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Delay in preparations for Wylfa nuclear plant

North Wales Chronicle 7th May 2020, The firm behind a planned multi-billion-pound nuclear plant has asked for more time to carry out significant improvements to a 16 kilometre stretch
of road linking the development with the A55. In July 2018 Anglesey
Council’s planning committee approved the plans which include widening
and putting down a new surface on the A5025 between Valley and
Llanynghenedl, Llanfachraeth and Llanrhuddlad, and Cefn Coch to the
proposed Wylfa Newydd power plant site. But with the project officially on
hold and a UK Government decision on a Development Consent Order (DCO) not
expected until at least September, developers have now asked to extend the
condition ruling that work would have to start within two years.

https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/18432817.firm-behind-anglesey-nuclear-plant-plan-ask-time-improve-link-road/

May 9, 2020 Posted by | UK | Leave a comment

A potential US extradition of Assange poses existential threats to democracy.

In his fight against extradition to the US, where he faces 175 years in prison and being subjected to harsh conditions under “Special Administrative Measures”, Assange is rendered defenseless. He is in effective solitary confinement, being psychologically tortured inside London’s maximum-security prison. With the British government’s refusal to release him temporarily into home detention, despite his deteriorating health and weak lung condition developed as consequences of long detention, Assange is now put at risk of contracting coronavirus. This threatens his life.

Now, as the world stands still and becomes silent in our collective self-quarantine, Assange’s words spoken years ago in defense of a free internet call for our attention from behind the walls of Belmarsh prison:

“Nuclear war, climate change or global pandemics are existential threats that we can work through with discussion and thought. Discourse is humanity’s immune system for existential threats. Diseases that infect the immune system are usually fatal. In this case, at a planetary scale.”

Assange’s US extradition, Threat to Future of Internet and Democracy, CounterPunch by NOZOMI HAYASE 8 May 20 On Monday May 4, the British Court decided that the extradition hearing for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, scheduled for May 18, would be moved to September. This four month delay was made after Assange’s defense lawyer argued the difficulty of his receiving a fair hearing due to restrictions posed by the Covid-19 lockdown. Monday’s hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court proceeded without enabling the phone link for press and observers waiting on the line, and without Assange who was not well enough to appear via videolink.

Sunday May 3rd marked World Press Freedom Day. As people around the globe celebrated with online debates and workshops, Assange was being held on remand in London’s Belmarsh prison for publishing classified documents which exposed US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. On this day, annually observed by the United Nations to remind the governments of the importance of free press, Amnesty International renewed its call for the US to drop the charges against this imprisoned journalist.

The US case to extradite Assange is one of the most important press freedom cases of this century. The indictment against him under the Espionage Act is an unprecedented attack on journalism. This is a war on free speech that has escalated in recent years turning the Internet into a battleground.

Privatized censorship Continue reading

May 9, 2020 Posted by | media, secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

As UK’s Torness nuclear power station deteriorates, – cheaper to build renewables than to repair aging reactors

The Ferret 6th May 2020, Cracks that could increase the risk of a radioactive accident at Torness
nuclear power station in East Lothian will start appearing six years sooner than previously thought, according to the UK government’s safety watchdog. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said that cracking which could cause debris to inhibit vital cooling of highly radioactive reactor fuel is now predicted to begin in 2022 rather than 2028.

After a major review ONR has given Torness permission to keep operating until 2030 –
but only if inspections to check for cracks are intensified. ONR promises
to “robustly challenge” the plant’s operators, EDF Energy, to ensure
that it “remains safe”.

Campaigners fear that Torness will become
increasingly unsafe, and warn it may have to close down sooner than
expected. EDF, however, insists that the station will keep generating
electricity safely until 2030. The coalition of 50 nuclear-free local
authorities in the UK has called on ONR to keep Torness under close
scrutiny. “These safety reservations surrounding the Torness periodic
safety review need to be cleared up as soon as possible,” said the
group’s Scotland convenor, SNP Glasgow councillor, Feargal Dalton.

“Whilst EDF is having to spend large resources trying to persuade the
regulator that it is safe to restart the Hunterston B reactors, this report
emphasises that similar issues with ageing are likely to arise at Torness
over coming years.” Councils would press ONR “to forensically
scrutinise what look like significant weaknesses in the EDF safety case,”
Dalton added.

“In the meantime, the Scottish Government should start
discussions about a ‘just transition’ for the workers at both
Hunterston and Torness so that Scotland can move to a safe, sustainable and
non-nuclear economy as quickly as possible.” The Edinburgh-based nuclear
consultant, Pete Roche, argued that it could be cheaper to build new
renewable capacity instead of continuing to operate ageing reactors.
“This could soon be the case with Torness, especially if it has to keep
being turned on and off to inspect the graphite core,” he said.
“Scotland clearly needs to be prepared for the possibility that Torness
might be forced to close not long after 2022.”

https://theferret.scot/torness-nuclear-reactors-cracking-2022/

May 7, 2020 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) gags staff on subject of Trident nuclear weapons in Scotland.

Ferret 3rd May 2020, The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has banned its military and civilian staff
from speaking publicly about Trident nuclear weapons in Scotland. All
members of the armed forces and MoD civil servants have been instructed not
make any public comment, or have any contact with the media, on
“contentious topics” such as “Trident/Successor” and “Scotland
and Defence”. The instructions have been condemned as a “gagging order
worthy of a dictatorship” by campaigners. They have also been criticised
by the Scottish National Party as “an infringement too far”.

https://theferret.scot/ministry-of-defence-trident-scotland-gag/

May 5, 2020 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

UK ignored warnings about pandemic danger, cut health funding, spent up big on nuclear weapons

May 2, 2020 Posted by | health, safety, UK, weapons and war | 1 Comment

Report warns on the threat of sea level rise to Sizewell nuclear plan

Sea level rise ‘could threaten nuclear power station’ planned for UK, report claims, Independent UK, EDF about to submit planning application for major development at Sizewell on Suffolk coast, Harry Cockburn, 1 May 20

Rising sea levels and coastal erosion could pose a threat to two nuclear reactors planned to be built on the low-lying Suffolk coast, according to local councils and analysis by an independent environmental group.

East Suffolk Council and Suffolk County Council have already lodged various concerns about French company EDF Energy’s plans for the new facilities at Sizewell C, and a new analysis by experts at the Nuclear Consulting Group suggests planned sea defences may be inadequate in future climate change scenarios.

EDF is reportedly about to submit its official planning application for the project, and has been working with Chinese state-owned nuclear company.

The Nuclear Consulting Group’s paper, written by structural engineer, Nick Scarr, suggests the Suffolk coast where the Sizewell development is planned, is inherently “unstable”, and that due to erosion by the sea the site could become an island before the station reaches the end of its active life, thereby risking a serious accident. Mr Scarr told the Climate News Network:

“Any sailor, or lifeboat crew, knows that east coast banks need respect — they have dynamic patterns, and even the latest charts cannot be accurate for long. “I was deeply concerned by EDF’s premise that there is micro-stability at the Sizewell site, which makes it suitable for new-build nuclear. It is true if you restrict analysis to recent historical
data, but it is false if you look at longer-term data and evidence-based climate science predictions…….. (subscribers only) https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/nuclear-power-sea-rise-sizewell-c-edf-suffolk-a9492901.html

May 2, 2020 Posted by | climate change, UK | Leave a comment

EDF’s planned Sizewell nuclear power station – vulnerable to sea level rise

Climate News Network 28th April 2020, Controversial plans by the French nuclear giant EDF to build two of its massive new reactors on the low-lying east coast of England are causing
alarm: the shore is eroding and local people fear sea level rise could maroon the station on an island.
A newly published paper adds weight to the objections of two local government bodies, East Suffolk Council and Suffolk County Council, which have already lodged objections to EDF’s plans
because they fear the proposed sea defences for the new station, Sizewell C, will be inadequate.
EDF, which is currently expecting the go-ahead to start building the station from the British government, says it has done its own expert assessment, had its calculations independently checked, and is satisfied that the coast is stable and the planned concrete sea defences
will be adequate.
The argument is whether the coastal banks which prevent storm waves hitting this part of the coast will remain intact for the next150 years – roughly the life of the station, taking into account 20 years
of construction, 60 years of operation and then the time needed to decommission it.
The paper is the work of a structural engineer, Nick Starr, a member of the Nuclear Consulting Group, which is an independent, non-profit virtual institute that provides expert research and analysis of nuclear issues. As relevant, though, is his knowledge of the coastal waters of Suffolk, where he spends time sailing. He believes the coast is inherently unstable.

https://climatenewsnetwork.net/sea-level-rise-threatens-uk-nuclear-reactor-plans/

April 30, 2020 Posted by | climate change, UK | Leave a comment

Under cover of Coronavirus constraints, EDF could speed application for £14 billion Sizewell nuclear reactor build, without pubic consultation

East Anglian Daily Times 27 April 2020 Suffolk MP has joined growing concern that EDF Energy will submit its planning application for the Sizewell C nuclear power station during the coronavirus crisis.

Already 54 town and parish councils, along with campaign groups, have voiced their frustration at the possibility – amid concerns that it would be “intolerable and unfair” to add extra anxiety
to people at this time. Now Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP, Dr Dan Poulter has written to Government ministers saying the Covid-19 restrictions would inhibit full and proper consideration of the application and it would “not be appropriate” yet.

EDF has already delayed its submission of a Development Consent Order (DCO) for the £14 billion twin reactor for a month but there are worries it could submit the documents in
May. Dr Poulter has been contacted by a large number of residents who have
a number of concerns in regards to the DCO. He is concerned there would be
pressure on council officers dealing with Covid-19 to respond to issues and
questions raised by the submission and opportunities for public
consultation curtailed as public meetings are not permitted.

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/mp-dan-poulter-sizewell-c-letter-to-ministers-1-6624715 

April 28, 2020 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

UK govt again to try “astronomically expensive” plutonium reprocessing nuclear reactors

Westminster relaunches plutonium reactors despite ‘disastrous’ experience, The National, 26 April, 20 By Rob Edwards  This article was brought to you by The Ferret.

THE UK Government is trying to resurrect plutonium-powered reactors despite abandoning a multi-billion bid to make them work in Scotland.

Documents released by the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) under freedom of information law reveal that fast reactors, which can burn and breed plutonium, are among “advanced nuclear technologies” being backed by UK ministers.

Two experimental fast reactors were built and tested at a cost of £4 billion over four decades at Dounreay in Caithness. But the programme was closed in 1994 as uneconomic after a series of accidents and leaks.

Now ONR has been funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in London to boost its capacity to regulate new designs of fast reactors, along with other advanced nuclear technologies.

Campaigners have condemned the moves to rehabilitate plutonium as a nuclear fuel as “astronomically expensive”, “disastrous” and “mind-boggling”. They point out that it can be made into nuclear bombs and is highly toxic – and the UK has 140 tonnes of it…….

ONR released 23 documents about advanced nuclear technologies in response to a freedom of information request by Dr David Lowry, a London-based research fellow at the US Institute for Resource and Security Studies. They include redacted minutes and notes of meetings from 2019 discussing fast reactors, and are being published by The Ferret.

One note of a meeting in November 2019 shows that ONR attempted to access a huge database on fast reactors maintained by the UK Government’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) in Warrington, Cheshire…..

Two companies have so far won funding under this heading to help develop fast reactors that can burn plutonium. The US power company, Westinghouse, is proposing lead-cooled fast reactors, while another US company called Advanced Reactor Concepts wants to build sodium-cooled fast reactors.

In November 2019 BEIS also announced an £18 million grant to a consortium led by reactor manufacturer, Rolls Royce, to develop a “small modular reactor designed and manufactured in the UK capable of producing cost effective electricity”.

According to Dr Lowry, fast reactors would require building a plutonium fuel fabrication plant. Such plants are “astronomically expensive” and have proved “technical and financial disasters” in the past, he said.

“Any such fabrication plant would be an inevitable target for terrorists wanting to create spectacular iconic disruption of such a high profile plutonium plant, with devastating human health and environmental hazards.”

Lowry was originally told by ONR that it held no documents on advanced nuclear technologies. As well as redacting the 23 documents that have now been released, the nuclear safety regulator is withholding a further 13 documents as commercially confidential – a claim that Lowry dismissed as “fatuous nonsense”.

THE veteran nuclear critic and respected author, Walt Patterson, argued that no fast reactor programme in the world had worked since the 1950s. Even if it did, it would take “centuries” to burn the UK’s 140 tonne plutonium stockpile, and create more radioactive waste with nowhere to go, he said.

“Extraordinary – they never learn do they? I remain perpetually gobsmacked at the lobbying power of the nuclear obsessives,” he told The Ferret. “The mind continue to boggle.”

The Edinburgh-based nuclear consultant, Pete Roche, suggested that renewable energy was the cheapest and most sustainable solution to climate change. “The UK Government seems to be planning some kind of low carbon dystopia with nuclear reactors getting smaller, some of which at least will be fuelled by plutonium,” he said.

“The idea of weapons-useable plutonium fuel being transported on our roads should send shivers down the spine of security experts and emergency planners.”

Another nuclear expert and critic, Dr Ian Fairlie, described BEIS’s renewed interest in fast reactors as problematic. “Experience with them over many years in the US, Russia, France and the UK has shown them to be disastrous and a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said.

This is not the view taken by the UK Nuclear Industry Association, which brings together nuclear companies. It wants to see the UK’s plutonium being used in reactors rather than disposed of as waste……

“The Scottish Government remains opposed to new nuclear power plants in Scotland,” a spokesperson told The Ferret. “The Scottish Government believes our long term energy needs can be met without the need for new nuclear capacity.”

The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy did not respond to repeated requests to comment. https://www.thenational.scot/news/18405852.westminster-relaunches-plutonium-reactors-despite-disastrous-experience/

April 26, 2020 Posted by | - plutonium, Reference, reprocessing, UK | Leave a comment

The end of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel has left an expensive UK plutonium stockpile with no peaceful use

April 25, 2020 Posted by | - plutonium, Reference, UK | Leave a comment

Wind or solar technologies will provide UK with 100% energy, in a predominantly electric future

Chartist 18th April 2020,   Dave Toke: As offshore wind technology fully blooms as its own distinctmass industrial technology producing power at low prices, and as the prospect of floating wind turbines comes closer, the potential for the technology threatens to eclipse everything else – at least in countries with a large waterline, such as the UK.
In reality solar pv technology costs are coming down at least as quickly, so that what is likely to happen in the coming years is that these two technologies will compete with each other (and with onshore wind of course) for market share. Indeed, such is the rate of cost reductions that some are now suggesting that the way to approach 100 per cent renewables targets is to minimise the use of batteries and other storage techniques, and simply to build gross overcapacity in wind and solar.
That of course ushers in the possibility of uses for excess production, such as conversion to hydrogen, but that is
another story. The story here is that on its own, the offshore wind available could generate over five times the anticipated total energy requirements for the UK in a ‘net zero carbon’ scenario – that is, based upon the Committee on Climate Change estimate that a mainly electric economy supplied from low carbon sources would require 645TWh of power generation in 2050. Wind power could do this as the cheapest electricity source available – apart from solar power of course, with which the competition will probably be intense in the future.

https://www.chartist.org.uk/offshore-wind-the-force-is-with-you/

April 21, 2020 Posted by | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

UK’s plutonium problem as it shuts down its last nuclear reprocessing facility

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 17th April 2020, The United Kingdom’s last plutonium reprocessing plant, B205, located in Sellafield in northern England, will shut down by the end of 2020. It will bring an end to the era of plutonium separation in the country, which began 68 years ago.
Because the United Kingdom never used any of the material it recouped from reprocessing except in nuclear weapons, today it has amassed a stockpile of almost 139 metric tons of separated plutonium. This creates lasting problems: Plutonium stored in Sellafield is highly toxic and poses a permanent risk of proliferation. It is enough material to build tens of thousands of nuclear weapons.
According to parliamentary estimates, storage will cost the British government about 73 million pounds a year for the next century.
But after decades of public and private consultation, there is still no accepted plan for its disposition. In the meantime, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is working on the consolidation of the stockpiles in Sellafield and developing the capability to retreat the packages to allow for long-term storage once the government makes a final decision on permanent disposal.
The United Kingdom views the material as a resource and is pursuing options that involve burning the plutonium in reactors, even though multiple assessments have shown risks associated with such a choice, namely immature concepts and technology.
A better alternative would be to treat it as waste and begin planning for its permanent immobilization and
burial.   https://thebulletin.org/2020/04/britain-has-139-tons-of-plutonium-thats-a-real-problem/

April 20, 2020 Posted by | - plutonium, UK | Leave a comment

For UK’s new Labour leader, climate action and Green New Deal will be key goals

Business Green 14th April 2020, Newly appointed Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer completed his front bench
team late last week, handing key green positions to a raft of experienced
MPs. Starmer is widely expected to make climate action and Labour’s Green
New Deal a key plank in the Opposition’s offer to the public – a fact
underlined by the handing of specific green briefs to senior MPs. But it
remains to be seen if he retains the unprecedented levels of low carbon
infrastructure funding pledges and nationalisation programmes proposed
under Corbyn’s leadership.

https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4013864/labour-completes-green-shadow-ministerial-lin

April 16, 2020 Posted by | climate change, politics, UK | Leave a comment

Environmental rules governing radioactive waste, fish farming, recycling and other sectors are being weakened due to Covid 19

Radioactive Waste Regulations – Scotland

The Ferret 12th April 2020, More than 5,000 business sites across Scotland are going to escape
judgement on their environmental breaches in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Environmental rules governing radioactive waste, fish farming, recycling and other sectors are also being relaxed by the Scottish
Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) to help companies cope with Covid-19.

The Faslane nuclear base and nuclear power plants have been given the green light to break safety limits on radioactive waste. Sepa has relaxed environmental rules for specific sectors, notably the military and civil
nuclear industry. A “temporary regulatory position statement” posted on its website offered radioactive waste exemptions to the Faslane navel base on the Clyde, as well as nuclear plants at Hunterston in North Ayrshire,
Torness in East Lothian and Dounreay in Caithness.

“During a significant outbreak of Covid-19 the ability of operators to run their operations may be compromised by a lack of available staff,” the statement said. “We expect operators to be ensuring that the impacts of Covid-19 on the environment are minimised. We recognise, however, that in some cases operators may be unable to comply for reasons beyond their control.” It added: “Any failure by the operator to comply with the conditions of their authorisation will not be treated as a non-compliance”.  This only applied “where non-compliance with authorisation conditions is unavoidable and a direct result of emergency resulting from Covid-19 outbreak and will not lead to significant environmental harm,” Sepa said.

The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament warned that more dangerous radioactivity could be discharged into the environment. “It is outrageous to suggest that the pandemic is a reason for relaxation of the regulatory
requirements,” said campaign chair, Lynn Jamieson. “Willingness to tolerate possible breaches of regulations by civil or military nuclear facilities demonstrates shocking inadequacy on the part of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Whose environment are they in place to protect?”

The nuclear-free group of local authorities also expressed concern. “These new rules from Sepa seem to allow further leeway on nuclear sites over the handling of radioactive waste,” said the group’s vice convenor in Scotland, Renfrewshire SNP councillor Audrey Doig. “Sepa should be very wary of relaxing rules and find ways of continuing to
regulate the industry in the robust, safe and secure way the public expects.”

https://theferret.scot/pollution-checks-coronavirus-crisis-sepa/

The National 12th April 2020

https://www.thenational.scot/news/18374483.polluters-given-free-pass-coronavirus-crisis/ 

April 14, 2020 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

David Lowry: Covid-19 spread shows up vulnerability at heart of nuclear programmes

Energy Transitions 9th April 2020, David Lowry: Covid-19 spread shows up vulnerability at heart of nuclear
programmes, with resilience of UK critical national infrastructures undermined. The coronavirus’ effects act as threat multiplier, as David Lowry explains.
First indications that the dreaded coronavirus had penetrated the very heart of the UK nuclear sector came in on 15 March when Sellafield Ltd confirmed that a worker at the vast nuclear waste management complex – employing 13,000 workers – had tested positive for Covid19.
I asked the UK nuclear regulator what proportion of Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) staff being forced into simultaneous self-isolation would trigger a crisis that would not allow nuclear safety and security
regulatory oversight to continue effectively across the UK? And, if this situation arose, what executive regulatory decision would be required if all operating nuclear facilities could no longer be simultaneously regulated to a legal standard?
ONR responded, including the following thus: “All civil nuclear sites have minimum staffing levels, and contingency
plans should they fall below these levels, to enable them to remain in control of activities that could impact on nuclear safety under all foreseeable circumstances throughout the life cycle of the facility. In addition, licensees need minimum staffing levels to comply with their on-site and off-site emergency plans.
https://energytransition.org/2020/04/corona-crisis-hits-nuclear-sector/

April 12, 2020 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment