Radwaste
Carlisle residents have joined the debate on whether nuclear waste should be dumped in west Cumbria. A drop-in event at the Old Town Hall gave them the chance to have their say on proposals for an underground disposal site. It was part of a public consultation by the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership.
Carlisle News & Star 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
Hinkley
NATIONAL Grid has called in independent consultants to analyse the option of routing a huge power line planned for North Somerset and Somerset underground or under the Severn Estuary.
Weston Mercury 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
Energy giant EDF Energy has been blasted for breaching conservation guidelines and forcing a colony of badgers off land earmarked for controversial new nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point in north Somerset. Environmentalists warn that future corner-cutting could put lives at risk if construction of the two new reactors gets the green light.
Stop Nuclear Power 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
Sizewell
A NEW bypass on the A12 cutting journey times between Lowestoft and Ipswich and major improvements for rail passengers in waveney could be among the benefits to local communities if a new Sizewell C nuclear plant is given the go-ahead.
Lowestoft Journal 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
Suffolk taxpayers are not gonna have to pay for the public consultation into whether a third nuclear power station should be built. EDF Energy’s agreed to foot the bill as the Councils look into another Sizewell for Leiston. EDF Energy has reached an agreement with Suffolk local authorities to outline the way they will work together in the planning process for the proposed Sizewell C power station. The Planning Performance Agreement has been set up in accordance with a process established by the Government and has been designed to ease the financial burden on local authorities when tasked with evaluating nationally significant infrastructure projects.
Town 102 FM 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
Bradwell
A public meeting regarding Nuclear Power at Bradwell will be held on Wednesday, 1st of December at 7pm. The meeting will be held at the Mica Centre in West Mersea. Residents will have to opportunity to discuss any issues they have with Hergen Haye, Head of New Nuclear at the Department of Energy (DECC) and Andy Blowers, Chair of Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG).
Colchester Borough Council 22nd Nov 2010 more >>
THE Government’s head of new nuclear development is to speak to Mersea islanders, worried about plans to build a second power station over the water in Bradwell.
Hergen Haye, from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, will outline the Government plans at meeting in West Mersea, organised by Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group.
Gazette 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
Scotland
Letters: (1) There are doubts about the cost and future reliability of electricity supply in Scotland. Hunterston B has a capacity of 1320MW. The output of the station supplies a large proportion of electricity demand in Scotland . It is rapidly nearing the end of its natural life. I would like to ask Jim Mather, the Energy Minister, one simple question. If, on a windless day across Scotland when no wind generators are providing power and Hunterson has come to the end of generation, where is the electricity coming from to keep the grid system fully functional? (2) Your correspondents repeat a number of myths surrounding the renewables industry in Scotland. Readers should know that official Government reports show that renewables provided more than one-fifth of our electricity demand last year, equating to 18% of our total generation. Most of this is split roughly 50-50 between onshore wind and hydropower. The proportion of our demand from renewables is set to rise substantially over the next few years as new projects come on line, and huge growth is seen in the off shore wind, wave and tidal sectors. All forms of energy generation are intermittent, with sharp impacts on the network when a large power plant suddenly comes offline. However, National Grid has confirmed that a large and growing proportion of renewables on the system is entirely manageable. We have been able to reach, well ahead of schedule, each renewables target set by the Government, and this is why the First Minister announced an am bitious increase to our renewable electricity target to 80% by 2020. If we are to be the global leaders in renewables and win the massive economic prize it presents, we have to maintain our commitment to secure, sustainable energy as well as our moral commitment to reduce carbon emissions. (3) Neil Craig tells us everything about the Scottish Government report on which he relies except the date. It is on the web the date is January 19, 2006, and it uses figures for 2002. I could find nothing more recent. I could not find the figure for r enewables when I skimmed it, but 11% sounds about right for 2002. A lot has happened since 2002, including the commissioning of many wind farms. The Governments High Level Summary of Statistics Trend for electricity generation, updated on December 23, 2009, was the most recent figure I could find. That gives a figure of 18% for renewables in 2008 and it states: The amount of electricity generated from non-hydro renewable sources in Scotland increased from 0.6% in 2000 to 8.6% in 2008. Wind has probably overtaken hydro now. I havent checked Colin R McInness figures but, assuming they are true, there were 25.8 million households in the UK in the second quarter of 2009, according to the Office for National Statistics. So even if all the 200m per year came out of household electricity bills, that was only an average of 7.75 per year on a household bill. Money well spent to reduce carbon emissions. The cost estimates of professional engineers have not been too accu rate in the past. The Royal Academy of Engineering produced a very poor report on the cost of wind farms in 2004, a report which was easily shown to be wrong. I am old enough to remember the old Central Electricity Generating Board telling us that electricity produced from Sizewell B cost 2.3p per kilowatt hour in 1988; a few years later the figure was 6.25p.
Herald 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
FRESH doubts over plans for four biomass energy plants have been raised after a Nationalist MSP launched a parliamentary bid to block the schemes. Shirley-Anne Somerville has won cross-party backing for a campaign calling for the Scottish Government to halt large-scale schemes such as those proposed for Leith, Dundee, Grangemouth and Rosyth. The “green energy” plants proposed by the firm Forth Energy would generate electricity from woodchips, the majority of which would come from forests overseas, although some Scottish chips would be used. Although the company has insisted it will use “sustainable” sources for the 1 billion venture, some of the material will be shipped to Scotland from as far afield as Canada and the US. Ms Somerville insists no biomass plants should be given the go-ahead until concerns have been addressed over their environment al credentials and detailed research has been carried out into the impact they will have on local communities.
Scotsman 24th Nov 2010 more >>
Companies
YORKSHIRE engineer Newburgh is set for a period of major growth after winning a contract worth up to £20m with nuclear reactor designer Westinghouse Electric UK. The Rotherham-based family firm will supply in-core reactor fuel components to be used at British nuclear power stations.
Yorkshire Post 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
Aldermaston
Staff at the company that provides warheads for Trident, the UK’s nuclear weapons system, are to walk out for the first time in a row over pay.
BBC 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
Nuclear Ships
Babcock International’s marine division has completed a study to investigate the commercial implications of developing a nuclear-powered liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier – a move the engineering firm says would be a first for LNG vessels.
Professional Engineering 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
Depleted Uranium
A Private Members Bill that would ban all weapons containing depleted uranium in Ireland has passed through the upper house – making it only the second time a Private Members Bill has done so. The bill will now be considered by the parliament’s lower house.
International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons 18th Nov 2010 more >>
Iran
Iran had to suspend its nuclear work earlier this month and delayed plans to make fuel for a reactor, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report that shows the country’s nuclear drive may have run into technical difficulties. The number of installed centrifuges that Iran uses to enrich uranium, the heavy metal used to fuel nuclear power plants and construct atomic bombs, fell to 8,426 from 8,856 three months ago, the IAEA said today in a restricted report obtained by Bloomberg News. Iran had to stop producing uranium on Nov. 16 and delayed installing machinery used to build nuclear fuel panels, the nine-page report said.
Bloomberg 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
Iran’s nuclear programme was shutdown for a day according to a report by the world nuclear watchdog as the country fends off claims that Western sabotage efforts are taking a toll on the programme.
Telegraph 24th Nov 2010 more >>
Guardian 24th Nov 2010 more >>
Iran’s nuclear chief has remained defiant in response to mounting evidence that the Stuxnet worm has caused significant damage to the country’s uranium enrichment programme.
Yahoo 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
BBC 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
North Korea
President Barack Obama has set the goal of eventually ridding the world of nuclear arms as a central theme of his presidency, but North Korea’s defiance and other recent setbacks have raised fresh doubts about whether he can turn his vision into reality.
Yahoo 24th Nov2010 more >>
Today’s exchange of fire highlights increasingly sour relations between North and South Korea but of more concern is the possible size and viability of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
Channel 4 News 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
North Korea’s attack on South Korean forces stationed on Yeonpyeongdo island underlines the seriousness of the global nuclear threat, something many of us fondly imagined had ended with the Cold War. It isn’t that the Korean fighting signals the coming of an East Asian nuclear apocalypse – but it does demonstrate just how nuclear weapons fundamentally transform geopolitical equations. No great imagination is needed to understand what North Korea now seeks. South Korea is one of the engines of Asian prosperity, on which the world’s hopes of an early economic recovery rest. By attacking an island of no strategic value, North Korea’s dysfunctional but eminently rational regime is telling the world how much pain it could inflict if it isn’t bribed to behave itself. Both sides want wealth, not war – and nuclear weapons are North Korea’s means to extract it.
Telegraph 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
North Korea, which fired dozens of artillery shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong this morning, could make one or two bombs’ worth of enriched uranium per year if its new enrichment facility is fully operational, a nuclear analyst says.
New Scientist 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
China
The China Nuclear Energy Association has recommended the government adopt a 2020 target of 70 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity, but companies in the sector are pushing for more, association Vice-Chairman Zhao Chenkun told Reuters on Wednesday.
Reuters 24th Nov 2010 more >>
Westinghouse Electric has handed over more than 75,000 documents to its Chinese customers as the initial part of a technology transfer agreement. The documents relate to the construction of the four third-generation AP1000 reactors that Westinghouse is building in China.
FT 24th Nov 2010 more >>
Test Veterans
Atomic bomb test veterans from Dundee and Kirkcaldy say they will continue their fight for the truth after top judges dashed their hopes of compensation.
Dundee Courier 24th Nov 2010 more >>
A TOP legal team fighting for justice on behalf of elderly Christmas Island nuclear test veterans are preparing to take their case to the Supreme Court.
Paisley Daily Express 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
A nuclear test veteran has spoken of his disappointment after he and hundreds of others had their compensation hopes dashed. Arthur Hart, 73, developed life-threatening cancer after observing atomic bomb tests while serving in the Royal Navy.
Manchester Evening News 23rd Nov 2010 more >>
Coal
The Conservatives are set to break a key pre-election pledge on the environment and allow new coal plants to pump far bigger quantities of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. As a recently as October last year, in a key note speech to environmentalists, David Cameron promised to introduce rules requiring new power stations to be as clean as a modern gas plant. But the Guardian has learned that ministers are planning to raise the limit on emissions to almost double that amount when the government publishes wide-ranging proposals on reforming the electricity market next month.
Guardian 24th Nov 2010 more >>
