Scotland
THE Scottish Parliament voted narrowly last night to block any new nuclear power stations north of the Border – as Alex Salmond was warned that his legacy might be the “lights going out” across Scotland. MSPs voted by 63 to 58 to reject nuclear power, exactly a week after Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, committed the UK government to a new generation of such stations. The Holyrood vote was hailed by SNP ministers as signalling a clean, bright future for Scottish energy.
Scotsman 18th Jan 2008 more >>
First Minister Alex Salmond was yesterday accused of ignoring the views of the majority of Scots by ruling out the use of nuclear power in the future. The accusation by Tory leader Annabel Goldie, during First Minister’s Questions, came as MSPs voted 63-58 in favour of a government motion ruling out new nuclear stations.
Herald 18th Jan 2008 more >>
NUCLEAR power is not needed to meet Scotland’s future energy needs, MSPs were told today. Energy minister Jim Mather added that the possibility of a giant sub-sea cable down the east coast of the UK would further strengthen Scotland’s self-sufficiency. MSPs were being asked to back the SNP’s anti-nuclear stance in a debate in Parliament.
Edinburgh Evening News 17th Jan 2008 more >>
ICSCotland 17th Jan 2008 more >>
LOTHIANS Tory MSP Gavin Brown today accused the SNP of turning the discussion on future energy generation into an “anti-nuclear rant”.
Edinburgh Evening News 17th Jan 2008 more >>
New nukes
French utility EDF has said that it is ready to invest in four new nuclear power plants in the UK but has highlighted key issues that must be resolved before development starts. But EDF and the government’s political opponents have stressed that a framework for investment needs to be put in place that resolves a number of outstanding issues, including planning, site availability, carbon price and provisions for waste management.
Modern Power Systems 17th Jan 2008 more >>
Private firms will refuse to build and operate new nuclear power stations in the UK unless they are offered guaranteed returns, engineers warned this week.
New Civil Engineer 17th Jan 2008 more >>
Kent Business News 17th Jan 2008 more >>
Britain’s next generation of nuclear power plants will be built by some of Europe’s biggest companies using their own money, but banks will join the global atomic boom later. Each plant is expected to cost at least 2 billion pounds ($3.93 billion) and companies planning them have enough money to do it without financial help from government or banks.
Reuters 17th Jan 2008 more >>
Nuclear energy is back on the agenda, and someone’s got to design the power stations. Martin Pease says he would step up to the challenge, while George Ferguson we owe it to our kids to play no part in it.
Building Design 17th Jan 2008 more >>
Camden Councillor: I and the Liberal Democrats will continue to oppose nuclear power. Do not be conned – nuclear power is not green, it will not reduce our carbon emissions significantly, it won’t be ready in time to replace our current nuclear power stations, it will be expensive, it is inefficient, it is a diversion from the things we really need to do, it is a target for terrorists, it is not the only way to provide baseload supply, it will not safeguard our energy security and we still don’t know how to deal with the waste. Here are 10 reasons why I am against it:
Ham and High 17th Jan 2008 more >>
Various agencies, MPs and local authorities are lobbying for a new reactor at Sellafield.
Whitehaven News 17th Jan 2008 more >>
Trawsfynydd
AV Technology (AVT) has completed the second of four phases of a critical structural monitoring project during the decommissioning of the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station in the heart of Snowdonia National Park. The work is being carried out for main decommissioning contractor Doosan Babcock in conjunction with British Nuclear Group (BNG) and involves monitoring stresses in the reactor walls during boiler height reduction work.
Engineering Talk 18th Jan 2008 more >>
Winfrith
A MAJOR deal has been struck to create one of the country’s first zero-carbon business parks at Winfrith.
Bournemouth Echo 17th Jan 2008 more >>
Renewables
VAST amounts of wind and wave power from some of Scotland’s most remote areas could be exported to southern England and Europe, providing a secure source of power and significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There had been fears it would be too expensive to transmit the green electricity from northern Scotland to large population centres further south, but research commissioned by the Crown Estate found a sub-sea cable down the east coast of the UK was economically viable. A draft report, to be published today, says a basic connection linking the Northern Isles, Aberdeenshire and Norfolk, and then overland to London, would cost up to £1.7 billion. A more comprehensive network, with links to the Western Isles, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands, would cost about £4.8 billion by 2020 and could be connected to the proposed European Supergrid.
Scotsman 17th Jan 2008 more >>
Carbon-trading
A tough plan to auction off European carbon credits will, indirectly, make nuclear power a much more attractive option. Leaked drafts of legislation, due to be launched by the European Commission on 23 January, reveal that Europe’s ailing trading scheme for carbon emissions is due for an overhaul. The existing trading scheme enables companies to buy and sell permits to release limited amounts of carbon dioxide, but has so far failed to do much to help Europe make its promised 20 per cent cut in emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. Now the commission wants to slash the total-emissions cap for industrial plants by 21 per cent from 2005 levels. The plan is to replace the initial free ration of tradable permits with an auction. This should increase demand for the permits, driving up the price of carbon emissions, which should in turn reduce carbon pollution. The new scheme, due to c! ome into force in 2013, could greatly benefit the nuclear industry in nations such as the UK.
New Scientist, 17 January 2008 (subscription required) more >>
robedwards.com more >>
Japan
The total nuclear power plant utilisation rate of Japan’s 10 nuclear power generators rose to an average 58.9 percent in December from 56.6 percent in November, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan said on Friday.
Reuters 18th Feb 2008 more >>
Nuclear Waste
SCOTTISH scientists have made a breakthrough in treating depleted uranium, which could help, solve the nuclear waste crisis facing the energy industry.
Daily Express 17th Jan 2008 more >>
France
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government is due to decide soon on Areva’s future. The group is well placed as the only integrated operator in nuclear power globally. Its operations range from mining uranium, building reactors and transmission infrastructure through to dealing with the waste. But it needs to invest an estimated €15bn over the next decade to take advantage of a global shift back to nuclear power.
FT 18th Jan 2008 more >>
