Keir Starmer set to approve nuclear plant in bid to power up economic growth.
The prime minister is pinning his hopes of economic growth on a major nuclear plant and a series of mini nuclear sites
Archie Mitchell, Political correspondent, Independent 10th April 2025
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to approve a major nuclear power plant alongside a slew of mini reactors in a bid to boost Britain’s stagnant economy.
The prime minister will approve investment for the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk before the June spending review, The Times reported, as well as unveiling plans for a fleet of small modular reactors (SMRs) across the UK.
Sizewell C is expected to be up and running in 2035 and will provide 7 per cent of Britain’s energy demand at a cost of £20 billion……………………
Sizewell C is yet to be signed off by the government.
A decision on whether to give Sizewell C the green light has formed part of the government’s upcoming spending review, but Sir Keir has been bringing announcements forward in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The PM has been desperately trying to spur on growth amid fears the US president’s trade war will cause Britain’s economy to stagnate and force further cuts in the autumn Budget.
EDF, the French energy giant that owns and runs Britain’s nuclear fleet, and the government, which has committed £6 billion so far, were the first backers of the project.
But they have been trying to raise billions more from prospective investors, including British Gas owner Centrica.
The government in January was forced to deny reports the expected costs of Sizewell C had spiralled to £40bn due to inflation and the knock-on effects of delays at Hinkley Point C.
Whitehall sources told The Independent the government is hugely supportive of Sizewell C, but that an announcement on its approval and funding would not come before June.
Sources told The Times Sir Keir wants to make a “nuclear moment” by combining the approval of Sizewell C with an announcement on a generation of SMRs.
The government has been running a competition to develop the reactors, which are potentially cheaper, much faster to build and easier to deploy, with Rolls-Royce and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy the frontrunners. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-nuclear-growth-trump-tariffs-b2730868.html
TEPCO’s rehabilitation plan delays expose limits to nuke power reliance.
It was unreasonable in the first place for the power company to draw up a rehabilitation scenario relying on atomic power despite having caused a serious nuclear plant accident.
April 9, 2025 (Mainichi Japan), https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250409/p2a/00m/0op/029000c
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Holdings Inc. has postponed the revision of its business rehabilitation plan, which it had scheduled to carry out by the end of fiscal 2024. The company attributed the postponement to a lack of prospects for restarting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, which it had seen a trump card in improving its earnings.
Will the utility be able to fulfill its responsibility in the recovery from the Fukushima disaster and the stable power supply amid such a state of affairs?
TEPCO has borrowed money from the national government to deal with the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns. This includes funds needed for compensation payments to affected residents and the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. It has also taken out bank loans to fund its electric power business. The rehabilitation plan was supposed to form the premise for this financial aid.
The plan was first formulated in 2012, the year after the onset of the Fukushima disaster, and has since been updated almost every three years. The cost for handling the nuclear catastrophe was initially estimated at 6 trillion yen (approx. $41.27 billion), but that figure swelled to 21.5 trillion yen (148 billion) under the current plan outlined in 2021. The cost further rose to 23.4 trillion yen (approx. $161 billion) when taking into account compensation for fishery operators due to the release of treated water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, among other expenses.
The cap on borrowing from the national government was subsequently raised to 15.4 trillion yen (approx. $106 billion). Based on these developments, calls grew to update TEPCO’s rehabilitation plan.
While TEPCO is scheduled to repay 500 billion yen (approx. $3.45 billion) annually to the national government, the actual repayment amount has hovered around 400 billion yen (around $2.76 billion) on average in recent years due to the firm’s poor performance.
The primary factor behind TEPCO’s sluggish earnings is that the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant has yet to be restarted. TEPCO had initially expected to resume the plant’s operations in fiscal 2019, eyeing a balance improvement of 100 billion yen (approx. $688 million) per reactor brought back online. But following a series of scandals including inadequate antiterror measures at the plant, the prospect of gaining local consent for its restart has waned.
TEPCO’s injection of more than 1 trillion yen (approx. $6.88 billion) into safety measures has also taken a heavy toll on its management, weighing down its cash flow. There are concerns that the utility may not even be able to afford capital investment essential for a stable power supply.
It was unreasonable in the first place for the power company to draw up a rehabilitation scenario relying on atomic power despite having caused a serious nuclear plant accident. In the amendments to be made to the rehabilitation plan by the end of fiscal 2025, the utility should completely overhaul its strategy.
TEPCO must accelerate its business realignment to improve its earning capacity. Its thermal power generation sector was integrated into Chubu Electric Power Co. in 2019, yet TEPCO needs to expand collaboration with other firms in renewable energy and other sectors with high growth potential. It urgently needs to streamline operations to stave off deterioration of its finances.
The company is urged to carry out a rehabilitation plan that is not reliant on nuclear power generation.
The 2025 Nuclear-Free Future Awards
Rainbow serpent magic filled the air at the Great Hall at Cooper Union, writes Linda Pentz Gunter
The Rainbow Serpent has been the symbol of the Nuclear-Free Future Awards (NFFA) since the event first began in 1998. In Indigenous cultures, the serpent offers an ominous warning to be left undisturbed in the ground rather than unleash its vengeful powers. This has been taken to mean, in particular, uranium. But the NFFA’s friendlier serpent also seems to release a certain magic into the air, enveloping those who breathe it in joy and optimism when they attend an NFFA ceremony as it travels to different cities around the world.
In 2025, the Awards were held in the Great Hall at Cooper Union, in New York City, a historic and atmospheric venue where a certain candidate for US president, Abraham Lincoln, made what would remain not only his longest speech but arguably his most important and one that would send him on his way to winning the White House……………………………………………………………
Courage is the first word that comes to mind when describing the 2025 recipient in the category of Resistance. For standing up to the Indian authorities in opposition to the construction of the massive Russian nuclear power plant at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, S.P. Udayakumar and thousands of other villagers, farmers and fisherfolk, the majority of them women, have been hounded, persecuted, arrested and prosecuted.
Udayakumar could not travel to the US to receive his award, but his sons Surya and Satya, both of whom live in Maryland, were able to come to New York to honor their father. The video recorded by Uday, as everyone knows him, moved the audience to prolonged applause and even tears, given all he and his family have endured, including two years in hiding when he could not see his sons at all.
The exuberant promoters of the International Uranium Film Festival, Márcia Gomes and Norbert Suchanek, based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, won the Award for Education. Born as a small idea that grew into a remarkable international film festival, the pair realized that dense reports and statistics were not going to galvanize people to oppose all things nuclear in quite in the same way that pictures could, and especially moving pictures, whether documentaries, dramas or animation.
The success of the festival, which began with enormous struggles to find funding and venues, is a testament to perseverance and canny marketing skills that have brought people together to collectively advance the festival around the world.
Solutions to the problems of nuclear power and nuclear weapons are not always obvious. Beyond technical fixes like renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as campaigning for peace and nuclear disarmament, sometimes the answer lies in changing the conversation. To get away from the macho-dynamic of nuclear weapons especially, the voices of women — all too few — were clearly needed. Furthermore, the voices of women from the Global South were even more essential, in the view of Zimbabwean campaigner, Edwick Madzimure.
This “solution” became a key to the success of of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which tackled the issue from the perspective of human rights impacts, where women are invariably disproportionately impacted in a negative way……………………………………………
The evening ended with a tribute to living legend, Joanna Macy, a Buddhist teacher, author and peacemaker and a matriarch of the anti-nuclear cause. Macy, now in her nineties, could not make the trip from California but offered her thanks in a written statement read by her longtime friend, Kathleen Sullivan of the Nuclear Truth Project and Hibakusha Stories.
Macy has been a mentor to many, both within the anti-nuclear movement and well beyond it, and is best known for popularizing the concept, The Great Turning, in which humanity makes an essential shift from an industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization, emphasizing a transition to a more sustainable and just world. ………………… https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2025/04/07/the-2025-nuclear-free-future-awards/
To Secure U.S. Energy Dominance, the Department of Defense Selects Eligible Companies for the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations Program
Defense Innovation Unit 10th April 2025 Mountain View, CA
– To ensure U.S. energy dominance, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), with the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force, launched the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations (ANPI) program. First announced in summer 2024, the program will allow for the design and build of fixed on-site microreactor nuclear power systems on select military installations to support global operations across land, air, sea, space, and cyberspace. The Department of Defense team selected eight companies to be eligible to demonstrate the ability to deliver compliant, safe, secure, and reliable nuclear power.
The companies are now eligible to receive Other Transaction (OT) awards to provide commercially available dual use microreactor technology at various DOD installations. Selected companies for the ANPI program include:
- Antares Nuclear, Inc
- BWXT Advanced Technologies LLC
- General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems
- Kairos Power, LLC
- Oklo Inc.
- Radiant Industries Incorporated
- Westinghouse Government Services
- X-Energy, LLC
“Projecting power abroad demands ensuring power at home and this program aims to deliver that, ensuring that our defense leaders can remain focused on lethality,” said Dr. Andrew Higier, Energy Portfolio Director at DIU. “Microreactors on installations are a critical first step in delivering energy dominance to the Force. Tapping into the commercial sector’s rapid advancements in this area is critical due to the significant private investment in this space over the last few years. The U.S. and the DoD must maintain the advantage and leverage the best of breed nuclear technology for our national security.”
The ANPI project directly supports Executive Order (E.O.) 14156 – Declaring a National Energy Emergency and E.O. 14154 – Unleashing American Energy
……………………………………… In addition to DIU, Army, Air Force, ANPI receives support from the Department of Energy; the NRC; Idaho National Laboratory with Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Argonne National Laboratory; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Sandia National Laboratory; and the Office of Nuclear Energy. https://www.diu.mil/latest/DOD-selects-eligible-companies-for-the-Advanced-Nuclear-Power-for-Installations-Program
Nuclear Energy Expansion Faces Water Resource Challenges
Oil Price, By Haley Zaremba – Apr 10, 2025.
- The global nuclear energy sector is experiencing a renaissance with increased interest and expansion plans, but faces the challenge of high water consumption for reactor cooling.
- Debates surround the actual water needs of nuclear power, with some arguing it uses more water than coal and renewables, while others claim water use can be managed with existing licenses and recycling.
- Advancements in nuclear technology, including small modular reactors and future designs using gas or air cooling, offer potential solutions to reduce water dependency, but concerns about increased nuclear waste persist.
A global nuclear energy renaissance is unfolding. Around the world, the public and private sectors are warming to the idea of nuclear energy expansion to meet ballooning energy demand driven by data centers without throwing decarbonization accords out the window. ………….
However, next-generation nuclear does have some key drawbacks as well. For one, studies have shown that SMRs will create more nuclear waste than traditional models. This presents a tricky and expensive problem, as the highly radioactive waste material remains hazardous for thousands of years in the best of scenarios. For another, nuclear energy is an extremely thirsty form of power production, requiring huge quantities of water to cool down the reactors for optimal particle speed for fission, as well as to generate steam to create electricity.
According to Dave Sweeney, a nuclear policy analyst at the Australian Conservation Foundation, nuclear power uses more water than coal, and “massively more than renewables” on a per-kilowatt basis. Sweeney was speaking with the Guardian in reference to a recent conflict between political parties in Australia over planned nuclear expansion and water scarcity. A report commissioned by the organization Liberals Against Nuclear found that a whopping 90% of the nuclear generation capacity proposed by the opposing Coalition party lacks sufficient access to water for safe operations. “Half of the proposed nuclear capacity was already unfeasible given insufficient water, while a further 40% of the capacity would need to be curtailed during dry seasons,” the Guardian reported this week based on the findings. ……………………….
https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Nuclear-Energy-Expansion-Faces-Water-Resource-Challenges.html
‘An incredibly powerful tool’: Can AI solve its own energy problem?
Amber Rolt, 10 April 2025
New IEA study explores how AI is set to drive huge electricity demand while
at the same time offering potential to unlock ‘significant opportunities’
in energy improvements and emissions reductions.
When BusinessGreen asked
‘how bad is AI for the environment?’, ChatGPT had plenty to say. The
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool patiently responded that training large
language models such as itself are “extremely energy intensive”, explaining
that they use millions of kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, consume more
than 700,000 litres of water for cooling methods, and that each query has a
carbon footprint of up to 10 grams of CO2. “Because these tools are used
millions of times a day, it adds up,” ChatGPT added.
So there you have it,
straight from the horse’s mouth: AI’s impact on the environment and energy
systems is immense. And, according to a special new report from the
International Energy Agency (IEA) dedicated to the subject today, that
impact is set for rapid growth in the coming years. So much so, in fact,
that it warns AI holds potential to “transform the energy sector” over the
next decade.
Still, precisely what that transformation will look like is up
for debate. On the positive side, the report suggests AI can help energy
companies improve efficiency, develop technologies, and could contribute to
emissions reductions. But will these promised efficiencies and
technological improvements be enough to offset the huge surge in energy
demand needed to feed the rapidly growing numbers of data centres that AI
relies on?
Business Green 10th April 2025
https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4412130/incredibly-powerful-tool-ai-solve-energy
The top Republicans in the Arizona Legislature want the federal government to cut back regulations on the nuclear energy industry.
Arizona’s top GOP lawmakers are suing a federal commission to deregulate nuclear energy
KJZZ | By Camryn Sanchez, April 9, 2025, https://www.kjzz.org/politics/2025-04-09/arizonas-top-gop-lawmakers-are-suing-a-federal-commission-to-deregulate-nuclear-energy
The top Republicans in the Arizona Legislature want the federal government to cut back regulations on the nuclear energy industry.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) and House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) are proponents of small modular reactors, or SMRs, which are currently subject to the same standards as much larger nuclear reactors.
Specifically, the federal rule – created by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission – requires construction and operating licenses for all reactors in the U.S.
Petersen claims that federal rule is unlawful.
He and Montenegro are now parties to a lawsuit against the NRC, along with Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Utah and a handful of other states and some energy companies.
“This is a textbook case of Washington bureaucrats getting in the way of American progress,” Montenegro said in a statement. “America is behind the modern world when it comes to nuclear advancement. We have had this technology for decades, yet the NRC has not let us advance, stifling innovation. Arizona House Republicans are pushing back. We’re standing up for American innovation, lower energy costs, and true energy independence.”
Petersen said if the government cuts down on regulations over nuclear energy, it will open the door for Arizona utilities to get into the market and ultimately provide affordable energy to residents.
“Arizona’s utility companies want to pursue SMRs, but their hands are tied with red tape, as it could take decades and an unreasonable amount of money to establish plants under the current rule,” Petersen said in a statement.
“I’m hopeful that through this litigation, we will be able to eliminate unnecessary and outdated regulations to unleash greater American energy production, as President Trump has promised is a top priority for his administration. This lawsuit is a first step on a pathway to energy independence,” he added.
The irrational optimism of the nuclear power lobby.
12 Apr 25, https://theaimn.net/the-irrational-optimism-of-the-nuclear-power-lobby/
Australia’s Opposition Party is the prime example of this unfounded optimism. Liberal Coalition leader Peter Dutton is full of enthusiasm in his nuclear plan :
Our plan will deliver a net-zero electricity grid by 2050 and a strong and resilient economy. It will set our country up for decades to come. At the front of this next wave of growth will be those communities which host zero-emissions nuclear plants. Not only will local communities benefit from high paying, multi-generational jobs but communities will be empowered to maximise the benefits from hosting an asset of national importance .……….
A Federal Coalition Government will initially develop two establishment projects using either small modular reactors or modern larger plants such as the AP1000 or APR1400. They will start producing electricity by 2035 (with small modular reactors) or 2037 (if modern larger plants are found to be the best option).
Dutton and his chief nuclear spruiker, Ted O’Brien, gloss easily over concerns about costs, safety, water shortage, environmental effects, timing, and of comparisons with wind and solar power.
Ted O’Brien is indeed a master at this stuff. He looks just the right guy to be a reassuring expert to farmers, and rural communities. His background in marketing shows, with his perfect marketing style. Pleasant, affable, -even warm, calm and confident, O’Brien doesn’t need the detailed facts to interfere with his comfortable assertions about Australia’s wonderful nuclear energy future.
“because hand on heart that’s in our national interest It is the right thing to do I It is why othercountries all around the world are now introducing nuclear energy It’s in Australia’s interest …….We’ll always have to focus on what is right for Australia.
Australia is already behind the eight ball when it comes to zero-emission nuclear energy. The sooner we get going the betterIt has proven around the world to be the fastest way to decarbonise electricity grids.”
Australia, geographically remote from the countries that do have nuclear power, is vulnerable to this kind of “style over substance” persuasion.
If we look at the substance of what is going on in those countries, we find a very mixed bag indeed. The national governments of France, USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Russia, are all for new nuclear power – encouraging and subsidising big and (so far non-existent) small nuclear reactors. Not so much China, which is going allout for renewable energy.
The politicians might be backing nuclear power – but the economic realities tell a different story:
BRITAIN: Let’s start with the COSTS – Hinkley Point C nuclear will cost at least £75 billion – highly unlikely that Sizewell C will be any cheaper. Then there’s the WASTES problem – Nuclear bosses quizzed by MPs over Sellafield’s £130 billion century-long clean up. And there’s the OPPOSITION to the industry and to its wastes – Resistance to nuke dump grows in South Copeland.
FRANCE. is in all sorts of trouble with its nuclear programme – France delays EPR2 reactors to 2038. The Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor will not be able to deliver its full power without major works. Squabble with Britain over who pays for France’s nuclear projects in the UK. And there’s The poisonous problem of France’s nuclear waste
USA – COSTS – USA nuclear power companies feeling the financial pain- future very dubious. Failure of small nuclear reactor project. Attempts to restart old reactors – Groups Demand DOE Environmental Impact Statement Before Agency Bails Out Palisades Zombie Reactor Restart.
JAPAN. has a huge nuclear WASTE problem. And it’s not just the Fukushima continuing waste disaster. There is little enthusiasm in government or community for reviving the nuclear industry – TEPCO’s rehabilitation plan delays expose limits to nuke power reliance.
CANADA. The government is gung-ho for nuclear power, but here is strong and well-informed opposition to it. And those pesky indigenous opponents are having legal wins on waste plans, – the wastes problem does put a damper on new nuclear.
These are all nations that are stuck with existing nuclear reactors, many of them aging, and stuck with the very significant waste problem – which, by the way, doesn’t get a mention from the comforting Mr Ted O’Brien.
Australia’s Liberal-National Coalition has as its main policy, the setting up of a tax-payer funded nuclear industry. This is a breathtakingly bold step for a Liberal party, traditionally the champion of private enterprise, and sworn enemy of socialism.
The Coalition doesn’t seem to have much else in the way of policies. Their leader, Peter Dutton. is currently inclined to shut up a bit about nuclear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12RE1WGl-VQ
It’s up to Ted O’Brien to work his marketing magic. He will probably be helped with his “style above substance” message, by well-funded groups like Advance and The Atlas Network.
Well, it worked in America. Voters, tired of all the bad stuff, turned away from facts and policy details, and voted for an entertaining charlatan. It could work in Australia, and would certainly be a triumph for the nice Mr O’Brien.
Walt Zlotow: Trump, Hegseth off by nearly 1 trillion on national security budget
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL 11 Apr 25 https://theaimn.net/trump-hegseth-off-by-nearly-1-trillion-on-national-security-budget/
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is applauding Trump’s boast to push through America’s first trillion dollar defense budget.
“Thank you Mr. President! COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar [Defense Department] budget.” Hegseth was echoing boss Trump who chortled “Nobody’s seen anything like it. We have to build out military, and we’re very cost-conscious, but the military is something we have to build, and we have to be strong,”
Trump’s defense policy and these quotes epitomize America’s decline as a peaceful, caring nation. Spending that trillion on militarism and warfare worldwide while Trump’s oligarchs are slashing a trillion from the social safety net is putting America into a death spiral from which it may never recover.
But they should really be high-fiving a national security budget that will be approaching $2 trillion based on Trump’s defense agenda.
That’s because the current defense budget under the National Defense Authorization Act of $900 billion just funds the Pentagon. When factoring in the Department of Veterans Affairs, special operations, Homeland Security and the national security share of US debt interest, the total for Fiscal ‘25 national security approaches $1.8 trillion. Regarding special ops, Trump’s failed month long Yemen bombing to stop their resistance to US enabled Israeli genocide in Gaza has already passed a billion bucks.
Current wars US supports in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and possible upcoming wars in Iran and China, don’t come cheap. Add in cost of over 750 bases in 80 countries hosting over 150,000 military personnel puts the approaching $2 trillion dollar cost in perspective.
Spending all that treasure on national offense (nope, not defense), becomes problematical when Trump is pushing thru trillion dollar tax cuts for his oligarch buddies.
What to do? Of Course, send in oligarch clown Musk to cut a trillion or more from everything that makes life livable for Joe Sixpack.
It is no surprise Trump plans to ravage the social safety net to spend $2 trillion on worldwide military adventurism while giving $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years mainly to those who don’t need them.
But do Trump and Hegseth have to brag about it?
Iran may expel UN nuclear inspectors over US threats
Washington says move would be a ‘miscalculation’ by Tehran and ‘inconsistent with claims of peaceful nuclear programme’
Akhtar Makoii, Telegraph 10th April 2025
A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader warned on Thursday that Iran could expel UN nuclear inspectors, in an apparent swipe at the United States.
Ali Shamkhani, a rear admiral, said Iran might take “deterrent measures, including expulsion of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)” if foreign threats continue.
He said: “The continuation of external threats and Iran being in a state of military attack may lead to deterrent measures, including expulsion of inspectors from IAEA and cessation of cooperation.”
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have intensified since Donald Trump returned to office, with Washington demanding Iran agrees to a nuclear deal or be bombed………………..
The US and Iran will hold high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme for the first time in 10 years on Saturday.
‘If it requires military, we’ll have military’
Whether officials from either side will actually meet in person in Oman is unclear. Mr Trump has promised “direct” discussions, while the Iranians insist on a mediated process………….
Last month, Mr Trump sent a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for direct negotiations while warning of military action if diplomacy fails.
“If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” Mr Trump said on Wednesday.
“Israel will obviously be very much involved in that. They’ll be the leader of that. But nobody leads us… we do what we want to do.”………………………… https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/04/10/iran-expel-un-nuclear-inspectors-tehran-warns/
Arctic sea ice hit a record low as global powers eye shipping routes
Arctic sea ice hit a record low for the end of the region’s winter last
month, in a stark sign of how climate change is opening up the North Pole
to a geopolitical race for military and energy exploration. March was the
fourth consecutive month in which sea ice reached a record low for that
calendar period, based on a 47-year satellite record, EU earth observation
agency Copernicus reported on Tuesday.
FT 10th April 2025 https://www.ft.com/content/f8083632-e6bc-45f5-8032-0ee60e263cf6
Starmer appoints ex-Office of Fair Trading chief to lead nuclear regulatory taskforce
The prime minister has appointed ex-Office of Fair Trading boss John Fingleton to head up the country’s nuclear taskforce
Energy Voice, By Jessica Mills Davies, 10/04/2025
The UK government’s nuclear taskforce will be led by John Fingleton, formerly the boss of the Office of Fair Trading, following his appointment to spearhead the unit.
The Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce, which was set up to accelerate the development of new nuclear power stations across the country, is poised to embark on an overhaul of UK planning regulation.
In February, Keir Starmer moved to slash “red tape” in the industry to enable more nuclear power plants to be approved across England and Wales.
Those reforms are designed to enable small modular reactors to be built for the first time. That is the intended result of the government abolishing a set list of approved sites for nuclear development so that nuclear power stations can be built anywhere in the country.
The energy department said that contract negotiations to progress a competition for these small reactors, held by Great British Nuclear, are “currently underway”, and that a panel of nuclear experts will be appointed to the taskforce in due course.
In a controversial move, the government is also getting rid of expiry dates on nuclear planning rules, in an effort to avoid projects timing out.
These changes to nuclear planning rules were proposed after the pre-development stage Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk was taken to court by local activists.
The Department for Net Zero and Energy Security said that the government committed a further £2.7 billion in public funding to Sizewell C last month………………………..
The independent taskforce will seek to identify how nuclear power regulation can incentivise investment in new projects more quickly and cost efficiently, it said………….
Fingleton said he will “work closely with business, regulators and other interested individuals and groups to identify how regulation can better enable and incentivise investment in this area”…………………. https://www.energyvoice.com/renewables-energy-transition/570966/starmer-selects-fingleton-to-head-up-nuclear-taskforce/
Impacts of Dounreay radioactive discharges to be focus of new research
By Iain Grant 09 April 2025
A Scottish research team is gearing up to carry out the latest study on what
impact authorised radioactive discharges from Dounreay have on local habits
and consumption patterns. It is to include a mail shot of residents living
near the plant and interviews with people out and about on local beaches.
The study will include visits to Sandside beach. The work carried out for
the Scottish Environment Protection Agency supplements the routine
radiological monitoring in the area undertaken by Dounreay contractors. The
Stirling University team are to focus on land extending from the site to
Crosskirk in the east and Red Point on the west and the coastline from
Armadale Bay to Dunnet Head.
Four or five of the environmental scientists
will be out and about to do the interviews on local beaches with local
people and visitors on June 6-12 and July 3-9.
John O’Groat Journal 9th April 2025 https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/impacts-of-dounreay-radioactive-discharges-to-be-focus-of-ne-379098/
NFLAs ‘shout up’ for National Parks to be spared from nuclear development
Despite our objections and those of many in the antinuclear community, Energy Ministers and departmental civil servants remain intent upon introducing a new National Planning Statement, called the EN-7, which gives considerable latitude to prospective developers to site new nuclear plants more widely, subject to meeting certain criterion (called the ‘criteria-based approach’) and lifts any time limits (called ‘the removal of a deployment deadline’).
10th April 2025, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nflas-shout-up-for-national-parks-to-be-spared-from-nuclear-development/
NFLAs ‘shout up’ for National Parks to be spared from nuclear development
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities have made an emphatic plea to the government for National Parks to be definitively spared from development and for further ‘specific consideration’ to be given to the challenges attendant to siting so-called Small and Advanced Modular Reactors (SMRs and AMRs).
Despite our objections and those of many in the antinuclear community, Energy Ministers and departmental civil servants remain intent upon introducing a new National Planning Statement, called the EN-7, which gives considerable latitude to prospective developers to site new nuclear plants more widely, subject to meeting certain criterion (called the ‘criteria-based approach’) and lifts any time limits (called ‘the removal of a deployment deadline’).
Interestingly neither of these notions was popular amongst respondents in the initial consultation on the policy with only 47% supporting the first and 50% the second; which begs the NFLAs to ask the question: why change the existing policy which is based on a government led strategic assessment of sites to in effect a ‘free-for-all’?
As we did in response to the first stage consultation, so in the second the NFLAs ‘shout up…against new nuclear in any of our National Parks and on sites adjoining or threatening Sites of Outstanding Natural Beauty or Immense Heritage Value’. The Welsh NFLA affiliates are particularly passionate in seeking to defend Trawsfynydd, which lies at the heart of Eryri, the premier National Park of Wales, from new development. As we point out:
‘The principle that National Parks can be excluded from future nuclear development has already been established by Government diktat. Any part of the Lake District National Park in England has been specifically (and in our view rightly) excluded from any consideration as a prospective site of a future Geological Disposal Facility. Surely then Trawsfynydd being at the heart of the Eryri National Park should enjoy the same protection in law?
In our view, to do otherwise exposes UK Government policy as hypocritical and inconsistent, implying that the premier National Park of Wales is not worthy of the same protection as the premier National Park of England and unfortunately conveys the impression that Wales remains a rank colonial possession, rather than a nation in its own right, whose natural assets are open to exploitation by any major nuclear development of the most egregious kind’.
Only 59% of respondents in phase one backed the inclusion of ‘SMRS and AMRs alongside large-scale GW technologies’ within the policy, with the NGO community calling for a separate policy. Despite this, Ministers intend this policy to be one-size-fits-all. In this second phase consultation, the NFLAs have referenced the lack of ‘specific consideration’ of the ‘additional, and not entirely defined, challenges’ that accompany the inclusion of SMRs and AMRs.
There have been many recent reports of concerns amongst the nuclear industry and the academic community about the radioactive waste produced by smaller reactors and the security implications of a wider rollout of smaller reactors. The NFLAs have therefore requested that final version of EN-7 should require ‘SMR, AMR, Micro reactor developers to submit robust statements about their proposals to address radioactive waste management, safety, security and proliferation concerns’.
1
UK Government convenes AI Energy Council, but could be ignoring hidden climate impacts in supply chains
Edie 10th April 2025, Sidhi Mittal
The UK Government has officially launched its AI Energy Council, with its first meeting outlining five key priorities for aligning the country’s clean energy ambitions with the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI).
However, while the Council focuses on integrating AI intro the UK’s energy system, Ministers are being warned that they are overlooking the strain which AI supply chains are putting on energy systems overseas.
The Council is led by Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. Representatives from companies including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, ARM, EDF and ScottishPower sit on the Council, alongside energy regulator Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
The Council this week met for the first time, and agreed on focus points for the year ahead. These include preparing the UK’s energy grid for the electricity demands of AI and computer infrastructure, accelerating renewable energy adoption, and ensuring AI’s role in the energy sector contributes to the transition to net-zero.
Emphasis was also placed on using AI to improve grid flexibility and ensuring its safe, secure deployment in the energy system.
This move comes amid growing pressure for the UK’s AI ecosystem to deliver more public benefit. A recent report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that only 15% of AI firms in the UK are developing solutions aimed at social challenges such as public health or environmental sustainability, despite 20% having received public funding.
IPPR’s head of AI Carsten Jung said: “Too many companies are focussed on generic process improvements rather than coming up with new, better products. And too few innovations are aimed at solving big societal problems, such as public health and climate change.
“This quantity over quality, profit over purpose, speed over substance, approach is a hugely missed opportunity.”
But as the UK attempts to shape a greener AI-powered future through initiatives like the AI Energy Council, the global supply chain it relies on presents an emissions challenge far beyond its borders.
AI chip boom in East Asia drives fossil fuel surge
New research from Greenpeace East Asia has found that electricity demand for manufacturing AI chips has risen more than 350% between 2023 and 2024. East Asia—home to the bulk of global AI chip production—is seeing this growth largely powered by fossil fuels………………………..
Greenpeace East Asia’s supply chain project lead Katrin Wu said: “While fabless hardware companies like Nvidia and AMD are reaping billions from the AI boom, they are neglecting the climate impact of their supply chains in East Asia.
“Across East Asia, there are many opportunities for companies to invest directly in wind and solar energy, yet chipmakers have failed to do so on a meaningful scale.
“Hardware companies can overcome renewable energy bottlenecks by investing directly in wind and solar capacity, signing power purchase agreements, and leveraging their influence to advocate for a higher ratio of renewable energy in the grid.”……………………………………………………………. https://www.edie.net/uk-government-convenes-ai-energy-council-but-could-be-ignoring-hidden-climate-impacts-in-supply-chains/
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of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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