Hinkley
Austria could be badly contaminated by radioactive pollution from a serious accident at the new nuclear power station proposed for Hinkley Point in Someset, the country’s environment agency has warned. The Austrian government’s Umweltbundesamt has lodged a formal objection to the application to build the station by the French power company, EDF Energy. The dangers of a worst-case accident should be assessed before the plant is given the go-ahead, it says. The Vienna agency’s 39-page submission concludes that the environmental impact assessment of the proposed Hinkley reactors “does not permit a meaningful assessment of the effects of conceivable accidents”. EDF’s claim that the risk of a large release of radioactivity has been practically eliminated “is not sufficiently demonstrated”, it says.
RobEdwards 7th March 2013 read more »
Electricity Supplies
Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica (ex-British Gas), has got a cheek. He has just announced that “we think by 2017-8 we’re going to see loadshedding (i.e. rolling blackouts) at certain times of day if you have nuclear or other outages”. He added that new generating capacity was essential if the UK is to avoid blackouts, but then declared that Centrica won’t build any gas plants in the UK for at least 4 years – thus bringing about the very disaster he’s predicting. Why so obtuse? Because Laidlaw is much more concerned about Centrica profits than the national interest. With about 10% of Britain’s generation stock about to be retired in April, putting intense pressure on the reserve margin available at times of peak usage, the coal plants scheduled for closure were supposed to be replaced by nuclear reactors and offshore wind farms, but these have been delayed by the financial crisis and uncertainty over government policy. Now Laidlaw’s refusal to fill the looming gap by building new gas plants is the last straw.
Michael Meacher 7th March 2013 read more »
Nuclear Subsidies
Response from Ed Davey to Change.org petition: Thank you for your petition “Subsidies for nuclear power would be illegal under EU law. Propping up an expensive and dangerous industry diverts resources from renewable energy”. Nuclear is also cost competitive with other generation technologies and is expected to be one of the cheapest sources of low carbon electricity in the future. This is about creating a level playing field for all forms of generation, not subsidising nuclear. The concept of aid as interpreted by the European Commission and EU courts is very wide. It is quite possible to meet the technical tests for State Aid (because we are supporting low carbon generation over high carbon generation) while being in line with our policy on nuclear.
DECC 7th March 2013 read more »
The long-running negotiations between the government and EDF over its plans to build a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point have reached a “critical” stage, raising fresh questions over the viability of the coalition’s plans for a “nuclear renaissance”.
Business Green 7th March 2013 read more »
Britain’s hopes of a nuclear renaissance are hanging by a thread after a black week for the sector. Negotiations between the Government and the industry to set the all-important price structure are ‘on the brink’. If they collapse, the UK will face the real prospect of a future without new nuclear power, which would leave it heavily reliant on imported gas or controversial wind technology. An internal memo from EDF showed that it has begun laying off staff involved with its project to build a new reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset as fears mount that the £7billion venture will not go ahead. ‘There is no denying we are at a critical moment for our project,’ the company said in the document. The Government and EDF were close to striking a deal earlier this year, it is understood. They were only a hair’s breadth apart on the critical price, according to sources with knowledge of the talks. But then the Treasury demanded a much lower price ‘out of the blue’ to try and force the discussions in its favour. The unexpected move slammed the brakes on the talks, creating a stalemate that has yet to be broken in a moved slammed by one observer as ‘brinkmanship’.
This is Money 8th March 2013 read more »
Protest
Watch any recent footage of Vicky Pryce approaching Southwark Crown Court and behind the defendant and the gaggle of lawyers, press and TV crews waiting outside, you might just catch a glimpse of Stuart William Holmes. The pensioner activist and his dog, also called Stuart, has stood behind Pryce on every day of the trial so far, holding an anti-nuclear placard in front of the cameras, in a desperate bid for publicity.
Huffington Post 7th March 2013 read more »
Dalgety Bay
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has made a fresh call to the Ministry of Defence to clean up radiation at Dalgety Bay. The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP secured a debate in the House of Commons to raise the issue of contaminated particles on the beach. Around 3400 particles have been detected on the Fife beach since 1990. They are believed to be the result of military aircraft with radium-coated instrument panels being incinerated on the beach and buried in the bay area after the Second World War. Part of the foreshore was closed in October 2011 after a lump of contaminated metal was discovered on the beach. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has pledged to finish a “comprehensive” investigation into the radiation by May this year so that it can devise a clean-up plan.
STV 7th March 2013 read more »
Wylfa
Wylfa Power Station exercise on Wednesday, where emergency services training to deal with a rural road accident, practice dealing with a contamination area and treating casualties.
Daily Post 6th March 2013 read more »
An emergency exercise has taken place at Wylfa Site today, Wednesday 6 March. RADSAFE ‘Exercise Stingray’ tested the multi-agency response which would be triggered in the unlikely event of an incident involving the transport of radioactive material. The aim of the exercise was not to test the safety of transporting radioactive materials, but to demonstrate the various agencies coordinated response to a RADSAFE incident.
Nuclear Decommissioning 6th March 2013 read more »
Sellafield
Sellafield has announced that it is creating an extra 142 jobs. These are on top of the 500 announced by energy minister John Hayes just before Christmas. Recruitment will start from today. Copeland council leader Elaine Woodburn said: “I am delighted Sellafield Ltd has actually exceeded its expectations in terms of new recruits. “What this mean is that almost 650 people will have access to secure jobs with good incomes, which can only be a good thing. This “helps us deliver Sellafield’s mission of accelerating safe and efficient clean up. Because of the progress we’re making and the efficiencies achieved, we are now able to focus even more funding on speeding up the work safely.” All 642 posts will be filled across the site by process and skilled workers in craft, maintenance, safety and technical, health physics and engineering areas. About 100 of the jobs will go to apprentices and technical trainees. Pay rates range from more than £26,000 and £31,000 a year to £55,000 at the highest end of the scale.
Cumberland News 7th March 2013 read more »
Downloadable Information poster/notice to be displayed on Cumbrian Beaches. The public has a right to know, the information displayed is all in the public domain and referenced on the poster. Public Notice: Radioactive contamination has been found on this beach – see diagram below – source: Sellafield Ltd; There is “potential Alpha irradiation of the skin”; Radioactive particles could be inhaled and “give rise to a significant risk to health if ingested” The Health Protection Agency 2012.
Radiation Free Lakeland 7th March 2013 read more »
Decommissioning
Costain Nuclear Process has secured a contract from Magnox to undertake construction, infrastructure and maintenance work across 10 nuclear decommissioning sites in the UK. Under the deal, worth £2.7m, Costain will renovate the upper structure of the safestores, or reactor buildings, at Trawsfynydd power station in Wales, UK. The deal will also see Costain improve the integrity of the structures with steel sections attached to the internal surfaces of the safestores buildings. Costain’s scope of work will also include the design and provision of scaffolding and access platforms, as well as putting in place intricate lifting plans.
Energy Business 8th March 2013 read more »
NDA
A NEW director has been appointed to the board behind the UK’s nuclear industry. Ed Davey, secretary of state for energy and climate change, has appointed a new non-executive director to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority board following Alistair Wivell’s four-year term in office. Tom Smith is a former diplomat and senior executive with experience of working on major infrastructure projects spanning a number of years.
NW Evening Mail 7th March 2013 read more »
Japan
The crowds of anti-nuclear protesters have dwindled since Japan’s “Summer of Discontent” last year, and a new government is keen to revive the country’s atomic energy industry, but Morishi Izumita says he is not about to throw in the towel. “We can’t give up. I’m here every week,” said 64-year-old Izumita, one of hundreds gathered outside the prime minister’s office one Friday nearly two years after a huge earthquake and tsunami triggered the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Reuters 7th March 2013 read more »
North Korea
North Korea threatened the United States on Thursday with a preemptive nuclear strike, raising the level of rhetoric as the U.N. Security Council approved new sanctions against the reclusive country.
Reuters 7th March 2013 read more »
Guardian 7th March 2013 read more »
Herald 8th March 2013 read more »
Express 8th March 2013 read more »
Independent 8th March 2013 read more »
UN resolution condemns third nuclear test ‘in the strongest possible terms’ and warns the North against further provocations.
Guardian 7th March 2013 read more »
The US will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state and will not reward it for returning to nuclear talks, the US envoy on North Korean policy Glyn Davies has said. It follows the Security Council voting in favour of a new round of sanctions against the country.
ITV 7th March 2013 read more »
Iran
Whatever happens, the nuclear talks will reveal the true intentions of Iran’s leadership.
Telegraph 7th March 2013 read more »
Some years ago now, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, “Our nuclear train has no brakes.” Some people laughed about it; some were concerned; and some still are. It is not clear whether Yukiya Amano, chief of the United Nations nuclear watchdog (International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA), falls strictly in the latter category, although he did this week demand access to Iran’s Parchin military site. “Without further delay”, he added.
Commentator 7th March 2013 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
In an unprecedented show of global public concern that included strong religious voices, 500 civil society representatives and 132 governments met from 2 to 5 March 2013 in Oslo, Norway, to address the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons. Diplomats, scientists, activists, religious leaders and film star Martin Sheen addressed a civil society forum and a government conference on the health, environmental and emergency impact of nuclear explosions. The forum was organized by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) “no-nukes” network participate in the campaign and took part in Oslo.
Ekklesia 8th March 2013 read more »
Renewables
Scientists in Edinburgh are working to develop technology capable of converting carbon dioxide emissions from power stations into fuel. They believe their research has the potential to revolutionise the global energy industry. The process uses the power of the sun to produce what are known as “solar fuels” from carbon dioxide. These include ethanol, methanol and methane. The fuels could be used in the transport sector or to provide domestic heating. The technology, which is being developed at Heriot-Watt University, relies on a process called photo-catalytic reduction. Existing photo-catalytic reduction processes do not produce enough fuel to make them financially viable. However, the team of international scientists working in Edinburgh has won funding of £1.2m to develop a new generation of highly efficient photo-reactors.
BBC 7th March 2013 read more »
A £225m project to convert half of Britain’s biggest coal-fired power station into a biomass plant is to receive a government guarantee as part of George Osborne’s push for investment in infrastructure. The chancellor will tout the guarantee for the Drax plant in Yorkshire as proof that his £40bn guarantee scheme, announced last summer, is achieving results after months of teething problems.
FT 8th March 2013 read more »
Thames Water has this week revealed plans to spend £250m accelerating what it describes as a “vast ‘poo power’ programme” designed to ensure the company generates a fifth of its electricity from renewable sources. The utility already uses waste-to-energy anaerobic digestion technologies to meet 14 per cent of its annual electricity needs using power generated from sewage – a practice that saved the company around £15m on its energy bills last year. But now the company has revealed it is to expand the programme with the installation of thermal hydrolysis process (THP) plants at six of its sewage works that are expected to significantly enhance the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion process.
Business Green 8th March 2013 read more »
Energy Efficiency
The full scale of the energy efficiency savings on offer to heavy industries was underlined this week with the release of a new report suggesting the UK’s industrial sector is wasting up to £2.2bn a year. The analysis was unveiled by the Energy Efficiency Financing (EEF) scheme, a corporate green lending service backed by engineering giant Siemens and the Carbon Trust consultancy that aims to provide “pay-as-you-save” financing to businesses, enabling them to undertake energy efficiency improvements at no upfront cost and then make repayments using the resulting savings on energy bills.
Business Green 8th March 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
The closure of Daw Mill comes when King Coal has made an astonishing comeback with consumption by UK electricity generators up year-on-year by more than 30%. Despite government targets of reducing Britain’s CO2 emissions, the energy companies are burning lots more carbon-heavy coal attracted by its relatively cheap price compared to (environmentally-cleaner) gas and the need to use or lose this coal-burning capacity ahead of new pollution controls in 2015. Around 40% of the electricity generated by power stations comes from coal while gas trails with a 30% share followed by nuclear, wind and other renewable sources.
Guardian 7th March 2013 read more »
COAL mining in Scotland is on the brink of oblivion after Britain’s second largest producer said more than half of its workers are to be axed as major financial problems threaten its future. The country’s oldest major industry, which at its peak in 1957 employed 87,000 men and after the Second World War had 187 collieries, will be reduced to just 308 workers after Scottish Coal’s parent company announced it is to axe 450 of its 758-strong workforce. Scottish Resources Group (SRG) also said it would close or mothball environmentally sensitive mining projects, blaming the rise in cheap imports and fracking in the US for natural gas. The National Union of Mineworkers said it could affect six out of the eight surface mines operated by the group and called on the Scottish Government to help the company.
Herald 8th March 2013 read more »
Scotsman 8th March 2013 read more »
BBC 8th March 2013 read more »
