Bradwell
CAMPAIGNERS in Mersea have hit out at Maldon District Council’s plans to push for a new nuclear power station in Bradwell. The authority has revealed in a strategy report it hopes to secure a new power station on land beside the existing facility. Varrie Blowers, of pressure group Bradwell Against New Nuclear Group, claimed cooling towers on any new station would be as big as London’s Gherkin tower.
Essex Gazette 17th April 2014 read more »
Energy Policy
The Prime Minister is planning to cap the total number of onshore wind farms in Britain. But what would limiting the number of wind farms to those in existence or already in the planning system mean? The UK already has 7.1GW worth of turbines spinning away. There are 1.8GW under construction and some 4.3GW approved but not yet built. Once all these are up and running it will bring the total to 12.2GW. The government plans to install between 11GW to 13GW of onshore wind by 2020. If they were to limit turbines to those built or in the process of building, it would make precisely no difference at all.
Spectator 16th April 2014 read more »
Energy Costs
CO2-Free Power Generation in Europe: Wind and Solar Power Are Already Cheaper than Nuclear – Even When Considering the Power Plants Needed for Reserve Capacity. Two decades of technological advancement have led to drastic declines in the cost of power from wind and photovoltaic (PV) systems. Indeed, the feed-in tariffs for PV have fallen by 80% in Germany in the past five years alone. Yet how competitive are wind and solar systems in comparison to other CO2-free technologies? The environmental benefits of renewable energy are clear. However, the role that renewable energy can play in CO2 abatement depends crucially on its cost effectiveness. “New wind and solar power systems can generate electricity up to 50% cheaper than new nuclear power plants,” says Patrick Graichen, executive director of Agora Energiewende. This figure emerges from a study conducted by Prognos AG on behalf of Agora Energiewende, a think tank funded by Stiftung Mercator and the European Climate Foundation. The study examines feed-in tariffs for new nuclear power plants in the UK as well as feed-in tariffs for green power provided under Germany’s Renewable Energy Act. The study concludes that nuclear power as well as Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) – a technology not currently available in Europe – are both more expensive than wind and solar power as a strategy for preventing climate change.
Agora Energiewende 17th April 2014 read more »
Scotland
Peter Strachan, Robert Gordon University. Ed Davey’s claim that Scottish energy bills would rise after independence is a fantasy. The UK Government’s flagship initiative, Electricity Market Reform, has led to a hiatus in energy investment. This is very bad news for England. In effect we are now seeing a critical reduction in our spare energy capacity, which will eventually see electricity costs spiral out of control. For London this might well mean the lights going out post-2015. As Scotland exports approximately one quarter of the electricity it generates, this is not such a problem for Edinburgh. In recent years this has been bolstered by a truly world class renewables industry. Scotland now produces nearly the equivalent of 50% of its electricity from renewable energy sources such as onshore wind and hydro. This will increase to around 70% by 2017. I strongly reject Ed Davey’s announcement that if Scotland votes yes then Scottish electricity bills would increase. This can be seen in a comprehensive report that I published with colleagues from a number of universities from across the United Kingdom in December. To summarise some very complex arguments, as a result of the coalition government’s decision to fund new nuclear build, we found that a Scottish government committed to no nuclear build would actually see reductions in consumer electricity bills compared to the rest of the United Kingdom. Scottish consumers would not be subsidising the hundreds of billions of pounds of investment that new English nuclear power stations require.
The Conversation 16th April 2014 read more »
Radwaste
It’s been two months since a radiation leak shut down New Mexico’s geologic nuclear waste repository and two weeks since crews first went underground to explore the cause. So why is it taking so long to find out what happened? “The fundamental point is there is no example in the world of a radiologically contaminated underground salt mine,” said Don Hancock, who runs the Nuclear Waste Safety Program at the nonprofit Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque. “They really do have to make it up as they go, and they want to be careful.” The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has broken the investigation into three phases and, over the weekend, crews began the third and final phase: to make their way toward the suspected source of the radiation leak.
Albuquerque Journal 17th April 2014 read more »
Robots may be needed to probe a radiation leak inside a nuclear waste disposal site beneath the New Mexico desert after a team of inspectors was forced to turn back due to high radiation levels, facility managers said on Thursday. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, where drums of plutonium-tainted refuse from nuclear weapons factories and laboratories are buried in salt caverns 2,100 feet (640 meters) underground, has been shut down since unsafe radiation levels were first detected inside on Feb. 14.
Reuters 17th April 2014 read more »
Nuclear waste will not be dumped on Anglesey, say councillors keen to quell fears inspired by meetings on radioactive waste management. The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management will visit Anglesey in September during a series of events around the UK. The local authority has “categorically” stated that it has no interest in making Anglesey a site for nuclear waste, while the island’s AM expressed his firm opposition to creating a “nuclear waste depository”.
Daily Post 17th April 2014 read more »
News Wales 17th April 2014 read more »
North Wales Chronicle 17th April 2014 read more »
Nuclear Safety
Areva has developed a new technology for nuclear reactor vessel inspections that is designed to optimize both the safety and reliability of operations. Called Lower Girth Weld Inspection Tool (LGWIT), the automated tool will enable plant personnel to remotely perform inspections through narrow gaps of the reactor vessel internals. Designed to meet the criteria of the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Materials Reliability Program and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s NUREG 1766 regulation, the tool has already been used to perform several inspections for US utility customers.
Energy Business Review 17th April 2014 read more »
Floating Reactors
Are nuclear reactors safer at sea? Floating design for middle of the ocean would be tsunami-proof, claim scientists.
Daily Mail 17th April 2014 read more »
Professional Engineering 17th April 2014 read more »
Huffington Post 17th April 2014 read more »
Trident
How is an ordinary citizen supposed to react to the warning to Scottish residents from a platoon of Generals, Admirals and Air Marshals that an independent Scotland, in purely monetary terms, could not afford the removal costs of nuclear armed submarines and their weapons, from Faslane and Coulport? My father would have responded with one of his ‘Never believe an officer when he opens his mouth, son’ rules, but putting that aside, would someone please explain to the general and his pals that although we realise that it won’t be as simple as a Carter Paterson job, the cost won’t be falling on an independent Scotland anyway. I know you’ll resent the drain on the rUK’s defence budget of providing new docking and storage facilities in the south, but if you want the damned things, you’ll have to pay for them.
Edinburgh Evening News 17th April 2014 read more »
Letter David Lowry: It is totally inappropriate for the First Sea Lord to interfere in a partial fashion in the contentious Scottish referendum. His job is to defend the nation. If the nation changes its composition due to a democratic referendum, that is still his job. If a split in the United Kingdom makes the logistics of such defence more difficult, he has to deal with it, not try to pre-empt its outcome by an illegitimate intervention.
Telegraph 17th April 2014 read more »
US – nuclear weapons
Hundreds of millions of tax dollars have been wasted on U.S. nuclear weapons infrastructure—again. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) wasted about $600 million on the design of the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The waste was confirmed by Bruce Held, NNSA administrator. In an April 8 House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing chaired by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Held said that half of the $1.2 billion spent on designing the UPF is “just gone.” Responsible for maintaining the nuclear weapons arsenal and laboratories that support the arsenal, NNSA is a federal civilian contracting agency that oversees major construction contracts. A major contract is defined by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as having a value over $750 million.
The Hill 17th April 2014 read more »
Iran
Iran nuclear deal on track as country slashes highly- enriched uranium by 75% ahead of schedule UN watchdog reveals.
Daily Mail 17th April 2014 read more »
Scotsman 18th April 2014 read more »
BBC 18th April 2014 read more »
Community Energy
Balcombe’s close encounter with energy production has had one crucial silver lining. It has forced us to engage with energy issues to an unprecedented degree – making us think about the energy we use, where it comes from, the politics of energy provision in the UK, the pros and cons of different generation technologies and more. This collective awakening has started us on a journey we might never have considered if fracking had never been on the cards – a journey towards a 100% renewably powered future. Our ticket to that future is a new community power company called REPOWERBalcombe. Its mission is to match our village’s domestic electricity consumption kilowatt for kilowatt with community-owned, locally generated renewable energy – and to re-unite our community behind this ambitious goal. Something very strange is happening when on the one hand ministers single out onshore wind turbines and solar farms for attack because they are so “unpopular”, while on the other hand they go “all-out for shale gas” – when polling consistently shows the unpopularity of shale gas. Repowering Balcombe is as much about self-determination, choice and community power as it is about generating electricity. This is a newly possible model of energy provision that is being done by us and for us – instead of being done to us. If a group of local volunteer residents can do this for our village in our spare time, imagine what whole towns and cities could do to repower themselves if they try.
Guardian 17th April 2014 read more »
Renewables – Scotland
The Scottish government has announced £4m of extra funding for a scheme which helps Scottish households generate their own green energy. The Home Renewables Loan Scheme gives people access to interest free loans of up to £10,000 for a range of renewable energy technology. The project was launched in 2011 and aimed to cut reliance on fossil fuels. First Minister Alex Salmond said the scheme was “vital” to enable Scotland to be “a truly low-carbon economy”.
BBC 17th April 2014 read more »
STV 17th April 2014 read more »
Scotsman 17th April 2014 read more »
Renewables – solar
NextEnergy Solar Fund is to acquire eight UK solar projects after raising £86m in a London IPO. The amount raised is less than the £150m originally targeted by the fund, which has limited itself to acquiring existing UK solar power assets whose revenue streams have been backed by subsidy schemes designed to meet the country’s renewable energy targets. Michael Bonte-Friedheim, chief executive, said investors in the fund could expect predictable dividend returns beginning at 5.25p per share in its first year, 6.25p in its second then rising with inflation beyond. It shares were placed at £1 each and begin official trading on April 25. Other recent equity raisings for renewable energy funds, including by John Laing and The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG), were blamed for sapping investor demand.
FT 16th April 2014 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Government’s ECO cuts £250m deeper than first thought. Analysis by the Association for the Conservation of Energy finds that bonus credits will wipe more off scheme’s value than government predicted
Building 16th April 2014 read more »
Britain’s biggest energy suppliers are in line for a £245m windfall because their savings from the Government’s “green levies” deal will be greater than they have passed on to consumers, it has been claimed. Ministers in December announced a deal with the Big Six energy firms to cut household energy bills by about £50 a year by reforming several levies paid for on bills. But analysis by the Association for the Conservation of Energy (Ace) suggests that the Government underestimated the benefits to the companies of the changes.
Telegraph 17th April 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
North Dakota Finds Itself Unprepared To Handle The Radioactive Burden Of Its Fracking Boom. North Dakota recently discovered piles of garbage bags containing radioactive waste dumped by oil drillers in abandoned buildings. Now, the state is trying to catch up to an oil industry that produces an estimated 27 tons of radioactive debris from wells daily. Existing fines have apparently not been enough to deter contractors from dumping oil socks — coiled filters that strain wastewater and accumulate low levels of radiation. The state is in the process of drafting rules, out in June, that require oil companies to properly store the waste in leak-proof containers. Eventually, they must move these oil socks to certified dumps. However, North Dakota has no facilities to process this level of radioactive waste. According to the Wall Street Journal, the closest facilities are hundreds of miles away in states like Idaho, Colorado, Utah, and Montana.
Climate Progress 16th April 2014 read more »
Caroline Lucas has today vowed to continue her campaign against fracking projects in the UK, after she was cleared alongside four other protestors for her role in protests against Cuadrilla’s drilling in Balcombe. The Green MP was amongst those today found not guilty of obstructing the public highway and failing to comply with conditions imposed by a senior police officer at Brighton Magistrates court.
Business Green 17th April 2014 read more »
Caroline Lucas cleared of anti-fracking protest charges. Green MP and four co-defendants found not guilty of obstructing public highway and public order offences during protests
Guardian 17th April 2014 read more »
CCS
A UK project to capture CO2 and bury it under the North Sea looks set to receive a 300m-euro boost from the EU. The European Commission has confirmed that the White Rose carbon capture and storage (CCS) project is in line to win the cash (equivalent to about £250m). The gas will be siphoned off from a new coal-fired power station and stored in undersea rock formations. Climate scientists believe CCS has a key role to play in reducing future CO2 emissions. Building large-scale demonstration plants that capture carbon from coal or gas and secure it in permanent storage sites has not been easy. In 2012, the European Union was unable to find a single project to fund when it attempted to spur the development of the technology. Undeterred, the EU Commission again asked governments to submit written proposals on CCS and, according to officials, the UK has nominated the White Rose project. As it is the only eligible plan to have been put forward, it is expected that a grant of 300m euros will now be forthcoming in June.
BBC 17th April 2014 read more »
FT 16th April 2014 read more »
