Radwaste
Nestled in the Cumbrian countryside, on the road between Wigton and Silloth, lies the village of Abbeytown – you could be forgiven for not giving it a second glance as you drive between its two larger neighbours. Residents there are getting organised behind a common cause with their campaign posters and stickers displayed in many of the windows with the emphatic slogan ‘No to dump’. It has been organised by campaign group Solway Plain Against Nuclear Dump (SPAND) in reaction to a proposed underground storage facility for high level and intermediate nuclear waste.
Carlisle News and Star 23rd Jan 2013
The Cumbria Cabinet meeting will be in Carlisle at 10am (venue tbc) Campaigners will be there at 9am to stage a demonstration opposing the plan and urging the Cabinet to respect the wishes of its constituents, councillors and the majority of Parish and Town Councils who have already and repeatedly said NO.
Facebook 24th Jan 2013
Managing the use and disposal of radioactive and nuclear substances and waste: new Government website making it easier to find stuff.
Gov.uk 22nd Jan 2013
Planning
Today’s entry reports on the importance of consulting the correct local authorities before making an application under the Planning Act 2008. In November, the DIRFT III rail freight application was not accepted for examination, and in December, the promoters of the Rampion windfarm application withdrew it before an acceptance decision was made. Apparently, in both cases the consultation of local authorities was an issue. What lessons can be learned from this?
Bircham Dyson Bell 23rd Jan 2013
Wylfa
PREPARATION work for Wylfa B is gathering pace as the design of the nuclear reactors takes a step closer. Following Hitachi’s acquisition of Horizon November last year, the UK Government has now begun discussions over the design assessment of its prospective Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR), a move which Anglesey Council has welcomed.
North Wales Chronicle 23rd Jan 2013
Sizewell
AN MP has vowed to ensure bosses behind proposals to build a third nuclear power station in her constituency are aware of residents’ views. Suffolk Coastal’s Therese Coffey recently held eight community meetings across the district to gauge people’s opinions on EDF Energy’s plans for Sizewell C. She said: “It was important to hear back from residents about the design, their thoughts on the roads and rail proposals, as well as the park and ride and accommodation sites. Local resident David Holland was one of those who went to the meeting in Yoxford. He said the session was well attended and he was able to ask why people were not given the chance to consult on whether or not they actually wanted new nuclear reactors at Sizewell, while also questioning the efficiency of nuclear power.
East Anglian Daily Times 23rd Jan 2013
Work to build the Dry Fuel Store at Sizewell B nuclear power station in the UK started in mid January 2013. The store, to be situated on the existing Sizewell B site, will take approximately two years to build. Under the current arrangements, all the spent fuel from Sizewell B’s reactor since it began producing electricity in 1995 is stored under water in a fuel storage pond. However, this is expected to reach capacity in 2015.
Nuclear Engineering International 23rd Jan 2013
Companies
Ian Marchant announces his departure from SSE as the big six energy companies battle to restore the trust of consumers. The company has created a stir by selling out of its NuGen atomic power consortium with GDF Suez, and by announcing an increase of nearly 40% in first half profits – just a month after putting up gas and electricity prices by 9%.
Guardian 23rd Jan 2013
FT 23rd Jan 2013
Telegraph 23rd Jan 2013
Scotsman 24th Jan 2013
Herald 24th Jan 2013
Mr Marchant has been outspoken, particularly over the Government’s contentious plans to reform the electricity markets. He recently angered EDF Energy, the French government-controlled group that is in confidential negotiations with Britain over subsidies for the Hinkley nuclear reactor project, when he told MPs that decisions were being made in “smoke-filled rooms”. He also warned last week that the proposed electricity reforms contained serious flaws and suggested that a future government would scrap them.
Times 24th Jan 2013
Enngineer Redhall Group revealed a string of new contracts as it puts a tough two years behind it. The Wakefield-based group said its nuclear division has won a deal worth a potential £50m to help maintain Britain’s nuclear warheads. Redhall Nuclear was chosen by AWE, which provides and maintains Britain’s nuclear deterrent, as a “strategic partner” to supply mechanical and electrical engineering services. The framework deal is expected to lead to contracts worth an estimated £50m over a potential four-year period.
Yorkshire Evening Post 23rd Jan 2013
Nuclear Materials
Nuclear materials balance figures (also known as ‘Material unaccounted for’, and described in the industry as inventory differences) for the processing of civil nuclear material were published annually from 1977 onwards by UKAEA on behalf of the UK nuclear industry. Changes in the structure of the industry which followed from setting-up the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) meant that figures for 2004/5 and 2005/6 were published, on behalf of the industry, by the then DTI. The transfer in April 2007 of operational aspects of the work of the UK Safeguards Office (UKSO) from DTI to the HSE means that the figures for 2006/7 onwards are published, as a matter of routine, on the HSE website.
ONR 23rd Jan 2013
Europe
Europe has failed to learn the lessons from many environmental and health disasters like Chernobyl, leaded petrol and DDT insecticides, and is now ignoring warnings about bee deaths, GM food and nanotechnology, according to an 800-page report by the European Environment Agency. Thousands of lives could have been saved and extensive damage to ecosystems avoided if the “precautionary principle” had been applied on the basis of early warnings, say the authors of the 2013 Late Lessons from Early warnings report published on Wednesday.
Guardian 23rd Jan 2013
Defects in the EU’s nuclear decommissioning programmes in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia include cost overruns, delays, lack of coordination and supervision, diffused responsibilities, too much money going to unrelated energy projects and ill-informed priority setting, say Budgetary Control Committee MEPs in a resolution voted on Monday.
European Parliament News 22nd Jan 2013
Japan
Anti-nuclear campaingers to deliver letter to Japanese embassy in London this Friday.
Remember Fukushima (accessed) 24th Jan 2013
Russia
The toxic legacy of the Cold War lives on in Russia’s Arctic, where the Soviet military dumped many tonnes of radioactive hardware at sea. For more than a decade, Western governments have been helping Russia to remove nuclear fuel from decommissioned submarines docked in the Kola Peninsula – the region closest to Scandinavia. But further east lies an intact nuclear submarine at the bottom of the Kara Sea, and its highly enriched uranium fuel is a potential time bomb. This year the Russian authorities want to see if the K-27 sub can be safely raised, so that the uranium – sealed inside the reactors – can be removed.
BBC 24th Jan 2013
North Korea
North Korea is prepared to conduct a nuclear test and carry out more long-range rocket launches, the Pyongyang government has warned.
Evening Standard 24th Jan 2013
FT 24th Jan 2013
Guardian 24th Jan 2013
BBC 24th Jan 2013
Trident
The government’s insistence on an identical replacement for the UK’s nuclear deterrent will receive a fresh blow on Thursday, when a former Labour defence secretary declares Britain should no longer deploy atomic weapons at sea around the clock. In an important contribution to the debate on Trident, Lord Browne of Ladyton will argue that Britain should abandon a cornerstone of its nuclear policy known as “continuous at sea deterrence” (CASD).
FT 23rd Jan 2013
Members of the Lords will debate the prospects for multilateral nuclear disarmament and the contribution Britain can make on Thursday 24 January.
UK Parliament 23rd Jan 2013
Renewables
UK and Irish ministers will today sign an agreement that could see some of the world’s largest wind turbines built across the Irish midlands. Stretching more than 600 feet (180 metres) in the air, the towers are set to generate energy for millions of UK homes from 2017. The UK government says the Irish power is a cheaper form of renewable than offshore wind.
BBC 24th Jan 2013
In order to take advantage of high wind speeds on the open seas, the race is on to create wind turbines and wind farms that float on the surface of the water. But, the jury is still out on which is the best method. Erecting a wind turbine in the middle of the ocean is a costly and time-consuming business. Most importantly, the structure must be anchored at the bottom of the sea to ensure its stability in the face of extreme wind and rough seas. The project is normally only feasible up to depths of 50 meters of water. But, a new generation of wind turbines no longer has that problem. Mounted on pontoons which are attached to the ocean floor by long steel cables, floating wind turbines are now the new trend in the renewable energy scene. First prototypes are already being tested.
Deutsche Welle 23rd Jan 2013
UBS report on how a boom in un-subsidised solar installations would cause a revolution in energy markets because of the falling cost of solar and battery manufacturing on one side, and the rising cost of grid-based electricity on the other. UBS estimates the total cost of installed solar PV (including inverters and balance of systems costs) has fallen by well over half in the last few years, and will continue to do so, while grid prices (ironically including the cost of renewable subsidies) have risen and will continue to do so.
Renew Economy 24th Jan 2013
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has sought to distance itself from reports suggesting it is expecting a sharp contraction in the deployment rate for renewable energy technologies during the 2020s. The Financial Times earlier this week revealed that DECC figures, which were released late last year to little fanfare, confirm the department expects UK renewable energy capacity to increase from 35GW in 2020 to just 42GW in 2030 – representing a sharp slowdown for an industry that is expected to deliver a 10-fold increase in capacity between 2012 and 2020.
Business Green 23rd Jan 2013
Energy Efficiency
Ed Davey has claimed the number of insulation jobs will more than double over the next few years as a result of the government’s flagship Green Deal programme that launches on Monday.
Business Green 23rd Jan 2013
Homeowners face interest charges of up to 7 per cent to take out a loan to insulate their properties under the Government’s Green Deal, leaving them paying back more than double the original sum. From Monday next week, Britons will be able to apply to borrow the upfront cost to make their homes more fuel-efficient. Under the new scheme’s “golden rule”, savings on the borrower’s energy bills are supposed to be higher than their annual loan repayments. However, it is thought that consumers will be charged an interest rate of between 6 per cent and 7 per cent, making it more difficult for the home improvements to pay for themselves and follow the golden rule.
Times 24th Jan 2013
Shale Gas
Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica, said it would be at least a decade before the UK saw any shale gas production and that, even then, it would not be “the game changer we’ve seen in North America”. In December, the Chancellor unveiled tax breaks for shale gas exploration and ended a moratorium on the controversial fracking process used to extract the gas, imposed after the technique caused minor tremors near Blackpool in 2011. Speaking on the fringes of an energy event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Laidlaw said shale gas would not be a miracle solution to dwindling North Sea oil “partly because of the environmental concerns and partly because we don’t have a we ll-developed supply chain”. He added that other obstacles included planning regulations, the “density of the population” in potential exploration areas, and “landowners’ incentives”.
Telegraph 23rd Jan 2013
