German utility giants E.ON and RWE have scrapped their plans to build new nuclear plants in the UK, raising questions over the security of the country's future energy supply, says the Telegraph.

The companies had been working on proposals for new nuclear power stations at Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey and at Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire, through their joint venture, Horizon Nuclear Power, established in 2009.

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This 'devastating blow' comes AFTER the PM has changed planning laws so as to 'force through' this sort of project. Knit extra jumpers is my advice!

How long could the coal stations be kept going if there was a political will to do so? Will they be mothballed or scrapped?

Oh, and why can't we build our own nukes when we built the very first one in primitive 50s Britain from scratch in two years? It is all a matter of will. Unfortunately that is in very short supply.

And with the imminent closure of Kingsnorth coal fired power station and others by 2015 due to EU regulation we will be even more reliant on our solar panels and windmills.

http://www.eon-uk.com/generation/kingsnorth.aspx

This is turning into a memorable week for this government as more and more problems are dumped on their doorstep. Eventually the general public may get to understand what has been happening with our energy infrastructure, hopefully before the lights go off.

The cover story seems to be that E.On/RWE's appetite for nuclear is gone because their home market is dead. Maybe part of the story, but I doubt the whole story. After all, they knew what was happening in Germany before they got involved in this. Reuters says that the decision involved regulatory issues. Ultimately it's a government decision as to whether the system is set up so that a commercial case to proceed is possible or not. Our ex- "Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change" was hardly a fan (*), and kicking a nuclear project into the long grass has be to one of the easiest bureaucracy tasks going. EdF can stay in the game for the long haul - E.On/RWE obviously not.

* edit. The new one isn't either, and is just toeing the coalition line publicly.

Wind power only crept above 10% of metered capacity from Settlement period 8, (04:00 to 04:30), yesterday after 2 days of virtually no production, at one tome dropping to 91Mw which is 2%.

Don't forget that it takes about 15 years to build a nuclear power station. Starting nuclear generator projects in the last 3 years was never going to get us out of the problems created by avoiding the question of having a rational energy policy for at least the past ten years, compuonded by the climate change hysteria.

I gather that because of the LCPD, the existing coal fired stations are rapidly running out of running hours.

I suspect this whill cause some upheavals and another dash to gas, particularly shale gas. We are certainly about to live in interesting times.

Energy shortage? Not to worry, we'll soon all be able to pick one of these (more) at B&Q.






This is Tesco's convenient handipack offer for those regularly on the move:

German companies are pressured by their government to cease any cooperation with foreign nuclear power projects.
maybe the we should ask the Finns to help out.

Anyway, they just killed the Dutch nuclear project too and in this regard the future looks bleak.

Just mention the word nuclear in germany and mass hysteria breaks out.

O wished they had a similar response to the word "doctrine" and "totalitarian".

This winter they were one minute away from a black out.
I'm sure the next winter they won't be so lucky.

The UK by the way is sitting on a stack of shale gas that will last the next 300 years (probably longer).
A gas power plant can be build in no time and the technology is scalable so you don't need expensive
grids.

Now off you go and start drilling.

Unfortunately John, as Hyperion they've been promising those for years. I don't think they've delivered a single unit yet but if they ever do, a single unit could provide a continuous 25A, (6kw,) to 4,000 homes.

In Australia, the first moves against the Gillard "Carbon Tax" are begining.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politi ... z1qRrjkqdf

Maybe this is the time the Government decides to take off the Shale Gas gloves??? I'm sure a well can be drilled and a gas-fired power station 'knocked up' in a lot less time than a nuclear one could.

Not long after their design end date. That is a figure built into the engineering, and cannot be altered by trick photography, political will or any 'soft science'...

Another monumental cock up. We're used to those and it will be interesting to see what the idiots come up with next.

What about shale gas power ?

We are already seeing what will happen with water, where exactly the same insouciant carelessness with the infrastructure now results in 'drought' orders every time the rainfall falls below average.

I presume that we will see more frequent brownouts, accompanied by frenzied calls to 'Be Green and Save Energy'...