5 December 2015

Bradwell

A CAMPAIGN group has renewed calls for Chinese developers behind a new Bradwell power plant to meet with them. The bid comes just days after EDF Energy and China General Nuclear Power Corporation sent a joint letter to residents on the Blackwater Estuary to update them on the plans.

Maldon Standard 4th Dec 2015 read more »

Hinkley

THE Stop Hinkley campaign has slammed the idea that lorries could carry nuclear waste through our streets in plans to save £1.5million. Proposals are currently being created to send contaminated containers from three other nuclear power stations to Hinkley Point A near Bridgwater.

Bridgwater Mercury 4th Dec 2015 read more »

Nukes vs Climate

James Hansen, former NASA climate scientist, and three other prominent climate scientists are calling for an enlarged focus on nuclear energy in the ongoing Paris climate negotiations. “Nuclear, especially next-generation nuclear, has tremendous potential to be part of the solution to climate change,” Hansen said during a panel discussion yesterday. “The dangers of fossil fuels are staring us in the face. So for us to say we won’t use all the tools [such as nuclear energy] to solve the problem is crazy.” At present, there is a worrisome groundswell of opinion that renewable energy is sufficient to hit that target, Wigley of the University of Adelaide said. He is the owner of a zero-asset company, South Australian Nuclear Energy Systems, that educates people on the technology but is not involved with the nuclear industry. “We are alarmed by people who want to close the door on nuclear, and so that is why we are more outspoken than we might have been a few years ago,” he said in a phone interview. Very few nations, at present, mention nuclear in their greenhouse gas emissions reduction pledges, he said. Given the long time needed to build a nuclear power plant, nations should prioritize the technology immediately, he said.

Scientific American 4th Dec 2015 read more »

World Nuclear News 4th Dec 2015 read more »

World leaders have made various pledges on tacking climate change at the COP21 conference in Paris since Monday. However, while renewables and low carbon technologies have been mentioned, nuclear power hasn’t been part of the debate. That’s because countries have divided opinions on supporting nuclear which could make negotiations to tackle climate change difficult, according to Robin Grimes, Chief Scientific Advisor at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He told ELN: “It’s been very interesting the way nations have been into two groups. Those who have become even more keen on nuclear and those who have moved away very much from nuclear so we seem to have sort of two very different populations.

Energy Live News 4th Dec 2015 read more »

Radwaste

Salt formations, used by the United States and Germany for storage of nuclear waste, might not be as impermeable to groundwater as once believed. That’s the worrisome conclusion of a new study published in the journal Science by University of Texas at Austin researchers, who warn that nuclear waste might leak if storage vessels fail. The researchers used field testing and 3-D micro-CT imaging of laboratory experiments to study salt deposits’ ability to stop fluid flow at shallow depths, a quality that allows oil reservoirs to form. Scientists have long suspected that salt becomes permeable at greater depth. When the researchers studied salt formations in oil and gas wells, however, they discovered that not only was it permeable deep down, but that fluids sometimes flowed through the salt even at shallow depth.

Discovery 4th Dec 2015 read more »

PLEX

Operators are extending life of nuclear reactors by learning lessons from aerospace and defence sectors, according to an an industry expert. The lifetime potential of power plants is increasing thanks to broader approach to planning according to Amec Foster Wheeler’s clean energy business’ services and innovation director, David Hughes. Hughes said nuclear operators are prolonging power plant life by using a more integrated approach to asset management. Presenting a paper at the ACI Nuclear Plant Life Management and Extension conference in Paris, Hughes said the industry is no longer posing the simple question: “Can we get another 10 years from the plant?” “Instead, they are asking ‘What is the capability of the plant and systems and how can this be harmonised to give the safest and most economic return?’” “Reframing the question helps us understand the lifetime potential of the asset for safe returns,” he added.

Energy Voice 4th Dec 2015 read more »

Capacity Market

Power generators are poised for the UK’s second capacity market auction which is due to take place next week beginning on Tuesday, according to a government spokesperson. The auction aims to secure 45.4GW for delivery in the winter of 2019-20 by running a reverse auction over four days next week. Baringa Partners’ Phil Grant told Utility Week that the auction will run along similar lines to the first auction held last year, opening at £75kW and decreasing by in £5/kW increments over four rounds per day. To remain in the auction generators will need to keep dropping their bids until only the most economically competitive plants are left to make up only as much capacity as is needed.

Utility Week 3rd Dec 2015 read more »

RWE

RWE could triple investments in wind and solar power in a big expansion of its renewables business, its CEO told Reuters, days after the company announced it would break itself up to cope with a crisis in conventional energy generation. Germany’s second-largest utility unveiled the major overhaul on Tuesday; it plans to hive off its healthiest divisions – renewables, grids and retail – into a separately listed entity. The aim is to shield them from a crisis that has beset its conventional energy production business, stemming from the German government’s decision to close nuclear plants by 2022 and a slump in wholesale power prices that has hit the profitability of its coal and gas-fired plants. In his first interview after the announcement of the restructuring plan – welcomed by investors as a smart move – Chief Executive Peter Terium said on Thursday that investments in renewable energy could triple to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) per year.

Reuters 3rd Dec 2015 read more »

RWE is following the lead of Eon, Germany’s biggest utility, which is spinning off its fossil fuel and energy trading businesses into a separate company, Uniper, next year. By separating out the assets that have good prospects for growth, both utilities hope to be in a better position to raise money from investors. Splitting off their nuclear operations also paves the way for the creation of a publicly-owned foundation to handle the costly dismantling of Germany’s reactors.RWE’s shares have lost more than half their value since the start of this year, while Eon’s stock has fallen 37 per cent.

FT 5th Dec 2015 read more »

China

It had been about a month since chemical explosions blasted and burned through the port of Tianjin, killing 173. Pictures of rescue workers in hazmat suits became some of the signature images of the disaster. And despite incredible censorship, it was clear to most that unsafe chemical storage — thanks to bribery by local big shots— was to blame. Still, on Sept. 15, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection announced post-Tianjin nuclear safety checks to “make sure nuclear facilities and equipment are safe and under control.” Given the timing, it felt less like an assurance than an afterthought: “We definitely did not forget to check those nukes.” Power Construction Corp of China, a state-owned enterprise, on Thursday said that the draft of China’s 13th five-year-plan, an important government blueprint, says the country will have 110 working nuclear reactors by 2030. The plan calls for about $78 billion to be set aside to build plants using “homegrown nuclear technologies,” and would see the addition of six to eight reactors a year for five years. The figures have circulated before and are roughly in line with the number of proposed plants — 150 — that the World Nuclear Association estimates are under consideration as part of the country’s move away from coal. China currently has 30 plants that account for 2.4 percent of its electricity consumption; upping the number of reactors to 110 would help the country meet its goal of 10 percent nuclear power by 2030.

Washington Post 4th Dec 2015 read more »

Germany

Researchers from Fraunhofer ISE have published a new report investigating the net cost of Germany’s energy transition. The good news is that the German government’s current goals are likely to be affordable. The bad news is that 100 percent renewable energy is less so, writes Craig Morris of the website German Energy Transition. Germany has a goal of at least 60 percent renewable energy in all sectors (heat, transport, and electricity) by 2050. The goal for power alone is at least 80 percent. In formulating that target, policymakers may have had the Pareto principle in mind. It states that 80 percent of effects come from 20 percent of causes. For the goal of 100 percent renewable electricity, which most German renewable energy campaigners have, closing that last fifth means costs will skyrocket.

Energy Post 3rd Dec 2015 read more »

Australia

A ship carrying 25 tonnes of radioactive waste arrived in Australia on Saturday, and was met by activists who warned Australia risked becoming a nuclear dumping ground. About a dozen Greenpeace protesters, some carrying signs such as “Don’t waste Australia”, stood near the entrance to Port Kembla south of Sydney as the BBC Shanghai arrived.

Guardian 5th Dec 2015 read more »

Reuters 5th Dec 2015 read more »

Nuclear Weapons

A RUSSIAN ‘Doomsday’ plane which is used in the event of nuclear war and is ‘invisible’ could be ready to launch in the next TWO WEEKS.

Express 4th Dec 2015 read more »

Trident

NUCLEAR submarine HMS Vengeance sailed out of Devonport Dockyard ready to take to the sea again – as her sister ship HMS Vanguard came in. The Trident vessel had been at the naval base for three-and-a-half years for repair and refuelling works worth £350million.

Plymouth Herald 4th Dec 2015 read more »

Renewables

Researchers now know how to keep the whole of the US powered by wind, water and sunlight without ever needing to fall back on emergency fossil fuel generators. They have also discovered how to extract hydrogen from methane without spilling any greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. And they have worked out a new and simple way to get the best available power from a wind turbine, and how to charge pocket electronic devices without plugging them into a socket. None of these technologies is ready for the market yet, and one of them exists only on paper. But all of them are continuing evidence of the ingenuity and resources now being invested in cracking the great planetary energy challenge: how to sidestep fossil fuel emissions, and thus stop dumping into the atmosphere the carbon dioxide that fuels global warming and climate change.

Climate News Network 4th Dec 2015 read more »

A new analysis from Stanford University has laid out a roadmap for 139 countries to power their economies with solar, wind, and hydro energy by 2050. It says the world can reach 80 per cent WWS (wind, water and sunlight) by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2050 with no impact on economic growth.

Energy Post 1st Dec 2015 read more »

The energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables will likely be faster than the International Energy Agency predicts in its recent World Energy Outlook, writes Peter Simon Vargha, Chief Economist at Hungarian oil and gas company MOL. According to Vargha, we are at a point when renewables are getting cheaper than fossil fuels in many areas, and that means a whole different game.

Energy Post 30th Nov 2015 read more »

Renewables – AD

ADBA says government funding could see number of UK biomethane plants increase to 180 if workable support scheme is put in place. The number of biomethane plants in the UK could quadruple in the next six years, following a £1.15bn allocation to the Renewable Heat incentive (RHI) as part of the chancellor’s Spending Review last week. The projections, released this week in a new report by the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA), shows there could be 180 biomethane plants in operation by 2021, up from just 40 today. However, the group warned the projected growth figures were dependent on a reasonable allocation from the RHI budget being given to anaerobic digestion and a workable scheme structure. ADBA argue that home-grown gas from anaerobic digestion could potentially meet up to 30 per cent of the UK’s domestic gas or electricity demand, and fuel 80 per cent of heavy goods vehicles. However, it said a viable feed-in tariff incentive is necessary for the technology to reach its full potential, while a system of pre-accreditation that guarantees support levels for projects in the pipeline is necessary due to AD’s lengthy deployment periods.

Business Green 4th Dec 2015 read more »

Transport/Grid

It’s about seven o’clock on a weekday evening in December, 2025. You arrive home after a long day at work, park your electric car in your garage and plug it in to charge, already imagining the glass of wine and warm dinner waiting for you when you get through the front door. All of a sudden, you are plunged into darkness. Cries of irritation from next door reach your ears – it’s not just your house that’s been hit by the blackout, it’s the whole street. The network fuse has blown, after being overloaded by you and five or six of your neighbours all arriving home at once and plugging your cars into charge. 32 per cent of the UK’s local electricity networks will need some upgrading work to improve their capacity once EV penetration hits between 40 and 70 per cent. These networks are typically those that have less than 1.5KW of available capacity per customer.