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News December 2017

Fossil Fuels

When a tanker full of Russian gas docked at the Isle of Grain import terminal in Kent on Thursday night, as Britain experienced its lowest temperatures of the year, it was greeted as a propaganda coup for President Vladimir Putin. “Feeling cold? Help is on the way,” crowed the Russian embassy in London on Twitter, to mark the arrival of the first shipment of liquefied natural gas from a new Arctic production facility targeted by US sanctions. But by Friday evening, this story of apparent UK dependence on Russian LNG was beginning to look more like “fake news”. People with knowledge of the shipment said that, while the Russian gas had been offloaded into UK storage facilities it was set to be transferred to another tanker destined for elsewhere in the world, probably Asia . “It has not entered the UK domestic gas network and we do not expect it to,” said one person familiar with operations at National Grid’s Isle of Grain terminal.

FT 30th Dec 2017 read more »

The first shipment of liquified natural gas from Russia’s sanction-hit £20bn Yamal project has arrived in the UK. The shipment, estimated at 170,000 cubic tonnes, will now be stored in the UK before being sold elsewhere, rather than being used domestically. It belongs to Petronas LNG UK, the British arm of Malaysia LNG, Agence France-Presse reported.

Telegraph 29th Dec 2017 read more »

Energy Policy – Scotland

Scotland must continue to build on the success of its renewable energy industry in the new year, campaigners and industry groups have said. WWF Scotland, Scottish Renewables and Star Renewables hailed achievements in the sector in 2017 as “world-leading” but said the momentum must be maintained in 2018. They highlighted milestones from the past 12 months such as the Scottish Government commitment to delivering 50% of all Scotland’s energy from renewables by 2030 and the world’s first floating wind farm beginning to deliver electricity to the Scottish grid in October. Another key step was the planning permission granted in August for Scotland’s largest solar farm in Moray.

Energy Voice 29th Dec 2017 read more »

The National 29th Dec 2017 read more »

Nuclear Science

This was the year that analysis of data finally backed up a prediction, made in the mid 1970s, of a surprising emergent behaviour in the strong nuclear force. The strongest of the known fundamental forces of nature is something of an enigma. It holds together the nucleus of every atom – easily overcoming the electromagnetic repulsion between the positively-charged protons in there. The simplest atomic nucleus, that of hydrogen, is a single proton, but even that is held in one piece by the strong force, so tightly that it never falls apart – or at least, it lives billions of times longer than the current age of the observable universe. Truly, strong and stable.

Guardian 28th Dec 2017 read more »

Uranium

The International Uranium Film Festival is dedicated to all films about nuclear power and its associated risks of radioactivity. This educational event merges art, ecology, environmentalism, and environmental justice as it informs the public about uranium mining and milling, nuclear power issues, nuclear weapons, and the nuclear fuel cycle. The dynamic media of film and video allow organizers and festival participants to educate and activate the international public as it brings together cultures and generations around the effects of radioactivity and radioactive materials.

Clean Technica 27th Dec 2017 read more »

Chernobyl

Whitehall was plunged into chaos by the Chernobyl disaster as the radioactive fall-out started arriving in the UK during a bank holiday weekend, according to newly released official files. With prime minister Margaret Thatcher out of the country on an official visit to Japan, government files released by the National Archives at Kew suggest the immediate response was little short of shambolic. Phone lines were overwhelmed, advice issued to calm public fears only inflamed them, while officials were dismayed to discover they did not have a contingency plan for dealing with an incident involving an overseas nuclear facility. “Environment secretary Kenneth Baker sought to assure the public the risks were “insignificant”, only for John Dunster, the head of the National Radiological Protection Board, to say the death toll in the UK would run to “tens of people”. “Both conclusions derived from the the same assumption and analysis. Mr Dunster was quantifying what he regarded as an insignificant risk”. “The next day he had to explain that tens of deaths would arise from cancer over the next 30 to 40 years, during which time millions would die from cancer wholly unconnected with the Chernobyl incident.”

Energy Voice 29th Dec 2017 read more »

Margaret Thatcher demanded the government draw up new contingency plans for a major nuclear incident after the response to the Chernobyl disaster was branded a “farce” and a “shambles”. Classified government papers released today reveal concern in the weeks following the disaster that failings in the government’s response could give ammunition to opponents of nuclear power and snarl proposed new power stations. Ministers had agreed to the construction of a second nuclear reactor at Sizewell in Suffolk at the time of the disaster but the decision had not been made public. The prime minister asked officials to draw up new guidelines in the event of a nuclear disaster at home or an incident overseas that sent radioactive fallout over the UK. Radiation from the explosion at Chernobyl on 26 April, 1986, spread across much of Europe, leading to residents in rural parts of Scotland, north Wales and north-west England briefly being advised not to drink rainwater.

Scotsman 29th Dec 2017 read more »

Times 29th Dec 2017 read more »

Fukushima

Decontamination and demolition of houses has begun in an area affected by the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima Prefecture. The area in Futaba Town is designated as a post-disaster reconstruction hub inside the “no-entry” zone set up due to high radiation levels. The Environment Ministry plans to administer the project, which will cover a 555-hectare area within the town. Town Mayor Shiro Izawa spoke to the workers at the start of the operation on Monday. He asked them to keep in mind that residents are looking forward to returning to the town as early as possible. The first phase will continue until July next year and cover an area of about 7 hectares. Workers will initially do weeding along roads near a railway station and around public facilities. They will then remove contaminated top soil, and demolish about 55 houses and public buildings.

NHK 25th Dec 2017 read more »

A suspended pan-tilt camera attached to a telescopic guiding pipe will soon be used to investigate the interior of the primary containment vessel (PCV) of the damaged unit 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. The device was developed by Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions (Toshiba ESS) and the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID).

World Nuclear News 28th Dec 2017 read more »

Areva/EDF

Areva SA and EDF have signed definitive binding agreements setting the terms of the sale of New NP, Areva NP’s nuclear reactor operations. The transaction is scheduled to close by the end of this year. The sale price for 100% of New NP’s equity has been confirmed at €2.5 billion.

World Nuclear News 27th Dec 2017 read more »

Russia

The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, has approved amendments to the law governing Rosatom, which give the state nuclear corporation’s supervisory board the power to approve the development and financing of nuclear power projects. The law was presented by Alexey Dmitrienko, a member of the Federation Council’s economic policy committee, on 26 December. Rather than having to seek parliamentary approval at the start and also at the various stages of a project, Rosatom will be able to proceed on the authority of the first approval. The new procedure will thus reduce the time and costs involved, but does not change the licensing arrangements for the operation and safety of nuclear power projects.

World Nuclear News 28th Dec 2017 read more »

US

The number of vehicles contaminated with specks of radioactive material at Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant has jumped to 19 as checks continue. As of about 2 p.m. Wednesday, 12 government or contractor vehicles had been found with radioactive contamination, with 55 of 86 vehicles still to be surveyed. The number increased from seven contaminated government and contractor vehicles discovered before the Christmas weekend.

Tri City Herald 27th Dec 2017 read more »

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