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In focus with Sir Bernard Ingham
STOP PRESS: THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES
The time has come to take stock. Energy policy is in a total mess. Not a single one of its five pillars remains intact with the withdrawal of the German companies, RWE and EoN, from the nuclear element.
The future of nuclear energy depends on public understanding of security which means “crisis communications” must not wait until an incident occurs, a conference has been told.
The company overseeing decommissioning at the Sellafield nuclear site in the UK said yesterday it has completed a complex engineering task that was a necessary precondition to moving ahead with the decommissioning of the first generation magnox fuel storage pond.
Japan’s government today approved a restructuring plan for Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) that puts the operator of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant under temporary state control and aims to restore profitability within two years.
Without federal funding for its research, development and demonstration (RD&D) programme USEC’s American Centrifuge uranium enrichment project is likely to be wound down next month, the company said in a statement.
The following table, compiled by NucNet, details the status of Japan’s nuclear fleet.
Fifty-one nuclear units have a valid operational licence with a combined net electrical power capacity of 44,461 megawatts (MW). Of these, one unit (Monju/246 MW) is in long-term shutdown. The other 50 are offline for maintenance. Nine units with a combined capacity of 4,337 MW are in permanent shutdown and being decommissioned (Fukushima-Daiichi units 1 to 4, Hamaoka units 1 and 2, Tokai unit 1, Fugen and JPDR). Two units totaling 2,708 MW are under construction. They are Shimane unit 3 and Ohma.
Canada’s natural resources minister has approved Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) plans for four new reactors at the Darlington nuclear power plant near Toronto, saying the project is not likely to cause adverse environmental impact.
A House of Commons committee is to hold an inquiry into the possibility of new nuclear build in the UK and whether or not the tentative 2019 target date for the first of a new generation of reactors can be met, it has been announced.
Armenian government officials have told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that they are planning to go ahead with construction of a new nuclear power plant.
Russia doubled foreign orders to build nuclear reactors last year and has a US$50 billion (37 billion euro) order book for the next decade, the head of state atomic energy corporation Rosatom has said.
