Wylfa
Wikileaks has just published via The Telegraph the below confidential cable from the United States’ London Embassy about the UK’s new nuclear programme. Dated June 2009 it provides a complete summary of the Government’s plans at that time and also the likely problems. Of interest to us on Ynys M n is the commercial information it provides regarding US reactor company, Westinghouse’s negotiations with E.On and RWE’s regarding their Wylfa and Oldbury sites (Section 5). It notes how Westinghouse is trying to get the German energy companies to select its Westinghouse AP1000 reactor over the French Areva system, saying that the final decision will not be made until December 2009 (its now February 2011 and I understand this decision has still not been finalised).
The Druid 6th Feb 2011 more >>
Sizewell
SIZEWELL B nuclear power station is likely to be back in service “shortly” after repairs were completed.
East Anglian Daily Times 5th Feb 2011 more >>
Nuclear Research
Nuclear fuel containing beryllium oxide as well as uranium oxide has been shown to be longer lasting, more efficient and safer than conventional nuclear fuels, an ongoing research project claims.
Your Nuclear News 7th Feb 2011 more >>
Utilities
The big six energy companies could be driven from Britain if they are treated too harshly in any pricing investigation, a senior minister has told The Times. In an intervention likely to put pressure on regulators, Charles Hendry said that suppliers might be too important to future energy security to be exposed to the full rigours of a competition investigation.
The Times 7th Feb 2011 more >>
Middle East
As the grubby, international coalition of nuclear knife-sharpening vendors continue with evangelical zeal to sell their sharpening techniques to the forlorn and falling dictators of the autocratic states in the Middle East let us remember what the great man of peace, Martin Luther King, said in the 1960s…….Was that vision? “In a world facing the revolt of ragged and hungry masses of God’s children; in a world torn between the tensions of East and West, white and colored, individualists and collectivists; in a world whose cultural and spiritual power lags so far behind her technological capabilities that we live each day on the verge of nuclear co-annihilation; in this world, nonviolence is no longer an option of intellectual analysis, it is an imperative for action.” There is no place for nuclear energy in any civilised human society except as a phallic totem to sad governments, dictators and autocrats , over influential power companies (such as RWE , Eon and the French nationalised business EDF) and of cause the nuclear manufacturing mafia.
Shepperdine Against Nuclear Energy 5th Feb 2011 more >>
Turkey
Toshiba, the Japanese electronics and engineering group, says it is confident that it will seal a deal to build a nuclear power plant on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, after talks between the Turkish government and South Korean reactor builders broke down last year.
FT 7th Feb 2011 more >>
Submarines
The SNP has seized on a warning from Ministry of Defence trade union officials that nuclear safety is being put at risk by jobs cuts and privatisation proposals. A report in a Scottish Sunday newspaper today reveals that Prospect, the trade union that represents engineers, scientists and managers at Faslane, believes that safety is being jeopardised at the nuclear submarine base on the Clyde because of privatisation and cutbacks by the Tory-led government.
News on News 6th Feb 2011 more >>
It is the kind of nightmare scenario beloved of filmmakers or doom-mongers: something goes drastically wrong with a nuclear reactor, and the submarine it powers sinks to the bottom of the sea, along with its crew. But this weekend it looks less like fiction. For the first time it is a possibility being seriously canvassed by experienced Ministry of Defence (MoD) trade union officials as the kind of terrible accident that could be brought about by privatisation and cutbacks at the Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde.
Sunday Herald 6th Feb 2011 more >>
Renewables
A new study published in the journal “Energy Policy” says that 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 is achievable, not just U.S. but the world. The study says that all the necessary technology is now available but strong political would have to exist for it to happen. To get to 100 percent renewables by 2030, the study says all of these are needed: 4 million 5 MW wind turbines; 1.7 billion 3 kW roof-mounted solar PV systems; 90,000 300 MW solar power plants (including PV and concentrated solar); A smattering of geothermal, wave, and tidal power plants. The calculations leave out biomass because of pollution and land-use issues, as well as nuclear power.
Yahoo 31st Jan 2011 more >>
Industrial-scale solar farms are threatening a government green subsidy that pays homeowners, schools and community groups for installing solar panels. A government announcement is expected this week on the fate of the scheme, with a review of the feed-in-tariff (FIT) policy, originally planned for 2012, brought forward in response to an increasing number of solar farms being granted planning permission.
Guadian 7th Feb 2011 more >>
WHILE oil and gas giants are raking in huge sums on the back of strong oil prices, many small and medium-sized firms are putting their eggs in the renewable energy basket. This week’s SME Focus highlights one of the Scottish firms that have been benefiting from the growing interest of farmers and the like in producing their own power. But the experience of the company’s owners provides a reminder that all entrepreneurs need to expect the unexpected.
Herald 7th Feb 2011 more >>
