Small modular reactor plans to be blocked by the Scottish government
Plans to power a refinery in Scotland with a Rolls-Royce small modular
reactor (SMR) are likely to stall due to opposition from the Scottish
government. Government officials have said they will block any moves to
power the Grangemouth refinery on the Firth of Forth with a nuclear
reactor. According to the Sunday Telegraph, talks have taken place between
chemicals group Ineos and Rolls-Royce, and the two companies are understood
to have considered whether the plant could be powered by an SMR.
New Civil Engineer 30th Nov 2022 https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/scottish-small-modular-reactor-plans-to-be-blocked-by-government-30-11-2022/
Nuclear Free Local Authorities call for Community Partnerships to include critics of the undersea Geological Disposal Facility plan
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities have sent a second letter to each of the
four Community Partnerships responsible for taking forward proposals for a
nuclear waste dump to seek assurances that opponents of the plan should
have a chance to take up membership.
The Community Partnerships in
Allerdale, Mid-Copeland, South-Copeland, all in West Cumbria, and in
Theddlethorpe, in East Lincolnshire, are each pursuing the possibility of
hosting Britain’s many tons of high-level radioactive waste, produced from
Britain’s civil nuclear and military nuclear programmes, in an undersea
Geological Disposal Facility.
NFLA 1st Dec 2022
Britain’s bunkers offer little chance of survival after a nuclear attack
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/02/britains-bunkers-offer-little-chance-of-survival-after-a-nuclear-attack 2 Dec 22 David Saunders and Mark Newbury write that, with no bunker provision for civilians, most of us won’t have access – and those who do should not expect to live long.
The owner of the Kelvedon Hatch bunker suggests that those selected for his shelter might survive for 10 to 20 years in it while avoiding nuclear fallout (‘When you hear the four-minute warning’ … Whatever happened to Britain’s nuclear bunkers?, 24 November). This is, sadly, an unrealistic expectation if one simply looks at the likely impact on infrastructure of even a limited nuclear attack on the UK, based on exercises and analysis conducted during the cold war.
It was accepted 50 years ago that nobody above ground is likely to be left fit or alive to generate power or supply clean water. Food cannot be grown in a radioactive environment and, in the period preceding any outbreak of war, there will be diminished food stocks due to panic buying or rationing.
The scenarios modelled by civil defence analysts even during the 1980s Pershing and cruise missile deployment suggested that survival in Britain’s local government bunkers would be short lived. There was never any provision in the UK for sheltering the civilian population in the event of a nuclear conflict and Britain’s civil defence posture was abandoned as a posture after the 1960s.
While in neutral Sweden and Switzerland housebuilding rules made provision to protect the civil population, in Britain the idea of being able to survive to the same extent as in, say, the blitz in the second world war is merely a pious hope.
Nice to know that, according to the civil defence historian Nathan Hazlehurst, “Key members of central government, the military and royal family will have access to bunkers, along with those staff needed to run the country post-attack.” The rest of us will (I assume) have to make do with an updated version of the much-derided Protect and Survive booklet.
TODAY. The GREAT BRITISH NUCLEAR financial mess
In a gloomy financial statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the Office for Budget Responsibility had judged that the UK’s economy was shrinking. J.P.Morgan said on Tuesday it expects a contraction in the UK’s economy next year as it enters a lengthy period of stagnation in the face of soaring gas prices, slowing global growth and tighter economic conditions. It predicts “Tighter monetary and fiscal policy amid scarring from both the pandemic and Brexit”
In the midst of all this financial gloom, both the Tory government and the Labour opposition delight in predicting a boom in electricity production from a fleet of nuclear reactors both Big and Small – a fleet that is magically going to appear like some sort of miasma – as taxpayer funds pour into nuclear projects like Sizewell C (Big) and Rolls Royce’s 470 MWe SMR (Not Really Small At All)
Seven months ago the UK government dreamed up “Great British Nuclear” – a “flagship” to “enable nuclear projects”. Now it is clear that “Great British Nuclear” is nothing more than a public relations exercise.
Wylfa and Cumbria nuclear projects failed. because, although the
government offered to take a 30 per cent stake, no other investors came
forward. Now the government is to take a 50% stake in the up to £43 billion Sizewell C , – again desperately touting for investors.
And now – the government unveils plans to establish “Great British Energy”, a new arms-length public body to oversee UK nuclear power pipeline
The Tories pinched the name from the opposition Labour Party, which touted its plan as “all about renewables”. But Labour didn’t mind a bit, when the government co-opted it and turned it into some sort of nuclear justification body. Indeed, Labour’s just as ecstatic as the Tories, about Britain’s wonderful nuclear future – and to hell with the expense!
UK’s £26bn Hinkley Point C nuclear station now faces 11 year delay
Britain’s flagship Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is facing the risk of an 11-year delay, piling further pressure on efforts to keep the lights on. According to a new contract between the Government and French company
EDF, Hinkley will still be funded even if it does not start operating until 2036 – more than a decade after its initial deadline in 2025.
It raises the prospect of significant further hold-ups at Hinkley, which has already been delayed until mid-2027. The change to the subsidy contract terms comes as the Government is paying China a reported £100m to exit its involvement in a second planned new nuclear project, Sizewell C in Suffolk, which is also being developed with EDF. The Government confirmed on Tuesday that CGN will exit Sizewell C, with the state paying an unconfirmed sum to cover its 20pc shareholding and a commercial return. The Times reported this to be £100m. CGN’s involvement with Hinkley Point C is believed to be unaffected.
However, as part of the negotiations, Hinkley Point C now has more leeway than previously to get up and running. The project has a deal with the Government under which it gets a guaranteed £92.50 per megawatt hour for its electricity for the first 35 years of its life, backed by a levy on consumer bills.
When the project was first agreed in 2016, it was due to start generating at the end of 2025. In January 2021, that was pushed back
to June 2026, and in May 2022 it was pushed back again to 2027, with EDF blaming the pandemic and supply chain issues. Costs are now expected to be as high as £26bn. The plant is using a new type of generating technology, EPR, which is so far only in commercial operation in Taishan, China, where one reactor has been shut down due to problems.
Telegraph 29th Nov 2022
UK government to take 50% stake in the French development of Sizewell C nuclear station
Ed note: This is the Tory government plan. But didn’t they pinch the Great British Energy idea from Labour?
Sizewell C project takes major step forward as government unveils plans to establish Great British Energy, a new arms-length public body to oversee UK nuclear power pipeline. The government has approved plans to build the UK’s
first new nuclear power plant in a quarter of a century, today confirming it has agreed to invest £679m to take a 50 per cent stake in the Sizewell C project being developed in Suffolk by French energy giant EDF.
Then”historic” investment will see the UK government become joint shareholder in Sizewell C alongside developer EDF, which will also provide additionalminvestment to match the UK government’s stake, muscling out previousmshareholder China’s CGN in the process.
EDF and the government now plan to work together to attract further third-party investment in the 3.2GW low carbon power project, which once completed would be expected to provide enough power to meet the needs of six million homes for more than 50 years.
In addition, the government today also announced plans to establish Great British Nuclear, a new arms-length public body to help develop a pipeline of new nuclear projects. More details are expected early in the new year, including on the government’s funding commitment to the new body.
Business Green 29th Nov 2022
Sizewll C nuclear white elephant could cost up to £43 billion
Grant Shapps follows Johnson and Kwarteng’s example by purposefully
avoiding any discussion or interaction with those directly affected by the
proposed Sizewell nuclear development during his recent visit to Sizewell
while reconfirming the government’s commitment to the £700m investment by
way of joining EDF in a 50:50 partnership in the Sizewell C White Elephant
financial sink hole on Suffolk’s eroding coast.
Jenny Kirtley, Chair of Together Against Sizewell C, said today, ‘There is nothing new in terms of
funding – this announcement still doesn’t go beyond the £700m already
promised, followed by a lot of sticking plasters to protect the government
from the criticism of doing nothing for years to drive down electricity on
the demand side. A pathetic response from a delusional government that is
long past its sell-by date.
The government’s own risk assessment forecasts
that Sizewell C may cost up to £43 billion –
yet another example of this government’s willingness to squander £billions of public money on a project
that may never operate as it still requires the resolution of EDF’s inability to secure a permanent and reliable supply of a potable water.
TASC 29th Nov 2022
UK govt goes ahead, seeks financial backing for Sizewell nuclear project, despite strong objections on environmental grounds, especially about water use.
It bears noting that EDF was refused planning consent from Suffolk County Council and the Planning
Inspectorate in 2020 on the grounds that insufficient information was provided about the project’s impacts on local communities and nature.
Particular concerns included procuring water and potential impacts on the local nature reserve.
The UK Government has confirmed approval for the Sizewell C nuclear power
plant after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt moved to back proceeding with the
development at this month’s Autumn Statement. The Department for Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has stated that the Government will
take a £679m stake in the 3.2GW project and will urge China General Nuclear
to end its involvement.
It will allocate a multi-million-pound package to
cover buy-out costs, commercial arrangements and tax. This is a significant
increase from the £100m option fee contribution for Sizewell C which the
Government confirmed back in January. It will see the Government becoming a
50% shareholder in the project’s development phase. BEIS has stated that
EDF, which is developing the power plant, will “provide additional
investment to match the Government’s stake”.
But with the total project
cost sitting around £20bn, it is clear that additional backers will need to
be found. Sizewell C will be the UK’s first project to use a new funding
model for nuclear, the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model. This model
provides investors with regular returns before a plant begins generating
power. It has replaced the previous Contracts for Difference (CfD) approach
to nuclear funding due to the passage of the Nuclear Energy (Financing)
Bill earlier this year, when Kwasi Kwarteng was in the top job at BEIS.
Some local community groups and major environmental groups have argued that
BEIS rushed the decision on Sizewell C without accounting for key
information on impacts such as water extraction and disrupting wildlife.
On the former point, Sizewell B uses about 800,000 litres of potable water
each day. Friends of the Earth moved in August to launch a legal challenge
to BEIS over the Sizewell C approval decision. It bears noting that EDF was
refused planning consent from Suffolk County Council and the Planning
Inspectorate in 2020 on the grounds that insufficient information was
provided about the project’s impacts on local communities and nature.
Particular concerns included procuring water and potential impacts on the
local nature reserve.
The Planning Inspectorate stated that “unless the
outstanding water supply strategy can be resolved and sufficient
information provided to enable the secretary of state to carry out his
obligations under the Habitats Regulations, the case for an order granting
development consent for the application is not made out”.
Friends of the Earth argued that, when it launched its challenge, no more information had
been provided or considered about Sizewell C’s nature and water footprint.
Edie 29th Nov 2022
UK government desperate for investors in its Sizewell C nuclear project, as it pays out the Chinese company previously involved
Construction will not begin in earnest until the consortium has raised close to £20bn of equity and debt from private investors. That fundraising could take at least a year and has no guarantee of success.
The UK government is to pay Chinese state-owned power group CGN over £100mn to exit Britain’s £20bn Sizewell C nuclear energy project in a bid to reduce Beijing’s involvement in the country’s infrastructure. The payment to CGN for its 20 per cent stake in the proposed nuclear plant in Suffolk is part of a £679mn UK state investment in Sizewell first announced by former prime minister Boris Johnson in September and finalised on Tuesday.
Construction will not begin in earnest until the consortium has raised close to £20bn of equity and debt from private investors. That fundraising could take at least a year and has no guarantee of success. UK government officials said that the departure of CGN would clear the way for US investors to put money into Sizewell C, since the Chinese company has been put under US sanctions.
CGN remains a minority 33 per cent investor in Britain’s giant Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset, another
EDF led project. Although this has already been delayed by several years, it is intended to be the first of a new generation of nuclear power stations. The Chinese group also controls a site at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, where it hopes to be the lead investor in a new generator.
CGN’s planned use of its own reactor technology at Bradwell received former approval from Britain’s nuclear regulator in February. But ministers think that ultimately it will not be allowed to build at the site, which they expect to change hands in due course.
FT 29th Nov 2022
https://www.ft.com/content/a9a34ea3-649f-4a47-a4c8-ee269e07eccc
Taxpayers to hand China millions of pounds to quit Sizewell nuclear plant
Taxpayers will hand China millions of pounds to quit its nuclear power
venture in Suffolk as part of a £700m deal as the “golden era” of
UK-China relations comes to an end. The Government is spending an initial
£679m to help get the £20bn Sizewell C nuclear power plant project off the
ground and has confirmed part of this will go to state-owned China General
Nuclear (CGN) under an exit deal.
It has not disclosed what proportion will
go to CGN but a Government spokesman said the payment “covers the value
of their shareholding, their contribution to the project’s development and
a commercial return reflecting their work to date”. He added: “The
value of their 20pc stake in the project is commercially confidential.
“CGN has decided to exit the project at this stage in its development,
following constructive commercial negotiations.”
Telegraph 29th Nov 2022
UK GOVERNMENT DEPLOYED 15 STAFF ON SECRET OPERATION TO SEIZE JULIAN ASSANGE
New information raises further concerns about the politicisation of the WikiLeaks founder’s legal case.
https://declassifieduk.org/uk-government-deployed-15-staff-on-secret-operation-to-seize-julian-assange/ MATT KENNARD, 28 NOVEMBER 2022
- Assange had been granted asylum by a friendly country to avoid persecution by the US government for his journalistic activities
- But Home Office had eight staff, and the Cabinet Office had seven, working on secret police operation to arrest Assange
- Ministry of Justice, which controls England’s courts and prisons, refuses to say if its staff were involved in operation
- Foreign Office refuses to say if its premises were used
The British government assigned at least 15 people to the secret operation to seize Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, new information shows.
The WikiLeaks founder was given political asylum by Ecuador in 2012, but was never allowed safe passage out of Britain to avoid persecution by the US government.
The Australian journalist has been in Belmarsh maximum security prison for the past three and a half years and faces a potential 175-year sentence after the UK High Court greenlighted his extradition to the US in December 2021.
‘Pelican’ was the secret Metropolitan Police operation to seize Assange from his asylum, which eventually occurred in April 2019. Asylum is a right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The operation’s existence was only revealed in the memoirs of former foreign minister Sir Alan Duncan which were published last year. The UK government routinely blocks, or obfuscates its answers to, information requests about the Assange case.
But the Cabinet Office recently told parliament it had seven officials working on Operation Pelican. The department’s role is to “support the Prime Minister and ensure the effective running of government”, but it also has national security and intelligence functions.
It is not immediately clear why the Cabinet Office would have so many personnel working on a police operation of this kind. Asked about their role, the Cabinet Office said these seven officials “liaised” with the Metropolitan Police on the operation.
The Home Office, meanwhile, told parliament it had eight officials working on Pelican. The Home Office oversees MI5 and the head of the department has to sign off extraditions to most foreign countries. Then home secretary Priti Patel ordered Assange’s extradition to the US in June.
‘Disproportionate cost’
Other government ministries refused to say if they had staff working on Pelican, including the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The MoJ is in charge of courts in England and Wales, where Assange’s extradition case is currently deciding whether to hear an appeal. It is also in control of its prisons, including Belmarsh maximum security jail where Assange is incarcerated.
When asked if any of its staff were assigned to Pelican, the MoJ claimed: “The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.”
It is unclear why the Home Office, a bigger department with more staff, could answer such a question, but the MoJ could not. There is no obvious reason why the MoJ would have staff assigned to Pelican, so revelations that it did would cause embarrassment for the government.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office told parliament it had no staff “directly assigned” to Pelican, but refused to say if people working on the operation were located on its premises.
‘Julian Assange’s Special Brexit Team’
Sir Alan Duncan, foreign minister for the Americas from 2016-19, was the key UK official in the diplomatic negotiations between the UK and Ecuador to get Assange out of the embassy. In his memoirs he wrote that he watched a live-feed of Assange’s arrest from the Operations Room at the top of the Foreign Office alongside Pelican personnel.
After Assange had been imprisoned in Belmarsh, Duncan had a drinks party at his office for the Pelican team. “I gave them each a signed photo which we took in the Ops Room on the day, with a caption saying ‘Julian Assange’s Special Brexit Team 11th April 2019’”, he wrote.
Ecuador’s president from 2007-17, Rafael Correa, recently told Declassified he granted Assange asylum because the Australian journalist “didn’t have any possibility of a fair legal process in the United States.”
He added that the UK government “tried to deal with us like a subordinate country.”
In September 2021, 30 former US officials went on the record to reveal a CIA plot to “kill or kidnap” Assange in London. In case of Assange leaving the embassy, the article noted, “US officials asked their British counterparts to do the shooting if gunfire was required, and the British agreed, according to a former senior administration official.”
These assurances most likely came from the Home Office.
Ineos corporation to join Rolls Royce’s messy consortium, to push for Small Nuclear Reactors in the Great British Nuclear Swindle
Rolls-Royce is in talks with Ineos to build a mini nuclear reactor to power the chemicals group’s Grangemouth refinery.
Rolls is heading a government-backed consortium to develop between 20 and 30 small modular nuclear reactors but is in need of customers to help to reduce the risk of the venture.
Ministers are finalising plans to support SMRs through a body called Great British Nuclear, which will be responsible for getting
planning permission and undertaking the preparation work on the new sites. Rolls’ talks with Ineos, first reported by The Sunday Telegraph, are understood to be at an early stage. Ineos’s Grangemouth refinery in Scotland is a joint venture with PetroChina and refines crude oil and produces chemicals.
Times 28th Nov 2022
UK government PR exercise “Great British Nuclear” headed for financial failure.
Letter Steve Thomas: Six months after it was announced, it is clear that
Great British Nuclear was no more than a government PR exercise. You report
that it “could prevent a repeat of the Wylfa and Cumbria farragoes”.
That would be remarkable.
The Cumbria project failed because the reactor
supplier, Westinghouse, went bankrupt; Wylfa failed because, although the
government offered to take a 30 per cent stake, no other investors came
forward.
he problem with nuclear is not that we don’t have the
organisation quite right. It’s that nuclear is far too expensive and
economically risky and takes much too long to build to be any use.
Times 25th Sept 2022
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/admit-it-nuclears-going-nowhere-tclmnr89f
Middle East investors and French developers for Sizewell C nuclear station to be paid by “an extra tax” on UK public’s bills ?
Alison Downes of campaign group Stop Sizewell C criticised the idea of foreign investors paid with money from ‘an extra nuclear tax on our bills’. She added: ‘The promise of UK energy independence looks pretty hollow if Sizewell C turns out to be French-built and Middle East-funded.’
UAE wealth fund may invest in Sizewell C – Mubadala one of main names in frame to back £20bn nuclear plant. Emirati sovereign wealth fund Mubadala has been tipped as a potential investor in Sizewell C. Sources said the investment group, whose board includes the owner of Manchester City FC, is one of the main names in the frame to back the £20billion nuclear plant.
They suggested talks with the fund may already have taken place. Mubadala is chaired by UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Its vice-chairman Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought Manchester City in 2008.
The Government is expected to give the go-ahead to Sizewell C within days with a ‘general investment decision’ that will formalise taxpayer support. The Government and French energy firm EDF, which is developing the power station, are each taking a 20 per cent stake. They are racing to recruit investors to fill a 60 per cent funding gap.
Ministers have put in place a new funding model, the ‘regulated asset base’, which lets investors receive cash back during construction. This is intended to attract pension funds and institutional investors. But they are also said to be approaching potential supporters in the Middle East, Australia and North America.
Alison Downes of campaign group Stop Sizewell C criticised the idea of foreign investors paid with money from ‘an extra nuclear tax on our bills’. She added: ‘The promise of UK energy independence looks pretty hollow if Sizewell C turns out to be French-built and Middle East-funded.’
A BusinessDepartment spokesman said it would ‘not be appropriate to comment on potential investors’.
Mail on Sunday 26th Nov 2022
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-11472637/UAE-wealth-fund-invest-Sizewell-C.html
Legal challenge to UK nuclear plan by groups Stop Sizewell C and Together Against Sizewell C (TASC), and others
Campaigners against Sizewell C say they will not give up their fight to stop the nuclear power project and now have a date for a High Court case in London. The next stage of the legal challenge against the plans for the £25billion power station is set to take place with an oral hearing before a judge.
Campaign groups, including Stop Sizewell C and Together Against Sizewell C (TASC), have pledged to fight despite chancellor Jeremy Hunt announcing in his Autumn Budget that the Government would continue to provide £700m towards the cost of the project.
Chris Wilson, legal liaison officer with TASC, said the oral hearing would be held on December 14, during which the campaigners’ barrister will be able to present their arguments against the project before a High Court judge. If the judge deems there’s a case, the next stage will be a formal judicial review hearing
before the High Court, which could result in the development consent for the nuclear power station, granted by the Government in July, being overturned.
Even if the legal challenge is rejected at the oral hearing, the campaigners will still have the option of going to appeal. A first stage review of the legal appeal by the High Court initially recommended refusal, but the next stage, the oral hearing, will determine whether the challenge goes to a formal judicial review hearing.
East Anglian Daily Times 27th Nov 2022
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/23151541.sizewell-campaigners-not-giving-up-despite-budget-decision/
1 This Month
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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