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Japan might get a new no-nuclear party, led by Shiga governor

Shiga governor mulls new no-nuclear party, Japan Times, 27 Nov 12 Move might rally others unwilling to bend on ‘third force’ objectives Kyodo OTSU, Shiga Pref. — Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada is considering founding a new political party with the key goal of phasing out nuclear power, sources said Monday.

Although Kada didn’t make it official when she met the press in Otsu in the afternoon, her reported move to create a new party ahead of the Dec. 16 Lower House poll quickly drew attention from other small parties that aren’t fitting into the major “third
force” that has been evolving around Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) led by ex-Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto. Continue reading →

November 28, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Hinkley nuclear project needs to get more permissions

The granting of the licence does not provide full permission for the construction of the power station.

New nuclear clears licence hurdle for EDF-Centrica  link2    David Thorpe, News Editor, 27 Nov 12, EDF, the French power company, and Centrica are closer to building the first new nuclear power station in Britain, following the granting of a Nuclear Site Licence (NSL) for Hinkley Point C by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). Continue reading →

November 28, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

Powerful nuclear interests likely to prevail in Japanese elections

An LDP win would also signal successful lobbying by Japan’s “nuclear village”, a web of vested interests including utilities, bureaucrats and lawmakers that remains powerful despite the world’s worst radiation crisis in a quarter century.

Pro-nuclear party could win power in Japan TVNZ November 27, 2012, Japanese voters look likely to hand victory to a party that favours nuclear power in the first election since the March 2011 Fukushima radiation disaster.

But even if the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) wins the December 16 election, it will not reflect any groundswell of popular support for nuclear power.

Instead, it would underline a lack of credible anti-nuclear political standard-bearers in Japan and the ability of the LDP to focus the debate on security matters and the stalled economy. Continue reading →

November 27, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Political turmoil in Japan as election date approaches

Asahi’s public opinion survey of major domestic economic issues showed that 50 percent of interviewees oppose the utilization of nuclear power, which has been a hot-button issue since the nuclear meltdowns

Japanese voters frustrated over political turmoil 2012-11-27  ByZHANG YUNBI (China Daily)  Japanese dismay at domestic political turmoil and gloomy economic prospects were two of the top issues in the country’s latest public opinion polls, which outline the landscape leading up to Japan’s election next month.

Experts said the winner of the election will face key economic issues including tax hike bills and a ban on nuclear power. Continue reading →

November 27, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Nuclear free goal brings Japan’s small political parties together

Small parties join push for nuclear-free society The Yomiuri Shimbun, 27 Nov 12 Ichiro Ozawa’s People’s Life First party and a party jointly led by former farm minister Masahiko Yamada and Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura have begun coordinating views to create a new party aimed at uniting smaller political forces advocating a nuclear-free society.

They want the new party to include Kuniko Tanioka, a House of Councillors member and coleader of Midori no Kaze, who supports the zero nuclear option.

The parties also have floated the idea of having Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada, who has taken a cautious stance on restarting nuclear reactors, become leader of the new party, which according to Kawamura and other officials could be named “Nippon Mirai no To” (Japan Future Party).

Kada is expected to make her position clear on Tuesday….. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T121126004153.htm

November 27, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Nuclear money makes nuclear addicts of Japan’s towns

Another example of a local community dependent on money related to nuclear facilities is in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, formerly a poverty-stricken village where most of its 11,000 residents relied on agriculture and fisheries for their livelihood. The village is now called one of Japan’s wealthiest municipalities.

If the government’s plan to phase out nuclear power in Japan is to be implemented, the whole concept of a nuclear fuel cycle in this country would collapse, which in turn would deal a serious blow to Rokkasho’s fiscal foundation.

the system in which money flows from the nuclear community into host municipalities remains intact, and unless
the link is cut off, those municipalities will continue to rely on the nuclear industry.

Municipal nuclear addiction, Japan Times, 26 Nov 12 Municipalities hosting nuclear power plants throughout Japan have received large amounts of central government subsidies, donations from utilities and lucrative business contracts Now, 1½ years after the Fukushima nuclear disaste rs, those municipalities realize how much their finances depend on the nuclear power-induced money.

“They’re like drug addicts cut off from supplies,” said a member of the assembly of Niigata Prefecture, which hosts Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant on the Sea of Japan coast. All the reactors at the plant remain shut down after its No. 5 and 6 reactors went offline earlier this year……

Host prefectures and municipalities receive central government grants based on laws designed to promote development of power generation facilities.  …. Continue reading →

November 27, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

“Low Carbon” – UK government’s excuse for sneaking in nuclear subsidy

EDF Nuclear Plan Gets Boost From U.K. Low Carbon Funds Bloomberg, By Sally Bakewell – Nov 23, 2012 The U.K.’s plan to collect 7.6 billion pounds ($12 billion) for low-carbon projects by 2020 would advance Electricite de France SA’s nuclear plants and add about a third to consumer electricity bills, analysts said.

The sum, announced today by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, will help pay for the 1.1 billion pounds of support a year needed to build two European Pressurized Reactors made by Areva SA (AREVA) for use at EDF sites in England, as well as renewable plants, according to Credit Suisse Group AG……..

Credit Suisse said Davey’s announcement was of particular importance for EDF Energy and Centrica Plc (CNA), which sought the arrangements.

A spokesman for SSE said, “We are pleased to see that the Levy Control Framework means that the U.K. will be building new power stations, including nuclear and renewables.”

November 26, 2012 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

hard questions to UK govt about its subsidies for nuclear power

Questions over costs of nuclear http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/opinion/letters/questions-over-costs-of-nuclear-1-2658510 Richard Thomson, Ellon 25 November 2012   IF STUART Campbell is ­correct in his assertion that nuclear power stations in the UK have succeeded in paying their way without subsidy (Letters, 11 November), perhaps he could explain why it was necessary for the UK Government to nationalise a near-bankrupt British Energy, before selling it to EDF for just £12.5 billion without passing on any responsibility for future decommissioning of current sites to the new
owners?

That, however, is in the past. If it’s going to be different in the future, perhaps Mr Campbell could explain why EDF wants a guaranteed minimum electricity price for nuclear of £140 per MW/h – well in excess of what it costs to ­generate from fossil fuels and most renewables, whether in receipt of subsidy or not?

November 26, 2012 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

USA taxpayers to pay up for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

“The Obama Administration continues to believe that low-carbon nuclear energy has an important role to play in America’s energy future,” DOE Secretary Steven Chu stated

Small nuclear reactors eyed for Oak Ridge site, Oakridger.com By Donna Smith/Staff Nov. 25, 2012 The former Clinch River Breeder Reactor site in Oak Ridge may become the home for four small modular nuclear reactors that could be operational by 2022.  Continue reading →

November 26, 2012 Posted by | politics, technology, USA | Leave a comment

UK has to rely on international wheeler dealing, for its grand new nuclear power programme

UK fights to build a nuclear legacy Ft.com, By Sylvia Pfeifer, 25 Nov 12 EDF Energy, the British subsidiary of French utility EDF, is spearheading the UK programme to build up to 12 reactors over the next decade. Under a £400m deal with French energy group Areva, which will design the reactors for EDF, Rolls-Royce could build a component factory at the Yorkshire site. It is already home to an advanced manufacturing centre.

However, the deal is just one of a number of international partnerships that need to be sealed to enable EDF to fulfil its plan of installing four reactors at two sites in the UK, starting with Hinkley Point in Somerset.
It won’t be easy. The last time Britain built a reactor was more than 20 years ago. Whether the UK still has the skills and the capability is open to question. It has had to rely on international players such as Areva and Japan’s Hitachi – which recently bought Horizon Nuclear Power, a venture to build as many as six reactors – to provide the reactor designs after the previous Labour government sold Westinghouse to Toshiba of Japan in 2006……
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ffa6d0fa-323b-11e2-916a-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2DMouWKWY

November 26, 2012 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Chancellor Merkel’s nuclear free gamble has paid off

 The British right wing economic magazine The Economist, which in 1998 had gleefully predicted oil prices of “$5 a barrel by 2010”, branded Merkel’s May 2011 action “a lunatic gamble.”

Germany’ trade surplus remains massive while the UK goes on running huge deficits, to add to its national debt and small scale economy status, relative to economic giant Germany

Germany’s Energiewende And The End Of Nuclear Power, The Market Oracle Nov 25, 2012  By: Andrew_McKillop”…..The real blackout was political. Merkel’s support for the Energiewende, like her support for many other policies and programs had always been tepid. However, she had suddenly pinned Germany’s future entirely on renewable energy and energy saving. Continue reading →

November 26, 2012 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

Economic doubts about South African govt’s nuclear power programme

Do we really need a nuclear fleet?, Business Report, Mike Kantey, November 25 2012   Despite protestations by thousands of South Africans, our ANC-led government seems determined to spend over R1 trillion on a nuclear fleet, including a uranium enrichment plant, a fuel assembly plant, a reprocessing plant and a high-level waste management facility.

How has this impossibly expensive project been motivated and by whom? Continue reading →

November 26, 2012 Posted by | politics, South Africa | Leave a comment

France’s dilemma: reliance on aging nuclear reactors

State-owned utility EDF, which operates all of France’s reactors, has said it aims to extend their lifespan to 60 years

France faces twin tasks of ageing nuclear fleet, staff, By Michel Rose and Marion Douet PARIS  Nov 22, 2012  (Reuters) – An ageing fleet of nuclear power plants and retirement of
half of EDF’s nuclear staff in the next 5 years are the main challenges the French nuclear safety watchdog is facing and will have to deal with, its new head said on Thursday.

France, the most nuclear-reliant nation in the world, will have to decide in the next few years whether to extend the lifespan of its 58 nuclear reactors to over 40 years, at a time it is trying to cut its reliance on the atom. Continue reading →

November 23, 2012 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

South Korea’s nuclear regulation, not transparent, not independent

S.Korea says IEA wants its nuclear sector to be more transparent SEOUL   Nov 22, 2012 (Reuters) – The International Energy Agency (IEA) wants South Korea to bring more transparency to its nuclear power sector and strengthen the independence of regulators to increase trust in the safety of its plants, the economy ministry said on Friday.

The agency, which advises industrialized nations and represents 28 oil importing countries, was due later on Friday to unveil a report on South Korea’s energy policies for the first time since 2006…..

The South Korean government has been criticised for a lack of transparency over safety in its nuclear programme and for the dual supervisory and promotion roles of its regulators…..
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/11/22/iea-korea-idUKL4N0921O420121122

November 23, 2012 Posted by | politics, South Korea | Leave a comment

Another blow to the Small Modular nuclear reactor (SMR) pipe-dream

“I think they were trying to use cleanup funds, which weren’t intended to be used for nuclear energy projects,” said Tom Clements, the non-proliferation policy director for the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability.

“The whole SMR thing has always appeared very premature and rather half-baked; since these reactors don’t even exist the companies don’t have money to pursue them,” “So it’s all very highly speculative.”

SRS suspends portable reactor development, The Augusta Chronicle, By Rob Pavey, Nov. 10, 2012 Savannah River Site can no longer use its increasingly limited environmental management resources to pursue the development of small, portable nuclear power reactors.

The ambition to create a “small, modular reactor” farm, where a new generation of SMRs
could be perfected for the commercial market, is a key facet of Enterprise SRS, a futuristic strategy designed to create jobs and future missions for the 310-square-mile site.

Although the U.S. Department of Energy announced agreements in March with three firms that are hoping to use SRS as a home base to study and develop mini reactor technology, site contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions received a directive from headquarters to “stand down” and devote no further funds or resources to the effort. Continue reading →

November 22, 2012 Posted by | politics, technology, USA | Leave a comment

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