Torness
How does it feel to have a nuclear power plant on your doorstep? Alasdair Reid asks the people of East Lothian who have a 1250 megawatt gas-cooled reactor for a neighbour.
Sunday Herald 27th May 2007
New nukes
BILL Coley listened to Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling deliver the findings of the government’s Energy White Paper knowing the future of his company was at stake. As the head of the UK’s biggest nuclear power generator, British Energy, Coley is acutely aware that nuclear power divides opinion among the British public like no other issue. Speaking after the announcement from BE’s HQ in Livingston, Coley said the White Paper demonstrated a growing acceptance that nuclear is needed to meet rising power demands. But vitally for BE, Darling said a decision on building new nuclear must be taken this year and this was an unexpected fillip for Coley and his team.
Scotland on Sunday 27th May 2007
ALEX Salmond should be stripped of his powers to block nuclear power stations north of the Border, according to Labour MPs who want Scotland’s veto over atomic energy handed back to Westminster. Leading members of the Scottish party are urging Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling to overrule Salmond, who last week said he would prevent the construction of new nuclear stations north of the Border. They claim the nation’s energy supply and thousands of jobs should not be left at the mercy of an “irresponsible and prejudiced” Scottish National Party administration in Holyrood, which took power with a pledge to make Scotland nuclear-free.
Scotland on Sunday 27th May 2007
A clear division has emerged between the Green-backed SNP in Scotland and Labour at Westminster, which insists we must retain at least some nuclear power stations. This newspaper’s view is that nuclear is the most practical way to guarantee power supplies and provide a green alternative to the carbon-emitting burning of oil, coal and gas. Britain has been storing spent nuclear fuel for more than 50 years without serious incident. As technology improves, safe disposal will get easier. Nuclear supplies an estimated 40% of Scotland’s electricity. Wind and wave power cannot quickly take its place: the four Pelamis wave generators planned at Orkney will have a three megawatt output – Hunterston and Torness each produce 400 times that amount.
Scotland on Sunday 27th May 2007
Listening to ministers last week – and reading some newspapers – you’d have concluded that we stand on the threshold of a new atomic age. Gordon Brown has a “vision for a nuclear Britain”, we were assured: “Britain is to become a nuclear nation” through “a nuclear expansion in the teeth of opposition from the green lobby”. All good stirring stuff, gulped down by nuclear supporters and opponents alike. The British Chambers of Commerce hailed “upgrading our nuclear capacity” as the only, environmentally acceptable way “for the UK to secure its energy needs”. The Green Party accused ministers of committing the country to “a dirty, dangerous and expensive future”. They can calm down. Any suggestion that last week’s White Paper presaged even a modest nuclear growth is, as Sir Bernard Ingham, one of the country’s most outspoken atomic advocates, would put it, “bunkum and balderdash”. Despite the hype, the White Paper put far more emphasis on saving energy and on increasing power from renewable sources, while doing almost nothing to increase the prospects for new nuclear power stations. Even under its most optimistic projections, 20 years hence the amount of energy Britain gets from the atom will fall to a fraction of what it is today. Far from the promised “new generation” of nuclear power stations, it is possible that not one will ever be built.
Independent on Sunday 27th May 2007
OPERATORS of Britain’s proposed new nuclear power plants will be required to make regular payments into a fund that will meet future waste-treatment and decommissioning costs. Detailed plans for the fund are being drawn up by the Department of Trade and Industry and its advisers, and are expected to be concluded before the end of the year.
Sunday Times 27th May 2007
Companies
After several false starts, Britain has finally fired the starting gun for its nuclear renaissance. Most of the companies that stand to benefit are international utilities such as EdF of France or RWE of Germany, which are already in talks with British Energy about building new plants. But several British groups are expected to benefit from the revival and investors should take a look at some of the companies involved on the service side, notably Amec (591.5p) and Serco. Both companies have already benefited from the Government’s strategy of asking private companies to build and develop large national infrastructure projects through the private finance initiative.
Telegraph 27th May 2007
Decommissioning
The first significant contract for a lucrative share in the dismantling of Britain’s -ageing nuclear infrastructure is set to be awarded to a US company. Jacobs Engineering and rival Energy Solutions have emerged as the two remaining bidders in the race to win the contract to buy Britain’s 10 Magnox nuclear sites, which include Sizewell in Suffolk and Hinkley Point in Somerset. It is understood that BNFL, which runs the sites, made a recommendation to the Government in the past few days and that an announcement of the winner is imminent. It could come as early as this week.
Telegraph 27th May 2007
