Plans to build Europe's largest new nuclear project in Cumbria have taken a step forward after Toshiba and GDF Suez signed a deal to develop the site. The Japanese engineering giant will take a 60% stake in Nugen, the joint venture set up to develop the plant, with the French energy company taking a 40% stake. The plans include three reactors at the Moorside site, next to Sellafield. Final investment decisions should be made in about four years, Nugen said. "The Moorside new nuclear project will bring at least £10bn of investment and is expected to create up to 21,000 jobs, while also providing a reliable source of low carbon energy for over six million homes," said Energy Minister Michael Fallon. "This announcement is a significant step towards new reactors likely to come online in 2024 and shows how attractive the UK is for investors."
BBC 30th June 2014 read more »
NuGen will construct the new power station at Moorside, at the north of the Sellafield complex. It claimed yesterday that each reactor will take four years to build and will first generate electricity in ten years' time. It means the new plant could be in operation before EDF's much-heralded £16 billion project at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, which has been delayed due to European Commission inquiries into the financing deals between the British government and EDF, the French state-owned electricity generator. NuGen said that the final investment decision on the new Sellafield plant will be taken in 2018. The Westinghouse AP1000, a pressurised water reactor, currently holds licences from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Toshiba has eight of the reactors under construction around the world.
Times 1st July 2014 read more »
Toshiba has sealed a deal to take a majority stake in NuGen's Moorside nuclear project. The Japanese multinational has taken a 60 per cent stake in the project, after having agreed to buy up all of Iberdrola's 50 per cent stake in NuGen, and an additional 10 per cent stake from GDF Suez. GDF Suez remains involved in the new nuclear project and retains a 40 per cent stake. Three AP1000 reactors will be built at the Moorside site. These reactors will provide seven per cent of the UKs future electricity requirement and be the largest nuclear output from any site in the UK.
Utility Week 30th June 2014 read more »
Toshiba and GDF Suez have completed a deal that has confirmed plans to build three nuclear reactors on NuGen's Moorside project in Cumbria. The three Westinghouse AP1000 reactors will be located on land to the north and west of the Sellafield site in West Cumbria. Each of the reactors will take around four years to build, with the first of the three reactors operational in 2024. A combined output of 3.4GW will then be delivered by 2026. The deal formally cements the joint venture between the two companies, which was announced in January this year.
Construction News 30th June 2014 read more »
Construction Index 1st July 2014 read more »
Express 1st July 2014 read more »
This is Money 30th June 2014 read more »
ITV 30th June 2014 read more »
Professional Engineer 30th June 2014 read more »
New York Times 30th June 2014 read more »
Reuters 30th June 2014 read more »
Telegraph 30th June 2014 read more »
NW Evening Mail 30th June 2014 read more »
Carlisle News and Star 30th June 2014 read more »
Sellafield's Workers' Campaign (SWC) have welcomed the completion of a deal which will build a new nuclear power station near Sellafield in Cumbria.
#StopMoorcide Map.
Radiation Free Lakeland. 30th June 2014 read more »
Springfields
Lancashire nuclear workers have been given a major boost after a £100 million power station deal was signed – safeguarding posts and potentially creating 21,000 new jobs in the North West. Japanese engineering and technology firm Toshiba has signed an agreement to buy 60 per cent of NuGen, the UK-based group that plans to build three new nuclear reactors next to the Sellafield site in west Cumbria. The remaining 40 per cent of NuGen remains with European energy business GDF Suez. Any fuel for the reactors will be made by Westinghouse at Springfields near Preston.
Lancashire Evening Post 1st July 2014 read more »
EDF Energy's application to loosen safety limits at its 1GW Dungeness B nuclear power plant has been approved by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). Nuclear radiation causes the graphite bricks to degrade, with the current allowable 'weight loss' limit set at 6.2 per cent. EDF Energy asked the regulator to extend the limit to 8 per cent. At the time the ONR said EDF Energy's application to loosen safety limits do not pose "any safety concerns". A safety limit change would be required by the 30 year old nuclear plant in order to extend its lifetime to 45 years. In February this year EDF Energy applied for a ten year life extension for the plant to enable it to operate until at least 2023.
Torness
Britain's Torness 1 nuclear unit was taken off line at 1.22 a.m. (1222 GMT) on Tuesday, operator EDF Energy said. EDF's website said the 640-megawatt unit would be off line for the next seven days but did not give a reason for the outage.
Reuters 1st July 2014 read more »
Deals between National Grid and leading customers to voluntarily curb their demand will reduce the danger of unexpected power cuts over the next five years, according to energy industry regulator Ofgem. A report published on Monday by the watchdog suggested that the UK's electricity capacity margin – the surplus of peak power output over demand – could fall as low as 2 per cent by the winter of 2015-16 under National Grid's most pessimistic assumptions, because of the accelerated closure of old power stations fuelled by coal and gas. But Dermot Nolan, Ofgem chief executive, said the tendering of additional contracts managed by National Grid, designed to created an a further buffer of 1.8 gigawatts to the UK's capacity margin, had significantly reduced the changes of unplanned blackouts to customers.
FT 30th June 2014 read more »
Consumer energy bills will rise in order to pay retainers to dozens of power stations to guarantee they are available to keep the lights on, ministers have announced. Under a so-called "capacity market", ministers plan to recruit more than 53GW of power stations – enough to meet 80 per cent of Britain's peak demand – to ensure they can fire up when needed. Households will each pay an average of £13 a year to the power plants, to guarantee they are ready on the system from 2018-19. The Government has previously described the system, which will be paid for through levies on household bills as an "insurance premium against the risk of blackouts". It hopes the scheme will keep existing gas and coal power plants from mothballing and encourage the construction of dozens of new gas plants by helping to guarantee their profitability.
Households' lights could be dimmed for up to nine hours during the winter of 2015-16 as Britain's spare power capacity falls to as little as 2pc, Ofgem has said. The energy regulator said there was an "outside chance" that National Grid would need to reduce voltage for consumers, as one of a series of measures it may use if there is insufficient power to meet demand. The regulator on Monday forecast that spare capacity for winter 2015-16 would be just as precarious as it had feared a year ago, with as little as 2pc difference between peak demand and supply as old coal power plants are shut down. But Ofgem said that the risk of this resulting in an actual blackout, where factories or eventually consumers see their power cut off, had now receded, from a one-in-four chance a year ago to one-in-31 in its forecast on Monday.
Energy Regulation
Europe's 500 million (m) population dwarfs the US's 320 m but the US, with its 50 States, has a far bigger pool of differing energy regulatory situations to experiment and learn from than Europe's 25 countries; and the States have a far longer history of working together than Europe does. American, or specifically the USA (as opposed to Canadian or South American) energy regulation is, at first sight, very different from that in place in Britain, or in most of Europe. However, this series of blogs (Lessons from America) illuminates practices in the US that British or European regulators and decision-makers could beneficially learn from.
IGov 30th June 2014 read more »
Green Yes, the Scottish Green Party's campaign for a Yes vote in the independence referendum, is highlighting the opportunities for Scotland to make the most of its renewable energy potential. Patrick Harvie, Green MSP for Glasgow and Co-convener of the Scottish Greens, will today (30 June) take part in a Question and Answer session for members of industry body Scottish Renewables. A Green Yes briefing on jobs points out that more than 11,000 people are already employed in the renewables industry and most firms are expecting to grow. Scotland has the offshore engineering skills to make marine renewables a success and create thousands more jobs in construction, grid development and research. Yesterday a leading group of academics called for Scotland to control over energy policy to escape Westminster's backing for "bankrupt" nuclear power. Expert analysis of UK government policy decisions on nuclear has also suggested that Scottish consumers could face lower prices under independence.
Scottish Greens 30th June 2014 read more »
Jobs-rich, fair and flourishing. An Economy for All. Briefing.
Scottish Green 30th June 2014 read more »
An analysis of the effect of recent UK government policy decisions on nuclear energy suggests that Scottish consumers could face lower prices in an independent Scottish electricity system.
University of Aberdeen 4th Dec 2013 read more »
THE Cumbrian-born world-renowned nuclear engineering expert, Dr Dame Sue Ion, is to receive one of the Royal Academy of Engineering's most prestigious accolades for her outstanding service to the nuclear industry, the Academy itself and to the wider world of engineering.
Westmorland Gazette 30th June 2014 read more »
The Borssele nuclear power plant in the Netherlands has started generating electricity for the first time with mixed oxide (MOX) fuel supplied by Areva. Dutch utility EPZ was licensed in 2013 to load eight MOX assemblies in the 500-MW reactor in 2014, and 12 assemblies per year after, totaling 40 percent of the assemblies loaded in the reactor. The MOX fuel was fabricated in 2013 at the MELOX plant in France with recycled plutonium from used fuel treatment processes at Areva's la Hague plant. The Netherlands joins Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and the U.S. as the seventh country to use or have used MOX fuel in its reactors.
France – Electric cars
In a judgement rendered end of June 2014, the French Jury of Deontology of the Advertising Industry (Le Jury de Déontologie Publicitaire) agreed with the position of the Nuclear Observatory. Accordingly, AUTOLIB, a French electric car sharing system is no longer allowed to promote itself as environmentally friendly because in France the cars using electricity are heavily relying on nuclear power.
Journal of Risk & Crisis Communication 28th June 2014 read more »
France – Areva
The Nuclear Observatory has been sued by the multinational, AREVA, because of the Observatory's accusation against AREVA that the company has tried to influence the decisions of the authorities of Niger with regard to easy and cheap access to uranium from that country. The Observatory refers to a curious "gift" of € 35 million paid by AREVA to the government of Niger that, according to documents revealed by the Observatory, would have been used to purchase an aircraft for the President of Niger who is a former executive of AREVA.
The Bundestag just voted overwhelmingly in favor of the governing coalition's proposes to change the country's renewables policy. The grand coalition of Social Democrats and Christian Democrats got 454 yayss against 123 nays and six abstentions. The renewables surcharge will not e added to solar power not sold to the grid from small arrays, but in numerous ways the government's amendments to the German EEG ring the death knell for Germany's energy transition as a grassroots movement. We will need to come back to what has just happened over the next few days and weeks anyway, so let's just start today with the surcharge on direct power consumption. Over the past month, there has been a lot of back and forth on this policy proposal, and I have spared you the play-by play details. Essentially, the renewables surcharge is to be applied to power consumed directly, i.e. never sold to the grid. The justification has shifted numerous times but is probably related to concern about grid defection; in addition, the government wants to spread the renewables surcharge across more kilowatt-hours.
Renew Economy 1st July 2014 read more »
Spanish nuclear generation rose to a 10-day high late last night, as local utility Iberdrola's 1GW Trillo nuclear plant returned to the grid after reaching full capacity. But levels remain lower than expected because of delays at domestic utility Endesa's 1GW Asco 1 plant. The Trillo plant restarted on 28 June after a one-month shutdown for refuelling and proceeded to ramp up, as scheduled. This brought nuclear generation to an hourly average of 5GW at 00:00 local time, which was the highest level since 20 June.
Argus Media 30th June 2014 read more »
Japanese authorities, keen to restart nuclear power plants three years after the Fukushima disaster, may face an additional hurdle in securing approval – coming up with a cogent evacuation plan in the event of new accidents.The problem has come into focus as procedures for the first proposed restart enter the home stretch in Ichikikushikino, a town five km (three miles) from Kyushu Electric Power Co's Sendai plant.The government, facing the first summer in 40 years without nuclear power, is fielding complaints from residents who say key points have been missed in planning for any mass evacuation.
This month's NIS Update newsletter from Nuclear Information Service: Investigation into faulty fire detection systems underway at Atomic Weapons Establishment; AWE agrees to return safety awards following fire prosecution; Navy warship accidentally fires torpedo in Devonport dockyard; £300 million spending programme to allow construction of new Trident submarines at Barrow; Artful launched as concerns over Barrow quay safety are addressed; UK performs poorly on nuclear materials in international rating; Clyde nuclear contractors dodge accident compensation costs; US-UK nuclear co-operation agreement undermines global non-proliferation efforts; Discharge from AWE Burghfield exceeds permitted limits; Trident Commission report published this week.
NIS 30th June 2014 read more »
It is in the UK's national interest to keep the Trident nuclear weapons system, a group of former ministers, diplomats and generals have argued. Maintaining a nuclear capability could help deter threats to the UK's security in future, their report concluded. But they said continuous patrols could be relaxed while the UK must also show it is serious about working towards further international disarmament. A final decision on whether to renew Trident will be taken in 2016. The decision has been put back until after the 2015 elections following disagreements between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
BBC 1st July 2014 read more »
Guardian 1st July 2014 read more »
Renewables – onshore wind
One of Scotland's largest onshore wind farms is to be officially opened near Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway. Scottish Power Renewables is behind the 68-turbine Harestanes scheme which it says will meet the annual electricity needs of more than 73,000 homes. It said the £160m project had supported more than 150 jobs in the past two years – 60 from the local community. Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said the wind farm could help meet Scotland's 100% renewable energy target. The site covers a large area in the Forest of Ae, which is managed by Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS).
Renewables – solar
The discovery by British scientists that a chemical used in making tofu and gritting icy roads is a much cheaper, safer option in the production of solar cellars could have huge financial benefits for the renewable energy market.
Climate News Network 30th June 2014 read more »
The much-delayed government scheme to encourage Britons to switch to low-carbon heating has helped just 79 homes install renewable heat technologies in the two months since it launched, it has emerged. Greg Barker, the climate minister, trumpeted the scheme as the "first of its kind in the world" when it was launched in April, but already there are fears it will go the way of the green deal – the government's energy efficiency programme that achieved very low take-up. The renewable heat incentive (RHI) offers payments to switch to low-carbon heating technologies, such as boilers that burn wood pellets. Although it is open to everyone, it will be most attractive to the 4m homes in the UK that are off the gas grid. "Thi s is not marginal … this is a big, big scheme," Chris Huhne, then energy and climate change secretary, said when it was unveiled in 2011. Repeatedly delayed, the scheme was finally launched on 9 April. In its first two months of operation, 203 households applied for the subsidy to install new heating systems, according to data from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc). Of those, just 79 homes have received accreditation so far. The scheme is also open to households that have installed low-carbon heating systems in recent years. Only 2,093 of these applied for the subsidy by the end of May, with 1,075 achieving accreditation. DECC says application dates were staggered for those with legacy systems to manage demand and it anticipates a lot more applications in the summer and autumn. Climate change writer Chris Goodall said the government had failed to promote the scheme and take-up so far was "dreadful".
Guardian 30th June 2014 read more »
THE amount of heat produced from green energy sources increased by almost a fifth last year, new figures have revealed. Statistics from the Energy Saving Trust show renewable sources, such as biomass, ground source and air source heat pumps and solar thermal devices, produced 2,904 GWh (Gigawatt hours) of heat in 2013. That represents a rise of 17 per cent from the 2012 total of 2,481 GWh. The Scottish Government has set a target of having 11 per cent of non-electrical heat demand being met from renewable sources by 2020. Mike Thornton, director of the Energy Saving Trust, said Scotland is "very much on track to reach its renewable heat targets", according to the latest figures. He added that schemes such as the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), where those who generate and use renewable energy to heat their buildings are given payments , form part of a "compelling package of incentives and grants for households that are interested in installing renewable heat technologies".
Herald 1st July 2014 read more »
Scotland's shale gas and oil resources appear "modest" compared with those in England, according to a government survey published on Monday. The report by the British Geological Survey suggests the Midland Valley in the Scottish Lowlands is likely to contain 80tn cubic feet of gas and 6bn barrels of oil in shale formations, based on mid-range estimates. However, the government body stressed that its estimates of gas and oil in the study area, which takes in Glasgow, Edinburgh and other major towns close to the Firth of Forth, should not be taken as a guide to how much could be technically and commercially recovered. "This is expected to be substantially lower than the total amount of gas and oil in place," it said. The study of Scotland's shale potential is the latest in a series commissioned by the Department of Energy and Climate Change aimed at quan tifying the potential for unconventional oil and gas extraction across the UK.
The industry body believes the outcome of the Dart Energy public inquiry is likely to play a crucial role in luring investors, who will only be attracted north of the Border if they believe planning permission is likely. The Australian firm has outlined plans to drill for coalbed methane at 22 wells in the Forth Valley area, but has faced local opposition. A public inquiry was held in Falkirk in March but the outcome has yet to be decided. Scotland's Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: "At this time there are no proposals that involve the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) techniques in Scotland, and proposals for coalbed methane or shale gas production will be studied on their merits, and considered through the normal planning process. "Our responsible approach to the development of unconventional gas was confirmed in the Scottish Planning Policy published last week, which introduces rules to ensure no operator can undertake hydraulic fracturing unless they first gain explicit planning consent for that activity."
Fracking should and will proceed in Scotland despite the existence of only relatively "modest" amounts of shale gas and oil, ministers have said. A British Geological Survey study of shale resources in Scotland's "Midland Valley", spanning Glasgow and Edinburgh, estimated there could be 6 billion barrels of oil and 80 trillion cubic feet of gas beneath the ground. Mike Stephenson of the BGS described the findings as "quite modest". Only a much smaller amount – perhaps less than 10pc – is likely to be technically viable to extract and the BGS said there was particular uncertainty about how much might be recoverable in Scotla nd due to a lack of historical data. Mr Stephenson also suggested it was "pretty unlikely" that fracking for shale gas would take place under the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, potentially rendering significant amounts of the shale gas inaccessible.
SCOTLAND'S Central Belt is sitting on billions of barrels of shale oil and trillions of cubic feet of gas, an official survey has discovered. It could provide enough gas alone to meet Scotland's needs for the next half-century and a major wave of drilling exploration is looming to establish its commercial viability. But the findings re-ignited the battle over the controversial use of "fracking" to get at underground deposits of shale gas. Environmental groups warned against the impact on global warming of extracting a new generation of carbon fuels. The shale resources are more "modest" than originally thought, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS) ¬report published yesterday. It was commissioned to assess the potential reserves of fuel in Scotland. But a new round of drilling licences will be issued "shortly", with central Scotland expected to b e among the three UK areas hosting 20-40 test wells in the next two to three years. The move follows a shale gas revolution in the United States in recent years, which has seen energy prices tumble.
Scotsman 1st July 2014 read more »
Friends of the Earth said the report is "good news" for Scottish communities faced with the threat of fracking, while WWF Scotland said it should lead to a commitment that there will be no fracking north of the border. But Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said he would continue to consider fracking applications "on their merits", while his Westminster counterpart Michael Fallon said shale gas can contribute to the UK's energy mix. Labour's shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex insisted that extraction of shale gas "should only happen in a context of robust regulation, comprehensive monitoring and local consent", while Scottish Conservative energy spokesman Murdo Fraser said the report points to enough shale gas potential to merit more exploration. Frien ds of the Earth Scotland head of campaigns Mary Church said: "This is good news for the large number of communities across Scotland faced with the threat of fracking under UK Government plans to license the central belt. "This study shows that shale gas and oil will do nothing for energy security, won't bring down bills and certainly isn't worth the risk." WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: "It's clear that there's not going to be a shale gas or oil bonanza in Scotland any time soon.
Dundee Courier 1st July 2014 read more »
There is a "modest" amount of shale gas and oil in the Midland Valley in Scotland, according to the latest report by the British Geological Survey (BGS). The central estimate from the BGS is that there are 80 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in place, and 6 billion barrels of oil. This compares to 1,300 trillion cubic feet of gas and 4.4 billion barrels of oil in the Bowland shale and in the Weald Basin respectively. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) said the amount that could be extracted is "expected to be substantially lower", and added the estimates are "uncertain" because there is less data available for that area.
Scotland may have some hard to reach shale oil, but not much shale gas, according to new estimates. A new study by the British Geological Survey (BGS) released today suggests southern Scotland's Midland Valley may only have a fraction of the shale gas resources thought to be in northern England. The region between Glasgow and Edinburgh may have shale oil resources to rival those supposedly in England's south, however. The report warns that it is "not yet possible" to ultimately know how much oil and gas Scotland's shale may produce.
Carbon Brief 30th June 2014 read more »
Lord Smith's views on fracking betray an total ignorance of a large body of published, peer reviewed science that contradicts his conclusions, writes David Lowry – not to mention those of his political masters. Is 'groupthink' leading the UK astray?
Ecologist 28th June 2014 read more »
The British medical profession's influential national organisation has sent out a strong message about climate change by deciding to withdraw its funds from the fossil fuel industry and to support renewable energy instead.
Climate News Network 1st July 2014 read more »
Filed Under: News 2014