Sizewell
Protesters have blocked the entrance road to a nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk. Police said three women and a man had “locked” themselves into place outside the power station using concrete. Police said a small group had gathered at the site to offer the protesters support, and people arriving for work had found the way in blocked.
BBC 1st Dec 2007 more >>
Bradwell
Bradwell has been confirmed as a front runner for a new nuclear power station.British Energy has earmarked the costal site as one of four preferred options, which also include Sizewell in Suffolk. It emerged the company has already negotiated for extra capacity on the National Grid at both locations although the Government has still to decide on the future of nuclear power.
Total Essex 29th Nov 2007 more >>
Sellafield
A fight is on to promote Sellafield as the best site for a new reactor following British Energy’s announcement that Sizewell, Hinkley, Bradwell and Dungeness were its preferred sites.
North West Evening Mail 29th Nov 2007 more >>
Radiation Monitoring
Produce grown in the vicinity of the UK’s nuclear installation is safe to eat and levels of radioactivity fall well below legal limits. This is the key finding of an annual report into radioactivity in the food and environment, produced by the Environment Agency and its sister agencies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Edie 27th Nov 2007 more >>
Korea
Even as the Bush administration marks unprecedented progress in North Korean nuclear disarmament talks, two looming impediments could undermine years of delicate negotiations. One is a suspicion, especially among U.S. conservatives, that North Korea has helped Syria pursue a nuclear weapons program. The other issue is the U.S. claim the North pursued a secret uranium enrichment program, as well as its known plutonium production.
Guardian website 1st December 2007 more >>
The removal of fuel rods from an ageing reactor at the heart of North Korea’s nuclear arms programme, an important step in a disarmament deal, will stretch into next year, South Korea’s nuclear envoy said on Friday.
Reuters 30th Nov 2007 more >>
Iran
Iran’s new “Dr No”, the Iranian chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, came to London yesterday for the first time since his appointment at the end of October for talks billed as Iran’s last chance to avert a new round of UN sanctions. The Iranian official spoke as softly as his predecessor, Ali Larijani, but the message was just as uncompromising: Iran will continue to reject the central US and European demand for his country to suspend uranium enrichment, the process which could eventually lead to a nuclear bomb.
Belfast Telegraph 1st Dec 2007 more >>
Independent 1st Dec 2007 more >>
Sky News 1st Dec 2007 more >>
EU Business 30th Nov 2007 more >>
Telegraph 1st Dec 2007 more >>
Channel 4 News 30th Nov 2007 more >>
The six Gulf Arab states whose leaders meet in Qatar on Monday for a two-day summit fear that Iran’s nuclear crisis could spark a new regional conflict. Tehran’s nuclear programme is expected to be high on the agenda of the Doha summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Middle East Online 1st Dec 2007 more >>
The absence of a breakthrough at the talks means six world powers meeting in Paris on Saturday will try to agree new penalties to propose to the United Nations, despite differences in their approach to halting Iran’s nuclear programme.
Reuters 1st Dec 2007 more >>
BBC 30th Nov 2007 more >>
Guardian website 30th Nov 2007 more >>
Iran nuclear issue Q&A.
BBC 30th Nov 2007 more >>
Pakistan
The man who devised the Bush administration’s Iraq troop surge has urged the US to consider sending elite troops to Pakistan to seize its nuclear weapons if the country descends into chaos.
Guardian 1st Dec 2007 more >>
Italy
Italian utility, Enel, will take 12.5% of the output of the EPR being constructed at Flamanville.
World Nuclear News 30th Nov 2007 more >>
US
Op-ed by Union of Concerned Scientists: Next week, Congress will vote on an energy bill that could finally dampen oil addiction and increase reliance on clean, renewable energy sources. However, provisions tucked into both the Senate and House versions of the bill could shortchange renewable energy projects and saddle taxpayers with nuclear plant loan default bailouts. The provision Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., inserted in the Senate bill would permit nuclear projects to use most of the guaranteed loans Congress authorized to stimulate innovative energy technologies. If the nuclear industry has its way, borrowing could rapidly exceed $50 billion. That’s more than 12 times the amount authorized in the 2005 energy bill. Worse, the Senate bill would expand loan coverage to 100 percent of project costs and remove congressional program oversight. The House version is no better and goes further by opening the door to promoting old technologies with loans solely intended to stimulate new ones.
San Jose Mercury News 30th Nov 2007 more >>
Canada
Bruce Power LP, Canada’s only private operator of a nuclear power plant, said the acquisition of a would-be nuclear firm in Alberta has given it a six- to nine-month head start on planning for the first commercial reactors in the province. Duncan Hawthorne, chief executive of Bruce Power, said the company was considering construction of a C$6 billion ($6 billion), 2,000 megawatt twin-reactor complex in northern Alberta as it agreed to acquire Energy Alberta Corp. earlier this week.
Reuters 30th Nov 2007 more >>
Reprocessing
The Government has published its response to the consultation on so-called ‘virtual reprocessing’ – where nuclear waste is returned to Sellafield reprocessing customers before their fuel has actually been processed in the Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield. Not surprisingly the government believes advanced allocation “offers a sensible approach to managing overseas spent fuel awaiting reprocessing”.
