Nuclear Subsidy
Nuclear power plants can only be built in the U.K. with government support, EDF SA’s U.K. head Vincent de Rivaz said, the FT reported. A “level playing field” has to be created to enable the nuclear industry to compete with other low-emission electricity sources such as wind power, the newspaper said, citing an interview with de Rivaz. The government has recently pledged additional subsidies for offshore wind power and support for “clean coal” power plants but has resisted providing similar funding for nuclear power.
Bloomberg 26th May 2009 more >>
FT 26th May 2009 more >>
His comments call into question the government’s plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations, which ministers have insisted can be delivered without any additional subsidy. Mr de Rivaz suggested the best way to support the nuclear industry would be to make sure penalties paid by rival fossil fuel power generators under the European Union’s emissions trading scheme were kept high enough to make nuclear investment attractive. He said such a move would be necessary before companies were confident enough to invest tens of billions of pounds in new reactors. He added that the government needed to put a floor under the price of carbon permits in the European Union’s emissions trading scheme.
FT 26th May 2009 more >>
In recent months the government seemed to be making remarkable progress towards its goal of building a new generation of nuclear power stations in Britain. Today’s warning from EDF about the need for more financial support for nuclear power shows that there is still a long way to go. Since Ed Miliband took charge at the newly created Department of Energy and Climate Change last October, his two most significant decisions have been to increase the subsidies paid to new offshore wind farms under the Renewables Obligation system, and to promise a new subsidy for pilot “clean coal” power stations that can capture and store their carbon dioxide emissions. Mr Miliband is now under pressure to say whether he will offer the same kind of support to nuclear power. Mr Miliband often talks about the need for a stronger government role in energy policy, not to replace the competitive market but to shape it to meet strategic policy objectives. With the government’s support for nuclear as firm as ever, but the market’s ability to deliver now called into question, he is facing the stiffest test of what that principle means in practice.
FT 26th May 2009 more >>
The next generation of nuclear power stations will not be built unless the Government steps in with financial assistance, the head of the UK’s biggest nuclear generator has warned. Energy companies fear generous subsidies for wind farms will make investing in new reactors risky and might not bother. Vincent de Rivaz, UK boss of power giant EDF Energy, said in a newspaper interview that a ‘level playing field’ had to be created to make building the power stations attractive.
Daily Mail 26th May 2009 more >>
New Nukes
Spanish power utility Iberdrola will feature in the UK’s plans to develop its nuclear power and expects news on a possible reactor site shortly, Chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan said on Monday. Iberdrola expects another European company to join its nuclear consortium with France’s GDF Suez and Scottish & Southern Energy, which has received a reactor site offer from the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, or NDA.”They (the NDA) have proposed us a site and we hope to have further news about this in the next few days,” Galan told reporters at Spain’s senate.”We will probably be joined by another European company and become in some form or other the third nuclear power group operating in the United Kingdom,” he said. Swedish utility Vattenfall is said to be interested in participating in the development of Britain’s nuclear energy industry.
Interactive Investor 25th May 2009 more >>
Reuters 26th May 2009 more >>
Industry talk about a nuclear renaissance is more than just wishful thinking. Concerns about energy security and climate change have transformed the debate about nuclear power in the past decade. The spectre of the Chernobyl accident in 1986, which put the nuclear industry into suspended animation for two decades, has been dispelled, and all over the world interest in nuclear power is waking up. The World Nuclear Association, the industry group, estimates that worldwide 388 reactors are planned or proposed; almost as many as the 436 now in operation. But of the 45 reactors under construction worldwide, according to the WNA, 12 more than a quarter are in China. A further eight are in Russia. Stephen Thomas, professor of energy studies at the University of Greenwich, argues: The two main French entities in nuclear power Areva and EDF originally were, and remain today, largely branches of the French government. They are directed as a matter of state policy and have benefited from extremely favourable government financing and credit assurances. To duplicate this experience in the US, you would essentially have to nationalise your electric utilities and have all new power plant siting decisions emanate from the White House.
FT 26th May 2009 more >>
Pakistan
The National Economic Council (NEC) is expected to approve PKR3.55 billion for the construction of two new nuclear power plants at Chashma in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of next budget (2009-10). Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission had sought allocation of PKR23.9 billion.
Energy Business Review 24th May 2009 more >>
UAE
France prepared on Monday to open its first military base in the Gulf Arab region as it eyed multi-billion-dollar deals to supply the United Arab Emirates with nuclear power plants and advanced military aircraft. French officials said the naval base in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, the world’s third-largest petroleum exporter, would deepen ties to the Gulf Arab state and fortify efforts to battle piracy and defend trade.
Interactive Investor 25th May 2009 more >>
North Korea
Asian stocks foundered on Tuesday as the United Nations condemned North Korea’s nuclear test and investors awaited more clues about the health of the world economy.
Telegraph 26th May 2009 more >>
North Korea is preparing to test-fire short-range missiles in the Yellow Sea, one day after it staged a nuclear test, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency has said.
Telegraph 26th May 2009 more >>
Barack Obama, the US president, has promised to defend Japan and South Korea from any attack by North Korean following Monday’s test of a second nuclear device by the renegade Communist state.
Telegraph 26th May 2009 more >>
The UN Security Council has unanimously condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear test, saying it was a “clear violation” of a resolution passed in 2006 after Pyongyang’s first atomic test. A statement from the council said: “The members of the Security Council have decided to start work immediately on a Security Council resolution on this matter.”
ITN 26th May 2009 more >>
Telegraph 26th May 2009 more >>
Times 26th May 2009 more >>
The UK press is united in horror at the underground nuclear tests carried out by North Korea.
BBC 26th May 2009 more >>
The Korean Central News Agency released the following report on Monday in connection with one more successful underground nuclear test in the DPRK.
Independent 25th May 2009 more >>
Britain has condemned a nuclear weapon test carried out in secretive North Korea, which Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned will undermine the prospects for peace in the region.
Ananova 25th May 2009 more >>
Kim sees nuclear weapons as a way to guarantee his family’s future. Other states acquire atomic bombs to protect their territory from invaders. The North Korean regime sees the bomb as the guarantor of its rule over a long- suffering people. He is so megalomaniacal that he would be prepared to destroy his own nation before he was overthrown. North Korea has evolved a perverted kind of dynastic Communism, which survived the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1991. The founder of the dynasty and ‘Great Leader’, Kim Il Sung, passed on the communist crown to his son, Kim Jong-il, in 1994. Now as his own mortality is evident, Kim Jong il is planning to anoint his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, as North Korea’s next beloved ruler.
Daily Mail 26th May 2009 more >>
North Korea pumped up nuclear tensions in Asia yesterday with its second atomic weapons test, earning the isolated Stalinist state the wrath of neighbours, who said Pyongyang was playing a dangerous game and seriously undermining peace and stability in the region.
Independent 25th May 2009 more >>
Daily Express 26th May 2009 more >>
Guardian 26th May 2009 more >>
Renewables
Prospects for renewable energy have never looked better, even in the face of recession. But the new technologies are growing so fast they are beginning to threaten the old. Some defenders of conventional energy have started to argue against renewables, citing fears about growth. In 2008, for the first time, both the European Union and the US added more capacity from renewables than from fossil-fuel and nuclear sources. Global solar PV production rose 85 per cent to 7.9 gigawatts. Such growth is possible, continuing even in recession, because some 73 countries have set renewable power generation targets, and at least 64 of them are attempting to hit the targets. Those reluctant to abandon the nuclear and fossil-fuel status-quo have been reacting to all this with a fresh candour. In March, EDF and E.On advised the UK government to cut back renewables in favour of nuclear. The energy giants declared efforts to get to 35 per cent renewables in the UK electricity mix as the government intends to be not only unrealistic, but damaging to nuclear plans. They said additional carbon-generating plant would be needed because of the intermittency of renewables. Renewables advocates reject this. German renewables companies demonstrated in 2007 that distributed renewable power can produce baseload electricity in a secure and reliable manner without help from
conventional power.
FT 26th May 2009 more >>
