David Cameron in the Greenpeace warehouse in 2007 commenting that without dealing with the problem of nuclear waste, there can't be any new investment in nuclear power. You Tube 30th Jan 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnycGD-7SFo&feature=youtu.be Government plans to undertake preliminary work on an underground storage dump for nuclear waste were rejected by Cumbria county council on Wednesday, adding a major roadblock to plans for a long term solution to the problem of nuclear waste. The county and its western district councils Allerdale and Copeland which make up the "nuclear coast" opposite the Isle of Man were the only local authorities in the UK still involved in feasibility studies for the £12bn disposal facility. Cumbria's cabinet voted 7-3 against research continuing, after evidence from independent geologists that the fractured strata of the county was impossible to entrust with such dangerous material and a hazard lasting millennia. An impassioned campaign by environmentalists also raised fears for the western Lake District, winning backing from the Lake District national park authority and hundreds of influential landscape groups in the UK and overseas. Guardian 30th Jan 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/30/cumbria-rejects-underground-nuclear-storage Plans to expand the UK's nuclear industry are in disarray after the only area to show interest in hosting an underground radioactive waste storage centre decided to thoroughly reject the idea. Cumbria county council's cabinet voted by more than 2-1 to pull out of feasibility studies, following expert critiques of the fractured local geology and an international outcry over the threat to the western Lake District. Guardian 30th Jan 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/30/nuclear-expansion-thwarted-cumbria-no The future of new nuclear power stations in Britain has been dealt a serious blow, after a council threw out plans for a giant radioactive waste dump near the Lake District. Edward Davey, the Energy Secretary, said the hunt would now go on for another part of Britain to host the site and insisted the decision would not "undermine" the Government's nuclear energy plans. He said the Government will honour a promise not to impose a waste disposal facility on an unwilling community. “We will now embark on a renewed drive to ensure that the case for hosting a GDF is drawn to the attention of other communities," he said. Mr Davey said it is now "absolutely vital that we get to grips with our national nuclear legacy". EDF Energy said its plans to be the first company to build a new nuclear station in a generation by the end of this decade are not affected. A spokesman said the company can "continue to store radioactive waste and spent fuel safely and securely above ground for as long as necessary". Telegraph 30th Jan 2013 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/nuclearpower/9837465/Nuclear-plans-in-disarray-after-Cumbria-votes-no-to-radioactive-dump.html Allerdale and Copeland borough councils decided in favour but were overruled, as Cumbria county council – the overarching authority – decided to withdraw from the process by seven votes to three. Ed Davey, the energy secretary, said: “I am confident that the programme to manage radioactive waste safely will ultimately be successful, and that the decisions made in Cumbria will not undermine prospects for new nuclear power stations.” He pointed to the district councils’ votes in favour of geological studies to test suitability as proof that other communities would be interested. However, he rejected calls by Copeland, the area that is home to Sellafield nuclear plant, and where most of the waste is stored temporarily, to be allowed to go it alone. He said both district and county authorities had to agree. FT 30th Jan 2013 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b4176af4-6aef-11e2-9871-00144feab49a.html A plan to store radioactive waste permanently in an underground dump next to the Lake District was in tatters last night after local councillors unexpectedly rejected the £12 billion government project. Ministers were relying on Cumbria, the home of the sprawling Sellafield nuclear site, to host the repository because it was the only county left willing even to consider the possibility. In its 7-3 “no” vote, the Cabinet of Cumbria County Council turned down generous community benefits and investment in local roads and railways that were on offer in return for agreeing to the plan under the Government’s “volunteerism” process.The result piles more uncertainty on to the faltering programme to build half a dozen new nuclear reactors and could prompt Greenpeace, the environmental campaign group, to seek a judicial review to challenge it. The Times 31st Jan 2013 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/environment/article3673461.ece Sellafield's nuclear storage facilities remain the largest in the UK, and the ten members of the county council's cabinet also agreed that the council will encourage the Government to invest in improvements to the existing surface storage facilities at the site while a permanent solution for the country's higher activity radioactive waste is found. West Cumbria Friends of the Earth campaigner Ruth Balogh said: "We're delighted at this decision. The problem of radioactive waste is a national problem. Cumbria should never have been proposed to shoulder this burden. We're also pleased the council have asked for attention on the interim storage of waste, which has been neglected." Greenpeace energy campaigner Leila Deen said: "This decision represents yet another major blow for the Government's attempts to force the construction of costly nuclear power plants. Even the Prime Minister admits we need a plan to store waste before we can build a single new plant. Channel 4 News 30th Jan 2013 http://www.channel4.com/news/cumbria-rejects-radioactive-waste-disposal-programme Voting 7 to 3 against moving to the next stage of the Government’s MRWS process, the County Council’s Cabinet decision represents not only a bold recognition of the level of opposition of Cumbrian communities but also a commitment to prevent the region being ‘prostituted’ by a Government plan that contained no Plan B. Earlier in the day, in advance of the County’s decision, Allerdale Borough Council had been withdrawn from the process and Copeland Borough Council had, as expected, voted to continue in the process which would have seen increasingly intrusive geological investigations over the next decade in West Cumbria and the Lake District National Park. In welcoming the Cabinet’s decision, CORE’s spokesman Martin Forwood said today: ‘This has effectively stopped the UK’s nuclear waste disposal juggernaut in its tracks and, in a repeat of the rejected NIREX plans of the 1990’s, put back the UK’s waste dumping plans to square one and the responsibility back again at a national level where it belongs'. CORE 30th Jan 2013 http://www.corecumbria.co.uk/newsapp/pressreleases/pressmain.asp?StrNewsID=312 Today at Carlisle the Cabinet of Cumbria County Council voted not to proceed with the plan for a high level nuclear waste dump under Cumbria. Leader of Cumbria County Council, Eddie Martin said "radiation is like a two year old it needs constant supervision" and "I am not going to prostitute Cumbria for a mess of potage!" You Tube 30th Jan 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=M1dzDFvtMTc Energy secretary Ed Davey said they respected Cumbria council's decision not to go-ahead with the search for a suitable site. Members of the county's cabinet voted 7-3 against proceeding at the end of a meeting lasting almost four hours in Carlisle. Deputy leader Stewart Young added the case for investment at Sellafield was now more pressing than ever. "We had always raised concerns over the lack of any 'plan B' from Government and the fact that west Cumbria was the only area to express an interest in the process left the Government with few options if we decided not to proceed. "It is now time for the Government to secure the long-term future of the nuclear industry and put in place robust storage arrangements at Sellafield while it decides how to continue the search for a repository elsewhere in the UK." Whitehaven News 30th Jan 2013 http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/nuclear-store-process-finished-in-west-cumbria-government-1.1031408?referrerPath=home/2.2837 Whitehaven News 30th Jan 2013 http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/cumbria-county-council-say-no-to-nuclear-repository-despite-copeland-voting-in-favour-1.1031104?referrerPath=home/2.2837 Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey insisted the government had no intention of scaling back its nuclear plans despite the "disappointing" decision. "We are clear that nuclear power should play a key role in our future energy mix, as it does today," he said. "I am confident that the programme to manage radioactive waste safely will ultimately be successful, and that the decisions made in Cumbria today will not undermine prospects for new nuclear power stations." Business Green 30th Jan 2013 http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2240210/davey-backs-new-nuclear-despite-cumbria-rejecting-waste-storage-site Cumbria votes no. NW Evening Mail 30th Jan 2013 http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/cumbria-county-council-say-no-to-nuclear-repository-despite-copeland-voting-in-favour-1.1031104?referrerPath=news/millom Construction Index 31st Jan 2013 http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/cumbria-councillors-block-nuclear-waste-dump Yorkshire Post 31st Jan 2013 http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/at-a-glance/main-section/councillors-say-no-to-nuclear-dump-near-lakes-1-5367658 City AM 31st Jan 2013 http://www.cityam.com/latest-news/nuclear-power-expansion-hit-cumbria-vote Metro 30th Jan 2013 http://metro.co.uk/2013/01/30/plans-for-nuclear-waste-dump-in-the-lake-district-rejected-3375411/ Morning Star 30th Jan 2013 http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/128862 Scotsman 30th Jan 2013 http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/cumbria-rejects-underground-nuclear-waste-plan-1-2767180 Live coverage as Cumbria, Allerdale and Copeland councils vote whether to pursue or end the search to find a suitable location for a geological disposal facility that would store highly radioactive waste. Times and Star 30th Jan 2013 http://www.timesandstar.co.uk/news/politics/span-style-color-red-cumbria-decides-span-nuclear-repository-1.1031329?referrerPath=news/politics Allerdale Borough Council have voted yes to look for a nuclear waste disposal site in west Cumbria. The voting carried a 5-2 majority. "It was right for us to undertake our own debate on this issue. I personally think that Cumbria County Council have got it wrong. We will enter into a conversation with Government to see if there is any way we can still go forward." ITV 30th Jan 2013 http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2013-01-30/allerdale-borough-council-vote-yes-for-nuclear-site/ Protestors who were backng the nuclear waste disposal site campaign are disappointed with Cumbria County Council's decision. ITV News 30th Jan 2013 http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2013-01-30/anti-reaction-to-nuclear-decision/ Protestors campaigning against the nuclear disposal site for west Cumbria are ecstatic with the decision. ITV News 30th Jan 2013 http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2013-01-30/pro-reaction-to-nuclear-decision/ The leader of Cumbria County Council, Eddie Martin, has spoken about the nuclear waste decision. ITV News 30th Jan 2013 http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2013-01-30/council-back-nuclear-waste-site-decision/ There have been mixed reviews over Cumbria County Council's decision to rule out west Cumbria as a nuclear waste disposal site. ITV Border viewers have been expressing their views on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Below are some of their views. ITV News 30th Jan 2013 http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2013-01-30/hgighfivy/ Woodburn on National Park. ITV News 30th Jan 2013 http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2013-01-30/national-park-addressed-on-nuclear-waste-site/ The Government will now embark on a renewed drive to ensure that the case for hosting a GDF is drawn to the attention of communities, and to encourage further local authorities to come forward over the coming years to join the process. The Government will also reflect on the experience of the process in west Cumbria, and will talk to the local authorities themselves and others who have been involved to see what lessons can be learned. No changes to the current approach will be introduced without further public consultation. DECC 30th Jan 2013 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/energy-secretary-responds-to-cumbria-nuclear-waste-vote The plans for new nuclear power plants in the UK have been dealt a blow today after Cumbria Council voted against taking forward plans for a long term nuclear waste storage facility in the county. Building 30th Jan 2013 http://www.building.co.uk/news/sectors/infrastructure/infrastructure-news/blow-to-nuclear-new-build-prospects/5049517.article The region's complex geology has already been rejected once. More astonishingly, 60 years of the nuclear age has yet to produce a single deep disposal site anywhere on Earth. Sweden has the most advanced plans, with an experimental deep disposal facility, but no nuclear waste has yet been consigned to its depths. In the 1980s a nationwide search for a suitable burial site was undertaken. In a process described by Prof Stuart Haszeldine, a geologist at the University of Edinburgh, as "mysterious and which no-one understood", the site selected was conveniently very close to the epicentre of the UK nuclear industry at Sellafield in Cumbria. Guardian 30th Jan 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2013/jan/30/nuclear-waste-cumbria-copeland-allerdale **Energy Bill** Taxpayer billions could be secretly funnelled to Edf to underwrite cost of proposed power station at Hinkley Point. The energy bill has quietly granted energy secretary Ed Davey the power to keep contract details of the crucial Hinkley Point C project a secret if he decides it is commercially sensitive to disclose them, an analysis of the bill has revealed. Experts condemned the provision, saying it paves the way for the government to write a cheque for billions of dollars to cover the cost of budget over-runs or building delays at Hinkley Point, without the public or parliament ever finding out. Independent 30th Jan 2013 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/taxpayer-billions-could-be-secretly-funnelled-to-edf-to-underwrite-cost-of-proposed-power-station-at-hinkley-point-8473810.html Billions in taxpayer cash could be funnelled to the French state nuclear company EDF via a backroom negotiation that a key panel of MPs yesterday voted to keep secret from the public. With all the political excitement about the Tories being defeated on the Commons vote on constituency boundaries, most people can be forgiven for not noticing that another vote was happening in Committee Room 9. Potentially billions of pounds can now be handed over to nuclear energy companies without Parliament or the public knowing about it. The vote concerned an obscure section of the Energy Bill - Schedule 3. This Schedule is about the Government negotiation of ‘investment contracts’ with companies who want to invest in low-carbon generation ahead of the full provisions of the Energy Bill entering into force. In theory, this Schedule applies to all low-carbon developers, but in practice it will only apply to a few deals, by far the largest of which will be the EDF decision on whether to go ahead with new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point. Energy Desk 30th Jan 2013 http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/newsdesk/energy/analysis/mps-nuclear-support-be-kept-secret Labour this week moved to beef up the government's Energy Bill, proposing a series of new amendments designed to accelerate investment in green infrastructure, including a rigorous decarbonisation target for the electricity sector and stricter emissions standards for coal and gas plants. Business Green 30th Jan 2013 http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2239904/labour-challenges-coalition-to-decarbonise-energy-bill **Chernobyl & Fukushima** The European Environment Agency has just published a landmark report on the state of environmental pollutants in the EU, ‘Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Science, Precaution, Innovation’ - and part of the report deals with a broad range of nuclear issues, including radiation releases and health effects from Chernobyl and Fukushima, costs of nuclear reactors, accident liability, risk assessment, and the impact of Fukushima on proposed new nuclear build. Energy Desk 29th Jan 2013 http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/newsdesk/energy/analysis/viewpoint-european-environment-agency-late-lessons-chernobyl-early-warnings-fukushima **Hinkley** Southwest campaigners are calling for the planned nuclear development at Hinkley Point to be axed, following Cumbria County councils decision not to accept a future underground waste dump in the Lake District. Anti-nuclear activists say that without a long term destination for it’s radioactive waste, EDF’s Hinkley C project can only mean a permanent nuclear dump staying in West Somerset - for many thousands of years. Stop Hinkley 30th Jan 2013 http://www.stophinkley.org/ **Sizewell** EAST Suffolk should look for more legacy benefits from the construction of Sizewell C – including new homes, hotels, and a guarantee of funding for the four villages by-pass. That was the message from the county council’s cabinet as it discussed the authority’s response to the consultation documents about the proposed station published by EDF last year. East Anglian Daily Times 30th Jan 2013 http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/sizewell_c_legacy_plea_for_proposed_new_nuclear_station_1_1832181 PUBLIC liability insurance in the event of a disaster at Sizewell or any other UK nuclear sites is set to be increased from £140million to £1.2billion under plans waiting to be ratified. But critics claim the amount is still “woefully inadequate” - particularly in view of the cost of damage caused by the Fukushima disaster in Japan two years ago. Insurance to cover “third party” loss or damage within the impact zone of a nuclear accident in the UK has remained at £140m for some years. East Anglian Daily Times 30th Jan 2013 http://www.eadt.co.uk/business/sizewell_cost_of_n_plant_insurance_rises_from_140million_to_1_2billion_1_1830375 **Horizon** Hitachi’s purchase of UK nuclear power station project, Horizon, is starting to look like a deal cast by fate and the industry’s ever changing dynamics as a truly global business sector. Nuclear Energy Insider 30th Jan 2013 http://analysis.nuclearenergyinsider.com/new-build/hitachi-and-horizon-start-100-year-commitment **Proliferation** In light of what is happening in Iran and North Korea it seems strange that there has been very little mentioned about the link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons. There are many countries now talking about becoming a nuclear power. For example Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan says that he wants to actualize Nigeria’s dream of becoming a “nuclear power” – for peaceful purposes of course. Many countries in the Middle East including Egypt, Jordan, Saudia Arabia, Qatar & Kuwait, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan have expressed an interest in having the ‘nuclear option’ - again for peaceful purposes. However a researcher from the University of Dubai has stated: “The Iranians have left us no option and this is our answer to them. Now Arabs have no option but to start a program under the civilian banner”. Peter Lux 30th Jan 2013 http://www.plux.co.uk/nucler-proliferation/ **Trident** The Ministry of Defence has revealed how it intends to spend £160bn over the next decade on new weapons systems, including a fleet of Trident nuclear missile submarines, two large aircraft carriers, helicopters, armoured vehicles, and unmanned drones. Guardian 31st Jan 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/31/trident-uk-military-shopping-list **Renewables** An average of 2,000 jobs a year could be created until 2050 and £2.3bn injected into the Welsh economy by onshore wind farms, it is claimed. That is the forecast from the first report looking at the economic impact of wind energy in Wales. The research by Regeneris Consulting and Cardiff Business School is based on how much of the money spent until now on wind farms has stayed in Wales. But it warns delays to approving and building wind farms will hamper this. BBC 30th Jan 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21248522 **Energy Efficiency** The Government’s flagship Green Deal has suffered a fresh setback as Npower, one of the energy-efficiency programme’s providers, admitted interest rates charged on the scheme were too high. Telegraph 31st Jan 2013 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9838241/Green-Deal-provider-Npower-warns-schemes-interest-rates-are-too-high.html **Fossil Fuels** China now burns nearly as much coal as the rest of the world combined. The country's appetite for the carbon-intensive fuel rose by 9% in 2011, to 3.8bn tonnes, meaning it now accounts for 47% of worldwide coal consumption. Guardian 30th Jan 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/30/china-burns-half-coal-worldwide?intcmp=122 **This daily news is funded with help from Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth as well as donations from individuals and other groups. It costs around £25 per person per year to produce, so please send a donation via http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/donations/ ** Referring to a news item here should not be taken as support for any views expressed or any guarantee of accuracy. **Today's news and searchable archives going back to May 2006 available at http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/ |