Thousands of jobs could be created after Oldbury nuclear reactor deal

“I thought this press release was interesting. Actually I saw Tanaka, the ex-Hitachi guy, at the at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan shortly after the triple meltdown disaster at their reactors. He seemed a credible man.

Oldbury just seems so close to Bristol to be messing around with this stuff.


PRESS RELEASE 6th November 2012

UK GOVERNMENT DESPERATE TO RESCUE THEIR STALLED NUCLEAR POLICY APPLAUD PROPOSED DEAL BETWEEN HORIZON AND HITACHI

"Hitachi's £700m should be paid in compensation to the children of Fukushima; it should not be used to build nuclear power stations in Anglesey and Gloucestershire to endanger the health and lives of our children" says Jo Smoldon of the Stop Hinkley Campaign.

Bloomberg LP, leader in global business and financial information, reported on 23rd March 2011 the following story:
http://tinyurl.com/apqhvn9 shut-reactor.html

Mitsuhiko Tanaka says he helped conceal a manufacturing defect in the $250 million steel vessel installed at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 4 reactor while working for a unit of Hitachi Ltd. (6501) in 1974. The reactor, which Tanaka has called a "time bomb," was shut for maintenance when the March 11 earthquake triggered a 23 ft tsunami that disabled cooling systems at the plant, leading to explosions and radiation leaks.

For Tanaka, the nightmare intensified the next day when a series of explosions were triggered next to the reactor that he helped build. Since then, the risks of radioactive leaks increase as workers struggle to bring the plant under control.

Tanaka says the reactor pressure vessel inside Fukushima's unit No. 4 was damaged at a Babcock- Hitachi foundry in Kure City, in Hiroshima prefecture, during the last step of a manufacturing process that took two and a half years and cost tens of millions of dollars. If the mistake had been discovered, the company might have been bankrupted, he said.

Two years after Chernobyl Tanaka says he went to the Japanese Trade Ministry to report the cover- up he'd been involved in more than a decade earlier.

Tanaka said "The Government said, if Hitachi says they didn't do it, then there's no problem."

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Clenfield in Tokyo at jclenfield@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Langan at plangan@bloomberg.net
Katy Attwater, Acting Press Officer, Stop Hinkley Campaign, 07980 731896 kattwater@hotmail.com”

“Sorry, that should have been 2020.”

“I'm agreeing with you green_man!

But still, renewables are estimated to only produce 30% of our energy by 2010. The rest needs to be produced some how... even if we do cut out waste.”

“Great Hitachi The Company that gave us the Reactor 4 explosion at Fukushima arrives on the Severn Estuary!Reactor 4 had been emptied of fuel rods for reactor vessel work, but still popped (the conspiracy theory see http://tinyurl.com/87n5dhy ) blowing it's BNFL supplied highly toxic mixed oxide Uranium/plutonium fuel rods in storage ponds all over the place, making this province uninhabitable! Even if the conspiracy is correct and the Tsunami wasn't responsible, then there is a security aspect to nuclear power that is frightening and another reason to avoid this way of generating electricity!

That the Severn estuary would never have severe flooding or even a tsunami is also non-sense, see wiki article on 1607 flood http://tinyurl.com/5tt5kd7 now which Spanish Canary island is the biggest suspect for an Atlantic mega tsunami?

The 2nd highest tidal rise in the world should be used for power generation, not just for cooling these carbuncles that will destroy Bristol if they ever go pop, and will doubtless raise infant and prenatal mortality with raised radiation levels. The Germans sensibly are getting out of nuclear power, they understood the issue with the Stuxnet virus linked to Fukashima and their Siemens controllers being hijacked, why they shut their aging plants so quickly - why are we so stupid!

EDF are also planning new nuclear sites at Hinkley point - why can't they and Hitachi (via UK Gov) get together and harness the tidal power of the Severn, which is always there as long as we have a moon. EDF in France run the Rance tidal barrage at St Malo, this produces some of the cheapest electricity generated in France, I know what I'd prefer being downwind in Bristol http://tinyurl.com/7542hdx”

“Yes but smoosername, the scale at which we waste energy is vast, so the scope for savings is huge. For example the Energy Saving Trust said that UK households waste £1.3 billion by just leaving TVs and other electronic devices switched on... http://tinyurl.com/7owrdpu . In hard economics times and with energy prices rising you'd think people would be more careful but apparently they aren't.

Research in 2006 found the UK was top of the European energy waster league. http://tinyurl.com/ygr37a”

“I do completely agree green_man, I was merely referring to the energy generation side of things, understand there is a strong case for reducing the amount we use as well.

I still believe however, that even drastically reducing the amount of energy we use, we are not going to be able to do so to a level that rules out nuclear as a generating source, maybe less reactors/power stations etc... but unfortunately never completely.

Electricity from CO2 (oil/gas/coal) producing sources makes up roughly 60% for the UK, that is a big gap to plug over the next few years.”

“Grulgor - "the change to a few nuclear stations back in the 50's has not stopped the change in global warming, however the simple reason is this, our reliance on fosil fuels has increased in line with population increases"
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You refer to 'a few' nuclear power stations but the UK currently has 16 reactors in operation at 9 different sites - and its had more in the past. Yes, we've come to rely on fossil fuels and population has increased at the same time but expanding nuclear power - and expanding power generation by all methods - has been part of unsustainable plans for industrial and economic expansion. Until we change from unsustainable economic expansion to properly and fully applying sustainable development then we wont tackle economic, social and environmental problems such as climate change.”

“As a pragmatist I generally agree with most of what you say smoosername but you refer to
'...every type of energy production...' and so neglect even to mention energy saving and energy efficiency. Its always going to be cheaper to save energy and be efficient than it is to generate energy - not only does it cut household bills and increase the profitability of businesses by reducing their outgoings, it also cuts pollution rapidly, is a very good job creator, can increase comfort, cut noise levels, and can sometimes be done using materials normally thrown away...So whilst we are so wasteful of energy why consider building large numbers of new power stations of any kind? Why is the primary focus not on creating a lower energy, energy thrifty culture? Basic, already existing technologies can be used but the challenge is to combine these with thrifty attitudes and behaviours.”

“I think when people step back and look at the problems we face in generating energy, no one can completely count out nuclear.

There is no single solution to the problem and there are objectors to every type of energy production, meaning it makes sense not to be fully reliant on any single type of power generation and spread the load between various methods that are not CO2 producing.

Maybe Hitachi could also look into building the PRISM reactors that would possibly solve our problem of the large amount of plutonium we store?”

“there will always be a cost involved in obtaining the materials to generate power, be it gas, coal or nuclear.

I dont know the full details of the number of power plants that operate within the uk and the % split between the different types, however if fully moved to nuclear it would have more of an impact. on a side note yes the change to a few nuclear stations back in the 50's has not stopped the change in global warming, however the simple reason is this, our reliance on fosil fuels has increased in line with population increases. one country switching to nuclear will not reverse this.

Short term nuclear in my opinion is the correct choice, though i would prefer green tech where possible. to the extent all new biulds should be buit with green tech as standard. Those 3 turbines in Avonmouth are great for the docks, but more are needed. Though apparently one company in avonmouth who wished to build a turbine had their planning premission declined, rumours suggest it was to do with ruining the skyline or something, I've not checked.

at the end of the day though, even if we managed to fully switch to green generation for all our power needs based on wind farms, solar pannels or biomass plants, there will most likely still be back up convential plants in the event things go wrong.

For me personally i have looked in to solar pannels and what I can do, even though my house (end terrace) is ideal for solar pannels based on the roof facings (all 3 of them!) would be suitable for the pannels none of the installers will fit them and to be honest I can not afford to save up the £xx,000's of pounds it will take to buy and have them fitted.”