Sellafield
RISKS of something serious happening in Sellafield’s old plants are far too high, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate has warned. The NII and the Environment Agency are worried about the potential for a “major event” arising from part of Sellafield’s “high hazard, high risk” area. Eliminating hazards is said to be a national priority. One of the high risk plants is B30, the original fuel storage pond which is open and known among workers as “Dirty 30”. NII inspector Mark Foy gave the warning at a meeting of Sellafield’s independent community watchdog group. He said: “We are concerned that the risk of a major event caused by further degradation of legacy plants, or increased time at risk due to deferrals, is far too high.
Whitehaven News 7th Oct 2009 more >>
A new project, which has the potential to create hundreds of new construction and civil engineering jobs in the north of England, has been put out to tender, it has been confirmed. Forming part of the government’s programme of establishing a new generation of nuclear power plants across the UK, the £1.5 billion project will see a new nuclear waste processing plant built at Sellafield. With the work set to be overseen by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, it has now been revealed that five companies are due to submit tenders for the work, with Australian and Singaporean firms joining European rivals in bidding for the lucrative contract. According to Contract Journal, Sir Robert McAlpine and Laing O’Rourke are due to put in their tenders to the government body by the end of the week. Work at Sellafield is expected to begin in April 2010 and continue until 2018, with hundreds of construction and civil engineering jobs supported over the period.
Career Structure 7th Oct 2009 more >>
SEVEN Sellafield contractors had their hearing affected by a big bang on the site. It came from a release of compressed air while they were putting up scaffolding close to the release. All seven needed medical treatment in Sellafield’s own medical centre and one was sent to the West Cumberland Hospital for further checks.
Whitehaven News 7th Oct 2009 more >>
SELLAFIELD still faces the threat of strike action even though contractors want to accept a new national pay deal. Nine hundred Sellafield contractors have voted by two to one in favour of the pay and conditions package for the engineering construction industry. But with 30,000 industry workers saying a majority ‘no’ to the offer in a national ballot the two unions involved – GMB and Unite – warn that a strike is still on cards.
Whitehaven News 7th Oct 2009 more >>
Conservative Policy
The Conservative Party yesterday set out its climate change and energy policies for the forthcoming election, pledging to take “immediate action” to address potential energy shortfalls by approving proposals for new nuclear and “clean coal” power plants, while also increasing incentives for investment in low-carbon technologies.
Business Green 7th Oct 2009 more >>
Hutton
BARROW MP John Hutton, who is quitting politics at the next General Election, has turned down a position with the world’s biggest nuclear power station operator.
NW Evening Mail 7th Oct 2009 more >>
Low Level Waste
People in Cumbria are being given the chance to hear about plans to dispose of radioactive waste at a former opencast mine. Endecom UK wants to build a plant to manage low level nuclear waste at Keekle Head, near Whitehaven.
BBC 7th Oct 2009 more >>
Dounreay
AFTER 25 years of service, a fire engine designed to fight radioactive metal fires has been saved from the scrapheap in a last-minute rescue. The engine at the Dounreay nuclear plant was due to be broken up after becoming surplus to requirements. But the vehicle is now to have a new home after being gifted by the plant to the Caithness and Sutherland Vintage Vehicle Club.
Scotsman 8th Oct 2009 more >>
A decommissioning team is getting ready to look inside an underground bunker at the Dounreay nuclear site in Caithness where intermediate-level radioactive waste has lain submerged in water for almost 40 years. Two remotely operated cameras will penetrate the concrete-lined vault to lay the groundwork for a clean-up. The two-week operation is expected to provide images of the silo’s internal condition as well as the state of its waste contents. The facility resembles a nine-metre-deep swimming pool, lined on all sides with thick concrete and divided in the middle by a partition wall.
Professional Engineering 7th Oct 2009 more >>
Italy
Italian industry minister Claudio Scajola insists that at least ten new reactors must be built over the next 20 years, and that work on the country’s first new plant will be under way before the next election. He wants nuclear power to account for 25 per cent of Italy’s power generation within a decade. Both goals seem optimistic. The Italian senate approved an economic development decree in July that overturned the 22-year ban on nuclear power, passed after a post-Chernobyl referendum. But the measure gives the government just six months to finalise the sites of future plants and waste storage facilities, and to establish an independent atomic agency. Funding for this huge plant construction programme is also uncertain.
Utility Week 7th Oct 2009 more >>
Iran
The disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June is raising questions about whether he defected and gave the West information on Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran’s foreign minister accused the United States of involvement in the disappearance of Shahram Amiri, who reportedly worked at a university linked to the elite Revolutionary Guard military corps. In a sign of the sensitivities surrounding Mr Amiri, Iranian officials have not even publicly identified Mr Amiri as a nuclear scientist, referring to him only as an Iranian citizen.
Independent 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Times 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Telegraph 8th Oct 2009 more >>
The Venezuelan President has once more managed to upset his American counterparts, this time by using a televised Cabinet meeting to crack knockabout jokes about helping Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Independent 7th Oct 2009 more >>
Guardian 7th Oct 2009 more >>
North Korea
South Korea’s foreign minister said on Thursday there were no signs that the North was in the final stages of restoring an ageing nuclear plant, knocking down a report that operations could soon resume at the facility.
Yahoo 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Israel
Fighter jets were scrambled in Israel after a small civilian aircraft flew into restricted airspace near the country’s heavily guarded and secretive Dimona nuclear reactor.
Glasgow Evening Times 7th Oct 2009 more >>
Sweden
Swedish nuclear operator OKG has extended an outage at the nuclear Oskarshamn unit 3 until 18 October as it increases capacity there to 1,400MW from 1,150MW.
Argus Media 7th Oct 2009 more >>
Coal
Controversial plans to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent have been put on hold for up to three years, energy firm E.On has said. It said the scheme would be delayed to about 2016 because electricity demand had fallen during the global recession.
BBC 8th Oct 2009 more >>
FT 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Telegraph 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Telegraph 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Guardian 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Environmental activists claimed a major victory last night when plans for Britain’s first new coal-fired power station for 30 years were shelved after a sustained campaign.
Times 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Independent 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Letter: In response to the announcement that Scottish Power’s plans for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) system at Longannet power station in Fife may have failed to attract hundreds of millions of pounds of European funding, Dr Richard Dixon director of WWF Scotland, member of the board of Stop Climate Chaos and supporter of the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill, said, The world urgently needs technology that will reduce our climate emissions. Such technology, as I am sure he knows already exists, and it is nuclear. As for his favoured, and increasingly costly CCS, the many problems surrounding such technology, even if sufficient funding were to become available, are still far from resolved, and years from being proved in terms of reducing emissions.
Dundee Courier 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Renewables
Europe risks falling behind the US and Asia unless it persuades the private sector to invest 50bn (£46bn) in researching clean energy technologies over the next decade, say EU regulators.
Telegraph 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Glasgow secured a major jobs boost yesterday with the announcement by Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) that 300 jobs are to be created over the next three years in a new research and management centre for wind farm projects. The £20 million project also marks a significant step forward in Scotland’s growing research capabilities into renewable energy, which now encompass several hundred scientists and engineers. SSE said it was joining with the University of Strathclyde, a recognised centre for wind energy, to build a new centre for renewable energy engineering excellence in Glasgow.
Times 8th Oct 2009 more >>
BBC 7th Oct 2009 more >>
THE UK’s biggest producer of renewable electricity is to build a 20 million European green energy headquarters in Glasgow. With Scottish & Southern Energy basing its new facility in Scotland’s largest city, it is being seen as a boost to the country’s bid to take a lead in the development of renewable energy. The centre, to be known as the Centre of Engineering Excellence for Renewable Energy (CEERE) will provide a base from which the power giant will oversee its entire European onshore and offshore wind portfolio.
Scotsman 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Herald 8th Oct 2009 more >>
Energy Efficiency
Green campaigners have called on the Scottish Government to include “bold initiatives” in a new action plan on energy efficiency. Leaders of the environmental group WWF Scotland spoke out as the Government is due to launch a consultation on its energy efficiency action plan. Finance Secretary John Swinney is also expected to announce a new pilot scheme where homeowners are to be offered loans for insulation. Elizabeth Leighton, of WWF Scotland, said the group had been waiting for an energy efficiency action plan for six years. She said: “If the Scottish Government is serious about meeting the world-leading targets set out in the Scottish Climate Change Act, then reducing energy demand from homes will have to play a major role in this action plan. Homes account for one third of our carbon emissions and energy efficiency is by far the cheapest and easiest way of reducing our impact while at the same time helping to lift households out of fuel poverty.” WWF Scotland is calling for the Government to include a comprehensive home energy retrofit strategy as part of its work. The group also wants to see council tax incentives for those who improve their energy efficiency and for work to improve energy efficiency to be focused on groups of houses, creating street by street ‘low carbon zones’.
Herald 8th Oct 2009 more >>
