| "Could the lights go out? " Energy Choices 2004 | | Print | |
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The nuclear industry was directly addressed for the first time on 2 December 2004 by Energy Minister, Mike O'Brien MP at the Nuclear Industry Association and British Nuclear Energy Society's joint Annual Conference, 'Energy Choices' entitled "Could the Lights Go Out?" When questioned on the possibility of new nuclear build, the Minister said, were there to be any investment offers, this was something the government would welcome and seriously consider. Confirming current government policy according to the 2003 Energy White Paper, he expected nuclear energy to continue to play a part in the UK's energy mix and felt that new build was still an option for the future. Tony Cooper, who stepped down from his position as Chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) the previous day to take on his new role of Non-Executive Director of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, chaired the first session, welcoming NIA's new membership record of over 100 companies, and while he expressed his regret in having to step down as Chairman of NIA, he anticipated a valuable and fruitful experience on the NDA Board to come. The Minister spoke that morning to a record audience of 254 delegates at Westminster's Church House conference centre. The day was divided into three themes: "Shaping and Assessing Public Opinion", "Nuclear Decommissioning Authority" and "Studying for the Future", and was a step in a new direction for the industry with speakers from outside the nuclear sphere such as documentary producer Dai Richards and Robert Knight of MORI polling giving a unique perspective on the nuclear issue. Dai Richards, producer of "IF…the lights go out", demonstrated how the media can shape society's views and how the programme itself raised a new interest and concern in the public eye regarding security of energy supply and electricity sources in the UK. The viewing figures during the programme were impressively high throughout, and Richards felt that the programme had introduced a "wake-up factor" and that we are witnessing a positive turn in the public's sentiment about nuclear power. The key now for the industry is to capitalise on the opportunity to extend support for new nuclear build across the country. The Research Director of MORI, Robert Knight answered the question, "What do the polls tell us?", with a set of fascinating charts depicting favourable views in Parliament and among the general public towards nuclear energy. The results of many of the surveys were surprising with impressive support from Conservative MPs and a more balanced split in Labour ranks. Comparisons between past surveys and current surveys all point towards a shift in views across the board and particularly, and demonstrate that replacement newbuild to preserve the status quo is a more acceptable proposition, especially to MPs. Knight felt that a "wind of change is blowing" and the next move for the industry should be to tackle the remaining big issues through communication and public engagement. Bill Tynan MP, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Nuclear Energy, revealed his concerns on depending on imported gas from politically unstable parts of the world and spoke encouragingly of his support for a positive move in Parliament in the coming year on energy issues. Although there are clearly financial concerns in terms of new build, Tynan felt one can't put a price on security of supply. He urged the industry to exert more pressure for new build after the next general election. Mr Tynan looked forward to a policy of a balanced integrated mix of energy supply in the UK. "Consulting the public" was the subject of the speech made by the Chairman of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), Gordon MacKerron. MacKerron confirmed that building trust in the decision making process for a solution to the issue of radioactive waste management is fundamental to success. CoRWM intends to go about building trust through extensive public and stakeholder engagement throughout the process. The Committee is currently whittling down its "long list of options" and eliciting public opinion on the criteria it is using to evaluate the options. The real for task CoRWM will be to find ways of translating the results of public engagement and their findings into a final decision. The afternoon session of the conference was chaired by Dr Sue Ion, President of BNES who introduced Sir Anthony Cleaver, newly appointed Chairman of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Cleaver spoke of the mission ahead which the NDA faces in terms of decommissioning and the obligations that it carries with it under the Energy Act. He felt that although the nuclear industry's safety record is outstandingly good, it is not perceived as such in the public eye. Environmental safety and security in the face of terrorism have also been stepped up on nuclear sites in recent times. Mr Cleaver spoke of the organisational challenges the NDA faces and the public engagement tasks to be undertaken for widespread acceptability. Commercial competition would be a healthy ingredient to maintain the balance the community needs for the NDA to be successful. The third session of the day, "Studying for the Future" commenced with a talk by Richard Clegg, Director of Project Dalton at the University of Manchester. He focussed on "Nuclear education in a changing world" and described how UK research and development funding has been in terminal decline for many years. The University of Manchester is very ambitious and wants to be the world leader in 15-20 areas and nuclear is one of them. Dalton is the key to this. There are 5 existing units in the project and they will add four more (three of which are completely new). Professor Clegg was particularly interested in radiation chemistry which is effectively a dead subject in the UK and hopes this will be re-established as part of Dalton. NTEC is not about research, it is for post-graduate education. It is coordinated by Dalton and run over 11 institutions (all but 2 of which are universities). The project is now under way. Dalton is established as one of Manchester's five institutes; business and operational plans are in place; NTEC has applied to EPSRC for over £1million; and professorial appointments are expected in radiation chemistry and engineering. Simon Franklin, Director of the Reactor Centre at Imperial College, London gave the Young Generation Network's perspective on the research reactor. As a site licensee he gained all the same experiences of dealing with the site license issues which large power stations had to deal with. The reactor is used for a wide variety of activities. The most important of these is as a training platform. Another use is using live radiochemistry for Chlorine in reactor steel and I129 in seaweed. Franklin felt that there is a need to give people the experience of working in a live arena. It is also an influence on young people's careers when they visit it. Also if it was to go then there would also be an increase in the transport of radioactive materials. They have several established partnerships eg with the BNFL Technology Centre and Leeds Institute of Particle Science and Engineering. Highlands and Islands College at Dounreay want to establish a link to Consort. As someone who worked on the Commissioning of Sizewell B, this is valuable experience that he passes on to people who train at Consort. If the reactor closes then this route for passing on experience will also close. The decision will be made by January 2005 so the end could be soon. Dr Ion said it had been a good day which had addressed two main themes. In this session, Sir Anthony Cleaver had shown how the NDA will go about its business and what their current thinking was. Richard Clegg explained the very valuable work being done by Project Dalton and NTEC. Simon Franklin set out what was at risk if the Consort reactor goes and that you can't keep the nuclear option open in a vacuum. She concluded the conference by thanking John Sayers for his work on all of the Energy Choices conferences and congratulated him on his retirement. To view all the presentations and speakers biographies at www.niauk.org/Energy_Choices_04.shtml |
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