Sellafield
INSPECTORS have demanded action at Sellafield after it was revealed nuclear safety had been compromised. Officials found a failure to follow Operating Instructions at the Magnox Reprocessing Separation Plant has resulted in safety breaches. The report by ONR stated although no harm or release of radioactivity occurred these incidents “compromised” nuclear safety. It said the site was proactive in identifying some of the problems but it was “necessary” to issue the Improvement Notice, which must be complied with by September 30 next year. An inspector said: “The main area of concern was a failure to follow Operating Instructions, which are measures in place to keep the plant safe. Although no harm or release of radioactivity occurred, these incidents compromised nuclear safety.” There were 14 occasions in 2014 where safety limits and conditions were breached in the Magnox Reprocessing Separation plant. Bosses have pledged to improve the “shortfalls” with a programme developed prior to the Improvement Notice being served.
NW Evening Mail 23rd July 2015 read more »
Moorside
THE leader of Cumbria County Council says significant investment is needed in the area to support the construction of three new nuclear reactors.
NW Evening Mail 23rd July 2015 read more »
A new nuclear power plant in Cumbria will be of a scale “unprecedented for the UK”. Speaking at a meeting of Cumbria County Council’s cabinet today, leader Stewart Young said that significant additional investment is needed to achieve the Government’s nuclear aspirations. The proposed £10bn project at Moorside will see the construction of three nuclear reactors. Cabinet heard that extensive investment is needed into services like the county’s infrastructure (roads, railways and port), accommodation for the workforce, and the development of skills to ensure that as many jobs as possible are taken by Cumbrians. This “significant additional investment” in the current public sector financial climate will need to come from NuGen, the Government or both. Cabinet also made it clear that it would be looking to NuGen and the Government to ensure that robust plans are put in place now, to guarantee that this development results in a clear and lasting legacy for Cumbria – plans that will see Cumbria’s communities benefit from this nuclear new build for many generations to come.
Carlisle News and Star 23rd July 2015 read more »
Nuclear Skills
The first plans for a multi-million pound college to train the next generation of nuclear workers in west Cumbria have been revealed. This is a major step in the creation of a Government-backed National College for Nuclear, to be built on land near Lakes College at Lillyhall.
Carlisle News and Star 23rd July 2015 read more »
Politics
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd will today reassert the government’s commitment to tackling climate change, saying failure to act will threaten the country’s economic security. In her first major speech on climate change since the election, Rudd will insist the government remains fully committed to tackling climate change, despite a storm of criticism from green groups over her recent moves to axe or water down key low carbon policies, such as yesterday’s surprise decision to effectively kill off the Green Deal energy efficiency scheme. Rudd is scheduled to speak this morning at the launch of a major new report on the financial implications of climate change commissioned by insurance giant Aviva.
Business Green 24th July 2015 read more »
A senior minister has been accused of “grotesque hypocrisy” ahead of a speech she is to make about the government’s plan to tackle climate change. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd will say measures to curb rising temperatures are about ensuring economic security. She will also seek to redress the view that green policies are “left-wing”. But Friends of the Earth have accused the Conservatives of “dismantling” 10 years’ worth of low-carbon policies.
BBC 24th July 2015 read more »
The challenge of how best to tackle climate change must not solely be the preserve of leftwing politicians, according to the UK’s energy and climate secretary. Amber Rudd, who was promoted to secretary of state in May, is to use her first major speech on climate change to argue that the Conservative party’s legacy of action on global warming dates back to Margaret Thatcher. “It cannot be left to one part of the political spectrum to dictate the solution and some of the loudest voices have approached the issue from a leftwing perspective. So I can understand the suspicion of those who see climate action as some sort of cover for anti-growth, anti-capitalist, proto-socialism,” she is expected to say at Aviva headquarters in London on Friday. Leftwing advocates of climate action such as Naomi Klein have argued that capitalism is one of the main obstacles to serious carbon emission cuts and widespread deployment of renewable energy. Rudd’s speech comes at the end of a week when her department cut solar power subsidies and killed off the UK’s flagship scheme for making homes more energy efficient. Critics said the speech amounted to “window dressing” for Treasury attacks on environmental policies.
Guardian 24th July 2015 read more »
Left wing anti-capitalists have dictated the debate on tackling climate change and a Conservative approach is needed to prevent global warming, Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, will say on Friday. In her first major speech on the topic, Ms Rudd will say she can “understand the suspicion of those who see climate action as some sort of cover for anti-growth, anti-capitalist, proto-socialism”. “It cannot be left to one part of the political spectrum to dictate the solution and some of the loudest voices have approached the issue from a left-wing perspective,” she will say.
Telegraph 24th July 2015 read more »
World Nuclear
To meet rising energy needs many developing nations are looking to nuclear power. Overshadowed by past nuclear accidents, many are sceptical of this. Western nations have become increasingly sceptical about nuclear power, beginning in the 1980s. In his book The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of Ethics for the Technological Age, philosopher Hans Jonas dismissed nuclear energy as increasing people’s “energy gluttony”. A decade later the sociologist Ulrich Beck claimed that the risk of nuclear power “completely evades human perspective abilities.” Under the influence of a mix of a newly emboldened environmentalism increased safety fears, compounded by accidents such as Chernobyl, many developed nations slowed down the growth of nuclear energy or stopped it altogether. Despite such Western anxieties, to plug the gap between rising energy demands and supply, many developing nations are opting for nuclear power. In total, reports the Global Post, projections show that developing countries will “account for 40 percent of total global nuclear power generation by 2035, up from 17 percent in 2010.”
The New Economy 23rd July 2015 read more »
Europe
On 26-27 May 2015, the 10th European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) meeting took place in Prague. ENEF was created in November 2007. It was initiated by the March 2007 European Council, when Member States suggested “that broad discussion should take place among all relevant stakeholders on the opportunities and risks of nuclear energy.” But difficulty was encountered in bringing all the key actors together. Indeed, civil society wasn’t always consulted as required. Since the beginning of ENEF, over 50% of the participants are from the industry and only two NGOs were initially invited. The rest of the participants are European Commission and national government representatives.
Nuclear Transparency Watch 20th July 2015 read more »
France
France is set to ramp up renewable energy and shift away from nuclear under an energy law adopted on Wednesday. The country is also hiking a carbon tax to €100 a tonne by 2030 in a suite of measures to cut emissions 40% on 1990 levels. Environment minister Segolene Royal said she wanted France, which hosts a critical UN climate summit this December, to be a “nation of environmental excellence”.
RTCC 23rd July 2015 read more »
US
An obscure facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory for nine years provided vital scientific data about a critical gas used in America’s arsenal of nuclear weapons, until it was shuttered four years ago due to a raft of safety problems that have stubbornly persisted. The Energy Department, which oversees and finances the lab’s work, has poured tens of millions of dollars into fixing the problems, but so far, the expenditures haven’t borne much fruit. The facility – known as the Weapons Engineering Tritium Facility – is “vital” to the lab’s national security mission, but it remains closed, the department’s inspector general said in a report released July 20.
Centre for Public Integrity 22nd July 2015 read more »
Iran
Opponents of the Iran nuclear deal in the US Congress have accused the Obama administration of allowing “secret side-deals” between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the international nuclear watchdog, that make it impossible for them to properly scrutinise the deal. Senior Republicans seized on the existence of the confidential roadmap agreements between Iran and the IAEA during acrimonious hearings on Capitol Hill where John Kerry, the US secretary of state, was accused of being “fleeced” by Iranian negotiators.
Telegraph 23rd July 2015 read more »
After the historic announcement of an agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme, this week the Obama administration has begun trying to sell the deal to the United States Congress. Most Republicans, it appears, remain opposed. But while most international attention has focused on President Obama’s difficulties in getting the backing of American lawmakers, the popular excitement within Iran that greeted the announcement cannot disguise the fact that official reactions there have been decidedly mixed. The idea that solving the nuclear crisis would unlock a new Iran of economic riches and political moderation has been enthusiastically promoted by the Rouhani administration and its supporters. This is good political spin. But as a reflection of political reality it is seriously flawed – for the simple reason that it conflates a process into a single transformational moment; and perhaps more importantly, it fails to account for the reality of contemporary Iran’s political landscape.
Guardian 23rd July 2015 read more »
US Secretary of State John Kerry mounted a furious counterattack against critics of the Iran nuclear deal on Thursday, telling skeptical lawmakers that rejection of the accord would give Tehran “a great big green light” to swiftly accelerate its atomic programme. Testifying before Congress for the first time since Iran and world powers reached the deal last week, Mr Kerry fought back against accusations by a senior Republican that America’s top diplomat was “fleeced” by Iranian negotiators in the final round of the Vienna talks.
Telegraph 23rd July 2015 read more »
China will build two new nuclear power plants in Iran on the Makran coast, near the Gulf of Oman. The plants will be part of the four nuclear plants Iran is planning to build. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran head Ali Akbar Salehi said that the construction of four nuclear power plants will be carried out simultaneously in the next two or three years in Iran which will engage over 20,000 engineers and nuclear scientists.
Energy Business Review 23rd July 2015 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
The strange discovery of mutated flowers near the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster may have nothing to do with radiation at all, experts have claimed. Many people dismissed photos of the daisies as fake when they emerged on social media but botanical experts say there is a logical explanation for their bizarre appearance.“It’s likely to be just random mutation – we get lots of examples of fasciation sent to the RHS every year – but, of course, it’s not possible for us to say for certain if there is a link to radiation.“To be sure, one would have to examine the incidence in terms of numbers and area and any excess radiation present and do this over several years I suspect.”
Independent 23rd July 2015 read more »
Mirror 23rd July 2015 read more »
Greenpeace monitors radioactive contamination in Iitate district, Japan, and documents the ongoing decontamination work. The area is still contaminated since the March 2011 explosions at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.
Greenpeace 15th July 2015 read more »
Armenia
Armenia’s prime minister has confirmed a 10-year life extension of the country’s only operating nuclear power plant and that negotiations are being held on the construction of new nuclear capacity.
World Nuclear News 23rd July 2015 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
This year’s non-profileration treaty (NPT) review conference held under UN auspices in New York, took a step backwards on the road to nuclear disarmament, with the five “official” nuclear powers – the UK, US, Russia, China, and France – insisting on even vaguer language, and more caveats, than they have in the past. But the non-nuclear powers, the vast majority, are fighting back. 159 countries signed a statement at the end of the New York conference. “All efforts must be exerted to eliminate the threat of these weapons of mass destruction”, they said. “The only way to guarantee that nuclear weapons will never be used again is through their total elimination.”
Guardian 23rd July 2015 read more »
Renewables – solar
The UK solar industry remains on track to deliver power without subsidies by 2020, but clearer and more stable support from the Government will be needed in order to avoid a ‘cliff-edge’ of deployment. That’s the conclusion of a major new report from the Renewable Energy Association (REA) and consutancy firm KPMG, released just a day after the Tories unveiled shock proposals to end a key subsidy support scheme for solar energy developers.
Edie 23rd July 2015 read more »
Business Green 23rd July 2015 read more »
Highlands Council is seeking to appoint a contractor to finance, supply, install and maintain photovoltaic (PV) solar panels to municipal buildings across the entire council area.
Scottish Energy News 24th July 2015 read more »
Renewables – onshore wind
Reacting to a letter from the First Minister to the Prime Minister asking for a reprieve for windfarm schemes in the planning pipeline, Dr Richard Dixon, Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “Nicola Sturgeon’s welcome intervention makes the sensible suggestion that windfarms already in the planning system should be allowed to get UK Government support if they get planning permission. This proposal would safeguard jobs and many millions of pounds of investment, as well as help reduce future climate change emissions. We hope the Prime Minister is listening.
FoE Scotland 23rd July 2015 read more »
The National 24th July 2015 read more »
THE UK Government’s recent betrayal of the renewable energy sector and, for that matter, Scottish voters is disgraceful. The Conservatives are cutting vital renewable energy subsidies for onshore wind farms. Ending the renewable Obligation Certificate subsidy a year early leaves dozens of job-creating multi-million pound developments in onshore renewables hanging in the balance. Some companies have already invested millions of pounds in projects that would have created jobs, helped to secure Scotland’s energy future and hit carbon reduction targets. According to Scottish Renewables, about 850 Scottish onshore wind turbines spread across 37 projects (representing 2,129 megawatts of generation capacity) already have planning permission and are now under threat. During the referendum campaign, Ed Davey, the n UK Energy Secretary, stated that “Scotland would lose billions of pounds in subsidies for renewable energy projects if it voted for independence, putting its green energy revolution at risk”. The Tories have a majority in England and their manifesto included cuts to renewable subsidies but the SNP have a mandate for future investment and a target to generate 100 per cent of our energy needs via renewables by 2020. Due partly to Scotland’s higher support for environmentalism but largely due to geography and wind patterns, 70 per cent of UK onshore wind projects and the 10,000 jobs now threatened are located in Scotland.
The National 24th July 2015 read more »
Community Energy
Community Energy Cumbria presents a great opportunity to be part of something special, to have a stake in safeguarding our precious landscape, supporting local jobs and communities across Cumbria and in tackling climate change. Whether you live in Cumbria or you simply value the landscapes and communities of the Lake District and its surrounding areas, now’s the chance to invest in its future, in local investments that you can see working and that connect to the places and people of Cumbria. What’s more, these investments will reward you with a financial return.
Community Energy Cumbria (accessed) 24th July 2015 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Flagship scheme to insulate homes to end as government blames low take-up and stops funding of company set up to issue home improvement loans. The UK government has effectively killed its flagship scheme to insulate homes because it says take-up has been too low, but has admitted it has nothing to replace the programme with. The green deal was hailed as “transformational” and the “biggest home improvement programme since the second world war” by ministers when it was launched in 2013. But the number of householders taking out the unique loans at the heart of the energy efficiency scheme were much lower than had been hoped, with just over 15,000 issued or in progress according to statistics.
Guardian 23rd July 2015 read more »
The Government’s Green Deal energy efficiency loans scheme is to close in light of “low take-up and concerns about industry standards.” The Green Deal Finance Company – the organisation which provides the loans that underpin the scheme – is to receive no further funding, DECC has confirmed.
Edie 23rd July 2015 read more »
BBC 23rd July 2015 read more »
FT 23rd July 2015 read more »
Guardian 23rd July 2015 read more »
Telegraph 23rd July 2015 read more »
The government failed to listen to the construction industry over the Green Deal and needs urgently to devise a new energy efficiency strategy, according to a leading trade body.
Construction News 23rd July 2015 read more »
Ministers have scrapped the Government’s flagship Green Deal home energy efficiency programme as part of their austerity drive. The announcement comes weeks after The Independent reported that the scheme was at risk of falling victim to the Government’s plans to significantly scale back the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s £3.3bn budget. It leaves David Cameron’s vow to lead the “greenest Government ever” in tatters, a phrase he even used in a speech at the Royal Welsh Show today. The home improvement plan was deemed a failure by Decc, who decided to pull the funding after only 10,000 installed the taxpayer- subsidised green technology in their homes. Energy Secretary Amber Rudd said the department took the decision to pull funding for the Green Deal to protect taxpayers Energy Secretary Amber Rudd said the department took the decision to pull funding for the Green Deal to protect taxpayers. The closure of the scheme will not affect existing plans or applications for the programme, which is delivered by the Green Deal Finance Company, but the Government has announced it will launch an investigation into alleged scams connected to the scheme.
Independent 23rd July 2015 read more »
Scrapping the Green Deal is sensible, since taxpayers cannot support such schemes. The end of the Green Deal scheme is a victory for common sense, albeit an overdue one. For some time, it has been clear that the complex system of loans and subsidies for household energy efficiency measures was not working. Uptake figures have consistently fallen short of Government expectations, and there have been suspicions that the scheme was simply handing public money to householders who would have carried out their improvements anyway, a clear waste of money.
Telegraph 24th July 2015 read more »
Kingspan Insulation has developed what it calls “the most significant insulated panel technology breakthrough in a decade”. The new ‘IPN QuadCore’ insulation panel technology could deliver up to a 20% improvement in the thermal efficiency of buildings, along with lower lifetime costs. Kingspan Insulated Panels managing director Gilbert McCarthy said: “This is our most significant insulated panel technology breakthrough in a decade. “The property market demands performance, energy-efficient buildings that deliver low risk high-net yield and reduced environmental impact. The unprecedented performance of IPN-Quadcore helps to deliver these superior buildings, making the strongest business case yet for sustainability.” According to Kingspan, the new core technology was found to save a warehouse of 5,000m2 almost 14% on its annual energy demand compared to previous insulation models.
Edie 23rd July 2015 read more »
Climate
Letter: Your report “Global climate deal edges nearer amid ‘common understanding’ ”, July 20) adds to a number of recent relatively positive messages about the upcoming COP 21 climate conference in Paris. I have no reason to suggest that your reporting is incorrect. However, it supports the idea that the world is on track to take a major step forward towards meeting the generally agreed target of limiting global temperature increase to maximum 2C. This, unfortunately, is not the case. For Paris to deliver the “global, legally binding, ambitious agreement” that the EU and other major players have declared they are aiming at, it would take a very different document than what can be expected from COP 21. The agreement may well be “global”, but only by renouncing the other two criteria. The reduction targets that major emitters have so far pledged or are likely to pledge are far from ambitious enough to provide a credible road map to respect the 2C limit; the “legally binding” character of the agreement is meant to be restricted to a document that covers neither the reduction targets nor the financing commitments. In reality, nobody will be committed further than they feel like.
FT 22nd July 2015 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Lancashire county council faces an appeal by a leading UK shale gas company after refusing its applications to frack for shale gas in the county.
Edie 23rd July 2015 read more »
Business Green 23rd July 2015 read more »
Guardian 23rd July 2015 read more »
Telegraph 23rd July 2015 read more »
MINISTERS have been accused of paying lip service to a moratorium on controversial new energy extraction techniques after a firm that wants to ignite coal reserves under the Firth of Forth said it expects to get the go-ahead within months. Cluff Natural Resources wants to convert millions of tonnes of coal under the sea bed to gas under a process known as underground coal gasification (UCG), a method that the company insists will be managed safely and bring substantial benefits for energy supplies and the economy but has been branded “frightening and experimental” by Friends of the Earth. SNP ministers have admitted for the first time that they have the power to block the development, as the firm said it planned to submit a planning application in either the Falkirk or Fife council area early next year.
Herald 24th July 2015 read more »
