Nuclear Subsidy
Ministers and EDF still disagree on “five or six” issues over the building of Britain’s first new nuclear plant in a generation, Michael Fallon has said, insisting the French company does not have the Government “over a barrel”. Talks over subsidies for the £14bn Hinkley Point project in Somerset were originally due to be concluded at the end of last year. But despite suggestions in recent weeks that the two sides were nearing agreement, energy minister Mr Fallon revealed: “We are still apart on five or six issues.” The comment, in an interview with The House magazine, will cast renewed doubt on the project, which requires not only agreement with the government but also EU state aid approval and for EDF to secure financial partners. In the magazine interview Mr Fallon rejected suggestions that the need for new nuclear plants left ministers in a weak negotiating position, citing plans by Japan’s Hitachi to build reactors in Gloucestershire and on Anglesey through the Horizon venture. “We are not over a barrel,” he said. “We have Hitachi ready to come in… So we are not wholly dependent on Hinkley. We would like to do the deal with EDF but we are not going to do it at any price.
Telegraph 6th June 2013 read more »
Hinkley
The Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor might never be built, or if constructed may start producing electricity later than stations developed by Horizon Nuclear Power at Wylfa and Oldbury, the IMechE’s energy expert has said. Dr Tim Fox, head of energy at the institution, said that the nuclear industry negotiating a “strike price,” or level of subsidy, with the government for new build did not guarantee that it would be straightforward for EDF, the utility planning to build Hinkley Point C, to attract the investment it needs to start construction. He added that it was “entirely possible” that Hitachi, which took over Horizon Nuclear Power last year, and intends to build its Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) at Wylfa and Oldbury, could be generating electricity from new nuclear reactors before EDF. The French utility hopes to build Areva’s European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) in Britain.
Professional Engineering 4th June 2013 read more »
A “ground-breaking” agreement on pay and conditions for thousands of workers set to build a new nuclear power station will see wage rates increase to at least £13 an hour. The GMB, Ucatt and Unite unions said 5,000 workers at the EDF site in Hinkley Point, Somerset, will be “directly employed, well rewarded, and treated with respect and dignity” under the deal.
Western Daily Press 6th June 2013 read more »
Wall St Journal 5th June 2013 read more »
There’s a tension in the air in the new nuclear build county of Somerset, similar to that experienced by athletes limbering up for last year’s Olympic Games. An Olympic-scale £14 billion project is in the offing that would be the biggest boost to the economy for a generation, but when is the starting pistol for Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant going to be fired?
Western Daily Press 6th June 2013 read more »
MP Ian Liddell-Grainger: I’m expecting Hinkley Point C green light in very near future. A deal that will secure the future of Hinkley C is only days away. I would put money on it. More to the point, EDF have been putting very big money on it for months.
Western Daily Press 6th June 2013 read more »
South West Business 6th June 2013 read more »
Wylfa
AN E-PETITION has been submitted calling for a future Wylfa B to use coal as opposed to nuclear power. The petition, submitted on the Welsh Assembly website by Welsh independence group, Sovereign Wales, has so far attracted 34 signatures from people across the country and beyond.
North Wales Chronicle 6th June 2013 read more »
Energy Bill
Letter Ed Davey: Contrary to your article “Plan to make the UK’s electricity supply green is defeated in the Commons” (5 June), the Energy Bill will make the UK’s electricity supply green. Clean energy investors should take huge confidence from the overwhelming majority of MPs – 396 in favour, eight against – who voted on Tuesday to complete the Commons passage of the Energy Bill. Cross-party consensus behind our reforms to the electricity market is strong.The Bill will provide the certainty investors need. Long-term contracts for low-carbon will enable renewables, nuclear and carbon capture and storage to compete against conventional power stations, and they will be backed by our tripling in support for clean energy by 2020.
Independent 7th June 2013 read more »
Andy Atkins: Although a proposal to decarbonise the UK’s power sector was narrowly defeated in the House of Commons, this crucial issue is far from over. Many of the UK’s top businesses are calling for a target for cleaning up our energy system, because it would give them the confidence to invest in Britain’s huge renewable energy resources, creating thousands of new jobs and business opportunities. It would also wean the nation off increasingly costly fossil fuels and ensure the UK played a leading role in tackling climate change. The House of Lords is due to discuss the Energy Bill later this month. Peers must put the interests of households, the economy and environment first and vote for clean energy.
Independent 7th June 2013 read more »
Radwaste
Proposals to transport nuclear waste to Hinkley Point near Burnham-On-Sea ignore public health and safety, it has been claimed this week. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is considering using the Hinkley Point A site to store waste from the former Dungeness A power station.
Burnham-on-se.com 6th June 2013 read more »
Western Daily Press 6th June 2013 read more »
Anti-nuclear protesters have been demonstrating in Whitehaven against a law that allows low level nuclear waste to be dumped at a landfill site in west Cumbria. It was introduced in 2011 but so far no such waste from outside Cumbria has arrived there. Radiation Free Lakeland says that could change though with material coming from Scotland in particular. It’s backing local councillors in the area who oppose the plan and wants to take the issue one stage further.
ITV News 6th June 2013 read more »
ITV 6th June 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
The energy watchdog, Ofgem, has widened its investigation into alleged manipulation of gas and power markets and warned that doubts over price-setting could lead to higher household bills. Announcing the expansion of an inquiry that started in November following whistleblower revelations published in the Guardian, Ofgem questioned whether the agencies that report gas and power prices, which help determine the cost of energy trades, were “fit for purpose”.
Guardian 6th June 2013 read more »
The regulator on Thursday issued a call for evidence into whether the processes used to set benchmarks are “fit for purpose”. The move comes after the European Commission raided the offices of BP, Shell and Statoil and agency Platts on suspicion the oil majors may have colluded to distort the prices they reported for more than a decade. It also follows allegations last year that the gas wholesale market could have been manipulated by traders and that price reporters are poorly trained.
Telegraph 6th June 2013 read more »
Sellafield
SELLAFIELD’S 10,000 workers are poised to accept a new one-year pay deal after management made a substantially increased offer. It came after most workers gave the thumbs down to Sellafield Ltd’s original offer. Following overwhelming rejections, the company has increased its offer to 2.9 per cent – with no strings attached.
Whitehaven News 6th June 2013 read more »
BOMB disposal experts were called to Drigg after more than 100 unexploded shells were found washed up.
Whitehaven News 6th June 2013 read more »
Letter Marianne Birkby: The teetering pile of propaganda surrounding Sellafield Ltd grows more blatant by the day. From award-winning “safe clean” beaches to the “saving” of the Beacon, Cumbrians are being groomed to accept new-build, new hotter waste and all that goes with it. Sellafield Ltd has reduced the monitoring and retrieval of hot radioactive particles from beaches despite finds going up. As a justification for this they cite lack of finance. The Department of Energy and Climate Change doles out taxpayers money to private companies to run Sellafield. Why then, when Sellafield says it cannot clean up plutonium from our beaches, is money being spent on “saving” the Beacon? Radiation Free Lakeland are not the only ones who find this concerning. The Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) is very concerned about the reduction of monitoring and retrieval of radioactive particles and would like to see the justification. Of course, if you don’t look, you don’t find.
Whitehaven News 6th June 2013 read more »
Nuclear Ships
Engineers from Lloyd’s Register and other organisations have submitted a paper to the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA) that explores a potential design concept for a nuclear-powered Suezmax tanker.
Marine Propulsion 7th June 2013 read more »
Iran
Given the track record of failed attempts at diplomacy, it is questionable whether some tacit agreement can bring a long-term resolution to this new Cold War. There is no less at stake than a fundamental rethinking of the way we approach international relations.
Open Democracy 6th June 2013 read more »
The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has wrapped up a meeting on Iran’s nuclear energy program in Vienna. The meeting on Iran’s nuclear energy program ended on Wednesday with the agency failing to provide any evidence on a potential diversion in the Islamic Republics nuclear activities. During the meeting, the IAEA accused Tehran of building a reactor in the central city of Arak with a design not previously approved by the Agency.
RINF 6th June 2013 read more »
Renewables
The government today announced new planning rules that could significantly limit where onshore windfarms can be built. The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) say the aim is to give people more of a say over whether or not to have a windfarm near their communities. But critics claim the new rules could curb the development of the UK’s onshore wind industry, with knock-on effects for meeting the UK’s renewable energy targets.
Carbon Brief 6th June 2013 read more »
Research suggesting that the UK would be billions of pounds better off if it replaced old coal power with gas instead of renewables has been promised in the press in different guises for around 18 months. With the UK’s energy bill nearing completion, the work has finally been published under the title ‘Time for a courageous conversation’, calling for affordability to return to the agenda in the energy debate. We take a look at the research’s sometimes difficult evolution. It’s worth noting that AT Kearney acknowledges that simply looking at how much it will cost to build new capacity is a “theoretical exercise”. While the idea of withdrawing from the EU is popular in some quarters, it is unlikely to happen at least in the near future – so the renewables target will remain a part of UK energy policymaking. There’s another important caveat to take into account: In an accompanying article, the Sunday Times points out the “wild card” in AT Kearney’s report remains the price of gas and the ease of securing supplies. A government spokesman told BusinessGreen that the report does not take into account any savings from energy efficiency, falling renewables costs or any additional benefits of developing new generation technologies such as new jobs. The consultancy says its report is the beginning of a longer piece on the wider energy market – but failing to address issue such as future gas price volatility feels like a significant omission in a report that aims to put “affordability back in focus”.
Carbon Brief 6th June 2013 read more »
Michael Fallon, the energy minister, has predicted that new planning laws will cut the number of “inappropriate” wind farms, saying that some communities had felt “under siege” from applications by turbines companies. The comments came as the government said it would alter planning guidance for England to make it harder to build wind farms without the backing of local people. At the same time ministers are forcing energy companies to offer bigger community incentives – five times higher than before – for those that do accept wind farms. The government will also announce proposals for similar incentive schemes for new nuclear power stations and “fracking sites ” this year.
FT 6th June 2013 read more »
AN APPLICATION has been lodged for 12 miles of underground cabling to help carry the green energy from what is planned to be Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm to the national grid. Seagreen Wind Energy’s application to Angus Council for consent for onshore infrastructure required for its Firth of Forth Offshore Wind Zone also includes a new electricity substation. The final plan could see 700 turbines installed. The company, a joint venture partnership between SSE Renewables and American firm Fluor Limited, applied to Marine Scotland in October for permission to build the first phase.
Herald 7th June 2013 read more »
Shale Gas
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is in talks with shale gas explorer Cuadrilla Resources to buy a stake in its licences in the Bowland Shale in Lancashire, underscoring the growing interest in Britain’s shale potential.
FT 6th June 2013 read more »
Gas
Twenty-one climate change activists were sentenced on Thursday for aggravated trespass after occupying a gas-fired power station last year. Sixteen of the activists were given community service orders of 150-200 hours, while the other five received 18-month conditional discharges. The activists occupied EDF’s newly built West Burton power plant in Nottinghamshire in October, with several protesters remaining strapped to a cooling tower at the site for more than a week, the longest such occupation in the UK.
Guardian 6th June 2013 read more »
