New Nukes
Energy giant EDF is holding an open day next month for suppliers looking to get involved in the £20bn nuclear construction programme. The event at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster follows a series of local supplier days in Somerset for firms hoping to win work on the £500m Hinkley Point plant. The QEII meeting will outline opportunities nationwide on EDF’s plans to build a new generation of nuclear plants including two new reactors at Sizewell in Suffolk.
Construction Enquirer 16th Aug 2010 more >>
Repeatedly in recent years there have been calls for a revival of nuclear power. Yet that renaissance never seems to come.
Of the more than 200 countries in the world, only 30 use nuclear power. In July 2010, a total of 439 nuclear power plants with a net installed capacity of 373.038 gigawatts (GW) were connected to various national electricity grids, about 1.2GW more than at the beginning of 2006. Roughly 16% of total energy needs (up to 25% in the highly industrialised countries) are now met by electric energy. Nuclear fission’s contribution to total electric energy has decreased from about 18% more than 10 years ago to about 14% in 2008. On a worldwide scale, nuclear energy is thus only a small component of the global energy mix, and its share, contrary to widespread belief, is not on the rise. The hard facts about nuclear energy are inconsistent with the possibility of a worldwide renaissance of nuclear energy. Indeed, they point toward a continuing slow phase-out of nuclear energy in most of the large OECD countries.
Guardian 17th Aug 2010 more >>
Planning
The UK’s sclerotic system for granting planning permission has long caused frustration among infrastructure industries such as energy, waste disposal, housing and transport. Expensive delays, sometimes for years, have dogged projects, with wind farms, gas-fired power stations, biomass power plants and waste treatment facilities among those hit worst. With the ruling coalition proposing reforms less than a year after Labour attempted sweeping changes, complaints from industry have grown in volume. Businesses fear that some of the proposals – including scrapping the Infrastructure Planning Commission – could further slow down a barely functioning system. On Monday, the CBI employers’ group issued a fresh warning, saying that almost 40 projects, to create 17.5 gigawatts of electricity generation capacity – about a fifth of the national total – were embroiled in the system.
FT 17th Aug 2010 more >>
US
Although no U.S. company now reuses its nuclear waste, the country has a long-running history with the technology. Following are timeline highlights of the U.S. inquiry into reprocessing and events that framed it.
Reuters 17th Aug 2010 more >>
China
Plans are advancing for the construction of the first industrial park in China to help with the rapid development of the country’s nuclear power industry, with detailed engineering and construction preparation work at the site in Haiyan, Zhejiang province, expected to start soon. The coastal city of Haiyan, on the Yangtze Delta, has been selected to house the ‘Nuclear City’. It is some 118 kilometres (70 miles) southwest of Shanghai and close to the cities of Hangzhou, Suzhou and Ningbo. It also lies midway along China’s coast, where several nuclear power plants have been constructed or are planned.
World Nuclear News 16th Aug 2010 more >>
Iran
Iran will start building a new uranium enrichment plant early next year, the country’s top nuclear official says. The plant is one of 10 new uranium enrichment facilities Iran has said it is planning. Vice-President Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran has now found sites for all the new plants. Western powers say Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. Iran denies this and says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
BBC 16th Aug 2010 more >>
Telegraph 17th Aug 2010 more >>
Guardian 17th Aug 2010 more >>
Independent 17th Aug 2010 more >>
This weekend Russian specialists will begin loading low-enriched uranium fuel rods into Iran’s Bushehr reactor, the initial step in getting its first nuclear power plant up and running. Though Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has criticised the irreversible startup as “premature”, Bushehr is in fact a long-delayed fiasco predating the Iranian revolution. By contract, the spent fuel rods, containing weapons-grade plutonium, are to be returned to Russia. Uneasy faith that Iran will keep its promise, if only because it still lacks the technology to process the rods at home, is the sole reason that America and its allies are not hysterical. Whether nominally safe or not, Bushehr foreshadows Iran’s more ominous nuclear plans, which the Obama administration’s hectoring and cajoling have signally failed to discourage.
Guardian 16th Aug 2010 more >>
Trident
Spending “huge, huge” sums to replace the Trident nuclear weapon will make it harder for ministers to justify cuts in spending in areas like welfare, Nick Clegg has said.
Telegraph 17th Aug 2010 more >>
NICK Clegg threw the Government’s nuclear weapons policy into confusion yesterday on his FIRST day leading the country – by saying he is against replacing Trident.
The Sun 17th Aug 2010 more >>
Renewables
A Scottish company has won the contract to build one of the world’s most advanced tidal energy turbines. The contract could kickstart a marine energy manufacturing boom in Britain because project developer ScottishPower wants hundreds more turbines to be built in the next few years, creating the prospect of thousands of jobs for Scotland. Fife-based BiFab (Burntisland Fabrications), which traditionally has manufactured equipment for the North Sea oil and gas industry, will today be named as winner of the £4m series of contracts. It will build ScottishPower’s first full-scale working prototype device, which the company claims is the world’s most advanced. The design will be used for the 10MW tidal energy project, the largest in the UK and potentially in the world, in the Sound of Islay, off the west coast of Scotland.
Guardian 17th Aug 2010 more >>
The world’s first floating wind farm may soon appear off the coast of Scotland, following discussions between Alex Salmond and the Norwegian oil company Statoil, which has identified two potential sites off the coast of Lewis and Aberdeenshire. The proposal would allow tests of the firm’s Hywind floating turbines opening the door to a full-scale scheme. The company is expected to visit Scotland to investigate the sites further. Mr Salmond met Statoil during an official visit yesterday to Stavanger and Oslo to promote economic links and consider how to tackle climate change.
Times 17th Aug 2010 more >>
BBC 17th Aug 2010 more >>
Coal
Letter from Chris Huhne: The idea that we are “watering down” our commitment is simply incorrect (Dirtiest coal power plants win reprieve, 16 August): this government has committed to introducing an emissions performance standard. We are moving as quickly as possible and our consultation on a radical reform of the electricity market to deliver secure, affordable and low carbon energy will be out within six months of the election, while a white paper will be published within a year. The view that this might raise the possibility of new coal-fired power stations “slipping through the system” is ludicrous.
Guardian 17th Aug 2010 more >>
