How much electricity comes from the Sun on summer days in the UK?
With blazing sun across the UK, the past week has seen solar energy’s
contribution to Britain’s energy mixture hit levels of up to 32% –
highlighting how much the sun can contribute to the country’s electricity
supplies. Each summer, the levels of solar energy in use rise, according to
Christelle Barnes, vice-chair at Solar Energy UK and UK general manager at
SolarEdge. “Every year, that percentage number just gets a little bit
higher. So it was typically between 25% and 27% over the last couple of
years. So just seeing numbers like 30% now is definitely showing that we’re
continuing to deploy more solar,” she told Yahoo News.
Yahoo News 31st July 2024
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/how-much-electricity-sun-summer-uk-172202857.html
More than 885 solar panels have been installed on two Scottish Water sites
in the Central Belt, helping to save 57 tonnes of carbon a year and address
the increasing urgency of climate change. The projects have seen 512 photovoltaic (PV) panels installed at
Bothwellbank Waste Water Treatment Works in South Lanarkshire, which are
able to generate 0.23GWh of power and will offset around a fifth of the
site’s energy needs. In addition, 373 tank-mounted PV panels are now in
place at Roseberry Water Treatment Works in Midlothian, supplementing 178
panels which were installed as part of a previous scheme. The site can now
generate a total of 0.18GWh of energy, offsetting 12% of its energy needs.
Combined, these installations are expected to produce 0.41GWh of green
electricity each year – equivalent to the energy needed to boil around
1.8 million kettles annually. This latest £678,000 investment by Scottish
Water and its commercial subsidiary, Scottish Water Horizons, sees the
sites join a growing list of water and waste water treatment works which
are now either self-sufficient or partly sufficient in their power
requirements.
Midlothian View 31st July 2024
Blackwater Against New Nuclear Power Group (BANNG)campaigners say company’s claims over Bradwell B are false
Maldon Standard, By Brandon Penny, 31st July 24
A CAMPAIGN group has hit out at claims a potential site for a new nuclear power station is “well connected.”
The current government nuclear policy statement identifies Bradwell as a site for nuclear energy until the end of 2025.
Plans for a Chinese-led nuclear power station in Bradwell, known as Bradwell B, are no longer progressing.
Campaigners Blackwater Against New Nuclear Power Group (BANNG) claim EDF, the French company which own Bradwell’s nuclear site, has “no idea what it is talking about”.
They claim there are no grid connections, no rail connection with the closest station being eight miles away in Southminster and no local skilled workforce.
BAANG’s chairman, Professor Andy Blowers said: “EDF cannot be allowed to get away with the false and misleading claims it is making in an obvious attempt to attract developers to its site on the Essex coast adjacent to Bradwell-on-Sea. “This is a site already abandoned by EDF’s one-time partner, the Chinese developer CGN. It is a site that is wholly unsuitable for nuclear development.
“EDF have previously claimed that Bradwell and other sites it owns, offer land, grid and rail connections, a skilled workforce and support communities which makes them compelling locations for small and advanced modular reactors.”
Mr Blowers continued saying: “It’s obvious EDF has no idea what it is talking about with respect to new nuclear development at Bradwell.”
BAANG have also said: “The noise, disruption and blight imposed on a tranquil rural area over many years would be intolerable.”…………… https://www.maldonandburnhamstandard.co.uk/news/24483433.baang-group-claim-edfs-claims-false-misleading/—
Rolls Royce – the “burning platform”?
There aren’t many obvious similarities between Rachel Reeves and Tufan
Erginbilgic, but the use of the “burning platform” metaphor is
something that binds them. For Erginbilgic’s actual use of the phrase to
describe Rolls-Royce soon after he became chief executive 19 months ago,
read the chancellor of the exchequer’s discovery this week of a “£22
billion black hole” in the public finances.
Times 1st Aug 2024
https://www.thetimes.com/article/rolls-royce-growth-needed-by-rachel-reeves-98sw9l952
UK – the Ed Milliband Nuclear Nonsense Show
Great British Nuclear’s life started out as a Boris Johnson publicity stunt to get some cheap headlines, and it’s been downhill since then. It took two years to set up (civil servants at DESNZ kept asking what this particular Bojo wet dream was all about, and are still waiting for an answer), has no proper governance arrangements, is run by a bunch of nuclear non-entities, and so far has had only one task: to run “the competition “to see who will be the recipient of pots of taxpayers’ money to bring forward our “world-beating” Small Modular Reactor programmes.
Jonathon Porritt, Sustainability Campaigner and Writer, 31 July 24
1 I’m loving the Ed Miliband Show! The curtain went up on July 5th, and it’s been one reveal a day since then………………………………….
On Friday, he brought forward the Bill to establish Great British Energy (GBE), a cornerstone of Labour’s manifesto and its Net Zero ambitions. The one thing that grabbed everyone’s attention was the new partnership between GBE and the Crown Estate to unlock £60 billion of private investment in offshore wind – with a view to securing 30 GW of electricity before 2030 (enough to provide electricity for 20 million homes). To help make this happen, another Bill was introduced to overcome some of the barriers that the Crown Estate currently faces in expediting investment at that scale. Serious stuff!
The GBE Bill also referenced another partnership – with Great British Nuclear, with the emphasis on “exploring how Great British Energy and Great British Nuclear will work together”. And end more of the same kind of meaningless blather!
Let me elaborate a bit by way of contrasting these two strategic partners.
1. The Crown Estate
This is a powerful organisation that knows what it’s doing, does it with a real sense of purpose, and has been leading the charge on offshore wind for the last decade. It has a tried and tested CEO (Dan Labbad), formerly CEO of property developer Lend Lease here in the UK), a proven sustainability champion, deal-maker and job-creator.
Other big players in the energy sector get this kind of proposition and are already coming forward with their “in principle” commitments.
2. Great British Nuclear
Great British Nuclear’s life started out as a Boris Johnson publicity stunt to get some cheap headlines, and it’s been downhill since then. It took two years to set up (civil servants at DESNZ kept asking what this particular Bojo wet dream was all about, and are still waiting for an answer), has no proper governance arrangements, is run by a bunch of nuclear non-entities, and so far has had only one task: to run “the competition “to see who will be the recipient of pots of taxpayers’ money to bring forward our “world-beating” Small Modular Reactor programmes.
It’s struggled with this somewhat limited remit (already nine months behind schedule, with at least another six months to go), even though everybody already knows that the Government’s favoured SMR black hole will be Rolls Royce – there’s nothing worse for ministers than having Tufan Erginbilgic (Rolls Royce’s powerful, whining bully of a CEO) making trouble for you.
So, Ed, where are you going to go with all this? Both the Crown Estate and Great British Energy will, theoretically, help you “de-risk” prospects for critical private sector investors. The Crown Estate will do it for real, reducing the cost of capital, smoothing planning consents, securing supply chains, creating jobs – and, in due course (if not before 2030) – making offshore wind significantly cheaper. Exactly as has happened in Denmark. Great British Nuclear will suck you in, suck you dry, and do none of that…………..
The Treasury has always been less enthusiastic about nuclear power than the rest of government. It won’t object to a few more tens of millions bunged at Rolls Royce or a few more well-paid nuclear wastrels at Culham (emphasising the links with our inconceivably costly nuclear weapons establishment).
But the tens of billions that will be required to de-risk private sector investment in Sizewell C – that’s another matter. This is the time, surely, to let Sizewell C die under the weight of its own monstrous irrelevance.
Sizewell C will obviously make literally zero contribution to the 2030 target that Labour has for decarbonising the grid. As it happens, Ed shouldn’t really be worrying too much about 2030 anyway. This isn’t going to happen (full marks to those sad gits at the Telegraph for spotting this!), but it really doesn’t matter. The key date is 2029, the date of the next election, not 2030.
……………………………..So, Ed, keep your eyes on the prize: making people feel good (and possibly even a bit excited) about the UK’s low-carbon future – in terms of jobs, skills, supply chains, lower bills and so on. Deep down, you must know as well as I do that’s all about prioritising real delivery partners (viz the Crown Estate), not about preposterous pipe-dreaming fantasists in the nuclear industry. https://www.jonathonporritt.com/go-ed-go/
Scottish Greens warn that “Great Britain Energy” could funnel public money into subsidising non-viable nuclear power projects
Patrick Harvie warns of major devolution tests for GB Energy
By Nan Spowart , 28th July
LABOUR’S new flagship energy company will be an important test of the relationship between the new regime in Westminster and the devolved governments, according to Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie.
……………………….. He is now calling for more detail of the remit of GB Energy after it was revealed that the organisation could get involved in planning disputes…………………
“The real worry I have is that it ends up simply as a way of channelling
public money into subsidising otherwise non-viable nuclear developments
like small modular reactors which is a technology that the industry was
pushing very aggressively a few years ago but is failing at a commercial
level in a number of other countries. “We should not be going down that
route and the principal means Scotland has been saying no to new nuclear
has been through the planning system, so we need clarity early doors that
that is not their agenda.”
The National 28th July 2024
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24480590.patrick-harvie-warns-major-devolution-tests-gb-energy/
EDF looks towards future projects after flagging tough second half
French energy giant EDF aims to meet its schedule for future nuclear
reactor projects, its CEO said on Friday, with final tests ahead of the
start-up of its newest French reactor imminent after years of delays. The
group earlier reported a jump in first-half profit on higher electricity
production, but said regional market prices had fallen and warned core
earnings in the second half would decline year-on-year.
In Britain, EDF is continuing talks with the newly elected Labour government over its Hinkley
Point C and Sizewell C nuclear projects, Remont told reporters, adding it
is “a bit early” to give a date for a final investment decision on
Sizewell.
Reuters 26th July 2024
Sizewell A Nuclear Site: Direction to Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Ed Miliband), 26 July 24 https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-07-26/debates/24072618000010/SizewellANuclearSiteDirectionToNuclearDecommissioningAuthority
I am today laying a new designation direction to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in respect of the Sizewell A nuclear site, which amends the existing direction. The direction has been given in accordance with sections 3 and 5 of the Energy Act 2004, with the consent of Nuclear Restoration Services Ltd, which controls the site.
This direction will end the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s responsibilities under the Energy Act 2004 for specific land and buildings on the Sizewell A nuclear site, so that the land can be sold to EDF and become part of the Sizewell B nuclear site. This will facilitate the development of new nuclear at the Sizewell C nuclear site.
Bangor University to collaborate with Rolls Royce and the University of Oxford to develop nuclear power for space
Bangor University is continuing its relationship with Rolls-Royce in the
field of space nuclear power technology. Rolls-Royce has secured funding
from the UK Space Agency under the National Space Innovation Programme
(NSIP), which adds more support for the development of its space nuclear
power technology. The new £4.8m award from NSIP Major Projects will help
to significantly advance the development and demonstration of key
technologies in the space nuclear Micro-Reactor. The Rolls-Royce National
Space Innovation Programme will have a total project cost of £9.1m and
aims to progress the Micro-Reactor’s overall technology readiness level,
which will bring the reactor closer to a full system space flight
demonstration.
Bangor University 24th July 2024
What Labour’s Great British Energy really means for Scotland and is nuclear on the cards?
We know it will be based in Scotland, we know it’s going to invest
in green energy projects, and aim to leverage private investment into the
same. But Thursday’s announcement has thrown up more questions about the
specifics which the Government are yet to answer – especially on what the
project means for Scotland.
There remains no clarity on when people might
expect to see energy bill pressures easing up on their household finances.
The Government has only gone as far as to say that bill reductions can be
expected within the next five years, as a result of their actions. Crown
Estate Scotland is a devolved body and the revenue raised through rents
north of the Border is sent back to the Scottish Government. Its reserved
counterpart can invest directly in Scotland, however, and the two bodies
already work closely together on some projects.
Whether the Crown Estate Scotland will get the same new borrowing powers as its rest-of-UK
counterpart remains to be seen. GB Energy will seek to work alongside GB
Nuclear, a vehicle which came about under the previous government.
This could raise red flags for the Scottish Government, which remains opposed to
nuclear power. It is understood the UK Government views nuclear policy as a
matter for the Scottish Government. And while the Scottish Government said
on Thursday that it believed the “UK Government’s intended investment
in nuclear should instead be used to bolster further renewables” a
spokesperson added there was otherwise a “great deal of agreement between
the two Governments on many of the priorities that have been identified”.
The National 25th July 2024
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24477272.labours-gb-energy-really-means-scotland-nuclear/
Seek shelter ‘best option’ in nuclear incident
Caroline Robinson, 25 July 24, BBC News, Ben Chapple, BBC News, Guernsey
Channel Island authorities will advise people to seek shelter in the unlikely event of a nuclear incident affecting the islands.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) looked at nuclear risks to the islands as part of “routine risk and business continuity planning”.
It said the risk of a nuclear incident occurring was extremely low and its review considered the worst-case scenarios.
The UKHSA recommended shelter-in-place and stockpiling iodine be considered, but the pan-island Radiation Advisory Group decided shelter was the most appropriate choice for the islands.
‘Shelter-in-place’
Nearby nuclear sites in France, radioactive waste dumped in the Hurd Deep trench off Alderney in the 1950s and 1960s and the transport of nuclear materials by ship in the seas around the Channel Islands were the risks considered.
The sites in France looked at were the Orano La Hague nuclear fuel reprocessing site, the Flamanville nuclear power station and Cherbourg’s naval dockyard, where nuclear submarines are dismantled.
The UKHSA said if an incident happened at one of these sites wind direction and weather were important – wind could blow the radioactive material towards the islands and rain would cause more of it to land on the islands.
Based on five years of weather data it said with the prevailing wind being from the west and south west it was unlikely a plume would be blown towards the islands.
The UKSHA said if any material was due to arrive in the island the “best option” for people was to “shelter-in-place”.
This means going inside, closing doors and windows and turning off ventilation fans and air conditioning…………………………………………………………….. more https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3grzg9j3xgo
Nuclear Free Local Authorities back joint statement condemning AUKUS nuclear proliferation
The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have joined environmental and peace groups around the world in endorsing a statement that will be delivered to a conference at the United Nations.
The 2024 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee will meet today to begin work to make preparations for the next conference of signing to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (or NPT).
The statement will be delivered to committee delegates by Jemila Rushton, Acting Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Australia. The NFLAs are a member of ICAN.
Particular reference is made to the adverse impact of AUKUS, the military alliance forged between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States in opposition to China, on geopolitics in the Pacific.
Amongst its more controversial elements is the provision of nuclear-powered submarines by the other partners to Australia. We share the concern of other signatories that AUKUS violates in spirit both the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Rarotonga – South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty. The submarines will be powered by weapons-grade nuclear fuel, supplied by the other partners and will operate from Australian bases within a nuclear free zone.
Although present plans provide for these submarines to be conventionally armed, it is not inconceivable that over time they could be rearmed with nuclear weapons. The Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Parliament, Peter Dutton, is currently actively lobbying for Australia to establish a civil nuclear programme and such a programme is critical to support the development of nuclear weapons capacity.
The statement has also been endorsed by our colleagues Labrats, CND Cymru and Together against Sizewell C.
For more information please contact the NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
UK: Ed Miliband unveils plans for mini-nuclear reactors .
Ed Miliband will press ahead with a new generation of mini nuclear power
plants, with plans to unveil reactor designs by September. The energy
secretary has told MPs that he will give his “absolute support” to
plans to build a fleet of “small modular reactors” around Britain as
part of his clean energy drive.
Looser planning rules are expected to allow
these reactors almost anywhere outside built-up areas, ……………………………………………………….
He is now turning his attention to nuclear power, with a final decision on
Sizewell C due, alongside efforts to finish the Hinkley Point C plant.
Miliband has also committed to continuing the previous government’s drive
to make Britain a world leader in small modular reactors.
A decision on which designs to take forward is due by the end of the summer. Miliband
told MPs this week: “We will strive to keep to the timetable set out.”
Describing nuclear power as “very important for the future”, he said:
“This government were very clear in our manifesto about the role that
nuclear power — both large-scale nuclear and SMRs — can play.”
A final decision is also due this year on liberalising planning rules for
modular reactors. Currently nuclear power plants can be built only on eight
named sites but the previous government wanted developers to be able to
identify their own location based on a new list of safety and environmental
criteria.
Miliband is seen as unlikely to opt for tougher rules, after
repeatedly stressing to MPs this week that local concerns over development
would not be allowed to veto projects seen as vital to energy security and
economic growth. Under the draft rules, only “population density” and
“proximity to military activities” will rule out nuclear plants,
meaning they cannot be built in areas with more than 5,000 people per
square kilometres, covering most towns and cities. This is designed to
“minimise the risk to the public” in the event of a radioactive spill.
All other criteria would be discretionary, including size, flood risk,
proximity to civil airports, the natural beauty, ecological importance or
cultural heritage of the site.
Times 19th July 2024
**GB Energy**
Shiny New MP’s Fizzingly Push For More Nuclear Waste – Hotter the better! And a Complaint to Advertising Standards – Standards? What Standards!
BY MARIANNEWILDART, https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2024/07/18/shiny-new-mps-fizzingly-push-for-more-nuclear-waste-hotter-the-better-and-a-complaint-to-advertising-standards-standards-what-standards/
Well we are now awash with new shiny MPs pushing the “clean” “green” nuclear myth and falling over themselves to write fizzingly enthusiastic letters “urging” the new Labour government to “deliver” new unlicensed untested nuclear crapola which the public would be paying for before during and well after any electricity production. Meanwhile Sellafield is bursting at the seams with nuclear wastes which keep on coming – nuclear wastes whose only “solution” is to “decommission” ie disperse, dump, incinerate and forget, make room for more.
How have we come to this – it has taken a lot of effort on the part of the industry and pro nuclear governments from Thatcher to Blair and now Starmer and a lot of forgetting on the part of mainstream environmental NGOs who were the ‘green’ conscience of the people and started out with fierce unequivocal opposition to nuclear but somehow got inveigled into demanding “climate jobs’ with no anti-nuclear caveats giving the now “climate friendly” nuclear industry exactly what it wants.
I wonder how the following adverts [on original] which were in local press over June will be viewed by humanity in future years, or by aliens?
Westinghouse the front end of the industry with its “clean” “climate friendly” uranium fuel and Sellafield, the arse end of the industry with its sponsorship of the “Pride of Cumbria Awards” the Shame of Cumbria is palpable with every radioactive particle that washes back from Sellafied’s radioactive sewers with the tide.
Full Page adverts over consecutive weeks in local press
Anyway more in hope than in expectation of Advertising Standards actually doing its job and making a ruling against breathtaking greenwashing by the most dangerous industry, here is a complaint – also sent to the Westmorland Gazette and Westinghouse on July 8th (no reply from either).
I would like to make a complaint about the advert run in the Westmorland Gazette (and Whitehaven News?) for Westinghouse.
The advert was produced on the same page (on consecutive weeks) with an advert for Sellafield “Proud to be sponsoring the Pride of Cumbria Awards 2024″”.The Westinghouse advert claims that its products: Nuclear Fuel, AP1000 reactors and assisting Sellafield in decommissioning, are “clean” and “carbon free.”
This can be easily refuted as falsehood.
The nuclear fuel produced by Westinghouse at the Springfields site has been burned in nuclear reactors across the UK (and abroad) since the mid-1940s.
Clifton Marsh Landfill
Some of the many waste streams from the manufacture of nuclear fuel are dispersed to the River Ribble and Clifton Marsh Landfill although in January 2022 “the Clifton Marsh low level waste landfill site, operated by Suez, stopped accepting consignments of radioactive waste for disposal. As most of the solid radioactive waste from Springfields is disposed at Clifton Marsh, this has significantly affected routine waste management operations on site. Together with ONR we have discussed and reviewed SFL’s contingency plans to manage waste in the short term, which includes temporary accumulation of radioactive waste on site, improvements to waste characterisation and alternative disposal options. It was anticipated that Clifton Marsh would become available for disposals during the second half of 2022, although this has not yet occurred,” Environment Agency report . Decommissioning Plans Include Incineration of Radioactive Wastes Three Miles from Preston by “Clean” Westinghouse are proposing an incineration plant on their Springfields site just 3 miles from Preston for ” a large, refractory lined oven designed to treat a wide range of low and intermediate-level radioactive materials.” The feed into the incinerator would include European radioactive wastes of up to 3 tonnes a day. Countries such as Germany have now rejected new nuclear on health, safety, climate and financial grounds but still have wastes to dispose of would be keen to use Westinghouse’s new incineration plant.https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/New-UK-waste-treatment-facility-planned#:~:text=Plans% 20to%20jointly%20develop%20a,for%20the%20European%20nuclear%20market.
River Ribble
“The Ribble estuary near Preston receives radioactive substances from liquid effluent, discharged directly from the nearby Springfields Fuels Ltd site, and also transported down the coast from the Sellafield Ltd site via the Irish Sea. Estuaries are complex environments, influenced by both the marine tidal processes and the freshwater input from rivers. Some of the radioactive substances eventually become deposited in sediment in the estuary and on the nearby salt marsh.” …”The amount of shielding provided by boat hulls varied from almost none in a small pleasure boat, to 50 percent in a medium sized houseboat. Thick, dense clothing materials like rubber boots reduced the dose received from beta radiation by around 80 percent, wax jacket by 20 to 40 percent, while thin, less dense materials like woollen jumpers did not provide any protection” Environment Agencyhttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c323240f0b674ed20f75e/scho0211btkg-e-e.pdf
“Carbon Free”
The latest carbon emissions report for the Preston Springfields site by Westinghouse is 38,617 tonnes for 2019. This is the equivalent of 20,000 cars on the road. https://westinghousenuclear.com/media/5kulvl03/springfields-carbon-reduction-plan.pdf?ver=d5dd1Fr giH03Wqky98f_fA%3D%3D
The uranium fuel rod wastes from Westinghouse end up at Sellafield in Cumbria. The carbon footprint for looking after Westinghouse’s burnt uranium fuel rods last year was, according to Sellafield, 600,000 tonnes of CO2. This is far higher than all the emissions generated by all vehicles using the M6 through Cumbria every year according to Cumbria Action for Sustainability’s figures (CaFS give nuclear a free ride excluding figures despite their gargantuan C02 footprint)
AP1000 reactors – Bankruptcy, Crime and Failed Reactor Coolant Pumps
The advert states “Our AP1000 plant is setting operational records in its global fleet and is ready for deployment in the UK.” Yes it is setting operational records in being the most expensive, and fault ridden reactor to date causing Westinghouse to go into bankruptcy. “By 2016 Westinghouse began to grasp the scope of its dilemma, according to a document filed in its bankruptcy: Finishing the two projects would require Westinghouse to spend billions of dollars on labor, abandoning them would mean billions in penalties. Westinghouse determined it could not afford either option.” It chose Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/how-two-cutting-edge-us-nuclear-projects-bankrupted-westingho use-idUSKBN17Y0C7/ Alongside this were charges of Westinghouse executive with dozens of crimes including ” felony counts including conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and causing a publicly-traded company to keep a false record.”https://thebulletin.org/2021/08/us-attorney-details-illegal-acts-at-construction-projects-sealing-t he-fate-of-the-nuclear-renaissance/
Westinghouse’s “global fleet” is largely in China where AP1000 reactor coolant pumps have failed forcing shut down of the reactors. https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/electric-power/031419-us -designed-chinese-nuclear-reactor-forced-to-shut-by-pump-defect
Scientists in China are concerned enough to have provided “environmental radiation impacts assessment for the hypothetical accident in Haiyang nuclear power plant” saying that “the impact of east wind in August will mainly affect the west area of HYNPP, but it also has an impact on Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula region and Kyushu, Japan. The research results are aimed at supporting emergency decision-making of nuclear accidents and improving nuclear emergency response capabilities in surrounding areas.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149197020301153?via%3Dihub Former US nuclear regulator Arnie Gunderson has suggested that the AP1000 deployed in the UK could cause a catastrophe that would be “like Chernobyl on steroids.” https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/nuclear-expert-arnie-gundersen-warns-of-cherno byl-on-steroids-risk-in-uk-from-proposed-cumbria-plant-10109930.html
Clearly Westinghouse’s claim to be “clean” and “carbon free” is false.
yours sincerely
Marianne Birkby
on behalf of Lakes Against Nuclear Dump
Absent but not missed: No mention of nuclear in King’s Speech
https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/absent-but-not-missed-no-mention-of-the-n-word-in-kings-speech/ 18th July 2024
The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities could not help but notice that the first speech made by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament (17 July) was nuclear free as His Majesty was spared having to utter the word.
By tradition, the Sovereign reads the speech, written for him by Whitehall officials and signed off by Ministers, to a combined gathering of Lords and MPs. This sets out the legislative programme for the coming Parliament. Clearly with the return of a new Labour Government, elected with a huge majority, Ministers are keen to get on and exercise their mandate and the speech was brimming with forty proposals for new legislation[i].
On energy there was an emphasis on meeting the urgent
On energy there was an emphasis on meeting the urgent challenge of climate change whilst reducing customers’ bills through a ‘clean energy transition’, but His Majestry was notably not called upon to extole nuclear energy as a means to do so so; instead the speech referenced the need to ‘accelerate investment in renewable energy, such as offshore wind’ by creating a new vehicle Great Britain Energy which will be publicly owned and headquartered in Scotland. Nuclear was thankfully nowhere to be seen, seemingly stll on its summer holidays[ii].
Interestingly, the Background Briefing Notes issued to accompany the publication of the speech by Number 10 also makes no reference to nuclear.[iii]
Also interestingly, Ed Miliband shortly after his arrival at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero issued a statement as Secretary of State to his staff – this too makes zero reference to nuclear as a component in the fight to achieve Net Zero.[iv]
Nuclear then appears late for the party, as per usual, or may even have been excluded from the invite list.
For it is notable that whilst Labour’s energy manifesto makes much of getting new nuclear projects at Hinkley and Sizewell ‘over the line’, extending the lifetime of existing plants, and backing new nuclear including Small Modular Reactors by the end of the government’s first term in 2030, mention of any of this has been noticably absent in the government’s recent pronouncements
The NFLAs hope that Ministers on being appraised of the huge costs and massive challenges of delivering a new nuclear programme has quietly opted to go for the common sense approach of choosing cheaper, practicable and achieveable renewables to deliver truly green energy, energy security, lower bills and Net Zero. Fingers crossed.
Nuclear Free Local Authorities challenge UK government on New Cleo’s application for “justification” of its small nuclear “fast” reactor
2 In April 2024, the Nuclear Industry Association applied for
‘justification’ on behalf of NewCleo and its lead-cooled LFR-AS-200 fast
reactor to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The department will support the future Secretary of State in their role as
the authority responsible for the ‘justification’ decision.
This was the first application for ‘justification’ for a so-called advanced modular
design in the UK. In its media release, NewCleo oozed confidence its
reactor design will meet with approval:
‘Justification’ is a regulatory
process which requires a Government decision before any new class or type
of practice involving ionising radiation can be introduced in the UK. A
justification decision is one of the required steps for the operation of a
new nuclear technology in the UK, but it is not a permit or licence that
allows a specific project to go ahead.
Instead, it is a generic decision
based on a high-level evaluation of the potential benefits and detriments
of the proposed new nuclear practice as a pre-cursor to future regulatory
processes.
The design failed the government’s readiness test to be entered
into the Generic Design Assessment (GDA). Even if justification is
forthcoming, with the design not selected for the GDA, it would surely have
to undergo an equally rigorous, but more uncertain, process.
Furthermore, the reactor operates using MOX (mixed uranium and plutonium reprocessed
fuel). Although, the press has previously reported NewCleo’s plan ‘to
take advantage of the UK’s massive stockpile of waste at Sellafield, where
it wanted to invest £2bn in a waste reprocessing factory and advanced
modular reactors that would have created around 500 jobs’, the government’s
recently published Civil Nuclear Roadmap makes clear that this material
will not be forthcoming: ‘We are providing clarity to vendors by
committing not to support the use of plutonium stored at Sellafield by
Advanced Nuclear Technologies whilst high hazard reduction activities are
prioritised at Sellafield’.
The other puzzle is X-Energy, which was given
£3.4m by government, but seemingly, like NewCleo, has been turned down for
consideration for a GDA. X-Energy have previously announced plans to deploy
its reactor design at a site in Hartlepool.
In response to the news, NFLA
Scotland Advisor Pete Roche and Emeritus Professor of Energy Policy at the
University of Greenwich Stephen Thomas put together a question set
exploring and challenging the justification and Generic Design processes.
This was sent by the NFLAs to Nuclear Minister Andrew Bowie. On receiving
the Minister’s response, a second letter with supplementary questions was
drafted and sent, and this has just been replied to by a senior Department
of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) official. The correspondence is
reproduced in this briefing for your information.
NFLA 16th July 2024
1 This Month
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
-
Archives
- October 2026 (302)
- September 2026 (339)
- August 2026 (330)
- July 2026 (355)
- June 2026 (287)
- May 2026 (306)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (267)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
