Plans for the first new nuclear power station for nearly a generation in the UK have got the the go-ahead from the energy secretary, Ed Davey, who has said he is granting planning consent.
Davey told the House of Commons the French energy giant EDF would be allowed to build two new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset, on the site of an existing power station, which is due to close in 2023.
“It’s vital to get investment in new infrastructure to get the economy moving,” said Davey. “[Hinkley] will generate vast amounts of clean energy and enhance our energy security. It will benefit the local economy, through direct employment, the supply chain and the use of local services.”
The two new 1.6-gigawatt reactors will become one of the biggest power plants in the UK, providing enough electricity for up to 5m average homes. The nuclear plant is expected to be the first in a series of new ones the coalition has proposed as part of its plans to replace ageing coal and nuclear facilities that are due to be closed over the next few years.
However, the symbolic decision on planning permission still leaves Davey’s department for energy and climate change and EDF locked in negotiations over how much subsidy the company will get during the life of the plant.
It is thought officials are discussing a contract that would guarantee the French company being paid nearly £100 for each megawatt hour of electricity produced over 30 to 40 years.
Under the system, called “contracts for difference“, if the market price, which is currently about half that level, is lower than the agreed minimum “strike price”, electricity suppliers will have to pay the difference by making a surcharge on customer bills; if the market price rises higher, then the company would forfeit the difference.
EDF and government officials also have to agree how much the company will pay for long-term storage of nuclear waste.
“Discussions on both those are on going and intense, but I expect them to be concluded shortly,” said Davey.
Critics say the subsidies will cost bill-payers at least £1bn a year, pointing out that a strike price of nearly £100 would be higher than all but the highest of the government’s own forecasts for future electricity prices up to 2030, and in opposition to a host of government policies designed to reduce that price.
However, ministers believe that the contracts for difference, which are available for all low-carbon power, will help develop a variety of new energy sources, including renewable energy as offshore wind, nuclear, new gas plants and, in future, carbon capture and storage equipment fitted to gas and coal plants. These sources would make the UK more resilient to fluctuating power prices, and would reduce the carbon emissions on which climate change is blamed.
Davey refused more than once to comment on the negotiations, but added: “When the deal is concluded we will be completely transparent on that deal, whether it’s on the strike price, the length [of the contract] or other details.”
There are additional concerns that when a deal is agreed with EDF, the European commission could launch an inquiry into the subsidies, which would qualify as state aid. That would delay the project by at least 18 months. EDF would then have to begin finding funding of up to £14bn to pay for construction of the new turbines.
Approval has already been granted for the design of the EPR (European Pressurised Reactor) reactor, and the Environment Agency last week agreed to the environmental permits needed.
Building the new reactors is expected to create between 20,000 and 25,000 construction jobs and 900 permanent jobs, when the plant opens.
Katja Hall, the CBI chief policy director, said: “This is a big step forward on a critical energy infrastructure scheme. Major projects like this not only help us to overcome our energy challenges, but provide a real boost to growth, creating thousands of jobs directly and through the supply chain. A balanced energy mix is essential in order to ensure secure, low-carbon and affordable supply in the future, and new nuclear is a key part of this.”
Keith Allott, chief advisor on climate change at WWF-UK, said: “Backing nuclear means shifting a huge liability to British taxpayers for the cost of building, electricity and, crucially, dealing with the waste.
“Unlike renewable energy, the costs of nuclear keep on rising, as witnessed by the fact that the only reactors currently being built in Europe are massively over-budget and far behind schedule. Focusing on renewables and energy efficiency, on the other hand, where the UK has huge potential to be an industrial leader, could deliver both huge cost reductions and a substantial boost to UK economic growth and manufacturing.”
The last new nuclear plant built in Britain was Sizewell B, in 1995.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/19/nuclear-power-station-consent-hinkley-point
Some recent UK relevant links here..
UK and Canada try to revive UK nuclear! Privatising nuclear fuel production! https://nuclear-news.net/2013/03/18/43219/
https://nuclear-news.net/2013/03/16/european-laws-on-competition-may-stall-uks-nuclear-power-plans/
EDF getting the Point?
Environment Agency Sells out to E.D.F and the Nuclear Industry
The time is upon us when Energy Minister Ed Davey will make his final decision as to whether EDF will be allowed to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley C. However, it looks as though the Environmental Agency (EA) might have already given E.D.F the green light. For on the 13th March they granted them a number of Operational Environmental Permits which are required for the station to operate. These will allow it to: discharge and dispose of radioactive wastes, discharge cooling water and liquid effluents into the Bristol Channel and operate standby power supply systems using diesel generators.
This has removed one of the main obstacles that EDF faced as, prior to this announcement, they had no place to store or dispose of the radioactive nuclear waste that their plant would produce. Campaigners had been hopeful that after the recent rejection by the Cumbrian Council of a bid to allow a geological disposal facility to be built in the Lake District, plans to build a new nuclear power station might be scuppered as there was not anywhere to dispose of the waste. Unfortunately permit number EPR/ZP3690SY gives permission for the operator EDF to receive and dispose of radioactive waste on or from Hinkley Point.
One part of this permit provides for the discharge of treated radioactive waste into the Bristol Channel via the outfall tunnel. No individual limits are specified for these disposal outlets. Meanwhile schedule 23 of the permit allows for both the disposal of radioactive waste on or from the premises and the receipt of radioactive waste for the purpose of disposal. This theoretically could result in waste from the entire country being shipped to Hinkley C.
Surprisingly the Environmental Agency seem unconcerned by this, despite their mission statement claiming that they ‘protect and improve the environment and make it a better place for people and wildlife.’ They also state that they view nuclear power as a carbon-friendly option, further promoting the greenwash propaganda that the government and the nuclear industry have been spouting instead of recognising that the whole process of obtaining and transporting uranium and the resultant toxic waste is anything but carbon neutral.
Luckily the EA have explored the fact that discharging cooling water into the Bristol Channel may have some detrimental impact on the environment. Their main concerns are those of toxic contamination due to chemicals used in the cooling process, thermal impacts – due to the high temperature of the water that has been used to prevent the reactor from melting down while it produces your electricity – being released into the sea, and entrainment and impingement of fish and planktonic organisms. Unfortunately the EA has deemed these effects to be inconsequential compared to the benfits of heavily subsidised power generation although they do mention that the thermal plume from HP.C will impact sea creatures, in particular the bivalve Macoma balthica which provides the greatest source of bird food within the subtidal and intertidal benthic invertebrate communities.
So despite the grave environmental concerns the EA has decided to give the go ahead to HP.C. This is hardly surprising when they work in partnership with the Office for Nuclear Regulation and in the past have been accused of providing misleading and fudged results when testing for the presence of depleted uranium which has been found around the site at HP.B. Once again the fact that Hinkley Point and the water ways around it have a special protection status or are Special Areas of Conservation (e.g Bridgwater Bay is a Site of Special Scientific Interest) means nothing.
One other interesting fact from this permit is that the EA has noted that between 2019 and 2023, cooling water will be discharged into the Bristol Channel from both Hinkley Point B and C. This is a strange announcement because in 2016 HPB should come to the end of its lifespan and be decommissioned. HP.B is already well past it’s sell-by date and although EDF have put in an application to extend it’s running time this final decision has apparently not yet been made.
Ed Davey will make his announcement on the 19 March.
http://www.schnews.org.uk/stories/EDF-getting-the-Point-/
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