Nuclear waste
Three times governments have tried to find a way to dispose of Britain’s nuclear waste – in 1981, 1987 and 1997 – and three times they have failed. Now they are trying again. In a White Paper published in June, ministers have asked local communities to volunteer to host a repository for radioactive waste accumulated from 55 years of nuclear power and weapons. Despite offering multi-million pound incentives, they are not expecting to be knocked down in the rush.
The House Magazine, 14th July 2008 (not on web)
robedwards.com 14th July 2008 more >>
New Nukes
Will nuclear power stop us freezing in the dark? The last Prime Minister who attempted to do what Gordon Brown is now trying to do with nuclear power was Margaret Thatcher. Shortly after she took office in 1979, she announced a programme of ten new nuclear reactors. They were to be built to avoid the risk of people in Britain freezing in the dark, recalled Tom Burke, a former advisor to three UK environment ministers. “Fifteen years later, one reactor had been built at two times its original cost,” he said. “She had been defeated by the economics of nuclear power. No-one froze in the dark.”
The House Magazine, 14th July 2008 (not on web)
robedwards.com 14th July 2008 more >>
Germany
Angela Merkel, German chancellor, yesterday raised doubts about the ability of her fractious grand coalition government to soldier on until general elections next year when she delivered an unusually outspoken attack on her centre-left Social Democrat partners. Criticising her Social Democratic predecessor’s decision to phase out nuclear energy, which her government has stuck to, she said: “We need to increase the lives of our nuclear power plants because they are safe and because we need them.”
FT 19th July 2008 more >>
Iran
Tehran on Saturday ruled out freezing its enrichment program, casting doubt over the sense of key nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers less than an hour after they began.
AP 19th July 2008 more >>
Telegraph 20th July 2008 more >>
A day of talks in Geneva ends with major powers giving Iran two weeks to answer calls to rein in its nuclear programme or face tougher sanctions.
Reuters 19th July 2008 more >>
Mail on Sunday 20th July 2008 more >>
Observer 20th July 2008 more >>
Times 20th July 2008 more >>
BBC 19th July 2008 more >>
Gas
THE Government must raise its commitment to green power as gas prices look set to soar, according to the renewable energy industry’s chief representative body. Andrew Cooper, head of on-site renewables at the Renewable Energy Association, said more people would turn to renewable energy as an independent report warned that gas prices could rise by 70%. But he said the Government needed to help prepare the
Scotland on Sunday 20th July 2008 more >>
Coal
Robert Redford has waded into the controversy over plans to build the UK’s first new coal-fired power station in three decades. The actor sent a letter of support last week to the World Development Movement (WDM), one of the campaign groups planning a mass demonstration at E.ON’s 2,000MW power plant near Kingsnorth, Kent, next month.
Sunday Times 20th July 2008 more >>
