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Energy minister Andrew Bowie in visit to Suffolk projects

 Energy Minister Andrew Bowie is on a fact-finding visit to Suffolk where
he found out about the job prospects at Sizewell C – but also heard the
concerns of those opposed to the project. Mr Bowie is minister of state at
the new Department for Energy and Net Zero – responsible for maintaining
the nation’s power and moving to a greener economy.

He started his visit at
Suffolk New College in Ipswich where he visited its Net Zero Skills Centre.
He and local MP Tom Hunt met with students and got to meet with some of the
people participating in their apprenticeship program. The Net Zero Skills
Centre aims to equip and train students with knowledge and experience of
sustainable technologies.

Mr Bowie later headed up the coast where he met
groups and businesses concerned about the impact of Sizewell C on the area.
Alison Downes of Stop Sizewell C said: “We welcomed Mr Bowie to Theberton
& Eastbridge Village Hall this afternoon. “We reiterated our continued
opposition to Sizewell C and our view that the East Suffolk Council
election results amount to a rejection of his Government’s energy
policies.” The meeting included Harry Young, Chair of the Suffolk Coast
Destination Management Organisation and Nick Burfield, former Policy
Director of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce. Adam Rowlands, Suffolk Area
Manager of the RSPB, was also able to join the meeting at Stop Sizewell
C’s invitation.

 East Anglian Daily Times 18th May 2023

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/23529555.energy-minister-andrew-bowie-visit-suffolk-projects/

May 20, 2023 Posted by | politics | Leave a comment

France to speed up nuclear power deployment

By Davide Basso | EURACTIV.fr 17 May 23

A bill to speed up the construction of new nuclear reactors was approved by the French parliament on Tuesday (16 May), with the government hailing it as an environmental step forward.

Lawmakers on Tuesday validated the bill to accelerate the construction of new nuclear reactors. The compromise text struck between the National Assembly and the Senate was voted by 339 votes to 399.

MPs from the majority (Renaissance, Horizons, Modem), the independents (LIOT), the right (Les Républicains) and the extreme right (Rassemblement national) voted in favour of the text, in addition to a dozen communist MPs.

Among the opponents, the Greens, the radical left (La France insoumise) and a handful of Communists voted “against” while the Socialists abstained.

Once it comes into force, the new law will speed up the construction of new nuclear reactors by simplifying the required administrative procedures and planning documents. The Energy Transition Ministry expects future construction times to be reduced by at least two years.

In addition, a 50% cap on nuclear power’s share of France’s electricity mix was removed. The text also provides for tightening the penalties for those who illegally enter a nuclear power plant, now set at a maximum of two years imprisonment.

….. Environmental NGOs denounced “a law that is disconnected from ecological and climatic imperatives”. Greenpeace, in particular, questioned “the slowness of the construction of nuclear reactors”, as well as “the safety” and “the conflicts of water use” that are to be expected……………….  https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/france-to-speed-up-nuclear-power-deployment/

May 19, 2023 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

Poland’s Greens oppose construction of small nuclear reactor in Kraków

MAY 17, 2023  https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/05/17/polands-greens-opposes-construction-of-small-nuclear-reactor-in-krakow/

The Greens (Zieloni), who are part of Poland’s largest opposition grouping, have raised concern over the proposed construction of a nuclear small modular reactor (SMR) in Kraków.

They argue that the technology, which is still in development, is not sufficiently tested and produces large amounts of nuclear waste. They have called for investment in renewables instead.

Last month, state energy firm Orlen announced that it would by the end of this year announce 20 potential locations for the SMRs that it is developing in partnership with a group of American and Canadian corporations and with financing from US government agencies.

Of the seven potential sites unveiled already, one is in the Nowa Huta district of Kraków. Yesterday, two Green MPs, Małgorzata Tracz and Klaudia Jachira, organised a protest against those plans, saying that “no one has asked residents of Kraków for their opinion”.

Jachira noted that SMRs are still an experimental technology and “there is no evidence whether they work and what the risks are”, reports Gazeta Krakowska. Tracz cited research from Stanford University indicating that SMRs produce up to nine times more radioactive waste per unit of energy than large reactors.

The pair called for Orlen to provide more information on the costs and benefits of SMRs, to explain how waste will be managed, and to hold consultations with residents.

In response, Orlen Synthos Green Energy, which is responsible for developing the SMRs, noted that. while Nowa Huta is among the preferred locations. no final decision has been made.

“Following studies and consultations with local authorities, [we] will spend two years studying in detail the possibility of building a small nuclear unit in Nowa Huta,” said the firm. “Once the potential is confirmed, priority will be given to inviting local communities to dialogue. Only on this basis will decisions be taken.”

May 18, 2023 Posted by | EUROPE, politics | Leave a comment

No more Hibakusha: Nuclear Free Local Authorities urge PM to make peace pledge at Hiroshima Summit

 https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/no-more-hibakusha-nflas-urge-pm-to-make-peace-pledge-at-hiroshima-summit/ 15 May 23

On the eve of a summit of G7 world leaders being hosted in Hiroshima by Prime Minister Kishida of Japan, the Chair of the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities has written to Rishi Sunak to urge the Prime Minister to use this unique opportunity to pledge the UK Government to work for a nuclear-weapon free world.

The Japanese port city of Hiroshima was utterly devastated by the explosion of an atomic bomb equivalent in force to 15,000 tons of the conventional high explosive TNT in the morning of the 6 August 1945. Most buildings were totally destroyed by the blast and a fireball consumed the city centre. 70,000 inhabitants died on that day, many of them high-school students, and a further 70,000 by the end of that year, being the victims of blast, heat and radiation. Prime Minister Kishida is a son of that city and a second-generation Hibakusha, A-bomb survivor, having many relatives who died as a result of the explosion; consequently he is totally opposed to nuclear weapons.

The Federation of Scientists have estimated there are approximately 12,500 nuclear weapons possessed at this time by nine states in the world(1). They are many more times powerful that the bomb which destroyed Hiroshima. An all-out nuclear war could extinguish all life on Earth.

Rishi Sunak will be the first British Prime Minister to attend a summit in that city which will be held on the weekend of 19 to 21 May. The NFLAs, being conscious that the summit is being held in the world’s first A-bombed city and at a time when the world is again faced with the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons as a consequence of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, wrote to the Prime Minister asking him to visit the Peace Memorial Museum and the Peace Park, and to meet with the Hibakusha, the Japanese A-bomb survivors, who, despite their advanced age, continue to speak out against nuclear weapons.

In 1968, the United Kingdom was one of first signatories to the UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (the NPT). As a nuclear weapon state, the UK pledged under Article VI to ‘pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament.’

Mindful of the fact that 55 years on, the UK has yet to honour these obligations as a nuclear nation, NFLA Chair, Councillor Lawrence O’Neill, also requested Prime Minister Sunak ‘use this Summit to publicly recommit this nation to these pledges and then return home to earnestly begin work to achieve them’.

The NFLAs’ sister organisation, Mayors for Peace, is based in the city after being established by Hiroshima Mayor Araki at the United Nations in 1982. Over 8,200 mayors from across the world now represent an international coalition opposed to nuclear weapons, including 101 in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Some of these UK/Ireland members are also Nuclear Free Local Authorities. Hiroshima Mayor Matsui currently serves as President of Mayors for Peace and the Secretariat has recently issued an Open Letter to world leaders. For information, this is also reproduced below. [on original]

May 17, 2023 Posted by | politics | Leave a comment

Nuclear power and the technocratic system are not compatible with democracy: France’s group in Grenoble that fights this system

The nuclear renaissance is a repeat of the fiasco of 1974. Published in La Relève et La Peste, Text prepared by Laurie Debove, January 30, 2023, Translation by Dennis Riches

Translator’s introduction

This interview published in January 2023 has a message for Oliver Stone and all the other cheerleaders of a nuclear renaissance. Oliver Stone’s new film Nuclear Now is just a rehash of Nuclear Then. The discussion below illustrates that there is nothing new about the nuclear renaissance being promoted as a solution to global warming and fossil fuel shortages caused by war. Anti-nuclear arguments were valid then and they still are now, and there isn’t really anything new to add to them. ……………………..

Introduction

The government is doing everything to revive the nuclear industry in France at a rapid pace, to the detriment of the public debate underway until February 27, a debate which is supposed to take account of the opinion of the population on this subject. To get a historical and technological perspective on this issue, we interviewed two people from Grenoble who belong to “Pièces et main d’oeuvre.” They have been active in the fight against nuclear power since the 1970s. We met in a Grenoble café, and in the text below their answers have been edited and compiled into one common voice.

LR&LP: Could you introduce yourselves and your organization?

“……………………………………………..We produce ideas and participate in demonstrations because we believe that ideas can change and transform the course of the world, that they can oppose technology.

LR&LP: What led you to look at nuclear, and what are the biggest pitfalls you found?

“………………………………Throughout the 1940s, 50s and 60s, a divisive critique of nuclear power developed……………………. it was at this time that US President Eisenhower launched the program “Atoms for Peace,” saying that the atom can also have a civilian application in the form of nuclear power plants and research. It therefore proposed technology transfers from the United States to more than twenty countries that wanted to manufacture reactors.

……………. The moment we manufacture nuclear power, we manufacture the consequences of nuclear power and especially its waste.

As we supply the whole of society with nuclear power, we must maintain a scientific clergy of nucleocrats because it is a very complicated and dangerous technology, and on the other hand we must protect these nuclear power plants, mineral mines, transport, and waste with a dedicated militia because we do not want it to fall into the wrong hands.

With the civilian atom, there is therefore an entire electro-totalitarian society that is being set up with a state apparatus, a police, and a particular political organization. No more dreams and utopias of self-management or anarchy. Nuclear waste cannot be managed by just anyone. There is a ratchet effect in it where there is no turning back…………………………………………………………..

LR&LP: Here we are in 2022, and the Autorité de Sureté du Nucléaire (Nuclear Safety Authority) has launched an alert on the failures of the French nuclear fleet. Having seen both the establishment and the evolution of this fleet, was this predictable, and what do you think of the French nuclear recovery plan, imposed by the government, while we see that the [nuclear power plant] EPR of Flamanville has ten billion euros of additional cost as well as twelve years of delay in its construction?

P.M.O: That nuclear power plants wear out, like all factories, is a banality. The life cycle of a nuclear power plant is 100 years on average, from the time construction starts to the time it is decommissioned. Nuclear power costs a fortune, but no matter how much cheap French electricity is promoted, it is a lie. Over time, the state has financed EDF less so we have maintained the plants less. We have fewer trained specialists, and the private sector has not taken over of the cost.

Today we are witnessing a repeat of what happened in 1974 after the Yom Kippur War, when Arab countries punished the West by tripling oil prices. We did not have oil, but nuclear was an alternative, so Pompidou, Giscard d’Estaing and the Prime Minister at the time, Messmer, launched a plan to nuclearize France to compensate for the deficit in oil imports. The uranium came from Niger. We had the skills because the CEA existed since 1945 [for the bomb program]. EDF placed the orders and they manufactured nuclear power plants at a rapid rate.


It is striking to observe how Pierre Messmer’s speech on TV in 1974 and Emmanuel Macron’s speech in Belfort in 2021 are like twins! The recovery is justified by a drop in supplies: at the time the cause was the Arab countries and today it is the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

In the same way, there was an increase in demand at the time because people were forced to equip themselves with electric household appliances, and today it is the means of electric transport and gadgets like smartphones that create this additional demand. On the one hand, industry creates the demand and therefore the problem, and on the other hand it comes with the solution that the population cannot refuse.

The surprise is that we re-apply the same old methods with the same old arguments. It is a headlong rush to ignore the current disaster. We cannot have such a demand for electricity. It is neither sustainable nor reasonable.

……………..There is also the denial of the poisoning of the environment with radioactivity. We live in a world where radioactivity is anthropogenic. Physics teaches us that this is not going away. We could have anticipated all this.

………………………………………………….. a technocratic class developed. In the same way that technology has become the real politics of our time, the real ruling class of our time is technocracy: the class that has produced and is the product of technology (engineers, business leaders, some elected officials).

………… These people are keeping citizens in ignorance. The elected official will then surround himself with scientific advisors that he cannot control since he does not know how to solve their equations.

……….. The basic citizen has integrated this and understood that he does not understand anything, or not much. The citizen therefore relies on those who know.

…………………the technocratic system and technology have the power to change the world, yet it is not compatible with participatory democracy.

LR&LP: However, a public debate has been launched to ask citizens for their opinion. In your opinion, can participating in this public debate allow the French population to regain control over the decisions made on energy production in France? If not, what should everyone do for an informed debate on nuclear technology?

P.M.O: Public debates are like the bullfighter’s cape. The authorities know very well that there will be rants, foghorns, banners, and they find it very good since then the protest is confined to the “public debate”. Chantal Jouanno, the president of the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP) said the banners are welcome in 2022 because of a precedent in the history of French public debate…………………………………………………………..

A yes or no outcome will have no impact. Sociologists themselves have defined public debate by saying “involvement is enforced acceptance.” For us, participation is therefore accepting, as we have written about extensively. To believe that they will take into account the opinion of citizens on such a vast social project is illusory.

The only real public inquiry on nuclear power ended in a fiasco. That was in Plogoff. The Bretons there refused the public inquiry and fought for weeks against the police. Every evening, hundreds of people gathered to throw stones and slurry because, for them, every form of pseudo-consultation was a smokescreen. This explains why there has never been a nuclear power plant built in Plogoff while they have been built everywhere else.

LR&LP: Power is in the hands of technocrats. “Participation is enforced acceptance.” Therefore, how can a citizen regain an influence in energy production?

“………………………………………………………..The only force likely to turn the tide would be a collective realization that it is not sustainable to continue to consume so much energy, physically and materially, because of entropy and its effects. We would then have to decide to get rid of this energy-intensive and material-intensive lifestyle, and give up certain habits, but it remains an abstract goal.

The problem is that people do not necessarily demand democracy. They are like passengers on a train who, of course, don’t want to be able to drive it. Most people just want a society that works. The question is how.

Further reading

The latest book published by Pièces et Main d’oeuvre:

Technocracy: The Ruling Class of the Technological Age  https://dennisriches.wordpress.com/2023/05/14/the-nuclear-renaissance-is-a-repeat-of-the-fiasco-of-1974/

May 16, 2023 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

How the Greens are conquering the Tory countryside

In the vote on May 4, the Greens won Mid Suffolk district council from the
Conservatives, taking 24 of the 34 seats and securing their first ever
majority-held council in the UK. It was the biggest wave in a national
tidal surge of rural support for the party. The Greens doubled their
councillors nationally from 240 to 481 — and became the largest party in
East Hertfordshire and Lewes in East Sussex. They also took 12 seats in
East Suffolk, and made gains in Cumberland, South Tyneside, Hastings and
Worcester.

Times 14th May 2023

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-the-greens-are-conquering-the-tory-countryside-fjzw6mhvv

May 16, 2023 Posted by | politics | Leave a comment

Jamaica’s government planning for small nuclear reactors – but there’s been no public discussion.

The Jamaica Gleaner, 15 May 23 Editorial | Preparing for nuclear power

Having made clear its intention to make nuclear power part of Jamaica’s energy mix, the Holness administration must urgently open a robust conversation with the public to explore the economics of the plan and address any fears people might have about pursuing this idea.

Indeed, it is too often the case that governments, including Jamaica’s, embark upon policies that prove controversial, when they might have avoided pitfalls by engaging their public early. That must not happen with this initiative.

When Prime Minister Andrew Holness raised the nuclear power question at the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association’s trade exposition earlier this month, there was a sense that the idea was at best embryonic that the government was merely beginning to explore the possibility of introducing either micro and/or small modular nuclear reactors to generate power. However, in his contribution to Parliament’s Sectoral Debate a fortnight later, the energy and technology minister, Daryl Vaz, indicated that the government was far farther along than floating the policy. Not only was it a definitive plan, it was already actively working on how to bring it to fruition.


Indeed, a section of Mr Vaz’s speech is headed: ‘Jamaica to go nuclear’. And according to the minister, the administration has been investigating the issue for two years, has had significant discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and is now preparing a road map for how to proceed fully, including the mobilisation of international funding for the project.

………………………………………… the literature (mostly by companies who have designed and are now marketing them) have touted the efficiency and safety of these reactors, but only a handful, primarily in Russia and China, are actually in operation and commercially generating power.

………………………………. being among the early purchasers of first-generation products, before the design flaws and other kinks are ironed out, carries risks, which it is important that Jamaica minimises.

…………………….. it should be disclosed early what proportion of the country’s electricity mix is expected to come from atomic power, and whether it will mean any displacement of the proposed, traditional renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power.  https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/commentary/20230515/editorial-preparing-nuclear-power—

May 16, 2023 Posted by | politics | Leave a comment

Campaigners against UK nuclear waste dump plan claim victory in local elections

Nuclear storage dump campaigners claim victory in local elections

Call for government to honour wishes

By Daniel Jaines Local Democracy Reporter, The Lincolnite, 11 May 23

Anti-nuclear campaigners have claimed victory in Theddlethorpe after last week’s district and parish council elections.

Opposition councillors, including independent Trais Hesketh, gained a majority of seats with a high voter turnout.

The campaign’s success saw voters “overwhelmingly reject” Nuclear Waste Service’s proposal to build a Geological Disposal Facility beneath the former Conoco gas terminal.

Prior to the election, anti-dump candidates were elected unopposed for eight of the ten available seats on Theddlethorpe Parish Council.

The Guardians of the East Coast campaigners have also claimed support from neighbouring towns such as Mablethorpe, Sutton on Sea, and Trusthorpe.

Ken Smith, chairperson for GOTEC, praised the residents for protesting through the ballot box.

“We now call upon Lincolnshire County Council and East Linsey District Council to honour the people’s decision by withdrawing from the so-called community partnership,” he said.

The Nuclear Free Local Authorities group has also backed the campaigners. Councillor David Blackburn said, “When it comes to a GDF, Mablethorpe, Theddlethorpe, and Sutton on Sea do not represent the ‘willing community’ that the government and nuclear industry say they are looking for to host the dump – instead voters there have clearly said ‘No’.”

………….An NWS spokesperson stated that the GDF would only be built where there was the consent of a willing community.

………………………………………………….. Concerns raised around seismic blasting

There have recently been concerns over the impact of seismic blasting in other areas of the UK as part of exploratory works carried out by NWS ahead of geophysical survey works.

The Lakes Against Nuclear Dump/Radiation Free Lakeland groups fear marine deaths in the Irish Sea and Allerdale’s Solway Firth area as part of Copeland exploration were a result of the seismic tests and have called for them to halt while investigations take place………  https://thelincolnite.co.uk/2023/05/nuclear-storage-dump-campaigners-claim-victory-in-local-elections

May 13, 2023 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Robert Kennedy Jr: America needs a revolution

The 2024 outsider on Biden, Ukraine and Covid misinformation, more https://unherd.com/thepost/robert-kennedy-jr-america-needs-a-revolution/ 4 May 23

For decades, as a scion of the Kennedy family and environmental litigator, Robert F. Kennedy Jr was considered an establishment hero. In recent years, however, his rhetoric against Covid lockdowns and vaccines sealed his reputation among most commentators as irresponsible and potentially dangerous. So, since he announced that he was running for president two weeks ago, challenging Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, he has presented the establishment media with something of a conundrum. He is already polling at 20% — should he be ignored or interrogated?

UnHerd‘s Freddie Sayers invited RFK Jr. to the studio to discuss his campaign promises and get behind the controversies.

May 12, 2023 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

US nuclear companies urge Congress for $billions, as Russia’s nuclear industry profits from both sides of the Ukraine war

U.S. companies collectively sent almost $1 billion last year to Rosatom.

“That’s money that’s going right into the defense complex in Russia,”

“We’re funding both sides of the war.”

The West Needs Russia to Power Its Nuclear Comeback. WSJ 10 May 23

U.S., Europe add reactors but still heavily dependent on Moscow for crucial ingredients to produce fuel

Nuclear power in the West is having a long-awaited revival, with new reactors opening in the U.S. and Europe and fresh momentum toward building more soon.

A gaping hole in the plan: The West doesn’t have enough nuclear fuel—and lacks the capacity to swiftly ramp up production. Even more vexing, the biggest source of critical ingredients is Russia and its state monopoly, Rosatom, which is implicated in supporting the war in Ukraine………….

Nuclear power supplies nearly 20% of U.S. electricity, and roughly 25% of European electricity, but in recent decades has struggled to gain traction in most of the West as a green alternative to fossil fuels, for reasons ranging from cost to waste disposal and an erosion of expertise in building reactors.

Pockets of stiff resistance remain: Germany closed its last reactors in April, in a phaseout that began more than a decade ago………………………….

A recent Gallup poll found that Americans are more supportive of the technology than at any point in the past decade…………………………………..

Westinghouse, a storied pioneer of electric power, has struggled in the nuclear sector and repeatedly changed hands amid market swings and tighter industry regulation after the reactor accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.

A group including private-equity firm Brookfield Asset Management bought Westinghouse for almost $8 billion in October, in a move billed as a bet on nuclear power’s resurgence.

Westinghouse said this month that it next plans to launch a line of smaller reactors that could cost as little as $1 billion each.

Despite the industry’s progress, the dependence on Russian enriched uranium for nuclear fuel has proven intractable. 

Nuclear fuel is one of the few Russian energy sources not banned by the West as a result of the war in Ukraine. The reason is rooted in a program from the early 1990s, soon after the Cold War ended, aimed at shrinking the threat of Soviet nuclear warheads falling into the wrong hands.

Under the 1993 deal, the brainchild of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher named Thomas Neff and dubbed Megatons to Megawatts, the U.S. bought 500 metric tons of highly enriched uranium, enough for 20,000 warheads, and had it converted into reactor fuel. 

Arms-control advocates hailed it as a win-win: Moscow got urgently needed cash, Washington reduced its proliferation headache and U.S. utilities got inexpensive fuel. It remains one of the world’s most successful nuclear-disarmament programs.

The deal “did what was promised,” Dr. Neff said in an interview. “We have many fewer nuclear weapons and stuff to make them out of than we did.”

The problem, critics said, was that the deal delivered Russian nuclear fuel so cheaply that rival suppliers struggled to compete. Before long, U.S. and European companies were scaling back and Russia was the world’s biggest supplier of enriched uranium, with nearly half of global capacity.

Before the deal ended in 2013, Russian suppliers, now organized as Rosatom, signed a new contract with the U.S. private sector to provide commercial fuel beyond the government-to-government program. Rosatom still supplies as much as one-fourth of U.S. nuclear fuel.

U.S. companies collectively sent almost $1 billion last year to Rosatom, according to a recent analysis from Darya Dolzikova at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

“That’s money that’s going right into the defense complex in Russia,” said Scott Melbye, executive vice president of uranium miner Uranium Energy and president of the Uranium Producers of America, an industry group. “We’re funding both sides of the war.”

Rosatom was formed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2007 from various parts of the country’s nuclear-power industry and is closely controlled by the Kremlin. Its top managers have been deeply involved in running Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear-power plant, Europe’s largest………………….

A proposed new generation of reactors, which proponents and investors including Microsoft founder Bill Gates are touting as less risky and more environmentally friendly than current reactor designs, requires a special type of fuel that is the nuclear equivalent of high-octane gasoline.

The only source of that fuel today is Rosatom.

……………………….. The multinational Urenco owns one of only two uranium-processing facilities in the U.S., in Eunice, N.M., just across the Texas border. The company says it is spending roughly $200 million on new capacity and can invest much more if Russian uranium is sanctioned.

The catch: It wants government guarantees on quantities allowed in the market.

Urenco’s fear, said Kirk Schnoebelen, head of U.S. sales, is that in several years low-price Russian enriched uranium might swamp world markets, tanking prices……….

But because of the Megatons deal, “the business case for that project was utterly destroyed,” Today that history “absolutely” informs the U.S. nuclear industry’s thinking and makes corporate boards reluctant to invest the necessary billions…..

Westinghouse’s Mr. Fragman said the legislation is long overdue……… https://www.wsj.com/articles/nuclear-power-makes-a-comeback-underpinned-by-russian-uranium-24ed8e12

May 11, 2023 Posted by | politics, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Power alert: Be wary of lifting moratorium on new Illinois nuclear plants

Advocates of ending the moratorium have said they want to make it possible to build small power nuclear power plants in the state.

Chicago Sun-TimesBy  CST Editorial Board May 9, 2023

Illinois should move carefully before repealing its three-decade-old moratorium on new nuclear power plants.

On Tuesday, the House Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee will discuss an amended version of a bill passed by the state Senate to lift the moratorium and allow “advanced nuclear reactors.” Advocates of ending the moratorium have said they want to make it possible to build small power nuclear power plants in the state, which would take advantage of new federal spending, although the technology to make that possible is years in the future. And it’s not clear how the “advanced nuclear reactors” in the bill would differ from small modular ones.

Meanwhile, Illinois still faces the problem that led to the moratorium in the first place: There is no long-term storage facility to store nuclear waste, which can go on emitting hazardous radiation for tens of thousands of years.

As envisioned, small modular nuclear power plants would have about a third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear reactors. Their modular design would allow them to be factory assembled, saving money and allowing them to be constructed on sites too small for traditional reactors. U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry has said small modular reactors can be a tool to fight against climate change.

But some environmentalists and stakeholders are wary. “What’s really at play here is the attempt to resurrect the moribund and uneconomic nuclear industry,” said David Kraft, director of the Nuclear Energy Information Service, a nuclear watchdog. “But most fundamentally and important, we need an overhaul of the transmission grid, because you could have a million reactors or you could have a million wind turbines, but if you can’t connect power to the customer, they are worthless.” 

…………………. small nuclear plants are a dubious answer. Will the nuclear waste they generate lead to vulnerable storage sites or risky transportation of spent fuel? Global energy prices are higher now, but if they go back down, will smaller reactors be in line for the subsidies larger ones got? Why focus on them when they won’t be built in time to meet the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2030 deadline to halve carbon emissions?

Illinois needs to focus on achieving its goal of transitioning to renewable energy. The state must ensure the idea of new nuclear plants does not divert it from that mission. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/5/8/23715796/small-modular-power-nucear-energy-reactors-moratorium-illinois-legislature-editorial

May 10, 2023 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Opposition to Sizewell C nuclear was a factor in Green Party success in East Suffolk

The conservatives in East Suffolk were swept out of power in a Green wave
as the Green Party gained 11 seats in the local elections. In total, the
Tories lost 24 seats as their number declined from 39 to just 15 seats,
leaving the council with no overall majority.

Meanwhile the Greens moved on to 16 seats, while there were also gains for Labour, who moved on to 12 seats, an increase of five, while the Liberal Democrats also saw a rise of
eight seats to leave them with 11. Southwold councillor David Beavan, who
represents the Liberal Democrats, said meetings would be held between the
Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour next week to discuss forming a
coalition to run the council.

He believed voters had rejected the Tories
over issues such as Sizewell C and plans to route electricity cables from
offshore wind farms through the Suffolk and Essex countryside instead of
the Thames Estuary. A number of high profile Conservative candidates lost
their seats, including former district council leader Ray Herring, who led
for 20 years, but lost his Rendlesham and Orford seat to the Greens’ Tim
Wilson.

East Anglian Daily Times 5th May 2023

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/23504329.tories-very-disappointed-greens-sweep-east-suffolk/

May 9, 2023 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

What’s happening with Great British Nuclear? Not Much.

No2 Nuclear Power SAFE ENERGY E-JOURNAL No.97, April 2023.

Last November, the UK Government was all set to announce proposals to set up a new body called Great British Nuclear (GBN), to develop a network of small modular reactors (SMRs), as well as promote new large reactors. GBN would be responsible for getting planning permission and doing the preparation work on designated sites. However, the announcement was delayed because of a row over funding with Treasury officials arguing there is no money to pay for it. (1)

Then on 30th March, there was a further announcement, as part of the Government’s so called Green Day, when its revised Energy Strategy was launched. The strategy reiterated the pledge to set up “Great British Nuclear”, which will begin recruiting staff “shortly” and will be based “in or around” Greater Manchester. But there was still no new money announced. The body will run a competition for small modular reactor (SMR) designs, starting with “market engagement” in April 2023 and a selection process in summer. It will have “an ambition to assess and decide on the leading technologies by autumn”. The government will publish a nuclear “roadmap” later this year. (2)

Energy Security Secretary, Grant Shapps wants “to deliver wholesale UK electricity prices that rank amongst the cheapest in Europe”, (3) with GBN providing up to a quarter of our electricity –24GW by 2050, up from the previous target of 16GW. (Hinkley Point C should be 3.2GW). (4) Somehow, Shapps thinks Small Modular Reactors will help with that. But it is far from clear that SMR production line techniques will compensate for lost scale economies of building large reactors. (5)

The American SMR design from NuScale Power is the canary in the SMR market –already far more expensive and taking much longer to build than renewable and storage resources. (6)

Funding to establish GBN doesn’t mean funding for new reactors. The Times reported that a deal on funding was unlikely to materialise for at least another 12 months. (7) The perpetual launch of Great British Nuclear won’t get us anywhere near 24GW; £210 million lobbed at Rolls-Royce SMRs, and a £700 million injection into the planning for Suffolk’s Sizewell C, a nuke that’ll cost £30 billion-plus, is small beer. (8) Rolls-Royce’s nuclear power business has frozen hiring, (9) and Tom Samson, head of its SMR division is leaving the Company. (10) Rolls says its SMR programme will run out of cash by
the end of 2024, but it hopes to receive UK regulatory approval by about August 2024. (11)

Andrew Bowie, the Tory MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine has become the UK’s first ever nuclear energy minister. The SNP’s Westminster energy spokesman Alan Brown said: “Andrew Bowie must be taking up one of the most pointless ministerial positions in the UK government. If the Tories think they will bring down energy bills by building nuclear power stations that won’t be ready for years to come then they are more delusional than we thought.” (12)

The Scottish Government condemned the GBN launch. The new Cabinet Secretary for Energy Neil Gray said: “The launch of GBN does not change the Scottish Government’s opposition to the building of new nuclear fission power stations in Scotland. Given that new nuclear power will take years, if not decades, to become operational, will be expensive, and will generate further radioactive waste, we do not believe it to be a sustainable solution to our net zero energy requirements.” (13) Anas Sarwar
has condemned the Scottish Government’s nuclear stance as ‘short-sighted’ and ‘unambitious’. (14)

On 15th March, Jeremy Hunt, announced that nuclear power will be classified as “environmentally sustainable” in UK’s green taxonomy, “giving it access to the same investment incentives as renewable energy.” He stated that “because the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine, we will need another critical source of cheap and reliable energy. And that is nuclear.” (15) It’s unclear whether the reclassification will help in the hunt for co-investors alongside EDF and government in Sizewell C.

Ministers were forced to publish the raft of revised policies, contained in 40 documents and nearly 3,000 pages, after a court ruled last year that the existing strategy for reaching net zero emissions was unlawful because it provided insufficient detail on how the target would be met. But it has admitted the revised plans will only deliver 92% of the goal to cut emissions by 68% by 2030,compared with 1990. The Green Alliance think tanks says even that 92% is a very generous reading. (16) https://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/SafeEnergy_No97.pdf

May 7, 2023 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Now the UK government is saying they need costly large nuclear reactors as well as small ones

No2 Nuclear Power SAFE ENERGY E-JOURNAL No.97, April 2023

Simon Bowen, the Industry Adviser at Great British Nuclear (GBN) told the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee he thinks the UK will need two more large reactors after Hinkley and Sizewell as well as SMRs and Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs). (1)

Graham Stuart, Minister of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, told the same Committee that Government policy is to seek UP TO 24GW of nuclear by 2050. He continues:

“I would love it if storage to deal with the intermittent renewables became cheaper, more effective and better for long-term storage and the like. I am not saying that we will definitely have 25% of our electricity from nuclear. That is our ambition; that is our thinking; but as technology, prices and the economics develop, we want tensions between these technologies to deliver it. However, what I can say is that we are absolutely committed to nuclear as a significant share of our electricity because we need that baseload and are committed to driving it forward.”

In January, Bechtel and Westinghouse told the Welsh Affairs Select Committee they are hoping to have an AP1000 nuclear station up and running on Anglesey by 2035. The Development Consent Order process takes 4 years and it takes around 6 years to build. The companies see it as the role of GBN to acquire the site from Hitachi. The Companies are confident they will be able to address the biodiversity and Welsh language issues which led to the Horizon application being rejected by the Planning Inspector. (3) The two companies have been in talks with government since 2020. (4) The two AP1000s being built in the US State of Georgia at Vogtle were originally expected to cost $14 billion, but this has now jumped to $34 billion. (5) The first reactor has only just reached initial criticality – construction started in 2009 and was meant to be complete in 2016. (6) The Nation Cymru website asks whether Wales should be involved with Great British Nuclear at all. (7)   https://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/SafeEnergy_No97.pdf

May 7, 2023 Posted by | politics, UK | 1 Comment

UK government to take 50% stake in Sizewell C nuclear project, amid legal challenge, soaring costs, and pension funds pulling out.

No2 Nuclear Power SAFE ENERGY E-JOURNAL No.97, April 2023

In December, the Government announced, yet again, that Sizewell C will go ahead, and that it would invest nearly £700m to end China’s controversial involvement. Ministers said the move would mean the UK Government taking a 50% stake in the project’s development. (1) However, the announcement was no more than the long-anticipated buying out of China General Nuclear from the project and funds to allow the development of the project to the point of a Final Investment Decision (FID). (2) Business Secretary Grant Shapps has refused to provide a figure for the cost of buying out China’s stake.

It reaffirmed its commitment again at the launch of the ‘Powering Up Britain’ strategy. It says it will bring Sizewell C to the point of a final investment decision this year. In his spring budget announced earlier this month, chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed the Government would be investing £700million in Sizewell C. (3)

Campaigners launched a legal challenge against Sizewell C in the High Court on Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd March. (4) Together Against Sizewell C argues that the environmental impacts of securing a permanent water supply of two million litres per day were never assessed. As a result, the government cannot guarantee the date the nuclear plant will open, which means it has no way of knowing for sure that the plant’s contribution to climate change is enough to override the environmental harm it will cause. TASC also says no alternatives to nuclear power, including renewables, were considered when the Secretary of State for Energy, then Kwasi Kwarteng, gave the go ahead. He rejected the recommendation of the Examining Authority which ruled in February 2022 that unless the outstanding water supply strategy could be resolved and sufficient information provided to enable the Secretary of State to carry out his obligations under the Habitats Regulations, there was no case for a development consent order. The result of the hearing should be known between the 23rd April and the 7th May.

Sizewell Funding Efforts to attract investment into Sizewell C have taken a setback after two of the UK’s biggest pension funds turned their backs on the project. The BT Pension Scheme and NatWest – have told campaign group Stop Sizewell C and the Daily Mail they do not intend to back the project. (5) However, the UAE’s wealth fund – Mubadala – may invest. (6)

With Hinkley Point C now forecast to cost £33 billion and Sizewell C as much as £30 billion, Grant Shapps insists “private sector capital and investment” will ride to the rescue. He points to the Middle East. “I was recently in the Gulf states and was really struck by the money available for investment,” he says. “What they want to know is that we’ve got a platform, Great British Nuclear, and that we’re up for it — we’ve got the technology.” (7)

The Flamanville EPR is another six months late and 500 million euros more expensive. (8) Regular electricity production at Finland’s new Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor has been postponed again to 29th March. (9) Nuclear Engineering International summarises where the world’s EPRs have got to. (10)   https://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/SafeEnergy_No97.pdf

May 6, 2023 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

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