nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Not mentioned? Nuclear fusion is hugely expensive, and this quest has produced much toxic waste

February 13, 2021 Posted by | technology, UK | Leave a comment

As UK govt desperate to promote nuclear industry, it’s even more desperate to solve nuclear waste dilemma

FT 9th Feb 2021,  UK returns to grappling with toxic nuclear waste dilemma. Two communities
in north-west England asked to consider hosting sites to bury radioactive material. In recent weeks the UK government has invited residents from two communities in north-west England to a “virtual exhibition” to gauge their views on whether they would be prepared to solve one of the biggest environmental challenges facing the country: what to do with more than half a century’s worth of toxic nuclear waste.
The boroughs of Allerdale and Copeland in Cumbria are considering whether to become host to an underground storage facility for the most radioactive by-products of the country’s nuclear industry. The process, which is designed to give local residents the final say, is run by the state-owned Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Like other countries with nuclear industries, the UK government has been grappling with the issue of long-term storage for several decades. This marks the fourth attempt to find a site to bury radioactive waste at depths of up to 1km underground.
But local opponents are outraged. The plans are “like a dog going back to its sick”, said Marianne Birkby, who lives 25 miles from Sellafield and runs Radiation Free Lakeland, which
campaigned against the facility last time.
Reluctance to host such a facility is not unique to the UK. “The reality is nowhere in the world is
there [yet] a functioning deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel,” said Dr Paul Dorfman of University College London’s Energy Institute.
The search for a site is key to the government’s plans for nuclear power — one of its 10 flagship green policies [nuclear  is NOT green]— according tonuclear experts. “My personal position is I don’t think we should have any new nuclear power stations until we have a [long-term] disposal
strategy in place,” said Corkhill.

https://www.ft.com/content/2321bfae-839a-468f-b933-d699b6ff6864

February 11, 2021 Posted by | UK, wastes | 1 Comment

Wales government irresponsible to consider expensive move towards nuclear power development

PAWB 7th Feb 2021, OPEN LETTER TO MARK DRAKEFORD, FIRST MINISTER OF WALES. Surprise if not disbelief was our response to the story in the Sunday Times today that reported on the Welsh Government being in talks with Hitachi about buying almost 750 acres of land near the Wylfa nuclear power station. It is worrying that your Education Minister, Kirsty Williams did not deny the story in a television interview today.

Far too much time, money and political energy has been wasted over the past twenty years in Wales as politicians from all parties in the Senedd in Cardiff have followed the political whims of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson in favour of having a new generation of large nuclear reactors.

The history of the site near Wylfa bought by RWE from EdF in 2007 is a perfect illustration of this complete waste of time and money. The RWE/Eon consortium from Germany who set up Horizon stepped aside in March 2012 and were very lucky to sell the Wylfa and Oldbury sites for quite a profit to Hitachi.

Of course, over two years have now passed since Hitachi made the majority of the Horizon workforce redundant and suspended work on the Wylfa site. The writing was on the wall and it was only a matter of time before the announcement in September 2020 that Hitachi were giving up completely on building two of its ABWR reactors on the site. To rub salt into the wound, Hitachi has announced Horizon will cease to exist at the end of March, and even more significantly, the Planning Inspectorate’s report on Horizon’s full planning application was published a few days ago noting that the application would not have been approved.

The main reasons given for refusal were the substantial effect on the biodiversity of this expansive area that such a huge plan would have, whether the tern colony at Cemlyn or grassland across the site.

Significantly also, the inspectors believed that the huge scale of the development would cause
great damage to the linguistic balance of the county with the second highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales. Stepping in by the Welsh Government immediately after the publication of the Planning Inspectorate’s report to try to buy the site would show extreme lack of judgement and sensitivity.

Now, of all times, with the COVID-19 pandemic having turned our world upside down, it would be a totally irresponsible action by your Government to spend millions of pounds on a site which is not considered suitable by the Planning Inspectorate for large nuclear reactors.

https://www.stop-wylfa.org/

February 11, 2021 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Expensive, experimental, Sizewell nuclear project would be operational far too late to affect global heating

Independent 8th Feb 2021, A new nuclear power plant at Sizewell is the wrong choice for a zero carbon Britain. The climate column: The proposed Sizewell C will not produce electricity until about 2040, which means it cannot reduce the UK’s carbon emissions with the speed necessary to avoid catastrophic tipping points.
Just weeks ago, the Climate Assembly set up by parliament rejected nuclear power as an answer to creating a zero-carbon economy. This was due to cost, safety and difficulties with waste storage and decommissioning.
Yet Boris Johnson is reported to be about to commit Britain to buying another hugely expensive nuclear power station. As this new plant would not be producing electricity until about 2040, it means it cannot reduce the UK’s carbon emissions with the speed necessary to avoid catastrophic tipping points, whereas cheaper renewables can be up and running within a
couple of years of being commissioned.
Consider the following analogy. Four years ago, you needed to replace your gas boiler and a company came along and offered to sell you the world’s most expensive experimental boiler
ever. It’s been trying to build the first four of them for over 20 years but had not yet got any actually working.

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/opinion/nuclear-power-plant-sizewell-boris-johnson-b1622086.html

February 11, 2021 Posted by | climate change, UK | Leave a comment

Call for an independent Scotland to demand removal of nuclear weapons from Faslane

Daily Record 10th Feb 2021. An independent Scotland should delay NATO membership until nuclear weapons are removed from Faslane, a campaign group has demanded. The call is a
challenge to current SNP policy which is to seek continuing membership of
the defence alliance if a majority of Scots vote Yes at a future
referendum.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/independent-scotland-should-delay-nato-23461400

February 11, 2021 Posted by | politics, UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

UK universities partnering with Chinese technology companies may be breaching national security rules

Times 8th Feb 2021, It took a letter from Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign
affairs committee, to alert Manchester University to the fact that a
Chinese company with which it was collaborating was implicated in
Beijing’s persecution of the Uighurs.
The university, which cut off ties with China Electronics Technology Corporation (CETC) last week, said that the letter was the first credible information that it had received about
its partner’s role in providing surveillance technology used to spy on
China’s Muslim minority.
That is surprising given that two Australian
universities cut off links with CETC in 2019 after similar warnings. But
what is more troubling is that Manchester appears to be far from alone in
partnering with Chinese companies with defence links on cutting-edge
scientific research. Indeed the Foreign Office is investigating more than a
dozen universities for possible breaches of national security rules.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-times-view-on-institutions-ties-with-china-academic-decoupling-zdls230qc 

February 9, 2021 Posted by | China, politics international, secrets,lies and civil liberties, technology, UK | Leave a comment

Planning inspectors recommended against Wylfa Newydd project on Anglesey

Planning inspectors recommended refusal for new nuclear power plant, Nation Cymru Gareth Williams, local democracy reporter

Plans to build a new nuclear power station were likely to be refused even before the project was shelved by backers.

UK Government appointed planning inspectors had recommended that the Wylfa Newydd project on Anglesey be rejected over a number of concerns from experts.

The application has since been withdrawn after Hitachi, the company behind the project, decided that the power plant was too expensive to build without a funding deal with the UK Government in place.

Energy company Horizon – a subsidiary of Hitatchi – needed an Approval of the Development Consent Order (DCO) to allow the £16bn project to go ahead.

DCOs are needed for any planning application regarded as a major UK infrastructure project and DCO process for Wylfa Newydd had been underway since 2018.

The Planning Inspectorate’s conclusion, which was made public for the first time on Thursday, was intended to be considered as a recommendation – with the final decision down to the UK Government.

But expert planning officers felt that the scheme would fail to meet some of the United Nations’ biological diversity standards.

Inspectors also told UK Government ministers it had concerns over the project’s impact on the local economy, housing stock and the Welsh language…..

The findings of the planning inspectors’ report, which were made public for the first time on Thursday, said there was a lack of scientific evidence put forward by developers to demonstrate that the Arctic and Sandwich tern populations around the Cemlyn Bay area, where the plant was set to be built, would not be disturbed by construction.

There were fears that these birds would subsequently abandon nearby Cemlyn Bay as a result.

It also raised wider concerns over the general impact on Cemlyn Bay, the Cae Gwyn site of special scientific interest and Tre’r Gof……..

It went on to conclude: “Having regard to all the matters referred in this report, the ExA’s conclusion is that, on balance, the matters weighing against the proposed development outweigh the matters weighing in favour of it.

“The ExA therefore finds the case for development is not made and it recommends accordingly.”

‘Pulling the plug’ 

Before pulling the plug on the DCO application last month, Hitachi confirmed that talks had been taking place with potential new investors.  But with no concrete offer forthcoming, Hitachi announced it would wind up its Horizon Nuclear Power subsidiary by March 2021………  https://nation.cymru/news/planning-inspectors-recommended-refusal-for-new-nuclear-power-plant/

 

Daily Post 5th Feb 2021, The UK’s Planning Inspectorate has released its report into Wylfa Newydd –
showing they had recommended refusal over biodiversity issues.

https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/wylfa-newydd-planning-inspectorate-releases-19774231

February 8, 2021 Posted by | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

At last, UK government will investigate birth defects amongst children of nuclear test veterans

Mirror 3rd Feb 2021, Thousands of sick children and adults have finally been offered government research into whether their DNA was damaged by Cold War nuclear bomb tests.

An estimated 155,000 descendants of National Servicemen who took part in atomic weapons tests in the 1950s now report 10 times the normal rate birth defects, and are five times more likely to die as infants. Now Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer has promised to consider thorough research into whether they suffer a genetic legacy from Britain’s radiation
experiments.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/thousands-offered-research-dna-damage-23436272

February 5, 2021 Posted by | children, UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

UK’s Infrastructure Planning Inspectorate recommends against development of Wyfa nuclear project

Planning Inspectorate 4th Feb 2021, Following the recent withdrawal of the application, and in the interests of openness and transparency, we have taken the decision to publish the
Examining Authority’s Recommendation Report. In the light of the ExA’s
findings and conclusions, the ExA under s105 of the PA2008 recommends the
Secretary of State for Business, Environment and Industrial Strategy does
not grant the Wylfa Newydd Project Development Consent Order.

https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/wp-content/ipc/uploads/projects/EN010007/EN010007-003948-Recommendation%20Report%20-%20English.pdf

February 5, 2021 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Pandemic causes Britain’s Trident nuclear submarine replacement to be delayed by another year

Trident nuclear submarine replacement delayed by another year
Announcement raises new questions as to whether UK’s current ageing fleet can be relied on,  Guardian, Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor. Fri 5 Feb 2021 

Britain’s £31bn replacement for its ageing Trident nuclear submarines has been delayed by another year owing the pandemic, raising fresh questions about whether the UK can rely on the existing fleet.

Official documents released at the end of last year quietly confirmed that the current phase of the Dreadnought programme had been put back to March 2022, although the update was not highlighted and it was only spotted by a pressure group.

An SNP member of the defence select committee has now called for it to hold an inquiry into the Trident replacement programme, complaining about a lack of transparency.

An annual update on nuclear replacement, released to MPs before Christmas, said that “recognising the high levels of uncertainty caused by the pandemic” and its impact on supply chains, “delivery phase 2 will continue until March 2022”.

It did not say that this amounted to a one-year delay to the sprawling programme. This was spotted by David Cullen, of the Nuclear Information Service, who recalled a promise made a year earlier to conclude the work in March 2021.

“Covid is going to be with us for a while, and nobody will be surprised if there are other delays to Dreadnought,” Cullen said, arguing that the relative secrecy suggested “this isn’t the behaviour of a department that is confident it can deliver on its promises”.

The Dreadnought programme, first approved by Labour in 2007, has been repeatedly delayed by governments since. The first submarine was initially due to come into service in 2024, then 2028, and now the “early 2030s”, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) says……….

Britain prefers to shroud its nuclear programme in secrecy, but there have been accidents in the past. In 1998 HMS Vanguard, carrying 96 nuclear warheads and 135 crew, plunged into a deep dive following a power failure between Cornwall and the south of Ireland. The crew only managed to regain control through a backup power system.

In February 2009, Vanguard collided with a French nuclear submarine, Le Triomphant, in a freak accident in the Atlantic. Details were initially hushed up, before it was leaked to a newspaper. Fortunately the accident happened at a relatively low speed. Ministers were told that at the time that nuclear safety had not been compromised.

Martin Docherty-Hughes, an SNP member of the defence select committee, said: “It is simply unacceptable that we need to parse UK government statements for half phrases and words which the MoD could be using to cover its own backside.” He said he would be writing to the chair of the committee to demand an inquiry…… https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/04/trident-nuclear-submarine-replacement-delayed-by-year

February 5, 2021 Posted by | health, UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Britain’s unaffordable nuclear power plans collapse, one by one

Times 31st Jan 2021, Nuclear winter for Britain as power plants close. Hinkley Point is last man standing as other power stations are scrapped. Hitachi president Hiroaki Nakanishi had a grand dream when
the Japanese giant paid £696 million for the right to build two nuclear power stations in the UK. “Today starts our 100-year commitment to the UK and its vision to achieve a long-term, secure, low- carbon and affordable energy supply,” declared Nakanishi in 2012, as he signed a deal to buy the Horizon nuclear project from Germany’s RWE and Eon.
Nakanishi’s plan was to use the UK as a shop window for its reactors, installing them at Wylfa on Anglesey in north Wales and Oldbury-on-Severn in south Gloucestershire. Wylfa would provide enough power to supply the whole of Wales. Together, the two sites could power about 10 million homes.
Last week, that bold vision lay in tatters as Hitachi pulled down the shutters on Horizon, which it will wind up by the end of March. It has cancelled its application for a development consent order — a formal process needed to secure planning permission — for the £20 billion Wylfa Newydd plant, despite having spent £2 billion exploring every aspect of the project, from the rock strata on the island to the location of Roman ruins.
British Gas parent Centrica scrapped plans to invest in new nuclear power in 2013and for the past few years has been trying to sell its 20 per cent stake in the existing fleet of British Energy plants. Russian and Canadian operators have also abandoned attempts to build reactors in this country.
Another planned EDF plant, at Sizewell in Suffolk, has been given encouragement by the government, but EDF faces years of negotiations with ministers over the financial structure of a deal.
CGN hopes to install its home-grown reactor, the Hualong One, at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, but must overcome opposition from Tory MPs and the United States.
The biggest obstacles to nuclear have always been cost and risk. The retreat of Hitachi and Toshiba showed that only governments dare take the risk of building nuclear stations —
particularly when they are the first of a new design. Theresa May’s government eventually offered to take a third of the equity in Horizon alongside the Japanese government and Hitachi. Boris Johnson’s administration is exploring a new financial model, the regulated asset base, where investors could earn a return during construction.
All that was too late for Horizon, led by Duncan Hawthorne. In a letter to the unions
that had begged Hitachi to grant the project a reprieve, executive Toshikazu Nishino said that it had not received adequate backing from government.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nuclear-winter-for-britain-as-power-plants-close-gb8c5dx07

February 1, 2021 Posted by | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

In its failed search for a national dump site, UK govt rebrands its nuclear waste agency, promises honesty this time.

Cumbria Trust 30th Jan 2021, Today marks the 8th anniversary of the last attempt to bury the UK’s nuclear waste in Cumbria. On 30th January 2013, Eddie Martin, then Leader of Cumbria County Council, made an impassioned speech to his Cabinet and urged them to call a halt to the search in Cumbria.

The Cabinet agreed and by 7 votes to 3 the process known as Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) was stopped. Since West Cumbria was the only area in the country to volunteer, that decision also marked the end of the national search process.

During the 8 years since that decision, the government have been working on a new search process and have been busily rebranding in an attempt to distance themselves from some of the less honest practices which were used during the failed MRWS process.

This time the developer is called Radioactive Waste Management (RWM), a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. RWM frequently talk about transparency and openness of the new process, and to be fair we have seen some improvements in our discussions with them, but our suspicion remains that old habits die hard.

https://cumbriatrust.wordpress.com/2021/01/30/eddie-martin-cumbria-county-council-no-gdf-8th-anniversary/

February 1, 2021 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Isle of Man Wakes Up to What is Planned – SUB SEA NUCLEAR DUMP — Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole

At last there is some Grrrrr over the plan to dump heat generating nuclear waste under the Irish Sea – so far the plan appears to be to looking in all seriousness at having above surface nuclear sprawl at Ghyll Scuar quarry ( on the edge of Millom Deer Park ) with the drift tunnels  shunting planetary destroying nuclear wastes under the Marine Conservation Zone outwards towards the Isle of Man. Whats not to like? EVERYTHING!

Good on the Isle of Man Examiner for this headline and write up. To read the article in full (for £1) go to the Isle of Man Examiner

Isle of Man Wakes Up to What is Planned – SUB SEA NUCLEAR DUMP — Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole

February 1, 2021 Posted by | media, UK, wastes | Leave a comment

From both UK and Ireland – calls for independent review into dumping Hinkley nuclear mud into the sea

Nation Cymru 29th Jan 2021, Campaigners on both sides of the Bristol Channel have called for a full independent review into proposals to dump mud from the construction of a
nuclear power plant in the sea off the coast of Cardiff, following the
announcement that a new dumping site off the Somerset coast is also being
considered.

Despite public opposition, in 2018 the Welsh Government
permitted EDF to dump large quantities of mud dredged from construction of
the new Hinkley C nuclear power plant at the Cardiff Deep Grounds inshore
disposal site. EDF insisted the site- only two miles from Cardiff Bay –
was the only suitable site available in the Bristol Channel.

Earlier this month EDF announced its intention to apply to the Marine Management
Organisation (MMO) for a license to dump at Portishead, while also making a
further application to dump at the Cardiff site. No reason has been given
by EDF for the Portishead proposal.

In a joint statement issued with Stop Hinkley and the Geiger Bay campaign, UK & Ireland Nuclear Free LocalAuthorities Steering Committee Chair, Councillor David Blackburn said:
“NFLA was surprised to hear that EDF are now seeking to look at dumping
mud from the Hinkley Point site off the Somerset coast in addition to
continuing to look to dump off the south Wales coast.

https://nation.cymru/news/cross-channel-calls-for-independent-review-into-nuclear-plant-mud-dump-plans/

February 1, 2021 Posted by | Ireland, UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Huge legacy of radioactive trash in UK, much of it already in Cumbria

Whitehaven News 30th January 2021,  CHRIS WHITESIDE County councillor for Egremont North & St Bees (Conservative)   Any consideration of the issue of nuclear waste in Cumbria
must start by recognising one basic fact. No matter how much some people
might wish it were otherwise, Britain already has thousands of tons of
low-level waste material, and a substantial amount of high-level nuclear
material, as a legacy of our existing and historical nuclear programmes.
And much of it is already in Cumbria.

Imagining that the tens of thousands
of cubic metres of nuclear material which is already here at sites like
Sellafield and the LLWR will somehow magically go away if you put up
posters demanding that there should be no nuclear waste in Cumbria or,
worse, try to sabotage any attempt to get a rational discussion going about
how we can most safely manage the nuclear waste which we already have by
vilifying anyone who takes part in a conversation about it, is not just
incredibly stupid but utterly irresponsible.

https://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/news/19051819.whitehaven-news-letters-nuclear-waste-years/

January 31, 2021 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

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