New Nukes
Vincent de Rivaz: Why Britain must take the nuclear path. In Britain, there is a pressing need to invest in new generation. It is important to adopt energy solutions that are not only low-carbon but also secure and affordable. Nuclear must be part of the solution, alongside other low-carbon technologies. Nuclear offers important benefits to customers. It is the cheapest large-scale low-carbon electricity source. Experience in France shows it can protect against volatile fossil fuel prices over the long term.
FT 8th Jan 2010 more >>
Nuclear power is a much more cost-effective way to cut carbon dioxide emissions than building offshore wind farms, the head of the company seeking to lead Britain’s nuclear revival has said. EDF says it believes all energy sources will be needed and it is developing a small offshore wind farm in the north-east. But it has not bid for any of the latest round of offshore wind licences that are to be announced on Friday. Charles Anglin of the BWEA, which represents the wind power industry, responded that new nuclear developments could play no significant role in meeting demand for electricity in this decade, because the first reactor was unlikely to be in commercial operation until 2018 at the earliest.
FT 8th Jan 2010 more >>
Nuclear power is a step in the wrong direction, sucking capital and engineering know-how into a short-term technology with a terrible long-term legacy of nuclear waste. Instead support energy efficiency to reduce the demand. Support renewable energy whose fuel is harmless and free and will never run out.
Low Carbon Kid 7th Jan 2010 more >>
Oldbury
Northavon MP Steve Webb is about to lobby a new planning body to make sure people have their say over a proposed new nuclear power station in South Gloucestershire. Mr Webb will meet a representative from the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) next week to discuss proposals for the atomic plant next to the Oldbury nuclear site, near Thornbury.
Western Daily Press 7th Jan 2010 more >>
Hinkley
National Grid is extending the first phase of public consultation on connecting the planned new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station because of the current extreme weather. Residents and local authorities now have until midnight on Friday, January 22, to give their views on the two possible route corridors for a new overhead power line from Bridgwater to Avonmouth.
Nailsea People 7th Jan 2010 more >>
A new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point isn’t needed either to keep the lights or to combat climate change, a meeting of the Stop Hinkley campaign group was told on 6 January. Tom Burke, CBE, a government adviser on energy matters, told the meeting in Bridgwater Town Hall that Britain could carry on generating enough electricity for our needs well beyond the supposed crunch period of 2015-20, even without new nuclear stations like the proposed Hinkley. Any shortfall caused by old power stations closing down would be filled by over 20 gas-fired power stations either under construction or planned, he said, and by a growing wave of renewable sources and a new generation of coal stations fitted with carbon capture facilities.
Shepperdine Against Nuclear Energy 7th Jan 2010 more >>
Chapelcross
KEY players at Dumfries and Galloway Council enjoyed a visit to Chapelcross Nuclear Power station near Annan recently. The power plant is being defuelled and decommissioned. Site director, Dave Wilson and his lead team at Magnox North Chapelcross welcomed Dumfries and Galloway’s chief executive, Gavin Stevenson and a number of other key officials from various departments.
Dumfries and Galloway Standard 6th Jan 2010 more >>
Radiation and Health
Radiation, says Allison, is nothing like as dangerous as the anti-nuclear lobby and its paranoid regulators claim. The permitted radiation level in the waste storage hall at Sellafield is so low (1 mSv per hour) as to be negligible, a figure achieved at vast cost in construction and inspection. This compares with the 100 mSv threshold for even remote cancer risk and 5,500 for radiation sickness. According to Allison, someone would have to live for a million hours in Sellafield to absorb the same radiation as is administered in a hospital radiotherapy suite. Higher doses are permitted in food processing and even in medicinal resorts, with supposed beneficial or at least harmless effects.
Guardian 8th Jan 2010 more >>
Proliferation
In November, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made a deal with Russia to stockpile 120 tonnes of nuclear fuel in a plant at Angarsk near Irkusk. And in 2010, the IAEA is expected to come to a more encompassing arrangement with Kazakhstan to keep 60 tonnes of uranium at a plant in the east of the country. The aim is to convince some 60 developing countries planning to use nuclear power in the near future that they do not need to go down Iran’s path of enriching their own uranium. As long as they adhere to IAEA regulations, nuclear fuel supplies will be guaranteed regardless of their politics or human rights record.
BBC 8th Jan 2010 more >>
Iran
If Iran comes within reach of a nuclear weapon – as Washington and its allies fear – the power map of the Middle East will alter, the rules that have held back atomic proliferation for decades may be damaged beyond repair and the US and Israel will see a bitter foe empowered as never before. Not least, US President Barack Obama will also have failed on a key foreign policy objective.
FT 8th Jan 2010 more >>
Coal
Scotland has the potential to be a world leader in developing low-carbon fuels, but Alex Salmond’s reliance on coal is an albatross around its neck.CCS is likely to prove such an energy-intensive technology that, rather like biofuels, its benefits may prove illusory. But not even its biggest enthusiasts expect CCS to be functioning on anything more than a pilot scale this side of 2020. Most reckon the 2030-40s are more likely. Salmond’s political career will be over by then. And his new coal-fired power plants are likely to be ending their lives having captured little – if any – of the millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide they will have emitted.
Guardian 8th Jan 2010 more >>
Climate
Energy, utilities and materials companies in the FTSE 100 will prevent the UK from hitting its 2020 emissions reductions targets for another decade, according to a new report.
Telegraph 8th Jan 2010 more >>
Energy Efficiency
Pensioners and low-income households receiving benefits can apply for help purchasing and installing a new boiler under the Warm Front scheme, which could cover the cost in full. If they apply for the scrappage scheme instead, they will forfeit their right to the Warm Front funding.
Telegraph 8th Jan 2010 more >>
Renewables
Nine giant new wind farms in the seas around Britain will be announced today, but few of the 6,000 turbines needed are likely to be built here.
Times 8th Jan 2010 more >>
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is launching a £100bn programme to build thousands of offshore wind farms. Bids for tenders for nine zones around territorial waters and the Continental Shelf were submitted to the Crown Estate, which owns the seabed to a distance of 22.2km off the UK coast.
BBC 8th Jan 2010 more >>
Gas Supplies
A return to 1970s-style fuel rationing, or just a straightforward contractual arrangement? You could spin the story of National Grid diverting gas supplies from factories with interruptible contracts either way. This isn’t a question of supply, but distribution. What National Grid did yesterday was put in place plans it has for when its network is operating at full capacity and can no longer keep up with demand, reducing supplies to some customers in order to prioritise the domestic market. Most of those organisations that have been paying lower charges in return for accepting interruptible contracts will have switched to alternative fuels and always knew, when they signed up for the deals, that this was a possibility.
Independent 8th Jan 2010 more >>