Nuclear Subsidy
A landmark deal to build Britain’s first nuclear plant in a generation is set to be signed tomorrow, bringing to an end two years of wrangling over subsidies for the project. Ministers are expected to announce an agreement with EDF Energy to guarantee the French energy giant tens of billions of pounds of revenue for the proposed £14bn Hinkley Point plant in Somerset. Leaders of rival energy firms warned this weekend that the deal will lead to increases in consumer bills to fund subsidies for the plant. The Sunday Telegraph understands that two Chinese nuclear power giants will both take stakes in the project – China National Nuclear Corporation and China General Nuclear Power Corporation. Their stakes could total 30pc, while Areva, the French company that will supply the reactors for the plant, may also take a 10pc stake. Paul Massara, chief executive of RWE npower, said: “A guaranteed wholesale price for new nuclear power stations will help to deliver Government policy on security of supply and climate change – but, at double the current electricity price, bill payers need to understand that these higher costs will, in time, feed through and put additional pressure on the price customers pay for their energy.” Analysis for The Sunday Telegraph by CF Partners, the advisory and investment firm, suggests that Hinkley Point could directly add £8 a year to average household bills when it starts generating.
Telegraph 19th Oct 2013 read more »
“In the long term,” the chancellor said, new nuclear should lead to “lower and more stable energy bills.” The key phrase there is “long term”. The claim rests on the assumption that the costs of other sources of energy will continue to rise and make £93 appear a bargain sometime in the future. That assumption may or may not prove correct – but coming from a government that supposedly thinks fracking will revolutionise the energy market, it’s a strange argument to hear. But is £93 the real cost anyway? The devil will be in the detail of this contract – specifically, in the indexation formula for the strike price. If Hinkley Point’s entire output is tied to the rate of inflation for 40 years, we could be staring at a truly astronomical cost by the end of the contract. The size of the loan guarantees given to EDF and the Chinese is critical. If they amount to 70% of the debt raised to fund the £14bn construction costs of two reactors, the UK taxpayer is firmly on the hook. And, given that EDF’s recent construction experience in France is massive cost over-runs, is the UK backstopping that risk as well? How is it meant to be good news that, among all the possible sources of capital to partner EDF at Hinkley Point, we have ended up with a company controlled by the Chinese Communist party? Remember the history here. Centrica, the UK’s supposed energy champion, dropped out of the EDF-led consortium, preferring to take a £200m hit than continue down a nuclear path where the costs and risks only ever seem to increase. In the face of homegrown scepticism, guarantees from the UK taxpayer have now persuaded Beijing to climb aboard. This does not sound like a triumph in the making. It sounds instead like the latest instalment in the 30-year saga of the UK’s shambolic and short-termist energy policy.
Guardian 18th Oct 2013 read more »
Ed Davey, the energy secretary, will tomorrow announce a landmark agreement with EDF, the French state nuclear monopoly, and China General Nuclear, Beijing’s government-owned giant. The terms of the financial aid package were still being haggled over this weekend. It is thought that Davey is hoping to commit to pay the French and Chinese just under £90 a megawatt hour — roughly twice the current price — for at least 35 years. That figure is lower than the well-trailed £92 to £93 a megawatt hour range. Even at a slightly reduced level the deal still equates to a total of nearly £90bn, which will be covered by higher customer bills.
Times 20th Oct 2013 read more »
A LONG-AWAITED deal to build Britain’s first nuclear power station in two decades is expected to be unveiled tomorrow in an agreement that will secure the UK’s energy supply but could lead to price rises in the long term. Ed Davey, the energy secretary, was holding 11th-hour discussions this weekend with EDF, France’s state-owned nuclear giant, about an agreement to pave the way for two new reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The French said they would not build them without subsidies, which will be added to household energy rates when the plant is operational in the 2020s. Government sources, however, pointed out that there is no upfront cost to consumers and the deal is vital to “keep the lights on”. EDF had been widely expected to secure a guaranteed rate of about £93 a megawatt hour — double the current wholesale price — for at least 35 years. It is thought Davey was this weekend holding out for a final figure under £90. A Whitehall source said: “This is not a done deal. We are on the brink of agreeing things but it is going right down to the wire. Ministers are digging in their heels to get a better price.”
Times 20th Oct 2013 read more »
When in a few years’ time you have (another) heart attack when your energy bill thumps through the letterbox, remember it was decisions like this that put up the price of power. Unfortunately it’s hard to see an alternative. The price is high, but it works out at about a 5% return over the 40-year life of the plant, not a big reward when you consider the risks being taken by Electricité de France, the builder. It will carry the can if things go wrong, and when it comes to the construction of nuclear plants, they normally do. That’s why governments used to take the risk, not private companies. I don’t, however, see the coalition rushing to set up an atomic power station building business to keep power bills down.
Times 20th Oct 2013 read more »
Power plant deal leaves the UK handing £90bn to France and paying DOUBLE the going price of electricity for 35 years.
Mail on Sunday 20th Oct 2013 read more »
Hinkley
One of Ireland’s leading environmental groups is taking legal action against the British government, claiming that it has failed to consult the Irish people on its next generation of nuclear power stations, which it says could have a big impact on Irish citizens’ lives if there are leaks or accidents. An Taisce, Ireland’s equivalent of the National Trust, will go to the high court in London in December to seek a judicial review challenging the legality of the decision by Ed Davey, the energy secretary, to grant permission to build the plant, which will be 150 miles from the Irish coast. The group is questioning whether the development complies with both the EU’s Environmental Impact Assessment directive and the UK’s own regulations on trans-boundary impacts and consultation. A spokesman for An Taisce denied that the move was a PR stunt that had little chance of success, pointing out that, as a charity, it had a duty to think hard before taking legal action.Greenpeace has launched a separate legal challenge on the grounds that the government has not said where it will deposit the plant’s nuclear waste. In February, Cumbria county council withdrew from the process to find a long-term storage site for the UK’s spent nuclear fuel, leaving the government without a location for the new waste.
Observer 19th Oct 2013 read more »
A DEAL which will see the final piece of the jigsaw for work on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset slot into place has moved a step closer. Chancellor George Osborne has announced that the UK will allow Chinese companies to take a stake in British nuclear power plants, including the proposed plant on the Somerset coast. And Newsqest Somerset – publishers of the Bridgwater Mercury and Somerset County Gazette – understands an announcement could be made on Monday regarding the project.
This is the West Country 17th Oct 2013 read more »
Nuclear Investment
The UK is to allow Chinese companies to take a stake in British nuclear power plants. Is this a good idea? “With continuing concerns about Chinese cyber-attacks on foreign governments’ computer systems, should we really be inviting companies which many believe to be effectively arms of the Chinese government into our critical infrastructure at all?,” writes Stuart Nathan, in trade magazine The Engineer, calling the deal “inexplicable”. In a recent Financial Times blog, former Downing Street energy policy adviser Nick Butler summed up the concerns: “They will be inside the system, with access to the intricate architecture of the UK’s National Grid and the processes through which electricity supply is controlled, as well as to the UK’s nuclear technology.”
BBC 17th Oct 2013 read more »
A leading security expert whose company holds contracts with the Ministry of Defence has warned that Britain’s energy infrastructure is at risk of shutdown from cyber-attacks and the actions of foreign owners. The warning from Chris McIntosh, a former lieutenant colonel in the Royal Signals and current chief executive of ViaSat UK, follows an invitation from George Osborne to Chinese companies to run UK nuclear reactors. “What we have done in Britain is to have identified parts of our infrastructure as critical but not invested in them … Outsourcing to someone else not just makes them more vulnerable to cyber-attacks but allows the new owners to either invest or switch systems off. Would we consider outsourcing the army to China, or Germany or France?”
Guardian 18th Oct 2013 read more »
$22 billion for two EPR reactors in Europe (France and Finland) is about triple the $7.5 billion for the two Chinese EPR reactors. It really is true that the two reactors being built in Europe are three times the price of the two being built in China. So, at first pass, we might think that getting the Chinese to build ours will be cheaper. Sadly, that is to make an error. For these are not cheaper Chinese reactors being built at all. In fact, the important thing to note here is that this is the same reactor being built four times in different places. It would thus be more sensible to assign the cost differences to where they are being built rather than what is being built. We’ve even got much the same engineering companies doing and or overseeing the work in the different locations.
Adam Smith Institute 20th Oct 2013 read more »
Last week George Osborne went cap in hand to Beijing and took a risk that no other country has taken, clearing the way for China to control our nuclear power stations. At the same time an important report on social mobility found that many low and middle-income children face being worse off than their parents. In a world where everything has a price, our children’s value — and our value as a nation — seems to be plummeting.
Times 20th Oct 2013 read more »
Bradwell
Anti-nuclear campaigners are up in arms following claims China is eyeing a deal to build a new power station in Bradwell. The rumour comes as China General Nuclear Power Group looks set to rescue a deal between the Government and EDF Energy over the £14billion nuclear project at Hinkley Point, in Somerset. According to reports, the state-controlled company will take a stake in the project in an attempt to secure a nuclear foothold in Britain, with a view to building its own reactors on other sites, namely Bradwell.
Daily Gazette 19th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
As energy prices continue to rise, Ian McCaig explains why his firm is the only one that can help people cut their power consumption. Ian McCaig has a message for British consumers: turn your heating down or even off. “When did it become OK to walk around our houses in shorts and T-shirts in the middle of winter?” he says. “It just doesn’t make sense.” It’s hardly what one might expect from a British electricity and gas supplier. However, First Utility is not a conventional power firm, while McCaig, an Ayrshire-born coal miner’s son who was previously boss of internet travel firm lastminute.com, is not a traditional power company boss. “The simple message is that if you join First Utility you’ll spend less on energy,” says the chief executive of Britain’s seventh largest energy supplier. “British energy prices to consumers have doubled in the last six years. “I’m not saying they’ll double again in the next six but it’s perfectly reasonable to predict that they could do so over the next 10.” That would mean a large increase in the number of Britons deemed to be in “fuel poverty” – generally defined as people spending more than 10pc of their income on domestic energy.
Telegraph 19th Oct 2013 read more »
Conservative and Liberal Democrat ministers are locked in a battle over whether to reduce the green levies which energy firms say are contributing to the sharp rises in gas and electricity bills this winter. Ed Davey, the Lib Dem Energy Secretary, is said to be “furious” that the Conservatives want to renegotiate the Coalition’s fragile truce on energy policy, which saw last year’s Energy Bill delayed by Coalition infighting. However, David Cameron and George Osborne are understood to have resolved to act in response to the public outcry at soaring energy costs, after British Gas and SSE announced sharp increases in household gas and electricity bills.
Telegraph 19th Oct 2013 read more »
In the short term, the question for many people is clear and urgent – how can less well-off Britons keep themselves warm this winter as fuel prices soar while wages and benefits stagnate? But there is a long-term question we must address. How long can privatisation, along with light-touch regulation, remain the business model for the electricity and gas industries in an era of high base prices, massive investment needs and urgent demands for environmentally friendly services.
Observer 20th Oct 2013 read more »
As prices continue to rise, Julian Knight offers tips on how to keeping costs under control.
Independent 20th Oct 2013 read more »
Small Nukes
Booker: As the shambles of Britain’s energy policy and soaring bills continues to make shock headlines, many in the south-west of England are staring in angry amazement at plans by foreign-owned firms to build two of the largest offshore wind farms in the world just off their coastlines. As we look on in mounting horror at the incredible crisis being created by our government’s insanely skewed “green” energy policies, it is time for a new ingredient to be inserted into the debate: the possibility of producing almost unlimited quantities of reliable, CO2-free electricity very much cheaper than that from those absurdly inefficient wind farms. Two American firms, backed by the US Department of Energy, are now well advanced in developing factory-built “mini-nuclear power plants”, wholly safe and offering a mouthwatering range of advantages over their competitors. The mPower company in North Carolina is developing a two-reactor nuclear power station covering just 40 acres, but capable of generating 360MW round the clock: more than would be produced by the Navitus Bay wind farm at less than two-thirds of the price, and occupying only one 1,200th of the same area. These could be installed on old power station sites next to the grid, and the company tells me that they should be commercially available within nine or 10 years, much sooner than that monster at Hinkley Point.
Telegraph 19th Oct 2013 read more »
Old Nukes
Reuters photographer Suzanne Plunkett traveled across Britain to find the current nuclear plants, shooting each one. The results offer a fascinating glimpse at how these massive facilities, often devoid of any architectural personality, fit onto a landscape of rolling hills, quiet beaches, grazing animals, and charming homes.
Atlantic Cities 18th Oct 2013 read more »
Radhealth
Calls have gone out for a more detailed analysis following a report from the Government’s health watchdog which states that cancer incidence in the Sizewell area is “significantly” lower than for the county as a whole. The Sizewell Stakeholder Group (SSG) asked Public Health England (PHE) to provide data in the light of reports from Germany and elsewhere that one category of cancer – childhood leukaemia – was above average in the vicinity of some nuclear installations. PHE says incidence of cancer within a ten-mile radius of Sizewell is significantly lower than the average for Suffolk. It also reports that the number of people dying from the disease in the same area is generally in line with figures for the county which, itself, has lower mortality rates than the average for England.
East Anglian Daily Times 19th Oct 2013 read more »
Japan
Japan is to solicit proposals from both domestic and overseas nuclear experts and firms for how best to decommission Fukushima’s ruined reactors, officials said Thursday. The International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning will publicly seek ideas as early as this month, an institute official said. While it is not presently putting the entire decommissioning process out to tender, the body’s move will be welcomed by the international community, which has long called for Japan to make better use of available expertise around the globe.
Channel News Asia 17th Oct 2013 read more »
The headlines are alarming: vast leaks of radioactive water, international experts being drafted in and spikes in radiation levels. But how bad is the situation at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant? In November, Tepco is due to carry out a new operation which could be the most risky since the early dark days of the initial crisis sparked by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The World Nuclear Report in 2013 said the operation had the potential to cause “by far the most serious radiological disaster to date” if it goes wrong. It warns of the possibility of apocalyptic scenarios including the evacuation of 10 million people in the surrounding area, including Tokyo.
Channel 4 News 15th Oct 2013 read more »
Tepco admits “radiation levels in groundwater are soaring” at Fukushima — “Strontium readings spike 6,500-fold in one day”.
Energy News 18th Oct 2013 read more »
Heavy rainfall from Typhoon No. 26 forced Tokyo Electric Power Co. to abandon protocol to prevent rainwater from overflowing near tanks holding contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. TEPCO skipped newly introduced procedures when it discharged rainwater that was accumulating within the barrier walls that surround the storage tanks on Oct. 16.
Asahi Shimbun 18th Oct 2013 read more »
Germany
On October 15, Germany announced the renewable surcharge for 2014, which is roughly 1 cent higher per kilowatt-hour than in 2013. Craig Morris says there are signs that an end to higher prices is near.
Energy Transition 20th Oct 2013 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
Sean Morris will give a talk on issues arising from the nuclear arms industry (No More Hiroshimas, No More Nagasakis). His talk will be in the Good Shepherd Church, Mytholmroyd, from 7.30pm on Thursday, October 24.
Hebden Bridge Times 19th Oct 2013 read more »
Green Deal
THE Green Deal, the government’s flagship home energy-saving scheme, which was meant to create up to 60,000 jobs by 2015, has instead caused up to 7,000 redundancies, with more likely to follow. The Green Deal scheme and the energy company obligation (Eco) were designed to make millions of homes cosier and cheaper to heat by helping householders install insulation and other energy-saving measures. David Cameron pledged in February that they would help make Britain “the most energy-efficient country in Europe”. The government aimed to upgrade 10,000 homes by next year and 14m by 2020. However, so few householders have taken up the scheme that hardly any of the promised jobs have emerged.
Times 20th Oct 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
The Scottish Government has announced that it plans to strengthen Scottish Planning Policy as it relates to onshore unconventional oil and gas. The new Scottish Planning Policy, which comes into force next year, will reinforce environmental and community protection and community consultation guidance in relation to planning applications for unconventional gas extraction. It also introduces the need for buffer zones in relation to such planning applications. Amongst the changes to the policy it states that the planning system must “minimise the impacts of extraction on local communities, built and natural heritage, and the water environment.” In addition the new policy says that proposals “should also provide an adequate buffer zone between sites and settlements.”
Scottish Government 19th Oct 2013 read more »
Herald 20th Oct 2013 read more »
Scotsman 19th Oct 2013 read more »
