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Britons want real action on climate change, but Boris Johnson’s govt missing in action on this

January 14, 2020 Posted by | climate change, politics, UK | Leave a comment

Britain’s Sizewell nuclear project in jeopardy, as EDF struggles to get funding

January 14, 2020 Posted by | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

‘Error of judgement’: UK police recall guide which listed Extinction Rebellion among extremist groups 

‘Error of judgement’: UK police recall guide which listed Extinction Rebellion among extremist groups  https://www.sbs.com.au/news/error-of-judgement-uk-police-recall-guide-which-listed-extinction-rebellion-among-extremist-groups

Climate justice group Extinction Rebellion was listed as an extremist ideology by counter-terrorism police in England, in a document officers have since recalled. BY ANTOINETTE RADFORD, 12 Jan 2020

Counter-terrorism police in South-East England say they made an ‘error of judgement’ in adding climate Justice group Extinction Rebellion to a list of extremist ideologies.

The Guardian revealed the group was included in a 12-page guide named ‘Safeguarding young people and adults from ideological extremism’.

The document was designed to help educate people working with youth to “recognise when young people or adults may be vulnerable to extreme or violent ideologies”,

The guide advises people to look out for young people who “neglect to attend school” or “participate in planned school walkouts” – an apparent reference to the global School Strike for climate movement started by Greta Thunberg this year.

It also suggests that young people who engage in non-violent direct action such as writing environmentally-themed graffiti, sit-down protests or banner drops are potentially at risk of radicalisation.

The environmental group featured alongside Neo-Nazi terror operations and a pro-terrorist Islam outfit.

In a statement to The Guardian, Counter Terrorism Policing South East boss Kath Barnes said the guide is being recalled.

“The document was designed for a very specific audience who understand the complexities of the safeguarding environment we work within and who have statutory duties under Prevent. We are in the process of confirming who it has been shared with and recalling it.”

Extinction Rebellion was founded in October 2018 and the group maintains a welcoming, non-violent culture is at the core of its beliefs.

A spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion’s Sydney arm, AJ Tennant, says it was a shock to hear the international movement had made it onto the list in the first place.

“It’s very distressing that a peaceful, environmental organisation that’s trying to advocate for the protection of humanity would be treated with such disdain.”

He says he understands that people may find the extinction rebellion movement confronting, and even frustrating at times, but argues the movement has always been focused on non-violent methods of drawing attention to the climate debate.

“The first word that applies to everything that XR does is non-violent. We talk about being peaceful, we talk about having love in the movement, we talk about apologising to people for any inconvenience we caused, so while we are disruptive, we are always, always peaceful.

London-based human rights lawyer and media commentator Shoaib Khan has taken to Twitter to condemn the actions of British authorities.

Tens of thousands of Australians took to the streets on Friday to demand stronger action on climate, with some in the large crowds carrying the Extinction Rebellion network’s recognisable logo and flag. 

January 13, 2020 Posted by | climate change, UK | Leave a comment

A nuclear accident in Essex would be catastrophic

January 13, 2020 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

UK’s planned Sizewell power station likely to become a ‘nuclear island’

Rising sea levels could turn new Sizewell power station into ‘nuclear island’ East Anglian Daily Times, 10 January, 2020, Andrew Hirst

Surging sea levels due to climate change could mean new power station Sizewell C is cut off by the water within decades, a top scientist has warned.

 Sue Roaf, emeritus professor of architectural engineering at Heriot Watt University, said it was madness to build a new power station near flood risk sites.

She warned the proposals on the Suffolk coast risked lives and could transform parts of the area into a “toxic wasteland”.

“It’s ridiculous the government is even considering another power station on the coast,” Prof Roaf said.

“You can downplay the future risk, but even by conservative estimates sea levels will have risen by a metre by 2100, potentially making Sizewell a nuclear island during storm surges.”

EDF Energy, which operates Sizewell B and is expected to submit final plans for Sizewell C in the coming months, said its assessments of flood risk already took into account extreme high tides and sea-level rises.

A spokesman said EDF had considered climate change using the “worst case, but plausible sea-level rise” forecasts – and its sea defences could adapt, if needed….

But some forecasts show how rising sea levels could pose problems for nuclear plants, which are mainly based on the coast to use seawater for cooling.

Sizewell itself is shown above the flood level – but almost surrounded by flooded sites.

The Environment Agency’s map already shows much of the land around Sizewell to be at medium or high risk of flooding.

Government analysis of nuclear sites, obtained by the Guardian, found Sizewell had been deemed at high risk of flooding in 2010.

US-based Climate Central recently produced a map showing swathes of Suffolk’s coast and estuaries below the annual flood level by 2050, based on predictions that sea levels will rise 10cm a decade.

Prof Roaf said Suffolk already faced “chronic environmental risk” in protecting Sizewell A and B, as well as their spent fuel, from the sea – and claimed adding Sizewell C would increase the risks.

Nick Scarr, who lives in Aldeburgh and owns an international engineering consultancy, has also written reports highlighting concerns about how spent fuel from Sizewell will be dealt with amid rising sea levels.

Mr Scarr said Suffolk was set to become a “nuclear waste storage facility for at least 200 years” and communities deserved to know more about how it would be safeguarded.

He said current proposals failed to consider the risk of extreme sea events, which according to the International Panel on Climate Change, were likely to happen every year by 2050. Mr Scarr said it was “extraordinary” the government was seemingly oblivious to these warnings and progressing with new nuclear sites on the coast.

Together Against Sizewell C (TASC) raised similar concerns at the Nuclear Free Local Authorities seminar in Colchester last year. TASC’s Pete Wilkinson said as Sizewell was predicted to be an island within a century, or sooner, any new nuclear plant at the site was “irresponsible”.

Paul Dorfman of UCL’s Energy Institute warned during a debate on nuclear power that sites such as Sizewell may need considerable investment to protect against rising sea levels or “even abandonment in the long term”……..https://www.eadt.co.uk/business/professor-sue-roaf-warns-sizewell-c-faces-danger-due-to-climate-change-1-6458142

January 11, 2020 Posted by | climate change, UK | Leave a comment

UK’s competition watchdog to investigate Jacobs’ acquisition of Wood Nuclear Limited

Times and Star 9th Jan 2020, The proposed £250 million acquisition of a major player in the clean-up of the Sellafield site in West Cumbria could be blocked. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into global engineering firm Jacobs’ acquisition of Wood Nuclear Limited – the nuclear arm of the Wood Group.

The proposal deal – announced in August last year – would see Wood Nuclear Limited along with “subsidiary and certain affiliated companies” come under control of Jacobs’ UK division. Jacobs would also take on existing contracts held by the business – which include managing the Design and Engineering lot for the Programme and Project Partners (PPP) framework.

20-year contract awarded last year by Sellafield Limited as part of its push to “revolutionise” the decommissioning of the site, could be worth up to £769 million. Wood’s nuclear division is already a long-standing big tier company at Sellafield and, in December was awarded a £50m contract to provide programmable digital control technologies to the plant.

https://www.timesandstar.co.uk/news/18148285.competition-watchdog-launches-probe-250-million-acquisition-major-sellafield-supplier/

January 11, 2020 Posted by | business and costs, secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

Bradwell nuclear power plan – foolish, in view of climate change predictions

BANNG 8th Jan 2020, As we enter a new year, Andy Blowers muses on the massive challenge of climate change that lies ahead, globally and locally, in the column for Regional Life, January 2020.

In East Anglia, we are increasingly aware of record heatwaves, milder and wetter winters, retreating coastlines and loss of precious habitats and declining and disappearing species. To an extent, these may be tackled by adaptive measures such as managed retreat of the coastline or hard defences. Even then, land loss and inundation will be unavoidable.

The idea of a massive nuclear power station at Bradwell on a
site threatened by the impacts of climate change seems foolish in the
extreme. Far better to go for cheaper, less risky and easily deployable
renewable options. Concerted action worldwide and locally, by governments,
businesses and individuals, is needed now if we are to reduce carbon
emissions to net zero and avert catastrophe. That was a clear message from
the General Election. Now we must get on with it.

https://www.banng.info/news/get-climate-done/

January 11, 2020 Posted by | climate change, UK | Leave a comment

UK nuclear weapons programme £1.3bn over budget.

BBC 10th Jan 2020,  UK nuclear weapons programme £1.3bn over budget. The Ministry Of Defence’s “poor management” of Britain’s nuclear weapons programme has led to rising costs and lengthy delays, according to the government spending watchdog.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51052124

January 11, 2020 Posted by | politics, UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

UK Leading Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey would use nuclear weapons

 

January 9, 2020 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Britain’s £1.2bn cleanup begins, of Berkeley power station, closed 30 years ago

January 6, 2020 Posted by | decommission reactor, Reference, UK | Leave a comment

UK govt trying to finance new nuclear plants, – complicated relations with China and USA

Telegraph 5th Jan 2020, The Government may face a meltdown in relations with Beijing or the US depending on the energy choices it makes as it powers to a low carbon future.
The end of 2019 marks yet another year that has passed since EDF
boss Vincent de Rivaz ill-advisedly said that customers would be using
electricity from the planned Hinkley Point C power plant to cook their
Christmas turkeys by 2017. Two years on from that self-imposed deadline,
the £21bn nuclear power station is still being built over a sprawling site
in the Somerset countryside – while the very future of nuclear power in
the UK is up for debate as other sources of energy snap at its heels and
investment in the sector gets harder to find.
A decision on a make-or-break new financing model for the industry is high on Boris Johnson’s new government’s priority list, with ministers under pressure from industry to make decisions quickly –
Yet the decision about the financing models will be taken against a
backdrop of wariness about the source of potential investments:
state-backed China General Nuclear (CGN) is one of few investors willing to
pour money into the risky nuclear sector – but the communist
superpower’s involvement has brought political and security concerns as
well as opposition from the US.
CGN arrived in the UK through its partnership with EDF to develop Hinkley Point C as well as possibly Sizewell C in Suffolk, but are also seeking approval to build their own HPR 1000 reactor at Bradwell B in Essex – which it hopes to use as a stepping stone to the rest of the world. Approval from the UK’s highly-regarded nuclear safety standards authorities would be a boost as it looks for other global customers.
China’s involvement in the UK nuclear industry has been
beset by controversy, with Theresa May, the former prime minister,
reversing George Osborne’s courting of China in 2016 when she ordered a
review of China’s involvement in the UK’s nuclear industry, amid
concerns about national security.
China remains on a US blacklist which effectively prevents US companies from supplying CGN, in response to the conviction in the US in 2017 of a CGN worker for trying to steal sensitive information about US nuclear capabilities.
Tensions between the nations are de-escalating with the first phase of a trade deal due to be signed on Jan 31, but analysts do not expect it to be the end of the row. The UK has been walking a delicate balancing act, but that is likely to reach a tipping point soon, with decisions on energy needed just as the UK seeks to reshape global alliances and trade deals after it leaves the EU on Jan 31, and is likely to seek trade deals with both the US and China. Backers of CGN and many in the nuclear industry believe any concerns are overblown, arguing that operating procedures would insulate plants from any undue influence and cybersecurity concerns. Aware of the sensitivities, CGN has suggested it does not need to operate Bradwell, the mooted power plant that would useits own reactor technology. Ministers are due to respond soon to a
consultation opened in the summer on the potential new financing mechanism for nuclear power plants which will see consumers pay for nuclear power plants before they start producing, in an attempt to bring down the costs of financing.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/01/05/britain-heading-fallout-nuclear-conundrum/

January 6, 2020 Posted by | politics, politics international, UK | Leave a comment

UK’s Sizewell C nuclear project not viable, due to escalating costs?

Could escalating costs mean ‘game over’ for nuclear power and Sizewell C?  East Anglian Daily Times, January 2020, Andrew Hirst

The growing cost of nuclear power could mean ‘game over’ for Sizewell C, experts claim. While much of the debate in Suffolk around EDF Energy’s proposals have focussed on the local impacts, recent reports from energy forums have started to question how viable the industry is for the UK – and globally.

At a recent debate, Paul Dorfman of the University College London’s Energy Institute went head to head with Paul Spence, director of strategy and corporate affairs at EDF to discuss the future of the sector.

Dr Dorfman, who also founded the Nuclear Consulting Forum, said the “massive cost escalations” of nuclear power together with the increasing competiveness of renewables meant there was “little rationale for new nuclear builds”.

Costs for offshore wind have plummeted to around £40 per MWh – making it now one of the cheapest forms of power available.

Meanwhile, the costs government agreed to pay EDF for Hinkley Point C, is more than twice as expensive at £92.50 per MWh.

The latest World Nuclear Industry Status Report warned of “substantial challenges” and a decline in usage, with fewer reactors in operation today than 30 years ago.

Globally, while investment in renewables has increased to around $350bn per year, nuclear fell to just $17bn. Dr Dorfman said: “In this context, nuclear power at the expense of more flexible, safe, productive, cost-effective and affordable technologies really does seem to be rather foolish.”

He said it could mean “game over” for nuclear projects, including Sizewell…….

The government consulted earlier this year on the “Regulated Asset Base model”, which is intended to incentivise private investment in public projects by guaranteeing a return for developers. It would mean developers can raise revenue, potentially though customer bills, and reduces their risk. ……

although EDF claims RAB could save money for consumers – critics say it merely leaves the public with all the risk.

“Under RAB, the plan is for the burden of risk to pass to hard-pressed UK consumers and/or taxpayers labouring under post-Brexit conditions,” said Dr Dorfman.

“Not only that, but the revenue stream will include a variable strike price – with taxpayers and/or electricity consumers forced to write, what is essentially, a ‘blank cheque’.

Earlier this year it was reported a “Sizewell surcharge” could add £6 to annual energy bills under the RAB model. A petition opposing the surcharge was signed by more than 36,000 people.

Concerns were further compounded by EDF’s precarious financial position. The company is €37.4billion net debt and its stock lost 34% of its value this year.

Professor Steve Thomas, a researcher in energy policy at the University of Greenwich, questioned the company’s credentials ahead of a seminar organised by the Nuclear Free Local Authorities in Colchester last month.

“EDF is in deep financial crisis and will only be able to survive with heavy French government support and radical restructuring,” he said. “It is unclear how EDF will be able to finance Hinkley Point C, much less Sizewell C, and the UK government must resist pressures to throw more public money at these ill-conceived projects and abandon them now.”

Lord Deben, former secretary of state for the environment, said he was sceptical about the costs “because in the end the public are going to have to pay for this. https://www.eadt.co.uk/business/growing-costs-of-nuclear-power-versus-renewables-1-6449788

January 4, 2020 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

UK: legal action against environmental destruction by Sizewell nuclear project

Crowd Justice (accessed) 30th Dec 2019, Together Against Sizewell C (TASC) is an unincorporated citizens’ group
formed to oppose the building of Sizewell C’s twin nuclear reactors and
associated works in Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty (AONB) in a legal open, peaceful and fully accountable manner.

TASC has mounted a legal challenge against East Suffolk Council’s decision to
approve the planning application submitted by EDF, the nuclear developer,
to: – chop down 100-year-old Coronation Wood, turn a large area of priority
habitat acidic grassland, known as Pillbox Field, into a 576 space car
park, relocate over 320,000 sq. feet of 7 largely non-essential and
non-operational Sizewell B buildings and an additional 128 car parking
spaces, that will encroach further into the AONB. Most of these
buildings/facilities could be located outside the AONB. The works are
needed to free up land for the construction of Sizewell C as the existing
site is too small and are clearly integral to the wider Sizewell C
development.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-coronation-wood/

BBC 30th Dec 2019, Campaigners opposing a new nuclear power station are seeking a judicial review over a “premature” decision to allow woodland to be felled. EDF Energy wants to build two reactors next to Sizewell B in Suffolk and in September was told it could chop down Coronation Wood on the site. TogetherAgainst Sizewell C (Tasc) said the area was vital for wildlife. East
Suffolk Council said it would respond to the campaigners’ challenge in due
course.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-50940974

January 2, 2020 Posted by | environment, Legal, UK | Leave a comment

Britain’s nuclear weapons convoys a disaster waiting to happen

Britain’s nuclear weapons convoys are a ‘disaster waiting to happen,’ peace campaigners warn, Morning Star, 30 Dec 19, The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament hits out at the MoD after reports show 40 lapses in safety while nuclear and radioactive materials were being transported across the country

DOZENS of safety failures during nuclear weapons convoys are a “disaster waiting to happen,” campaigners charged as they demanded the Ministry of Defence (MoD) answer for the risks it is exposing the public to.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and political campaigners have hit out at the MoD after concerning reports show 40 lapses in safety while nuclear and radioactive materials were being transported across the country over the past five years.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed the 40 operational and engineering issues on convoys carrying bombs and hazardous materials.

These incidents included issues identified with brakes on convoy vehicles, included burning smells during transportation.

On other occasions convoy vehicles were forced to stop, and road lanes closed, after suffering flat tyres.

Among other engineering faults listed were warnings of overheating in convoy vehicles.

Multiple “operational” issues also disrupted transportation of dangerous materials.

Reported in these were rolling road blocks needed to manoeuvre the convoy through busy, congested routes across the UK, causing delays in the journey.

CND general secretary Kate Hudson said: “Nuclear bombs carried on our roads are a disaster waiting to happen.

“This report shows that ‘poor maintenance’ is a factor in these safety lapses.

“The MoD must be brought to book for this disgraceful failure — and our new government must end this cargo of death through our communities.”

Britain’s nuclear weapons are still based in Scotland and those north of the border have said it is time to rid ourselves of the apocalyptic threats.

Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell led a debate on the topic last year.

He said: “Like many I’d like to see an end to the housing of nuclear weapons in Scotland, but while they are still here it’s not unreasonable to expect the highest standards of safety to apply to their movement.

“People will be shocked at the thought of nuclear convoys travelling on public roads.

“In Stirling the convoys even park up overnight behind a chain-link fence across the road from a Nando’s and a Vue Cinema. This is an absurd situation that must come to an end.”…… https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/britain-nuclear-weapons-convoys-are-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen-peace-campaigners-warn

January 2, 2020 Posted by | safety, UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Documents reveal UK’s plans for rolling out nuclear weapons

World War 3: UK’s plan for ‘rapid deployment of nuclear weapons’ in 24 hours exposed  https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1219002/world-war-3-uk-nuclear-weapon-deployment-24-hours-soviet-union-cold-war-spt, by CALLUM HOARE, Mon, Dec 30, 2019 |

THE UK planned to roll out its nuclear arsenal in as little as 24 hours in what would have been a “frenetic” response to the Soviet Union’s escalation of war in the Eighties, documents seen by Express.co.uk reveal.

The 1983 papers came at a time of intense tensions, as the Cold War reached boiling point, threatening to topple into World War 3. The US and the Soviet Union were jostling for world supremacy and, as the threat of nuclear war increased, allies on both sides prepared for how they would respond, including the UK. Ministry of Defence documents expose a top secret mission for “rapid deployment of nuclear weapons” in the event things spiralled out of control.

One document seen by Express.co.uk reads: “The Secretary of State asked for further advice on the arrangements which would be needed for the rapid deployment of Tactical Nuclear Warheads (TNW) in a crisis on the assumption that all naval nuclear weapons were stored in the UK in peacetime.

“A plan – Operation Perfidious – is already in existence to allow for the rapid deployment of TNW from the stock-pile at RAF Honington in Suffolk, either directly by helicopter to the ship, or to service airfields in the UK by helicopter or C130 Hercules aircraft for onward transmission to ships.

“Theoretically, transfer from Honington to sea could take as little as 24 hours, but this assumes that the ships are close to the Norfolk coast and that all the assets from the movement are available.

The documents go on to discuss the need to act quickly, and the risks the Soviet Union posed.

They add: “Nuclear stockpiles are known to be prime targets for Soviet Special Forces.

“Additionally, each time a nuclear weapon is moved there is a safety risk, a security risk, and, if the timing of the move can be predicted, a risk of civil, industrial or even military intervention.

“The risks are small if the move is preplanned and conducted in isolation of all other activities.

The risks would be higher if hurried embarkation of a large number of TNW were attempted amidst all the other preparations for war under the eagle eyes of the media and anti-war faction.

“Nuclear stockpiles could be created around the country, but the cost in preparing storage facilities and the manpower necessary to service and guard such areas would be disproportionately high.”

Thankfully, they were never needed.

While tension did reach unthinkable levels, both the US and the Soviet Union were aware of each other’s nuclear capabilities.

As a result, the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction was accepted between the two.

This was the belief that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.

It is based on the theory of deterrence, which holds that the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy prevents the enemy’s use of those same weapons.

January 1, 2020 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment