NDA
UK taxpayers face a smaller bill after the organisation responsible for cleaning up Britain’s old nuclear power sites reported an income rise. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) commercial income rose £517m to £2n almost halving its government grant from £1.6 billion in 2007-2008 to £898m, according to its annual report and accounts published this month. The income improvement on the previous year is in part due to increased electricity sales from the Wylfa and Oldbury nuclear power plants. Oldbury was granted permission to keep producing power beyond its scheduled closure date late last year.
Edie 29th July 2009 more >>
Nuclear Supply Chain
The UK nuclear sector is to benefit from a multimillion pound government support package. The government has pledged £19 million for the nuclear sector in its low-carbon industrial strategy to help engineering firms develop and update manufacturing processes and technologies. It wants companies to be ready to supply components and services to the programme of nuclear new-build due to start in a few years. Around £15 million is being used to set up a Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. The centre, which is due to open in 2011, will house 30 industrial partners as well as leading universities in the nuclear field, and is intended to provide “a focal point for the UK supply chain’s response to the increasing global market for nuclear power”. The centre follows a similar template to existing manufacturing research centres in Sheffield and at Strathclyde University. The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) will receive £4 million to expand services to the nuclear sector. The MAS will advise companies outside the nuclear sector on how they can supply to it with an emphasis on the rigorous quality assessment processes in the industry.
Professional Engineering 29th July 2009 more >>
Keenly aware that UK Engineering can be a key player in supplying the world with nuclear power equipment, the DavyMarkham management and workforce are actively promoting the Sheffield company’s highly relevant, precision heavy engineering skills and embracing the new technologies, working practices and quality systems needed to compete in this sector The firm’s participation in Unite’s New Energy conference underlines that goal and helped raise its profile in the potential nuclear supply chain.
Process and Control 29th July 2009 more >>
Nuclear Costs
There is a well-known story about how to boil a frog. If you try to throw a frog into a pot already boiling, he’ll jump out. However, put a frog into a pot and slowly raise the temperature — and you get frog legs for dinner. The nuclear power industry seems to be pursuing this strategy, slowly releasing ever higher cost estimates for new nuclear power plants. If the public does not realize the true costs of a new nuclear plant, the industry can obtain political support for the Federal loan guarantees it needs. After the taxpayers are on the hook and a nuclear project is already underway, the full costs will become clear. At that point, however, it may be too late for taxpayers and utility ratepayers to jump out.
Energy Economy Online 24th July 2009 more >>
Electricity Supplies
U.K. utilities may need to mothball power plants and cut investment plans as the country faces the biggest electricity glut in almost 20 years. National Grid Plc, the manager of Britain’s power network, predicts this year’s 6 percent drop in consumption may leave some plants unneeded to meet demand. The oversupply will increase because the country’s six biggest energy suppliers, led by Centrica Plc and Scottish & Southern Energy Plc, are developing more natural gas-fueled stations. The NDA has extended the operating life of its oldest atomic reactors, and EDF’s British Energy division got approval on July 1 to extend the use of its Hartlepool and Heysham-1 plants for another 10 years.
Bloomberg 29th July 2009 more >>
Bradwell
ANTI-nuclear protesters plan to take to the water to object to proposals for a new power station at Bradwell. The Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group is calling on sailors and fishermen to join them for the protest, on August 9. Boats will drop anchor at 2pm in the Blackwater Estuary, off the old power station, for a two-hour demonstration. There will also be gatherings at Monkey Beach, West Mersea and on the beach at Bradwell.
North Essex Gazette 29th July 2009 more >>
Wylfa
There are still “significant issues” to overcome before hundreds of jobs at Anglesey Aluminium can be saved, says Welsh Secretary Peter Hain. At the moment the plant, which is a major user of electricity, buys it cheaply from the nearby Wylfa nuclear power station but that agreement ends in a couple of months, and the plant’s future is in jeopardy.
BBC 29th July 2009 more >>
Hinkley
A NUCLEAR leak in a corridor at Hinkley Point B exposed eight contractors to radiation. On Thursday, workers were carrying out an inspection of the R3 Reactor, monitoring and replacing anything which needed renewing. In this instance, they were replacing valves in the reactor when it became contaminated, exposing all of them to low-level radiation.
This is Somerset 29th July 2009 more >>
Sellafield
RADIATION is thought to have contributed to the death of the former Sellafield worker who was jailed in 2004 for a bomb hoax at the site’s visitors centre. Duncan Ball, who worked in the Magnox plant for 20 years, died on July 17. He was 49.
Whitehaven News 29th July 2009 more >>
POWER companies have only a few more days to show their hands over the big Sellafield land auction. It follows the NDA’s decision to put “under the hammer” 400 acres of prime farmland outside the existing nuclear site to pave the way for building one or more nuclear reactors. On Monday the decommissioning authority gave a week’s notice for potential buyers to “express an interest” in acquiring the land.
Whitehaven News 29th July 2009 more >>
Ukraine
Ukraine is having trouble meeting payment schedules for Russian nuclear fuel, but suppliers say there will be no disruption.
World Nuclear News 29th July 2009 more >>
Renewables
Workers occupying a wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight vowed to continue their protest for another week today after a legal attempt to evict them quickly failed.
Guardian 30th July 2009 more >>
FT 30th July 2009 more >>
As ministers have sounded the fanfare for hundreds of thousands of green jobs, the demise of the Vestas wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight has provided a mocking counterpoint. The closure of one factory with the loss of 600 jobs does not in itself say much about the success or failure of the governments strategy. However, the decision by Vestas is an uncomfortable reminder that the vision of a vibrant industry growing up to meet the challenge
of cutting carbon dioxide emissions for Britain and the world is little more than an aspiration.
FT 30th July 2009 more >>
At one level that seems peculiar, as both the main parties at Westminster are firmly committed to expanding renewables rapidly. Dig deeper to the local level, however, and the picture changes. We reported yesterday on objections being lodged in Shetland to the largest windfarm in Europe, and Greenpeace figures this week show that local councils are refusing permission for windfarms more often than they are giving them the green light, particularly in Conservative districts. A government scheme to overhaul the planning rules is supposed to make it easier to override local objections, but – while in firm agreement with the direction of travel – the Tory frontbench objects to some of the detail, which it regards as undemocratic. And until further detailed regulations emerge, it is unclear to potential investors how far either party will face down the inevitable objections from local people who resent the change that wind farms bring to familiar landscapes.
Guardian 30th July 2009 more >>
