Macron Ousts EDF CEO as Tension Rises on French Power Costs
The French government said Electricite de France SA Chief Executive Officer Luc Remont is stepping down as the state-owned utility faces increasing complaints from large industrial clients over the cost of electricity.
Author of the article:, Bloomberg News, Francois de Beaupuy, https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/macron-ousts-edf-ceo-as-tension-rises-on-french-power-costs 21 Mar 25
(Bloomberg) — The French government said Electricite de France SA Chief Executive Officer Luc Remont is stepping down as the state-owned utility faces increasing complaints from large industrial clients over the cost of electricity.
President Emmanuel Macron is considering appointing Bernard Fontana, the 64-year-old senior executive vice president in charge of the company’s Industry and Services unit, as the new chairman and CEO, the president’s office said in a statement Friday. Remont, 55, has held the positions since November 2022.Article content
“The choice that the government has long supported is electricity that is abundant, clean and not too expensive, and it’s based on this choice that Bernard Fontana’s nomination has been made,” French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said on a trip to Bourges, central France. “He’s an industrialist, which means he’s used to running teams and speeding up projects.”
Tensions between the government, EDF and major customers have been mounting over the utility’s electricity offerings. Representatives of power-hungry users, such as chemical makers, have said EDF’s new offers aren’t attractive enough, threatening their competitiveness, while rivals in the US and Asia enjoy cheaper energy. Their concerns have been exacerbated recently by sluggish economic growth, uncertainties over gas prices due to the Ukraine war, and mounting trade tensions between Europe, the US and China.
A French regulation that forces the nuclear behemoth to sell more than a quarter of its atomic output at a steep discount to current wholesale prices expires at year’s end. Meantime, the debt-laden utility said it needs to increase expenditure on nuclear projects and the power grid to help the country’s energy transition.
On Thursday, Benoit Bazin, the CEO of French glass and building materials producer Cie. de Saint-Gobain, said on BFM Business television that his company has delayed investment in France because it cannot predict energy costs from next year. Meantime, it has invested in Norway and Canada to electrify plants, and will soon do the same in Spain.
Bazin said he was “extremely shocked” by Remont’s recent decision to auction long-term power supply contracts to rival producers and suppliers, broadening offers that initially were reserved for its large electricity clients.
“EDF is a national company that has a public service mission on the competitiveness of the French industry,” the Saint-Gobain CEO said. “France won’t keep its industry, nor re-industrialization and decarbonization if we keep walking on our head.”
Shutting Sites
Earlier this week, Marc Schuller, chief operating officer of French chemical maker Arkema SA, said during a parliamentary hearing that talks with EDF over new power contracts were “advancing very slowly.
“If nothing is done, we’ll have to consider shutting down sites and stopping some activities because we wouldn’t be competitive anymore,” Schuller said.
Fontana has held a variety of management positions during his career at steelmakers ArcelorMittal SA and Aperam SA, including CEO of Swiss cement maker Holcim Ltd. Within EDF, he’s been in charge in recent years of Framatome, the unit that makes large equipment for nuclear plants.
Beyond easing tensions with large customers, the future boss of EDF will have to complete complex talks with the French and UK governments over the financing and construction of new reactors, which are key planks of these countries’ net-zero ambitions.
—With assistance from Shelby Knowles.
Government ramps up nuclear threats ahead of CND Barrow protest
As CND prepares for its national demonstration at the BAE Shipyard, Barrow-in-Furness, on Saturday, 22 March, the government is ramping up nuclear threats to prop up Britain’s failing nuclear weapons programme and justify military spending hikes in next week’s budget.
The recent visit to the BAE Shipyard in Barrow and nuclear base at Faslane by Keir Starmer and John Healey, saw the Defence Secretary claim the weapons could do “untold damage” against countries like Russia in the event of a conflict.
It was also announced that the Port of Barrow, which has built submarines for Britain’s nuclear weapons programme since the 1950s, will be given royal status. This status applies to the dockland where the arms manufacturer’s shipyard is based and not the wider Barrow area.
CND’s protest comes ahead of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, where it’s expected that billions of pounds will be added to the military budget while brutal cuts are made to overseas aid, and services helping some of the country’s most vulnerable people.
The government argues that increasing the military budget will help revitalise “left behind” industrial towns and the wider economy. But military spending has one of the lowest employment multipliers of all sectors. Towns like Barrow need sustainable and varied forms of employment that put its people and the planet first.
Britain’s nuclear weapons accounts for at least 14% of the MoD’s military expenditure but the most recent annual report by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) found that key parts of its nuclear weapons programme are either failing or have major issues. CND is calling on the government to scrap Britain’s nuclear programme once and for all and develop an industrial strategy that generates sustainable economic growth that benefits everyone.
CND 21st March 2025
https://cnduk.org/government-ramps-up-nuclear-threats-ahead-of-cnd-barrow-protest/
Nuclear bosses quizzed by MPs over Sellafield’s £130 billion century-long clean up
by Business Crack, March 21, 2025
The Public Accounts Committee examined the decommissioning of Sellafield
at a hearing yesterday morning. In the session, which lasted over two
hours, Euan Hutton, chief executive at Sellafield Ltd and David Peattie,
group chief executive office at Nuclear Decommissioning Authority were
among those giving evidence. It also saw Lee McDonough, director general,
net zero, nuclear and international at Department for Energy Security and
Net Zero, Clive Maxwell, second permanent secretary at Department for
Energy Security and Net Zero, and Kate Bowyer, chief financial officer at
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, appear in front of the committee.
The hearing follows a National Audit Office report that found while management
of major projects have begun to improve, four projects underway when the
office last reported in 2018 were significantly over budget and behind
schedule. It added while Sellafield has demonstrated that it can remove its
most hazardous waste, progress is not quick enough.
MPs covered several
topics at the hearing yesterday relating to the £130 billion century-long
clean up of the Sellafield and work at the site.
Topics included: How realistic targets and goals set for decommissioning are; Whistleblowing ands urrounding policies; Balancing safety with value for money; Public safety
– in particular covering the Magnox Reprocessing Plant; The select
committee heard that a leak from Magnox started in the 2019 and every three
years, it leaked enough material to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
But Mr Hutton said the leak, caused by a crack in the underground section
of the silo, was not detrimental to the public. He said it was monitored
closely and that showed the leak was staying beneath the surface.
Mr Peattie said it was Britain’s most hazardous building and the best way to
stop the leak was to empty the silo as quickly as possible. It is hoped it
will be emptied by 2059. Concerns around Sellafield’s ability to meet its
long and short term targets were also raised. Milestones for substantially
emptying three of the legacy ponds and silos have been pushed back by
between six and 13 years.
Business Crack 31st March 2025 https://businesscrack.co.uk/2025/03/21/nuclear-bosses-quizzed-by-mps-over-sellafields-130-billion-century-long-clean-up/
Trump: best protection for Ukraine’s nuclear power is US takeover.
President Trump has told President Zelensky that an American takeover of
nuclear power in Ukraine would offer the “best protection” for the
country’s infrastructure. The White House said Trump had “moved
beyond” the minerals deal for American companies to extract oil, gas and
rare metals that had been proposed as a way to protect Ukraine from future
Russian aggression. That deal was suspended after Zelensky’s disastrous
meeting last month with Trump and JD Vance, the vice-president, in the Oval
Office. It envisaged US control over natural resources and infrastructure
such as ports, but did not mention nuclear power.
Times 19th March 2025 https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/trump-best-protection-for-ukraines-nuclear-power-is-us-takeover-9l0xsxqjj
UK nuclear deterrent could do ‘untold damage’, Healey warns
John Healey said the UK should not ‘fight shy’ of the fact it has such weapons, which are the ‘ultimate guarantor’ to any hostile state if it attacks.
The Standard 20th March 2025
Britain could do “untold damage” to adversaries with its nuclear deterrent, the Defence Secretary has said as military officials discussed plans to safeguard any ceasefire for Ukraine.
John Healey said the UK should not “fight shy” of the fact it has such weapons, which he described as the “ultimate guarantor” in a stark warning to Moscow
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned Moscow would face “severe consequences” if it breached any peace deal with Kyiv amid fragile diplomatic efforts to secure a truce to end the war.
Sir Keir and Mr Healey met defence officials from 31 allied countries at the Northwood military headquarters in London on Thursday to firm up proposals for a so-called coalition of the willing to help enforce any agreement.
Mr Healey also laid the keel for Dreadnought, the first submarine being built to replace the Vanguard-class nuclear-armed submarines, in a ceremony in Barrow-in-Furness watched by Sir Keir Starmer.
In an interview with The Times newspaper afterwards, he said: “Our nuclear deterrent is there as a deterrent. It is the ultimate guarantor to any would-be adversary. We have the power to do untold damage to them if they attack us.”
He added: “We should not fight shy of the fact we are a nuclear power, that we do have an independent nuclear deterrent.”
The Prime Minister said the military planning involved offering support to Ukraine by air, sea and land if a deal were reached.
But he ruled out redeploying UK troops from countries such as Estonia to commit to Kyiv, saying: “There’s no pulling back from our commitments to other countries.
“The mood in the room – because this came up in the private briefing I had – was that this actually will help reinforce what we’re doing in Nato in other countries, so they see it as an opportunity rather than a question of moving troops around.”
Thursday’s gathering of defence allies marked a turning point in which the “political intention” among western allies to provide safeguards for Ukraine’s future becomes “reality” with discussions of how best to deter future Russian aggression.
Sir Keir said: “It is vitally important we do that work because we know one thing for certain, which is a deal without anything behind it is something that Putin will breach. “We know that because it happened before. I’m absolutely clear in my mind it will happen again.”
He added: “The point of the security arrangements is to make it clear to Russia there will be severe consequences if they are to breach any deal.
“That’s why we need a forward-leaning European element, which is what I’ve been working on intensely – obviously with the French – that brings these allied countries together, and beyond.”
Calls this week between US President Donald Trump, Mr Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have failed to produce the 30-day ceasefire envisaged by the White House……………………………………………. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/john-healey-keir-starmer-volodymyr-zelensky-ukraine-donald-trump-b1218001.html
Labour ‘utterly wrong’ to double down on costly and immoral nuclear weapons, Scottish Greens say
Chris Jarvis Bright Green 19th March 2025, https://bright-green.org/2025/03/19/labour-utterly-wrong-to-double-down-on-costly-and-immoral-nuclear-weapons-scottish-greens-say/
Scottish Labour is utterly wrong to be doubling down in its support for costly and immoral nuclear weapons that tie us even closer to the extremist Trump administration, the Scottish Greens Co-leader Patrick Harvie has said.
Harvie’s comments followed Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s support for Trident at last week’s First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood.
Harvie said: “Nuclear weapons have always been a moral abomination. It is utterly wrong for Labour to be doubling down in their support.
“But now, even those who have supported Trident in the past must surely realise that the US is not a reliable ally, and it is simply unsafe to continue nuclear cooperation with them.
“We urgently need to move away from the extremist Trump administration, but maintaining these weapons of mass destruction would leave us tied to him and his dangerous foreign policy.
“Nuclear weapons are incapable of discriminating between military and civilian targets. Their use would cause mass murder and environmental damage on a scale never seen before.
“They are an extortionate and destructive money pit that has already soaked up hundreds of billions of pounds that could have been spent addressing the genuine security needs we have, or, better still, on tackling the cost of living crisis that is plunging thousands of families into totally avoidable poverty.”
BAE: Barrow MP hits out at planned nuclear protest
The MP for Barrow and Furness has hit back at plans for an anti-nuclear
protest outside BAE Systems this weekend. The Cumbria and Lancashire
district of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) will begin their
national ‘Peace Not Weapons’ tour on Saturday, March 22. This will involve
leafletting across Barrow’s town centre, with the main rally coming
together on the High Level Bridge over the Devonshire Dock. Michelle
Scrogham, however, has voiced her opposition to the demonstration,
particularly given the global climate.
NW Evening Mail 19th March 2025, https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/25016245.michelle-scrogham-utterly-barrow-nuclear-protest/
Nuclear power is such a mess – Zaporizhzhia plant as the shining example
https://theaimn.net/nuclear-power-is-such-a-mess-zaporizhzhia-plant-as-the-shining-example/ 23 Mar 25
You do wonder how the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) can tell us with a straight face, that nuclear power is safe !
Nobody talks about Chernobyl any more (melted down 1986), Fukushima (melted down 2011). They’re ancient history. No, not really. The cleanup in each case is really only just beginning.
The Chernobyl ‘sarcophagus’ – still contains the molten core of the reactor and an estimated 200 tonnes of highly radioactive material. The stability of the structure has developed into one of the major risk factors at the site. Fukushima – Experts say the hard work and huge challenges of decommissioning the plant are just beginning. There are estimations that the work could take more than a century.
But – let’s look at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. With 6 reactors (all shut down) it’s the largest nuclear power station in Europe. It’s a messy nuclear plant, in that it was originally set up to use Russian nuclear technology and fuel, enriched uranium (U-235). Then later the Ukrainians gradually changed the fuel type to American Westinghouse. By 2024, this fuel type at Zaporizhzhia was expiring. Now under the Russians’ control, they could not now access this fuel, if Russia did seek to restart the reactors.
Suddenly, the status and future of the Zaporizhzhia plant has become a very timely question. With the ceasefire negotiations going on, have President Trump and President Putin been discussing this? Nobody is letting on. The White House and the US State Department are keeping mum. Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky are reported to have discussed “American ownership” of the Zaporizhzhia plant, with Zelensky insisting that it could function only under Ukrainian ownership. Russia has been reported as planning to make those reactors functional again.
That critical question comes to mind – What’s In It For Whom?
Is it the glory? The pride of ownership? A wonderful economic opportunity? That last one is dubious. Ownership in wartime is fraught with danger. The IAEA repeatedly warns of the danger of a military strike on the plant, including on its hazardous spent fuel pools. With cessation of fighting, it’s still dangerous. To reactivate it would take years. It’s not just the confusion of using American or Russian fuel, (both in supplies now out of date.)
What about the water? Even now, as the reactors are in cold shutdown, they still need continuous supplies of water to reduce the residual heat from the shutdown reactors, to cool the spent fuel, and to cool the emergency diesel generators if the plant loses off-site power.
But if the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station were to be brought back into operation, it would require massive amounts of water. The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in 2023 has left Zaporizhzhia without that essential supply. It’s estimated that to restore the plant the plant to function would take several years. Shut for three years, and constantly in military danger, the plant had safety problems, including fires, even before the war began.
These questions of fuel and water are the obvious practical ones. But dig deeper into this Zaporizhzhia nuclear station problem and we find almost insuperable problems of logistics, legal and regulatory requirements, costs, and the conflicting ambitions and abilities and hostilities of the men in leadership in Ukraine, Russia, and USA. And for now, the plant is on the front line, in territory controlled by Russia.
Voldymyr Zelensky – always the shining hero, knows the right solution. The nuclear station can belong only to Ukraine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umwwpybIW3k
The Zelensky simple solution assumes that in a ceasefire, or negotiated end to the war, the plant, along with all the now Russian- occupied territories, will be returned to Ukraine ownership, (and that the USA will pay up for the plant’s necessary repairs and modernisation). And Ukraine will prosper, selling the electricity to Europe. These are big assumptions, considering that Russia now controls 20% of Ukrainian territory and now has the advantage in the war.
For Russia, that Zelensky scenario has zero appeal, and you wonder why anyone would expect Russia to simply capitulate to Zelensky’s wishes. For Russia, at present, keeping the nuclear station in their own hands is the safest option, defending it against Ukrainian attacks. But, even if the Zaporizhzhia plant becomes permanently owned by Russia, there are still risks of Ukrainian sabotage, and there will be the costly and difficult process of trying to restart the reactors, and what to do with the hazardous old nuclear fuel.
For the USA, ownership of the plant would have its attractions: it would benefit Westinghouse, expanding its market for nuclear technology. But all of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants are owned by Energoatom, and Ukrainian law prohibits their privatization. There would certainly be resistance in Ukraine to this American takeover. Complicated legal and financial gymnastics would go on. Perhaps Trump would see the American ownership as part of the war debt that he intends to get from Ukraine; he estimates that debt as over $300billion, although others differ about that amount. Whatever the involvement of the USA in the future management of these nuclear reactors, the USA will face the same daunting problems in trying to operate them. Nobody seems to know what is the extent of repairs needed. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear station continues to be in a state of peril, as Raphael Grossi of the IAEA constantly reminds us, (in between his promotion of new nuclear power)
This huge nuclear station is indeed a test case for the whole industry. While the much-hyped small nuclear reactors are turning out to be unaffordable and impractical mythical beasts, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and others are going all-out for new big nuclear reactors. But this Ukraine situation demonstrates the dangers of big nuclear reactors.. Not only do they have the well-known hazards of accident risk, health and environmental hazards, toxic wastes problem, but also those complicated problems of military attack, international political relations, and that always supreme consideration – who will pay?
Whistleblowers at nuclear sites may face bullying and threats, MPs warn
Members of public accounts committee raise concerns about culture and call for greater examination
Anna Isaac, Guardian 20th March 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/20/whistleblowers-at-nuclear-sites-may-face-bullying-and-threats-mps-warn
Nuclear whistleblowers who try to draw attention to cultural and safety issues face bullying, MPs have warned.
Members of parliament’s public accounts committee have said they are concerned about the way people who raise concerns about culture and safety on nuclear sites are treated.
“There is generally a problem with whistleblowing and a safety culture,” said Rachel Gilmour, a Liberal Democrat MP, when quizzing nuclear bosses on Thursday.
“That relation between bullying and safety within a nuclear context” needs greater examination, Gilmour said, adding that her office was seeking to raise the issue further with regulators.
The Guardian’s Nuclear Leaks investigation has revealed claims of bullying, sexual harassment and drug use at the nuclear waste dump, Sellafield, which could put safety at risk.
Gilmour’s interjection followed a refusal by Euan Hutton, the chief executive of the Sellafield site, to apologise for its treatment of an HR consultant, Alison McDermott, when asked to by Anna Dixon, a Labour MP. Hutton also refused to say whether he considered the cost of the case against McDermott to be a good use of public funds.
Sellafield, in Cumbria, spent about £750,000 in its pursuit of McDermott’s claim that she was wrongfully dismissed after raising concerns of a “toxic culture” at the Sellafield site.
McDermott was found by a judge to have blown the whistle by raising reports of harassment. The judgment was made in 2023, after an appeal over the findings of an employment tribunal.
However, her wrongful dismissal claim was not upheld. Sellafield, along with the oversight body the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), sought to recoup costs of £40,000. A judge reduced these to £5,000. McDermott told the Guardian she intends to appeal against this decision.
Dixon said she was “disappointed” by Hutton’s response. She said it was “critical for a safety culture” that people feel able to speak up.
Hutton acknowledged there had been problems faced by staff but that there had been progress in recent years.
Hutton also acknowledged major cybersecurity failings at the site, which were also first revealed by the Guardian.
He said that “as an organisation we let ourselves down”, by failing to meet standards, but he repeated denials that the world’s largest plutonium store had been subject to “successful” cyber-attacks.
Sellafield was ordered to pay nearly £400,000 after pleading guilty to leaving data that could threaten national security exposed for four security.
House Of Commons Public Accounts Committee: Decommissioning Sellafield – Seafield is the most dangerous place in the U.K
House Of Commons Public Accounts Committee: Decommissioning Sellafield.
Admissions that Seafield is the most dangerous place in the U.K. and an
accident involving the high activity waste storage tanks would be
catastrophic. Witness(es): Clive Maxwell, Second Permanent Secretary,
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; Lee McDonough, Director
General, Net Zero, Nuclear and International, Department for Energy
Security and Net Zero; David Peattie, Group Chief Executive Officer,
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority; Kate Bowyer, Chief Financial Officer,
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority; Euan Hutton, Chief Executive, Sellafield
Ltd
Parliament TV 20th March 2025 https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/7f124fa5-c2e2-4c68-bce8-557763429471
UK will not shy away from nuclear weapons, John Healey tells Russia
Defence secretary warned the weapons could do ‘untold damage’ as construction began on the successor to Trident
Larisa Brown, Defence Editor |Bruno Waterfield, Brussels, Thursday March 20 2025, The Times
Britain has the power to do “untold damage” to adversaries such as Russia with its nuclear deterrent, the defence secretary has warned, as he marked the build of the next generation of nuclear submarines.
John Healey said he took Vladimir Putin’s threats to use his nuclear arsenal seriously and the UK should not “fight shy” of the fact it has such weapons.
On a visit to a submarine yard, he also said that France could follow the UK’s example and commit its nuclear weapons to defend Nato and protect the security of Europe. At the moment, France will only officially use its weapons to protect itself.
In an interview with The Times, he said: “Our nuclear deterrent is there as a deterrent.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/britain-nuclear-power-damage-russia-cd8bv0d
Hinkley Point C nuclear will cost at least £75 billion – highly unlikely that Sizewell C will be any cheaper.
KEEPING REEVES SWEET: AXE SIZEWELL C!
Jonathon Porritt, 19 Mar 25
“…………………………… , Ed Miliband’s still a total sucker for the propaganda of both the fossil fuel industry (with the latest research from Fossil Free Parliament reminding us that DESNZ Ministers notched up an unbelievable 104 ministerial meetings with various fossil fuel companies between July and September last year) as well as the nuclear industry.
I’ll return to Ed’s mystifying obsession with the fossil fuel industry’s mega-scam of Carbon Capture and Storage in my next blog. For now, let’s just stick to his nuclear nonsense.
Knowing that he will have to give something big and bold back to the Treasury if he’s going to be able to protect things that really matter in his overall portfolio, the blindingly obvious thing to give up is Sizewell C. He knows the Treasury already despises the nuclear industry, deep down, after literally decades of its over-claiming and under-performing. So give them some red meat. A lot of red meat.
The UK Government has already spent around £3.7 billion on preparing the groundworks for Sizewell C. I saw the consequences of that for myself when I was in the area a couple of weeks ago, and I was genuinely shocked. The devastation is unbelievable – including more than 21,000 trees cut down. And that’s BEFORE a Final Investment Decision (FID) has actually been secured. Prospective investors (even in the Middle East) seem to be a lot less keen on Sizewell C than Ministers keep telling us.
Worse yet, Labour has promised another £2.7 billion in the next financial year – to go on doing exactly the same, again, before an FID is secured. Axing Sizewell C at this point, however painful that might be politically, would be a huge, short-term win for the Treasury.
In fact, this would be a much, much bigger prize for UK taxpayers in the longer term. Sizewell C has been described by EDF as a “Hinkley Point look-alike, with a lot of lessons learned”. There’s mighty little evidence that the UK nuclear industry has ever learned a single lesson from its unparalleled record of failure, but let’s just live with that for the time being.
The latest estimate for the “overnight cost” of Hinkley Point C in Somerset is £46 billion. Please don’t be fooled by that ever-so-opaque terminology: “overnight” simply means the cost of construction. It’s the figure the industry loves to trot out to the UK’s limitlessly gullible media (including the BBC and The Guardian), without acknowledging that it doesn’t include the cost of the capital EDF has had to raise to build this monstrous white elephant in the first place. EDF has indicated in the past that cost of capital can add as much as 60% to the overnight cost.
Yes, that’s right: Hinkley Point C will cost at least £75 billion.
It’s highly unlikely that Sizewell C, on the Suffolk coast, will be any cheaper – indeed, it’s already clear that the engineering challenge at Sizewell C is much greater than at Hinkley Point C.
And who will pay for Sizewell C? Well, it’s either YOU as a taxpayer (depending on the size of the stake that the UK government will eventually have to take in Sizewell C in order to secure that ever-elusive Final Investment Decision), or YOU as an energy consumer, through the chosen mechanism of a Regulated Asset Base. From the moment construction at Sizewell C starts, consumers’ bills will start rising.
Axing Sizewell C will obviously be a huge hit to the nuclear industry. Which means it’s probably too much to kill off the industry’s accompanying fantasies about Small Modular Reactors at the same time. At the moment, subsidising SMRs is relatively small beer for the taxpayer, and it’s got as much to do with keeping Rolls Royce on board as it has with any serious attempt to crack the huge technological challenges associated with these new reactors.
Once free of Sizewell C, DESNZ could then double down on all those parts of its portfolio which will deliver real economic value before the next election: solar and wind, storage (batteries plus a lot more), reconfigured grids, and low-carbon manufacturing………………………………..
https://jonathonporritt.com/poor-old-ed-miliband/
Sellafield decommissioning to continue for at least a century – robot dogs play a part
Robot dogs could help decommission Sellafield nuclear plant after successful trials.
Operators working from the Westlakes Science Park in Whitehaven, around
eight miles from Sellafield, remotely operated “safely and securely” a
custom Boston Dynamics Spot Quadrupedal Robot ‘dog’ that could carry
out tasks such as remote inspections, data gathering and clean-up work.
Energy generation at the plant stopped in 2003, but the painstaking
decommissioning process typically takes decades and presents radioactive
hazards to workers. Sellafield is unusual in that the decommissioning
challenge also encompasses early nuclear research and nuclear weapons
programmes that took place on the site.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is not expecting full site remediation to be completed until 2125.
Engineering & Technology 20th March 2025
Louth and Horncastle MP welcomes council pulling out of nuclear waste site partnership
By Andy Hubbert
Louth and Horncastle’s MP, Victoria Atkins has welcomed news that
Lincolnshire County Council’s Leader, Coun Martin Hill is minded to pull
the authority out of a community partnership group overseeing proposals for
a nuclear waste facility. By pulling out of the Nuclear Waste Services’
Community Partnership, the council would effectively cancel the company’s
consideration of the Lincolnshire coast for a Geological Disposal Facility
(GDF) for deep burial of nuclear waste, after NWS announced that their area
of focus had changed to an area of open land between Gayton le Marsh and
Great Carlton, between Louth and Mablethorpe.
Lincolnshire World 19th March 2025 https://www.lincolnshireworld.com/news/politics/louth-and-horncastle-mp-welcomes-council-pulling-out-of-nuclear-waste-site-partnership-5041035
EDF may get state loan for six new reactors
France’s Nuclear Policy Council – headed by President Emmanuel Macron –
has agreed that a subsidised government loan should be issued to
state-owned power utility EDF to cover at least half the construction costs
of six EPR2 reactors.
World Nuclear News 18th March 2025,
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/edf-may-get-state-loan-for-six-new-reactors
1 This Month
petition to oppose the rapid increase of space-military industry threatening Jeju Island and the region.
[Petition by April 19th (KST)] Stop the joint military-Hanwha Systems-Jeju Provincial Government Sea Launch!
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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