Hinkley nuclear power plans grind to a halt
Hinkley nuclear power station delay deals blow to government hopes Earthwork preparation of Hinkley site put back as election of Francois Hollande as French president hits confidence Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk, 14 May 2012 Massive earthworks needed to prepare the ground for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley in Somerset have been delayed, dealing a further blow to the government’s energy plans.
Half of the big six energy firms have already abandoned their nuclear plans as too costly, but Hinkley is backed by the most pro-nuclear of them, EDF, which is 83% owned by the French state….. Read more »
Recycling plutonium more dangerous and costly than burying it

Experts urge Britain to bury plutonium rather than recycling
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120510p2g00m0in010000c.html 10 May 12, WASHINGTON (Kyodo) — Four U.S. nuclear experts urged Britain to bury plutonium rather than recycling for fuel for nuclear reactors as it is more cost-effective, according to the British science journal Nature’s Thursday edition.
Citing an estimate in 2000 that recycling plutonium from spent fuel to make mixed oxide fuel adds $750 million each year to the cost of electric power generation in France, the four said, ”Britain should seriously evaluate the less costly and less risky method of direct
plutonium disposal, and take the opportunity to lead the world towards a better solution for reducing stockpiles.” Read more »
Middle East joins the throng marketing nuclear reactors to Britain
Wylfa: Chinese, US and Mid East investors ‘may bid for Horizon Nuclear Power’ BBC News North West Wales, 6 May 12 Investors from Chinese, America and Middle East are the latest said to be interested in a bid to build a new nuclear reactor on Anglesey.
Last month Russian state-owned Rosatom was reported to be interested in buying Horizon Nuclear Power to build a replacement for ageing Wylfa reactors.
German owners E.ON and RWE npower have shelved the £8bn plan.
News agency Reuters has quoted industry sources saying the other investors are also interested in Horizon… ”There are five groups interested overall,” said the source , who Reuters said had direct knowledge of the deals but who asked not to be identified…. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-17977739
UK govt betrays its promises by cutting solar energy funding
Mr Cameron told a conference in London of energy ministers from 23 countries that Britain would deliver on its renewable energy commitments.
Thousands of jobs at risk after PM abandons solar subsidies Senior figures in the industry say they face a bleak future as demand for panels collapses INDEPENDENT UK NIGEL MORRIS 07 MAY 2012 NEW MOVES TO REDUCE SUBSIDIES FOR FITTING SOLAR PANELS ON HOMES ARE JEOPARDISING BRITAIN’S HOPES OF HITTING RENEWABLE ENERGY TARGETS AND THREATENING THOUSANDS OF JOBS, DAVID CAMERON WAS WARNED LAST NIGHT.
Some 400 senior figures in the solar energy industry said demand for panels has collapsed since the Government started slashing financial incentives for families that want to go green. Read more »
UK government’s unsustainable push for nuclear power

The eye-watering expense of nuclear power, Guardian UK, by Jonathon Porritt, 4 May 12 The coalition wants us to depend more and more on nuclear power, but quite simply, it is too expensive to be able to deliver “….. It doesn’t really matter what you think: it cannot possibly deliver – primarily for economic reasons.
Nuclear reactors are massively expensive. They take a long time to build. And even when they’re up and running, they’re nothing like as reliable as the industry would have us believe. Read more »
Secret history of UK’s Dalgety Beach radioactive pollution

Secret report warned that Dalgety Bay posed a radiation risk.. in 1958 http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2012/05/03/secret-report-warned-that-dalgety-bay-posed-a-radiation-risk-in-1958-86908-23846064/ May 3 2012 A SECRET report in 1958 warned of a radiation risk on a Scottish beach – but was ignored by the Government, it emerged yesterday. Read more »
UK may have 1000 radioactive waste sites
Nuclear waste ‘may be blighting 1,000 UK sites‘ MoD under fire after report finds number of contaminated sites is far higher than previously estimated Rob Edwards, guardian.co.uk, 2 May 2012 Hundreds of sites across England and Wales could be contaminated with radioactive waste from old military bases and factories, according to a new government report. Read more »
Report on financial problems in investing in new nuclear power
There is increasing recognition in the business world that investing in new nuclear power stations is commercially risky.
This report describes five major types of risk for any investor considering putting money into new nuclear plants, with particular emphasis on the situation in the UK: Read more »
China joins the frenzy to sell nuclear reactors to Britain
CHINA POWERS UP £6BN NUCLEAR BID , Express UK, April 29,2012 By Tracey Boles ONE of China’s state-backed nuclear companies is in talks to invest more than $10 billion (£6 billion) in Britain’s new nuclear reactors.
According to Whitehall sources, the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation is considering funding a bid for Horizon, the nuclear venture put up for sale by German utilities RWE and Eon. It is in talks about joining forces with Japan’s Toshiba which owns
Westinghouse, the reactor designer formerly owned by the UK government. Over time, the tie-up could be worth $60 billion (£37 billion), sources said. Read more »
French firm EDF pressurises UK government to subsidise nuclear power
EDF boss piles pressure on government over nuclear plans 5 April 2012 | By Vern Pitt Head of French energy firm wants guaranteed price for nuclear power which greens oppose as a subsidy
The head of French energy firm EDF Energy has piled pressure on the government to speed up its energy market reform plans, so the firm can build new nuclear power plants in the UK.
Although deputy prime minister Nick Clegg pledged earlier this month to push on with the reforms in the next session of Parliament the government is not due to have its electricity market reforms on the statute book until spring 2013.
Speaking at an infrastructure conference today in London, Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of EDF Energy, said: We are getting on with the job [of building new nuclear power plants] and we are gathering pace. Our determination needs to be matched with visible momentum from government.
It s critical the government continues to make progress with electricity market reform.
Although EDF has already spent millions on developing its first nuclear project at Hinkley Point in Somerset, it will not make a decision on whether to commit to the scheme until later this year.
He said that certainty on how contracts for difference , the part of the reforms that will allow the government to set a higher energy price for low carbon technologies, would work was crucial to the firm s investment decision.
But green campaigners have described such a system as a subsidy for nuclear power.
Nick Molho, head of energy policy at WWF, said the contracts amounted to a subsidy for a 60-year old technology .
He added: This is a recognition that nuclear power plants cannot be built in a liberalised electricity market and still need government support.
De Rivaz s comments follow calls from the construction industry to speed up the reforms so that a buyer can be found for Horizon Nuclear Power, which was put up for sale by joint investors RWE N-power and E.ON last month.
Horizon Nuclear Power has licences for two sites where it expects to build nuclear power plants.
This week MPs on the energy select committee said they would investigate the future of the nuclear industry in the wake of the Horizon sale.
Sneaking a nuclear waste dump in, under another name
Opponents believe that attempts to ‘spin’ a potential Lakeland nuclear waste dump as ‘West Cumbrian’ is an irresponsible strategy of deception that glibly condemns both Cumbria and the Lake District as a whole to inevitable environmental catastrophe…
Nuclear waste – tarnishing the Lake District ‘brand’? Virtual Lancaster, 26 APRIL 2012 The Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) has issued a consultation response that indicates that its sole concern about having a dump for high-level nuclear waste built under the Lake District is bad publicity to the Lakeland ‘brand’.
Read more »
Squabble in UK over who gets the lucrative nuclear decommissioning job
Union fury as US firms eye nuclear work The Independent MARK LEFTLY 23 APRIL 2012 A swath of US firms are preparing to bid to oversee the multibillion-pound decommissioning of 10 obsolete Magnox reactor-powered nuclear stations, angering unionsthat want the work to go to British outfits. Read more »
UK poll shows overwhelming support for renewable energy

Poll: Nine out of 10 people want more renewables Friends of the Earth survey latest to show public support for renewables as green group launches new Clean British Energy campaign BusinessGreen 23 Apr 2012
Almost nine in 10 people want to see the government ramp up the UK’s use of clean domestic energy and reduce the country’s reliance on imported gas, a new YouGov poll reveals.
Just under two-thirds of the 2,884 people questioned on behalf of campaign group Friends of the Earth listed wind, wave, solar, or tidal as power sources they wanted to see playing a greater role in the UK’s electricity mix over the next decade, while just two per cent backed an increase in gas capacity. The survey is the latest to signal strong public backing for renewable energy, following Sunday’s YouGov poll for Scottish Renewables that found 71 per cent of Scots supported wind power, and a separate Ipsos MORI survey last week that reported 67 per cent of respondents were in favour of using more wind power….. http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2169394/poll-people-renewables
“Contracts For Difference” – UK’s deceitful plan to subsidise the nuclear industry
“Industry on all sides believe this is a subsidy.”
Green campaigners believe the Lib Dems have been persuaded into allowing higher energy bills to flow into increased profits for nuclear companies by a sleight of hand that lets ministers disguise nuclear subsidies as support for “low-carbon power”.
“even the nuclear industry accepts this is a covert subsidy.”

Ministers planning ‘hidden subsidies’ for nuclear power Lib Dem worries over leaked document revealing plans to subsidise nuclear through electricity bills Fiona Harvey and Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk, 20 April 2012 Ministers are planning to subsidise nuclear power through electricity bills – despite their promises not to, a secret document seen by the Guardian reveals. Read more »
Another sort of “feed-in tariff” – UK’s sly subsidy for nuclear power
The “feed-in tariffs” referred to in the leaked submission are not the same as the feed-in tariffs by which households can gain extra income by installing solar panels.
Ministers planning ‘hidden subsidies’ for nuclear power Lib Dem worries over leaked document revealing plans to subsidise nuclear through electricity bills Fiona Harvey and Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk, 20 April 2012 ”……The leaked document, a submission to the European commission, which the government has confirmed as genuine, says: “Our reforms will put in place a regulatory framework based on feed-in tariffs for all low-carbon technologies, which will allow younger technologies to mature so that in the near- to mid-term future they will be able to compete in the open market … in time, we expect that this regulatory framework will enable different low-carbon technologies to compete against each other on a level playing field for their appropriate role in the energy mix.” Read more »
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