The good news – Sizewell C. “Boris Johnson is close to giving Sizewell nuclear power plant in Suffolk the go-ahead” we were told on November 5th. Sizewell C will provide 3.2 GW of electricity for 60 to 80 years – and 5.8 GW of waste heat in addition.
We will not be able to hold the AGM in person at the Institute of Civil Engineers as we had hoped. Nevertheless, the Meeting will go ahead on 26 October at 2pm, but in a different form. It will be in two parts, both online and open to Members. In a lighter vein, Marie Zabell has drawn a cartoon strip about the differing effects of nuclear and renewables on Nature.
Last month Neville Chamberlain wrote to the Prime Minister, as reported in Newsletter 256. The reply that came back from the Ministry repeats what is already in the public sphere. — Nuclear Phobia was born 75 years ago this month.
Everybody is waiting for the Government to announce its energy policy. Whether it is the Government or the Civil Service that is in disarray, it is clear that feet are being dragged and that plans for a viable energy future are still gathering dust in Whitehall. A letter to the Prime Minister. A comment on Solar Panels. Nuclear radiation is not like a virus.
The cacophony that currently fills the news columns obstructs rational communication. The noise is almost exclusively on the subject of COVID-19 and health, of course. It makes spreading sensible discussion on the need for nuclear energy that much harder. Improving the ratio of signal to noise requires getting the message signal right – but understanding how the noise is received, too.
At last! Admittedly dwelling on emotion rather than evidence, a full-length video, “Planet of the Humans”, made by environmentalists, that condemns “Renewables” for the confidence trick that they are.
What was once the National Nuclear Corporation (NNC), based in Knutsford and which might be regarded as the last UK specialist nuclear engineering organisation, is now in US ownership, having been bought by Jacobs Engineering for a reported £250million.
On 8 January at the suggestion of SONE member, Malcolm Savidge, the Cirencester Science and Technology Society hosted a lecture on “Nature, Nuclear Energy and Life”. On 25 January SONE members attended an open “Stargazing” event hosted by the Oxford Physics Department.