New nukes
The promise of a U.S. nuclear renaissance will start with thousands of pages in each regulatory application, and differences of opinion about the intricate process have already surfaced before the first has been filed. The NRC also has issued or revised hundreds of guidance documents, and the utility industry has raised substantial concerns in areas including radiological monitoring of wastewater and vibration assessments for reactors during startup, said Adrian Heymer, senior director of new plant deployment at the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington-based trade group.
Interactive Investor 18th Sept 2007 more >>
The current turmoil in credit markets is unlikely to derail plans by power companies to begin ordering the first new nuclear plants since cost overruns and public opposition virtually killed the industry three decades ago. Nearly 30 years after Three Mile Island, Entergy Corp., Dominion Resources Inc., Exelon Corp. and the Tennessee Valley Authority are expected to be among the first to seek regulatory approval to build new plants. Constellation Energy Group has already filed a partial application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which expects up to seven requests this year and 28 by 2009. The first plants could be online by 2014 or 2015.
Interactive Investor 18th Sept 2007 more >>
A group of campaigners took part in a protest against nuclear energy. The protesters wore gags and handed out leaflets during the demonstration at a Government nuclear power consultation event at the Hilton Hotel, in Nottingham, on September 12.
Leicester Mercury 18th Sept 2007 more >>
The green groups may have withdrawn from the government consultation on nuclear power over its predetermined positive outcome, but their senior figures appear just as unwilling to debate the issue. One campaigner tells us their gentle exploration of whether future atomic energy could be tolerated was shouted down as sedition at an internal meeting. Will nobody talk about this in a grown-up way? A plague on both your houses.
Guardian 19th Sept 2007 more >>
Letter from Ian Fells & James Lovelock: The party conference season is approaching and already two parties are boasting of a zero-carbon Britain with no civil nuclear power stations and 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2050. This is a fantasy.
Times 14th Sept 2007 more >>
Climate
A rise of two degrees centigrade in global temperatures – the point considered to be the threshold for catastrophic climate change which will expose millions to drought, hunger and flooding – is now “very unlikely” to be avoided, the world’s leading climate scientists said yesterday. Campaigners said the IPCC findings brought added urgency to the EU’s efforts to slash emissions. John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace, said: “The EU needs to adopt a science-based cap on emissions, ditch plans for dirty new coal plants and nuclear power stations that will give tiny emission cuts at enormous and dangerous cost, end aviation expansion and ban wasteful products like incandescent lightbulbs.”
Independent 19th Sept 2007 more >>
North Korea
China reported Tuesday that it had delivered a shipment of heavy fuel oil to North Korea as part of an international effort to keep negotiations on dismantling North Korean nuclear programs on track, but said no date had been agreed on for the next round of talks.
Guardian website 18th Sept 2007 more >>
Syria
Israel is thought it may have been acting on intelligence that North Korea was shipping nuclear weapons facilities to help Syria build a bomb.
Sky News 18th Sept 2007 more >>
Syria and North Korea denied Tuesday they are cooperating on a Syrian nuclear program, and they accused U.S. officials of spreading the allegations for political reasons – either to back Israel or to block progress on a deal between Washington and Pyongyang.
Guardian website 18th Sept 2007 more >>
Telegraph 19th Sept 2007 more >>
FT 19th Sept 2007 more >>
Channel 4 News 18th Sept 2007 more >>
The strongest theory suggests a North Korean nuclear connection – a linkage which the North Korean authorities have strenuously denied. The story put about by largely unnamed US sources and backed up by the former US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, is that North Korea – under international pressure to scale down its own nuclear weapons programme – has recently transferred equipment or technology to Syria.
BBC 18th Sept 2007 more >>
Italy
Back in 2003, Enel was criticised after Italy suffered widespread blackouts as a result of insufficient generating capacity. Enel and other domestic competitors have since been investing in new power plants to meet increased demands. Most of this has been gas-fired. New nuclear capacity is outlawed in Italy, cleaner coal-fired plants have been fiercely opposed on environmental grounds and wind power only seems to be flourishing in Rome political circles.
FT 19th Sept 2007 more >>
Radiation and Health
Strange that the new deputy first minister and Cabinet secretary for health and wellbeing, Nicola Sturgeon, should back legal action against our own information commissioner and support action in the House of Lords to overrule a Scottish court. Greens have sought information about the number of childhood leukaemia cases by census ward since the inception of the freedom of information law. The NHS refused to comply. The NHS is now appealing to the House of Lords, and inexplicably, has the support of Sturgeon.
Sunday Herald 16th Sept 2007 more >>
Obituary: The eminent nuclear physicist and physician Professor John Gofman was best known for his pioneering work on the effects on human health of exposures to low levels of ionising radiation, such as X-rays, neutrons, alpha and other charged particles.
Times 18th Sept 2007 more >>
Politics
The Lib Dem conference also threw out an attempt to change the party’s nonnuclear stance to embrace a limited programme of nuclear power stations. An amendment to support the replacement of existing nuclear power facilities, proposed by the MEP Chris Davies, was defeated by a majority of about 2:1, meaning the Lib Dems remain opposed to nuclear power.
Times 18th Sept 2007 more >>
