Sellafield
Anti-nuclear group urges call-in for Carlisle Airport expansion. Carlisle Airport appears to be registered to carry radioactive freight over a populated area and in the near vicinity of Sellafield. This development would ensure a huge increase in air traffic in the near vicinity of Sellafield. The potential for terrorist attack or human error is hugely increased.
Radiation Free Lakeland 19th Aug 2014 read more »
An investigation has been launched after the sudden death of a man at Sellafield. It is unclear exactly how the man died, but police have said that they do not believe there are any suspicious circumstances.
Carlisle News & Star 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Springfields
Radiation Free Lakeland have been given access to the Spingfields Archive. Here is the second installment published by the Lancashire Evening Post on 20th November 1991. Published online for the first time here.
Radiation Free Lakeland 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is planning to try another method to freeze radiation-contaminated water in underground tunnels. In April, Tokyo Electric Power Company began installing pipes to carry coolants in and out of the tunnels at the No.2 reactor. Workers hoped to freeze the wastewater to stop it flowing out to the sea. But 3 months into the project, the water had yet to freeze. So the utility last month added more than 400 tons of ice and dry ice. It says this helped freeze over 90 percent of the tunnel cross sections, but there are still unfrozen areas where pipes could not be installed. TEPCO now says it will be difficult to halt the flow of water with an ice blockade alone, so it has decided to seal chinks in the ice with filler material such as cement. The utility on Tuesday explained the new plan at a meeting of the Nuclear Regulation Authority.
NHK 19th Aug 2014 read more »
A LEADING nuclear specialist from Sellafield has accepted a post on an international committee of experts which is helping to guide the clean-up mission at the Fukushima plant in Japan. Dr Rex Strong, who is head of nuclear safety at Sellafield, has more than 30 years’ experience in the industry, most of which has been spent in West Cumbria. He will combine his new role on the Fukushima Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee – known as the Nuclear Safety Task Force – with his existing one as head of safety at the Sellafield site. The move comes as part of Sellafield Ltd’s recently announced relationship with TEPCO FDEC, the Japanese company responsible for cleaning up and decommissioning the reactors at Fukushima.
NW Evening Mail 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Belgium
Two Belgian nuclear reactors owned by GDF-Suez unit Electrabel may remain offline until spring and may need to be halted permanently, Belgian state broadcaster VRT reported on Tuesday.The Belgian nuclear regulator ordered production to be stopped at the 1,008 megawatt Tihange 2 reactor and the 1,006 megawatt Doel 3 reactor in 2012 after finding indications of cracks in their core tanks.After reopening in May of 2013, the reactors were closed again in March of this year for further tests after inspections uncovered irregularities in the strength of the tanks.The interim results of the tests, which are not yet completed, show the tanks are weakened by the cracks and may need to remain closed until spring or may even remain shut permanently.
Reuters 20th Aug 2014 read more »
France
A Muslim engineer working for a firm subcontracted by French energy giant EDF has been banned from accessing French nuclear sites where he normally works, a move his lawyer says is “pure Islamophobia”. The 29-year-old project manager had been granted access to nuclear installations as part of his job throughout 2012 and 2013. But in March 2014 the engineer, who cannot be named according to French law, had his pass to enter the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear power station revoked without explanation. The decision, made by the local administration, was covered by “Secret Defence” – which means the authorities are not required to publicly justify the decision.
France24 18th Aug 2014 read more »
Sky News 19th Aug 2014 read more »
US
WORKERS from around the world sent their solidarity today to locked-out workers at a US uranium enrichment plant. Honeywell closed the gates at its nuclear fuel production facility in Metropolis, Illinois, at midnight on August 1 in a desperate bid to smash the United Steelworkers (USW) union. Workers won a decent three-year collective agreement in 2011 following a 14-month lockout during which scabs narrowly avoided two tragedies due to mishandling dangerous chemicals. Honeywell was slammed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for allegedly helping blacklegs cheat on tests so they could run the site. But the firm locked the doors again this month after USW negotiators refused to put to the workers an agreement on slashing pensions and replacing full-time staff with contractors.
Morning Star 19th Aug 2014 read more »
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been hacked three times in the past three years, a report has revealed. Two of the attacks have been attributed to criminals of foreign descent, while the third attacker has not been identified, according to an inspector general report obtained by Nextgov through a public records request.
Computer Weekly 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Huffington Post 19th Aug 2014 read more »
V3 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Citing the dangers to U.S. national security posed by terrorists and rogue states seeking nuclear weapons, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and a bipartisan group of 25 other senators sent a letter last week to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Shaun Donovan, calling on the President to support increased funding in the FY2016 budget to more rapidly secure and permanently dispose of nuclear and radiological materials. The letter comes in response to the President’s proposals in recent years to decrease funding for nuclear material security and nonproliferation programs. The senators indicated that unsecured nuclear material poses unacceptably high risks to the safety of Americans and argued that the rate at which nuclear and radiological materials are secured and permanently disposed of must be accelerated. The senators expressed concern that cutting funds would slow what has been a successful process of elimination and reduction of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and separated plutonium in the international community. In just the last five years, nuclear security and non-proliferation programs such as the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) have proven successful in eliminating HEU and separated plutonium from 13 countries, including Ukraine.
National Journal 18th Aug 2014 read more »
Kazakhstan
Russia has announced that it will build the first thermal nuclear power station in Kazakhstan, the world’s largest uranium producer, writes Komila Nabiyeva. But where in that vast country will it be located? Who will own and operate it? How many reactors are planned? Who will get the power? And will it ever actually happen?
Ecologist 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Trident
Letter Cllr Mark Hackett (NFLA): unlike Faslane, the Plymouth site is next to a significant population of 260,000 people. The site also contains a considerable number of redundant submarines that are waiting, after an exhaustive decade-long consultation period, a final decision on what will be done with them. An accident with a Trident submarine at Devonport does not bear thinking about and the report admits there are a number of realistic scenarios that would put the public at risk. I would also think the local authorities, local MPs and the local population may be concerned about it, and many would actively oppose it. The Rusi report also suggests it will “only” cost an extra £3.5bn on top of the already huge £80bn cost for Trident replacement – £3.5bn would have avoided much of the deep cuts in local government budgets, or plugged the holes in the NHS, or of our conventional armed forces. What the report really outlines is the need for a thorough, carefully considered and informed public debate on the UK’s nuclear weapons programme.
Guardian 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Renewables
The share of wind power within the UK’s generation mix reached a record high of 22 per cent on Sunday due to strong power output of almost six GW and typically low summer weekend demand.
Utility Week 18th Aug 2014 read more »
Conservative opposition to onshore wind farms appears to be becoming steadily entrenched, after a new poll suggested almost four out of five Tory MPs would oppose onshore developments in their constituencies. But Conservative support for clean energy technologies in general remains far stronger than some recent media reports have suggested, with a clear majority of Tory MPs backing solar, biomass and marine power, and three quarters agreeing that “investing in UK renewable energy is important to increase our energy independence”.
Business Green 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Renewables – solar
From a distance it resembles the shimmering surface of a frozen lake or broken glass. Campaigners fear that vast swathes of the British countryside will soon be green in name only after being paved with solar panels. Solar farms were intended to plug a gap in the government’s renewable energy policy. They attracted generous subsidies for landowners prepared to sacrifice their fields. However, the rush to cover the countryside with photovoltaic panels has alarmed conservationists, including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, which claims that vital agricultural land is being given up unnecessarily and could present a “back door” for housing development. Today the CPRE will urge the government to encourage solar parks on the south-facing roofs of factories, offices and shopping centres, but not on fields where crops could be grown. It claims that an area twice the size of Greater London is available for solar panels without encroaching on the countryside.
Times 20th Aug 2014 read more »
Plans to duplicate the world’s largest solar thermal energy plant at sites across the US are being opposed because thousands of birds are bursting into flames as they fly overhead. The $2.2 billion (£1.3 billion) Ivanpah plant, in the Mojave desert in California, uses more than 300,000 mirrors, each the size of a garage door, to reflect solar rays on to three towers, each up to 40 storeys high. Water inside the towers is heated to produce steam, powering turbines that generate carbon-free electricity for 140,000 homes. However, the mirrors produce a glare that is bright enough to distract airline pilots as they descend into Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and a government report suggests that this effect has turned the plant into an enormous trap for wildlife.
Times 20th Aug 2014 read more »
Two London School of Economics graduates want to turn London’s iconic red telephone boxes into solar-powered public charging points for handheld gadgets. Solarbox was co-founded by Kirsty Kenney and Harold Craston who noticed that, despite telephone boxes’ iconic status, their practical use has been in serious decline. Their solution was to retrofit solar-powered charging points to the telephone boxes across London. The company will offer free charging for mobile gadgets; in return users will be shown tailored advertising while their device is charged.
Next Energy 18th Aug 2014 read more »
David Cameron has refused to meet with the UK’s solar power industry to address their concerns over plans to close the current subsidy scheme for large solar farms, in a move that has angered industry representatives. However, in a letter to the Solar Trade Association (STA) the prime minister insisted that he believed the technology could play a key role in the expanding green energy market. The STA and more than 150 of its members last month wrote to Cameron, calling on him to intervene in the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) plans to end subsidies for new solar farms larger than 5MW in capacity under the Renewables Obligation (RO) from 1 April 2015.
Business Green 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Renewables – Biomass CHP
A new biomass plant at a Speyside whisky distillery has secured a multimillion-pound investment from the Green Investment Bank (GIB) alongside a loan guarantee from the Treasury, underlining the government’s support for the sector’s emission reduction efforts. The Treasury yesterday confirmed it will guarantee bonds worth up to £48.5m for the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant at the Macallan distillery near Craigellachie, Moray. The commitment accompanied a £26m investment from the GIB and international infrastructure investor and asset manager John Laing.
Business Green 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Renewable Heat
Thanks in large part to the government’s renewable heat incentive (RHI), the UK’s renewable heat market is on the up. Slowly but steadily more homes and businesses are installing biomass boilers, heat pumps, and solar thermal panels in a bid to cut their energy bills and take advantage of attractive incentives. But while growth for the industry as a whole may have been gradual, one company is making rapid advances, using an innovative business model that has allowed it to claim more than 15 per cent of the total market share and boost its turnover tenfold in just four years. The partnership model allows Innasol to work closely with smaller businesses, dubbed “local heroes”, which use approved technologies, receive courses at Innasol’s dedicated training centre, and can seek advice from Innasol HQ as an when they need it. It is a strategy that Innasol chief executive Silvio Spiess transplanted from Internorm, the windows and doors specialist that he ran for eight years, prior to founding Innasol. “We’re the only ones in the market to have invested in a distributor model where we support businesses rather than compete with them,” explains Rae. “We provide market-leading training, financial, strategic, marketing and obviously technical, sourcing and administration support. We turn down loads of requests from people to become a partner, because we need to make sure our current partners are protected and that we get the right partners on board.”
Business Green 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Businesses are not actively managing their energy consumption and as a result are spending more on energy than necessary, according to researchers at Oxford University. The university’s new WICKED (working with infrastructure, creation of knowledge, and energy strategy development) project is looking to work with businesses to help them identify ways in which they can reduce their energy consumption. Susan Bright, Professor of Land Law at Oxford University, explained the inherent difficulties in tackling businesses’ energy use, she said: “Addressing the energy challenge in commercial property means we must understand not only the technical opportunities but also the social complexities. This includes the way in which property is owned and let.
Next Energy 19th Aug 2014 read more »
From sun tunnels to wood burners, here are a some small-scale, energy saving ideas for sustainable renovation, inspired by some of Britain’s superhomes.
Guardian 19th Aug 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
The UK government is lobbying the European commission (EC) to keep open one of Europe’s dirtiest coal power stations, even though its nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions exceed new legal limits by five times. The EC has begun infraction proceedings against the UK because its proposals for reducing emissions under new European laws have been littered with “inconsistent or missing” data. Aberthaw power plant in south Wales was named in the top 30 highest carbon-emitting plants in Europe by an alliance of NGOs last month. But its emissions of NOx, which causes respiratory problems and lung disease, are also extremely high. The plant is specifically designed to burn coal from the local area, which is unusually difficult to ignite an d needs a chemical catalyst added to make it burn. This process results in NOx emissions of around 1,000 mg/Nm3. The limit on NOx set by the European industrial emissions directive (IED) is 200 mg/Nm3. Under this new law, the 1,555MW plant would have to be shut down by 2016. The EC and UK disagree on whether the plant qualifies for an exemption from the limits. An EC spokesperson confirmed that the UK continues to lobby for the plant to stay open, adding that “for the time being, the closure of the plant is not considered”.
Guardian 19th Aug 2014 read more »
The world’s largest private coal company Peabody Energy has been banned from touting the low-carbon virtues of its “clean coal” technology, after it ran adverts arguing fossil fuels represented one of the best solutions to the global energy crisis. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said Peabody had misled the public when running the ad campaign earlier this year, by implying that “clean coal” technologies were emissions free, when in fact that was not the case. The claims were made as part of a national newspaper campaign dubbed Advanced Energy for Life that was developed in partnership with PR firm Burson-Marsteller. It warned that global energy poverty was “the world’s number one human and environmental crisis”, and added that this crisis could be solved through “today’s clean coal technologies”.
Business Green 20th Aug 2014 read more »
