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Finland
Building more nuclear power plants to reduce global warming emissions is not the way to fight global climate change, Finland's prime minister said on Monday. Many energy experts say one key to cutting back carbon dioxide emissions that heat the Earth's atmosphere would be to rely more on nuclear power to generate electricity instead of coal-fired plants. But Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said reducing energy consumption, especially from automobiles, would do more to fight climate change.
Reuters 14th Jan 2008
http://www.reuters.com
As the first EPR to be built, the world has been watching to see if Olkiluoto 3 will deliver everything it promises. In Britain, the EPR is one of four designs competing to be given the go-ahead from UK regulators. The company wanting to build a similar reactor here, Areva, is one half of the consortium behind the ill-fated construction of Olkiluoto 3, with Siemens the other partner. Yet to say that Finland's experience bodes well would be optimistic to say the least. It was not long before Olkiluoto 3 was hit by a slew of safety concerns, building blunders, spiralling costs and chronic delays. The 1,600MW-capacity reactor, which was meant to be producing energy by 2009, is now around two years behind schedule. It is more than E1bn over budget, without taking into account the cost of the lost electricity production time which, rough estimates suggest, could run to E600m. After Finland's government rejected greener energy sources for b! eing too expensive, that has angered many Finns.
Independent 16th Jan 2008
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3342111.ece
France has agreed a £2 billion deal to build nuclear power stations in the Gulf and in return has secured a military base there.
Times 16th Jan 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3193447.ece
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Nuclear Costs
Letter from Prof Steve Thomas: David Newbery claims that with innovative use of insurance and financial instruments, nuclear power plants could be built in the UK without subsidies or other government support ("Be creative and reduce the risk of nuclear investment", January 9). This would reduce the high cost of capital that applies in a competitive electricity market, particularly for an economically risky technology such as nuclear power. The reality is that no amount of innovative juggling can make risk disappear. The cost of bearing that risk has to be paid for and, in this case, it will be the public that pays for it, either taxpayers or electricity consumers.
FT 16th Jan 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a9618c46-c3d5-11dc-b083-0000779fd2ac.html
Progress Energy Florida is going to have to spend more than originally planned to build two nuclear reactors in Levy County, the utility's top executive said. The St. Petersburg-based utility won't disclose how much more expensive the project will be until it's presented to state regulators within 90 days. Based on new industry estimates, the revised cost could be two to three times more expensive than the projection Progress issued more than a year ago. That's because the cost of concrete, steel, copper, labor and reactor technology has soared as energy companies move forward with plans to build more than 30 new reactors nationwide. Also, Progress Energy's initial estimate excluded the cost of land, inflation, interest payments and new transmission lines.
Tampa Tribune 15th Jan 2008
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/15/bz-nuclear-costs-explode/
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New nukes
Two of the UK's chief green advisers yesterday launched a ferocious attack on government saying the national fight against climate change will be hindered by the decision to encourage nuclear power. Sir Jonathon Porritt, the chairman of the government's Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), speaking for the first time since the announcement last week, said that responding to climate change with nuclear power was a "technological megafix". "What is disturbing is that government is failing to understand that the more urgent that dealing with climate change becomes, the less relevant that nuclear power is. Solutions have to be found on waste, cost, and decommissioning. They have not been found on any of those issues. It reveals how poor is the understanding by government of the importance of climate change," he said. He was joined by the SDC's chief economist, Professor Tim Jackson, who said the decision to opt fo! r nuclear power was "a blatant failure of moral vision".
Guardian 16th Jan 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Tim Jackson: The government is flouting expert advice. CoRWM made clear that its recommendations did not suggest a green light for new nuclear build. "The political and ethical issues raised by the creation of more wastes are quite different from those relating to committed - and therefore unavoidable - wastes," the committee argued. The challenge of climate change demands commitment to fiscal reform, support for renewable energy, reductions in energy demand, changes in the way we live, and some basic understanding of our obligations to the future. Sweeping aside these commitments with an ill-thought-out gesture towards nuclear power is a blatant failure of moral vision.
Guardian 16th Jan 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/16/nuclearpower.energy
Britain has ambitious plans for nuclear power expansion but it will not subsidise this development, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said on Tuesday. The government will let private utilities set up the country's energy mix, Wicks also said in a press briefing at the British Embassy in Paris.
Reuters 15th Jan 2008
http://uk.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUKPAC00911120080115?rpc=401&
The great nuclear revival announced by the Government yesterday is certainly a step in the right direction - but, excuse the cliche, it may turn out to be too little, too late. It is important to understand what was announced yesterday and what was not. For a start, despite the spin, this is not a decision by Downing Street to build new nuclear power stations.
Daily Mail 10th Jan 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
The nuclear white paper made a great play of the fact that nuclear plants have, once or twice, actually been built to schedule, and Romania was cited. Hmmmm. A cursory examination by officials at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform would have shown that the plant at Cernavoda was built on the double because: the Romanian government ignored or declined to consult the public; did not assess the consequences of accidents or earthquake risks; failed to take into account that it may have to shut down every time there is a major drought; and neglected to assess how the site would be decommissioned or how the radioactive waste would be stored.
Guardian 16th Jan 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/16/1
Tom Burke: The arithmetic is clear. The coal will be burnt. But we know what we need to do to make this coal burn carbon neutral: we must install carbon capture and storage on all new and existing coal plants. It will not be cheap, but it is an imperative, not an option. The decision to help revive Britain's nuclear industry may have been "tough", but it was also wrong. The right tough decision would have been to install carbon capture and storage on the recently announced coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent.
Guardian 16th Jan 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/16/nuclearpower.energy1
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Uranium
Areva, the French nuclear company, has secured a key source of uranium needed to supply its global expansion plans with a deal to open a new mine in Niger. The agreement will normalise Areva's increasingly strained relationships with the former French colony, which has sought to erode the company's 30-year mon-opoly. Under the accord, Areva has won the right to invest more than €1bn ($1.5bn) in opening another uranium mine in the west African country.
FT 15th Jan 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b2d20d72-c30e-11dc-b617-0000779fd2ac.html
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Sweden
Sweden's Liberal Party, a member of the ruling coalition, has called for the construction of 4 nuclear power stations.
World Nuclear News 14th Jan 2008
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org
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Iraq
FRANCE tried to sell Saddam Hussein a nuclear weapon, it was claimed yesterday. Top Iranian commander General Mir-Feisal Baqerzadeh said the offer was made to Iraq in 1987 during the Iran-Iraq war by an official of then-President Francois Mitterand’s government.
The Sun 15th Jan 2008
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article688548.ece
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Saudi Arabia
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has offered Saudi Arabia help in developing peaceful nuclear energy at the start of a Gulf tour he hopes will secure billions of dollars in contracts for French firms.
Reuters 14th Jan 2008
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL1413018520080114
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Springfields
Bosses at Springfields in Salwick have expressed their delight at yesterday's green light for a new generation of nuclear power stations. And the owner of the site, Westinghouse, says its design for a new plant – the AP1000 – would be a "cost effective" alternative for the new breed of stations. The company started production on four of the power stations in China in March and will use its Chinese experience in the UK.
Blackpool Today 11th Jan 2008
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/business/Nuclear-bosses-relish-challenge.3664448.jp
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Heysham
In a statement, BE said it was "currently undertaking detailed assessments of its sites" to find the best potential candidates for new nuclear power stations. The Heysham One reactor is due to be shut down in 2014 with the second reactor likely to close in 2023, although there is a suggestion the life of the reactor could be renewed. However, it is expected British Energy's other sites at Sizewell in Suffolk, Somerset's Hinkley Point, Dungeness in Kent and Bradwell in Essex are likely to lead the way in any first phase of new stations.
Lancashire Eveving Post 14th Jan 2008
http://www.lep.co.uk/business/39We-want-to-be-part.3670301.jp
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Wylfa
KEY political figures last night vowed to “lobby at all levels” in a bid to secure a new nuclear reactor in North Wales. The pledge was made after the Government announced it was giving the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear power stations across the UK.
Daily Post 11th Jan 2008
http://www.dailypost.co.uk
EMPLOYERS’ organisation the CBI is urging the UK government to make an early decision on whether a replacement nuclear power plant on Anglesey will be built.
Daily Post 12th Jan 2008
http://www.dailypost.co.uk
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Capenhurst
A SITE in Wirral will be inspected in the hunt for locations for new nuclear power stations, after the Government backed the idea in principle yesterday. The former Capenhurst Diffusion plant, on the Wirral border, emerged as an outside bet, as ministers triggered a furious row by describing the case for new plants as "compelling".
Liverpool Daily Post 11th Jan 2008
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk
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Scotland
If a substantial expansion of nuclear power takes place in England and Wales, it could limit the opportunity for Scottish generators to export renewable power. An expansion of nuclear power in the rest of the UK could inhibit the growth of renewable power. The UK and Scotland have already lost the opportunity to lead the world in wind-power manufacturing, but a real commitment to renewable power research and development could lead to the growth of a marine-power and renewable-hydrogen industry and of expertise in integrated mixed renewable energy systems. It will be particularly important to increase support for research and development as the expansion of nuclear power in the rest of the UK could well divert UK-wide research and development funds away from renewable energy.
Scotsman 14th Jan 2008
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/comment/Alternative-take.3667968.jp
Letters: Generating electricity by nuclear power is the ultimate political quick fix. Future generations will pick up the bill for cheap and wrong decisions taken today. While there is an impending power crisis in the south of England due to long term incompetence by successive governments which militates towards the nuclear quick fix, no such imperative faces Scotland
Scotsman 15th Jan 2008
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/letters?articleid=3671270
Letters: Throughout the world there is vast export potential for nuclear desalination plants in a world growing short of fresh water owing to climate change. An appropriate metaphor might be to argue that there are an awful lot of potential Scottish jobs down the drain there. Neither is the world running out of fuel for reactors. There are vast untapped thorium reserves throughout the world and particularly in India, which is already building thorium-burning nuclear plants.
Herald 15th Jan 2008
http://www.theherald.co.uk
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Nuclear Skills
More than half of Britain's already dwindling nuclear workforce is likely to be retired by the time the new stations open for business, leading union figures claim. This will leave a huge gap as years of unfashionability have seen many universities close specialist courses and companies scale back training programmes.
Personnel Today 15th Jan 2008
http://www.personneltoday.com
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New nukes
Lynne Jones (Lab Selly Oak) has signed a Commons motion insisting "the case for new nuclear power stations has not been made" and highlighting "the risks and costs of nuclear power, in terms of waste disposal, decommissioning, security and health concerns". And Richard Burden (Lab Northfield) last night said: "I still have very big concerns. We don't know exactly what the economic costs will be, and we don't know how we are going to dispose of nuclear waste."
Birmingham Post 11th Jan 2008
http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk
Iberdrola SA said it is negotiating a 50:50 joint venture with British Energy Group to build a 1,600 megawatt nuclear power plant in southern England, confirming a report in Expansion which estimated the investment at 2.8 bln eur.
Forbes 14th Jan 2008
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/01/14/afx4526175.html
Times 15th Jan 2008
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article3187636.ece
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Scotland
Lesley Riddoch: Last week's Border warfare over nuclear power has done one vital thing: it has put energy back where it should always have been – at the centre of public debate and government policy. And for those fed up with baseloads, megawatts and intermittency – get used to it. The energy-based transformation of our lives is just beginning. Now that the SNP government has committed to a non-nuclear future, the green light is on. Scotland has challenged itself to deliver an energy-based renaissance that rewards inventiveness, and collaboration between scientists, funders, planners, communities and councils. Aye, pigs might fly too. But that's the size of the challenge.
Scotsman 14th Jan 2008
http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Nuclearfree-energy-plans--set.3667966.jp
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New nukes
Gordon MacKerron: The Government says it is committed to nuclear energy, but has done nothing to make it more attractive. The Prime Minister's announcement last week opens up the danger of the country being left with no new reactors, nor any greener alternatives.
Independent on Sunday 13th Jan 2008
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article3333781.ece
NORTHWEST Development Agency chief executive Steven Broomhead has welcomed the Government’s decision to build a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK. Mr Broomhead said that given the concentration of nuclear industry sites in the North West – particularly in Warrington and Cumbria – the region’s economy could reap the benefits.
Liverpool Daily Post 14th Jan 2008
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk
Letter from Dr Carlonine Lucas: Sir David King's definition of a luddite appears to be anyone who has the audacity to disagree with him (Science chief: greens hurting climate fight, January 12). Moreover, in demonstrating such contempt for an approach to climate change which gives serious attention to energy efficiency and demand reduction, it is King himself who does a disservice to the climate fight, not the green campaigners whom he attacks.
Andy Stirling: Sir David King warns that failure to support nuclear power is a position of "utter hopelessness". In a democracy, this kind of "no alternatives" rhetoric flies in the face of any serious understanding of innovation. Also letters from John Sauven, Richard Bramhall and others.
Guardian 14th Jan 2008
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,,2240410,00.html
Letters from Dan Barlow (WWF) and others: Scotland and the rest of the UK could meet their energy needs and combat climate change without resorting to nuclear power. Nuclear is a polluting and expensive distraction from the real action required by politicians to tackle climate change. The Scottish Government is right to continue to reject nuclear power and we are disappointed that UK ministers have not done likewise. This reckless decision must not be allowed to undermine continued support for renewables and other sensible solutions to climate change here in Scotland.
Scotsman 14th Jan 2008
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/letters?articleid=3667870
Nuclear power is back on the agenda in Britain. If more nuclear stations are ordered, which is far from certain, it will mark a fresh start for an industry in which Britain once hoped to lead the world, but which was crippled by a series of misjudgments on the part of politicians, managers and investors. The first mistake, made in 1965, was to choose the uniquely British advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) to replace the first-generation Magnox stations, when other countries opted for the US-designed light water reactor (LWR). Getting the AGR stations to work proved to be a Herculean task, putting Britain's nuclear programme far behind that of France, which wisely dropped its national design in favour of a Westinghouse LWR.
FT 14th Jan 2008
http://www.ft.com
The green light for the construction of new nuclear power stations given by ministers last week has been attacked by the government’s watchdog for sustainable development. In one of its strongest critiques of policy, the Sustainable Development Commission, which is independent but funded by the government, criticised ministers for their “inadequate response to the legitimate concerns expressed by the general public over new nuclear power”.
FT 14th Jan 2008
http://www.ft.com
Tom Brake has launched an attack on the Government's decision to create a new generation of nuclear power stations. The Lib Dem MP for Carshalton and Wallington said: "The Government have again shown an inability to think originally.
Local Guardian 13th Jan 2008
http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk
Letter from Prof Lewis Lesley: While we know about three nuclear power disasters (Windscale, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl), we have 10,000 years or more for a disaster over the handling of nuclear waste, assuming that terrorists do not get enough to build bombs. We are making no serious attempt to reduce energy waste. In 2006 the German government began a 20-year project to fit five per cent per year of all homes to a zero carbon standard. By 2026 all German homes will be zero carbon. From 2016 all new homes in Britain will have to be zero carbon. So by 2026 Britain will have seven per cent of the housing stock at a zero standard, reaching 100 per cent in 2166, 140 years after Germany.
Telegraph 14th Jan 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
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Proliferation
A FOUR-YEAR investigation into a British businessman alleged to be a key player in a network selling nuclear weapons components appears to have been quietly dropped. Peter Griffin, an engineer who ran a lucrative export business from Dubai, was suspected of helping to supply Libya’s atomic weapons programme. He was a close friend and business associate of Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan’s “father” of the bomb, who has admitted helping North Korea, Iran and Libya to develop nuclear weapons.
Sunday Times 13th Jan 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3177660.ece
Companies operating new nuclear power stations will have their costs for decommissioning and waste disposal capped, the government said on Thursday as it gave the long-awaited go-ahead for a fresh wave of investment in nuclear energy. The commitment will reassure investors in new reactors that they will not face an unlimited liability if those costs soar far beyond levels currently expected.
FT 11th Jan 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e82ce050-bfbc-11dc-8052-0000779fd2ac.html
One key question remains unanswered despite the go-ahead for further nuclear power plants: what to do with the waste they will generate. UK policy is to build a long-term underground storage facility – so-called geological disposal – for future waste as well as that already produced from past and current nuclear sites. Most of this is stored “temporarily” at Sellafield in Cumbria, the country’s biggest and dirtiest nuclear site, now devoted to reprocessing rather than power. It has been assumed that a site at or near Sellafield could be favoured for long-term waste burial, not least to avoid moving waste across the country again. However, the government is proceeding cautiously towards an inevitably controversial decision, determined that the choice of a burial site should be arrived at with as much consensus as possible.
FT 11th Jan 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/72227cfa-bfd3-11dc-8052-0000779fd2ac.html
The task the government faces if it is to persuade the public, and even some of its own backbenchers, to support a new generation of nuclear power
stations was underlined in the Commons on Thursday when John Hutton acknowledged “real concerns about nuclear” had surfaced during last year’s
official consultation exercise. “It is a subject of great emotion for people,” the business secretary admitted. And as he fended off criticism from long-standing Labour critics of nuclear energy, it was clear he has no intention of using the ministerial bully pulpit to make the industry’s case.
FT 11th Jan 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6cea196e-bfd3-11dc-8052-0000779fd2ac.html
Greenpeace, the environmental campaign group, is considering a fresh legal challenge to the government’s strategy of building nuclear power plants. Ben Ayliffe, the group’s senior nuclear campaigner, said it was reviewing the evidence carefully and felt it could make a “very good case” that the latest consultation was a “sham” to disguise settled policy. The government’s first attempt to replace Britain’s ageing nuclear capacity was torpedoed almost a year ago by the High Court. Mr Ayliffe said Greenpeace lawyers were going through the nuclear energy white paper and other evidence before making a decision.
FT 11th Jan 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/63bdb6ca-bfd3-11dc-8052-0000779fd2ac.html
The new year has hardly begun and already the first salvoes over the future of the world’s biggest nuclear group, Areva, have been fired. Last week it emerged that Areva had held preliminary talks with French construction group Vinci about a partnership to build nuclear power stations in the UK and elsewhere. On the face of it, nothing could be more logical. As a company that provides nuclear services from reactors to fuel supply, recycling and waste treatment, Areva is seeking the expertise it lacks in big infrastructure projects as the nuclear sector takes off. But look deeper, and nothing is quite that simple in the highly political tug of war over the future of France’s most promising industrial flagship. For the shrewdest observers, the discussions are the latest tactic by Anne Lauvergeon, Areva’s formidable chief executive, to stymie any attempt to combine the state-owned company with Bouygues – Vinci&r! squo;s rival – and its 30 per cent subsidiary, turbine maker, Alstom.
FT 11th Jan 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c066f05c-bfb1-11dc-8052-0000779fd2ac.html
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Gulf
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has confirmed that he will sign a nuclear co-operation deal with the United Arab Emirates during his regional tour.
BBC 13th Jan 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7185660.stm
Tehran has warned the United States not to try and use the dispute over the Iranian nuclear programme to bring Iran to its knees. The warning came from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a meeting with the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei. Ayatollah Khamenei insisted that Iran was not building a nuclear bomb.
BBC 12th Jan 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7185426.stm
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Scotland
Nuclear jam tomorrow: that is the Alice in Wonderland promise that the world’s reactor merchants have always made. What became apparent last week is that ministers in London have bought it. At the heart of the long-anticipated White Paper on nuclear power published on Thursday is the belief that however bad things have been, and however bad they now are, they can only get better. So England gets to embark on a new nuclear programme. Never mind the £70 billion bill for nuclear decommissioning, or the £20 billion cost of waste disposal or the £3.4 billion bail-out of British Energy, tomorrow it will all be cheaper. Forget the tens of thousands killed by the Chernobyl accident in 1986 or the unavoidable links to nuclear weapons in Iran, tomorrow it will all be safe.
RobEdwards.com 13 January 2007
http://www.robedwards.com/2008/01/nuclear-power-s.html
IT'S A pity Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond haven't spoken since August, because if they had, they might have been able to avoid last week's demeaning spat over the new generation of nuclear power stations. There is a perfectly rational and adult solution to this issue: while England reinvents the atom, why not let Scotland power ahead developing renewable energy? Let's see which works out in the long run?
Sunday Herald 13th Jan 2008
http://www.sundayherald.com
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