Energy Bill
The row over the coalition’s energy policy is set to be reignited on Wednesday with the threat of a backbench rebellion on the new energy bill, led by former Tory minister Tim Yeo. The bill receives its second reading on Wednesday, but omitted from it – at the insistence of the chancellor and prime minister – is any target on decarbonising electricity generation. Such a target is regarded as crucial by supporters of low-carbon energy, and Yeo, who is chairman of the energy and climate change select committee, will give a speech in the City on Wednesday morning urging the coalition to accept an amendment to put a decarbonisation target in the bill. Amendments cannot be made at this stage, but when the bill enters the committee and reporting stages early next year, an amendment is likely to be brought forward.
Guardian 18th Dec 2012 more »
Bloomberg 18th Dec 2012 more »
Energy Costs
The energy and climate secretary, Ed Davey, says average household bills will fall by 2020 – despite the energy regulator Ofgem warning that £24bn was needed to upgrade Britain’s ageing electricity and gas grids, causing household energy bills to rise by an average of £12 a year for the next eight years.
Guardian 17th Dec 2012 more »
Household energy bills are to rise by £12 a year for the next eight years after energy regulator Ofgem said £24bn was needed to upgrade Britain’s ageing electricity and gas grids. Ofgem said the upgrade would add £8.50 to bills in 2013, £7.30 the following year and slowly rise each year to an eventual annual increase of £15.10 in 2020-21 – averaging out at £12 a year over the eight-year period.
Guardian 17th Dec 2012 more »
Times 18th Dec 2012 more »
Times 17th Dec 2012 more »
Sizewell
CAMPAIGNERS calling for a new A12 “four villages” bypass in east Suffolk say the fight will go on despite EDF Energy producing new figures which it says back up its belief that the road isn’t needed.
East Anglian Daily Times 17th Dec 2012 more »
MAGNOX, the company responsible for nuclear power station sites including Sizewell A and Bradwell has claimed a national award for its management of human resources in relation to decommissioning.
East Anglian Daily Times 17th Dec 2012 more »
Dounreay
The first of 90 rail shipments of nuclear material from Dounreay in Caithness to Sellafield in Cumbria was made overnight. The journey was understood to have been made under armed escort. Forty-four tonnes of breeder material in total will be transported by train to Sellafield for reprocessing. At an estimated cost of £60m, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said it was a cheaper option than trying to deal with it at Dounreay.
BBC 17th Dec 2012 more »
RAIL shipments of nuclear material from Dounreay in Caithness to Sellafield in Cumbria have begun. The first of 90 planned journeys is understood to have taken place overnight yesterday. Some 44 tonnes of breeder material is being transported the 400 miles for reprocessing into plutonium and uranium, so it can be used as fuel at other nuclear plants. The move was criticised by environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, but the National Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said it was cheaper than dealing with it at Dounreay.
Scotsman 18th Dec 2012 more »
Scotsman 17th Dec 2012 more »
John O Groat Journal 17th Dec 2012 more »
Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport 17th Dec 2012 more »
Nuclear material left over from Dounreay’s research work in the 20th century is being returned to national fuel stocks as part of the site’s clean-up and closure. The first of approximately 90 packages of fast reactor “breeder” material was delivered safely to Sellafield at the weekend. The material – rods made from natural uranium that were irradiated inside the reactor to breed new plutonium fuel for power stations – belongs to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. DRS, the specialist rail business owned by the NDA, is carrying out the transport.
DSRL 17th Dec 2012 more »
Hinkley
EDF Energy, the UK’s biggest nuclear power operator, disconnected its 480 megawatt Hinkley Point B-7 nuclear reactor from the electricity grid on Sunday, it said on Monday.
Reuters 17th Dec 2012 more »
GDA
A design for the UK’s first nuclear reactor in 25 years has received approval and is suitable for construction, says the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). The ONR and the Environment Agency (EA) agreed that the reactor, designed by EDF Energy and Areva, meets regulatory expectations on safety, security and environmental impact.
Edie 17th Dec 2012 more »
Nuclear Safety
Nuclear safety will be more holistic in the post-Fukushima era, as technical requirements broaden, regulators welcome more peer review and emergency planning is deepened. The Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety concluded today in Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture. Organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the government of Japan, it heard from every IAEA member state and held working sessions for international discussion of changes in regulation, emergency preparation and protection of the public.
World Nuclear News 17th Dec 2012 more »
France
Last Saturday afternoon in the city of Rouen, Normandy – people joined hands to send out a simple messge “*yes to renewable energy* and *no to nuclear*”. A very festive occasion with kids, parents, grandparents and in general a wide range of people from all different backgrounds. This is the first in a series of events in Rouen, with more to follow throughout France and Europe leading up to the massive event on 9 March 2013 in Paris. Our goal is to surround different places where decisions are made regarding nuclear such as: Areva, EDF, parliament, the Nuclear Safety Authority, etc.. with a giant humain chain to show that enough is enough!
Radiation Free Lakeland 17th Dec 2012 more »
Spain
Spain’s oldest nuclear plant Garoña is shutting down on Sunday ahead of new taxes included in a government energy reform that would render the plant unviable. Spain is introducing higher taxes on electricity generation as a measure to address an over 24 billion euro ($31 billion)energy tariff deficit after years of selling power below costs.
Eitb 17th Dec 2012 more »
Japan
ONLY 20 months after a catastrophic nuclear disaster that triggered massive protests against atomic energy and fuelled public opinion polls backing the phasing out of reactors, a pro-nuclear has party won Japan’s parliamentary election. The result left anti-nuclear proponents struggling to understand how the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) not only won, but won in a landslide.
Scotsman 18th Dec 2012 more »
The future of Japan’s planned nuclear phaseout looks less certain following a landslide victory for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the first general election held since the country suspended most of its nuclear generation.
World Nuclear News 17th Dec 2012 more »
Japan’s newly-elected Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a strong supporter of atomic energy use in the past, should restart plants shut after the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, said the CEO of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
Reuters 17th Dec 2012 more »
Japan’s decisive re-embracing of the party that built its nuclear industry sent shares in electric utilities sharply higher on Monday, as investors anticipated that a Liberal Democratic government would scrap its predecessor’s goal of phasing out atomic power and restart nuclear plants idled for safety inspections. Analysts cautioned, however, that while there was little doubt that the LDP remained pro-nuclear, even after last year’s accident at Fukushima, its ability to revive the industry could be hampered by local politics, public opposition and intervention from a new and more independent-minded safety regulator.
FT 17th Dec 2012 more »
Iran
Iran’s foreign minister said on Monday a way must be found to end the deadlock with major powers over the country’s nuclear programme, an Iranian news agency reported, but he offered no new initiative on how to achieve this.
Trust 17th Dec 2012 more »
CCS
Last week the prime minister laid out the importance of carbon capture and storage to the setting of a 2030 carbon target, and in helping resolve the current debate on how much gas in the UK it is safe to burn. Just a month earlier, a report concluded that carbon capture and storage (CCS) could cut the annual costs of meeting our carbon targets by up to 1% of GDP, or about £42bn per year, by 2050. Yet despite the words and reports the technology has made disappointing progress over the past ten years. Not one integrated, large-scale electricity-plus-CCS project has yet been implemented anywhere in the world.
Guardian 17th Dec 2012 more »
Renewables
The group hoping to build a £25bn barrage across the Severn Estuary has broken its silence, vowing that its proposed scheme can produce cost-effective, reliable energy while reducing the threat of flooding. Executives from Hafren Power believe their proposals could generate 5 per cent of the UK’s electricity for over a century – equivalent to 2,500 offshore wind turbines or four nuclear reactors. The river Severn has the second-highest tidal range in the world, at 13m. The group faces opposition from civic and business leaders in Bristol, whose port would be disrupted by a barrage, and environmental groups, which fear the ecological impact. The RSPB told the energy committee in written evidence that it remained “deeply sceptical” that any shore-to-shore barrage could be built without “unacceptable damage” to birds and other wildlife.
FT 17th Dec 2012 more »
ScottishPower and Swedish partner Vattenfall have submitted plans to build the world’s largest wind farm off the coast of East Anglia. The companies’ joint venture, East Anglia Offshore Wind (EAOW), wants to erect 325 turbines, which together would produce 1.2GW of power, enough to meet the demand from some 770,000 homes. The wind farm could create 2,700 jobs during the construction phase, which could begin in 2016, with first power in 2018.
Scotsman 18th Dec 2012 more »
