Energy Bill
Peter Atherton, Citigroup’s head of European utility sector research, said he was “surprised” the Government had published Tuesday’s draft Bill when it still appeared to be very uncertain as to how key proposals would work. “After two years, the Government seems no closer to being able to square its desire to support new nuclear with its political imperative not to be seen to be subsidising nuclear build,” he wrote in a research note. “If the publication of this Bill was meant to demonstrate progress and reinvigorate investors’ appetite, we suspect it might have the opposite effect.” He said the Government did not seem to have “much confidence in its own proposals” for how “contr acts for difference” (CfD), intended to guarantee return on investments, would work. He doubted that generators would regard the proposed “synthetic counterparty arrangement” for CfD as equivalent to “a government-backed counterparty that was originally promised”. But Mr Atherton told The Daily Telegraph he had spoken to dozens of institutional investors “who are expected to fund the £110bn” and as yet “not a single fund manager” believed the draft Bill would make them more likely to do so. “In fact, many of them have suggested it makes them less likely,” he said. Capital markets had already been “dubious” about energy policy, he said, and he believed the draft energy Bill had “possibly undermined [the Government’s] credibility further,” he said.
Telegraph 23rd May 2012 more >>
Two large overseas investors in the UK energy market have joined the chorus of criticism of the government’s new energy bill. The German-based E.ON, one of the big six electricity providers in Britain, said national subsidy schemes for renewables such as Britain’s contracts for difference had helped “bust” key European carbon reduction initiatives.And Norway’s Statkraft, said on Wednesday it would not be able to press the button on a giant £30bn offshore wind farm on the Dogger Bank until ongoing “uncertainty” was lifted. Speaking at a climate change symposium in Svalbard, Norway, E.ON’s chief executive, Johannes Teyssen, said: “We started the ETS [emissions trading system] with a lot of noise but we never took care of it. National policies took over and the ETS is bust.” He pointed to Britain’s “contracts for difference” scheme introduced by the energy bill as an example of how national governments were going their own way. Teyssen said renewable energy regimes throughout the EU should be made “coherent and consistent” with ETS so that the cap and trade scheme can be revitalised. There was no investor anywhere who would put money into wind or solar schemes on the basis of the ETS, he said, adding that the collapse in the price of carbon in that scheme had left power companies burning coal as much as possible.
Guardian 23rd May 2012 more >>
Journalists’ gnawing desire to put a number – any number – on the cost to households of the UK’s new draft energy bill has led to some peculiar results. Today, in two pieces of reporting based on the same set of figures, the Times and the Telegraph come to wildly different conclusions on the matter, with the Telegraph deciding domestic electricity bills will go up by £100 a year, while the Times goes all out for a doubling of household electricity bills to £1000.
Carbon Brief 23rd May 2012 more >>
SDLP MP for South Down, Margaret Ritchie, has called on the Conservative-led government to rethink its Draft Energy Bill. Speaking as the government unveiled their Draft Bill at Westminster Margaret Ritchie, criticised the ongoing commitment to fossil fuels and the nuclear industry: “It could not be clearer with current record oil and petrol prices that the reliance on imported fossil fuels is not serving consumers, businesses or the wider economy in Northern Ireland. While I commend the stated aim of decarbonising the electricity sector, the path set out in this draft legislation in no way provides the guarantees needed to encourage green energy investment and will continue to leave people vulnerable to high prices.”In the North of Ireland more people every year are falling into fuel poverty and this draft bill was an opportunity to make the bold changes necessary to reform the energy market with a view to the long term needs of the economy. Consumers and businesses are suffering and need a coherent strategy that delivers clean, green jobs and sustainable fuel prices. “Instead the government seem to have delivered more of the same, especially with the continued obsession with the expensive and ultimately unsafe energy source that is nuclear power.
4NI.co.uk 23rd May 2012 more >>
Electricity bills could rise by up to £200 a year for each home under plans to guarantee high prices for firms building nuclear power stations and wind farms. Details emerged yesterday as the Government unveiled a revolution in the way the nation produces its electricity. Consumers will have to pay more to ensure companies make a profit on their multi-billion-pound investment.
This is Money 23rd May 2012 more >>
Nuclear Costs
Some people worry about nuclear power because they fear the risks to human health from radioactivity. Others are concerned about the morality of leaving a legacy of radioactive wastes that will be dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years. Others again are concerned about the risks of proliferating nuclear weapons since no-one has yet found a way to make atoms work for peace without also making them available for war. These are all legitimate concerns but what has begun to trouble me more recently is the impact of nuclear power on the ability of some people to reason. Nuclear power seems to have acquired the power to destroy logic. In its presence otherwise intelligent, highly educated, well informed people in responsible positions seem to lose all power to reason logically. The ability of nuclear power to destroy logic was also displayed yesterday by the Energy Secretary himself. Throughout the day he repeatedly asserted that nuclear power was the cheapest way to decarbonise the British economy. It has long been acknowledged that off-shore wind is expensive. Its electricity currently costs about £135/MWh. Many commentators have argued that this is much too expensive and should be abandoned. As a report from Citi last week showed, assuming nuclear power stations are built on time and to budget, something that has not so far been possible for the type of reactor EDF want to build in Britain, their electricity would cost £166/MWh. I find it difficult to follow the logic that allows someone to argue that something that is £31/MWh more expensive is really cheaper. Maybe Ed Davey should change his name to Alice.
Tom Burke 23rd May 2012 more >>
New Nukes
Letters: 1. Providing for our energy needs will never be a free lunch but going down the nuclear road will be a hugely expensive mistake. 2. A Corruption of Governance report is worth reading for the detailed and authoritative way in which it appears to destroy the UK Government’s case for nuclear power. As the title suggests, it “shows that the evidence given to Ministers and Parliament, on which they based [their decision to support new nuclear power stations] was a false summary of the analysis carried out within Government”.
Herald 24th May 2012 more >>
Hinkley
One of the four major contractors lining up for the £1.2 billion main civils package at Hinkley Point C has revealed it is not expecting a decision to be made on a preferred bidder until 2013. Vinci chief executive and chairman John Stanion told Construction News he does not expect EDF Energy to make a final decision until finalised details on proposed contracts for difference are published. The contracts are part of plans to reform the energy sector set out in a draft government bill this week. If construction is delayed until 2014, with a seven-year construction timetable this would mean the nuclear plant would not be operational until around three years later than had first been expected.
Construction News 23rd May 2012 more >>
An anti-nuclear protester is under investigation for using House of Commons writing paper to write to her MP. Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, says Katy Attwater has committed a crime and her behaviour is disgraceful.
Western Daily Press 23rd May 2012 more >>
Sizewell
SIZEWELL C will be built and thousands of jobs created thanks to the Governments pro-nuclear Energy Bill, ministers and EDF bosses claimed last night. The draft bill crucially includes a mechanism whereby the taxpayer acts like a guarantor for any potential losses for companies willing to invest in nuclear power if energy prices fluctuate. This means EDF can be sure of a minimum return on their initial investment in building the new reactor. The bill apparently leaves only one serious hurdle for the project in the shape of new French President Francois Hollande who remains opposed to the countrys reliance to nuclear power and wants the state-owned firm to concentrate its investment at home rather than abroad. Energy Minister Charles Hendry told the East Anglian Daily Times the Government had done everything possible to ensure Sizewell C goes ahead. We have worked closely with EDF and we are confident the outcome bill will be positive.
East Anglian Daily Times 23rd May 2012 more >>
The Government’s draft energy Bill is likely to be viewed with great interest in the Anglia region particularly in Suffolk where Sizewell nuclear power station is situated and there are plans for one of the largest wind farms in the world, the East Anglia Array, 14km off the coast.
ITV Anglia 23rd May 2012 more >>
Bradwell
Bradwell Power Station has reached another significant milestone in its decomissioning journey. The cooling ponds at the nuclear power station, which was in operation between 1962 until 2002, and still employs 700 people, have now been drained and decontaminated, edging it closer to the care and maintenance stage that is scheduled to begin in 2015.
Chelmsford Weekly News 22nd May 2012 more >>
Wylfa
GUARANTEED long-term prices for electricity will boost the chances of new investors taking over the Wylfa B project, ministers say. They hope radical reforms to the electricity market will attract the £110bn needed to keep the lights on over the next two decades. The cash should also help seal other types of projects such as renewables to underline Anglesey’s Energy Island plan. But families will end up paying for the changes, outlined in the draft Energy Bill.
Daily Post 23rd May 2012 more >>
Oldbury
GOVERNMENT reforms to the British electricity market could pour massive investment into new nuclear plants and renewable energy helping to safeguard the creation of thousands of new jobs in the county.
Gloucestershire Citizen 23rd May 2012 more >>
The Government will raise electricity bills in an attempt to attract investors to build another nuclear power station in the West Country. Ministers want to artificially hike up bills to make it more attractive for companies to invest in building a new power station in Oldbury, in South Gloucestershire.
Western Daily Press 23rd May 2012 more >>
Dungeness
A group of Kent MPs are meeting the Prime Minister today to discuss the possibility of a third nuclear power station at Dungeness. At the moment the reactors at Dungeness will close by 2023 but a new Government bill favouring nuclear power has been announced. Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins is among those meeting David Cameron at No 10.
ITV Meridian 24th May 2012 more >>
Radwaste
Save Our Lake District Dont Dump Cumbria! today denounced the IPSOS MORI opinion poll that supports the go-ahead for the next stage in the so-called search for a nuclear dump in West Cumbria. Ruth Balogh for SOLD DDC! said: The respondents to this poll were largely ignorant of this process. 19% of those asked had never heard of it; and 61% had either just heard of it or knew just a little. Only 4% said they knew a lot about it and 16% knew a fair amount. Given this level of ignorance, should the Partnership take these results seriously? And more important, what has Osprey Communications been doing with the six figure sums they been awarded to raise the matter among local people? Their efforts have been a woeful failure. If the results of the written submissions to the consultation are anything to go by, the more people know in depth about his very complex issue the less they support going ahead. For every one of the 7 questions, about 60% favoured withdrawing now, and 40% favoured going ahead.
Save Our Lake District 23rd May 2012 more >>
Rock Solid? Power Point Presentation – Dr Helen Wallace.
Radiation Free Lakeland 23rd May 2012 more >>
Local campaign group CORE (Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment) has today warned that the Partnership cannot take yesterdays Poll results as a clear mandate for inflicting an underground nuclear waste dump on West Cumbrian communities. In presenting the results of its telephone opinion poll to the Partnership, Ipsos-MORI revealed that just under half of those polled knew little or nothing about the MRWS process. The presentation showed that of the 4262 people canvassed on the lead question how much do you feel you know about the search in West Cumbria for a potential site for a deep underground facility for higher activity radioactive waste, the responses were as follows: 4% Know a lot about it; 16% Know a fair amount about it; 36% Know just a little about it 25% Have heard of this but know almost nothing about it; 19% Have never heard about it COREs spokesman Martin Forwood said today The poll shows that 44% (25% + 19%) – or 1875 out of the 4262 people contacted – had little or no idea about what was going on with the nuclear dump process. On that basis, Ipsos-MORIs overall conclusion that at least half support taking part in the search for a possible site is based on grounds as shaky and unsafe as the West Cumbrian geology.
CORE 23rd May 2012 more >>
THE majority of Copeland residents would support a search for a suitable nuclear repository site under West Cumbria. A packed meeting of the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership heard yesterday that 68 per cent of Copeland residents supported the search. The survey, carried out on behalf of West Cumbria MRWS Partnership, also showed less than a quarter of Copeland residents were opposed to the search, while five per cent said they were neutral and 10 per cent said they did not know.
NW Evening Mail 23rd May 2012 more >>
Communities across west Cumbria have given clear support to the idea of hosting a repository for highly radioactive waste in the area, it was claimed today. Copeland MP Jamie Reed has said having the disposal facility would be entirely in the areas interests. Meanwhile, the Sellafield Workers Campaign Secretary Craig Dobson said that recent public consultation on the issue had clarified that there is widespread support.
Carlisle News & Star 23rd May 2012 more >>
IF MARSH people do not want to host a £12 billion national nuclear waste disposal centre then the idea will die, the council has insisted so the Herald has launched its own poll to help residents get what they want. More than 650 people have already taken part in our online poll and opinion is split, with 57 per cent against the plans for a facility to bury radioactive waste up to 3,300ft under the Marsh, and 43 per cent supporting the proposal.
Romney Marsh Herald 24th May 2012 more >>
PLEX
ELECTRICITY giant EDF is in talks with the UKs Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) about extending the life of nuclear power stations in Scotland. Both Torness power station in East Lothian and Hunterston in Ayrshire are due to come to the end of their lives in 2023 and 2016 respectively. French-owned EDF and the ONR yesterday confirmed that the two organisations were discussing the prospect of the two sites remaining open, along with six other plants in the UK.
Scotsman 23rd May 2012 more >>
Companies
Amec, a UK consultancy, engineering, and project management services company, is in talks with the Serco Group to buy Sercos nuclear Technical Consulting Services (TCS) business, both companies said in separate statements May 23. Amec, with 2011 revenue of £3.2 billion, is a member of Nuclear Management Partners, the consortium with Areva and URS that is running the Sellafield nuclear and chemical waste complex on behalf of the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Serco, a UK based international services firm with £4.6 billion in revenue in 2011, is in joint ventures with Jacobs Engineering and Lockheed Martin to run the UKs Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston and in another JV with Battelle and the University of Manchester to run the National Nuclear Laboratory. Sercos TCS division provides consulting and project solutions primarily to the UK civil and defence nuclear markets and has annual revenues of approximately £70 million, the companies said.
i-Nuclear 23rd May 2012 more >>
Independent 24th May 2012 more >>
Construction News 23rd May 2012 more >>
Nuclear Engineering International 23rd May 2012 more >>
Sellafield
When staff at Sellafield, UK, slammed the door shut on cooling ponds back in the 1960s, little thought went into how the waste would be dealt for future generations. Now decommissioning operators are trying to work out how best to handle bundles that are too dangerous to touch. It is a risky and intricate task. A new suite of tools could help take waste management a step further forward – semi-robotic and remotely operated vehicles, as Sellafied managers reported in May 2012 after they completed a delicate operation to move contaminated objects in the first generation Magnox storage pond (FGMSP).
Nuclear Insider 23rd May 2012 more >>
RadHealth
Preliminary dose estimation from the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
WHO May 2012 more >>
Submarines
Four people have been injured after a fire broke out on a nuclear-powered submarine at a US Navy shipyard. Emergency services were called to the blaze on board the USS Miami which is docked in Maine on the east coast of the US. Authorities have not said how the fire started but the submarine’s nuclear reactor was not operating at the time and is reportedly not affected.
Sky News 24th May 2012 more >>
Germany
With the UK taking another step towards supporting new nuclear power on Tuesday at either no extra cost to the consumer if you believe ministers, or substantial cost if you believe most others it’s worth taking a look at what actually happens when you phase out nuclear power in a large, industrial nation. That is what Germany chose to do after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, closing eight plants immediately 7GW – and another nine by 2022. The shrillest critics predicted blackouts, which was always daft and did not happen. But more serious critics worried that the three things at the heart of the energy and climate change debate – carbon, cost and security of supply would all head in the wrong direction. Here in Berlin, I have found they were wrong on every count.
Guardian 23rd May 2012 more >>
Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with Germany’s state premiers on Wednesday to step up efforts to expand the power grid and resolve a dispute over solar incentives as she tries to rescue plans for a switch away from nuclear to renewable energy. Merkel said her vision for an energy shift in Europe’s biggest economy would require a lot of work and coordination but all parties at the three-hour talks in Berlin had vowed to work together despite clashing interests.
Reuters 23rd May 2012 more >>
Iran
Fresh talks between world powers and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme have begun in Baghdad. Negotiators from the US, UK, China, Russia, France and Germany sat down with a team of Iranian diplomats to try to hammer out specific goals in the long impasse. Iran is demanding that the West outline timetables and steps ahead to gradually address international concerns over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. Tehran hopes to leave the Iraqi capital with a clear framework for future talks and potential deal-making, an Iranian official said. Western diplomats have voiced similar concerns, although few believe the discussions in Baghdad will yield breakthroughs in the showdowns over Iran’s nuclear intentions.
Herald 24th May 2012 more >>
Talks in Baghdad concerning Iran’s controversial nuclear programme have gone into an unscheduled second day after diplomats failed to reach agreement.
BBC 24th May 2012 more >>
Reuters 24th May 2012 more >>
World powers meeting in Baghdad yesterday produced new proposals aimed at limiting the levels of uranium enrichment in Iran’s nuclear programme and edging towards a deal they hope could lift the threat of a Middle East war.
Independent 24th May 2012 more >>
Oddly enough, both sides in the bitter dispute over Irans nuclear ambitions have become quite good at soothing rhetoric. Saeed Jalili, the Islamic Republics chief negotiator, says that pressure and the language of threat is useless in dealing with the Iranian nation, but talks and cooperation can be a positive approach. Meanwhile, Baroness Ashton, the European Unions foreign policy chief, declares the only aim is to restore confidence in the peaceful nature of Irans nuclear programme. So the mood music is pleasant enough, but scratch beneath the surface and this confrontation looks as intractable as ever. In the end, Iran will either continue to enrich uranium or this highly sensitive process will be halted. Iran will either keep its existing stockpile of enriched uranium or surrender some or all of the material that its scientists have sacrificed so much to produce (the five who were assassinated on the streets of Tehran have paid with their lives).
Telegraph 23rd May 2012 more >>
Wednesday’s meeting between Iran and the world’s six leading powers in Baghdad was hardly the stuff of breakthroughs, yet by the modest standards of diplomacy with Tehran, the fact that the two sides talked in detail about what divides them counted as progress of sorts.
Telegraph 23rd May 2012 more >>
Iran has proposed a “new and comprehensive” package of proposals to six world powers during talks in Baghdad over its disputed nuclear programme, Iranian media reported.
ITV News 23rd May 2012 more >>
World powers presented Iran with a package of proposals at talks in Baghdad on Wednesday, aimed at defusing tensions over its nuclear programme and fending off the threat of a new Middle East war.
Guardian 23rd May 2012 more >>
Ministry of Defence reluctantly planning for being drawn into a US-Israeli conflict with Iran over Tehran’s possible nuclear arms.
Guardian 23rd May 2012 more >>
Daily Mail 23rd May 2012 more >>
Defence minister Ehud Barak says ‘there must be no window’ Iran can creep through to advance nuclear programme.
Guardian 23rd May 2012 more >>
Iran’s national currency has recovered its value against the dollar in expectation that today’s nuclear talks in Baghdad between the country’s officials and the world’s major powers could establish a long-running procedure and defuse tensions over a military strike on the regime’s nuclear facilities.
Guardian 23rd May 2012 more >>
Renewables
First Minister Alex Salmond has announced a double boost for Scotland’s burgeoning renewable energy industry on the opening day of the annual All Energy showcase event in Aberdeen. In his opening address at the two day green energy exhibition and conference he revealed that a £70 million fund has been established to help develop Scotland’s first commercial wave and tidal power developments and a new centre for the development of enhanced North Sea oil recovery through carbon capture and storage technology.
Scotsman 24th May 2012 more >>
A team led by Atlantis Resources has won a government-backed contract worth up to £13.2m to investigate ways of driving down the cost of tidal power, as part of plans that could see the fledgling industry supply up to 27GW of capacity in the UK by 2050.
Business Green 24th May 2012 more >>
A new, highly efficient wood-chip burning combined heat and power (CHP) plant looks set to help two Cambridge hospitals cut their carbon emissions and energy consumption in half. The new plant is part of a renovation to an energy centre that has been supplying Addenbrooke’s and Rosie hospitals with sustainable energy for the last 20 years. During that time, the hospitals have been incinerating clinical waste to provide heat and hot water to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and will continue to do so.
Business Green 24th May 2012 more >>
Green Deal/ Green Investment Bank
The German development bank KfW borrows freely and is transforming the energy efficiency of the nation’s homes. The UK’s fledgling equivalent will do neither. Business secretary Vince Cable, responsible for the UK’s Green investment bank (GIB), visits the German development bank KfW today, a day after the law establishing the GIB was published. It will be an interesting visit. When I met Leon Macioszek, director of KfW in Berlin on Tuesday, I pointed out that the GIB can’t actually borrow. This rendered him speechless as his mind wrestled hopelessly with the contradiction. But I am sure he will recover in time to tell Cable about the bank’s work. There is a lot of it, and much of it very relevant to the UK’s troubled Green deal plan to make 14m British homes warmer and cheaper to heat. The UK Green investment bank has £3bn of taxpayers’ money and will not, as it stands, support any home refurbishments, despite many experts saying this is exactly the sort of investment it should assist.
Guardian 24th May 2012 more >>
