Earth Hour
Millions of people around the world are expected to switch off lights in homes, offices and famous landmarks at 8.30pm local time for an hour on Saturday to mark WWF’s annual Earth Hour. Now in its eighth year, the mass participation event to show support for environmental issues comes as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prepares to launch its latest report in Japan on Monday, outlining how global warming will affect wildlife, food supplies, water and the weather.
Guardian 28th March 2014 read more »
Magnox
A £7 billion contract to decommission Britain’s first generation of nuclear power plants will be granted on Monday, with a private equity-backed business among the front-runners to clinch the deal. The clean-up of the ten Magnox power stations and two nuclear testing facilities will take place over 14 years and is one of Britain’s biggest public procurement programmes. Industry insiders suggested that a partnership of the American companies EnergySolutions and Bechtel was the leading contender. Struggling under a huge debt pile, EnergySolutions was acquired by Energy Capital Partners, a private equity group, last year in a deal valuing the business at $1.1 billion. Its ownership structure has led to speculation that it may be sold if it is successful in winning the contract. EnergySolutions is the present operator of the Magnox fleet and relies on the income stream for a large portion of its revenue. The GMB union has said that it is “absolutely inconceivable” that the Government could award the Magnox contract to Bechtel, EnergySolutions’ partner, because of alleged lapses it had made on similar contracts in the United States. Most notably, one site that it co-managed in Washington State suffered a break-in by campaigners led by an 82-year-old nun.
Times 29th March 2014 read more »
Radwaste
CoRWM is hosting a public meeting on Wednesday 30th April 2014 to discuss the process for finding a site for a Geological Disposal Facility for Higher Activity Radioactive Waste. CoRWM will be hosting a public meeting at St. Michael’s Church, Falcon Place, Workington, CA14 2EZ from 18:30-20:00 on Wednesday 30th April 2014. Come along for an opportunity to meet the committee and hear about the work CoRWM are currently doing. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions to the committee who collectively have a wealth of knowledge and experience within the field, and let the committee know your own views on the subject. Entry is free and refreshments will be provided. If you would like to attend, please email the secretariat including your name, organisation and contact details by Wednesday 23rd April 2014.
CoRWM 28th March 2014 read more »
Sizewell
Extra consultation is to be carried out with communities in east Suffolk over the proposals for the Sizewell C nuclear power station following public demand. The aim is to give people the chance to comment on and discuss developing ideas for some of the key parts of the estimated £14billion project – especially preferred options for park and ride sites and the construction workers’ “village” – before they are finalised. EDF Energy has already carried out an initial round of consultation and the next would have been the final statutory round before the application for an order for consent was made to the secretary of state. Community leaders were told last night though that the company had decided to hold a third round of consultation – scheduled to take place this autumn – with the final stage sometime in 2015. At present there is still no firm timetable for submission for planning permission.
East Anglian Daily Times 28th March 2014 read more »
Dungeness
NUCLEAR reactors at Dungeness B power station were shut down for two months due to flooding fears in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Power station operator EDF Energy insists the move does not mean the site was unsafe at any time and branded reports in the national media as ‘misleading and inaccurate’. But environmentalists have accused EDF of failing to be open and transparent.
Rye and Battle Observer 28th March 2014 read more »
New Nukes
Over half of the senior figures in the British utilities sector believed that the only way to ensure long-term energy security is to develop a new fleet of nuclear stations, said a report published in a two-day conference opened here Tuesday. It reflected the fact that nuclear is the only low carbon technology that can be rolled out in a sufficient scale to meet the large amount of generating capacity required, said the report after surveying a broad cross section of the industry.
Shanghai Daily 27th March 2014 read more »
In Lovelock’s latest book, A Rough Ride to the Future his enthusiasm for nuclear power is undiminished and so is his loathing for most alternative energy sources, wind turbines in particular. He rails against what he sees as an anti-nuclear conspiracy in politics and the media, which he believes is undermining the only practical way to produce energy from non-carbon sources on the scale needed by modern civilisation. And his attack on the “green satanic change” to wind power goes beyond rational criticism.
FT 28th March 2014 read more »
Energy Costs
Official figures show that Britons enjoy some of the cheapest gas and electricity costs in Europe so why are we obsessed about the price of our energy bills? According to figures from the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), the UK is the fifth cheapest market of 15 major European nations, excluding Spain, in terms of electricity prices. In terms of gas prices, Britain is the second cheapest market in Europe after Finland. The facts would seem to challenge the claim made by Ofgem chief executive Dermot Nolan that “prices have risen more than they should have, we believe, over the last few years.”
Telegraph 27th March 2014 read more »
Three Mile Island
Thirty-five years ago today the USA had its worst ever civilian nuclear accident with a reactor meltdown at Three Mile Island. Linda Pentz Gunter reports on the lies and cover ups about the true scale of the radiation release and its impacts on human health. The often repeated nuclear industry line – that “no one died at Three Mile Island” – does not stand the test of fundamental medical scrutiny. Yet, 35 years later, we are hearing it again, put about by nuclear deniers who also claim that the Chernobyl nuclear explosion harmed a mere handful and that the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan will yield no fatalities. Given what we know about exposure to radiation, it is medically far more probable that there were multiple fatalities as a result of TMI, as well as non-fatal cancers and other illnesses. The numbers will be orders of magnitude higher as a result of the even more serious Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear catastrophes. There are other prematurely fatal outcomes too, triggered by stress, dislocation and abandonment. None of these should be callously discounted.
Ecologist 28th March 2014 read more »
See 30th Anniversary page.
No2nuclearpower (accessed) 28th March 2014 read more »
TMI as it unfolded.
Penn Live 28th March 2014 read more »
Thirty-five years after the world’s first nuclear-power scare, the nuclear industry hasn’t learned the most basic lesson from Three Mile Island: Get accurate information to the public in a timely manner.
Christian Science Monitor 28th March 2014 read more »
Chernobyl
Once a densely populated Ukrainian city, Pripyat is now a ghost town – completely abandoned. Nearby, Chernobyl is populated only by inhabitants that can’t bear to leave the only place they know. In 1986, the population was evacuated after the explosion and fire at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, but several hundred older residents have disregarded the dangers of residual contamination and returned home to villages scattered throughout the contaminated Exclusion Zone. They wanted the right to die on their own soil. Photographer Gerd Ludwig first visited Chernobyl in 1993 for National Geographic, and has been back three times in the last twenty years. He is now raising money on Kickstarter to fund the publication of The Long Shadow Of Chernobyl, which documents his visits to the ravaged city and the ill fated power plant itself.
Dazed 28th March 2014 read more »
Small Reactors
The House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee has announced an inquiry into small reactors. Submissions by 16th April.
House of Commons 4th March 2014 read more »
Nuclear reactors that are small and modular—reactors that generate up to about a third the power of the typical commercial reactor—have received positive attention in Congress and elsewhere as a possible way of introducing nuclear generating capacity in smaller and more affordable increments. But small isn’t always beautiful says Ed Lyman.
Union of Concerned Scientists September 2013 read more »
Thorium
In the same month as the Three Mile Island and Fukushima nuclear disasters, China announces it is speeding up its research into so-called molten salt reactors that can run on thorium. If it succeeds, it would create a cheaper, more efficient, and safer form of nuclear power that produces less nuclear waste than today’s uranium-based technology.
Christian Science Monitor 28th March 2014 read more »
Scotland
Scotland’s emissions reductions outpaced the rest of the UK in 2011, but despite progress being made in several key sectors the country missed legislated targets and still has much to do if it is to meet its “very challenging” climate goals. That is the conclusion of the latest report by government advisory body the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) in its third report on Scotland’s progress towards meeting its emission reduction targets.
Business Green 26th March 2014 read more »
Putting all our eggs in one basket means we could have to import cheap nuclear energy under independence, says Brian Wilson. It IS timely to reassess the disarray of Scottish energy policy in the light of SSE’s declaration of retreat from renewables as part of its freeze package. We are heading for what was predictable and predicted: the historic contribution of a Nationalist government to Scotland’s energy history will be to transform us from a substantial exporter of power into a massive importer in the not very distant future. This has been achieved through the classic error of energy policy – putting all the eggs in one basket. Committing Scotland to generating the equivalent of 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources was good for headlines but not much else, particularly when accompanied by neglect of other vital ingredients in our energy mix. SSE says has long recognised that the process of negotiation between the Scottish Government, the UK government and the EU following a Yes vote would be likely to take time, be complex and may result in changes to the energy market. The uncertainty associated with any constitutional change represents increased legislative and regulatory risk of which SSE has to take account in making decisions. If we create separate states, all bets would be off about the UK buying expensive Scottish renewables. In these circumstances, the probability is that it would be one-way traffic – with nuclear power from England flowing northwards to fill the shortfall we are creating for ourselves. A strange outcome, indeed, for an anti-nuclear Nationalist government to achieve through its blinkers.
Scotsman 29th March 2014 read more »
Germany
EON will shutter a nuclear plant in Bavaria seven months ahead of schedule, cutting power capacity in the home of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) and Siemens AG as Germany’s biggest utility tries to save money. EON notified the Bundesnetzagentur regulator and grid operator TenneT TSO GmbH of its plan to close the 1,275-megawatt Grafenrheinfeld plant at the end of May 2015 “because of its lack of profitability,” the Dusseldorf-based utility said in a statement. The move will save EON as much as 80 million euros ($110 million) in nuclear-fuel taxes, TV station ARD Haupstadtstudio said earlier today.
Bloomberg 28th March 2014 read more »
World Nuclear News 28th March 2014 read more »
Finland
Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has acquired a 34% stake in Fennovoima, the company proposing to build the Hanhikivi nuclear power plant in Finland. The plant is to feature a Russian-supplied reactor. Voimaosakeyhtiö SF – the Finnish owner of Fennovoima – announced that it has signed a share transaction agreement with RAOS Voima Oy, a Finnish subsidiary set up by Rosatom specifically for holding a stake in Fennovoima. Through the agreement Rosatom now holds a 34% stake in Fennovoima while Voimaosakeyhtiö retains the remaining 66%. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.
World Nuclear News 28th March 2014 read more »
France
Electricite de France SA shares could lose more than 10 percent of their value if the government goes ahead with plans to shut reactors, analysts at Raymond James Euro Equities said. Officials said yesterday that as many as 20 reactors may have to be halted by 2025 to meet President Francois Hollande’s pledge to lower atomic reliance and boost renewables. The plan would reduce nuclear production to 50 percent of the country’s output from about three-quarters now. Investors, who’ve seen the stock double in value since the end of 2012, have been counting on the government continuing a policy of allowing EDF to extend reactor lifespans.
Bloomberg 27th March 2014 read more »
Nigeria
Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has reiterated plans to introduce a civil nuclear energy programme in the country, to attract investment that will boost economic growth and develop a modern science and technology sector.
Outlaw 28th March 2014 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
A worker at the Japanese nuclear plant devastated by the 2011 tsunami has died after being buried in a mudslide. The man, in his 50s, had been working near a storage area at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. He was already unconscious when he was dug out and taken to a hospital. He could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead three hours later, said Tokyo Electric Power Company, the utility that operates the plant.
Sky 28th March 2014 read more »
Reuters 28th March 2014 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
Nine nuclear officers have been removed and scores of others will be disciplined as part of a test-cheating scandal.
Sky 28th March 2014 read more »
Biomass – Scotland
Plans in Scotland to build three major new biomass plants at docks in Dundee, Grangemouth and Rosyth have been ditched after SSE scaled back its investment in renewable energy. The three biomass ports had been planned as a £1.1bn joint venture between Forth Ports and SSE that would create a total capacity of 300MW of power and 260MW of heat, while creating up to 500 jobs in construction.
Business Green 28th March 2014 read more »
Renewables – offshore wind
The recent announcement by Siemens to build a new manufacturing plant for offshore wind turbines in the UK is good news for the renewable energy sector in the UK and for DECC. By investing £160 million in wind turbine production and installation facilities in Yorkshire, Siemens will be creating more than 1,000 new jobs in the Hull area. While a number of recent cancellations of large offshore wind farms have taken place, the investment shows that Siemens believes in the policies put forward by DECC to stimulate the growth of offshore wind. The UK already is the biggest market for offshore wind worldwide and the project pipeline is significant with the government’s 2011 Renewable Energy Roadmap expecting to have an installed capacity of 18GW by 2020 and 40 GW by 2030.
Sussex Energy Group 28th March 2014 read more »
Renewables – onshore wind
Windfarms have no negative impact on the prices of property within a 5km radius of turbines, and can even push up house prices in some areas, according to an analysis of 82,000 transactions over the past two decades by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
Guardian 29th March 2013 read more »
Energy Efficiency
UK housing energy fact file [infographic]. The 2013 Housing Energy Fact File is a UK Government report that shows the changes in our home-energy use from the 1970s to today. The infographic below shows the main points from that report. Our lifestyles have changed dramatically since the 70s, and many of the things we now take for granted, such as double glazing and central heating, were, at best, sparsely used. It comes as no surprise then that our homes are now 4c warmer than they were.
Anglian Home 24th March 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Green MP Caroline Lucas defended her decision to join campaigners at an anti-fracking protest, telling a court: “It felt important to serve the right to peaceful protest.”
Brighton Argus 28th March 2014 read more »
As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues with no end in sight, the search for actions that could weaken Russian President Vladimir Putin’s influence in the region has international leaders, members of Congress and numerous editorials calling for the U.S. to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe. The natural gas industry is predictably pleased. Experts, however, counter that exporting natural gas to Europe would be costly, time-consuming, environmentally risky and, in the end, unlikely to have a significant impact on Russia.
Climate Progress 28th March 2014 read more »
For Andrew Austin, getting to work today is going to be a military-style operation. The target for the chief executive of IGas is Britain’s only live shale gas operation, at Barton Moss, near Manchester — in other words, the front line in the fracking war. It means that the car he is travelling in has to wait in a layby, out of sight and out of trouble, until the coast is clear. It means that even when protesters have been ushered away and the route is open, he has to duck down and avoid the gaze of the few demonstrators who remain. It means that he has visited the site only a few times since drilling began in November.
Times 29th March 2014 read more »
Climate
Climate change has already left its mark “on all continents and across the oceans”, damaging food crops, spreading disease, and melting glaciers, according to the leaked text of a blockbuster UN climate science report due out on Monday. Government officials and scientists are gathered in Yokohama this week to wrangle over every line of a summary of the report before the final wording is released on Monday – the first update in seven years. Nearly 500 people must sign off on the exact wording of the summary, including the 66 expert authors, 271 officials from 115 countries, and 57 observers. But governments have already signed off on the critical finding that climate change is already having an effect, and t hat even a small amount of warming in the future could lead to “abrupt and irreversible changes”, according to documents seen by the Guardian.
Guardian 28th March 2014 read more »
The White House on Friday opened the way to cutting emissions of methane from the oil and gas industry, saying it would study the magnitude of leaks of the powerful greenhouse gas. The announcement seemed designed to please the international community – which is meeting in Yokohama to finalise a blockbuster climate report – as well as environmental groups suing to force the Obama administration to regulate the oil and gas industry.
Guardian 28th March 2014 read more »
Here’s something that will raise the temperature of the global warming debate even further. Australian scientists have concluded that the island continent’s heatwave last year only broke records because of man-made climate change. Researchers have rarely been able to link specific examples of extreme weather to global warming, though scientists are virtually unanimous that more of them will occur as the world heats up. But the study, by a team at Melbourne University, reckons that the chances of the heatwave taking place were quintupled by the climate change, and that the hottest-ever-recorded year of 2013 would have been “virtually impossible” without it. And its conclusions have just been endorsed by the blue-chip World Meteorological Organisation WMO).
Telegraph 27th March 2014 read more »
