Finland’s own Hinkley disaster continues

latest news from the Stop Hinkley movement:

AREVA, the majority French state-owned  nuclear giant, has called a halt to the grindingly slow construction of the EPR reactor in Finland.The project, which is already 5 years late and €7,508,209,000 over budget, has been plagued with problems not least of all the as yet unresolved control and instrumentation problems.

AREVA can’t give completion date, and after delaying their completion date early last year to 2016, Finnish newspapers are now citing 2018 as the earliest the reactors could be completed.

 Legal wrangling over delays and layoffs

The Finnish operators TVO and AREVA are locked in litigation which is claimed by Areva to be one of the biggest conflicts in the history of the construction industry. The recent announcements have wiped 10% wiped off Areva’s share value (as at Thursday 27th Feb. 2014) after they announced their 3rd consecutive year of losses. Areva claim that the work is ‘86% done’ and TVO claim that they are ‘still waiting for supplier Areva-Siemens to update its work schedule following a reduction of 400 workers at the site this year’

UK will have technical problems, delays, and cost overruns

Stop Hinkley spokeswoman Nikki Clark said today “These claims and counterclaims conceal a much more fundamental problem still causing delays to the EPR reactors in Finland & France, one which will no doubt be the cause of delays & cost over-runs here in the UK if the British government insist on going ahead with Hinkley Point C. The EPR reactors have been plagued with technical problems unique to generation 3 reactors. The current British fleet of reactors are analogue reactors whilst the proposed generation 3 EPRs are digital, well on paper at least they are. It seems AREVA/EDF are discovering that the differences between theory and practice are greater in practice than in theory.

Regulators criticise control reliability + security from cyber-attack

Regulators in Finland and France have criticised the reliability of software as well as the architecture of the instrumentation and control (I&C) requiring ‘an additional and independent non-computerised backup system’. We believe that this is the source of the on-going delays to the EPR reactors. The architecture of the backup software is too close in design to the main control software of the reactors. These issues remain unresolved and despite the insistence of the Finnish and French regulators, this will not be an easy task as analogue technologies among nuclear equipment suppliers are becoming obsolete. The I&C problems are one of the remaining unresolved issues that the UK regulators Generic Design Assessment (GDA) failed to close out at the end of their evaluation of the EPR reactor designs.”

Greenpeace report cites open door to hacking nuclear plant controls!

In a report produced for Greenpeace in 2010 about the problems with the EPR I&C the authors stated that the digital control systems provide “new possibilities and capabilities can be used in both beneficial and malicious ways…the same mechanisms that allow for greater diagnostic possibilities, and for remote monitoring, controlling and updating, can be potentially exploited by cyber-attacks, as shown by the recent Stuxnet computer virus that targets Simantic programmable logic devices, a kind of industrial computers by Siemens.

In 2010, when Greenpeace produced their report on the I&C problems with EPRs, little was really known about STUXNET as the attack was still fairly recent. However, the American magazine Foreign Policy revealed last year that STUXNET had a secret twin – a far more sophisticated older variant of STUXNET. Between them, the two STUXNET variants have demonstrated the ease with which critical infrastructure can be targeted as many of the systems for operating infrastructure, from nuclear power plants to chemical factories, are standardised – the Nanantz uranium enrichment facility was controlled by Siemens S7-417 industrial controllers.

A false sense of energy security will be UK’s Hinkley legacy -If they decide to build it

Ms Clark added, “The idea of digitally controlled nuclear facilities vulnerable to cyber-warfare being built here in Britain surely has to put an end to the myth that new nuclear will create energy security. Already HPC brings closer the energy gap so many commentators fear. There has been no shortage of offers to produce the same amount of electricity from clean renewable sources for much cheaper than the projected costs of Hinkley. When are the politicians going to wake up?”

Write to your MP now!

Owning our Power is the key to security

Owning our power is the key to our energy security. Owning the means to produce our energy means that we can never be held ransom by anyone person or country.

Video #5 is all about energy security. Should we be selling our energy production to foreign countries? OR, in a rapidly changing world should we be owning our electricity generation systems?

Irish Energy Supply

Owning our power and the means of production is security

Will buying back all UK energy production and energy grids help us remain independent of other countries? Can public ownership of our energy services give us the power to chose renewable energy?

Cameron selling out to French and Chinese nuclear is NOT owning our power

David Cameron recently initiated a proposal to build a new nuclear power plant at Hinkley in Somerset. The funding for building this new plant will come from the Chinese. British citizens will provide the tax money to underwrite this boondoggle. EDF is supposed to build and operate this new nuclear plant.

The Chinese and EDF had to be bribed with promises of twice the current rate of payment for nuclear electricity. We currently pay  £45 per Megawatt hour. the EDF and the Chinese investors will get £92.50 per Megawatt hour.

UK and Europe are opposed to nuclear power.

Fortunately there are many people in the UK and in Europe that disagree with this proposal. In the UK we have many groups and organizations working to end any thoughts about building new nuclear plants.

There were 1750 accidents, mishaps or leaks at UK nuclear plants between 2002-2009.

Here is just one good reason why. 1750! This is no random number. This is the number of accidents mishaps and leaks at UK nuclear power plants from 2002-2009.

The scale of safety problems inside Britain’s nuclear power stations has been revealed for the first time in a secret report obtained by the Observer that shows more than 1,750 leaks, breakdowns or other “events” over the past seven years.

British public will underwrite 16bil plant construction cost. Energy security or indentured servitude?

The European Union in Brussels is questioning the UK government promise to underwrite the £16bil. cost of the new plant at Hinkley.

This is not energy security. this is an energy crisis that will lead to greater insecurity of our means of generating electricity.

Write to your representative and tell them how you feel

Write to you MP now!. Tell them to stop being stupid and start building the renewable energy future we need today.

Watch the next video interview.

Cameron is bribing local governments to build new nuclear plant

Here is an excellent article from SWAN

Cameron has said that he will provide compensation to Somerset for having a new nuclear plant in their community.

Southwest Against Nuclear

2013/2014.”

A £128 million deal to “compensate” Somerset for hosting the proposed new Hinkley C power station is “a drop in the ocean” according to local campaigners.

Billions in government guarantees, millions in bribes

Stop Hinkley spokesperson Theo Simon said, “This deal, which breaks down to only £3 million a year going to local councils for the next 40 years, is no compensation at all. If EDF get their way in the current price negotiations with the government, we will all be paying a massive extra nuclear tariff on our electricity bills over the same period, and our taxes will be underwriting the whole project by literally billions.

“No one can criticise our councillors for squeezing more money out of central government, but the amounts need to be put in the wider context. Somerset County council has seen budget cuts of £20 million this year under the Tories “austerity” programme and this is hitting the vulnerable and low paid across the whole of the county. 3 million is really not very much in the overall budget – the County’s capital investment programme alone is £38 million.

“The truth is, this is another example of the kind of paltry social bribes we are being offered to make the nuclear project more palatable. Even then, I see that much of the money will be spent on creating EDF’s future workforce through nuclear training programmes. At the end of the day, EDF will walk away with billions in profits and our descendants in Somerset will be left to pick up the bill for managing the toxic waste they leave behind. “

Plans to dump toxic waste at Hinkley

“There are now clear indications from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority that West Somerset is being earmarked for a ‘second Sellafield’, and the government hope that so-called ‘compensation’ announcements like this will soften local resistance. But what possible compensation could there be for a nuclear accident which would destroy our rural economy, or a toxic waste legacy lasting for many thousands of years. No amount of money can compensate for a broken environment or broken lives – and £3 million a year doesn’t even come close.”

Write to your MP

Write to your MP now to stop this madness.

Stop Hinkley is working for you

Stop Hinkley is dedicated to the decommissioning of all the nuclear reactors on the Bristol Channel and the Severn Estuary and is committed to the introduction of greener technologies more appropriate to this millennium.

Stop Hinkley Site

Stop Hinkley started life in the mid-eighties as ‘Stop Hinkley Expansion’ (SHE). As the name suggests, the goal was to ward off the government plan to build a new Pressurised Water Reactor known as Hinkley C.

Stopping Hinkley C is vital to our renewable energy future

I have already covered the Stop Hinkley movement. Working to stop new nuclear power in the UK is vital to our renewable future. You have the videos to watch via these links to the original blog posts: video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4.

France banned fracking! UK needs to ban fracking also?

Fracking has been covered here too. France has BANNED fracking forever because the French people care for their environment. We need to stop fracking in the UK for the same reasons.

Frack Free February logo

Last meeting 27th February 2014 in bath

Frack Free February is a Month of Action in Somerset with public meetings, talks, stalls, workshops, actions and more all raising awareness about the threats to our communities and the bigger picture of extreme energy.

Stop Hinkley C and Frack Free Somerset are holding a few meetings you need to know about: Radiation Risks of Fracking and Nuclear Waste.

Write to your MP

Write to your MP now!

Wiki discusses costs of fracking

Health effects

One study suggests that hydraulic fracking is sickening and killing cows, horses, goats, llamas, chickens, dogs, cats, fish and other wildlife, as well as humans. The study covered cases in Colorado, Louisiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.^[15] The case studies include reports of hundreds of cows dying as well as stillborn and stunted calves after exposure to hydraulic fracturing spills from dumping of the fluid into streams and from workers slitting the lining of a wastewater impoundment (evaporation ponds) so that it would drain and be able to accept more waste. The wastewater then drained into a pasture and a pond. The study noted that it was difficult to assess health impact because of the industry’s strategic lobbying efforts that resulted in legislation allowing them to keep the proprietary chemicals in the fluid secret, protecting them from being held legally responsible for contamination. Bamberger stated that if you don’t know what chemicals are, you can’t conduct pre-drilling tests and establish a baseline to prove that chemicals found postdrilling are from hydraulic fracturing.^[15] The researchers recommended requiring disclosure of all hydraulic fracturing fluids, that nondisclosure agreements not be allowed when public health is at risk, testing animals raised near hydraulic fracturing sites and animal products (milk, cheese, etc.) from animal raised near hydraulic fracturing sites prior to selling them to market, monitoring of water, soil and air more closely, and testing the air, water, soil and animals prior to drilling and at regular intervals thereafter.^[15]

Early in January 2012, Christopher Portier, director of the US CDC‘s National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, argued that, in addition to the EPA’s plans to investigate the impact of fracking on drinking water, additional studies should be carried out to determine whether wastewater from the wells can harm people or animals and vegetables they eat.^[16] A week later, a group of US doctors called for a moratorium on fracking in populated areas until such studies had been done.^[17][18]

Please write to your MP.

Cameron spends our money

David Cameron is again playing to the media when he promises to spend what ever it takes to mend flood damage.

Somerset floods – from the Guardian

Cameron won’t fix the problems

What he is also saying is that he will not spend any money to solve the underlying problems of flooding. by Thursday he had backtracked and was quoted in the FT:

“money is no object” in dealing with the flooding crisis, telling the House of Commons that this pledge applies only to the immediate clear-up operation…

Greenest government ever is a failure at all forms of sustainability

What this really means is that it will be business as usual for ‘the Greenest government ever.’ Cameron will continue to help out his friends in the oil and gas industry.

There will be no end to the insanity and financial ruin which up to 50 new power plants will create.

You and I will be stuck with hundreds of tons of nuclear waste: we have no place to store this waste and the cost of keeping it safe now is always going up.

We will suffer the environmental harm caused by Cameron’s friends in the fracking industry.

Please write to your representative.

What if there is an accident at Hinkley C?

What if there was an accident at Hinkley C? What if the accident at hinkley C was like the ones at  Fukushima or Chernobyl? A nuclear accident at the coast of Somerset would end the lifestyles of millions of British citizens. Every major and minor city within the radiation zone would have to be evacuated. Like Fukushima where an exclusion zone of 80Km was recommended.

What if we have to evacuate Bristol and Cardiff?

Accident at hinkley C = No More Glastonbury!

We could never have a Glastonbury festival ever again! Every city West of Salisbury to the Atlantic coast would have to be evacuated. Every city South of Pontypool to the channel coast would have to be evacuated.

Fukushima blows up

We have discussed the financial disaster that new nuclear power would create.

We have discussed the lack of need for new nuclear power.

We have discussed the waste from nuclear power which we STILL have no place to store safely.

An Accident at Hinkley C would be a true disaster

Now we discuss the possibility of an accident at the proposed new nuclear power plant at Hinkley.

Here is the link to video #4 in my series of interviews.

Fukushima reactor blows up

Let the people decide which is better

We the people can make the right choice if we have all the facts. With the truth we can make an informed decision about what direction our energy policy should take.

We don’t know all the facts. The energy companies are keeping the truth from us. We must learn the truth. The truth will set us free and end nuclear power in the UK forever.

Watch the next video interview here.

Nuclear Waste? We can’t build Hinkley C

The last video spoke about the financial stupidity of building a new nuclear power plant. This new video looks at the nuclear waste issue.

This blog is a look at part of my interview with Theo Simon. Theo is one of the spokes persons for Stop Hinkley C. Nuclear waste is one of the biggest concerns surrounding a new plant at Hinkley.

Proposed Hinkley C: Power Plant and Waste Dump

In this video we discuss the most compelling reason for not building a new nuclear power plant: nuclear waste.

Nuclear waste is already the most expensive part of our current nuclear program. Estimates say that over £70 Billion will be required to safely store our waste underground.  This cost is going up all the time. The crazy part is that we have no place to store our waste.

The new plans for a nuclear plant at Hinkley will include waste storage on site! that means the good people of Somerset can look forward to having more nuclear waste stored in their county for hundreds of years.

The legacy of nuclear waste on British soil will be the undoing of our heritage and our green and pleasant land. Radioactive waste is not part of our idea of a nice place to live.

We can change the way things are going. We can make a difference if we all pull together as a team.

Time to Write your MP.

Time to write your Congressman, or Senator.

Time to write to your representatives within the National People’s Congress.

Watch the next video here.

The Financial Swindle

It turns out that the UK public is underwriting 10 billion pounds of the construction cost for Hinkley C. This will create a nuclear disaster of a different sort. A Nuclear Financial Disaster, NFD!

I have mentioned that we don’t need Hinkley C or any other new nuclear power plant.

Video interview #2: The Financial Swindle

Here is another interview video interview with Theo Simon.

The government will pay a bribe to Somerset County and West Somerset councils to help the Hinkley C project. The deal, totaling £128m, will last for 40 years, which is the planned lifetime of Hinkley Point C. This cost is in addition to the build price and the costs of waste disposal(a totally unknown amount).

Selling our future for too high a price is a financial swindle

The High price for Hinkley C power is a financial disaster. Today, electricity sells on the wholesale market for about £45 per megawatt-hour (MwH). But anything under £90 a MwH would see Hinkley lose money. On the other hand, go over £100 and by 2020, when Hinkley would still not be operating, wind energy would be cheaper.

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “When City analysts tell you a contract is ‘economically insane’, it’s time to admit that you might have got it wrong. The analysis doesn’t even take into account the fact that they are only expected to meet a ‘share’ of the costs of dealing with the toxic waste created by their generators, with the public facing another bill for clean-up costs in future.”

So we the people will pay twice the going rate for electricity. We will have to forgo the construction of better cleaner and cheaper options like wind. And we will have a thousand years of radioactive nuclear waste to keep safe. We don’t even know the cost for that.

Time to Write your MP.

Time to write your Congressman, or Senator.

Time to write to your representatives within the National People’s Congress.

Check out the next video interview.

Stop plans to frack in Lancashire

Fracking alert for Lancashire. News just in. Quadrilla is seeking approval to frack in Lancashire.

Read the full article

Full Article: Fracking’ bid at two new sites

Here is the article reprinted:

GAS exploration company Cuadrilla today unveiled plans to carry out fracking at two new Lancashire sites.

The firm has earmarked new exploration sites in the parishes of Treales, Crease, Roseacer and Wharles, and Westby-with-Plumptons.

Cuadrilla was today informing local residents of the plans and has set plans in motion to apply to Lancashire County Council for permission to drill up to four wells on each of the two sites. It could be a year before fracking actually begins.

The first site, at Roseacre Wood, is located to the south of the village of Roseacre. and the second is located north of Preston New Road (the A583), to the west of Little Plumpton.

Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan said: “This is a significant step. We know there’s a lot of gas in the ground and we need to know how much gas will flow out.”

Frack Off Quadrilla

Fracking alert for ever

We really do need to keep up the fight to stop fracking in the UK. All the money spent on fracking here is money that cant be spent on renewable energy. If we started spending more money on renewables then we would not need to frack at all.

Fracking causes environmental damage here and adds to our green house gasses. Fracking only creates more problems.