Horizon
State-run nuclear holding Rosatom might buy a stake in the $24 billion Horizon Project to build atomic power stations in Britain, Kommersant reported Monday, citing an unidentified official at the Russian company. German companies RWE and E.ON had previously owned a share in the project to build two power stations, one in Oldbury, Gloucestershire, and one in Wylfa, Wales, but intend to pull out. Rosatom wants to take their stake, the source told Kommersant. “This market seems very promising,” the source said. But it remains to be seen whether the British market will accept Rosatom, being a Russian company with a checkered history a senior executive was arrested last July on embezzlement charges. “The appearance of Rosatom in new nuclear power projects is most likely to lower British people’s level of trust in nuclear energy,” Simon Harrison, director of energy for consulting company Mott MacDonald, told The Times, Kommersant reported. Another source at The Times suggested that British politicians might not approve Rosatom’s approach because they do not want to rely too heavily on Russia for energy, Kommersant wrote. In anticipation of this, Rosatom has already employed an unspecified international PR company to improve its image abroad, Kommersant’s source reported.
Moscow Times 2nd April 2012 more >>
EDF
Electricite de France SA, the worlds biggest operator of atomic plants, remains committed to developing nuclear reactors in the U.K. even after Germanys two biggest utilities abandoned projects in the country. EDF has no intention of following EON AG and RWE AG (RWE), which announced last week theyll scrap a plan to build reactors in Britain through their Horizon venture, Chief Executive Officer Henri Proglio told reporters today in Paris. The British government is eager to develop new sources of energy and we will accompany them, he said.
Bloomberg 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Hinkley
EDF Energy has restarted its 480-megawatt (MW) Hinkley Point B-8 nuclear reactor after an automatic shutdown, National Grid data showed on Wednesday. The reactor switched off automatically on March 27 due to a gas circulator earth fault, the operator said.
Reuters 4th Apr 2012 more >>
Sellafield
The UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has signed a contract with GE Hitachi to enable a more detailed assessment of GEHs proposal to burn the UKs stockpile of plutonium in GEHs Prism fast reactors, officials said April 3. Under the agreement, the NDA will pay GEH for additional studies and analyses over the next four months to demonstrate that its proposal is a credible alternative to using the plutonium in mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel.
i-Nuclear 3rd April 2012 more >>
Talks will take place on Wednesday which could see the worlds fastest nuclear reactor built at Sellafield. GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, the company behind the PRISM reactor, claim it would not only dispose of plutonium stocks at Sellafield but deliver low carbon electricity. If the talks are successful the firm has predicted a multi-billion investment creating around 900 permanent jobs and a further 1,000 jobs indirectly. The plant would dispose of 87 metric tonnes of plutonium stored in west Cumbria while generating 600 MW of electricity.
Cumberland News 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
One of Sellafields biggest trade unions has criticised a council leaders £6,606 pay rise. Organisers from the GMB, which represents workers at the west Cumbrian site, condemned Copeland Borough Councils decision to award Councillor Elaine Woodburn £6,606 in special allowances for her role in the nuclear industry.
Cumberland News 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Nuclear Research
The government is to invest up to £15million in research, development and knowledge transfer to stimulate innovation and support growth in the civil nuclear power sector. The investment, which is being awarded through the Technology Strategy Board, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the EPSRC, will fund feasibility projects, collaborative research and development and knowledge transfer partnerships that stimulate innovation and strengthen the UK supply chain.
Eureka 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Nuclear Liability
Nuclear operators are to be liable for damages amounting up to seven times the current limit in the event of a nuclear incident, the Government has confirmed. Nuclear law expert Chris White of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the Government’s unilateral desire to increase the compensation available to people affected by nuclear accidents could place capacity constraints on insurers. “Insurance companies are only able to participate in the nuclear insurance market on a net lines basis, meaning that from year to year there is a limited amount of capacity available to cover nuclear risks,” he explained. “Insurers are now being asked to not only provide increased cover as well as provide insurance to cover long-tail claims made up to 30 years after any nuclear incident and underwriting several new heads of damage.”
Out Law 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Out Law 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Supply Chain
Small firms wanting to capture lucrative nuclear contracts need to invest now to meet the rigorous safety standards demanded. Nuclear Now, a conference organised by PE and attended by smaller engineering companies outlined the opportunities available to them in the new-build landscape, but also warned of the standards that would be expected and required by the reactor vendors, utilities and large engineering companies such as Rolls-Royce.
Professional Engineering 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Companies
International Power has rejected as too low a £6bn approach by French energy giant GDF Suez to buy the 30pc of the UK electricity producer it does not own.
Telegraph 4th Apr 2012 more >>
UAE
Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) said it will begin talks next year with the United Arab Emirates on a new deal for four nuclear power plants, and plans to spend 800 billion won ($706.06 million) this year on overseas resources development including acquisitions.
Reuters 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Japan
Fukushima Update 30th March to 2nd April.
Greenpeace 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Japan needs more time to decide whether to restart two offline nuclear reactors, the trade minister said on Tuesday, as concerns about a summer power crunch vie with safety worries in the wake of last year’s Fukushima crisis. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will not make any immediate decision on a restart date, Trade Minister Yukio Edano, who holds the energy portfolio, told reporters. “It will take some time to obtain the understanding of the public including the locals. Of course, it is not good to be too slow but neither is it good to rush,” he said. The nuclear safety watchdog will compile the standard and present it at the next round of the ministers’ meeting to discuss the restarts of the No.3 and No.4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co’s Ohi plant, Edano said.
Reuters 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Engineering & Technology 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Japans Electric Power Development Co has decided to delay the construction of its Ohma nuclear power plant indefinitely. The plant, which is under construction in Aomori prefecture (northern Honshu), was expected to be complete in late 2014. However, construction has been suspended since the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, J-Power said in a statement that it is moving ahead to review safety enhancement measures in response to the accident at Fukushima Daiichi and that it would incorporate any necessary measures.
Nuclear Engineering International 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
India
India is to formally commission a nuclear submarine into its navy, joining an elite group of nations with similar capabilities. The $1bn (£630m) Russian-built Nerpa has been leased by the Indian navy for the next 10 years. It was handed over to India in eastern Russia in January.
BBC 4th Apr 2012 more >>
Iran
Let’s jump ahead a few years and imagine the following: despite all efforts by Israel and possibly the U.S., Iran has managed to build nuclear weapons and would now be ready to engage in nuclear warfare with its Israeli counterpart. However, instead of a nuclear Armageddon, peace dominates the political landscape of the Middle East; not despite the presence of nuclear weapons but because of it. Nuclear weapons could foster peace and relax tensions in this region that is riddled with potential conflict. What might sound overly optimistic or even foolish has in fact a lot of arguments and evidence backing it.
Huffington Post 2th Apr 2012 more >>
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Tuesday that a nuclear-armed Iran or a conflict over its programme would both destabilise the region as she pressed Tehran for clear commitments in forthcoming talks.
Telegraph 4th Apr 2012 more >>
North Korea
North Korea is on the verge of an environmental collapse. Its fresh water is polluted and bacteria-infected, its land deforested and the soil eroded. The North Korean people are struggling to find clean water to drink and to grow food to eat.
IB Times 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Pakistan
I had a conversation with a prominent Pakistani intellectual. He went from decrying the influence of fundamentalists on the school curriculum, to saying with evident pride that India had been unable to retaliate for the Mumbai terror attacks, because Pakistan is a nuclear-weapons state. As for the Americans, they too should remember that Pakistan has nuclear weapons and should therefore be careful about how far they push Pakistan. It was one of the more depressing conversations Ive had recently.
FT 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
US
Nuclear-powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that would increase operational flight durations from days to months are a technological possibility today, according to a feasibility study undertaken last year by Sandia National Laboratories and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation. A nuclear power supply would additionally double the availability of electrical power to onboard systems, including weaponry, the study found.
Giz Mag 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Book Review
Published in 1988, just two years after the catastrophic explosion at Chernobyl, Weart’s Nuclear Fear remains a classic study of the way imagery has dominated the nuclear debate. This book is a slimmed-down and revised version of the earlier 550-page volume. Its publication is well timed. The threat of global warming has brought about a second nuclear age, with even some environmentalists now accepting that nuclear energy has a role to play in a low carbon future. But the meltdown at the Fukushima reactors may undermine that opinion polls show that fear of all things nuclear is back to pre-1990 levels.
Guardian 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
CCS
More than £1bn of public funds will be allocated to a new push to develop carbon capture and storage technology that could create an industry with 100,000 jobs, with the revival of a government-sponsored competition to design the first workable demonstration project. The move is the government’s first foray into CCS technology used to capture carbon dioxide from power plants and store it permanently underground, which experts say will be essential to meet climate change targets since the demise of the original long-running competition in October.
Guardian 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Independent 4th Apr 2012 more >>
The £1bn in capital for building costs is still on offer, but so too is a guaranteed future revenue stream for the plant operators. This will come from so-called “Contracts for Difference”, which will offer a fixed price for their electricity, whatever the market price for it on any given day.
Independent 3rd Apr 2012 more >>
Peterhead represents the best hope for the first “clean power” station in the UK and potentially Europe, the power company behind the scheme has said. Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) said the plant could be up and running within five years in response to the UK Government’s launch of a £1 billion competition to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) power station for the third time in five years. UK ministers also announced that Edinburgh University will host a new £13 million CCS research centre.
Herald 4th Apr 2012 more >>
Scotsman 4th Apr 2012 more >>
