Japan
Rising temperatures around the core of one of the reactors at Japan’s quake-crippled nuclear plant sparked new concern on Tuesday and more water was needed to cool it down, the plant’s operator said. Despite hopes of progress Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it needed more time before it could say the reactors were stabilized.
Reuters (4.52pm GMT) 22nd March 2011 more >>
Workers desperately battling to contain a meltdown at Japan’s crippled nuclear plant today faced a fresh crisis as a pool for storing spent fuel began heating up. The news came as diplomatic sources said the Icelandic capital Reykjavik had become the first European city to detect radioactive particles believed to be from the Fukushima plant. Temperatures in the facility have already reached boiling point and staff believe this is responsible for the clouds of steam drifting from reactor two yesterday. The hot storage pool is another complication in bringing the plant under control and ending the nuclear crisis which followed the massive earthquake and tsunami which devastated the north-east coast on March 11.
Daily Mail 22nd March 2011 more >>
The power plant at the centre of the biggest civilian nuclear crisis in Japan’s history contained far more spent fuel rods than it was designed to store, while its technicians repeatedly failed to carry out mandatory safety checks, according to documents from the reactor’s operator.
The risk that used fuel rods present to efforts to avert disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant was underlined on Tuesday when nuclear safety officials said the No 2 reactor’s storage pool had heated to around boiling point, raising the risk of a leakage of radioactive steam.
Guardian 22nd March 2011 more >>
The stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan was stacked high with more uranium than it was originally designed to hold and had repeatedly missed mandatory safety checks over the past decade according to a Reuters special report.
Waste Management World 22nd March 2011 more >>
Engineers at Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have reconnected all six reactors to the electrical grid, but are not yet ready to turn the power on.
Telegraph 22nd March 2011 more >>
Independent 22nd March 2011 more >>
Engineers at Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant battled to stop a pool holding spent nuclear fuel from boiling, as fears about contamination spread to the country’s seafood industry.
Telegraph (1.54pm GMT) 22nd March 2011 more >>
Just a month before a powerful earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant at the center of Japan’s nuclear crisis, government regulators approved a 10-year extension for the oldest of the six reactors at the power station despite warnings about its safety. The regulatory committee reviewing extensions pointed to stress cracks in the backup diesel-powered generators at Reactor No. 1 at the Daiichi plant, according to a summary of its deliberations that was posted on the Web site of Japan’s nuclear regulatory agency after each meeting. The cracks made the engines vulnerable to corrosion from seawater and rainwater. The generators are thought to have been knocked out by the tsunami, shutting down the reactor’s vital cooling system.
New York Times 21st March 2011 more >>
“As you will have seen there is no roof in place”
IAEA Briefing (1.00) 17th March 2011 more >>
People are concerned about the level of water in the spent fuel pools because if the water level drops and the fuel is exposed to air for long enough, the temperature of the fuel rods can increase to the point they suffer damage and release potentially large amounts of radioactive gases. Cooling has been restored to the pools in Units 5 and 6, and efforts to restore cooling at Units 1 and 2 are underway. The biggest concern is at Units 3 and 4, and in both cases explosions have damaged the reactor buildings that surround the spent fuel pools, so that gases released from the spent fuel pools would go directly into the atmosphere.
All things Nuclear 21st March 2011 more >>
Radioactive materials that exceeded regulation levels have been found in seawater around the endangered Fukushima nuclear plant, but government officials offered reassurances Tuesday they will not have an immediate effect on people’s health.
Japan Times 23rd March 2011 more >>
Residents of Fukushima and neighboring prefectures, let alone Tokyo, have little to fear from radiation exposure because current levels are far below what would pose a health risk, a newly appointed medical adviser to Fukushima Prefecture said Tuesday.
Japan Times 23rd March 2011 more >>
The central dilemma of nuclear power in an increasingly water-stressed world is that it is a water guzzler, yet vulnerable to water. And decades after Lewis L. Strauss, the chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Agency, claimed that nuclear power would become “too cheap to meter,” the nuclear industry still subsists on munificent government subsidies.
Japan Times 23rd March 2011 more >>
Residents evacuated from the most dangerous areas said they never received any information about how to avoid the radiation threat in an emergency, a basic requirement in some other countries that operate nuclear power facilities.
Yahoo 22nd March 2011 more >>
The figures are not out yet, but it’s likely that tens of thousands were killed by the tsunami. Yet the newspapers were all focused on the nuclear meltdown which injured 15 people. The irony is that, when a tsunami strikes, the local nuclear power station is pretty much the safest place to be.
Spectator 22nd March 2011 more >>
Implications
Even before the earthquake-tsunami one-two punch, the endlessly hyped U.S. nuclear revival was stumbling, pummeled by skyrocketing costs, stagnant demand and skittish investors, not to mention the defeat of restrictions on carbon that could have mitigated nuclear energy’s economic insanity. Reports of nuclear Renaissance were greatly exaggerated; efficiency is 10 times cheaper today, renewables “costs are dropping fast” Since 2008, proposed reactors have been quietly scrapped or suspended in at least nine states not by safety concerns or hippie sit-ins but by financial realities.
Climate Progress 22nd March 2011 more >>
With Japan’s nuclear catastrophe still far from resolved, Dr Paul Dorfman argues why nuclear remains ‘economically unreliable’ and why it will be the taxpayer who ends up being liable as well as facing all the risks.
Ecologist 21st March 2011 more >>
Plans to build new reactors in the U.K. could be delayed by three to six months, or possibly longer, if the current safety review of the sector requires changes to reactor designs already undergoing assessment for use in the U.K., the chief executive of RWE AG’s (RWE.XE) U.K. unit said Tuesday. But it is important to take that time to ensure that the lessons learnt on safety and security from Japan’s nuclear crisis are incorporated into new U.K. nuclear projects, said RWE npower’s Volker Beckers.
Fox News 22nd March 2011 more >>
Gvernments across the world continue to promote further investment in nuclear power. Just last week, for example, the government of my home country of South Africa announced that it was adding 9,600 megawatts of nuclear energy to its new energy plan. There are two dangerous assumptions currently parading themselves as fact in the midst of the ongoing nuclear crisis. The first is that nuclear energy is safe. The second is that nuclear energy is an essential element of a low carbon future, that it is needed to prevent catastrophic climate change. Both are false.
Greenpeace International 22nd March 2011 more >>
Three Mile Island, I convinced myself, was a teething accident: An industry had pretended that nuclear power was just another way to boil water, and the accident resulted from appalling deficiencies in worker training and “the man-machine interface.” In the months after Three Mile Island, the nuclear industry overhauled its instrument panels, introduced job training via simulators, and communicated, somehow, that it had been chastened and was implementing reforms. Chernobyl, I could pigeon-hole, as well: The Chernobyl RBMK (Russian acronym for “high power, channel-type reactor”), whose fateful design permitted prompt criticality, was a manifestation of the isolation of Russia and its obsession with self-reliance. The unwillingness of nuclear experts in the West to strong-arm the Soviets not to build RBMKs, despite their awareness that an actual nuclear explosion at any power plant could sink the whole global industry, was yet another disastrous outcome of the East-West divide. I can find no escape from Fukushima Daiichi. Words I hoped never to read in a news report, like loss of coolant accident (LOCA), exposed core, hydrogen explosion: Here they are. Except for those who can identify ways to contribute directly to the management of the disaster, we scientists have only one job right now — to help governments, journalists, students, and the man and woman on the street understand in what strange ways we have changed their world. Two rogue isotopes with 30-year half-lives, Cesium 137 and Strontium 90, will be found everywhere, both of them unmistakably attributable to the accident. They will be measurable throughout the lifetimes of everyone alive today. Throughout this century, the poor will live on the contaminated land, eat the contaminated food, and live in the contaminated buildings.
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 21st March 2011 more >>
Selected readings on Three Mile Island.
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 21st March 2011 more >>
Copeland MP Jamie Reed says lessons to be learned in Britain from the Japanese atomic emergency could be limited. Anti-nuclear campaigners have demanded that the Government suspend Britain’s plans for new nuclear build until a full safety review of the Japanese disaster has been carried out. Land at Sellafield is among the contenders for a new atomic reactor. Newport West MP Paul Flynn has tabled a Commons motion claiming that a full independent evaluation into the long-term implications for the safety and cost of nuclear power needs to be done following problems at the Fukushima power plant.
Cumberland News 22nd March 2011 more >>
More than one third of Britons are likely to oppose government plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations in the wake of Japan’s nuclear crisis, a new poll has revealed. The research conducted for Friends of the Earth showed not only that 37 per cent of those surveyed would oppose the plans, but that public support for nuclear energy had dropped significantly in the last six months. Research for the Nuclear Industry Association in November showed that almost half of respondents – 47 per cent – supported the construction of replacement nuclear power stations. But the new research revealed a U-turn in public opinion, with 44 per cent of people admitting to feeling worried about the safety of nuclear power plants.
FM World 22nd March 2011 more >>
Business Green 22nd March 2011 more >>
Support for nuclear power has fallen among the British public by 12 per cent since the Fukushima disaster, according to a new poll. But the UK nuclear industry has reason to cheer regardless, because left-wing environmentalist George Monbiot has today explained why he now supports nuclear power
First Post 22nd March 2011 more >>
IS NUCLEAR power dangerous? Is it green? And are reports from Fukushima being blown out of proportion? As the story in Japan continues to unfold, Mary Griffin looks at the pros and cons of nuclear and asks local experts about fear versus fact.
Coventry Telegraph 22nd March 2011 more >>
Planning
The Localism Bill makes changes to the regime for authorising nationally significant infrastructure projects as well as introducing a raft of new concepts into the world of planning and local government that will have an impact on such projects. The Bill has completed its committee stage in the House of Commons and has recently been reprinted to take account of the amendments made there, so this is a good time to take stock of what has happened so far.
Bircham Dyson Bell 22nd March 2011 more >>
Sellafield
A PROFESSOR who was in charge of regulating safety in Britain’s nuclear industry told an audience in Barrow how Britain built the world’s first nuclear power station in just three years at Sellafield. Professor Laurence Williams said Calder Hall power station was built so “robustly” that it operated for almost 50 years.
NW Evening Mail 22nd March 2011 more >>
Torness
EDF Energy, the company that runs Britain’s nuclear power stations, has been reprimanded by government inspectors after a series of safety blunders at reactors in Scotland. Two reactors at Torness in East Lothian have suffered failures in electricity supplies, several “unplanned shutdowns”, and a seaweed blockage. It was the loss of power caused by the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the still unfolding nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan. The revelations have reignited concerns about the safety of Britain’s nuclear stations. French-owned EDF Energy admitted that it had not followed the correct procedures, but insisted that there had been no danger to the public. A report posted online by the UK government’s Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) discloses that there were two significant safety “events” at Torness in the last three months of 2010. “Correct operational procedures appear not have been observed,” says the report. In one incident, an equipment malfunction cut off the electricity supplied to a gas circulator. Gas circulators are critical components because they ensure that air is kept moving to cool reactor fuel and prevent it from overheating. The second incident also involved problems with electricity supply, though this time to a radioactive fuel dismantling facility at Torness. In addition, the second reactor at Torness had to be manually shut down because the screens that take in seawater for cooling were blocked by a large mass of seaweed. “These are all events that should ring very loud alarm bells,” said Pete Roche, an Edinburgh-based nuclear consultant and editor of the no2nuclearpower.org.uk website. “As we’ve seen with Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and now Fukushima, a combination of unexpected events all happening at once can quickly lead to a serious accident because of the highly dangerous nature of the fuel used to power these reactors.”
Guardian 22nd March 2011 more >>
RobEdwards 22nd March 2011 more >>
FM World 22nd March 2011 more >>
Hinkley
March Newsletter
Stop Hinkley 22nd March 2011 more >>
Wylfa
The company behind the Wylfa B proposals says it needs to take stock after the events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Horizon Nuclear Power says it cannot say whether it will carry on at Wylfa or not but will learn safety lessons. Campaign group Pawb said it had warned another nuclear disaster could happen. Efforts resumed on Tuesday at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to restore electrical power and cool its overheating reactors.
BBC 22nd March 2011 more >>
There is uncertainty over plans for a new nuclear power station in Wales. In an exclusive interview with BBC Wales, the company behind proposals for a second series of reactors at Wylfa on Anglesey says it needs to take stock following the Japanese nuclear emergency. Horizon Nuclear Power had hoped construction of the £8bn project would start towards the end of 2012. Officials from Anglesey council are in London on Monday night for talks with the UK government and the company.
BBC 21st March 2011 more >>
Islanders will be give the opportunity of finding out more about the Civil Nuclear Police Authority at a public meeting at Wylfa Sports and Social Club, near Cemaes Bay, next Wednesday, March 23.
Holyhead and Anglesey Mail 16th March 2011 more >>
Protest
Three things you can do to help stop nuclear new build.
CND 22nd March 2011 more >>
Europe
Campaigners claim that 50 per cent of Europe’s nuclear reactors are of “particular concern.” The claim was made by leading environmental group, Greenpeace, which has called for a shake-up of nuclear safety rules in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan.
Parliament 22nd March 2011 more >>
US
The Japanese quake and tsunami have thrown a spotlight on the safety of North American shores. Last week, the White House asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a comprehensive safety review of all 104 US nuclear reactors, and state senators held hearings on the safety of California’s nuclear plants on Monday 21 March.
Nature 22nd March 2011 more >>
Dave Lochbaum, an outspoken US nuclear safety expert, has a macabre saying about people living in northern Ohio: they should not waste their time buying lottery tickets because they have already used up all their luck. Residents there escaped a near-catastrophe at the Davis-Besse nuclear plant in 2002 which, according to Mr Lochbaum, could have resulted in an accident that, while not as deadly as Chernobyl, would have been worse than the Three Mile Island disaster in 1979. Today, he and a legion of other independent nuclear safety experts are challenging the Obama administration’s assertions that the ageing US fleet of nuclear plants would be safe under “any number of extreme contingencies”.
FT 22nd March 2011 more >>
A majority of Americans want the United States to tap the brakes on new nuclear power reactors following the crisis in Japan that has focused more attention on the already controversial power source, according to a poll released on Tuesday.
Reuters 22nd March 2011 more >>
Canada
Durham Regional Police are trying to remove four Greenpeace activists who chained themselves to a table to protest an environmental assessment hearing on a proposal to build new reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Power Plant.
Toronto Sun 22nd March 2011 more >>
Germany
The new national energy plan unveiled by the German government last autumn is already obsolete in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Berlin now faces the challenge of devising a new mix of fossil and renewable energy sources to prevent the worst effects of climate change. But how quickly can Germany dispense with nuclear power and what will the phase-out really cost?
Der Spiegel 22nd March 2011 more >>
Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said on Tuesday that Germany’s Nuclear Safety Commission will focus on issues including emergency power supply and cooling systems when it reviews all the country’s atomic power stations.
Reuters 22nd March 2011 more >>
Renewables
For many years, a small handful of countries dominated growth in wind power, but this is changing as the industry goes global, with more than 70 countries now developing wind resources. Between 2000 and 2010, world wind electric generating capacity increased at a frenetic pace from 17,000 megawatts to nearly 200,000 megawatts.
Grist 15th March 2011 more >>
Japan
Abnormal radiation levels reported in tap water, vegetables and milk with concerns that fish may also be affected. The operation to cool the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has suffered a minor setback after smoke and vapour was seen rising from two reactors, as anxiety grew over the safety of food produced in the area. High levels of radioactivity had been found in seawater near the facility, raising fears that seafood has also been contaminated. The power company said seawater samples contained levels of radioactive iodine 126.7 times the allowed limit, and caesium 24.8 times over. The firm said the quantities posed no immediate threat to health.
Guardian 22nd March 2011 more >>
The World Health Organisation said food contamination was more serious than previously thought and smoke or steam was seen coming out of two of the facilities.
Independent 22nd March 2011 more >>
Tokyo Electric Power will be made to compensate farmers near its radiation-leaking nuclear power station for losses related to a widening ban on the sale of agricultural products from the area, Japans government has said. In the first direct reference by a high-ranking government official to reparations by Tepco for victims of the worlds worst nuclear accident in a quarter of a century, Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary, said the state would have Tepco take responsibility. But he added that if the company is unable to compensate people adequately, then by law the government will step in and guarantee the claims. The cost of cleaning up the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, compensating victims and buying extra coal, gas and oil to make up for lost nuclear capacity is certain to be in the billions of dollars.
FT 22nd March 2011 more >>
Work to restore power and key cooling functions to the troubled reactors at the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was marred Monday by smoke that rose from the buildings housing the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, the plant operator said. Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the government’s nuclear safety agency said operations to revive power systems and spray massive coolant water onto overheating spent nuclear fuel pools will likely resume Tuesday after the utility observes the situation at the site. TEPCO said it had briefly evacuated its workers after grayish and blackish smoke was seen at the southeast of the No. 3 reactor building around 3:55 p.m. above a pool storing spent nuclear fuel, though a blast was not heard. The smoke stopped after 6 p.m., but TEPCO subsequently found that white smoke was rising through a crack in the roof of the building that houses the No. 2 reactor at around 6:20 p.m. The utility said later the smoke was believed to be steam, not from the reactor’s core or spent fuel pool.
Kyodo News 22nd March 2011 more >>
Officials detected in the air 5 radioactive materials that are generated by nuclear fission. The level of iodine 131 was 5.9 milibecquerels per cubic centimeter. That’s about 6 times the permissible level for workers without protective masks. The density of the other substances was also higher than usual, but within safety standards.
NHK 21st March 2011 more >>
Japan’s science ministry is publishing radiation levels monitored nationwide on its website, with the information also available in English, Korean and Chinese. The ministry’s website began showing the data on Saturday, with information updated twice a day.
NHK 21st March 2011 more >>
Japan’s health ministry is urging the people of a village in Fukushima Prefecture not to drink the tap water, in which higher levels of radioactive materials were detected on Sunday. The Ministry says, however, that drinking it does not pose any immediate health risk.
NHK 21st March 2011 more >>
The government ordered Fukushima and three other prefectures Monday to suspend shipments of spinach and another leaf vegetable following the detection of radioactive substances in the produce at levels beyond legal limits, while trace amounts of radioactive substances were detected in tap water samples collected Sunday and Monday in nine prefectures.
Kyodo News 22nd March 2011 more >>
Radiation leaked into the sea from Japan’s crippled nuclear plant, contaminating the water and raising concern that fish and vegetables may become tainted. Five kinds of radioactive materials released by damaged fuel rods were detected in the sea, Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant’s operator, said on its web site. Levels of one, Iodine-131, which increases the risk of thyroid cancer, were 127 times higher than normal in a sample taken at 2:30 p.m. yesterday, it said.
Bloomberg 22nd March 2011 more >>
AS SOME of the panic associated with the nuclear crisis in Japan ebbs, markets around the world have regained ground. But the end of panic also reminds us all that quite apart from the nuclear situation, Japan has suffered an unprecedented calamity perhaps the costliest disaster in fifty years. Thousands of lives have been lost and power issues continue to plague the country. What will this disaster mean for Japan’s economy?
Economist 21st March 2011 more >>
After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, radiation contaminated 3 million acres of farmland. Up to 9,000 died or will die from thyroid cancer after drinking milk laced with radioactive iodine, according to World Health Organization estimates. The radiation leaks at Fukushima don’t come close to that of Chernobyl. Still, Japanese officials admit their food chain is also contaminated with harmful levels of radiation, in some cases up to 90 miles from the nuclear site.
Fox News 21st March 2011 more >>
To a world that doesn’t know him, Shingo Kanno is one of the “nuclear samurai” – a selfless hero trying to save his country from a holocaust; to his family, Kanno is a new father whose life is in peril just because he wanted to earn some money on the side doing menial labour at the Fukushima nuclear plant. A tobacco farmer, Kanno had no business being anywhere near a nuclear reactor – let alone in a situation as serious as the one that has unfolded after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Guardian 22nd March 2011 more >>
Ideally, officials believe it should only take a day to get the complex under control once the cooling system is up and running. In reality, the effort to end the crisis is likely to take weeks.
Wales Online 21st March 2011 more >>
Officials are racing to restore electricity to Japan’s leaking nuclear plant, but getting the power flowing will hardly be the end of their battle: with its mangled machinery and partly melted reactor cores, bringing the complex under control is a monstrous job.
Independent 22nd March 2011 more >>
Implications
More Britons support the building of new nuclear power stations than oppose it, despite the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima plant, an opinion poll says. But almost a half say they are worried about the safety of nuclear plants. And 75% cite energy efficiency or renewables as their priority for investment, against 9% for nuclear. The survey, commissioned by Friends of the Earth from GfK NOP, polled 1,000 people by phone over the weekend, a week after Japan’s crisis began. Events at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi plant have shifted opinion, with 37% saying they are now more likely to oppose new nuclear build and only 16% saying they are more likely to support it.
BBC 22nd March 2011 more >>
Independent 22nd March 2011 more >>
IN THE immediate aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crisis, apocalyptic fears proliferated across the globe. Despite the panic that always accompanies nuclear incidents, the world’s growing energy needs will not disappear: nuclear is a solution that will not go away. The nuclear industry has been seriously set-back by this disaster. Uranium dropped from $68.24 to $50.01 a pound, while the $1.16bn takeover offer from Russia’s ARMZ for Australian uranium miner Mantra Resources fell through. The latter plunged 29 per cent, while Cameco, the world’s largest uranium producer, was down by around a third.
City AM 22nd March 2011 more >>
George Monbiot: You will not be surprised to hear that the events in Japan have changed my view of nuclear power. You will be surprised to hear how they have changed it. As a result of the disaster at Fukushima, I am no longer nuclear-neutral. I now support the technology. A crappy old plant with inadequate safety features was hit by a monster earthquake and a vast tsunami. The electricity supply failed, knocking out the cooling system. The reactors began to explode and melt down. The disaster exposed a familiar legacy of poor design and corner-cutting. Yet, as far as we know, no one has yet received a lethal dose of radiation.
Guardian 22nd March 2011 more >>
So where does this leave nuclear power? There has already been a suggestion that Japan could retreat from nuclear power generation and fall back on fossil fuels. This could have a serious knock-on effect for us by pushing oil, gas and coal prices ever higher. The consequence of this would be increased prices at the pumps and increased household fuel bills. Unfortunately, fossil fuel resources are becoming scarcer. To get away from our reliance on oil, gas and coal we have to consider the alternatives. We have wind, wave and solar energy to think about. Each power source will have its supporters and detractors but each will have a role to play. However, our requirements are likely to exceed the energy that we can extract from these renewable sources, which inevitably brings us back to nuclear – and that won’t be popular. There is another energy source to consider, of course, but so far this one hasn’t proved too popular either. I’m talking about waste incineration.
NW Evening Mail 21st March 2011 more >>
Peter Birtles, group board director of Sheffield Forgemasters International, makers of big cast and forged components for nuclear power plants, gives his view on the effect of Japan’s disaster on the nuclear industry and says the world has little alternative for mass scale power generation.
The Manufacturer 21st March 2011 more >>
Sellafield
The River Calder straightened and tritium discharges.
101 uses for nuclear power 21st March 2011 more >>
Events
Marking the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster this meeting also considers the implications of the Fukushima disaster for Britain’s nuclear policy and looks at the sustainable energy alternatives. Tuesday 26th April 6-7.30pm Grimond Room, Portcullis House, Parliament.
CND 21st March 2011 more >>
Australia
Japan’s nuclear crisis threatens to derail a political push by Australia’s government to overturn a ban on selling uranium to India, as well as a drive to use nuclear power domestically to counter climate change.
Yahoo 22nd March 2011 more >>
US
U.S. nuclear developer NRG Energy Inc has all but stopped work on a $10 billion project in Texas, the first U.S. company to slow its ambitious growth plans in the wake of the crisis in Japan. NRG, which has worked closely with Tokyo Electric Power Co to develop the Texas reactors, said there was too much regulatory uncertainty to continue pouring cash into the project. It will halt construction-related engineering work to focus only on activity related to licensing the new reactors and securing a federal loan guarantee.
Reuters 21st March 2011 more >>
Renewables
SCOTLAND’S political parties will today be urged to raise the nation’s renewable energy targets to attract fresh investment into the industry. Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, will call on politicians to lift the 2020 goal from 20 per cent to 30 per cent. Stuart will tell delegates at the trade body’s annual conference in Glasgow that Scotland needs to be “ambitious” in its renewable energy targets in order to show investors that it is taking the industry seriously. The 30 per cent target for 2020 would be double the level set by the UK government and European Union. Stuart said: “By increasing our renewable heat and overall energy targets, we will spell out to investors that Scotland is the place to do business in renewables, whilst making real strides towards bringing down carbon emissions and securing safe, clean supplies of energy at an affordable price.
Scotsman 22nd March 2011 more >>