New Nukes
The UK needs to place greater emphasis on new nuclear capacity if it is to successfully decarbonize without “the lights going out,” according to a new report published Thursday by the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. Meanwhile senior environmental campaigners recently warned the UK’s proposals to invest in new nuclear build will place UK energy policy in French hands.
Platts 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Five leading figures in the green movement have warned David Cameron that he risks undermining both the energy security of the UK and its ability to cut greenhouse gas emissions if he follows the advice of former Friends of the Earth directors and phases out nuclear power in the UK. Guardian columnist George Monbiot and author Mark Lynas are among the signatories of an open letter that takes issue with a letter sent to Cameron by Jonathon Porritt, Charles Secrett, Tom Burke and Tony Juniper earlier this week.
Business Green 16th Mar 2012 more >>
Countering the letter sent to him by four former directors of Friends of the Earth. From George Monbiot, Stephen Tindale, Fred Pearce, Michael Hanlon and Mark Lynas.
Monbiot 15th March 2012 more >>
The UK’s energy infrastructure must be urgently overhauled if it is to successful decarbonise without the “lights going out” and reduce reliance on imported energy – with nuclear power playing a major role. That is the conclusion a new report by the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment (SSEE) at the University of Oxford, which aims to ascertain what the UK needs to do to reduce carbon emissions and address energy security.
Edie 15th March 2012 more >>
Construction News 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Energy Efficiency News 15th Mar 2012 more >>
The Engineer 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Business Green 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Old Nukes
UK nuclear industry timeline interactive. Major developments in the history of nuclear power in the UK.
Guardian 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Dungeness
HOPES for Dungeness C will not be hit by a new report which stated the site was at “high risk” of flooding, according to the man spearheading the campaign for a third station. Dungeness is deemed to be at “high risk” of flooding now and in 2080 as well as at “high risk” of erosion, making it one of only two sites out of the 19 in the UK to be in every top-risk category. Marsh MP Damian Collins, who has passionately led the campaign to build Dungeness C, said the analysis compiled by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would not dash hopes for a new station.
Romney Marsh Herald 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Hinkley
Around 1000 people converged on Hinkley Point in west Somerset on the weekend of 10th-11th March 2012 to mark one year since the earthquake, tsunami and start of the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan, and to demand that the UK abandon its plans for new nuclear power stations at Hinkley and up to seven other sites in England and Wales. The weekend involved a rally and ‘surround the power station’ action, followed by a 24-hour blockade of the entrance to the existing power station. People came from all over England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Taiwan; and, notably, a number of individuals from Japan took part, including a pair of Fukushima evacuees and a Buddhist monk and nun. Speakers included Green party leader Caroline Lucas MP; environmentalist Jonathon Porritt; Kate Hudson, General Secretary of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; Steve Mitchell from the French Nuclear Phase-Out Network; and local anti-nuclear activist Nikki Clark; with musical entertainment from Somerset-based activist folk band Seize the Day, and words of encouragement from the band’s lead singer, Theo Simon, who had helped occupy the recently-evicted Langborough Barn.
Indymedia 15th Mar 2012 more >>
On Saturday outside the gates of Hinkley Point nuclear power station, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas gave a powerful speech against nuclear power and its dangers to a gathering of hundreds of people from all over the British Isles and even Europe. She highlighted the extreme danger of nuclear waste, which could be held in Somerset for hundreds of years (the half life of plutonium is many thousands of years), and also pointed out the connection of the industry with nuclear war.
Wells Journal 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Video of demo.
One Page News 15th Mar 2012 more >>
The Executive of Sedgemoor District Council has this week said that EDF Energy’s transport plans during the construction of a proposed nuclear power station at Hinkley Point are “wholly inadequate”. At a meeting on Wednesday (March 14th) members of the Council Executive Committee voted unanimously in favour of asking the IPC for a dedicated hearing about EDFs transport plans
Burnham-on-sea 14th Mar 2012 more >>
Heysham
EDF Energy have said the cancellation of a connection agreement with National Grid will not affect plans for a proposed nuclear site at Heysham. National Grid announced that it was looking afresh at plans for connecting new generators along the north west coast after two companies confirmed that they are not currently progressing plans to link into the grid transmission system in Lancashire.
Lancaster Guardian 15th Mar 2012 more >>
PLANS which could see new electricity pylons built across the Lancashire countryside could be scaled back after two energy companies said they were not currrently progressing plans to link to the National Grid. EDF, which wants to build a new power station at Heysham and Wyre Power, the company proposing a gas fired power plant in Thornton Cleveleys, have recently cancelled the connection agreements they had with National Grid. But National Grid still needs to provide a connection for Moorside Power Station near Sellafield in West Cumbria and for a number of offshore windfarms, meaning the Lancaster district could still be affected.
The Visitor 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Plans to build a third nuclear power station at Heysham have been put on hold. Heysham was one of 11 places earmarked by the government as having potential to be the location for a new nuclear power station. But operators EDF Energy has revealed it had pulled out of plans to establish a new connection to the National Grid at Heysham. Bosses said they were concentrating on sites at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk but had not ruled out looking at the Heysham site again in future.
Lancashire Evening Post 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Heysham & Wylfa
The Welsh government has announced that it expects Wales to be fuelled by a diverse range of low-carbon technologies, including nuclear power, just as EDF has cancelled plans for a new nuclear power station at Heysham, Lancashire.
Energy & Environmental Management 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Wylfa
ANTI nuclear campaigners have criticised the Welsh Governments decision to support the development of a new power station on Anglesey. The government has published a document entitled Energy Wales, in which it confirms its commitment to supporting the proposed Wylfa B plant. The final decision on whether to press ahead with the plant, which will be located at the current Wylfa site near Cemaes Bay and built by Horizon Nuclear Power, will be made by the Westminster Government but campaigners from the People Against Wylfa B (PAWB) group had been hoping the Welsh Government would voice its opposition to nuclear power.
North Wales Chronicle 15th Mar 2012 more >>
FIRST Minister Carwyn Jones has pledged support for a new nuclear power plant on Anglesey in a major U-turn on Welsh Government policy. The backing for the first time as part of a radical renewable energy strategy for Wales overturns previous opposition to the expansion of nuclear power as recently as 2010.
Daily Post 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Wales Online 15th Mar4 2012 more >>
AMEC, the international engineering and project management company, has been appointed by the Isle of Anglesey County Council to provide multi-disciplinary and professional services support for the Energy Island Programme, which aims to put Anglesey at the forefront of low carbon energy development.
4-traders 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Video of Fukushima protest.
Bambuser 11th Mar 2012 more >>
FIRST Minister Carwyn Jones yesterday defended the Welsh Governments decision to back plans for a new nuclear power plant on Anglesey. In evidence to an Assembly inquiry into energy, Mr Jones said hundreds of jobs in the nuclear industry should be defended in North Wales. North Wales Plaid AM Llyr Huws Gruffydd suggested backing for Wylfa B was a change of policy by the Welsh Government from two years ago when it stated: exploiting the huge potential for renewable energy reduces the need for other more hazardous forms of low carbon energy and obviates the need for new nuclear power stations. But Mr Jones replied: Wylfa B isnt new, its a new reactor but its not a new station.
Daily Post 16th Mar 2012 more >>
NEW Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood last night announced her mandate for change by declaring outright opposition to a new nuclear power plant on Anglesey. The South Wales Central AM described as a feminist, socialist and republican is the first woman and non-Welsh speaker to lead the party. She clashed repeatedly in the election contest with Dwyfor Meirionnydd rival Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas on the nuclear issue. And she told the Daily Post: Plaid Cymrus stated position is in opposition to a new nuclear power station in Wales. That isnt to say jobs in North Wales isnt of vital importance. I have put forward an alternative jobs plan for the North West and for Ynys Môn, those jobs are in the renewable energy sector so we can build a clean, green industry that doesnt risk our future.
Daily Post 16th Mar 2012 more >>
Sellafield
AMEC has clinched a deal to carry out environmental monitoring and groundwork measuring on Sellafield nuclear site. Over the next three years, Amec will provide a range of services related to all aspects of environmental support as part of a framework agreement. It will include measuring for possible contamination and groundwork character, also ensuring everything complies with regulations.
Whitehaven News 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Radwaste
Protesters opposed to Cumbria being considered as a location for an underground nuclear waste store will take their fight to the streets this Saturday. Objectors will don white boiler suits to perform street theatre around Ambleside to highlight the issue.
Cumberland News 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Letter: Im getting a sense of deja vu lately in regard to the proposal for a nuclear waste repository in West Cumbria. Weve been here before.
Whitehaven News 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Letter: The MRWS partnership is well funded and has produced some very professional literature, albeit very misleading, the best example being that volunteerism has occurred in Sweden and Finland. What the MRWS literature fails to say is that no communities in Sweden and Finland were asked to volunteer before their geology was known to be acceptable. You would have thought with the failed £440M Nirex investigation lessons would have been learned. We are now told that the design of the GDF could change from one of a huge cavern (as detailed on the MRWS website) to one of boreholes. By any reasoning it must now be apparent the deeply flawed geology of West Cumbria (as pointed out by Profs Smythe and Haszeldine) will be made to fit the problem.
Whitehaven News 15th Mar 2012 more >>
EON
EON AG Germanys biggest utility, expects to cut costs for building offshore wind farms about 40 percent by 2015 as it embarks on a 7 billion-euro ($9 billion) renewable energy expansion plan. EON, which today said that 2011 profit slumped 50 percent in part on the German nuclear exit and lower earnings from its power generation and wholesale gas business, will commission as much as 800 megawatts of renewable capacity this year, Chief Executive Officer Johannes Teyssen said in Dusseldorf.
Bloomberg 14th Mar 2012 more >>
Plutonium
The U.K.’s former chief government scientist is advising against GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s proposal to build a new fast breeder nuclear reactor to help dispose of the country’s plutonium stockpile, which is the largest in the world. David King, director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, said GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s Prism reactor could take years to license for use in the U.K. as the technology has not been in commercial operation anywhere. We’re advising the government not to do it. We think it’s an unwise route because of the timing–it could take four to eight years to get the licensing,”
Wall St Journal 14th Mar 2012 more >>
Test Veterans
SERIOUS questions need to be asked of the lawyers who acted for ex-servicemen who lost a bid for compensation for illnesses allegedly caused by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons tests, it has been claimed. Thomas Docherty, Labour MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, is to ask Defence Secretary Philip Hammond if the Ministry of Defence is satisfied the legal advice given to the veterans was the best available at the time. Almost 100 Scottish former nuclear test veterans were among 1000 UK-wide who claimed they fell ill after exposure to radiation during the tests in the 1950s and 1960s. However, the UK Supreme Court ruled it had been too long since the problems had emerged for the claims against the MoD to proceed. The Herald was told that in 2009 the then Labour Government offered the veterans a £15million settlement, which would have meant each former serviceman receiving up to £10,000. But this was rejected.
Herald 16th Mar 2012 more >>
Obituary
For some 70 years the impact of Sir Alan Cottrell’s work on the basic understanding of materials and its application to engineering structures, his academic leadership, his role of Scientific Adviser to the Government, and his contributions to safe nuclear energy, have been immense. He was the most influential physical metallurgist of the 20th century. Through his pioneering researches, and as an educator, he influenced countless students, scientists and engineers and will continue to do so. His papers and books are remarkable for their clarity.
Independent 16th Mar 2012 more >>
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan has not given up on its aim to build a nuclear power plant and intends to clarify its plans over the coming year, according to the country’s ministers.
World Nuclear News 15th Mar 2012 more >>
Fuel Poverty
More than 200,000 additional people will be living in “fuel poverty” within four years without concerted ministerial action to tackle the issue, according to a government-commissioned report published on Thursday. It estimated the size of the “fuel poverty gap” – the additional money that poor families have to pay to keep warm compared with middle or higher income people with typical costs – at £1.1bn. This means that fuel-poor households will face costs nearly £600 a year higher on average than better-off households. But the report warned that this could widen by more than 50 per cent unless further steps were taken. “We predict a deteriorating, and therefore profoundly disappointing, situation by 2016,” it added. That was the date, set out in legislation, by which the government had proposed it should be eliminated. By then, without ministerial action, the total number of people living in fuel poverty would stand at 8m. Prof Hills said there was “a clear link between fuel poverty and poor health . . . In England and Wales we have, over the last decade, an average of 27,000 a year excess deaths in the winter months beyond the rates we experience in the summer.”
FT 16th Mar 2012 more >>
Telegraph 16th Mar 2012 more >>
