Senate proposes spending increase at environmental agencies

The Republican-led Senate is proposing modest spending increases for environmental agencies compared to last year’s budget, diverging from proposed cuts that the Trump White House put forward earlier this year. In its $38 billion Interior-environment spending bill for fiscal 2021, the Senate Appropriations Committee proposed giving about $13.6 billion to the Interior Department and about $9.09 billion to the Environmental …

Horizon eyes transfer of nuclear sites

Horizon Nuclear Power is in discussions about transferring its Wylfa Newydd and Oldbury nuclear-build sites to another developer. Horizon confirmed in September that it was scrapping its work at the sites after parent company Hitachi failed to agree a funding deal with the UK Government. It later asked Whitehall to delay a decision on a …

Japan, world’s third largest economy, vows to become carbon neutral by 2050

TOKYO — Japan’s new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, committed his country on Monday to reaching a target of zero emissions of greenhouse gases and achieving a carbon-neutral society by 2050, with a “fundamental shift” in policy on coal use. Suga outlined the major move in his country’s attitude toward climate change in his first policy …

Brussels ‘won’t stand in the way’ of new nuclear plants, says EU climate chief

The European Commission “will not stand in the way” of countries that choose to build new nuclear power stations, said EU climate chief Frans Timmermans, who warned however about the life-cycle costs of the technology, “which means that you will be stuck with it for a long, long, long time”. The European Commission keeps a …

Africa’s only atomic plant bets $1.2bn on a 2nd life

(MENAFN – Gulf Times) Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, South Africa’s indebted power utility, started a billion-dollar round of investments in Africa’s oldest and only nuclear power plant before getting permission from safety regulators that the reactor’s lifetime can be extended. The decision to begin installing new steam generators at the Koeberg plant near Cape Town …