Chinese Deal
Britain hands Beijing keys to nuclear industry with big stake in £24bn Hinkley Point — and rights to build plant in Essex. DAVID CAMERON will this week sign a landmark deal with China, thrusting the communist nation into the heart of Britain’s civil nuclear industry. Under the controversial accord, Beijing will buy a large minority stake in Britain’s first new atomic reactor in 20 years. The investment will help EDF Energy of France, which will lead the project, cover part of the mammoth £24bn cost. The Chinese are also expected to help bankroll a second EDF plant at Sizewell on the Suffolk coast. In return for its multibillion pound injection, Whitehall will give China its blessing to construct its own prototype nuclear reactor in Bradwell, Essex. The plant would be the first Chinese-designed and operated facility in the West. Final details were being hammered out in last-minute talks this weekend, despite concerns raised by British intelligence agencies over allowing Beijing to take such a central role in national infrastructure. Hoping to minimise its share of the costs, EDF is pushing for the Chinese to take an equity stake of up to 40% in Hinkley. China has argued for a smaller 30% stake. At Sizewell, China is understood to be pushing for a 60% stake and may even insist on inserting its own technology — possibly its own reactor. This would effectively fasttrack its plans for its first reactor in Britain. Under current plans, Bradwell will only begin after Hinkley and Sizewell have been built. Osborne has urged the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to begin its generic design assessment of the Chinese design by April. The process takes several years. Whitehall’s courting of Beijing has caused a rift with Japan. Hitachi and Toshiba have plans for atomic plants at Anglesey, Gloucestershire and Cumbria. The Japanese conglomerates are understood to be furious that China’s fast-tracking could divert ONR resources, delaying its assessment of their rival schemes.
Sunday Times 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Hinkley
The U.K. and China are set to announce an accord that will give the Asian nation a stake in Electricite de France SA’s Hinkley Point project, Britain’s first nuclear plant in three decades and the most expensive atomic energy station ever. The proposed deal is likely to be announced during a state visit to Britain by President Xi Jinping this week and follows protracted talks between EDF and its Chinese partners. The two nations will publish investments and deals worth a “huge” amount of money, including on nuclear power, Zhang Ji, assistant minister of commerce, said last week in Beijing. EDF will still have to make a final investment decision. “Everybody looks at economics of this project and many people believe there are cheaper opportunities to secure power generation capacity,”said Roland Vetter, head of research at CF Partners U.K. LLP, a London-based trader and adviser, said in a phone interview. Since the deal on power prices, the utility has been negotiating with China General Nuclear Power Corp. and China National Nuclear Corp. over the size of their stakes in Hinkley, which was also the subject to a 10-month competition probe by the European Commission. The long-delayed project was originally planned to start in 2017, a deadline that has since been pushed to 2023, with EDF Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy signaling further delays in September. “You can’t bank on the timeline.,” Lakis Athanasiou, a utilities analyst at Agency Partners LLP, said by phone from London. “Hinkley is highly unlikely to be finished by 2025 and any other reactors will be beyond 2030.” It’s “mystifying” that Britain is persisting with the deal for Hinkley Point, Michael Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance said Tuesday in a speech in London. “It seems to me that when you’re in a money hole, you should stop digging.”
Bloomberg 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Britain’s military leaders have raised the alarm over a perceived “threat to national security” arising from a multibillion pound nuclear deal with China, which sources claim could be signed as early as next week. A “well-placed defence source” told the Times that senior military officers are “very concerned by the prospect of China building a nuclear power station in Britain”. The source cited fears that “trapdoors or backdoors” could be inserted into computer systems in order to bypass British control in the event of a diplomatic row.
The Week 16th Oct 2015 read more »
Molly Scott Cato: LAST week I welcomed the Vice President of the French Assembly, Denis Baupin, to Hinkley Point. His decision to visit the site of the proposed new nuclear power station reflects his concerns that UK energy policy is disappearing up a dangerous dark alley.
This is the West Country 16th Oct 2015 read more »
Urenco
THE Government is set to hold talks with German officials this week in an attempt to unblock the £10bn privatisation of Urenco, the uranium processing giant.According to Sky News, talks have been scheduled between two of the three shareholders in the UK-based company amid concerns that securing the approval of the third investor – the Dutch state – is proving excessively complex.
Business Desk 12th Oct 2015 read more »
Sky News 12th Oct 2015 read more »
Hunterston
The French owners of Scotland’s two remaining nuclear power generators are spending £30 million in a round of scheduled maintenance on Hunterston B in Ayrshire in a major one-off investment. The latest “MOT” for the 965MW generator near West Kilbride on the Ayrshire coast involves 12,000 separate pieces of work, headed by the replacement of a giant generator transformer, and the replacement of two gas circulators and two low-pressure turbine rotors. Each of Hunterston’s two generating units must be overhauled once every three years according to rules laid down by UK regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation. In 2012, the plant – originally intended to close in 2011 then extended to 2016 – was given the green light to continue its working life until 2023. Further short-life extensions have not been ruled out, but are not currently under consideration according to EDF.
Herald 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Chapelcross
A new plan under development by Dumfries and Galloway Council, Scottish Enterprise and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDR) could see the site of a former nuclear power station being converted to Scotland’s first experimental “green energy park”, bringing scores of jobs to an economically fragile area. D&G Council has confirmed it is working with the other bodies to “bring forward proposals” for Chapelcross, near Annan. The station was an important part of the UK nuclear weapons programme as well as a power station before it was decommissioned in 2004. The plan includes proposals for rent-free or low-rent premises for start-up and experimental energy companies, and other enterprises from the local area. As well as providing an incubator for experimental companies, the scheme aims to capitalise on new feed-in tariff (FiT) guidelines by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), which came into effect in April 2015 and are designed to support community renewable electricity projects of up to 10MW.
Herald 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Energy Policy
So much for David Cameron leading the most green UK government ever – something which he once claimed he would do. Since being returned to power with an overall majority in the May general election, his government has killed off, or cast into doubt, at least half a dozen green policies; and there could more cuts on the way. Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, said she was halting new subsidies for onshore wind farms on the grounds the technology can stand on its own feet. Ministers have targeted larger solar installations of less five megawatts with a possible closure of the renewable obligation (RO) subsidy. The government has also announced a review of another subsidy, the feed-in tariff, to make savings that could threaten state subsidy for solar panels on domestic roof tops. The government has effectively killed off the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) aimed at increasing energy efficiency and alleviating fuel poverty through home loans.
Proactive Investor 16th Oct 2015 read more »
Radhealth
Ian Fairlie: In 2013, I discussed several epidemiological studies providing good evidence of radiogenic risks at very low exposure levels. A powerful new study has been published in Lancet Haematology [1] which adds to this evidence. However the study’s findings are more important than the previous studies, for several reasons. First, it provides “strong evidence”, as stated by the authors, of a “dose-response relationship between cumulative, external, chronic, low-dose, exposures to radiation and leukaemia”. Second, it finds radiogenic risks of leukemia among nuclear workers to be more than double the risk found in a previous similar study in 2005. The excess relative risk of leukaemia mortality (excluding workers exposed to neutrons) was 4.19 per Gy.
Counter Punch 16th Oct 2015 read more »
Terror
ISLAMIC State will “inevitably” construct or acquire weapons of mass destruction, the former head of the British Army’s nuclear team warns.
Express 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Energy Supplies
Never mind carbon targets, the march of the windmills, and the farcical attempt to persuade the French and Chinese governments to invest in a whopper of a new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, there is only one thing that really matters when it comes to energy policy – keeping the lights on. New estimates by National Grid suggest that Britain is already perilously close to black and brown outs, and that’s before the big bulge in closures of ageing power stations really begins. The latest predictions point to a buffer between peak supply and demand this winter of a miserably shrunken 1.2 per cent, expanded to 5.1 per cent if the Grid takes emergency measures to depress demand. It may well have to, for it would only require a major outage for large areas of the country to lose power. The tragi-comedy of Hinkley Point continues unabated. The Government hopes EDF can agree heads of agreement with state backed Chinese investors in time for President Xi Jinping’s visit to Britain this week, but it’s not yet a done deal, and even insiders worry about China’s true intentions. As for the security implications of giving Chinese state controlled enterprises charge over such a large part of the nation’s infrastructure, they don’t even bear thinking about.
Telegraph 17th Oct 2015 read more »
North Korea
North Korea on Saturday rejected the idea of resuming talks to end its nuclear program, saying previous such attempts ended in failure, and reiterated its demand that the US come to the table to negotiate a peace treaty.
Guardian 17th Oct 2015 read more »
Trident
The Scottish National Party is planning to call an early Westminster debate on Trident, putting pressure on Labour to come up with a united stance on whether or not to renew the nuclear submarines. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will be speaking at the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament conference this weekend, calling for an end to the nuclear weapon system. But the issue looks set to reopen rifts with his shadow cabinet, several of whom have publically criticised him for saying he would never push the nuclear button if he was prime minister.
The Week 16th Oct 2015 read more »
For the veteran anti-nuclear campaigner it was an annual conference like none those present could remember, jam-packed to capacity and with clutches of photographers and camera crews hovering keenly outside the entrance. They were waiting for Jeremy Corbyn, newly anointed vice-president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and credited with galvanising the movement against nuclear weapons. The organisation has seen recruitment surge since the unveiling of the new Labour leader. Michael Tunsley, who had travelled more than 400 miles from Stirling, Scotland, to attend the conference, was one of many who joined the national CND group in the last two months. “I’m not really into the cult of personality but he’s definitely increased interest,” said the 23-year-old student nurse.
Guardian 17th Oct 2015 read more »
Energy Efficiency
DISHWASHERS, washing machines, ovens and other domestic appliances consume far more energy than claimed by their manufacturers, an investigation by The Sunday Times has revealed. In the same way that claims by the motor industry about vehicles’ fuel consumption and emissions have been shown to be misleading, so the energy-efficiency claims of domestic appliance firms are flouting rules such as the EU’s ecodesign and energy labelling directives.
Sunday Times 18th Oct 2015 read more »
The word “eco”, considered one of the most misleading terms in advertising, is to be stripped from packaging and advertisements for halogen bulbs sold by Philips, Europe’s biggest light manufacturer. It describes its halogen light bulbs as “eco” even though only 3%-5% of the energy used turns to light, with the rest lost as heat. The bulbs were promoted as slightly more efficient alternatives to incandescent bulbs but when the latter disappeared from sale, halogens became the worst performers on the market.
Sunday Times 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Fossil Fuels
THE company that wants to establish a large-scale fracking industry in Scotland has warned that it could shelve its plans and instead invest in England, after the SNP leadership narrowly avoided an embarrassing rebellion over the issue from grassroots members. Delegates forced a vote after a conference motion, which was watered down by party HQ ahead of the conference, was seen as not going far enough by members who support a ban on unconventional oil and gas extraction in Scotland rather than the current moratorium. Following the debate, Tom Pickering, a director of Ineos who is spearheading the firm’s fracking plans north of the border, expressed frustration at a timetable published by the Scottish Government for research and a consultation which means a final decision over the issue will not be taken until 2017. He said that an attempt to engage with party members by holding a stall at the conference had gone well, but that Ineos, which owns the sprawling Grangemouth industrial complex, could instead focus its shale gas operations in England, where the UK Government is actively encouraging fracking. Mr Pickering added: “If you’re making an investment in something, clarity is absolutely important, from start until finish. Where you don’t have that clarity, where are you going to take that investment? You’ll take it where it has got clarity.” Asked about whether he feared the Scottish Government would be swayed by public opinion, rather than scientific studies it has commissioned, he added: “They’ve made the statement that they’re working with fact and science.”
Herald 17th Oct 2015 read more »
