Russia
Britain’s Prince Michael of Kent has opened a new nuclear storage site in northern Russia funded by the UK. The Murmansk region in the Arctic Circle hosts Russia’s nuclear submarine fleet and nuclear ice breakers.
BBC 29th Sept 2006
DTI Press Release 29th Sept 2006
BNG Privatisation
Unions have branded the Government’s sell-off of its nuclear assets an “absolute shambles” after the latest U-turn in the long-running process. The decision to sell another chunk of the industry immediately – which has yet to be approved by the Government – was made after board meetings last week. Unions are concerned that UK companies such as Amec and Serco will be out-muscled by bigger rivals such as US group Fluor in the bidding. They are also worried that foreign companies will gain an unfair advantage in the £70bn nuclear decommissioning market and in bidding to build any new reactors. The parent company of nuclear clean-up group BNG and the body which owns its nuclear sites, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), approved a plan last week to sell off BNG’s Magnox Electric subsidiary, which is worth at least £200m.
Independent on Sunday 1st October 2006
Iran
George W Bush has huffed and puffed about using force to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Now he may have to learn to live with them. A meeting of senior US intelligence analysts last week was unanimous in concluding that little can be done to stop Iran under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, its volatile president, from acquiring the technology to develop the bomb.
Sunday Times 1st October 2006
Sunday Times 1st October 2006
New nukes
Plans for up to six new nuclear plants will be unveiled in the spring, according to Government sources.
Mail on Sunday 1st Oct 2006
