News 2022

Sizewell

6th July 2022

In May 2020, NNB Generation Company (SZC) Limited applied to the Environment Agency for 3 environmental permits to operate Sizewell C. We consulted on these applications from July to October 2020. We have come to a proposed decision on whether we should issue these permits, and if we do what conditions they should include. The permits are to: dispose of and discharge radioactive waste; operate standby power supply systems using diesel generators; discharge cooling water and liquid effluent into the North Sea; Our proposed decision is that we should issue all 3 permits. The conclusions of other assessments support our view, including these 4: Radiological Impact Assessment; Habitats Regulations Assessment; Countryside and Rights of Way Sites of Special Scientific Interest assessment; Water Framework Directive; We want your views on our proposed decision, draft permits and supporting documents. We will consider your views before we make our final decision.

Environment Agency 4th July 2022 read more »

World Nuclear News 5th July 2022 read more »

British Gas parent company Centrica has shown an interest in taking a stake in the proposed £20bn Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk.

New Civil Engineer 4th July 2022 read more »

A decision on whether to grant government planning approval for a new nuclear reactor for Suffolk is expected this week. What are the reasons behind Sizewell C and the arguments both for and against it?

BBC 6th July 2022 read more »

New Nuclear

6th July 2022

This week, UK energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to grant planning permission for Sizewell C, part of the government’s promise to build back British nuclear energy. The power plant on the Suffolk coast will eventually provide 3.2 gigawatts (GW) of baseload, carbon-free electricity and 900 jobs, so long as it receives sufficient financial backing by 2024. Nuclear investment was a central part of the government’s recent Energy Security Strategy, published in April to address spiralling energy prices and the UK’s reliance on Russian gas. The strategy also outlined expanded plans for offshore wind, solar and hydrogen development. It is encouraging the government understands the UK can only reach net-zero by embracing all available clean technologies, including nuclear energy. But its ambitions are not even in the correct ballpark. The Energy Security Strategy greatly underestimates the amount of electricity we will need in 2050, meaning the current targets for nuclear and renewables, if met, will only scratch the surface of what is needed. The government hopes that 25GW of nuclear energy will meet a quarter of the UK’s electricity needs by 2050. So they project just a 32 per cent increase in capacity, as the current capacity is 73GW. This is woefully inadequate and will have long-term consequences for the UK if it’s not increased. Carbon-Free Europe’s modelling shows that the UK’s planned shift to electric cars and electrified heating in homes will increase the UK’s demand by over 200 per cent. On current targets the UK will face electricity shortages and even higher energy bills, in addition to fresh energy security worries. Our modelling shows the UK needs at least 63 GW of nuclear capacity to meet the UK’s energy needs in 2050. This means deploying a Sizewell-C sized power station every other year or 2 small modular reactors (SMR) every year from now until 2050. It is also important to note that most existing nuclear power stations are due to be retired by the end of the decade, so it is vital that a generation of nuclear projects are brought online before 2030 to fill the gap.

Independent 5th July 2022 read more »

SMRs

6th July 2022

Rolls Royce’s mini nuclear reactor factories could be brought to Carlisle. “To see a Cumberland site shortlisted as one of the potential sites for the first Rolls Royce SMR is really exciting.” In a shortlist that was announced yesterday (July 4), Kingmoor Park, Carlisle is one of seven sites on the shortlist to potentially manufacture the parts. The shortlist was selected against a clear set of criteria, picked from over 100 submissions from Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and development agencies – suggesting sites across the UK where the Rolls-Royce SMR factories could be located.

Lancs Live 5th July 2022 read more »

Rolls Royce has a memorandum of understanding with industry figures to bring the first of a kind SMR to a site near Sellafield, whether it be Moorside or Fellside. News that Carlisle could house the factory to build it’s component parts has been hailed as positive news. David Moore, Copeland Council’s exec member for nuclear and commercial services said: “That’s good news it’s part of the new Cumberland. I’m delighted that’s gone forward there’s opportunities nearer towards site and there are places towards Allerdale that need to be considered.”

Carlisle News & Star 5th July 2022 read more »

Rolls-Royce SMR has announced a list of potential locations for its first factory, with two sites in North East Lincolnshire shortlisted. They are at Grimsby and Stallingborough.

Planet Radio 5th July 2022 read more »

Deeside named by by Rolls-Royce SMR as potential site for factory.

The Leader 5th July 2022 read more »

Sunderland shortlisted for potential site of Rolls-Royce nuclear factory.

Sunderland Echo 5th July 2022 read more »

Radwaste

6th July 2022

The Allerdale Community Partnership may boast that its latest appointees are ‘independent’, but, as the Nuclear Free Local Authorities have discovered, a little research reveals their business links to the nuclear industry. The Community Partnership is the lead local body working in partnership with Nuclear Waste Services, an arm of the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency, to determine if Allerdale could become the location for a Geological Disposal Facility, an underground or undersea dump for Britain’s toxic legacy of nuclear waste. Now the Community Partnership has announced the appointment of four new board members, three are individuals, Adrian Davis-Johnson, Phil Davies, and John Coughlan, whilst the fourth is an organisation, the Cumbria Youth Alliance. In its March recruitment drive, the Allerdale Community Partnership pledged to appoint new members that were ‘both representative (of the local community) and diverse’, but the three appointed individuals all have a long history of working for or providing services to the nuclear industry.

NFLA 5th July 2022 read more »

Energy Costs

6th July 2022

Revealed: How much ‘electric households’ are saving on bills. “The rapid changes in fossil fuel prices are causing this difference to grow… it’s a constantly changing picture and it’s only really getting worse,” think tank ECIU said. Households with fossil fuel cars and gas boilers are shelling out £1,180 more on their annual bills compared with their electric counterparts, according to new analysis shared exclusively with Sky News.

Sky News 4th July 2022 read more »

Energy crisis: Households handed lifeline to slash bills by £1,180 with just two changes. ELECTRIC HOUSEHOLDS that have heat pumps and electric cars are saving a whopping £1,180 per year on average in comparison with those using gas boilers and petrol vehicles. This is the finding of an analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), which also revealed that as the rate of annual inflation hit 9.1 percent in May — the highest in 40 years — more than a third of this increase has been driven by the gas and oil crisis. However, while the inflation contribution from energy was 3.3 percent for households powered by fossil fuels, it was only 2.3 percent for those using heat pumps and electric cars. With petrol prices still rising and another increase in the energy price cap expected in October, the gap in energy costs between fossil fuel and fully electric households could easily grow to an average of around £1,600 each year.

Express 6th July 2022 read more »

All types of household energy bill are now heading above £3,000 a year this winter, figures seen by the BBC show. The rise is 7% more than the latest cost of living support package from the government, announced six weeks ago. The government said: “We do not recognise these figures but government and Ofgem keep a close watch on energy prices.” National Energy Action said there are “few signs of energy prices becoming affordable this winter”. The bleak prediction comes as households are already struggling with rising food and fuel prices. Every UK household is to get an energy bill discount of £400 this October, whilst poorest households will also get a payment of £650. But adding to the uncertainty are the resignations of the chancellor and health secretary which are drawing ministers’ attention inward and away from any economic rescue plan.

BBC 6th July 2022 read more »

Electricity Markets

6th July 2022

Without reform of the market, the UK will miss its 2035 electricity decarbonisation target according to a new report from centre-right think tank Onward. It follows the government announcing its Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) in the British Energy Security Strategy in April, which seeks to confront challenges around intermittent generation from renewables as demand for electricity is set to double by 2050. According to Onward, there are five key questions the review needs to answer, including how the UK’s electricity system be operated affordably and securely with lots of renewables, how markets can fairly reflect the costs and benefits of different generators and customers, and how the link between gas prices and electricity bills can be broken.

Current 5th July 2022 read more »

Energy Security

6th July 2022

The landmark Energy Security Bill, announced as part of the Queen’s Speech, will be introduced into Parliament today by Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. New measures to propel the UK’s transition to a cleaner, affordable, home grown energy system will be introduced today in a move that will further boost the country’s energy security and better protect consumers. The landmark Energy Security Bill, announced as part of the Queen’s Speech, will be introduced into Parliament today by Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and is the most significant piece of energy legislation in a decade, with 26 measures. It follows immediate support from the government to help people with rising energy costs and puts into law measures to boost long-term energy independence, security, and prosperity including in the British Energy Security Strategy announced earlier this year. The Bill will help drive an unprecedented £100 billion of private sector investment by 2030 into new British industries that are built to last and help diversify our domestic energy supply, including hydrogen and offshore wind, and support around 480,000 green jobs by the end of the decade.

BEIS 6th July 2022 read more »

Fusion

6th July 2022

Nuclear fusion engineers are starting to design a European power station they hope will mimic how the sun works to provide a clean, almost unlimited source of energy on Earth. Today marks the beginning of a five-year “conceptual design” phase to flesh out key technology decisions for the DEMOnstration power plant (DEMO), a project backed by a Europe-wide consortium, EuroFusion, to take fusion power from the concept stage to a commercial reality. The group plans for the 300 to 500 megawatt reactor to be generating low-carbon energy by 2054. There has been plenty of experimental work on nuclear fusion, largely with machines known as tokamaks. These use powerful magnets to confine and control hot matter – or plasma – usually in the shape of a doughnut. The plasma is typically produced from two hydrogen isotopes: deuterium and tritium. Much of the research has focused on tweaking the materials and magnets in the walls of tokamaks, and better modelling how experiments with plasmas will play out, with the ultimate aim of getting more energy out of a fusion reaction than goes in.

New Scientist 5th July 2022 read more »

The US government has partnered with a private company with plans to send a nuclear fusion into space by 2027. Dubbed the “Holy Grail” of energy sources, the process allows two light nuclei to merge to form a single heavier nucleus, and the leftover mass becomes energy. A nuclear fusion powers the sun and stars, as hydrogen atoms are forced together under enormous heat and pressure to form helium. It is said to create the cleanest and most efficient forms of energy, and Avalanche Energy believe they have the answer with a small reactor called the Orbitron, reports Newsweek.

Indy100 5th July 2022 read more »

Nuclear Weapons

6th July 2022

NFLA Policy Briefing 240: Update on NFLA action to promote institutional divestment from nuclear weapons.

NFLA 5th July 2022 read more »

As the international community and civil society marks the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons tomorrow (7 July), the Nuclear Free Local Authorities have written to the Prime Minister and Minister for Veterans Affairs calling for urgent recognition and compensation for Britain’s atom and nuclear bomb test veterans.

NFLA 6th July 2022 read more »

Europe

6th July 2022

A European Union plan to label investments in natural gas and nuclear power plants as climate-friendly will be put to a final vote on Wednesday (6 July) when lawmakers decide whether to accept or reject proposals that have divided governments and investors. The vote is the final hurdle in the EU’s long-delayed decision on whether to add the two energy sources to its “taxonomy”, a rulebook determining which investments can be marketed in Europe as sustainable. Designed to guide private capital towards truly green projects, the rules aim to set a European standard for sustainable investment and stamp out greenwashing. EU officials expect a tight vote. A total of 353 lawmakers – just over half of the 705 in the full parliament – would need to reject the EU rules. Voting must be done in person, so the handful of lawmakers off sick with COVID-19 has further tightened the ballot.

Euractiv 6th July 2022 read more »

Sizewell

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