UK: Secrecy over nuclear waste plans regarding EDF’s Hinkley Point deal
EDF’s Hinkley Point deal over radioactive waste sparks anger https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/30/edf-hinkley-point-deal-radioactive-waste-sparks-anger?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=174833&subid=12125&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2
Expert criticises ministers over refusal to disclose agreement with energy supplier for planned nuclear plant Guardian, Terry Macalister, 31 May 16, A furious row has broken out after the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) refused to disclose the arrangement with EDF for dealing with radioactive waste at the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear plant.
The information commissioner’s office has turned down a freedom of information (FoI) request for state aid arrangements between the UK and the European commission to be made public.
The FoI complainant, David Lowry, has launched an appeal, claiming it is in the public interest for British citizens to be able to judge whether their government had made the right decision about the new reactors in Somerset.
Lowry, a British-based senior research fellow with the Institute for Resource and Security Studies in the US, said: “I do not believe the balance of judgment should be in favour of a foreign company, EDF Energy, who will potentially make huge multibillion-pound financial gain from the continued non-disclosure, and hence non scrutiny, over myself as a British tax and electricity bill payer.”
The government said that anyone building new reactors in Britain must manage and pay for the cost of handling waste products, unlike the existing situation where all radioactive materials are effectively dealt with through the public purse via the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
However, although the operator must agree to take responsibility for the spent fuel and other radioactive waste, the cost is expected to be passed on to the domestic electricity user through higher bills.
Under the new arrangements, the prospective nuclear operators must enter into a waste transfer contract (WTC). Those contracts, like the one covering Hinkley, must be submitted for scrutiny by the EC under its state aid rules. It is the pricing methodology of the WTC that Lowry wished to review and which remains under wraps.
Greenpeace said Lowry raised critical issues that went to the heart of whether the £18.5bn project was good or bad value for the taxpayer and British energy consumers.
John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace, said: “The government has repeatedly said that Hinkley is great news for the British public and our energy security. But they refuse to back this up with hard evidence. In fact, DECC is incredibly cagey and is failing to answer questions on where the dangerous radioactive waste will go or how much Hinkley will cost us.
“If Hinkley is such a good deal, it should be no problem for the government to release the information to prove it. Their failure to do so leaves us to believe that their assumptions are correct – it’s a terrible deal for bill payers and they simply don’t know what to do with the nuclear waste.”
DECC turned down the original request under regulation 12(5)(a) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 arguing, “disclosure would adversely affect international relations, defence, national security or public safety”.
This argument was accepted by the information commissioner who believed that disclosure of the state aid discussions with the EC “would adversely affect the relationship between the (UK) government and the commission’s ability to work effectively together”.
Lowry said he thought the real reason the government did not want to disclose the information was to save ministers from embarrassment. “I think the concern is if the truth were to come out with documents being made public would adversely affect the credibility of the government submissions as their threadbare content would be laid bare for all to see,” he said.
DECC declined to comment, saying it was a matter for the information commissioner.
Nuclear concerns hold back Apple data centre plans in Ireland
Alice MacGregor Tue 31 May 2016 Apple is being questioned over its site selection for a new Irish data centre, with opponents arguing that the proposed €850 million (approx. £648 million) server farm would be located too close to nuclear facilities in Wales and Cumbria.
Oscar Gonzalez, Apple’s head of data centre site selection, came against arguments from a group including engineer Allan Daly at an oral hearing last week. Daly raised the issue that Apple requires that new centres be at least 320km from any nuclear facility in the UK – and was concerned that the proposed Irish site would not meet this specification……..https://thestack.com/data-centre/2016/05/31/nuclear-concerns-hold-back-apple-data-centre-plans-in-ireland/
Exposing the vulnerability of Scottish nuclear facilities to terrorist attack
Nuclear-Free Local Authorities say Scottish nuclear facilities are vulnerable to terrorist attack Herald Scotland, Rob Edwards 29 May 16, UK authorities are underestimating the risks of devastating terrorist attacks on nuclear plants and shipments of radioactive material, according to an expert report seen by the Sunday Herald.
A new analysis for the 40-strong group of Nuclear-Free Local Authorities (NFLA) highlights the vulnerability of Scottish nuclear facilities at Faslane, Hunterston, Torness and Dounreay to mass drone strikes, sophisticated cyber attacks and terrorist infiltrators.
UK authorities are underestimating the risks of devastating terrorist attacks on nuclear plants and shipments of radioactive material, according to an expert report seen by the Sunday Herald.
A new analysis for the 40-strong group of Nuclear-Free Local Authorities (NFLA) highlights the vulnerability of Scottish nuclear facilities at Faslane, Hunterston, Torness and Dounreay to mass drone strikes, sophisticated cyber attacks and terrorist infiltrators.
“The main consequences would be, whatever the level of attack, mass public panic and sensationalist media reportage,” he says. “We would inevitably see total road gridlock, as everyone tries to flee by car en masse at once.”
His report argues that a series of unidentified drone flights over French nuclear power stations last summer “should be seen as a major wake-up call for the nuclear industry”. Drones could carry shaped charges, poison gas, booby traps or decoys, and could come individually or in large groups.
Nuclear spruikers head to Cumbria for a marketing talkfest
Carlisle to host two-day Cumbria Nuclear Conference, News & Star, 27 May 2016 The nuclear industry is coming to Carlisle this autumn, when the city hosts the first Cumbria Nuclear Conference.
The two-day event on September 21 and 22 will attract movers and shakers from across the sector and highlight the opportunities – and challenges – to businesses arising from the new nuclear plant at Sellafield.
Speakers confirmed include NuGen chief executive Tom Samson, energy minister Andrea Leadsom, the former defence secretary and Barrow MP Lord Hutton, and John Clarke, chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Carlisle MP John Stevenson has organised the event. He said: “Nuclear is a big opportunity for Cumbria – that much is widely recognised.
“But how we do maximise the benefits for the county? That’s what the conference will address. We need to raise awareness of the opportunities.”…….
NuGen – a partnership between Toshiba of Japan and the French energy company ENGIE – has plans to build three Westinghouse AP1000 reactors…….NuGen is due to make a final decision on whether to proceed with the Moorside project in 2018 and had hoped to start construction two years later and have the first reactor on stream by 2024, although it now says the target date has slipped to 2025……
UK governmnet not deciding on Hinkley nuclear station anytime soon
No deadline set for final decision on Hinkley nuclear plant Energy minister tells MPs that no time limit has been set for EDF to make a final investment decision on the much-delayed nuclear plant, Guardian, Damian Carrington 24 May 16
The UK has set no deadline for the final go-ahead to the much-delayed Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, energy minister Andrea Leadsom told a committee of MPson Tuesday.
The head of the company aiming to build the new reactors, French state-owned EDF, told the same hearing he could not give a date for the decision nor confirm that it would start generating electricity in 2025, as previously pledged.
If built, the £18bn plant would generate 7% of the UK’s electricity and is a central plank of the government’s energy policy. EDF originally promised UK customers they would be cooking their Christmas turkeys with power from Hinkley by 2017. But the schedule has repeatedly slipped, amid concerns over the cost and difficulty of the project, which has led to questions about how the UK would keep the lights on without Hinkley……..
The energy secretary, Amber Rudd, said in April that a failure to build Hinkley would not mean the lights going out… http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/24/edf-no-deadline-set-for-final-decision-on-hinkley-nuclear-plant
Small Modular Nuclear reactor companies keen to sell their wares to UK
38 companies express interest in building mini nuclear power station at Trawsfynydd, Wales Online, 24 MAY 2016 BY CHRIS KELSEY , OWEN HUGHES
The old nuclear power station site in Snowdonia could be the site for a new generation of nuclear power stations
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A competition to develop a miniature nuclear power station at Trawsfynydd has attracted interest from 38 companies from around the world.
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are reactors with an electricity output less than 300MW. They have been compared to the nuclear reactors that have been used to power submarines since the 1950s. All the Royal Navy’s submarines are powered by nuclear reactors.
Last year the UK Government announced £250m funding over the next five years for nuclear research and development, including a competition to identify the best value SMR design for the UK…….
- It is understood that they will be told in the coming weeks whether they have moved to the next phase.
The Times has reported that among the companies interested in Trawsfynydd are US firm Bechtel, which has been signed up to build Wylfa Newydd.
Other firms with a background in this type of reactor and understood to be interested are US firms NuScale and Westinghouse, China’s CNNC and a Korean consortium…….
- A report by the Energy and Climate Change Committee has identified Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd – which is currently being decommissioned – as a potential site for a mini nuclear power plant……..http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/38-companies-express-interest-building-11376387
American and Japanese corporations to sell nuclear reactors to UK, in North Wales
£14bn North Wales nuclear power station to be built by the Japanese and 
Americans 22 MAY 2016 BY SION BARRY
Menter Newydd is a joint venture between Bechtel Management Company and Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe. A US-Japanese consortium has been established to build the £14bn Wylfa Newydd nuclear plant.
Horizon Nuclear Power has appointed Menter Newydd to help deliver the company’s lead nuclear new build project on Anglesey.
Menter Newydd is a joint venture of Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe, US giant Bechtel Management Company and Japanese firm JGC Corporation (UK) and will be responsible for the construction of Wylfa Newydd, overseen by Horizon Nuclear Power…..http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/14bn-north-wales-nuclear-power-11368974
UK designs for more beautiful nuclear reactors
Realistic or idyllic? Nuclear plant designs shortlisted http://www.itv.com/news/border/2016-05-20/realistic-or-idyllic-nuclear-plant-designs-shortlisted/
A series of possible designs for the new Moorside nuclear development in Cumbria have been drawn up.
NuGen invited designers from around the world to come up with ideas for what would become Europe’s biggest new nuclear power plant.
Here are some of the schemes have been shortlisted for different parts of the nuclear development.
The shortlisted ideas were selected by an independent panel of experts, including Sir Terry Farrell (the British architect and urban designer famous for work including the MI6 Building in London) and Paul Tiplady (former Chief Executive of the Lake District National Park Authority).
The architecture and landscape community have embraced the challenge and have delivered some thoughtful, considered and visually breath-taking proposals for our Moorside Project.
We’ve narrowed the entries down to five – but we’re very keen to hear what the public think of our selection.
Revolutionary solar power: London Borough’s solar panels over marketplace
London borough installs 6,000 solar panels over marketplace http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/19/london-borough-installs-6000-solar-panels-on-market £2m scheme by Hounslow council on Western International Market will be biggest solar scheme by any local authority, and use batteries to store energy. A London council is unveiling a vast installation of 6,000 solar panels on a wholesale market rooftop, which it says is the largest such array put up by a local authority.
The London Borough of Hounslow says its £2m investment in solar, which has been installed on the roof of Western International Market, is also the first by a council to adopt battery storage to maximise the power from the panels.
The 1.73 megawatt (MW) array of 6,069 panels and four 60kW lithium batteries system now generates half the site’s required electricity.
The site is west London’s largest wholesale market for fresh produce and flowers, and uses around 3.5 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity to provide climate controlled facilities to around 80 wholesalers and buyers – the equivalent of 1,750 homes a year.
Hounslow council, which owns the market near Heathrow Airport, says the solar system will contribute 2% of its carbon reduction target, cutting emissions by more than 780 tonnes a year.
It will also save £148,000 in energy costs which, along with £100,000 in generation tariff payments and £7,000 in export tariffs, means that the council expects to be £255,000 better off in the first year of operation.
Charles Pipe, energy manager at Hounslow, said: “From the very beginning, this project has been about reducing our carbon footprint and making an investment for the future. “But we have achieved so much more than that. Not only can we expect to see immediate savings on our electricity bills, but we are expecting to see a return on this investment in about five years.”
LG Electronics, one of Hounslow’s partners in the scheme, said it was the company’s largest solar panel installation in Europe and would deliver significant costs savings to the borough.
LG Solar’s UK senior solar sales manager Bob Mills said: “What’s more, the project has set the wheels in motion for further investment and research into the potential of battery storage, which is set to revolutionise the solar industry.
Former AREVA CEO ‘Atomic Anne’ Lauvergeon under a cloud at Rio Tinto
The future of Rio Tinto director ‘Atomic Anne’ Lauvergeon is under a cloud, The Age, May 16, 2016 Peter Ker Resources reporter The future of Rio Tinto director Anne Lauvergeon is under a cloud after French prosecutors starting investigating her conduct while chief executive of energy giant Areva almost a decade ago.
French prosectors spent Friday questioning Ms Lauvergeon over whether she deliberately filed misleading accounts for Areva in 2007.
The investigations centre on Areva’s disastrous takeover of London listed company Uramin in 2007, and the disclosure of multi-billion dollar impairments several years later.
London newspaper the Financial Times reported over the weekend that French prosecutors had confirmed that Ms Lauvergeon was being investigated for “publication of inaccurate accounts” during her time at Areva.
The 56-year-old Ms Lauvergeon, who is known as “Atomic Anne” in France, has served as a non-executive director of Rio since 2014.
The weekend’s revelations come barely two months after French prosecutors launched a separate investigation into alleged insider trading by Olivier Fric, who is Ms Lauvergeon’s partner.
The prosecutors are investigating whether Mr Fric used privileged information to profit from the Uramin deal. Mr Fric’s lawyers have reportedly denied the allegations.
The controversy surrounding Ms Lauvergeon and Mr Fric was known when the Rio board endorsed Ms Lauvergeon for re-election in March……..
Ms Lauvergeon’s continuing work at Rio while the French investigations go ahead is at odds with the approach taken by ASX chief executive Elmer Funke Kupper, who has stood down while the Australian Federal Police conduct anti-bribery investigations into his time spent working for Tabcorp. http://www.theage.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/the-future-of-rio-tinto-director-atomic-anne-lauvergeon-is-under-a-cloud-20160515-govnv7.html
Russia joins the throng desperate to sell nuclear radioactive trash to Britain
Russia’s state-owned nuclear group keen to break into UK market Rosatom understood to be hoping to revive plans to build reactors in Britain if EDF proposals for Hinkley Point C fail, Guardian, Terry Macalister, 14 May 16, A Russian nuclear group is hoping that the potential meltdown of French plans to build new European pressurised reactors at Hinkley Point could offer an opportunity to break into the British nuclear market.
Deeper concerns about the future of the Somerset scheme were raised by the French energy minister, Ségolène Royal, who warned of the “colossal” cost, which EDF admitted could be £18bn or even £21bn.
Recent talks have been held between state-owned Russian nuclear group Rosatom and the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) despite the chilly political relations between London and Moscow over Ukraine, Moscow sources claimed.
These discussions centred on whether Russia could help Britain with removal of uranium from old reactors – but Rosatom is understood to have a wider agenda of trying to resuscitate earlier plans to build its own reactors in Britain.
“There is still an appetite to enter the UK market,” said a senior Russian nuclear industry source who claimed Rosatom’s London-based representatives still maintained contacts with the Department ofEnergy and Climate Change…….
The Russians accept that sanctions and other political considerations make it difficult for such a plan to progress, but they point out that Rosatom still supplies uranium to UK and US nuclear plants.
The NuDA confirmed that it had held a series of talks with Rosatom. “We have met with them. We are a recognised global authority and we meet with a lot of organisations,” said a spokesman……..
China wants to use Britain as a showcase for its Hualong technology and agreed to take a third share in EDF’s Hinkley scheme in return for being allowed to proceed with Chinese-owned technology at Bradwell……..
Those worries were given extra weight with Royal’s comments in an interview with the Financial Times in which she said: “I am wondering if we should go ahead with the project. The sums involved are colossal.”
And they added to fears about the future of the Somerset project earlier this week when the company’s management was pilloried by shareholders at its annual general meeting and credit agency Moody’s downgraded EDF debt.
John Sauven, Greenpeace’s executive director, said the downgrading was just “a long line of massive red flag warnings” the UK government had received over the Hinkley nuclear project. He added: “Hinkley power station must not become ‘too big to fail’ because of politicians’ egos that are too big to back down.” http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/13/russias-state-owned-nuclear-group-keen-to-break-into-uk-market
Renewable energy, energy efficiency cheaper options for South West England than Hinkley nuclear power
Alternatives to Hinkley nuClear News No 85 May 2016 If there is anywhere between 4 and 18 months before a final investment decision on Hinkley is made what alternative proposals can be promoted over that time?
West England, published a study which showed how the South-west’s energy needs could be met with renewable energy. The report focussed on dealing with the baseload question and the economic impact of a renewable energy transition. It concluded that the South West has the renewable energy resources to meet more than 100% of its total energy needs, including replacement of liquid fuels and electrifying railways.Reasons NOT to back Britain’s Hinkley nuclear power project
nuClear News No 85 May 16“…… there is anywhere between 4 and 18 months to develop the argument for an alternative to building HPC.How Margaret Thatcher’s nuclear dream has turned into UK’s Hinkley nightmare
Nuclear dream becoming nightmare over Hinkley Point C http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Opinion-Nuclear-dream-nightmare-Hinkley-Point-C/story-29269511-detail/story.html By WMN_MartinF May 13, 2016 By ALLAN JEFFERY Some dreams come true; others turn into nightmares. Hinkley Point C nuclear power station has been a dream to many politicians. Is it about to come true?
Margaret Thatcher was one of the first to dream of building Hinkley C. It was to be the second of 10 nuclear power stations she would build, to rescue the country from the menace of those socialist, coal-dependent generators, providing most of the UK’s electricity and too often holding the country to blackout ransom.
Her dream started well! At public inquiry, at Cannington in 1988/89, despite the hundreds of people and organisations arguing against the build, the inspector gave permission to build Hinkley C.
But her dream turned sour as her privatisation of the nation’s nuclear electricity production bankrupted British Nuclear Energy. The government had to bail out the privatised company. Even worse, the world’s largest nuclear accident at Chernobyl occurred, and the radioactive pollution spread over many countries in Europe. Mrs Thatcher gave up on her nuclear dream. Nuclear was too risky and dangerous and too expensive.
The dream passed to the French government. The dream was to sell all around the world hundreds of a new-generation nuclear reactors, of French design: the EPR. Areva designed the reactor and offered the first one to a group of energy hungry companies in Finland, STK.
It would be built in four years, for 3 billion euros.The dream continued well, the French government were going to build another two EPRs in France, China said they would build two, and many other countries showed interest, even the UK.The French then sold the dream to Labour’s prime minister, Tony Blair, convincing him that building the new French-designed EPR reactors would solve all the UK’s energy problems.
A new nuclear renaissance dream started, though this time there would be no long public inquiries. New national energy policy papers would make sure there would be no planning hold-ups, and allow EDF to build the first two EPR reactors at Hinkley.
There councillors were sold on the dream promises of thousands of jobs and the huge amounts of investment spent in the local economy. EDF ploughed on as quickly as it could; delays would increase costs. Local residents would not be allowed to question the dangers of nuclear power.
The councillors started to notice the environmental problems of such a gigantic building project. Lacking the power to challenge, they started to promote it as a dream for the local economy. They encouraged local firms to prepare for the good economic future, and young people a dream future in Hinkley apprenticeships.
Problems then started to occur with the building of this untried and untested new design of reactor. First at Olkiluoto in Finland and then at Flamanville in France, construction problems multiplied, causing long delays and causing costs to double and then treble. Energy companies in Italy, America and the UK pulled out from investing in this disastrous reactor. Western banks and investment funds all started to advise their clients not to invest in Hinkley C.
They realised that the costs of renewables are falling rapidly; the costs of nuclear are rising fast.The nightmare of problems for the funding of the most expensive power station on earth continued. The UK government, lacking Western private investments, reluctantly accepted that Hinkley has to be subsidised. Whether this financing arrangement is legal under European free-market rules is being strongly challenged in the courts.
EDF cannot fund its share of the building cost of Hinkley C, even though the Chinese government is providing a third of the investment building costs. The energy company has large debts and huge cost commitments of its own.Will EDF finally agree to finance the building of Hinkley C? The growing number of problems, constructional, technical, legal, environmental and financial, of building Hinkley C are beginning to change the dream into a nightmare.
The nuclear dreams of many people will turn to disaster, whatever EDF decides on the final investment decision.If the decision is yes, France could lose its national electricity generator and the French taxpayers will rue the day they tried to follow the nuclear dream.If EDF says no, the UK’s energy policy is in tatters leaving the hopes and dreams of politicians, councillors, aspiring businesses and some British trade unions regretting the day they put all their eggs into one nuclear basket, following the Hinkley C dream.
My dreams are coming true. All around the world I see rapidly growing investment into a decentralised, renewable, truly sustainable future for our children.This is article has been abbreviated. The full version can be read at http://stophinkley.org/StopPress.htm Allan Jeffery is assistant co-ordinator at Stop Hinkley http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Opinion-Nuclear-dream-nightmare-Hinkley-Point-C/story-29269511-detail/story.html#ixzz48ZRRn3kS
China General Nuclear Power Corporation denies plan to take over Hinkley nuclear project build
China nuclear company will not build Hinkley alone if EDF drops out CGN, which is helping French energy company with Hinkley Point C scheme, denies it will build reactors independently, Guardian, Terry Macalister, 13 May 16, The Chinese company helping EDF with plans to build new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset has flatly dismissed the idea it would go it alone if the largely state-owned French company dropped out.
“As a partner to EDF supporting the Hinkley Point project, CGN [China General Nuclear Power Corporation] has no independent plans to build reactors at Hinkley Point C,” it said in a statement.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change reiterated the message with its own statement, which said: “There is no proposal for the Chinese to build a reactor at Hinkley.”
The denials come after George Osborne’s father-in-law, Lord Howell, told the House of Lords that the Chinese were working on a “plan B” to step in if, as some expect, EDF abandons the controversial scheme…….https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/13/hinkley-point-cgn-china-general-nuclear-power-corporation-edf-energy
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