Radwaste
A secret shortlist of a dozen sites across the UK where the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is thinking of dumping dangerous radioactive waste from defunct nuclear submarines has been revealed. As many as five of the sites under consideration for storing up to 500 cubic metres of toxic scrap from 27 submarines are in Scotland. They are the two naval nuclear bases on the Clyde at Coulport and Faslane, the Rosyth dockyard in Fife, the Dounreay nuclear plant in Caithness and possibly the Hunterston nuclear power station in North Ayrshire. But confidential documents leaked from the government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority(NDA) disclose official fears that such stores are like to be regarded as “contentious” because of the “sensitivity of military waste being ‘dumped’ on other communities”.
Sunday Herald 1st November 2009 more >>
robedwards.com 1st November 2009 more >>
Planning
Radical changes to the planning system to help build wind farms, nuclear power stations and new roads are likely to cause a storm of protest across Britain. From March, all planning applications for “major national infrastructure” – including larger wind farms, trunk roads, power stations, ports, airport expansion and overhead pylon lines – will be decided not by local councillors, or ministers, but by a new unelected “superquango”, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC). The organisation will be the sole judge, and one with huge powers. It can grant not just planning permission but also the power to compulsorily seize private property, close roads and footpaths and extinguish Green Belt protection. Indeed, if a developer is eyeing up your land for some new scheme, the IPC can grant that developer access to it – even allow him to dig “exploratory” holes in it – before planning permission has even been applied for, let alone given. Suffolk MP and former environment secretary, John Gummer, whose constituency includes Sizewell C, says “The inquiry into the previous power station, Sizewell B, did take a long time but by the end my constituents were in favour because they felt their views had been heard,” says Mr Gummer. “But if people feel they’re not being listened to, they will not put up with it. There will be so much anger that it will actually take longer, politicians will have to intervene anyway or Swampy will rule.”
Sunday Telegraph 1st Nov 2009 more >>
Uranium
Anti-nuclear campaigners in Cumbria have sent a message of support to the Finns over their battle against uranium mining in their country. Radiation Free Lakeland say the push for nuclear is driving a devastating uranium mining offensive which is affecting indigenous people worldwide.
Get Noticed Online 30th Oct 2009 more >>
CTBT
A British nuclear expert who fell from the 17th floor of a United Nations building did not commit suicide and may have been hurled to his death, says a doctor who carried out a second post-mortem examination.
Mail on Sunday 1st Nov 2009 more >>
Submarines
CAMPAIGNERS protesting against possible plans to decommission nuclear submarines in Devonport dockyard descended on the city for an organised protest today, Saturday. Around 300 people turned out for the call to arms from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) who believe that Plymouth will be turned into a dumping ground for nuclear subs. If given the go ahead, the controversial Submarine Dismantling Project (SDP) could see 27 de-fuelled nuclear subs stored and cut up at Devonport Naval base over the next 60 years.
Plymouth Herald 31st Oct 2009 more >>
Energy Supplies
The UK could run out of gas within six hours this winter, the Observer has learned. The revelation has sparked a row between the Conservatives and Labour over who is doing more to keep the heating on. Last winter, the UK was left with only three days of reserves when foreign energy companies started exporting gas to supply their European customers after Russia cut supplies that used a pipeline through Ukraine.
Observer 1st Nov 2009 more >>
Offshore Wind
The Round 3 awards are due to be made official by the Crown Estate, the body responsible for licensing offshore wind farms, by the end of December, with the first turbines entering the water by 2014. It is the third and most ambitious round of licensing, that aims to create a revolution in Britain’s offshore wind industry allowing the country to hit its climate change targets. The wind farms will cost billions of pounds to construct, with substantial subsidies from the Government through green taxes.
Telegraph 1st Nov 2009 more >>
Renewables
A leading lawyer and public-sector expert has called for the UK Government to revise its legislation to give Scottish local authorities the power to sell the electricity they generate from renewables back to the National Grid. Paul Minto, head of public services at leading international law firm HBJ Gateley Wareing, has claimed that the current legislation is hindering the Scottish Government from achieving its renewable energy targets for 50% of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2020.
Sunday Herald 1st Nov 2009 more >>
