Weekly round-up 25 June 2014

Nuclear waste clean up bill soars, wind farms banned in Scottish National Parks and Tristram Carfrae wins IStructE Gold.

Jackie Whitelaw
25 June 2014

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1. The bill for cleaning up Britain’s nuclear waste has risen to more than £110bn, after a £6.6bn increase in the cost estimate for work required over the next 120 years. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said in its annual report that the biggest increase derived from a fresh assessment of the work required at Sellafield, now estimated to cost £79.1bn. The NDA warned that the total would “increase significantly next year” once it had fully assessed a new “performance plan” for the site.

2. Hinkley Point C moved forward a small step this week when National Grid’s connection application for the new nuclear station was accepted by the Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government. The application is for a connection to run between Bridgewater in Somerset and Seabank near Avonmouth. From April 2012 the relevant Secretary of State became the decision maker on all national infrastructure applications for development consent. The Planning Inspectorate now has six months to examine the application, three months to make a recommendation and the Secretary of State another three months to make a final decision.

3. A report published by London's Mayor claims that a new four-runway airport to the east of London would allow for eight additional domestic routes, connecting cities such as Cardiff, Dundee, Liverpool and Newquay to a UK hub. Connections to the UK’s largest international airport would improve those cities’ trade, tourism and foreign direct investment prospects, the report by York Aviation and Oxford Economics argues.

4. Windfarms are to be banned in Scotland’s national parks and national scenic areas under new planning guidelines announced by the Scottish Government. The move, part of the National Planning Framework, will offer protection to nearly a third of Scotland’s land area, including new wild land areas identified by Scottish Natural Heritage.

5. Department for Transport is to invest £500,000 to help rail suppliers secure new business at home and internationally. The funding will be provided to the newly formed Rail Supply Group headed by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, Business Secretary Vince Cable and Terence Watson, president of rail manufacturer Alstom UK. The group will also work with the industry to develop a mentoring scheme to help small and medium-sized businesses compete against more established firms. For more details on the SME mentoring scheme, contact the Rail Alliance at info@railalliance.co.uk

6. Britain needs a third east-west high speed railway line in the north of England connecting the major cities because they are “collectively not strong enough” to challenge the dominance of London, Chancellor George Osborne has said. Britain needs a “northern powerhouse” of linked cities that can “take on the world”, he said (see comment by Antony Oliver)

7. The board of French rail and energy group Alstom has unanimously voted to accept an offer from General Electric. US conglomerate GE is bidding $17bn (£10bn) for Alstom's energy business. The deal still needs regulators' and Alstom staff representatives' approval. If approved, the deal is expected to be completed in 2015. Reports say it would be GE's largest ever industrial acquisition.Under the deal, GE will sell its railway signal business to Alstom, and set up three joint ventures with the French company.The joint ventures would cover Alstom's power grid business, renewable operations, and nuclear steam turbines.

8. BRE has unveiled plans to develop a voluntary sustainability standard for new homes that will allow developers to differentiate their product in the marketplace by recognising performance beyond minimum regulation and provide increased choice for the consumer. The announcement comes in the wake of the recent Housing Standards Review (HSR) and dissolution of the Code for Sustainable Homes. The consultation process is open until 25th July 2014. The standard will be ready for roll out next spring.

9. Arup’s Tristram Carfrae has been announced as the Institution of Structural Engineer’s Gold Medal winner. Carfrae designed the Beijing Olympics Water Cube and Singapore’s Helix bridge. He is part of the team for London’s Green Bridge.

10. May’s average temperature on Earth of 15.54 degrees Celsius was the warmest since records began in 1880, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last month was especially hot in parts of Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Spain, South Korea and Australia, while the United States was not close to a record, just one degree warmer than the 20th century average. However, California is having a record hot first five months of the year, a full 5 degrees above normal.