Tag: energy

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Scotland’s large natural resources yet the poverty and austerity that much of its population endures 

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By Jim Stamper With Scotland’s population just over 8% of the UK’s, Scotland effectively gives over 90% of the income from our oil and gas to the rest of the UK.  With the Scottish Stock Exchange amalgamated into the London Stock Exchange in 1973 conveniently no income is allocated as coming from Scotland.  Also, according to National Grid statistics, up to 3.5 Gigawatts of electricity can be transferred between Scotland and England, 90% going from Scotland to England.   Also a proposal exists to construct a link enabling the transport of up to 2GW of energy from Scotland’s renewable energy reserves … Continue reading Scotland’s large natural resources yet the poverty and austerity that much of its population endures 

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Scottish Government funding enables Scottish company to test ground-breaking new giant gravity battery

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From the Independent today: An abandoned mine in Finland is set to be transformed into a giant battery to store renewable energy during periods of excess production. The Pyhäsalmi Mine, roughly 450 kilometres north of Helsinki, is Europe’s deepest zinc and copper mine and holds the potential to store up to 2 MW of energy within its 1,400-metre-deep shafts. The disused mine will be fitted with a gravity battery, which uses excess energy from renewable sources like solar and wind in order to lift a heavy weight. During periods of low production, the weight is released and used to power a turbine as it … Continue reading Scottish Government funding enables Scottish company to test ground-breaking new giant gravity battery

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After 60 years of nuclear power generation and unknown further decades to make the sites ‘safe’ Ayrshire does not need the new risk and contamination Scottish Labour offers it

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The Labour candidate for Central Ayrshire, Alan Gemmell, is a ‘proud GMB member.’ The GMB union helped found [i] the Labour Party, funds it [ii] and is the union for nuclear industry workers. Gemmell is a certain recipient of that funding. The other two candidates, Irene Campbell for North Ayrshire where the Hunterston power station is located and Elaine Stewart for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, will be obliged to follow the UK Labour line supporting the building of new stations. Hunterston A was commissioned in 1964 and taken out of service in 1990 but full clearance of the site will … Continue reading After 60 years of nuclear power generation and unknown further decades to make the sites ‘safe’ Ayrshire does not need the new risk and contamination Scottish Labour offers it

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Scottish MP backs dangerous reduction in safety standards to expand UK nuclear power

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From Policy Mogul today: Government roadmap includes exploring a new power station as big as Hinkley C and Sizewell C  UK becomes first country in Europe to launch high-tech nuclear fuel programme with up to £300 million investment into UK production, pushing Putin out of global market  Measures such as smarter [sic] regulation will help quadruple UK nuclear power by 2050 up to 24GW – the biggest expansion for 70 years  Minister for Nuclear Andrew Bowie said:   “The government’s investment in nuclear will ensure the UK remains at the forefront of technological developments.  “Our plans will give investors the confidence to back … Continue reading Scottish MP backs dangerous reduction in safety standards to expand UK nuclear power

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Labour MP claims ‘UK’ has 50% of Europe’s tidal energy – will he be mocked for dodgy statistics

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Readers may remember Andrew Neil in the Express mocking a claim in a National headline which had mistakenly left out the word ‘stream’ from ‘Scotland has more tidal power capacity than the rest of the world combined’ There was a bit of a pile-on, as expected. I clarified the claim here: Yesterday in the House of Commons, Mick Whitely (Lab) claimed: The UK, more than any other country in the world, is uniquely positioned to harness the power of its tides. Ten per cent of the world’s tidal resources, and half of Europe’s, are found in Britain.  Tidal Range Energy Generation … Continue reading Labour MP claims ‘UK’ has 50% of Europe’s tidal energy – will he be mocked for dodgy statistics

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Does Scottish Labour support French energy company extending lives of unreliable, inefficient and unsafe nuclear power stations including one in Scotland?

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In the Guardian today: EDF Energy is planning to extend the life of four nuclear power stations in the UK and step up investment in its British nuclear fleet. The French energy company said it would make a decision on whether to extend the life of the four UK plants with advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) – Torness [East Lothian], Heysham 1 and 2, and Hartlepool – by the end of the year. This would require regulatory approval. A spokesperson for the company said it would depend on inspections, adding there would not be long lifetime extensions but “incremental”. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/09/edf-energy-uk-nuclear-power-plants The Scottish station, … Continue reading Does Scottish Labour support French energy company extending lives of unreliable, inefficient and unsafe nuclear power stations including one in Scotland?

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When Wes Streeting puts a kilt on NHS reform

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Leah Gunn Barrett Alex Massie (Times December 31) says that Labour is a national party or it’s nothing. Labour will never be a national party. It’s an English party, headquartered in and concerned only about England. Scotland is an afterthought, and Scots know it. Massie shows his contempt for Scots when he claims a Labour win in England will make it respectable in Scotland, as though we can’t think for ourselves but must take our cues from our southern neighbour.  Massie is right about one thing. Boring and ruthless Keir Starmer has rooted out what remained of Labour’s working-class principles. … Continue reading When Wes Streeting puts a kilt on NHS reform

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Energy-rich Scotland doesn’t need costly and dangerous nuclear power

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Leah Gunn Barrett Two recent letters responding to Tory nuclear energy minister, Andrew Bowie, and Paul Wilson in The Scotsman, who call for more nuclear power plants in Scotland. The first appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News on December 7th, but The Scotsman chose not to publish the second. I wonder if Andrew Bowie, the clueless, youthful ministerial cheerleader for nuclear power, is concerned at all about leaks coming from a huge silo of radioactive waste at the crumbling Sellafield nuclear site.  Norway, Ireland and the US certainly are. Norway is worried that an accident could lead to a radioactive … Continue reading Energy-rich Scotland doesn’t need costly and dangerous nuclear power

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Scotland and nuclear power – Research suggests small modular reactors increase waste quantity by up to 30 times

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stewartb Small modular reactors (SMRs i.e. nuclear reactors that produce <300 MW electricity) have been getting a lot of attention because of claims of inherent safety features and reduced cost [from GMB, Cons and Labour]. It is possible that it will be SMRs that the UK government pushes towards Scotland. Adversely critical or sceptical voices on SMRs don’t get much coverage by the media. The peer reviewed academic paper on SMRs referenced below notes that ‘remarkably few studies have analyzed the management and disposal of their nuclear waste streams.’ Comparing three distinct SMR designs to a conventional 1,100-MW elec pressurized … Continue reading Scotland and nuclear power – Research suggests small modular reactors increase waste quantity by up to 30 times

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The main reason nuclear power hasn’t ‘taken off’ – it’s not economic.

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Leah Gunn Barrett Nuclear costs 2.6 times more per unit than gas and 3.7 times more than wind.[1] Government subsidies and guarantees are needed because the nuclear industry is an open-ended liability. A nuclear plant has never been fully decommissioned and many believe it would cost more than the original construction. Second, nuclear power has facilitated, not stopped, the proliferation of nuclear weapons. India produced its first plutonium in a Canadian supplied reactor, exploding its first nuclear bomb in 1974. Nations like Iran are following suit.[2]  Third, accidents have dogged the industry from the beginning. In 1957 the Windscale reactor that … Continue reading The main reason nuclear power hasn’t ‘taken off’ – it’s not economic.