New Nukes
The coalition Government claims our taxes will not subsidise nuclear power. But a new law currently before Parliament opens the way for public bailouts if the cost of dealing with nuclear waste spirals. Instead of risking a nuclear bailout, the Government should set this money aside for nationwide energy saving and investment in renewable power.
FoE 18th April 2011 more >>
When the UK began privatizing utilities its nuclear reactors were so unprofitable they could not be sold. Eventually in 1996, the government gave them away. But the company that took them over, British Energy, had to be bailed out in 2004 to the tune of 3.4 billion pounds. It was around the turn of the millennium that people like British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico began championing the second coming of the atom. Yes, they agreed, the critiques of the old equipment were correct. But the new third and fourth generation reactors would be safe, cheap and quick to build. Another danger with pursuing the myth of a nuclear renaissance is the overall timing of climate change. Science tells us that aggressive emissions reductions need to start immediately. Emissions need to peak by 2015 and then decline precipitously if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change. A massive industrial-scale build out of fourth generation nukes the ones that are supposed to be safe, cheap and easy to build would arrive too late to stave off climate change’s tipping points. An authoritative study by the investment bank Lazard Ltd. found that wind beat nuclear and that nuclear essentially tied with solar. So the race is tight. The Worldwatch Institute reports that between 2004 and 2009, electricity from wind (not capacity but actual power output) grew by 27 percent while solar grew by 54 percent. Over the same time, nuclear power output actually declined by half a percent.
The Nation 18th April 2011 more >>
Before Fukushima, more than 300 nuclear reactors were planned or proposed worldwide, the vast majority of them in fast-growing developing economies. While parts of the developed world might now freeze or even reduce their reliance on nuclear, emerging markets such as China, India, the Middle East and Eastern Europe will continue their nuclear drive. But with fewer plants to bid on, the competition for new projects is likely to grow even fiercer — and more complicated. Will concern about safety benefit Western reactor builders, or will cheaper suppliers in Russia and South Korea hold their own? And what if the crisis at Fukushima drags on as appears likely? Could it still trigger the start of another ice age for nuclear power, like Chernobyl did in 1986? Or will it be a bump, a temporary dip in an upward growth curve?
Reuters 18th April 2011 more >>
Protest
Campaigners from the national Stop Nuclear Power Network are planning a packed programme of activities at Sizewell over the Easter weekend (22-25 April). The annual beach camp beside the nuclear power station in Suffolk, England, now into its third year, will have added significance this year due to the unfolding disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan, and because it marks 25 years since the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe in the Ukraine. The weekend will include a national rally at the entrance to the power station and a public meeting in nearby Leiston, both on Saturday, workshops, discussions and guided tours on the beach on Sunday, and Chernobyl commemorations on Monday.
Stop Nuclear Power Network 18th April 2011 more >>
Chernobyl
An international conference and summit are due to convene in Ukraine to raise money for the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The goal of the conference in Kiev is to raise $1bn (£600m) to finance a new structure to contain the radiation. Representatives from more than 40 countries and international organisations are due to attend. It also coincides with the 25th anniversary of the accident later this month.
BBC 19th April 2011 more >>
Floating Reactors
A tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant might give some countries pause over the risks of exposing reactors to the power of the oceans. Not Russia. Moscow is pushing ahead with the world’s first offshore atomic plant, despite increased safety fears and costs amid the fallout over Japan’s nuclear emergency.
Reuters 18th April 2011 more >>
Hinkley
AROUND 70 people turned out to protest plans for a new overhead power line along a popular nature trail in Yatton. The Yatton Against Pylons (YAP) action group organised a walk along the Strawberry Trail on Saturday morning. They wanted to highlight the beauty of the nature trail after National Grid revealed plans to create a new 400,000 volt overhead power line from Bridgwater to Avonmouth.
The line would bring electricity from the proposed new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point.
This is Bristol 18th April 2011 more >>
Japan
Japan will restrict senior industry regulators from taking jobs at power companies, in response to criticism that the practice compromised safety and contributed to the country’s worst ever nuclear accident. Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary, said the government would ask senior bureaucrats at the ministry of economy, trade and industry, which regulates the electricity sector, to temporarily refrain from taking posts at power companies “in order not to raise the public’s suspicions”
FT 18th April 2011 more >>
The radiation level inside the troubled Nos. 1 and 3 reactor buildings at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was up to about 57 millisieverts per hour as of Sunday, data obtained by remote-controlled robots showed Monday. A spokesman for the government’s nuclear regulatory body acknowledged that the level made it ‘‘tough’’ for workers to engage in restoring the reactors’ key cooling functions for prolonged periods, and that it was seeking ways to mitigate radiation exposure. Exposure to 250 millisieverts is the permissible level for workers dealing with the ongoing crisis, the worst Japan has seen. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that usually the radiation level inside the reactor building is 0.01 millisievert per hour under normal conditions.
Kyodo News 18th April 2011 more >>
Robots deployed inside two reactors at the Japanese nuclear plant overrun by last month’s devastating tsunami have detected radiation levels too high for workers to enter, posing immediate challenges for a new plan to bring the ravaged complex under control by year’s end.
New York Times 18th April 2011 more >>
Times 18th April 2011 more >>
PackBots originally designed to help U.S. troops are sent to Japan to survey damage to Fukushima nuclear plants. They discovered high radiation levels during the first entry into the plant.
eWeek 18th April 2011 more >>
Radioactive emissions from Fukushima have spread across the entire northern hemisphere. A monitoring network designed to detect signs of nuclear explosions picked up these traces from the stricken power plant.
CTBTO 13th April 2011 more >>
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and officials from the Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco) were heckled in the country’s parliament today over their response to the nuclear crisis which has gripped the country since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. An MP for the opposition Liberal Democratic Party shouted at Mr Kan: “You should be bowing your head in apology. You clearly have no leadership at all.” But Mr Kan insisted he was “sincerely apologising for what had happened.”
Morning Star 18th April 2011 more >>
Japan’s TEPCO faces obstacles in its plan to shut down the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors in less than a year.TEPCO has been struggling to stabilise the earthquake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant which has been leaking radiation.Delays could hold back the operation and even the Japanese government has tried to lower expectations. The time frame could be achieved if “everything goes smoothly”, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. Difficulties, including the dumping of contaminated water into the ocean, have sparked an outcry in South Korea and expressions of concern from China.
Engineering & Technology 18th April 2011 more >>
Today, however, the Spa Resort Hawaiians is closed for business, and in the shadow of the nuclear emergency at Daiichi, it is unclear whether it can ever attract hordes of tourists again. Builders are busy working on a new six-storey hotel, but no one knows if it will ever hold any guests.
Telegraph 18th April 2011 more >>
Implications
Laurent Stricker, chairman of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), says that the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant should mark a turning point for an industry that many experts believe has become complacent about the safety of its reactors.
Nature 18th April 2011 more >>
Martin Forwood – said: “We have been highly critical of the endless stream of pro-nuclear experts daily trotted out in front of the UK’s TV news cameras who, with their vested interests in promoting/saving the industry, have been made to look somewhat stupid in their repeated projections that the problems at Fukusima would soon be sorted. “How wrong they have been – from day one, despite all the evidence available.” It added: “As we understand it, the full ramifications of the reactors’ partial meltdowns, the illegal but necessary discharge of radioactive water into the Pacific, the fire-risk at the site’s spent fuel storage ponds and the radioactive contamination of the Prefecture and areas further afield – now a global plume – are far from being resolved.” Mr Forwood said CORE has had numerous enquiries from Japanese TV and newspaper journalists and had met up with them for interviews.
North West Evening Mail 18th April 2011 more >>
US
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission exists to police, not promote, the domestic nuclear industry–but diplomatic cables show that it is sometimes used as a sales tool to help push American technology to foreign governments. The cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and provided to Reuters by a third party, shed light on the way in which U.S. embassies have pulled in the NRC when lobbying for the purchase of equipment made by Westinghouse and other domestic manufacturers. While the use of diplomats to further American commercial interests is nothing new, it is far less common for regulators to be acting in even the appearance of a commercial capacity, raising concerns about a potential conflict of interest.
Cnet News 18th April 2011 more >>
Just as the BP oil spill one year ago heaped scrutiny on the United State’s Minerals Management Service, harshly criticized for lax drilling oversight and cozy ties with the oil industry, the nuclear crisis in Japan is shining a light on that nation’s safety practices.
Naked Capitalism 18th April 2011 more >>
Two reactors shut down automatically as a tornado cut off power to the plant, Dominion Virginia Power said. The tornadoes that hit the U.S. at the weekend from Oklahoma, have killed at least 45 people and caused widespread damage, according to reports.
IB Times 18th April 2011 more >>
Guardian 18th April 2011 more >>
World Nuclear News 18th April 2011 more >>
The U.S. nuclear safety regulator said on Monday it was monitoring a Virginia nuclear power plant in southeastern Virginia operated by Dominion Resources after a tornado cut its electrical power.
Reuters 18th April 2011 more >>
India
One person has died after police in western India clashed with locals protesting against the planned construction of a nuclear power plant. Police said they were forced to open fire after protesters attacked a police station close to the proposed site in Jaitapur, in the state of Maharashtra.
BBC 19th April 2011 more >>
The governments of India and Kazakhstan have signed an agreement on cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries in 2009.
World Nuclear News 18th April 2011 more >>
Long-running opposition to the proposed plant at Jaitapur has hardened amid the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan, with village posters depicting scenes of last month’s devastation at the Fukushima plant and warning of what could be in store for this region in the Western Ghats north of Goa.
Reuters 18th April 2011 more >>
China
The skeleton of what will soon be one of the world’s biggest nuclear plants is slowly taking shape along China’s southeastern coast right on the doorstep of Hong Kong’s bustling metropolis. Three other facilities nearby are up and running or under construction. Like Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi plant they lie within a few hundred miles of the type of fault known to unleash the largest tsunami-spawning earthquakes. Called subduction zones, these happen when one tectonic plate is lodged beneath another. And because the so-called Manila Trench hasn’t been the source of a huge quake in at least 440 years, some experts say tremendous stresses are building, increasing the chances of a major rupture. Should that happen, the four plants in southern China, and a fifth perched on Taiwan’s southern tip, could be in the path of a towering wave like the one that struck Fukushima.
AP 18th April 2011 more >>
Submarines
The reactors that power all the nuclear submarines on the Clyde are twice as likely to suffer catastrophic accidents as are US submarine reactors and civil nuclear power stations, according to a secret Ministry of Defence (MoD) report. The pressurised water reactors, known as PWR2, are vulnerable to Fukushima-style loss of coolant accidents if they develop cracks larger than 15 millimetres. They also rely on manual cooling in an emergency, rather than a system that automatically injects coolant into the reactor. These are the revelations that the MoD meant to censor from a report by its senior nuclear safety regulator, Commodore Andrew McFarlane. The report was released online in a form that enabled text that had been blacked out to be seen, simply by cutting and pasting it into another document.
Caledonian Mercury 18th April 2011 more >>
Secret Document available.
RobEdwards.com 18th April 2011 more >>
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has today published in full an internal Ministry of Defence report into submarine safety – challenging the Ministry’s attempts to conceal its contents after the document had been accidentally placed in the public domain.
News on news 18th April 2011 more >>
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has strenuously denied that there have been any leaks from the seven decommissioned submarines based at Rosyth and says that no threat is posed to the area from intermediate level radioactive waste (ILW).
Dundee Courier 18th April 2011 more >>
Trident
Scottish Catholic Cardinal Keith O’Brien has urged the British Government to give up its “shameful” nuclear weapons programme.“Do the right thing and give it up,” Cardinal O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh declared on Saturday 16 April2011. He was speaking at a demonstration outside the Royal Navy’s nuclear base in Faslane.
Ekklesia 19th April 2011 more >>
Renewables
The crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is expected to foster the photovoltaic (PV) industry in Germany and Italy, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.
EE Times 18th April 2011 more >>
