World Nuclear Association Blog

UK industry is ready for a new nuclear build programme, according to a new report released by the Nuclear Industry Association today. Although there have been concerns that the gap between the UK's previous nuclear plant programme and the expected new nuclear build programme of the next decade might mean there were insufficiently skilled workers based in the UK to make a meaningful contribution to such a programme.

However, in a statement released today the NIA says that UK industry could provide 70-80% of a sustained new build programme, that would draw on less than 5% of the current UK construction capability. That 5% would still represent valuable jobs for UK construction workers.

World Nuclear News (WNN) reports today that attitudes towards nuclear energy in New Zealand have warmed slightly, nuclear energy now being favoured over coal and gas, although wind power and hydro still have much greater support.

However, New Zealand is currently facing severe drought and some of the lowest levels of the lakes supplying the hydro plants that supply much of the electricity in New Zealand. Water levels have fallen below a measure called the 'Minzone.' When this occurs the generating system undergoes careful management to conserve water to the maximum possible extent. One measure taken is to ensure that all thermal plants are run as much as possible. As all thermal plants in New Zealand are fossil fuel plants this measure will result in increased greenhouse gas emissions, so the solution to reduced hydro production may well contribute to climate change, making future droughts more likely.

Two recent news stories have demonstrated the complexity of climate change. A report from the University of Lancaster puts forward evidence to disprove an counter theory to global warming that linked solar activity to warming or cooling trends. The counter theory proposed that lower solar activity would result in an increase in the intensity of cosmic ray reaching the lower part of the Earth's atmosphere and that cosmic rays were an important factor in the formation of low-level clouds. The greater the amount of low-level clouds the cooler the climate would be. The University of Lancaster failed to find any strong correlation between the intensity of cosmic rays and the level of low-level cloud formation. With no strong correlation the amount of influence changes in solar activity could have on the climate were limited, according to the Lancaster report.

In a second article reported by the BBC, the World Meteorological Organization has announced that temperatures in 2008 are likely to be lower than in previous years and the run of record highs for global temperatures over the last decade has come to an end. The report goes on to identify the cold La Nina current in the Pacific as the cause of the dip in temperatures. Both the La Nina and the warming El Nino currents have a significant influence over global temperatures. And this year has seen biting cold weather in both the US and China, as well as rare heavy snow falls in mid-April in the UK. However, the influences of both El Nino  and La Nina are thought to be in addition to the underlying long-term global warming trend, meaning that the WMO expects warmer temperatures to return in a few years.

A fun video here, with some pretty good advice.

A report has been published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers recommending that there should be a substantial increase in the use of rail transport and a reduction in road and air transport. For a journey from London to Glasgow, a trip of about 400 miles, emissions per passenger were estimated as being by road are 80.2kg, compared with 133.7kg by air and 46.8kg by rail. Even more impressive, a trip from London to Paris and back by air produced eleven times the CO₂ emissions as an equivalent trip on the Eurostar.

Why should the journey to Paris by train be so much more carbon efficient by train? The shorter distance and consequential higher proportion of the flight spent taking off and landing will have some effect. But a major contributor will be the electricity generation mix used to power the electric trains. Once through the Channel Tunnel the Eurostar is powered by the French generation mix, with nearly 80% of the electricity being generated from nuclear power. In comparison the nuclear component of the generation mix in the UK has fallen from a peak of around 30% in the late 1990s to around 18% today.

Eurostar journey's may be even more environmentally sound. An arrangement between Eurostar and British Energy means that the journey through the UK can be considered to make use of British Energy's very low carbon generation mix.

Dramatic footage has been posted on YouTube of the collapse of a wind turbine located in Denmark. 

Apparently, the braking mechanism on the turbine had failed, making it impossible to keep the turbine operating safely as the wind speed increased. As the turbine collapsed massive pieces of debris fell to the ground, just compare the size of those to the van parked at the base of the turbine.

This is not an isolated case, in Novembern 2007 two turbines collapsed in the UK. Thankfully none of these incidents caused any injuries, though the potential danger is obvious. Tragically in Augst 2007 in Oregon, USA a worker was killed and another injured when the turbine they were working on collapsed.

These incidents show the need for the highest safety standards in all forms of generation, something already clearly understood in the nuclear industry.