Radwaste
Today Her Majesty’s government quietly removed the power of local and county councils to say no to burial of existing and future nuclear wastes beneath their homes. The predetermined decision to “Implement Geological Disposal” now lies with the Secretary of State under Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. This vicious NSIP ruling overrides any considerations on the land such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, heritage or conservation areas. Using the most undemocratic tool of “delegated legislation” this decision has been forced through, not by open debate but by Committee Room decisions.
Radiation Free Lakeland 25th March 2015 read more »
Dounreay
The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) and North Highland College UHI have signed up to develop and deliver training for decommissioning work at the Dounreay nuclear site in Caithness. UHI will also help staff gain the qualifications they need to transfer to other employment sectors as the site closure progresses. The “memorandum of understanding” has been agreed with Dounreay Site Restoration, the firm responsible for the site’s clean-up and demolition.
Aberdeen Press & Journal 24 March 2015 read more »
NDA
The 2015 to 2018 Business Plan sets out delivery priorities for the period as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority continues to focus on accelerating hazard reduction across its 17-site estate.
NDA 25th March 2015 read more »
A plan to build an archive in Scotland to hold the records from all the civil nuclear sites in the UK has been approved by Highland councillors. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has proposed constructing the centre near Wick. Records from Dounreay near Thurso and Sellafield in Cumbria would be among those held at the archive. More than 70 years’ worth of information and up to 30 million digital records would be stored.
BBC 25th March 2015 read more »
Scotland
Scotland’s Government will explore any avenue that will prevent premature closure of Longannet, Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing pledged to Holyrood MPs yesterday. Addressing the Scottish Parliament, Ewing said: “I welcome the support for Peterhead and understand that SSE is now progressing investment that will allow the station to operate more efficiently and flexibly going forward. Peterhead is key to efforts to prove the viability of carbon capture and storage – a technology with potential to unlock future low-carbon thermal generation in Scotland.
Scottish Energy News 26th March 2015 read more »
Scotsman 26th March 2015 read more »
Herald 26th March 2015 read more »
BBC 25th March 2015 read more »
The closure of Longannet power station next year and the end of coal-fired electricity generation in Scotland is “ludicrous”, according to the head of the body representing renewable energy companies. The intervention by Niall Stuart, the chief executive of Scottish Renewables, came after ScottishPower’s announcement this week that it intended to close its Longannet station in Fife next March, with the loss of 120 jobs.
Times 26th March 2015 read more »
Energy Costs
Green levies on businesses will have doubled under the Coalition, official figures show. The burden on firms imposed by the Treasury will have risen from £2.5 billion in 2010-11 to £4.6 billion in 2015-16, Treasury figures show. Charges include the Climate Change Levy, a charge on every kilowatt hour of electricity and gas firms use to generate electricity. The Carbon Price Floor was introduced on every ton of carbon that firms emit. The two levies now cost businesses £2 billion. Larger firms have also been hit by the Energy Efficiency Scheme to further reduce carbon emissions. The charge, introduced in 2010, will bring in £800million this year. Another three green taxes – on landfill and mining, and a European levy on carbon – have remained steady since 2010, costing firms £1.8billion a year.
Telegraph 26th March 2015 read more »
Hungary
Hungary has agreed to EU demands that it diversify its nuclear fuel supply away from Russia, removing one of the main obstacles to the Kremlin-backed expansion of a landmark atomic power plant. Hungary’s €12.5bn project to build two additional reactors in the town of Paks, largely financed by Moscow, has become a test case for Brussels as it seeks to break the EU’s dependence on Russian energy sources.
FT 25th March 2015 read more »
EU Business 25th March 2015 read more »
Japan
Government auditors say Tepco has wasted more than a third of the ¥190 billion in taxpayer money allocated for cleaning up Fukushima No. 1. A Board of Audit report describes various expensive machines and untested measures that ended in failure. It also says the cleanup work has been dominated by one group of utility, construction and electronics giants despite repeated calls for more transparency and greater access for international bidders. Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Teruaki Kobayashi said all of the equipment contributed to stabilizing the plant, even though some operated only briefly. Some of the failures cited in the report: French import: Among the costliest failures was a ¥32 billion machine made by French nuclear giant Areva SA to remove radioactive cesium from water leaking from the three wrecked reactors. The trouble-plagued machine lasted just three months and treated only 77,000 tons of water, a tiny fraction of the volume leaking every day. It has since been replaced with Japanese and American machines.
Japan Times 24th March 2015 read more »
Japanese government auditors say the operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant has wasted more than a third of the 190 billion yen ( $1.6 billion ) in taxpayer money allocated for cleaning up the plant after it was destroyed by a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A Board of Audit report describes various expensive machines and untested measures that ended in failure. It also says the cleanup work has been dominated by one group of Japanese utility, construction and electronics giants despite repeated calls for more transparency and greater access for international bidders. Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Teruaki Kobayashi said all of the equipment contributed to stabilizing the plant, even though some operated only briefly. Some of the failures cited in the report: FRENCH IMPORT: Among the costliest failures was a 32 billion yen ( $270 million ) machine made by French nuclear giant Areva SA to remove radioactive cesium from water leaking from the three wrecked reactors. The trouble-plagued machine lasted just three months and treated only 77,000 tons of water, a tiny fraction of the volume leaking every day. It has since been replaced with Japanese and American machines.
Engineering News Review 24th March 2015 read more »
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has announced that its muon tomography scanning efforts at Fukushima have borne fruit, and confirmed that nuclear plant’s Reactor #1 suffered a complete meltdown following the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011.
Extreme Tech 20th March 2015 read more »
Japan may be obsessed with robots, but it is a British company that has solved the “impossible” problem of visualising the radiation leaks inside the crippled reactor buildings at Fukushima.
Telegraph 26th March 2015 read more »
Iran
Failure to reach a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme would mean a “fundamentally” more unstable Middle East and the prospect of a nuclear arms race in the region, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.
Reuters 26th March 2015 read more »
Press & Journal 26th March 2015 read more »
Even if a deal is agreed during this week’s international negotiations on key elements of Iran’s nuclear programme, much of it may be kept secret until a final deadline at the end of June, a senior European official has said. The US secretary of state, John Kerry, and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, flew back to the negotiations venue in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Wednesday and are due to resume talks on Thursday, six days before their deadline to reach a framework agreement.
Guardian 25th March 2015 read more »
Jordan
Russia’s state-owned nuclear agency Rosatom will build a nuclear power plant for Jordan, the first nuclear facility in the electricity-starved Arab kingdom. The two countries have signed a $10bn contract on Tuesday that foresees the 2,000 megawatt plant to be built at Amra, north Jordan, with an expected launch date set for 2022.
Engineering & Technology 25th March 2015 read more »
US
Public support for nuclear energy in the USA is increasing with more than two-thirds of citizens favourable towards it, according to a new survey commissioned by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI).
World Nuclear News 24th March 2015 read more »
Nuclear Submarines
On 6th March 2014, my predecessor announced his decision to refuel the nuclear reactor in HMS Vanguard, one of the UK’s four ballistic missile submarines, during its planned deep maintenance period. This was a prudent precaution following the discovery of a microscopic breach in the cladding around one of the fuel cells in the prototype reactor plant at our Shore Test Facility at Dounreay in Scotland. My predecessor also asked the MOD Chief Scientific Adviser to review again the evidence on which the decision was taken not to prototype the next generation PWR3 reactor, due to be fitted in the Successor ballistic missile submarines. The review was undertaken by three eminent nuclear experts, Professor Robin Grimes, Professor Dame Sue Ion and Professor Andrew Sherry. I have received the review Panel’s report and am grateful for the Panel’s efforts and insights. The Panel concluded that it was a valid decision not to prototype PWR3. They also agreed that there was no practical course of action that would have enabled a prototype facility to be built ahead of the first Successor submarine. The Panel have advised that, with no PWR3 shore test facility, far greater requirements will need to be placed on other elements of the submarine enterprise to provide data, experience and assurance to underpin safety and availability especially those elements that are unique to the UK. As such, I have agreed to their recommendation that the Department undertake a Nuclear Propulsion Capability Review to ensure the necessary capability and capacity is in place to sustain these requirements. This review will form part of the Department’s routine work to ensure that continuous at sea deterrence can be sustained now and in the future.
Parliament 25th March 2015 read more »
A Polish man who tried to sell secret nuclear submarine documents he stole from his neighbour’s airing cupboard has been jailed for more than four years.
Daily Mail 26th March 2015 read more »
Mirror 25th March 2015 read more »
Telegraph 25th March 2015 read more »
Guardian 25th March 2015 read more »
Community Energy
Civic energy could provide 50% of UK’s electricity by 2050. What would our energy system look like if the move to a low-carbon society wasn’t left to governments and big energy companies but was instead led by civil society? We are all used to the debate between states and markets, private vs public provision in shaping the direction of the energy sector; but communities, citizens and local authorities together can form a “civic” energy sector that could revolutionise the way we generate and use energy. People in the UK are not well served by the current energy market. Investigations have found poor competition, a slow switch towards renewables, and the value in the system being captured by international companies, with very little economic benefit remaining at a local level. But there is another way, identified by Realising Transition Pathways, a consortium of researchers from across nine UK universities. Existing community energy projects – run by groups of citizens – could link with new roles for local authorities as energy service companies to form a “civic” energy sector. This civic sector would expand on the work of energy crowdfunding platforms such as Pure Leapfrog and mutual models such as Energy4All to provide new ways for ordinary citizens to invest in local energy resources.
Renew Economy 26th March 2015 read more »
Renewables – solar
Business will be able to install up to 1MW of solar capacity on rooftops without planning permission.
Business Green 25th Marc 2015 read more »
Decarbonising Heat
The near total elimination of carbon emissions from existing homes is required by 2050. There are two key solutions for low carbon home heating – local area schemes using heat networks and individual home systems using electric heat, each with different challenges
ETI 25th March 2015 read more »
Heat Pumps
A million properties across England could in future be heated by water from rivers, canals and the sea, the government says. The Department for Energy calculates this is the potential of a technology known as the water source heat pump. This relies on a heat exchanger, which uses a system akin to refrigeration to amplify warmth from pipes in the sea. If the energy from the process comes from renewables, properties can be warmed with near-zero carbon emissions.
BBC 25th March 2015 read more »
Fossil Fuels
McKibben’s article has been so influential that the very specific numbers it contains are now often cited as a kind of unchanging gospel truth. Those numbers are as follows. Limiting global warming to the agreed global target of 2C means staying within a ‘carbon budget’ of 565 GT (gigatonnes or billion tonnes). That is a fifth of the 2,795 GT that would be released if all the world’s proven oil, coal and gas reserves were burned. Therefore four-fifths of the fossil fuel must stay in the ground. But other estimates differ. For example, a recent paper in Nature stated that although we’ll need to leave most of the coal in the ground, we can burn half the gas and two-thirds of the oil – a major difference given oil’s key role in the world economy. So whose figures should we believe? While it is good to understand what factors will determine our carbon budget, it is much more important to call on politicians and investors alike to get a grip on this issue and face up to the simple and incontestable reality: there’s far more fossil fuel than we can burn, and the more of it that we take out of the ground, the greater the risk of an irreversible climate catastrophe.
Guardian 25th March 2015 read more »
