Hinkley
Construction firm Kier Bam has secured a £100m contract to carry out site preparation works for the planned nuclear power station at Hinkley. EDF Energy has said this will create 350 jobs to excavate the site and build earthworks ready for the main build, should it receive planning permission.
BBC 18th Dec 2011 more >>
Wylfa
Saturday 21 January, Car Park, Glanhwfa Road, Llangefni. Come to support the brave family of Caedegog Farm who are standing firm against attempts to grab their land for Wylfa- B.
PAWB 18th Dec 2011 more >>
How safe is nuclear energy? In the second of our special programmes on the nuclear industry, Y Byd ar Bedwar reveals new official figures on cancer rates in the area close to Wales only nuclear power station. According to some scientists, these figures show that the Wylfa power station causes cancer related deaths in an area in the north of Anglesey. However, others disagree and believe that its as a result of social factors.With plans being made to build another nuclear power station on Anglesey how safe is nuclear energy?
S4C 19th Dec 2011 more >>
Carbon Floor Price
It is meant to fuel a building boom in nuclear power stations and offshore wind farms and wean us off fossil fuels; instead, according to one think-tank, the Governments carbon price floor will wipe out the coal industry and 6,000 jobs, just when clean coal technology could revitalise it. The Liberal Democrat-led Department for Energy and Climate Change will be asked to think again before it is too late in a paper to be published in the new year by the Centre for Policy Studies.
The Times 19th Dec 2011 more >>
Energy Prices
One of Britains smallest energy companies has set out to break the stranglehold of the industrys Big Six by becoming the first supplier for more than a year to cut bills that have soared to record levels. The move by the tiny, fledgling Co-operative Energy, made with an accompanying fanfare highlighting its customer-friendly credentials, will turn the spotlight once again on the leading suppliers and their prices, which have made a key contribution to rising inflation. In Britain, gas consumption by households has fallen by 30 per cent this year because of better energy efficiency and high prices, which have prompted consumers to cut their usage. About 99 per cent of the UKs 25 million households are signed up to the Big Six suppliers, which also generate about two thirds of the countrys electricity, but independent suppliers such as Co-operative Energy, which is barely six months old and has only 16,000 customers, are increasing their market share, particularly as public distrust of the big energy companies grows.
Times 19th Dec 2011 more >>
Aldermaston
Jennifer Cox said she lost her job as a result of morning sickness after deciding honesty was the best policy and telling her bosses she was expecting a child. Mrs Cox, 33, had worked for the MoD police at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston, Berks, as its website manager in charge of updating information on the bases intranet. The employment tribunal was told that she was part of an 800-job cull across the Ministry of Defence to cope with the recession. Mrs Cox disputed this, telling the panel, sitting in Reading, that she suffered sexual discrimination.
Telegraph 18th Dec 2011 more >>
France
Rolls Royce, which describes itself as a global power systems company, has won a 250m contract to supply safety instrumentation and control systems for the French nuclear reactor modernisation programme. The systems will be installed in the twenty-strong French fleet of 1300 mega watt nuclear reactors operated by Electricité de France (EDF). This project is being carried out by AREVA as part of planned, ten-yearly series of outages.
Share Cast 19th Dec 2011 more >>
Japan
Conditions at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are far worse than its operator or the government has admitted, according to freelance journalist Tomohiko Suzuki, who spent more than a month working undercover at the power station. “Absolutely no progress is being made” towards the final resolution of the crisis, Suzuki told reporters at a Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan news conference on Dec. 15. Suzuki, 55, worked for a Toshiba Corp. subsidiary as a general laborer there from July 13 to Aug. 22, documenting sloppy repair work, companies including plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) playing fast and loose with their workers’ radiation doses, and a marked concern for appearances over the safety of employees or the public.
Mainichi 19th Dec 2011 more >>
From TEPCO’s press conference on December 18. Water with relatively high surface radiation was found where it was not supposed to be on December 18 between the process main building and the solid waste process building. First it was announced that 125 tonnes of water was found, but it was soon corrected to 230 tonnes. The surface radiation of the water “puddle” (as TEPCO calls it) is relatively high 3 millisieverts/hour. It is actually a deep (50 centimeters) trench for electrical wires found filled with water. It is 4.5-meter wide, 50-meter long, with 3-meter deep pool at the end. Water is 50 centimeter deep. Water is dripping from a duct (5-centimeter in diameter) for electrical wires inside the trench.
EX-SKF Blog 18th Dec 2011 more >>
Japan earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster: 2011 review. Private companies are increasingly tapping into the energy backlash, with a growing number of projects exploring alternative sources such as solar, wind and geothermal all of which are likely to become increasingly visible in Japan after next year as a growing number of new high-tech eco-communities are reconstructed from the rubble of the March 11 disaster.
Telegraph 19th Dec 2011 more >>
Iran
Israeli defence minister says Israel, US are determined to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, do not rule out any option to that end.
Middle East Online 18th Dec 2011 more >>
North Korea
The death of North Korean leader Kim jong-il could dim hopes for fresh nuclear talks with the United States and its key Asian allies as an untested and largely unknown heir takes charge of one of the world’s most feared atomic renegade states.
Reuters 19th Dec 2011 more >>
Renewables
The UK government’s decision to cut solar power subsidies has hit plans to install panels on 1,000 Dundee council houses, city leaders have said. Grants for households which install solar panels were halved from 12 December. The SNP-led Dundee City Council said three firms had pulled out of deals to provide the panels after the changes. UK ministers have argued the old tariff of 43p per kilowatt-hour was unsustainable.
BBC 19th Dec 2011 more >>
