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Scotland could rid of nuclear weapons

Clear process to rid us of nuclear weapons  Herald Scotland, Isobel Lindsay, 7 Aug 18“……. The United Nations Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which was formalised in 2017 would offer an independent Scottish state a clear route with international supervision to have these weapons removed if Scotland applied to join the Treaty. The SNP and the Greens support the treaty and after independence so would many Labour members. There would be a strong political majority for this.

The first thing a member state has to do is to make nuclear weapons on its territory non-operational. This process will be supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency. This simply means requiring that all nuclear warheads are removed from the missiles. This can be done in months. Warheads are manufactured in Burghfield in the south of England and while there is not presently the storage capacity there for the 200 warheads we have at Coulport, creating another site in the vicinity solely for warhead storage would not be a lengthy process. Within three years the warheads could be transferred there. The missiles are manufactured and serviced in the United States so could be sent back there for storage. The submarines are serviced at Devonport but are not allowed for safety reasons to have warheads there. Storing or dismantling the submarines could provide work there and at Barrow although these places could not be used operationally. …..http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/16402262.clear-process-to-rid-us-of-nuclear-weapons/

August 8, 2018 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

US military flights through Shannon would be ‘illegal’ under new nuclear ban treaty

US military flights through Shannon would be ‘illegal’ under new anti-nuclear treaty

‘Doomsday Clock now stands at two minutes to midnight,’ Irish CND president says, Irish Times, Elaine Edwards 

August 8, 2018 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

£10bn Moorside nuclear power plant plunged into further doubt

Moorside nuclear bidder stripped of preferred status, Construction News, 3 AUGUST, 2018BY BINYAMIN ALI 

The £10bn Moorside nuclear power plant has been plunged into further doubt after Korean energy firm Kepco lost its preferred bidder status to develop the scheme.

The plant’s current developer Toshiba is now looking at alternative options for the future of the site after negotiations with Kepco failed to reach a conclusion.

Kepco looked to have saved the embattled project when it swooped in December last year and was named preferred bidder ahead of China’s CGN.

Toshiba said this week that a sale to Kepco was still on the table and it was in “consultation with stakeholders including the UK government” to find a solution.

The protracted negotiations have also forced NuGen, Toshiba’s Moorside development body, to restructure its business………

the National Infrastructure Commission last month called on government to withhold financial support for all but one of the planned new nuclear projects until at least 2025.

The commission said the government should focus on investing in renewable energy projects instead, some of which are now being built with no government subsidies. https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/markets/sectors/nuclear/moorside-nuclear-bidder-stripped-of-preferred-status/10033902.article

August 4, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, politics, South Korea, UK | Leave a comment

Climate change will bring sea level rise – bringing danger to Hinkley Point C nuclear site.

Burnham-on-sea.com 1st Aug 2018 , EDF reject fears Hinkley C will be vulnerable to sea level rise. T


The Stop
Hinkley Campaign has written to the Office for Nuclear Regulation to
express concern about recent reports that we could be heading for a
sea-level rise of as much as 6 metres during the lifetime of the Hinkley
Point C site.

Some researchers say sea levels could rise by six metres or
more even if the 2 degree target of the Paris accord is met.

Sustained warming of one to two degrees in the past has been accompanied by
substantial reductions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and sea
level rises of at least six metres – several metres higher than what
current climate models predict could occur by 2100.
http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/2018/hinkley-c-rising-sea-levels-01-08-18.php

August 3, 2018 Posted by | climate change, UK | Leave a comment

Wylfa nuclear power to be very expensive for both taxpayers and consumers

Wind Power Monthly 31st July 2018 , David Milborrow:

In a complete policy reversal, the UK government has
announced it will consider direct investment in a proposed new nuclear
power station, Wylfa in North Wales.

This will enable the electricity price
to be brought down below the level agreed for the Hinkley Point C nuclear
plant, which attracted criticism from many quarters, including the
government’s own spending watchdog, the National Audit Office.

The UK government’s stake in Wylfa is likely to be around £5 billion, or around
30% of the total, although estimatesof the total cost vary between £12
billion and £20 billion. The government has not put a figure to the
expected electricity price for the Wylfa project, but speculation suggests
that it will be around £75-77/MWh, payable for 35 years.

The UK’s Guardian newspaper points out that the £75/MWh price (payable for 35
years) for nuclear power is significantly higher than the £62/MWh average
(payable for 15 years awarded for offshore wind projects due to come online
about the same time. The £13/MWh difference is higher than the cost of
backup for wind, which most studies putat around £5-£10/MWh.
https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1489040/windeconomics-uk-government-steps-support-nuclear-power

August 3, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Sorry history of UK’s Moorside nuclear project, and why it might well be abandoned

Times 31st July 2018 Multibillion-pound plans to build a nuclear plant at Moorside in Cumbriaare likely to be abandoned within months unless a buyer is found.

The Nugen venture, owned by Toshiba, is considering plans to shut down with the loss of 100 jobs after a sale to Kepco stalled.

The decision would be a blow to government hopes for a series of new plants to help to keep the lights on
once existing reactors close. Moorside, which is next to the Sellafield
waste site, is one of five proposed plants vying to follow EDF’s Hinkley
Point project that is under construction in Somerset.

Nugen was founded in 2009. Toshiba bought into the venture in 2014 with plans to deploy reactors
made by Westinghouse Electric Company, its subsidiary. The Japanese
conglomerate was thrown into crisis last year when Westinghouse’s costs
overran on reactors in the United States. Westinghouse filed for
bankruptcy protection and was sold off, while Toshiba was forced to take
full control of Nugen when Engie, the French utility company, quit.

Nugen appeared to be saved when Toshiba announced that Kepco had been appointed
the preferred bidder to buy the venture. The South Korean state-controlled
company hoped to use its own reactors at the site.

Talks have since stalled, amid leadership changes in South Korea and uncertainty over the
financial support on offer from the British government. Ministers do not
want to repeat the funding model used for Hinkley Point, which was
criticised as too expensive. They said the government may invest directly
in the next project, Hitachi’s Wylfa plant on Anglesey, but would go back
to the drawing board for other projects. Toshiba confirmed that it had
cancelled the preferred-bidder status, meaning that it would consider other
buyers.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/business/plans-for-moorside-nugen-nuclear-plant-set-to-go-up-in-smoke-psnssbn07

August 1, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Moorside nuclear power project in doubt

Fate of new Moorside nuclear power station in Cumbria in doubt https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jul/29/fate-of-new-moorside-nuclear-power-station-in-cumbria-in-doubt

Delay in sale of consortium behind plant leads Toshiba to lay off 100 UK project staff, Guardian,  Adam Vaughan, 29 July 18, 

Doubts have been raised over the fate of a new nuclear power station planned for Cumbria after it emerged that most of the project’s 100 UK staff had been laid off.

Toshiba has been trying to sell the NuGeneration consortium behind the Moorside plant since it had to write off billions of dollars because of problems with its US nuclear business last year.

The Korean state-owned firm Kepco appeared to swoop to the rescue last December by agreeing to buy NuGen but the sale, which was meant to complete this January, was then delayed until the spring. The transaction has still not closed, and uncertainty has been created by a change of government in Seoul and the appointment of a new Kepco chiefexecutive.

The delay has forced Toshiba, a Japanese corporation, to look again at the consortium’s running costs, leading to a decision on 27 July to cut many of the venture’s 100 jobs across Manchester and Cumbria. The job losses will be subject to consultations.

Toshiba is believed to have spent hundreds of millions of pounds developing the project so far. In a statement NuGen said: “It has been decided by the NuGen board to re-profile the organisation at this point in order to pursue alternatives.”

It remains unclear whether the South Koreans will go ahead with a deal that looked a certainty last year. Kepco officials are due to arrive in the UK on Monday, and the UK government has been in talks to save the deal. A source close to the process said: “The Kepco deal is not dead yet.”

If the acquisition were to collapse the failure of the Moorside project would leave a large hole in ministers’ wishes to encourage the construction of as many as six new nuclear power plants to meet climate goals.

Unions said the problems showed that a recent sector deal between government and industry did not got far enough to ensure nuclear installations were built.

ue Ferns, senior deputy general secretary of the union Prospect, said: “Despite the welcome nuclear sector deal it is increasingly clear that the government needs to do far more to reassure the nuclear industry and support them in developing the next generation of low-carbon energy sources in the UK.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “We continue to engage with new-build developers, though the detail of these discussions is commercially confidential.”

July 30, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Japan keen to have a nuclear export business: it all depends on building nuclear reactors in the UK

Japan and Hitachi pin nuclear export hopes on U.K. project in Wales https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/29/business/japan-hitachi-pin-nuclear-export-hopes-u-k-project-wales/#.W14xP9IzbGg, BY JUNKO HORIUCHI KYODO 

A nuclear power plant project in Britain is giving Japan a glimmer of hope for spurring infrastructure exports, a key growth strategy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Hitachi Ltd. and the U.K. government started official talks last month on building new reactors in Wales, with a goal of firing them up in the first half of the 2020s.

The outlook for the ¥3 trillion project is unclear, with both sides facing a string of challenges in the talks going forward.

For Tokyo, the plan is one of its few remaining major overseas projects on the horizon, with other nuclear power generation plans discontinued or facing cancellation.

The government’s bet on nuclear power plants as a pillar of infrastructure exports comes as the likes of Germany, Italy, Taiwan and South Korea are pulling out of atomic power generation.

Critics argue that a surge in safety costs and accident worries caused by the 2011 Fukushima disaster, in addition to the lack of viable disposal solutions for radioactive waste, mean there is no justification for keeping faith in nuclear energy. Compounding the sector’s decline is the rapidly dropping cost of tapping such renewable energy sources as wind and solar power.

Still, some emerging economies look like they will need new nuclear power plants, and Japanese builders see few chances to construct new ones anytime soon in Japan.

“The Japanese government has been pushing hard for exports of nuclear power plants but it’s clear that it’s not going well,” said Tadahiro Katsuta, a professor at Meiji University. “The government will spare no effort in giving momentum to the exports.”

If the project in Britain proves successful, it will give the government “a good excuse” to push harder abroad, he said.

Before the official talks began, Hitachi had told Britain it might not take part in the project to build two advanced boiling water reactors on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, because the price tag had soared higher than initially estimated.

But an offer by London to shoulder about two-thirds of the cost convinced Hitachi stay in. Tokyo welcomed its decision to begin the talks.

“The nuclear business overseas is significant … it would lead to strengthening and maintaining human resources and technology for nuclear power in Japan,” Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko told a news conference.

Under the agreement, the British government will subsidize much of the cost through direct investment and loan guarantees, according to sources close to the matter.

“We are currently examining the financial and cost issues of the project, before making a final decision in 2019 on whether to invest in the project,” Hitachi Chief Financial Officer Mitsuaki Nishiyama said Friday at a news conference to announce earnings.

For Hitachi, nuclear power is a core operation. It wants to increase revenue from the business by more than 33 percent to ¥250 billion over the four years through March 2022, mainly through boosting overseas revenue.

Rival Toshiba Corp. exited overseas nuclear operations after incurring huge losses in the United States, a decision that could cripple Tokyo’s efforts to promote Japanese nuclear plants abroad.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., is pursuing a nuclear power plant project in Turkey. But it hit a snag when it saw safety-related costs surge and trading house Itochu Corp. walked away from the project.

In another blow to the government, Vietnam in 2016 decided to abandon a plan to build its first nuclear power plant with Japanese assistance due to tight state finances.

Those failures have led to an increased focus on the new power station in Wales. But London and Hitachi still need to address such issues as how to spread the remainder of the costs among Hitachi, local companies and Japan-backed financial institutions. They also need to determine who should be held liable if there’s a major accident.

They are also at odds over how much the electricity produced at the plant should cost. Britain at one point offered a price some 20 percent lower than what Hitachi wanted, a source familiar with the matter said.

“A key focus of discussions with Hitachi has been and will continue to be achieving lower-cost electricity for consumers,” Greg Clark, British business and energy secretary, told Parliament last month.

The two sides also need to talk to residents and win over those worried about the new power station.

“We have a major multinational and two governments supposed to be democracies playing a high-stakes game of poker … without any transparency or scrutiny for the people that they are representing,” Mei Tomos, a resident of Wales, said at a news conference in Tokyo during a recent visit to Japan.

“We have seen the destruction which nuclear power can cause. It is really too much to expect us to take the same risks. Even if such an accident didn’t happen at Anglesey we will still be faced with over a hundred years of storage of nuclear waste on site which presents a massive danger to us,” another resident, Robert Davies, said at the news conference.

July 30, 2018 Posted by | Japan, marketing, politics international, UK | Leave a comment

Warning about China’s state-owned companies being involved in Britain’s nuclear industry

Beware China’s role in UK nuclear industry https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/29/beware-china-role-in-uk-nuclear-industry

Jeffrey Henderson warns against Chinese state-owned firms playing a decisive part in one of our most strategically important industries. 

While we need to be concerned about China’s growing presence in Britain’s electricity generation (Nuclear power: China’s move into UK hints at scale of its wider ambitions, July 27), we should be asking searching questions of our government. They seem not to understand (or don’t care about) the nature of the companies they are dealing with.

Chinese state-owned enterprises are not like EDF or the German, Dutch and French state-owned firms that run our railways. They are dramatically different because China is governed by a Leninist state. Consequently, Chinese state firms are ultimately controlled not by the State Council’s State Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, but by the Communist party.

Furthermore, one of the two Chinese companies initially involved in the Hinkley Point plant, China National Nuclear (CNNC), while having a civil division, is mainly involved in the production of the country’s nuclear weapons. Consequently, it is almost certainly controlled by the Chinese military: the People’s Liberation Army.

With Chinese companies set to take the lead role at Bradwell and Sizewell (including building the reactors and running the stations) and, given EDF’s financial problems, a controlling stake in up to five other nuclear power plants, the British government is setting us up for a situation where the Chinese Communist party – and, assuming CNNC participation, the Chinese military – will have a decisive role in one of our most strategically important industries. To allow this borders on insanity and clearly has to be stopped.

Jeffrey Henderson
Professor of international development, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol

July 30, 2018 Posted by | China, secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

China’s plan for global nuclear dominance depends on Britain

China’s long game to dominate nuclear power relies on the UK https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/26/chinas-long-game-to-dominate-nuclear-power-relies-on-the-uk

Approval of Chinese nuclear technology in the UK would act as a springboard to the rest of the world, Guardian, Adam Vaughan and Lily Kuo in Beijing, 27 Jul 2018

China wants to become a global leader in nuclear power and the UK is crucial to realising its ambitions.

While other countries have scaled back on atomic energy in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, state-backed Chinese companies benefit from the fact that China is still relying on nuclear energy to reach the country’s low-carbon goals.

“China is going in the opposite direction. The massive experience possessed by the Chinese nuclear industry, consistently building for the past 30 years and adopting various next-generation technologies, is being recognised by the global nuclear industry,” said Zaf Coelho, the director of Asia Nuclear Business Platform, based in Singapore.

The UK, where as many as six new nuclear power stations could be built over the next two decades, is an obvious export target for Chinese nuclear. If state-owned China General Nuclear Power (GNP) – the main player in China’s nuclear industry – buys a 49% stake in the UK’s existing nuclear plants, as it was recently reported to be considering, that would mark a significant expansion of China’s role in the UK nuclear sector.

But the depth of CGN’s existing involvement in UK nuclear may surprise some.

The most high-profile project is the £20bn Hinkley Point C power station in Somerset, which is being built by EDF Energy with a French reactor design but was only made possible by CGN UK’s 33.5% stake to underwrite its daunting finances.

It was that Chinese ownership of a strategic piece of infrastructure that led Theresa May to temporarily halt the signing of the crucial subsidy deal for Hinkley when she became prime minister.

Isabel Hilton, the CEO of Chinadialogue.net, said the UK opening up vital infrastructure to China was without parallel in the western world. “No other OECD country has done this. This is strategic infrastructure, and China is a partner but not an ally in the security sense.

“You are making a 50-year bet, not only that there will be no dispute between the UK and China, but also no dispute between China and one of the UK’s allies. It makes no strategic sense.”

The UK has appeared amenable to Chinese investment, though recently the UK cybersecurity watchdog warned British telecommunications companies against dealing with Chinese tech firm ZTE. One expert acknowledges that security concerns are a potential check to Chinese ambitions.

Zha Daojiong, a professor of non-traditional security studies at Peking University, said: “The question is not whether your nuclear technology is safe or not, it’s a question of politics. To be blunt, most countries think: ‘Anybody but China.’ This kind of thinking is becoming more and more popular among western countries. It’s a serious problem.”

CGN is also drawing up plans for Bradwell B in Essex, where China hopes to showcase its own nuclear reactor technology. CGN UK holds the majority stake (66.5%) in the development company, with EDF in a supporting role. Then there is a third joint venture to get Bradwell’s Chinese reactor design through the UK nuclear regulatory process.

Finally, there is Sizewell C in Suffolk, where EDF wants to build a clone of Hinkley Point C if it can attract enough private investment. CGN holds a 20% share.

While Germany and other western countries have turned their backs on nuclear, the UK is strongly committed to new nuclear to meet its carbon goals and this means, despite security concerns, the government needs Chinese involvement.

Robert Davies, the chief operating officer of CGN UK, said: “The UK is open to investment, and we want to invest in clean energy in this country.”

He is acutely aware of the need for future plants to be cheaper, given criticism over the cost of the EDF subsidy deal. “We understand the cost of electricity has to fall significantly from Hinkley Point,” he said.

But the company is open about the bigger prize – the UK as a springboard for exporting Chinese nuclear technology to other countries.

“For us, the UK is an important stepping stone into Europe. The GDA process [UK regulatory approval] is recognised in the nuclear world as having a lot of clout,” said Davies.

Asked if the UK should be concerned about China owning its nuclear power stations, he said: “We are not surprised and see nothing wrong with governments questioning our rationale for investing in their country.”

For now, the company’s UK footprint is small – just 70 of its 44,000 staff are based here. But his hope is the firm will become viewed “not as an outsider that has come in, but part of the furniture”.

China’s commitment was on show at a recent lavish nuclear industry event in London. No expense was spared on hosting the summit at the prestigious Guildhall building, where the Chinese ambassador to the UK told jokes and argued the case for new nuclear.

Mycle Schneider, a Paris-based nuclear industry analyst, said cost was not an issue for Beijing because the Chinese are playing a long game. “It was clear quite early on there was a strategy to make the UK a platform … A few billion here or there is not the point. It’s about strategic assets.”

But he said CGN still had a lot to learn about how the UK worked. “China does not have any building experience in any countries other than Pakistan, and that is not really comparable to the UK.”

Zhou Dali, a former Chinese energy official, as director of the energy research institute of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, said: “We are learning how to do business with patience. Because you cannot force others to do something. You can only help.

“We will give more and more information about the technology’s improvements, but the final decision will be made by the UK people and your politicians.”

Additional reporting by Wang Xueying

July 28, 2018 Posted by | China, marketing of nuclear, politics international, UK | Leave a comment

National Infrastructure Commission’s landmark report calls for drastic cut in UK’s nuclear power plans

Building 26th July 2018 , The National Infrastructure Commission’s landmark report this month
seemed to sound the death knell for nuclear energy new-build, calling for a
large-scale shift to renewables by 2050 – and for only one more nuclear
power station approval by 2025. But are we really likely to get 90% of
Britain’s electricity from green sources within a generation? The NIC’s
assessment does not call for the end of all nuclear new-build aspirations.

But the direction of travel is clear: its prediction is that the cost of an
energy system heavily reliant on nuclear will, on current terms, be
marginally more expensive than one powered 80%-90% by other renewables, and
– importantly – that the cost of renewables is much more likely to fall
in future and thus ultimately work out significantly cheaper.

It is only because of all the uncertainties inherent in these predictions that it
recommends continuing with nuclear at all, albeit on a “go slow” basis,
so as not to entirely lose capacity in the industry in case the programme
has to be fired up again.

The assessment says a minimum of 50% and as much
as 90% of UK electricity should come from renewables such as wind and solar
power by 2050. And hence, that no more than one further nuclear reactor
should be given the go-ahead before 2025. This, it says “will allow the
UK to maintain, but not expand, a skills base and supply chain [and] to
pursue a high renewables mix […] without closing off the nuclear
alternative”. This may sound like a nuanced shift, but for those in the
sector it is very radical.

Few outside of environmental lobby groups have
ever proposed a UK electricity generation sector reliant 80%-90% on
renewables before. Richard Lowe, director of power in Aecom’s
environmental division, welcomes the emphasis on renewables but questions
how realistic it is. “Others such as the Committee on Climate Change have
done their own projections as to what is realistic, and I wouldn’t say
this is the midpoint of the range – it’s very much at one end of the
scale.”

https://www.building.co.uk/nuclear-energy-gone-with-the-wind/5094829.article

July 28, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, ENERGY, politics, UK | Leave a comment

Optimistic report on Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon- tidal renewable energy for Britain?

Wales Online 26th July 2018 , A new task force is being set up to look at ways of resurrecting plans for
the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, which appeared dead in the water just last
month. It follows the publication of a report which said the £1.3bn
project could be delivered without the need for a UK Government financing
deal. The report concluded that the lagoon was “fundamentally a strong
and deliverable technical proposition”.Paul Marsh, of report authors
Holistic Capital, said: “We believe the project can be funded
independently of UK Government, and potentially delivered as a purely Welsh
initiative. “We believe, based on our in-depth review, that the original
£1.3bn cost of the lagoon can be reduced.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/plans-swansea-bay-tidal-lagoon-14952875

July 28, 2018 Posted by | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

Renewable energy headed to be 50% of total UK electricity generation by 2025.

Dave Toke’s Blog 26th July 2018 Today’s UK energy statistics reveal that renewable electricity generation
increased by around 20 per cent in just one year so that 29.3 per cent of electricity consumed came from renewable energy in 2017.

If at least 80 per cent of the offshore windfarms now in different stages of planning (let alone other renewable energy sources) come online, as could be expected, in the next 7 years, then renewable energy will comprise half of total UK electricity generation by 2025.

Electricity consumption fell once again in the year 2017 compared to 2016. Electricity consumption is now 9 per cent less than it was in 2010. over 20 GWe of offshore wind are in various stages of planning and construction. In total these would generate around 25 per cent of UK electricity.

Since the Government are saying they will hold auctions for offshore wind and some other renewables in 2019 and 2021
this means that a lot of them will be built by 2025. Of course we are going to have substantially more onshore wind and solar by 2025 to buttress these figures (although the Government are doing very little to help) meaning that electricity generated from renewable energy will top 50 per cent of total consumption in 2025/6
http://realfeed-intariffs.blogspot.com/2018/07/renewables-generated-close-to-30-per-of.html

July 28, 2018 Posted by | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

Electricite de France wants pension funds to cough up for building Sizewell nuclear project

EDF Wooing Pension Funds to Finance Sizewell U.K. Nuclear Plant, Bloomberg, By Rachel Morison 12 pension funds interested in backing plant in East Anglia  Plant would lower nuclear costs by copying design of Hinkley

The developer of Britain’s first nuclear power station in more than three decades has approached 12 pension funds about helping finance a sister plant on the other side of the country.

Electricite de France SA is working on ways to pay for its Sizewell C project in East Anglia that will make it cheaper than the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant it’s building on the coast of Southwest England. Hinkley has been a lightning rod for controversy since the government pledged to pay 92.50 pounds ($122) a megawatt-hour for its power, more than 60 percent more than the latest offshore wind farms……..

Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has estimated it needs to draw in 100 billion pounds within the next decade to upgrade power grids and replace aging generation plants as the bulk of Britain’s nuclear fleet finishes its life in service. ……..https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/edf-wooing-pension-funds-to-finance-sizewell-u-k-nuclear-plant

July 27, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

British tax-payers’ liability in the event of a nuclear accident at Wylfa

Government outlines public liability at Wylfa nuclear plant https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/government-outlines-public-liability-at-wylfa-nuclear-plant/10033570.article 26 JULY, 2018 BY JESS CLARK  Government has outlined public liability in the event of an accident at Wylfa nuclear power station, amid concerns that taxpayers will be left to pick up the bill.

Nuclear operators must have insurance, energy and clean growth minister Claire Perry told parliament, and any costs more than €1.5bn (£1.33bn) would be “met at parliament’s discretion”.

The Westminster Hall debate followed a report in the Times  that claimed Japanese company Hitachi would not pay for any accidents at the proposed plant in Anglesey, north Wales.

Energy and clean growth minister Claire Perry said: “There were some questions about liability in the event of an accident. I am happy to say that the last significant incident was the Windscale fire in 1957, and we are light years away from that plant in terms of nuclear operating technology and the safety regime that we operate.

“The Nuclear Installations Act 1965 makes the insurance that I mentioned a requirement, without which operators cannot operate. As the hon. Member for Southampton, Test mentioned, we also have legislation based on the Paris and Brussels conventions.

If the total cost of claims ever exceeded €1.2 billion, a further €300 million would be provided by all contracting parties to the Brussels supplementary convention. Any further claims above that total would be met at Parliament’s discretion.”

Alan Brown MP said: “It marks a departure from the “polluter pays” principle. It is critical that the UK Government do not sign up to any such crazy proposals.”The government is in “commercial negotiations” with Hitachi over the plans, and will take a £5bn stake in the project.

July 27, 2018 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment