Owl really should not have beaten them to it!
Daily Archives: 4 May 2016
“Nuclear reactors could have faulty French components”
Plans to build an £18 billion nuclear power station in Somerset were thrown into chaos after the admission that engineers may have falsified vital safety tests.
The revelation plunged the French nuclear industry into a new crisis, prompting fears that dozens of reactors in France and possibly the UK could be dangerous.
Britain’s nuclear safety regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), said last night that it was seeking answers from EDF, the troubled state-owned electricity company planning to build two European pressurised reactors at Hinkley Point.
The ONR said that it was “aware of reports of possible falsification of manufacturing and quality control” at a French state-owned factory that has manufactured key components used in more than half of France’s 58 nuclear reactors. The factory, owned by the collapsed nuclear reactor manufacturer Areva, is due to produce the reactors to be used at Hinkley.
“We have been in contact with [EDF] with regard to any applicability to Hinkley Point C,” a spokeswoman said. She added that the ONR was seeking additional information about the possibility that unverified components manufactured at the Areva plant in Le Creusot, Burgundy, may have been installed by EDF at some of the 15 reactors it owns in Britain.
A spokeswoman for Areva, a sister company of EDF, acknowledged that there were questions over the safety and reliability of France’s nuclear industry. “Obviously, this is a major issue in terms of confidence,” she said. “We have got our people mobilised to bring transparency here, and we are determined to do that.”
f
Areva admitted on Monday that information on the safety of the reactor pressure vessels it has been making for French nuclear plants since the 1960s is either missing or wrong.
Philippe Knoche, Areva chief executive, said that he could not rule out falsification. There have been claims that the errors may have been a deliberate attempt to mislead the French nuclear watchdog, ASN.
“We can neither confirm nor exclude potential falsifications,” a spokesman said, amid fears of possible flaws in its practices and quality control.
Mycle Schneider, an expert on the French nuclear industry, said that hundreds of large components manufactured at the Le Creusot plant were not properly accounted for. About 50 are believed to be in use inside French nuclear power stations but smaller components could be in reactors owned by EDF in Britain, he said. A similar scandal in Japan in 2005 led to the shutdown of 17 nuclear reactors.
“This puts into question the entire chain of quality control and safety inspections in France,” he said.
France’s reactors generate almost 80 per cent of the country’s electricity.
Areva collapsed last year amid huge debts linked to the botched construction of European pressurised reactors in Finland and Normandy. Documents relating to 10,000 components made in the Le Creusot factory since 1965 are being analysed; so far 400 have revealed anomalies, about half of which relate to nuclear plant parts.
A final decision on Hinkley, designed to provide 7 per cent of the UK’s electricity, has been delayed until September amid fears the cost could cripple EDF.”
thetimes.co.uk | May 4 2016, 1:01am,
PCC candidate scandal – what scandal? ITV keeps schtum, BBC covers it
ITV covering the final three of six candidates for Police and Crime Commissioner – including Conservative Alison Hernandez.
Not a murmur about the fact that she is one of the people being investigated for alleged general election fraud connected to the Tory “Battle Bus” expenses. Or that if she won she would be able to fire the Chief Constable who would be investigating it!
YYYAAAHHH – BBC Spotlight covered it!
Fascinating.
?…. ? …..
Election time Communication purdah is NOT an excuse – it excludes matters of important public interest.
And so we sink lower and lower … fiddling whilst the NHS burns
“Jeremy Hunt and other Conservative front benchers have been scolded by the Speaker of the House of Commons for “fiddling” with their mobile phones during a debate in Parliament.
John Bercow said the behaviour was “rank discourteous” when he caught the Health Secretary and his colleagues looking at their gadgets at the beginning of a discussion over NHS bursaries.
Mr Bercow said:
“I do very gently say that to sit on the bench… fiddling ostentatiously with an electronic device defies the established convention of the house that such devices should be used without impairing parliamentary decorum. They are impairing parliamentary decorum.”
“It’s a point so blindingly obvious that only an extraordinarily clever and sophisticated person could fail to grasp it.
When the Deputy Leader of the House Therese Coffey appeared to continue pressing buttons on her phone, Mr Bercow shouted:
“Put the device away, and if you don’t want to put it away, get out of the house. I’m telling her its discourteous to continue, a point most people would understand.”
See the video here:
“Former CFO wanted EDF to delay Hinkley Point project”
“EDF’s former chief financial officer had urged the utility to delay a final investment decision on building Britain’s Hinkley Point nuclear plant by at least three years, he told France’s parliament on Wednesday.
Thomas Piquemal’s shock resignation in March raised doubts about EDF’s ability to finance the 18 billion pound project in western England but Piquemal had not previously spoken publicly about his reasons for leaving.
“In January 2015, I proposed to negotiate a three-year delay with our client because we reasoned that it would weigh too heavily on EDF’s balance sheet,” Piquemal told a parliament committee hearing.
A visibly emotional Piquemal said he resigned in desperation when it eventually became clear that he would not be able to delay the project.
“I could not sign off on a decision that could one day put EDF in the same situation as Areva, having to recapitalise the company a few months before defaulting on payments,” he said.
Nuclear group Areva — which has agreed to sell its reactor business to EDF — was virtually bankrupt after years of losses wiped out its equity and was rescued by the state.
Piquemal denied reports that he had resigned for personal reasons and said that staying at the utility without speaking out about the risk involved with Hinkley Point would have been “a professional mistake”.
“Who would bet 60 to 70 percent of his equity on a technology that has not yet proven that it can work and which takes 10 years to build,” he said.
Four Areva-designed EPR reactors of the same kind EDF wants to build in Britian are under construction in France, Finland and China and are years behind schedule and way over budget.
Piquemal declined to comment on technical issues, but said the EPR involves a “major construction risk”.
Since Piquemal’s resignation, EDF has announced a four billion euro capital increase and the government has agreed to forego cash dividends for two years, in a capital boost estimated at generating around 7 billion euros.”
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-edf-nuclear-britain-idUKKCN0XV0UX
Scandal brushed under the carpet … while another candidate benefits
The Hernandez story (Tory PCC candidate may be investigated by police over alleged general election fraud) has still not appeared in any regional press or on regional TV, but a “letter” from a candidate of another mainstream political party, which includes that candidate’s VERY long manifesto for the post in full, HAS appeared.
Explain.
Beach huts – what is a stronger word than omnishambles?
So, EDDC has a great idea. Squeeze beach hut site tenants until their pips squeak. Almost double their rents, increase them hugely again next year, stitch renters up so that many cannot reclaim the business rates charged (block rateable value for whole sites), shorten the season by a month and all under the guise of “long waiting lists” and ” only charging market rents” (one of the markets being Brighton).
What happens?
The yellow notices here in Sidmouth beg for tenants to come forward.
All sites now have between 10-25% plus vacant sites and no waiting lists.
Lost revenue, lost reputation and lost trust.
Well done Asset Management Group and its Chairman, Councillor Geoff Pook.
“Inspirational” first conference, a turning point for EDA Independents”
‘The East Devon Alliance of Independents (IEDA) has held its first-ever conference, combining with delegates from across the southwest. The event marks a turning point in the history of this new and important political grouping of Independents. ‘We thought we were all alone in our struggle,” said Kevin Bennetts from Cornish campaign group Yourkidsfuture*. But he and the 80 or so other attendees, from Somerset, Cornwall, Devon, including no less than 15 different locations in East Devon, showed that a strong sense of political cohesion is now gelling into a serious fighting force.
“Who cares what you think?” was the theme of the conference on Saturday 23 April, held symbolically in EDDC’s soon-to-be-demolished Council Chamber at Knowle, Sidmouth, and barely one year after 15 Independents won seats in the May 2015 District elections. “NOT a Party-dominated District Council”, was the answer which emerged, in pithy and polished presentations from Independent EDA councillors.
Councillors Megan Armstrong, Marianne Rixson, Geoff Jung, and Val Ranger exposed a catalogue of poor consultation, inappropriate development and sub-standard planning procedures, they have challenged respectively in Exmouth, Seaton, Feniton, Sidford, Woodbury Salterton and Newton Poppleford. One case study revealed a fabricated press story which threatened local vital facilities.
Graham Long, of ‘Broadband for Rural Devon & Somerset’ (www.b4rds.org/), added another powerful presentation on the serious mishandling by EDDC of the rural broadband rollout, despite his repeated warnings.
The afternoon session opened with guest speaker Bob Spencer – on his bid as a self-funded Independent to become the region’s new Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) with no party political ties, and on his belief that “The primary job of a PCC is to listen to the people”.
The conference finished with a penetrating look at the biggest issue on the South West horizon: the government’s plans to transfer big-budget decision-making, including NHS, to a partnership of local authorities and unelected businesses.. the so-called Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).
Cllr Mike Eathorn-Gibbons Cornwall described how this has been conducted in his area in a reasonably democratic and transparent way.
In contrast, three East Devon speakers built a powerful critique of the proposed Heart of the South West LEP project for their own region.
David Daniel gave a concise overview of EDA’s report on Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), just sent, on the advice of the National Audit Office, to the Public Accounts Committee; Cllr Matt Booth explained the wider South West context; and mindful of Shakespeare’s birthday, IEDA Leader, Cllr Ben Ingham, summed up with, ‘Devolution… to be or not to be? ‘ .
Following this first success, dubbed “inspirational” by those attending, more IEDA conferences are in the pipeline,in various venues across the District. Publicity coming soon.’
*Footnote. Link to Cornish campaign here http://yourkidsfuturecorn.wix.com/yourkidsfuture
A healthy local press?
Remember those business tax cuts that George Osborne offered to the (few) owners of regional press titles (see post a few days ago)?
Not one regional newspaper has covered the Channel 4 news story that Conservative PCC candidate, Alison Hernandez, is embroiled in a police investigation about election expenses and, if elected, could be in a position to sack the person who would be in charge of it.
One of them has, however, covered a story about the UKIP candidate who, if elected, says he would campaign to get rid of the job – whilst collecting a big salary for “doing” it.
It remains to be seen today if the regional TV stations do the same thing.
Hhhmmm.
“Will it be independents’ day at England’s biggest parish council?”
The latest “Anywhere but Westminster” report on Sutton Coldfield.
” … If there is a common theme shared by the 14 independents, it is that their town is in need of revival, and that neither Labour nor Conservatives have served it well. There is also a pragmatic acceptance that, given current funding pressures, the local improvements they want will not be funded by Birmingham city council.
… Rushton describes how, starting in 2011, his group sat under a gazebo in the main shopping area every Saturday, gathering 10,000 signatures on the petition that led to last year’s referendum. This asked residents whether they wanted a new town council, with the power to raise a local tax known as “the parish precept”, or not. All sides in that campaign knew there was strong support for the idea of independence from Birmingham. Some “old Suttonians”, as they are known, regret the 1974 decision to make them part of Britain’s second city. But Rob Pocock, Sutton’s sole Labour city councillor, says the 70% yes vote last July (on a 40% turnout) “stunned everybody”. …
… Sutton Coldfield has become a dogfight. Conservative association chairman Ewan Mackey accused Rushton of trying to send Sutton “down the route of North Korea” when he suggested major political parties should limit their number of candidates to leave room for independents. While Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Ukip accepted the proposal, the Conservatives aim to win all 24 seats and clothe one of their own in the town’s historic mayoral chains and robes that Birmingham has given back.
… When I suggest that there are centralisers and devolvers in both main parties, meaning these arguments don’t divide neatly into left and right, [Andrew] Mitchell [MP] will have none of it. “It’s the true tradition of Tory localism,” he says. “We want power driven down to the lowest level and will try to make sure the new council has as much power as it can cope with.” Mackey, a Conservative city councillor who is also standing for the town council, voted yes in the referendum but suggests some people did so in the mistaken belief that the Sutton town council would replace Birmingham as the local authority.
… Justin Griggs, head of policy at the National Association of Local Councils, predicts a “mixed bag” of results. What is certain is that there will be some different faces representing residents. Like the independents, all but two of the Conservative town council candidates are new to local politics. Though the Tory party has held Sutton Coldfield’s seat in parliament since 1945, and holds 11 out of 12 city council seats, it recognises that last year’s yes vote was a vote for change.
… Whether Birmingham’s other nine districts decide to follow Sutton Coldfield down the devolution route is unclear. Europe’s largest local authority, with a budget of close to £4bn until recent cuts, has long been seen as unwieldy, but previous attempts at reorganisation have either been rejected or tried and then unwound. Andrew Mitchell thinks that in the end, “Birmingham will be broken up”.”
Another independent councillor group in Devon
Welcome to Buckfastleigh Independents Group (BIG) on Facebook.
Their motto: Think BIG, act local!
“Planning and the Local Enterprise Partnership”
“There are a number of constitutional issues arising from the involvement of the LEP in development projects,. It appears that some of our constitutional rights could be eroded by the process. The LEP leadership and directors are leading council figures. Others are business leaders who by definition have large commercial interests to serve.
Planning decisions may be significantly influenced by unelected representatives in a non transparent manner. [Some of these unelected representatives are local council leaders]. Elected representatives will then feel pressurized to assist these through highway and other council departments.
Currently the involvement or assistance [or subsidy] of the LEP is not required to be stated on planning application. This appears to oppose our planning safeguards enshrined in planning laws. [In effect, the LEP is a co-developer].
Therefore we would ask that the following constitutional safeguards are put in place immediately and well before any “devolution” moves forward. A statement should also be issued by district councils clearly showing which planning applications were [are] supported by the LEP’s since their inception in 2011.
Clear information must be included in any planning application assisted by the LEP which shows what assistance and funding has been given by LEP and their partners on all planning application. This is simple openness and transparency that we all expect.”
Source: South Devon Watch [Facebook]
As an example, local LEPs smoothed the way for a re-opened Cornish tungsten mine but they did not have to declare this at the planning stage.
East Devon Watch 