New Nukes
Far from being a guarantee of a greener future, the revival of nuclear power would be a costly cul-de-sac. Au contraire, nuclear energy can be cheap, clean, abundant and secure. Europe will never meet its carbon emissions targets by wind and solar power alone. Two visions of the nuclear future – a sceptical British view and the enthusiastic official French view – collided head on at yesterday’s Lyon environmental conference. Tom Burke, a former head of Friends of the Earth and a leading anti-nuclear campaigner, took his nuclear scepticism into the most pro-nuclear, and nuclear-dependent, country in Europe. He was opposed by France’s “Monsieur Nucl aire”, Fran ois Roussely, former president of Electricit de France (EDF) and the man charged by President Nicolas Sarkozy with charting France’s nuclear future.
Independent 25th Sept 2010 more >>
The HSE has published its response to the third report of the independent Generic Design Assessment (GDA) Process Review Board. The GDA Process Review Board was established in 2007 to provide external scrutiny and oversight of the GDA process. The Process Review Board Report and the HSE’s response to it can be found at:
HSE 24th Sept 2010 more >>
EDF
Constellation Energy Group is bickering with its French partner in nuclear energy over a $2 billion option that would effectively force the partner, Electricit de France, to buy several of Constellation’s aging natural gas, coal and hydropower plants. Constellation wants to exercise that option before its Dec. 31 expiration deadline, and one person familiar with the negotiations said that the dispute between the two companies “isn’t brewing. It’s brewed.”
Washington Post 24th Sept 2010 more >>
Hinkley
Sedgemoor District Council believes EDF Energy has played down the impact Hinkley C would have on the district. At a special council meeting on Wednesday, councillors unanimously backed a report which complained EDF’s proposals for two new nuclear reactors were badly lacking in information in important areas, and would not properly compensate the area for all the disruption the construction and operation of the plant would cause.
This is the West Country 24th Sept 2010 more >>
Quangos
The list of 117 public bodies to be abolished under the government’s spending review that was leaked today to the Telegraph contains a large number of green casualties, including well-known organisations and those that operate with a lower profile. Another 94 public sector organisations have seemingly been granted a stay of execution, but remain under review until their fate is revealed in October.An examination of how the “bonfire of the quangos” could affect the environmental sector.
Guardian 24th Sept 2010 more >>
Leaked list reveals Renewables Advisory Board is facing the axe, while Carbon Trust, Environment Agency and Energy Savings Trust are still under review. COMARE is also on the list of threatened Quangos
Business Green 24th Sept 2010 more >>
Radwaste
Dounreay’s clean-up company is taking part in a UK initiative that aims to standardise the way Britain’s most hazardous radioactive wastes are looked after in future. A workshop this month will consider a draft set of guiding principles that are being developed to assist the UK’s nuclear industry on the packaging and storage of higher-activity waste. It follows the launch earlier this year by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority of a project involving waste management experts from NDA, its site licence companies, British Energy, the Ministry of Defence and commercial waste producers.
DSRL 13th Sept 2010 more >>
Companies
AWARD-winning Huntingdon manufacturer Pursuit Dynamics is to launch in the nuclear decontamination sector with a potentially multi-million-pound joint venture.
Hunts Post 24th Sept 2010 more >>
France/US
Dr Mark Copper: Among backers of nuclear power development in the U.S., France has long been held out as the model to emulate. Now, as pressure builds on policy makers in Washington to set a new domestic energy course, the French experience once again is being heralded as proof that nuclear power is the way to go. Trouble is, France’s nuclear “miracle” is more fantasy than fact. And facts are what Congress – and the American public – deserve before massive public subsidies are committed for new reactor construction. Here are some key findings from my analysis of what has mistakenly been called the French “nuclear miracle.” Nuclear reactors are not cheaper in France. Nuclear power backers claim France has solved the problem of cost of new reactor construction through standardization and efficiencies of scale. That is untrue. French reactors have escalated in price at almost the same rate as those in the U.S.
The Hill 23rd Sept 2010 more >>
Pakistan
A new potential dispute between the US and China is opening up as Beijing goes public with its plans to export two more nuclear reactors to Pakistan, in a deal that will raise questions about controls on nuclear technology. Chinese officials have admitted privately since earlier this year that they planned to go ahead with the long-mooted plan to sell Pakistan two more nuclear reactors, in addition to the one reactor it has already built and a second under construction. However, Beijing has this week publicly acknowledged the plan for the first time. Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman at the Chinese foreign ministry, said that Beijing had already informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of the new agreement with Pakistan. Meanwhile, an industry official at China National Nuclear Corporation told a conference this week that China was discussing with Pakistan the construction of a one gigawatt nuclear reactor far larger than the two 300MW reactors in the initial agreement.
FT 24th Sept 2010 more >>
Iran
Iran was the likely target of a sophisticated computer worm designed to sabotage factories and infrastructure which was almost certainly the work of a national government agency, security experts told the Guardian yesterday. According to the security company Symantec, 60% of the computers infected by the Stuxnet computer worm are in Iran, which is where the malicious software, known as malware, was discovered by a Belarussian computer security company.
Guardian 25th Sept 2010 more >>
Iran would consider ending uranium enrichment, the most crucial part of its controversial nuclear activities, if world powers send Tehran nuclear fuel for a medical research reactor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday.
Telegraph 25th Sept 2010 more >>
India
The US nuclear industry and the Obama administration are pressing the Indian government to amend or circumvent the controversial Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage law that was passed by India’s parliament in late August. “We are not going to chase bad deals,” declares John Rice, General Electric’s head of infrastructure-technology businesses. “And we’re not going to do business in countries where the nuclear-liability regime is not well-defined.”
World Socialist Web 25th Sept 2010 more >>
Thailand
Hundreds of people representing communities opposed to nuclear power plant together with crew from the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior placed windsocks to form the shape of a pink dolphin, beside a banner that reads “Unplug a nuclear future,” in Thong Ching Beach, Nakhon Si Thamarat province, 610 kilometers south of Bangkok. Thong Ching Beach is one of the proposed sites for the construction of a nuclear power plant. The province is known for its vast population of pink dolphins (Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphins or Sousa chinensis). The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior arrived yesterday in the province to join community movements clamouring for a future free of dangerous nuclear and coal power.
Greenpeace 24th Sept 2010 more >>
Ukraine
The Ukrainian government has reportedly declared Russian nuclear fuel company TVEL the winner of the tender to construct a fuel manufacturing plant in Ukraine. Ukraine’s cabinet approved the Ministry of Fuel and Energy’s proposal to construct the nuclear fuel plant at a meeting on 22 September.
World Nuclear News 23rd Sept 2010 more >>
Renewables
The recent mini-boom in solar power could be in jeopardy, as the government has privately indicated that new feed-in tariffs that have fuelled the industry could be slashed. If such cuts are adopted, renewable energy experts fear that it will scare off investors with repercussions throughout the industry. To change the subsidy system just when you can see the success it has had beggars belief, said one. Renewable energy investors…will lose faith in this government. Industry insiders also accused the government of hypocrisy. They say that while Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary, was promising the Liberal Democrat conference 250,000 green jobs as part of a revolutionary deal to cut emissions, government advisers were holding meetings in back rooms at which they flagged up potential cuts to the feed-in tariffs (FITs). Dave Sowden, chief executive of the Micropower Council, a trade association for domestic renewables, said: We are alarmed to hear the coalition may be considering the unprecedented move of unravelling policies that were not only its idea, but have only been in place for six months, and against which thousands of jobs have been created and hundreds of millions of pounds invested. Backtracking now would have a profoundly damaging effect on investor confidence and seriously jeopardise [UK] ability to meet climate change targets. Daniel Green, chief executive of HomeSun, a solar company, said his business had received 60,000 expressions of interest in the past six weeks from consumers wanting to install panels. Any change to FITs would be deeply damaging. The Department of Energy and Climate Change confirmed that the Treasury was examining FITs as part of the comprehensive spending review, even though the subsidies cost comes not from taxpayers but consumer energy bills.
FT 24th Sept 2010 more >>
Energy Efficiency
A key piece of environmental regulation about to hit tens of thousands of businesses has been slammed on the eve of its launch by a government watchdog as overcomplex and in urgent need of reform. The Carbon Reduction Commitment requires about 25,000 companies in the services and commercial sector including retailers, leisure centres and hospitals to report to the government on how much energy they use. But the scheme, for which companies must submit information by September 30 or face fines, is unnecessarily complex and very difficult for companies to understand and comply with, according to the Committee on Climate Change, a statutory body that advises the government on how to meet its emissions targets.
FT 24th Sept 2010 more >>
Test Veterans
THE ROYAL British Legion has pitted itself against the Government by backing veterans of British nuclear weapons tests who are seeking compensation from the Ministry of Defence.
Derby Telegraph 25th Sept 2010 more >>
Trident
Britain has given the U.S. a direct promise that it will keep its nuclear deterrent and maintain special forces following the upcoming strategic defence and security review. Defence Secretary Liam Fox made the pledge in talks with his U.S. counterpart Robert Gates this week after the Pentagon expressed concern at the scale of spending cuts planned by the coalition Governmen
Daily Mail 24th Sept 2010 more >>
Putting off plans to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system until after the next general election, and drastically scaling down plans to build two new aircraft carriers, are expected to be among key decisions agreed at a meeting of the government’s national security council next week, well-placed sources have told the Guardian.
Guardian 25th Sept 2010 more >>
