Plutonium
The company building Britain’s first nuclear power station in a generation has denied a suggestion that the new plant would use controversial MOX fuel. French state-owned utility EDF said the use of plutonium-based Mixed Oxide fuel was not under consideration for use at the Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset. Under questioning by the Public Accounts Committee, Mark Higson from the Office for Nuclear Development, said MOX could be used. Mr Higson was speaking on 4 November. The OND chief executive told the committee that MOX fuel could be used “in power stations yet to be built. The EPR reactor at Hinkley, for example”. In a statement, an EDF spokesman said: “We have not used MOX in any of our stations and have no plans to do so in the future in our existing stations or new nuclear stations.” EDF says it won’t use MOX and Horizon, the other major nuclear company hoping to build reactors in the UK, which is backed by the Japanese firm Hitachi, said it has no plans to use MOX either.
BBC 6th Nov 2013 read more »
It was one of those short exchanges that pass unnoticed because they are off the immediate news agenda, when the implications are such as to boggle the mind. A bearded civil servant named Mark Higson, chief executive of the Government’s Office for Nuclear Development, was explaining to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee what the Department for Energy plans to do with 111,000 kilograms of plutonium stacked up at Sellafield. They are going to build a whole new plant to make use of it, he said, though the value of the fuel it produces will be less than the cost of running and building the plant. Margaret Hodge, who chairs the committee, was so taken aback by this revelation that the Government is planning a huge construction project which they know will lose money that she asked him to say it again, which he did. “But you still want to build it?” she said. Yes, said Mr Higson, “because it is a route for disposing of plutonium”. In case you’re wondering whether there are any other possible uses for 111,000kgs of reactor-grade plutonium, it is reckoned that you can make a nuclear bomb with about 5kgs of the stuff. Do the maths.
Independent 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Energy Subsidies
EU energy prices will rise unless European governments stick to strict guidelines on when subsidies are justified, the European Commission said on Tuesday.Following intense political debate and a storm of protest over energy prices, the Commission, the EU executive, is revising rules to guide the European Union’s 28 member states. Generous support schemes for solar energy, for instance, have been blamed for adding to the financial burdens of households and businesses at a time when economic recovery is tentative. The Commission says the subsidies should be phased out and meanwhile made more flexible. Instead of feed-in tariffs, which are fixed-rate incentives, it favors a “feed-in premium”, which would rise or fall depending on market conditions.
Reuters 5th Nov 2013 read more »
Dungeness
Dungeness nuclear power station has been reconnected to the National Grid after power lines were damaged when storms battered southern Britain. The Kent power plant’s two reactors were automatically shut down when electricity to the site was cut off on 28 October.
BBC 6th Nov 2013 read more »
Hartlepool
Hartlepool Power Station chiefs deny reports of 2024 extension. Bosses say although plans are in place to achieve an extension for the facility, those plans are “purely aspirational” at this stage. A spokesperson said: “Hartlepool is looking to reach 2024, but at the moment this is purely aspirational. “It doesn’t mean we are not planning to get to that decision – however, no decision has been made, and won’t be for a while yet.”
Middlesbrough Gazette 6th Nov 2013 read more »
A NEW visitor centre has opened for the public to see nuclear power for themselves. Bosses have unveiled the centre at Hartlepool’s nuclear power station, complete with hands-on displays and guided tours. EDF Energy’s Chief Executive Officer Vincent de Rivaz, Simon Parsons, station director at Hartlepool power station and MP Iain Wright launched the new centre yesterday. It is the final visitor centre of seven opened by EDF Energy and is part of the company’s commitment to increasing openness at its nuclear power stations across the UK.
Hartlepool Mail 6th Nov 2013 read more »
Energy Policy
John Sauven: On Thursday Nick Clegg will deliver what’s being billed as a major speech on green issues. Could this be the Lib Dems’ route out of fourth place? “Vote for the moderately influential moderating influence” is not a great slogan if you want to overtake Ukip in the polls. And although blue and yellow is meant to give you green, in the case of the coalition it’s looking pretty faded. But the environment does hold the possibility of the Lib Dems legislating from the front foot. On Monday night a heroic rebellion from the Lib Dem lords brought an end to the coal age dramatically closer, with strict new limits on how much we can burn for electricity. If the party can support this through the commons it will be a truly significant achievement. Energy efficiency measures are far more cost and carbon-efficient than any other form of intervention, and, unluckily for Britons but luckily for any energy minister wanting a cheap and easy victory, Britain has the most energy inefficient housing stock in Europe. If this fruit were hanging any lower it would be a root crop. The hard-headed business brains of the world are leaving the UK behind. It’s not just the Germans, China spends more on renewables as a percentage of GDP than the UK does on renewables, nuclear energy and grid improvement combined.
Guardian 6th Nov 2013 read more »
Nick Clegg will on Thursday urge the coalition to “stay the course” on its green agenda despite the political consensus shifting away from the environment because of the economic downturn. The deputy prime minister will accuse Westminster in a speech, which comes amid a new row over carbon reduction targets, of being “fickle” for having gone cold on environmental issues since 2010. The Lib Dem leader will accuse the Tories and Labour of having made a U-turn from boasting about their green credentials before the general election to now accusing each other of being too green.
FT 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Guardian 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Britain is “shooting itself in the foot” by subsidising its coal, oil and gas industries by $4.2bn (£2.6bn) a year even as government reviews the “green levies” on energy bills which support energy efficiency and renewable power, according to a report published on Thursday. The figures from the Overseas Development Institute suggest that Britain is now the world’s fifth largest subsidiser of fossil fuels after the US, Russia, Australia and Germany despite commitments to cut carbon emissions and reduce “perverse” fossil fuel subsidies. In 2011, the latest year for which data is available, Britain gave tax breaks of £280m to oil and gas producers and reduced VAT on fossil fuels by several billion pounds, says the thinktank’s report.
Guardian 7th Nov 2013 read more »
BBC 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
The rush to switch energy suppliers after a succession of controversial price rises has boosted the prospects of Moneysupermarket.com, which has started the fourth quarter with a 25 per cent rise in revenue. The price comparison site said that the boom in energy switching since mid-October had led to a “very strong start to the fourth quarter”. For the three months to September 30, the company reported a 5 per cent rise in revenues and a 26 per cent increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
Times 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Proliferation
Could Pakistan give Saudis nuclear weapons? BBC investigation uncovers plans to hand over weapons to counter any threat from Iran. BBC’s Newsnight has spoken to sources in Pakistan who told them they had been preparing for the possibility for some time. Reporter Mark Urban said the programme understood that if a deal were to go ahead, Saudi Arabia could have the nuclear weapons operational and ready to deploy within the time it would take Iran to do the same.
Daily Mail 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Telegraph 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Chernobyl
A massive £1.2bn civil engineering operation is hoping to make Ukrainian site safe, but it is running a decade behind schedule and there are doubts whether it will ever be finished. a gigantic £1.2bn metal shell called the Arch, is finally taking shape in a safe zone, 300m away from the reactor’s intense radiation. A stupendous feat of engineering, already taller at its highest point than the Statue of Liberty and wider at its base than a football pitch is long, the Arch is the gleaming creation of Western corporations, paid for by the G8 nations. One day its 15,000-ton weight will slide on specially laid tracks into place over the reactor, hermetically sealing it off. But it is nearly a decade behind schedule, construction has not yet reached the half-way stage, and there are growing doubts about when it will finally be completed. “We want this Arch finished so Chernobyl is safe once and for all,” said Mr Gubariev, 52, head of an organisation for veterans of the accident in the industrial city of Kharkov.
Independent 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Japan
The company which runs the stricken Fukushima plant releases a video explaining the risky operation to remove 1,534 nuclear fuel rods from the site, which was devastated by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011.
Telegraph 6th Nov 2013 read more »
Guardian 6th Nov 2013 read more »
A task of extraordinary delicacy and danger is about to begin at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power station. Engineers are preparing to extract the first of more than 1,000 nuclear fuel rods from one of the wrecked reactor buildings. This is seen as an essential but risky step on the long road towards stabilising the site. The fuel rods are currently in a precarious state in a storage pool in Unit 4.This building was badly damaged by an explosion in March 2011 following the Great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
BBC 6th Nov 2013 read more »
Fukushima risis Update 1st to 6th Nov. Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are about to face one of their biggest and most difficult challenges this month as work begins removing 1,500 nuclear fuel rods from a storage pool in the reactor #4 building. Tests are being conducted in preparation which will push back the starting date for two weeks – work was schedule to begin this Friday.
Greenpeace 6th Nov 2013 read more »
The US has “kindly offered” to help Japan with the decommissioning of the Fukushima reactors and the problems with the ongoing leakages of radioactively contaminated water. Is the US being the good Samaritan? Unfortunately not. Before the US will provide assistance, Japan has to sign the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC). This is an international treaty that supposedly provides an international regime on nuclear liability — the who-should-pay-for-a-nuclear-accident issue. But the real aim of the CSC, along with other international conventions on nuclear liability, is to protect the nuclear industry. It caps the total compensation available after a nuclear accident at a level much lower than the actual costs. The companies that supply nuclear reactors and other material are exempt, they don’t have to pay anything if there is an accident. The operators of nuclear plants are the only ones accountable for paying damages but the CSC protects them too by not requiring them to have enough money or financial security to cover the costs of an accident.
Greenpeace 5th Nov 2013 read more »
Up to 30 gigawatt of Japan’s mothballed nuclear power plants are expected to restart in 2014, displacing demand for natural gas power. “The power companies have actually already applied to restart 12 reactors with a total capacity of 11.2 GW, and others will come up over the next year or two.
Gas to Power Journal 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Iran
The US is looking to negotiate a “first step” deal with Iran which would halt parts of its nuclear programme in return for modest suspension of sanctions, a senior US official said on Wednesday ahead of a crucial new round of talks. The initial agreement could last for six months and would “put time on the clock” in order to allow for a more detailed negotiation about Iran’s nuclear programme.
FT 7th Nov 2013 read more »
A fresh round of talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear programme kicks off in Geneva today with Tehran saying a deal may finally be possible in the long-running standoff.
Telegraph 7th Nov 2013 read more »
India
An obsession with nuclear power makes many political elites secretive, ruthless and delusional, even as their cherished projects threaten millions of people with disaster. But the egregious examples I have in mind here aren’t Iran, Pakistan and North Korea. They are Japan and India, two countries with democratic institutions. Tokyo Electric Power Co., owner of the Fukushima plant, presents an ominous example of extraordinary negligence, denial and collaborative coverup. Long ignored by a compliant Japanese news media and complicit politicians, the evidence of Tepco’s falsehoods and ineptitude has accumulated inescapably in the more than two years since the disaster. Leaks of highly radioactive water in recent months undermine claims by the Japanese government that the situation is under control. In India, Abe’s path is smoothed not only by the customarily powerful stakeholders in a multibillion-dollar industry but also by the superstitious faith invested in nuclear energy in a country where a large part of the population suffers from long power outages almost every day. Pro-nuclear advocates propose nuclear energy as an answer to India’s power shortages and crippling reliance on imported oil. A new book, “The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India” by Princeton University physicist M.V. Ramana, takes a sober — and sobering — look at the fantasies and perils attached to this mirage, and finds the promise of nuclear energy empty in every way: environmental, economic and technological.
Bloomberg 3rd Nov 2013 read more »
Europe
Hitting energy and environment targets for 2030 under discussion in the European Commission would save up to 35 billion euros ($47 billion) per year in health costs as air pollution declines, EU sources said.It would also add an estimated 0.5 percent to gross domestic product, due mainly to lower oil and gas imports, they said.The numbers are from a draft Commission assessment of the impact of 2030 goals expected to be announced early next year. Policymakers are considering targeting a cut of around 40 percent in greenhouse gas emissions and raising the proportion of energy generated by renewables to 30 percent, EU sources have said on condition of anonymity.Environmental campaigners say an emissions cut of 60 percent relative to 1990 levels is needed by 2030 to limit global warming to the 2 degrees Celsius level scientists say would prevent the worst effects of climate change.That compares with an existing 2020 target of a 20 percent cut in emissions compared with 1990 levels, accompanied by two other goals – to increase renewables to 20 percent and energy savings of 20 percent versus business as usual.
Reuters 6th Nov 2013 read more »
Energy Efficiency
The levy on energy bills to help pay for insulation should be used to help low-income households rather than the well-off, according to a British Gas executive. Ian Peters, managing director of its residential supply business, asked why the most expensive element of the levy on household bills, known as the Energy Companies Obligation (Eco), was not aimed at the less affluent. Just over half of the £1.3 billion annual cost of the scheme is spent on installing the most expensive types of energy-saving measures, such as solid-wall insulation, which costs about £8,000 for each home. Victorian houses and other “hard-to-treat” properties stand to benefit, regardless of who owns them. Of the £112 a year that the levies add to each household bill, about £50 goes on Eco. SSE, the energy group, has warned the cost of the scheme will top £100 next year. The Government will next month announce the result of its review.
Times 6th Nov 2013 read more »
Energy Storage
The German government has responded to the next big challenge in its energy transition – storing the output from the solar boom it has created – by doing exactly what it has successfully done to date: greasing the wheels of finance to bring down the cost of new technology. Over the past five years, Germany has been largely responsible for priming an 80 per cent fall in the price of solar modules. Now it is looking at bringing down the cost of the next piece in the puzzle of its energy transition – battery storage.
Renew Economy 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
For the last decade, the energy industry has been convinced that demand for oil, gas and coal will keep growing quickly for the next 20 years; oil prices will remain high, and China will continue to build two coal power stations a week. The profits for oil and mining companies will keep flooding in. The investment community has largely accepted this view and backed companies’ investment of hundreds of billions of dollars a year in finding and developing new reserves. Of course, rampant growth in demand for coal and oil is depressing for those worried about climate change. If this demand growth continues, it seems unlikely that we can avoid dangerous climate change. But what if the energy industry’s bullish forecasts are wrong? In the past 12 months a counter argument has been gaining momentum in the investment community. The side of this story that has captured the imagination focuses on “carbon bubbles”, as experts argue that there is already more carbon embedded in the reserves of the fossil fuel companies than the world can burn if we are going to keep below a 2-degree temperature rise. These reserves may be “unburnable” and company share prices may be overinflated. The latest warning came a few days ago from Al Gore.
Guardian 7th Nov 2013 read more »
British Gas owner Centrica has signed a £4.4bn, four-and-a-half year deal to bring Qatari gas to the UK, that could see it import enough gas to meet the needs of 3m households. The contract will see Centrica buy up to 3m tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year from June 2014, when an existing import deal with the Gulf state expires.
Telegraph 6th Nov 2013 read more »
Andrew Horstead, an analyst for Utililyx, the energy consultancy, said that the Qatari deal should ultimately work out cheaper for consumers as it reduces the need to buy emergency supplies of LNG on the spot market when prices are at their highest.
Times 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Climate
Rising fuel bills have contributed to growing scepticism among the public that man-made emissions are causing climate change, according to the Government’s chief scientific adviser. Sir Mark Walport said that the scientific evidence that humans were warming the planet had grown even stronger but the recession may have made people more willing to listen to climate sceptics. Giving evidence to the Commons Science and Technology Committee, Sir Mark was asked why the public’s belief in climate change had declined. He replied: “There’s no doubt that hard economic times, fuel bills, are going to affect people’s view. There may also be a sense that this has been going on for a long time and nothing has obviously changed. And there have been some loud, sceptical, though wrong, voices.”
Times 7th Nov 2013 read more »
Britain is playing its part in a worldwide bid to reduce emissions and should not weaken its proposed cuts, says a report to the UK government. The Committee on Climate Change says no change in global science or policy justifies a slackening of effort. The report was compiled after Chancellor George Osborne said the UK’s competitiveness might be put at risk by leading the world in curbing emissions. The CCC research challenges this assumption. “It is not accurate to say that the UK is leading the world on this,” the CCC’s chief executive David Kennedy told BBC News. “We aren’t acting alone. We have made ambitious commitments, but other countries have too – they are acting on them and developing low-carbon technologies. “Some of our European counterparts are discussing targets stricter than ours for 2030 so if we want to be part of the low-carbon revolution we will have to make sure we aren’t left behind.”
BBC 7th Nov 2013 read more »
