Hinkley
An executive at the company hoping to build the new Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset has told Sky News he fears it will never be finished. Norbert Tangy has worked at EDF for more than 40 years and is the president of the French FNCS Union, which represents senior energy executives. He claims the current plans for the site are flawed and need time to be revised. Mr Tangy warned: “If we go ahead now, Hinkley Point will never work, it will never be finished. “We’ll have a never-ending construction as we had in Olkiluoto because many people are running and spending money and the station is not completed, we cannot do it.”
Sky News 3rd Sept 2016 read more »
LBC 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
THE £18 billion Hinkley Point nuclear power station deal appears to be on the brink of being cancelled as Theresa May prepares for difficult talks in China. Mrs May is set to have long bilateral talks in the Chinese city of Hangzhou on Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping immediately after the G20 summit where the issue is set to come up. The Chinese are reportedly “confused and upset” about the delay which is understood to be over concerns Mrs May’s advisers have about China. A Downing Street source last night suggested that the Prime Minister does not plan to indicate if the project will get the go ahead leading to speculation that she plans to cancel it altogether. The source said: “The purpose of the bilateral is more about establishing a broader relationship. It is possible that this [Hinkley Point] may come up but it is not the focus of it I think that the work that the Government is doing is looking at all the kind of element parts of the decision. The source said that the Government is still “looking at the component parts of the decision and we will continue to do so.”
Express 3rd Sept 2016 read more »
Theresa May is heading to China for her first major global summit as Prime Minister, but faces a row with her hosts over the Hinkley Point nuclear power station project. The Prime Minister hopes to use the G20 summit, where she will hold talks with world leaders including US president Barack Obama, to show that the UK remains a “dependable” diplomatic and trading partner in the wake of the vote to quit the European Union. But despite holding face-to-face talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Mrs May is not expected to use the meeting to make an announcement on the Hinkley Point project, which is backed by Beijing’s state-owned nuclear firm.
Press & Journal 3rd Sept 2016 read more »
Theresa May will this weekend refuse to give reassurances to her Chinese hosts about a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point amid mounting concern that she is poised to block a deal. The Prime Minister is expected to tell President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit during their first meeting that she will not reach a final decision on whether to go-ahead with the £18 billion plant until later this month. Senior Tory MPs last night warned that the row over Hinkley Point risks putting Mrs May’s attempts to build a new trade deal with China after Britain leaves the European Union in “jeopardy”.
Telegraph 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Theresa May could face a diplomatic row with China at the G20 summit as she arrives for her first meeting with Xi Jinping, without having approved Beijing’s involvement in UK nuclear projects. There has been speculation that May could be happy to allow China to proceed with its Hinkley investment, but does not want Beijing to be involved in building a plant at Bradwell, Essex, or helping develop one at Sizewell, Suffolk. This suggestion is not understood to have gone down well in Beijing, which could abandon plans for the entire nuclear sector if the UK demands to decouple Hinkley from the other two projects, in which China would have a more active involvement. On Friday night, the Financial Times reported that a senior figure at EDF has said the Treasury or another investor may have to step in to save the deal, although the company denied that this was the official position. It is understood that executives from EDF met Greg Clark, the business, energy and industrial strategy secretary, on Thursday to press the case for Hinkley to be built. Barry Gardiner, the shadow energy secretary, said: “I don’t think [May’s] going to allow the Chinese to do Sizewell and Bradwell. I think she would be happy to have them involved in the financing of Hinkley, but I think informal soundings with the Chinese have come back and said: ‘Don’t even think about offering us that. Do you think we are interested in this for the return on a poxy £6bn? We are a Chinese state company and what we’re really interested in is being able to build 2.5 nuclear reactors in the most stringent regulatory regime in the world’. “They are so angry about this and apoplectic about what she is proposing. I think we will see a very clear slapdown from president Xi and an end of the golden era that was supposed to start last year.” Gardiner said May had a tricky decision to make over Hinkley, given that it was a bad value deal, but trade with China is crucial as Britain negotiates its departure from the EU.
Guardian 3rd Sept 2016 read more »
EDF executives say the British government could have to take a stake of up to £6bn in the Hinkley Point nuclear power station to avoid a “disaster” if the Chinese decide to withdraw from the project. The UK government has not set out a fallback option if the Chinese refuse to separate the Bradwell project from the overall deal and abandon their proposed investments in Britain. In public, Beijing remains committed to the deal. However, there has been growing speculation in the nuclear industry that Mrs May is prepared to invest billions of pounds into Hinkley Point if it becomes necessary. “If the Chinese pull out, the UK government itself will raise the money,” said one industry source. One senior EDF figure said: “If the Chinese pull out, there is no way that EDF will be able to pay for the rest itself. We would need the British or someone else to step in.” Another said it would be a “disaster” for the project if the Chinese withdrew, but that the company would “wait and see” what happened before assuming it was dead. The idea of the UK government taking stakes in new nuclear power stations was raised this week by the new boss of Horizon, the Hitachi-owned consortium that plans to build stations at Wylfa, on Anglesey, and Oldbury-on-Severn, in Gloucestershire. Barry Gardiner, shadow energy secretary, said that because government borrowing had never been cheaper, it could make sense for Hinkley – and other infrastructure – to be built with new low-interest debt raised by the government. But Mr Gardiner, who is also chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Chinese in Britain Group, said Mrs May’s decision would have wider consequences for trade relations between the two countries. “In China, face is very important,” he said. Any cancellation of the Hinkley deal would be likely to jeopardise other planned Chinese investments in the UK, according to Chinese officials.
FT 3rd Sept 2016 read more »
France concerned China talks could scupper Hinkley Point nuclear project
Energy Voice 3rd Sept 2016 read more »
Decentralised energy would be a quicker solution to reducing the UK’s carbon emissions than Hinkley Point C, the chair of the Renewable Energy Association has insisted. Martin Wright said that the association sees “huge potential” in decentralised energy, which he said could make a big impact faster than the new nuclear plant. “The REA sees huge potential in decentralised energy and I think whether or not Hinkley goes ahead, the problem of requiring power generation needs to be solved quicker than Hinkley will be able to do because it has been delayed so long,” he said. Wright told Utility Week that he has doubts about whether the “right technology” is there and whether nuclear is “cost effective”. He added that he believed decentralised energy will “come much more to the fore”, and that energy storage will “make a much bigger contribution” than people foresee.
Utility Week 1st Sept 2016 read more »
Five EDF Board Members are petitioning the courts to annul last month’s decision to go-ahead with Hinkley.
Burnham-on-sea.com 1st Sept 2016 read more »
New Nuclear
A new paper in the journal Climate Policy, co-authored by researchers at the University of Sussex and the Vienna School of International Studies suggests that, among European countries, strong national commitment to nuclear energy goes hand in hand with weak performance on climate change targets. The paper shows that the most progress towards reducing carbon emissions and increasing renewable energy sources – as set out in the EU’s 2020 Strategy – has been made by nations without nuclear energy or with plans to reduce it.
SPRU 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Asia is one of the regions where nuclear energy is “high on the agenda” and could be one of the drivers for global nuclear power deployment, according to the deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
World Nuclear News 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Sellafield
Cumbria Trust has been campaigning to improve the secure interim storage facilities on the Sellafield site since its foundation. Progress has been made over the last few years, but the risks from the site remain intolerable according to the Public Accounts Committee. Some of the higher activity wastes cannot begin burial for over one hundred years, so whether or not these ultimately end up in a deep repository, we need action now to reduce the risks faced by Cumbrians. BBC Panorama on Monday evening examines the current state of Sellafield, and unlike the rather weak recent BBC4 programme with Jim Al-Khalili, this promises to be a more honest study of Sellafield instead of just the approved corporate view. The BBC have spoken to former staff and a whistle-blower. We would encourage our supporters to watch the programme on Monday, or catch it on iPlayer afterwards. Panorama: Sellafield’s Nuclear Safety Failings is on at 8.30pm on Monday 5th September
Cumbria Trust 3rd Sept 2016 read more »
Waste Transport
NUCLEAR waste will be flown from a Scottish airport to the United States under plans to carry out further decommissioning work at Dounreay. Friends of the Earth Scotland has condemned the move to transport highly enriched uranium from the nuclear plant in Caithness to America, claiming it raises serious safety issues. An £18 million upgrade of Wick John O’Groats Airport was recently carried out to make it suitable for larger planes. Now there are fears the nuclear flights could begin at any time after Highland Council published a road closure order that clears the way for minor routes around the airport to be closed over the next 18 months. Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “Nuclear waste should be dealt with as close to where it is produced as possible, rather than risking transporting it between continents. Paul Monaghan, MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, has described the deal to transport nuclear waste to the US as “morally reprehensible”. Highlands and Islands MSP John Finnie has also expressed concerns about the transport plans. He said: “Many will be astonished it is considered appropriate to move, let alone fly, this waste material from Dounreay.
Herald 3rd Sept 2016 read more »
Nuclear Security
Police guarding nuclear sites across Britain have reported 130 security breaches over the past five years including a missing gun and lost keys to a power station. The Civil Nuclear Constabulary reported that the keys to Hinkley Point power station near Bridgwater, Somerset, were misplaced. Meanwhile, confidential information was also shared and two of the 130 breaches were classed as ‘high risk’, reports the BBC. Other incidents included windows being left open and the loss of electronic equipment and papers.
Daily Mail 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Forget China, Nuclear Security issues already abound in the UK.
Oil Price 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Civil Nuclear police have admitted to a series of security blunders at power stations around the country, including an incident at Hunterston B. The Civil Nuclear Constabulary stressed that the incidents were ‘low risk’, and each breach was dealt with “swiftly and robustly”. At Hunterston B, a warrant card went missing in December 2015, and once reported, was immediately deactivated, and the officer given “advice and guidance” by his supervisor. The information of the loss was then circulated to all sites, and reported to local police. The loss was one of 21 breaches of security last year around the UK, including 13 stolen or lost smart phones and identity cards.
Largs & Millport New 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Politics
The Green Party has elected two leaders in a job-sharing arrangement they describe as a “first in Westminster politics”. Caroline Lucas, the former leader and the party’s sole MP, will be co-leader with Jonathan Bartley, its work and pensions spokesman. Ms Lucas got big cheers from members at the party’s conference in Birmingham when she discussed climate change and promised to oppose nuclear power and fracking.
BBC 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Turkey
Turkey published in its official gazette a deal with China for cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy on Friday, a step needed to open the way for China to potentially build Turkey’s third nuclear power plant. The deal was originally signed in 2012 but such international agreements only go into effect in Turkey once they are published in the gazette. Russia is building Turkey’s first nuclear plant, while a Japanese-French consortium will build its second in the north. China is among countries interested in building a third plant.
Reuters 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Japan
France’s Areva has started fabrication of 16 mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies for use in unit 4 of the Takahama nuclear power plant, Kansai Electric Power Company announced on 30 August. Although the unit is one of five Japanese reactors to have been restarted, a court injunction has suspended its operation.
World Nuclear News 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Canada
After six years of planning and preparations Ontario Power Generation (OPG) says it is “ready to execute” refurbishment of the Darlington nuclear power plant and remains within the CAD 12.8 billion ($9 billion) estimate for the project, which is to start next month.
World Nuclear News 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Jordan
A feasibility study on the construction of nuclear power plants in Jordan is to be prepared in the first half of next year, Sergey Kirienko, director general of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said today. Kirienko spoke to reporters at the second Eastern Economic Forum that opened today in the Russian city Vladivostock.
World Nuclear News 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
South Africa
South African power utility Eskom said on Friday it has extended by 30 days the period for interested parties in the Eastern Cape province to comment on its plan to build nuclear plants. The utility said in a statement a notice of its “intention to construct and operate multiple nuclear installations (power reactors)” will be published in the Government Gazette this month and comments will be accepted for up to 30 days after that.
Reuters 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Renewables
Friends of the Earth International calculates that government revenue lost to tax havens over a 15 year period could power Africa, Latin America and much of Asia with 100% renewable energy. Globally every year up to $600 billion dollars of government revenue is lost through tax avoidance through havens, to say nothing of tax evasion. Put another way, government revenue lost through tax havens could power half the world with 100% renewable energy by 2030. This would bring renewable energy to millions, while protecting the environment from dirty fossil fuels and the climate change they cause.
FoE International 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Renewables – solar
Elon Musk’s solar company has its sights set on replacing 5m rooftops in the US with traditional roofing materials integrated with solar cell technology. SolarCity’s plans, announced last month, to develop traditional roofs made entirely from solar panels are part of a goal to make sustainable homes more aesthetically appealing, convenient, and ultimately affordable to the average homeowner. It’s betting that people who need to replace their roofs will be attracted to the company’s solar cell option because it won’t require additional work or dramatically alter the look of the home. In an August conference call with investors, company chairman Elon Musk said people are forced to postpone solar adoption when they know a roof replacement is imminent and that “there is a huge market segment that is currently inaccessible to SolarCity.” He added that the company’s solar cell roofing “looks way better” and “lasts far longer than a normal roof”.
Guardian 3rd Sept 2016 read more »
Microgeneration
This week’s Micro Power news.
Microgen Scotland 2nd Sept 2016 read more »
Demand Side Management
Energy union GMB has slammed an interview given by new National Grid executive director Nicola Shaw in which she lauded the potential of a smart energy revolution in the UK as “fanciful nonsense”. Speaking to the BBC, Shaw said that the roll out of an “internet of energy” centred around distributed generation technologies such as solar PV, as well as battery storage, energy efficiency and energy management products, would help prevent blackouts and educate consumers on their consumption. This, Shaw added, was enabling people and companies to use more electricity during off-peak periods, culminating in a “real revolution” in the way the UK thinks about energy usage. However GMB, which has been forthright in its support of EDF’s controversial Hinkley Point C project, attacked Shaw over the contents of her interview and accused the UK’s energy infrastructure operator of being “naively complacent”. Justin Bowden, national secretary at GMB, said: “Avoiding winter blackouts with a ‘smart energy’ revolution is fanciful nonsense, the smart grid is years away. What is needed to guarantee the lights stay on over the coming winters are new power stations and the go-ahead for Hinkley Point C would be a start given that the coal fired stations are due to close next week. “There are simply too many jockeys on the horse in terms of the responsibility for the UK power supply systems. National Grid is a private company and natural monopoly with the aim to make profits. National Grid has to be told by the UK government what to do in the interests of consumers.”
Solar Portal 31st Aug 2016 read more »
