Radwaste
Cumbria Trust Director Colin Wales will present an e-petition with almost 350 signatures to Cumbria County Council’s cabinet on Thursday. He will ask the council to call a county-wide referendum on whether Cumbria should be a “volunteer” community to site a nuclear waste disposal facility.
Cumbria Trust 2nd April 2014 read more »
Radhealth – Fukushima
On 11 March 2011 the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered major damage from the failure of equipment after the magnitude 9.0 great east-Japan earthquake and subsequent tsunami. It was the largest civilian nuclear accident since the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Radioactive material was released from the damaged plant and tens of thousands of people were evacuated. UNSCEAR is in the process of finalizing a major study to assess the radiation doses and associated effects on health and environment.
UNSCEAR 2nd April 2014 read more »
5,000 deaths in Japan after Fukushima according to UNSCEAR. On April 2, UNSCEAR published its long-awaited Report on Fukushima. Of prime importance are its estimates of collective doses to the Japanese population. In an early preliminary view, these are realistic collective doses, as they are relatively consistent with some independent estimates in Europe. For example, the most detailed model used by the Report published by IPPNW Germany in late March 2013 estimated 95,000 man Sv: ie the UNSCEAR 48,000 man Sv estimate is within a factor of 2 of this, which is good agreement given the uncertainties in the IPPNW’s methodology and in this area generally.
Ian Fairlie 2nd April 2014 read more »
The major UN report on the health impacts of the Fukushima accident concluded that any radiation-induced effects would be too small to identify. People were well protected and received “low or very low” radiation doses. The latest report on the accident comes from the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) – the independent international body set up in the 1950s to give impartial advice on the effects of radiation on people and the environment. In January 2012 UNSCEAR was asked by the UN General Assembly to undertake a “full assessment of the levels of exposure and radiation risks” attributable to Fukushima accident. Released today, the study concluded that the rates of cancer or hereditary diseases were unlikely to show any discernible rise in affected areas because the radiation doses people received were too low. People were promptly evacuated from the vicinity of the nuclear power plant, and later from a neighbouring area where radionuclides had accumulated. This action reduced their radiation exposure by a factor of ten, said UNSCEAR, to levels that were “low or very low.”
World Nuclear News 2nd April 2014 read more »
The Fukushima nuclear disaster is unlikely to lead to a vast number of people developing cancer as happened following the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986, the United Nations has said. According to Reuters, a report by the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (Unscear) said it does not expect radiation from the 2011 Fukushima meltdown to bring “significant changes” to cancer rates in the future. Researchers found the amount of radioactive substances released after the Daiichi plant was decimated by an earthquake and tsunami were much lower than those released in Chernobyl. It also praised authorities for evacuating around 160,000 people living near the site in the aftermath of the disaster. Researchers said that fewer than 1,000 children have an increased risk of developing thyroid cancer later in life because of the radiation.
IB Times 2nd April 2014 read more »
Reuters 2nd April 2014 read more »
ONR
Baroness Verma: The nuclear sector is changing and we need to respond to those changes if we are to remain world class. That’s why we have taken steps to reshape and restructure our nuclear regulatory framework. The Energy Act has set the legal position of the ONR as a fully independent statutory body and this provides the foundation on which you can continue to build a modern, flexible, dynamic, and fully integrated organisation. I was responsible for taking the Energy Act through the Lords and was struck by the level of cross party support for creating the statutory ONR. And this support didn’t just come from Parliament and the Government, but from the nuclear industry too.
DECC 1st April 2014 read more »
New Nuclear
Letter: There are 435 nuclear reactors worldwide generating cheap electricity with another 71 under construction and many more planned. Nuclear supplies France with 77 per cent of its needs. Germany planned to shut all its nuclear plants after Fukushima but has now been forced to build coal-fired plants. To compound its troubles, Germany gets its gas from Russia. Now the UK government is running scared of the lights going out and firms are being encouraged to sign energy contracts which could see their power cut at times of peak demand to prevent blackouts. The UK, especially Scotland, ¬relies too much on mega-expensive unreliable renewables. Nuclear plants would provide security of supply and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Scotsman 2nd April 2014 read more »
Utilities
Energy companies should not “scaremonger” over the impact of a competition probe, the chief executive of SSE has said, in a thinly-veiled attack on rival Centrica. Alistair Phillips-Davies, boss of Britain’s second-biggest energy supplier, said that the remit of a Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the energy sector should in fact be widened to take in issues such as smart meters, the cost of new power plants and energy price-comparison websites.
Telegraph 2nd April 2014 read more »
Energy Supply
The rise of social media is being powered by dirty forms of energy such as coal, a report from the campaign group Greenpeace said on Wednesday. The Clicking Clean report praised six companies – Apple, Box, Facebook, Google, Rackspace and Salesforce – for committing to power their data centres with 100% renewable energy. Apple in particular had cleaned up its energy profile, Greenpeace International said.
Guardian 2nd April 2014 read more »
Nuclear Disarmament
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) today congratulates the international local government nuclear disarmament group Mayors for Peace, who announced they have recruited their 6000 ember at the end of March. NFLA is a strong supporter of the Mayors for Peace group and shares its key aim of seeking a nuclear weapons free world. Leading NFLA member Manchester City Council is a Vice President of Mayors for Peace, whilst Glasgow City Council is a member of the Mayors for Peace’s 2020 Vision Campaign Association Board.
NFLA 2nd April 2014 read more »
The former Conservative Defence Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind made an ethical case for Britain keeping its nuclear weapons when he addressed an audience of Catholic justice and peace supporters on Monday. Speaking in a debate with veteran anti-nuclear campaigner Bruce Kent, Sir Malcolm said scrapping Trident, Britain’s nuclear deterrent, would be a “very serious mistake” and create instability around the world.
Tablet 1st April 2014 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
While the Nato allies are collectively preoccupied by Vladimir Putin’s intentions in eastern Europe, Britain and the US are secretly renegotiating a pact which is a bedrock of their very special bilateral relationship. Their Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA), first signed in 1958, is due for renewal this year. Britain relies on it to secure, maintain, and upgrade, its nuclear warheads. “The UK regards safety, security and reliability as central to the maintenance of its nuclear warheads”, the Foreign Office stated in an “explanatory memorandum” on an amendment to the MDA ten years ago. It added: “The programme benefits from long-standing collaboration with US scientists, including the sharing of data and test results and the use of US test facilities”. The extent to which Britain’s nuclear arsenal is dependent on American help, through the MDA, is clearly set out in The Bang Behind The Buck, a paper just published by the Royal United Services Institute.
Guardian 2nd Apr 2014 read more »
Japan – alternatives
The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released this week makes for grim reading. The attitudes and behaviour of humanity is going to have to change and quickly if we are to save ourselves and the planet from catastrophic climate change. Hope remains, however. Take a look at out new briefing, Japan: clean energy growth offers choice and hope, for instance…For the past six months, up to March 2014, Japan has met its energy needs without reliance on nuclear power, which until the Fukushima disaster was a significant provider of the country’s power needs. Energy savings and a rapid expansion of clean, renewable energy are the way of the future. Major corporations, municipalities and communities have begun to move in this direction, but the Abe administration risks squandering the opportunity and returning Japan to the Dark Ages of nuclear risk. It’s an outlook that offers choice and hope not just to Japan but to all of us.
Greenpeace 2nd April 2014 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
Renewed signs of the post-Fukushima strain on Japanese utilities’ finances emerged on Wednesday as Kyushu Electric Power said it was in discussions with a government-owned bank over a possible capital infusion. The acknowledgment came a day after news that another utility, Hokkaido Electric Power, was seeking a Y50bn ($484m) bailout from the same lender, the Development Bank of Japan. Demands for financial support from the groups could colour the debate over whether to restart some of the 50 nuclear reactors in Japan that have been idled over safety concerns since the accident at Fukushima Daiichi power station in 2011.
FT 2nd April 2014 read more »
PEOPLE in Japan have started returning home for the first time in three years to an area evacuated after the Fukushima disaster. The reopening of the Miyakoji area of Tamura, 140 miles northeast of Tokyo and inland from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear station, marks a tiny step for Japan as it attempts to recover from the 2011 disasters. But the event is a major milestone for the 357 registered residents of the district. The trickle of returnees highlights both people’s desire to return to the forested hamlet and the difficulty of returning to normal.
Herald 2nd April 2014 read more »
US – Radwaste
Inspectors ventured into an underground nuclear waste disposal vault in New Mexico on Wednesday to begin an on-site investigation of a radiation leak nearly seven weeks ago that exposed 21 workers and forced a shutdown of the facility.The mission by experts from the company that manages the site marked the first time since the mishap that workers have been sent deep into the salt caverns of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, where drums of plutonium-tainted refuse from nuclear weapons factories and laboratories are buried.
Reuters 3rd April 2014 read more »
US – Nuclear Companies
The operating licences of five US nuclear power reactors have been transferred from Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG) to Exelon, making it the second-largest nuclear operator in the world.
World Nuclear News 2nd April 2014 read more »
Canada
Cameco has sold its 31.6 per cent stake in the Bruce Power nuclear complex in Ontario to three fellow shareholders for C$450 million (US$408m).
Infrastructure Journal 2nd April 2014 read more »
Renewables – solar
Networks can handle more solar panels than previously thought without the need to upgrade infrastructure, Europe’s largest monitoring project has revealed. Low carbon technologies connected to the distribution networks use 20 per cent less capacity than assumed, Western Power Distribution found after a three-year study. The research, backed by Ofgem’s Low Carbon Network Fund, also found it was possible to cut cost and carbon by lowering voltage across UK networks. In South Wales alone, where the study was carried out, voltage reduction is set to save £9.4 million and 41,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year.
Utility Week 2nd April 2014 read more »
Renewables – wind
Green campaigners urged David Cameron yesterday to stop trying to appease a minority of windfarm opponents in his party with proposals for further curbs on onshore turbines. Supporters of wind power were alarmed after it emerged that the prime minister was considering including new controls on onshore generation in the next election manifesto, such as a cap, further cuts to subsidies, more planning restrictions or limits on noise from turbines.
Guardian 2nd April 2014 read more »
Renewable energy companies are concerned about the possibility of a Tory victory in 2015 as it emerged that Nick Clegg had thwarted Conservative proposals for a moratorium on new onshore wind farms. David Cameron, who once promised “Vote Blue, Go Green”, has privately called for a cap that would effectively mean that the coalition would not support any new onshore wind projects. He was strongly supported in the argument by George Osborne, the chancellor. One director of a green energy company said the debate would only raise concerns about what would happen if the Tories won the general election. “The political risk in our industry is getting worse and worse,” he said. The attempt to negotiate a cap on the controversial “windmills” comes just weeks before local elections where the Tories are set to lose many seats to Ukip, which has a vehemently hostile stance against wind farms. Ministers are also seeking to devise popular policies with an eye on the general election of May 2015.
FT 2nd April 2014 read more »
Proposals to limit the number of onshore wind turbines could increase energy bills and cost thousands of Scottish jobs, experts have warned. The Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables said such a move could also set back the growth of the green energy technology. The warning follows reports that David Cameron is considering promising new restrictions on onshore windfarms as part of his offer to voters at the next general election. It is thought that this could include subsidy cuts. Scottish Renewables said that would make current and future projects less viable.
Herald 3rd April 2014 read more »
The lack of onshore wind surely means they cannot be a major element in the Government’s “energy mix”, and therefore those of us who care about the environment and renewable energy should give up on turbines. With such vehement opposition to wind turbines locally and, we learnt yesterday, also inside Downing Street, there seems little point in pushing a renewable source of energy that has a poor record on generating power. Even the Government giving more control and incentives to local communities who accept turbines in their backyard has failed to trigger nationwide enthusiasm for onshore wind. It would be an admission of failure for the environmental movement to drop support for onshore wind, of course, but perhaps green campaigners should admit that there’s not much point in building any more.
Independent 2nd April 2014 read more »
Climate
Andrew Simms: Many governments would like nothing more than to believe they can leave global warming to the unchallenged market. That means they wouldn’t have to do anything themselves except murmur something green occasionally. But if the market was going to solve the problem it would already be doing so, because the problem is decades old. Its price signal would already have reallocated resources to keep us living within planetary boundaries. Information would have flowed and risks been calculated in such a way that money retreated from activities damaging to a stable climate, and went into better alternatives. Some bizarre anomalies suggest a deep-rooted inability to question the economic structures that are pushing us over the edge.
Guardian 2nd April 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
From the Coal Bed Methane inquiry in Falkirk: Today we spent a long time picking over Dart’s Waste Management Plan, including a lunch-time huddle on whether the development was an extractive waste area, an extractive waste facility or a Category A extractive waste facility. We also debated whether leaking methane is covered by waste rules, rather than a ‘byproduct’ as Dart want. This is particularly important because of the continuing uncertainty over how much of the development is covered by pollution controls. Methane is an important greenhouse but the only legal powers to control it are to do with waste, water pollution or toxic chemicals.
FoE Scotland Blog 2nd April 2014 read more »
Just one deep coal mine will be left in Britain by the end of next year after the UK’s largest coal producer announced plans to close two of the three remaining pits. Workers at Kellingley Colliery in Yorkshire, which employs 700 people, and Thoresby Colliery in Nottinghamshire, which employs 600 people, were told on Wednesday that both pits will close within 18 months at the latest because they are no longer financially viable.
Telegraph 2nd April 2014 read more »
Independent 2nd April 2014 read more »
