Radwaste
A decision on whether to search for a site for a nuclear dump in west Cumbria may be delayed by three months. County councillors, together with those from Allerdale and Copeland, are due to meet next month to decide whether to progress with the search. However, following private talks in London this week, it is understood that the decision may be delayed until January. The talks are believed to have taken place between the three council leaders and Baroness Verma, of the Department of Energy. Speaking at a special meeting of Copeland council last night, Egremont Labour councillor Karl Connor confirmed the potential delay.
Carlisle News & Star 27th Sept 2012 more >>
It is understood Copeland and Allerdale were keen to keep to the October 11 deadline but the county wanted the postponement. It is believed that at first the county council hierarchy wanted it put back for nine months until after its May elections.
Whitehaven News 27th Sept 2012 more >>
COPELAND Borough Council leader Elaine Woodburn says the people most affected by the prospect of highly radioactive nuclear waste buried in their area should have the largest voice. Speaking at a special meeting of the borough council in Whitehaven last night, Cllr Woodburn said Copeland should have control over its own destiny, while recognising the potential impacts beyond the borough boundaries. She highlighted a recent independent opinion poll showing that 60 per cent of Copeland residents are in favour of starting a search for a suitable site in the west of the county.
NW Evening Mail 27th Sept 2012 more >>
At the borough council meeting in Whitehaven considering arguments for and against trying to find somewhere in West Cumbria, Coun Woodburn highlighted a recent independent opinion poll showing that 60 per cent of Copeland residents are in favour of starting a search for a suitable site in the west of the county. But she stressed: “If the geology is not right then no repository will be constructed here. A ‘yes’ decision to go to the next stage (desk top geological studies) would open a door but could be unlocked again by a right of withdrawal from the process. “If Copeland decides to participate it would not be agreeing to have a repository but to carry on investigations and further discussions.” She believed Copeland should have control over its own destiny while recognising potential impacts beyond the borough boundaries.
Whitehaven News 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Sellafields operators Nuclear Management Partners told The Whitehaven News: This is still the earliest of stages and the decision to investigate the Cumbrian geology is a critical next step, one of which NMP as an interested and responsible observer, fully supports. In an exclusive Whitehaven News interview, NMPs new general manager Graham McKendry said: I want the science to be established to further inform future decision making and that is why the councils should take the next step in allowing the investigations to proceed. He went on: Sellafield are the custodians of much of the waste that would go in a repository and we need clarity where much of the existing high hazard material at the site will ultimately go.
Whitehaven News 28th Sept 2012 more >>
Letters: (1) The effects on West Cumbrias economy of a No vote at this stage of the MRWS process will be devastating not that itll bother the likes of Marianne Birkby (South Lakes) or Colin Wales (Sedburgh). (2) I find that I cannot support the move to Stage 4 because West Cumbria is not a suitable place to have an underground repository and it is time to stop the procrastination and allow the search to continue in other parts of the country for a more geologically acceptable site. (3) If the powers that be kow-tow to the vocal minority who have flooded these pages in recent weeks it will send a clear message to the Government that the area isnt interested in partnering with it to do the right thing. (4) At last common sense seems to be permeating the nuclear waste storage saga, with suggestions of a Plan B having surfaced to provide medium- to long-term storage at Sellafield using proven existing technology. It is high time this under-ground repository project was kicked into touch no-one wants it, its too problematical and would be horrendously expensive, both in capital cost and operating cost. (5) Other counties manage regeneration and provision of jobs using many different industries. Isnt it time Copeland started to look to other methods of regeneration, like encouraging cottage industries, making Whitehavens retail and tourism mix more attractive, and respecting the beautiful surroundings we have which are unique to Britain and only found in Cumbria? There are less attractive places in Britain which are I am sure better suited to the dumping of nuclear waste. (6) Nuclear Waste Disposal in West Cumbria, misses one important consideration the potential environmental impacts of test drilling to establish the suitability of the geology.
Whitehaven News 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Letter Jean McSorley: Sir David King, along with Jamie Reed MP, has claimed that Copeland, Allerdale and Cumbria councils need to say yes to proceeding to the next stage on investigations for a nuclear dump, as such a facility is essential to new nuclear reactors. Yet I have been told, in no uncertain terms, by a senior official at the NDA now one of the managers overseeing the nuclear waste disposal programme that there is no link between the proposed repository and the fortunes of new build and that it is an absolute lie to say otherwise. According to CoRWM, the radioactive wastes of the proposed 10 new reactors would contain three-fold the amount of radioactivity of the wastes and nuclear materials created over the past 60 years of nuclear activity.
Whitehaven News 27th Sept 2012 more >>
EMR
The UK government will in November set out draft details of a planned contract-for-difference (CfD) subsidy regime for nuclear and renewable power, with a view to setting CfD strike prices by the end of 2013, a senior official at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) said today. Decc expects the strike price to be set over the course of the next year, with draft prices published in 2013 and final prices published by the end of the same year for the 2014-2017 period, Decc’s director of energy markets and networks, Jonathan Brearley, said at National Grid’s Future Energy Scenarios 2012 event. The feed-in tariff with CfD, designed to give nuclear and renewables a guaranteed wholesale power price, is the key element of the government’s electricity market reforms. But the proposed schedule still leaves uncertainty for projects that require an earlier investment decision, such as the planned new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point C. French state-controlled utility EdF and UK generator Centrica have said that they would like the bill underpinning the reforms to become legislation by spring 2013 to facilitate a final investment decision. Any project that needs an early decision should approach Decc, Brearley said, adding that this would not equate to a blank cheque for nuclear power. The government is not prepared to support nuclear at any price, he said.
Argus Media 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Horizon
EON AG (EOAN) and RWE AG (RWE), the German utilities dropping out of Britains atomic-power program, are due to close the bidding today on their Horizon nuclear venture in the country after rising costs prompted their withdrawal. A group combining Areva SA (AREVA) and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co., a Hitachi Ltd.-led partnership, and a third comprising Westinghouse Electric Co. and Chinas State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. are the likely bidders, Malcolm Grimston, an analyst at Chatham House in London, said by phone.
Bloomberg 28th Sept 2012 more >>
Hinkley
Coaches from Bath will take campaigners from the city to a protest about nuclear power next weekend. They will attend a national rally in Bridgwater next Saturday as part of the campaign to stop a new nuclear power station being built at Hinkley Point in Somerset. Bath Friends of the Earth nuclear energy spokesman Richard Carder said: “The purpose of this national rally, is to press the Government to put the £60 billion earmarked for new nuclear into energy reduction and cleaner, greener renewables.”
Bath Chronicle 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Wylfa
“The BBC is wrong in its reporting on my comments with regard to the development of a new nuclear power station on Anglesey and I have been misrepresented by this inaccurate reporting. It is disappointing that I have to make my position clear on this when I mentioned support for training so local people can be equipped with the skills needed to undertake these jobs if the go ahead is given. The party’s has always had concerns about nuclear power. The party has always been opposed to the construction of new power stations on new sites. However we have always given local party representatives in Ynys Mon and Meirionydd the right to make up their own minds on questions like extending existing reactors, decommissioning and on new stations on existing sites, balancing the party’s environmental concerns with the question of jobs. We are a decentralised party and we have pledged to do everything to support the creation of local jobs should there be a decision to build a new nuclear power station on Anglesey and I will do everything possible to support Ieuan Wyn Jones and our local Plaid Cymru candidates who are working tirelessly for the people of Ynys Mon.”
Plaid 23rd Sept 2012 more >>
Times of News 23rd Sept 2012 more >>
Sizewell
ANTI-nuclear campaigners are warning that direct action currently being threatened at another proposed nuclear development site could be used against plans for Sizewell C. Protesters are gearing up for what is billed as a mass trespass at the site earmarked for the Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset. It is being organised by the Stop New Nuclear Alliance and is scheduled to be the culmination of a protest camp over the weekend of October 6/7. Pete Wilkinson, a Suffolk-based environment consultant and member of the Sizewell Stakeholder Group, said direct action could eventually be used against plans for Sizewell C if the Government, the nuclear industry and local authorities did not provide all relevant information and properly canvass, and act upon, the views of local people.
East Anglian Daily Times 27th Sept 2012 more >>
EDF Energy has today signalled the start of its formal public consultation in November for a new proposed nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk, just as the examination of its application for Hinkley Point C in Somerset concludes. Following initial meetings, EDF Energy is today sending a draft Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC) to Suffolk local authorities to invite feedback on the proposed consultation programme for the Sizewell C project.
EDF 21st Sept 2012 more >>
Sellafield
A SURPRISE switch of some Sellafield staff to work in Copeland Councils Whitehaven HQ could soon be on the way.The idea is to transfer some nuclear staff away from the Sellafield site to take over spare desks at the borough council. However the reasons why, at this stage, remain unclear. The move of a 20-strong council environmental health section to its Moresby Parks site will leave spare capacity at the Catherine Street HQ. However sources stress that as it is a planned transfer it is not a case of displacing any council staff. The Whitehaven News understands discussions are still under way between the council and nuclear industry over terms.
Whitehaven News 27th Sept 2012 more >>
COPELAND Council is putting pressure on the nuclear industry to spend money in what it believes to be better ways of helping the area and local businesses. It follows a recent change in industrial policy outlined by coalition business secretary Vince Cable who says government has neglected to include social requirements in public procurement. The new approach, says the councils regeneration portfolio holder Phil Greatorex, heralds potential opportunities for Copeland by ensuring local considerations receive greater priority than they have up to now. He has written to John Hayes, new minister for energy and climate change, saying: I and others have lobbied hard over a number of years to help realise the benefits (outlined by Cable) with respect to the £45 billion nuclear decommissioning and £3.9 billion MoD astute submarine programme in West Cumbria.
Whitehaven News 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Companies
Spanish energy giant Iberdrola is mulling the sale of a stake in its UK power grid, in the latest sign that new investors will be needed to fund the planned £200bn overhaul of the energy sector. ScottishPower Energy Networks, which analysts value at up to £5bn, owns electricity transmission pylons and cables in southern Scotland and distribution networks in southern Scotland, northern England and Wales, serving about 3.5m homes. It requires an estimated £8bn investment this decade to replace ageing cables and substations and to connect up and transport power from 11GW of new wind farms that are due to be built in Scotland. Sources with knowledge of the situation said Iberdrola – which is also planning £4bn investment in its ScottishPower generation business – was looking at selling a minority stake in the grid business as a means of funding the upgrade without increasing its debt. The Spanish company is attempting to ease its 29.3bn debt burden, amassed through a series of acquisitions including that of ScottishPower for £12bn in 2006.
Telegraph 27th Sept 2012 more >>
The Spanish owner of ScottishPower is in talks to bring minority equity partners into the energy supplier as it feels the impact of the economic chill blowing through Madrid. Iberdrola, which bought ScottishPower in 2006 for £12 billion, could raise more than £1 billion through the sale of a minority stake in the Glasgow-based groups UK networks business the arm of the company that owns and operates cables and powerlines to 3.5 million homes in Scotland, the North of England and North Wales.
Times 28th Sept 2012 more >>
Scotsman 28th Sept 2012 more >>
Herald 28th Sept 2012 more >>
Germany
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday denied she had lied to the public about the suitability of a permanent location for the country’s central nuclear waste dump when she was environment minister in the 1990s.In a rare five-hour appearance before a parliamentary inquiry, Merkel rebutted allegations that the then government had put political considerations before scientific findings when it decided to focus the search for a waste dump only in Gorleben in northern Germany.
Reuters 27th Sept 2012 more >>
India
Despite mass protests by villagers, the Indian government in partnership with the Tamil Nadu state government is pushing ahead with the loading of nuclear fuel at the recently built 2000 MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) located on the Tamil Nadu coast.
World Socialist Web 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Iran
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drawn his red line for Irans nuclear programme the point at which Iran has amassed nearly enough highly enriched uranium for a single atomic bomb. Addressing the United National General Assembly yesterday, he appeared to pull back from any threat of an imminent Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, saying the Islamic Republic would be on the brink of producing an atomic weapon only next summer. He added he was confident the United States and Israel, which have disagreed about the urgency of military action, could devise a common strategy to prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapon.
Scotsman 28th Sept 2012 more >>
ITV 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Guardian 28th Sept 2012 more >>
Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu uses a red pen and a chart at the United Nations to illustrate the Iranian nuclear threat.
Guardian 27th Sept 2012 more >>
The United States expects major powers’ consultations on Iran’s nuclear program to continue and eventually lead to another round of talks with Tehran, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
Reuters 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Iran must take urgent action to allay mounting international concerns over its nuclear drive, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Thursday after talks among the major powers.
EU Business 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Would Israel discreetly warn U.N. nuclear chief Yukiya Amano so that he could withdraw his inspectors before any air raid on Iran, as the United States did in a dramatic night-time phone call to his predecessor just before the 2003 war in Iraq? With persistent speculation that Israel might soon attack Iran’s nuclear sites and his own increasingly tense relations with Tehran, the potential dangers facing Amano’s staff on the ground are likely a big worry for the veteran Japanese diplomat.
Reuters 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
After half a century of avoiding a decision it is surely about time that the Labour Party got round to abandoning our nuclear deterrent. For there has been no rational reason for retaining this expensive toy since the Soviet Union collapsed over twenty years ago. Although the Russians, like the French and of course the Americans, have retained their nuclear weapons none of the nuclear-armed countries which pose any kind of threat Israel, India. Pakistan, North Korea and soon possibly Iran as well are ever going to be able to reach the White Cliffs of Dover.
Independent 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Former Lib Dem minister Nick Harvey, speaking at a fringe debate at his partys conference, has thrown the issue of British nuclear weapons back into the headlines. But the public discussion of this story indicates a less-than-stellar understanding of the subject. If you wanted to put nuclear-armed cruise missiles onto attack submarines the Tuppeny Trident approach associated with Harvey this would require splitting with the United States and building a new warhead. You also need to do a lot of planning on what happens in a crisis. You have to be able to disperse your bombs at short notice, in case they get targeted. You have to decide when to mate the warheads with the missiles. If youre using ships or submarines, how can you ensure they wont be tracked and potentially taken out as they leave British waters?
Telegraph 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Renewables
The government has today released its latest quarterly energy statistics, confirming that the UK’s renewable energy sector is continuing to expand rapidly, while also fuelling concerns that high gas prices are forcing energy companies to switch to more polluting coal power.
Business Green 27th Sept 2012 more >>
The Scottish government said it is on track to meet its 2020 energy targets after a positive first half of 2012. According to figures released by the Department for Energy and Climate Change, Scotland’s renewable generation for the first half of 2012 was 12.8 per cent higher for the same period in 2011, seeing generation stand at 806GWh. The figures also showed installed capacity at the end of the second quarter for 2012 was up by 18.6 per cent on the previous year, at 5,453MW. Confirmation that 2011 was a record year for renewable electricity generation in Scotland was also shown, with 35 per cent of Scottish electricity demands being met from renewables, breaking the 31 per cent target. Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said, ‘These statistics show once again that Scotland leads the world in renewable energy generation, and that our industry goes from strength to strength. ‘Renewable electricity generation for the first half of 2012 is up nearly 13 per cent on the amount generated in the same period in the previous year. The equivalent of an extra 147,000 homes could be powered for a year with the extra electricity produced in those six months alone, compared to the same period in 2011.
New Energy World 27th Sept 2012 more >>
Gas
Fracking’s backers say it will deliver a quick, cheap way of cutting carbon emissions. The latest analysis shows none of these claims stands up.
Guardian 28th Sept 2012 more >>
