Hinkley
If all goes according to EDF’s plan, in six months’ time this 400-acre plot of muddy fields and hedgerows beside Hinkley Point nuclear power station will be the biggest construction site in Europe with workers building Britain’s first new nuclear plant in almost 25 years. As well as being a €10 billion (£8.5 billion) showcase for France’s state-owned nuclear industry, by the time that two European pressurised reactors are due to enter service here in 2019 Hinkley C will be Britain’s second biggest power station exceeded in electrical output only by Drax, the coal-fired plant in Yorkshire. Seated in EDF’s comfortable Somerset headquarters, a terraced Georgian townhouse in Bridgwater, Richard Mason, EDF’s director of external affairs, can barely conceal his excitement. “It is a fantastic amount of energy,” he says. “We believe it is the right thing to do. Hinkley C is going to produce 3,300 megawatts about 6 per cent of the country’s electricity. ”
Times 22nd November 2010 more >>
EDF is preparing to start major works on a €10 billion nuclear power station project early next year well over 12 months before it is expected to receive formal approval to build a reactor on the site. The French state-owned energy company, which operates 58 reactors in its home country, will submit a planning application within days to West Somerset District Council for “preparation works” at the site, at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
Times 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
Radwaste
Into eternity: the movie
November 2010 more >>
Dungeness
Further doubt has been cast on the future of nuclear power at Dungeness after a Government minister reiterated the coalition’s opposition to a new atomic plant at the site. Folkestone and Hythe Tory MP Damian Collins secured a Parliamentary debate on the subject on Tuesday, but was told environmental concerns surrounding the proposal had not been allayed. Energy minister Gregory Barker said: “Dungeness failed because we do not believe a new nuclear power station could be built there without causing adverse impacts on the integrity of the special area of conservation, or that the impacts could be avoided or even substantially mitigated. “Given the particular adverse effects, the Government does not consider listing Dungeness is justified. I know that will come as a disappointment to my honourable friend, but I also know he will continue with his campaign. “Although I have given him our clear and stated view, we remain open to new evidence.”
Kent News 20th Nov 2010 more >>
Energy Supplies
Concerns were sparked as ministers announced that they are prepared to fund a £1bn trial project looking at “carbon capture and storage” for gas, where emissions are siphoned off and stored underground. The funding had previously only been available for coal, which is twice as pollutive. Fears are mounting in the industry that the Government will insist all gas stations comply with strict standards on emissions by the end of the decade. This would entail gas power station owners having to fit equipment to remove carbon dioxide – called “carbon capture and storage”.
Telegraph 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
EDF
The future of lectricit de France SA lies primarily in nuclear energy, but probably not in the U.S. at least according to Henri Proglio, the French power group’s chairman and chief executive. Mr. Proglio admits he is one of the few top-ranking business executives in France without an American dream. For EDF, the world’s biggest nuclear operator, the U.S. represents “a significant stake but not an essential one,” he told The Wall Street Journal in an interview in his central Paris office.
Wall Street Journal 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
OECD/NEA
The UK caused surprise at a 20 October meeting of the NEA steering committee when its representative declared the country’s unwillingness to fund its contribution from central budgets. Britain said it would soon file an official letter of intent to withdraw from the NEA by the end of 2011, although this has not yet been received. Should the country find a new way to fund its contribution to the NEA, it said, the letter would be withdrawn.
Your Nuclear News 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
North Korea
The US is trying to restart moribund nuclear disarmament talks over North Korea after the communist leadership there showed off a new and highly sophisticated uranium enrichment plant.
Belfast Telegraph 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
Independent 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
Scotsman 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
Daily Mail 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
The US has urged China to help rein in North Korea’s nuclear programme after reports of an extensive uranium enrichment facility.
FT 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
A new nuclear crisis was looming in Asia today, after it emerged that North Korea had made far more progress than previously thought in enriching uranium.
Guardian 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
Evidence of a new North Korean nuclear plant is disappointing and provocative, says the top US envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth.
BBC 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
North Korea does not as a rule give American academics tours of its most sensitive nuclear sites. Siegried Hecker was shown around Yongbyon not out of a sudden spirit of scientific openness, but to send a message to Washington. That message said: not only are we enriching uranium, we are already very good at it. Hecker, who used to run the US nuclear weapons laboratories at Los Alamos, was whisked around the new enrichment facility with his mouth agape. The place was much bigger than he imagined and much more modern.
Guardian 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
Disarmament
Arms controls advocates and nuclear weapons experts are divided over whether Nato’s new strategic concept represents a step towards disarmament.
Guardian Blog 21st Nov 2010 more >>
Uncertainty over ratifying a landmark nuclear treaty not only throws into doubt the “reset” in US-Russia ties but also broader US policies on Iran, Afghanistan and arms control, analysts say. US President Barack Obama and his team have launched a counter-attack in support of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) since Republican Senator Jon Kyl suggested it may not be ratified in the Senate this year.
Middle East Online 21st Nov 2010 more >>
Submarines
Plans to dismantle nuclear submarines would blight Plymouth and damage development of a clean maritime future for the whole South West peninsula, Liberal Democrats claim. Britain has 27 nuclear submarines, of which 16 have been decommissioned and are stored afloat either at Devonport or Rosyth in Scotland, awaiting dismantling. Storage capacity will run out by 2020. The Ministry of Defence Submarine Dismantling Project expects the work to last for decades at one of a number of short-listed sites, one of which is Devonport. But the Lib Dems have demanded a city-wide debate.
Plymouth Herald 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
