Hinkley
As construction delays for the French and Finnish EPR reactors lengthen, the odds that the British taxpayer will end up bailing out the EPR planned for Hinkley C in Somerset are rising higher and higher. Put simply, if the British scheme experiences similar delays, then the British taxpayer is bound to pick up the tab, over and above the already high price that we will be paying for the plant’s construction.
Dave Toke’s Green Energy Blog 3rd March 2014 read more »
Will Hinkley Point C, the UK’s first new nuclear plant in 20 years, be a catalyst for regeneration in Somerset’s neglected corner? At the Insider Invest in Bridgwater breakfast event, EDF Energy will provide delegates with the latest news on the Hinkley Point project. Taking place on Tuesday, 18 March 2014 at the Energy Skills Centre, Bridgwater College, the event will be an opportunity to ask questions of EDF Energy’s communications manager Ross Edwards, as well as discuss the wider development plans for the town.
Insider Media 3rd March 2014 read more »
New Nukes
Few subjects are as polarising as nuclear power. Supporters claim a new generation of nuclear plants is the most effective means of helping to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, while filling the ‘energy gap’ that will result from the decommissioning of old fossil fuel and nuclear power facilities in the 2020s. But opponents believe it is an expensive folly, replete with ethical and environmental effects that have repercussions for generations to come, siphoning money and attention away from renewables. Nuclear Free Local Authorities chair, Councillor Mark Hackett, said investing in nuclear is the wrong approach, “particularly in the light of the Fukushima disaster. The gargantuan cost of £16bn dwarfs previous energy projects, and is likely to make it the most expensive to build reactor in history. It could also choke off the nascent renewable energy revolution in the UK, turning off investors in offshore wind and solar at a time when such industries are rapidly taking off elsewhere in Europe”.
Guardian 3rd March 2014 read more »
Radwaste
Cumbria Trust was interested to learn that the NDA has just appointed Professor Bruce Yardley as their Chief Geologist for Radioactive Waste Management. For years the NDA and DECC has sought to downplay the importance of geology in the burial of nuclear waste, by describing it as just one of a number of factors which has to be considered. The reason for this approach appeared to be the irrational desire to select West Cumbria as the site for burying the UK’s nuclear waste, despite it having some of the least suitable and therefore least safe geology for that purpose. No other civilised country would consider burying nuclear waste in an area of fractured and faulted geology with fast underground water flow driven by the mountains above. So in this respect, Cumbria Trust welcomes the NDA’s overdue acceptance of the importance of geology. However, the selection of Professor Yardley is not without controversy. To his credit, Professor Yardley has publicly acknowledged that West Cumbria’s geology is less suitable than large areas of flat-lying Eastern England, but he views the current condition of the Sellafield site as so precarious and vulnerable to terrorist attack, that it would be better to bury the waste almost anywhere than leave it for longer on the surface. This logic has been used to suggest that the delay required to conduct a proper national geological survey, and seeking volunteers from an area with suitable geology, is outweighed by the risk of leaving the waste on the surface for an extra 10-15 years.
Cumbria Trust 4th March 2014 read more »
Cumbria
The tourism industry in west Cumbria has been hit by a funding blow. Britain’s Energy Coast (BEC) has announced that from April it will no longer fund West Cumbria Tourism – the organisation dedicated to promoting the area to visitors and businesses. The cut roughly amounts to about £100,000 per year. A board meeting of WCT was due to be held yesterday to decide the future of the organisation but the outcome is not yet known. Chairman Eric Robson said the tourism organisation was disappointed by the decision, which is due to “new strategic direction” that will support more nuclear projects, according to its chief executive. Since 2011, WCT has been a partnership of Cumbria Tourism and BEC. BEC’s grant, which allowed WCT to attract other public and private sector funding, has helped to “create and develop high-profile marketing and PR initiatives” for the area.
Carlisle News and Star 27th Feb 2014 read more »
Nuclear Skills
Does the UK need a skills renaissance before it can lead a nuclear new build revolution? Dr Mike Bluck, of Imperial College London and Rolls-Royce Nuclear University Technology Centre, both UK, thinks so.
Materials World 1st March 2014 read more »
Energy Costs
Households spend more than £100 a month on heating, according to official data which revealed that bills have risen by 55 per cent in the past decade. The increase would have been greater if cash-strapped households had not cut back on the gas, oil and electricity by an average of 17 per cent in that time. The average spend per month in 2012 was £106 compared with £69 per month in 2002. The Office for National Statistics, which compiled the report, said that given households had made considerable efforts to reduce their energy use, the only explanation for rising bills was companies putting up their prices.
Times 4th March 2014 read more »
Household spending on energy rose 55pc over a decade, excluding the impact of inflation, as soaring prices more than offset a 17pc drop in consumption, new data show. Electricity, gas and other household fuels such as heating oil cost a typical household £106 a month in 2012, up from £69 a month in 2002, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said – with both figures expressed in 2012 money. Energy costs increased from 3.3pc of a household’s annual income to 5.1pc as a result.
Telegraph 3rd March 2014 read more »
SCOTTISH households have the highest energy costs in Britain, according to official figures, despite the amount of energy they use falling. The average spend in Scottish homes is £112 a month, compared with £105 in Wales and £103 in England, according to a new Office for National Statistics (ONS) report. But all three nations are substantially lower than Northern Ireland, where the average spend is £154 a month. The average UK household spend on energy rose by more than half in a decade, from £69 a month in 2002 to £106 in 2012, despite a 17 per cent drop in energy usage, the ONS said.
Scotsman 4th March 2014 read more »
Herald 4th March 2014 read more »
US – Radwaste
For 15 years the trucks have barreled past southeastern New Mexico’s potash mines and seemingly endless fields of oil rigs, hauling decades worth of plutonium-contaminated waste to what is supposed to be a safe and final resting place a half mile underground in the salt beds of the Permian Basin. But back-to-back accidents and a never-supposed-to-happen above-ground radiation release that exposed at least 13 workers have shuttered the federal government’s only deep underground nuclear waste dump indefinitely. They have also raised questions about a cornerstone of the Department of Energy’s $5-billion-a-year program for cleaning up legacy waste scattered across the country from decades of nuclear bomb making. The problems also highlight a lack of alternatives for disposing of tainted materials like tools, gloves, glasses and protective suits from national labs in Idaho, Illinois, South Carolina and New Mexico.
Las Vegas Review Journal 1st March 2014 read more »
Slovenia
Westinghouse Electric has installed a fully passive containment filtered venting system (PCFVS) at the Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško (NEK) nuclear power plant located in Slovenia. Designed to enhance safety in the area of severe accident management, the system was required by the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration (SNSA) following the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station accident in Japan.
Energy Business Review 4th March 2014 read more »
Czech Republic
In the wake of Russia moving military forces into the Crimea region of Ukraine, a Czech official is questioning whether Russian contracts to expand a Czech nuclear power plant should move forward. Czech Republic Defense Minister Martin Stropnicky said Russia has “disappeared from the group of predictable, democratic countries,” and said the events in Crimea are “unacceptable.” According to Reuters, a nuclear energy consortium that includes Russia’s Atomstroyexport is bidding on a $10 billion contract to expand the Czech Republic’s Temelin Nuclear Power Station near the Austrian border.
Power Engineering 3rd March 2014 read more »
ITV 3rd March 2014 read more »
Iran
A LANDMARK nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers is going ahead as planned but much remains to be done to resolve all issues regarding Tehran’s atomic activities. Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said the IAEA remained more than £1 million short of the funds it needed for its extra work in verifying that Iran is living up to its part of the six-month accord reached in November.
Herald 4th March 2014 read more »
Faslane
WORKERSat the Faslane nuclear base are to go on strike and take other forms of industrial action after rejecting a “derisory” pay offer.
Scotsman 3rd March 2014 read more »
Suspended strike action at the Faslane and Coulport naval bases on the Clyde is back on after pay talks collapsed. The Unite union said its members had overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer of just over 2% from Babcock Marine.
BBC 3rd March 2014 read more »
Unite 3rd March 2014 read more »
Trident
The government is guilty of a “dereliction of duty” in failing to look at what would happen to Trident if Scotland votes for independence, a former first sea lord has said. Lord West of Spithead warned the ability of the rest of the UK to defend itself would be “dramatically reduced” if the Scots voted to quit the Union. Former secretary of state for Scotland Lord Forsyth of Drumlean said a vote for independence would in effect mean the end of the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
Scotsman 3rd March 2014 read more »
Daily Record 3rd March 2014 read more »
Climate
Opponents of the UK’s climate policies often argue that green measures are forcing the country to cut emissions faster than its competitors. In fact, new analysis says the UK isn’t acting alone. At least 62 countries around the world are moving ahead with laws to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – and every major economic power has taken some kind of action. Two new papers lay out international progress on emissions legislation.
Carbon Brief 3rd March 2014 read more »
Business Green 3rd March 2014 read more »
Energy Efficiency
European Investment Bank considers £500m loan to help London boroughs invest in energy efficiency, waste projects and social housing. Businesses and local authorities in the capital could soon have access to a £1bn fund designed to drive investment in greener waste, energy and building projects, under plans being developed by the Mayor of London. BusinessGreen has learnt that deputy mayor for business and enterprise Kit Malthouse is working on plans to significantly expand the EU-backed London Green Fund (LGF), from £100m to £1bn in a bid to spur investment in cutting the capital’s carbon emissions.
Business Green 3rd March 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
David Cameron, declared: “Money is no object in this relief effort. Whatever money is needed, we will spend it.” He went beyond his own environment secretary in linking the floods to climate change. Less than two weeks later, Cameron again created the impression that money was no object. But this time, it wasn’t to tackle global warming, but rather to ensure that the climate will continue to be destabilised. He announced measures worth up to £200bn in effective subsidy for the North Sea oil and gas industry resulting in the production of 3-4bn more barrels of oil “than would otherwise have been produced”. While the renewable energy sector struggles amid regulatory and policy uncertainty, the oil and gas industry enjoys cheerleaders at the heart of government environmental policymaking. Yet, going as far back as the campaign to abolish slavery, we have known that in order to cure the economy of an unacceptable dependency we have to remove subsidies from what was wrong, regulate against the wrong and shift investment to positive alternatives.
Guardian 3rd March 2014 read more »
Platform London 26th Feb 2014 read more »
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has launched a rallying call to supporters claiming she is the only leader in step with the public’s view on fracking and demanding a place alongside the other major parties and UKIP in any televised debate on Britain’s future in Europe. Addressing the Party’s Spring conference in Liverpool on Saturday, Bennett accused the government of pursuing a “fracking fantasy” of cheap shale gas and the opposition Labour Party of prevaricating on the issue despite the potential climate change impacts.
Business Green 3rd March 2014 read more »
