UK new Trident nuclear submarine fleet an insane waste of money
Harvey said it would be cheaper for the government to give every worker £2m “so they could go an live in the Bahamas”.
Sea-based nuclear deterrent expensive and ‘insane’ – ex-defence minister Former armed forces minister Sir Nick Harvey urges need for Trident alternatives in evidence to Nuclear Education Trust Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk, 13 December 2012 Keeping a constant sea-bound nuclear deterrent is “complete insanity” that costs too much and is militarily illogical, a former defence minister has said.
Sir Nick Harvey, who was armed forces minister until September, said the UK had to properly consider other options before any decisions were taken about whether to replace the Royal Navy’s four ageing Trident submarines. Continue reading
Britain’s taxpayers up for more than 100 billion pounds in nuclear cleanup
Nuclear clean-up to cost £100bn and take 120 years. Decommissioning, no2nuclearpower, 9 December 2012 BRITAIN’S taxpayers will be landed with a bill of more than £100bn for cleaning up radioactive waste from sites such as Sellafield and Dounreay, according to the chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
The amount represents a near-doubling of the £56bn cleanup cost announced when the NDA began operating in 2005, and could rise still more. The warning comes as NDA 
engineers start work on some of the biggest and most expensive engineering projects seen in Britain — building giant robotic grabs to lift deadly nuclear waste from Sellafield’s decaying 1950s repositories.
The buildings being targeted include Sellafield’s B29 and B30 cooling ponds, where decaying 1950s fuel rods are stored. This weekend John Clarke, chief executive of the NDA, said he was spending £3bn a year on the cleanup, with about £1.6bn of that going on Sellafield alone. Such sums are similar to those spent on the London Olympic site at the peak of construction.
Figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change show that, since Britain’s first nuclear power station opened in 1956, they have generated 2.5 billion megawatt hours of electricity — worth £125 billion at today’s prices. If the cost of building Britain’s 20-odd nuclear power stations (around £10bn-£12bn each in today’s money), is included, it would far exceed the value of the power produced, say experts.
Such figures show why power companies, which would be responsible for the waste, are refusing to build new nuclear power stations without government guarantees of a consumer subsidy that will almost double the market price for their power.
Sunday Times 9th Dec 2012 more >> http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/news/daily12/daily.php?dailynewsid=343
UK navy man tried to sell nuclear secrets to Russia
Nuclear submariner tried to pass secrets to Russians to ‘hurt’ Royal Navy A disillusioned Royal Navy submariner betrayed his country by trying to pass nuclear sub secrets to Russian agents because he wanted to “hurt” the Navy. Telegraph UK, By Tom Whitehead, 12 Dec 2012
Petty Officer Edward Devenney was jailed for eight years yesterday for breaching the official secrets act after being caught in an elaborate MI5 sting operation. Continue reading
UK’s secret plan to move its nuclear submarines out of Scotland
Angus Robertson, the SNP’s defence spokesman, said: “Anti-independence
politicians have repeatedly tried to claim that the process of removing Trident from Scottish waters would be a problem but now we have yet more confirmation from the Ministry of Defence that these arguments do not stack up.
PLAN B WILL TAKE NUCLEAR SUBS TO DEVON. EXPRESS.co.uk, December 9,2012 By Greg Christison WHITEHALL is secretly preparing a contingency plan to move the UK’s nuclear arsenal south of the Border if Scotland votes for independence, it was claimed last night. Continue reading
Despite the hype, the nuclear industry is nervous about its future
Nuclear industry faces up to reality of ‘interesting times’ The 
Engineer, 7 December 2012 | ByStuart Nathan ”………Part of the problem is that the nuclear landscape is so complicated, especially in the UK, with its history as a nuclear
pioneer and the legagcy of experiment that has left behind. John Clarke of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, again reflecting the mood of realism, put it in a way which pretty much everyone would understand. ‘It’s like telling children to put their toys away before getting out new ones. Clearing up the mess is a key enabler to new build.’
…… .it’s relatively easy to put toys away. Nuclear is different. ‘At Sellafield, we’re dealing with structures which were put up in the 1940s in great haste to support military programmes, where the only concern was “is it safe for today”,’ he said. ‘They were neverdesigned to have waste taken out of them, and the waste is poorly categorised — we often don’t really know what it is.’
The situation isn’t much better even at industrial-scale power stations, said Peter Walkden, commercial director of Magnox. ‘It was never going to be easy to decommission a 50 year old plant that was never designed to be decommissioned, under a regime that was designed for operation,’ he said. Decommissioning a Magnox plant takes the best part of a century — three years to defuel, then ten years of preparation for care and maintenance while radioactivity subsides (the stage that current decommissioning projects are in), followed by 85 years of care and maintenance, then about ten years to clear the site.
A bit more than just putting the toys away, and something that can’t be done before building new plants’. ….”
EDF keeping aged nuclear plants running in UK
Ageing nuclear plants to stay open till 2023 Morning Star, 04 December 2012 by Alex Ballard Anti-nuclear campaigners attacked the “hazardous” decision by EDF Energy today to keep two of Britain’s oldest nuclear power stations in use until at least 2023. Continue reading
Time that the Left woke up to the scourge of consumerism
So if you can, work less, so others can work more, on some days buy nothing – expect the New Statesman, of course. Otherwise buy less, buy better, but buy time, love, care, compassion, freedom and some control over your life and your society the only way you can – by doing it not as a consumer but as a citizen
Why is the left silent on the scourge of consumerism? Labour must look beyond the politics of more and recognise that the good life cannot be bought off a shelf. New Statesman, BY NEAL LAWSON 29 NOVEMBER 2012 Did you do it – by accident or design? Did you manage to buy nothing on Buy Nothing Day last Saturday? What do you mean you didn’t know you it was Buy Nothing Day? Too busy Xmas shopping?
The idea that an issue can only be raised by dedicating one day out of 365 to it is just one indication of how we 
have become a consumer society. Being a consumer society doesn’t mean that all we do is shop, rather it suggests that knowing ourselves and others by what we consume is the prime way in which society now reproduces itself. It is the dominant way of being, just as work once was, when we knew ourselves, and others, primarily as producers. We were what we did.
Now we are what we buy.
I don’t know the ‘Buy Nothing Day’ people but I’m guessing the problem isn’t consumption per se. We have to consume to live. The problem is one of balance. What is the damage being done to us, our society and the planet by consuming too much? And the issue is not the inability
of capitalism to balance its need for expanding profit and our
individual, collective and environmental needs, capitalism can’t do
balance. The problem is that our politicians have given up trying to
secure that balance through regulation……..
Hinkley nuclear project needs to get more permissions
The granting of the licence does not provide full permission for the construction of the power station.
New nuclear clears licence hurdle for EDF-Centrica link2 David Thorpe, News Editor, 27 Nov 12, EDF, the French power company, and Centrica are closer to building the first new nuclear power station in Britain, following the granting of a Nuclear Site Licence (NSL) for Hinkley Point C by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). Continue reading
Sellafield – a financial as well as environmental disaster
Sellafield inspection after ‘intolerable risk’ report, BBC News 26 Nov 12 Sellafield is the UK’s largest and most hazardous nuclear site Sellafield nuclear plant is to undergo a value-for-money inspection after a report found it posed a “risk”.
Earlier this month the National Audit Office (NAO) found decommissioning projects were over budget and that storage buildings were “run-down”.
Now members of the Public Accounts Committee will visit the site to ask “tough questions” on how taxpayers’ money is being spent….. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-20495334
“Low Carbon” – UK government’s excuse for sneaking in nuclear subsidy
EDF Nuclear Plan Gets Boost From U.K. Low Carbon Funds Bloomberg, By Sally Bakewell – Nov 23, 2012 The U.K.’s plan to collect 7.6 billion pounds ($12 billion) for low-carbon projects by 2020 would advance Electricite de France SA’s nuclear plants and add about a third to consumer electricity bills, analysts said.
The sum, announced today by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, will help pay for the 1.1 billion pounds of support a year needed to build two European Pressurized Reactors made by Areva SA (AREVA) for use at EDF sites in England, as well as renewable plants, according to Credit Suisse Group AG……..
Credit Suisse said Davey’s announcement was of particular importance for EDF Energy and Centrica Plc (CNA), which sought the arrangements.
A spokesman for SSE said, “We are pleased to see that the Levy Control Framework means that the U.K. will be building new power stations, including nuclear and renewables.”
hard questions to UK govt about its subsidies for nuclear power
Questions over costs of nuclear http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/opinion/letters/questions-over-costs-of-nuclear-1-2658510 Richard Thomson, Ellon 25 November 2012 IF STUART Campbell is correct in his assertion that nuclear power stations in the UK have succeeded in paying their way without subsidy (Letters, 11 November), perhaps he could explain why it was necessary for the UK Government to nationalise a near-bankrupt British Energy, before selling it to EDF for just £12.5 billion without passing on any responsibility for future decommissioning of current sites to the new
owners?
That, however, is in the past. If it’s going to be different in the future, perhaps Mr Campbell could explain why EDF wants a guaranteed minimum electricity price for nuclear of £140 per MW/h – well in excess of what it costs to generate from fossil fuels and most renewables, whether in receipt of subsidy or not?
UK has to rely on international wheeler dealing, for its grand new nuclear power programme
UK fights to build a nuclear legacy Ft.com, By Sylvia Pfeifer, 25 Nov 12 EDF Energy, the British subsidiary of French utility EDF, is spearheading the UK programme to build up to 12 reactors over the next decade. Under a £400m deal with French energy group Areva, which will design the reactors for EDF, Rolls-Royce could build a component factory at the Yorkshire site. It is already home to an advanced manufacturing centre.
However, the deal is just one of a number of international partnerships that need to be sealed to enable EDF to fulfil its plan of installing four reactors at two sites in the UK, starting with Hinkley Point in Somerset.
It won’t be easy. The last time Britain built a reactor was more than 20 years ago. Whether the UK still has the skills and the capability is open to question. It has had to rely on international players such as Areva and Japan’s Hitachi – which recently bought Horizon Nuclear Power, a venture to build as many as six reactors – to provide the reactor designs after the previous Labour government sold Westinghouse to Toshiba of Japan in 2006……
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ffa6d0fa-323b-11e2-916a-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2DMouWKWY
UK govt pretends that nuclear power and “clean coal” are “RENEWABLE” energy
UPDATE 1-UK energy deal triples renewable subsidy by 2020,
* Increase to 7.6 bln stg a year in real terms
* To spur 40 bln stg of private investment, create jobs
* Renewables to provide 30 pct of energy mix by 2020
By Oleg Vukmanovic and Karolin Schaps LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) – British government support for low-carbon electricity generation will triple by 2020 after the energy and finance ministries reached a deal to end months of wrangling over costly reforms.
The move is expected to boost the share of renewables in Britain’s energy mix to 30 percent by 2020, outpacing European Union targets of 20 percent, while creating tens of thousands of new jobs. Under the agreed Levy Control Framework, spending on renewable power generation will increase to 7.6 billion pounds ($12.12 billion) a year in real terms by 2020, from the current 2.35 billion pounds, to reduce dependence on gas.
The renewable spending plans will be funded through further rises in household energy bills which are increasingly unaffordable for many consumers….
The spending increase will also help to support new nuclear power and the commercial use of untested carbon capture and storage technologies, the government said…..
Cumbrian angst over nuclear waste disposal plan
HUNDREDS TURN OUT TO MARYPORT NUCLEAR DUMP 
MEETING http://www.timesandstar.co.uk/news/politics/hundreds-turn-out-to-maryport-nuclear-dump-meeting-1.1016584?referrerPath=/tsnewsfeed117079, 23 November 2012 People in West Cumbria have 10 weeks to influence a key decision on whether the area should look to host an underground nuclear waste dump.
That was the message from Aspatria councillor Bill Finlay at a public meeting attended by more than 250 people on Wednesday. The meeting at Maryport’s Wave Centre was organised by campaign group Solway Plain Against Nuclear Dump (Spand).
It heard from geologists Professor David Smythe and Professor Stuart Haszeldine about the potential consequences of building an underground repository. Continue reading
Anti nuclear protestors arrested at Hinkley Point, UK
Arrests after anti-nuclear protest at Hinkley Point ITV, 23 Nov 2012 Four people have been arrested after protesters blockaded access to the nuclear site at Hinkley Point in
Bridgwater this morning
Ten protesters paraded a banner saying “Nuclear Power – not worth the risk” and attempted to block access to staff to prevent further ground clearance work at the site.
If EDF, the energy company behind the plan, gets the go ahead to build it, the plant could be open by 2020.
We want the destruction of land at the proposed Hinkley C site to stop. EDF still don’t have planning permission for the new nuclear plant, the governments energy policy is in tatters. With Centrica pulling out and the long awaited Electricity Reform Act delayed, there is not even enough investment to finish the project. If the tories fix the electricity price for nuclear so that the project can go ahead it will leave a radioactive waste dump here for hundreds of years. – ZOE SMITH, PROTESTER….
http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2012-11-23/arrests-after-anti-nuclear-protest-at-hinkley-point/
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of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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