New Nukes
John Hutton, business secretary, has vowed to take on critics of new coal and nuclear power stations, arguing that their construction was vital to securing Britain’s long-term energy needs. Addressing the Labour Party Conference in Manchester, the business secretary claimed that an international battle for energy security was emerging as one of the most significant threats to both UK competitiveness and national sovereignty.
Times 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Guardian 23rd Sept 2008 more >>
Vnunet 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Independent 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Herald 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
THE north west’s economy could receive a hefty slice of the £30bn bonanza that will result from building a new generation of nuclear reactors. Preston-based nuclear company Westinghouse has published new research that shows that construction and supply firms across the country will win valuable work if the government commissions the project. The company, which employs over 1,500 staff in the region, is currently bidding to build its AP1000 reactors in Britain.
Manchester Evening News 23rd Sept 2008 more >>
A report released by US engineering firm Westinghouse has revealed the UK economy could receive a £30 billion lift if the new generation of nuclear power stations proposed by the Government are built.
CNPlus 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Ananova 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
British Energy
The UK’s plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations capable of providing a significant contribution to a low carbon energy mix are expected to receive a major boost this week after reports emerged that EDF is poised to finalise its long-running take over of nuclear operator British Energy (BE).
Vnunet 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Independent 23rd Sept 2008 more >>
At a meeting on Monday, EdF, the world’s largest nuclear power generator, is understood to have agreed to raise its offer from 765p a share by about 9p, valuing BE at £12.4bn.
Telegraph 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
French energy giant EDF will have some competition in the new British nuclear sector, according to reports. It appears that certain UK sites belonging to British Energy and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will see new plants built by EDF’s rivals. The Times reports that BE’s operations at Bradwell in Essex and Dungeness in Kent will be added to some NDA sites and sold in an auction later this year, in order to establish some competition within the future UK nuclear sector. The rest of BE is expected to be acquired by EDF this week, now that institutional shareholder Invesco has been brought onside by improved terms.
The Register 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Radioactivity
Experts in radioactivity from around the world have arrived in Cumbria for a major conference. Members of the Hot Labs Working Group are attending the two-day event at the newly created National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) at Sellafield. More than 50 delegates from Europe, the US, Japan and South Africa will be sharing skills and experience.
BBC 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
India
Sitting in the front room of his suburban house in Delhi, Shri K. Subrahmanyam, the doyen of Indian strategic thinkers, sips some tea, coughs a little – and remembers the moment he decided that India must develop nuclear weapons. “It was on a visit to America in 1968,” he recalls. “I saw all the top strategic thinkers. Kissinger, who was still at Harvard at the time, Schelling; it was after that, that I decided we must have the bomb. As a matter of national survival.”
FT 23rd Sept 2008 more >>
US
Luminant, a subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings, has submitted an application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the potential expansion of its Comanche Peak nuclear power plant near Glen Rose, Texas
Energy Business Review 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Detroit Edison has submitted to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission a combined license application for a possible new nuclear power plant at the site of the company’s existing nuclear plant near Newport, Michigan.
Datamonitor 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Iran
Iran has been asked by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, for a substantive response to allegations that it is developing a nuclear weapon. Without more information from Iran, the IAEA cannot provide assurances about the country’s nuclear programme, says the agency’s head, Mohamed El Baradei.
BBC 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Ukraine
Ukraine’s state-run atomic energy company Energoatom is to start construction of two new nuclear reactors from 2010 at the Khmelnitsky power station in the west of the country, the fuel and energy ministry said on Monday.
Interactive Investor 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
North Korea
North Korea has removed seals and surveillance equipment from its main nuclear facility as it pushes ahead with threats to restart the reactor.
View London 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
North Korea asked the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog on Monday to remove seals and cameras from its main atomic complex, the agency’s chief said, after vowing to restart the facility — reversing a nuclear disarmament deal.
Reuters 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
BBC 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday there was no plan to postpone a tender to build and operate Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, scheduled for Wednesday. Turkey has set a deadline of Sept. 24 for bids to build the plant at Akkuyu near Mersin on the Mediterranean coast with a capacity of 4,000 megawatts, plus or minus 25 percent. Media reports over the weekend speculated the tender would be delayed due to poor market conditions that would reduce the level of interest from potential investors. Companies such as Sabanci, General Electric, Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Spanish utility Iberdrola SA have expressed interest in the tender.
Reuters 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
ANTI-NUCLEAR protesters staged a colourful demonstration at one of Derby’s Rolls-Royce sites this morning. Protestors from the Power Through Wind Not Weapons group preformed circus skills including juggling and stilt walking outside the Raynesway site from 11am. They are demonstrating against the production of reactor cores that are used in Trident nuclear submarines.
Derby Evening Telegraph 22nd Sept 2008 more >>
PRESSURE IS mounting to change the devolution settlement so that Scotland has the power to ban Trident nuclear weapons from its soil. Trade unionists, religious leaders and anti-nuclear campaigners have called on the Calman Commission, set up by the Scottish parliament to review devolution, to investigate ways of bringing weapons of mass destruction under Scottish control.
Sunday Herald 21st Sept 2008 more >>
Utilities
The renationalisation of the electricity and gas industry was put back on the Labour agenda by a former minister and a union chief yesterday in the wake of rises of up to 35% on fuel bills and soaring profits by the companies.
Guardian 23rd Sept 2008 more >>
Coal
One of Gordon Brown’s pet energy projects – to build up to a dozen pilot plants to capture and store carbon dioxide as power stations burn coal to generate electricity – would require EU subsidies of as much as 10bn (£7.9bn) over the next few years, it emerged yesterday. A study by the consultancy McKinsey into carbon capture and storage (CCS) showed that such plants could be economically viable by 2030 at the latest. But it would require substantial public subsidies to get 10-12 plants running by the EU target date of 2015.
Guardian 23rd Sept 2008 more >>
Governments need to show the same boldness to intervene in the markets to kickstart a move to a low-carbon economy as they did when they helped the banks stave off financial crisis last week, a leading academic has demanded. “Both require strong regulation for efficient economic outcomes,” said Terry Barker, a climate change expert at Cambridge University, who fears the Lehman Brothers and HBOS problems foreshadow a global economic downturn. Barker’s concerns were backed up by one of the government’s scientific advisers, who fears that a downturn could lead to a lack of investment in vital new sectors such as developing carbon capture and storage plants.
Guardian 23rd Sept 2008 more >>
