Sellafield
Letters about Mobiot’s article including from Nuclear Free Local Authorities, Ruth Balogh, Michael Baron. A former Nirex person says: We were at Sellafield to justify the decision that had already been made, and to persuade an independent inspector, and then the secretary of state, to grant the necessary planning permission. Ironically, changes to the planning system mean that today’s proposals for new nuclear facilities will not be subject to anything like the scrutiny which we endured. My personal experience leads me to fear for the results.
Guardian 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Prof Eisenhandler: The integral fast reactor (IFR) that Monbiot and some others portray as some sort of perfect solution is not as easy or available as he implies. It would be cooled by liquid sodium, a very difficult technology that has been written off by the US, France and the UK (at Dounreay). The new form of reprocessing that might allow the IFR to use its own waste as a fuel source has never been tested. Nor does everyone agree that the IFR is as proliferation-resistant as he claims. Even if development of the IFR were to be pursued and successful it would be decades before it could make a useful contribution to electricity generation.
Guardian 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Sellafield Ltd has announced the preferred bidders for the 15-year design services alliance contract at the nuclear site in West Cumbria. Progressive alliance, led by Babcock and Scott Wilson URS, is up against AXIOM, a joint venture between Jacobs, Amec, Assystem and Mott MacDonald. A statement from Sellafield Ltd it is a significant milestone in the way the organisation does business, and is the first true alliance style framework contract with our supply chain, which bring certainty and security to the supply chain at all levels for both tier two and three.
Construction News 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Nuclear Subsidy
Long-term electricity purchase contracts to persuade firms to build nuclear power plants in the UK are not illegal state aid under European Union rules, claimed the UK’s top nuclear official. “We are confident of our arguments,” said Hergen Haye, the head of new nuclear and strategy in the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc). “We believe this is not a state aid project. We believe it is correcting the imbalance with gas.” Contracts, to reduce risks for investors, are intended to help the utility EDF to finalise funding for the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear plant by the end of 2012. Decc would seek a Commission aid ruling when it has preliminary agreement with EDF. “We want to do that early,” said Haye. “They need to have some form of comfort.” However, industry figures at the latest annual European Nuclear Assembly organised by Foratom, the European sector’s trade association, claimed that the idea could easily fall foul of the Commission’s strong opposition to state aid.
Utility Week 7th Dec 2011 more >>
New Nukes
A report by Manchester University claims nuclear power could contribute significantly to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in the UK but not without consequences.

The research into the sustainability of nuclear and other electricity options in the UK shows that nuclear power could make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 2035. However, the report suggests that would require a huge expansion of nuclear, constituting 35 per cent of the electricity mix by 2035, almost double the current contribution. Given that most current nuclear power stations are due to close in this period, this scenario seems unfeasible, the authors claim.

At the same time, they say in a statement that expansion of nuclear power would worsen other sustainability aspects, including depletion of natural resources, ozone-layer depletion, toxicity and health impacts from radiation.
Engineer 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Hinkley
Campaigners yesterday stepped up their battle against a new nuclear power station in Somerset by handing a major petition to 10 Downing Street. Members of the Stop Hinkley campaign dressed up in white overalls and gas masks, as they presented almost 13,000 signatures to Prime Minister David Cameron. They were accompanied by Wells Liberal Democrat MP Tessa Munt, and Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party.
Western Morning News 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Wells People 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Wylfa
THE farming community has deep concerns over the building of a Wylfa B. Last night members of the National Farmers Union of Wales were due to meet with representatives from Horizon which wants to build the new power station to discuss their fears of farmland being acquisitioned by compulsory purchase.
Holyhead and Anglesey Mail 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Daily Post 1st Dec 2011 more >>
Radwaste
“There’s joy in the mountains, There’s life in the fountains” This graphic novel has been sent to all Cumbrian councillors and ‘Partners’ in the plan to mine the biggest hole in the world and fill it with high level nuclear wastes..
Blurb 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Dounreay
A nuclear plant that got planning permission within three days of the application to build it was received must now comply with tougher rules. A register of planning applications for Caithness from 1955 shows plans for Dounreay listed after an application to construct a timber garage. New regulations require consultation and public hearings before applications for major projects are submitted. The lead company at Dounreay has been highlighting how the changes affect it.
BBC 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Worldwide Capacity
Due to increasing costs of production, a slowed demand for electricity, and fresh memories of disaster in Japan, production of nuclear power fell in 2011, according to the latest Vital Signs Online (VSO) report from the Worldwatch Institute. Despite reaching record levels the previous year, global installed nuclear capacitythe potential power generation from all existing plantsdeclined to 366.5 gigawatts (GW) in 2011, from 375.5 GW at the end of 2010.
Worldwatch Institute 5th Dec 2011 more >>
Europe
European Commission officials are warning that safety improvements will be required at some of the European Union’s (EU) nuclear power plants, following detailed stress tests assessing their vulnerability to earthquakes and tsunamis. At a background briefing on the stress tests in Brussels, one official said: “A lot of the national reports have identified areas where the safety margins can be improved.”
Utility Week 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Iran
Your assertion that the most recent International Atomic Energy Agency’s report on Iran’s nuclear programme uses old intelligence to provide the sharpest picture yet of the weapon that Iran hopes to develop warrants some contextual explanation. Some analysts say that this intelligence dates from the turn of the millennium. This is because the latest US National Intelligence Estimates of Iran’s nuclear programme (one issued in 2007 and another earlier this year), which represent a consensus of all 16 US intelligence agencies, concluded that Iran ended its efforts to build a nuclear weapon in 2003.
Nature 8th Dec 2011 more >>
They don’t give up. After a decade of blood-drenched failure in Afghanistan and Iraq, violent destabilisation of Pakistan and Yemen, the devastation of Lebanon and slaughter in Libya, you might hope the US and its friends had had their fill of invasion and intervention in the Muslim world. It seems not. For months the evidence has been growing that a US-Israeli stealth war against Iran has already begun, backed by Britain and France. Covert support for armed opposition groups has spread into a campaign of assassinations of Iranian scientists, cyber warfare, attacks on military and missile installations, and the killing of an Iranian general, among others. The attacks are not directly acknowledged, but accompanied by intelligence-steered nods and winks as the media are fed a stream of hostile tales the most outlandish so far being an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US and the western powers ratchet up pressure for yet more sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Guardian 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Japan
Tepco says it is running out of space to store contaminated water and may dump it, prompting protests from fishing groups.
Guardian 8th Dec 2011 more >>
The Japanese government may inject between $13 billion (8 billion pounds) and $19 billion into Tokyo Electric Power Co in a de facto nationalisation of the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, domestic media reported on Thursday.
Reuters 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Tokyo Electric Power Co. shares fell the most in six months after the Mainichi newspaper said the company will be taken over by the government nine months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster brought it close to collapse. The governments Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund may buy preferred shares worth at least 1 trillion yen ($12.9 billion) from the utility by next summer, the Mainichi said, without saying where the information came from. Most of Tokyo Electrics management will be replaced, the report said. Tokyo Electric spokesman Hiroki Kawamata said he couldnt immediately comment on the report.
Bloomberg 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Radioactive cesium was found in milk powder in Japan made by a Meiji Holdings Co. unit, raising concern that nuclear radiation is contaminating baby food. Meiji the past week found traces of cesium-137 and cesium- 134 in batches of Meiji Step made in March, the Tokyo-based company said yesterday. The probe was triggered by a customer complaint last month. Levels in the 850-gram (30-ounce) cans are within safe limits and dont pose a health risk, Meiji said. The finding highlights the radiation threat to food in Japan nine months after the Fukushima nuclear plant was wrecked by an earthquake and tsunami. Prolonged exposure to radiation in the air, ground and food can damage DNA, causing leukemia and other cancers. While infants are especially susceptible, the contamination may not be a significant threat if limited to small quantities in isolated batches, said Slim Dinsdale, a food safety consultant based in Norwich, England.
Bloomberg 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Fukushima Update 2nd to 5th Dec 2011
Greenpeace International 6th Dec 2011 more >>
Japan’s lower house has approved four international nuclear cooperation agreements in a sign of commitment to nuclear exports. Emerging nuclear nations with export potential Jordan and Vietnam should soon begin trade of nuclear goods and services with Japan, while fully developed nuclear power users Russia and South Korea will renew old agreements.
World Nuclear News 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Japans Kansai Electric Power will manually halt its Mihama No.2 nuclear reactor as a safety precaution after it discovered unusual levels of coolant leaking from a valve inside the containment vessel.
Engineering & Technology 7th Dec 2011 more >>
China
Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said on Wednesday that he is in the process of developing of a new generation of nuclear reactors with China, with emphasis on safety, waste reduction and reasonable funding.
IB Times 8th Dec 2011 more >>
The Register 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Business Green 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Guardian 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Belfast Telegraph 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Independent 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Uranium
Kalahari Minerals was in focus amid talk China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp is close to finalising its £610m takeover of the uranium mining company.
Telegraph 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
Bob Alvarez: The legacy of human suffering from amassing nuclear arsenals remains ignored in the current debate over eliminating these horrific weapons of mass destruction. Lest we forget, the Energy Employee Illness Compensation Program Act, which I helped draft and push for, was enacted 11 years ago this week. It was based on legislation first proposed by Senator John Glenn (D-Oh) in 1992. “What good is it to protect ourselves with nuclear weapons,” Glenn would often ask, “if we poison our people in the process?”
Huffington Post 7th Dec 2011 more >>
Renewables
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has today announced funding of £10 million for local community energy projects, and a £20 million boost to the existing public sector energy efficiency loan scheme. We are making £10million available for communities to help spur an energy revolution at a local level. The new £10 million Local Energy Assessment Fund, managed by a number of community networks and administered by the Energy Saving Trust, will be run as a competition, with the chance for around 200 community organisations to get to grips with energy efficiency and renewable energy generation. Organisations including parish councils, voluntary associations, development trusts and faith groups are all eligible to apply. There is around £50,000 available for each successful community to be used to help assess the potential for energy efficiency and local renewable energy generation and get things started in local communities. This is a short term scheme where work will need to be completed by end of March 2012. Interested communities can apply via the Energy Saving Trust from 9am Wednesday 7 December and money will be allocated in two rounds. The first round closes at noon on 22 December 2011 with successful applicants notified in the week beginning 9 January 2012. The second round will close to applications at noon on 20 January 2012 with successful communities notified at the end January.
DECC 7th Dec 2011 more >>
The researchers at Australia’s BioPower Systems evidently looked at that kelp, and thought, “what if we could use that swaying action to generate power?” The result was their envisioned bioWAVE system, which could soon become a reality, thanks to a just-announced AUD$5 million (US$5.1 million) grant from the Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources.
Gizmag 5th Dec 2011 more >>
The cost of the controversial Beauly-Denny electricity line has more than doubled, to nearly £750 million, because of delays and last-minute landscape improvement measures demanded by the Scottish government. The original estimate of £331 million in 2004 had climbed to £539 million earlier this year. But the final cost of the 137-mile line, which will be paid by the UKs electricity consumers through their bills, will be even higher.
Times 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Climate
If rich nations were to stop subsidising fossil fuels to the tune of billions of dollars a year, the money raised could go a substantial way to providing the cash needed to help poor countries develop a “green” economy and cope with the effects of climate change, according to Lord Nicholas Stern, former World Bank chief economist and author of the landmark report for the previous Labour government on the costs of climate change.
Guardian 7th Dec 2011 more >>
CCS
Chris Huhne has been challenged to come clean over the £1 billion that the Government promised to provide to develop new green power plants but which appears to have vanished from its books. Tim Yeo, who chairs the Commons Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, has written to the Energy Secretary after it emerged that the Treasury had not set aside the cash for the plants during the current spending round, which lasts until 2015-16. Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, recently stoked fears when he said that “much of the money” would be spent on other projects.
Times 8th Dec 2011 more >>
