Energy Bill
Plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations have suffered a potential setback after Centrica claimed a proposed subsidy scheme could breach EU rules on state aid. It is warning it cannot make a final decision at the end of this year unless an appropriate subsidy mechanism is in place. Centrica is concerned that the temporary arrangements, involving the government issuing so-called letters of comfort to developers of low carbon energy projects, have undergone inadequate scrutiny and are not enshrined in legislation. Centrica privately warned the government in April it could pull out of its joint venture to build nuclear reactors in the UK if the strike prices under the contracts for difference were not high enough, and therefore provided inadequate returns.
FT 27th May 2012 more >>
Citi Comment on Draft Energy Bill.
Citi 23rd May 2012 more >>
Hinkley
The award of a £1.2bn civil engineering contract for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset has been put on ice by EDF Energy, triggering more uncertainty over the nuclear renaissance. Two consortiums led by Balfour Beatty and Laing O’Rourke were hoping to have heard about the huge deal in recent days but now expect no decision until 2013 at the earliest. The move is a blow to employment prospects in the area and comes weeks after £100m worth of site preparation was postponed. The soonest a new reactor will be built in Somerset could now be 2021, around four years later than originally hoped. EDF declined to comment on the latest setback, with a spokesman for the 83% state-owned French power company saying: “I am afraid it is not our practice to comment on open tenders.” The group insisted that its wider plans remained intact and it aimed to start work on the £100m contract, which was awarded last year to construction partner Kier Bam, “as soon as practicable, and all necessary steps are being taken to ensure that work can start in good time”. EDF says it still plans to go ahead with new reactors in Britain but industry experts say uncertainty over the government’s planned support mechanism through “contracts for difference” and the election of President François Hollande, who is sceptical about nuclear power, have encouraged EDF to slam on the brakes.
Guardian 27th May 2012 more >>
Horizon
China’s Guangdong Nuclear Power group and Toshiba, the Japanese industrial giant that owns reactor builder Westinghouse, are believed to be favourites to build nuclear plants in Britain. Final bids for Horizon, the joint venture set up by Germanys Eon and RWE to co-ordinate the building of the £10 billion nuclear plants in Wylfa, Anglesey, and Oldbury, Gloucestershire, must be completed by June 15. A second nuclear consortium, headed by Chinas State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation with links to Westinghouse, is also working on a bid. Horizon, which is worth about £300 million, owns the land where the new plants will be built. It is expected that the project will be managed by Exelon, the USs biggest nuclear operator, which has about 20 per cent of its home market and runs ten power plants.
This is Money 27th May 2012 more >>
Japan
Japan breathed a collective sigh of relief when the government declared that the worst of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was over the stricken plant having reached a more-or-less stable state known as cold shutdown. Six months on, fresh safety concerns, focused on what some experts say are vulnerabilities in a pool housing spent uranium fuel, has put the government and Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the plants owner, on the defensive. It is also highlighting the daunting challenges that remain before the site, devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, can be fully secured.
FT 27th May 2012 more >>
Nearly three-quarters of Japanese companies support abandoning nuclear power after last year’s Fukushima disaster, although a majority set the condition that alternative energy resources must be secured, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
Reuters 25th May 2012 more >>
Iran
Iran has said it will continue to stockpile highly enriched uranium and has ruled out the inspection of a suspect military site in a sign of Tehrans frustration that concessions on its nuclear programme may not result in relief from international sanctions.
FT 27th May 2012 more >>
Iran will not compromise on the West’s demand to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent, said Fereydoon Abbasi Davani head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.
IB Times 27th May 2012 more >>
Iran is to build a new nuclear power plant, alongside its sole existing one in the southern city of Bushehr, by early 2014, according to the head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organisation.
Telegraph 27th May 2012 more >>
Times 28th May 2012 more >>
