Nothing paints a better picture of the hesitant commitment to build new reactors at Moorside than the half-hearted resolve of some of NuGen’s consortium partners since their 2009 purchase of an option to develop the 199 hectare site adjacent to Sellafield. For even before the dust has settled on the corporate comings and goings through … [Continue Reading]
Commissoners, cooling and geological constraints – a critical time for Cumbria’s new-build consortium NuGen [No 11/14]
For Nugen – the Toshiba/GDF Suez consortium behind plans for three AP1000 reactors on a green-field site adjacent to Sellafield – the imminent decision by the EU’s competition commissioners on the legality of the range of subsidies and guarantees being offered to developers by the UK Government, represents just one of many major hurdles along … [Continue Reading]
Moorside, Sellafield – implications of proposals for new reactors [No 10/14]
Introduction: On 30thJune, Japan’s electronics and engineering giant Toshiba announced it had acquired a 60% stake in the NuGen consortium which plans to build Westinghouse (AP1000) Pressurised Water Reactors (PWR) at a site next to Sellafield. The reactors will use fuel from the Westinghouse fuel fabrication facility at Springfields, Lancashire. The remaining 40% stake in … [Continue Reading]
Japan takes the reins in NuGen’s ambitious plans to build reactors adjacent to Sellafield. [No 07/14]
In a 30th June press release, Japan’s electronics and engineering giant Toshiba announced that it had acquired a 60% stake in the NuGen consortium which plans to build Westinghouse (AP1000) Pressurised Water Reactors (PWR) on the coastal site adjacent to Sellafield. The reactors will be operated on fuel from the Westinghouse fuel fabrication facility at … [Continue Reading]
Nothing welcome about Government’s new build deal
The announcement today of the new-build financial deal cobbled together by Government and which guarantees foreign companies a price for electricity that is not only double today’s market price but one that will be guaranteed for up to 40 years, can best be assessed via US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s conundrum on weapons of mass … [Continue Reading]
Nothing welcome about Government’s new build deal
The announcement today of the new-build financial deal cobbled together by Government and which guarantees foreign companies a price for electricity that is not only double today’s market price but one that will be guaranteed for up to 40 years, can best be assessed via US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s conundrum on weapons of mass … [Continue Reading]
NuGen or NoGen – the curious case of Cumbria’s confused new-build consortium [No 05/13]
The decline worldwide of the nuclear renaissance may well have reached the shores of West Cumbria as evident by the recent conflicting statements in the media about the future of NuGen’s project to build new reactors adjacent to Sellafield. Launched in 2009, the NuGen consortium comprised of GDF Suez (France), Iberdrola (Spain) and the UK’s … [Continue Reading]
Another nail in the Sellafield new-build coffin
Plans to build new nuclear reactors adjacent to Sellafield have suffered a major and possibly terminal setback with the announcement that Spanish energy giant Iberdrola is to pull out of the NuGeneration (NuGen) consortium which planned to develop up to 3.6 GW of nuclear power at the new station. Price and construction costs are believed … [Continue Reading]
Scottish & Southern Energy plc (SSE) quits NuGeneration just days after new-build consortium applies to sink exploratory boreholes at site adjacent to Sellafield [No 02/11]
Together with GDF Suez SA and Iberdrola SA, SSE was the third partner in the NuGeneration consortium planning to build new reactors on a green field site owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) adjacent to Sellafield. The option to develop the 190 hectare site, up to 3.6 GW capacity, was secured from the NDA … [Continue Reading]
CORE’s response to today’s Govt approval of West Cumbria for nuclear new-build
Hopes of an environmentally friendly and diversified business future for West Cumbria have been dashed by today’s well-trailed approval by Government of the suitability of the greenfield site north of Sellafield for new reactor build. CORE’s spokesman Martin Forwood said today This fixation on suffocating West Cumbria with all things nuclear ignores the wealth of … [Continue Reading]