Bradwell
Radioactive waste from other nuclear power stations could be stored at Bradwell, it has been revealed. Magnox, the company running Bradwell power station, has asked Essex County Council whether it needs to draw up a full environmental impact assessment on plans to import nuclear waste from other power stations. In 2013, the Standard revealed how politicians had accused Magnox of breaking promises after admitting it was considering turning the Downhall Beach station, which is being decommissioned, into an alleged “nuclear dumping ground”. Magnox’s submission to County Hall reveals “intermediate level waste” would be stored, encased in cement, inside stainless steel drums or concrete boxes. It would be imported from Dungeness A and Sizewell A until around 2040, when a national geological disposal facility is due to be created. Magnox defended the proposals, saying it would save around £200million of taxpayers’ money and avoid the need to build £30million of additional storage space. Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (Banng) said: “As a result of what are claimed to be improved methods of reducing the volume of waste, the 170 packages of Bradwell waste will be matched by a similar number from Sizewell and Dungeness, i.e. it is proposed to use half of the Bradwell store for wastes from elsewhere. “The original planning permission for the store made it clear it should be large enough to contain only ILW from Bradwell.” Chairman Professor Andy Blowers added: “The nuclear industry tends to make up strategy as it goes along and there is no guarantee that waste from more sites won’t be brought to Bradwell. “This is a controversial issue and there is a need for proper public consultation and Banng will be pushing for this.”
Braintree & Witham Times 17th Jan 2016 read more »
Maldon Standard 17th Jan 2016 read more »
Hinkley
Hinkley Point pylons may become target for terrorists says Burnham MP.
Burnham-on-sea 16th Jan 2016 read more »
Energy Policy – UK
The government is expected to be forced into a renewed standoff with the House of Lords over David Cameron’s reversal on green energy subsidies. After a series of constitutional rows, the tensions between the government and the upper chamber will reach a new flashpoint as the energy secretary, Amber Rudd, presses ahead with a scheme to end subsidies for new onshore windfarms. The plan, contained in the energy bill, was rejected by peers last year, when an alliance of Labour, Liberal Democrat and crossbench peers took on the government over the proposed closure of the Renewable Obligation subsidy scheme. Despite being urged by the revising chamber to look again at the proposal, the Observer understands that the government will this week reinsert the excised clause into the bill, which will be debated for the first time in the Commons on Monday. Senior Labour Lords confirmed that if the government succeeds in restoring the legislation to its original form in the Commons, the party will seek to strike out the clause in the Lords again.
Observer 16th Jan 2016 read more »
Energy Policy – Scotland
SCOTLAND’S efforts to tackle climate change have stalled, environmental campaigners have warned, after ministers slashed spending on green initiatives by tens of millions of pounds. A new budget analysis by campaign group WWF shows overall spending to tackle climate change will fall by £45.8 million in the next financial year, a cut of almost 10 per cent. Huge cuts in support for renewable power and energy efficiency schemes have undermined Scottish Government claims to have put climate change at the heart of its policy making, Lang Banks, the director of WWF Scotland said.
Herald 16th Jan 2016 read more >>
Japan
Japan doing it’s routine shaking and quaking. Another 6.7 earthquake warns that Japan is no place for nuclear power stations. Japan’s apparently homicidal and suicidal government doesn’t care and is restarting more and more. Even shut-down they constitute a menace, not only to Japan but to other countries. Not satisfied with the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which still must be cleaned-up, and which has continued to belch lethal radionuclides into the environment by TEPCO’s own admission, PM Shinzo Abe-the Japanese government appear determined to experience another, or even an earthquake-volcano-nuclear disaster.
Mining Awareness 14th Jan 2016 read more »
Japan’s energy policy is facing major obstacles this year, as problems surrounding an experimental reactor threaten to foil long-laid plans to recycle nuclear fuel. The government is trying to develop a commercial fast-breeder nuclear reactor to recycle nuclear fuel and raise the energy self-sufficiency rate, currently at about 6 percent, of the world’s fifth-largest energy consuming country. The government has spent more than ¥1 trillion ($8.27 billion) on Monju, a prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor that remains under development. But ongoing safety problems have left the reactor idled for much of the time since it first achieved criticality in 1994. The Nuclear Regulation Authority has criticized the current operator, the government-backed Japan Atomic Energy Agency, for having made little progress in enhancing safety management even after a slew of safety problems led to a protracted halt in operations.
Japan Times 17th Jan 2016 read more »
Iran
International sanctions on Iran have been lifted after a watchdog confirmed it had complied with a deal designed to prevent it developing nuclear weapons.
BBC 17th Jan 2016 read more »
The US and European Union began lifting sanctions on Iran on Saturday as the United Nations officially confirmed that Tehran had curtailed its nuclear programme in line with last year’s agreement. The announcement from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) coincided with the release of five Americans from Iranian jails, including Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post correspondent. Prosecutors in the US simultaneously granted clemency to seven Iranians detained for allegedly breaking sanctions.
Telegraph 16th Jan 2016 read more »
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hails the nuclear deal with world powers as a “golden page” in the country’s history, and looked forward to a future less dependent on oil.
Telegraph 17th Jan 2016 read more »
Guardian 17th Jan 2016 read more »
Trident
Having ordered a “tea con leche” and a cheese toastie, Jeremy Corbyn sparks into life on his specialist subject: unilateral disarmament. “My views on nuclear weapons are well known and not changing,” he says. “I want to see us move to a nuclear-free world.” But there is a significant softening in his stance. Speaking exclusively to The Independent on Sunday, he says he now “recognises” that the Labour Party’s existing policy explicitly supports Trident and promises to “accommodate” those who want to vote for its renewal.
Independent 17th Jan 2016 read more »
Jeremy Corbyn, the U.K.’s left wing opposition leader, has been urged not to support scrapping Britain’s nuclear deterrent. Britain’s parliament will vote this year on whether it should renew its Trident nuclear weapon, which consists of four Vanguard-class submarines armed with Trident II D5 nuclear missiles, when it expires in the late 2020s. Labour currently supports renewing the weapon, but is reviewing that position. Corbyn, who has spent much of his political life in Britain’s Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), would like the party to advocate dropping the weapon. Michael Dugher, who lost his job as shadow culture secretary in Corbyn’s top team this month, said in a speech to party group Labour First on Saturday: “We tried unilateralism before. It ended in electoral disaster then. There is no evidence to suggest that it won’t end in disaster again,” The Guardian reports.
Newsweek 16th Jan 2016 read more »
Daily Record 16th Jan 2016 read more »
Trident: an illustrated guide to renewing Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
Observer 17th Jan 2016 read more »
Jeremy Corbyn has said he will try to “accommodate” the different views within the Labour Party over the future of Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent. In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, the Labour leader acknowledged that while he was committed to getting rid of it, current party policy was to go ahead with the renewal of the submarine fleet which carries the Trident missiles. While shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry has launched a review of Labour’s entire defence policy, he also accepted that there could be no change in the current position until the party conference in September.
Western Morning News 17th Jan 2016 read more »
The leader of the main opposition Labour Party says a reshuffle of his top team has brought the unity needed to “win elections and change our country for the better” – but he faces a struggle to convince his own lawmakers. Some Labour MPs say this month’s changes by Jeremy Corbyn have merely deepened divisions and herald the start of a battle over national security that could tear the party apart and leave it out of power for more than a decade.
Reuters 17th Jan 2016 read more »
Renewables – solar
A solar farm – with the potential to provide power for hundreds of homes – could be on the way near Hartlepool. Councillors will scrutinise plans for thousands of panels on land north of Wolviston. Ten hectares of land would be used for solar panels with transformers, a substation, security fence and gate and other infrastructure.
Hartlepool Mail 16th Jan 2016 read more »
Renewables – AD
In Colorado, the city of Grand Junction is making huge strides to reinvent their wastewater industry – and the result is like finding a diamond in the sludge. The Persigo Wastewater Treatment Plant is processing 8m gallons of Grand Junction’s human waste into renewable natural gas (RNG), also known as biomethane. The RNG is then used to fuel about 40 fleet vehicles, including garbage trucks, street sweepers, dump trucks and transit buses. It’s possible through a process called anaerobic digestion, which breaks down organic matter into something called raw biogas. The biogas is then collected and upgraded to RNG – at pipeline quality – and can be used as electricity, heat or transportation fuel.
Guardian 16th Dec 2016 read more »
Renewables
Increasing renewables to 36% of the global energy mix by 2030 would provide about half emissions reductions needed to hold warming to 2C, says International Renewable Energy Agency.
Guardian 16th Jan 2016 read more »
Decentralised Energy
Delegates from more than 130 countries and world`s leading renewable energy experts meet for the next three days to discuss the global energy transition. The annual Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has become one of the most important gathering. In fact, the way energy is produced, distributed and consumed in our societies is undergoing fundamental changes. With the majority of energy investments already going into renewable energy, we are doing more than substituting oil, gas, coal and nuclear with free energy from the wind and the sun. We are in fact building an entirely new global energy sector with a completely different DNA.
World Future Council 16th Jan 2016 read more »
