General Election
If Nick Clegg does manage to stitch up, sorry pull together, a coalition after May 6 one of the policies he will carry into Government will be his opposition to nuclear power. Now the main body he will come up against on this will be the Nuclear Industry Association. And within the NIA we find one Simon James, the organisation’s chief lobbyist, sorry (again), its head of public affairs. Thing is it is quite possible these two gents already know each other. When not promoting the nuclear power industry, Simon has stood as a prospective parliamentary candidate in three elections for the Lib Dems – a party that, er, opposes nuclear power.
Telegraph 30th Apr 2010 more >>
Funded Decommissioning Programme
The government is proposing early transfer of liability for long-term management and disposal of nuclear waste from new nuclear generators to the public purse. Utilities and the public face a bill of up to £16bn.
ENDS April 2010 more >>
Energy Supply
Letter from Steuart Campbell: It’s bad enough that Scotland has a government that will not permit the construction of any new nuclear power stations, while hypocritically allowing the existing ones to generate. However, if the Lib Dems get any influence in the UK government, England and Wales will suffer the same fate and there will no provision for secure and reliable electricity from about 2017 onwards, when the first new nuclear station in England could be commissioned. Scotland’s generating capacity will be severely reduced when Hunterston B closes next year. This may lead to the end of electricity exports from Scotland and put a strain on generation in the rest of the UK, where there could be blackouts somewhere between 2013 and 2016 due to further closures. Power from wind farms will be useless on a calm day, which means that the planned expansion of renewables is both pointless and dangerous. The electricity gap could only be filled by more gas-fired generation, putting us at the mercy of the countries that now supply much of our gas.
Scotsman 28th April 2010 more >>
Scotland
Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott claimed during a visit to a renewable energy firm in Aberdeen that Scotland will lead the way in helping his party to deliver a “zero carbon Britain” within 20 years. Mr Scott said: “This country has the potential to become the renewables powerhouse of Europe. And our party has a plan to make that happen.”
Bury Times 28th Apr 2010 more >>
ICWest Lothian 28th Apr 2010 more >>
BBC 28th Apr 2010 more >>
Oldbury
The Green Party Launched – The Right to Know: Oldbury Nuclear Expansion and Your Safety – the risks to the people of Gloucestershire on Thursday.
Shepperdine Against Nuclear Energy 29th Apr 2010 more >>
Wylfa
Energy secretary Ed Miliband has said that Wales is poised to be at the forefront of cheap energy production in Britain. Speaking to the Western Mail, Mr Miliband pointed out that more than half of the cheap energy projected from offshore wind turbines in Britain has been earmarked to come from Wales. Mr Miliband added that Wales is well positioned to benefit from the balanced energy policy the government aims to pursue in the near future. The energy minister’s comments come after a recent visit to Anglesey, which the Labour party has been promoting as an energy island following the announcement that a new generation nuclear power station will be built at Wylfa.
Energy Helpline 29th Apr 2010 more >>
Nuclear Research
The Rotherham-based National Metals Technology Centre (NAMTEC) and South Yorkshire’s embryonic Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (NAMRC) are hosting a two day conference on Nuclear Metals and Manufacturing.
Sheffield Star 29th Apr 2010 more >>
Companies
ENGINEERING firm Sheffield Forgemasters International’s order book has been boosted by a contract worth more than £1m to service South Korea’s latest generation of nuclear power plants.
Business Desk 29th Apr 2010 more >>
Nuclear Costs
Letter from Prof Richard Green: Prof Steve Thomas (Letters, April 28) argues that nuclear power stations may cost 50 per cent more than offshore wind, per kilowatt of installed capacity. It is worth remembering that the nuclear station will probably produce twice as much energy from each kW of installed capacity. When calculating the amount of capacity we should count on to produce electricity when we really need it, the ratio may be between five and eight to one.
FT 30th Apr 2010 more >>
Metal Recycling
A SCRAP dealer died of radiation poisoning after dismantling a machine once used by a university chemistry class, police in India said yesterday. The dealer died on Monday in New Delhi after being among workers who sawed open a “gamma cell” that Delhi University auctioned in February, a police statement said. Seven other workers were being treated for radiation exposure. Delhi University vice-chancellor Deepak Pental apologised yesterday and accepted “moral responsibility” for the lax manner in which the radioactive equipment had been handled, and said the university would compensate the victims, although “no amount can compensate for the damage,” he said. The case has raised fears about the unregulated disposal of hazardous material in India, where dangerous chemicals and even radioactive waste are often sold to scrap dealers.
Scotsman 30th Apr 2010 more >>
Low Level Waste
FIVE bags of low level radioactive waste which ended up at the Lillyhall landfill site by mistake have been safely recovered. The waste should have been sent from Sellafield to Drigg, the country’s only designated disposal site for the low level nuclear material. Some of the bags had already been buried at Lillyhall after the mistake was discovered.
Whitehaven News 28th Apr 2010 more >>
AN environmental pressure group has laid down a radioactive waste gauntlet to Copeland’s general election candidates. Radiation Free Lakeland asks: “Which of the candidates will reverse this obscene law that which will allow radioactive waste to go into landfill sites?” Spokeswoman Marianne Birkby said: “There is a political consensus on the madness of RadWaste in landfill – even pro-nuclear MP Jamie Reed has opposed radioactive waste in landfill at Keekle Head. Quite rightly old tyres are not allowed in landfill because the toxins will inevitably leak out.” She went on: “We are reducing, re-using and recycling to make room for nuclear waste. The industry is desperate to clear the decks for new build which means rather than safely containing existing contaminated buildings soil and detritus is dumped in landfill. “According to council officials the nuclear industry needs no permission to dispose of (newly classified) high volume very low level RadWaste from decommissioning in landfill.”
Whitehaven News 28th Apr 2010 more >>
Sellafield
SELLAFIELD management have “closed ranks” over the potential loss of up to 1,200 permanent jobs on the nuclear site. Unions who have pledged to fight job losses have also been tight lipped since an initial meeting with site directors. They hope to be told more in the next few days. An initial clear the air meeting took place without any significant developments. Yesterday Nuclear Management Partners were still refusing to confirm or deny that a large number of jobs have to be shed over the next year in order to cut costs.
Whitehaven News 28th Apr 2010 more >>
NPT
Rebecca Johnson: The stakes are high and the outcome too close to call as the Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty opens for four weeks of intense debate in New York.
Open Democracy 29th Apr 2010 more >>
Desalination
The future prospect of co-located nuclear or renewable energy powered water desalination facilities has been supported by leading water experts at the Global Water Summit 2010 in Paris, Water and Wastewater International (WWi) reported. Speaking at the conference, Imad Makhzoumi, president of the International Desalination Association (IDA) said: “Nuclear is enjoying a resurgence. We must reach out to the nuclear sector – where all nuclear projects are being considered, desalination must be taken into account [where appropriate].”
World Nuclear News 29th Apr 2010 more >>
China
China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG) is planning to rope in new strategic investors to prepare for an initial public offering, the China Daily reported on Friday. The official English-language daily did not say when or where the long-mooted IPO might take place.
Interactive Investor 30th Apr 2010 more >>
Romania
Romania should lower its stake in two nuclear reactor projects at its power plant in Cernavoda to encourage private investors and make the sector more competitive, the economy minister said on Thursday. The European Union state has a 51 percent stake in a deal to build two more reactors by around 2016 in a partnership with major power firms. The required investment is estimated at around 4 billion euros. However analysts have said Romania, hit by a deep recession last year, would struggle to secure the funds without outside investment.
Interactive Investor 29th Apr 2010 more >>
India
The Indian government is expected to introduce a bill that would help US companies tap into the country’s lucrative nuclear market. It will limit the liabilities of companies operating power plants in India in the event of a nuclear accident. The plans are proving controversial in a country that still has clear memories of the world’s worst industrial accident. A gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal killed at least 15,000, and left over 100,000 ill on 3 December, 1984.
BBC 29th Apr 2010 more >>
Solar Plan
The most ambitious solar project is in north Africa. Desertec is a plan to build a vast network of solar power plants and wind farms, covering the desert and stretching for hundreds of miles, and connected to an advanced electricity grid that will carry power generated round or under the Mediterranean sea to feed Europe’s appetite for energy.
FT 28th Apr 2010 more >>
Guardian 27th Apr 2010 more >>
All of Europe and North Africa could be powered by renewable electricity by 2050 with the North Sea at the heart of a European “supersmartgrid”, according to a reort by the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report, compiled with a range of research institutes, says that the North and Baltic seas could sustain a large amount of offshore windpower with the North Sea also contributing big quantities of electricity from wave and tidal power.
Times 29th Apr 2010 more >>
