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Don’t believe hydrogen and nuclear hype – they can’t get us to net zero carbon by 2050
Big industry players pushing techno-fixes are ignoring the only realistic solution to the climate crisis: renewables Now that the whole world seems to be aligned behind the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the nuclear industry is straining every sinew to present itself as an invaluable ally in … [Continue Reading]
UK’s plutonium stockpile is an embarrassing risk
After 70 years of producing plutonium in reprocessing works the United Kingdom, now with 140 tonnes of it, the largest stockpile in the world, finds it has no use for the metal – and needs to spend £4.5 billion (US$6bn) just to keep it safe. Having already spent at least … [Continue Reading]
‘The Sizewell C plans are an insult to the people of Suffolk’
Anyone new to Suffolk, ignorant of EDF’s nuclear plans, would be forgiven for laughing out loud. An untried reactor, labelled ‘technically complicated to construct’ by its own designers, a cost of £20billion-plus, taking at least 10 years to build, producing waste which is not only lethal to living tissue but … [Continue Reading]
EU recovery plan goes green and excludes nuclear
On 27 May the European Commission (EC) put forward its proposal for a major post-Covid-19 recovery plan. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament that what underpinned the programme was a determination “to hold governments more accountable for fighting climate change and saving our nature.” David Lowry explores … [Continue Reading]
Modernity Without its Clothes: the pandemic crisis shines a light on futilities of control
With so many self-appointed pundits (like me!) currently locked down with their laptops, the present rush of commentary on how to pivot the coronavirus crisis is hardly surprising. Beyond the general news and commentary, scores of articles are exploding across the media, diagnosing what this global catastrophe means, and prescribing … [Continue Reading]
Nuclear power went backwards in 2019, and the outlook is bleak
Nuclear power went backwards last year with the permanent shutdown of nine power reactors and the startup (grid connection) of six. Startups were concentrated in Russia (three) and China (two), with one in South Korea. The shutdowns were spread across eight countries. Worse still for the industry – much worse … [Continue Reading]
Hinkley point C: Will the most expensive building project in the world grind to a halt?
The edifice already heading for the status of the largest and most expensive construction project in the world, the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in the UK, is dragging its builder, the French giant EDF, into ever-deeper debt: the company’s flagship reactor is facing still more delay. Although EDF … [Continue Reading]
Should TEPCO / Japanese Government Dump Tritium-Contaminated Water from Fukushima into the Sea?
At the present time, over a million tonnes of tritium-contaminated water are being held in about a thousand tanks at the site of the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power station in Japan. This is being added to at the rate of ~300 tonnes a day from the water being pumped to … [Continue Reading]
Does the UK need 40 GW of firm capacity?
Whether it comes from nuclear plants or fossil fuel-fired power stations with carbon capture and storage (CCS), the UK will need 30-40 GW of new “firm” low-carbon baseload generation by 2050 to meet the net-zero emissions target, Greg Clark reportedly said, just before being replaced by Andrea Leadsom as UK … [Continue Reading]