EMR
A mysterious new lobby group that is due to launch this weekend with the stated goal of tackling the government’s “absurd” energy policies has insisted it is not anti-renewables. But The Power Line group, which shot to prominence last weekend following a report in the Sunday Times that suggested a number of businesses were aiming to undermine the government’s wide-ranging electricity market reforms, is yet to reveal the names of its members or the precise nature of its goals.
Business Green 5th April 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
In the past year, the energy security debate in the UK has focused on costs of generation technologies. But by doing this, politicians, public figures and reporters have perpetrated a message that low prices are key to effectively tackling climate change. In fact in the short term, the reverse may be the case – assuming measures are put in place to protect the least well off. In the UK, we are exposed to some of the highest electricity wholesale prices in Europe (see light blue bars in graph). This means that the cost of generating electricity in the UK is higher than on mainland Europe. There is strong evidence suggesting this is associated with the high share of gas in our energy mix and our nuclear fleet. Despite this, the domestic price of electricity, which is the price households pay for electricity, is close to the European average. That’s mainly because we pay low tax rates on electricity. High electricity prices today will prompt more efficient and responsible behaviour and carbon taxation, in one form or another, will further help the development of new clean technologies. In the long term costs of new technologies will reduce as they follow the well-trodden path of innovation helping reduce the wholesale price of electricity in 10 to 20 years’ time. When we connect the dots high electricity prices in the foreseeable future could provide a pathway to prosperous low-carbon future.
Energy Desk 3rd April 2013 read more »
Nuclear Strategy
The trade union that represents workers in the UK’s nuclear energy industry has called on the government to establish a nationalised authority to bring on stream some of the nuclear power stations the country needs. The GMB responded to the recent publication of the government’s nuclear industrial strategy by saying the government’s track record on energy, including nuclear, is “a shambles”. It said the government should “re-task” the existing Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which oversees decommissioning and cleanup of the UK’s nuclear legacy, and re-name it as a nationalised UK Nuclear Development Authority to bring on stream nuclear power stations.
NucNet 3rd April 2013 read more »
Hinkley
It looks rather like an oil rig, but this drilling platform with its massive legs in the sea off the Somerset coast is a sign that work is forging ahead for the controversial planned new Hinkley C nuclear power station. Developer EDF Energy has commissioned Fugro Seacore, through its contractor Dean and Dyball, to investigate the sea bed to inform the detailed engineering design for a temporary jetty.
Western Daily Press 5th April 2013 read more »
Dungeness
European officials have questioned the safety aspects of a UK airport’s planned expansion, given that a major nuclear power plant is sited only three miles away. In a letter sent to the UK Government, the European Commission sets out its concerns over Lydd Airport’s ambitions. Lydd’s proposal, if approved, would see it upgraded from a small airport used mainly by private fliers to a key regional airport able to handle short-to-medium range airliners up to Airbus A320-size.
Airport International 5th April 2013 read more »
Sellafield
Sellafield has decommissioned its Caesium Extraction Plant (CEP), which was built in the 1950s to manufacture radioactive sources for cancer treatment, it announced today. The plant was shut down in the late 1950s following operational problems. It was later discovered that radiation levels within the plant made entry unsafe and the building structure was weak. Off-the-shelf tooling was used on the plant along with remote dismantling techniques. This reduced the radiation dose to the workforce and saved money, said Sellafield.
New Civil Engineer 2nd April 2013 read more »
Sellafield Ltd has successfully decommissioned a long-redundant facility dating from the 1950s, which was originally built to manufacture radioactive sources for the medical industry to treat cancers. The Caesium Extraction Plant (CEP) was built in 1951 and operated until 1958, during which time it produced kilocurie sources for medical use. The CEP was constructed on the top of a facility which is still used to store Highly Active Residues (HAR), and these liquors provided the feedstock for the process. The HAR was refined, concentrated and encapsulated into platinum capsules for pioneering radiotherapy purposes.
Sellafield Sites 5th April 2013 read more »
France
The French government is considering selling portions of state-backed companies to help improve its finances, as the crisis in the euro zone’s second-largest economy deepens, according to government officials. The French state directly and indirectly owns controlling stakes in stakes in several companies, such as nuclear-engineering group Areva. Mr. Montebourg declined to say which companies might come up for sale, but another government official said that selling some of the country’s 85% stake in energy behemoth Electricité de France would be “the obvious choice.”
Wall Street Journal 5th April 2013 read more »
Finland
Nuclear consortium Fennovoima said it would choose Russia’s Rosatom or Japan’s Toshiba to supply a reactor for its planned nuclear power plant in northern Finland, dropping France’s Areva.Last year’s exit from the consortium of German utility E.ON raised doubts over plans to build a large reactor in Pyhajoki, originally estimated to cost around 4-6 billion euros ($5.1-$7.7 billion). E.ON’s departure prompted Fennovoima to consider the possibility of a smaller reactor.The Finnish nuclear consortium will now decide between state-owned Rosatom’s medium-sized 1,200 megawatt reactor and Toshiba’s large 1,600 megawatt reactor.
Reuters 5th April 2013 read more »
Japan
The cooling system for a fuel storage pool at one of the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant has failed, Japanese regulators have said. There was no immediate danger from the failure, the second at the plant in a month, they said.
Guardian 5th April 2013 read more »
Independent 5th April 2013 read more »
Fukushima crisis update 2nd to 4th April.
Greenpeace 5th April 2013 read more »
Kazakhstan
As an independent state, our position was clear: Kazakhstan should become a state free of nuclear weapons. We, therefore, signed agreements for the withdrawal of those nuclear weapons and their means of delivery from our country. In exchange, Kazakhstan gained the status of a non-nuclear-weapon state and international guarantees of security and territorial integrity from the leading nuclear powers — the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China. With the assistance of Russia and the United States, we eliminated the nuclear-weapons infrastructure on our territory.
Washington Post 5th April 2013 read more »
In 2009 President Nursultan Nazarbayev offered to host a nuclear fuel bank under the International Atomic Energy Agency’s jurisdiction. The project is aimed at encouraging countries like Iran not to pursue their own uranium enrichment technologies.
BBC 5th April 2013 read more »
Korea
NORTH Korea has told Britain they should consider the evacuation of staff from the peninsula before April 10th as it warned of impending nuclear war.
Express 5th April 2013 read more »
Guardian 5th April 2013 read more »
Retired Cuban leader sternly cautions North Korea and US of dangers of nuclear war in first column in nearly nine months.
Guardian 5th April 2013 read more »
Telegraph 5th April 2013 read more »
The reason North Korea is such a hell hole and its people so backward is precisely because its leaders are ruthless – and by all rational standards, mad. They do not bat an eyelid at starving their population to death. In recent days North Korea has ratcheted up its anti-Western rhetoric to unprecedented levels. It is no longer making general threats about its capabilities and how it might one day behave. It is making specific, direct threats about where it will attack – and how.
Express 6th April 2013 read more »
Iran
A day of talks over the future of Iran’s nuclear programme has run into trouble, with diplomatic sources speaking of a “gulf” between the Islamic republic and the world’s six major powers. Iran’s response to the offer from the group fell short of what the six wanted and instead amounted to a reworking of proposals it made last year at negotiations that ended in stalemate, according to a source privy to the talks. He said the two sides remained a “long way apart on substance”.
Guardian 5th April 2013 read more »
Iran and world powers meet Saturday for a second and final day of a new round of talks aimed at breaking a decade-old deadlock over the Islamic state’s disputed nuclear programme, with time slowly running out on a solution.
AFP 6th April 2013 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
From President Obama’s declaration of a radical reduction of American nuclear weapons in his State of the Union address, to the approval of Chuck Hagel (an avowed enemy of nuclear weapons) as new Secretary of Defence, and the announcement of new disarmament negotiations between Russia and the US – signs are pointing to Global Zero, a world without nuclear weapons.
International Political Forum 5th April 2013 read more »
David Cameron – who, in case you’d forgotten, leads the Conservative and Unionist Party – made a rare visit to Scotland yesterday. He spoke about defence. His message was clear: an independent Scotland could not expect to win defence contracts from what remains of the United Kingdom. Jobs and expertise, therefore, would be lost.
Spectator 5th April 2013 read more »
David Cameron’s claim that the UK needs nuclear weapons to defend itself from North Korea has been dismissed as “absurd” by a former Conservative defence secretary. Speaking to The Times, Michael Portillo said the prime minister’s decision to invoke the current tensions in the Korean peninsula to defend the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent did not make sense. “It remains to me absurd to believe that the United Kingdom would use its nuclear weapons against North Korea,” he said.
Huffington Post 5th April 2013 read more »
Letter David Lowry: Your report North Korea confirms plans to restart nuclear programme (M Star April 3) missed out what the US Secretary of State John Kerry asserted at a Washington DC press conference on April 2, jointly held with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se. Mr Kerry branded North Korea’s latest pro-nuclear WMD comments as provocative, dangerous and reckless. He also said the US “will not accept” a nuclear North Korea and it stands ready to protect itself and its allies including South Korea and Japan. Really? North Korea possesses possibly some tens of kilograms of nuclear explosive plutonium, no more. The US has produced at least 100,000 kilograms of plutonium in its military reactors at Hanford in Washington State and Savannah River in South Carolina since 1944, and retains this explosive stockpile. The US currently deploys some 7,700 nuclear weapons, North Korea less than 10. The US warheads are deployed on several delivery platforms, including on strategic aircraft and on Trident class nuclear submarines. The current issue of the authoritative Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists states: “More than 60 per cent of the [Trident] patrols take place in the Pacific Ocean, reflecting nuclear war planning against China, Russia, and North Korea.” Looking at North Korea’s security posture from Europe, it seems the US government takes a far too “self-centric” posture on assessing the problem. The world can look very different from another vantage point.
Morning Star 5th April 2013 read more »
Renewables
The Norstec scheme is trying to replicate the success of the Desertec Industrial Initiative. Desertec is a German led project launched in 2009 and the private industry joint venture today has over 55 members from 17 countries. It is widely seen as one of the drivers and facilitators behind the deployment of solar power technology in North Africa and the Middle-East and has an ambitious vision for 2050. In essence, this initiative responds to many of the preconditions for the development of sustainable infrastructure that where put forth by the Cambridge centre of sustainable development in proceedings from the Institute of Civil Engineers. Norstec was launched in April 2012 and is a UK led private industry initiative which started with 20 odd members. In less than a year membership has doubled. Current UK and European ambitions for offshore wind focus on targets for 2020, with a 40GW offshore wind energy target.To put this in context, 40GW is the equivalent to thirteen of the proposed new Hinkley nuclear power station. What happens afterwards is not clearly defined but we know that the North Sea renewable resources are much larger than the European oil and gas resources and being renewable, they are not finite.
Energy Desk 3rd April 2013 read more »
The Week’s Micro Power News: The available rate of Renewable Obligation (RO) support for solar developments dropped from 2ROCs to 1.6ROCs on 1 April. The April reference date caused a steep flurry of activity within the utility-scale solar sector in the UK, so much so that analysts are predicting PV demand in Jan-Mar to exceed the 0.5GW level.
Microgen Scotland 5th April 2013 read more »
Fracking
The British Geological Survey (BGS) is due to report on how much shale gas is under the country within weeks. Sources close to the report say the current estimate of five trillion cubic feet is “almost certainly” due to be increased. Dr Nick Riley, of the BGS, said: “We are sitting on potentially a massive resource, but whether we are able to extract it we do not know. We have to do the exploration and then we have to get the consent of the people.” In the Budget last week George Osborne, the Chancellor, signalled the go-ahead for shale gas by promising tax breaks and bribes for communities that allow drilling in their back yard. Industry insiders say the BGS could report between 1,200 trillion and 1,800 trillion cubic feet of gas under the UK, mostly in northern England. The other main reserve is around the Hampshire basin in the Home Counties, including Berkshire, Sussex and Kent. There are also pockets in central Scotland, Wales and the Midlands. The top estimate would represent sufficient gas to heat UK homes for 1,200 years. Usually it is only possible to extract about a third of shale gas deposits. Even at conservative estimates, that presume just 10 per cent of 1,500 trillion cubic feet of gas is accessible, there would be enough gas to heat our homes for 100 years.
Telegraph 5th April 2013 read more »
