National Policy Statements
The UK’s long standing plans to deliver a new fleet of nuclear reactors took a major step forward last night, after the House of Commons approved a package of Energy National Policy Statements (NPS) designed to inform planning decisions on large nuclear, fossil fuel, and renewable projects. Nuclear developers had been waiting for the statements to pass through parliament before proceeding with planning applications for new reactors. Energy giant EDF is now expected to move forward with its first planning application later this year with a view to delivering the UK’s first new nuclear reactor in decades by 2018.
Business Green 19th July 2011 more >>
Copies of all the designated NPSs, the finalised post-adoption statement and associated environmental statements (Appraisals of Sustainability (AoSs) and Habitats Regulations Assessments (HRAs)) are available at:
DECC 19th July 2011 more >>
Developers of major energy projects in England and Wales will now have greater certainty on how planning applications will be considered after the Energy National Policy Statements were designated. This follows approval in a House of Commons vote last night. The independent Infrastructure Planning Commission will now use the NPSs to inform planning decisions. The NPSs will be used in future for recommendations by the IPCs successor, subject to passage of the Localism Bill.
DECC 19th July 2011 more >>
Chris Huhne: Yesterday, the House of Commons debated and approved the six energy National Policy Statements which I laid for parliamentary approval on 23 June 2011. I am therefore pleased to inform Parliament that I am today designating them as National Policy Statements under the provisions of Section 5(1) of the Planning Act 2008, and laying copies before you as required by Section 5(9)(b) of the same Act. I believe this designation marks a significant step forward, as it delivers a key part of our plans to move to a low carbon future while protecting the security of the UKs energy supplies at affordable prices.
DECC 19th July 2011 more >>
Yesterday the hacking scandal squeezed a House of Commons debate and vote on the six draft National Policy Statements (NPSs) that deal with energy infrastructure into two hours. All six were approved, despite amendments to the approval motions being tabled by various MPs (Caroline Lucas (Green), Dai Havard, Huw Irranca-Davies, Luciana Berger and Alan Whitehead (all Lab)). Nuclear waste was raised a few times, but nuclear did not dominate the debate as might have been expected. Charles Hendry said that plans for a nuclear waste storage facility had been brought forward to 2029. There is now a six-week period within which the NPSs or the process by which they ended up being designated can be challenged in the courts. This period will therefore expire on 30 August. If anyone gets wind of a challenge I would like to hear about it.
Bircham Dyson Bell 19th July 2011 more >>
Nuclear companies have cleared another hurdle in their quest to build new UK power stations, after parliament approved planning laws allowing plants to be built more quickly. There had been concern that nuclear power plants planned for 2018 and 2020 could be held up for years in lengthy local planning inquiries. It took a four years and 16m words of evidence for Sizewell B to be approved, after a record inquiry in 1985. The new reforms aim to cut the length of inquiries to a maximum of a year, drawing criticism from local interest and green groups. It is the second major boost for nuclear power in a week, after the Government last Tuesday approved new financial support for nuclear generators.
Telegraph 20th July 2011 more >>
On Monday night Parliament voted through the Coalition’s National Policy Statement on nuclear power, which sweeps in the principle that: “…new nuclear power should be able to contribute as much as possible to the UK’s need for new capacity”. This follows last week’s electricity market review white paper. But don’t be fooled into thinking that nuclear power is assured and that a secure, renewable future is within our grasp. It isn’t. To deliver it won’t just cost £200bn, but will rely on a heavily subsidised, state-controlled industry. The programme of the closure of old power stations will be mainly completed by 2014 not 2016 as is often assumed. But the programme of building new nuclear hasn’t even started and what had been promised for 2018, from the likes of EDF and Centrica, won’t come on stream until 2021/22. Nuclear, for instance, will rely on a complex pricing system based on a contract for difference which basically guarantees generating companies a rate of return and provides the financial certainty they need to commit the £8bn that a new nuclear power station costs. But the white paper that will pass this into law won’t be on the statute books for another two to three years, threatening further delays to the building programme. It seems certain the Coalition will have to issue letters of comfort to the boards of EDF and Centrica within the next 12 months, reassuring them they will get the returns they need, if new nuclear plants are to be online by 2021/22. They’ll have to square Brussels later. And it won’t just be the French EDF seeking guarantees from the UK government. Gazprom, Russia’s energy giant, may well be seeking them too if it buys RWE’s npower business and becomes one our biggest power companies, as seems increasingly likely.
Telegraph 20th July 2011 more >>
EDF has hailed parliaments decision to ratify National Policy Statements for energy as a major step towards its nuclear power new build programme. Yesterday, members of parliament voted in favour to formally ratify the National Policy Statement for Nuclear, alongside the other energy statements. This vote follows decision to reform UK electricity market in favour of low carbon generation, including nuclear power, as outlined by a Government white paper published last week.
Construction News 19th July 2011 more >>
Protest
A group of environmental protesters sentenced for planning to shut down the UK’s second-largest power station had their convictions overturned at the Court of Appeal yesterday. The ruling came after it was revealed that the protesters had been infiltrated by an undercover police officer, Mark Kennedy. The 20 activists had been convicted of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass at the coal-fired Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire. In January, they walked free from Nottingham Crown Court with a mixture of community orders and conditional discharges. Lord Judge, who heard the appeal, said there had been “significant” non-disclosure of material “supportive of the defence “.
Independent 20th July 2011 more >>
Guardian 19th July 2011 more >>
Hinkley
The nuclear industry and the Government have been braced for a legal challenge to derail their plans to build new reactors for years. Executives fear an anti-nuclear group such as Greenpeace could tie the controversial programme up in legal knots. But The Times can reveal that the first legal spanner in the works has emerged instead from the most unlikely of sources a cellophane manufacturer in Somerset. Innovia Cellophane has lodged an appeal in the High Court for a judicial review against plans by French energy group EDF Energy to build Britains first new reactor in decades, at Hinkley Point near Bridgewater. EDF wants to acquire land belonging to the company to build a temporary accommodation village campus style complex for 1,000 workers for five years while they construct the nearby reactor. But Innovia is trying to deny EDF access to its land, claiming that EDFs planning application for the complex should be treated separately to its application to build the reactor itself. It has hired top QC and planning expert, Christopher Lockhart-Mummery, to fight its corner. Angus Walker, a planning expert at law firm Bircham Dyson Bell, said: Most people expected that the first demand for a judicial review relating to the Governments new nuclear programme would come from an anti-nuclear group like Greenpeace. It is therefore somewhat surprising that a local landowner has beaten them to it. The legal challenge is also the first legal challenge for the planning quango, the Infrastructure Planning Commission, which is being scrapped next year. It was set up almost three years ago to streamline the planning process for major infrastructure projects like nuclear reactors but has only begun formally examining two proposals.
Times 20th June 2011 more >>
Torness
A Google Street View car came face-to-face with an armed policeman after stumbling on to a high-security Scottish nuclear site yesterday. The Google driver captured the moment the officer, who was armed with a rifle and dressed in black, approached the vehicle at a loading depot near Dunbar, in East Lothian. Alan Turnbull, 56, spotted it while researching Scotland on Google. He said: “The picture was taken at a railhead depot in Scotland, which is used to transport nuclear rods to and from the nuclear plant in Torness.” Google denied it had breached any security measures.
Scotsman 20th July 2011 more >>
This is the awkward moment a Google Street View car came face-to-face with an armed policeman after stumbling onto a high-security nuclear compound.
Small World 19th July 2011 more >>
Europe
European countries today agreed to develop plans to address the ever-growing problem of nuclear waste. However, the EU also agreed to continue the dangerous practice of transporting radioactive material across great distances to storage plants outside EU borders.
Greenpeace Press Release 19th July 2011 more >>
Some European Union (EU) nations may have to speed up their radioactive waste management programs after a new policy directive was adopted in Brussels. The directive officially adopted by the European Council today means every one of the EU’s 27 member states must have, by 2015, a plan to safely dispose of radioactive waste using staff that are properly trained and regulated, as opposed to any other kind of method.
World Nuclear News 19th July 2011 more >>
Radioactive waste from Europes 143 nuclear reactors must in future be buried in secure bunkers, ministers from EU member states have agreed. The new rules force national nuclear authorities to draw up disposal plans by 2015, which will be vetted by Europe’s energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger.
Engineering & Technology Magazine 19th July 2011 more >>
India
Srikumar Banerjee, head of the Atomic Energy Commission, said a four-year long survey had indicated that the Tumalapalli mine near the state capital Hyderabad, which is scheduled to begin operating by late 2011, could provide up to 150,000 tons of uranium. “It’s confirmed that the mine has 49,000 tons and there are indications that the total quantity could be three times that amount” Mr Banerjee said on a visit to a nuclear plant in the western state of Rajasthan on Monday. If that is the case, it will become the largest uranium mine in the world, he added.
Telegraph 20th July 2011 more >>
Japan
Responding to todays announcement by Japanese minister Goshi Hosono that TEPCO and the government had achieved phase 1 of its plan to bring the Fukushima nuclear crisis, the Head of Greenpeace Internationals nuclear campaign Jan Beránek said: The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis is not under control TEPCO and the government have failed to meet several of the plans objectives by rushing to meet formal deadlines and give the impression of normality, instead of accepting that this nuclear crisis will take decades. Ongoing problems with contaminated water and reactor stability are not over and current levels of radiation measurement, as well as information transparency are completely inadequate. The government must focus on ensuring that people are properly protected from increased levels of radioactive exposure in contaminated areas, even those lying well beyond current evacuation zones, such as Fukushima city. People need to be given clear information and adequate support to allow them either evacuate or limit their exposure to radiation. Families with children or pregnant women need to be moved to safer places, while widespread, systematic and transparent farm produce and seafood monitoring must be set in motion to avoid further internal exposure from contaminated food, even in areas that seem far from the Fukushima Daiichi reactors.
Greenpeace 19th July 2011 more >>
As it struggles to resolve the worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century, Japan faces hard policy choices that will have far-reaching implications for the worlds third-largest economy. In the longer term, it must decide what role atomic energy should play in powering an archipelago that lacks oil, coal and gas reserves, and is worryingly seismically active. More immediately, it must either bring many of the nations currently idled reactors back online or find ways to minimise the economic damage that could be caused by resulting capacity shortfalls.
FT 19th July 2011 more >>
Japans prime minister, Naoto Kan has called for his country to become a nuclear-free society. Speaking at a press conference on 13 July 2011, Kan said the Japan should reduce its dependence on nuclear power in a planned and gradual manner and should strive to achieve a society that does not depend on nuclear power.
Nuclear Engineering International 19th July 2011 more >>
The Japanese government moved to contain a spreading scare over radiation-contaminated beef by banning all shipments of cattle from Fukushima prefecture, home to Tokyo Electric Powers stricken nuclear power plant. The decision comes amid growing concerns over the safety of Fukushima beef after it was found that beef from more than 500 cattle, which had been fed rice straw contaminated with high levels of radioactive caesium, had been shipped to stores throughout Japan. Inspections by local authorities found that some of the beef contained radioactive caesium that was eight times the government-designated limit, while Fukushima officials said on Tuesday they detected levels in straw used at some farms that exceed official limits. The contaminated beef is the latest health scare to emerge from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was severely damaged by t he March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
FT 20th July 2011 more >>
Mongolia
A draft Japanese-U.S.-Mongolian agreement over the creation of a nuclear fuel production and spent fuel disposal cycle clearly refers to Mongolia as the destination of such fuel, according to its text, which was obtained by Kyodo News on Monday. The draft statement of intent among the three countries on the so-called “comprehensive fuel services” would create the world’s first framework in which Mongolia exports uranium fuel to other countries and disposes on its soil of the fuel spent there.
Mainichi 19th July 2011 more >>
Iran
Iran has claimed it is installing new high-tech uranium enrichment centrifuges to hasten progress in its nuclear programme, a move that France has condemned as a clear provocation as the Islamic republic continues to defy international sanctions. Tehrans claim on Tuesday that it had installed new centrifuges with better quality and speed will inflame fears in the west that Iran was making good on its promise to build new secret enrichment facilities to make weapons-grade uranium.
FT 20th July 2011 more >>
Guardian 19th July 2011 more >>
BBC 19th July 2011 more >>
Iran has confirmed it is installing new uranium enrichment machines to speed up its nuclear programme. It is installing two newer and more advanced models of centrifuges used to refine uranium for large-scale testing at a research site, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast confirmed.
Engineering & Techology 19th July 2011 more >>
Germany
Following hot on the heels of German energy concerns RWE and Eon, EnBW (EnKK) has announced plans to take legal action against the governments controversial nuclear fuel tax. The government decided to maintain the levy, despite plans for a rapid shift in energy policy away from nuclear fuel to renewable sources of energy.
Low Tax 20th July 2011 more >>
Fuel Poverty
Letter from FoE and others: We hope that, like us, the government found the news that 5.5m households are now in fuel poverty both shocking and distressing. The response to this news must be a change of policy direction. The Warm Front scheme, funding grants for energy efficiency, has been cut by two-thirds and will end in 2013. It will be the first time in over 30 years the UK has been without a publicly funded energy efficiency programme. It should be restored. The energy bill will set up the energy company obligation to tackle fuel poverty. It should be focused on vulnerable and low-income households and communities. But even with this focus it is likely to be insufficient. Contributions from the exchequer, including revenues from carbon taxes, must be urgently considered to increase the scale of the scheme. The energy bill also introduces a minimum energy-efficiency standard for rented homes from 2018. While welcome in principle, this is two years after the target to end fuel poverty. One hundred and eighty MPs have called for it to be introduced in 2016. Radically increasing energy efficiency of the housing stock is the only long-term solution to fuel poverty. Efforts to do this must move much faster, but it will still take years, so greater help with the cost of energy bills is essential. Those in and vulnerable to fuel poverty must not fear the coming winter. The Warm Home Discount, currently restricted to pensioners, must be expanded to include low-income families and those with a disability or long-term health condition. These policies will not end fuel poverty; the government needs to develop a full roadmap to do that. They will, however, mark a shift from the current course, which will see ever greater numbers of households unable to afford to heat their homes as fuel prices rise. We believe it is time for a new start to end fuel poverty, and that doing so will bring dramatic social, economic and environmental benefits.
Guardian 19th July 2011 more >>
