Sellafield MoX Plant
SMPs closure has opened the proverbial can of worms, particularly in respect of a new MOX plant being built. The current rationale behind the NDAs thinking appears to be that as long as Japans programme of MOX use has not completely sunk under the waves of the trsunami and the Fukushima catastrophe, the 13 tonnes of Japanese plutonium recovered by reprocessing at Sellafield might yet be converted to MOX in the new plant which could also be used to reduce the 110 tonne stockpile of UK owned plutonium for use in the UKs new-build reactors. The cost of a new MOX plant has been put at around £1.4Bn. Martin Forwood further commented: It beggars belief that the NDA appears hell-bent on repeating its own very recent and taxpayer-costly mistakes on MOX. Whilst they may wish to appease the natives with the prospect of a new plant, there is no evidence whatsoever that sufficient MOX demand worldwide exists or will exist particularly in the UK where many of the proposed new reactors may never get built. This is pie-in-the sky stuff and they should be concentrating instead on putting the dangerous plutonium stockpile permanently out of harms way and treat it as a waste by, for example, using SMP and its current workforce to immobilise plutonium in low-spec MOX for disposal.
CORE Press Release 4th Aug 2011 more >>
The Government is being pressured to build a new nuclear-fuel plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, just a day after the decision to close a failing plant that has so far cost British taxpayers £1.34bn. Local politicians and trade unions want the Government to agree to a new mixed-oxide (Mox) fuel plant costing up to £6bn, in the wake of the announcement on Wednesday to close the controversial Sellafield Mox Plant just nine years after it was opened. One option being proposed by Martin Forwood, of the pressure group Core (Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment), is to use the existing Mox plant to convert the plutonium mountain into “low specification” Mox . This form of Mox would not be used as nuclear fuel, but would be encased in canisters and buried in a long-term repository.
Independent 5th Aug 2011 more >>
Cumbria County Council is urging the government to make sure the employment gap is bridged following SMPs closure as well as joining the call for a new Mox plant. Leader Eddie Martin said: The government must surely step in to ensure that nuclear skills and jobs are retained in West Cumbria for the longer term future. The most effective way of doing this is for the government to immediately confirm it will commission and build a new Sellafield Mox plant that will serve modern needs as soon as possible, not least because other countries such as Russia are building Mox plants. The commercial opportunities may well bypass us if we are not quick off the mark.
Whitehaven News 4th Aug 2011 more >>
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority dropped the bombshell on Wednesday afternoon, saying that with huge regret it was closing SMP (Sellafield Mox Plant) because the bottom had dropped out of the Mox market in Japan since the earthquake and tsunami. Efforts will be made to find alternative jobs on the site for the 600 Mox workers but there are no guarantees that redundancies can be ruled out.
Whitehaven News 4th Aug 2011 more >>
COPELAND MP Jamie Reed today repeated his call for Sellafield to have Mox Two, a plant capable of producing fuel to power a new generation of nuclear reactors. I am working for nothing less than for government to announce its intentions to proceed with a new Mox plant at Sellafield when parliament returns on September 5, he said. The prospects of a new Mox plant being built at Sellafield were given their biggest boost to date by comments made in Parliament by Lord Marland, the Department of Energys spokesman in the Lords. Energy minister Charles Hendry has also said in the past the potential for a new Sellafield Mox plant was being looked at. Construction would mean jobs for thousands of contractors and many hundreds for permanent plant operators. It is predicted that Mox, a mixture of plutonium and uranium, could also power Britains new generation of electricity-producing reactors, including one expected to be built at Sellafield. Lord Marland, who has commissioned a cost-benefit analysis of a new Mox plant, told his fellow Lords: If we have the biggest plutonium stock in the world we must turn that liability into an asset. This is, of course, a clear message to the people of Cumbria because that is where the Mox plant would be located. I do not think we have any problem as a government in sending clear messages to the people of Cumbria about the importance of that site (Sellafield) and of their role in it. The next generation of nuclear waste reprocessing has to carry us forward for years to come as we replace the current existing plant.
Whitehaven News 4th Aug 2011 more >>
Waste Transport
SELLAFIELD is sending its first radioactive high level waste shipment to Japan since the tsunami five months ago. It is only the second shipment of its kind from Sellafield in the last 18 months. The first, in January 2010, was hailed as an historic milestone in being able to return high level waste to country of origin after reprocessing at Sellafield.
Whitehaven News 4th Aug 2011 more >>
Bradwell
THE skyline of Bradwell will change forever this month as demolition experts bring down a 50ft-tall turbine hall at the nuclear power station.They said the demolition of the building, which is the length of a football pitch, marks “a significant milestone” in their project to deactivate the plant.
Maldon Chronicle 4th Aug 2011 more >>
Torness
Reactor 1 at EDF Energy’s Torness nuclear power plant in Scotland is expected to restart on Aug. 11 after it shut down unexpectedly on Thursday due to an electric inverter failure which produced smoke, the operator said. “Although there was no fire, and the electrical inverter affected was in a separate building from the reactors, the unavailability of that piece of equipment required us to take reactor 1 offline,” a spokeswoman said.
Reuters 4th Aug 2011 more >>
Wales
As Archdruid of Wales from 1979 to 1981, Geraint Bowen was renowned for his hard-hitting speeches from the Logan Stone in the ceremonies of the Assembly of Bards of the Isle of Britain (the Gorsedd). Not only did he speak out against the Anglicisation of Wales and in defence of the Welsh language, as Archdruids are expected to do, but also lent his authority to the campaign for a fourth television channel broadcasting in Welsh and against the burying of nuclear waste.
Independent 5th Aug 2011 more >>
NDA
The number of civil servants and quango chiefs on salaries over £150,000 has been cut by more than 50 over the past year, at an annual saving to the taxpayer of around £10 million. The biggest earner was Tony Fountain, chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, on £375,000-£380,000. Mr Fountain also received a £70,810 payment in lieu of pension and £76,650 second home allowance, according to the figures released by the Cabinet Office.
Cumberland News 4th Aug 2011 more >>
Japan
Japans industry minister, Banri Kaieda, said he will resign after replacing three officials in charge of energy policy and outlining a new structure for the ministry following the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The new structure will separate the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency from the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry, addressing the conflict inherent in the dual roles of promoting and regulating the nuclear industry. That conflict has been highlighted in the last week by revelations the regulator urged utilities to influence public opinion in favor of nuclear energy. The disaster at Fukushima capped decades of faked safety reports and fatal accidents in Japans atomic industry.
Bloomberg 4th Aug 2011 more >>
Japan will replace three senior bureaucrats in charge of nuclear power policy, the minister overseeing energy policy said on Thursday, five months after the worlds worst atomic crisis in 25 years erupted at Fukushima. The move comes as the prime minister, Naoto Kan, calls for enhanced nuclear safety accountability and an overhaul of Japans energy policy, with the aim of gradually weaning it off its dependence on nuclear power as public safety concerns mount.
FT 4th Aug 2011 more >>
Channel 4 News 4th Aug 2011 more >>
The prolonged crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after a massive earthquake and tsunami in March has prompted a review of Japan’s energy policy and raised questions on how government officials and industry will deal with the prospect of power shortages that could stretch into 2012. Tokyo Electric Power Co said on Friday it would close for maintenance the 1,100-megawatt No.1 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, its only nuclear facility not affected by the quake. That would reduce the number of power-generating reactors in the country to 15, with capacity of 13,255 MW, meaning only 27 percent of the nation’s total nuclear power capacity will be in use.
Alert.net 5th Aug 2011 more >>
Blood-cell banking for workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Lancet 6th Aug 2011 more >>
Iran
The two assassins arrived from nowhere as their victim was driving home with his wife. Trapped inside his car, he was hopelessly vulnerable as their motorcycles pulled alongside.
He would just have had time to notice their blacked-out visors before they opened fire, emptying round after round into his chest. Nuclear scientist Darioush Rezaei died immediately. His wife was critically wounded and still in hospital days after the attack in north eastern Iran.
Daily Mail 5th Aug 2011 more >>
Sweden
A Swedish man who kept a blog chronicling his attempts to build a homemade nuclear reactor in his apartment has shut down the project after being arrested by police and held under suspicion of breaching radioactive material safety laws. If convicted of an offence, he faces heavy fines or up to two years in jail.
Tech World 4th Aug 2011 more >>
BBC 4th Aug 2011 more >>
Germany
Swedish energy company Vattenfall reported a 23.3% dip in sales for the first half of the year, precipitated by Germanys plans to phase out its nuclear power fleet.
Energy Efficiency News 4th Aug 2011 more >>
Renewables
A MAJOR boost to expand renewable energy projects in the agricultural sector was announced yesterday by Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead, through the development of an Agri-Renewables Strategy. Speaking at the Black Isle Show, Mr Lochhead explained the new Agri-Renewables Strategy will ensure that land managers can benefit from the renewables revolution and unlock the green energy potential of their land. Mr Lochhead said: Scotland is currently experiencing a renewables revolution and I want to see farmers, crofters and land managers working with local communities to ensure they grasp the benefits for their businesses and the nation. The renewables revolution offers our farmers and land-based industries the opportunity to cut energy costs, generate new income and contribute to our low carbon future. The list of benefits is endless.
Herald 5th Aug 2011 more >>
