How France left the British taxpayer on the hook as Hinkley costs go nuclear
the Government will have to
put more taxpayer cash in and guarantee the debt.
Sizewell C was also likely to be put on ice unless British ministers came up with a big extra dollop of taxpayers’ money.
A series of cost overruns and delays are undermining the UK’s nuclear power revival
Jonathan Leake, 28 January 2024
For the future of Britain’s energy security it was a crucial decision,
and one that lay in the hands of France’s biggest power supplier.
However, not a single minister or civil servant was present when the
directors of EDF decided the fate of the UK’s two biggest nuclear
projects in their Paris boardroom on Tuesday. The finances of Hinkley Point
C and Sizewell C, the nuclear power stations which might one day supply
14pc of Britain’s electricity were top of the agenda. Shortly after the
meeting ended, Luc Remont, EDF’s managing director, and his colleagues
summoned their media managers to organise a briefing for analysts and
journalists.
Hinkley Point C, they were told, stood no chance of firing up
in 2027, as once promised. Its first reactor would come online around 2031
while the second has no date promised at all. Costs have surged again to
£46bn, a far cry from the £9bn EDF suggested when pushing the idea to
politicians around 2007 or the £24bn proposed when contracts were signed
in 2016.
Sizewell C was also likely to be put on ice unless British
ministers came up with a big extra dollop of taxpayers’ money.
Meanwhile, as EDF’s directors and French civil servants decided Britain’s nuclear
future in Paris, Andrew Bowie, the minister responsible for new nuclear
projects, was on his feet in parliament, talking up the UK’s prospects.
For Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, the news was infuriating. Not
only had a decision vital to the UK been taken in Paris but it came just
days after she unveiled the Government’s long-awaited Nuclear Roadmap. A
statement rushed out that evening made clear that Coutinho blamed the
French for Hinkley’s extra costs and delays. “Hinkley Point C is not a
government project and so any additional costs or schedule overruns are the
responsibility of EDF and its partners and will in no way fall on
taxpayers,” a spokesman for her department said.
The comments irritated the French enough to hold a second round of media briefings, this time involving EDF’s owners, the French government. The UK, it was made clear,
would have to offer up billions of pounds more in taxpayers’ money if
Sizewell C was ever to be built. Coutinho subsequently pledged an extra
£1.8bn of taxpayers’ money for the project.
Meanwhile, EDF has refused
to up its stake from 20pc and Bowie has admitted he now needs to raise
£20bn of private finance, most likely meaning the Government will have to
put more taxpayer cash in and guarantee the debt.
Simon Taylor, professor of finance at Cambridge University, who specialises in the economics of nuclear energy, believes EDF’s reactor designs have some fundamental
flaws. “The EPR or European Pressurised Reactor were designed to be
incredibly safe, and to reassure people, after the Chernobyl disaster of
1986 but have turned out to be just much more difficult to build than
anyone had expected,” he says.
Amid a blame game between France and the
UK, the biggest loser remains the British taxpayer. They now face several
more years of reduced energy security and the prospect of power bills hikes
to raise the £20bn-plus bill for Sizewell C.
Telegraph 28th Jan 2024
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/01/28/edf-hinkley-point-c-costs-go-nuclear-uk-taxpayer/
Ontario to announce refurbishment of four reactors at Pickering Plant
MATTHEW MCCLEARN, JEFF GRAY, QUEEN’S PARK REPORTER, TORONTO, 30 Jan 24, https://www-theglobeandmail-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/canada/article-ontario-pickering-nuclear-reactor/
Ontario is proceeding with a massive, multibillion-dollar refurbishment of four aging nuclear reactors at its Pickering power plant east of Toronto, according to two provincial government sources.
The decision will be formally unveiled by Ontario Energy Minister Todd Smith at the facility in Pickering on Tuesday, a senior government source said. This would mark the government’s latest major move to preserve and expand the province’s reactor fleet.
Another government official said the province has approved a $2-billion budget for Ontario Power Generation, the plant’s owner, to complete the necessary engineering and design work and order crucial components, which can require years to manufacture. The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources, because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the decision.
No full cost estimate for the project has been revealed. Refurbishments under way at OPG’s Darlington nuclear plant in Clarington, and at Bruce Power’s station in Tiverton, have cost between $2-billion and more than $3-billion a reactor.
Mr. Smith’s announcement had been expected. In 2022, the province asked OPG to study the feasibility of refurbishing the four Pickering “B” units, which entered service in the mid-1980s and had previously been passed over for refurbishment 15 years ago. Mr. Smith received OPG’s report last summer, but his ministry rebuffed a request from this newspaper to release it underthe province’s freedom of information legislation.
The Pickering station, situated on the shore of Lake Ontario about 30 kilometres from downtown Toronto, generates about 15 per cent of Ontario’s power. It also includes the four 1970s-era Pickering “A” reactors, which are not currently being considered for refurbishment. Two have been dormant for decades after an aborted refurbishment, and the remaining two are scheduled to shut down permanently this year.
OPG’s current licence for Pickering B allows its reactors to operate only to the end of this year. OPG has applied to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which regulates the industry, for permission to operate them until late 2026. CNSC approval would also be required for a refurbishment.
Refurbishment involves replacing major components to extend reactors’ operating lives by 30 years, although the list of required upgrades varies from station to station. Subo Sinnathamby, OPG’s chief projects officer, told The Globe earlier this month that, if the project were approved, OPG would begin Pickering’s refurbishment in 2028, with the goal of returning its reactors to service by the mid-2030s. Previous refurbishments have unfolded over longer periods.
“It is a compressed timeline,” she acknowledged. But she added that this time OPG will benefit from the experience it and its contractors and suppliers gained during previous refurbishments.
RAF Lakenheath: Plans progress to bring US nuclear weapons to Suffolk – a risky target?
Matt Precey – BBC News, Suffolk, Tue, 30 January 2024
Matt Precey – BBC News, Suffolk
Tue, 30 January 2024 at 1:33 am AEDT·3-min read
Plans to deploy American nuclear weapons to an airbase in Suffolk have progressed, according to a US Department of Defence (DoD) notice.
A contract to build shelters to protect troops that would defend storage facilities at RAF Lakenheath has been awarded.
The document states the work was in preparation for the base’s “upcoming nuclear mission”.
The US Air Force (USAF) has yet to respond to a request for comment.
Matt Precey – BBC News, Suffolk
Tue, 30 January 2024 at 1:33 am AEDT·3-min read
Plans to deploy American nuclear weapons to an airbase in Suffolk have progressed, according to a US Department of Defence (DoD) notice.
A contract to build shelters to protect troops that would defend storage facilities at RAF Lakenheath has been awarded.
The document states the work was in preparation for the base’s “upcoming nuclear mission”.
The US Air Force (USAF) has yet to respond to a request for comment.
The Ministry of Defence said there was a longstanding agreement among NATO partners not to comment on the location of nuclear weapons.
In March 2023, a document from the US Office of the Under Secretary of Defense disclosed how $50m (£39m) had been earmarked to build a facility known as a “Surety Dormitory” at RAF Lakenheath.
This phrase is understood to refer to nuclear weapons storage……………………………………………………….
Thermonuclear bomb
This would be the first time in more than 15 years nuclear weapons have been deployed on British soil.
In 2008, the BBC reported the bombs had been removed from RAF Lakenheath, which houses 4,000 service personnel and more than 1,500 British and US civilians.
The base is currently home to the USAF’s 48th Fighter Wing, the only unit in Europe which operates both the F-15E Eagle and the F-35A Lighting II fighter aircraft.
Reports from the US indicate the newer F-35A had been flight tested to use the latest variant of the B61-12 thermonuclear bomb, which paved the way for the aircraft to begin carrying such weapons.
According to the defence publication Janes, B61-12 was capable of an explosive power (known as a yield) of up to 340 kilotons, or more than twenty times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s general secretary, Kate Hudson, said: “These documents highlight plainly that an ‘upcoming nuclear mission’ will be stationed at RAF Lakenheath – confirming what we have strongly suspected since November 2022 – that US nuclear weapons are returning to Britain.”
“It’s shameful that both the US and UK governments continue to take the public for fools on this serious matter – refusing to give us crucial information about our security,” she added.
Ms Hudson claimed it escalated the dangers and had “made us a nuclear target.”
Documents unambiguously state ‘incoming nuclear mission’ to Britain
30 Jan 24 https://cnduk.org/documents-unambiguously-state-incoming-nuclear-mission-to-britain/
Recently reported documents add further evidence that the US is planning to deploy nuclear weapons to Britain, with CND forwarding its concerns to Suffolk Council.
The files describes “Stationary and Mobile Guard Shacks” which will be constructed at RAF Lakenheath for ballistic protection for the 48th Security Forces Squadron – who are attached to the 48th Fighter Wing based at Lakenheath. It notes that the shacks are needed for the “upcoming nuclear mission” of the 48th SFS.
The document dates from 29 September 2023, a month after it was reported that the US Air Force plans to build a 144-bed “surety dormitory” at Lakenheath. “Surety” is the term used by the US government and military to refer to the handling of nuclear weapons.
In November 2023, CND’s lawyers wrote to West Suffolk Council insisting that the planning rights used to build the dormitory are incorrect and that it needs to be subject to an environmental impact assessment. In light of the recent files we have again written to the Council, to draw attention to the fact that it “suggests unambiguously that nuclear weapons will be stationed at RAF Lakenheath.”
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said:
“These documents highlight plainly that an ‘upcoming nuclear mission’ will be stationed at RAF Lakenheath – confirming what we have strongly suspected since April 2022 – that US nuclear weapons are returning to Britain. It’s shameful that both the US and UK governments continue to take the public for fools on this serious matter – refusing to give us crucial information about our security. This deployment has been in the works for some time, prior to Russia’s deployment of its own nuclear weapons to Belarus. So far from making us safer, this deployment has escalated the dangers, brought Russian nukes to Europe, and made us a nuclear target.”
Advanced nuclear power is costly and tech is still developing. Is a Pueblo plant realistic?
James Bartolo, Pueblo Chieftain, 29 Jan 24
While a committee of 11 local leaders championed advanced nuclear as the best replacement for the Comanche 3 coal plant earlier this month, others question the feasibility of nuclear in Pueblo…………….
Is advanced nuclear too expensive? Can it be built on time?
Xcel Energy is the primary owner of Comanche 3 through its subsidiary, Public Service Company of Colorado. On July 20, 2023, Xcel Energy leadership team members presented a hypothetical timeline to PIESAC for replacement of Comanche 3 with advanced nuclear.
Regulatory processes, licensing processes, construction and development of small modular nuclear reactor technology could push the start date of an advanced nuclear plant to 2037 or later, according to the timeline.
“Right now what is known of the solutions that we have, if you stack it up, we are much closer to 2040 before a solution like this would be serving our customers,” said Kathryn Valdez, carbon-free technology policy director at Xcel Energy, on July 20.
Matthew Gerhart, senior attorney of the Sierra Club Environmental Law Program, told the Chieftain that the lengthy timeline associated with advanced nuclear should rule it out as a potential replacement for Comanche 3.
Gerhart said advanced nuclear is ultimately a “distraction” from considering more feasible and cost-effective energy replacements.
“Not only have a handful of people settled on option, which is not even feasible to be built by 2031, but they’ve settled on the most expensive option by far.”
A draft study by the Colorado Energy Office models scenarios for reaching zero greenhouse gas emissions in the state’s electric power sector before 2040. A “cost-optimized” scenario for reaching zero emissions in the study did not select nuclear “due to high costs,” according to the study.
The scenario in the Colorado Energy Office’s draft study did, however, select several other fuel sources including batteries, biomass, clean hydrogen, demand response, geothermal, solar and wind.
“What they found was that you could reduce emissions and get really close to zero emissions in the utility sector without nuclear,” Gerhart said………………………………………………………………………………. https://www.chieftain.com/story/news/2024/01/29/is-advanced-nuclear-a-realistic-replacement-for-comanche-3-in-pueblo/72339785007/
USA’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant to increase its space for nuclear trash
More space is coming to dispose of nuclear waste at a Carlsbad-area
facility where the materials from around the country are buried thousands
of feet underground. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant was initially
permitted for eight disposal panels, where drums of transuranic (TRU)
nuclear waste is disposed of via burial in an underground salt deposit
about 2,000 feet beneath the surface.
But in 2014, a drum of waste ruptured
and left portions of WIPP’s underground contaminated and unusable for
further waste disposal. That’s why the U.S. Department of Energy sought
to mine two additional panels as it works toward WIPP’s volume of
capacity of 6.2 million cubic feet of waste.
Carlsbad Current Argus 28th Jan 2024
German energy companies reject nuclear energy proposals – citing high risks and toxic waste problem
Will nuclear energy make a comeback in Germany? Germany phased out nuclear
energy nearly a year ago. But even with the multi-billion euro problem of
how to store radioactive waste, some policians are calling for new nuclear
plants to be built.
The CDU and CSU have changed their position on nuclear
power again. Now many in the party are calling for new reactors to be
built. CDU leader Friedrich Merz has said that shutting down the last
reactors was a “black day for Germany.” The parties also say that old
reactors should be reconnected to the grid. Merz says that the country
should restart the last three power plants that were shut down — citing
climate protection, as well as rising oil and gas prices.
Those proposals have not found much enthusiasm among German energy companies. EnvironmentMinister Steffi Lemke is not surprised. “The energy companies made
adjustments a long time ago, and they still reject nuclear power in Germany
today. Nuclear power is a high-risk technology whose radioactive waste will
continue to be toxic for thousands of years, and will be an issue for many
generations.”
Deutsche Welle 28th Jan 2024
https://www.dw.com/en/will-nuclear-energy-make-a-comeback-in-germany/a-68098059
US reportedly planning to station nuclear weapons in Britain for first time in 15 years
THE UNITED STATES is reportedly planning to station nuclear warheads in Britain that are three times as powerful as 1945’s Hiroshima bomb.
Pentagon documents seen by the Telegraph indicate that the weapons could be stationed at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, where the US previously stored nuclear missiles until 2008.
The papers show procurement contracts for a new facility at the air base.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “It remains a longstanding UK and Nato policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location.”
The documents have surfaced amid concerns of an escalation between Nato countries and Russia as Vladimir Putin continues his war on Ukraine.
Last week, Nato announced its biggest drills since the cold war, involving deployment of 90,000 military personnel to central and eastern Europe.
EDF, France’s state-owned nuclear company now in a fatal trap, as Hinkley Point C costs soar
Hinkley Point: endless setbacks at nuclear plant highlight political choice to destroy EDF
On January 22nd, state-owned French utilities group
EDF announced new delays in the construction of two EPR nuclear reactors at
the British plant of Hinkley Point. Originally planned to enter service in
2024, the first of the two reactors is now expected to be, at best,
operational in 2029, or possibly “2030 or 2031”.
Seven years after the project was launched, all the warnings against EDF’s involvement in it
made by the group’s staff have proved be right, writes Mediapart
economics correspondent Martine Orange in this op-ed article.
The state-owned group now finds itself in a fatal trap created by Emmanuel
Macron. Following the epic delays with the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant in
Finland, those of Flamanville in France, and those of Taishan in China, the
under-construction plant of Hinkley Point C in south-west England has now
joined the long story of an industrial catastrophe which is the third
generation EPR (pressurised water reactor) first designed by Areva, once
France’s nuclear energy giant.
Mediapart 28th Jan 2024
US Court Hears Case Alleging Biden Complicit in Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
“We are watching a genocide unfold in Gaza in real time and, despite the government’s view that a U.S. court can do nothing about it, CCR and our clients argue that it certainly can and it absolutely must!” said one advocate.
JULIA CONLEY. Jan 26, 2024, https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-complicity-genocide
Calling for an emergency injunction to stop the Biden administration from aiding Israel in its bombardment of Gaza, which has so far killed more than 26,000 people and pushed roughly 2 million more to the point of starvation, human rights organizations and Palestinians in the U.S. on Friday took federal leaders to court to stop U.S. “complicity in the Israeli government’s unfolding genocide.”
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland held a hearing on the case, in which the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is representing groups including Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) and Al-Haq in suing President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
The groups, joined by individual plaintiffs whose families in Gaza have been subjected to Israel’s assault and decades of occupation, argue that the U.S. is violating domestic and international law and breaching the Genocide Convention, of which it is a a signatory.
The hearing was held hours after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) released its initial ruling in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. The ICJ found that Israel must “take all measures within its power” to prevent genocide.
Laila El-Haddad, one of the plaintiffs in the U.S. case, said the group entered the courtroom “proud and hopeful” on the heels of the ICJ ruling.
The CCR reported that the court’s livestream was at capacity during the hearing, while outside the courtroom, supporters painted, “Biden complicit in genocide,” and, “No bombs to Israel” on the street.
“A recording of the hearing will be made available by the court in due course,” said CCR.
Dena Takruri of AJ+reported that in the “unprecedented” hearing, a doctor testifying remotely from Rafah, Gaza told the court that “cases of childbirth in the streets are widespread at this time.”
Along with relentless air and ground attacks by Israeli forces, Gazans have for nearly four months faced a near-total blockade on Gaza, with aid deliveries severely curtailed by Israel. Roughly 90% of Gaza residents are now frequently going without any meals for at least a full day.
South Africa’s case at the ICJ outlined numerous statements of genocidal intent by top Israeli officials.
Despite the mounting evidence of ethnic cleansing, the Biden administration has called South Africa’s accusations “meritless” and has continued to arm Israel without congressional approval.
“Our community mobilized to put Biden in power after [former President Donald Trump,” Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Sacramento Valley and another Palestinian American plaintiff, testified at the hearing. “It hurts. It hurts deeply.”
The plaintiffs planned to hold a post-hearing press conference.
“The takeaway from today’s court hearing,” said CCR executive director Vince Warren, “is that we are watching a genocide unfold in Gaza in real time and, despite the government’s view that a U.S. court can do nothing about it, CCR and our clients argue that it certainly can and it absolutely must!”
Nancy Pelosi’s attack on Gaza ceasefire advocates is a disgrace
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL 29 Jan 24
Every day of America’s descent into moral depravity supporting, enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza brings new madness.
Yesterday, former House Speaker went on CNN to compare the tens of millions of us Americans demanding ceasefire in Gaza to apologists spreading “Putin’s message. Make no mistake, this is directly connected to what he would like to see.”
So far Pelosi was correct but not for the venal reason she intended. Putin would like to see ceasefire in Gaza for the same reason the entire world, save for Israeli and US leaders, including Biden and Pelosi do…end the ongoing genocide. Biden and Pelosi viciously oppose ceasefire to continue their lockstep support of the Israeli leadership determined to make Gaza uninhabitable for its 2,300,000 Palestinians.
Being a good soldier in Biden’s crazed foreign policy, which is also destroying Ukraine, Pelosi then pivoted to charge, “Same thing with Ukraine. It’s about Putin’s message” That’s what known in propaganda circles as a ‘twofer.’ Peace advocates seek to undermine benevolent US policy toward both Ukraine and Gaza, regardless those policies are destroying both.
Worst of all, Pelosi didn’t just stop at demonizing ceasefire advocates. She wants the FBI to investigate us. “Some of these protesters are sincere, but some, I think, are connected to Russia. I think some financing should be investigated. And I want to ask the FBI to investigate that.”
Good grief. As a spokesman in the peace community for ceasefire and end to US supported genocide, Pelosi’s got me pondering the next knock at my door. If it’s my local FBI dude, I’ll answer by asking…”Did Nancy send you?”
1 This Month.
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