British Energy
The Government will launch the £2.4bn sale of part of its majority stake in British Energy this week in a move that could see foreign companies, such as French nuclear group EDF, buying minority stakes in the rejuvenated nuclear generator. Government officials will hold a beauty parade of investment banks to handle the sale, which is expected to take place in the autumn. The National Audit Office criticised the Department of Trade and Industry earlier this year, for not using a competitive process to appoint advisers for the company’s restructuring four years ago.
Independent on Sunday 16th July 2006
Sunday Times 16th July 2006
New nukes
IT came as no surprise that last week’s report from the UK Energy Review opened the door to new nuclear power stations. What was less expected was a bold return to central planning with a Kafka-esque twist. If you suspect you live near the site of one of the planned next-generation new nuclear power stations and you want to block it, you now have just four months to make your case – so long as you want to use the “economics” or “necessity” of nuclear power in your argument, that is. Because from 31 October, the government will consider both arguments settled. But the sites will not be chosen until after a review which starts in January next year. The £10bn (E14.5bn, $18.4bn) to £15bn worth of business that nuclear engineers and construction firms are hoping to get from replacing 10,000 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power, now looks almost within grasp. Far from fudging the nuclear issue, as some have claimed, the government is moving with uncharacteristic speed. Once it has published a “statement of need” in a White Paper at the turn of the year, the necessity or economics of individual nuclear power stations will not form part of any local enquiry. Not that you’d know it from the announcement. You had to get to page 164 to find out the government had effectively launched the planning enquiry process. Trade Secretary Alastair Darling made no mention of it in his address to the House of Commons. Indeed, he spent more than than half his speech dwelling on renewables and energy saving, before he even mentioned nuclear power. And it’s not just the economic argument that starts being settled now. The first stages of a separate enquiry into the safety of nuclear power could begin this year, although the process, known as justification, will eventually involve a public consultation. Once the independent committee on nuclear waste reports in a fortnight, the government will start taking the first steps towards siting and building a long-term nuclear waste dump. The licensing of the most likely reactor designs could start this year and once these sites are decided, local planning enquiries will not be able to question whether there are more suitable locations, or whether a particular reactor is safe.
The Business 16th July 2006
If you were a conspiracy theorist you might wonder at the miraculous change between the last energy white paper, in 2003, which was lukewarm on nuclear, and last week. You might wonder about circumstances that could not have been more beneficial to integrated energy companies; high oil and gas prices now, followed by lots of demand for alternatives and nuclear later. Leaving aside conspiracy theories, which are almost always wrong, there is a fundamental question to be asked. If things can change so dramatically in the past three years, what will they look like in three, five or ten years? Will the case for nuclear, or for wind farms, be stronger or weaker than it is now?
Sunday Times 16th July 2006
Brian Wilson: TO GAIN a sense of perspective, it is always a good idea to view political debate from a distance in both time and space. So where better to be while the energy review was reaching its crescendo than the Isle of Lewis, where every flick of a switch is dependent upon power generated on the mainland – just as anywhere else – from a mix of coal, gas and nuclear.
Scotland on Sunday 16th July 2006
Letter: In reference to the Government’s energy review findings released on July 11, the Country Land & Business Association (CLA) is concerned that the debate over nuclear electricity is a distraction. There appears to be a fixation on nuclear generation of electricity, yet electricity accounts for only 25% of UK greenhouse gas emissions. The questions must go further than “Are we going to run out of electricity?” Surely we should be asking, “Can we provide a secure and sustainable supply of energy for our needs in the future?”, and “How can we deliver positive environmental results rather than simply reduce our negative effects?”
Nottingham Evening Post 15th July 2006
A team from Canadian power company AECL is flying to London this weekend to sell its Candu nuclear reactor.
The Business 16th July 2006
