New Nukes
The nuclear industry has been hailed the UK’s answer for revitalising career opportunities in manufacturing. David Powell, regional vice-president for the UK at Westinghouse, which provides equipment to the nuclear electric power industry, said at a time when mass job cuts and factory closures were dominating the headlines, the development of nuclear technology in the UK provided valuable career opportunities for workers.
Personnel Today 26th Nov 2008 more >>
Reviving industry does not mean propping up the ailing coal, car and textile industries, but instead creating a centre of expertise for high-tech manufacturing industries such as nuclear power and other low-carbon technologies, business secretary Peter Mandelson told delegates at the conference.
Business Green 25th Nov 2008 more >>
Scotland
Letter from Allan Wilson: The main obstacle to attracting the necessary investment is not the safe disposal of nuclear waste, it is the SNP. Despite Scotland’s leading position in developing the skills and technology vital to the future of the nuclear industry, the SNP Government is jeopardising future energy supplies, raising carbon emissions and denying local people employment opportunities by exporting jobs to England.
Herald 25th Nov 2008 more >>
Letter: I find the assertion by Bill Goodall (Letters, 24 November) that the SNP’s renewable energy policy is some kind of a “gamble” very odd. This is to turn the truth on its head. The only way to address the current environmental crisis is to plan for the progressive abandonment of the combustion of finite resources of fossil fuels as a major energy source leading to further massive carbon dioxide emission. The “gamble” would be to construct nuclear power stations as a short-term energy source.
Scotsman 25th Nov 2008 more >>
SCOTLAND will miss out on a global “nuclear renaissance” which will create tens of thousands of jobs worldwide, if the SNP government continues its anti-nuclear stance, French energy experts have warned. Industry leaders yesterday predicted that the world was on the brink of a significant return to nuclear power, but claimed that the economic and environmental benefits would be lost to Scotland.
Scotsman 26th Nov 2008 more >>
Letter: It is no surprise that Gordon Brown supports nuclear power – it is the ultimate buy-now, pay-forever solution. To put it in some context, it is as though a discredited toxic invention predating ancient Egypt by 12,000 years still requires active management and still incurs costs today. Money can only be spent once, and nuclear power starves the rest of the energy sector – every pound spent on development, running, decommissioning and 20,000 years of secure, supervised storage is a pound that cannot be spent on alternatives.
Herald 26th Nov 2008 more >>
Electricity Supplies
Families face regular blackouts within three years because Britain has not built enough new power stations, it has been claimed. Consumers will be hit by an ‘energy gap’ when a number of existing stations are shut down, a study suggests. Nine oil and coal-fired power plants are to close by 2015 because of an EU directive designed to limit pollution and associated acid rain. At the same time, four ageing nuclear power plants will be shut, further reducing the electricity available to homes and businesses.
Daily Mail 25th Nov 2008 more >>
The credit crunch is forcing Britain’s power companies to pay high prices for their borrowing and could have a long term impact on supply, according to the UK’s top energy regulator. Alistair Buchanan, chief executive of Ofgem, said the global financial crisis was making it harder for companies to borrow and, when they could, the terms were increasingly expensive. His warning came as a House of Lords committee attacked the government’s renewables policies, saying the “dash” for wind and other clean power sources risked undermining the UK’s overall energy security and would cost the average household £80 a year more than necessary.
Guardian 26th Nov 2008 more >>
Households have been warned to expect “very, very frightening” gas and electricity bills in two years’ time, according to the industry regulator.
Telegraph 26th Nov 2008 more >>
Bradwell
THE proposal for a new nuclear power station at Bradwell-on-Sea has been criticised by residents at a series of public meetings. British Energy, joint owners of the site, led the consultation at Tollesbury last Thursday as residents expressed fears over health, transport links, evacuation procedures and flood risks – and dismissed the prospect of 500 jobs.
Total Essex 19th Nov 2008 more >>
Renewables
Ed Miliband has used his first speech as climate change and energy secretary to call on prisons, schools and hospitals to generate more renewable energy. Speaking to the Environment Agency yesterday, Miliband said the public sector, which accounts for 10% of land in the UK, should be contributing more than the 1% of renewable energy it now generates.
Guardian 26th Nov 2008 more >>
While local authorities are experimenting with a number of different options for diverting food from the waste stream, it’s the potential for extracting usable methane energy, via anaerobic digestion, that currently dominates the debate. This is a waste disposal system that uses micro-organisms to convert organic waste into methane-rich biogas that can replace fossil fuels. The small amount of waste residue from the process can be used as fertiliser.
Guardian 26th Nov 2008 more >>
Meeting targets on renewable energy will add about £80 ($123) to households’ annual fuel bills, peers said on Tuesday. The planned expansion of wind energy would be “costly” and “risky”, said the Lords economic affairs committee, favouring more nuclear power stations, which would be cheaper.
FT 26th Nov 2008 more >>
Energy Efficiency
There’s some capital spending on energy efficiency – but here the striking thing is just how unimaginative and anaemic the current targets are. An enormous 60,000 houses will get better insulation. We need to be talking levels of ambition two orders of magnitude greater than this – with 24m households in the UK, the government is only going to be making 0.25% of them more efficient. I doubt the penguins will notice.
Guardian 25th Nov 2008 more >>
Coal
All eyes are on the government’s new climate change committee, which on Monday will release its first report on the UK’s allowed carbon expenditure if it is to meet its global warming goals. Having already used the committee to free themselves from an awkward hole about whether the 2050 target should be 60% or 80%, are ministers poised to repeat the trick on coal? Senior figures inside the new Department of Energy and Climate Change say they could do “whatever the committee says” when it comes to approving, or not, the new coal station at Kingsnorth, Kent.
Guardian 26th Nov 2008 more >>
Syria
IAEA chief says no basis for denying Syria help on nuclear plant while US seeks to prevent aid.
Middle East Online 25th Nov 2008 more >>
