Horizon
Hitachi says it will be five years before construction can begin on a new Horizon nuclear plant. Construction is unlikely to begin on any of the planned nuclear power plants through the Horizon Nuclear Power project for another five years the new Japanese owner of the venture has admitted. The company had yet to gain approval from the regulator for its reactor designs.“We need to get the generic design assessment (GDA) – but that probably takes about five years. When we get the GDA we are able to start to establish the construction,” a Hitachi spokesman said.
Building 30th Oct 2012 more >>
The Hitachi Horizon programme involves building two to three 1,300 MW plants at each of Horizon’s sites at Wylfa, Anglesey, and Oldbury, Gloucestershire, with the first unit becoming operational in the first half of 2020s.
New Civil Engineer 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Hitachi will decide whether to invest the estimated £20 billion required to build the new reactors in four or five years’ time, once its reactor design has been approved by regulators. It has enlisted Rolls-Royce and Babcock to provide technical expertise and advice on clearing regulatory hurdles. SNC Lavalin, the Canadian construction group, is also part of the consortium. The sale of Horizon results in an unexpected profit of almost £160 million for E.ON and RWE, which were advised by Nomura. Industry analysts had expected the venture to be sold for closer to £300 million.
Times 31st Oct 2012 more >>
John Hayes: Between four and six new reactors across sites in Wylfa in North Wales and Oldbury in Gloucestershire will be worth £20bn and support up to 12,000 construction jobs. As the Prime Minister said on Tuesday, “this is a decades-long, multi-billion pound vote of confidence in the UK”. This is evidence that our nuclear resurgence is alive and well. The UK has the potential to be a springboard for new nuclear development around the world. As we approach publication of the Government’s landmark Energy Bill, this major injection of capital into our power sector is a clear sign that there is appetite for investment. I am in no doubt that with our reforms and commitment to new nuclear, Hitachi’s investment will be the first of many.
Telegraph 30th Oct 2012 more >>
The Advanced Boiling Water design has a chequered history in terms of reliability. None of the four operational plants can so far, according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA) database (accessed 30/10/2012), boast a capacity factor of more than 73 per cent, and two of them have capacity factors less than 45 per cent (see WNA links below) – some wind power plant have capacity factors around this level, and they are supposed to be that way! A capacity factor is the amount a plant generates compared to the amount that would be generated if it was operating at full power all of the time. Nuclear power plans are costed on the basis that they will achieve capacity factors of 80-90 per cent. With a capacity factor of 45 per cent (plausible outcome based on experience) any nuclear power project comes out needing twice the power price to be an economic proposition! These ABWRs do not seem to be very cheap to build either. Currently three are under construction (according to ‘wikipedia’); two in Japan, and one in China. The plant being built in China has been under construction since 1997, admittedly delayed by political controversy at times, but still an eye-wateringly long period. The reactor cost seems high even though interest charges will not, I guess, have been factored in, which will be a real killer for any nuclear project that has to be financed through the UK’s proposed low carbon mechanism. So far no ABWR projects are being built in the west, with the reactor for one project initially planned in South Texas being cancelled last year. The costs had spiralled to a reported $14 billion for 1358 MW (wikipedia), a cost that compares broadly speaking, MW for MW, with the costs quoted for building Hinkley C.
David Toke’s Green Energy Blog 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Hitachi said in a statement that following completion of the transaction, the company will "immediately work towards achieving license acceptance under the Generic Design Assessment process as governed by the Office for Nuclear Regulation and begin working with our UK partners on the future program".
Platts 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Hitachi has “penciled in” four years to complete the so-called “generic design assessment”(GDA) process through the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the spokesman said, but that there is some “positive thinking” that GDA could be completed in a shorter period of time. The spokesman said it is thought that the time period could be shortened because the ABWR is already licensed and operating in other countries and because there are four ABWRs operating in Japan and two under construction in Taiwan.
i-Nuclear 30th Oct 2012 more >>
The Coalition must clear the way for these projects to get started. That includes more certainty for business on taxation but also overcoming any outstanding planning issues or regulatory hold-ups on licensing Hitachi’s nuclear technology. It is already operational around the world, with a decent track record for being on time and on budget and has been licensed in the US, so UK regulators have plenty of evidence to examine with regards to its efficacy. There’s no reason to skimp on thoroughness, but the regulatory process needs resourcing to be completed as quickly as possible. Of course all of this won’t actually mean power being generated from these investments until the early 2020s at best. Meanwhile, we still face a “cliff face”, in the words of Ofgem, when our spare generation capacity will fall perilously close to zero in just three years. The answer to that short-term problem remains gas, and lots of it, but we’re still waiting to hear the Coalition’s gas strategy (due in November). All we know for certain is that, even with Hitachi’s entry into the market, energy bills are only going one way – and that’s up.
Telegraph 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Mike Clancy, general secretary-designate of the Prospect union, said: "The successful bid by the Hitachi/SNC-Lavalin consortium sees a new entrant to the UK nuclear industry and demonstrates its faith in the economic promise the UK nuclear market offers both commerce and the economy as a whole. "The Horizon venture is an important milestone in securing future low-carbon energy generation capacity within the UK and its importance to local and national economies cannot be overstated. "While Hitachi’s advanced boiling water reactor design has yet to undergo the UK’s generic design assessment approval process, it is a proven technology and therefore any construction in the UK will benefit from lessons learned from its construction in Japan."
Guardian 30th Oct 2012 more >>
The announcement today from Hitachi that it is spending £696 million to take over the Horizon Nuclear Partnership from E-on and RWE, and its plans to construct two to three new nuclear reactors at Wylfa and Oldbury, may be seen as the fillip a troubled nuclear industry needs to restore some confidence in the new build project in England and Wales. However, to the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA), it raises as much problems as solutions, as even supportive commentators like the Financial Times (FT) have noted.
NFLA 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Friends of the Earth’s Energy Campaigner Guy Shrubsole said: "This is a risky and expensive gamble for Hitachi that other energy firms are unwilling to take – and contrary to the promises the Coalition has made, the public will end up funding it. "Nuclear has always delivered late and over budget, and crucially it won’t reduce emissions until the 2020s, when to tackle climate change, we need emissions cuts to happen straight away.
FoE Press Release 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Japan’s Hitachi threw Mr Davey a lifeline. Those close to the deal suggest that Mr Davey is right to claim some credit. The Government has, as he puts it, been “active in impressing on all interested parties that the UK economy is open and stable and our commitment to new nuclear is strong”. Details of the levels of incentives on offer for UK nuclear developers were not discussed with would-be buyers, but the Government made clear it would facilitate nuclear going ahead. In a post-Fukushima world, such government backing has proved to be a rare thing. For the UK, the sale is more significant than just the plants that Hitachi plans to build. As Mr Davey himself said: “Crucially, the entrance of Hitachi into the market reaffirms the competitive tension in UK new nuclear.” Mr Davey is in negotiations with EDF over a guaranteed price for electricity to be generated from its proposed plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset. Without a high enough price, EDF will not invest — and there have been fears the government may overpay. Hitachi reviving Horizon should significantly enhance the Government’s chance of securing, as Mr Davey put it, “a competitive price for consumers”. The entrance of Hitachi is particularly pleasing for the Government in this respect because of its track record in building reactors. While EDF’s new nuclear plant at Flamanville in France is yet to start generating power, having been subject to major delays and cost overruns, Hitachi has four of its most modern Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) designs operating in Japan. As Mr Ishizuka said pointedly: “They have been built safely, on time and on budget. No one else can say that.”
Telegraph 31st Oct 2012 more >>
Japanese to build £700m UK nuclear power plants: Hitachi deal will provide energy for 14m homes for 60 years.
Daily Mail 30th Oct 2012 more >>
This is Money 30th Oct 2012 more >>
BRITISH firms cashed in on the sale of Horizon Nuclear Power yesterday, as Babcock and Rolls-Royce won contracts to help Hitachi deliver its new build nuclear power project in the UK. Engineering support services company Babcock and power systems provider Rolls-Royce will help Hitachi with manufacturing, engineering and technical services at two sites in the UK.
City AM 30th Oct 2012 more >>
FAMILIES could see their energy bills cut after a Japanese firm signed a £700million deal that will allow it to start building Britain’s next generation of nuclear power plants.
Express 31st Oct 2012 more >>
Daily Star 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Major obstacles remain before Hitachi can take a final investment decision or begin construction, however. The company has yet to begin the process of securing design approval to use its Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) in the UK, which could take up to four years. However, sources suggested approval could come more quickly given the ABWR is licenced for use in countries including the US, and Hitachi has four of the reactors operating in Japan, which were built on time and on budget. Hitachi would not invest the full £20bn itself and would also need to secure financial backing. Hitachi vice-president Tatsuro Ishizuka said the group was yet to determine the reactors’ cost but said that the £20bn estimate related to four reactors. At a ballpark of £5bn each, that would make Hitachi very competitive with EDF, the French nuclear giant that is planning to build reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The government is negotiating with EDF over a price for the electricity the plant will generate, to be paid for through levies on UK consumer energy bills.
Telegraph 30th Oct 2012 more >>
The company bullishly hopes to have the first up and running by the mid-2020s, but there are any number of hurdles to be cleared in the meantime, not least regulatory approval for the reactor design, which could take years. Nor has the vexed question of investment risk been satisfactorily answered. It is here that the Government’s hotly anticipated Energy Bill comes in. Due imminently, the aim of the legislation is to stimulate investment by guaranteeing future energy prices, and therefore returns. But the draft proposals for "contracts for difference", to top up market prices where necessary, left so many unanswered questions – what the so-called "strike price" will be, say, or exactly who will underwrite it – that the to-ing and fro-ing has only added to the climate of uncertainty bedevilling the sector.
Independent 31st Oct 2012 more >>
Plans for a fleet of new nuclear power stations received a massive boost when Japanese engineering giant Hitachi took over a deal to build two power plants which could be feeding electricity into the national grid in the first half of the 2020s.
Newcastle Journal 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Video: Energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey says the £700m deal with Hitachi is a multimillion pound vote of confidence in the UK. He appeared with Tatsuro Ishizuka from Hitachi to announce the deal with Horizon Nuclear Power, which has the rights to build reactors at Wylfa on Anglesey, north Wales, and Oldbury, Gloucestershire.
Guardian 30th Oct 2012 more >>
EMR
The Government seems poised to announce a policy that will see nuclear power paid more than onshore wind. In the process onshore wind development will be capped. It looks like a pretty clear way of signalling that nuclear power is to be given a big advantage over wind power. There is a lot of speculation about what the Government will set as the ‘strike price’ for nuclear power, not to mention whether it will be high enough to bring forward nuclear projects without a government ‘blank cheque’ (underwriting). However, one paradox seems to be going unnoticed. All the bets on the figure for nuclear seem to be higher than anything onshore wind is likely to receive.
David Toke’s Green Energy Blog 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Hitachi’s entrance into the UK market means the country’s nuclear programme is no longer dependent on a handful of companies, which had raised fears a lack of competition would force the government to set higher than anticipated subsidies for nuclear energy in the forthcoming Energy Bill. In particular, the move strengthens the government’s hand in its current negotiations with EDF over the level of support, or strike price, the French utility can expect to receive if it goes ahead with its plans for a new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset. According to sources, the government is pushing for a strike price significantly below the £100/MWh mark that had been mooted by some commentators as a means of ensuring the level of support for nuclear power matches that available to offshore wind.
Business Green 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Japanese Hitachi no more has the finger on the button than EDF, but it still feels a bit better that there are Brits keeping an eye on them. It was hardly a diplomatic response, but this was why Mr de Rivaz was correct when he warned that Tory MP Phillip Lee risked slipping into "jingoism" at the Energy Select Committee last week. Mr Lee argued that the "strike price", the government-guaranteed minimum paid for any electricity generated through new nuclear, was akin to "an annuity to the French taxpayer for the next 40 years". Actually, that guarantee is vital as the likes of EDF, Hitachi and Spain’s Iberdrola, which is umming and ahhing over a plant in Sellafield, need to ensure some return is made on the billions that they plan to spend in the UK. Otherwise, they risk going bust in a foreign land. On Monday, The Independent revealed that EDF and the Government are close to sealing a strike price at less than £100 per megawatt hour. What MWh means would take a scientist to explain, but that figure is a good chunk less than the £140-165/MWh that had been previously feared. New nuclear is not a certainty. EDF’s partner, British Gas owner Centrica, is yet to be convinced that putting its balance sheet behind nuclear is a sage move, while Hitachi’s reactor technology must go through an interminable design assessment process that could easily delay construction. Also, the pro-nuclear lobby’s argument that the strike price is not a subsidy is difficult to fathom.
Independent 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Wylfa
Welsh political leaders have welcomed confirmation that Hitachi is to buy nuclear project Horizon which includes plans for a new reactor on Anglesey. Welsh Secretary David Jones called it a "huge boost" while First Minister Carwyn Jones said it was "very good news for Wales and the UK".
BBC 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Dylan Morgan of Pawb said several other countries, including Germany, were also turning their backs on nuclear power. Mr Morgan said this put Britain at odds with many other countries. "Why should we here take the risk – the health risks, the environmental risk – of nuclear power when Japan itself is turning its back on nuclear power, bowing to public pressure following the Fukushima disaster?" he asked. He said he did not want what he called a "Wylfashima" on Anglesey. "If things go wrong with nuclear power, they go terribly terribly wrong," he said.
BBC 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Officials from Japanese firm Hitachi will visit Anglesey later after taking over a project to build a new nuclear power station on the island. The Horizon development aims to build a £8bn replacement for the Wylfa plant. Up to 6,000 jobs could be created while the new reactors are built. The officials will meet local groups and politicians in Llangefni after the announcement of the £700m deal which includes a plan to build a nuclear station at Oldbury, Gloucestershire.
BBC 31st Oct 2012 more >>
Oldbury
BUILDING one of the country’s biggest nuclear power station in South Gloucestershire will create 1,000 new permanent jobs leading to a major boost for the Bristol economy. Japanese electrical firm Hitachi said its plans for Oldbury will also lead to 6,000 construction jobs while building work is carried out to make the plant four times its current size. Environmental campaigners in the nearby village of Shepperdine said they were dismayed by the news. A spokesman for the Shepperdine Against Nuclear Energy group said: "We are sad that after E.on and RWE have decided to give up building new nuclear in the UK that Hitachi have decided to buy the sites that are owned by Horizon Nuclear Power. "We do not want the Shepperdine site to become another Fukushima. "We are in touch with various environmental bodies and a Japanese labour union called Doro Chiba to try and get a full understanding of what they know about Hitachi. "We understand that the reactor will have to go through the full Generic Design Assessment and this will take up to four years.
Bristol Post 31st Oct 2012 more >>
ITV 30th Oct 2012 more >>
THERE will always be a divide within the great British public over the wisdom of using nuclear energy as the nation’s primary power source. On a smaller local scale those very same concerns are being echoed around South Gloucestershire and, specifically, the village of Oldbury-on-Severn, following the announcement that Hitachi will build a new nuclear power plant there. On balance, for the sake of the nation, and in the absence of a genuine alternative, this plan for Oldbury will have to be embraced by us all.
Bristol Post 31st Oct 2012 more >>
New Nukes
By 2023, all but one of Britain’s currently generating nuclear power stations are scheduled to be shut down. This interactive graphic shows the development of nuclear power in the UK and projections for the future.
FT 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Nuclear Subsidy
The Energy Secretary Edward Davey has defended the ‘contracts for difference’ telling ITV News Business Editor Laura Kuenssberg that it is not a subsidy by another name.
ITV 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Speaking to John Humphrys on BBC Radio 4’s Today show, Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, pointed to Hitachi’s news as proof that the upcoming Electricity Market Reform provides long term investment clarity. He said: “International investors looking at our energy policy have a huge amount of confidence in it.” When challenged by Humprys over the cost of new nuclear, Davey responded: “What would really be expensive for the UK consumer is if we were over-reliant on gas. What’s been pushing up people’s energy bills in recent years has been the increasing price of global gas. We’re having to import far more now as the gas in the North Sea declines in volume and that’s very expensive.” The Energy Secretary’s comments appear to go against the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) recent pledge that unabated gas will “play an important role in the energy mix well into and beyond 2030…[not] restricted to providing back up to renewables”. It has been widely-reported that George Osborne pushed the energy department into publicly declaring support for gas, pitting the Liberal Democrat-led DECC against the Conservative-led Treasury.
Solar Portal 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Supply Chain
The UK government has announced creation of a Nuclear Industry Council to maximise development of the supply chain needed to support both a domestic and export nuclear industry. The Council will involve government officials and industry executives in implementing a Nuclear Supply Chain Action Plan, to be published later this year. The Council will be led by UK Energy Secretary Edward Davey or Energy Minister John Hayes and Business Minister Michael Fallon representing government with Lord Hutton, Chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association and former Labour Energy Minister, leading the industry side.
i-Nuclear 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Construction Index 31st Oct 2012 more >>
Construction News 30th Oct 2012 more >>
MINISTERS from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills yesterday awarded £37m to a Yorkshire centre which has been set up to supply a new generation of nuclear power stations. The Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre is a joint venture between Sheffield University and Rolls-Royce and its bosses aim to help British business tap into the global market. The centre’s director, Professor Keith Ridgeway, said he was delighted to receive the boost from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund. He said: “This is a vital opportunity for British manufacturing companies.”
Yorkshire Post 31st Oct 2012 more >>
Energy Costs
It was, actually, only two weeks ago that I sat in the Commons Chamber to hear David Cameron tell us in response to a fairly random PM’s Question that ‘we will be legislating so that Energy Companies have to give the lowest tariff to their customers’. By any measure, this was quite a startling announcement: on the face of it, it looked as if he was announcing the end of the Electricity Retail Market. It is just unfortunate that currently, none of the No 10 advisers and machine actually seems to know anything about energy or low carbon policy. It always was the case in the last Labour government that both at No 10 and No 11 there was a special adviser who knew what they were doing: Geoffrey Norris, for example at No 10, and certainly Michael Jacobs at No 11. What is, I think alarming is that no-one spotted this as self-evidently lame before allowing the PM to launch it. One of the consequences will be, I think, that the No 10 ‘third position’ has more or less blown up on the launching pad, and the scrap between an underpowered DECC and an overweening Treasury for the soul of energy policy will continue anew. At the same time, the ability of No 10 now to pull everyone together will have diminished amid the raised eyebrows and private sniggering that has accompanied such a ham-fisted and hapless initiative.
Alan Whitehead MP 30th Oct 2012 more >>
Japan
Fukushima Crisis Update 26th to 29th October 2012.
Greenpeace 30th Oct 2012 more >>
US
Three nuclear reactors on the US east coast were shut down as a result of Monday night’s storm, and three others reduced their output, regulators said late on Tuesday. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission also reported that an alert remained in place at the Oyster Creek plant on the coast of New Jersey, which had been shut for refuelling last week but still requires cooling for its spent fuel.
FT 31st Oct 2012 more >>
Energy Business Review 31st Oct 2012 more >>
Independent 31st Oct 2012 more >>
CCS
There are two four-letter words that sum up today’s announcement that Hitachi is buying the Horizon nuclear power business abandoned by German-owned RWE and E.on after the Fukushima disaster led Angela Merkel to turn her back on building new reactors. The first is "phew", the overwhelming sentiment from ministers and from Horizon’s former owners. For ministers, the big hole in their low-carbon energy plans that would be left by a failure to get new nuclear plants built is now less likely, For RWE and E.on, they have offloaded the nuclear sites for a lot more cash – £700m – than they might have expected. The fact that even EDF, a supposed competitor to Horizon, "welcomed" Hitachi’s purchase shows how close to meltdown the plan to build new nuclear plants has come. The second four-letter word, from those who oppose new nuclear power in the UK, is unprintable. Hitachi’s purchase is undoubtedly a blow for them. But despite the government’s delight – Prime minister David Cameron was rolled out to herald the news – today’s development is a small step on a long road. The second energy announcement today, the shortlisting of four carbon capture and storage projects in the government’s £1bn competition, could be the more significant news. It now looks likely that contracts for one or two CCS demonstrations will be signed within a year. That’s very welcome given the government’s current emphasis on gas, because that means CCS is going to be needed.
Guardian 30th Oct 2012 more >>
