Editorial
New nuclear – an essential low carbon option?
Steve Hodgson

International news
France looks to nuclear life extensions; Europe needs 2030 target to hit 2050 emission goals; US 2013 budget for energy efficiency and renewables; first Euro VI truck for Europe; Gazprom to double European gas storage capacity

Home news
Green Deal funding; Green Investment Bank for Edinburgh; Kingsnorth to close; learning from nuclear mistakes; offshore wind coordination to reduce costs; oil and gas production fall; HVDC cable to link Scotland and England

EI News

Features
Decommissioning the first generation of nuclear power stations
Britain’s first generation of ten Magnox nuclear power stations were built mainly in the 1960s and have all ceased to generate power, except Wylfa which is scheduled to close later this year. But ceasing generation is just the start of a whole new programme of decommissioning activities designed to return the sites, eventually, to general use, as this article, from Magnox describes.

Fukushima a year on – the fall-out
It’s more than a year since the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan. Apart from the ongoing work to stabilise damaged reactors there, what has been the effect of the incident on the global nuclear industry? Here the World Energy Council sees little impact, while Steve Thomas takes an opposite view.

Could fusion be brought down to earth?
Imagine an energy source that will last tens of thousands of years of years, is safe and clean, and
whose main fuels are found in water. Sounds too good to be true? In fact, Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) in Oxfordshire is leading the way in a worldwide effort to harness the power source of the Sun and stars for electricity here on earth. Chris Warrick writes.

Nuclear energy
US government takes first steps towards small modular nuclear reactors; Research on fourth generation nuclear waste recycling; TVO plans to add a fourth nuclear plant at Olkiluoto

Meeting the nuclear industry skills challenge
Nuclear new build in the UK will need a group of competent people working in tandem with those
that are decommissioning old facilities. Here, Steve Bennett details the work being undertaken to
manage the provision of required skills effectively.

UK solar PV industry – can recent progress be sustained?
How much damage to the UK solar power industry has been inflicted by the recent feed-in tariff reduction fiasco? Or will the industry, and installation rates, remain healthy over the foreseeable future? Noting that the initial tariff raised UK PV installation rates to very impressive levels during 2011, Alasdair Cameron studies signals for the future.

How to finance renewables and stimulate growth
Given the on-going financial crisis, where will the investments come from for a swift transition to a low carbon economy. Matt Kennedy and Rolf de Vos report.

Floating turbines move wind power further offshore
Facing fewer accessible high quality wind sites, increasing environmental challenges and resistance from coastal dwellers, developers and utilities have been under mounting pressure to find viable alternatives to fixed offshore wind platforms. Craig Andrus details one potential alternative which is currently floating in the Atlantic.

Feed-in tariffs and the UK small wind industry
The UK small wind industry grew by 170% in 2011. Here, Kevin Parslow assesses the state of the small wind sector and considers the likely effect of the government’s proposed change to wind feed-in tariffs.

Renewables
Barn roof solar system powers freerange chicken farm; solar heated swimming pool for HMS Raleigh; micro-hydro scheme for Italian water mill; Anesco funds MOD museum PV scheme

Salaries, benefits and careers in the energy industry
The Energy Institute (EI) once again teamed up with Hays Energy to question workers in the energy industry about their jobs. A summary of findings from the survey is given here by Sarah Beacock FEI and Catherine Cosgrove FEI from the EI.

Are you up for the challenge?
Welsh Rugby Union international Colin Charvis launched the BG Energy Challenge 2012 – UK at a packed reception in London last month. Colin also revealed that Dartmoor National Park is to be the setting for this year’s event.