Nuclear Safety
The discovery of over 16,000 cracks in two Belgian reactor vessels may have global implications for nuclear safety, says the country’s nuclear safety chief. He and independent experts are calling for the immediate checks of nuclear reactor vessels worldwide.
Ecologist 18th Feb 2015 read more »
Politics
Nuclear Business eyes Conservative Government to maintain growth.
Warrington Guardian 18th Feb 2015 read more »
Radwaste
Parliament is considering rapid legislation that would remove the right of County Councils to object to burying radioactive waste underground, potentially at levels where water circulates. You might want to write to your MP asap, asking him not to vote for this proposal. If so, there is a template letter at the end of this article you can use if you like. This proposed legislation is the ConDem government’s response to the 2013 refusal of Cumbria County Council to accept plans to bury highly toxic nuclear waste under the Lake District. This decision was a major blow to government ambitions to build new nuclear power plants.
Radiation Free Lakeland 18th Feb 2015 read more »
SMRs
Attention SMR designers: the UK could be a significant market. We look at plausible timeframes for the UK to regain its nuclear power heritage with the deployment of SMRs. The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is currently eying the potential for SMR deployment in Britain, following a National Nuclear Laboratory study last year that was positive regarding the technology. “There is a very significant market for SMRs where they fulfil a market need that cannot, in all circumstances, be met by large nuclear plants,” the study said. It estimated up to 85GW of capacity could be added by 2035, creating a market worth GBP£400bn, that is “if the economics are competitive.” DECC has confirmed it agrees with the main thrust of the report and has carried out its own feasibility study, concluding that “more detailed investigation should be done to define the economic, technical and commercial opportunities SMRs provide.” A source close to DECC told Nuclear Energy Insider that a second phase of government research was going ahead with “no delays” and “there should be some dates soon” regarding further developments.
Nuclear Energy Insider 13th Feb 2015 read more »
Electricity Markets
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is to investigate whether the government’s new policies to decarbonise the energy sector are distorting competition in the industry. The CMA today announced fresh details of its high profile energy markets investigation, which aims to determine if consumers are getting value for money and acceptable levels of service from their suppliers.
Business Green 18th Feb 2015 read more »
The Updated Issues Statement sets out a number of areas where the CMA has come to preliminary, but not final, findings and also areas where they would like to have more information. As the CMA says, this updated issues statement – which sets out their ideas or gaps of knowledge in a reasonably brief fashion – should be read alongside a very useful and interesting set of working papers which explain those ideas or gaps. These are listed in Annex A of the document and below. The CMA has also updated its Theories of Harm – moving from the original 4 to an updated set of 5, which now includes wider regulatory and market concerns – which we, the EPG, argued for in our submission and our oral evidence. The original and updated Theories of Harm are set out below.
IGov 18th Feb 2015 read more »
The competition watchdog has turned its sights on Ofgem as it examines failings in the household energy market. The Competition and Markets Authority, in an update on its investigation into the retail energy sector, said yesterday that it was looking at the role of regulation in market failures. It will specifically look into the question of whether Ofgem’s banning of regional pricing has dampened competition on the standard variable tariffs that are levied on most households.
Times 19th Feb 2015 read more »
Britain’s competition authority has rejected suggestions that the biggest energy suppliers enjoy an unfair advantage by owning their own power generating businesses, suggesting that the big six suppliers may avoid a forced break-up of their generating and retail operations. In a preliminary report on Wednesday, the Competition and Markets Authority suggests that smaller players without their own power supply business were able to buy into future contracts which suggested that the big six – British Gas, SSE, Npower, EDF Energy, Eon and Scottish Power – were “not gaining a competitive advantage” over them.
FT 19th Feb 2015 read more »
MP Tim Yeo, Chairman of the Westminster parliamentary Energy Committee, has criticised a lacklustre report into competition in UK energy markets by the Competition Market Authority (CMA) watchdog. Yesterday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published an update on its investigation into energy retail, said Britain’s liberalisation and heavy regulation of electricity and gas had influenced competition and several issues would be probed further. The report also said that it not found any evidence of monopolistic pricing and profits by the Big Six energy suppliers which dominate the UK market, and whilst the industry was working very well in many areas there were some areas that meant other smaller or less established energy suppliers were finding it hard to enter the market.
Scottish Energy News 19th Feb 2015 read more »
Utilities
Scottish Power has seen a four-fold boost to its pre-tax profits from generating electricity and supplying customers during last year. Its Spanish parent company, Iberdrola, said the figure rose from 37m euros (£27m) to 156m euros (£114m). Much of the increase was due to lower wholesale energy costs. The rise also reflected a low figure last year due to accounting provisions, while 7% of the improvement was because the euro weakened against sterling. Along with the publication, Scottish Power announced it was cutting its online fixed price contract by an average £12 to £918. This compares with £1070 a year ago.
BBC 18th Feb 2015 read more »
Big Six energy provider ScottishPower yesterday unveiled a 35 per cent hike in full-year profits, as the Spanish-owned group benefited from lower wholesale gas and coal prices, and falling CO2 emission costs. The results came as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) claimed customers of the major players were paying up to £234 a year too much in gas and electricity bills.
Scotsman 19th Feb 2015 read more »
Profits at Iberdrola, the Spanish power generator, fell during 2014 as the group grappled with regulations in its home markets that offset the returns from its overseas operations.
FT 19th Feb 2015 read more »
Japan
International advisers to Japan’s atomic regulator have raised concern a mandatory review of its performance could lead to a loss of independence for the body, which was set up in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. A lack of independent regulatory oversight of Tokyo Electric Power Co’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station north of Tokyo was to blame for the meltdowns after an earthquake and tsunami, an official inquiry into the disaster found. After the disaster, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) was created under the environment ministry with more autonomy but legislation provided for a review after three years of operation with a proviso to consider placing it under the Cabinet Office, involving closer political oversight.
Reuters 18th Feb 2015 read more »
Trident
Letter: IS IT realistic to suggest that a ¬Labour-led “hung” House of Commons, with a strong Scottish and Welsh Nationalist presence, could agree to dismantle the Trident nuclear missiles on the Clyde after May’s general election?
Scotsman 19th Feb 2015 read more »
Renewables – investment
Investment bank Citigroup has doubled down on its commitment to fund green growth, announcing in New York on Wednesday that it would lend, invest and facilitate $100 billion within the next 10 years to finance renewable energy and other clean technologies and activities that help mitigate climate change and benefit the environment. As mentioned, this is double the bank’s previous commitment of $50 billion, which was announced in 2007 and met three years early in 2013.
Renew Economy 19th Feb 2015 read more »
The Hill 18th Feb 2015 read more »
Renewables – solar
Is the sun the answer to Africa’s energy problems? Analysts believe solar power could be the world’s largest source of power by 2050.
BBC 18th Feb 2015 read more »
Renewables – offshore wind
The world’s biggest offshore wind farm is to be built on Dogger Bank off the Humberside coast. The go-ahead has been given for the Creyke Beck A and B wind projects, which would site up to 400 wind turbines in fields on the sandbank about 80 miles off the coast in waters about 30m deep. With a maximum generating capacity of 2.4 gigawatts – enough to power almost two million homes – it would be Britain’s second biggest power station, after the coal-fired Drax plant in North Yorkshire, and would dwarf the London Array, which has 175 wind turbines in the Thames estuary. Ed Davey, the energy secretary, said that it would support up to 900 green jobs in Yorkshire and Humberside and bring millions of pounds’ worth of investment into the UK economy.
Times 19th Feb 2015 read more »
Climate
Lord Deben interview part 1.
Carbon Brief 18th Feb 2015 read more »
Lord Deben interview part 2.
Carbon Brief 18th Feb 2015 read more »
BP has warned that carbon dioxide emission levels from burning fossil fuels are unsustainable unless the international community unilaterally introduces tougher binding regulations on atmospheric pollution. The stark warning from the UK’s second-largest oil company came with the publication on Tuesday of its closely-watched long-term outlook for global energy markets, which predicts that CO2 emissions will increase by 1pc per year, or 25pc in total, through to 2035.
Telegraph 17th Feb 2015 read more »
