Hinkley
FoE (EWNI) submissions to the European Commission investigation into UK measures supporting nuclear energy, Hinkley C State Aid. In the UK, the amount of new-build renewables plus nuclear is limited by the Treasury’s Levy Control Framework (LCF). If Hinkley is built, then from 2023 (or later) it will be competing directly with renewable generation for that limited pot. DECC’s analysis and that of others show multiple routes to decarbonisation – these objectives can be met with more renewables and less nuclear. We note too that DECC’s central projection for electricity generation to 2030 assumes a tailing off in growth in renewables post 2020, and a rapid growth in nuclear post 2025.
FoE 1st April 2014 read more »
Ambitious bids from two partnerships – one representing Devon and Somerset, the other for Cornwall and the Scillies – believe they can generate thousands of jobs and attract hundreds of millions of pounds of investment if they get a share of the Government’s £2 billion Local Growth Fund. Three distinct areas are to be exploited in Devon and Somerset bid including the nuclear sector (the new Hinkley power station in Somerset and Devonport Dockyard): A “new nuclear” college. A housing and development fund for Hinkley to exploit 5,600 extra employees at the nuclear power station.
North Devon Journal 2nd April 2014 read more »
Western Morning News 2nd April 2014 read more »
Plymouth Herald 1st April 2014 read more »
Jacobs has won a contract supporting development of the proposed new nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point in Somerset and a separate contract to provide technical support to the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). Under a professional services framework contract from NNB GenCo, a subsidiary of EDF Energy, it will support the proposed new 3,200 MW nuclear power generation plants at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell C in Suffolk. The duration of the contract is three years and the work is being executed from several Jacobs offices in the UK. Jacobs’ scope of services covers capital projects consultancy and coordination of the design, management and construction of the projects.
Construction Index 2nd April 2014 read more »
Springfields
Around 100 jobs are at risk at a Lancashire nuclear plant after a Canadian firm ended a lucrative contract early. Cameco and Westinghouse have announced they will end a toll-conversion agreement with Springfields Fuels Limited with effect from December 31. That is nearly two years earlier than expected – and means 100 jobs at the Springfields plant near Preston could be in jeopardy. Production in part of the site, which employs around 1,200 people, has been put on hold while managers assess the impact. Westinghouse aims to lose jobs through natural wastage, voluntary redundancies and redeployment elsewhere on site. It is expected that workers across all operations will be invited to apply for voluntary redundancy. Cameco has agreed to pay nearly £11million to Westinghouse to permit early termination of the agreement. In 2005, Cameco and Westinghouse signed a 10-year agreement to process up to five million kilograms of uranium annually at the Springfields conversion facility. The Springfields facility receives uranium trioxide (UO3) from Cameco’s Blind River uranium refinery and converts it to uranium hexafluoride (UF6), which is required to produce nuclear fuel. Cameco delivers the UF6 to its customers around the world. The toll-conversion agreement was set to expire in 2016 but due to the current weak market for UF6 conversion, Cameco can meet its customer requirements from its own Port Hope conversion facility in Canada. Part of the Springfields site will be “placed into stand-by” whilst other options are evaluated.
Lancashire Evening Post 1st April 2014 read more »
Insider Media 2nd April 2014 read more »
Politics
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has vetoed a Conservative proposal to block future onshore wind farms, senior Lib Dem sources have told the BBC. Wind turbines based on land produced about 5% of the UK’s power last year – enough electricity for about 4m homes. Supporters say they are the cheapest way to produce clean energy, but opponent say they are ugly and noisy. BBC political correspondent Chris Mason says the Lib Dems want to be seen as robust defenders of green energy.
BBC 1st April 2014 read more »
Business Green 1st April 2014 read more »
Guardian 1st April 2014 read more »
David Cameron is considering whether to go into the general election promising new restrictions on onshore windfarms as influential Tories launch an attempt to rid the countryside of turbines, a senior source close to the prime minister said. The Conservative source indicated that Cameron is “of one mind” with some of the loudest opponents of onshore windfarms and wants to “go further” in cutting financial aid for them. The source suggested that this might be done through a cap on the onshore turbines’ output, lower subsidies or tighter planning restrictions. Despite the government’s official public backing for onshore wind, the senior Tory said Cameron was coming under pressure to make a manifesto commitment on wind energy from some within his party.
Guardian 1st April 2014 read more »
Independent 1st April 2014 read more »
Onshore wind turbines are a significant and fast-growing source of electricity in the UK and are also the cheapest source available for the low-carbon energy needed to meet the country’s legally binding carbon targets. David Cameron’s reported desire to cap their numbers would mean building more offshore wind turbines or nuclear power stations, both of which are more expensive.
Guardian 1st April 2014 read more »
David Cameron is considering going into the the next election promising restrictions on the number of windfarms. It’s a move aimed at pleasing Tory party members unhappy with their presence in the countryside. There are currently over 4,338 onshore turbines in the UK, with a further 3000 that have planning approval, according to figures derived from the RenewableUK Wind Energy Database. However, at first glance it seems that the areas with the highest density of wind turbines are not traditional Tory areas. Over half of onshore turbines currently operational in the country are located north of the border in Scotland. The area with the second greatest proportion is Wales, where 13.5% of the UK’s total are currently in operation. The UK’s 4,338 wind turbines generated roughly 5% of the country’s electricity in 2013.
Guardian 1st April 2014 read more »
Energy Policy
Green transformations, including in energy policy, are likely to take several decades and so need to be sustained politically over long periods of time. A key factor in whether this happens or not is the political impact of policies, i.e. ‘policy feedback’, which is likely to depend partly on the design of policies. Policy design itself will be heavily influenced by prevailing policy paradigms, and the articulation between policies and political effects may also be amplified or dampened by the institutional context. These ideas are applied to the contrasting cases of renewable energy policy in Germany and the UK, where the greater momentum of the former is linked to the political effects of the feed-in tariff policy design in a supportive institutional context.
IGov 1st April 2014 read more »
Radwaste
The Radioactive Waste Management Directorate has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NDA today and will be known as Radioactive Waste Management Limited. It joins our existing subsidiary companies Direct Rail Services and International Nuclear Services. The organisation will continue to be based at Harwell in Oxfordshire where its staff of around 100 nuclear scientists, geologists, engineers and other professionals will be responsible for delivering Government policy for geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste and for developing waste management solutions.
NDA 1st April 2014 read more »
ONR
The UK nuclear regulator was yesterday officially established as a public corporation. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said the change is a “significant milestone” and puts it in a stronger position to provide “efficient and effective regulation” of the nuclear industry. As well as monitoring existing nuclear power plants and assessing the safety, security and environment implication of new nuclear designs, the organisation now also has the responsibility for the transport and safeguarding of nuclear and radioactive materials – previously the role of the Department for Transport. The ONR said it will retain the independent powers to regulate the nuclear industry but there will be a “more consistent and predictable approach to regulation” while providing it with a “stronger identity, which will help increase public awareness of its role and responsibilities”.
Energy Live News 1st April 2014 read more »
NDA
Herbert Smith Freehills and Burges Salmon are among a host of firms winning roles on the £7bn decommissioning of 12 UK nuclear power sites. A two-year competition process run by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has seen the 14 year contract to manage the decommissioning of sites including Hinkley, Sizewell and Dungeness awarded to a joint venture between British engineering group Babcock and US engineering company Fluor. Herbert Smith advised the JV on its winning bid with energy and infrastructure partner Julia Pyke advising, while regular NDA adviser Burges Salmon reprised its role for the body in a major boost for the firm. Head of projects Mark Paterson and partner John Houlden led the Burges Salmon team.
Legal Week 1st April 2014 read more »
Energy Supply
Closer integration with the European Union would put an end to soaring household energy bills, according to Lord Mandelson, who believes that bureaucrats in Brussels need more power to stand up to Gazprom. The former Labour minister and European Commissioner said yesterday that the best way to get electricity and gas prices under control would be for Britain to accept closer ties with Europe.
Times 2nd April 2014 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
The removal of nuclear weapons from Scottish soil may be a “red-line” issue for the SNP today, but as the complexity of other defining issues – currency, European Union membership, national debt – begins to surface, this “red-line” may well evolve into a bargaining chip. With just under six months to go until the referendum on Scottish independence, there is still little clarity about how any independence agreement would shape up in practice. A myriad of issues remains on the table, ranging from the everyday – Will there be border control? How will the postal system function? Which television stations will be available? – right up to the most complex strategic questions over currency and economic independence, membership of international organisations, and the future of the UK and Scotland’s defense policies.
Open Democracy 1st April 2014 read more »
Robert ‘Bo’ Jacobs was brought up under the shadow of nuclear war. A world expert on the cultural and social impacts of radiation, he lives and works in Hiroshima. Julio Godoy caught the chance of an interview … and discovered that nuclear war is still going on today – in slow motion.
Ecologist 1st April 2014 read more »
Single-minded historian of Britain’s nuclear weapon programme who was given unprecedented access into a secret world Lorna Arnold was one of very few people to make a study of the secret history of Britain’s nuclear weapon programme. A single mother of two who for a time had to support herself working in a biscuit factory, she had a second career as the official historian for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and was granted 30 years of unrestricted access to sensitive and classified documents.
Times 31st March 2014 read more »
China – AP1000
The main control room for the first unit at Sanmen has been declared fully operational, marking another major milestone on the journey towards operation for the first AP1000 reactor. Construction formally began at Sanmen unit 1 when first concrete was poured in April 2009. Four Westinghouse-designed AP1000s are now under construction in China, two each at Sanmen and Haiyang. Sanmen 1 is expected to start up during 2014, followed closely by Haiyang 1, with the second units at each site following on within a year.
World Nuclear News 1st April 2014 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
PEOPLE in Japan have started returning home for the first time in three years to an area evacuated after the Fukushima disaster. The reopening of the Miyakoji area of Tamura, 140 miles northeast of Tokyo and inland from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear station, marks a tiny step for Japan as it attempts to recover from the 2011 disasters. But the event is a major milestone for the 357 registered residents of the district. The trickle of returnees highlights both people’s desire to return to the forested hamlet and the difficulty of returning to normal. “Many of our friends and neighbours won’t come back,” said Kimiko Koyama, 69, speaking on her return to the large farmhouse she had occupied for 50 years, while her husband Toshio, 72, tried to fix a television antenna on the roof. “There are no jobs. It’s inconvenient and young people are scared of radiation,” she said. “My daughter won’t bring our grandsons here because of the radiation.”
Herald 2nd April 2014 read more »
Breaking News.ie 1st April 2014 read more »
Belfast Telegraph 1st April 2014 read more »
Three years after the Fukushima disaster prompted the closure of all Japan’s nuclear reactors, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is moving to revive nuclear power as a core part of the energy mix, but many of those idled reactors will never come back online. Fewer than a third, and at most about two-thirds, of the reactors will pass today’s more stringent safety checks and clear the other seismological, economic, logistical and political hurdles needed to restart, a Reuters analysis shows. This means Japan is likely to remain heavily reliant on imported fuel to power the world’s third-largest economy, straining a trade balance that has been in the red for nearly two years. Electric utilities will face huge liabilities to decommission reactors and pay for fossil fuels. Japan had 54 nuclear reactors supplying about 30 percent of the nation’s electricity before an earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in 2011. The six reactors at that plant are shut forever, slated for decades-long decommissioning. Of Japan’s remaining four dozen reactors, 14 will probably restart at some point, a further 17 are uncertain and 17 will probably never be switched back on, the analysis suggests. As a result, nuclear energy will eventually make up less than 10 percent of Japan’s power supply.
Reuters 1st April 2014 read more »
US
You know the nuclear power industry is getting desperate when it solicits its CEOs to start piling on ghost-written op-eds in publications chosen for their reach to key audiences. And you know the industry is really desperate when it brings out big guns like a couple of paid-for former U.S. Senators to support nuclear power in The Hill newspaper, which, as its name implies, is aimed at current legislators. And you know the industry is super desperate when it pulls out none other than Rudy Giuliani, who continues stuffing his wallet with nuclear-powered green.
Green World 1st April 2014 read more »
EDF said Tuesday it has finalized a deal with U.S. partner Exelon Corp. that paves the way for the French power company to start withdrawing from its foray into the U.S. nuclear power sector. Under the terms of the agreement, EDF will delegate to Exelon the operational management of the five nuclear reactors owned by their jointly owned energy company Constellation Energy Nuclear Group. As previously determined by the agreement, CENG has paid a special $400 million dividend to EDF, financed by Exelon. Exelon has also granted to EDF an option to sell its holding in CENG to Exelon at market value between January 2016 and June 2022.
Wall St Journal 1st April 2014 read more »
North Korea
A magnitude 5 earthquake was recorded off the coast of North Korea on Tuesday morning, sparking fears that Kim Jong-un had carried out his promise to conduct a nuclear test. The epicentre of the tremor, which was detected around 4am local time, was recorded by the US Geological survey 80 miles off the coast of the hermetic state, at a depth of around 10 miles.
Huffington Post 1st April 2014 read more »
Independent 1st April 2014 read more »
Daily Mail 1st April 2014 read more »
Renewables
RenewableUK commented on the news that Carnegie Wave Energy are bringing their CETO 6 device to the South West Marine Energy Park’s Wave Hub site. The site is an electrical hub 16km off the coast of Cornwall, and this development means all three berths for wave devices are now reserved by wave companies looking to test their technologies and deploy arrays. The total potential of the projects is 30 megawatts, which would be nearly eight times the amount of power currently being produced from wave in the UK. RenewableUK’s Wave and Tidal Manager Dee Nunn said: “It’s great to see the berths at Wave Hub fully booked, and a credit to the Government for establishing it and taking it forward. With this and the developments in Orkney at the EMEC site and NAREC in Northumberland, the UK is powering on as the world leader in wave and tidal energy. The wave and tidal market could be worth £800 million to the UK by 2035, and every pound Government invests results in £6 coming from the private sector so backing it now really pays dividends”.
Renewable UK 1st April 2014 read more »
The Green Investment Bank (GIB) is considering launching a dedicated fund to make it easier for pension funds and insurance companies to invest in the UK’s burgeoning offshore wind market, BusinessGreen has learned. The £3bn government-backed organisation yesterday underlined its commitment to the UK’s offshore wind industry, by taking stakes in two projects currently under construction – Westermost Rough and Gwynt y Môr – with a total investment of £461m.
Business Green 1st April 2014 read more »
Grid Connections
What is the most effective way of increasing the UK’s use of renewable power? The answer, it seems, may be to import it. A major new report published yesterday by the National Grid has detailed how the UK could secure significant macro-economic, energy security, consumer cost and environmental benefits by doubling the capacity of its interconnector links to neighbouring countries in order to make it easier to import and export power. A report, entitled Getting More Connected, argues that doubling capacity to 8GW by the end of the decade would take the UK closer to the European benchmark of covering 10 per cent of its generation capacity with interconnectors and would also result in cost savings of around £1bn a year, by giving the UK access to lower power, and often cleaner electricity, from the continent.
Business Green 1st April 2014 read more »
Climate
The UN’s new climate report is 1,000 pages long and contains a huge amount of detail on topics as diverse as flood risk and Arctic greening. So how do you stop it from becoming the world’s best-researched doorstop? Here’s our guide to navigating the report.
Carbon Brief 1st April 2014 read more »
Lord Deben: Climate change has the potential to wreck livelihoods, stunt economic growth and change irreversibly entire ecosystems – that is as true now as it was 24 years ago when Margaret Thatcher first warned world leaders that humanity was “playing with the conditions of the life we know on the surface of our planet”. What I will be saying to the government is that the scientific evidence emphasises the need to stick to the decarbonisation trajectory embodied in our national carbon budgets. In particular, it is important that the government now confirms its commitment to the fourth carbon budget, covering the period 2023-27 and committing us to a halving of emissions below 1990 levels. The UK’s interest lies in making the investments to meet this carbon budget, and therefore building an energy system which will remain fit for purpose in decades to come.
Guardian 1st April 2014 read more »
The BBC has been accused of misleading the public about climate change, creating a “false balance” by allowing unqualified climate sceptics too much air time and giving opinion the same weight as fact.
Independent 2nd April 2014 read more »
Another day, another broadside against the BBC. This time, it is the Commons Science and Technology Committee that is taking the broadcaster to task. According to MPs, the Beeb’s news coverage is inclined to give scientific fact and unscientific opinion the same billing. While the views of, say, sceptical lobby groups should be heard, they should not be treated on a par with proven research, the committee concludes.
Independent 1st April 2014 read more »
