Funded Decommissioning
In a step designed to protect the taxpayer and provide investor certainty, the Government has set out statutory guidance for new nuclear operators to produce plans for funding the decommissioning of their power stations and managing their radioactive waste. This will enable new nuclear operators to come forward with clear plans to deal with decommissioning and radioactive waste management for approval by the Secretary of State. Alongside this, the Government confirmed how it will calculate the price operators will pay for the disposal of nuclear waste in a geological disposal facility.
DECC 8th Dec 2011 more >>
The Department for Energy and Climate Change has today set out statutory guidance for nuclear operators for establishing their funding for decommissioning plans.
New Civil Engineer 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Reuters 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Sellafield
HOPES of a jobs-boosting £3.5 billion Mox fuel manufacturing plant at Sellafield have soared now that the government has opted for the re-use of plutonium as its preferred option. Energy minister Charles Hendrys written parliamentary statement paves the way for Sellafield Mox 2 but emphasises that more needs to be known before any final decision is be made. Only a few weeks ago Sellafields long-running but struggling Mox plant closed down because Japans Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster left it without a single customer.
But if the case for a new plant stacks up then the decision to build a manufacturing plant at Sellafield is expected before the end of 2014.
Whitehaven News 8th Dec 2011 more >>
COPELAND Council welcomed the Mox announcement at its full meeting held in Whitehaven a few hours after the ministers announcement. Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (Core) has voiced strong dissent a decision made in the dark that yet again puts the proverbial cart before the inevitable white elephant, declares spokesman Martin Forwood. It simply provides a way of putting dangerous material beyond reach, squandering a further £3billion of hard-pressed taxpayers money into a plant that will directly support just 600 workers is an obscene nonsense. The weakness of the case for the re-use of plutonium as Mox fuel has undoubtedly prevented the government from going the whole hog and putting its weight behind the construction of a new Mox plant at Sellafield or elsewhere in the UK.
Whitehaven News 8th Dec 2011 more >>
ONE of Sellafields main production plants has shut down for the second time in three months. Magnox reprocessing has been forced to close once again, but Sellafield Ltd says there are no radiological issues unlike the previous closure when excess levels of radiation had to be investigated. On this occasion a mesh-strainer is blamed. It effectively acts as a filter preventing large lumps of material entering the plants system and needs to be replaced, the company explained. It is hoped the Magnox plant will not have to stay closed for more than two weeks.
Whitehaven News 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Letter Martin Forwood: For crossword buffs who routinely tussle with anagrams, the choice by NuGeneration of the name Moorside for its proposed new nuclear power station adjacent to Sellafield will be an absolute godsend. May we therefore be the first to suggest that, as just one possibility, Doomrise fits the bill nicely and more accurately reflects NuGens search for a name that reflects regional aspirations and a distinct identity to the new nuclear build development.
Whitehaven News 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Hinkley
It was a typical 3-D November evening (dark, dank, and dismal) but this did not deter a full house many of whom had travelled some distance who were seeking the shedding of light upon a vital, not to say contentious, topic at the November meeting of the Wells Civic Society. They were not disappointed as the pros and cons, technical data, commercial, security, and environmental issues connected with Hinkley Point C were discussed by Andrew Cockcroft, research officer, EDF, Bridgwater office.
Wells People 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Hartlepool
A £2 billion shot-in-the-arm could be on the way for the North-East economy if Hartlepool gets a new nuclear power station. And to prepare for the potential boost, two training academies have joined forces to ensure the towns workforce has the skill it needs to build the plant. A memorandum of understanding has been signed by the National Skills Academy for Nuclear and the National Skills Academy for Construction, which is part of the CITB-Construction Skills organisation.
Peterlee Mail 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Wylfa
A community consultation has been launched for the proposed replacement for Anglesey’s Wylfa A nuclear power station. The consultation document says the new nuclear installation, named Wylfa B, could be in operation for up to 90 years from its projected 2020 completion, during which it would be “a significant feature within the landscape once constructed”. Energy developer Horizon Nuclear Power has bought a 232-hectare site from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to build on next to Wylfa A, near Cemaes on the islands north coast.
Planning 7th Dec 2011 more >>
New Nukes
The government’s plans for new nuclear power plants will significantly bolster construction recruitment, the construction sector skills council has announced.
Career Structure 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Building more nuclear power stations would help stop global warming, Manchester University scientists have claimed. A major study into the viability of new atomic plants in Britain said that doubling the nuclear output could drastically cut the harmful gases churned into the atmosphere.
Manchester Evening News 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Old Nukes
The National Nuclear Laboratory, based at Sellafield, has clinched a multi-million-pound deal for vital work in keeping many of the UKs electricity producing nuclear reactors safe. The deal has been struck with EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Ltd which operates eight UK nuclear power stations. A Lab spokesman said: This contract will help EDF Energy ensure it can continue to provide safe and secure electricity to consumers around the UK. It also means we can retain world-class skills in its scientists and technicians employed in Cumbria. NLL will supply engineering support for EDFs fleet of reactors. Most of the work will be done at its Windscale (Sellafield) laboratory and involves post-irradiation examination of fuel and graphite removed from the gas cooled reactors (AGRs).
Cumberland News 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Whiterhaven News 8th Nov 2011 more >>
Nuclear Ships
Russia and China have held their first meeting for cooperation in the development of marine nuclear energy for floating power plants and potentially for propulsion of large ships. While hundreds of nuclear reactors have been employed in the military navies of China, France, Russia, the UK and USA for decades, only Russia has maintained a fleet of civil nuclear ships: the icebreakers that work the country’s Arctic ports and one freighter. Other countries’ forays into civil marine nuclear power – the NS Savannah, the Otto Hahn and the Mutsu – did not continue in the long term due to various social, economic or technical factors.
World Nuclear News 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Energy Supplies
The British new coalition government’s Energy Secretary Chris Huhne told the House of Commons last month that wind power and privately-financed nuclear power were the tools with which the country could avoid a looming energy crisis. Huhne said in his annual energy statement that Britain was facing an energy revolution: “Like the other industrial revolutions, the low carbon revolution will be driven by entrepreneurs, the private sector, local communities, individuals and businesses, scientists and engineers, not government.”
IB Times 8th Dec 2011 more >>
Global demand for natural gas will soar by 60pc between now and 2040, a rate of growth that will see it steal the number two spot from coal in 2025, the US energy company said. Oil will remain the biggest source of energy by 2040. The company expects that a higher proportion of natural gas will be extracted from shale rock, which energy producers, including Exxon, are investing heavily in. Although shale has been hailed as source of energy that holds huge potential, the hydraulic fracking techniques used to extract it from the rock have raised fears about its environmental effects and blocked exploration in parts of the US and France.
Telegraph 9th Dec 2011 more >>
Supply Chain
Sheffield Forgemasters International has revealed it has completed work on components for South Korea’s civil nuclear power programme. The advanced manufacturer, which is the only UK company with ASME certification to manufacture civil nuclear castings and forgings, has supplied forgings for reactor coolant pumps as part of a seven-figure sum contract.
Insider Media 9th Dec 2011 more >>
Uranium
A Chinese state-owned power company has set its sights on two uranium companies, making a £632m offer for London-listed Kalahari Minerals that if completed would trigger an offer for Australia-listed Extract Resources. China Guangdong Nuclear Power has bid 243.55p for Kalahari, an investor in a Namibian uranium project, representing a 16 per cent premium to the Aim-quoted group’s share price over the past six months. Kalahari’s board recommended the latest offer from the Chinese group, which is trying to secure supplies of nuclear fuel as the country embarks on the world’s biggest reactor-building programme.
FT 9th Dec 2011 more >>
Kalahari Minerals, the AIM-listed, Namibia-focused uranium, gold and copper producer has agreed to be taken over by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC) for £632m.
Independent 9th Dec 2011 more >>
Japan
Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant said Friday it has scrapped a plan to dump water it treated for radiation contamination into the sea following fierce protests from fishing groups.
Reuters 9th Dec 2011 more >>
India
Every now and again, one reads an editorial that stops the reader in his tracks. On 8 December, with the headline “War Inevitable To Tackle Indian Water Aggression,” Pakistans Urdu-language Nawa-e Waqt, issued such a screed. Nawa-e Waqt bluntly commented on Indias Kashmiri water polices and Islamabads failure up to now to stop New Delhis efforts to construct hydroelectric dams in Kashmir, India should be forcibly prevented from constructing these dams. If it fails to constrain itself, we should not hesitate in launching nuclear war because there is no solution except this. Potential nuclear war over water rights such sentiments ought to light up switchboards from New Delhi to Washington.
Oil Price 9th Dec 2011 more >>
Renewables
The European Commission is threatening to take the Government to court over its controversial decision to cut solar-power subsidies by half. The commission became the latest party to question the move publicly yesterday, revealing that it had contacted the Government as it investigates the impact of the cut. Günther Oettinger, the EU Energy Commissioner, said: “Whenever member states revise their support for support schemes for renewable energy, they need to do so in a manner which does not destabilise the renewable-energy industry or risk undermining their plans to achieve their 2020 targets.” The Government is legally obliged to generate 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Independent 9th Dec 2011 more >>
Climate
After a day of unexpected drama at the UN climate change talks, a historic deal on greenhouse gases looked tantalisingly within reach on Thursday night but with a handful of major economies holding out, the end result could still be discord and the death of the Kyoto protocol. One hundred and twenty countries, led by Brazil, Japan, Canada and many African nations, threw their weight behind a proposal from the European Union for a roadmap towards a new global agreement on climate change. Under the plan all the world’s major emitters both developed and developing countries would negotiate a new pact in 2015 to cut emissions substantially from 2020.
Guardian 8th Dec 2011 more >>
BBC 8th Dec 2011 more >>
The chance of a binding new climate deal involving the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas emitters, China, the US and India, looks increasingly unlikely as the UN climate conference in Durban draws to a close today. In an outcome that would dash the hopes of thousands of people and many countries who feel themselves threatened by global warming, an international treaty that would make the planet’s biggest polluters cut back by a definite timetable on their carbon emissions is looking like an impossible dream.
Independent 9th Dec 2011 more >>
Alex Salmond has been warned that his government has no clear plan to find the £11bn likely to be needed to meet a target to cut Scotland’s CO2 emissions by 42% in less than a decade.
A study by Audit Scotland, the spending watchdog, said it remained unclear how the public sector would find the money at a time of “intense pressure” on spending.
Guardian 8th Dec 2011 more >>
