Up to £13 million for new nuclear technologies

Up to £13 million for new nuclear technologies

Lasersnake in actionAs the nuclear renaissance gathers pace, the NDA has again joined with other public bodies to open up opportunities for UK businesses, offering a total of up to £13 million investment for new technologies covering new build, current operations and decommissioning.

The collaboration between the UK innovation agency the Technology Strategy Board, the NDA and the Department of Energy and Climate Change is aimed at helping UK-based businesses take advantage of the opportunities arising following the recent agreement on Hinkley Point C, the first nuclear power station to be built in the UK for almost 20 years.

The funds will be made available early in 2014 as part of a drive to grow a robust, sustainable UK supply chain through the development of innovative products and services for the nuclear sector. The initiative will focus on key technology areas such as construction, manufacturing, operation, maintenance and decommissioning and waste.

Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said:

“We are committed to nuclear power as part of the low carbon mix of our future energy supply. And through our nuclear industrial strategy we are working in partnership with industry to grasp the multi billion pound long-term opportunities for UK companies and for thousands of highly skilled jobs.

“This funding will help UK companies to compete for contracts in areas like construction, manufacturing, operation, maintenance and decommissioning and waste. We want to build a robust UK based supply chain for existing and future nuclear power stations.”

Melanie Brownridge, the NDA’s Head of Research and Development, said:

“This continues a collaborative drive initiated more than 18 months ago that is already delivering significant innovative technological progress. We rely on a vibrant, dynamic supply chain and are pleased to invest in future capability.”

Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, added:

“This country has strengths in a wide range of technologies that will contribute to our growing domestic civil nuclear programme as well as taking advantage of significant global market opportunities. We will be focussing our support to ensure that UK businesses have the opportunity to engage fully in these programmes.”

In 2012, £18 million was invested in nuclear Research and Development through a partnership between the TSB, NDA, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The 35 projects, which received funding following a competitive submission process are ongoing and include a wide range of innovative UK SMEs, large businesses and research institutes.

The new competition will focus on the technologies needed for Britain’s new fleet of power stations, but will also include further opportunities for developing innovation for existing stations and decommissioning programmes.

Further details will be announced in the New Year.

Source: www.nda.gov.uk

AREVA signs series of deals with Chinese nuclear partners

AREVA signs series of deals with Chinese nuclear partners

AREVA signs series of deals with Chinese nuclear partners

The French energy company AREVA has signed a series of deals with its Chinese nuclear partners during a visit to China by the French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Working with Siemens, the company will supply instrumentation and control (I&C) systems for two 1,000 MW pressurized-water reactors – Fuqing 5 and 6.

The reactors will be built by China Nuclear Power Engineering, a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). Construction on reactor 5 is set to kick off in 2014, with work on reactor 6 scheduled to start the following year.

AREVA has previously signed deals to provide I&C systems for a number of other Chinese reactors.

The firm will also look into creating a joint company with CNNC, with the purpose of making and converting zirconium alloys used in the production of nuclear fuel assemblies. AREVA said the new company could be making around 610 tonnes of zirconium alloys each year for the Chinese market by 2017.

Read the full article here http://www.energylivenews.com/2013/12/09/areva-signs-series-of-deals-with-chinese-nuclear-partners/

Source: Energy Live News

We need to move quickly if Britain is to regain its leadership role in the nuclear power industry

We need to move quickly if Britain is to regain its leadership role in the nuclear power industry

Over the next 20 years it is estimated that £930bn will be spent globally on building new nuclear reactors. We should aim to win a large slice of that business.

Nuclear power station Rockford IL

As unlikely as it sounds, 2013 might be remembered as the year when this country actually did something about its energy problem. These islands may be blessed with reserves of oil, gas, wind and hydro but they are not enough to stop future power blackouts.

In October, the Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, struck a deal to build the first new nuclear power station in Britain since 1995. That project, at Hinkley Point in Somerset, was swiftly followed by last week’s announcement that the Government had agreed to underwrite plans for a new reactor at Wyfla in north Wales.

It could be the start of a new nuclear fleet, which is good news for anyone who is worried about Britain’s energy future. But it’s just the start of the change we need.

When he made the Hinkley announcement, Mr Davey said that the construction phase would create 25,000 jobs and a further 900 people would be needed to operate the facility. Wyfla is predicted to sustain 6,000 jobs as it is built, with a further 1,000 employed on a day-to-day basis.

But there was something missing from both announcements. It was a vision of how Britain’s manufacturing industry will benefit from this new generation of nuclear power.

Read the full article here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/10504568/We-need-to-move-quickly-if-Britain-is-to-regain-its-leadership-role-in-the-nuclear-power-industry.html

Source: Telegraph

Nuclear News Round Up (2nd – 6th Dec 13)

2nd Dec 2013
3rd Dec 2013
5th Dec 2013
6th Dec 2013

Wylfa Newydd: UK guarantees Anglesey nuclear site money

Wylfa Newydd: UK guarantees Anglesey nuclear site money

Hitachi is now leading the long-awaited project

A new nuclear power reactor on Anglesey by Japanese firm Hitachi is among the projects listed in a 20-year infrastructure spending plan published by the UK government.

It guarantees to support finance for developing a new station at Wylfa.

Building the £8bn Wylfa Newydd (New Wylfa) is subject to planning approval, a process expected to take three years.

Hitachi’s reactors also need to be approved by the Health and Safety Executive.

The firm renamed the project Wylfa Newydd last month in recognition of the “opportunities” it says it will bring. It had been known as Wylfa B.

Up to 6,000 jobs are expected to be created while the new reactors – capable of powering up to three million homes – are built and around 1,000 jobs when the plant is operating.

Hitachi bought the site last year for around £700m. The power station will be built by a subsidiary, Horizon Nuclear Power.

‘Confidence’

Horizon chief operating officer Alan Raymant welcomed the announcement as “excellent”.

He said: “It will build confidence amongst our supply chain, future workforce, local communities, and importantly potential investors.”

In a statement, the two firms said they expected to have the full range of licences and permissions for Wylfa Newydd in place by 2018.

John Idris Jones, programme director for the Energy Island Programme, a partnership of public and private sector bodies run from Anglesey council, said the finance announcement was a “step in the right direction” as part of the wider construction process.

He said it would make it cheaper for Hitachi to borrow money to build Wylfa Newydd.

Other Spending Plan Highlights

  • A further £50m for a redevelopment of the railway station at Gatwick Airport
  • UK guarantee agreed for the £1bn London Underground’s Northern Line extension to Battersea in London
  • Improvements to the A50 around Uttoxeter, in Staffordshire, to start no later than 2015-16
  • Improvements to the A14 around the port of Felixstowe in Suffolk
  • Target for the sale of corporate and financial assets will be doubled from £10bn to £20bn between 2014 and 2020, including the government’s shareholding in Eurostar

He said: “That in the long term will mean cheaper electricity prices for us because they will be able to borrow the money at a cheaper rate.”

He added: “The vast majority of the people I talk to are very keen on the Wylfa Newydd project. They see this as an opportunity for the island to have a sustainable future.

“The project will mean jobs for at least 60 years in terms of generating electricity on site for up to 1,000 local people, and that is very important for our island.”

Welsh Secretary David Jones said the announcement was a “strong signal” of the UK government’s commitment to new nuclear power.

He said: “Their investment will bring significant benefits to the economy in Wales, particularly on Anglesey, through supply chain opportunities and much needed high-quality employment.”

Kevin Coyne, the Unite union’s national officer for energy, said: “This new nuclear project could mean the creation of thousands of construction jobs, hundreds of apprenticeships as well as the jobs operating a new power station.”

Another large energy scheme being planned in Wales is a £750m tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay.

If built, according to a report commissioned by the company, 40% of the investment could be spent in Wales.

The two projects are among £375bn of investment in energy, transport, communications, and water projects proposed under the National Infrastructure Plan (NIP).

Albert Owen, Ynys Mon MP welcomed the announcement.

But he said he had also raised the issue with the coalition government of the importance of port development with regard to the project and the wider economy.

Source: BBC News

UK to guarantee Wylfa nuclear plant by 2016

UK to guarantee Wylfa nuclear plant by 2016

UK to guarantee Wylfa nuclear plant by 2016

The UK Government will financially back a new nuclear power station in Anglesey in North Wales within three years.

Today the Government announced it has a co-operation agreement with UK nuclear project Horizon, which is owned by Japanese firm Hitachi to guarantee the financing by 2016.

The Wylfa Newydd plant is one of 40 priority projects in the Coalition’s Fourth National Infrastructure Plan published today.

This document sets the start date for building at Wylfa as 2018. It could generate enough energy for up to three million homes.

Masaharu Hanyu, Deputy Chairman of Hitachi Europe said: “This co-operation agreement is a welcome demonstration of the UK Government’s equal commitment to making a new generation of nuclear power stations a reality.”

Horizon Chief Operating Officer Alan Raymant added: “It will build confidence amongst our supply chain, future workforce, local communities and importantly potential investors.”

Read more here http://www.energylivenews.com/2013/12/04/uk-to-guarantee-wylfa-nuclear-plant-by-2016/

Source: Energy Live News

Berkeley named as preferred nuclear waste site

Berkeley named as preferred nuclear waste site

Berkeley Nuclear Power Station
Berkeley power station was decommissioned in 1989

The deactivated Berkeley power station has been selected as the preferred site to store nuclear waste from the decommissioned Oldbury power plant.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has recommended the site be used as an interim Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) storage facility.

Waste would be transported by road from Oldbury to Berkeley in secure containers from 2017.

A consultation into the plan has begun and it could be approved in March.

An NDA spokesman said a total of 100 lorries would transport ILW in “safe, heavily protected boxes” between the two sites over a six-year period.

ILW includes materials such as fuel-element cladding, contaminated equipment and radioactive sludge.

John French, from the anti-nuclear campaign group Severnside Together Against Nuclear Development, said the nuclear authorities have “completely run out of ideas of what to do with such dangerous material”.

“The site will have to be protected [from flooding] and guarded from terrorists for hundreds, possibly thousands of years,” he said.

“There are considerable dangers, from accidents and terrorism, of transporting such dangerously radioactive material along the very small roads around Oldbury and on to the busy A38.”

Berkeley Power Station in Gloucestershire was the first in the UK to be decommissioned, in 1989.

Oldbury Power Station, about 20 miles to the south west, was deactivated in February last year.

Source: BBC News