Politics
Ed Balls: We need a radical transformation in our economy. Because in the twenty-first century, the companies and countries that will succeed will be those who can exploit the huge opportunities the new digital age and the era of big data are bringing – in high-value manufacturing, digital media, education and medical technology. And the question is whether we will seize this opportunity or squander it? We will legislate for a decarbonisation target for 2030 and unlock billions of pounds in new investment in renewables, nuclear and clean gas and coal technology. And we will give the Green Investment Bank the borrowing powers it needs to do its job. Conference, that is what the next Labour government will do.
Labour Party 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Craig Bennett: The shadow energy and climate secretary, Caroline Flint, fought tirelessly to improve the energy bill arguing for the inclusion of a 2030 power sector decarbonisation target, which the Conservatives, and more astonishingly the Liberal Democrats, successfully opposed. She has frequently warned against a “reckless” over-reliance on gas, and argued that the best way to tackle rising energy bills is through a dramatic step change in energy efficiency. This year, the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, stressed the importance of putting green manufacturing at the heart of the UK economy. While Labour has been broadly supportive in a number of key green areas, they haven’t built the environment into an overarching and convincing narrative. The party says it wants to decarbonise the economy, yet they remain pro-fracking and make little mention of the need to burn less fossil fuel. Labour could and should champion the real, transformational solutions – from a serious attempt to bring down energy-use through a nationwide home insulation programme, to helping every school, hospital or community harness its own green energy. Some Labourites whisper these ideas; it’s time to shout from the well-insulated rooftops. We need to hear Ed Miliband pledge new jobs by restoring investor confidence in low-carbon energy, one of the few growth sectors of the economy. He should promise to slash fuel bills with a nationwide programme to insulate heat-leaking homes, which would save the NHS some of the £1bn it spends annually on dealing with the health problems related to fuel poverty. And he should make it clear that a Labour government would stop throwing subsidies and tax breaks at energy firms to extract even more dirty fossil fuels. The party leadership should be constantly challenging the coalition’s wretched green record.
Guardian 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Waste Transport
During the process of moving a consignment of three empty High Level Waste flasks from the Barrow docks spur line onto the main railway line (heading for Sellafield), one of the three flasks derailed and a second flask partially derailed. Drawn by two Direst Rail Services locomotives (DRS – a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority), the transport is said to have been travelling at approximately 5 mph when the derailment occurred on the main line causing a partial blockage of the line and forcing the cancellation of some main line services for several days. The third transport flask had remained upright and, following the rectification of the partially derailed flask, the two flasks were returned to the Ramsden Dock nuclear shipping terminal for inspection. Righting the fully derailed flask took a further 4 days because of what was described by Network Rail as a process that was ‘extremely challenging due to the location and the ground conditions in the area’. An investigation has been launched and whilst the exact cause of the derailment has not yet been established, it is understood that some repairs to the main railway line are necessary. Once repairs are completed, the three flasks will be taken to Sellafield. Despite the claim by International Nuclear Services (INS) who oversee such shipments that ‘our heritage in transporting specialist nuclear materials is unique; our nuclear safety and security records are world class’, the programme of returning HLW to Japan has been jinxed by a number of events.
CORE 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Sellafield
Cleaning up the vast amounts of nuclear waste stored at the Sellafield plant is a hazardous and expensive operation. The government has put more than £67bn aside for the project, but concerns have been raised over increasing costs and delays. In 2008, the contract was awarded to three companies, which make up Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) and their subsidiary Sellafield Ltd. A decision will made soon on extending it or awarded elsewhere.
BBC 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Energy Security
Britain has one of the world’s fairest and most secure systems for supplying energy, according to a report that challenges the perception that we suffer high prices and face blackouts because of poor investment. The World Energy Council, a UN-accredited body that advises governments, gives Britain an AAA rating for energy security, equity and sustainability, the three often conflicting factors known as the “energy trilemma”. Britain ranks fifth overall in a league table that gives 129 countries a rating based on their success in ensuring security of supply, fairness of pricing and progress in reducing emissions. Only Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Austria rank above Britain.
Times 24th Sept 2013 read more »
The Government was accused of playing fast and loose with Britain’s energy security last night after Centrica finally lost patience with its refusal to offer subsidies to bolster the country’s gas supplies and pulled out of a deal to build two major new storage projects. Centrica’s decision to drop plans to build new facilities in East Yorkshire and the North Sea at a cost of £240m follows its move in January to pull out of a consortium building a new nuclear power generator at Hinkley Point in Somerset. It gave rise to fresh new fears that Britain was leaving itself vulnerable to supply shortages in future years as North Sea gas supplies dwindle and the country becomes increasingly dependent on gas exporting regimes in potentially unstable parts of the Middle East and Russia. The cold spell in March saw the country come within six h ours of running out of gas, highlighting the fragile state of our reserves. As well as safeguarding against shortages, storing gas helps stabilise prices by allowing countries to bulk buy in the summer when prices are lower.
Independent 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Centrica has written off £240m in wasted costs after scrapping its £1.4bn plan to convert an empty North Sea gas field into a gas storage site, and shelving another smaller project indefinitely.
Telegraph 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
FT 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Centrica has blamed the Government after scrapping Britain’s largest gas storage project and putting another one on hold. The moves come after the coalition refused to award subsidies, funded by levies on energy bills, for new storage projects. They leave Britain with a wafer-thin gas reserve. Manufacturers said that an increased reliance on imports of liquefied natural gas would result in more volatile prices.
Times 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Guardian 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
Letter: I was surprised to read former high-ranking officers and defence secretaries (letter, Sept 19) claiming that the Liberal Democrat policy of equipping submarines with nuclear missiles only in an international crisis “could provoke a pre-emptive strike against us”. These gentlemen seem to operate on the assumption that in such a hypothetical crisis the Royal Navy would be a major player — a thought which is so far fetched that it is likely to inspire more Russian jokes about insignificant but conceited little islands. If ever we find ourselves in a crisis involving serious nuclear powers (rather than rogue regimes and terrorist plots), what matters is what the US forces do, not how rapidly we equip our few submarines with nuclear missiles.
Times 24th Sept 2013 read more »
France
Revenue earned by France’s existing nuclear power plants will be earmarked to fund the country’s move to an energy mix featuring more renewables, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has said.
World Nuclear News 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Germany
Germany’s leading business lobbies on Monday issued an urgent plea for the next German government to revise the country’s drastic energy transformation, intended to accelerate its exit from nuclear power, and to launch an investment offensive to repair the country’s ageing infrastructure. Without waiting for the establishment of a new coalition government by Angela Merkel, after the German chancellor won a big victory in the German election campaign, the lobby groups said swift action was needed on both fronts, as well as on stabilisation of the euro. “Almost two-thirds of businesses put affordable and reliable energy supply at the top of their to-do list for the new government,” he said. The government must also accelerate building of a new electricity net, to deliver renewable supplies from the north to the south of the country.
FT 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Iran
Iran must take “concrete steps” to address concerns over its behaviour, William Hague has said after meeting his counterpart Mohammed Javad Zarif in New York. The Foreign Secretary made his comments after talks which covered the country’s nuclear programme, human rights and the conflict in Syria. The two foreign ministers met as politicians gathered for the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in a sign of a possible thaw in relations with Tehran following the election of new president Dr Hassan Rouhani.
Sky 24th Sept 2013 read more »
ITV 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
The surge of optimism accompanying Hassan Rouhani to the United Nations is facing its first reality check.
Guardian 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Iran’s foreign minister will meet six major world powers at the UN this week to discuss Tehran’s nuclear programme, US and EU officials say. The meeting with Iranian FM Mohammed Javad Zarif will include US Secretary of State John Kerry – the highest level US-Iran contact for more than 30 years. Talks will take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
BBC 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Iran on Monday was finally taking control of its civilian nuclear reactor at Bushehr, a project begun 37 years ago by West Germany, wracked by setbacks, and finished by Russia. The Islamic republic’s atomic agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi confirmed Russia was handing over the 1,000-megawatt plant but said its experts would remain in Bushehr as part of a guarantee scheme for the operation.
Middle East Online 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Faced with a stream of conciliatory rhetoric from Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, and a diplomatic overture to Tehran by Washington, Israeli officials are voicing scepticism and concern about a possible easing of western pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear programme.
Guardian 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
North Korea
North Korean scientists are now able to build crucial equipment for uranium-based nuclear bombs on their own, according to evidence gathered by two American experts. This cuts the need for imports, which had been one of the few ways outsiders could monitor the country’s secretive atomic work. The experts say material published in North Korean scientific publications and news media shows that Pyongyang is mastering domestic production of essential components for the gas centrifuges needed to make such bombs.
Daily Mail 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Telegraph 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Wall St Journal 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
World governments must get used to the idea of leaving fossil fuel reserves in the ground unexploited and unburned, one of the world’s most senior diplomats has said, ahead of a landmark report on climate science to be unveiled this Friday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The former Irish president and UN high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, is to spearhead a new international push aimed at breaking the climate talks deadlock and silencing sceptics, with a group of senior diplomats and politicians from around the world.
Guardian 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
The company at the heart of the anti-fracking protests in West Sussex on Monday confirmed that its exploratory drilling outside a village had discovered the presence of hydrocarbons, which can be used for fuel, and said further testing would be needed to ascertain flow rates. After more than two months of operations at Balcombe, Cuadrilla said that it would be clearing the site by the weekend and would be closing it off for the next few months while it applies for planning permission to measure flow rates.
Guardian 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
The shale gas industry is demanding the right to frack without landowners’ consent to stop opposition groups exploiting a legal loophole that threatens to paralyse drilling for years. It has emerged that drillers need landowners’ permission if horizontal wells – typically extending several thousand feet deep and across – pass beneath their land, or risk being liable for trespass. The legal precedent was set three years ago in a case brought by Mohammed Al Fayed, the former Harrods’ owner, after the High Court ruled that a company drilling for oil under his Surrey estate had trespassed. Now shale gas explorers are bracing themselves for anti-fracking groups to launch copycat challenges by buying up “ransom strips” of land around drilling sites allowing them to seek an injunction to stop the operation and claim damages.
Times 24th Sept 2013 read more »
So-called extreme energy – including fracking, coal bed methane extraction and underground coal gasification – is being rolled out with little concern for the environment, leading campaigner, author and engineer Paul Mobbs tells the Ecologist Film Unit. The ultimate, the nuclear option of unconventional gas, is underground coal gasification, that’s where you set fire to coal seems underground. And this a very absurd technology because we don’t really understand how to do it.
Ecologist 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
