British Energy
EDF plans to build four new nuclear reactors in Britain at two of British Energy’s eight UK nuclear sites: Sizewell in Suffolk and Hinkley Point, Somerset. De Rivaz talks with pride about the nuclear future he envisages for Britain . “There is a real need for it … Security of energy supplies is very important because this is a country that used to be self-sufficient in fossil fuels and now it is totally dependent on supplies from abroad, he says, adding: “The irony is that it will be Britain that will lead the nuclear industry in Europe. It will be British Energy that takes the lead and that is good news for Britain.”
Sunday Telegraph 28th September 2008 more >>
Analysts say the deal is positive for all of the companies involved. It is also a rare moment of triumph for the embattled Labour Government, which controls 35% of British Energy’s shares. UK ministers have heavily backed the bid from EDF, which they see as an opportunity to kick-start construction of new nuclear plants that will provide much-needed energy within EC constraints for lowering CO2 emissions.
Scotland on Sunday 28th Sept 2008 more >>
FRENCH ENERGY giant EDF is preparing to announce new concessions as it tries to ensure that its quick-fire takeover of British Energy (BE) goes through with the minimum of political interference. It effectively won control of the Scottish nuclear power group within hours of announcing the £12.5 billion deal last week when it snapped up enough shares on the open market to gain more than 70% control, including acceptances from the government and other major investors. The only remaining obstacles are the (remote) chance that the Office of Fair Trading could refer the deal to the Competition Commission or that the European Commission could step in with its own reservations. It is understood that the French are considering taking steps to neutralise the main European threat by ring-fencing their expanded UK operations into an independent stand-alone company, to ensure that the move should be nodded through in time for Christmas.
Sunday Herald 28th Sept 2008 more >>
Vincent de Rivaz, the head of EDF in the UK, has told critics of its £12.4bn takeover of British Energy to ‘stop whingeing’. Consumer groups have criticised last week’s takeover, claiming the disappearance of another independent British utility company could result in higher bills. But in an interview with The Observer, de Rivaz said that the takeover was good news for customers and would lead to billions of pounds of investment in a new fleet of nuclear reactors. It has emerged that British taxpayers will also remain on the hook for liabilities resulting from any breaches of its operating licence and over employment and redundancy costs for its 6,000 workers. EDF and its UK subsidiaries are ringfenced from these liabilities under the proposed takeover.
Observer 28th Sept 2008 more >>
Yet the British government – and the taxpayer – remain on the hook for British Energy’s £5.5bn decommissioning liabilities from its existing reactors. Under the terms of the offer outlined last week, EDF and its UK subsidiaries are also not liable for redundancy and employment costs for its 6,000 workers – or liabilities arising from any breach in its operational licences – if British Energy were to go bust.
Observer 28th Sept 2008 more >>
There are immediate plans to build two new reactors at Sizewell in Suffolk and two at Hinkley Point in Somerset. These are known as EPRs – evolutionary power reactors – or pressurised water-style reactions like the ones that EDF operates in France. More than 80 per cent of all electricity there comes from the group’s 58 reactors, which supply 28 million customers. EDF is also one of the biggest suppliers in Germany and Italy.
Independent on Sunday 28th Sept 2008 more >>
MINISTERS are to keep a “special” share in British Energy (BE) that will give them the power to block the sale of its nuclear-power plants after its takeover by the French.
Sunday Times 28th Sept 2008 more >>
New Nukes
The climate change expert Mark Lynas has been scorned by eco-colleagues for daring to speak up for atomic power.
Sunday Times 28th Sept 2008 more >>
Ceri Green of Doosan Babcock is concerned that the government is not due to publish its National Nuclear Policy until 2010 meaning no new construction will begin until at least 2012. That means no nuclear power stations will come on line until 2018 at the earliest with some time after 2020 being far more likely. That is the background to EDF’s purchase of British Energy. The government also wants to avoid any single company dominating the construction of new reactors so it has also been encouraging Eon UK, the German-owned energy company, which has said it wants to build two new nuclear power stations in Britain. Tom Burke, who was a special adviser on environmental issues to the last Conservative government, says the industry is riddled with lousy economics that guarantee it will always need subsidies from the taxpayer. The government has already caved in on its pledge to offer no subsidies to a revived nuclear industry by saying it will put a cap on the cost of nuclear waste disposal, making taxpayers liable for any excess. Sceptics predict this will be the first subsidy of many. And Britain’s current nuclear power generation sites are either in or very close to environmentally sensitive locations: European sites for nature conservation, national parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty.
Sunday Times 28th Sept 2008 more >>
Radiation
As many as 39 radioactive hotspots from an old military base have been uncovered at Dalgety Bay in Fife by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).
Sunday Herald 28th Sept 2008 more >>
The incidence of breast cancer among people living near the Hinkley nuclear power stations in Somerset is much higher than expected, according to new research. There were 167 cases of breast cancer in nearby Burnham from 1994 to 2004, 50 per cent more than expected on national averages, said epidemiologist Professor Chris Busby. Data, collated by the South West Public Health Observatory, was obtained by the anti-nuclear group Stop Hinkley.
Independent on Sunday 28th Sept 2008 – reported on Red Orbit 28th Sept 2008 more >>
Disarmament
With the world on the precipice of a new rush to boost arms supplies, reaching consensus on nuclear disarmament is more critical than ever, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister told the General Assembly today.
UN News Centre 27th Sept 2008 more >>
India
The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday approved an agreement to end the three-decade ban on U.S. nuclear trade with India.
Washington Post 27th Sept 2008 more >>
Trident
SAFETY BLUNDERS at the nuclear bomb bases on the Clyde have rocketed to a record high, shutting down submarine reactors, spilling radioactivity and contaminating workers. An internal Ministry of Defence (MoD) report has revealed that there were exactly 100 nuclear safety lapses at Faslane and Coulport, near Helensburgh, between June 2006 and May 2007. This was 40% higher than the previous year and nearly three times higher than in 2000-01. Safety at the bases – home to the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system – has been condemned as “an absolute disgrace” by the Scottish National Party. The MoD, however, insisted that safety standards were improving.
Sunday Herald 28th Sept 2008 more >>
Protest
ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE claiming a victory over the state in the battle for the “right to protest” after 11 green activists in Scotland had court cases dropped against them. Criminal charges against the protesters, who were involved in demonstrations in Edinburgh, were abandoned in the wake of a seismic decision by a jury to acquit anti-pollution protesters in England.
Sunday Herald 28th Sept 2008 more >>
