Radwaste
As a crucial decision on nuclear dumping looms, Cumbria’s people are divided over the best way to secure their future – and that of the national park. The Lake District is now at the centre of an increasingly fractious dispute between those who insist that preserving the pristine qualities of the fells is the best blueprint for economic development and a group who say that new developments in the area would create more jobs and growth. Britain’s best-known mountaineer, Sir Chris Bonington, fired the first salvo by resigning as vice-president of the Friends of the Lake District, following the national park’s rejection of plans for a “zip wire” ride down the side of Fleetwith Pike. His comments come at a time when the Lake District is facing a growing list of threats, including the possible siting of the world’s largest nuclear waste dump in its isolated western valleys; the possibility that scores of electricity pylons will be sited in the national park; and a risk of increased access to its woodlands. On 30 January, three Cumbrian councils will decide whether to agree a full preliminary planning proposal for an underground storage facility four times larger than the vast Sellafield complex from where the waste will be transported. A letter on Friday from the Friends of the Lake District to councillors set out a catalogue of safety concerns which meant the entire process had “lost the trust” of Cumbrians.
Observer 19th Jan 2013 more »
Ditch the Nuke Dump! Demo -19th Jan at Bowness Bay. Over 100 people turned up to show their support for Cumbria County Council voting NO on the 30th January. Over 100 letters were signed to put on a giant postcard to the Leader of Cumbria County Council. There was life affirming music provided by Handbrake Shirley and a great atmosphere of camaraderie in our determination to stop the government’s insane plan to turn Cumbria into a nuclear sacrifice zone.
You Tube 19th Jan 2013 more »
Radiation Free Lakeland 19th Jan 2013 more »
Grevel Lindhop: Most of my posts about the Lakes have been celebratory. This one isn’t. We are facing a risk that a huge dump for nuclear waste will be created in the Lake District, specifically in and under Ennerdale, the quietest and one of the most beautiful valleys in the Lakes.
Grevel Lindhop (accessed) 19th Jan 2013 more »
The arguments for and against the siting of a nuclear dump in west Cumbria will be discussed in Carlisle next week. The issue will be debated by local MPs, scientists, nuclear workers and industry leaders at a seminar at the Hallmark Hotel on Friday, January 25 at 10am. The event, is being organised by the Sellafield Workers’ Campaign (SWC) and Trade Unionists for Safe Nuclear Energy (TUSNE). It comes as councillors prepare to meet on January 30 to decide whether to move on to the next stage of the process to determine whether a massive underground store should be in west Cumbria. Organisers at the meeting say expert advice obtained by the nuclear union Prospect demonstrates that the arguments put so far, mainly based on the work of two academics, should not be taken at face value.
Carlisle News & Star 19th Jan 2013 more »
Energy Bill
Tom Greatrex: AS TEMPERATURES plummet across the UK, and snow causes travel disruption, it is appropriate that the detailed scrutiny of the UK government’s Energy Bill begins in earnest in Parliament this week. The cold weather serves as a timely reminder to MPs that the cost of energy needed to heat and power homes and businesses across the UK is linked to decisions we will make. There remain significant flaws, gaps and concerns in the proposals. The purpose of scrutiny is to plug those gaps, correct the flaws and address concerns. Without ¬doing so, the cost reductions promised are highly unlikely to materialise.
Scotland on Sunday 20th Jan 2013 more »
Sizewell
A NEW by-pass for the four villages along the A12 remains vital if Sizewell C is to go ahead – that’s the position that is set to be re-affirmed by local authorities in the area over the next few weeks.
East Anglian Daily Times 18th Jan 2013 more »
Proposals for a nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast could be put at risk if local calls for investment are ignored, a council planner has warned. Guy McGregor, the county council’s cabinet member for planning, supports the plan to build Sizewell C next to an existing plant near Leiston. But formal funding proposals for a bypass and other infrastructure is needed, he said.
BBC 19th Jan 2013 more »
Electricity Prices
TWO foreign energy companies are accused of charging British customers bigger mark-ups on electricity bills than those in their own countries. Analysis by VaasaETT, a global energy think tank, reveals the mark-up on the cost of wholesale electricity can be as high as 49%. It found that about 10m households in Britain pay more for electricity with EDF, the French energy giant, and RWE Npower, which is German-owned, than their customers in France and Germany.
Sunday Times 20th Jan 2013 more »
ENERGY consumers in Scotland are paying among the highest prices in Europe for electricity, according to recent research. Analysis by VaasaETT, a global energy think-tank, reveals the “mark-up” on the cost of wholesale electricity can be as high as 49%.
Sunday Times 20th Jan 2013 more »
A CONTROVERSIAL fuel poverty fund could obliterate the profits of small energy suppliers and undermine competition the government is desperate to promote, power companies have warned. The row centres on the Energy Companies Obligation, (Eco) a programme created last year that requires suppliers to provide free insulation and other energy-saving measures to vulnerable customers. The industry claims this could cost as much as £3bn a year — more than twice the government estimate. Most of the burden will fall on the big six energy suppliers, which provide gas and power to 98% of British homes. Smaller suppliers argue that they have been unfairly drawn into the programme. Stephen Fitzpatrick, chief executive of Ovo Energy, told Michael Fallon, the business minister, in a letter last week that the scheme creates a “financial cliff-edge”. Suppliers are obliged to participate in Eco once they have 250,000 customer accounts. As most households have dual-fuel bills, this means that figure is closer to 125,000.
Sunday Times 20th Jan 2013 more »
Urenco
ONE of Japan’s biggest industrial companies is weighing a bid for Urenco, the nuclear fuel producer backed by the British government. Toshiba, which owns the nuclear reactor builder Westinghouse Electric, hopes to head off a pack of bidders for the business, which enriches uranium for nuclear fuel. A potential sale of Urenco is politically sensitive. The company was formed in 1971 by the German, Dutch and British governments. Britain and Germany, whose stake is held by RWE and Eon, the utilities, want to sell out. The Dutch have so far refused because of the risk of the technology falling into the hands of unfriendly regimes or terrorists. Urenco is one of Britain’s largest remaining assets, and experts estimate that the stake could bring in more than £3bn for the Treasury. The business as a whole is thought to be wo rth up to £10bn. Tokyo-based Toshiba is understood to be in talks with several potential financial backers, including the Japanese bank Mizuho. Toshiba is best known for its electrical appliances but it has branched out into power generation. Seven years ago it paid £2.8bn for Westinghouse, which was owned by British Nuclear Fuels, the government-owned atomic power company.
Sunday Times 20th Jan 2013 more »
Canada
Toshiba Corporation has developed a small nuclear reactor to power oilsands extraction in Alberta and hopes to have it operational by 2020, according to news reports from Japan.
Huffington Post 18th Jan 2013 more »
Ontario is planning to spend $36 billion to build new reactors at the Darlington nuclear station just east of Toronto. This plan drains funding from affordable green energy and creates radioactive waste, emissions and increased risk of accidents. Let’s Make Ontario 100% Renewable,
Stop Darlington (accessed) 20th Jan 2013 more »
Japan
A fish containing over 2,500 times Japan’s legal limit for radiation in seafood has been caught in the vicinity of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the facility’s operator reported. ¬A ‘murasoi’ fish, similar to a rockfish, was caught at a port inside the plant, according to AFP. Plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) indicated that the amount of cesium measured 254,000 becquerels per kilogram – 2,540 times Japan’s legal limit for radiation in seafood. In October, TEPCO admitted that radiation leaks at the plant had not fully stopped.
RT 19th Jan 2013 more »
British engineers Amec, Babcock International, and Atkins are believed to be circling nuclear decommissioning work estimated to be worth at least $5bn (£3.2bn) in Japan as a result of the Fukushima disaster. The new Japanese government is thought to be preparing decommissioning contracts that will include Fukushima’s Daiichi plant, which was overwhelmed by a tsunami in 2011, and other reactors in seismically endangered areas. A nuclear source said bids could be invited for the clean-up work before the end of the year,
Independent 20th Jan 2013 more »
Energy Efficiency
British Gas could be fined millions of pounds by energy regulator Ofgem after failing to meet targets for improving household energy efficiency.
Telegraph 19th Jan 2013 more »
Incineration
Toxic pollution breaches and an explosion at a new Scottish waste incinerator have triggered tough legal action and an investigation by Government safety watchdogs, upsetting plans for a dozen more waste-burning plants. Environmental groups and local campaigners say that the plant is dangerous and are demanding that it be shut down. They are calling for plans for other waste incinerators in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Lothian, Perth, Aberdeenshire and Invergordon to be halted.
Sunday Herald 20th Jan 2013 more »
CCS
THE UK Government’s upcoming tax on carbon emissions was one of the key reasons behind the collapse of the Longannet carbon-capture project, after the tax added around £250 million to the cost, the Sunday Herald can reveal. The project by ScottishPower, Shell and the National Grid to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstrator at Longannet power station in Fife was tipped as the country’s best chance to develop a world-leading technology that could curb the majority of emissions from coal and gas-fired plants around the world. It had become the last entrant standing in the competition to win a £1 billion investment from the government to build the scheme after rivals E.ON, BP and Peel Power dropped out. But after the ScottishPower consortium failed to bring down costs below a best-case-scenario £1.2bn, the Government decided to end negotiations. A source very close to the project revealed last week that one of the main problems in the negotiations was the carbon price floor tax that became government policy after the Coalition came to power in May 2010.
Sunday Herald 20th Jan 2013 more »
