Nuclear Subsidies
The energy secretary on Saturday intervenes in the debate over nuclear power by insisting he will not budge a further inch in his offer of long-term guaranteed fixed prices for nuclear electricity. Ed Davey says he regards the negotiations as a test for his commitment to produce nuclear energy at an affordable price and without subsidy by the taxpayer. The government is locked in lengthy talks with its preferred supplier, the French energy firm EDF, over a planned nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset, which would be the first in almost two decades. But Davey says EDF’s chief rival, Hitachi, looks willing to make an acceptable offer on price. He said he had already had talks with EDF’s rivals: “Sometimes people said it is EDF or bust. I would like to do a deal with EDF but we don’t have to. I was in Korea and Japan recently talking to other investors and vendors. Their interest in the UK market was massive. I got the very strong impression that the sort of price I was happy to agree with EDF, they could match.” He added: “I am determined that the consumer or the taxpayer will not bear the risk of construction over-runs. Nuclear will get no preference in comparison with other low-carbon technologies.” He took on the nuclear critics, telling them: “You should worry about climate change. So many environmentalists have changed their views because of the threat of climate change and the fact that nuclear is low-carbon – James Lovelock, Mark Lynas, Professor James Hansen, George Monbiot, Stephen Tindale and the late Bishop Montefiore.”
Guardian 5th July 2013 read more »
Chinese utilities, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and UK pension funds will not want to take the construction risk, even with a generous government-guaranteed tariff for the output. It is also clear that UK and European utilities’ balance sheets are unable to fund this on their own, given all the other capital needs they have. Like it or not, the government will have to write the cheque, so financing this new-build programme will have to come from the UK taxpayer. Just as we are indirect owners of our high street banks, so we are destined to become owners of our new nuclear power plants. It is time to revive a nuclear-specific Central Electricity Generating Board, the entity that handled all generation and supply of power prior to privatisation of the sector in the 1980s. How could it work? A Nuclear Electricity Generating Board (NEGB), initially wholly owned and managed by the state, would provide the construction equity for new nuclear power stations, together with an industry operator – EDF Energy in the case of Hinkley Point C, or Hitachi in the case of Horizon/Wylfa – with the NEGB owning most of the equity.
Utility Week 5th July 2013 read more »
Radwaste
Developers behind a proposed dump for low level nuclear waste in west Cumbria have again disputed the reasons behind its rejection. Endecom UK Ltd hoped to convert a former opencast coal mine at Keekle Head, near Distington, but the plan was thrown out by Cumbria County Council in May 2012. The authority’s planning committee refused planning permission for a number of reasons, including that the facility was not needed until 2030. If the plan had been approved it would have seen the storage up to one million cubic metres of low level radioactive waste for the next 50 years. However, the applicant, which is owned by SITA UK, appealed against the decision claiming it would also rejuvenate a neglected corner of the county. The matter is now the subject of a two-week planning inquiry at the council’s Kendal headquarters which was due to end today.
Carlisle News & Star 5th July 2013 read more »
Ofgem
David Gray has been named as the preferred candidate to become the next chair of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (GEMA), and has pledged to help build a low carbon energy sector in the UK. Subject to approval from the UK Parliament’s Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, Gray’s role will see him head GEMA, which provides strategic direction to gas and electricity sector regulator Ofgem.
Edie 5th July 2013 read more »
Sizewell
The safety of the pressure vessel “heart” of the Sizewell B reactor has been thoroughly assessed in the light of cracks found in two Belgian nuclear plants, a government minister has assured MPs. Replying to a Parliamentary question, Michael Fallon, Energy Minister, said that the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the UK nuclear safety watchdog, had reviewed records of the manufacture of the steel vessel and other documents supporting its safety.
East Anglian Daily Times 4th July 2013 read more »
Sellafield
An event has been held to celebrate £2 million being paid out to West Cumbrian community groups by Nuclear Management Partners, the consortium which owns Sellafield.
Times and Star 5th July 2013 read more »
Germany
Germany’s $710 billion green-energy drive is cutting production at nuclear reactors, the nation’s most profitable large-scale plants, as power prices slump to a six-year low. The proportion of hours during which electricity traded at less than 30 euros ($39) a megawatt-hour, the level at which UBS AG says reactors start losing money, rose to 50 percent last month, the most since 2007 and 92 percent more than a year ago, data from the Epex Spot SE exchange show. RWE AG (RWE) cut output at its Gundremmingen plant near Munich 31 times in the first half as solar and wind output jumped, compared with 18 times in 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg 5th July 2013 read more »
Japan
Japanese electric utilities are to request permission to operate 10 nuclear reactors under new post-Fukushima safety rules to be introduced next week, part of a tentative but growing re-embrace of atomic power endorsed by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But in a sign of the difficulties facing the industry two years after the accident at Fukushima Daiichi power station, Tokyo Electric Power, operator of the ruined plant, abandoned plans to apply for certification for another facility, after the governor of the district where it is located objected.
FT 5th July 2013 read more »
The public act of contrition is a ritual in Japan as old as kabuki. Naomi Hirose, president of the embattled utility Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), knows the components better than most: grimace as if in pain, bow to the waist and mouth a heartfelt mea culpa. The trouble is that he left it too late. By the time Mr Hirose turned up in the town of Kashiwazaki yesterday to ask for permission to start the world’s biggest nuclear power plant, local leaders were furious. Tepco had earlier applied to Japan’s nuclear watchdog for a safety assessment to restart two reactors without consulting the town first.
Independent 5th July 2013 read more »
You might think that radiation levels would be falling more than two years after Japan’s most serious nuclear disaster since the bombing of Nagasaki in the Second World War. But on a rooftop in Fukushima, radioactive cesium levels were at the highest levels observed in the past year, according to the Asahi Shumbun newspaper. The publication reported that University of Tokyo associate professor Ryoji Enomoto found moss with 1.7 million becquerels just over 50 kilometres from a crippled nuclear-power plant.
Straight 4th July 2013 read more »
Lady Barbara Judge, the British expert hired to help Japan’s Tepco rebuild its reputation after the Fukushima disaster, has admitted that most people are worried by nuclear power.
Telegraph 5th July 2013 read more »
Finland
Fennovoima has signed a project development agreement with Rusatom Overseas, a subsidiary of Rosatom, for the Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant unit in Northern Finland. Rusatom will supply a nuclear reactor for the plant under the contract, which is expected to be signed by the end of 2013. The Russian 1200MW reactor will feature Rusatom Overseas’ pressurized water reactor AES-2006 plant.
Energy Business Review 5th July 2013 read more »
Trident
I sympathise with Isobel Lindsay’s frustration at the SNP backtracking on a timetable for nuclear disarmament (Letters, July 3). First they rubbished those who said this would be the most complex of all the negotiations following a Yes vote. Now they accept disarmament could take at least a decade. The SNP will always put independence before any other policy of convenience. If they were to get a Yes vote, I foresee the leadership wringing its hands a few years down the line and blaming the remaining UK for frustrating its non-nuclear objective and announcing that they are leasing the base territory to the UK so that, technically, there will be no nuclear weapons on Scottish soil.
Herald 6th July 2013 read more »
If Scotland votes for independence next year and demands that Trident be removed from the Clyde, there would be no obvious alternative base for Britain’s nuclear weapons. It’s just conceivable that Westminster politicians might take that to their electorate who might be prepared to accept disarmament. If so, the independence referendum is a de facto vote on whether the UK should become only the second country to unilaterally give up its own nuclear weapons. Before performing his biggest U-turn in a desperate search for electability, Neil Kinnock famously put his finger on what is at stake in the nuclear age. “I would die for my country, but I could never let my country die for me,” he said. I can only hope that Scottish voters realise just how many peace-loving citizens around the world would die to have such an opportunity to make a real difference.
IB Times 5th July 2013 read more »
Renewables
Brixton Energy Solar 3 is a Co-operative set up to invest in renewable energy generation in Brixton, raise money to tackle fuel poverty, and help create training and work experience opportunities for young people on the Roupell Park Estate. The event will take place at the Electric Social, 40 Acre Lane, London, Brixton SW2 5SP on Tuesday 9th July 7pm – 10pm.
Brixton Energy 5th July 2013 read more »
Investors seeking a green approach to profits are being invited to put as little as £5 into a project that could, organisers say, deliver a return estimated at up to 8.6%. Abundance, which went live in April 2012, has has launched a fourth project, this one focused on solar electricity. The company describes itself as a “community finance platform” allowing small investors to put money into UK renewable energy schemes and receive a regular cash return based on the energy produced. This latest project is run by Oakapple Renewable Energy, based in Leeds. The money will fund a portfolio of rooftop solar panel systems on new-build homes across the UK that are eligible for the government’s feed-in tariff. Homeowners can use as much of the electricity generated as they need, for free, while investors get an “estimated return” of 7.35% to 8.6%.
Guardian 6th July 2013 read more »
The two main advocates of a European renewable energy revolution driven by a vast grid of desert solar power have split, each accusing the other of poor communication. Both the Desertec Foundation and the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii) say their plans to generate power from deserts across the world remains uncompromised despite the decision, which was made by the Foundation at an extraordinary board meeting last week. Their partnership began in 2009 when they came together to promote a €400bn project that aimed to provide 15% of Europe’s power by 2050. But the relationship has since soured.
Guardian 5th July 2013 read more »
Biomass
RWE npower is halting operations at its Tilbury biomass power station, with the likely loss of 220 jobs, in a blow to Britain’s renewable power industry. But some green campaigners welcomed the closure, which will take effect from the end of October, as they argue biomass use on a large scale is environmentally unsustainable.
Guardian 5th July 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Cuadrilla Resources, the pioneer of fracking in the UK, has announced a major expansion of its activities just a week after geologists dramatically increased their estimates of Britain’s shale gas resources. The British Gas-backed company, which has former BP boss Lord Browne on the board, has applied for planning consent to start fracking one well and prepare to drill six other sites in the Fylde area of Lancashire, despite promises of opposition from local residents.
Guardian 5th July 2013 read more »
Telegraph 5th July 2013 read more »
Times 6th July 2013 read more »
Coal firm Hargreaves Services has taken over five mines and other assets which belonged to the collapsed firm Scottish Coal (SCCL) for £8.4m. The deal was completed by liquidators KPMG, who were appointed in April after SCCL folded with the loss of 600 jobs.
BBC 5th July 2013 read more »
