Update on Chernobyl

A few weeks ago I did a focus section on Nuclear Power, recently there have been some developments in Chernobyl which I feel are important to include so this is just a quick break in the discussion about oil.

At the beginning of November, work began on the Chernobyl site to remove the ventilation stacks which are 75m tall and weight around 220 tonnes (World Nuclear News, 5th November). The aim of this is to allow the construction of a shield over the site to contain any future radation links. The first ventilation stack has been successfully removed and the construction of the shield has begun. The 110m high shield is also enough to hide a football pitch and will be a oppressive feature on the landscape (BBC News, 27th November).

The arch so far

First part of construction of the arch - BBC News

This is one of the most ambitious engineering projects in history and is aiming to finish in 2015. The challenges in construction have been enormous, before you even start considering the radiation levels and risk to workers. The reactor (which exploded in 1986) is still far to reactive for people to work there for significant periods of time so the arch is constructed at another site and then transported on rails to the site (VINCI Construction).

A model of the final structure - aiming to be complete in 2015

The final construction - Novarka

Once completed the shield should contain any future leaks and protect the surrounding area: finally allowing the population to move on more from the disaster. It does raise the question of what is a reasonable level of risk to take and is Nuclear Power a step too far. There is still so much we don't fully understand about the effects of disasters such as Chernobyl and Fukushima that the response to them is limited.

The Price of Power

The debate over energy prices has become increasingly heated over the last few days after the parliamentary committee so I wanted to just do a quick post about the situation. Understanding energy pricing is a really important aspect in understanding the energy market so this is a quick look at exactly how much we pay for our energy.

The Office for National Statistics has recently published a report on household expenditure. There are a couple of really important points I wanted to highlight from it:

• Household disposable income has flat lined for the last four years
• The proportion of household income spent on essentials has increased by almost half in a decade:  from 19.9% in 2003 to 27.3% in 2013
• The increase spent on gas and electricity in the same decade almost doubled: from 1.8% in 2003 to 3.1% in 2013. 

Source (ONS Parliamentary Briefing PDF October 2013)

This graph shows the relative yearly change in energy prices relative to the general price index. The 1980s saw a similar increase due to the recession but today’s relative prices are still higher. The volatility in heating oils (black line) over the last few decades can be linked to the oil shocks of the 70s. 

Source: DECC quarterly fuel prices table 2.1.1

Efforts such as the winter fuel allowance are incredibly important to support vulnerable people but there is no denying that the government will need to look further to help protect the consumer. It will be interesting how the politics around this develop and maybe the subject of another blog post soon!