Hinkley
The claim against the decision to grant consent for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, made by the Irish equivalent of the National Trust, An Taisce (‘an tashka’) is essentially on a single ground: that the government should have consulted the Irish people (i.e. its government) before the application was made, because the project is ‘likely to have significant effects’ on the environment in Ireland. Our government decided it wouldn’t and so didn’t consult Ireland or any other country. Unlike the rest of pre-application consultation, transboundary consultation is a duty on the government rather than the developer. It does consult other countries in some cases – see this blog post for example. Greenpeace have launched JR proceedings against the same decision, and although their claim is divided into seven grounds, again there is really only a single allegation: that the withdrawal of Cumbria County Council (CCC) on 30 January this year from the development of a long-term nuclear waste disposal facility in west Cumbria means that it is not currently possible to grant consent for a new nuclear power station according to government policy. Greenpeace rely on what they call ‘the Policy Test’, which comes from a government white paper from 2008, ‘Meeting the Energy Challenge – a White Paper on Nuclear Power’, and is as follows: ‘Our policy is that before development consents for new nuclear power stations are granted, the Government will need to be satisfied that effective arrangements exist or will exist to manage and dispose of the waste they will produce.’
Bircham, Dyson & Bell 6th June 2013 read more »
Radwaste
Since 2008 NOTHING HAS CHANGED apart from £millions spent on grooming Cumbrians to continue along carefully orchestrated steps towards geological disposal. This new “review of the siting process for a geological disposal facility” is a misnomer and a trap geared to receiving answers that will lead back to the predetermined site : Cumbria.
Radiation Free Lakeland 5th June 2013 read more »
Radiation Free Lakeland campaigners demonstrated in Whitehaven against nuclear waste from Scotland being buried at Lillyhall.
News & Star 7th June 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
A new report that finds consumers with electric heating are paying most for government energy policies has challenged government predictions that the average household will save £166 on its energy bills by 2020. But one of the researchers behind the report says the numbers shouldn’t distract from the need to address fairness in energy policymaking. Consumer body, Consumer Futures, has published research by the Centre for Sustainable Energy on the impact of energy policy on consumers’ energy bills, examining different groups by expenditure. The report, entitled ‘The hardest hit’, says the government’s policy of charging for changes to the UK energy system mostly through electricity bills disproportionately affects those who have electric heating – many of whom are among the worst-off in society.
Carbon Brief 7th June 2013 read more »
Energy Bill
On 4 June 2013, 290 MPs to 267 voted against an amendment to the Energy Bill to include a decarbonisation target of 30% by 2030. Such a target is in line with the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) recommendation to meet the UK’s policy of 80% cut by 2050, which in turn relates to maintaining a 2 degree global rise in climate change. A 30% target would also fit with wider requirements to get Europe onto a pathway of meetings its targets, as well as helping to move the UK, Europe and the Globe on from the current inadequate climate change plans and policies in place, as forcefully explained by the IEA ‘s 2012 World Energy Outlook. The amended Bill now moves to the House of Lords for the final vote. Those who voted against the amendment tend to reduce the argument to 1.we have a legally binding target of 80% cuts by 2050, we do not need another one, and 2. very few other countries have a legally binding target for 2030, so why should we? This is one of those negative, clever-clever arguments which are ultimately dishonest. It could for example be turned around and said ‘What is the problem with having a 2030 target if you intend to meet the 2050 target’. Both these statements avoid the ‘real’ issues that were involved in the vote. The vote was really about what sort of energy future Britain should have, and how seriously Britain takes climate change. And as shown, a majority of our politicians voted for a ‘dirty’ business-as-usual energy system and gave two-fingers to the idea of climate policy. Without a legislative target by 2030, the current conventional fossil based energy system can continue for a while longer doing exactly what it has always done; with private incumbent interests rather than society’s long term benefit taking priority.
IGov 7th June 2013 read more »
Scotland
Scotland has failed to meet its climate change targets for the second consecutive year. A greenhouse gas report for 2011 showed that emissions narrowly exceeded the official target. The Scottish government insisted the statistics showed Scotland was on track to meet its overall goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by the end of the decade. Environmental campaigners described the figures as disappointing. Emissions fell by 2.9% between 2010 and 2011, but fell just short of the 2011 target for adjusted figures, which take into account the EU Emissions Trading System. Scotland’s Climate Change Minister Paul Wheelhouse highlighted an overall 9.9% reduction in the unadjusted emissions figures.
BBC 7th June 2013 read more »
Guardian 7th June 2013 read more »
Times 8th June 2013 read more »
Scotsman 7th June 2013 read more »
Herald 8th June 2013 read more »
US
A California nuclear power plant will close permanently amid doubts it could operate safely, 18 months after a small radiation leak was discovered. The San Onofre plant near Los Angeles halted operations in January 2012 after radioactive water tubes were damaged. Operator Southern California Edison has faced a series of regulatory inquiries.
BBC 7th June 2013 read more »
Guardian 7th June 2013 read more »
In a new setback for the U.S. nuclear power industry, Edison International said Friday that it would permanently close two reactors at its San Onofre plant in California, ending a contentious battle over whether the units could be repaired and operated safely after a Jan. 31, 2012, steam leak revealed cracks in the steam generator system. Nuclear power foes rejoiced at the news. “After years of fighting toe-to-toe with the billion dollar nuclear industry, WE WON!” said an e-mail sent by Friends of the Earth, which had argued to nuclear regulators that the steam generators were the heart of the reactors and needed more scrutiny. “We have long said that these reactors are too dangerous to operate, and now Edison has agreed,” said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth.
Washington Post 7th June 2013 read more »
Victory for Grassroots Activism and Public Safety: San Onofre Nuclear Plant Closure Announced.
RINF 8th June 2013 read more »
One of the largest nuclear power plants in the US is to be shut down permanently, it was announced on Friday, in the latest sign of the deterioration in the industry’s economics.
FT 8th June 2013 read more »
Japan
Fukushima Crisis Update 4th to 6th June. This week, TEPCO announced yet another leak of radioactive water from a holding tank at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, site of the March 2011 nuclear disaster. This time, the leak affected an aboveground tank that had just been installed. In an ironic twist, TEPCO built the new tank (one of 38 installed in May) specifically to store contaminated water that was previously kept in leaking belowground storage pits.
Greenpeace 7th June 2013 read more »
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Francois Hollande agreed to deepen cooperation on nuclear reactor exports and to consider working together on defense equipment development.
Bloomberg 7th June 2013 read more »
Europe
China’s case against EU subsidies on wine seems much more firmly based than the EU’s case against Chinese imports of solar panels. That does not justify the protectionism imposed by the EU or threatened by China of course, but it does shine a light on the EU’s hypocrisy in its claims to support both environmental protection and free trade. The EU pours massive quantities of subsidies into agriculture, which of course supports agricultural exports to the rest of the world. Such subsidies impoverish poor third world farmers who are not only frozen out of EU markets but also see the prices they can be paid for crops sold on their home markets depressed as heavily subsidised and often wastefully produced EU food products are dumped on world markets. Those arguing for EU (and US) solar protectionism have surprisingly little evidence for their argument that the Chinese are subsidising solar panels. It seems their strongest argument is that the Chinese are ‘rationalising’ production by creating larger companies to produce solar panels.
Dave Toke’s Blog 6th June 2013 read more »
Vanunu
FOR a brief spell during the 1980s, he was the focus of global media attention and he later became one of the world’s most famous prisoners of conscience. In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu revealed details of Israel’s secret nuclear weapons programme to an astonished world via an article published by The Sunday Times. In doing so, the nuclear expert caused a sensation and prompted an Israeli response straight from a John Le Carré novel, when he was lured to Italy from London by a femme fatale with Mossad and kidnapped during a classic honey-trap operation. Now, some 17 years on from such seismic political events, Bradford University is home to a new archive which documents an international campaign to free a man who became famous as the “nuclear whistle-blower”.
Yorkshire Post 6th June 2013 read more »
Renewables
A Scottish island council is hoping to set up its own electricity company in a bid to cut prices for residents and tackle huge levels of fuel poverty. Western Isles Council has moved to establish a specialist project team that will come up with a detailed business plan for the Outer Hebrides Energy Supply Company (OHESC). Following the Energy Act in 2010, which gave local authorities the power to generate and sell their own electricity, the council commissioned the local specialist firm Greenspace to look into the proposal. They found that the OHESC “constitutes a very exciting prospect for the islands”, which could be replicated across the Highlands and the islands. The favoured model suggested by Greenspace is a joint venture with an existing major player, such as SSE or EDF, which has a share in one of the major wind farms planned for Lewis.
Times 8th June 2013 read more »
You could call it lunar power, and certainly it’s long been eclipsed by the sun and wind for renewable energy. Yet, after nearly 90 years of frustration, the time of tide – of which Britain has the greatest resources of any country on earth – might finally be about to arrive, and by an unexpected route. On Monday, a House of Commons select committee will produce yet another report on proposals for a tidal barrage across the Severn estuary that could generate 5 per cent of the country’s electricity. But it’s just possible that this much-touted solution – which has been unsuccessfully revived more than a dozen times since first proposed in 1925 – will be pipped to the post by a little-publicised scheme for a chain of lagoons around the estuary which, its promoters say, will produce more energy at about half the cost.
Telegraph 7th June 2013 read more »
SCOTRAIL has been granted planning permission for two wind turbines to provide power at a railway depot for the first time. The 5kw turbines will be up and running at Bathgate depot in West Lothian by early August. It is the first time wind turbines have been installed at a main ScotRail depot, but Montrose station already has one.
Herald 8th June 2013 read more »
When the sun is shining, solar PV on roofs cuts apparent electricity demand and reduces the call on conventional generating stations. Can we see the effect in the national figures for power need? Yes, it seems we can. The last few days have been sunny so I compared electricity demand this year with a comparable period in June last year when it was very dull indeed. Overall, power use is down slightly but apparent demand in the sunniest bit of the day is strikingly below the average for last year. The 2.5 gigawatts or so of PV on roofs and in fields appears to be having an observable effect on the need for daytime electricity production.
Carbon Commentary 7th June 2013 read more »
Wind farms are a ‘complete scam’, claims the Environment Secretary who says turbines are causing ‘huge unhappiness’.
Daily Mail 7th June 2013 read more »
Mirror 7th June 2013 read more »
Geoffrey Lean: Things have come a long way since David Cameron, newly installed as leader of his party, wanted to erect a wind turbine on his roof, to the annoyance of his neighbours. Yesterday, in a move led from Downing Street, his government announced that residents would have to be consulted before new wind farms are built, and that these will be barred if there is significant opposition. The move is both welcome and long overdue, as is an accompanying fivefold increase in benefits – including cuts in energy bills – offered to communities who decide to accept the turbines. Onshore wind has a place in the energy mix, even if successive governments have placed too much emphasis on it. But a greedy and arrogant wind industry has for too long ridden roughshod over local communities, and done little to share its guaranteed and generous profits with them. As a result it has – as one might say – reaped the whirlwind of public opposition. It would now be far better off if, as in Denmark and Germany, it had encouraged local participation and ownership in wind farms: partly as a result, both countries now have much more windpower than Britain and it enjoys broad public support.
Telegraph 7th June 2013 read more »
Once planning was the defender of the countryside. But with Cameron’s lot in power, money talks and beauty is silent There is no room for more wind turbines on the uplands of Britain. There are too many lobbyists fighting for money. Thursday’s mild government U-turn on turbines may upset grant-soaked landowners, but is a lifeline to countryside campaigners. They have come to see David Cameron’s planning ministers as akin to the pepper-spraying militia battling to build over Istanbul’s Gezi Park. The government had to climb down. The British countryside is facing little short of visual disaster. “Plans” to increase the present 2,000 onshore wind turbines to treble that number were blown apart when farmers realised they could get an average £40,000 a year in grants and tariffs per turbine, plus “compensation” even when the wind did not blow. So me landowners have realised £40m-£60m from just letting their land be used. This has become a far greater racket even than the Common Market subsidies of 30 years ago – and entirely the creation of the British Treasury.
Guardian 6th June 2013 read more »
Shale Gas
The British Gas owner Centrica is in talks with Britain’s leading fracking company about buying a stake in its most promising acreage just months after playing down the prospects for shale gas. Sources have confirmed to the Guardian that discussions are ongoing between Cuadrilla Resources and Centrica over the sale of a stake in the Bowland shale in the north-west of England. A second shale operator, IGas, said earlier this week that estimates of its resources were considerably higher than previously thought and that it could meet gas consumption in Britain for decades. Yet Centrica insisted in January that shale gas was not “the game-changer we’ve seen in North America” and has played down speculation that it might start drilling. Such a move could put Centrica at the centre of any “shale gas revolution” of the kind seen in the US – but it would also bring further reputational risks for a member of the Big Six that is already a target for a wide variety of critics. Many environmentalists are opposed to fracking on the grounds that a cocktail of chemicals are used to break up the shal e rock and extract the gas.
Guardian 7th June 2013 read more »
With many prospective shale gas reserves not far from centres of population, winning people’s trust will be crucial to drillers.
Guardian 7th June 2013 read more »
