Hinkley
The prospect of new nuclear power stations being built in the UK for the first time in 20 years has moved a significant step forward after EDF Energy awarded a £2bn contract to build a plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
Telegraph 19th June 2012 more >>
EDF Energy has selected a joint venture between a French and British company as the preferred bidder for the £2 billion civil works contract for the Hinkley Point C project, the company said June 18. The potential contract with the 50-50 joint venture between Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing ORourke is contingent first on EDF receiving planning approval to build the Areva EPR reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset and secondly on EDF taking a positive final investment decision, scheduled for late this year, EDF said. The scope of work of the main civils contract includes the nuclear island; conventional island; balance of plant; waste disposal; operational service centre; temporary civil structures; contractors offices on site; and contractors roads, platforms and networks, EDF Energy said in a statement. Bouygues Travaux Publics is the French civil engineering firm that led the joint ventures for the civil works although not with Laing ORourke on the Areva EPR reactors at Olkilouto in Finland and Flamanville in France, a company spokesman said June 18.
i-Nuclear 18th June 2012 more >>
New Civil Engineer 18th June 2012 more >>
Reuters 18th June 2012 more >>
Construction Enquirer 18th June 2012 more >>
Dungeness
EDF Energy’s 550-megawatt (MW) reactor B21 at Dungeness nuclear power station in Britain was producing electricity again on Monday, following a planned outage on Friday.
Reuters 18th June 2012 more >>
Wylfa
The UK government has reaffirmed its commitment to a new nuclear reactor on Anglesey during a ministerial visit to Wylfa. Energy Minister Charles Hendry told the power station’s staff the nuclear industry had a positive future on the island and within the UK.
Wylfa, which has been producing energy since 1971, will stop generating in 2014.
BBC 18th June 2012 more >>
Dylan Morgan, of Anglesey anti-nuclear group Pawb, said: They (the Government) may be committed to it, but without any interest in buying the project its dead in the water.
Wales Online 18th June 2012 more >>
Extra funding will be available for the new nuclear build at Anglesey, energy minister Charles Hendry has announced. £480,000 extra funding has been provided for the Anglesey Energy Island (EIP) programme by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The EIP is a collective effort between the public and private sectors to drive energy research, development, production and servicing in Anglesey. It aims to grow skills and employment by harnessing nuclear, wind, tidal, biomass and solar energy.
Public Sector Executive 18th June 2012 more >>
Horizon
China may soon control one of Britain’s top nuclear projects after two Chinese state firms teamed up with Western players to bid for the $24 billion development, industry and financial sources told Reuters. China, which has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves of $3.3 trillion, has been expanding into Europe’s energy and infrastructure sectors by buying stakes in firms such as Britain’s Thames Water and Portuguese utility EDP. Nuclear reactor builders Areva and Toshiba-owned Westinghouse, which both want Horizon to use their reactor designs in Britain, have picked separate Chinese nuclear companies to help bid for Horizon. Westinghouse has teamed up with China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC), expanding their existing collaboration in China, to make a bid, while Areva has linked up with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co (CGNPC) to put forward a separate offer.
Reuters 18th June 2012 more >>
Aldermaston
The Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston is to be prosecuted following a fire in 2010. One worker was left with burns to his face and arm after the incident at around 9pm on 3 August 2010 in a building which housed explosives on the Berkshire site.
Info4fire 19th June 2012 more >>
Radwaste
A rally call has been made to businesses and residents to attend a public meeting to discuss the future of Romney Marsh. The Kent County Council-organised event on Thursday will provide an update on the consultation for a possible nuclear research and disposal facility by Shepway District Council. It will also look at KCCs vision for the future of the area and MP for Folkestone and Hythe Damian Collins will discuss the case for Dungeness C and government opportunities for growth. Also attending is one of the countrys leading nuclear energy experts, Malcolm Grimston. The published author and associate fellow of Chatham House the independent policy institute on international affairs will give his views on the countrys nuclear future.
Kent News 18th June 2012 more >>
Radhealth
Sr. Rosalie Bertell, GNSH, Ph. D, an internationally recognized environmental epidemiologist, cancer researcher and public health advocate, died June 14, 2012, at age 83 in Saint Mary Medical Center, Langhorne, PA, in the 54th year of her religious life.
Grey Nuns 17th June 2012 more >>
RWE
Massively knocked down by its own government’s ruling to phase out nuclear power, Germany’s second-biggest energy supplier, RWE, announced on Monday it will no longer build nuclear power plants, both domestically and overseas.
IB Times 19th June 2012 more >>
BBC 18th June 2012 more >>
Risk Assessment
Reliance on the technique of ranking all risks, called Probabilistic Risk Assessment, presumes that all risks have been recognized. Yet in last years Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdown, operators were blindsided by a hazard they had simply failed to consider, a tsunami taller than the protective wall in front of the plant. Now, the nuclear industry is struggling to regain public confidence.
New York Times 18th June 2012 more >>
Stress Tests
Campaigners have criticised the results of a review of nuclear security across the EU. The preliminary results were discussed at a meeting of EU energy ministers last Friday. Earlier, EU energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger had pledged that stress tests would be “uniform, thorough and exhaustive”. Plants that ‘fail’ should be shut down, he said. The commission plans to present a communication on the results in the autumn. Separately, the campaign group Greenpeace commissioned independent experts of its own to analyse parts of the regulators’ stress test report. Greenpeace say their researchers found “alarming” shortfalls in back-up power for nuclear plants, including what it calls multiple reactors relying on single emergency diesel generators in case of disaster. Their researchers also concluded that some plants were found to be “incapable” of handling “challenging” earthquake or flood conditions. Radiation shielding was “woefully inadequate” in dangerous spent fuel storage across the continent, they said. In a statement, Greenpeace energy campaigner Roger Spautz said the EU testers had “ignored multiple disaster scenarios” like that at Fukushima. He said, “Most also ignored plane crashes and all ignored emergency evacuation plans, despite the fact plants are as close as 10 kilometres to European cities. “There is little consistency in the findings, making comparison between plants difficult or impossible.”
The Parliament 18th June 2012 more >>
To bring a large dose of reality to these tests, Greenpeace released a report written by independent experts that finds the testing of these reactors is mired in flaws, blind spots and complacency.
Greenpeace 18th June 2012 more >>
European competition regulators announced on Monday that they have closed a year-long probe into a deal between French and German nuclear giants Areva and Siemens. The European Commission said it had made “legally binding” commitments offered by the companies to limit areas where they had agreed contractual “non-compete” clauses. “The Commission had concerns that the non-compete obligation might prevent competition, in breach of EU antitrust rules,” said a statement.
EU Business 18th June 2012 more >>
Japan
Japan approved on Monday incentives for renewable energy that could unleash billions of dollars in clean-energy investment and help the world’s third-biggest economy shift away from a reliance on nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster. Industry Minister Yukio Edano approved the introduction of feed-in tariffs (FIT), which means higher rates will be paid for renewable energy. The move could expand revenue from renewable generation and related equipment to more than $30 billion by 2016, brokerage CLSA estimates.
Reuters 18th June 2012 more >>
The government on Saturday finally gave the go-ahead to Kansai Electric Power Co.’s plan to restart the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at its Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture. The decision ignores the crucial lesson from the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant: Building and operating nuclear power plants in this quake-prone country, which could cause a catastrophe with irreparable damage, is untenable as a policy. Regrettably the government made the decision even without presenting a concrete road map to eventually make Japan free from nuclear power. The decision this time will dampen people’s efforts to save power. Economically it will be sound for Japan to push green energy industry to create new technologies and jobs and to disperse small-scale power plants using renewable energy sources across the nation.
Japan Times 17th June 2012 more >>
Fifteen months after an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Japan has decided that it cannot do without nuclear power after all. There are, however, signs of a fresh commitment to renewable energy.
New Scientist 18th June 2012 more >>
Iran
Iran had “intense and tough” talks on Monday with the six world powers concerned about its nuclear program, but there was no clear progress towards ending a decade-long dispute which risks sparking a new Middle East war.
Reuters 18th June 2012 more >>
Iran gave its first “detailed” response to a plan designed to break the impasse over it nuclear ambitions during “intense and tough” negotiations with the world’s six leading powers. In the words of one source close to the talks, it urges Iran to “stop, ship and shut”, namely to stop enriching uranium to 20 per cent purity, ship its stockpile of this material out of the country and shut a previously secret nuclear plant at Fordow. Uranium enriched to this level is close to the weapons-grade material needed for a nuclear bomb, although Iran says the only aim is to fuel a civilian research reactor in Tehran. Earlier, a statement from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran “will not carry out enrichment to that level” if the “P5 plus 1” were to provide the fuel for the reactor something they have previously offered. His response is understood to have posed a series of questions about the proposal. Iran wants formal recognition of its “right” to enrich uranium and the lifting of all sanctions.
Telegraph 18th June 2012 more >>
During Moscow talks, Iran rejects proposals from six-nation negotiating group and calls for easing of sanctions.
Guardian 18th June 2012 more >>
Iran engaged in intense and tough exchanges with the US and other world powers as a third round of negotiations between the two sides began on Monday amid fears a peaceful resolution to the stand-off over Tehrans nuclear ambitions will prove elusive. Iran will meet senior diplomats from the European Union and six world powers again on Tuesday to see if confidence-building measures can be agreed that would avert a conflict over the Iranian programme.
FT 18th June 2012 more >>
Trident
THIRTEEN Liberal Democrat MPs have publicly backed a call from Tyneside MP Nick Brown for ministers to dump any plans to replace Britains nuclear weapons. Newc astle East MP Nick Brown has tabled a Parliamentary motion, suggesting the total bill for such a scheme could top £100bn and that such money on replacing the Trident weapon system would be better spent elsewhere. Sixty other MPs have signed the motion, including 13 Lib Dems which will worry the Government given existing tensions between the party and its Tory coalition partners over replacing Trident could move up a notch.
Newcastle Journal 19th June 2012 more >>
ROLLS-ROYCE will spend £500m to regenerate its Raynesway factory after striking a huge deal to build submarine reactors. Yesterday, the firm, which has its marine division in Raynesway, signed the £1bn deal with the Ministry of Defence to deliver reactor cores for the UK’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet. The company described the landing of the contract as “excellent news.” In the House of Commons, the Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson said the investment was an “obscene waste of money” and would lead to “the next generation of weapons of mass destruction on the Clyde”, where the nuclear fleet is based.
Derby Telegraph 19th June 2012 more >>
Within 24 hours of overlooking what might be the last stand of the Coldstream Guards, Mr Hammond was on the screens defending new investment in the replacement for Trident. The contrast in the billions poured into what many see as an outdated deterrent and the loss of men to put on the ground is at the heart of the debate over the militarys way forward. Should Britain be investing in a world role as a peace keeper and front-line fighter in troubled countries or in weapons of mass destruction that keeps it at the top table in terms of international power? The Lib Dems and SNP would prefer more troops the Tories and most of Labour want the nuclear option. But in these straightened economic times it seems unlikely that Britain can do both.
Scotsman 19th June 2012 more >>
ROLLS-ROYCE has won a £1billion Ministry of Defence contract to provide part of the propulsion system for the next generation of nuclear submarines.
Express 19th June 2012 more >>
The Week 18th June 2012 more >>
Telegraph 18th June 2012 more >>
The government has insisted a final decision has not yet been taken on replacing the Trident nuclear deterrent, despite a £1.1bn contract for reactor cores being awarded. The SNP’s Angus Robertson said the move was “a democratic affront” and an “obscene waste of money”. Green MP Caroline Lucas called the contract an “insidious attempt to pre-empt Parliament’s decision” on Trident. But Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said it was “good news” for the UK.
BBC 18th June 2012 more >>
Scottish ministers reaffirmed their opposition to nuclear submarines.
Public Finance 18th June 2012 more >>
The coalition split over the future of Britain’s nuclear deterrent has been reopened by a new £1 billion Ministry of Defence (MoD) commitment to powering the UK’s nuclear submarines.
Politics.co.uk 18th June 2012 more >>
Test Veterans
VICTIMS of Britains nuclear tests are to take their fight for justice to the European Court of Human Rights.
Burton Mail 19th June 2012 more >>
Renewables
Heres an interesting question (well I think its interesting): why is March 31st 2017 the cut-off date for the Renewables Obligation? Look through the consultation documents and the Energy White Paper: there are all sorts of questions considered about grace periods, transition arrangements parallel markets etc. etc. but nothing on the cut-off date itself. It just appears, floating above all the discussion. Its a germane question because right now there are increasing rumblings about whether the cut-off should be extended, even if we assume that we will get Contracts for Difference for low carbon energy in the end. And the rumblers have got a good point, and always did have. It doesnt really seem the brightest date to decide upon when you are halfway through round three offshore wind deployment; you have set a target for deployment by 2020 of 30gw of (mostly offshore) wind; when many of the wind farm schemes will inevitably cross over the pre-2017 / post-2017 period in deployment; and when the size and complexity of a number of such projects means that they will inevitably take more than the six years that DECC argued was plenty of time when the consultations on contracts for difference first emerged.
Alan Whitehead MP 18th June 2012 more >>
Fossil Fuels
How times have changed. When I wrote about fossil fuel subsidies in January, it felt like a crucial topic that had somehow never emerged into the public consciousness. But today the top trend on Twitter is #EndFossilFuelSubsidies, a million people have signed a petition to phase out state support for global-warming fossil fuels, and even celebrities such as Stephen Fry are making a noise about the issue.
Guardian 18th June 2012 more >>
