New Nukes
Energy Secretary Amber Rudd’s plan to deliver the UK’s emissions reductions promised in COP21 rely on nuclear power as the main ‘low carbon’ energy source, writes Paul Flynn. But the high cost of nuclear, and the ruinous track record of current technologies, show that this path leads only to massive failure at public expense. Boris Johnson spotted that the nuclear Emperor has no clothes He said the mega-subsidy of taxpayers £2 billion a year for 35 years (perhaps rising to £10bn) is an “extraordinary amount of money to spend”. Treasury officials are becoming twitchy and nauseous at the prospect that they are incubating a looming financial cataclysm. The magnitude of the future scandal could rival those of the Tanganyika groundnuts fiasco and the South Sea Bubble. It’s said that Civil Service careers are dominated by the ethos of the unimportance of being right. The careers of those who push the conventional un-wisdom of the day blossom. The careers of far-sighted who challenge with solutions that work in the long term wither. Amber Rudd has no specialist knowledge of energy politics and has opinions dumped on her by officials. We must hope the curiosity she exhibited in her former career as a financial journalist will lead her to discover a rational green path through the jungle of vested interests and elephant traps of doomed hopes.
Ecologist 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Parliamentary Seminar 28th Jan 2016; UK Energy Policy: Late Lessons fromChernobyl, Early Warnings from Fukushima with Gorbachev and Naoto Kan.
Nuclear Consult 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Old Nukes
A third of Britain’s nuclear reactors were offline last night, prompting questions about the reliability of ageing power stations needed to avoid blackouts. Three reactors have been switched off in the past three days because of “unrelated electrical issues”, EDF Energy said last night. Another two of the French state-controlled company’s 15 British reactors are offline because of planned maintenance. Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey, the world’s last Magnox station, is closing after 44 years. The reactors affected by the faults are at Torness, Heysham and Hartlepool power stations. A second reactor at Hartlepool was already offline for refuelling and one at Hunterston was shut for planned maintenance. Peter Atherton, an energy analyst at Jefferies investment bank, said it was worrying to lose five reactors at the same time. He said the impact on electricity supplies would have been greater had it not been for the mild weather.
Times 17th Dec 2015 read more »
EDF Energy 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Moorside
NuGen has awarded a £20m contract to assess the site of potential new nuclear reactors in west Cumbria. The contract is the Moorside project’s largest so far and represents a major step forward in its construction. It was awarded to Dutch firm Fugro, and will involve assessing the whole site in order to inform the design and layout of Moorside. The work will start in December, and will support licensing, planning applications and other consents required to build the new nuclear station near Sellafield. The Moorside facility would generate 3.4 GW of electricity – seven per cent of the country’s total electricity need. It is predicted that construction will begin in 2019, with the first nuclear reactor becoming operational in 2024. This onshore investigation is the first stage of the project and will go on until the summer of 2016, with the majority of the offshore element scheduled to begin in spring 2016.
Carlisle News and Star 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Hinkley
MORE than half the £24bn expected to be spent on the new nuclear reactor at Hinkley C could go abroad to foreign suppliers, according to a leading academic and government adviser. Sir Keith Burnett, a member of the Council of Science and Technology who report to David Cameron, said it will be seriously tough for British firms to meet the needs of EDF, and estimated that around 40 per cent of the work will go to French firms. While British contractors are likely to be involved in the basic earth moving and construction of buildings and infrastructure, but Professor Burnett is concerned British firms will not be able to supply some of the higher specification supplies required by EDF.
Somerset County Gazette 16th Dec 2015 read more »
A new bypass to route traffic around the village of Cannington near Hinkley Point is opening today. It’s hoped the road will alleviate traffic during construction of the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. The improvement is part of a £16 million package of road improvements paid for by EDF Energy. However its estimated that 80% of the aggregate material needed for the Hinkley Point C project will come by sea.
ITV 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Western Daily Press 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Nukes vs Climate
The nuclear industry has had a disappointing COP21, writes Jim Green. Lobbyists were there en masse desperately trying to get pro-nuclear wording into the Paris Agreement, and they failed. The word does not occur even once in the entire document. But we must prepare for the next battle: keeping nuclear power out of the $100 billion a year Green Climate Fund.
Ecologist 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Energy Policy
We have seen in the run up to Paris a series of announcements, on wind, on solar, on low carbon homes, on climate levies and now on Carbon Capture and Storage. We await the introduction, with a flourish, of the alternative road map that will replace the route obliterated by these changes. My fears that there is currently no such alternative marinating in government, though, are stoked by the way in which the various announcements have been made.They have effectively been made largely by one government department, the Treasury, without even telling the government department that supposedly has the key responsibility for all this (the clue is in DECC’s full name). DECC has then, in the name of collective responsibility, had to spin out ever more implausible rationalisations of what has been forced upon it. It surely is time, when David Cameron has a moment to draw breath from his interminable round of supplication in front of various European governments, to intervene centrally from No. 10, and develop a speedy cross-government strategy for appraising climate measures and their alternatives, within the framework of the international agreement that he himself endorsed so warmly in Paris. And if that means that Treasury has to be placed in ‘special measures,’ as the government seems keen to do elsewhere, then so be it.
Alan Whitehead MP 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Radioactive Discharges
The nuclear energy industry produces radioactive waste at various stages of the fuel cycle. In the United Kingdom, spent fuel is reprocessed at the Sellafield facility in Cumbria on the North West coast of England. Waste generated at the site comprises a wide range of radionuclides including radiocarbon (14C) which is disposed of in various forms including highly soluble inorganic carbon within the low level liquid radioactive effluent, via pipelines into the Irish Sea. This 14C is rapidly incorporated into the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) reservoir and marine calcifying organisms, e.g. molluscs, readily utilise DIC for shell formation. This study investigated a number of sites located in Irish Sea and West of Scotland intertidal zones. Results indicate 14C enrichment above ambient background levels in shell material at least as far as Port Appin, 265 km north of Sellafield. Of the commonly found species (blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), common cockle (Cerastoderma edule) and common periwinkle (Littorina littorea)), mussels were found to be the most highly enriched in 14C due to the surface environment they inhabit and their feeding behaviour. Whole mussel shell activities appear to have been decreasing in response to reduced discharge activities since the early 2000s but in contrast, there is evidence of continuing enrichment of the carbonate sediment component due to in-situ shell erosion, as well as indications of particle transport of fine 14C-enriched material close to Sellafield.
Journal of Environmental Radioactivity January 2016 (accessed) 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Plutonium
Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday that the federal government must either neutralize plutonium at the Savannah River Site or ship the deadly atomic material away from South Carolina as U.S. officials promised more than a decade ago. Haley and Attorney General Alan Wilson are considering legal action against the federal government over its failure to get rid of the surplus plutonium that has been stockpiled at the site from around the country. A deadline to take action is looming next year. “They made an agreement with the state of South Carolina,’’ Haley said. “It is my job to enforce that they stay true to the agreement with the state of South Carolina. So we are going to just actively remind them that they are coming up on the deadline.’’ Under a 2003 federal law, the U.S. Department of Energy is supposed to have begun processing the plutonium at a new mixed oxide fuel factory on SRS by now. But the plant is only 70 percent completed and billions of dollars over budget. Haley has supported construction of the plant at SRS in the past. Because the plant won’t be finished anytime soon, the federal government is liable to pay up $1 million per day in fines. The DOE has signaled that it wants to abandon the MOX project because of its expense — already at $5 billion and rising. A federal site in New Mexico is an option for plutonium disposal from SRS. Tom Clements, a longtime anti-nuclear activist and MOX plant opponent, said the 2003 law that Haley is seeking to enforce is full of loopholes that allow the federal government freedom to avoid penalties.
The State 15th Dec 2015 read more »
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has warned the U.S. Department of Energy she expects her state to collect a $1 million per day fine for DOE’s failure to meet a Jan. 1 nuclear fuel deadline. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Haley told Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz South Carolina “will almost certainly be forced” to sue if his agency doesn’t start making payments on New Year’s Day. “South Carolina cannot stand idly by while DOE violates federal law and fails to fulfill its commitment to the state,” Haley wrote in the letter, dated Dec. 14. The Savannah River Site’s mixed-oxide project, known as MOX, was built to convert weapons-grade plutonium into commercial nuclear reactor fuel, Kallanish Energy understands. But the facility is years behind schedule. Since MOX isn’t operating, by law the federal government is supposed to remove 1 metric tonne of plutonium from South Carolina by Jan. 1. If not, the agency’s supposed to pay $1 million a day for “economic and impact assistance,” up to $100 million annually, until either the facility is brought online or the plutonium’s taken out of state for storage or disposal.
Kallanish Energy 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
Murphy’s Law has found a permanent home in Fukushima: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” For instance, only recently, radioactive cesium in tunnels at Fukushima suddenly spiked by more than 4,000 times similar measurements from one year ago. This spooky/huge spike in radiation levels hit 482,000 Becquerels per liter. TEPCO intends to investigate the reason behind the enormous anomalous increase, Radiation Spikes in Fukushima Underground Ducts, NHK World, Dec. 9, 2015. Over the course of a year, 4,000 times anything probably is not good. Not only that but the barrier constructed at the Fukushima nuclear power plant to hopefully prevent contaminated water from leaking into the ocean is tilting and has developed a crack about 0.3 miles in length along its base. The wall is 0.5 miles long and 98 feet below ground.
Counterpunch 14th Dec 2015 read more »
China
China is missing no opportunity to build a future without fossil fuels, abroad as well as at home. Not only is it investing in the construction of the UK’s first new nuclear power station in 20 years: it has now decided to support the development of solar power in France. So while China battles with its own pollution at home and remains the world’s single biggest producer of greenhouse gases, its leaders clearly have an eye on the business opportunities of combating climate change across the world.
Climate News Network 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Belgium
Belgium, plagued by a series of nuclear mishaps in recent years, has restarted its ageing Tihange 2 reactor after a nearly two-year shutdown. Neighboring Germany is angered by the relaunch amid fears it could result in a Fukushima-style meltdown. Belgian power utility Electrabel says it put Tihange 2, first launched in 1983, back in service on Tuesday night “in complete safety.” But officials in adjacent North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany’s most-populous state) say there’s a storm brewing, recalling the fact that three of Belgium’s seven reactors were closed at one point, in two cases due to the discovery of micro-cracks in Tihange 2’s reactor casings.
Russia Today 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Trident
What is less talked about is how both the submarines and the bases that maintain them have suffered from a series of glaring safety mishaps. There are four Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines currently in service with the Royal Navy. These 149.5-meter long, nuclear-powered vessels are relatively new—all of them having launched in the 1990s—but are aging fast.Each Vanguard-class submarine can carry up to sixteen Trident II missiles, each one packing twelve independently-targetable nuclear warheads, meaning the nukes split off from the missile and explode in multiple locations. The actual number of deployed missiles and warheads, however, is a closely guarded secret. Her Majesty’s Naval Base, Clyde in Scotland—otherwise known as Faslane—is the main base for the Royal Navy’s Trident subs, and has been exceedingly prone to accidents. The latest details come from a Royal Navy sailor-turned-whistleblower William McNeilly who published an 18-page report before going on the run.
National Interest 15th Dec 2015 read more »
Renewables – tidal
Two flagship tidal energy projects have passed significant milestones in the past few days as the nascent industry steps up its deployment of commercial-scale demonstration projects. Cardiff-based Tidal Energy Ltd (TEL) announced earlier this week that it has installed Wales’ first tidal energy generator in Ramsey Sound, Pembrokeshire. The company said the 400kW Deltastream device, which weighs 200 tonnes and sits on the seabed, is one of the first grid-connected demonstration devices worldwide to generate sustainable and predictable tidal power.
Business Green 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Renewables – Offshore Wind
Samsung’s 7MW offshore wind turbine on the Scottish coast is set to become a training and research hub for the offshore wind industry after it was bought by the government-backed Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult. ORE Catapult, the UK’s flagship technology and innovation centre for offshore wind and marine technologies, announced the completion of the sale yesterday. The turbine – the most advanced in the world – will now become a centre for technology, maintenance and operations training for the next generation of offshore turbine.
Business Green 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Donald Trump’s legal challenge to a planned offshore wind farm has been rejected by the UK’s Supreme Court. Developers hope to site 11 turbines off Aberdeen, close to Mr Trump’s golfing development on the Aberdeenshire coast. The US businessman and presidential hopeful was taking on the Scottish government, which approved the plan.
BBC 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Guardian 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Business Green 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Renewables – solar
The government has decided to cut subsidies to householders installing roof top solar panels by 65% just days after agreeing to move swiftly to a low carbon energy future at the climate change conference in Paris. The move was confirmed in a Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) report showing that financial aid of 4.39p per kilowatt hour will be available from next month instead of the existing 12.47p. The new figure means Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, has rowed back from an original proposal to slash subsidies by 87% to 1.63p after a storm of criticism. “In just one month, one nuclear plant at Hinkley would swallow up four years’ worth of subsidies for the whole solar sector. Why are ministers signing a blank cheque for expensive, outdated nuclear power while pinching pennies for an energy source on the cusp of a massive investment boom? This makes no economic sense and will only put up bills in the long run. “With costs falling, demand rising, and post-Paris momentum growing, the UK solar sector will see off the government’s attacks. The question is how many more jobs, investments, and business opportunities are we wasting because of George Osborne’s incoherent policies. “If the government is as committed as it claims to be to the Paris climate deal, then solar is one of the cheapest and safest ways for the UK to deliver on it.”
Guardian 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Domestic solar installations up to 10kW in size will receive a feed-in tariff rate of 4.39p/kWh when the new rates come into force after the Department of Energy and Climate Change published the eagerly anticipated results of its consultation.
Solar Portal 17th Dec 2015 read more »
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has softened plans to slash support for domestic solar and wind power schemes, after more than 100,000 people around the world raised concerns that the popular feed-in tariff scheme was poised to close. In a document published this morning, the government confirmed small scale renewables will still see deep cuts in the New Year, with solar feed-in tariffs falling by as much as 63.5 per cent. DECC confirmed it would cap new spending for the feed-in tariff at £100m by the end of 2018/19 as set out in the consultation. However, it said new evidence which came forward during the consultation period has allowed it to reduce the severity of cuts. In a surprise move, the government also announced it would reintroduce pre-accreditation for solar PV and wind generators over 50kW, as well as all hydro and anaerobic digestion plants, after scrapping the mechanism in September.
Business Green 17th Dec 2015 read more »
The prime minister has been urged to intervene in planned cuts to solar power subsidies as a response to the signing of the Paris agreement on climate change at the weekend. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) is expected to announce a slashing of the subsidies for solar panels, potentially by nearly 90%, in line with a concerted push by the government in recent months to roll back green measures. The move would be disastrous for the solar industry, businesses have warned, costing jobs and impairing the UK’s ability to meet its renewable energy targets. But a former Conservative energy minister said ministers might yet reduce the level of cuts. In Paris, Leonie Greene said, the Rudd had praised solar power as a technology that could help meet emissions targets. “The post-Paris world demands accelerated domestic action. The first big decision to be taken in the post-Paris world could set the tone for some time to come.” Lord Barker, the Conservative former climate minister and adviser to David Cameron, said: “The draft proposals, if left unchanged, would be potentially catastrophic. But I’m increasingly confident that the intention is not to leave them completely unchanged.”
Guardian 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio and former UK Climate Change Minister Greg Barker have formed an unlikely alliance in an initiative which aims to deliver renewable energy to the 1.4 billion people that live without access to reliable electricity.
Edie 16th Dec 2015 read more »
The government is expected to row back on its decision to end support for rooftop solar panels, relaxing its plan to cut subsidies for the industry by nearly 90 per cent. The Department for Energy and Climate Change is expected to unveil its final decision on the subsidies, or feed-in tariffs, paid to solar panels, later today. In a controversial announcement in August, the government announced plans to cut the tariffs paid for electricity produced from solar panels by 87 per cent. Sources in Westminster, however, said that a compromise was likely, with residential solar installations still facing steep cuts in subsidies but not as much as previously feared.
Times 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Renewables – AD
The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) and private equity group Foresight have committed to invest £1.7m in the construction of an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Northern Ireland. The 0.5MW plant, which will be built and operated by a Northern Irish engineering company, has been developed by a local farming family and KPMG (Belfast). Once operational, it is expected to generate around 3,600MWh of renewable electricity – enough to power 850 homes and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Edie 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Renewables – Wave
The intellectual property assets of the defunct Scottish renewable wave energy business, Aquamarine Power have been up for sale by the company’s administrators Founded in 2005, Edinburgh-based Aquamarine Power was set up to bring innovative wave energy technology to the commercial energy renewables market. Aquamarine Power’s unique proprietary technology is an offshore converter of waves’ motion into electrical energy with a base at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney.
Scottish Energy News 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Energy Efficiency – Scotland
Responding to the Scottish Government’s draft budget announced today members of the Existing Homes Alliance Scotland voiced disappointment: Alan Ferguson Chair of The Existing Homes Alliance Scotland said: “Just a day after we learnt that there has been no progress in reducing the 35 per cent of Scottish households living in fuel poverty, the draft budget for ending cold homes is less than was available this year. This fails to reflect the Government’s commitment to a National Infrastructure Priority that will create ‘transformational change’ in improving the energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes – making our housing fit for a low carbon Scotland. The evidence is clear – no other investment can do so much, particularly in a tight budget situation, to cut energy bills for the fuel poor, create 8-9000 jobs all over Scotland, reduce climate emissions and improve physical and mental health – a 2:1 benefit to cost ratio.” Gina Hanrahan, Climate and Energy Policy Officer at WWF Scotland said: “Hot on the heels of a Paris conference that showed increased international commitment to cl imate action, this draft budget does not deliver on the Scottish Government’s repeated commitment to embed climate change across the budget. In particular, it has not kick started the transformational approach to improving energy efficiency to which the Scottish Government has committed.
Blue & Green Tomorrow 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Demand Side Management
Glasgow Caledonian University has recently become the first Scottish organisation to install Open Energi’s innovative demand side response (DSR) technology. GCU has equipped its award-winning Saltire Centre with Dynamic Demand technology to create a ‘virtual power station’, transforming how the university uses energy and – potentially pathfinding the way for Scotland’s decentralised, low carbon future.
Scottish Energy News 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Fossil Fuels
MPs have voted to allow fracking for shale gas 1,200m below national parks and other protected sites. The new regulations – which permit drilling from outside the protected areas – were approved by 298 to 261. Opposition parties and campaigners criticised the lack of a Commons debate – and accused ministers of a U-turn as they previously pledged an outright ban on fracking in national parks.
BBC 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Independent 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Guardian 16th Dec 2015 read more »
