Kilkenny People 23rd April 2018, Kilkenny County Council’s ‘concern’ over Hinkley Point nuclear power
expansion. Local councillors last week agreed to write a ‘statement of
concern’ regarding the expansion of the nuclear power plant at Hinkley
Point in Somerset, England.
Cllr Malcolm Noonan and Tomas Breathnach raised
the matter at the monthly meeting of Kilkenny County Council. Cllr Noonan
noted that Tuesday was the cut-off for submissions, in what he described as
a ‘very limited’ consultation process.
BBC 25th April 2018 , Plans to remove every scrap of radioactive waste from a former nuclear
plant are under review, it has emerged. The former Trawsfynydd site in
Gwynedd has been undergoing decommissioning since it ended generation in
1991.
Originally, the power station was due to be left in a state of “care
and repair” by 2030 and finally cleared entirely by the 2090s. But the
review could see the remaining structures continue to be removed and
low-risk waste left on site. The details were revealed in presentations to
the Snowdonia National Park Authority by the body responsible for
cleaning-up the UK’s old nuclear plants.
At the moment, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) plans to mothball the Trawsfynydd site by
about 2029, leaving any existing radioactive material there to decay
naturally over time, before clearing everything. But the park authority was
told that a case is now being developed for continuous decommissioning and
for some low-level radioactive waste to be left there permanently.
Officials said the concrete reactor buildings were decaying structurally,
and work should get underway to remove them. But a suggestion that
low-level radioactive waste might remain on site has been met with
criticism by some in the anti-nuclear lobby.
Robat Idris, from the campaign group People Against Wylfa B, told BBC Radio Cymru: “Once again, we are
seeing the nuclear industry changing what they say about this process.
“Originally, the promise was that they would clear the entire site of
radioactive material, but now it looks like they are considering keeping
some of that material there for a very long time, if indeed they will
remove it at all. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-43898737
Mirror 22nd April 2018, Survivor of Britain’s nuclear tests lost all his teeth, had thyroid tumour
and wife suffered two stillbirths – and he was one of ‘lucky’ ones
EXCLUSIVE: Sixty years ago on Christmas Island, these army veterans had to
put their hands over their eyes as a nuke 100 times more powerful than
Hiroshima was set off – and more than half their unit died of cancer. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/survivor-britains-nuclear-tests-lost-12409628
GDF Watch 22nd April 2018, Nobody is disputing her personal abilities or competence, but the
appointment of Lorraine Baldry as the new Chair of Sellafield Limited
raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest within the geological
disposal programme.
Baldry was also recently appointed Chair of the
Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Council. The Council is an
independent group of experts who advise RWM, the GDF delivery body, on how
to best progress the geological disposal programme.
RWM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) — Sellafield
Limited is also a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NDA. This means Baldry
will be advising RWM on geological disposal, while also running the company
which currently owns most of the waste destined for geological disposal and
has a very vested interest in the GDF.
Dave Toke’s Blog 20th April 2018,This week’s story about problems with pipe welding at the French nuclear
plant being built at Flamanville could spell the end for the Hinkley C
nuclear project.
Treasury backed loan guarantees to build Hinkley C have
been linked to a target date for commissioning of the Flamanville plant of
the end of 2020. Yet the current target date of completion by the end of
2019 has been thrown in doubt by the freshly announced problems.
The main focus of attention of this problem for Hinkley has simply been that the
design of the Flamanville plant – the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) –
is the same as that to be built at Hinkley C and that the engineering
problems bode ill for the British scheme.
That is right, but it is rather worse than this. The commercial issue is that if the French plant is not
commercially operating by the end of 2020 then it seems the Treasury will
not be able to give loan guarantees for the scheme.
According to the analyst Professor Steve Thomas, the rules agreed between the European
Commission and the British Government stipulate that ”until Flamanville 3
was in commercial service, there would be a cap on the guaranteed loans
effectively meaning funding would be primarily through equity’. http://realfeed-intariffs.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/problems-with-french-nuclear-plant.html
Revealed: new cracks at Hunterston nuclear reactor raise radiation accident fears, Herald Scotland, Rob Edwards , 23 Apr 18
NEW cracks have been discovered in one of Scotland’s ageing nuclear reactors, raising radiation safety fears and resulting in a prolonged shutdown, the Sunday Herald can reveal.
Checks have detected fresh cracks in the graphite core of a reactor at Hunterston B in North Ayrshire. The reactor was taken offline on March 9, but is not now due to restart until May 1 at the earliest, more than a month later than originally planned.
The UK Government safety watchdog, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), is assessing whether the cracks render the reactor too dangerous to fire up. Its operator, EDF Energy, insists it will reopen, but critics say it should stay shut.
The integrity of the thousands of graphite blocks that make up the reactor core is vital to nuclear safety. They ensure that the reactor can be cooled and safely shut down in an emergency.
But bombardment by intense radiation over decades causes the blocks to start cracking. If they fail, experts say, nuclear fuel could overheat, melt down and leak radioactivity in a major accident.
Both the ONR and EDF told the Sunday Herald that new cracks had been found at Hunterston reactor number three during inspections in recent weeks, but they wouldn’t say how many, or how significant they were.
“We are currently assessing the safety case submitted by EDF after a planned outage identified a number of cracks in the graphite blocks that make up reactor three’s core,” said an ONR spokesman.
“Before we grant permission to EDF to restart reactor three we will require that an adequate safety case justifying further operation has been made. ONR has to formally permission the restart of the reactor.”
The ONR’s decision was still “a number of weeks” away, he added. “We will publish the justification behind our decision once it has been made.”
According to EDF’s website, Hunterston reactor three was originally due back online on March 30 after a “graphite inspection outage”. But this has been repeatedly postponed to April 6, April 19, April 24 and now May 1.
………Pete Roche, a nuclear critic and consultant in Edinburgh, warned that EDF’s optimism that the reactor will restart could be misplaced. “Cracks could prevent control rods from being inserted causing the nuclear fuel to overheat, potentially resulting in a nuclear accident,” he said.
It was “all a bit of a gamble”, he argued. “Hunterston is already 42 years old – when it was only expected to operate for 30 or 35 years. It is clearly time to say goodbye to reactor three.”
Expert nuclear engineer John Large also suggested that the reactor should be closed down. “The core at Hunterston may now be in such a poor structural state that its collapse during a relatively modest earthquake could result in a nuclear fuel meltdown and significant radioactive release,” he said.
“All that EDF can do is permanently shut Hunterston, there being no alternative means to remedy this very serious situation.”
……….According to Rita Holmes, a local resident who chairs the Hunterston site stakeholder group, people were worried. “The local communities are unhappy that the reactor has any cracks, and certainly not happy that one with a growing number of cracks could be allowed to continue generation,” she said.
BBC forced to deny reporting outbreak of nuclear war after fake news clip goes viral Telegraph UK, Will Horner
The BBC was last night forced to distance itself from a fake news clip reporting the outbreak of nuclear war after a video purporting to show hostilities between Russia and Nato was widely circulated online.
The three-minute clip, which appears to be set in the BBC News studio and uses the BBC logo, features a British presenter claiming armed conflict has broken out in the Baltic after a Russian aircraft was shot down.
It features footage of Russian naval ships launching cruise missiles, nuclear mushroom clouds, and shows the Queen being evacuated from Buckingham Palace.
“This video clip claiming to be a BBC news report about NATO and Russia has been circulating widely… We’d like to make absolutely clear that it’s a fake and does not come from the BBC,” the corporation said on Twitter.
The clip is a shortened version of an hour-long video that has been uploaded to YouTube several times since 2016 with the disclaimer that it is a “fictional dramatization.”
It began widely circulating on social media, particularly WhatsApp, after it was edited and re-uploaded to YouTube on Monday without that disclaimer.
The video also features a new ending purporting to be a “nuclear attack warning” with the logos of the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office.
The presenter of the video told The Daily Telegraph he was employed by Benchmarking Assessment Group, an Irish talent headhunting company, to shoot the video that would be used as a “psychometric test” to see how “their clients react in a disaster scenario”.
“From the original YouTube posting it says very clearly that it is fictional. You’d have to be an idiot to believe it anyway, it doesn’t even look like a genuine BBC news report. It was never meant to,” said Mark Ryes, a British voice actor……..
Nuclear Ban 17th April 2018, In advance of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee which
meets in Geneva from April 23rd over 30 UK civil society organisations have
co-signed a letter to Boris Johnson, challenging the government to take its
disarmament responsibilities seriously and in particular to participate in
the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). http://www.nuclearban.scot/challenge-to-uk-to-participate-in-nuke-ban-treaty/
Derby Telegraph 16th April 2018 , Why fears have been raised that Derbyshire might end up hosting a nuclear
waste facility. “It was an area suggested for such a facility around 25
years ago.” A geological formation in Derbyshire could be considered for a
nuclear waste facility, it is feared.
The Government is scouring the UK for
a suitable location for a new £12 billion geological disposal facility
(GDF). Cumbria was being lined up to to store an estimated 750,000 cubic
metres of radioactive material produced by 50 years of nuclear power and
defence activity – but its county council rejected the idea in 2013,
forcing the Government to search for a new location.
Now a neighbouring council has discussed hosting the nuclear waste dumping facility in a
sedimentary basin known as the Widmerpool Gulf – which extends across
Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. A response to a Government
package of incentives designed to get communities to agree to ‘host’ a
storage complex has been discussed by Leicestershire County Council,
reports the Leicester Mercury.
Any facility would look to bury waste at least 200 metres below ground somewhere in a geological area which
stretches from the eastern fringes of Derby across the countryside to the
south of Nottingham and on to the west of Melton Mowbray in north
Leicestershire. Leicestershire County Council has said there are no
specific proposals for a GDF in Leicestershire at this stage but it has
asked for further information on the issue from the Department of Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The council’s head of planning LonekWojtulewicz said: “The underlying principle is these sort of facilities
will only come forward if communities are prepared to accept them.” The
Government has said £1 million a year could be offered to a community
willing to host a GDF rising to £2.5 million as a scheme progresses.
Cumbria Trust 14th April 2018, The following letter from Tim Knowles, the former Chair of the last search
process (MRWS), appears in the current issue of The Whitehaven News.
Despite previously appearing to be in direct opposition to Cumbria
Trust’s stance, there now seems to be a lot of common ground between us.
Tim appears to share our scepticism that the new search process is a
national one, when the real target is expected to be West Cumbria again.
Not one single local authority of the UK beyond West Cumbria volunteered
during MRWS, and despite hints from RWM and BEIS that there are a number of
interested parties, we would be surprised if they are more than wishful
thinking.
Tim also makes the point that the funds being offered to the
community for taking part in the process are low by international
standards. As Eddie Martin, the former Leader of Cumbria County Council has
frequently pointed out, we only have to look at the state of West Cumbria,
with its Victorian railway system, poor roads and inadequate hospital and
education facilities to see how much to believe promises of community
benefits.
This area has been exposed to a great deal of risk from housing
the nation’s nuclear waste for two generations and has received almost
nothing in return. Why should we believe that it would be different this
time?
It is interesting to hear that that Tim understands that Trudy
Harrison MP, Copeland Mayor Mike Starkie and DBEIS Minister Richard
Harrington have been discussing an offshore Copeland site, presumably with
tunnel access from Sellafield. In the new search process, the offshore
strip available has been extended from 5km to 20km, and this is potentially
very significant, since it is likely to include areas far enough from the
Cumbrian mountains to have relatively low groundwater flow.
Cumbria Trust discussed the potential of offshore Copeland here and while we have had
expert advice that West Cumbria does not contain an adequate onshore site,
we accept that it is possible that a good site may be found further
offshore. If Copeland is going to volunteer itself again, we would
encourage them to volunteer offshore Copeland alone.
We hope and expect that they have enough common sense to exclude the Lake District National
Park from day one. It employs far more people than the nuclear industry, it
generates more income for Cumbria and it is a World Heritage Site. The
coastal strip outside the park is geologically similar to the failed
Longlands Farm Nirex site, so that only leaves offshore Copeland.
Syria: US, British and French forces launch air strikes in response to chemical weapons attack,
US, British and French forces have pounded chemical weapons sites in Syria with air strikes in response to an alleged poison gas attack that killed dozens in the rebel-held town of Douma last week.
Key points:
US, UK and France hit three chemical weapons sites in Syria
US Defence Secretary says strikes were a “one-time shot”
Strikes biggest intervention yet by Western powers against Assad regime
In a televised address to the nation, US President Donald Trump said the three nations had “marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality”.
The strikes were the biggest intervention by Western powers against President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s seven-year-old civil war, which has pitted the US and its allies against Russia.
The Pentagon said the strikes targeted a research centre in Damascus, along with a chemical weapons storage facility and command post west of Homs……
British Prime Minister Theresa May said the strikes were not about intervening in a civil war nor were they about a regime change.
“We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised within Syria, on the streets of the UK or anywhere else in our world,” Ms May said…….
Plans for Welsh nuclear power plant delayed by concerns over seabirds, Next stage of planning process for Anglesey site postponed as effect on tern colonies is assessed, Guardian, Adam Vaughan, 9 Apr 18,
Plans for a nuclear power station on the Welsh island of Anglesey have been delayed by concerns over the plant’s impact on colonies of protected seabirds.
The proposed twin reactors at Wylfa were given the green light by the UK’s nuclear regulator in December, with backers hoping to win financial support from the government.
Horizon Nuclear Power, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, told planning authorities it would submit its planning application for the Wylfa plant by the end of March, which it called a “major milestone”.
But the company postponed submitting the development consent order because it needs to thrash out the impact building the power station will have on colonies of sandwich, Arctic and common terns.
Nearby Cemlyn nature reserve is home to thousands of sandwich terns, which account for about fifth of the birds’ UK population and is the biggest on the country’s west coast.
Wildlife groups are concerned about the effect of noise and light from the power station’s construction, as well as a reduction in food for the birds to forage on. Land clearance for the vast site is also expected to displace potential predators, such as rats and foxes.
Chris Wynne, a senior reserve officer at North Wales Wildlife Trust, said: “We are looking at a range of ecological impacts at one of the most significant tern colonies in the UK.”
EDF warns of delays at Flamanville nuclear power station in France
Experts fear UK’s planned Hinkley plant will face similar budget and deadline problems, Guardian, Adam Vaughan, 10 Apr 18, EDF Energy has warned that a flagship nuclear power station it is building in France could run further behind schedule and over budget, after it detected faults at the €10.5bn ( £9.2bn) plant.
The French state-owned firm said inspections last month had uncovered problems with welding on pipes at the Flamanville plant in north-west France.
Flamanville’s reactor design is the same as the one being used at a delayed plant in Finland and at Hinkley Point in Somerset, where EDF is building the UK’s first new nuclear power station in decades.
The company said that it had discovered “quality deviations” on 150 welds in a system used to transport steam to turbines used for electricity generation.
EDF said it was performing further checks to see what works would be needed to satisfy the safety requirements of the French nuclear regulator, ASN, and would report back in May.
In a statement, the firm said: “Following the current checks and the licensing process by the ASN, EDF will be able to specify whether the project requires an adjustment to its timetable and its costs.”
The plant is already three times over its original estimates and several years late.
There is a risk that this method of funding will act to ensure that deprived areas, rather than geologically suitable areas, are more likely to volunteer.
Communities should have access to a truly independent scientific body such as MKG in Sweden
what is described as an open and transparent process, could be a long way from that.
there needs to be more honesty and openness about the negative aspects.
“Working With Communities” – Guidance notes for your own response to the consultation.April 8, 2018
The Working With Communities consultation document can be found here. Cumbria Trust has submitted its response to the consultation here . The final date for responses is the 19th April 2018.
You can respond online here and you may wish to include some of the following points in your response to the consultation:
CONSULTATION QUESTION 1: Do you agree with this approach of identifying communities? Do you have any other suggestions that we should consider?
The geological screening report appears to be little more than a broad overview, which is a missed opportunity. A lesson from the previous MRWS process was that early information on geology would help communities to make a decision on volunteering.
There needs to be a test of public support before a community joins the process. It is a long term commitment which could cause significant blight.
Neighbouring local authorities should also have a say in the process. 4.21 suggests that they will be excluded from any test of public support even if a GDF could be close to their boundary.
CONSULTATION QUESTION 2: Do you agree with the approach of formative engagement? Do you support the use of a formative engagement team to carry out information gathering activities? Are there any other approaches we should consider?
This appears to be a process which is very easy to join, but difficult to leave.
There is a need for a test of public support before a community enters the process.
CONSULTATION QUESTION 3: Do you agree with this approach to forming a Community Partnership? Are there other approaches we should consider?
Radioactive Waste Management (RWM) should not be part of the Community Partnership, but should be available to answer its questions.
Frequent tests of public support are required to ensure that the Community Partnership continues to reflect the view of the community throughout this 20 year process.
CONSULTATION QUESTION 4: Do you agree with the approach to engaging people more widely in the community through a Community Stakeholder Forum? Are there other approaches we should consider?
A Community Stakeholder Forum could be appropriate if their views are taken seriously. Previous experience of forums in this area suggests that this may not happen.
The Chair of the Stakeholder Forum must not be part of the Community Partnership – there is a need for independence.
CONSULTATION QUESTION 5: Do you agree with the proposal for a Community Agreement and what it could potentially include? Are there other approaches we should consider?
The suggestion that a local authority may be able to overrule the remaining members of the Community Partnership is unworkable. Partnerships cannot function in that way.
The Community Agreement should be put to a public vote before it is accepted, since it may have a significant impact on the community. The public (rather than just the Community Partnership) must be confident that they have an acceptable right of withdrawal before entering the process. The failure to draw up an adequate right of withdrawal during MRWS was one of the causes of the process being halted before stage 4.
CONSULTATION QUESTION 6: Do you agree with the proposed approach to the way community investment funding would be provided? Are there alternatives that we should consider?
There is a risk that this method of funding will act to ensure that deprived areas, rather than geologically suitable areas, are more likely to volunteer.
CONSULTATION QUESTION 7: Do you agree with the proposed process for the right of withdrawal? Do you have views on how else this could be decided? Are there alternatives that we should consider?
The ongoing right of withdrawal must rest with the community, not the Community Partnership. In order to ensure that there is alignment between the community and Community Partnership, frequent tests of public support are required.
The withdrawal process is unnecessarily complex. There should be no requirement to go through a pre-defined process. If the public vote to withdraw, that should happen with immediate effect.
CONSULTATION QUESTION 8: Do you agree with the approach to the test of public support? Do you agree that the Community Partnership should decide how and when the test of public support should be carried out? Do you have views on how else this could be decided? Are there alternatives that we should consider?
It cannot be right that there is a single test of public support after 20 years. What possible reason could there be for suggesting this, other than to trap a community within the process? If this is a genuine voluntary process then there must be frequent tests of public support.
CONSULTATION QUESTION 9: Do you feel this process provides suitably defined roles for local authorities in the siting process? Are there alternatives that we should consider?
The local authority must not be able to overrule the remainder of the Community Partnership. The scale of this project also requires approval at county level.
CONSULTATION QUESTION 10: Do you have any other views on the matters presented in this consultation?
Communities should have access to a truly independent scientific body such as MKG in Sweden
The current consultation is likely to lead to an early breakdown of trust, since the public are kept at a distance from decision making by the Community Partnership, and appear to have almost no control of it.
It appears that lessons have not been learnt from the MRWS process, and what is described as an open and transparent process, could be a long way from that.
The investigation process, which includes a borehole drilling programme may cause significant blight to an area, particularly if an area’s economy depends on tourism. In addition to setting out the benefits of hosting a GDF, or entering the siting process, there needs to be more honesty and openness about the negative aspects.
Sergei Skripal poisoning: Former Russian spy recovering rapidly, hospital says, ABC News, 7 Apr 18 The hospital treating former Russian spy Sergei Skripal says he is no longer in a critical condition and his health is improving rapidly, more than a month after he was poisoned with a nerve agent in England.
Key points:
Mr Skripal’s recovery could help British police solve the case, an affair diplomats have compared with Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie mysteries
His daughter Yulia is also recovering well, issuing a statement yesterday thanking people for their help
Moscow has asked for an explanation as to why Mr Skripal’s niece was denied a British visa to take Yulia to Russia
Britain blamed Russia for the poisoning, the first known offensive use of such a nerve agent on European soil since World War II.
Moscow denied any involvement and suggested Britain had carried out the attack to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.
After weeks of no reported change in his condition, the hospital confirmed that Mr Skripal, who had been treated under heavy sedation, was now making fast progress………
A British judge said last month that the attack might have left them with compromised mental capacity, with an unclear effect on their long-term health.
nuclear-news 