Nuclear Subsidies
Peter Atherton Why has Britain signed up for the world’s most expensive power station? MPs owe it to the taxpayer to throw out the Hinkley Point deal. As part of our plan to help Britain succeed, after months of negotiation, today we have a deal for the first nuclear power station in a generation to be built in Britain.’ That was David Cameron in October, announcing that his government had reached an agreement with the French power giant EDF over the construction of two reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The Prime Minister must have a funny idea of success, because the more we learn about the Hinkley deal, the more we can see that it is one of the worst ever signed by a British government. Even the European Union can smell a rat. Last month, the European Commission published an initial report suggesting that the contract involves illegal back-door government subsidies to EDF, and will now carry out a full investigation. But it is already obvious that Hinkley is not a good deal for Britain.
Spectator 22nd Feb 2014 read more »
The Energy and Climate Change Committee has published a short report today calling for greater parliamentary scrutiny of the Levy Control Framework (LCF), which caps the cost of the energy and climate change schemes that consumers pay for through their energy bills.
Parliament 17th Feb 2014 read more »
Energy Policy
George Osborne today made a fresh push for fracking, claiming shale gas was “green” energy. The Chancellor also blasted critics of nuclear power, which he said was “by definition a green source of energy generation”. He added that the UK was going ahead with a “new generation” of nuclear power stations.
Mirror 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Climate change should be tackled in “as cheap a possible way”, George Osborne said on Thursday as he called on environmentalists to drop their “ideological” opposition to nuclear power and shale gas. In some of his most significant remarks on climate change since he said in 2011 that Britain should go no faster than any other EU country in cutting carbon emissions, the chancellor said it was important not to be “theological” about finding the right energy mix.
Guardian 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Times 21st Feb 2014 read more »
Sellafield
THOUSANDS of people are demanding the deer threatened with death in a controversial cull are saved. They are asking Sellafield Ltd bosses not to start shooting animals trapped between two security fences at the site. Animal rights and anti-nuclear activists protested against the cull at the gates on Sunday. And support for their cause is growing – from all over the world. Three online petitions demanding a change of heart from nuclear chiefs have so far gathered nearly 3,700 signatures.
Whitehaven News 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Hartlepool
THE operating life of Hartlepool’s nuclear power station could be extended again. And if it is, it could mean 700 people having their jobs safeguarded to 2024, and possibly beyond. The news came from the director of the plant, Simon Parsons, just hours after another piece of good news which saw a multi-million pound deal unveiled. Just yesterday, the plant’s owners EDF Energy revealed a deal with Doosan Babcock which is expected to be worth £70m a year over several years.
Hartlepool Mail 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Hinkley
STOP Hinkley will hold a public meeting on the ‘Radiation Risks of Nuclear and Fracking and How We Can Transform the Energy System’. Stop Hinkley and South West Against Nuclear are hosting a meeting at Bridgwater Victoria Park Community Centre on February 25 from 7pm to 9pm.
This is the West Country 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Oldbury
THE next steps have been taken in the process which is likely to result in a multi- million pound nuclear power station in South Gloucestershire. The Japanese firm behind the plans to build a power station at Oldbury has launched a major consultation process that is due to last the next 12 weeks. The specially created business, Horizon Nuclear Power, wants to put what are known as advanced boiling water reactors on the site in South Gloucestershire and at second power station in Anglesey. A process has now been launched into the best kind of nuclear reactor to use in the power stations. The national consultation is set to run for 12 weeks and follows an application for what is known as ‘regulatory justification’ for the new ABWR style of nuclear reactors.
Bristol Post 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Europe
Ever since he took up his post two years ago, UK Energy Secretary Edward Davey has championed tirelessly the need for a binding target across Europe of a 40 per cent cut in carbon dioxide emissions between 1990 and 2030. It now looks pretty certain that his campaign will be successful. The European Parliament has voted in favour. A large number of national governments are concurring. The European Commission has published a detailed policy paper, endorsing this figure. So far, so uncontroversial. But that target, Mr Davey argues, is sufficient by itself. He does not believe it necessary to have any related targets – whether covering renewables or energy efficiency. “Adopting an ambitious and binding greenhouse gas target will provide…a compelling reason for us all to do more on energy efficiency. But we should not prejudge the balance between increasing efficiency and deploying other low carbon measures to meet the greenhouse gas targets,” he maintains. Concentrating upon greenhouse gases alone means approaching the entire policy area from too narrow a standpoint. Granted the threat of runaway climate change requires effective action to contain its worst excesses. But there are a number of other policy priorities out with carbon abatement that all of Europe is seeking to address simultaneously. To cap it all, those who seek to limit Europe to a single, solely ecological, target are endorsing a policy that will “result in lower GDP and employment, compared to a framework based on more ambitious targets for renewables and energy efficiency.”
ACE 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Energy Supply
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has warned that the intense political debate over gas and electricity prices has put Britain at risk of blackouts as soon as next year. Rick Haythornthwaite, Centrica’s new chairman, said threats to impose price caps or break up Britain’s biggest energy supplier was raising the real possibility of “the lights going out in Britain”.
Guardian 20th Feb 2014 read more »
The lights could go out in Britain in 2016 because Labour’s pledge to freeze energy prices is deterring investment in new power plants, Britain’s biggest energy supplier has warned.
Telegraph 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Utilities
The tide has taken a decisive turn against the big six energy providers, with British Gas conceding it has lost almost half a million customers in the past 15 months following much-criticised price rises. The company admitted yesterday that it lost 362,000 accounts last year, after a 9.2 per cent rise in prices in November accelerated an exodus of financially-struggling customers. A further 100,000 have left so far this year. Rick Haythornthwaite, Centrica’s chairman, also launched a tirade against the Energy Secretary Ed Davey and the Labour leader Ed Miliband for “immensely damaging” political interference.He said these interventions – chiefly Mr Miliband’s pledge last September to freeze energy bills for two years, and Mr Davey’s suggestion last week that British Gas could need to be broken up because of its large market share and high profit margins – increased the chance of the “lights going out”.
Independent 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Sam Laidlaw fuelled speculation over his exit from Centrica on Thursday by refusing to say how long he anticipated remaining at the energy giant’s helm, as he unveiled a 2pc fall in annual profits.
Telegraph 20th Feb 2014 read more »
The boss of Centrica has refused to commit to another year at the helm of the British Gas owner as frustration mounts at political attacks on the energy industry. Sam Laidlaw, Centrica’s chief executive, has been the target of personal attacks by consumer groups and politicians in recent months over rising household gas and electricity bills. With executives at the parent company of British Gas talking openly about succession planning for one of the most toxic jobs in business, the tight-lipped executive would say only: “I’m very focused on what I’m doing.” Mr Laidlaw’s friends say that he is weary of increasingly spending his time dealing with politicians, rather than running the company.
Times 20th Feb 2014 read more »
US – Plutonium Disposition
DOE Needs to Analyze the Root Causes of Cost Increases and Develop Better Cost Estimates. The Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) identified various drivers for the close to $3 billion increase in the estimated cost of the Plutonium Disposition program’s two construction projects—the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility and the Waste Solidification Building (WSB). These drivers included DOE’s approval of the MOX facility’s cost and schedule estimates before design was complete and schedule delays in construction of the WSB. According to NNSA, the cost of critical system components for the MOX facility averaged 60 percent higher than estimated as a result of approval of estimates before design was complete.
GAO 13th Feb 2014 read more »
US – new reactors
The US Government is providing loans worth $6.5 billion for the construction of the nation’s first new nuclear reactors in more than 30 years. The two 1,100MW nuclear reactors, which will be built at the Alvin W.Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, is a “first mover for a new generation of advanced nuclear reactors”, the US Department of Energy said.
Energy Live News 21st Feb 2014 read more »
US – radwaste
Federal officials Thursday confirmed a leak of nuclear waste at a southeastern New Mexico repository, but it could be weeks before workers can safely access the underground dump to determine what happened. The release of radiation from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant poses no public health threat, officials emphasized, but the state environment secretary said he was concerned with the lag in getting information about the incident.
Las Vegas Journal 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Iran
SIX world powers and Iran have made a good start to talks in Vienna towards reaching a settlement in the decade-old dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme. However, they did acknowledge that their plan to get a deal in the coming months was very ambitious. By late July, Western governments hope to hammer out an accord that would lay to rest their suspicions that Iran is seeking the capability to make a nuclear bomb, an aim it denies, while Tehran wants an end to economic sanctions. Wide differences remain on how this could be achieved, although the two sides said yesterday they had agreed an agenda and timetable for such an accord during meetings in the Austrian capital this week.
Herald 21st Feb 2014 read more »
Reuters 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Guardian 20th Feb 2014 read more »
The size of Iran’s most contested uranium stockpile has declined significantly for the first time in four years following a landmark nuclear deal with world powers in November, the U.N. atomic watchdog reported on Thursday. As a result, Iran’s holding of uranium gas enriched to a fissile purity of 20 percent – a relatively short technical step away from the level required for nuclear weapons – is now well below the amount needed for a bomb, if processed more.
Reuters 20th Feb 2014 read more »
A unilateral U.S. oil embargo on Iran is expected to remain in place even if a long-term nuclear agreement between Tehran and six world powers is reached that includes an easing of international sanctions, a U.S. official said on Thursday.The embargo pre-dates the decade-long nuclear dispute with Iran. Washington cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran during a hostage crisis shortly following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and began imposing sanctions around the same time.
Reuters 20th Feb 2014 read more »
UAE
The Emirates Nuclear Energy (ENEC) has installed a condenser at the Barakah nuclear power plant (NPP), completing a significant milestone in the development of the UAE’s peaceful nuclear energy program. Manufactured and assembled in South Korea, the condenser is made up of three sections connected by equalizing ducts, with each section measuring 26m in length and weighing 700,000kg.
Energy Business Review 20th Feb 2014 read more »
Renewables – Ireland
The Irish Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources, Mr Pat Rabbitte, T.D., has announced the launch of the Irish government’s new Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (OREDP) aimed at providing a framework for the sustainable development of Ireland’s offshore renewable energy resources
Renewable Energy Magazine 18th Feb 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Chevron has been accused of turning a tragedy into farce, after it tried to make amends for a fatal fracking explosion by offering people pizza. One of the US energy giant’s hydraulic fracturing wells exploded last week, in a field just outside the small towns of Bobtown and Dunkard Township, Pennsylvania, killing a man and starting a fire that burned for four days.
Telegraph 20th Feb 2014 read more »
