Emergency Planning
Western societies would not respond well to a Fukushima-style nuclear disaster due to a lack of public information, a leading disaster expert has warned. Christopher Abbott said he firmly believed that the public ought to be better educated over the hazards and risks they may face. Illustrating his point, he referred to the Fukushima disaster of 2011 in which 160,000 people were evacuated from the vicinity of the plant as experts attempted to tackle the emergency. The evacuation worked, said Abbott, because “the Japanese educate the public”. “I just don’t see that it would have worked as successfully in western society,” he added. “[It’s] a very personal opinion but one that is backed up by Japanese colleagues.” Abbott, chairman of the Emergency Planning Society CBRN professional working group, made the remarks while giving evidence to a science and technology select committee hearing at the House of Commons on chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incidents. “We need to better educate the public, because a well-educated public will respond better,” he said. But Andy Bell, the deputy CBRN(E) lead at the Chief Fire Officers Association, said giving preemptive information to the public could pose risks of its own. “There obviously is some value in the preemptive thing, but I think there are some dangers in it as well in that pre-education can be misinterpreted. I would much rather give clear advice at scene that is based on the information we can see in front of us at the time.” But Abbott disagreed. “My again slightly more personal view is that we don’t educate public enough in advance. Therefore they are reliant on information at the time, which may not be timely because the advice may not be there,” he said. He did point out, however, that those living near nuclear plants in the UK were pre-informed about potential risks.
Guardian 7th June 2016 read more »
Plutonium
Two ships loaded with plutonium and highly enriched uranium from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s Fast Critical Assembly reactor arrived Tuesday at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina. The British-flagged Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron were carrying 331 kg of weapon-usable plutonium. About 236 kg, used for nuclear-reactor testing in Japan, originated in the United Kingdom, while around 93 kg is of U.S. origin and 3 kg is of French origin, according to Savannah River Site Watch, a nongovernmental organization tracking the shipment. The two ships, which are usually used to transport spent nuclear fuel between Japan and Europe for reprocessing, departed the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, in March and were originally expected to reach their destination last month.
Japan Times 7th June 2016 read more »
After a 10-week voyage from Japan, Barrow-based ships Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron docked in Charleston’s naval yards in the early hours of 4th June 2016 – at least 3 weeks later than projected. Once unloaded, the cargo – consisting of 331kgs plutonium from Japan’s Tokai Mura research facility and a quantity of Highly Enriched uranium (most of the materials originally sourced from the UK) – was transported to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Both ships sailed from Charleston in the early morning of 6th June heading back to the UK. Although the contentious shipment of weapons-usable material was undertaken under utmost secrecy and with the ships’ Automatic Identification Sytems (AIS) turned off in order to remain ‘incognito’, their progress has been tracked by CORE and others since leaving their home port of Barrow-in-Furness on 19th January 2016 – from entering the Panama Canal on 6th February (when all Canal webcams were deliberately shut down), their arrival at Japan’s Kobe port on 3rd March, the plutonium loading on the Pacific Egret at the small nuclear port at Tokai Mura and departure to the US on 22nd March, to their tug-assisted journey up Charleston’s Cooper River to the naval yards.
CORE 7th June 2016 read more »
World Nuclear News 7th June 2016 read more »
According to the 2015 Euratom Annual Report, EU-28 countries used 10,780 kg of plutonium in MOX fuel of their nuclear reactors, bringing the cumulative total to 195,019 kg of plutonium used in MOX in 1996-2015. The quantity of MOX fuel loaded into power reactors in the EU in 2015 is a 7% decrease over the 11,603 kg used in 2014.
IPFM 6th June 2016 read more »
Wylfa
Around 90 nuclear jobs have gone at Wylfa power station as the plant moves to the de-fuelling stage. The Daily Post revealed last year that 165 jobs were at risk at the Magnox run station – which employed more than 500 staff – as power generation came to an end on December 30 2015. Negotiations with workers and unions has seen this figure reduced and Magnox say that 90 people have now left with a further 20 transferred to Trawsfynydd power station in Snowdonia.
Daily Post 7th June 2016 read more »
Terror
The threat of a terrorist attack using nuclear material is the highest since the end of the Cold War, with Isis actively trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction, according to a leading international think-tank on proliferation. “Isis has already carried out numerous chemical weapons attacks in Syria; we know it wants to go further by carrying out a nuclear attack in the heart of Europe. This, combined with poor levels of security at a host of nuclear research centres in the former Soviet Union mean the threat of a possible ‘dirty-bomb’ attack on a Western capital is high,” said Moshe Kantor, the president of the International Luxembourg Forum.
Independent 8th June 2016 read more »
IB Times 7th June 2016 read more »
Tension between Russia and the West may be distracting them from cooperating to prevent an accidental nuclear confrontation or a dirty bomb attack by militants, nuclear policy experts said on Tuesday. Former U.S. Secretary of Defence William Perry said he regretted the current lack of communication between the United States and Russia, which went into a deep freeze after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Telegraph 7th June 2016 read more »
Utilities
Independent renewable supplier Good Energy plans five-fold customer growth by 2020 and aims to involve more customers in ownership of the company through a new share offer. Good Energy is aiming to raise £3.1 million through issue of £1,495,900 New Ordinary Shares at the price of 208p per share to encourage more customers to invest. The shares would also help the company to reduce customer costs to serve and acquisition costs and strengthen Good Energy’s financial position and future profitability.
Utility Week 7th June 2016 read more »
PLEX
The nuclear industry worldwide faces an escalating battle to keep ageing reactors running as about a quarter of components and computer systems become obsolete writes Paul Brown. Life extensions to nuclear plants in Europe and North America are repeatedly being granted by safety regulators. But, according to nuclear plant owners, 25 per cent of parts are now obsolete, so keeping the reactors going is becoming an increasing problem as components wear out.
Spinwatch 6th June 2016 read more »
Belarus
The Commission was quizzed on the safety of building work at the Ostrovets (Astravyets) nuclear power plant in Belarus in a plenary debate on Monday evening (6 June). Most MEPs raised concerns about its safety and compliance with international standards. MEPs asked the Commission whether the Ostrovets plant complied with EU nuclear safety rules and urged it to use all available instruments to ensure that the plant undergoes proper safety stress tests. The issue of safety of nuclear plants throughout Europe was highlighted. Many MEPs pointed to facilities in and around Europe operating beyond their planned lifespans. MEPs expressed broad concerns about the safety of the plant which is being built close to the Lithuanian capital. Many MEPs highlighted the cross-border nature of the issue with references to the Chernobyl disaster – and the difficulty of verifying reports of the risks around it.
EU Reporter 7th June 2016 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
An additional 15 people in Fukushima Prefecture who were 18 or younger when the Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, including a child who was 5 at the time. Fukushima prefectural authorities said June 6 that the new diagnoses, which were confirmed between January and March, raises the total number of confirmed cases to 131.
Asahi Shimbun 7th June 2016 read more »
North Korea
South Korea says it is ”seriously worried” about the North resuming the production of plutonium fuel for nuclear bombs.
Reuters 8th June 2016 read more »
India
Greenpeace India today released a report titled ‘Red Alert – India’s nuclear disaster plans, outdated and inadequate’. The report assesses India’s nuclear disaster plans and concludes that India’s plans do not offer a complete defence-in-depth for existing nuclear plants. According to the report [1], some of the disaster intervention levels set by the Indian nuclear regulator allow inadequate protection against possible exposure, both internal (ie from consumption of irradiated foodstuffs or radioactive particle-laden air) and external (by simply being physically present in an area with high radiation levels) in case of a nuclear emergency.
Greenpeace 6th June 2016 read more »
Trident
Britain has been quietly developing a more destructive nuclear warhead, bringing to £3 billion the amount spent so far on replacing the Trident deterrent. The development will harden Labour opposition to renewing the fleet of Trident submarines before a crucial Commons vote expected within weeks. Ministers have already authorised, without parliamentary approval, £85 million for the development of a new warhead as well as work to upgrade Trident’s nuclear devices. The work on a new Mark 4A warhead has been undertaken at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston. It will potentially allow Britain to choose a wider range of targets by giving greater control over the height of detonation. The Ministry of Defence has refused to answer questions on the cost of the overall Trident programme – warheads, missiles and submarines – on the grounds that the information is classified. Estimates put its eventual cost at more than £200 billion.
Times 8th June 2016 read more »
Nuclear Testing
Bikini Atoll is STILL uninhabitable: Radiation on island exceeds safety standards nearly 60 years after nuclear tests
Daily Mail 8th June 2016 read more »
Renewables
Despite record employment levels and high growth rates for 2015, Britain’s renewable energy sector looks set to suffer from repeated policy interventions that have “blindsided” the industry, a new report from the Renewable Energy Association (REA) has claimed. The REView 2016 report, released on Tuesday (7 June), reveals that impressive growth in the renewables industry – which saw its value increase by 4% more than the rest of the UK economy last year – will be slowed over the coming years by “sudden and severe” policy changes. Despite a record-breaking year both globally and nationally, the UK’s renewables sector has suffered from a “Jenga approach” to green policy that has seen Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) slashed and government incentives scrapped. With the Government’s lack of direction threatening to cause a renewable “landslide”, the report also reveals the extent of the UK’s renewable heat and transport gap. Despite the 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive establishing a 12% target for renewable heat generation and 10% target for renewable energy within the transport sector, these latest REA figures reveal that renewable heat generation is sitting at 4.6%, while renewable transport generation is just 3.2%. The transport and heat targets, which have a 2020 deadline, have received minimal incentivised encouragement from policy changes, with a reform of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) potentially creating a 98% reduction in the deployment of non-domestic biomass boilers and an end to support for solar water heating systems in the future.
Edie 7th June 2016 read more »
The UK’s renewables sector is enjoying record levels of employment, delivering record levels of clean energy, and has today received a major boost to its project pipeline. But the high growth rates enjoyed by the industry in recent years are now under serious threat as a result of a wave of recent policy changes that will make it harder for the government to meet its legally binding renewable energy targets for 2020. That is the headline conclusion of a major new report from the Renewable Energy Association (REA), which today attempts to take the pulse of the UK’s renewable energy sector and provide up to date information on the scale of the market and its short to medium term prospects. The report came on the same day as the renewables industry received a further boost with the news nine projects boasting over 2.6GW of capacity have taken a major step forward, after the body tasked with managing the award of clean energy price support contracts confirmed they remained on track for delivery.
Business Green 7th June 2016 read more »
Renewables – offshore wind
EDF Energy Renewables has started construction of a new offshore windfarm in Northumberland, with a potential capacity of 100MW. Onshore work is underway, and offshore work – including turbine installation – is expected to start in 2017 installing the first five turbines which will provide 41.5MW of capacity.
Utility Week 7th June 2016 read more »
Renewables – solar
Solar power in the UK produced more electricity than coal across the whole of May, the first ever month to pass the milestone, according to research by analysts at Carbon Brief. Solar panels generated 50% more electricity than the fossil fuel across the month, as days lengthened and coal use fell. Solar generated an estimated 1,336 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity in May, compared to 893GWh output from coal. Coal was once the mainstay of the nation’s power system but the rapid rise of solar panels and of climate change concerns has seen its use plummet, leading to a series of milestones in recent weeks. Solar surpassed coal over a whole day for the first time on 9 April, while the electricity produced by coal fell to zero several times in early May, thought to be the first time this had happened since the late 19th century. Coal power stations are running less often due to age and restrictions on the pollution they produce and a series have closed down in recent months, including Ferrybridge and Eggborough in Yorkshire, Fiddlers Ferry plant in Cheshire and Longannet in Scotland.
Guardian 7th June 2016 read more »
Carbon Brief 7th June 2016 read more »
Scotland’s largest solar farm, which will provide power for more than 3,500 homes, is due to be officially opened. The 13MW scheme, which was constructed on 70 acres of land at Errol Estate in Perthshire and includes 55,000 solar panels, went live in May. Paul Wheelhouse, the Scottish government’s minister for business, innovation and energy, will formally launch the solar farm. Its construction began in January. It generates energy all year round. Errol Estate was one of the first locations in Scotland to be identified as a potential solar farm site, with the land being promoted for development by Thomas Macmillan of Savills in 2011.
BBC 7th June 2016 read more »
The National 8th June 2016 read more »
Scotsman 7th June 2016 read more »
SCOTTISH homes fitted with solar panels would have seen enough sunshine last month to meet their entire electricity consumption, according to environmentalists. WWF Scotland said wind turbines also produced enough energy to meet the electrical requirements of around three-quarters (76 per cent) of homes and over a third (36 per cent) of Scotland’s entire energy consumption in May. The charity has published the analysis to urge the Scottish Government to make greater use of renewables in its forthcoming energy strategy. WeatherEnergy compiled the WWF analysis, and said the solar energy data “clearly shows that there’s plenty of sunshine to meet a significant proportion of an average family’s electricity and hot water needs during some months of the year”.
The National 8th June 2016 read more »
Environmentalists have urged the Scottish Government to outline its plans to secure half the country’s energy from renewable sources. WWF Scotland made the call as it published analysis of solar and wind power data for May, a month of near-constant sunshine. It also came as the country’s biggest solar farm was opened at Errol, between Perth and Dundee. The data showed there was enough sunshine in May to generate 100% of the energy needed in a city home fitted with solar PV panels and almost enough to provide all the hot water needed in a home fitted with solar hot water panels. Wind turbines in Scotland provided 692,896MWh of electricity to the National Grid, enough to supply, on average, the electrical needs of 76% – 1.8 million – of Scottish households.
Dundee Courier 7th June 2016 read more »
Local Energy
Over 200 cities have set greenhouse gas reduction goals or targets. Action in these cities, which represent a combined population of 439 million people, could propel countries to meet their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)—the national greenhouse gas reduction pledges embodied in the Paris Agreement. According to Can a City Be Sustainable?, the latest edition of the annual State of the World series from the Worldwatch Institute, cities and their inhabitants are playing a lead role in achieving global climate action goals.
Worldwatch 7th June 2016 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Britain’s coal plants should be shut down by 2023, two years earlier than proposed by the Government, green Tories including former energy minister Lord Barker have said. The Bright Blue group of Conservatives dismissed fears that plans to end unabated coal power generation by 2025 could lead to supply shortages, insisting the lights would stay on even if the proposed new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant is never built. In a report, they urged ministers to bring forward the planned coal closure date to at least 2023, saying that doing so “would actually provide more certainty for investors in new gas, improving energy security”. Amber Rudd, the energy secretary, announced in November that all unabated coal plants would close by 2025 with their use restricted, in an as-yet-unspecified way, from 2023. However she has repeatedly st ressed this will only be done if gas replacements can be brought on in time to ensure security of supply. Coal lobbyists have suggested this is a risky strategy, especially as the new nuclear programme runs behind schedule. Lord Barker, who served as an energy minister in the Coalition, said the Government should “take maximum advantage” of its coal phase-out plan ad “give investors even greater certainty”.
Telegraph 7th June 2016 read more »
The new report includes analysis by Aurora Energy Research of how closing coal plants early might affect the nation’s se curity of supply. This included a “high stress” scenario in which the expansion of renewables is slow, Hinkley C is cancelled and coal power stations close early. “Despite what some exaggerated claims suggest, a coal phase out even under a ‘high stress’ scenario, will not result in the lights going out,” said Ben Caldecott, author of the report and associate fellow of Bright Blue. “Our analysis shows the significant benefits for pollution and system security of further encouraging renewables, interconnection, storage, demand side response and energy efficiency.” On Hinkley, the report said: “The future of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station appears to be highly uncertain. Should the project not materialise, renewables can easily fill the capacity gap in the late 2020s. This should be ‘Plan B’.” It noted the fast build time and rapidly falling cost of renewable energy and said: “The ability of these technologies to deliver this capacity is already impressive and will be even more so in the mid to late 2020s.”
Guardian 7th June 2016 read more »
Letter Dr Robin Russell-Jones: Janet Russell asks the right question (Letters, May 30). What has happened to the report on shale gas by the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC)? When Professor Cowern and I gave evidence in February, we were assured that the report would be published no later than May. We have also been told unofficially that the CCC has accepted our data on fugitive emissions of methane and that shale gas is two times worse than coal from a climate change perspective. We also submitted a further paper towards the end of March, indicating that over half of the rise in atmospheric levels of methane seen globally since 2007 is due to oil and gas, notably shale extraction in the US, and that this is obscuring the rise in methane emissions from the Arctic. I suppose it would be highly embarrassing for the government if its “dash for gas” was found to be incompatible with our climate change commitments, agreed by the UN but implemented via EU legislation. Embarrassing unless the government accepted the scientific case and announced it was going to abandon fracking and invest in renewables.
Guardian 7th June 2016 read more »
