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
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
Whitehaven News 30th Jan 2013
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
Cumbria votes no.
NW Evening Mail 30th Jan 2013
Construction Index 31st Jan 2013
http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/cumbria-councillors-block-nuclear-waste-dump
Yorkshire Post 31st Jan 2013
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
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
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
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
**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
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
**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
**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
**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
**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
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