Hinkley
People from all over the UK are set to descend on Hinkley Point nuclear power station to protest again EDF Energys plans to build two new mega-reactors next to the existing site. More than 100 people have already pledged to join a symbolic mass blockade at the entrance to Hinkley Point in Somerset next Monday, October 3rd. On Saturday 1st October, anti-nuclear protesters will also join local residents in a march and rally close to EDF Energys regional HQ in nearby Bridgwater.
Stop New Nuclear 28th Sept 2011 more >>
Avalon Probus Club: the chairman welcomed Mr Des Uminski, from the Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station, as the morning’s speaker.
Wells Journal 27th Sept 2011 more >>
Wylfa
It promises to be one of the biggest industrial developments in Wales, the proposed new nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey, and people living as far afield as Porthmadog and Llandudno are to be asked their views about the plan. The company behind the project has been outlining its consultation process as it attempts to get the planning green light.
BBC 26th Sept 2011 more >>
Capenhurst
Urenco, a supplier of enriched uranium, has selected UK based practice Atkins to design the expansion of their largest plant at Capenhurst near Chester in the UK. The Capenhurst site operates three plants, the largest of which is E23 which accomodates more than 80% of the site’s enrichment capacity. Atkins will conduct design and engineering studies to support the safety case, detail design and installation.
Energy Business Review 26th Sept 2011 more >>
Sellafield
Sellafield in Cumbria has reached a milestone after successfully moving its first nuclear fuel in 50 years. The nuclear plant is decommissioning The Pile Fuel Storage Pond (PFSP), which was the very first nuclear fuel storage pond built at the site. It was originally used to store fuel from the Windscale Pile Reactors and is the largest open air nuclear storage pond in the world. It is the first time the plant has moved nuclear fuel since 1964.
BBC 27th Sept 2011 more >>
Cumbria
MARIANNE Birkby is flying the flag for the natural world. Well-known for her wildlife paintings and vigorous campaigning against nuclear energy, her latest exhibition runs at Peter Blasketts Signature Gallery in Kendals cultural quarter – Kirkland. The paintings in The Green Man and The Natural World focus on different aspects of the natural world from otters at Leighton Moss to the waterfalls at Rydal Hall, which provide electricity for the Estate. Woven through the wildlife paintings are images of the mythical Green Man.
Westmoreland Gazette 25th Sept 2011 more >>
Cumbria Tourism chairman Eric Robson is embroiled in a row over his support for new nuclear power stations planned close to the Lake District. This is a big fat conflict of interest, said Marianne Birkby from pressure group Radio-active Free Lakeland. Eric Robson is both poacher and gamekeeper by acting as a PR guru for an organisation which is essentially promoting steps towards geological disposal while holding a position of trust for tourism and the environment. He should step down from Cumbria Tourism.
News & Star 27th Sept 2011 more >>
Legal
Eversheds and Pinsent Masons have both appointed new energy-related practice group heads, with the latter recruiting a partner from EDF Energy. Pinsents has hired EDF’s nuclear legal head Chris White as co-head of the firm’s international nuclear practice. He will lead the team alongside current head Paul Rice. White, who will join the firm on 10 October, will oversee nuclear new build, decommissioning and nuclear fuel projects and mandates in the UK, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Before joining EDF, he worked as group counsel at uranium manufacturer Urenco.
Legal Week 27th Sept 2011 more >>
Scotland
ALEX Salmond hailed Scotland’s renewables revolution as a “paradigm shift” equivalent to the “change from hunter gathering to agriculture.” The remarks came during a speech made at the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference in Edinburgh yesterday. The First Minister said he hoped the Prototype Offshore Wind Energy Renewables Support (Powers) development fund would help Scotland become a world leader in green energy.
Scotsman 28th Sept 2011 more >>
SCOTTISH firm Aquamarine Power has secured £7 million of new funding towards development of its wave energy device. The Edinburgh-based company said the funding represented a major step towards the commercialisation of its Oyster wave device. It comes from existing shareholders Scottish & Southern Energy, power firm ABB and Scottish Enterprise, which hopes to come up with a further £18m to take the firm to commercialisation in 2014.
Scotsman 28th Sept 2011 more >>
DUNDEE is in a battle with Hartlepool to secure up to 800 manufacturing jobs from a Spanish wind turbine maker. Gamesa, which today opens its offshore wind technology centre in Glasgow, will make a decision next month and could double the jobs figure by offering work for local companies to supply the new base.
Scotsman 28th Sep 2011 more >>
Japan
Fukushima update 23rd to 26th September.
Greenpeace International 27th September 2011 more >>
Japan’s nuclear disaster minister confirmed on Tuesday that the government soon wants to lift an advisory for some areas near the quake- and tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in a sign that the operator was making progress with its cleanup work. Operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) last week brought forward its goal of bringing crippled reactors at the plant to a cold shutdown. Minister Goshi Hosono said in parliament that the government at the end of this week wants to lift an advisory placed within a 20 to 30 km (12 to 18 miles) radius of the plant, which had required residents to stay indoors or evacuate during emergencies. The Japanese government and Tepco said at a monthly review of the Daiichi plant’s cleanup timetable that they are now aiming to bring the plants to a cold shutdown within this year, instead of by January as initially planned, with their cleanup work proceeding steadily.
Trust 27th Sept 2011 more >>
Six months after a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, operator Tokyo Electric Power is finally making real progress in resolving the worlds worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century. However, the battle over the future of Tepco is just beginning. This month, the International Atomic Energy Agency declared the reactors basically stable, while a new cooling system could bring them to full shutdown by the end of this year. Meanwhile, compensation for the tens of thousands of people displaced by the crisis is in train and a state-backed body was launched this week to ensure Japans biggest electricity provider by generating capacity has sufficient money for the pay-outs. Yet any hopes that Tepco might have had that such progress would lead to an easing of public and political pressure have been dashed. Breaking Tepco up into independent generating, transmission and distribution units would be likely to invigorate a sector that badly needs investment and innovation, could remove obstacles to the greater use of renewable energy and would allow the sale of major assets to fund compensation. The progress at Fukushima Daiichi and the creation of the funding framework have created a breathing space for Japan to rethink its approach to the energy sector. There is no reason to assume that Tepco in its current form needs to be part of that sector. Tokyo will still need electricity, but that does not mean it will still need Tokyo Electric.
FT 27th Sept 2011 more >>
Iran
IF IT’S TRUE that Iran is just six months away from producing a nuclear weapon with enriched uranium from its IR-2 centrifuges, then we may just be weeks away from an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear installations. According to what looks like a deliberate leak from the US government, President Obama agreed in 2009 to the delivery of fifty-five GBU-28 (Guided Bomb Unit) bunker-busting bombs to the Israeli air force. Some have seen the revelation through a political prism the Obama administration is polishing its pro-Israeli credentials in the run-up to the presidential election in just over a year’s time. Others have detected sabre-rattling, a warning to the mullahs that the US is prepared to support military action by Israel. There is something in both.
First Post 28th Sept 2011 more >>
Armenia
The European Union’s Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation organisation has cancelled an April 2011 tender for enhancement of nuclear materials accountancy and control at the Armenian NPP in Metsamor. It said that the tender procedure was unsuccessful. No other information is available.
Nuclear Engineering International 27th Sept 2011 more >>
