MorganEnergy

The UK Government has published a list of 11 sites at which it hopes new nuclear power stations will be built. According to The Guardian, the sites are:

Dungeness in Kent; Sizewell in Suffolk; Hartlepool in Cleveland; Heysham in Lancashire; Sellafield in Cumbria; Braystones in Cumbria; Kirksanton in Cumbria; Wylfa Peninsula in Anglesey; Oldbury in Gloucestershire; Hinkley Point in Somerset and Bradwell in Essex.

The majority of these locations (9) already house existing nuclear installations. The other two are close to the nuclear re-processing facility at Sellafield. The government hopes that the choice of brownfield sites will ease the process of planning inquiries, though anti-nuclear protesters are already lining up to challenge the process.

Meanwhile the companies involved are busy courting local public opinion. Here in Somerset homes have received leaflets from EdF that talk enthusiastically about the new jobs that will be created, and about the nuclear skills training center that will be established in conjunction with a local college. Hinkley Point is a particularly interesting site as it overlooks the Severn Estuary more or less exactly where the proposed tidal barrage would be built. This gives local people a genuine choice as to how they want their future electricity generated: by a nuclear power station, or by a renewable energy project that environmental campaigners say will be disastrous for local wildlife. The next year or so could be interesting.

Prime Minister Berlusconi and President Sarkozy have signed an agreement that will see EdF and Enel collaborate on the construction of at least four new nuclear power stations in Italy. The first plant is expected to be online in 2020. This is despite a referendum in 1987 that saw Italy close all operational nuclear plants in the country. EurActive has more details.

The rush to nuclear in Europe is gathering pace. Poland has announced that it plans to build two new nukes.

In 1980 Sweden held a referendum on the use of nuclear power, and the people voted to phase it out. Now, however, the current government is having a re-think. Just like the UK, Sweden has a fleet of aging nuclear plants that need to be replaced with something. As coal and gas are now considered as dangerous, if nor more so, than nuclear, building new nukes is back on the agenda. The Guardian has more details.

The consortium formed by Scottish & Southern (SSE) and Iberdrola, with the purpose of building new nuclear plants in the UK, has a new member. The BBC reports that Gaz de France (GdF) has joined the group. The article also mentions a rival consortium comprised of RWE and E.ON. It is getting crowded in that market.

The February 2009 issue of EEnergy Informer is now available. Here is the contents list:

• Is Exxon’s Carbon Tax Part Of Obama’s Sea Change?
• Nuclear Eyes On Britain
• Energy Demand, Like Everything Else, to Slip In 2009
• Mounting Unpaid Utility Bills Pose New Challenge For Smart Meters
• Future Of Coal: Rhetoric vs. Reality
• Can DOE Make A Difference?
• Sempra Finds The El Dorado In Solar PVs
• AREVA’s Setbacks In Finland Cause for Nuclear Alarm
• New Year Letter To Obamas Warns On Factories Of Death

The article on Finland is available for free. All other articles currently require a subscription to the paper edition of the magazine. To subscribe to EEnergy Informer click here.

It seems like EdF will not have it all its own way in the expected bonanza of nuclear plant production in the UK. According to Energy Business Review, Iberdrola and Scottish & Southern Energy will be setting up a joint venture with a view to building their own nuclear plants.

Here are a couple of follow-ups to stories that we have run here.

- E.On is apparently now free of anti-trust worries in electricity as the European Commission has accepted its promise to divest itself of 5,000 MW of generating capacity. EurActive has details.

- While doom and gloom is all too common in business these days, some people still have confidence: Westinghouse has set up a UK company in expectation of a bonanza from new nuclear plant build in that country. The move may also be connected with concerns about the vulnerability of US-based companies to law suits arising from nuclear accidents, as explained by this Guardian article.

Most governments are now coming around to the idea that new nuclear generation is inevitable, but what will their electorates (if they have them) say? In the USA at least it appears that nukes may be welcomed with open arms. Dr. Fereidoon Sioshansi has an article at EU Energy Policy that suggests support for new nuclear build in the USA could be as high as 74%.

As expected, regulatory authorities in both the UK and EC will be taking an interest in the purchase of British Energy by EdF. Interestingly EdF has announced that any deal with Centrica, who are supposed to be taking a 25% stake in the deal, will have to be put off until after regulatory approval is granted. Presumably EdF is much more worried about Centrica’s potential dominance of the UK retail market than about its own potential dominance of the UK generation market.

Now wait for British MPs to tell Gordon Brown that the deal can’t go to Brussels unless some UK ownership is involved.