SONE Newsletters

Posted by Wade Allison on 25 November 2024 in Newsletters

SONE AGM, new Patrons and panel discussion — Capenhurst Visit — Other methods of enrichment, a note — The road to net zero: renewables and nuclear working together — A recent posting on LinkedIn by Wade Allison — New links and posts in support of nuclear energy.

Posted by Wade Allison on 1 October 2024 in Newsletters

Banking sector gets the message – Nuclear shipping comment by Neville – UK policy from the Labour Party – Great British Nuclear narrows SMR Competition – Three Mile Island & Microsoft – Negative solar energy prices – Swedish Deputy PM emphasises science over politics – Fusion in perspective – Future nuclear plants in Russia – Heat in Finland – Lead cooled SMRs – Fuel production at Springfields – Fukushima, recall of an early visit to combat fear.

Posted by Wade Allison on 26 August 2024 in Newsletters

UK SMR contestants — UK & Denmark nuclear shipping regulation — What if Germany had invested in nuclear? — IAEA welcomes thirty nuclear newcomers and SMR interests — China approves 11 new reactors — In the USA nuclear is omitted from Democratic electoral case — Disposable Power Plants — Texas electrical power on 20th August — Finnish SMR designed to produce heat, not electricity — India ramps up nuclear plants — Enrichment in UK and a podcast with Urenco — Energy sources top trumps — A poster published by ResearchFeatures.

Posted by Wade Allison on 19 July 2024 in Newsletters

Climate Challenge for the New Government — AGM and provisional site visit — Some in Australia look to UK — Italy invests in nuclear education — SMR submissions to Great British Nuclear — Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power wins Czech contest — USA: the ADVANCE Act — Data centres and their growing hunger — Turkey and the UK — History Corner.

Posted by Wade Allison on 18 June 2024 in Newsletters

Elections and nuclear energy — Climate change in reverse — UK SMR interests — New Nuclear in Maritime — Breakthrough? — Norway’s nuclear plans — Poland approves Rolls-Royce SMRs — Interconnectors fail to make friends — Calder Hall Booklet 1961.

Posted by Wade Allison on 29 May 2024 in Newsletters

Nuclear Skills — Nuclear fuel developments in UK — Nuclear safety: a disagreement with the Director General of the IAEA — Activity at Sheffield — Sizewell, Wylfa and Teesside — Nuclear developments around the world — More on Sellafield

Posted by Wade Allison on 20 April 2024 in Newsletters

An analogy with bridges and ferries — Radiological protection: science confronts the LNT Model — Stories of nuclear plant closures in New York and elsewhere in USA — Europe’s Energy Blunders: Lessons from IEA Chief — Current enthusiasm for new nuclear going critical — Nuclear news from a number of countries that caught my eye — “New Nuclear is HOT”, a new book by Robert Hargraves.

Posted by Wade Allison on 27 March 2024 in Newsletters

Nuclear Energy Declaration Adopted in Brussels — Nuclear closure was hailed as a green win, then emissions went up — The Science Museum is looking forwards — Oppenheimer conclusion — Six early nuclear reactor films digitized — Austria and Nuclear Power — Regulations: cooperation between UK ONR, US NRC and CNSC — British Industry is busy, at home and abroad! — Pressure for US regulatory changes.

Posted by Wade Allison on 21 February 2024 in Newsletters

The simple basis of chemical & nuclear energy, 1924 — Great British Nuclear – Simon Bowen — A funded proposal for Westinghouse SMRs on Teesside — News about Wylfa and Heysham — MoltexFlex and Moltex SSR Wasteburner — Sellafield and nuclear waste — Establishing confidence in nuclear energy — Cracks in the “Renewables” Net Zero project.

Posted by Wade Allison on 16 January 2024 in Newsletters

GO for Sizewell C construction ... and a proper nuclear programme announced — News of UK AGR plant extensions — From COP28 — Moltex in Canada and MoltexFlex in UK — NuScale — Newcleo — HALEU fuel — Nuclear powered shipping — Nuclear Energy Maritime Organisation — Zion Lights asks a good question — Films.

Posted by Wade Allison on 7 December 2023 in Newsletters

Early news of policy changes at COP28 — Opportunities abroad — US Nuclear Regulatory Commission dragging its feet — Learning to live with a Million — Report from The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Nuclear Energy — Heating as well as electricity — Oil and gas executives — Germany realises it needs nuclear.

Posted by Wade Allison on 1 November 2023 in Newsletters

SONE Silver Jubilee Celebrations, House of Lords, 27th October — The Health Physics Society Tells Truth to Power in the USA — October 2, UK Government announces six competitors for first SMR — Another UK competitor, Newcleo — Green light for Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment — Donald Avery (1926-2023) — Minutes of the SONE AGM 2023.

Posted by Wade Allison on 28 September 2023 in Newsletters

Winners of the Jubilee Essay Prize Competition — House of Lords Celebration — “Science at the Shops” Oct 22nd — Manpower, and womanpower too — Last Energy — A podcast with Tom Nelson — Nuclear shipping news — Reconsidering regulations — The weather gets worse for renewables — The Renewable Rover — Too old? Nonsense!

Posted by Wade Allison on 20 August 2023 in Newsletters

Prize Giving and AGM — House of Lords — Major Change in US Nuclear Regulations — Admiral Rickover — It should never have been allowed! — Select Committee on Science and Technology — Renewables in trouble — Copenhagen Atomics — Long life in evacuation zones — A new podcast.

Posted by Peter Havercan on 4 July 2023 in Newsletters

Approval of the Sizewell C was lawful — France confirms commitment to Nuclear Energy — Did coal bail out solar? — Battery fire killed four in NYC — Siemens Energy’s profits have tumbled — China authorises a new Thorium MSR — No babies were harmed — New platform for nuclear videos — SONE Jubilee essay competitions continue.

Posted by Wade Allison on 1 June 2023 in Newsletters

Moltex Flex webinar: Quick! Join this webinar on 9 June — Daily Telegraph article disowned — A week in S Korea — Dow getting a big nuclear-based industrial act together?

Posted by Wade Allison on 24 April 2023 in Newsletters

SONE Silver Jubilee: Prizes and Competition announced — The Plusses and Minuses of the Energy Beauty Pageant — “Hug pylons, not trees” — A new paper on the fear of radiation by Brookes et al — X-Energy: news of actors getting together, there and here — A second discussion with Hugo Kruger — A few older videos and other links.

Posted by Wade Allison on 7 March 2023 in Newsletters

Sir Bernard Ingham (1932-2023) — SONE, 25 years old in June — Centenaries for the Flying Scotsman and de Broglie Waves — HALEU fuel for small or micro reactors — Head winds for financing renewables, but nuclear too — Power plant build rate required in the UK — Simple UK stats presented by Dr Tim Stone.

Posted by Wade Allison on 17 February 2023 in Newsletters

SONE escapes the clutches of the Green — Change in Whitehall — Poland, Canada, Estonia, USA — Japan supports extended reactor life times — Uranium mining and fuel milling — Enthusiasm from Korean shipping lines — MoltexFLEX — Equilibrion, a startup for hydrogen, heat and synfuels — Safety of ionising radiation — JET's impending retirement.

Posted by Wade Allison on 23 January 2023 in Newsletters

News of New Nuclear in UK — Robert Oppenheimer’s name cleared — At the Science Museum — At the Frontier Energy 2050 Summit Conference — Review of Net Zero by Chris Skidmore MP — A view on low level nuclear waste — Wind energy.

Posted by Wade Allison on 6 December 2022 in Newsletters

Happy Christmas — Sizewell C — Nuclear power in Scotland — Electricity price fluctuations — Production of electricity as the wind speed changes — Hydro — Low Dose Radiation and Hormesis.

Posted by Wade Allison on 5 November 2022 in Newsletters

Sizewell C — Annual General Meeting — Education needed on a grand scale — News from EDF, Moltex, and Rolls Royce — “The Big Mistake”: a discussion — Renewables and batteries in trouble — The World’s First Nuclear Maritime Conference — SONE on Twitter.

Posted by Wade Allison on 14 September 2022 in Newsletters

Notice of AGM — Who is moving nuclear energy ahead in the UK? — What is obstructing the roll out of SMR technology? — Diablo Canyon and German power stations saved - for now!

Posted by Wade Allison on 13 August 2022 in Newsletters

RIP James Lovelock — News of nuclear reactors from around the world — The Threshold Conference.

Posted by Wade Allison on 11 July 2022 in Newsletters

Steering public opinion — European Taxonomy — Opinion in Germany — A view from Switzerland — Press comment from US that includes some praise for the UK — Faith in batteries — Don Wiles.

Posted by Wade Allison on 9 June 2022 in Newsletters

The variety of new designs for nuclear energy plants is extraordinary! — Finnish Greens go nuclear! — Cavendish Nuclear and X-energy collaboration — International standardisation: Yes please — Emergency Reactor

Posted by Wade Allison on 6 May 2022 in Newsletters

Nuclear in Government energy strategy — Diablo Canyon closure deferred — Mothers for Nuclear Deutschland — Renewables and batteries in trouble — Morocco interconnection

Posted by Wade Allison on 1 April 2022 in Newsletters

Follow nuclear developments with World Nuclear News — Enthusiasm for nuclear energy is not confined to those who remember “Atoms For Peace” — “No More Radiophobia” by Theo Richel — Merchant Shipping (Nuclear Ships) Regulations — IOMP-ICRP Webinar — Coming to Terms with Nuclear Waste.

Posted by Wade Allison on 24 March 2022 in Newsletters

Starting this month, we are posting separately the SONE monthly Newsletter and the substantive articles that were sometimes abbreviated to fit a printed letter. Each month the Newsletter will cover brief items of news and introduce the new longer pieces posted at the same time and available on the SONE website on the Articles tab.

Posted by Wade Allison on 3 February 2022 in Newsletters

A promised debate on funding nuclear waste — A reply in “Foreign Affairs” to an article by Allison Macfarlane — A review of “Lise Meitner – a Life in Physics”

Posted by Wade Allison on 13 January 2022 in Newsletters

Long awaited news on funding — Plans for next generation UK reactors — Some well-aimed comments from previous Secretaries.

Posted by Wade Allison on 4 December 2021 in Newsletters

A message from Rosie, a dog in New Zealand — Minutes of the AGM, October 2021 — News items — Some video links of interest.

Posted by Wade Allison on 17 November 2021 in Newsletters

Brief report of COP26 for SONE — “Who put the lights out?”: From a report report on the Scottish electricity supply commissioned by Scotland Matters and published by ThinkScotland.org.

Posted by Wade Allison on 6 October 2021 in Newsletters

Spectator podcast: “Why Fear Nuclear Energy?” — We Shall Not Burn Carbon? — An Expensive Failure? — Global Freezing — Update on Fusion — French Cable Interconnector — COP26 — Is the mood changing?

Posted by Wade Allison on 9 August 2021 in Newsletters

UK Government policy — Raw materials and raw principles — Another big lithium ion battery fire — Resilience, the question people need to ask — The jury — Hydroelectricity and climate change.

Posted by Wade Allison on 19 July 2021 in Newsletters

Natural Science and ignorance by Carl Sagan — High temperature reactors: a comment and a reply — The Nuclear Institute — The danger and inadequacy of lithium storage batteries — From the Dalton Nuclear Institute, Manchester.

Posted by Wade Allison on 14 June 2021 in Newsletters

SONE website rebuilt — News from ‘Penultimate Power’ (UK) Ltd — Nuclear and NetZero — Glasgow declined! — You don’t have to be a scientist to trust nuclear energy — ‘Core Power’ at SONE AGM.

Posted by Wade Allison on 19 May 2021 in Newsletters

How to get the nuclear message through to people. What is successful on social media, for instance? Here are some examples that did better than most. — A word from Bill Gates. — The Windjammers, a fanciful story for our time. — Core Power, less fanciful nuclear news for shipping.

Posted by Wade Allison on 30 April 2021 in Newsletters

EU ruling on ‘taxonomy’. — Losses and hopes in the USA. — Hualong One and Two. — ‘Energy and Life with NetZero: Lessons from Covid-19’. — ‘Shorting the Grid’ by Meredith Angwin.

Posted by Wade Allison on 19 March 2021 in Newsletters

SONE at COP26, Glasgow, 1-12 November 2021. — Oh, not the story of Renewables again! — The decline of the nuclear fleet. — Burial sites for wind turbines. — Discussing climate change with doubters. — The case for nuclear power in Japan and South Korea.

Posted by SONE on 13 February 2021 in Newsletters

Wise words from SONE’s Patron, James Lovelock. He may be right in saying that, after giving up fossil fuels, the world will go on messing about with renewables before giving them up for nuclear. But is there enough time? Also, Fukushima: a tragedy of misunderstanding ten years on

Posted by SONE on 31 January 2021 in Newsletters

This month the world turned upside down and as a result this Newsletter is late. A poor excuse, perhaps, but I hope that Members will find the items below stimulating and in some cases encouraging. Of course the choice is personal, but includes important points of view not readily found elsewhere.

Posted by SONE on 21 December 2020 in Newsletters

A very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to all SONE members and their families Wise words from Professor Sarah Gilbert, developer of the Oxford/Astra­Zeneca Vaccine, echoing the sound advice of Marie Curie, long ago... “Don’t dismiss science, because science does so much for us.If you feel uneasy about science, go and understand the science. Go and find out what’s going on”.

Posted by SONE on 19 November 2020 in Newsletters

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.

Posted by SONE on 30 October 2020 in Newsletters

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.

Posted by SONE on 21 August 2020 in Newsletters

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.

Posted by SONE on 15 July 2020 in Newsletters

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.

Posted by SONE on 29 May 2020 in Newsletters

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.

Posted by SONE on 4 May 2020 in Newsletters

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.

Posted by SONE on 3 April 2020 in Newsletters

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.

Posted by SONE on 7 February 2020 in Newsletters

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.

Posted by SONE on 23 January 2020 in Newsletters

Some cuttings from the daily press by James Lovelock and Sir Bernard Ingham. “A Message for Society from Science” published in Oxford at the end of 2019 by Wade Allison. News of bizarre political decisions that will lead to self-harm by EU. A discussion on synthetic fuels with Christopher Cockcroft.

Posted by SONE on 29 November 2019 in Newsletters

All General Election candidates have received an open letter organised by the Nuclear Industry Association and signed by many familiar names. You can read it by clicking here.  Though it reads well, it lets the “renewables” off too lightly, I argue.

Posted by SONE on 4 November 2019 in Newsletters

It had been our intention to issue a Press Release at the time of the Annual General Meeting, urging the Government to increase investment in nuclear power.

Posted by SONE on 30 September 2019 in Newsletters

It’s twenty years since SONE was formed to promote civil nuclear power in the UK. It is time to review how the UK has fared during that time in its commitment to nuclear energy.

Posted by SONE on 10 July 2019 in Newsletters

26th July 2019 is the 100th Birthday of James Lovelock CH CBE FRS, Patron of SONE, Lovelock is the doyen of the broad scientific study of the environment and its future including the part that nuclear energy should play. In the 1970s he developed the Gaia Theory, a description of the two-way dynamic relationship between life and its environment.

Posted by SONE on 29 May 2019 in Newsletters

The website for the Moltex Molten Salt Reactor is offering an investment opportunity open during May and June. I understand that this offer is well subscribed and any SONE member who is interested may have to act quickly to avoid disappointment. (This is not a recommendation, but SONE will alert members whenever such a new opportunity to support nuclear energy initiatives in the UK comes to our attention.)

Posted by SONE on 22 May 2019 in Newsletters

A resolution to cease carbon emissions, as passed by Parliament with great fanfare, achieves nothing unless a thought-out plan follows. The solution should come from advances in science and technology, everyone supposes. These two, science and technology, get conflated by commentators who would benefit from studying the difference.

Posted by SONE on 23 April 2019 in Newsletters

A Good News Month – mostly There have been a few seminal moments in industrial history when a whole new vision of the future appeare. I think of Brunel’s Great Britain, Stephenson’s Rocket and the repeal of the Red Flag Act in 1896 when a new more realistic idea of safety on the roads allowed an avalanche of new development to begin.

Posted by Wade Allison on 15 March 2019 in Newsletters

Energy, life and the environment renewables, fossil fuel and nuclear. To most creatures energy means food and warmth. Squirrels may hedge against changing conditions by simply hoarding nuts, but early humans expanded their interest in energy as they learnt to use fire, power mills and sail ships.

Posted by Wade Allison on 15 February 2019 in Newsletters

Notices: You can help spread information about the benefits of nuclear energy by asking for a talk. Any audience: educational, political or general interest. Email the secretary to fix an occasion.

Posted by Wade Allison on 22 January 2019 in Newsletters

A time to look forward – the future for nuclear. We live in exciting times, and I mean that in a positive sense. The benefit of new nuclear is evident from the large plants now coming online in China. The future for the UK is fraught with major financial and political hurdles but the investment has to be made if the UK is to thrive.

Posted by Wade Allison on 14 December 2018 in Newsletters

The future prospects for successful energy production are crystal clear, unlike other matters that face nations today. The only feasible solution is nuclear deployed on a grand scale, although there is a healthily wide choice of actual designs to choose from.

Posted by SONE on 19 November 2018 in Newsletters

Alan Woods described the ideas behind the 440 MWe small reactor that the consortium lead by Rolls Royce has proposed to the UK Government. Unlike many of the other designs that are jostling for attention and support around the world, including the UK, it is based on standard PWR (Pressurised Water Reactor) technology with standard fuel.

Posted by SONE on 3 October 2018 in Newsletters

The drought this summer has kept the issue of global warming and carbon emissions in the public eye.

Posted by Wade Allison on 6 August 2018 in Newsletters

Though unseen by most people these are responsible for a significant fraction of the world’s emissions of CO2, oxides of nitrogen and sulphur.

Posted by Wade Allison on 4 July 2018 in Newsletters

China General Nuclear Power Group and EDF Group have today announced that unit 1 of the Taishan nuclear power plant has been connected to the grid, becoming the world’s first EPR to achieve grid connection and power generation.

Posted by SONE on 29 May 2018 in Newsletters

Rehabilitating Nuclear Power. Energy needs to be affordable, secure and reliable.

Posted by SONE on 3 May 2018 in Newsletters

Let us give thanks that the “Blast from the West” is slowly evicting the “Beast from the East” from these shores. George Inglis CBE – a short obituary.

Posted by SONE on 9 April 2018 in Newsletters

Sir William McAlpine, Bt - a short obituary. Small modular reactors by Neville Chamberlain.

Posted by SONE on 2 March 2018 in Newsletters

Decarbonizing Cities: Helsinki Metropolitan Area by Rauli Partanen.

Posted by SONE on 2 February 2018 in Newsletters

A summary of UK nuclear power reactors. To know, or not to know: the nuclear question.

Posted by SONE on 15 January 2018 in Newsletters

The year 2017 has seen some real progress in plans to build new nuclear power stations in the UK. That this progress has been slow is the fault of finance, regulation and public opinion.

Posted by SONE on 30 November 2017 in Newsletters

An international view of nuclear energy issues for 2018 by Dan Yurman.

Posted by SONE on 30 October 2017 in Newsletters

Minutes of AGM, Oct 2017. Plans for SONE's future.

Posted by SONE on 30 September 2017 in Newsletters

How much choice do we have?

Posted by SONE on 1 August 2017 in Newsletters

A new treasurer needed for a new era. UK government talks on SMRs.

Posted by SONE on 31 July 2017 in Newsletters

A manifesto of ideas for the future of SONE.

Posted by SONE on 30 May 2017 in Newsletters

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTMINSTER FRONT The nation’s politicians had lots to say about lots of things, including each other, as the General Election campaigns got under way this month but there was hardly a word about nuclear energy. The need for a nuclear new build programme and ...

Posted by SONE on 30 April 2017 in Newsletters

WHERE WILL IT ALL END? Just as it seemed that things were going reasonably well for new build nuclear energy projects in the UK the Prime Minister called a snap general election and that put discussion on much needed investment by the State in nuclear power on ...

Posted by SONE on 31 March 2017 in Newsletters

THINKING AHEAD. This is a Newsletter with a difference. In part it is concerned with the future of SONE itself rather than the future of nuclear energy or a particular form of it. However, it also describes discussions we have been having with another organisation which supports nuclear.

Posted by SONE on 10 March 2017 in Newsletters

WE TOLD YOU SO. Around the time of last year’s annual meeting, some four months ago, a SONE committee member, Gerald Clark, made what was regarded by some (but not me) as an outrageous suggestion. He argued that the UK Government should consider investing directly in the nuclear industry.

Posted by SONE on 2 February 2017 in Newsletters

SMRs GET A BOOST AS HINKLEY FACES A CHALLENGE. This month has been notable for the considerable boost given to the development of the small modular reactor (SMR). Much of this has come from positive announcements in the United States and the United Kingdom...

Posted by SONE on 30 November 2016 in Newsletters

Welcome evidence that the Government is pressing ahead with plans to help secure a nuclear renaissance in the UK came this month with the announcement of a £20 million spend on the first phase of a new nuclear research and innovation programme.

Posted by SONE on 31 October 2016 in Newsletters

ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2015-2016. The central theme of this year’s annual general meeting in London this month is best described by Tony Blair’s pre-election rallying cry from 15 years ago: “Our top priority was, is and always will be education, education, education”.

Posted by SONE on 30 September 2016 in Newsletters

The Hinkley C project has finally been approved by the UK Government. Now the real work starts. The Sunday Telegraph’s take on the decision was encouraging. “Hinkley fires up Britain’s nuclear Ambitions” it said when the Government announcement was made.

Posted by SONE on 31 August 2016 in Newsletters

The expression “waiting with bated breath” has two meanings – someone anticipating something attractive happening in the near future and someone fearing the worst. Either of them could apply to the situation we find ourselves in as we wait to hear what Theresa May has decided.

Posted by SONE on 30 July 2016 in Newsletters

Within hours of this month’s announcement that the EDF Board had given the go ahead for investment in the £18 billion Hinkley Point C power station project in Somerset the UK Government announced that it needed more time to consider the scheme.

Posted by SONE on 30 June 2016 in Newsletters

The considerable political and economic uncertainties caused by the European Brexit referendum result mean that the UK nuclear energy industry is in for a turbulent time, no matter how hard those responsible for the country’s new build reactor programme try to play down the significance.

Posted by SONE on 10 May 2016 in Newsletters

Selling the crown jewels is a term used to describe the action of companies selling off key assets to friendly third parties or spinning them off into separate entities as a defence against unwelcome takeover bids.

Posted by SONE on 29 April 2016 in Newsletters

A FARCE WORTHY OF FEYDEAU Politicians at daggers drawn. A furious French President banging heads together. A major nuclear power station building project thrown into doubt. A “flamboyant” executive in denial, insisting that all will come right in the end.. Rebellious workers warning their bosses that they could ...

Posted by SONE on 30 March 2016 in Newsletters

Sellafield’s other legacies. We might not have a United Kingdom or be preparing to vote on whether to stay in the European Community if it was not for the Sellafield nuclear site in West Cumbria.

Posted by SONE on 3 March 2016 in Newsletters

Posted by SONE on 29 February 2016 in Newsletters

First, the good news. EDF is extending the lifetime of the reactors at four of its nuclear power stations in the UK. Now for the bad news. EDF has still not taken a final investment decision on the £18 billion Hinkley Point C project.

Posted by SONE on 30 December 2015 in Newsletters

The Paris climate change talks ended in an agreement (of sorts). The UK Government approved exploratory drilling at potential shale gas sites beneath national parks. A challenging new book was published, one which should be read by everyone with an interest in nuclear energy.

Posted by SONE on 30 November 2015 in Newsletters

Britain has the makings of a credible energy policy at last, one which acknowledges the key role which nuclear energy must play, alongside natural gas, at the centre of the UK’s electricity generation system. Expenditure on energy research is to be doubled, with a major commitment to SMRs.

Posted by SONE on 30 October 2015 in Newsletters

Annual report for the year 2014-2015. Small could be big for Britain. The next big thing for the UK’s nuclear energy industry and its suppliers could well be small – small modular reactors (SMRs) to be precise.

Posted by SONE on 30 September 2015 in Newsletters

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, world-wide nuclear generating capacity is set to expand over coming decades. The notable exception is Western Europe, where it is expected to decline. That can be attributed largely to Germany’s decision to abandon nuclear energy.

Posted by SONE on 30 August 2015 in Newsletters

SQUEAKY BUM TIME Twelve years ago Sir Alex Ferguson, then Manager of Manchester United, coined a somewhat earthy expression, one which reappears near the end of every football season. Sir Alex said it was “squeaky bum time” for those managing clubs at the top and bottom of the ...

Posted by SONE on 30 July 2015 in Newsletters

Nine months ago the European Commission approved the Hinkley Point C State aid case and in my November 2014 Newsletter – my first – I welcomed the decision. I thought it was time to get behind the EDF proposal.

Posted by SONE on 30 June 2015 in Newsletters

Three years ago the award-winning, innovative and much admired Sellafield Visitors Centre was shut down – damned as unnecessary and a drain on the taxpayer by the Government-owned site operator, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

Posted by SONE on 30 May 2015 in Newsletters

LEARNING EXPENSIVE LESSONS Two significant reports have been released in recent weeks detailing the technical progress which has been made in dealing with the aftermath of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear reactor accidents. In both cases, progress has been substantial. Politically, however, the two events continue to have ...

Posted by SONE on 30 April 2015 in Newsletters

LIVING WITH THE LEGACY Nuclear waste storage and disposal in the UK is back in the news – and for once the news is good. Firstly, Parliament approved a change in the law which will make it easier to explore potential sites for an underground radioactive waste depository.

Posted by SONE on 31 March 2015 in Newsletters

YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE (POSSIBLY) Del Boy Trotter, in the television comedy series Only Fools and Horses, regularly insists that “you know it makes sense” when trying to press home the case for something he’s not too sure about.

Posted by SONE on 28 February 2015 in Newsletters

A CLIMATE CHANGE COMPROMISE This month has seen several important political initiatives – and one which seemed important on a first reading but amounted to very little. This was the joint pledge to tackle climate change signed by David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg in what one newspaper called “a rare show of unity”.

Posted by SONE on 30 January 2015 in Newsletters

An energy world full of contradictions We live in a world of extraordinary contradictions, particularly if we work in the energy sector. In the UK a ten-year life extension for an important nuclear plant has just been announced while in Germany utilities have revealed that they are claiming ...

Posted by SONE on 30 December 2014 in Newsletters

Old king coal remains centre stage Ten years from now Britain will no longer be generating electricity from coal – not even coal from other countries – if the Liberal Democrats have their way. An industry which dominated the UK energy scene for centuries and with a post-war ...

Posted by SONE on 30 November 2014 in Newsletters

A GREAT DEAL TO BE PLEASED ABOUT I am fortunate to have succeeded my old friend Sir Bernard Ingham as SONE’s Secretary at a time when we have a great deal to be pleased about and to look forward to.

Posted by SONE on 30 October 2014 in Newsletters

SONE, with new blood, working for a real nuclear renaissance SONE is to continue its efforts, subject to resources, to secure a substantial nuclear-powered future for Britain. It will do so with a partly new team. The AGM, held on October 20 at the Institution of Civil Engineers, ...

Posted by SONE on 30 September 2014 in Newsletters

A call to arms: Your committee needs you If this year’s Annual General Meeting on Monday, October 20 does not entirely mark all change, SONE will nonetheless be seen to be gearing up for the future. First, the committee has appointed a new Secretary. He is Harold Bolter, ...

Posted by SONE on 30 August 2014 in Newsletters

Three warnings of fragility of energy supplies Three events this month have combined to demonstrate the fragility of the world’s energy supplies and Britain’s in particular. The first was Angela Merkel’s dash to Kiev when yet another sub-crisis of Russia’s annexation of the Crimea boiled up with a ...

Posted by SONE on 30 July 2014 in Newsletters

Methinks these soothsayers are slightly potty. While the good ship “Nuclear Power” is becalmed in the bureaucratic doldrums, there has been a flurry of excitement about David Cameron’s re-shuffle which saw 40 changes and brought in ten women – three into the cabinet.

Posted by SONE on 30 June 2014 in Newsletters

A minister crying in the wilderness We live not just in interesting but incredible times. The Ukraine remains a threat to oil and gas supplies. The fragmentation of Iraq (and Syria) by a murderously fanatical Islamic agent known as ISIS has already raised the price of petrol.

Posted by SONE on 30 May 2014 in Newsletters

Let us spread the nuclear message like Professor Fells Let us give thanks for Ian Fells. Newcastle Upon Tyne’s emeritus professor wrote a very simple letter to The Times on May19 in response to its leader a week earlier entitled: “Wanted: An energy policy”. He said: “You emphasise ...

Posted by SONE on 30 April 2014 in Newsletters

Oh to be in England – but not when madness is there Robert Browning may wistfully have written: “Oh to be in England now that April’s there”. Our advice would be to give it a miss – and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, too – when UN environmental zeal in inflicted upon it.

Posted by SONE on 30 March 2014 in Newsletters

Ukraine strengthens the case for nuclear power. Nothing perhaps over this month has more underlined the need for nuclear power in the UK than the plight of the Ukraine. In truth the West has cut a sorry figure responding to Russia’s annexation of the Crimea.

Posted by SONE on 28 February 2014 in Newsletters

Let’s be clear about sone and global warming There is nothing like a drought, a heat wave, a deep freeze and, of course, a flood to bring out the global warmers. And so, with California, Australia, North America and the southern half of the UK variously afflicted, the ...

Posted by SONE on 31 January 2014 in Newsletters

The slow race to develop UK nuclear power is on So far the New Year has delivered some cheer to nuclear supporters. Perhaps the best news is the purchase by Toshiba, owners of Westinghouse, for £85m of a controlling 60% stake from Iberdrola/GDF-Suez in what seemed to be ...

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 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 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 ...