Power to The People Latest

10am-3pm, Cossham Hall, Chapel Street, Thornbury BS35 2BJ

Shepperdine Against Nuclear Energy are pleased to invite you to a series of lectures - an ideal opportunity to learn what The Department of Energy and Climate Change and the developer, Horizon Nuclear Power, have planned for The Severn Vale.

Shepperdine Against Nuclear Energy (SANE) take to the streets of Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, to protest against the development of new nuclear at Shepperdine and beyond.

Our theme for the day is "Power to the People" and features a new 3 minute youtube film with John Lennon's immortal music!

The people of SANE "will take to the streets" to emphasise the need for "Power, energy/electricity" to be taken away from Global Players and for local communities to create their own "Power".

We will mobilise our members to be present before the official start time of 10am. with signs and banners etc. and there will be a march in a loop around the centre of Thornbury.

• Reg Illingworth - Opening comments and thanks from our chairman.
• Professor Steve Thomas, University of Greenwich Business School: “New nuclear: Unfinanceable, unlicensable and unbuildable?”.
• Dr Ian Fairlie Independent consultant on radioactivity in the environment. Dr Fairlie will talk about the increased incidence of leukemias near nuclear power stations.
• Professor Andrew Blowers, Research Professor at the OU, author of “The International Politics Of Nuclear Waste”. Professor Blowers will talk about the legacy of nuclear waste on future generations.
• Professor Gareth Williams, A resident of Rockhampton. “Not just in our backyard”
• Professor Tom Burke, Environment adviser to Rio Tinto PLC and Visiting Professor at Imperial and University Colleges, London. A Senior Business Advisor to the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative on Climate change. Professor Burke will cover the energy policy ground – how new nuclear won’t help with energy or climate security and the risk of policy failure.

TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG!

Contact to reserve a seat: 07796 447 880 or email below.

After the lectures, people will be marching from Cossham Hall around Thornbury to express to DECC SANE's feelings about the Shepperdine Site's suitability for construction.

SANE will hold a Christmas Party in the evening with live music to which any members of the group or media are welcome. The party will be in Shepperdine, very close to the proposed site.
www.shepperdineagainstnuclearener...
Email: oldburynuclear@btinternet.com

Bircham Dyson Bell blog entry about energy infrastructure

Planning Act 2008 Blog

Angus Walker, Partner

The Planning Act 2008 is one of the most important pieces of legislation affecting major infrastructure projects for many years. The same new procedure will be available for new nuclear power stations, onshore and offshore windfarms, railways, motorways, electricity pylons, and many more high-profile projects.

This is entry number 190, first published on 24 November 2010, of a blog on the implementation of the Planning Act 2008. Click here for a link to the whole blog. If you would like to be notified when the blog is updated, with links sent by email, click here.

Today's entry reports on the programme for parliamentary scrutiny of the energy and waste water National Policy Statements.

Energy

Six energy National Policy Statements (NPSs) were first published in November 2009, and following consultation and parliamentary scrutiny - and an election - revised versions were published last month (see blog entry).  NPSs set out the need for new infrastructure, and what applicants should assess and the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) should consider when applications are made.

The parliamentary scrutiny in the Commons on the original drafts consisted of consideration by the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, which invited written evidence to be sent to it and held ten evidence-gathering sessions where its members questioned representatives of energy companies, environmental organisations, the IPC and the government on the content of the NPSs, and produced a report of its recommendations. 

Unlike the Transport Select Committee on the Ports NPS, the report did not conclude that the NPSs were not fit for purpose, but nevertheless had some criticisms of them (see blog entry).  One of the main ones was that the 'Appraisals of Sustainability' (AoSs) that had been published alongside the NPSs did not consider alternatives properly.  Although the revised NPSs have not changed a great deal, the AoSs that are published with them have, particularly in how they deal with alternatives.  The number of identified sites for nuclear power stations was also reduced from ten to eight, two in Cumbria being dropped.

Revised NPSs now having been published, the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee has decided that it will only have a single evidence session with a single witness, and does not appear to be inviting written evidence.  Next Tuesday, 30 November, at 4.15 p.m., the committee will hear evidence from Charles Hendry MP, the energy minister (no doubt aided by officials from DECC, and possibly also CLG given the subject-matter). 

Four topics for discussion have been identified by the committee, not all of which relate directly to the NPSs:

• the implications of changes in the Planning Act 2008 for the implementation of the National Policy Statements;
• the robustness of transitional arrangements preceding the abolition of the IPC and the creation of the MIPU;
• the implications of changes to the Appraisals of Sustainability for the assessment of the National Policy Statements; and
• how the changes in the revised draft National Policy Statements will affect their contribution to the Government’s energy policy objectives.

The first two of these relate to the forthcoming Localism Bill, which was to have been published in time for the committee session, but as we heard on Monday, will now not be.  It will therefore be interesting whether any further information about the changes to the regime will be divulged (and there are also CLG questions tomorrow).

The reduced evidence-taking is likely to be because the NPSs have not changed significantly, but then again the make-up of the committee haschanged significantly since the consideration of the previous drafts.  Only three of the twelve members were in post at the start of this year, which may mean that some issues do get revisited.  The membership is currently (with an * against pre-election members): Tim Yeo (Chair), Dan Byles, Phillip Lee, Christopher Pincher, Laura Sandys (Con), Barry Gardiner, Ian Lavery, Albert Owen, John Robertson*, Alan Whitehead* (Lab) and Sir Robert Smith* (LD).

I will attend the session and hope to report on it shortly thereafter.

The committee then has until 21 December to send its report to the government, being 39 days before the 'relevant date' of 31 January 2011 announced upon the publication of the revised draft NPSs. 

The House of Lords may also consider the revised drafts, but as it doesn't have departmental select committees, it is likely to have a debate in Grand Committee as it did before.  No date has yet been set for this, but it will have to be before 31 January (the 39-day rule only applying in the Commons).

In parallel, there is a public consultation exercise running, which ends on 24 January 2011.  The government asks respondents to concentrate on the changes made to the NPSs and the accompanying documents, rather than seeking to revisit the policies they set out.

Debates on the floor of both Houses are then expected, given the coalition government's pledge to have a Parliamentary vote on NPSs to ratify them.

Tim Proudler says " We are not seeking an alternative site" at Tibbenham

Many thanks for your email. In response I can confirm that Horizon Nuclear Power is committed to developing its proposed new nuclear power station on the land we have acquired adjacent to the existing power station at Oldbury. It is this site that was nominated into the Government’s Strategic Siting Assessment (SSA) process which led to its subsequent inclusion in the draft National Policy Statement (NPS). Therefore we are not seeking an alternative site.

The initial ground investigations last year revealed nothing to suggest that a new nuclear power station could not be built on the site.

Kind regards,

Tim

Tim Proudler

Planning & Consents Manager - Oldbury

Horizon Nuclear Power 

 

---

From: reg illingworth [oldburynuclear@btinternet.com]
Sent: 18 November 2010 22:56
To: Samantha Stagg
Cc: Oldbury Enquiries
Subject: Poor land at Shepperdine

Hi Samantha

It has been brought to our attention that the ground at the proposed site is very poor and therefore Horizon Nuclear Power are looking to buy land on the opposite bank where the ground is considered to be better (rock)

It is known that Hydrock drilled to a depth of 200m last year and took core samples which were viewed and witnessed by residents of Shepperdine.

The quality of the mercia mudstone was very weak.

Can you please provide responses so we can publish  this in the SANE blog.

Many thanks

Reg

An Energy [R]evolution is not just possible, it's already happening. Here's a few amazing facts about renewable energy that the world ought to know.

	Solar photovoltaic could account for 5% of global power demand by 2020, and up to 9% by 2030
	Google is planning to build an offshore wind superhighway that will supply 1.9 million households..
	West Virgina could replace all its electrical capacity with just 2% of its geothermal power potential..
	The world's largest offshore windfarm is made of 100 turbines & supplies enough power for 200,000 homes.
	Subsidies to fossil fuels worldwide outweigh renewable energy support by a ratio of 12:1.
	Wind could meet 12% of global power demand by 2020, and up to 22% by 2030..
	On November 9th, 2009, Spain generated more than half its electricity demand with wind power.
	A project is underway 2 deliver one sixth of Europe's electricity fm solar plants in the Sahara by 2050.
	Price Waterhouse Cooper says Europe and North Africa could run on 100% renewable energy by 2050.
	China built (roughly) one windmill an hour in 2009.
	Wind overtook coal as the third-largest producer of power in Spain in 2009.
	The annual market for renewable technology will rise fm appx US$100 billion today, to $600 bn+ by 2030.
	Europe DECOMMISSIONED more coal, fuel oil and nuclear capacity than it installed in 2009.
	Solar energy is now working at night on a commercial scale. A plant in Spain has seven hours of heat storage.
	The global financial crisis didn't stifle the US wind power market: it grew by 39% in 2009.
	China become the largest investor in clean energy in 2009, investing $16 billion more than the US.
	Concentrated Solar Power plants focus the suns rays with mirrors at temperatures which melt steel.
	The world's largest wind farm is in Texas.
	Geothermal power provides 10% of New Zealand's electricity needs.
	Iceland's power supply went from 75% imported coal to more than 80% local geothermal and hydro in 30 years.
	In the space of just 5 years, Portugal's electric grid leapt from 15% to 45% renewables.
	Concentrated Solar Power could employ 200,000 people by 2020, 2.1 million by 2050.

Chinese go Mega on Nuclear

China nuclear body recommends 2020 target of 70 GW

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BEIJING | Wed Nov 24, 2010 3:32am GMT

Nov 24 (Reuters) - The China Nuclear Energy Association has recommended the government adopt a 2020 target of 70 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity, but companies in the sector are pushing for more, association Vice-Chairman Zhao Chenkun told Reuters on Wednesday.

China is expected to unveil a development plan for its alternative energy sector in coming months, updating 2020 targets for nuclear energy, and renewables such as hydropower and wind.

The country's rapid expansion of nuclear energy means it is expected to easily surpass the existing target of 40 GW, and officials have said the government could raise that to 80 GW or more. [ID:nTOE68F079] (Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Chris Lewis)

SANE Comment:

Let us all hope the operators and health and health and safety people have excellent manuals to work with.

At least we know North Korea will not nuke the Chinese!

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