environmental news & information about the UK electricity supply industry
Ukraine marks another anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear accident this week. A new solar plant has been built there, in the shadow of the reactor which exploded in 1986. BBC Ukraine correspondent Jonah Fisher reports.
BBC 29th April 2018 read more »
The U.S. Energy Department has 54 metric tons of surplus plutonium at sites across the country and cannot decide what to do with it, according to department officials. Nuclear researchers warn that many of these sites are storing more of the radioactive substance than is safe and that a mishap at any one of them could lead to full-blown disaster.
Science Recorder 27th April 2018 read more »
The reactor at the Doel 1 nuclear power plant in Beveren was shut down earlier this week . The reason given at that time was a ” maintenance at the level of the cooling circuit ” . Engie Electrabel confirmed to local TV TV Oost that a leak was detected in the nuclear section during this review. The reactor will be shut down at least until October 1st.
RTBF 28trh April 2018 read more »
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has pledged to shutter a nuclear test site and invite foreign experts and journalists to witness the decommissioning in May as he prepares to meet Donald Trump as early as next month. Kim also said there was no need for the North to maintain a nuclear arsenal if a peace treaty is formalised and relations with the US improve, according to South Korea’s presidential office.
Guardian 29th April 2018 read more »
Telegraph 29th April 2018 read more »
The Trump administration’s plan to add two new varieties of nuclear weapons into the U.S. arsenal will face one of its first legislative tests this month. The House Armed Services Committee is teeing up a debate on the proposed sea-based cruise missiles and lower-yield ballistic missiles launched from submarines on May 9. The focus: whether these weapons will make nuclear war with Russia more or less likely.
Washington Examiner 28th April 2018 read more »
Centrica is launching a trial in Cornwall to explore how blockchain technology could change the way consumers buy and sell power. The FTSE 100 power giant invested in an American blockchain start-up, LO3 Energy, last year. It has enlisted about 200 businesses and homes to test peer-to-peer energy trading using the technology. Blockchain is a decentralised digital ledger that records transactions, such as those made with digital currencies. Centrica is moving away from large, centralised power stations and expanding into distributed generation – where power is produced by smaller, dispersed sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels. The blockchain project is part of a £19m initiative in Cornwall where Centrica is testing the potential of distributed generation and battery storage to transform the sector.
Times 29th April 2018 read more »
In the transition to renewable energy, the US state of Hawaii is already punching above its weight, with a plan to reach 40 per cent by 2030, and a mandated goal of 100 per cent by 2045. But a new report from the Rhodium Group and Smart Growth America has found that it would be cheaper and better for the economy of the Aloha State to double down on that trajectory, and shoot for as much as 84 per cent renewables by as early as 2030. “It’s cheaper to go faster than to stick with our current targets,” said the report’s authors.
Renew Economy 24th April 2018 read more »
GRANGEMOUTH petrochemical giant Ineos is facing a legal challenge to its bid to sue the Scottish Government for multi-million pound damages for banning fracking. An environmental group has won an unprecedented right to intervene in a court case, due to begin this week, in support of the government ban. The Court of Session in Edinburgh has given Friends of the Earth Scotland permission to make a formal submission in the “public interest”. The group will be arguing that the fracking ban is lawful, and essential if Scotland is to meet its legally-binding targets to cut climate pollution. Ineos will maintain that the ban is a “misuse of ministerial power” and that it is due substantial compensation from taxpayers. Lawyers say this is the first time that the Court of Session has permitted a public interest intervention on environmental grounds. An initial procedural hearing is scheduled on May 1, with the substantive case due to start on May 8. Ineos has licences from the UK Government to frack for underground shale gas across large parts of the central belt around Grangemouth, but its plans were stymied in October 2017 when the Scottish Government converted its 32-month moratorium on fracking into an indefinite ban.
Herald 29th April 2018 read more »
AN INQUIRY has begun into the future of the oil and gas industry in Scotland. The Scottish Affairs Committee will look at challenges facing the sector and how they can be tackled, and ways to secure the future of oil and gas in Scotland as reserves decline. It will also examine how effective the UK Government has been in supporting the long-term future of the industry and how to maximise the economic return. The committee said Scotland’s oil and gas is central the UK economy, contributing approximately £17 billion to the balance of trade and supporting more than 300,000 jobs.
Herald 26th April 2018 read more »
A lifetime afterwards Gustav Born said “the shadow of Hiroshima” was still with him. “In the rubble people stood at the roadside, desperate, thin and starving, and very quiet,” he recalled in old age. “Thousands were still dying from the effects of radiation.”
Times 27th April 2018 read more »
Plaid Cymru says that Wales will not receive payment for mud dumped off the Welsh coast from Hinkley Point nuclear site. In a statement by the Welsh Goverment following a question by Mid and West AM Simon Thomas, it stated that no payment is made to Welsh coffers for sediment disposed of at the Cardiff Grounds disposal site. No payment will be received at the point of deposit. There is a fee for the determination of the Marine Licence to gain permission to carry out the activity, but not for the activity itself. The Plaid Cymru Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Mr Thomas said: “It seems unlikely that the mud from Hinkley construction is dangerous, but it is still being dumped in Welsh waters. Despite being a £20bn project, Wales does not get a penny for nuclear waste in our seas.
The Barry GEM 26th April 2018 read more »
BUSINESSES adversely affected by the construction of Hinkley Point C can now apply for grants of up to £5,000. EDF Energy will make more than £134,000 available to small firms in and around Bridgwater affected by increased HGV traffic on the town’s main roads. Sedgemoor District Council is to match fund EDF’s allocation, with all the money needing to be distributed to businesses by the end of September 2019. The council’s executive committee agreed to create the Hinkley Point C small business grant fund at a meeting in Bridgwater on Wednesday morning (April 25).
Bridgwater Mercury 27th April 2018 read more »
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