Hinkley
The U.K. unit of Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR) Monday said it got the nuclear site license for its planned Hinkley nuclear plant by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. EDF said granting of the site license is the recognition from the U.K.’s independent nuclear regulator that NNB GenCo, the new nuclear build subsidiary of EDF Energy, has developed the required organization, management structure, plans and procedures needed for the construction, commissioning and operation of the proposed new nuclear power station in Somerset.
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Centrica, which has a 20pc option to take part in the project, is widely expected to withdraw around the time of the final investment decision amid concerns over possible cost overruns and whether the project, which will not start generating power until early in the next decade, provides sufficiently attractive returns. EDF is in talks with companies including Chinese nuclear corporations about selling down its own stake in the project.
Telegraph 26th Nov 2012 more »
Sizewell
Specialist police cutting teams have moved in to break up a protest at the entrance road to Sizewell nuclear power plant. Police said four people have been arrested on suspicion of obstruction of a highway and taken to the investigation centre at Martlesham. A 23-year-old woman from Plymouth, a 37-year-old woman from Bridgwater in Somerset, a 38-year-old woman from Norwich and a 41-year-old woman from Geldeston, near Beccles, are all currently in custody.
East Anglian Daily Times 26th Nov 2012 more »
3,500 tonnes of spent fuel may be produced by Sizwewell C.
Peter Lux 26th Nov 2012 more »
A woman was charged with obstructing a highway after officers broke up an anti-nuclear demonstration outside Sizewell B power station. Protesters set up a blockade at 6.45am yesterday morning in protest against Government plans for nuclear expansion and the construction of a new facility at the site near Leiston. Specialist police cutting teams moved in six hours later to break up a human chain of four protesters blocking the entrance to the plant.
Eastern Daily Press 27th Nov 2012 more »
Eight protestors have chained themselves together outside the Sizewell nuclear power station in Suffolk. They are protesting about plans by the energy firm,EDF, to build a third power station on the site and store nuclear waste on the coast.
ITV 26th Nov 2012 more »
BUSINESSES in the town that will be most affected by the construction of any new nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast have welcomed the boost it could bring to the local economy. However there are some in Leiston who have a number of concerns regarding EDF’s proposals for Sizewell C.
Coastal Scene 22nd Nov 2012 more »
The construction of the Sizewell C nuclear plant will create more than 25,000 jobs over the next nine years, according to EDF Energy. The energy giant has revealed that a total of 5,600 construction workers will be based at the Suffolk-based site at the peak of building works should it be granted planning permission after a public consultation, with thousands of other positions also available. The new power station, which has been given the green light in principle by the government, would include two European Pressurised Reactors, as well as cooling water towers, a National Grid substation and waste storage facilities. Although work is being done to limit the impact of the building works on traffic Angela Piearce, EDF’s head of Sizewell C development, claimed that local residents were concerned over the disruption to nearby roads.
Assoc for Consultancy and Engineering 26th Nov 2012 more »
Horizon
Hitachi has completed its purchase of a project to build nuclear power stations on Anglesey and in Gloucestershire. The Japanese company will push ahead with plans to build two to three 1,300 megawatt nuclear power plants at both Wylfa and Oldbury. It says it wants to have the first reactor operational by the mid 2020s.
BBC 26th Nov 2012 more »
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Engineering & Technology 26th Nov 2012 more »
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Cumbria
The Cumbria 2012 and Beyond conference in Carlisle heard an upbeat forecast for the county’s economy, and the nuclear sector in particular. Welcoming delegates, Carlisle MP John Stevenson said: “We have a game changer for the county. “Construction of a new nuclear plant would give a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform our county, providing growth right across Cumbria. “By 2025, the county would be a very different place.” Sean Balmer, commercial director of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, said that investment at Sellafield had risen from £0.97bn a year to £1.7bn since the authority had taken over in 2005. That was equivalent to the annual amount spent in London in the run-up to this summer’s Olympics. The figure could double if plans for a nuclear power station, a new Mox reprocessing plant and a geological waste-disposal facility come off.
NW Evening Mail 26th Nov 2012 more »
Cumberland News 26th Nov 2012 more »
Sellafield
The Public Accounts Committe of the House of Commons has travelled to west Cumbria to hear evidence from Sellafield bosses, following a damning report which highlighted historic safety failures and neglect at the site. The report found the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority faces a ‘considerable challenge’ in taking forward decommissioning at Sellafield. The Committee are due to start hearing evidence at 2pm in Workington. It follows an on site visit to Sellafield this morning.
ITV 26th Nov 2012 more »
The NAO report earlier this month found that hazardous waste was being stored in “run-down” buildings, and that the cost of decommissioning was spiralling out of control and was behind schedule. It also concluded that operators had failed to plan how to dispose of radioactive waste and some of the older facilities had “deteriorated so much that their contents pose significant risks to people and the environment”. Margaret Hodge, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said she would be asking “tough questions”. “We are going to see the site to meet those dealing with problems, then we are going to have a hearing with all the accountable and responsible people. “We are a value for money committee and so clearly we are going to be hearing whether the taxpayers’ money is being spent properly. “Looking at the NAO report I’m pretty shocked and appalled at delays in work and by how costs at the site keeps rising. We are a pretty tough committee and we will be asking searching questions,” she said.
BBC 26th Nov 2012 more »
Radwaste
Following criticism by Radiation Free Lakeland and others of the National Park’s complicity in the push for geological dumping of nuclear wastes under Cumbria the National Park has sent a letter to DECC. This is a purely tactical move to try to save face while not actually changing their position. The chair of the Authority, Bill Jefferson is from Silloth, an area which has angrily woken up to the reality that they are one of the areas in Cumbria being eyed up for having the world’s nuclear waste beneath them. Mr Jefferson is looking to appease his Silloth constituents with this letter and show “concern” while actually neatly toeing the government line and going along with the plan. The only caveats the NP have made are that the above surface facilities should not be in view from the National Park and that the dump doesn’t interfere with the “brand” too much.
Radiation Free Lakeland 26th Nov 2012 more »
Scotland
The Scottish Government’s target of generating 100% renewable electricity by 2020 is achievable but only if a number of issues are addressed, according to a report by the Parliament’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee. If these issues, which include a lack of the necessary skills, the planning process, certainty for investors and access to necessary levels of financing, are left unattended, says the Committee, there is a risk that the target might be missed.
Energy Efficiency News 26th Nov 2012 more »
Japan
A UN health expert alleged today that Japan hadn’t done enough to protect residents and workers affected by the Fukushima nuclear accident. UN special rapporteur on the right to health Anand Grover said the government was overly optimistic of radiation risks and has conducted limited health checks following the partial meltdown of reactors at Fukushima nuclear power plant last year. The government has been previously criticised for cover-ups and delays in disclosing radiation information, causing evacuees to be unnecessarily exposed to radiation. Mr Grover said that ongoing health checks of residents fail to cover all radiation-affected zones stretching across much of Honshu, Japan’s largest island.
Morning Star 26th Nov 2012 more »
A United Nations rights investigator said yesterday that Japan has not done enough to protect the health of residents and workers affected by the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Independent 26th Nov 2012 more »
Iran
A company from Spain’s Basque country smuggled machinery to Iran for likely use in the country’s nuclear programme through an elaborate scheme involving a shell company in Turkey, Spanish tax authorities said on Monday. Spain’s tax agency said the company had managed to send over seven machines designed to make parts for turbines used in energy plants, in a scheme that violated United Nations security council sanctions against Iran.
Trust 26th Nov 2012 more »
A US announcement that a conference on a Middle East free of nuclear weapons cannot be held as foreseen is a “serious setback,” Iran said Monday, accusing Washington of protecting Israel.
Middle East Online 26th Nov 2012 more »
Brazil
Investments in Brazilian nuclear energy projects will exceed US$6.5bn by the end of the decade, reports BNamericas. Edson Kuramoto, president of Aben, the country’s nuclear association, said that the industry has made a full recovery after what he called the ‘negative publicity’ surrounding the Fukushima disaster last year in Japan. Brazil is expected to have at least four new nuclear generation facilities before 2030. Projects underway include the Angra 3 power plant in Rio de Janeiro state that will increase the country’s installed nuclear capacity from 1.99 GW to 3.40 GW by 2016.
Modern Power Systems 26th Nov 2012 more »
Germany
Germany has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions significantly in recent years as it has pushed forward a renewable agenda leading Europe into an age of wind and solar power. In the past year, the country’s CO2 emissions fell by 2.4% compared with 2010, according to figures released by Germany’s Federal Environment Agency (UBA). The decrease, say experts, has largely come through a push towards renewable energy that has accelerated since the country began its move away from nuclear power. But as well as increasing Germany’s reliance on renewables, it also increased German dependence on coal-fired plants, a major source of CO2. While experts said there are no plans for new coal-fired plants, those already under construction will be finished. “If you have new plants now, they will run for 40 or 50 years and then you will have a problem with emissions in the future,” said Jan Burck, of environmental group Germanwatch.
Guardian 26th Nov 2012 more »
Renewables
Energy policy experts and a representative of the renewable energy industry will appear before the House of Lords Agriculture, Fisheries, Environment and Energy EU Sub-Committee on Wednesday 28 November as part of their inquiry into how EU energy can be decarbonised while keeping a lid on costs and helping to boost EU jobs and growth.
House of Lords 26th Nov 2012 more »
Climate
It might be slated as the United Nations Climate Change Summit least likely to deliver a major breakthrough, but the talks starting in Qatar this week could put in place crucial building blocks towards a promised new global agreement in 2015. Cast your mind back to this time last year, when world leaders emerged from the UN COP 17 summit in Durban, South Africa, waving an agreement to negotiate a new legally-binding treaty that would deliver deep emission cuts capable of limiting global temperature rises. The deal, dubbed the Durban Platform, was at the time seen as a major turning point as diplomats basically agreed to agree a treaty by 2015 that will come into force by 2020.
Business Green 26th Nov 2012 more »
Thorium
A Norwegian company led by Alf Bjørseth will start burning thorium fuel in a conventional test reactor owned by Norway’s government with help from U.S.-based nuclear giant Westinghouse.
Oil Price 26th Nov 2012 more »
