NDA
Bonuses at taxpayer-funded quango the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority rose by almost a third last year even though it faces a £4bn budget shortfall by 2015. Staff were awarded £5m, according to an answer to a Freedom of Information request tabled by the Guardian, compared with just under £3.8m the previous year. The NDA, which employs about 300 people, will publish its annual report by the end of the month when it will outline how much it paid to directors for the last financial year. The TaxPayers’ Alliance said that the pay-outs would be hard to justify at a time of public sector spending cuts.
Guardian 17th July 2010 more >>
Companies
Frazer-Nash, the systems and engineering technology consultancy, has been awarded a five-year framework contract and three significant work packages by Horizon Nuclear Power, the company which aims to develop and operate around 6,000 MW of new nuclear power stations in the UK by 2025.
Process and Control Today 16th July 2010 more >>
World Nuclear News 16th July 2010 more >>
Emergency Planning
EMERGENCY services from across South Yorkshire came together for an exercise testing out the response to a potential terrorist attack on the region. Exercise Godiva was organised to test how the various agencies would respond to a disaster which would necessitate mass decontamination of victims following a nuclear fizzle in the area.
Sheffield Star 15th July 2010 more >>
BARNSLEY could not cope with a nuclear disaster, said volunteers who took part in a hospital exercise. Part of Barnsley Hospital was transformed into a mass treatment area to test emergency responses to a potential terrorist attack on Tuesday. But mock victims complained they were left waiting in the cold while the equipment was set up and they did not know where they were supposed to be.
Barnsley Chronicle 16th July 2010 more >>
Nuclear Waste
Some thirty years ago, a group of engineers and technologists at Risley, UK, responsible for the design of radioactive plants, began a feasibility and order of cost study of the storage and underground burial of vitrified HLW. This was published in 1980. A synopsis of the conclusions is set out below together with some more recent observations.
Nuclear Engineering International 16th July 2010 more >>
Hinkley
ENERGY firm EDF proposes a bypass to the west of Cannington to cope with traffic to its proposed Hinkley C nuclear power station, but insists it does not want a bypass around Bridgwater.
This is the West Country 16th July 2010 more >>
Cumbria
Uranium mining is the beginning of the nuclear fool cycle. Cumbrians have been invited to make charcoal drawings of the threatened wildlife and habitats in Finnish Lapland.
“What time is it Mr Wolf? Time to stop uranium mining!”
Indymedia 16th July 2010 more >>
France
France is being forced to import electricity from Britain to cope with a summer heatwave that has helped to put a third of its nuclear power stations out of action. With temperatures across much of France surging above 30C this week, EDF’s reactors are generating the lowest level of electricity in six years, forcing the state-owned utility to turn to Britain for additional capacity. Fourteen of France’s 19 nuclear power stations are located inland and use river water rather than seawater for cooling. When water temperatures rise, EDF is forced to shut down the reactors to prevent their casings from exceeding 50C.
Times 3rd July 2010 more >>
India
Japan, long critical of Indian nuclear policy, is discussing a civilian nuclear energy cooperation agreement that could be signed by the end of the year when the Indian prime minister visits Tokyo. This is a significant move for Japan, and though India-Japan ties have blossomed in recent years on a whole range of issues, the nuclear issue has been a major irritant in the relationship.
Oil Price 15th July 2010 more >>
Iran
An Iranian scientist who claims he was abducted and taken to the United States by the CIA returned to Tehran yesterday to a hero’s welcome and said that he had been pressured into lying about his country’s nuclear programme.
Belfast Telegraph 17th July 2010 more >>
The scientist claiming to have been kidnapped and tortured by the United States was a CIA mole who spied on Iran’s nuclear programme for several years, American officials have said.
Telegraph 17th July 2010 more >>
Test Veterans
Former Armed Forces Minister Kevan Jones told the House of Commons last December that studies had ruled out a link between veterans’ cancer and the nuclear tests.
Derby Telegraph 16th July 2010 more >>
How could ministers possibly fail to understand the need to compensate veterans who, in doing their duty, had been unwittingly exposed to radiation that would ruin their lives. Well, it turns out there has been no such failure – as we discovered this week in the Derby Telegraph. The Government did appreciate the necessity to compensate veterans. Back in 1993 it saw fit to put up £20 million to help settle their claims. The problem is none of the veterans it was prepared to compensate were British. The money was given to the Australian Government, in part to cover the cost of cleaning up test sites where A-bombs had been detonated, but crucially it was also paid to settle Australian claims.
Derby Telegraph 17th July 2010 more >>
Trident
BARROW shipyard managers and workers will be forced to wait five years before they know whether the government will order all four Trident replacement submarines.
Whitehaven News 15th July 2010 more >>
The Financial Times revealed concerns in the military about having to bear the cost of renewing the Trident nuclear deterrent.
FT 17th July 2010 more >>
Fusion
Iter the next fusion machine and the first to be built as an international collaboration, is designed to demonstrate the scientific feasibility of net energy production. It is expected that Iter will produce about 500MW of fusion power – 10 times the input power. Just as importantly, it will show how to integrate the many cutting-edge technologies required for efficient and reliable future power station designs. Put simply, it is the big step needed to prove the viability of fusion as a commercial energy source. Unfortunately, Iter’s construction expenses have risen from about 5bn to over 13bn and the cost overruns have prompted some to question why chasing nuclear fusion is a priority. How sure are we that Iter will work? Could this money be spent more wisely in other areas of energy research, such as renewables or new fission? My answer is that fusion is more than desirable. It may be crucially necessary.
Guardian 16th July 2010 more >>
