Hinkley
To fight the plans for new nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point, please object to EDF’s preliminary works. You can find details and post your comments on the West Somerset Councils website.
West Somerset June 2011 more >>
Short film about Fukushima, Hinkley and the renewable alternatives which Stop Hinkley and Greenpeace have submitted for showing at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.
You Tube 10th June 2011 more >>
Opinion Polls
In the wake of new nuclear power plant build rebukes in both Germany and Italy, a new poll conducted by international research company Ipsos for Reuters News finds that global support for Nuclear Energy has dropped quickly to 38% (down 16 points from 54%) to now become lower than support for coal (48%)fuelled by a 26% jump in new opponents to nuclear power (above 50% in India, China, Japan and South Korea) who indicate that the recent crisis in Japan caused their decision.
IPSOS Mori 20th June 2011 more >>
Nuclear Safety
The United Nations nuclear watchdog is weighing whether atomic-plant operators should be tapped to fill budget shortfalls needed to finance tougher safety reviews in the wake of Japans Fukushima Dai-Ichi meltdown. The nuclear industrys contribution to safety reform will be discussed today by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, where delegates from 151 countries are convening for the second day of a one-week meeting.
Bloomberg 20th June 2011 more >>
The International Atomic Energy Agency will formulate tougher nuclear safety measures by the second half of 2012, IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun.
Asahi 21st June 2011 more >>
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday urged a worldwide safety review to prevent new nuclear disasters, but acknowledged that since the IAEA lacks enforcing authority, any improvements are only effective if countries apply them.
Japan Today 21st June 2011 more >>
STV 20th June 2011 more >>
Security of Supply
A recent NEA/OECD report qualifies the concept of security of supply. It concludes that nuclear power has helped increase nations ability to source their own provisions of energy, although doing so often requires action by the government.
Nuclear Engineering International 20th June 2011 more >>
Companies
Sweden’ state-owned energy company Vattenfall has the worst performance among 27 European nuclear power operators, according to a report from the United Nations energy agency. Statistics from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reveal that Vattenfall’s nine nuclear reactors in Germany and Sweden have only been operating at 55 percent capacity the last two years, Sveriges Television (SVT) reports.
The Local 20th June 2011 more >>
Amid a global slowdown and fears over a deepening of the eurozone debt crisis, the last thing markets need is for Tokyo Electric Power Company to be downgraded in the domestic market, which could have huge implications for investors.
FT 20th June 2011 more >>
Emergency Planning
The British government made contingency plans at the height of the Fukushima nuclear crisis which anticipated a “reasonable worst case scenario” of the plant releasing more radiation than Chernobyl, new documents released to the Guardian show. The grim assessment was used to underpin plans by the British embassy in Tokyo to issue protective iodine pills to expats and visitors. It also prompted detailed plans by Cobra, the government’s emergency committee, to scramble specialist teams to screen passengers returning from Japan at UK airports for radioactive contamination. The UK government’s response to the unfolding crisis is revealed in documents prepared for Sir John Beddington, the chief scientist and chair of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), and released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. The 30 documents include advice from the National Nuclear Laboratory on damage to the plant, public safety assessments from the Health Protection Agency (HPA), computer models of the radioactive plume from Defra’s Radioactive Incident Monitoring Network (Rimnet), and the worst case scenario that might unfold at the plant.
Guardian 20th June 2011 more >>
Japan
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, citing economic concerns, said he would allow nuclear power plants to resume operations as early as possible after their safety is confirmed based on stricter safety measures.
Asahi 21st June 2011 more >>
Japan’s economy will suffer major damage if it reduces output from nuclear power stations to zero in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, its trade minister said.
Reuters 20th May 2011 more >>
Prefectural governors who hold the keys to restarting Japan’s idle nuclear reactors did not appear to be convinced by the government’s June 18 statement declaring nuclear power plants safe enough to resume operations.
Asahi 21st June 2011 more >>
The first “independent” review of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was published today and it does not make reassuring reading. Japan is perhaps the most technologically advanced nation on Earth and yet, time after time, the report finds missing measures that I would have expected to already be in place. It highlights the fundamental inability for anyone to anticipate all future events and so deeply undermines the claims of the nuclear industry and its supporters that this time, with the new generation of reactors, things will be different. I used quote marks on the word “independent” because the report comes from the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) which, while independent of Japan, is far from independent from the nuclear industry it was founded to promote. But this conflict of interest only makes the findings of the IEAE’s experts more startling.
Guardian 20th June 2011 more >>
Japan needs nuclear power as its main energy source and the country shouldnt follow European examples in banning new reactors, said Shosuke Mori, chairman of Kansai Electric Power Co., the nations second-biggest power producer.
Bloomberg 21st June 2011 more >>
A government panel agreed Monday to pay 100,000 yen each monthly to those who have been forced to evacuate from areas around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to compensate for their psychological pains.
Japan Today 21st June 2011 more >>
US
Safety has taken a back seat to cost-cutting at most of the nation’s nuclear power plants, sparking fears that America could be facing its own Fukushima disaster. An investigation by the Associated Press has revealed federal regulators are repeatedly weakening – or simply failing to impose – strict rules. Officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have frequently decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril.
Daily Mail 20th June 2011 more >>
Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation’s aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews.
AP 20th June 2011 more >>
As record floodwaters along the Missouri River drench homes and businesses, concerns have grown about keeping a couple of notable structures dry: two riverside nuclear power plants in Nebraska. Despite the official assurances of safety, the unusual sight of a nuclear plant surrounded by water coming so soon after the still unfolding nuclear disaster that followed the earthquake and tsunami in Japan has prompted concern and speculation, leading one utility to add a feature to its Web site called flood rumor control. It says, There has been no release of radioactivity and none is expected.
New York Times 21st June 2011 more >>
UAE
A national opinion poll has found strong support for the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) nuclear energy program, with 85% of the respondents believing in the importance of peaceful nuclear energy for the nation.
World Nuclear News 20th June 2011 more >>
France
France, which depends on nuclear power for about three quarters of its electricity, should progressively exit from atomic energy, according to 60 percent of respondents to a Viavoice opinion poll published in todays Liberation newspaper. Thirty-five percent are against the change, the newspaper said.
Bloomberg 20th June 2011 more >>
Germany
The European Investment Bank is confident that Germany will be able to fund its ambitious plan of closing its 17 nuclear plants and replacing them with renewable energy and gas-fired power stations by 2022, a bank official said.
FT 20th June 2011 more >>
Renewables
Ministers from the British Isles, Ireland, The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man today signed up to a historic deal to cooperate on exploiting the major wind and marine resource in and around the islands. The states involved agreed to co-operate in the All Islands Approach to energy at this afternoons British Irish Council in London.
DECC Press Release 20th June 2011 more >>
Prices of solar panels are falling so fast that by 2013 they will be half of what they cost in 2009, according to a report from Ernst & Young that argues solar electricity could play “an important role” in meeting the UK’s renewable energy targets. The average one-off installation cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels has already dropped from more than $2 (£1.23) per unit of generating capacity in 2009 to about $1.50 in 2011. Based on broker reports and industry analysis, the report forecasts that those rates of decline will continue, with prices falling close to the $1 mark in 2013. At present, solar PV is economically viable in the UK for homeowners, businesses and investors only because of government subsidies given out via feed-in tariffs (Fits). But the new analysis suggests that falling PV panel prices and rising fossil fuel prices could together make large-scale solar installations cost-competitive without government support within a decade sooner than is usually assumed.
Guardian 20th June 2011 more >>
Solar industry campaigners have their last chance to save much-needed subsidies today as MPs meet to decide if the Government’s controversial cuts warrant a debate in the House of Commons.The Merits Committee, chaired by Lord Goodlad, is to consider a letter co-signed by some 58 organisations and businesses including the Solar Trade Association, the Co-operative, and the Town and Country Planning Association calling for a rethink of Government plans to slash the “feed-in tariff” (FiT) scheme barely more than year after it was introduced. The committee could trigger a parliamentary debate and vote on the Government’s proposals to cut the subsidy rates available to solar power projects of more than 50 kilowatts (kW). Much of debate centres on the comparative cost of solar power. A report from the Climate Change Committee last month backed new nuclear as the cheapest option for the green power Britain needs to hit its carbon-reduction targets. But the solar industry disputes the point, claiming that solar costs should be compared with retail prices, because of the scale of the technology. A report from Ernst & Young yesterday suggests that solar will compete with retail grid prices as soon as mid-2012, if current subsidy levels are maintained, rather than the mid-2016 “parity” point with wholesale costs.
Independent 21st June 2011 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
A mind boggling $1,000 billion will be spent by the worlds nine nuclear-armed powers (including Britain) over the next decade on modernising nuclear weapons, says campaign group Global Zero – while UK budgets for social and environmental spending are slashed. But, you can do something: learn more about the issues by heading to your local cinema tomorrow, Tuesday June 21, to join the UK premiere of Countdown to Zero for Demand Zero Day. Produced by the team behind An Inconvenient Truth, Countdown to Zero is a chilling wake-up call about the urgency of the nuclear threat in the 21st century.
IB Times 21st June 2011 more >>
