Nuclear security
More than two decades of cooperation in guarding weapons-grade stockpiles comes to an end, leaving the world ‘a more dangerous place’. One of the greatest boons brought to the world by the end of the Cold War was the agreement been the US and the countries of the former Soviet Union to cooperate in securing the USSR’s vast nuclear arsenal. Under the 1991 Cooperative Threat Reduction agreement, better known as the Nunn-Lugar programme (after the two senators who persuaded Congress to pay for it) 900 intercontinental ballistic missiles were destroyed, and over 7600 warheads were deactivated. Some 250 tons of bomb-grade fissile material, scattered across the disintegrating superpower, was locked up and put under guard, so it could not be stolen and sold to the highest bidder. Tens of thousands of former Soviet nuclear weapons scientists and technicians were found jobs and salaries to help reduce the incentives to offer their expertise to rogue states and terrorists. All in all, a pretty big deal, whose benefits will only be fully appreciated in their absence. The spirit of cooperation that underpinned the programme has crumbled over recent years.
Guardian 25th Jan 2015 read more »
Scotland
With the ink barely dry on the UK Government’s draft Scotland Bill – unwrapped by prime minister David Cameron last week at Holyrood – Scotland’s deputy first minister last night called for fresh amendments to ‘remove the Westminster right to veto’ Scottish Government policies, including those relating to energy and fuel-poverty. John Swinney said that while aspects of the draft Scotland Bill represented progress, proposals in areas such as welfare, employment support and capital borrowing were a “significant watering down” of what was promised by the Smith Commission. He said: “There are a total of 12 instances across key areas such as welfare, universal credit and fuel poverty, where we will have to consult UK Ministers before acting and in eight of these ‘permission’ from the Secretary of State must be sought: a veto.
Scottish Energy News 26th Jan 2015 read more »
Analysis of Draft Scotland Bill by Lawyers Shepherd and Wedderburn.
Scottish Energy News 26th Jan 2015 read more »
Supply Chain
WARRINGTON fended off competition from Paris, Rome and London to be chosen as the latest site for a nuclear and waste management company looking to ‘catapult’ growth. Kurion has eight facilities worldwide but the move to Birchwood’s Cinnamon Park is its first European site, with current headquarters mapped in nations across the globe including America and Japan.
Warrington Guardian 25th Jan 2015 read more »
India
In a glow of bonhomie, U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled plans to unlock billions of dollars in nuclear trade and to deepen defense ties, steps they hope will establish an enduring strategic partnership.The two countries reached an understanding on two issues that, despite a groundbreaking 2006 agreement, had stopped U.S. companies from setting up reactors in India and had become one of the major irritants in bilateral relations.
Reuters 25th Jan 2015 read more »
US industrial interests took centre-stage at the start of Barack Obama’s visit to India as he and the prime minister, Narendra Modi, outlined a deal to limit the legal liability of US suppliers in the event of a nuclear power plant catastrophe.
Guardian 25th Jan 2015 read more »
Independent 25th Jan 2015 read more »
Scotsman 26th Jan 2015 read more »
U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a deal aimed at unlocking billions of dollars in nuclear trade and deepening defence ties, steps both sides hope will help establish an enduring strategic partnership. Following are some key agreements and points of discussion during Obama’s visit: CIVIL NUCLEAR India and the United States struck a deal that could open the door for U.S. companies to build nuclear reactors in India by promising insurance cover to U.S. companies that had shied away from an Indian law placing liability on suppliers in case of an accident. It remains to be seen whether the new pact will satisfy companies such as GE and Toshiba -owned Westinghouse, who had stayed away since a landmark 2008 agreement that ended India’s nuclear isolation.
Reuters 25th Jan 2015 read more »
Iran
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu defended on Sunday a planned speech to Congress about Iran, saying he had a moral obligation to take every opportunity to speak out on an issue that posesa mortal threat to his country. His visit to Washington in March has opened up a political rift in the US and has drawn accusations in Israel that Netanyahu is undermining a strategic alliance in order to win an election due two weeks after the trip. Briefing his cabinet on the speech to be made on 3 March to a joint session of Congress, Netanyahu said his priority was to urge the US and other powers not to negotiate an Iranian nuclear deal that might endanger Israel.
Guardian 25th Jan 2015 read more »
Fusion
When the Iter agreement was signed in 2006, the reactor was supposed to begin operations in 2016. With the subsequent redesign and construction delays, the current timetable does not involve a switch-on until 2020 and there will not be a working plasma in the tokamak before around 2022. The all-important fusion reactions are not likely to occur before 2027, more than 20 years after building started.
Guardian 25th Jan 2015 read more »
Renewables – solar
New figures issued by the Department of Energy (DECC) have revealed that small-scale solar PV panels were installed on the roofs of more than 125,000 homes last year. The numbers also show that a total of 700MW of solar – the equivalent of powering 212,000 homes – was installed on buildings and in ground-mounted solar farms thanks to the Feed in Tariff over the course of the year.
Scottish Energy News 26th Jan 2015 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Altruism is alive and well and living in California. An extended experiment involving more than 100 households suggests that people are more likely to reduce energy use if they believe it is good for the environment rather than good for their pockets. Those who tuned into the messages about public good saved, on average, 8% on their fuel bills, while households with children reduced their energy use by 19%. But people who were repeatedly reminded that they were using more power than an economy-conscious neighbour altered their consumption hardly at all.
Climate News Network 25th Jan 2015 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Shale fracking should be put on hold in the UK because it is incompatible with our climate change targets and could pose significant localised environmental risks to public health.
Parliament 26th Jan 2015 read more »
Don’t let frackers in national parks or ancient woodlands, says MPs: Call for delay to drilling amid concerns including noise and polluting water supplies.
Daily Mail 26th Jan 2015 read more »
Britain’s nascent shale gas industry has been dealt a fresh blow by a committee of MPs who have called for a moratorium on fracking and warned that the government was rushing through “undemocratic” laws to help the industry.
FT 26th Jan 2015 read more »
An influential committee of MPs has called for a moratorium on fracking on the grounds that it could derail efforts to tackle climate change. The government’s drive for shale gas should be put on hold because it would lead to more reliance on fossil fuels, the Environmental Audit Committee said. The cross-party committee also warned there were “huge uncertainties” about the environmental impact of fracking.
BBC 26th Jan 2015 read more »
Independent 26th Jan 2015 read more »
Scotsman 26th Jan 2015 read more »
Two of Britain’s biggest unions are urging Labour MPs not to support a ban on fracking as ministers signalled more concessions to head off a Commons rebellion. Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat environment secretary, is expected to agree further restrictions on shale gas exploration in beauty spots. He is also understood to be ready to give ground on an independent assessment of whether fracking will lead to an overall increase Britain’s carbon emissions. A report by the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) today details an “extensive range of uncertainties” over fracking, including the risk of polluting groundwater and water supplies, as well as noise and disruption, and has called for a temporary ban. There was also a lack of public acceptance of fracking, it claimed.
Times 26th Jan 2015 read more »
Britain can lead the world in fracking for natural gas. Nimbyism is a poor reason to derail the Infrastructure Bill. By most estimates, the United Kingdom uses about three trillion cubic feet of natural gas every year. According to the British Geological Survey, there could be somewhere in the region of 1,329 trillion cubic feet of such gas under northern England alone. We would be mad to leave it there. We may be about to be mad. Today, the parliamentary environmental audit committee (EAC) will call for a moratorium on fracking – the hydraulic extraction of gas from shale rock. This, on the day that the House of Commons votes on the government’s Infrastructure Bill, parts of which are intended to make fracking an easier and more commercially viable prospect in Britain.
Times 26th Jan 2015 read more »
The SNP will vote later today (Mon) in favour of a fracking moratorium in the final reading of the UK Infrastructure Bill in Westminster. The move was heralded in a letter over the weekend by Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing to his Westminster counterpart in which he urged UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey to stop the UK Government issuing any more licences for unconventional oil and gas in Scotland.
Scottish Energy News 26th Jan 2015 read more »
Scotland is set to lead resistance to the fracking of shale gas in the UK, with both the Scottish National party and the new leader of Scottish Labour saying they would impose tough conditions on the drilling technique. The SNP government at Holyrood will this week set out plans to strengthen its “precautionary approach” to fracking and believes there should be a moratorium before new licences are issued. Jim Murphy, leader of the Labour party in Scotland, says he wants to give “local people a right to veto fracking”, adding that he would not allow Scotland to become “a guinea pig” for a new wave of shale gas exploration. Although Scotland is thought to have significant reserves of shale gas, they are relatively small compared with the volumes thought to lie under English soil.
FT 26th Jan 2015 read more »
George Osborne has requested that ministers make dozens of interventions to fast-track fracking as a “personal priority”, including the delivery of numerous “asks” from shale gas company Cuadrilla. The list of requests are laid out in a leaked letter to the chancellor’s cabinet colleagues. They include interventions in local planning, and offering public land for potential future drilling. Anti-fracking campaigners claim the letter reveals collusion with the industry, while Labour said it showed the government was an “unabashed cheerleader for fracking”.
Guardian 26th Jan 2015 read more »
A committee of MPs has been accused of listening to “ill-informed” green groups instead of scientific evidence, after it called for a ban on fracking for shale gas, citing health and environmental fears. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) on Monday called for fracking to be put on hold indefinitely, and at a minimum banned in national parks, amid “huge uncertainties around the impact that fracking could have on water supplies, ai r quality and public health”. Developing shale gas is also “incompatible” with the UK’s legally-binding climate change targets, it claimed. Eight committee members, including former Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman, have cited this as grounds for a moratorium on fracking, in an amendment to the Infrastructure Bill, due to be debated on Monday. But Government sources dismissed the EAC report as “total rubbish”, while academics criticised the Committee’s findings.
Telegraph 26th Jan 2015 read more »
