Hinkley
The contract for building the UK’s first nuclear power station in a generation might not be “valid”, a leading legal academic has warned. Former Liberal Democrat MP David Howarth, who lectures at Cambridge, said the deal with EDF over a plant at Hinkley Point could be seen as an “unjustifiable subsidy” under EU law. The contract fixes a price for energy provided if the scheme goes ahead. The government said the deal was “robust” and would give a “fair deal”. Mr Howarth told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there was a “problem with whether this is a valid contract at all”. He argued that, under EU law, its terms could be described as an “unjustifiable subsidy” and that “because the system doesn’t allow for non-British generators to come within it, it might be a violation of the basic principle of EU law of freedom of movement of goods”.
BBC 6th May 2014 read more »
Western Morning News 6th May 2014 read more »
The contract for building a nuclear power station at Hinkley Point might not be “valid”, a leading legal academic has warned. Tim Yeo, who chairs the energy and climate change select committee, was forced to defend the government’s biggest nuclear energy deal after David Howarth, a Cambridge academic and Liberal Democrat MP, said that the deal will fall foul of European law. Mr Howarth, a law and policy professor at the University of Cambridge, said that the 35-year deal with EDF Energy, which guarantees a price for EDF’s electricity that is 40 per cent higher than current prices if EDF builds a new £16 billion plant, is an “extraordinarily good deal” for the French energy giant and could flout EU laws designed to prevent subsidies that distort markets.
Times 6th May 2014 read more »
Radwaste
Model response to Joint Governments Consultation on strategy for the management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) waste in the UK.
NFLA 6th May 2014 read more »
Press Release.
NFLA 6th May 2014 read more »
Sellafield
Two Sellafield workers have been officially cautioned by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) for carrying out unauthorised work in the highly sensitive facility that contains the site’s High Level Waste Storage Tanks (HASTS). The cautioning of individuals by the ONR is unprecedented, with regulatory action historically taken against the company (Sellafield Ltd) itself rather than individual workers.
CORE 6th May 2014 read more »
Two Sellafield workers have been issued with cautions by a Government nuclear watchdog. The men were given cautions by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) after they removed a thermometer from a tank containing radioactive material while they were carrying out repairs. As a result, they were exposed to higher than normal levels of radiation and released the radiation into part of the facility not designed to handle it. The ONR has said, however, that the radiation levels were within the prescribed safe limits. It added the men’s behaviour was not in line with Sellafield’s risk control methods.
Carlisle News and Star 6th May 2014 read more »
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) publishes today its model response for member local authorities to respond to the UK Government consultation on the management of overseas origin nuclear fuel held in the UK, much of which the Government argues cannot be dealt with by the Sellafield THORP (Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant) reprocessing facility.
NFLA 30th April 2014 read more »
Fast Reactors
Japan will join a French research effort to develop a new nuclear reactor that promoters say will use fuel more efficiently and produce less atomic waste. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Francois Hollande agreed to “intensify their civil nuclear research,” according to a joint statement yesterday following a meeting between the two leaders in Paris. As part of Abe’s state visit, the Japanese ministries of economy and science and France’s atomic research institute Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives signed an accord to cooperate on a project for a so-called fourth generation fast-breeder reactor called Astrid. Fast-breeder generators are designed to produce, or “breed,” more fuel than they consume for reuse in nuclear fission.
Bloomberg 6th May 2014 read more »
Nuclear power remains important for France and Japan, the leaders of both countries have affirmed. The nations will cooperate on future reactor technology, while French and Japanese companies pursue commercial nuclear opportunities.
World Nuclear News 6th May 2014 read more »
Energy Supplies
Russia must not be allowed to use energy as a weapon, Ed Davey has said, as G7 energy ministers met in Rome to plan how to reduce dependency on gas from the country. The energy secretary said it was “hugely concerning” that Russia was “throwing its weight around” and using energy to “ransom” Ukraine. Russia has threatened to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine, citing billions of dollars in unpaid bills, and has warned this would threaten gas supplies to Europe. About a third of European gas comes from Russia, and half of that passes through the Ukraine. Mr Davey said that “support is being considered to help [Ukraine] pay those bills” but accused Russia of adding to the bills “completely outrageously”. Mr Davey said: “My discussions with my G7 colleagues have made it clear that we stand together in our resolve to strengthen our energy security and ensure no single power can use control of energy supplies as a weapon in future.”
Telegraph 6th May 2014 read more »
Companies
Rolls-Royce has agreed to sell in its gas turbine and compressor energy business to Siemens in a £1bn deal. The British engineering company, which last week said it was talks the German company over the business, will receive £785m cash and a further £200m for a 25-year licensing agreement that will give Siemens access to Rolls-Royce gas turbine technology.
Telegraph 7th May 2014 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
There is a budget crisis, but the truth is we’re still planning to spend tens of billions of dollars to eliminate plutonium from thousands of dismantled, surplus nuclear weapons built during the Cold War. Not to worry. We also are spending hundreds of billions on building newer nuclear warheads and bombs, and 21st-century submarines, bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles to keep more than 1,000 nuclear weapons at the ready. One thing that building and destroying the weapons have in common: Their cost overruns are way beyond original estimates.
Washington Post 6th May 2014 read more »
As long as human beings have existed – there have been conflicts. And today, war, or the preparation for war, is something many modern societies need to cope with but also depend upon. A flip side to the atrocities of war is that the military industry plays a big role in creating jobs, tax income and economic growth. And military research and development haves, besides creating horrible weapons, also sparked countless technical innovations we now take for granted. Some even argue that without wars our economies would tank completely. But are wars really a necessity of the human existence? Could we manage to create a truly peaceful world? And would we be able to afford it?
Crosstalk 6th May 2014 read more »
Submarines
THE GENERAL public will have the chance to see inside a nuclear submarine during two dockyard open days. Devonport naval base will throw open its doors this Sunday from 10am to 5pm and on May 26 during the same hours. Commodore Graeme Little, the commanding officer of the base, has agreed to the base being opened to the public in support of Plymouth’s History Festival.
Plymouth Herald 6th May 2014 read more »
France
Electricite de France SA reactors will meet barely half the country’s power needs by 2030, Chief Executive Officer Henri Proglio said in an appeal to lawmakers to rein in efforts by the government to cut reliance on nuclear. “By our estimates, the existing fleet will probably barely suffice to meet 50 percent of French electricity needs around 2030,” Proglio told a parliamentary hearing today in Paris.“Energy needs in France will continue to grow.” His comments offer the government a way to row back on a pledge by President Francois Hollande to cut atomic generation to half of total power output by about 2025 from 75 percent now. France is scheduled to unveil legislation to shift the nation toward renewable energy and away from nuclear in coming months.
Bloomberg 6th May 2014 read more »
In a few weeks two 500-tonne steam generators will be hoisted into the reactor hall at Europe’s first next generation nuclear plant in Flamanville, a major step in the completion of a project designed to power 1.5m French homes. It is a piece of good news for a venture that has been beset by cost overruns and delays since its construction began in 2007, hit by a curious but simple problem – In the 15 years since France last built a nuclear plant, people had forgotten how to do it. “There was a generation gap between the last nuclear plant and this one,” says the site manager. “In that time, there was a loss of industrial expertise in France as people retired. There was a lot we had to relearn.” French state-owned utility EDF, which is building a similar reactor in the UK, had estimated the project would cost 3.3bn Euros and start operations in 2012. It later said the costs would, in fact, be 8.5bn Euros and that the plant could start generating power in 2016. For EDF, and the wider European nuclear sector, a key resolve is that this kind of delay should never happen again. Institutional knowledge needs to be kept intact, even at a time where there is little demand for new plants in home markets.
FT 7th May 2014 read more »
Iran
Spoilers and “dark forces” are attempting to wreck efforts to clinch a historic compromise between Iran and the west on the country’s nuclear programme, senior members of Iran’s negotiating team have told the Guardian. Speaking before a new round of expert-level talks, due to begin on Tuesday in New York, Seyed Abbas Araqchi, the deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said Iran remained hopeful that a comprehensive agreement could be reached by the 20 July deadline. But Araqchi, part of Iran’s three-man lead negotiating team, warned that many pitfalls remained, including a chronic lack of trust between the US and Iran, a host of inter-related technical issues, and outside attempts to derail the process.
Guardian 6th May 2014 read more »
Iran and six world powers could agree parts of a text of an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme when they meet for a new round of negotiations in Vienna next week, Russia’s chief negotiator said in comments published on Tuesday.
Reuters 6th May 2014 read more »
A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency has arrived in Iran to visit two nuclear sites ahead of the next round of political talks with world powers next week. After meeting officials from the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran on Monday the IAEA team will travel to Saghand uranium mine and the Ardakan yellow-cake production site, the official IRNA news agency said.
Middle East Online 5th May 2014 read more »
Korea
A US military satellite has identified “imminent signs” of a new nuclear test at North Korea’s Punggye-ri proving grounds, according to a senior Pentagon official.
Telegraph 7th May 2014 read more »
Community Renewables
Edinburgh community wind scheme moves to Inverness-shire.
Community Turbines 6th May 2014 read more »
Renewables – solar
Twenty schools across the UK will receive help to raise funds to install solar panels as a result of support from Good Energy. The renewable energy company has formed a partnership with the Solar Schools campaign which assists schools to raise the finance needed for the solar panels via crowd-funding. Solar Schools is run by 10:10, a carbon cutting campaign, and it will provide the schools with fundraising packs, as well as being a mentor to the successful applicants.
Utility Week 6th May 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
A split has emerged in the green movement over fracking, with two influential groups refusing to join a campaign to help landowners to block access to shale deposits under their property. The National Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England decided not to join Greenpeace and other groups which have written to David Cameron objecting to his plan to change the law to make it easier for fracking companies to drill wells.
Times 7th May 2014 read more »
The government faces widespread opposition to plans to change trespass laws to allow shale gas companies to drill under homes without the owner’s permission, a poll has revealed. The YouGov survey of 1,898 people found that 74% opposed the controversial move, which ministers are thought to be considering as part of efforts to drive a “shale gas revolution” that could see fracking across swathes of the UK. More than 45,000 people around the country have joined legal moves to block energy companies from fracking under their properties, but a change to the trespass laws could allow companies to explore for shale gas without needing their permission. The survey found that 73% of Conservative voters and 70% of Libera l Democrat supporters did not agree with changing the law to make it easier to drill under people’s homes.
Guardian 6th May 2014 read more »
Climate
Ban Ki-moon: All around the world it is plain that climate change is happening and that human activities are the principal cause. Last month the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirmed that the effects of climate change are already widespread, costly and consequential – from the tropics to the poles, from small islands to large continents, and from the poorest countries to the wealthiest. The world’s top scientists are clear. Climate change is affecting agriculture, water resources, human health, and ecosystems on land and in the oceans. It poses sweeping risks for economic stability and the security of nations.
Guardian 6th May 2014 read more »
This winter’s floods ¬- eventually – brought climate change to the centre of UK politics for the first time since Cameron was hugging huskies. When they weren’t staring furiously at flooded villages, both Miliband and the Prime Minister linked the floods with climate change and warned of serious future threats. But did the floods have any effect on public opinion about climate change? A piece by Ros Donald for Carbon Brief points to data that suggest they did – with big increases in the numbers saying climate change is one of the main issues facing Britain.
Carbon Brief 6th May 2014 read more »
The top ten global warming ‘skeptic’ arguments answered. Contrarian climate scientist Roy Spencer put forth the top 10 ‘skeptic’ arguments – all are easily answered.
Guardian 6th May 2014 read more »
