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Mini Nukes Can Fix Britain’s Energy Woes

Mini nukes can fix Britain’s energy woes

Britain’s energy crunch has a clear and immediate cause – namely, a sudden surge in international gas prices. But the underlying problems exposed by what is now a serious crisis-in-the-making have been building up for years.

The UK’s combined choices, over decades in fact, regarding energy market design, price controls, gas-led power generation and the push for renewables have this week been shown to be sorely lacking.

Successive governments have sought reliable and affordable domestic and commercial energy supplies, while wanting to lower emissions. The tension between those objectives has now been laid bare by spiralling gas prices.

The price of wholesale gas over recent years has averaged around 50p per therm. Yet since early 2021, soaring post-lockdown demand and sluggish supplies have seen prices skyrocket over 400pc. But so far, at least, price caps have, for the most part, kept customers’ utility bill increases in check.

The mismatch between soaring costs and flat revenues means numerous energy companies are now folding – particularly those who bet the wrong way, not using forward markets to hedge against dearer gas. Until recently, there were around 50 UK retail energy suppliers. By the end of this crisis, there could be as few as 10.

Several times last week, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng insisted the Britain won’t, as the nights draw in and temperatures drops, face 1970s style power cuts. There is “absolutely no question of the lights going out,” he said. A former Energy Minister, Kwarteng has a good knowledge of the industry and the UK’s broader energy complex. But one hopes – and not only for his sake – these words don’t come back to bite.

While the UK still relies on gas for around 40pc of our electricity generation, we have scant gas storage capacity. Since the closure of the Rough facility off the Yorkshire coast in 2017, we’ve operated a “just in time” approach to gas procurement – effectively relying on Germany, the Netherlands and other nations for our storage needs.

Around half our gas supply is domestically produced, with another fifth pumped via the Langeled pipeline from Norway – seen as an ultra-reliable source. But if a harsh winter and supply crunch causes blackouts and stoppages in mainland Europe, Britain’s reliance on cross-channel interconnectors will become all too apparent.

Certain geopolitical pressure should be considered on top of that. Around two-fifths of Western Europe’s gas comes from Russia – at a time when Moscow wants European Union approval for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline bringing Russian gas to the EU via the Baltic Sea rather than Ukraine. And it’s less than a year since President Emmanuel Macron threatened Britain with an energy embargo if he didn’t get his way over some aspect of new UK-EU fishing arrangements.

With the European mainland itself seriously vulnerable to gas-market disruption, UK gas storage capacity is vital. Yet we now have less than 10 terawatt hours of stored reserves, compared to 75 in the Netherlands, 113 in France, 148 in Germany and 166 in Italy.

Renewables account for around 20-25pc of UK electricity production – but are intermittent, subject to weather vagaries. Given all that, despite Kwarteng’s assurances, we can’t be sure outages will be entirely avoided.

What’s clear is that some combination of a higher retail price cap – more expensive bills for households – and/or government bailouts of energy firms is now in the offing. This energy crunch is also most definitely refocusing attention on atomic energy – not as a source of immediate relief, but as part of a solution to achieving broader energy security.

The UK has around 10 operational nuclear power stations, generating almost a fifth of our electricity. Most of them are run by EDF, majority-owned by the French government – yet another reason Macron’s embargo threats are absurd.

Back in 2018, the Government’s National Infrastructure Commission suggested just one more major nuclear facility should be built beyond the new plant EDF is building at Hinkley Point in Somerset ­– even though all the UK’s existing operational plants are due to be decommissioned by 2035.

This time last year, Hitachi walked away from plans to build a plant in Anglesey, citing the “severe” investment environment created by Covid. This followed Toshiba abandoning plans for a new nuclear facility in Cumbria in 2018. On top of this, when Boris Johnson outlined his 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution in November, he didn’t even mention large-scale nuclear reactors.

While some environmental purists shun atomic energy, the industry’s hugely improved safety record means nuclear can make a major contribution to decarbonisation – “filling the renewables gap when the when the wind doesn’t blow”. Wind power, while accounting for almost a quarter of UK electricity last year, remains expensive, as well as unreliable.

Britain pioneered domestic nuclear energy – when the Calder Hall plant opened in 1956. By the mid-1960s, more nuclear power was generated here than the whole of the rest of the world put together. Since then, we seem to have lost our atomic expertise, relying not just on EDF, but nuclear operators from the US, Japan and elsewhere. This must now change.

Since this energy crisis intensified last week, it has emerged the UK government is in talks with America’s Westinghouse to build the planned large-scale reactor on Anglesey. Any deal, ahead of November’s Cop26 climate change conference, would be presented as part of efforts to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

Such a plant could become operational in the mid-2030s and generate power for 6m of the UK’s 30m or so homes.

That surely makes sense.

One downside is that a Westinghouse deal could scupper the Welsh government’s plans to use the same Anglesey site to house a small-scale nuclear reactor designed by Rolls-Royce. Such small modular facilities have yet to be approved by Britain’s regulatory authorities. But this looming winter energy scare, even if Kwarteng is right and “the lights stay on”, should surely provide a spur to speed up such approval.

Sites should also be found for more of the Rolls-Royce modular plants – as part of a broader effort to re-establish Britain’s domestic nuclear expertise, as we take vital steps to enhance our energy security.

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WHO Demands Fresh Data from China amid Outbreak of Pneumonia in Children

The World Health Organization (WHO) is requesting more data from China amid an outbreak of pneumonia in children.

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, said the agency was ‘following up with China’ as hospitals across the country continue to be overwhelmed.

Face masks and social distancing are again being recommended in the country.

The country is said to be grappling with a spike in pneumonia, dubbed ‘white lung syndrome’ because of the way lung damage shows up on scans, among children that has been attributed to a rebound in respiratory illnesses rather than an entirely new virus.

 

 

China had one of the most brutal and longest lockdowns of any country in the world which the WHO says robbed children of vital immunity against seasonal illnesses. 

Dr Van Kerkhove told the conference today: ‘Yes, we are seeing an increase in respiratory infections around the world.

‘We’re in autumn and entering winter months, so we are expecting to see rises in respiratory infections regardless.

We are following up with China. They are seeing an increase due a number of different infections

We are following up with our clinical network and following up with clinicians in China.

‘In terms of acute respiratory infections, we are looking at the burden on healthcare systems and looking at the healthcare capacities of systems.’

It comes after Chinese Health Ministry spokesman Mi Feng urged people in the country to again consider wearing face masks and distancing.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, he said: ‘Efforts should be made to increase the opening of relevant clinics and treatment areas, extend service hours and increase the supply of medicines.

‘It is necessary to do a good job in epidemic prevention and control in key crowded places.

‘[This includes] in schools, childcare institutions and nursing homes, and to reduce the flow of people and visits.’

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433 Foreign-Trained Doctors Fail MDCN Qualifying Exams

No fewer than 433 out of the 836 foreign-trained medical graduates who sat the qualifying examination organised by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) failed

The qualifying examination was held at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital between 22 and 23 November 2023.

The assessment for the foreign-trained medical graduates was in a Computer Based Test format with the graduates taking the examination in four different centres, namely:  BMG Institute of Information Technology; JAMB Professional Test Centre; Kano Cooperative CBT Centre and Treztech, all in Kano State.

The examination comprises a computer-based test, a picture-based test, and an objective structural clinical examination.

Findings showed that most of the medical and dental graduates performed poorly in the CBT.

A list of shortlisted candidates in Abuja showed that a total of 836 candidates with medical degrees from foreign universities were selected for the examination initially. However, only 403 candidates passed, according to the results obtained on Monday.

Every year, thousands of Nigerians aspiring to become medical doctors and dentists enrol in foreign universities, spend a fortune on tuition and accommodation fees, and dedicate between four and seven years to pursuing the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery course.

Among the favourite destinations for Nigerians studying medicine are Ukraine, Sudan, Cyprus, Egypt, The Caribbean, Russia, Belarus, India, Hungary, Guyana, Niger Republic, and Benin Republic. But on completion of their studies abroad, to get a licence to practise in Nigeria, they are required to pass the MDCN assessment.

The MDCN is the body that regulates the practice of Medicine, Dentistry, and Alternative Medicine in the country to safeguard the nation’s health care system.

The MDCN conducts the assessment twice a year.

The examination tests the candidates’ ability to apply their basic medical sciences and clinical skills in a healthcare setting.

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UK Confirms Never- Seen- Before Strain Of Swine Flu in Human

The UK’s first human case of swine flu strain H1N2, very similar to what has been circulating in pigs, has been detected, the UK Health Security Agency said on Monday.

Routine surveillance in general practitioner surgeries picked up the case after the person suffered a mild illness.

The UKHSA said it is now carrying out contact tracing to prevent further spread of the virus.

It is not known at this stage how transmissible the strain is or if there could be other cases in the UK.

It is also too early to say if the strain could have pandemic potential.

The UKHSA has notified the World Health Organisation of the latest case.

There have been about 50 reported human cases worldwide of the H1N2 virus since 2005, none of them related genetically to this strain.

The person involved is not known to have worked with pigs and has fully recovered.

The case was detected as part of routine national flu surveillance undertaken by UKHSA and the Royal College of GPs, which was in place even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The patient was tested by their GP in North Yorkshire after experiencing respiratory symptoms.

The strain was identified via Polymerase Chain Reaction testing and genome sequencing.

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The UKHSA said people with respiratory symptoms should continue to follow the existing guidance, avoiding contact with other people while suffering symptoms and taking particular care around vulnerable people and the elderly.

It said it was “monitoring the situation closely and is taking steps to increase surveillance within existing programmes involving GP surgeries and hospitals in parts of North Yorkshire.

“To assist in the detection of cases and assessment of transmission, those people who are contacted and asked to do the test are encouraged to do so.’’

Meera Chand, incident director at the UKHSA, said, “It is thanks to routine flu surveillance and genome sequencing that we have been able to detect this virus.

“This is the first time we have detected this virus in humans in the UK, though it is very similar to viruses that have been detected in pigs.

“We are working rapidly to trace close contacts and reduce any potential spread.

“In accordance with established protocols, investigations are underway to learn how the individual acquired the infection and to assess whether there are any further associated cases.’’

Chief veterinary officer, Christine Middlemiss, said, “We know that some diseases of animals can be transferred to humans, which is why high standards of animal health, welfare and biosecurity are so important.

Based on early information, the UKHSA said the strain detected in the UK differs from recent human cases of H1N2 elsewhere in the world but is similar to viruses in UK pigs.

In 2009, there was a pandemic in humans caused by flu strain H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu.

NAN

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