Hinkley
Following a comprehensive review of the Hinkley Point C project, and a revised agreement with EDF, the Government has decided to proceed with the first new nuclear power station for a generation. However, ministers will impose a new legal framework for future foreign investment in Britain’s critical infrastructure, which will include nuclear energy and apply after Hinkley.
BEIS 15th Sept 2016 read more »
The business secretary, Greg Clark, says the Hinkley Point deal will have a ‘series of measures to enhance security’ after Theresa May gave the green light to the construction of Britain’s first new nuclear power plant in two decades on Thursday. The plant will be financed by a Chinese nuclear power provider and French energy group EDF.
Guardian (Video) 15th Sept 2016 read more »
All the assumptions behind the £92.50-a-megawatt hour strike-price, agreed in 2013, have been proved wrong: wholesale energy prices have gone down rather than up, as have the costs of renewable alternatives, such as solar, whose price has halved. The upshot is that Mrs May is forcing consumers to pay more than twice the present wholesale price for 35 years — and index-linked to boot. Add it up and the National Audit Office reckons it amounts to a £30 billion subsidy for EDF and CGN, on top of likely profits of tens of billions of pounds. And for what? A last-millennium technology featuring the European pressurised reactor design: the type that’s flopped expensively in Finland and France. Smaller projects than Hinkley Point are almost a decade late and three times over budget. The French one might even have to be rebuilt: France’s regulator found weaknesses in the reactor vessel. So Hinkley Point probably won’t be up and running by 2025. And there are much cheaper alternatives, as the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit pointed out, suggesting they’d bring savings of £1 billion a year. A mix of gas, renewables, battery storage and energy saving could make up for Hinkley. And we don’t need “always on” base-load power in this age of smart electricity grids. Mrs May has ignored all these arguments, instead producing some hot air over golden shares to justify more nukes, probably including a Chinese-built security nightmare at Bradwell. A special share is meant to prevent EDF flipping its majority stake without her say-so. But why would it, given the largesse coming its way? In fact, the big worry is that Hinkley will prove the template for Mrs May’s Brexit trade negotiations: a great British giveaway. What next? A nice present for North Korea?
Times 16th Sept 2016 read more »
The government has approved a new £18bn nuclear power station in the UK after imposing “significant new safeguards” to protect national security. The new plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset is being financed by the French and Chinese governments. However, the UK government says it will have control over foreign investment in “critical infrastructure”. Ministers will be able to stop EDF, the state-controlled French energy firm, from selling its stake in Hinkley.
BBC 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Independent 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Lord Lawson of Blaby, a former Tory chancellor and energy secretary, said that every independent energy expert thought it a “thoroughly lousy deal”. He said he was not anti-nuclear, but the government was “throwing out a lifeline to EDF which is on the verge of bankruptcy and has never built a power station of this kind”. Simon Taylor, academic director of the master of finance programme at Cambridge University, said he thought the tightening of the policy on foreign ownership was largely cosmetic. “The UK really needs investment in infrastructure. There are very few nuclear operators around the world. Most are already seeking to invest in the UK and so it’s not clear who they would regard as unwelcome, beyond Russia.”
Times 16th Sept 2016 read more »
Theresa May made no attempt to unpick the pricing agreement for Hinkley Point, which critics said yesterday made it “the most expensive energy in history”. The review included examining the much-criticised guaranteed minimum price for electricity generated by the plant, which will be £92.50 per megawatt hour and rise by inflation to as high as £120 by the mid-2020s. This is significantly higher than the £67 per megawatt hour the government expects in 2025. The National Audit Office suggested that this deal could mean consumers subsidising the French energy giant EDF to the sum of £30 billion over its lifetime. Zac Goldsmith, the Tory member for Richmond Park, tore into the cost in the Commons. He said that by the end of its life, Hinkley C “will have generated the most expensive energy in the history of energy generation”. The deal was challenged by the SNP. Callum McCaig, the party’s energy and climate change spokesman, highlighted research by Barclays that said the deal was so generous that if Hinkley was 25 per cent over-budget and four years late, EDF would still make a profit at the expense of the bill payer. Tom Brake, for the Liberal Democrats, asked why the government was not switching to renewable energy. He said: “Having pressed the pause button, why is the secretary of state now pressing the fast-forward button? Does he not recognise that, as the Financial Times has pointed out, this project does not represent value for money? Does he accept that the cost to consumers has gone from £6 billion to £30 billion and that his government is willing to put in public subsidy, which under the coalition they said they would not do? This is happening when the cost of renewables is plummeting.”
Times 16th Sept 2016 read more »
The truth is that however much she may have disliked the price and prospect of Chinese nuclear technology on British soil, her options were limited. Blame Brexit. While the public threats were coming from the Chinese, the danger of damaging relations with the French was even more grave. EDF is 85 per cent owned by the French state, the subject of personal interest of President Hollande and heavily in debt, meaning that pulling Hinkley would put further pressure on the company. Looming negotiations over Brexit, where the French are setting themselves up to be the trickiest customer over free movement, financial services and Calais, means that unnecessarily aggravating them is unlikely to have been wise so close to triggering Article 50.
Times 16th Sept 2016 read more »
Matt Ridley: Future generations will rue the decision to go ahead with Hinkley Point C. It means we will build the last ever European Pressurised Reactor, because nobody else has ordered one after us, not in France, China or America. So the moment it is built much of the expertise that went into building it will be lost.
Times 16th Sept 2016 read more »
Three out of four Britons oppose the Hinkley nuclear power project that has just been approved by the Government, according to a poll. A quarter (25 per cent) of the 2,028 people surveyed in the Populus poll, conducted on 7-8 September, said they supported Hinkley, while nearly half (44 per cent) oppose the plans. The findings indicate a continuous decline in support for the project, following a previous poll in April this year that showed support was at 33 per cent, down from 57 per cent in 2013.
Independent 15th Sept 2016 read more »
The best early response to the decision, I thought, came from David Elmes, head of the Global Energy Research Network at the Warwick Business School. “This is what being painted into a corner feels like,” he said. That corner was created by years of Government inaction despite a generation of dirty coal power plants coming offline as the existing line up of nuclear power plants steadily aged and commitments were made on climate change that the UK is now struggling to meet. Add in the time, money and effort already sunk into Hinkley, the wide variety of groups invested in its construction (see above) and the likelihood that a civil servant probably told the PM she was being “courageous” whenever she mooted pulling the plug and you can see where Mr Elmes is coming from. This project was started a decade ago when it was hoped that the companies involved could deliver it on time and at a reasonable cost. That was always a tough ask given the way these projects go in the UK, and so it has proved. But since then wholesale electricity prices have also fallen sharply, the potential “top-up costs” to the UK consumer have soared, and viable alternatives have been identified. Technology has moved on. Economics have moved on. Generating energy from renewable sources is an increasingly realistic alternative. The decision to go ahead with Hinkley is a bad one but it looks like the taxpayer is just going to take one for the team. To compensate us for that, the Government now needs to put time, energy and money to work into developing a serious and a sustainable new long term strategy for Britain’s energy needs moving forward.
Independent 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Post-Brexit, the politics are absolutely spot-on. It shows the UK is not afraid to start new projects; that we can work with global partners; and that we are able to renew our infrastructure to help businesses to grow. After this, we should embark on a few more major works, starting with a new airport for London, and an extension of HS2 up to Scotland.
Telegraph 15th Sept 2016 read more »
The £18bn Hinkley Point nuclear plant will be overtaken by a host of cheaper technologies before it is even opened in the late 2020s, and risks degenerating into an epic white elephant as we pay fat subsidies into the second half of the 21st Century. Theresa May inherited a poisoned chalice. The energy world has changed utterly over the last decade as climate policy drives a massive global push for renewable power, transforming the calculus of future costs. “It looks like a contract that was written five years ago on a business case that was probably pulled together 10 years ago,” says ScottishPower.
Telegraph 15th Sept 2016 read more »
The Government has hailed a “new era of UK nuclear power” after it ended years of uncertainty to give final approval to the £18bn Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset Tom Samson, chief executive of Franco-Japanese venture NuGen, said Hinkley was “the start of the nuclear new build renaissance in the UK”. However Mr Samson, who is seeking to secure Korean investment in NuGen’s project in Cumbria, hinted at concern over the new special share plan, saying it wanted to “understand more about the proposal” and its implications.
Telegraph 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Conditions have been added to the agreement enabling the government to stop EDF from selling a controlling stake in the plant without its consent. It will also take a “special share” in all future nuclear projects so they cannot be sold without the prior approval of ministers. The changes will allow Britain to implement a “consistent approach to considering the national security implications of all significant investments in critical infrastructure”, it said in a statement. Business and energy secretary Greg Clark said: “Having thoroughly reviewed the proposal for Hinkley Point C, we will introduce a series of measures to enhance security and will ensure Hinkley cannot change hands without the government’s agreement. Consequently, we have decided to proceed with the first new nuclear power station for a generation. Richard Black, director, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit “Despite this being called a ‘final decision’ to build Hinkley C, other hurdles, including technical and legal challenges, may well lie ahead for the project. “French trade unions don’t like it, nor do some of the likely candidates for the French presidential election next year, EDF’s finances are not the healthiest, and the French nuclear regulator is examining flaws in steel used for a similar reactor being built in France. So it may turn out not to be quite as ‘final’ as it looks now. “Although China is reportedly happy with the new position, questions also remain over its main ambition – building its own nuclear reactors at Bradwell in Essex as a route into the Western market.”
Utility Week 15th Sept 2016 read more »
“The Government shouldn’t risk taxpayers money on old fashioned, flawed technology,”said Greenpeace executive director John Sauven. “It should be investing in the future. “Advances in renewable energy like offshore wind, alongside battery storage, energy efficiency innovations and wires that carry electricity under the sea connecting us to other countries are the future for keeping the lights on. It is time the government embraced these developments, rather than lock us into a contract that will leave future generations with more hazardous nuclear waste, higher bills and dependent on French and Chinese state owned companies for our power.”
Edie 15th Sept 2016 read more »
The project is the first new nuclear reactor to be built in the UK in two decades. Development has already fallen eight years behind schedule and the power plant is not expected to be up and running until 2025 at the earliest. But who can remember when former Prime Minister Tony Blair gave his backing for new nuclear in 2005? Or the moment in 2007 when EDF Energy’s chief executive Vincent de Rivaz wildly proclaimed that we would be cooking our Christmas dinners using energy from nuclear power by 2017? And what about the flurry of reports criticising the Hinkley Point project over costs and security worries?
Edie 15th Sept 2016 read more »
After a decade of effort EDF has finally won approval to build the Hinkley Point nuclear plant in the UK — a deal which insiders and financial analysts say could either be the salvation or the ruin of the French state-owned group. The British government confirmed that EDF will be paid £92.50 per megawatt hour for the electricity generated by Hinkley Point C for 35-years, more than double the current rate for wholesale electricity prices. According to the company, this results in a 9 per cent internal rate of return over 60 years, assuming that the construction goes as plans. Each six-month delay in construction will knock 20 basis points off the total return, according to the company.EDF’s first attempt to build an EPR reactor plant in Flamanville, northern France, has been beset by problems. The project is six years behind schedule and €7bn over budget. Completion is now planned for next year. But a potentially serious new problem — the discovery of weakness in the steel which makes up the reactor vessel — has prompted fears that there could be another long delay. EDF’s €37bn of net debt dwarfs its €23bn market capitalisation. It faces an estimated €55bn bill in the coming decade just to increase the life expectancy of the 58 nuclear power stations from their current 40 years to 50. It also has to rescue its rival Areva, buying the majority of its €2.5bn reactor business. Some fear that the £18bn Hinkley Point deal, while making up only around 15 per cent of their capital expenditure a year for 10 years, will be the final straw. Gérard Magnin, one of France’s state representatives on the board, resigned last month over these very concerns. “Let us hope that Hinkley Point will not drag EDF into the same abyss as Areva,” said in his resignation letter. Analysts at Barclays say the project would have to be four years late and 34 per cent over budget before it destroys value for EDF, however. But critics within the company — notably the unions — say it would be better to wait a few years, at least until Flamanville is finished. Many want EDF to push ahead with the so-called “New EPR”, which is a smaller cheaper model. But in the end senior management, led by chief executive Jean Bernard Levy, and the French state, won out. EDF signed off on the project last year in a tense board meeting, with 10 for and 7 against, and the UK has now also decide to go ahead.
FT 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Theresa May has approved the £18bn Hinkley Point nuclear power station in south-west England, Europe’s biggest energy project, but the go-ahead for the controversial Franco-Chinese scheme came with new conditions on foreign investment in UK infrastructure. Under a revised agreement, EDF would be barred from selling its stake in the plant during construction and the government would take a “golden share” in future nuclear schemes. This latter measure appeared aimed at addressing Mrs May’s security concerns over plans by China General Nuclear Corporation, EDF’s main Chinese partner, to take the lead in construction of further reactors at Bradwell in eastern England, using Chinese technology. Downing Street said: “There will be reforms to the government’s approach to the ownership and control of critical infrastructure to ensure that the full implications of foreign ownership are scrutinised for the purposes of national security.” Allies of George Osborne, the former chancellor, who championed Chinese investment in UK nuclear power, said Mrs May’s talk of golden shares and national security tests did little to alter the fundamentals of the Hinkley deal. Rupert Harrison, Mr Osborne’s closest aide at the Treasury, tweeted: “Right decision, no significant changes.” Friends of the Earth said Hinkley Point was “a project from a dying era which will saddle Britons with eye-watering costs for decades, and radioactive waste for millennia”.
FT 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Ed Davey, former energy secretary, said the “special share” condition would provide a bigger safeguard than the changes to the enterprise act. He added that he had proposed the special share regime while in the cabinet, only for the then chancellor George Osborne to block it — despite a relaxed response from France and China to the idea. But Whitehall officials said Mr Davey’s proposal was rejected because it would have “made no difference at all”. One said: “The nuclear industry in Britain is already so well regulated. If there were real concerns about anyone running a nuclear power station you can already do something about it.”
FT 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Theresa May was accused of backing down on security concerns about Chinese involvement in nuclear power and failing to drive a better deal for taxpayers, following the announcement on Thursday on building the £18bn Hinkley Point C plant. May’s surprise decision to review the first planned nuclear power station for a generation when she arrived in Downing Street had been regarded as marking a break with George Osborne’s enthusiastic courtship of China, and a greater willingness to take on big business. But after the Chinese ambassador publicly raised concerns about future trading relationships if Britain pulled the plug on the deal, May gave the go-ahead. On Thursday Vince Cable, the former Liberal Democrat business secretary, said that the prime minister had ducked an opportunity to revisit the economics of the Hinkley contract – which will entail the Treasury promising a guaranteed floor price for the electricity generated, paid for through householders’ bills, over the reactor’s lifetime.
Guardian 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Caroline Lucas: It’s absurd that Hinkley is going ahead while cheaper, cleaner options are blocked. Perhaps the most absurd aspect of this project is that fact that it’s being waved through while cheaper and cleaner alternatives are being blocked. According to the National Grid’s energy scenarios, by 2020 small-scale distributed generation will represent a third of total capacity in the UK. But the government is now actively undermining progress. Beneath a layer of green spin, ministers are demolishing the UK’s renewable-energy and energy-saving policies. Last week it was revealed that only 10 new community energy organisations have been registered so far this year, compared with 76 last year.
Guardian 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Theresa May’s decision to ‘pause’ approval of the new Hinkley Point C (HPC) nuclear power station has addressed one concern about the controversial scheme, but only one. The deal, which will see French firm EDF and the Chinese Government-controlled CDG group jointly fund and own the £18m power plant, will go ahead with the caveat that the UK Government retains a veto on any possible future selling-on of the facility. This is somewhat reassuring, but does not fully defuse alarm over the potential national security issues inherent in granting ownership of a key piece of national infrastructure to foreign firms and – effectively – the Chinese Government. Other significant problems remain unaddressed. For one, EDF has its own financial problems and is currently constructing two plants in France and Finland, both of which are over-budget and behind schedule. The design planned for HPC has never worked yet, anywhere in the world. Tom Burke of green thinktank E3G said that Theresa May is “building a better yesterday”.
Herald 16th Sept 2016 read more »
Lucas: “Labour’s position on Hinkley is deeply disappointing”. Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, has responded to the Government’s decision to go ahead with building the Hinkley nuclear power station. She said: “It is truly absurd that the Government plans to plough billions of taxpayers’ money into this vastly overpriced project, and has done so without informing Parliament of the true costs. It is even more absurd that they are doing so at the same time as reducing support for cheaper, safer and more reliable alternatives. “Instead of investing in this eye-wateringly expensive white-elephant, the government should be doing all it can to support offshore wind, energy efficiency and innovative new technologies, such as energy storage. “Labour’s position on Hinkley is deeply disappointing. On the one hand they say that they want a decentralised energy system, yet they now back the building of this hugely overpriced, centralised piece of energy infrastructure. If Corbyn is serious about building an energy system for the future then he should reverse his party’s support for this antiquated energy source.”
Green Party 15th Sept 2016 read more »
After turning its back on solar, it looks like the UK government has decided to put its energy eggs in the nuclear basket, with the decision to approve the development of two new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point C. The Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy confirmed its approval on Thursday, while also taking the decision to change the legal framework for future energy projects, to limit foreign ownership. The mega project, which will not be producing power until at least 2025, is going to cost a mind spinning £18 billion ($US23.8 billion) to complete, however it will be financed by French state utility EDF, and by the Chinese government. EDF is fronting £12 billion, while the Chinese are putting forward the additional £6 billion. “This is a very expensive project,” Leonie Greene, head of external affairs for the Solar Trade Association told pv magazine. “It’s a great shame that there didn’t seem to be engagement during ‘the pause’ with modern alternative; namely smart power which the Government’s National Infrastructure Commission estimates could save consumers billions by 2030. We keep hearing from this government that cost to bill payers is a key concern, but they keep marginalizing the cheapest solutions.”
Renew Economy 16th Sept 2016 read more »
Monbiot: Yes, I still believe that nuclear power can make a useful contribution to low-carbon energy. No, I do not believe that the new plant the government has just approved at Hinkley Point is part of that useful contribution. Far from it: this preposterous white elephant could scarcely be better designed to persuade people that nuclear energy is an expensive and dangerous distraction from the decisions we have to make. The government currently has no idea what to do about the UK’s massive legacy of nuclear waste. Neither of the primary proposed solutions – burial and mixed oxide processing (another expensive fiasco) – are politically acceptable. But there are several potential technologies that raise the possibility of addressing three problems at once: safely disposing of nuclear waste; meeting the country’s energy needs at low cost; and replacing high-carbon electricity with a very low-carbon source. I’m talking about small modular reactors that use nuclear waste as fuel. The late Professor David MacKay, the brilliant and exuberant chief scientist at the previous government’s climate change department, endorsed an estimate suggesting that one of these potential technologies, the integral fast reactor, could supply all the UK’s energy needs for 500 years by consuming the nuclear waste stockpile. I suspect that May’s unintelligible decision to build the new plant at Hinkley will kill nuclear power in Britain, including technologies far more promising than the proven formula for chaos she has just chosen. You might welcome that prospect. If so, you should ask yourself what else should be done about our mountain of nuclear waste.
Guardian 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Carbon Brief runs through the key questions about the scheme, including how much it would cost, whether the UK can do without it and what happens if it is delayed.
Carbon Brief 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Downing Street announced today that they have given the green light to the Hinkley Point nuclear deal with EDF and Chinese General Nuclear Power Corporation. The deal will see a new type of nuclear reactor built in Somerset with the project being dogged by setbacks since it was first discussed when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. Friends of the Earth Scotland’s Director, Dr Richard Dixon, said: “Building new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point and committing to pay EDF twice the current energy price for the next 35 years is a colossal waste of public money. Our grandkids will still be paying it off and for generations to come people will be living with the toxic legacy of nuclear waste. “We should instead investing in renewables and energy efficiency that can provide the safe, flexible, decentralised energy we need now and in the future. Going for green energy would be cheaper, faster and safer than continuing to chase the nuclear dream.
FoE Scotland 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Wales
A growth plan that highlights how the region can create an extra 120,000 jobs has been unveiled. The North Wales Economic Ambition Board has put forward its vision for the region’s economy. The document – A Growth Vision for the Economy of North Wales – urges the UK and Welsh Government to back their ambition for investment and greater powers in the region. They say the return will be an increased size in the region’s economy from £12.5bn to £20bn by 2035. The energy cluster will have expertise around energy generation, low carbon technologies and processes, with businesses well-equipped to exploit opportunities as a result of investment in Wylfa Newydd, Trawsfynydd Small Modular Reactors and off-shore wind, biomass and tidal energy projects.
Daily Post 14th Sept 2016 read more »
Bradwell
The decision to approve the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant may raise scrutiny on Chinese investors that want to expand their atomic portfolio in the U.K. The U.K. government will take a “special share” in all future nuclear projects giving it power to block changes in ownership that could impinge on national security, according to a statement on Thursday. For China, whose 33.5 percent ownership in Hinkley was the subject of security concern, the new rules may erect higher hurdles for reactor projects in Sizewell and Bradwell, which uses Chinese technology. “The chance the Chinese are prevented from going ahead with Bradwell must be higher today than it was yesterday,” said Stephen Hunt, U.K. utilities analyst at Barclays Capital Services Ltd., in a phone interview. The decision to tighten the rules highlights Prime Minister Theresa May’s security concerns about Chinese access to critical U.K. infrastructure. The 18-billion pound ($24 billion) Hinkley project is one-third funded by state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corp., which signed a deal in October with Electricite de France SA at Sizewell and another at Bradwell, both on the eastern coast.
Bloomberg 15th Sept 2016 read more »
China is to begin developing a new nuclear power station in Essex after the Government heralded a new wave of UK reactors by approving the £18bn Hinkley Point plant in Somerset. Chinese state nuclear firm CGN will fund one-third of Hinkley, which is led by French state energy giant EDF, in return for the chance to build its own design of reactor at Bradwell with EDF’s support. Although ministers made no mention of Bradwell in their announcement, sources told the Telegraph that CGN had privately received Government assurance its plans, which were endorsed by the previous administration, were still welcome. CGN said it was “delighted” by the Hinkley decision which would allow it to “move forward and deliver” Bradwell. It is understood the firm hopes to begin the process of seeking UK safety approval for its Hualong One reactor design in the autumn. EDF has previously said such a plant could begin construction as early as 2022, subject to approval by UK regulators.
Telegraph 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Nuclear Security
Following the arrest of Allen Ho this spring, FBI agents appeared on the doorsteps of nuclear scientists across the United States. In Murrysville, they met with Charles Beard, a retired Westinghouse Electric Co. software engineer who first connected with Mr. Ho in the 1980s when both men worked for that company. In 2011, Mr. Ho had approached Mr. Beard to consult for his Delaware-based firm Energy Technology International, according to documents in the case. Mr. Beard had just retired and wasn’t sure it was worth it. He quoted an hourly rate so high it was intended to repel the advances, Mr. Beard told the FBI. But Mr. Ho agreed to the money, and so did Mr. Beard. And thus he became part of a group of consultants — retired nuclear specialists, many from Cranberry-based Westinghouse — that Mr. Ho assembled on behalf of the China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN), one of several state-owned nuclear firms in one of the world’s largest commercial nuclear markets. The consulting team was to “provide technology transfer in design, manufacturing, related training and technical support,” Mr. Ho wrote in an e-mail later obtained by the FBI. “They said budget is no issue.” Since mid-April, Mr. Ho, 66, has been in jail in Tennessee awaiting a trial in which he faces a potential life sentence for violating a 60-year statute that has never before been tested in court. He spends 23 hours in a cell, in solitary confinement, according to his attorney.
Powersource 15th Sept 2016 read more »
Energy Policy –Scotland
The Scottish Government has been attacked for its inconsistent energy policy by a leading expert who has suggested fracking and new nuclear power stations are needed to keep the lights on. In a paper for the think tank Reform Scotland Dr Stuart Paton says ministers’ rejection of nuclear power contradicts its support of the coal-fuelled power station at Longannet. He also says the government’s support of off shore oil and gas is inconsistent with its stance on the unconventional gas extraction.
Scotsman 16th Sept 2016 read more »
Japan
More than 6,000 workers cycle through the world’s biggest nuclear plant every day to operate and maintain a facility that hasn’t sold a kilowatt of electricity in more than four years. The buzz at Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant plays out daily across Japan, where utilities employ thousands of workers and spend billions of dollars awaiting the green light to restart commercial operations. With only three of the country’s 42 operable reactors running, they’re betting a national government committed to nuclear power will win over local officials and a wary public who don’t believe enough has been done to guarantee safety since the worst meltdown since Chernobyl.
Bloomberg 15th Sept 2016 read more »
