Nuclear Subsidies
The UK government must make “radical reforms” to the country’s electricity market if it is to meet its carbon reduction targets, a new report has claimed. KPMG has conducted an in-depth study into power generation in the UK in which it suggests that investment is needed in nuclear power. Richard Noble, European power and utilities partner at KPMG, said that nuclear power “has to play a central role” in the country’s energy mix. Mr Noble added that currently investment in low carbon energy production is based on “inconsistent interventions”. “While there is no simple answer, it is clear that a more consistent design is needed to reward low carbon generation,” he explained, adding that this could be done through changes to price mechanisms.
Low Carbon Economy 20th July 2010 more >>
Europe
Interview: Patricia Lorenz is a Friends of the Earth Europe’s spokesperson and expert on nuclear issues. She started her anti-nuclear activities at Global 2000 in 1993. Working for Friends of the Earth Europe she founded the European Nuclear Power Campaign and organized the Euratom Conference. In Vienna she was engaged in several projects such as Euratom and Nuclear Waste Watch. She is the antinuclear coordinator for the Friends of the Earth Europe based in Brussels and has organized and participated in several high-profile international conferences and workshops.
World Press 1st July 2010 more >>
Companies
Electricite de France SA, Europe’s biggest electricity generator, plans to place half the French power grid into a fund to help pay for the dismantling of nuclear reactors, according to a person familiar with the project. State-controlled EDF aims to complete the transfer of a 50 percent holding in Reseau de Transport d’Electricite by the end of the year in a move that could provide about 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion) to finance taking apart old nuclear reactors, the person said, declining to be identified because the plan is confidential. EDF is in talks with the government to pass a decree that would make the move compatible with existing rules on paying for decommissioning and would allow the utility to remove RTE debt from its balance sheet, the person said.
Business Week 20th July 2010 more >>
Supply Chain
A manufacturer which had an £80m loan cancelled by the new government has shelved plans to buy equipment to make parts for nuclear power stations. Sheffield Forgemasters’ chief executive said efforts to secure funding for the 15,000-tonne metal press would be suspended “for the time being”.
BBC 20th July 2010 more >>
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd. of South Korea and General Electric have announced a long-term agreement that extends their global cooperation in the development of next-generation nuclear and fossil steam turbines and generators. The immediate focus will be the development of larger output turbine-generators for South Korea’s next generation nuclear reactors, according to company statements.
Nuclear Engineering International 20th July 2010 more >>
Energy Supply
The BIS growth paper said demand for infrastructure investment up to 2030 was forecast to be significantly higher than historic levels in order to meet the demands of population growth, the needs of the energy sector and the development of green technologies. Approximately £150bn was invested in UK infrastructure between 2005-2010, predominantly by the private sector. “There are substantial challenges to meeting potential future demand for infrastructure of around £40-50bn per annum until 2030.
Guardian 21st July 2010 more >>
Neil Woodford, the star fund manager at Invesco Perpetual, is not one of the City’s more outspoken figures, so when he does stick his head above the parapet, it’s worth taking notice. And yesterday, Mr Woodford did more than that: you might say he climbed on top of the parapet and waved his hands about in a concerted bid to attract attention. A public letter from Mr Woodford to Lord Mogg, the chairman of the energy watchdog Ofgem, was lengthy and made a number of serious points. In essence, however, it boiled down to a threat: change the way you regulate the industry or investors such as Invesco won’t contribute to the cost of upgrading the UK’s energy production facilities over the next decade. The Invesco warning shot is not an isolated incident – it reflects a frustration that many leading figures in the energy industry have been expressing privately for some time now. Ofgem has come in for a great deal of criticism in recent years for its failure to protect consumers – in particular to get gas and electricity bills down – and that has prompted a change in the way it behaves. Those it regulates, meanwhile, have grown more and more upset about their perception that Ofgem has become increasingly consumerist.
Independent 21st July 2010 more >>
Regulation
The government says it will retain the Food Standards Agency, following concerns the independent watchdog would be scrapped under reforms.
BBC 20th July 2010 more >>
Guardian 21st July 2010 more >>
The coalition government will on Thursday announce plans to axe its sustainability watchdog in order to meet targets for public sector spending cuts. Proponents of the Sustainable Development Commission argue that its remit to advise government on reducing its carbon emissions and other resource use saves far more money that it costs. The plan to scrap the Sustainable Development Commission is scheduled to come ironically on the day that the agency will release its annual report into green improvements to the government’s operations. This lists tens of millions of pounds worth of savings from fuel costs, water, waste and other things. Many of the changes were prompted by advice from the SDC which has staff of around 60 and a budget of just under £3m, and which was set up by the then deputy prime minister John Prescott in June 2000 after persuasion from Michael Meacher MP.
Guardian 21st July 2010 more >>
Hinkley
EDF Energy, under the name of its subsidiary the NNB Generation Company Ltd (which I guess stands for ‘new nuclear build’), has started the formal pre-application process for the authorisation of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.
Bircham, Dyson & Bell 19th July 2010 more >>
Scotland
Letter from Steuart Campbell: Congratulations to John McTernan for so comprehensively setting out the case for nuclear power and against so-called renewable generation (Comment, 19 July). Since energy is a reserved matter, there seems to be no reason why EDF should not apply now for permission to build Hunterston C to call the SNP government’s bluff. There would be no rational grounds on which the SNP could refuse this. All the evidence is that, without such a replacement, Scotland is heading for blackouts. In any case, there is the possibility that the SNP will cease to govern Scotland next May and the application might succeed. (See other letters too)
Scotsman 20th July 2010 more >>
Labour delayed for more than a decade before reaching a decision on new civil nuclear stations, and announced its plans for ten new stations only in November last year. An SNP government in Holyrood cannot continue forever. Why, then, was there no plan for a new nuclear station in Scotland? Lack of courage? There is evidence that a small majority of Scots is not anti-nuclear.
Scotsman 21st July 2010 more >>
US
Americans are not particularly good at learning even the most painful lessons. Denial is our default mode. But at the very least this tragedy in the gulf should push us to look much harder at the systems we need to prevent a catastrophic accident at a nuclear power plant, and for responding to such an event if it occurred. Right now, we’re not ready. Nuclear plants are the new hot energy item. The Obama administration is offering federal loan guarantees to encourage the construction of a handful of new plants in the U.S., the first in decades. Not to be outdone, Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a certifiable nuke zealot, would like to see 100 new plants built over the next 20 years. There is no way to overstate how cautiously we need to proceed along this treacherous road. Building nuclear power plants is mind-bogglingly expensive, which is why you need taxpayer money to kick-start the process. But the overriding issues we need to be concerned about, especially in light of our horrendous experience with the oil gushing in the gulf for so long, are safety and security.
New York Times 20th July 2010 more >>
China
China’s new nuclear build programme took a step forward today after China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group announced it will start work on a plant in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region later this month. Last week the state council approved the 24 billion yuan ($3.5bn) project in which China Power Investment Corporation and Guangxi Investment Group are partners, according to the China Daily. The new plant will have six pressurised water reactors with an installed capacity of about 1,000MW each. At present there are around 11 nuclear reactors at six plants, all located on the country’s east coast, with a combined installed capacity of 9GW. But the government last year announced plans to increase its installed nuclear power capacity almost tenfold to 86GW by 2020.
Business Green 20th July 2010 more >>
Renewables
The next generation of solar cells will be small. About the size of lint. But the anticipated impact: That’s huge. Some of these emerging electricity-generating cells could be embedded in windows without obscuring the view. Engineers envision incorporating slightly larger ones into resins that would be molded onto the tops of cars or maybe the roofs of buildings. One team of materials scientists is developing microcells that could be rubber-stamped by the millions onto a yard of fabric. When such cells shrink in size but not efficiency it becomes hard to imagine what they couldn’t electrify.
Science News 31st July 2010 more >>
A mini revolution in eco-friendly computing is taking place in the depths of the 19th-century Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral in downtown Helsinki. The Finnish IT company Academica has installed a new 2MW database server centre in an empty second world war bomb shelter meant to protect city officials in the event of a Russian attack. Water warmed while cooling the servers will go on to provide heat for 500 homes or 1,000 flats in a city that often suffers winters of -20C. After the heat is extracted, the water will be recycled back to cool the servers again.
Guardian 21st July 2010 more >>
Trident
There are big arguments at the Ministry of Defence this week, and the row about who pays for a new Trident missile system, if at all, is only part of it. The current defence budget, at somewhere around £37.5bn a year, is already overspent by a wide margin – particularly on equipment. Under the coalition government’s austerity proposals, defence spending must be reined in by between 10% and 20% in the first instance, and by 33% within five years.
Guardian 20th July 2010 more >>
Britain’s defence programme is “entirely unaffordable” as it stands, the defence secretary, Liam Fox, said yesterday, in a speech preparing contractors and the military for a shift in spending priorities. His assessment came after he confirmed over the weekend that the Ministry of Defence was being asked to foot the bill for the capital costs of renewing Trident. If he loses that battle, ministerial allies have warned there would have to be a further cut to troop numbers than that already accepted by Fox.
Guardian 21st July 2010 more >>
