New Nukes
The UK government and the nuclear industry believe the efficient delivery of EDFs planned Areva EPR reactors at Hinkley Point is so important to the UKs new build program that they have formed a new group to address construction and delivery issues, according to recently released documents. The successful delivery of Hinkley Point is fundamentally important, UK Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) Chairman Lord Hutton said, according to minutes of the first meeting of the new Programme Management Board. John Hutton told the PMB that Hinkley Point will be achieved by Government and industry making decisions on common ground to support the delivery of that project, and giving confidence to the marketplace for future projects. The PMB members are meant to work together to overcome potential pinch points and bottlenecks in the delivery of new nuclear power. The PMB was being promoted by Hutton, the former Labour government secretary of energy, and has the full support of the current Secretary of State for Energy Charles Hendry.
i-Nuclear 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Radwaste
CONSULTATION over whether a nuclear waste repository should be built on Cumbrias west coast comes to a close tomorrow with opponents making their voices heard in many imaginative ways. Canvasses depicting radio-active waste have been painted, talks have been given at the top of Scafell Pike and people have dressed in white boiler suits to highlight the dangers of buried nuclear waste. The opposition to the Govern-ments proposals were promp-ted by concerns over the consultation process and the lack of knowledge about nuclear waste.
Westmorland Gazette 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Friday marks the end of a consultation that could determine the fate of the UK’s high-level radioactive waste. West Cumbria residents have been asked for their views on whether local councils should enter formal talks with government on hosting a repository. More than 750 responses have been sent and will be analysed in coming months. Pete Roche, an independent consultant on nuclear issues who advises the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) organisation, said the safety case for the repository had not been made. “NFLA are extremely concerned about a number of outstanding issues that are still to be looked at before we could even begin to produce a decent safety case for deep geological disposal,” he said. “It seems to us that the geology in West Cumbria is particularly bad – and in this process, voluntarism comes before geology, and local communities could be left with the effects of that.” He was aware, he said, of 900 issues that needed to be investigated, including the possibility that gases containing radioactive elements could force their way to the surface.
BBC 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
Letter: Under the 1972 Local Government Act, civic parish councils in England can vote to request their local district council to hold a referendum on any issue of concern to the local parish. Once the parish council has voted in favour, the district council has to carry out the referendum. The issue and wording of the question can be set down by any resident (not dictated by their councillors) and, provided at least five additional supporters can be found, a request can be made for a parish council meeting. The meeting must be advertised and at least 10 people must be present at the meeting. A formal motion to support the referendum (including the precise wording of the referendum) must be voted upon.
Whitehaven News 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Hinkley
More than 200 people gathered in a vast echoing hall designed to stage pop concerts and car boot sales yesterday for the start of the biggest planning investigation in the West for a generation. The Infrastructure Planning Commission was holding a Preliminary Meeting ahead of its six-month investigation into proposals for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point.
Western Daily Press 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Two councils in the south west are seeking an extension to the six month examination period they have to review energy firm EdF Energys plans to build a new power station at Hinkley Point.West Somerset Council and Sedgemoor District Council have asked the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) for an extension to the six month examination period after failing to come to an agreement with EdF over funding their review work. Queens councillor Martin Kingston, representing West Somerset Council and Sedgemoor District Council, asked the IPC for an extension at this weeks Preliminary Hearing that marked the start of the six month examination period. If the funding gap cannot be bridged, said Kingston to the IPC commissioners. Then we [the councils] need more time to examining the documents.
New Civil Engineer 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Sedgemoor District Council fears it will be unable to properly scrutinise plans for a new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point because of a lack of cash.
This is the West Country 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Sizewell
Jim Crawford needs to know his nuclear power station on a gentle stretch of Englands North Sea coast can withstand a chunk of volcanic rock dropping into the ocean 2,000 miles away in the Canary Islands. Since Japans 2011 nuclear disaster, Sizewell-Bs operator Electricite de France SA has earmarked about 200 million pounds ($317 million) to protect its U.K. reactors from previously inconceivable events. The collapse of an island off northwest Africa would be the most likely cause of a wave big enough to threaten Britain, according to plant director Crawford.
Bloomberg 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Small Reactors
Westinghouse and Babcock & Wilcox Co. will join other applicants in applying for US Department of Energy (DOE) funding to assist the development of a small modular reactor that can be in commercial operation on a US site by 2022. The DOE issued a funding opportunity announcement March 22 noting the availability of investment funds of up to $452 million to develop small, modular reactors or SMRs.
i-Nuclear 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Dungeness
The £304 million Magnox framework will be a huge chunk of the demolition industry over the next five years. Mark Anthony finds out how Erith is limbering up for works at Dungeness in Kent.
Construction Index 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Sellafield (Moorside)
WORK to pave the way for Copelands planned new nuclear power station has been delayed by a lordly intervention. Lord Egremont, a substantial landowner in Cumbria and Sussex, owns the rights to minerals lying below the surface of the site neighbouring Sellafield which has been earmarked for West Cumbrias biggest single private sector development. Today The Whitehaven News can reveal that the aristocrat wants to sell the rights to NuGen, the power stations prospective developers, before allowing any exploratory work to begin. NuGen has been left frustrated over the extra cost of what might lie below because the consortium cant set foot on the Moorside site until a sale of the mineral rights has been agreed.
Whitehaven News 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Sellafield
SELLAFIELD bosses are probing an incident on one of the oldest parts of the nuclear site. There was a five-minute discharge into the air, but it does not appear as though it contained any radiation. Ultra sensitive monitoring is being carried out to confirm this. But whatever the outcome, Sellafield Ltd faces a possible wrap from the Environment Agency for breaching conditions.
Whitehaven News 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Japan
Most Japanese mayors and governors whose communities host nuclear plants want fresh safety assurances beyond government-imposed stress tests before agreeing to the restart of reactors taken off line after the Fukushima crisis, a Reuters poll showed, amid concerns about a looming power crunch this summer.
Reuters 23rd May 2012 more >>
Poland
Areva SA (AREVA) Chief Executive Officer Luc Oursel said the nuclear reactor maker will make a joint bid with French power utility Electricite de France SA to build an atomic plant in Poland.
Bloomberg 21st Mar 2012 more >>
French nuclear reactor builder Areva said it expected a recovery soon in global interest in nuclear projects following Japan’s Fukushima disaster, adding it will bid this year with EDF for Poland’s first nuclear project.
Reuters 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
US
The Fukushima accident in Japan has led to more Americans now believing that the risks of using nuclear energy outweigh the benefits, according to a new public opinion poll. The poll also found high support for natural gas, despite recent negative publicity about its extraction using hydraulic fracturing.
World Nuclear News 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Iran
The threat of a military strike on Iran is preventing the Islamic republic from taking the final steps towards developing a nuclear bomb, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday.
Middle East Online 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the nuclear watchdog at the heart of the growing Iranian crisis, has been accused by several former senior officials of pro-western bias, over-reliance on unverified intelligence and of sidelining sceptics.
Guardian 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Korea
North Korea has declared that any statement emerging from the forthcoming Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul that is critical of its nuclear weapons programme will be “considered a declaration of war.”
Telegraph 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Japan readied its missile defence systems to shoot down a North Korean rocket on Friday, as the UN chief warned that next month’s launch could jeopardise food aid.
Telegraph 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
