Hinkley
According to the French newspaper, Le Figaro, EDF could make a final decision on the proposed construction of Hinkley Point C at its Board of Directors meeting on 27th January 2016. Stop Hinkley spokesperson Roy Pumfrey said: “I’ll believe it when I see it. This is the ninth time EDF has said a final investment decision is imminent. Just last October the chairman of EDF, Jean-Bernard Levy, said work would be starting before the end of 2015. It would be completely reckless of the Board to give the go-ahead to this £25 billion project when the Company is in such a parlous state”
Blue & Green Tomorrow 14th Jan 2016 read more »
A decision on a controversial line of overhead power lines through Somerset is due to be made by Energy Secretary, Amber Rudd next week. In the Commons, one Tory MP called for the lines to be buried underground, saying the proposed 40-mile chain of pylons from Hinkley Point would spoil the approach to Somerset from the M5.
ITV 14th Jan 2016 read more »
A West MP has claimed that pylons planned to service Hinkley C in Somerset could provide a target for terrorists. Wells MP James Heappey is firmly against the proposed 40-mile chain of pylons and has suggested cables should buried under sea instead. And during a debate in the House of Commons on Thursday evening, he said the pylons were “untested and unwanted” and their visual impact would hurt the local economy. But he also argued that terrorists would ‘delight’ in targeting the pylons in a bid to damage Britain’s infrastructure.
Western Daily Press 15th Jan 2016 read more »
EDF
French power group EDF and nuclear reactor maker Areva said they would take extra provisions totaling 1.05 billion euros ($1.15 billion) after the government hiked its estimate for the cost of a nuclear waste storage project. The companies said the energy ministry had on Friday set the cost of the Cigeo project for the long-term management of high-level radioactive waste at 25 billion euros, above the companies’ own estimate of 20.8 billion euros. EDF said on Friday this would lead to an increase of 800 million euros in its provisions for the project in its 2015 accounts, with an impact of around 500 million euros on full-year net income.
Reuters 15th Jan 2016 read more »
EDF plans to cut at least 4,000 positions over three years without layoffs, or 5.8% of the workforce of EDF SA, said Friday union sources. These reductions, between 2016 and 2018, more than double deletions initially announced by the electrician.
Le Progress 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Nothing better illustrates the inability of the French state to see the future as the EDF case soon, the group can no longer guarantee an independent French electricity and inexpensive. At the risk of losing one of our competitive advantages. EDF can no longer guarantee an independent French electricity and inexpensive from 2030. confusion of objectives, recklessly long time, politician blindness, the French state, that is to say his government and his administration is in the process of removing the country which was one of its major assets since the 1980 La France, who likes to debate endlessly the principles which it is based, lets make a radical transformation of conditions the exercise of these principles. Nothing illustrates this new failure of the French state to see the future and build on this alarming decline, the loss of energy independence looming.
Les Echos 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Siamese Twins
The UK’s nuclear power programme is driven by military demands, write Andy Stirling & Phil Johnstone – but not in the way you might think. The most essential need is not for plutonium or tritium, but for a nuclear industrial sector to design, build and maintain the reactors that power nuclear submarines. Without them, the Trident missile system would have no military credibility.
Ecologist 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Proliferation
U.S. efforts to keep nuclear explosive materials out of the hands of terrorists are losing steam and will be undermined without a concerted new diplomatic push, an independent nonprofit group in Washington, D.C., warned on Jan. 14.
Philly.com 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Cybersecurity
At least 20 countries around the world with significant stockpiles of nuclear weapons or nuclear power plants have no protection at all against the threat of cyberattacks, claims the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). The NTI is a non-profit organisation that specialises in accessing the security of nuclear materials in the world, particularly highly enriched uranium and plutonium, which are considered to be the world’s deadliest resources.
IB Times 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
Radiation-sensing amphibious robots will help speed up decommissioning of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. Currently under development by an international research team, the technology will finally provide means for assessing radiation in the submerged parts of the reactor.
Engineering & Technology 15th Jan 2016 read more »
US – waste transport
The public will have a chance to comment on the De¬partment of Energy’s latest draft environmental assessment, which explores the possibility of Savannah River Site accepting radioactive fuel and highly enriched uranium from Germany.
Augusta Chronicle 15th Jan 2016 read more »
US – radwaste
Radioactive material from the laboratories that design America’s nuclear weapons will have to be buried and kept away from humans for at least 10,000 years. But three Stanford experts say the safety analysis of this project needs to be revised to reflect new strategies that aim to substantially increase the amounts of plutonium to be disposed of.
Stanford News 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Iran
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, was expected to arrive in Vienna on Saturday for talks with his Iranian and European counterparts ahead of the so-called “implementation day” ending sanctions on Tehran.
Guardian 16th Jan 2016 read more »
BBC 16th Jan 2016 read more »
North Korea
North Korea said it could stop its nuclear tests in exchange for signing a peace treaty with the U.S. and a stop to annual military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea.
Telegraph 16th Jan 2016 read more »
Submarines
A GREEN party MEP has spoken out about her outrage regarding nuclear waste in Plymouth. Molly Scott Cato, the Green Party MEP for the region believes that local jobs linked to Trident submarines could be replaced by better, more socially useful employment and is urging local authorities and unions to back a process of “industrial conversion”. The controversial question of whether to commission a new generation of nuclear-armed Trident submarines, at an estimated cost of £100bn will be discussed by the UK Parliament later this year. Molly said: “I am deeply concerned about the health and safety hazards this nuclear waste dump poses to so many of my constituents.
Plymouth Herald 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
NUCLEAR weapons have been a central part of what passes for defence policy ever since post-war Labour prime minister Clement Attlee signed up for them with Washington behind the backs of his Cabinet. Every prime minister since has made a fetish of Britain’s “independent nuclear deterrent,” even though it is neither independent nor a deterrent. Britain’s conventional armed forces have been run down over decades to the extent that they take the field now only as US junior partners. The ill-fated 1956 invasion of Suez, in alliance with France and Israel, was the last time that a Westminster government acted militarily without US approval.
Morning Star 16th Jan 2016 read more »
When Britain sends its nuclear armed submarines on patrol they are three-quarters empty. By that I mean that each boat carries 40 nuclear weapons, rather than the 192 warheads its 16 missiles are capable of delivering to separate targets. Why, you might ask, does Britain spend money on an advanced weapons system whose capacity it doesn’t use? The answer is partly the legacy of history, where Britain’s ability to deploy nuclear weapons has come to rely increasingly on US technology, and partly the transformation in the strategic environment since the end of the Cold War.
Left Foot Forward 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Fusion
We may be a step closer to realising the dream of using nuclear fusion to create limitless supplies of energy. An international team claims to have created a technique where they can ‘see’ where energy is delivered during fusion. Seeing the energy flow could allow scientists to test different ways to improve a fusion reactor’s design, they claim.
Daily Mail 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Renewables – solar
In a major boost for the UK’s green housing sector, WElink Energy yesterday announced a new £1.1bn deal with China National Building Materials (CNBM) to develop thousands of zero-carbon homes in the UK. In what will be seen as a massive coup for the green building industry after the government scrapped the zero-carbon homes standard last year, the deal will deliver at least 8,000 new zero-carbon, affordable homes to the UK market.
Business Green 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Microgeneration
This week’s Micro Power News. Oldham and Telford go solar; solar still worth it for householders.
Microgen Scotland 15th Jan 2016 read more »
Grid Connections
Plans to connect a new nuclear power station to the electricity network at Heysham are gathering pace. Around 900 letters have been sent out to residents and landowners in Heysham as the National Grid tries to work out the best route for a new power pipeline as part of the North West Coastal Connections scheme. The letters ask for information about who owns specific properties and land in Heysham. One resident of Yealand Avenue contacted us after receiving a letter. He wondered if engineers would need access to his home to lay cables for the new link. But we understand that the proposed new pipeline is unlikely to affect residential properties because any new tunnels are likely to be deep underground.
The Visitor 15th Jan 2016 read more »
