New Nukes
The news that the UKs nuclear power programme was once again facing difficulties will not have come as a surprise to anyone that has followed energy policy over the past year. A little over 13 months ago, nuclear power was looking at a renaissance all over the world. Now, in addition to difficulties with nuclear in the UK and Germanys phase out, Belgium, and Switzerland are facing nuclear closures, and Italys nuclear renaissance has been nipped in the bud. In China, where half of the planned nuclear power stations are set to be located, Fukushima has prompted massive delays and questions about the safety of nuclear power, a pattern that is repeated in the U.S., India, and in many other countries across the globe. Gaynor Hartnell, the Renewable Energy Association (REA)s chief executive. In comparison with nuclear and carbon capture and storage, renewables win hands down. Renewable energy is cheaper, proven and reliable. It assists with security of supply, creates more jobs, the fuel doesnt run out, and there is no need to find permanent storage for wastes -which must be isolated indefinitely.
Renewable Energy Focus 18th April 2012 more >>
Sizewell
EDUCATION bosses and business chiefs were last night urged to start preparing now for the prospect of a new nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast – or risk missing out on a golden opportunity to boost the local economy. If EDF Energy is given the go ahead to build two reactors at Sizewell C it will generate 25,000 jobs over the whole lifetime of the project. During the seven or eight year construction phase bosses are expecting a maximum of 5,600 workers to be on site at any one time, with 900 permanent jobs created once the power station is complete. It is estimated that the project will be worth £100m a year to the local economy while it is being built and £40m a year thereafter.
East Anglia Daily Times 19th April 2012 more >>
Hinkley
Sedgemoor district council has agreed to examine proposals for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point. The Local Impact Report will be the authority’s main opportunity to highlight the likely impact the project may have on the local community. West Someret and Somerset County councils will also contribute to the report which has to be handed in to the Planning Inspectorate by May 3rd.
ITV West 19th April 2012 more >>
Dungeness
The decommissioning of a nuclear power plant in Kent has reached a milestone. Engineers have removed the final flask of spent nuclear fuel from Dungeness A on the Romney Marsh and taken it to Sellafield for reprocessing.
BBC 18th April 2012 more >>
Dounreay
Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) is celebrating the removal of the last of 57,000 litres of liquid metal, which was lifted from the primary cooling circuit of the experimental fast breeder reactor. The challenges and surprising solutions on this project will bring valuable lessons to global nuclear decommissioning authorities.
Nuclear Energy Insider 17th April 2012 more >>
Cumbria
West Cumbrias unrivalled expertise in the nuclear sector and the role it has to play towards a strong and sustainable economy is the subject for debate at a conference called Jobs, excellence and safety: Our nuclear future being held in Workington this Friday (20 April). The event is being organised by the three unions representing nuclear industry employees (Prospect, GMB and Unite) under the banner of Trade Unions for Safe Nuclear Energy (TUSNE), and aims to recognise the importance of Cumbrias nuclear expertise to both the local and national economy. Speakers, including leading industry figures and local MP Jamie Reed, will be calling for a clear and attainable economic strategy for West Cumbria with a strong nuclear industry as its centrepiece, driving a healthy and robust supply chain, and providing educational opportunities, spin-off industries and benefits to the infrastructure.
Unite 18th April 2012 more >>
GMB 18th April 2012 more >>
ONR
Quarterly News Jan to Mar 2012. Includes article on Fukushima one year on and update on GDA: Although progress on some of the UK EPR design GDA issues is good, a number of the deliverables indicated in the vendors resolution plans have been late or do not provide the quality of information expected. As a result, it is unlikely that issues will be closed-out in accordance with the timescales indicated in the original resolution plans. EDF and AREVA are working on revised resolution plan programmes, which will allow the GDA team to re-baseline its assessment efforts and assess the overall impact on timescales.
ONR 18th April 2012 more >>
Japan
Japan will within weeks have no nuclear power for the first time in more than 40 years, after the trade minister said two reactors idled after the Fukushima disaster would not be back online before the last one currently operating is shut down. Trade Minister Yukio Edano signalled it would take at least several weeks before the government, keen to avoid a power crunch, can give a final go-ahead to restarts, meaning Japan is set on May 6 to mark its first nuclear power-free day since 1970.
Reuters 17th April 2012 more >>
An expert panel to the Cabinet Office released last month an estimate that a 21-meter-high tsunami could hit Chubu Electric Power Co.’s Hamaoka nuclear power station in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, if a massive earthquake occurred in the Nankai Trough in the seabed off central to western Japan. Chubu Electric has been building breakwaters and other facilities to protect the nuclear plant from potential tsunami at a cost of 140 billion yen as it eyes reactivation of the plant that was suspended on the heels of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. However, the breakwaters will be 18 meters high, falling short of the possible 21-meter-high tsunami estimated by the Cabinet Office. How, then, would the utility be able to deal with possible natural calamities?
Mainichi 17th April 2012 more >>
Japan is evaluating a wide range of nuclear fuel cycle options as part of the larger review of the future role of nuclear power within energy policy, a government minister told the annaul meeting of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum. The subcommittee will carry out its deliberations in three steps starting with a review of technical options. Five options are being considered, one scenario involving direct disposal of light-water reactor fuel after use, two scenarios where this is reprocessed and with fuel materials recycled as mixed-oxide fuel. Two more scenarios look at the use of fast reactors and fast breeder reactors. A review of policy options is then to follow which will look at direct disposal of the used fuel, reprocessing of the country’s entire stock and a combination of the two.
World Nuclear News 18th April 2012 more >>
US
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering changes to onsite emergency response requirements for US nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima accident last year. Following recommendations of its Japan Near Term Task Force report, NRC is proposing to issue a new rule to strengthen and integrate accident response procedures and associated training and exercises.
i-Nuclear 18th April 2012 more >>
India
India claims successful test launch of long-range nuclear missile that could hit Beijing, Africa or even Eastern Europe
Daily Mail 19th April 2012 more >>
Guardian 19th April 2012 more >>
Independent 19th April 2012 more >>
China
Construction projects in China have moved forward with the dome of unit 1 of the Fangchenggang plant being lowered into place and heavy components for the primary reactor coolant system of the first EPR at Taishan have being delivered from France.
World Nuclear News 18th April 2012 more >>
Renewables
The solar industry has delivered dramatic cost reductions that will continue over the next decade, ensuring the technology is cost competitive with conventional base load power sources such as coal and nuclear by 2020. That is the conclusion of a major new report from consultancy giant McKinsey, which predicts solar power will be cost competitive with fossil fuels in hot countries within two to three years, while further cost reductions will be delivered without any major technological breakthroughs.
Business Green 18th April 2012 more >>
Britain’s nascent wind industry has received a serious setback after a major foreign investor scrapped plans for a research centre and turbine factories that would have created 1,700 jobs 12 months after giving them the green light. Doosan Power Systems of Korea blamed deteriorating confidence in offshore wind for its decision to suspend construction of a £170m “centre of excellence” in Glasgow and long-term plans for manufacturing.
Guardian 18th April 2012 more >>
A new national body opposing all forms of wind power will be launched at the Houses of Parliament at an event sponsored by Lord Carlile, the Liberal Democrat peer and former Montgomeryshire MP.
Guardian 19th April 2012 more >>
CCS
First comprehensive investigation says potentially disastrous flaws in way government trying to revive commercial interest. Serious doubts have been raised over the prospects for carbon capture and storage in the UK in the first comprehensive investigation into the technology, just two weeks after the government launched a £1bn competition to build the first demonstration CCS plant. The finding by the government-funded UK Energy Research Council endangers many of the government’s assumptions on tackling climate change, because ministers’ long-term plans rely heavily on making the untried technique work on a massive scale. CCS is designed to lower the carbon emissions of fossil fuel power stations.
Guardian 19th April 2012 more >>
Capturing and burying the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from power stations is viable – but long-term government support will be needed, a report says.
BBC 19th April 2012 more >>
Climate
It’s been a big week for alternative energy sources. On Tuesday, the British Geological Society effectively greenlit fracking, with its conclusion that the earthquake risk was low. Tomorrow National Opposition to Windfarms launches its campaign in the House of Lords. My instincts are pro-wind and anti-fracking, from a straight climate change perspective: wind is renewable and not harmful, while shale gas is not renewable and contributes as much or more much more, according to a study by Cornell University to the greenhouse effect than either oil or coal. The anti-fracking lobby should just stick with this argument that if you’re serious about halting global warming you have to concentrate on energy sources that don’t contribute to it. However they don’t want to believing, possibly correctly, that the political will to prevent irreparable climate change just isn’t there.
Guardian 18th April 2012 more >>
