GDA
Plans from Japanese firm Hitachi to build up to six new nuclear reactors in the UK progressed today as Ministers asked the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency to assess the design of their reactor. Hitachi recently acquired Horizon Nuclear Power and plan to develop new nuclear reactors at Wylfa in Anglesey and Oldbury in Gloucestershire. A Generic Design Assessment (GDA) will now be carried out on the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor, which is the only Generation III + reactor which has been in operation anywhere in the world, with four ABWRs in Japan, and three others under construction in Japan and Taiwan.
DECC 15th Jan 2013 more »
John Hayes: I am today making a statement to the House to let Hon Members know that I have asked the UK’s independent nuclear regulators, the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency, to conduct a Generic Design Assessment of the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR). This is the nuclear reactor design by Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd which Horizon Nuclear Power intend to use in the new nuclear power stations which they propose to build at Wylfa in Anglesey and Oldbury in Gloucestershire.
DECC 15th Jan 2013 more »
NUCLEAR developer Hitachi’s plans to build a new power station in Oldbury are moving swiftly on with its reactor design set to be assessed by the government. UK regulators confirmed today they were ready to begin an in-depth evaluation of the Japanese firm’s advanced boiling water reactor technology.
Gloucestershire Gazette 15th Jan 2013 more »
NUCLEAR regulators are to start the assessment process of reactors planned for Wylfa B. Ministers asked the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency to assess the design of the Hitachi reactor. Japanese firm Hitachi recently acquired Horizon Nuclear Power and plan to develop new nuclear reactors at Wylfa in Anglesey and Oldbury in Gloucestershire. They submitted the application for their reactor design last week.
Daily Post 15th Jan 2013 more »
The Government has confirmed that nuclear regulators are to discuss the design assessment of a reactor with Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd which will provide the technology for Oldbury. The move is a major step forward say Horizon Nuclear Power, which is based at Brockworth and will run the new nuclear power station.
Gloucester Citizen 16th Jan 2013 more »
Hitachi’s plan to build six nuclear reactors in the UK moved a step forward today, as ministers asked the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency to assess their designs.
Utility Week 15th Jan 2013 more »
Business Green 15th Jan 2013 more »
New Civil Engineer 15th Jan 2013 more »
Nuclear Costs
Areva and EDF, the French nuclear groups, have both defended the cost of new nuclear projects despite the €2bn of extra cost overruns on their flagship next-generation reactor at Flamanville in Normandy. The news that the reactor, the first built in France for 15 years, is expected to cost €8.5bn rather than the €3.3bn first forecast comes as questions are raised about whether nuclear power remains affordable. Figures from Areva show the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) it is building at Flamanville will cost between €70 and €80 per megawatt hour, about the same as gas or coal-powered plants but cheaper than onshore wind farms. Areva insists that the high cost at Flamanville is simply because it is the “first of series” and that future EPR developments will fall to €60 per megawatt hour. Areva still hopes to win 10 international orders for EPRs by 2016. But it is also exploring a tripartite deal with EDF and China’s CGNPC to develop a smaller reactor, which would generate between 1,000 and 1,100 megawatts rather than the 1,650 megawatts of the larger EPR. EDF says the EPR is too expensive and complicated for many customers and that smaller reactors will account for much of future demand.
FT 15th Jan 2013 more »
Energy Bill
A “vast majority” of companies in the UK want a government-set target on decarbonising the electricity sector, the energy and climate secretary Ed Davey told MPs on Tuesday. He said that only “one or two” companies had told him they did not want such a target, but would not name them, in a session of questioning from MPs about the energy bill, currently going through the committee stages.
Guardian 15th Jan 2013 more »
Companies
EDF is in talks with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding (CGN) to replace Centrica as its nuclear partner in the UK, according to sources close to the deal. Centrica is apparently no longer keen on the joint venture, while EDF could sell part of its stake in the project in an attempt to boost its finances. Utility Week understands that Centrica is unsure whether to take up the option of a 20 per cent stake in EDF Energy’s new nuclear venture in the UK, which includes a proposed reactor at Hinkley Point. New nuclear investment is not expected to make a return for at least eight years. Investors in Centrica are reportedly eager to pursue projects that see a return over a shorter period and carry less development risk. Centrica bosses have also been put off the nuclear programme because they are not convinced it would offer them the protection they seek from rising wholesale gas prices.
Utility Week 15th Jan 2013 more »
Executives at GDF Suez, the world’s biggest power producer by output, sometimes draw unflattering comparisons between their company and EDF, their struggling rival. The argument, expressed in private, is that EDF, the world’s leading supplier of atomic-powered electricity, fought tooth and nail for leadership of France’s nuclear industry but has not done enough to translate that into international success. By contrast, GDF has looked for expansion beyond French shores through its acquisition of Britain’s International Power and a string of power and liquefied natural gas projects in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.Over the past year, EDF shares have fallen 26 per cent and GDF’s 27 per cent, far worse than German rivals Eon and RWE and Spain’s Iberdrola.
FT 15th Jan 2013 more »
Radwaste
Video extracts of public meeting in Keswick 11th January.
You Tube 15th Jan 2013 more »
Sizewell
ANGRY villagers have confronted energy giant EDF over its refusal to include an A12 bypass in its plans for a new power station. They grilled company bosses over their stance on building a new road to skirt Farnham, Stratford St Andrew, Little Glemham and Marlesford. Villagers – around 30 of whom attended Monday night’s meeting at the Riverside Centre, Stratford St Andrew – want a bypass built as part of EDF Energy’s proposed Sizewell C development. The energy firm has argued the potential increase in traffic along the road south of Sizewell would not be enough to justify the construction of a major bypass. It estimates there would be a 5 to 15% increase in traffic during the power station’s construction – a figure hotly disputed by villagers.
East Anglian Daily Times 15th Jan 2013 more »
A HIGHWAYS group has come up with an alternative scheme to improve transport links if a third nuclear power station get the go-ahead on the Suffolk coast.
East Anglian Daily Times 14th Jan 2013 more »
An energy firm has begun work on a new store for radioactive waste at Sizewell B nuclear power station. EDF Energy said the dry fuel store at its site on the Suffolk coast would provide capacity for all the spent fuel created until the plant shuts in 2035. The store for uranium oxide waste should by completed by 2015.
BBC 15th Jan 2013 more »
Small Reactors
Two years ago, some thought that the nuclear energy had been leveled. But the industry today is picking up steam by getting construction licenses to build four new units and by getting government funding to develop smaller nuclear reactors that are less expensive and which may be less problematic when it comes to winning regulatory approval. The creators of those roughly 100-megawatt electric modules want to sell their products first in the US before they would market them overseas to lesser-developed nations that don’t have a huge transmission infrastructure. They would be factory-built before being shipped and fueled to where the energy is needed. To the extent that more electric generation is required, no problem: Just lay the small-scale modules next to each other, making the financial outlays more manageable.
Forbes 15th Jan 2013 more »
Even without Fukushima, the verdict on large centralized US nukes is probably in, for the following reasons: They take too long; They are among the most expensive and capital-intensive investments in the world; And once the investments commence, they are all-or-nothing. You can’t pull out without losing your entire investment.
Forbes 15th Jan 2013 more »
Scotland
The arguments for creating a truly ‘low carbon’ economy are now no longer just about protecting the environment but financial recovery.
Holyrood Magazine 14th Jan 2013 more »
Energy Prices
Energy bills and the ranks of the fuel poor are to rise even further because of the Government’s plans to cut the number of electricity and gas tariffs on the market, a leading academic has warned.
Times 16th Jan 2013 more »
Times 16th Jan 2013 more »
Japan
Fukushima Crisis Update 11th to 14th January.
Greenpeace 15th Jan 2013 more »
Malaysia
Malaysia’s nuclear power plans will be delayed by the pall over the industry from Japan’s atomic disaster, along with domestic anger at a controversial rare-earths plant, an official said on Tuesday. The government had said in December 2010 that it planned to build two nuclear power plants to meet rising energy demand, one by 2021 and the second a year later. But Mohamad ZamZam Jaafar, chief executive of Malaysia Nuclear Power Corp, said a feasibility study for the construction of the plants had been pushed back by six months. “Our plan is delayed slightly,” he said, adding the study might not be ready until late 2014, while construction of the first plant “may be later than 2021”.
Channel News Asia 15th Jan 2013 more »
France
The world is headed for an environmental “catastrophe” if countries do not invest in renewable energy, François Hollande warned on Tuesday. Speaking at a green energy conference in Abu Dhabi, the French president said that people had an obligation to protect the planet for future generations.
Guardian 15th Jan 2013 more »
Bangladesh
Russia has agreed to lend Bangladesh a total of $1.5 billion (about £930 million) to help finance the construction of its first nuclear power station and buy Russian arms.
Scotsman 16th Jan 2013 more »
Reuters 15th Jan 2013 more »
Iran
Iran has dismissed allegations about clandestine nuclear activities at Parchin military site, which is situated near the capital, Tehran.“Parchin is a military site and continues its own specific activities without having anything to do with [Iran’s] nuclear work,” Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday. He noted that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have so far visited Parchin twice.
RINF 15th Jan 2013 more »
Green Deal
Almost 1,800 jobs have been lost and another 1,100 are in danger because of delays implementing flagship Government energy efficiency policies, business leaders warned tonight. They said companies involved in fitting insulation had been forced to lay off hundreds of staff over Christmas because orders have dried up and show no prospect of recovering until the summer. In a letter to the Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, the Insulation Industry Forum (IIF) protested that plans to insulate 34,000 homes had been cancelled at the coldest time of the year because of lack of funding. A further 27,000 insulation orders have been put on hold.
Independent 15th Jan 2013 more »
