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Power cuts feared in UK nuclear plants crisis

Sunday, 5 October 2008 The INDEPENDANT By Geoffrey Lean and Jonathan Owen

Six out of 10 of the nation's atomic stations are operating below capacity, throwing their future into doubt.The Dungeness B power station - only one of the reactors is in operation

In theory, at least, Britain now has 10 operating nuclear power stations, stretching from Torness on the Firth of Forth to Dungeness on the south Kent coast. Each has two reactors, and ministers boast that they supply about one-fifth of the power that keeps the lights on.


The reality, as an Independent on Sunday investigation shows today, is very different. The majority of the power stations are in dire trouble, and their failure is leading to the most acute concern in years that the country may run short of electricity this winter.

Two of the 10 have been idle for almost a year, with both reactors out of action due to corrosion. Another two have had one of their reactors closed down for months. And yet another two are having to run both their reactors at less than three-quarters of their normal power for safety reasons.

And even that is not the end of it. Of the four that are still in good working condition, one is due to shut down permanently in two years' time, a second is partially closed for routine maintenance, and a third is facing safety questions following the discovery of flaws in similar reactors in Japan.

The meltdown of Britain's nuclear capacity is largely responsible for an alarming tightening of electricity supplies that is forecast to start at the beginning of November, as demand rises sharply for the winter, and to continue until at least the end of the month.

An independent nuclear analyst, John Large, said last night: "It's all in a pretty sad state. The reactors are starting to break up; they are becoming knackered. There comes a point when you simply have to turn the things off.

"We have been lucky for two years with mild winters, but if we have a cold snap then I can see the lights blinking off."

The National Grid insists there should be enough power even if there is a harsh winter, though it admits to "a lot of uncertainty" in its projections. But independent analysts warn of a real danger of shortages, saying the nuclear crisis is largely to blame.

Ed Mayo, the chief executive of Consumer Focus – the new official consumer body, which started work last week – said that supplies would be "tighter over the coming period than they have ever been".

David Hunter, an analyst with the independent energy consultants McKinnon & Clarke, which advises companies on how to minimise their energy costs, added: "Not very much has to go wrong to turn the situation towards brownouts and blackouts."

He pointed out that Britain has a maximum of 70-75 gigawatts (gW) of electricity available from its own sources. Last week, he added, 18gW of that was out of action – partly because of the nuclear crisis (which he called "very serious"), partly because of lesser problems with coal- and oil-fired plants, and partly through routine maintenance, bringing the total down to 52-57gW. Yet in a cold snap demand could rise to 60-62gW.

In the meantime, scarcity was joining with increased fuel costs to drive up prices; the wholesale cost of electricity for November was treble what it had been at the start of the year, which, said Mr Hunter, "gives some idea of the panic over availability". Eventually, consumers would suffer through higher bills.

Jeremy Nicholson, director of the Energy Intensive Users Group, said: "In ordinary circumstances nuclear would be running flat out during the winter. That's the whole point of it – to supply that base load."

Instead, the shutdowns and reduced power were causing "anxiety", he added. "We are all crossing our fingers, but I can't say we are too optimistic."

The crisis will reinforce both sides of the debate. Proponents of nuclear power will say that it underlines the need to build a new generation of reactors to replace the ones that are now running into the ground. Opponents will say that it proves the inherent unreliability of the technology, and point to construction problems, delays and cost overruns in the only two nuclear power stations at present being built in Europe, in Finland and France.

The two UK power stations that are completely out of action are Hartlepool in the North-east and Heysham One in the North-west. Both have been closed for almost a year because wire used to secure caps that allow access to boilers has become corroded, and may have to be cut out of concrete and replaced.

One of the reactors at the Dungeness B power station has been shut since the end of March because of defects in welds. The second closed for routine maintenance in July. British Energy claims that both will be back in operation by the end of December, but independent experts are sceptical.

Yet another reactor, at the Oldbury power station on the Severn, has been closed since July, with almost 100 dampers installed against the risk of fire. The entire power station is due to close, at the end of its working life, in December.

Both reactors at nearby Hinkley Point B and at Hunterston B on the west coast of Scotland are running at 70 per cent power, at inspectors' insistence, after developing cracks in the graphite core of their reactors. In the worst-case scenario, the cracked graphite bricks could break up and distort the nuclear core, trapping the highly radioactive fuel, which could overheat and melt.

There's more. Wylfa, on Anglesey, one of the minority of power stations where both reactors are operating satisfactorily, is due to close down permanently in December 2010. And cracks have been discovered in the steam generator at Sizewell B, Britain's most modern nuclear power station, resulting in the replacement of a reactor pressure-vessel head.

Sizewell B also faces questions over its future performance following the discovery of cracks in welds in four similar reactors in Japan. Experts say that it is now of an age at which it is likely to require a major overhaul that could see it out of action for six months, further crippling the contribution nuclear power is supposed to make to keeping the lights on.

Dave Douglass & Arthur Scargill Debate with the Green Camp

August 16 2008
Dave Douglass former NUM Yorkshire Area Executive member writes this report of his visit to the so called Climate Camp."

In August, me an Arthur Scargill enter another big field to fight the corner for the miners and coal our industry and cause. Last time it was that field at Orgreave, this time it’s the Climate Camp at Kingsnorth Power Station and instead of thousands of cops there’s thousands of eco-warriors who now believe coal is killing the planet and want to stop all new coal stations.

If truth were known, they want to close down all coal stations per sae. This time there is only Arthur, and me, we have no squads of pickets, no marching bands and no flying banners. It is in many respects as daunting a prospect, but it shows the quality of this man, our differences aside, he came into the teeth of opposition with an unpopular and untrendy message, among people who are hardly receptive to his old school brand of Marxist-Leninist socialism but prepared to debate till the cows come home why the NUM and clean coal technology are allies in the struggle for a socialist ecology and a just world.

Arthur is now 70 and I am 60, I think we present a figure of two rather battered and scarred alley cats come for a peace conference with the league of dogs. This is a sad and confusing conjuncture of forces. I have never in my life experienced a situation where the miners and what we do is the unpopular foe except among the ruling class and Tories.

Outside of the Young Conservatives, I have never known young people regard mining and pit heads as their enemy. What is worse is that these are my traditional constituency on the Anarchist left, they have the aura of the hippies, they aspire to the freedoms and love of life, which our 60s/70s generation did. I come across the Newcastle and Scottish camp, and know many of the activists from the Toon scene and demonstrations. Previously we have always held each other in a silent mutual respect, now there is a mutual distance, coolness, a sort of mutual Et tu Brutus. However, I see here also the mortified conviction of my own anti-nuclear youth. The conviction that myself and the world were on the brink of extinction. The certainty that if we delay we are all doomed to a wretched and painful end. Now it is climate change, and the gathering speed with which the earth is crashing toward climatical obliteration ironically for all carbon based creatures and vegetation on the earth as we know it. A change, which will cleanse us all from the surface of the globe for eternity.

The camp like some latter day Woodstock; they are a commonwealth, locked in debate and dedication, little communities with kids romping through the fields, longhaired, dreadlocked, singing and dancing. It is deeply wounding to be the enemy.

This is an anti-Durham gala, everywhere are Workshops on mining, on resistance around the world to mining of all descriptions, pictures of headgear and open cast, industry and miners, and the campaigns against them. It is like a Durham miner’s gala on bad acid. Instead of everywhere a celebration of the miners, our work, our communities, are protests for its end. I am shocked that many left groups are now Groupies to the eco movement and have abandoned all attempts at class analysis.

Arthur’s worst critic in the field is the local secretary of The Socialist Party, who tells him the NUM and miners’ struggle was yesterday’s cause, this was where the struggle was now, that Eon and the big generators to facilitate their profits are using us. I argue the opposite that every attack on coal feeds the nuclear agenda, sets the agenda for government policy. I remind them too that they are enthusiastic supporters of EON when it comes to ramming wind turbines down the throats of protesting locals resolved not to have them.

Around the tent, are dotted Trade Union members of the SWP are they now ready to bury him having once been full of his praise? For a month, the Weekly Worker has carried uncritical adverts for the camp while the Morning Star warned me I was underestimating the forthcoming climate holocaust and declined my article criticising the camp.

I have the honour to have wrote the official NUM bulletin The Miners and The Climate Camp, which Ken Capstick the Miner’s editor has managed to reduce from 8 sides to four with a bit of clever editing. I’ve humped 2000 of them in a huge bag from Doncaster and have spent the morning spreading them round the field, where they are received with less than enthusiasm. About 150 protesters turn up to the tent, where Arthur and I are speaking from 1500 in the field. Their bottom line argument is we shouldn’t be generating so much power anyway, it should be cut by 50% and we need to get use to not having electricity.

Arthur gets one of the Greens scientific officers to admit she was talking about taking out all nuclear and coal capacity, which would leave Britain virtually without power generation of any sort.

They are non-plussed by the fact that we both accept practical renewables, that we see solar energy as the long-term future for the planet. That many other clean sources, as long as they are not equally environmentally damaging (like land wind turbines) should be deployed along with mass insulation projects and energy saving programmes. But that coal should be the base supply agent and buy the world a breathing space so long as we developed carbon capture systems to burn it cleanly.

There is sympathy for the miners generally accepted as the most exploited people in Britain over the last century, but there has to be losers if we are to save the Planet, and we have been chosen to be it. Few people believe that CO2 capture works, and anyway will not be ready ‘in time’ to stop the climate going into free fall.

At the same time as facing the Climate Camp and linked to it across the left and green movement, more and more people are coming over to the Government programme for nuclear power, and an end to coal mining and coal burning in Britain. I have argued far and wide that clean coal is the alternative to a civil nuclear programme. I am stunned to be told the NUM’s new policy supports both coal and nuclear although I still claim this to be untrue. It needs urgent clarification, because this is a central plank in our defence.

I am asked to give a Workshop on the relevance and importance of the great 84/5 coal strike, nine people come. The relevance clearly isn’t too well established.
‘The Earth’ becomes an abstraction, humanity is some sort of foreign and alien invader and the storm troops, this time not of the TUC but of tidal waves, poverty and death, are the miners.

Of course, Arthur’s arguments are not totally mine, he talks of ‘dirty foreign coal’ and unfair competition, slave labour and child labour, these are not my arguments. Import controls are not a progressive answer, in my view, but I am for a level playing field of subsidies and a ‘fair trade’ standard of terms, conditions and union rights, which would be, for the millions of coal miners abroad as much as for us. We agree though that clean coal technology is an achievable science now, and it is vital that it is applied wholesale across coal generation.

The cops are arseholes as usual I am stopped and searched two sometimes three times a day, against my consent and often with force. Indeed, I am almost arrested, which would have been proved interesting in court. They could hardly argue they had reasonable grounds for suspecting I was going to sabotage the Power Station when I had gone down two thirds of the country with half a tonne of literature in its defence.

They attack the camp on numerous occasions and lay into protesters with truncheons; day after day, they line people against the fence from the very youngest toddlers to very old people, and search and harass them. Arthur makes a very strong Statement to the media at the gate, in defence of the right to protest and welcomes the protesters invitation to him and to debate this vital issue.

It was a privilege to stand with Arthur again, in the teeth of opposition again, though we could have done with thousands more supporters so short sighted ‘greens’ are not allowed to dominate this crucial debate.

I am trying to put together a Labour Movement Conference on Climate, Class and Clean Coal in Newcastle for the end of the year, and very much hope the NUM sponsor it and supply key speakers. Watch This Space.

Hatfield miners vote for NUM recognition

May 2008

In what can only be described as overwhelming the miners at Hatfield in Yorkshire have voted by postal ballot for NUM recognition.
A total of 165 votes were cast for the NUM with only 7 against representing a resounding 95.76%.


A total of 235 members of the workforce were entitled to vote and the turnout was 73% a stunning turnout for a postal ballot. The 165 voting for the NUM represent just over 70% of the total workforce entitled to vote.


Chris Kitchen NUM National and Yorkshire Area Secretary said:


"This is a great response by the miners at Hatfield Colliery and sends a clear message to Powerfuel management that the NUM has a role to play in what is hoped to be a success story at Hatfield Colliery. At a time when trade union membership is perceived to be in decline this ballot result shows this is clearly not the case.


"The CAC will issue a declaration with regard to the result within the next 2 weeks. The next stage is then for the NUM Yorkshire Area to agree with Powerfuel a Collective Bargaining Agreement. If at the end of 30 days no agreement has been reached the CAC has a further 20 days to arbitrate between the two parties. If this is not successful the CAC Panel will make the decision with regard to the mechanics of the collective bargaining at Hatfield Colliery. This is the procedure under the Trade Union Labour Relations Act 2002.


"Given the concerns that have been expressed to the NUM from members and non-members working at Hatfield Colliery with regard to safety it is not the NUM's intention to sit back and wait for what could possibly be a further 51 days for this procedure. We intend to pursue the right to set up workforce elected representatives (123 Inspectors) to conduct 123 inspections on behalf of the workforce under the regulations. Reports from these inspections must be sent to the HMI which is not the case with the safety committee that currently operates at Hatfield Colliery.


"Any member with previous 123 inspectors experience or wishing to put themselves forward as a 123 inspector should contact the NUM office 01226 215555 extension 211 as soon as possible. We will be writing to Mr Chris Daniels, Colliery Manager, in an attempt to facilitate the setting up of 123 inspections as a matter of urgency.
"The men at Hatfield Colliery should be congratulated for the outstanding result and the vote of confidence they have given to their Union.


A well deserved pat on the back must be given to the staff and all concerned whose campaign efforts and hard work have come to fruition."

Could mining be revived on Wearside?

'Bring back King Coal'


Could mining be revived on Wearside?
23 April 2008
By Kevin Clark
King Coal could rule again if a Sunderland MP gets his way.
Bill Etherington believes the time is right to look at reopening the massive coalfield off the North East coast.

The Sunderland North MP has tabled a series of Commons questions on the cost of production which revealed home-produced coal is now more than £13 a tonne cheaper than imports.

It is also cheaper to mine than it was back in 1982 before the closure of the pits.

The former vice-president of the Northern Area of the NUM is urging the Government to consider reopening the coalfield when it presents its proposals on the future of Britain's energy.

He believes rocketing gas and oil prices make coal more attractive than it has been for years.

He said: "If Wearmouth Colliery was still producing today, it would not be under any threat at all.

"The reason there was no demand when the pits closed was that there was a rush for gas. Gas is not so cheap now and that has to be looked at again.

"The other alternative is nuclear, but people don't want nuclear and uranium will be used up before coal, gas and oil."

The move comes after news that UK Coal plans to reopen its Harworth colliery near Doncaster, which was closed less than two years ago.

Harworth could become UK Coal's biggest pit with up to 40 million tonnes of available coal - but Energy Secretary John Hutton recently revealed the Government believes there may be around six times as much coal lying untouched beneath the North Sea.

Bill Etherington believes the minister's comments point to a shift in attitude in the corridors of power:

He said: "John Hutton was on about there being 250million tonnes that could be mined off the North East.

"When a Government minister who is pro-nuclear talks about coal off the North East coast, there has to be something going on somewhere."

The Wearmouth and Westoe pit sites are long gone - the Stadium of Light now stands on the Sunderland site - and Mr Etherington believes the best way to reopen the field may be to dig a drift mine from further inland, possibly around Boldon or Washington.

He said: "You would not just put a shaft in but you could put an installation in between Westoe and Wearmouth.

"It will probably be a pretty big investment," he said.

"There is a need for the coal, it could be produced more cheaply than it can be imported - the question i,s how much would it cost to get it?

"Does the government invest? Does it reopen it as a nationalised industry or could a private partner be brought in?"


* DURHAM NUM Boss Davey Hopper is backing Bill Etherington's call to take another look at the North Sea coalfiel.

"There is certainly plenty of coal there," he said. "There are 100s of millions of tonnes of coal off that coast and at least 60 years of reserves."

The miners' union believes its stance of the early 80s has been vindicated by the rocketing international energy prices.

"We have been arguing that the pits should never have been closed in the first place," said Mr Hopper.

"We have now got a world energy crisis - wee have got a war in Iraq that is about energy. In the past there have been very, very hasty decisions taken in relation to energy security by successive governments in Britain.

"It is very important that any country needs to have its own energy supplies - we can't just rely on importing energy. Gas, in particular, is coming from areas that are very, very unstable."

Pressure had been growing to increase the use of nuclear energy - but the cost of building and decommisioning nuclear power stations would have to be borne by the taxpayer.

"The costs of nuclear energy are horrific," said Mr Hopper.

"They will have to be underwritten by the Government - if there is money to underwrite nuclear energy there should be money to underwrite the coal industry.

"I don't know if the will is there or not."

*Paul Younger, Professor of Energy and Environment at Newcastle University has studied the North Sea coalfield.

He believes the seams could be reopened - but the water which has entered the region's mineworkings in the last ten years would be a major obstacle to any drift mine.

Ideally, any new shaft would cut though rock which has not previously been mined - but given the region's history, that could be easier said than done.

"Finding a route through virgin granite would be quite a challenge," said Prof Younger.

"But even if you had to drift through some flooded workings to produce coal, there are things you can do.

"The other option would be to drive the water back to where it was ten years ago which, again, would be possible,

"You are talking about a multimillion-pound investment then a million or so a year to keep the water down.

"My guess is that we will, eventually, end up doing that because the price of coal is going to remain so attractive and the price of gas and oil are going to continue to shoot through the ceiling.

"There will be a definite technical challenge, but the cost is in the tens, rather than the hundreds, of millions."

*NORTH East councillors could have the final say on plans to reopen the North Sea coalfield, says the Coal Authority's John Delany.

The authority was set up to take over responsibility for the unmined coal deposits and disused mineworkings after the closure of most of Britain's pits.

"We own the unmined and formerly worked coal, but we don't own the surface," said Mr Delaney.

"If somebody was going to try to reopen the mines, they would need to go to the local planning authority and would need to get planning permission to put in the headgear and sink a shaft.

Health support for miners

Raised by Yorkshire Area MP Michael Clapham 9 April 08

Surface coal workers suffering from a crippling lung disease has received a major boost.
Cabinet minister Harriet Harman has admitted the Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell needs to "get on" with making a crucial decision about compensation payments. Her comments follows pressure from Barnsley West and Penistone MP Michael Clapham, who is urging the Government to include surface screen workers in its £4.1 billion coal compensation scheme.

Currently only those who worked underground and who later suffered chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or vibration white finger are eligible for payouts.

However, in November the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council recommended help for COPD sufferers should be extended to those who worked in filthy coal screening sheds on the surface.

That recommendation could open the way for surface screen workers to claim industrial injuries disablement benefit as well as compensation from the Government's scheme.

But ministers have been sitting on the recommendation for almost half a year without making a decision.

Mr Clapham has lodged a parliamentary motion on the issue - backed by 45 other MPs - and has repeatedly raised it in on the floor of the Commons.

In a direct appeal to Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman, he said: "Given that the group of workers concerned are very elderly, will she urge that a decision can be made quickly, so that men who are eligible can claim industrial injuries disablement benefit, and can explore whether there is the possibility of reaching a full and final compensation settlement similar to that paid to their colleagues who worked underground?"

Ms Harman vowed to write to Mr Purnell "to remind him that he needs to get on with making the decision, because the tragic truth is time is not on the side of people who suffer from terrible diseases".

Royal Society comments on John Hutton MP’s speech on the future of coal

Latest press releases
10 Mar 2008


In response to John Hutton's speech at the Adam Smith Institute today, Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society, said:

"If fossil fuels remain a big part of the UK's energy future then it is crucial that we develop and deploy carbon capture and storage technology. The world is not going to stop burning coal any time soon. The UK should seize the chance to get a head-start in developing the CCS technologies which will be needed worldwide. Kingsnorth is a test of the Government's resolve to show international leadership in the drive towards cleaner energy."

Daw Mill Reqruitment Drive

27 Feb 2008
Pit announces recruitment drive
Ex-miners have been given a rare chance to return to the coal industry after a pit announced a recruitment drive.
UK Coal said it wanted to take on more than 20 workers with previous mining experience at its mine in Daw Mill, north Warwickshire.

It wants to develop new reserves at the pit, which is the largest of UK Coal's four mines and has a workforce of 600.

Human Resource Director Norman Haslam said it was an "excellent opportunity" for former miners.

He said there would also be promotion opportunities for miners currently working at the pit.

Daw Mill is the last surviving pit in the Warwickshire coal field, which used to boast about 20 mines.

CLAIM THAT COLLIERY RE-OPENING COULD AVERT CRISIS

Last Updated: 17 January 2006 2:38 PM
CLAIM THAT COLLIERY RE-OPENING COULD AVERT CRISIS

COAL could provide the solution to Britain's looming energy crisis.
And rejuvenating the industry would provide hundreds of jobs in Fife, a Glenrothes man has claimed.
The government is currently considering the way ahead for the country's energy policy, with many experts predicting that a new generation of nuclear power stations will have to be built.
But Jim Parker is advocating the re-opening of Longannet Colliery as part of a long-term plan which also envisages resurrecting other pits in the region and the Lothians.
He is a member of the Rothes/Frances Mineworkers' Consortium, which has around 236 interested members, dedicated to reviving the collieries at Thornton and Kirkcaldy.
"As far as we are concerned, it is long past time for people to waken up to the fact that a rejuvenated coal industry must become a future player in meeting our energy requirements and, in central Scotland, we are ideally placed to make a start to that revival," the former mineworker said.
"It is difficult to convince people of the vast reserves of high grade coals we still have underlying the Forth Valley, and that valuable resources must be exploited to provide us with a secure energy source.
"Such a development programme would yield around 3,000 long-term jobs for skilled people, with many more vacancies created in the wide array of service industries associated with mining."
Mr Parker believes the fuel could be sold to Longannet and Cockenzie Power Station in East Lothian, both of which are coal-fired and he also makes the case for a new plant in central Fife.
He added: "The first step has to be the re-opening of Longannet Colliery, which was closed in such disgraceful circumstances."
Mr Parker, who was instrumental in setting-up the consortium which took over Monktonhall Colliery in Midlothian after privatisation of the industry, has called on Fife Council and Fife Enterprise to fund a feasibility study into his proposals, something they have so far refused to do.
He said: "I have met with nothing but blank refusals and indifference to the potential for creating 100s of well-paid jobs.
"I have no trouble with them disagreeing with my suggestions, but I do insist on my right to be given reasons for their attitudes, but they simply refuse these requests."


Last Updated: 17 January 2006 2:38 PM

Campaign to reopen Longannet Colliery

3rd Jan 2008
THE LEADER of the Scottish Mineworkers' Consortium is campaigning for
Longannet Colliery to be reopened.
Jim Parker, who was a manager at Longannet when it opened in the 1960s
and went on to become a consultant engineer before he retired, said the mine
could be up and running again in three years, creating hundreds of jobs.
However, concerns have been raised about health and safety issues that
would arise if the mine is reinstated.
Around 450 workers were made redundant when Longannet, Scotland's last
deep mine, closed after a flood in 2002.

A Scottish Coal report obtained by The Courier after the closure
detailed "horrendous" geological problems at the Kincardine mine.
At the time, some £40 million of taxpayers' money had been ploughed
into the site.
The report said any further investment would be wasted because the
colliery had become "insupportable."
However, Mr Parker now hopes to have the support of the Scottish
Government in campaigning for Longannet to be reopened.
Last year, First Minister Alex Salmond spoke out in support of coal
mining and said it will have a part to play in addressing future energy
needs, with the use of technology such as carbon capture.
Mr Parker said the local SNP councillor, Bill Walker, has backed the
consortium's proposal.
He said he is waiting for Jim Mather, the Scottish minister for
energy, enterprise and tourism, to set a date to meet him.
He estimated that reopening Longannet would cost about £30 million-"bargain
basement" compared to what it would cost to set up a mine on a new site.

"There is nothing outrageous in suggesting that Longannet could be
reopened in three years," said Mr Parker.
"It would take about two years to get the water out of the mine and
refurbish the equipment.
"And Fife is still awash with miners. There are also people in
Derbyshire, Yorkshire and even a few blokes in Wales that would be
interested in coming up here to work.
"It would create 450 jobs and produce about a million tonnes of coal a
year, and there are around 40m tonnes of coal at Longannet.
"Longannet could produce enough coal to produce over 20% of Scotland's
base electricity requirement and it's right beside a power station."

Mr Parker claimed that concerns about safety and the ground having too
many geological problems are ill-informed.
"People come up with that rubbish and it gets in the way of creating
hundreds of jobs.
"At Longannet there are the same conditions you would find in any
coalfield.
"It's a sin that this source of energy and employment is not being
taken seriously."
Plans have been announced for new deep mines in Dumfriesshire, and at
Port Talbot in Wales, where one disused mine has already been reopened and
four more could follow.
Mr Parker said the Longannet site is ideal and coalfields at Airth,
directly across the Forth from Kincardine, could also be exploited.
"Using the modern technology available, it would be possible to access
the huge coalfield at the other side of the Forth.
"But if we can't get the funding for it, it won't happen."

Independent Kincardine councillor Willie Ferguson, who has spoken to
ex-Longannet miners about the possibility of the mine reopening, said many
oppose it.
He said, "It would be impossible to reopen the colliery because of the
timespan since it was closed.
"There would be a structural damage, the hydraulic equipment would be
rusty and the roofs would need replaced.
"It would be a costly and dangerous job.
"It would be nice to have a deep mine in Scotland again, but rather
than try to open up an old one, it would be better to look at a new mine to
address the coal demand in Scotland."
He added, "A lot of former miners have moved on to other jobs. I'm not
sure if they would want to go back to working in a mine or not.
"However there are a few who I'm sure would be attracted back to the
mine. Whether we can get youngsters to go underground, I'm not sure."

Government to decide on coal plant

Government to decide on coal plant
Jan 3 2008

The Government will have to decide whether to give the go-ahead for
Britain's first coal-fired power station in more than 20 years after local
councillors backed the plan despite protests from environmental campaigners.
Energy giant E.On UK wants to replace existing coal-fired units at
Kingsnorth power station in Medway, Kent, with two new cleaner coal units
under a £1 billion scheme.
The firm said the move would produce power from coal more efficiently and
more cleanly than ever before in the UK and would produce enough energy to
supply about 1.5 million homes from 2012 as well as cutting carbon emissions
by almost two million tons a year.

Medway councillors supported the plan, which attracted thousands of
objections, but the final decision will be made by the Government.
Greenpeace said the proposal gave Gordon Brown his biggest test since
pledging to put Britain at the forefront of efforts to combat climate
change.
The campaign group warned that if the Prime Minister gives the green light
to the new coal-fired station, it would lock Britain into "huge" carbon
emissions for decades and signal Mr Brown's "surrender" on the UK's
long-term climate change targets.
Executive director John Sauven said: "Gordon Brown recently promised this
country he would lead the fight against climate change. Well, very soon
we'll know if he meant it.
"The proposal for a new coal-fired power station that has now landed on his
desk represents what could be the defining climate-change decision of his
premiership."
Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Robin Webster said it was very
disappointing that Medway Council had given its backing to the "outdated and
dirty" coal-fired power station.

E.On spokesman Jonathan Smith said the new station was "more modern and
efficient" than the old plant and would cut emissions by two million tons of
C02 a year - the equivalent of taking half a million cars off the road.

Methane extraction plant - to Electricity

November 5, 2007 A new power plant that generates electrical power using ventilation air methane (VAM) from coal mining is now in operation. The technology significantly reduces harmful emissions of methane (a gas 20 times more potent than CO2) released in the mining process, while producing power that can be delivered to the grid or used directly in the mine.

Developed by MEGTEC, the technology for the BHP Billiton project was is based on a patented combination of emission control and steam-cycle technologies. By using a compact and flameless VOCSIDIZER regenerative thermal oxidizer as an energy source, it is possible to generate high grade, super-heated steam from a fuel with 0.9% methane content. The steam has the same quality as used at traditional power plants. It is used to drive a conventional steam turbine which generates electricity.

Each hour, the installation is treating 0.9% of methane content in 250,000 square meters (2.69 million square feet) of ventilation air. The energy produced from the methane is utilized to generate steam suitable for running a conventional six Megawatt turbine. The volume of ventilation air treated amounts to only 20% of the total volume of ventilation air available from the ventilation shaft. When coal is formed, so is methane. When the coal is excavated, methane is released. Since methane in air is explosive in concentrations between 5 and 15%, ventilation air is used to dilute the methane to levels below 1% - well below the explosion limit.

Methane is a greenhouse gas over 20 times more potent than CO2. BHP Billiton can now convert the emission reduction to carbon credits corresponding to 250,000 tons of CO2e (CO2-equivalents). A VAM Power Plant treating the full volume of ventilation air can generate approximately one million carbon credits. In comparison, methane emissions of a cow amounts annually to between 1 and 2 tons of CO2e while a car annually generates emissions corresponding to a typical 2 to 4 tons of CO2e.

The $13million project was funded by BHP Billiton Illawarra Coal, with support from the Australian Greenhouse Office.

The power plant is now in full operation at the West Cliff Colliery of BHP Billiton, located in the state of New South Wales on the Australian east coast.

Coal must become king again

On current trends the world will need 50 per cent more energy in 2030 than it does today.
Worse - energy related emissions on greenhouse gases will be 55 per cent higher, which means we will fry our planet if not ourselves.

Renewable and nuclear will not be able to plug the energy requirement gap. We must press government and industry for a change in thinking now. We still have more than enough coal for our needs within these islands and seas. Time has run out for the development of other technologies.

Coal must once again become king. Government and industry in the UK and globally must wake up and smell the coffee!

Carbon capture is where the investment must be made. We must make it now and not tomorrow.

We can store carbon underground or under the sea, far safer than nuclear waste.

Run of mine power plants or underground coal gasification should now take centre stage on the table.

We must act now or the predicted energy gap in 2015 will lead to economic catastrophe.

It is too late for renewable and nuclear, we must campaign and act now for all our sakes, including our children.

CO COUN CHRIS WINTERTON Notts

55% World Increase in Coal

55 per cent growth in coal power generation
Despite concerns about global warming, there will be a steady increase in world coal-fired generation resulting in installed capacity of 2.1 million MW (2l00 GW) by 2020.

This new forecast in the McIlvaine report, Coal-fired Boilers: World Analysis and Forecast, represents a substantial reduction from the forecast made in April when the 2020 anticipated capacity was predicted at 2.7 million MW.

The lowering of the forecast is primarily due to restraints on new coal-fired power plant construction in Europe and the US due to concerns about global warming. In April it was estimated that expenditures of $2.5 trillion would be made for new plants. It is now estimated that expenditures for new plants will be only $1.5 trillion, but that there will be substantial investment in upgrading existing plants to meet environmental and efficiency goals.

Small coal-fired plants in the US, which would have been retired and replaced by new plants, will now be upgraded to meet environmental regulations and improve efficiency. A plant with 30 percent conversion efficiency operating 6000 hours per year can greatly improve generation with a slightly higher efficiency and longer yearly campaign.

China will add 350,000 MW during the period, accounting for more than half the total additions. Europe will not increase generating capacity, but will replace most of its inventory of plants with new super critical plants. Therefore, its investment in coal firing will be high. In fact, a significant percentage of the 160,000 MW of retired units in the next 13 years will be in Europe.

India will be the second leading country in terms of coal-fired generating additions. It will add more than 100,000 MW of coal-fired capacity by 2020.

There are a number of important variables which potentially will change the forecast again. However, most of these variables are likely to result in upward rather than downward changes in the forecast. One possibility is that the average citizen will not deem the global warming threat as severe enough to warrant doubling electricity rates.

There are some unique new ways to make coal plants green including CO2 sequestration, by-product HCl production, co-firing of biomass and use of waste heat for ethanol production which could make coal generation more popular.

The fact that oil prices soared above $90/barrel and the reality that the major energy resources for the US, China, and India are coal means that for these and many other countries, coal remains the most cost effective option for power generation.

McIlvaine also forecasts the costs and markets for wind, solar and other renewable forms of power. While there are promising niches for each of these technologies, there is no likelihood that any of these technologies will compete with the big baseload requirements.

Nuclear power remains a viable alternative. However, due to the rapidly growing electricity demand, the world will need more coal and nuclear power as well as contributions from the renewable sector. It should be noted that even though China will have twice the coal-fired capacity of the US in 2020, it will only have half the capacity per capita.

Coal-fired Boilers: World Analysis and Forecast

Plan to increase UK coal production

23 October, 2007

By Olivia Boyd

Government report highlights need to secure energy supplies over the next 15 years

The government has said it may increase UK coal production as part of its drive to secure energy supplies.

It said that there might be “scope for additional indigenous coal production” in its Energy Markets Outlook report, published today.

Energy minister Malcolm Wicks said renewable energy would play a “far greater role” in meeting energy needs, but did not give precise figures.

The government predicts 20-25 GW of new electricity generation will be required by 2020 to meet increased demand.

Wicks said: “Security of energy supply is one of the fundamental challenges this country faces. We need to ensure that the market delivers enough energy supply in five years time, in 10 years time and in15 years time.”

“Decisions are being taken, the market is delivering investment, but we can’t let our guard down.”

The Energy Markets Outlook report said delays caused by the planning system had had a major impact on the ability to deliver new infrastructure and there was a continued need for skills and resources in the engineering and construction sectors.

The report, which was developed with energy regulator Ofgem, provides energy market information on security of supply, looking ahead over a 15 year period.

Its publication comes as The Guardian reported the government is unlikely to meet its target for 20% of energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, citing leaked documents.

It also coincides with the news today that nearly half of the UK nuclear power plants have been out of action due to breakdowns and maintenance.

Out of the 16 reactors which supply 18% of the UK's electricity, seven have been shut down.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coal

Friday October 12, 2007
The Guardian


In Kent, protesters occupied E.ON's Kingsnorth power station and shut down its generators (Greenpeace protesters take over power plant, October 8). E.ON knows well that unpredictably intermittent wind needs constant backup from fossil-fuelled power or the lights will go out. We hope E.ON finds some money from its massive wind-power advertising budget to explain this to the people of Britain as we approach winter. Greenpeace's fairyland suggestions for locally distributed generation can neither supply the gigantic power demand of the UK, nor provide the necessary support for intermittent renewables.
Dr David Bellamy
Bishop Auckland, Durham
Dr John Etherington
Llanhowell, Pembrokeshire

Huge coal contract for Daw Mill Oct 11 2007

DAW MILL, the UK's biggest colliery, has won a new five-year supply contract with power generator E.ON.

UK Coal said the agreement would account for a significant element of annual production at the Warwickshire mine, where 600 people work.

All the coal will be supplied to E.ON's Ratcliffe power station, near Nottingham.

Daw Mill - Europe's biggest single site colliery - is one of four remaining deep mines operated by UK Coal.

The others are at Thoresby and Welbeck in Nottinghamshire and Kellingley, Yorkshire.

WELSH DRIFT MINE PRODUCES FIRST COAL - 01 AUGUST 2007

The first coal in a decade has emerged from a reopened drift mine in the Neath Valley in south Wales.

The Unity mine at Cwmgwrach, has been closed since 1998, but is estimated to have reserves of up to 90 million tonnes.

Around 120 jobs should be created at the site by early next year.

The mine's owners said that it will be capable of producing up to one million tonnes of coal a year for the next 25 years.

Chairman Gerwyn Williams said: "The mine is capable of producing about a million tonnes of coal a year.

Market conditions

"There are transport conditions to consider but that's what we're aiming for - for about a million tonnes a year for about 20 to 25 years."

The drift mine - one that men can walk into rather than being transported in a lift - is the first to be opened in Wales since Betws colliery in Ammanford in 1974.

The rising amount of imported coal, coupled with global price increases and demand makes formerly uneconomic sites commercial again.

Mr Williams said coal had risen by about 40 to 50% over the last six years

"Extraction is expensive but given market conditions currently - globally that is and they are mainly due to the increases in the economy of China and India - then coal prices worldwide have increased," he said.

On Wednesday Unity Mining will bring to the surface the first of what is called development coal which must be extracted so that further engineering work can take place.

It is hoped full industrial production will begin in early 2008.

But Mr Williams warned they may have to look overseas in the short term to find miners to work there because of a "generation" gap in skilled miners with the run down of the coal industry in the UK.

He said recruiting in Poland would be a "short tem fix, not a long term answer".

Unity also have four other mine sites in south Wales under development.

The only deep mine still operating in the once thriving south Wales coalfield is Tower Colliery at Hirwaun and that is to close next year because its reserves have been exhausted.

NEW COAL MINE FOR SCOTLAND SAYS ALEX SALMOND - 29 MAY 2007

ALEX Salmond believes he can revive Scotland's dormant deep-mined coal industry by combining a change in the Scottish government's attitude with new technology.

The First Minister has given his backing to "clean-coal technology" which is being introduced to Scotland's two coal-fired power stations as well as a bid to open a new deep coal mine in Dumfriesshire.

Together, he believes these two developments could resurrect traditional coal mining in Scotland, which came to a halt in 2002 when the last deep mine shut at Longannet in Fife.

With energy at the top of the political agenda and the Scottish Executive opposed to any new nuclear power stations, Mr Salmond believes a new generation of coal mines could help meet Scotland's energy needs.

Mr Salmond's first official duty as First Minister was to welcome the decision by Scottish Power-Iberdrola to invest in new clean-coal technology at its two coal-fired stations, at Longannet and at Cockenzie near Edinburgh.

Deep-mined Scottish coal has always had a high sulphur content and this contributed to its downfall. Strict European rules banned using high- sulphur coal in power stations but clean-coal technology, which extracts 90 per cent of the sulphur, makes it viable again.

The clean-coal technology not only extracts the sulphur, curbing sulphur dioxide emissions, but it also cuts carbon dioxide emissions by a fifth.

Mr Salmond said: "Coal is king. I have called an old energy technology into existence to redress the balance of nuclear. If you can use clean-coal technology, coal has a dynamic future.

"It means coal, from being environmentally unacceptable, is becoming environmentally attractive. What people forget is that we have roughly 10 per cent of Europe's coal reserves."

With deep-mined coal now close to becoming viable again, Scottish Coal wants to open a new deep-coal mine at Canonbie in Dumfriesshire which is said to have reserves of 400 million tonnes, enough to run Longannet for 80 years.

Dacre Purchase, chief executive of Scottish Coal, said: "They're building a power station every week in China. We're thinking we did a good job building a wind turbine. We're completely missing the point.

"If we can't demonstrate to the rest of the world first-class clean-coal technology and sequestration, and be able to export that skill and knowledge, then frankly, we're paying lip service to the issue of greenhouse gases.

"I think Alex Salmond has got the right idea. Let's hope Westminster assists in the process."

Since 2002, when Longannet closed, all of Scotland's coal has been taken from open-cast sites.

After strong local objections, the Labour-led Scottish Executive began to tighten planning rules on open-cast mines and introduced a presumption against granting planning permission for any more open-cast applications - effectively halting the expansion of this form of mining.

But if Scottish Coal's plans for deep mines - at Canonbie and elsewhere - proceed as intended, and the clean-coal technology works as it should, there will be no need for companies to seek any more open-cast mines in Scotland.

Chavez pulls out of IMF and World bank

2 May 2007

Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez has underlined his intention to develop an alternative economic vision for Latin America by pulling his country from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund - organisations that have long had a controversial role in the region.

He is also to nationalise operational control of four oil field projects currently run by foreign companies.

Though Venezuela has paid off its loans to the two international lending organisations, Mr Chavez's announcement that he intends to quit the organisations is powerfully symbolic. It is likely to lead to other smaller nations to question their membership and demand a greater say in the organisations' policies.

"We will no longer have to go to Washington, nor to the IMF, nor to the World Bank, not to anyone," said Mr Chavez. "I want to formalise our exit from the World Bank and the IMF."

Despite Venezuela's close trading relationship with the US over oil - it is the fourth largest supplier of crude in the United States - Mr Chavez has long been critical of US interference in Latin America, be it political, military or economic. He has long derided the IMF and the World Bank for being controlled by US and Western interests and has said their policies of tight budget controls, privatisation and open markets have benefited foreign companies while leaving much of Latin America in grinding poverty.

Venezuela recently repaid its remaining debts to the World Bank five years ahead of schedule and paid off its debts to the IMF shortly after Mr Chavez first took office in 1999. He has steadily worked to provide alternative forms of credit and financial support for countries in the region, backed up by Venezuela's oil wealth. He has referred to such a project as the "Bank of the South". He has also invested millions of dollars on social programmes inside Venezuela that have reduced poverty and increased access to education and healthcare.

Mark Weisbrot, director of the Washington-based Centre for Economic Policy Research, which studied Venezuela's economy, said Mr Chavez was likely driven by several factors, one of which was the IMF's support of those involved in a 2002 coup which briefly led to his ousting. "The IMF is not really an independent actor," said Mr Weisbrot. "I don't think there's anyone in this town who would tell you with a straight face that it is not controlled by the US Treasury. There was no reason for Venezuela to remain a member... I think it's possible that other countries will pull out."

Mr Chavez made his announcement on Monday, a day after criticising the lending organisations during a meeting with leaders from Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti. He predicted that "sooner or later, those institutions will fall due to their own weight".

On Monday, Mr Chavez announced that some of the world's largest oil companies would lose operational control over projects in the Orinoco Belt reserve in Venezuela. Britain's BP, the United States' ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Exxon Mobil, Norway's Statoil and France's Total agreed to obey a decree to transfer operational control. The move came a year after the Bolivian President Evo Morales took control of his country's gas fields.

"President Chavez has ordered us to take full control over the sovereignty of our oil, and we are doing that today," said Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez.

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 02 May 2007

PM refuses to buckle

28 March 2007
Australian prime Minister John Howard has ruled out any response to global warming that would harm the jobs of coal miners.

British economist Sir Nicholas Stern wrote an influential report on the issue and is meeting both Mr Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd today.

He has called for Australia to cut its greenhouse emissions by 60 per cent by 2050, but Mr Howard has rejected any change that would put coal miners out of work.

"We should play to our natural advantages and I'm simply not going to agree to prescriptions that are going to damage the future of the Australian economy and I'm not going to agree to prescriptions that are going to cost the jobs of Australian coal miners," he said.

Mr Howard says Sir Nicholas makes a valuable contribution to the climate change debate, but his opinions should not be viewed as "holy writ".

"Some of the views that he's expressed I agree with; some I have reservations about; some I believe if implemented literally would do great damage to the Australian economy," he said.

"When it comes to the decision of this Government, uppermost in our mind will be the national interest, not the views of any one individual, however eminent he may be regarded by some."

Mr Howard has told Parliament he believes it would be economically damaging to cut its greenhouse emissions by 60 per cent by 2050.

"It would cost thousands of jobs in the Australian coal industry; it would in fact put back technological progress towards clean coal technology because of its impact on the Australian economy," he said.

Welsh Coalfields Opening Up

ONE of the world's leading diamond tycoons Gren Thomas is backing a strategy to revive the Welsh coal industry.

In a major coup for its expansion plans, Kenfig energy company Unity Power has appointed Swansea-born diamond magnate Gren Thomas to its board as a non-executive director.

Unity, which is chaired by South Wales mining veteran Gerwyn Jones, is in the process of reopening a drift mine in the Vale of Neath - the former Pentreclwydau mine.

The company, which plans to reopen a string of mines across South Wales, is also on track for a flotation on London's Alternative Investment Market later this year.

Mr Thomas is regarded as a founding father of the Canadian diamond industry.

His early career was spent in Ontario and then in the North West Territories. In 1992 he founded Aber Resources, which has a 40% stake in the Diavik Diamond Mine - which contains about 20 million tons of reserves and is the world's richest diamond mine.


During its projected 20-year life, average diamond production is expected to peak at eight to ten million carats a year, about 7% of the world's total supply.


Aber directly supplies the jewellers Tiffany & Co and controls Harry Winston, the United States diamond jewellery retailer.


Fuelled by discoveries like Diavik, the Canadian diamond industry has experienced phenomenal growth, becoming the world's third largest producer of the gems behind Russia and Botswana.

Unity is behind a number of projects to reopen large parts of the South Wales coalfield. The most advanced of these is the Unity Mine in the Vale of Neath which was closed in the late 1990s and is currently being brought back on stream. It is anticipated that the mine will start production this spring.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Thomas said, "There can be little doubt that world energy prices are set for a period of steady upward growth. The consequences for Wales are profound, as it means that what were once regarded by many as marginal reserves can now be bought back into production.

"What really impresses me about Unity is that it has a clear view of what it is trying to achieve and how it intends to execute those plans.

"It is progressively putting into place the business elements which will enable it to become a significant provider of energy.

"By joining the board I will contribute my many years of experience to building a successful Welsh-based energy company," he added. A float for Unity will provide it with the means of financing, through share issues, its ambition of consolidating a fragmented Welsh coal industry.

Recently the House of Commons Select Committee on Welsh Affairs estimated annual Welsh coal production was around two million tonnes. But the recent escalation in world coal prices suggests the prospect of increasing production levels.

A Unity spokesman said, "We are delighted at the prospect of working with Gren.

"Having helped to build an industry from scratch, he must rate as one of the most successful figures in world mining.

"This appointment adds huge credibility and will maintain the momentum that has gathered behind the name Unity Power."

The Welsh coal industry is reawakening because rising world energy prices have made fossil fuels far more valuable than when pits were written off as uneconomic in the 1980s and 1990s.

Sion Barry, Western Mail

Drax

20 Feb 2007

The largest coal - fired power station in Western Europe will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 5% in a drive to tackle climate change.

The Drax power station in North Yorkshire will invest £100 million in a turbine upgrade - the largest steam modernisation project in UK history.

NUM National Secretary Steve Kemp said ' The NUM welcomes the news from Drax, and that given the debate on climate change in Britain at the moment, this decision means that miners, and indeed trade unions, can play a progressive role in future on this subject and that at the same time deliver reliable supplies of electricity.

This news comes on the back of yesterday's news that Judge Sullivan in the High court ruled that the governments plans to build more nuclear plants, and that its public consultation was totally inadequate.

The NUM calls on the government to halt any more of Britains deep mined coal pits being shut, to stop its bias towards Nuclear and gas and do the sensible thing and take the coal industry off the privateers and back into public control.'

Greenpeace Wins Nuclear Victory

15/02/2007
A top British judge struck a blow at Prime Minister Tony Blair's plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations on Thursday, calling the government's consultation on nuclear power "inadequate" and "wrong."
High Court judge Jeremy Sullivan handed a legal victory to environmental group Greenpeace, which had argued that the consultation carried out by the government before it decided to back new nuclear power stations was "legally flawed."
The government said it would consult further but pledged to press ahead with publishing an energy white paper fleshing out its proposals for new nuclear power stations.
"We continue to believe nuclear power has a role to play in cutting emissions and helping to give this country the energy security it needs," the Department of Trade and Industry said in a statement.
A DTI spokesman said, however, it was too early to say whether the energy white paper, expected in mid-March, would be delayed: "We have to digest the ruling and see where we are."
After a six-month review of future energy supplies, the government said last July Britain needed new nuclear power plants, more electricity from wind and waves and cuts in energy consumption to fight global warming and reduce rising dependence on imported oil and gas.
Agreeing with Greenpeace, judge Sullivan said the consultation process had been "clearly and radically wrong."
"The 2006 consultation document contained no information of any substance on any of the issues identified as being of crucial importance," Sullivan said. "It was not merely inadequate but it was also misleading."
"The application for a quashing order therefore succeeds," Sullivan said.
Charlie Kronick, a Greenpeace spokesman, said the government should re-run the consultation, taking at least six months.
"It's difficult to see how you could justify pressing on with the white paper," said Kronick, a member of Greenpeace's climate and energy campaign team.
The opposition Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman Chris Huhne said he was delighted by the ruling which meant the government would have to "consult properly about the full implications of a new generation of nuclear reactors."
"The full economic and environmental costs, as well as the security risk, need to be taken into account," he said.
The opposition Conservatives said the ruling had shown the government was "fundamentally deceitful" and that it had no intention of consulting widely on nuclear power.
The Conservatives say new nuclear plants should be a last resort while the Liberal Democrats oppose them.
Greenpeace argued the energy review was not a full public consultation because it did not resolve key issues surrounding a new generation of nuclear power stations, such as dealing with radioactive waste, financial costs and reactor design.
Blair, who has said he will step down this year after a decade in office, is a firm believer in the need for Britain to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.

Greens welcome UK Greenpeace ruling

15/02/2007 - 16:44:32

The Green Party welcomed the positive outcome of Greenpeace's legal challenge against the UK government and said it would strengthen the anti-nuclear lobby in Ireland.

Green Party Environment spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe TD said: "I congratulate Greenpeace on taking this case. Their success has demonstrated that the UK government's decision to favour the construction of new nuclear plants was reliant on incomplete economics and a downgraded assessment of the huge problems of managing radioactive waste.
"In ruling that Tony Blair's decision to support the construction of new nuclear power stations was 'legally flawed', the British High Court has significantly weakened the case of the nuclear lobby in the UK and elsewhere.
"The Green Party welcomes a full and proper debate about nuclear power in Ireland. We are confident that policies which support renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements are key to the securing of an affordable and safe energy supply.

"Today's court decision supports what we have long argued: nuclear power is neither economically viable nor environmentally acceptable," concluded Deputy Cuffe.

Beattie calls for support on clean coal

The Australian — QueenslandThe Nation NSW/ACT
By Jade Bilowol
February 04, 2007

THE Federal Government needed to support clean coal technologies instead of nuclear power to set a world example in tackling global warming, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said today.
Mr Beattie today called on Prime Minister John Howard to act on damning international scientific reports blaming harmful greenhouse gas emissions for climate change by supporting the state's push for clean coal technologies.

Such technology enhances the efficiency and reduces the environmental impact of coal extraction, preparation and use as an energy source, he said.

Mr Beattie said it could be developed and exported around the world to make an impact in developing countries rapidly establishing coal-powered stations like China and India.

“We are one of the great coal producers of the world,” Mr Beattie said in Brisbane.

“What we can do through clean coal technology is reduce greenhouse gases in our own generation and, hopefully, we will get some outcome within five years – then we can export that.”

He said he didn't agree with Mr Howard's leaning towards nuclear energy.

“Even if we see increased nuclear power in China – it's going to be something like two or three per cent of their total generation,” Mr Beattie said.

“It's largely going to be coal-based because they have large supplies of coal and they buy coal from us.

“So, if we are really serious about climate change ... we as a nation have to invest in clean coal technology.”

He also criticised the Federal Government's refusal to ratify the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“I know last night there was a suggestion from the prime minister that they won't sign up to Kyoto because the United States won't and emerging powers like China haven't,” Mr Beattie said.

“There's some truth in what the prime minister is saying but that truth doesn't remove the obligation to do something about it.

“The way to do something about it is for them to put contribution of funds into greenhouse gas production by supporting our clean coal technology.”

He said action was needed in light of research showing 90 per cent of global warming was caused by human activity.

“We are getting more violent weather patterns, we are getting floods, getting droughts,” Mr Beattie said.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report – released in Paris on Friday night (AEDT) – gave a bleak observation of what is happening now, with an even more dire prediction for the future.

It said it was 90 per cent certain that human activity was to blame for global warming.

“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level,” the report said.

The report said man-made emissions of greenhouse gases could already be blamed for fewer cold days, hotter nights, killer heatwaves, floods and heavy rains, devastating droughts, and an increase in hurricane and tropical storm strength – particularly in the Atlantic Ocean.

German Miners Protest

1 Feb 2007

BERLIN - More than 10,000 German miners stopped work on Thursday in protest at government plans to shut down German coal mines by 2018 and calls by the leader of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for an even earlier phase-out date.

Thousands of miners and other employees of the RAG industrial conglomerate, which operates Germany's eight existing coal mines, demonstrated in front of the regional parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia in Duesseldorf on Thursday.

RAG's coal-mining unit, Deutsche Steinkohle (DSK), said that 10,000 miners failed to turn up for work, answering the call of the IG BCE union to go to the demonstration in Duesseldorf instead.

VENEZUELA TO NATIONALISE 'ABSOLUTELY ALL' ENERGY SECTOR - 14 JANUARY 2007

CARACAS (Reuters) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said on Saturday the country's entire energy sector had to be nationalized, reinforcing his socialist revolution and possibly giving himself more targets for state take-over.

But he said he would permit foreign firms to hold minority stakes in energy deals.

The anti-U.S. leader, in power since 1999, this week announced he would nationalize power utilities and the country's biggest telecommunications firm, confirming his status as the catalyst of Latin America's swing to the left.

"We have decided to nationalize the whole Venezuelan energy and electricity sector, all of it, absolutely all," Chávez said in his annual state of the nation address to parliament, potentially opening up more projects for state acquisition in the No. 4 crude exporter to the United States.

Why gas follows oil up, but not down
The president was reinaugurated this week for a term that runs through 2013.

Chávez has already pursued oil and gas projects and power utilities but on Saturday left no leeway for a private company to hold a majority in operations anywhere in the energy sphere.

What will be targeted?
It was not immediately clear whether his pronouncement on nationalizing the whole sector was a precursor to moves against specific projects or companies.

Venezuela will have to judge how closely private firms must be connected to the country's oilfields, refineries, pipelines, gasoline stations and coal mines to count as targets for nationalization.

Huge oil service companies such as Halliburton (Charts) and Schlumberger (Charts) operate in Venezuela but Chávez gave no indication whether deals involving such businesses were now in his sights.

In his address to parliament, Chávez also said Venezuela was "almost ready" to take over the foreign-run oil projects of the Orinoco Belt, which produce about 600,000 barrels per day.

Those projects, which turn tarry, heavy crude into fuel, are run by U.S. majors including Chevron (Charts), Conoco Phillips (Charts) and ExxonMobil (Charts), as well as European heavyweights such as France's Total (Charts), Norway's Statoil (Charts) and Britain's BP (Charts).

Chávez confirmed such firms could stay on as minority stakeholders after the state had acquired 51 percent.

"If someone wants to stay on as our partner, then the door is open but if he does not want to stay as our minority partner then hand me the field and goodbye," he said.

Despite his conviction that Caracas was on the verge of taking over these projects, the country has faced a long battle in wresting control away from the foreign firms.

A senior Venezuelan oil official last month acknowledged that the Caribbean state could face hundreds of millions of dollars in fines if it takes over the projects, because of financing agreements with international banks.

CNN http://Money.com
14 January 2007

Russia gets its hands on Royal Dutch Shell's Sakhalin-2 field

12/12/2006
Royal Dutch Shell has bowed to pressure from the Russian government to allow state-owned energy company Gazprom to take over its Sakhalin-2 oil and gas field.
The Anglo-Dutch oil company said yesterday that it has made several proposals to Moscow and Gazprom. These are understood to involve Shell and its partners giving up control of the $20bn (£10.2bn) project.
The move by the Kremlin will be seen as a sign that Russia will no longer tolerate foreign investors controlling strategic assets.
Shell owns 55 per cent of Sakhalin-2, with Mitsui of Japan owning 25pc and Mitsubishi 20pc. It is thought that Shell proposed giving up about 30pc-35pc, and the other two companies handing over about 10pc each.
Gazprom was originally negotiating to take a 25pc stake in Sakhalin-2. Talks collapsed when Shell said the development, on an island in eastern Russia, would require substantial investment.
Shell has faced threats from Russian agencies to terminate operating licences because of environmental violations. These were viewed in the West as attempts to force Shell into submission.
Stephen O'Sullivan, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said: "The days when foreign companies could envisage control over Russian oil and gas projects are over."
But, given Sakhalin's huge revenue potential, Shell would still benefit from being part of the project, he said.
The Sakhalin deal was struck in the early 1990s when oil was around $20 a barrel and Russia's ailing economy needed foreign earnings. But with oil touching $60 a barrel, Russia wants to reclaim a greater share of earnings.

A spokesman for Gazprom said the company is analysing the proposals. Shell declined to comment.

By Russell Hotten

Major Russian oil pipe to Europe shut off

January 8 2007:


MOSCOW (Reuters extract) -- A Russian oil pipeline carrying supplies across Belarus to Poland and Germany stopped pumping overnight in a trade dispute between Moscow and Minsk that could lead to fuel shortages across Europe.

Only last week the ex-Soviet states promised to put their argument to one side and keep providing oil to the rest of Europe whose refiners are heavily reliant on Russian supplies to make winter heating oil and other products.
The feuding grew more intense on Sunday when Belarus subpoenaed the head of Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft and Russia demanded an end to oil transit fees imposed by Belarus.

"Oil supplies via the Druzhba [Friendship] pipeline to Poland and Germany were halted overnight. We sent a letter to Belarus asking for explanations," said Tomasz Zakrzewski, a spokesman for Polish pipeline operator PERN.

Germany confirmed the news. Officials said they were in the dark as to the reason for the stoppage. Plants in east Germany are most vulnerable, including Total's Leuna refinery.

..............................................

GMB Warns That Cutbacks In Spending On Nuclear Decommissioning Will Undermine Public Support For Nuclear Industry

Resulting cuts in routine planned maintenance will lead to more incidents like that at Sizewell yesterday says GMB
8 Jan 2007

Gary Smith, GMB National Officer for energy industries commenting on the incident of the burst 10 inch mains water pipe at Sizewell nuclear power station which led to leaking of 40,000 gallons of water yesterday said: "This recent incident at Sizewell highlights decades of chronic underinvestment in our nuclear industry. It also comes at a time when the Government is proposing to cut funding to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority NDA. This Government gave a commitment that it would clean up the nuclear legacy, and proposals to cut NDA funding will ultimately impact upon investment in training and maintenance, which can only further exacerbate problems that we have as a result of neglect. Any cuts in the NDA budgets will severely undermine public confidence in the future of the industry."

Ends

HOW COAL MAY SOON KEEP THE JETS FLYING -

26 DECEMBER 2006
When railways ruled, it was the sweating firemen shovelling coal into the furnace who kept the engines running.

Now, nearly two centuries after Stephenson's "Rocket" steam locomotive helped usher in the Industrial Revolution, that same coal could be the fuel that keeps the jet age aloft.

But with a twist: The planes of the future could be flown with liquid fuel made from coal or natural gas.

Already the United States Air Force has carried out tests flying a B-52 Stratofor-tress with a coal-based fuel.

And JetBlue Airways is supporting a bill in the US Congress that would extend tax credits for alternative fuels, pushing technology to produce jet fuel for the equivalent of $40 (£20.50) a barrel - way below current oil prices.

Major coal mining companies in the United States, which has more coal reserves than Saudi Arabia has oil, are investing in ways to develop fuels derived from carbon.

The technology of producing a liquid fuel from coal or natural gas is hardly new.

The Fischer-Tropsch process was developed by German researchers Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch in 1923 and used by Germany and Japan during World War II to produce alternative fuels.

Indeed, in 1944, Germany produced 6.5 million tons, or 124,000 barrels a day.

And coal-to-liquid (CTL) fuel is already in use elsewhere, like South Africa, where it meets 30 per cent of transportation fuel needs.

In addition to being cheaper than oil, advocates point out that the fuel is environmentally friendlier and would also help America and much of the Western world wean itself off foreign oil imports.

"America must reduce its dependence on foreign oil via environmentally sound and proven coal-to-liquid technologies," said JetBlue's founder and chief executive, David Neeleman.

"Utilizing our domestic coal reserves is the right way to achieve energy independence."

In a recent briefing to power and energy executives, Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, said bio-diesel fuels offered little in the way of reduced carbon dioxide emissions, have enormous production costs and present "serious transmission and infrastructure" problems.

In contrast, CTL transportation fuels are substantially cleaner-burning than conventional fuels.

Mr Popovich warned that the United States risked falling behind economic competitors such as China, which plans to spend £13 billion on CTL plants.

America is "already behind the curve" when it comes to tapping the vast liquid fuel potential that coal offers, said John Ward, of natural resources company Headwaters, which builds CTL plants.

He said plants in America would likely each produce 40,000 barrels of CTL fuel per day, with a typical plant using 8.5 million tons of coal per year.

In contrast, China is focused on building plants capable of producing 60,000 barrels of CTL fuel per day, he said.

In October, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and a consortium of energy and technology companies announced the state will be home to one of America's first CTL energy plants.

The $1 billion Bull Mountain plant is set to produce 22,000 barrels per day of diesel fuel and 300 megawatts of electricity - enough to power 240,000 homes - in six years.

Mr Schweitzer and the companies behind the plant, including Arch Coal and DKRW Advanced Fuels, say the production of fuel and electricity will not release the greenhouse gases associated with coal-generated electricity.

Arch has a 25 per cent stake in DKRW and the companies are also developing a CTL plant in Medicine Bow, Wyoming.

At a recent coal industry conference, the heads of two of America's Big Four producers talked up CTL development.

Arch Coal chairman and chief executive Steven Leer said it "could be a game-changer". Chemical companies and railroads were asking him about using coal-based liquid fuels.

"It's a whole new group of potential customers," he said.

Peabody Energy chief executive Gregory Boyce said of CTL: "Stay tuned, as the sector continues to evolve.

"I have heard reports that China can produce oil for $25 per barrel from coal.

"We see it more in the $45 range here."

Peabody recently announced an agreement with Rentech to evaluate sites in the Midwest and Montana for CTL projects.

The plants could range in size from producing 10,000 to 30,000 barrels of fuel per day and use approximately three million to nine million tons of coal annually.

Another alternative fuel company, Syntroleum, said recently that its ultra-clean jet fuel was successfully tested in a USAF B-52 at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

"The programme is the first step in opening up new horizons for sourcing fuel for military purposes," said Bill Harrison, a fuels expert with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

STEVE JAMES
Birmingham Post
26 December 2006

Coal-to-liquid fuel gets a lift

Fu Chenghao
2006-12-15
CHINA plans to spend one trillion yuan (US$128 billion) through 2020 to develop its coal-to-liquid-fuel and chemical industry as it works to reduce reliance on oil imports and cut pollution.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top industrial policy planner, said on Wednesday that it has mostly completed an opinion-gathering process for a long-term industry blueprint that will be sent soon to authorities for approval.

The Shanghai Securities News said yesterday the total proposed budget for the 2006-2020 period is more than one trillion yuan, half of which will be used for equipment supply and 10 percent for technological knowhow.

The country plans to increase annual capacity for turning coal into liquid fuel from a very small amount now to 1.5 million metric tons by 2010, 10 million tons by 2015 and 30 million tons by 2020. As a result, the fuel could make up four percent of the country's total refined oil products by 2015 and 10 percent by 2020.

China also wants to build the capacity for making dimethyl ether to five million tons, 12 million tons and 20 million tons by 2010, 2015 and 2020. DME, produced from methanol made by gasifying coal, is a clean-burning fuel alternative that can be blended with other fuels.

On the other hand, the government plans to add only limited production capacity for traditional coal-to-chemical products such as coke and fertilizer.

"China is rich in coal, but the coal conversion industry could be hurt by risks such as falling crude prices, rising coal costs and environmental protection issues," said China Jianyin Investment Securities analyst Ye Zhijun.

Building a DME plant, for example, will cost much more than a crude oil refinery with comparable capacity, and the DME production process also consumes more water, industry analysts pointed out.

To avoid investment in uneconomic projects, the government has said it will approve only new coal-to-chemicals plants that meet specified production capacities.

UK COAL LOOK TO SELL LAND ASSETS - 05 DECEMBER 2006

UK COAL has posted the following statement on its website which once demonstrates the company’s main interest of land ownership, speculation and sale rather any commitment to the production of coal and the exploitation of the nation’s valuable coal assets.

“UK COAL currently operates two surface mine sites in Northumberland and has consent to operate a further site, has submitted a planning application in respect of one other site and has a further scheme in the development.

The sites currently in operation are Maiden Hall and Stobswood North, both near Morpeth.

The Group has recently been granted planning permission to extract around a million tonnes of coal from the Steadsburn site, near Widdrington, which will embrace an extensive reclamation of rail sidings, coal stocking area and the Widdrington Disposal Point.

There are two other potential sites: Butterwell, which embraces the current Disposal Point, and which contains around a million tonnes of coal for which no planning application has yet been made; and Portland Bum near Ashington, a site which contains around 2mt of coal and 500,000 tonnes of fireclay which could be irretrievably lost as a result of the rising water table unless it is extracted within the next 9 to 10 years. A planning application in respect of Portland Bum is currently receiving consideration by the Northumberland Mineral Planning Authority.

UK COALl has been in discussion with North East businessman Mr. Bob Young, President of the Hargreaves Group, with a view to him purchasing sites. We are now in a process of due diligence inquiries which are likely to take a month or so to complete, and which may or may not, lead to a sale and transfer of these assets..

UK COAL employees engaged in those North East operations have been informed of this development. Their employment terms will be protected if a sale is subsequently completed. If that is the case, the new owner will also be committed to undertaking the restoration of the existing operating sites and those he subsequently works.

UK COAL will remain a substantial landowner in the North East and will continue to develop those assets in accordance with the appropriate planning consents.

Mr. Young was founder of the Hargreaves Group in 1996 and is currently the President of the company. He is also President of Newcastle United football club and a Durham County councillor.”

Steve Kemp NUM National Secretary said, “We have been saying for some considerable time to anyone who would listen that UK COAL are not interested in the production of coal or in the nation’s desperate need for energy security. The company are into land and property speculation and are more than willing to dispense with the energy assets that are becoming so valuable as the world energy crisis unfolds.

“It is time the Government dispensed with its unquestioning adherence to the free market ideology it has adopted and took control of Britain’s energy resources in the interests of the nation as a whole.”

USA makes an effort to clean up it's act

UNITED STATES ADVANCES $1 BILLION FOR CLEAN COAL PROJECTS - 01 DECEMBER 2006Washington – The Bush administration has awarded $1 billion in federal tax credits to utility companies for clean-coal power generation as part of a broad U.S. strategy to move toward emission-free energy.

The tax credits, authorized by the energy law passed by Congress in 2005, were awarded November 30 to nine companies mostly for advanced coal and gasification projects using a process called integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). An additional $650 million in tax credits for similar projects will be available in 2007, according to an Energy Department fact sheet.

Briefing reporters the same day, James Connaughton, the chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, called the action the largest step to broad commercialization of clean-coal technologies.

He said the United States is well on the way to meet its stated goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of its economy by 18 percent by 2012 through the use of these and other clean-energy technologies as well as measures to increase energy efficiency. GHG intensity is the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions to economic output.

About half the credits will help fund construction of IGCC plants. IGCC, based on a process in which coal is converted into a gaseous fuel through partial oxidation, is the most environmentally friendly technology for coal-fired power generation available today, according to the Cooperative Research Center for Coal in Sustainable Development. The center is part of an Australian public-private partnership.

Coal gasification offers the opportunity to generate power with near-zero greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the pathways to a future hydrogen economy, the center said in its presentation of the technology.

The wide-scale commercialization of these and other clean-coal technologies can help slow down, stabilize and eventually reverse “atmospheric trends” caused by greenhouse gas emissions, according to an Energy Department fact sheet.

Many scientists believe that greenhouse gas emissions contribute to global warming.

INCENTIVES PROMOTE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY USE OF COAL

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who made the announcement, said that the energy content of abundant U.S. coal resources is higher than that of “nearly all the oil in the world.”

“These tax credits will help us find ways to use coal in an environmentally sensitive way,” he said.

Because coal is both plentiful and relatively cheap in the United States and in some other countries such as China, it is expected to remain the main source of electricity generation for decades to come, the department said. The portion of power generated from coal in overall electricity production is projected to increase in the United States from the current 50 percent to 57 percent by 2030 as demand for electricity grows.

The department said it believes that incentives such as tax credits will accelerate the widespread use of advanced technologies that allow electricity to be generated from coal more efficiently and with fewer harmful environmental effects. IGCC and other advanced technologies are expected to extract 55 percent to 60 percent of coal’s energy content compared to 35 percent in existing, modern coal-fired plants, Connaughton said.

The president of Tampa Electric, one of the tax credit recipients, said that incentives also would bring “significant savings” to customers. Tampa Electric was the first U.S. utility company to commercialize IGCC technology in partnership with the department.

The Energy Department said the overall U.S. strategy to make the best and most efficient use of coal in power generation also includes investing in carbon sequestration (capturing and storing carbon dioxide); supporting further modernization of existing power plants; making sure that new plants have the most efficient and environmentally friendly equipment; and building the first virtually emission-free coal power plant known as FutureGen.

The FutureGen plant is intended to deliver electricity at competitive prices and with nearly no greenhouse gas or other emissions by combining a range of innovative technologies such as carbon capture and storage. The construction of the plant is expected to start in 2009 and conclude in 2012. The plant will be operated by an international consortium, which includes companies from Australia, China and the United Kingdom.

For additional information, see related articles on FutureGen and carbon sequestration, as well as the electronic journal Clean Energy Solutions.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Chinese official blames the unscrupulous Mine owners

China Official Blasts Coal Mine Owners
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 28, 2006; 1:03 PM
BEIJING -- China's top safety official has blasted "unscrupulous" mine owners and local officials after a string of accidents killed 88 miners in recent days, state media said Tuesday.

An angry Li Yizhong, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, launched the attack on the mine owners and officials in a teleconference with safety officials around the country, the China Daily reported.
Three accidents over the weekend killed at least 81 people, and on Monday a coal heap collapsed at a mine in southwest China, entombing seven miners.
Li was quoted as saying "such a high frequency of serious accidents is unprecedented" and added that mine owners and local officials should be held responsible.
China's mines are the world's deadliest, with 6,000 workers _ an average of more than 16 a day _ dying every year in explosions, fires and floods, many caused by bad safety procedures and a lack of proper equipment.
The weekend accidents included one in the southwestern province of Yunnan that killed at least 32 miners in a gas explosion. Li said that accident should never have happened because the mine was ordered closed by his agency and the provincial government at the beginning of the year.
But the newspaper said the local government claimed it had done so, but shut another small mine instead.
"It is like replacing a person on the death list with another," Li said. "The case illustrates how some local governments are willfully flouting national safety regulations."
Soaring demand for coal to supply heat for the winter has led to a string of fatal coal mine disasters.
Besides the Yunnan accident, 24 miners were killed when an explosion triggered by a gas buildup ripped through an unlicensed mine in northern China's Shanxi province Sunday.
In another big accident, in Jixi, a city in northeast Heilongjiang province, the official Xinhua News Agency said 23 miners died in a gas explosion. Four miners are still missing.

Xinhua said the mine's owner ignored an order from local authorities in August to stop production because the mine's work certificates were outdated.
Two people were killed and another two are missing after a mine gas blast Sunday in Jiangxi province in eastern China, Xinhua said.
China has launched a program to close small mines, which account for most of the accidents, but mine owners inflate their output figures, often in collusion with local officials.
"Don't let some unscrupulous coal mine owners kill more people in their last frenzy to make profit," Li said.

Only one Nuclear plant working, the rest are being fixed

The Government's recent energy review, was almost recklessly optimistic. The margin of spare capacity in our electricity system has fallen, and is set to fall further and faster. For some time we have known that our current nuclear power fleet is coming to the end of its life. Sizewell A and Dungeness A plan to close this year, and a further 7,000 MW of plant will be offline within 10 years, with only one existing station, Sizewell B, open by 2020.

Recently, the process has been accelerated. This month, British Energy announced that two of its nuclear power stations, Hunterston B and Hinckley Point B, would be shut down after cracks were discovered in the boiler tubes. The company also said that it was investigating a leak in piping at Hartlepool, that Dungeness B has issues with its fuel route, that Heysham 1 has operating temperature anomalies, that Heysham 2 is having work done on turbine bearings, and that Sizewell B is currently undergoing planned refuelling. British Energy therefore had only one nuclear power station, Torness, running at full output.

Poland ,Eight miners killed

WORLD IN BRIEF / POLAND
8 coal miners are killed; 15 trapped
From Times Wire Reports
November 22, 2006


Eight coal miners were killed in a suspected gas explosion in a mine in southern Poland, and rescuers were trying to reach 15 others trapped more than 3,000 feet underground, officials said.

The accident occurred as the men were demolishing a wall in an underground corridor at the Halemba coal mine in the city of Ruda Slaska, said the Southern Mining Co., which operates the mine.

Grzegorz Pawlaszek, head of the state-owned Coal Co., said the fate of the other 15 was not known.

Coal mined in Iran

Iran will be self-sufficient in coal next year

Monday, November 20, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com

LONDON, November 20 (IranMania) - Iran will attain self-sufficiency in coal production next year (Iranian calendar year ends March 20, 2007), noted the managing director of Iran’s Minerals Supply and Production Co, MNA reported.

For the first time in the nation’s history, coal production during the past eight months of the current year ending October, hit an all-time record of 640,000 tons, Ardeshir Saad-Mohammadi said. “The figure was expected to amount to around one mln tons by the end of the year.”

Some 10,400,000 tons of iron concentrates has been produced in the country during the same time, he stated, adding that it is expected that the figure would hit 15 mln tons by the end of the year.

He further announced that four coal mines are expected to come into stream by the year-end and the Potassium Project will become operational in the current year.

All 47 Trapped Coal Miners Die in China

BEIJING -- All 47 miners trapped after an explosion in a northern Chinese coal mine were confirmed dead after rescuers found the last body Thursday, a news agency said.

This brought the death toll from two coal mine accidents in Shanxi province in recent days to 81, a day after rescuers at another mine mishap said all 34 miners trapped after a fire on Sunday had died.

The Xinhua News Agency said rescue work at the Jiaojiazhai colliery in Xinzhou city where the Nov. 5 gas explosion occurred was hampered by the high levels of dense, toxic gas as well as several cave-ins.

There were 393 miners working in the pit when the blast went off, and 346 of them escaped.

Casualties have been mounting in the latest string of accidents to hit China's dangerous coal mining industry, which recently has increased production to feed a surge in demand for winter heating fuel.

Elsewhere, rescuers said eight miners had died in a coal mine flood Sunday in Guizhou province in the southwest, Xinhua reported.

The flood trapped 11 miners at the Debi colliery in the county of Libo, but three were rescued, Xinhua said.

Floodwater in the shaft measured 100 feet deep _ and was at least 71,000 cubic feet in volume, the report said.

China's poorly regulated mining industry is the deadliest in the world, with about 6,000 people killed each year in explosions, floods, collapses or other disasters. Lax safety rules and poor safety procedures are often to blame.

The government has launched safety campaigns in recent years and says it has closed thousands of mines in an attempt to rein in the accidents, but death tolls remain high.

Bad news for wind farm generators

8 Nov 2006

A proposed wind farm in North Notts was turned down last night at planning stage, by Newark & District councilors. Residents near to the site at Eakring, unanimously objected to the proposals and were delighted at the outcome.