Nuclear Subsidies
Sweden, reviving its nuclear power, will not follow Britain’s example of offering state guarantees to fund the construction of new plants, its energy minister said on Wednesday. “We won’t address any direct or indirect subsidies for new nuclear power production in Sweden, which means that we will not introduce any feed-in tariff for nuclear,” Swedish Energy Minister Anna-Karin Hatt told reporters in Paris. “Nuclear in Sweden has to stand on its own, it has to bear its own cost, it has to bear its insurance cost as well as the cost for handling the waste after the uranium has been used,” she said. Hatt said Sweden will stick to its position in spite of the British deal and that the European Commission should examine any possible distortion to competition in the common EU market. “I won’t judge on what kind of choices Great Britain makes, that’s an issue for the British government and the people that have appointed them. But it is very important that the Commission looks into the issue,” she said. The British project will need EU approval in the coming months.
Reuters 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Nuclear Safety
It is worth reading what Naomi Hirose, Tepco’s latest president, had to say in an interview with the Guardian. What happened at Fukushima, he said, was a lesson to the world: “Try to examine all the possibilities no matter how small they are, and don’t think any single counter-measure is foolproof.” In hindsight, one tiny detail, such as waterproof seals on doors, would have saved everything. Is the unthinkable being thought as Britain plans for a new generation of reactors? Fukushima prompted the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation to conduct a safety review in which Mike Weightman, its chief inspector, concluded there were no fundamental safety weaknesses, although his report identified 38 areas for improvement. Is the review, as the independent nuclear analyst John Large maintains, a whitewash? Would UK reactors, as he contends, not survive an hour without power? Documents released under freedom of information rules showed that all eight coastal nuclear locations in the UK, including Hinkley Point, were at risk of flooding and coastal erosion, which would worsen with climate change. The point here is not whether we need nuclear power. It is whether the nuclear industry in Britain is learning from disasters. Is it coming clean about all the risks associated with the venture?
Guardian 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Bradwell
Proposals to transport nuclear waste to north Essex for temporary storage could result in the material being left in the county for the next century, an expert has warned. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is currently consulting on plans to bring Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) from the Dungeness A nuclear plant in Kent to storage facilities in Bradwell-on-Sea as part of the clean-up process of old reactors. Bradwell has been chosen to take the radioactive waste because storage facilities already exist on the site. The plan is that it will be held on the north Essex coast temporarily until a more permanent deep store – called a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) – can be developed and the waste moved there. The government hopes this new store will be available by 2040 but this assessment has been challenged by Professor Andrew Blowers, who is involved in a separate consultation on where a possible GDF might be sited. He said: “The government is talking about 2040 as date but if you talk to people within the nuclear industry they will tell you the waste is still likely to be in Bradwell by the end of the century – not just the waste from Dungeness but waste from Bradwell’s reactor cores.
East Anglian Daily Times 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
DAVID Cameron has made a huge U-turn on eco policies by ordering aides to “get rid of all the green crap” pushing up families’ energy costs. The PM raged that green taxes which add £112 to annual energy bills had to be slashed — in a victory for a Sun campaign.
The Sun 21st Nov 2013 read more »
Last week, EDF became the fifth of the ‘Big Six’ energy providers to announce an increase in energy costs for consumers this autumn. It’s now a regular occurrence that energy price hikes cause anger among UK consumers, followed by stern words from political leaders. But now is the time to respond in a whole new way. It’s time we saw these price hikes not just as another worrying squeeze for consumers, but as a signal that our energy system isn’t working for people or the planet. It’s why Quakers in Britain, along with campaigners and other faith groups, are calling for a new energy economy that would play it’s part in building a more just, equal and sustainable society. Firstly, when it comes to action on energy, decision makers too often perpetuate the myth that we must choose between low-carbon and low-cost. Yet it is becoming increasingly clear that it is both possible and vital to deliver affordable and sustainable energy in the UK and further afield. Whilst Cameron insinuates that green action is a luxury Britain can ill afford in hard times, Parliament’s Energy and Climate Change Committee have warned this week that scaling back green commitments could actually increase consumer energy bills. With the support for renewables, large-scale investment in energy efficiency, and measures to protect the poorest, the UK could make energy more affordable and more sustainable. Just one step towards this would be for the Government to commit now to an energy sector decarbonisation target for 2030. Communities have already started to take back control of the energy market away from the Big Six, developing community-owned models of renewable energy production.
Huffington Post 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Telecom Plus, owner of Britain’s biggest independent energy supplier Utility Warehouse, defends Big Six against accusations of profiteering. The Big Six energy suppliers are being “hung out to dry as scapegoats” by politicians, according to their biggest challenger, Telecom Plus.
Telegraph 20th Nov 2013 read more »
National Grid saw operating profits from running UK gas and electricity networks rise 7.7pc in the first half of the year, after increasing the levies it charges energy bill-payers. The company said it was on track to “deliver strong returns” for the full year in the UK, but saw group half-year pre-tax profits dragged down 7pc to £979m by a weaker performance in its US business.
Telegraph 21st Nov 2013 read more »
Utilities – RWE
There were mounting concerns on Wednesday that RWE npower, one of the big six energy providers, will unveil further disinvestments in Britain following the sale for £218m of a supply business with half a million customers. RWE disposed of its £350m stake in the Horizon nuclear power venture in the UK last year and is searching for a buyer for its DEA oil exploration arm, operator of 13 producing gas fields in the North Sea. The power group needs to raise and save cash due to a decision by the German government to boost renewable power and phase out nuclear plants, but it is also reacting to growing political risk in Britain.
Guardian 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Npower chief executive says Britain is on its way to having a big seven rather than a big six” energy sector after selling its electricity and gas subsidiaries to smaller rival. The £218 million deal sees Telecom Plus, a supplier of energy and telephone services trading as Utility Warehouse, buying npower’s energy subsidiaries. The two have also agreed a wholesale deal in which npower will supply Telecom Plus for 20 years.
Independent 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Telegraph 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Times 21st Nov 2013 read more »
Nuclear Weapons – Book Review
Journalist Patrick Marnham takes us on a twisting, global journey in his devastating critique of nuclear policy. The two atomic bombs the US dropped on Japan three days apart in August 1945 killed tens of thousands instantly and 210,000 by the end of that year. How and why this was done is the grimly compelling subject of a new book from experienced journalist and biographer Patrick Marnham, who traces the development of those most notorious weapons of mass destruction in a cross-continental odyssey that takes him from central Africa to Fukushima after the nuclear disaster of 2011.
Metro 21st Nov 2013 read more »
US – Nuclear Weapons
Trouble inside the Air Force’s nuclear missile force runs deeper and wider than officials have let on. An unpublished study for the Air Force, obtained by The Associated Press, cites “burnout” among launch officers with their fingers on the triggers of 450 weapons of mass destruction. Also, evidence of broader behavioral issues across the intercontinental ballistic missile force, including sexual assaults and domestic violence.
Guardian 20th Nov 2013 read more »
US – Nuclear Waste
A US Court of Appeal has ruled that the Department of Energy (DOE) must stop collecting nuclear waste fees from utilities until it decides how used fuel is to be disposed of.
World Nuclear News 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Iran – nuclear talks
SUPREME Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would not step back from its nuclear rights and his negotiating team had been set limits for talks over the country’s disputed nuclear programme. Negotiators from Iran and six world powers met yesterday for two days of talks in Geneva for the second time this month. A first round narrowly missed reaching an interim deal due to what diplomats said was Iran’s insistence on its right to enrich uranium, and French concerns over an Iranian heavy water reactor.
Herald 21st Nov 2013 read more »
Independent 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Britain’s Foreign Secretary is confident a deal can be struck with Iran – a view not shared by a senior US official.
Sky News 21st Nov 2013 read more »
The US warned on Wednesday that striking a deal over Iran’s nuclear programme would be “very hard”, as a fresh round of talks aimed at breaking the decade-long deadlock began in Geneva.
Telegraph 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Negotiations between world powers and Iran on the future of Tehran’s nuclear programme are entering a second day. It follows a “positive” first meeting between chief negotiators Catherine Ashton and Mohammad Javad Zarif. Both sides have expressed confidence that a breakthrough can be achieved in Geneva. However, Iran’s Supreme Leader has set “red lines” for the meeting.
BBC 21st Nov 2013 read more »
Foreign ministers from six major powers are poised to fly to Geneva by the end of the week if nuclear talks with Iran lead to an agreement, western officials said on Wednesday night.
Guardian 21st Nov 2013 read more »
Renewables – costs
The many millions of words and thousands of hours of talks that have been devoted to combating the climate crisis have always boiled down to one critical question: How do we make clean technologies more competitive than the dirty technologies they have to replace? However, in focusing on the urgent and over-arching need to embrace the clean technologies that can deliver steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions the debates surrounding these various policies are often guilty of missing the reality that is staring them in the face – in many areas clean technologies are already more competitive than dirty technologies.
Business Green 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Renewables – Solar PV
As the most widespread renewable technology we tend to talk about Wind power, but here’s a fantastic example of how the Solar Schools project is helping schools cut carbon, save money, boost budgets, build fundraising capacity and engage pupils, parents and the community with renewable energy. 8 November 2013 Against a backdrop of rising energy prices, schools the length and breadth of Britain are taking control of their energy and generating their own, thanks to 10:10’s successful Solar Schools campaign. Supporters ranging from Mumsnet CEO Justine Roberts to Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker MP are calling on more schools to help create a trailblazing solar revolution across the country. The carbon-cutting campaign helps schools fundraise to buy solar PV and generate their own electricity. And it’s not just schools in the sunny south that can reap the rewards. From Five Islands School on the Isles of Scilly in the Southwest corner of the UK, to Springwell School in Hartlepool in the Northeast, schools throughout England and Wales are recognising the financial, community, environmental and educational benefits of going solar.
Action for Renewables 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Energy Efficiency
MPs will today accuse the government of attempting to “bulldoze” local decision making powers and ignoring the falling costs of renewable energy with its controversial plans to abolish the Code for Sustainable Homes. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has been consulting on plans to scrap the sustainable homes policy as part of a wider review designed to slash red tape for housing developers and shelve rules that are repeated in a number of regulations or are deemed unnecessary.
Business Green 20th Nov 2013 read more »
BBC 20th Nov 2013 read more »
More than 98% of the energy-saving measures installed in British homes by government policies since January have been via the energy companies obligations (ECO) scheme threatened by David Cameron, new statistics published on Tuesday show. The scale of measures installed under ECO far outweighs the green deal scheme, originally intended to retrofit 14m of the UK’s old and leaky homes by 2020, which has completed just 219 households. Energy and climate change minister Greg Barker welcomed an increase in the number of people having their homes assessed for the green deal. “Over 100,000 assessments have now taken place. With more than 270,000 properties made more energy efficient this year thanks to ECO and the green deal, it’s clear that Britain’s homeowners are serious about making their homes warmer and taking control of their energy bills.” But Paul King, at the UK Green Building Council, said: “The figures underline is that energy efficiency measures delivered under the ECO dwarf those under the green deal, which demonstrates just how perverse it is for government to be considering cutting it back.”
Guardian 19th Nov 2013 read more »
From investing in renewables to encouraging staff to cycle, SMEs are adopting a more environmentally friendly way of working to save pounds on power.
Guardian 21st Nov 2013 read more »
Climate Talks
If we are to tackle climate change with the required urgency however, we must do more to increase and speed this transition. We need more investment — and more innovative methods of investment—in mitigation and adaptation initiatives. It is entirely within our reach. An investment of just one or two per cent of global GDP means we can not only manage the risks of climate change, but also create a global economy that is clean, efficient and fundamentally sustainable. We also know from past waves of major technological change that intense periods of creativity and innovation can transform the world, and we are already witnessing a new energy and industrial revolution take hold. Since 2009, the costs of many clean energy sources have tumbled to record lows, triggering a boom in low-carbon technologies such as wind and solar. A record 115 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity was installed world-wide in 2012.
Guardian 20th Nov 2013 read more »
The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests. The companies range from investor-owned firms – household names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP – to state-owned and government-run firms. The analysis, which was welcomed by the former vice-president Al Gore as a “crucial step forward” found that the vast majority of the firms were in the business of producing oil, gas or coal, found the analysis, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Climatic Change.
Guardian 20th Nov 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
British taxpayers’ money will no longer be used to build coal-fired power stations in developing countries, the energy secretary Ed Davey pledged on Wednesday, as the fortnight-long United Nations climate talks entered their final phase.
Guardian 20th Nov 2013 read more »
