Nuclear Subsidies
Letter Philip Lardner: The decision of the Con-LibDem coalition government to renege on the £80m loan promised by the outgoing Labour government to Sheffield Forgemasters is not only an example of bad and potentially spiteful government, but is also economically absurd. New nuclear reactors require very large stainless steel forgings – a manufacturing capability which the UK currently lacks. Sheffield Forgemasters intended to move into that market, with its investment potentially avoiding several billion pounds of imports from France or Japan. Along with other players in the UK engineering industry, such as Renfrew’s Doosan-Babcock, Forgemasters is working to create a network of UK firms that can together challenge the dominance of the United States and France in providing the reactors and associated large steel vessels for new nuclear plants. This decision will mean that literally thousands of highly-paid UK jobs and a strategic UK engineering capability will be lost forever.
Herald 19th June 2010 more >>
Trawsfynydd
A bid to list buildings at the decommissioned Trawsfynydd nuclear power station in Gwynedd has been refused by Wales’ Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones.
BBC 19th June 2010 more >>
Hinkley
National Grid’s plans to build a new overhead electricity line between Bridgwater and Avonmouth, currently on show in a series of drop-in exhibitions, have attracted a steady stream of residents keen to find out more about the company’s proposals.
Nailsea People 19th June 2010 more >>
Dounreay
QUESTIONS are being raised about the value the Far North is getting from the extra £12 million the North’s development agency received to help the area cope with the rundown of Dounreay. Highlands and Islands Enterprise admits it cannot say how many jobs the £5m spent so far has created. Calls were made by community representatives this week for the outstanding cash to be ploughed into infrastructural projects that can help create new employment. They also voiced concern that more and more youngsters are leaving the area as a result of a shortage of apprenticeships and a new round of job losses at the nuclear plant.
John O Groat Journal 18th June 2010 more >>
AN administrative error is being blamed for misleading information supplied by Dounreay’s operators to an industry regulator. Local residents Brian Grant and Deirdre Henderson were unhappy a map showed an area immediately outwith the site’s eastern boundary had been monitored for radioactivity, when it had not. They were puzzled as it included a field rented by Ms Henderson from the nuclear site owners – which they knew had not been scanned. It has since emerged the confusion was caused by the map being sent in error by Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). The couple and other residents of Buldoo are up in arms over Dounreay’s new low-level waste dump, which is being built near their homes.
John O Groat Journal 18th June 2010 more >>
DOUNREAY’S operators have denied misleading industry regulators about radioactive monitoring on land adjoining the licensed site. According to a couple who stay in nearby Buldoo, Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) has claimed to have scanned ground when it has not done so. Brian Grant and Deirdre Henderson also complain DSRL has sought to obstruct their bid to buy a piece of land they currently rent from the owners of the nuclear plant.
John O Groat Journal 16th June 2010 more >>
UKAEA
When Lady Judge was told to shut down the UK Atomic Energy Authority, she had other ideas and instead turned it into a £50m coup. Ministers eventuallu opted for a trade sale. The timing was inauspicious. Bankers were appointed to find a buyer in the middle of the recession. “Everyone told me we would be lucky to get £20m. I told them we would get £50m and we did.” Babcock International, the engineering and support services group, fought off about 20 rival bids to complete he deal in October.
Times 20th June 2010 more >>
Sizewell
Flask at Willesden 17th June 2010 more >>
Sweden
Sweden’s parliament has overturned a 30-year ban on building nuclear reactors. The legislation will allow construction of up to ten from next year to replace the ageing ones that still produce 40 per cent of the country’s electricity.
Daily Mail 19th June 2010 more >>
US
A competition between nuclear waste dumps has pulled the Nuclear Regulatory Commission into an unusual reconsideration of its rules to allow moderately radioactive materials to be diluted into a milder category that is easier to bury.
New York Times 18th June 2010 more >>
Southern Co. announced Friday that it is accepting $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees from the federal government, setting the stage for the construction of the first new nuclear reactors in the United States in a generation. The loan guarantees are contingent on the project in Burke County winning approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Business Week 18th June 2010 more >>
Iran
FRANCE is ready to start talks with Iran over its nuclear programme at the International Atomic Energy Agency “without delay”, French leader Nicolas Sarkozy told Russian president Dmitry Medvedev yesterday. During a meeting with Medvedev, the French president said a fourth round of sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council this month were not aimed at punishing Iran, but at convincing the country’s leaders to return to negotiations on its nuclear programme.
Scotland on Sunday 20th June 2010 more >>
Renewables
Controversial 1.7 billion proposals by Forth Ports and Scottish & Southern Energy to build four woodchip-burning power plants may be in danger of being rejected after several Scottish Government ministers appeared to speak out against them. Joint venture Forth Energys plans to build the 120MW biomass electricity plants in Edinburgh, Grangemouth, Dundee and Rosyth, to be formally proposed to the government for consent in the coming weeks, have been undermined by statements to wood suppliers by environment secretary Richard Lochhead and environment minister Roseanna Cunningham. Lochhead told a conference organised by the Confederation of Forest Industries (ConFor) several weeks ago: The Scottish Government is keen to see Scottish-produced biomass utilised mainly for heat-only or for combined heat and power plants … In terms of scale, we want to encourage new b iomass plants that are relatively small in scale, in order to both optimise local supply and to serve localised heat markets.
Sunday Herald 20th June 2010 more >>
Aquamarine Power, one of the front-runners in the wave energy race, has secured 6 million to develop its next prototype but is seeking a further 17m to get it finished. The Edinburgh-based company, which has a concession with part-owner Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) to develop a 200MW wave farm at Brough Head in the Pentland Firth south of Orkney, is seeking the funding for its Oyster 2 device over the next few months in a bid to get it into the water by next summer.
Sunday Herald 20th June 2010 more >>
An offshore turbine more than 500ft tall with a diameter of 475ft is already due to make an appearance in British waters within the next two years. But the 10 megawatt machine, dubbed Britannia, may only mark the start of a growing trend, according to the project’s leader Bill Grainger. He sees no reason why offshore turbines should not get even larger, since greater size and power make economic sense. Mr Grainger, who heads the Britannia design team, told The Engineer magazine: ‘‘There isn’t a technical issue that screams out size limit.
Telegraph 20th June 2010 more >>
With a fortune estimated at close to £100 million, Dale Vince, a former hippy who once lived in a truck, is probably Britain’s most successful eco-tycoon. The self-styled ‘Zero Carbonista’ has made his money – make that lots of money – from a wind farm empire that stretches from Somerset to Scotland. Not everybody is delighted by his financial acumen, however. Vocal critics complain that his company’s rapid growth is one of the most glaring examples of the huge sums that can be earned from the generous subsidies available to wind farm owners.
Telegraph 20th June 2010 more >>
Energy firms will receive thousands of pounds a day per wind farm to turn off their turbines because the National Grid cannot use the power they are producing.
Telegraph 20th June 2010 more >>
Nuclear Submarines
Worsening shortages of staff and funds could jeopardise the safety of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons, the Ministry of Defence has secretly warned. In an internal safety report for 2009 just released under freedom of information law, the MoD says that it is facing increasing difficulties managing its nuclear programme, “with due regard for the protection of the workforce, the public and the environment”. Experts fear the outcome could be disastrous. They point out that the MoD has already run into major problems with decommissioning defunct nuclear submarines, and with leaks from its ageing radioactive waste facilities at the Faslane naval base in Gare Loch.
Sunday Herald 20th JUne 2010 more >>
