Posted by NucNet on 8 January 2013 in NucNet
Rolls-Royce Holdings is expanding its nuclear energy operations with the purchase for an undisclosed sum of US engineering company PKMJ Technical Services. The acquisition aims to accelerate growth in nuclear services, London-based Rolls-Royce said in a statement today. Rolls-Royce already has nuclear services facilities in Williamson, New York ...
More than half of the communities in Japan that host nuclear power plants are in support of reactors being restarted as long as their safety is assured by the government, a newspaper survey says. The ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ survey, published yesterday, shows that 54 percent of the 135 communities ...
Posted by NucNet on 3 January 2013 in NucNet
The operator of Spain’s Santa María de Garoña nuclear power plant says its board of directors has ratified its decision to shut down the facility in northern Spain. Nuclenor, a joint venture between Iberdrola and Endesa, said last month that it would close the single-unit plant ahead of ...
Japan’s new Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) prime minister Shinzo Abe has said for the first time that his government will endorse the construction of new nuclear power plants. Mr Abe said in a statement that he would take “a level-headed look” at what caused the March 2011 nuclear ...
Posted by SONE on 1 January 2013 in Newsletters
HOW NOT TO HANDLE NUCLEAR POWER AT THE CROSSROADS. Nuclear power is at the crossroads, according to the Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). They can say that again. That certainly is the situation here in the UK as EdF approaches the moment of truth: Will it or won’t ...
Posted by SONE on 1 January 2013 in Issues
Beyond design basis The acceptance of a GDA (generic design assessment) for the UK EPR (European pressurise water reactor) in December was reported by the press but nobody got particularly enthusiastic about it. We will have to make up for this because it is a very significant event. ...
Posted by PJ Owen (SONE Webmaster) on 29 November 2012 in Historic
Reforms to the UK’s electricity market including the introduction of “contracts for difference” are intended to help the country’s energy sector – including the nuclear industry – attract “record investment”, the government has said.
Posted by PJ Owen (SONE Webmaster) on 26 November 2012 in Historic
The sale of the Horizon nuclear energy venture to Hitachi was a “shot in the arm” for energy policy in the UK and shows that the government and the nuclear industry can deliver on a cost-effective, third-generation of reactors, the energy and climate change secretary has said. Giving ...
Posted by PJ Owen (SONE Webmaster) on 23 November 2012 in Historic
The UK’s ruling coalition government has reached agreement on a number of key aspects of its forthcoming energy bill, including plans for almost eight billion pounds (GBP) (12.7 billion US dollars, 9.8 billion euro) of “market support” for new nuclear and other low carbon energy technologies.
Posted by PJ Owen (SONE Webmaster) on 16 November 2012 in Historic
Improvements in the quality and timeliness of submissions from Areva and EDF on outstanding issues concerning design approval of their UK European Pressurised Water Reactor (UK EPR) mean “closure of all issues should be achievable before the end of the year”, UK nuclear regulators have said.
Posted by SONE on 8 November 2012 in Newsletters
WE KNEW THINGS WERE DIFFICULT, BUT NOT THAT DESPERATE SONE exists for but one purpose: to promote civil nuclear power. With energy policy in its present parlous state, we were sooner or later going to have to review how we do so.
Posted by PJ Owen (SONE Webmaster) on 8 November 2012 in Issues
The future of nuclear energy in the UK This report (July 2012) from the Birmingham Policy Commission, of the University, under the chairmanship of Lord Hunt, a former Minister of Energy, gives a valuable assessment of the challenges facing the UK if it is to build up its nuclear programme
Posted by PJ Owen (SONE Webmaster) on 30 October 2012 in Newsletters
IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN – BUT AT WHAT PRICE, INDUSTRY ASKS. Lord Hutton, chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association, told SONE’s AGM on October 22 that it was meeting at a watershed for nuclear power development in Britain with the French company, EdF, coming up to a major ...
Posted by PJ Owen (SONE Webmaster) on 30 October 2012 in Issues
Shut down or safe low power? After a major natural disaster, such as an earthquake, the operators of nuclear power plants usually claim proudly that their reactors shut down automatically. There is a preoccupation with prevention of a reactivity accident. But is this necessarily the best condition for ...
Posted by PJ Owen (SONE Webmaster) on 22 October 2012 in Historic
Civic-minded people interested in energy use and the impact it has for our economy and environment. We present the facts about nuclear energy.
Posted by PJ Owen (SONE Webmaster) on 19 July 2012 in Historic
Nuclear power is the only form of electricity generation that meets all the Government’s objectives: security of low carbon supply at affordable cost. Without it, there is a risk sooner or later of a shortage of electricity supply that would have disastrous consequences for the economy.
