UK’s nuclear reprocessing plant to close
Sellafield’s Thorp plant to close, The Independent, ALAN JONES , EMILY BEAMENT 07 JUNE 2012 A nuclear reprocessing site which has been in operation for 20 years is to close in 2018 after current contracts are completed, it was confirmed today.
The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) at Sellafield in Cumbria,
… was commissioned in the early 1990s…. The NDA said in a statement that the closure decision was confirmed after it completed a strategic review of the options for the management of oxide fuels.
It added: “Oxide fuels include the remaining overseas-derived spent fuels that are being stored at Sellafield pending reprocessing in Thorp and also the spent fuels coming from the UK’s fleet of AGR (advanced gas-cooled reactors) power stations owned and operated by
EDF Energy….. Other decommissioning and reprocessing facilities and waste treatment plants on the Sellafield site remain in operation.
Summer days doubling solar electricity output in Britain
Weatherwatch: long days of sunshine double electricity output http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2012/jun/03/weatherwatch-sunshine-solar-power?newsfeed=true Paul Brown 3 June 2012 The last nine days of May saw a record production of solar power in Britain. The clear dry air meant sunlight was strong, more than doubling the daily average electricity output. Long hours of daylight are currently giving the thousands of households that invested in solar power under the original high level of subsidy considerable income. Continue reading
UK govt trying to sneak in subsidies for nuclear power, against EU rules
The main new nuclear subsidy will come via so-called contracts-for-difference (CFDs), which allow utilities to claim a top-up from energy bill payers if the electricity price falls below an agreed “strike” price.
Currently, state subsidy for nuclear would contravene EC competition rules.
“I think we’re near the end game now and I will be interested to see whether the government has the nerve to abandon nuclear completely or whether it will force through a couple of reactors to save face.”
Is there a UK nuclear power plan B? Guardian UK, Damian Carrington, 1 June 12, The government won’t say, despite ploughing on with a subsidy policy that grows more absurd with every new revelation Is the government conducting contingency planning for a scenario in which no new nuclear plants are commissioned in the UK in next few years?
You would think it is a vital question, given the nation’s binding climate change targets, all the old nuclear and coal plants that will close shortly and rising energy bills. New nuclear reactors are essential to solving all these problems, say ministers, yet utilities such as E.on, RWE and SSE have all abandoned their nuclear plans as uninvestable and the sector’s cheerleader EDF has put its plans on hold.
But the Department for Energy and Climate Change would not tell me if they were developing contingency plans. Continue reading
UK govt secretly trying to weaken European Union’s climate regulations
Leaked documents reveal UK fight to dilute EU green energy targets Allegations of coalition hypocrisy over green issues as critics say documents show UK has caved in to fossil fuel lobbyists, Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent guardian.co.uk, 3 June 2012 The government has been trying to water down key environmental regulations in Brussels despite trumpeting its commitment to green issues at home, leaked documents show.
The papers, seen by the Guardian, reveal British officials repeatedly trying to prevent the adoption of European Union rules on energy efficiency, curtailing the proposals and making them voluntary rather than mandatory in many cases. In addition, the UK has tried repeatedly to ensure that the EU does not adopt a new target for renewable energy generation. Continue reading
Wales would do better with renewables, tourism, than with nuclear power
Anti-nuclear group Pawb’s Anglesey job creation plans, BBC New North Wales, 1 June 12, The existing Wylfa plant has permission to operate until 2014
One nuclear reactor to be closed
Talks to find Wylfa B investors
Firms drop new Wylfa nuclear plan
An anti-nuclear group has published plans on how it believes jobs can be created on Anglesey. People Against Wylfa B (Pawb) says the fact companies have pulled out of plans for a new nuclear power station shows the economic case is weak.
It proposes an offshore wind farm and the promotion of tourism instead……
At the time talks were continuing to find investors, after the company which was to build a new nuclear power station on Anglesey pulled out…..
Pawb says up to 3,000 jobs could be created on the island, and Dr Clowes said one plan being backed is a proposal for a massive offshore wind farm between Anglesey and the Isle of Man…..
The solar photovoltaic (using solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity) industry is increasing apace. These are seen as Cinderella-type industries… but they are real jobs, here today,” he added. Tourism could also be developed, he argued. He said the Welsh government had put “all its eggs in one basket” by backing Wylfa B and
saw it as the cure-all.
“Many opportunities have been lost,” he added…. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-18292401
Better ways than nuclear power to manage electricity
Nuclear is not the only option The Guardian UK , Alan Mitcham, 25 May 12, I can’t understand why the government is pushing for more investment in nuclear power when Fukushima is so recent. I’ve also heard Ed Davey “squirming” on the BBC and saying we need investment to “keep the lights on”. Keep the lights on?
Maybe 50 years ago this was the primary use of electricity but now most goes on powering masses of superfluous appliances and gadgets. So we should ask ourselves how we might distinguish between essential (keeping the lights on) and luxury (frothing coffee) electricity?
One way would be to install a supplementary DC circuit in every home. Here batteries would be charged at cheap night-time rates or from solar panels, with them supplying a limited amount of essential electricity. The cost for daytime AC power could then be increased significantly so we all start to feel a real level of “financial pain” when we run the tumble-drier,
switch on air-conditioning or leave the TV running when we are not
really watching it.
Phil Booth It ill behoves those of us who have lived long lives of
profligate energy consumption to wring our hands as if nothing can be
done to rationalise UK energy policy. 0ur best efforts make little
impression on the global problem and may not impress India or China,
but to do nothing sends a message about the greed of arrogant
developed nations which they and others will seize with both hands.
And we don’t need to wait for Jenkins’s wise mathematician to deliver
answers. We should begin now by taking aggressive measures to cut
energy use; not a glamorous step but effective, and cost-effective
too….. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/24/nuclear-power-not-only-option?newsfeed=true
UK government’s folly in persisting with nuclear power plans
the UK, where the nuclear industry is so embedded in government it supplies staff free-of-charge to work within the energy ministry. Perhaps it’s no wonder that even when half of the UK’s big six energy companies bale out of nuclear on cost grounds, ministers plough on regardless.
while mass-produced renewable energy technologies are pushing the costs downwards, nuclear energy is completing the journey from “too cheap to meter” to “too expensive to count”
Only renewables – not nuclear – could be too cheap to meter http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2012/may/22/energy-nuclear-renewables Damian Carrington, The Guardian UK, 22 May 12, Germany’s long support for wind and solar energy is delivering zero-cost electricity at times. In contrast, the UK’s new energy policy seeks to underwrite the rising cost of nuclear “Too cheap to meter”: that was the infamous boast of the nuclear powerindustry in its heyday. It has been catastrophically discredited by history. Continue reading
Promote clean energy, don’t subsidise nuclear – says Scotland
” the UK Government must recognise that the purpose of this reform is to support renewable energy, not to provide subsidies for nuclear energy.”
Government: Renewables not nuclear Google News(UKPA) – 23 May 12, Planned reforms to the electricity market must focus on renewable energy rather than nuclear subsidies, according to the Scottish Government.
The comment follows publication of the draft UK Energy Bill which the British Government hopes will deliver the £110 billion investment needed to build new low-carbon capacity. Continue reading
Britain setting up huge subsidies for nuclear industry, poorly hidden in consumers’ costs
Britain’s proposals appear to be drafted to sidestep E.U. restrictions on state aid that might prevent direct subsidies for the construction of new nuclear power plants.
Britain hopes that this guaranteed price, to be paid by businesses and consumers, will secure the financial commitment from energy utilities to construct nuclear reactors
This proposal has distorted policy in order to try to disguise the massive subsidies nuclear will need, but they remain so huge that the policy will fail anyway,”
Britain Charts Way to Wider Nuclear Investment, NYT, By STEPHEN CASTLE, May 22, 2012 LONDON — Britain announced plans Tuesday to finance a new generation of nuclear power plants and renewable energy facilities in a move that illustrates divergent energy policies within the European Union as it grapples with the challenge of reconciling economic and environmental objectives. While Germany intends to phase out nuclear power and France’s new president, François Hollande, aims to reduce his country’s reliance on it, the British government appears to be moving in the opposite direction with its proposals, aimed at luring investment of £110 billion, or $175 billion, to build new reactors and renewable energy plants. Continue reading
Stop Kent nuclear waste bunker plan says Campaign to Protect Rural England,
Environmental group slams Kent nuclear waste bunker proposal BBC 20 May 2012 A proposal to build a nuclear waste bunker in Kent has been criticised by an environmental group.
Shepway District Council is considering whether a nuclear disposal facility, where waste is buried underground, could be built at Romney Marsh.
Protect Kent have reacted strongly to the proposal saying it must be “quashed at the outset”.
The council said it has “no formal view” about the proposal.
The Romney Marsh Nuclear Research and Disposal Facility would be buried 200m (656ft) to 1,000m (3,280ft) below ground……. Kent County Council has already signalled its opposition to the idea, saying it would push for a county-wide referendum.
Andrew Ogden, from Protect Kent, local branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said the proposal was “unfeasible”.
“This is an ill-considered idea that must be quashed at the outset,” he said.
“Perhaps more significantly, it is a proposal that is so unfeasible and so unlikely to be given any credence by the government. Shepway District Council are wasting time, energy and money in trying to pursue it.”….. Shepway District Council will hold a series of public exhibitions over the next three weeks detailing the proposals. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-18137403
Kudankulam nuclear plant unsafe say protestors in London
The fact is that the Indian nuclear programme itself is backed up heavily by the US and foreign corporates (like Atomsroyexport) and US companies are salivating over deals with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.”
Protest in Britain over Kudankulam nuclear plant 
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/protest-in-britain-over-kudankulam-nuclear-plant/259242-62-128.html IBN Tamil Nadu 19, 2012 London: Anti-nuclear and rights group on Friday held a noisy demonstration in front of the Indian High Commission here in protest against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant being built in a tsunami-prone area of Tamil Nadu. Continue reading
UK weapons spending – $550 million for nuclear submarines
U.K. To Announce $550 Million In Nuclear Submarine Contracts, Bloomberg, By Robert Hutton – May 20, 2012 The U.K. plans to announce this week which British companies will be sharing in 350 million pounds ($550 million) worth of contracts designing its next generation of nuclear-powered submarines…… During the 2010 general election, the Liberal Democrats, the junior partner in Prime Minister David Cameron ’s coalition, called for Trident to be replaced with a cheaper, land-based missile system. The government will argue that it has since brought defense spending under control.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-20/u-k-to-announce-550-million-in-nuclear-submarine-contracts.html
“Show of strength” – UK’s hunter killer nuclear submarine to the Falklands
England sends ‘hunter-killer’ nuclear-powered sub to Falklands, Digital Journal, By Igor I. Solar May 20, 2012 Cape Town – The UK is sending the powerful nuclear submarine “HMS Talent” to the Falkland/Malvinas Islands as a “a show of strength” to Argentina amid a growing diplomatic wrangle over the future of the South Atlantic islands.
The “HMS Talent” (S92) is one of six nuclear-powered Trafalgar Class ‘hunter-killer’ submarines of the Royal Navy. According to the Daily Mail , the submarine “slipped into a port in South Africa last week under a cloak of secrecy” after requesting “a nuclear permission” to dock in Cape Town from May 10 to 30. From Cape Town the sub will depart to the Falklands/Malvinas, in what has been called “a show of strength” planned in London by the Ministry of Defence. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/325213#ixzz1vXyXr2Vh
UK’s 20 Billion pound nuclear weapons rebuild is under review
UK considers downgrading nuclear arsenal and scrapping Moscow By TOM PETERKIN Scotsman, 19 May 2012 ARMED forces minister Nick Harvey is conducting a government review exploring whether Britain could downgrade its nuclear arsenal, it was revealed yesterday.
Mr Harvey’s review will consider whether £20 billion plans to rebuild the Trident-based deterrent at Faslane on the Clyde should be replaced with a cheaper, more flexible nuclear option – but one which lacks the same range and firepower. Continue reading
Radioactive contamination at Scottish RAF base
Radiation probe launched at RAF Kinloss http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/radiation-probe-launched-at-raf-kinloss-1-230528019 May 2012 RAF Kinloss in Moray is being investigated by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to determine the extent of radioactive contamination at the base, it emerged last night. Continue reading
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