemasters was cancelled after a number of projects were reviewed shortly after the coalition Government took office. The Business Select Committee said axing the loan, which had been announced by Lord Mandelson when he was Business Secretary, was an “easy cost saving”, adding: “While this is a legitimate way to proceed, the department should have been more transparent in articulating this process and not hidden behind the simple defence of affordability.”
Western Mail 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Britain’s system of support for green electricity is to be phased out by the government under radical proposals to be unveiled today. The “renewables obligation” will be replaced by a mechanism to support all forms of low-carbon generation, which will for the first time set minimum price levels for big renewable energy projects. The winding down is likely to unsettle investors. Mr Huhne will announce a consultation on feed-in tariffs (Fits) – a measure that until now had applied only to schemes of up to 5MW. Another proposal will be the introduction of a capacity market that will reward generators for helping to reduce demand and promote energy efficiency. The Treasury will publish on Friday proposals for a carbon floor price.
FT 16th Dec 2010 more >>
Radhealth
Men who grew up in the St. Louis area in the early 1960s and died of cancer by middle age had more than twice as much radioactive strontium in their baby teeth as men born in the same area at the same time who are still living, according to a study based on teeth collected years ago by Washington University in St. Louis. The study, published on Dec. 1 in The International Journal of Health Services, analyzed baby teeth collected during the era when the United States and the Soviet Union were conducting nuclear bomb tests in the atmosphere. The study seeks to help scientists determine the health effects of small radiation doses, and to say how many people died from bomb fallout. There is very little reliable data on the relationship of radiation to cancer at low doses, so scientists instead use extrapolations from higher doses, which introduces large uncertainties into their calculations.
New York Times 13th December 2010 more >>
Terror
A MAJOR security review of nuclear plants, gas pipelines and oil refineries is being carried out amid renewed fears they are vulnerable to Al Qaeda attacks. The study is focused on nuclear power installations after apparent weaknesses were found at the Sellafield processing plant in Cumbria.
Express 16th Dec 2010 more >>
Lancashire Evening Post 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Independent 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Mirror 16th Dec 2010 more >>
SELLAFIELD insists there has been no security failure at the nuclear plant despite national newspaper reports of weaknesses. It has been confirmed that the site is part of a wide ranging review of power installations which are potentially at risk from terrorist attack. But contrary to a front-page report in The Times that the review follows “the discovery of security weaknesses” at Sellafield, David Moore, chairman of the West Cumbria Stakeholders (nuclear) group said: “I have been assured there have been no breaches of security. It is part of a security review covering all oil and gas refineries along with civil nuclear installations. “It is right and proper that such reviews are carried out, especially as we always say that security at Sellafield is paramount and the fact that it holds the world’s biggest stockpile of plutonium.”
Whitehaven News 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Areva
Areva SA debt may get downgraded after the maker of nuclear reactors announced a smaller-than- initially forecast capital increase, Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said.
Any future capital increase would be the decision of the government, which controls about 91 percent of Areva, the CEO said.
Bloomberg 14th Dec 2010 more >>
EDF is still waiting to commit to building the first UK EPRs. But has partner and supplier Areva invested in long-lead items for the UK anyway? Areva vice president of new-build Robert Davies said, “We have invested a lot of money in the GDA” – regulatory pre-approval process. “But we have not spent anything on the Hinkley Point project.” It is also in discussions with Horizon Nuclear Power for two EPRs each at Oldbury and Wylfa, and with the NuGen consortium of GDF Suez, Iberdrola and Scottish & Southern about reactors at Sellafield. He said that new nuclear build altogether, whether from EDF or the other two consortia, will offer opportunities to many companies. “Every UK construction firm will be involved in UK nuclear new-build. There will be winners and winners.” In 2008, Areva signed up Balfour Beatty and Vinci for the UK EPR build process.
Nuclear Engineering International 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Berkeley
The Magnox reactor buildings at the world’s first commercial nuclear power station stand square, almost defiantly, against the brisk breeze from the River Severn. Built in the late 1950s, the power station produced enough electricity during its heyday to supply a city the size of Bristol.
BBC 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Sellafield
THE Sellafield site dispute which last month caused chaos on the main A595 is over. A prolonged pay claim saw Babcock safety maintenance workers strike after an overtime ban and work to rule. Picketing of Sellafield’s main gates led to long traffic tailbacks during the two-week strike. Yesterday Unite’s regional organiser Alan Westnedge told The Whitehaven News the issues were resolved. An improved pay offer from the contract firm had been accepted by the 41 workers involved. They are responsible for maintaining Sellafield’s radiation and contamination machines.
Whitehaven News 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Low Level Waste
MORE contaminated metal from Sellafield is being sent to a recycling plant near Workington to save space at the low-level waste site near Drigg. Metal racks, used to hold containers of waste under water, will be smelted at the Studsvik plant at Lillyhall rather than being sent for disposal at the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR). More than 200 tonnes of metal will be sent to Lillyhall under the new arrangement. The material will be formed into ingots and sold on the scrap metal market. About 400 racks will be dealt with. Some leftover waste, known as slag, will need to be taken to Drigg after processing.
Whitehaven News 15th Dec 2010 more >>
NDA
As part of restructuring, the NDA has shed 102 posts, 61 of them in Copeland. These have been lost across the three local sites – Westlakes Science Park, which remains the NDA’s national HQ; Pelham House, Calderbridge, and a small office at Sellafield. A spokesman said the Copeland job cuts involved both staff and agency posts along with others who had found alternative employment. A handful were compulsory redundancies. The authority now has 194 on its payroll, 164 of the employees in Copeland. The reductions came on top of Sellafield’s own 800 jobs cut, all of them through a voluntary redundancy programme.
Whitehaven News 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Consultancy
PwC has recruited three new senior hires to join its fast expanding nuclear consulting team. All will take up the role with immediate effect and together they will be responsible for using their operating and industry knowledge to supplement the existing team.
PWC Press Release 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Saudi Arabia
A venture between General Electric Co. and Hitachi Ltd. plans to pursue contracts in Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil supplier develops an atomic program to meet rising power demand.
Bloomberg 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is pushing ahead with an international plan for it to host a global nuclear fuel bank to allay fears of Iranian raw material enrichment, despite Iran’s lukewarm response to the plan when it received the go-ahead from the world’s nuclear watchdog at the start of this month.
Telegraph 16th Dec 2010 more >>
Iraq
The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday gave Iraq the green light to develop a civilian nuclear program, ending 19-year-old restrictions aimed at preventing the country from developing atomic weapons.
Yahoo 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Korea
North Korea is making possible preparations for a third nuclear weapons test as early as next spring, reports in Seoul have claimed, as tensions on the Korean Peninsula sparked the largest South Korean civil defence drills in a generation.
Telegraph 16th Dec 2010 more >>
Guardian 16th Dec 2010 more >>
Yahoo 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Aldermaston
Workers at the firm that builds warheads for Trident, the UK’s nuclear deterrent, have voted in favour of accepting an improved pay offer. Staff held a protest last month at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Berkshire after being offered a pay rise of less than 2%. Employees had planned a one-day strike but the action was called off.
BBC 15th Dec 2010 more >>
Nuclear Attack
Al-Qaeda played no part in planning the July 28 attack. The conspirators were the leaders of a dozen state, local and federal agencies who were taking part in a simulated L.A. County security exercise code-named Operation Golden Phoenix. Their mission: to assure that if a terrorist does detonate a nuke in Los Angeles, first responders will be prepared to wade into the devastation and rescue survivors suffering from traumatic injuries, radiation sickness, shock and flash-blindness.
USA Today 16th Dec 2010 more >>
