No end to nuclear costs for UK taxpayers
Heard the fantasy about constructing an airport in the Thames estuary? And the one about constructing a bridge from Scotland to Northern Ireland? Well, there is a new fantasy going the rounds: that eight new nuclear power stations will be constructed in the UK in the next decade.
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‘THE BIG CALL’ – What Next for Bradwell?
The Government claims it has made ‘the big call’, reversing ‘decades of myopia’ by investing ‘massively’ in nuclear power to the tune of 24GW, three times the present generating capacity, by 2050. Is the ‘big call’ the right call?
Andrew Blowers considers what the Energy Security Strategy means for Bradwell in the May 2022 edition of Regional Life – click here to read article in full.
April 2022 : Press Release – BANNG Response to the Big Boost for New Nuclear
The centrepiece of the recent, much trumpeted British Energy Security Strategy was the boost for nuclear power to three times its present capacity to produce 25% of our electricity by the middle of this century. BANNG’s Chair, Prof. Andy Blowers, comments, ‘This policy of nuclear expansion should be dismissed out of hand as unachievable, delusionary and irrelevant. And there is little prospect of Bradwell being among the sites where new nuclear power stations are likely to be built’.
Continue reading the Press Release in full.
April 2022 : Zaporizhzhia – a nuclear wake-up call
Varrie Blowers, Secretary of BANNG discusses the implications of the war in Ukraine in the latest column for Regional Life, April, 2022 – click here to read article in full.
March 2022 : Is this the calm after the storm?
Just two years ago and just before the first frightening lockdown, The Chinese operator launched its pre-Application proposals and the gross scale of the Bradwell B juggernaut was as unexpected as it was threatening. Despite lockdown the local reaction was immediate, widespread and determined. The proposals were summarily repelled and CGN declared a pause and retreated homeward to think again.
Click here to read latest Regional Life article in full
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February 2022 : Reactor approval is not a green light for Bradwell
The granting of Generic Design Assessment (GDA) approval by the regulators for the Chinese Hualong UK HPR1000 reactors should not be read as signalling the go-ahead for a new nuclear power station at Bradwell, according to the Blackwater against New Nuclear Group (BANNG).
BANNG’s Chair, Prof. Andy Blowers, commented: ‘The Chinese developer has now got the so-called gold standard approval for their reactor design from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) which they have coveted in order to promote their reactors anywhere around the world. But this absolutely does not give a green light for reactors to be built at Bradwell. And, given the problems of the Bradwell site and the fierce local opposition, China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) would surely struggle to gain the permits, licences and planning permission that it will need over coming years. Much better for it to try its luck elsewhere’.
Click here to read Press release in full
January 2022 : BANNG rejects claims that Bradwell is an appropriate site for a new nuclear power station
In a recent speech to the House of Commons, Maldon MP, John Whittingdale, reiterated his support for new nuclear development at Bradwell and the appropriateness of the site. He mentioned the benefits that Bradwell A had brought to the area. BANNG rejects his comments as they not only ignore the disbenefits that a new power station would bring but, in particular, they ignore the effects that Climate Change in the not-too-distant future is likely to wreak on the low-lying Bradwell site, such as flooding, storm surges and other coastal processes.
Click here to read Press release in full
January 2022 : Can you believe it? Common Myths about Nuclear Power
BANNG’s Coordinator, Peter Banks, examines the following four of the common myths perpetrated about nuclear power in the January 2022 edition of Regional Life:
1. ‘ Nuclear waste is a problem that can be solved’
2. ‘Nuclear is needed to keep the lights on’
3. ‘Nuclear is a vital part of the energy mix to achieve Net Zero’
4. ‘Nuclear provides a secure form of electricity supply’
Click here to read about the Common Myths propagated about Nuclear Power in full
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December 2021 : No Time and No Place for Bradwell B
Andy Blowers examines recent debates about energy policy and concludes that Bradwell B is virtually dead in the water in the BANNG Column for Regional Life December, 2021.
Click here to read Andy Blowers’ article for the December edition of Regional Life in full
November 2021 : Is there any need for Nuclear in a Net Zero Future?
In the run up to COP 26 there has been a frenetic push for new nuclear as an integral part of the energy mix to achieve Net Zero by 2050. There has been a flurry of speeches, bullish statements from politicians, trade unions, the nuclear industry and its outriders in the media bigging up a slew of new nuclear projects, some realisable, most fantastical.
Click here to read Andy Blowers’ article for the November edition of Regional Life in full
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COP26 and Bradwell B
COP 26, the United Nations international conference on Climate Change, in Glasgow, is seen as the Last Chance Saloon at which countries must redouble their commitments to reduce carbon emissions, to the level of ‘net zero’ by mid-century.
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