Bradwell
EDF Energy remains under obligation to sell land it owns at Bradwell, in Essex, UK, to a competitor for construction of a new nuclear power plant, a government spokesman confirmed March 8. A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said that the obligation to sell the Bradwell site imposed by the government when EDF bought British Energy in 2009 remains in force. EDF has already sold land at Wylfa to Horizon Nuclear Power, a joint venture of German utilities RWE and E.ON, but a requirement that it sell land at either Heysham or Dungeness has been dropped. Dungeness was not found suitable for new nuclear build during the governments strategic siting assessment. Both the European Commission and the UK government, which imposed the requirement that land at either Heysham or Dungeness be sold as a condition for approving EDFs takeover of British Energy, have since dropped the demand, the DECC spokesman confirmed March 8. However, the spokesman said that the requirement to sell Bradwell remains. The requirement is, however, conditional and therefore no sale is likely in the near term. A condition of the agreement between the government and EDF that it sell the Bradwell land is that the sale will only occur after EDF achieves planning approval to build two Areva EPR reactors at Sizewell in Suffolk. Bradwell would be a backup site for EDFs plans to build four EPRs in total in the UK.
i-Nuclear 8th March 2012 more >>
Hinkley
Leading environmentalists Jonathon Porritt and Caroline Lucas MP will join demonstrators at Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset to mark the first anniversary of the Fukushima disaster – and to call for a halt to the development of Hinkley C. Kate Hudson, chair of CND will also be speaking at the event. Community groups from all over the UK will be forming a symbolic chain around the EDF Energy-owned power station this Saturday March 10th. The chain will represent their battle to stop the expansion of Hinkley Point and to halt the governments push for seven other new nuclear power stations around the UK. The event will be followed by a 24-hour blockade of Hinkley Points main entrance.
Stop New Nuclear 8th March 2012 more >>
On the eve of an epochal examination, the head of the team responsible for securing consents for Britain’s first new nuclear power station in 20 years is confident. This month, the government’s major infrastructure projects regime embarks on its biggest test yet. A meeting scheduled for 21 March signals the formal start of the examination by the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) of power firm EDF Energy’s plans for a 3,260MW nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. For the man leading EDF’s consents team, the wheel has come full circle. At the start of his career, Richard Mayson played a part in the final stages of commissioning Hinkley Point B, the UK’s first advanced gas-cooled reactor. For the past three years, he has been pushing forward plans for the next generation of nuclear production at the same site. If all goes to plan, the six-month examination will end in September, followed by a recommendation to the secretary of state in December. A favourable result would help EDF keep its promise to make a final investment decision on the scheme by the end of 2012, but it is not the only box that needs ticking. Firstly, EDF is looking for assurances that the government’s ongoing electricity market reforms will provide sufficient financial certainty for investors in low-carbon energy sources. In addition, a swathe of approvals is needed from a range of bodies on site licensing, reactor safety, environmental permits and financial arrangements for decommissioning the new reactor fleet 60 years down the line.
Regeneration & Renewal 9th Mar 2012 more >>
COUNCIL leaders will join forces with other authority bosses along the route of a proposed new power line to campaign for the cables to go underground. North Somerset Council is poised to sign a planning performance agreement (PPA) with energy giant National Grid to ensure the authority is fully involved with every step of the power line plans. Other councils along the route including Sedgemoor, West Somerset, Somerset and South Gloucester- shire have already signed the agreement. National Grid wants to create a new 400,000 volt overhead power line from Avonmouth to Hinkley Point to bring electricity onto its transmission network as part of the Hinkley C Connection Project.
Clevedon Mercury 8th Mar 2012 more >>
This week, Greenpeace activists from around the world have been taking action to expose their governments failure to take nuclear safety seriously. From Indonesia to Istanbul, Bangkok to Belgium, Greenpeace activists took action in 19 countries. Here in the UK, on Saturday 10 March people from across the country will be heading down to Hinkley Point, where EDF wants to build the first new nuclear reactor in almost 20 years. There will be a rally and a 24 hour non-violent blockade of the existing nuclear power stations.
Greenpeace 5th March 2012 more >>
Capenhurst
Hughes and Salvidge secure the contract to demolish Building A2 for Sellafield Limited on the Capenhurst Site near Chester. Nationwide decommissioning and demolition contractors, Hughes and Salvidge who specialise in the safe deconstruction, dismantling and decontamination of high risk sites for the industrial, chemical and pharmaceutical industries are programmed to commence works on site in March to undertake asbestos removal, soft stripping and demolition of this large industrial building.
Build.co.uk 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Sellafield
A new book, Sellafield Stories, in which author Hunter Davies records locals’ thoughts and memories of the nuclear site.
Whitehaven News 8th March 2012 more >>
NDA
A SEASCALE man will soon be taking over the day-to-day running of Sellafields owners, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Whitehaven News 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Sizewell
THE potential site of a new nuclear power station is at high risk of flooding according to an unpublished government analysis, it has been reported.
East Anglian Daily Times 8th March 2012 more >>
THE transportation of highly-radioactive spent fuel from the Sizewell A nuclear power station is to be
suspended during the Olympic Games.
Ely Standard 3rd Mar 2012 more >>
Radwaste
Letter from Della Hynes Braystones: On reading your article Long-term benefits in return for waste, I note that Elaine Woodburn said: Seventy per cent of waste that would go in the repository is at Sellafield. Is Coun Woodburn saying that only current legacy waste would go into a repository? As the waste at Sellafield only takes up a fraction of the site (approximately a tenth to an eighth), why does MRWS literature say a repository would be between one and four times the size of Sellafield? Is Coun Woodburn misinforming the public about the inventory and volume of waste intended for a repository? Either way, how can the public respond to this consultation, when the information being fed to them is at best inaccurate, and at worst dishonest? Coun Woodburn implies that all nuclear waste should be grouped with existing waste at Sellafield, and a solution should therefore be found in West Cumbria. Because future waste from new UK nuclear reactors would far exceed existing waste, the significance of legacy waste at Sellafield is not a compelling argument for focusing exclusively on West Cumbria. Large volumes of waste will be transported over significant distances, wherever the location of a repository.
Whitehaven News 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Letter: With four out of five parish or town councils to date having now publicly rejected the continuance of the MRWS consultation process, the growing call for a Copeland referendum must be acted upon so as to confirm APUSs dubious assumptions. This method is called Putting tax payers money where their mouths are.
Whitehaven News 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Letter: Carlsbad has a Goldilocks geology sitting on top of the biggest salt deposit in America. This represents a permanently dry location which has been stable for thousands of years. West Cumbria on the other hand sits on top of a system of waterlogged, fractured and unstable rock where the water provides a medium for spreading radioactive contamination far and wide. The Whitehaven News PR article in favour of a repository does not befit what should be the unbiased approach of this newspaper.
Whitehaven News 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Old Nukes
POLITICIANS and environmental groups have expressed serious concern after information was released confirming a growing risk of flooding around nuclear power stations close to Wales. A previously unpublished analysis undertaken by Westminsters Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Defra, has been made available following a request under the Freedom of Information Act by The Guardian newspaper. It shows that the nuclear power station at Oldbury in Gloucestershire, across the Severn and less than four miles from Chepstow, is on the edge of an indicative flood plain and currently has a medium risk of flooding that rises to a high risk by the 2080s. Berkeley nuclear power station, also in Gloucestershire and on the east bank of the Severn, has a low flood risk now which goes up to medium in the 2080s. Hinkley Point, on the Bristol Channel in Somerset, has a low flood risk now that rises to high in the 2080s. It also has a risk of land erosion.
Western Mail 9th March 2012 more >>
UK nuclear sites are at risk of flooding due to rising sea levels caused by climate change, according to a full analysis compiled by Defra. Out of 19 existing and planned nuclear sites in the UK, 12 are at risk of flooding or coastal erosion, the Guardian reported. Nine of these have been assessed by Defra as vulnerable now, with the others facing danger in the future.
Public Sector Executive 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Business Green 8th Mar 2012 more >>
EDF Energy will spend £200m strengthening buildings at its eight UK nuclear sites following a review in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. EDF stressed that none of its plants had safety weaknesses. The investment will be spent on a number of steps that can further improve these strong safety standards.
Construction Enquirer 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Nuclear Police
A new £1.6m firing range has been proposed for Civil Nuclear Constabulary officers at Dounreay in Caithness. The armed police provide security for the nuclear power site. Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) said the officers’ current firearms training facility no longer met modern standards.
BBC 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Nuclear Investment
Major moves away from nuclear energy in the wake of last years Fukushima nuclear crisis is creating opportunities for transmission and energy storage names, a top performing long/short equity absolute return manager has said. DNBs Jon Sigurdsen, who runs the renewable-energy focused DNB Fund ECO Absolute Return fund, said a lot of opportunities had been created in Japan – as well as in a number of other major energy producing nations – in response to pressure to replace nuclear technology.
City Wire 9th Mar 2012 more >>
World Nukes
Nuclear plants around the world map.
Guardian 8th Mar 2012 more >>
The number of new nuclear power stations entering the construction phase fell dramatically last year compared with previous years, in the aftermath of the incident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan last March. From 2008 to 2010, construction work began on 38 reactors around the world, but in 2011-12, there were only two construction starts, according to Steve Thomas, professor of energy studies at the University of Greenwich. The fall was interpreted by some as evidence of rapidly waning interest in nuclear power after the forced shutdown of the Fukushima reactor a year ago, in which no one was killed but thousands of people were forced to flee their homes. But others argued it was merely a temporary pause, and predicted the “nuclear renaissance” would continue.
Guardian 8th Mar 2012 more >>
World Energy Council
LONDON – One year after the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi, the World Energy Council (WEC) will publish on Friday, 9 March, a study analysing the impact of the accident on national nuclear energy plans worldwide. The report, ‘World Energy Perspective: Nuclear Energy One Year After Fukushima’, finds that: Very little has changed, especially in non-OECD countries, in respect of the future utilisation of nuclear in the energy mix, according to the data analysed by the study group; Very little has changed in respect of improving global governance of the nuclear sector, highlighting the need for action; there is critical need to inform the public about issues relating to nuclear generation technologies, safety, costs, benefits and risks.
WECC Press Release 8th March 2012 more >>
WEC Report 9th March 2012 more >>
A new international accord on the management and safety of nuclear power plants should be a priority for governments, an influential global energy organisation has said. A year after Japan’s Fukushima reactor was shut down, the World Energy Council whose members include many of the biggest energy companies from around the world said an agreement was possible and should be a matter of urgency. “Global nuclear power is one of the rare issues on which an international accord could be achieved with a reasonable level of efforts the need to act is urgent, and the time is right,” its report found.
Guardian 9th March 2012 more >>
Europe
One year after the Fukushima disaster hit Japan, nuclear power remains very firmly on the agenda for the European Commission. Corporate Europe Observatory examines how the industry has been lobbying behind the scenes, promising that nuclear power does not pose a risk.
Corporate Europe 7th Mar 2012 more >>
France
French utility EDF will carry out upgrades to improve the safety of its nuclear facilities in the next 10 years, earlier than planned, the company’s head of nuclear production said on Thursday. France’s nuclear watchdog ASN asked EDF in January to improve the safety of nuclear facilities so they can withstand the kind of extreme shocks that triggered Fukushima.
Reuters 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Japan
A paper out today in the journal Scientific Reports shows evidence that radioactive plutonium spread tens of kilometres from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The new work could lead people to believe that there is a health risk, but that is not the case.
Nature 8th Mar 2012 more >>
FOR THE SURFERS offshore the wall will be almost invisible, hidden behind the existing sand dunes and pine trees. From the land it will tower 10-12 metres above the Hamaoka nuclear power plants perimeter road. It will be 1.6 kilometres long and two metres thick; its foundations will be deeper than the wall itself is tall. It will weigh the best part of 1m tonnes. This is what Japans Chubu Electric Power thinks it will take to stop a tsunami a touch bigger than the one that hit Fukushima, which is slightly farther from Tokyo to the north-east than Hamaoka is to the south-west. Chubu expects to have the wall finished by the end of this year. Until then Hamaokas three reactorstwo of them similar to those at Fukushimaremain shut down.
Economist 10th Mar 2012 more >>
A year after the Fukushima nuclear accident most of the world continues running and building nuclear power, but extra risk control measures imposed in the wake of the disaster will increase the cost of operating nuclear plants. But nearly 50 other countries operating, building or planning to construct nuclear plants continue to do so, albeit facing higher costs. “EDF in France will have to spend 10 billion euros ($13.12 billion) to take into consideration things not needed before to prepare for a beyond-design basis accident.”
Reuters 8th March 2012 more >>
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda assured the nation last December that the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant had been reined in, but as the true extent of the damage inside the crippled reactors remains unknown a year on and with the units still appearing vulnerable to another major quake, many are questioning if the facility really is as stable and secure as both the government and Tepco claim.
Japan Times 8th March 2012 more >>
As of Feb. 23, Fukushima had seen 62,674 residents evacuate from the prefecture, a massive increase from the 38,896 evacuees estimated last June, according to the prefectural government. The total includes residents who notified authorities that they were evacuating, but still remain officially registered in the prefecture. So far, there have been no reported cases of Fukushima residents suffering health problems as a result of radiation exposure since the nuclear crisis started. Data show exposure from radioactive materials emitted by the crippled nuclear plant has been small, but experts say the data are too limited to draw any conclusions yet about the impact on residents’ health. Continuous monitoring of their health and diet remains crucial, they say.
Japan Times 8th March 2012 more >>
Radioactive realities and radioaction rumors continue to plague farmers in Fukushima Prefecture a year into the crisis that started last March 11 when a megaquake and monster tsunami put a local nuclear plant on a path to three reactor meltdowns. Many farmers had to give up growing and just get away, particularly those in the immediate fallout zone of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 power plant. They left their fields to whither and their livestock to fend for themselves.
Japan Times 7th Mar 2012 more >>
THE LIGHTS ARE not going off all over Japan, but the nuclear power plants are. Of the 54 reactors in those plants, with a combined capacity of 47.5 gigawatts (GW, a thousand megawatts), only two are operating today. A good dozen are unlikely ever to reopen: six at Fukushima Dai-ichi, which suffered a calamitous triple meltdown after an earthquake and tsunami on March 11th 2011 (pictured above), and others either too close to those reactors or now considered to be at risk of similar disaster. The rest, bar two, have shut down for maintenance or stress tests since the Fukushima accident and not yet been cleared to start up again. It is quite possible that none of them will get that permission before the two still running shut for scheduled maintenance by the end of April.
Economist 10th Mar 2012 more >>
Despite the Japanese Government’s announcement of the cold shutdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in December, 2011, the clean-up operation in the wake of the nuclear crisis could take as many as 40 years. Hot spot areas where radiation exceeds 10 Sv per h are still untouched, and we cannot ignore the risk of accidental acute radiation syndrome. We previously proposed prophylactic autologous peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) banking for the workers involved in the clean-up; no consensus has yet been reached.
Lancet 10th March 2012 more >>
Iran
WORLD powers including Britain and the United States have urged Iran to answer questions about suspicions it is working on nuclear weapons, but stressed diplomacy was the way forward, in a carefully-worded statement.
Scotsman 9th Mar 2012 more >>
Reuters 9th March 2012 more >>
Independent 9th March 2012 more >>
The United States has offered to supply Israel with the military means of destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities, but only if it agrees to delay an attack until next year, an Israeli newspaper has claimed.
Telegraph 8th Mar 2012 more >>
US
As we near the first anniversary of the Japan tragedy, the emergency evacuation zone around all nuclear reactors in the US, at least 23 of which are the same kind as the Fukushima reactors, is still limited to a 10-mile radius. This is just one among many safety measures that haven’t been adequately, and speedily, addressed when it comes to protecting nuclear plants and US citizens against severe, unexpected accidents, says nuclear industry watchdog, Union for Concerned Scientists (UCS).
Guardian 8th Mar 2012 more >>
The terrifying meltdowns and hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in the days following 11 March 2011 made the importance of backup electricity generators painfully clear. But a year later, the best way to provide backup power is still being debated. Newer reactor designs have yet to prove that they can provide survivable backup. A US plan to throw lots of backup generators and other emergency equipment at the problem without assessing the risks that each plant faces has come in for severe criticism.
New Scientist 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Nuclear science in the US has been dealt a double blow with the announcement of huge budget cuts at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) coming hard on the heels of the mothballing of a multi-billion dollar research facility at the lab. Actinide scientists in the US and abroad are dismayed by the news and warn that nuclear safety and technological advances could be compromised in the long run.
Chemistry World 8th March 2012 more >>
On the first anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, with the chair of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission warning that lessons from Fukushima have not been implemented in this country. Nevertheless, Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing: they’re going to force nuclear power on the public, despite the astronomically high risks, both financial and environmental. While campaigning for president in 2008, Barack Obama promised that nuclear power would remain part of the US’s “energy mix”. His chief adviser, David Axelrod, had consulted in the past for Illinois energy company ComEd, a subsidiary of Exelon, a major nuclear-energy producer. Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel played a key role in the formation of Exelon. In the past four years, Exelon employees have contributed more than $244,000 to the Obama campaign and that is not counting any soft-money contributions to PACs, or direct, corporate contributions to the new Super Pacs. Lamented by many for breaking key campaign promises (like closing Guantánamo, or accepting Super Pac money), President Obama is fulfilling his promise to push nuclear power.
Guardian 8th Mar 2012 more >>
South Africa
South Africa will come to the rescue of a nuclear industry, still struggling for customers a year after Japan’s Fukushima disaster, with a tender for one of the world’s biggest atomic power deals. Firms from France, the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia have been lining up for years for a chance to win the contract worth between 400 billion rand ($52.3 billion) and a trillion rand($130.8 billion).
Trust.org 8th March 2012 more >>
Baltic
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia gave backing on Thursday for energy companies to wrap up talks by June on a new regional nuclear plant, set to cost up to 6 billion euros ($7.9 billion). The countries also left the door open for Poland to take part in the project, which involves Lithuania leading the building of a 1,300 megawatt ABWR nuclear power plant by 2020 with Japanese-U.S. alliance Hitachi-GE Nuclear .
Reuters 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Finland
A town in Finland is counting its blessings and its fears after being awarded permission for a new nuclear power station.
New Economy 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Switzerland
The Muhleberg nuclear power plant in Switzerland will have to close by mid 2013, unless it develops a comprehensive maintenance plan and applies for a new operating licence, Switzerlands Federal Administrative Court has ruled.
Nuclear Engineering International 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Trident
An independent Scotland would throw Britains nuclear deterrent in to doubt, a review of national security plans has warned.
Telegraph 8th Mar 2012 more >>
Green Deal
Green Deal will not be fully operational until 2013 after energy firms delay implementation of payment mechanism.
Building 8th March 2012 more >>
