IPC
The coalition has also waged war on quangos by slashing £600m through axing some and reducing the budgets of others. That includes shelving the Infrastructure Planning Commission set up to speed through major schemes such as nuclear power stations like Anglesey’s Wylfa B. Communities Minister Greg Clark said: “We need to speed up the planning system and deliver new infrastructure like power generation. But it is vital that there are proper democratic checks and balances – which the Infrastructure Planning Commission patently lacks.”
Daily Post 25th May 2010 more >>
Electricity Supplies
The Royal Academy of Engineering said that to convert the countries fleet of 30 million vehicles would increase current demand by 16 per cent or an extra 10 gigawatts of power. With the 70 GW grid currently running at near full capacity that would mean building the equivalent of six large nuclear power stations or 2,000 wind turbines to meet demand.
Telegraph 26th May 2010 more >>
At least one in ten vehicles on Scotland’s roads must be electric by 2020 to meet Scotland’s climate change targets, an environmental charity report said. The WWF Scotland study said that electric vehicles (EVs) have an important role to play in helping to achieve the Scottish Government’s 2020 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 42%.
STV 25th May 2010 more >>
Companies
Frazer-Nash, the engineering consultancy, has announced a significant new appointment to its nuclear industry team.
Neil Proud has become the Business Manager for Nuclear Decommissioning in its Warrington office, bringing over 25 years nuclear engineering experience to the role. Neil’s role will be to lead the development of the company’s rapidly growing nuclear decommissioning arm. Frazer-Nash has particularly strong experience in this field, including work on decommissioning projects at Sellafield Ltd.
Process & Control Technology 26th May 2010 more >>
Toshiba is to invest $100m in one of the worlds largest producers of enriched uranium, as the top players in the nuclear industry race to secure their supply chain. The Japanese group said it would take a stake in New York-listed USEC, which has annual revenues of $2bn and supplies more than half of the US market with enriched uranium fuel.
The move highlights how the handful of companies that can make a nuclear reactor including Toshiba of Japan, Areva of France and General Electric of the US are scrambling to ease bottlenecks and control the complex nuclear supply chain.
FT 26th May 2010 more >>
Supply Chain
A FREE event highlighting the opportunities for businesses to benefit from the £70bn nuclear decommissioning programme and new-build strategy is to be held next month. The ‘New to Nuclear’ day-long seminar event, run by law firm Hammonds, will offer businesses from a broad range of sectors knowledge of how they can become part of the growing supply chain for this high value and fast growing sector.
Business Desk 25th May 2010 more >>
NPT
Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt has arrived in New York to participate in talks on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Taking place from 25- 26 May 2010, the trip is Alistair Burt’s first overseas visit since taking his position at the Foreign Office. During the visit the Minister is meeting a number of Heads of Delegation to the Review Conference of the NPT. He will also deliver a UK statement at a United Nations Security Council debate on “Maintenance of international peace and security”.
News on News 26th May 2010 more >>
Scotland
SCOTS are more in favour of using wind farms than nuclear power stations to produce electricity, a poll commissioned by EDF Energy has shown. When asked in a YouGov survey about their support for different types of power plants, more than eight out of ten Scots backed offshore wind farms and 69 per cent were in favour of onshore turbines. However, fewer than half – 47 per cent – said they supported the idea of replacing existing nuclear plants when they closed in the poll, commissioned by the French nuclear power giant. Similarly, when questioned about their opinion of different energy sources for producing electricity, 74 per cent said their impression of wind farms was favourable, compared to just 43 per cent for nuclear. EDF claimed the results of the survey showed “strong” support for new nuclear build among Scots, but this was disputed by green groups.
Scotsman 26th May 2010 more >>
Letter from Steuart Campbell: The country has been bewitched by the idea that, by generating electricity from all sorts of renewable methods, the lights will stay on and greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced. An example is energy minister Jim Mather’s article “Offshore resources: if we’ve got them, we should flaunt them” Advocating a low-carbon economy, he thinks that we can “power Scotland many times over” with renewable generation, especially from tidal and wave power. His claim that a quarter of our electricity comes from renewables is misleading. Although the Scottish Government’s website claims that, in 2008, 22 per cent of gross electricity consumption came from renewables (about half of this from hydro), this is a statistical trick. Because (coincidentally) 22 per cent of our electricity was exported, no-one can tell what proportion of that gen erated from renewables ended up consumed in Scotland. In any case, the statistics record total generation and consumption (energy) and do not reveal how often renewable generation was unable to contribute to demand (power). Especially at this time of economic stringency, we should not be pouring money into subsidising renewables. We do not need them and we cannot afford them. We should certainly not be flaunting them. The whole thing is madness and will lead to blackouts.
Scotsman 26th May 2010 more >>
Letter from Colin McInnes: Scotland may have a significant renewables potential. However, the key is the long-term cost of turning low-grade, diffuse renewable energy into to high-grade, concentrated electrical energy. An energy policy that refuses to consider the role of nuclear power, and so risks needlessly expensive energy, will be socially regressive and damaging to the Scottish economy.
Herald 26th May 2010 more >>
DECC
Decc is expected to have to cut deeply into home energy-efficiency programmes which could undermine the public take-up of low-carbon technologies. The department’s three largest delivery bodies, the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency, the Carbon Trust and the Energy Saving Trust, are all expected to see budgets cut by an average of 1% this year.
Guardian 26th May 2010 more >>
Queen’s Speech
Energy bill: Provides loans for homes and businesses to install measures for greater energy efficiency such as insulation. May also include limits on coal pollution and a new green investment bank. Flashpoints: In response to concern that many policies “may” be in the bill, a spokesman said they were still commitments but might not need primary legislation. Home loans now appear to exclude small renewable energy sources; the spokesman said only that efficiency was “the number-one priority”. The government is being asked to contribute £2-4bn for the green bank. Details of the bank and other promises will be hard fought between pro-nuclear Tories and anti-nuclear Lib Dems.
Guardian 26th May 2010 more >>
Europe
Europe will introduce a surprise new plan today to combat global warming, committing Britain and the rest of the EU to the most ambitious targets in the world. The plan proposes a massive increase in the target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in this decade. The European Commission is determined to press ahead with the cuts despite the financial turmoil gripping the bloc, even though it would require Britain and other EU member states to impose far tougher financial penalties on their industries than are being considered by other large economies. The plan, to cut emissions by 30 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020, would cost the EU an extra £33 billion a year by 2020, according to a draft of the Commission’s communication leaked to The Times.
Times 26th May 2010 more >>
Incineration
Waste, and not wind, should be the focus of the new Government’s energy policies, according to the chief executive of one of Britain’s rubbish collectors. “Energy from waste accounts for about 1.5 per cent of energy produced in the UK and the target is to get that up to 6 per cent by 2015,” Colin Drummond, the chief executive of Viridor, said, “but the Government needs to be much more ambitious than that.
Times 26th May 2010 more >>
Iran
Teams of American special forces have been authorised to conduct spying missions intended to pave the way for a military strike on Iran in case President Obama orders one, US government sources have confirmed.
Times 26th May 2010 more >>
Israel
The revelation that the Israeli government in the 1980s considered selling nuclear weapons to the apartheid regime in South Africa has triggered fresh criticisms of Israel’s current nuclear policies.
Ekklesia 26th May 2010 more >>
Purporting to claim – on the basis of a book by American academic, Sasha Polakow-Suransky — that Israel offered to sell nuclear weapons to apartheid-rule South Africa, it actually provided no backup for this at all.
Spectator 26th May 2010 more >>
