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Energy: Bill for Britain's nuclear clean-up increases by another £10bn

The credibility of the nuclear industry was shaken last night after the estimated cost of cleaning up Britain's atomic waste was raised by a further £10bn. 

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Eight new nuclear power stations planned for England

Ministers are to build eight new nuclear power stations across England, the Daily Telegraph can disclose. The new nuclear plants will mainly be based alongside existing facilities and are expected to be constructed over the next decade. 

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Double whammy to EPR sites in France and Finland

EPR

20 Greenpeace activists blocked the entrance to 3 quarries in Normandy that supply concrete and gravel for the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) site at Flamanville yesterday. We took this action to stop the re-opening of the construction site, which had been ordered by the French Nuclear Safety Agency (ASN). This was despite none of the safety problems the ASN discovered over a month ago having been adequately resolved by EdF, who are carrying out the project.

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Financial Times: Energy from industry could halve gas imports

Industries across the UK could generate as much electricity as 10 nuclear power stations and halve gas imports by installing or extending plants that generate energy while using the waste heat to warm local buildings, according to a report by Pöyry Energy Consulting, commissioned by Greenpeace.

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A surprising solution to our energy needs

Conoco Phillips industrial CHP

No one will be surprised that Greenpeace is against the construction of new nuclear power stations, but what some may find unusual is one of the solutions we are proposing to meet our energy needs and reduce our CO2 emissions - industrial CHP, or combined heat and power.

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Securing Power

Publication Date: 
19 Jun 2008
Body: 
Securing Power is a new report by world leading energy experts Pöyry Energy Consulting and provides a compelling piece of the answer to the energy security and CO2 emissions challenges that the UK faces today. Pöyry's ground breaking analysis shows there is an unprecedented opportunity for very large scale combined heat and power (CHP) plants to provide both heat and electricity fromthe same fuel, allowing us to cut emissions, reduce fuel use, cut costs and provide up to 16GW of new electricity generating capacity to meet UK demand over the coming years.
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Securing Power - Summary

Publication Date: 
19 Jun 2008
Body: 
Securing Power is a new report by world leading energy experts Pöyry Energy Consulting and provides a compelling piece of the answer to the energy security and CO2 emissions challenges that the UK faces today. Pöyry’s ground breaking analysis shows there is an unprecedented opportunity for very large scale combined heat and power (CHP) plants to provide both heat and electricity fromthe same fuel, allowing us to cut emissions, reduce fuel use, cut costs and provide up to 16GWof new electricity generating capacity to meet UK demand over the coming years.
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Government hidden subsidy to fix new nuclear waste costs

12 Jun 2008

Responding to the White Paper on nuclear waste, Nathan Argent, Greenpeace's nuclear campaigner, said: "No company would invest in nuclear if they were left to pay the full costs of nuclear waste. That's why the Government is fixing it so the financial risks fall on the taxpayer. The costs will massively over-run, as they have consistently done so far.

"No-one knows how much the Government's shoddy plans would cost. Even Hilary Benn, the minister responsible, admitted as much in Parliament this afternoon.

"Nuclear waste is a financial and geological nightmare. There is no plausible solution for our existing legacy waste, let alone the waste from new reactors, which will be at least three times more radioactive.

"This White Paper is not about finding a solution for nuclear waste. It's about bribing a community with £1bn of taxpayers' money to bury waste in their back garden. But there's no guarantee a willing community will come forward or that they'll be able to find a geologically suitable site anywhere in this country.

"The Government cannot press on with its plans for new nuclear power when its strategy for dealing with radioactive waste is shambolic."

  • The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the body in charge of dealing with the UK's radioactive waste, admitted recently that the costs of cleaning up existing nuclear waste, estimated to already be £73bn, were likely to spiral by billions. When pressed on how much it might increase an NDA spokesman claimed "I'm sure it'll be some billions, I really don't know." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7421879.stm
  • Yesterday, the government's former advisor on nuclear waste disposal, said that energy companies are being a hidden subsidy to build new nuclear power stations through the proposed funding of waste disposal. (‘Subsidy' for nuclear power attacked, Financial Times, 11 June) 

Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255.

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Will there be blood?

"You have to act quickly, because very soon these fields will be dry." This prediction, drawled by hardened oilman Daniel Plainview in this year's best film, There Will Be Blood, has become a reality. Eight years into the 21st century and we are seeing the beginnings of a new energy horizon. Oil is receding into the distance. Nature's "free gift" to humanity is running out, fast.

2008 will come to be seen as the year the world's leaders were forced to confront their demons. The global response to stratospheric oil prices will determine if we are able to escape the worst consequences of climate change, feed the world and prevent pollution from ruining living conditions in our ever expanding cities. Trillions of dollars will be spent in the next few decades on technologies to generate energy, as old infrastructure rusts and economies expand in parts of the world that have endured poverty for centuries.

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Construction stopped on French 'flagship' nuclear reactor

We've learned that the French nuclear safety agency has ordered a halt to the construction of the new EPR reactor in Flamanville, France. Only six months after work first began. The EPR is the same type of reactor that is proposed to be built in the UK.

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