Iran
Iran was last night struggling to stave off further international censure as controversy over its nuclear programme continued to mount. In Vienna, Ali Larijani, the Islamic Republic’s top nuclear negotiator, met Mohamed ElBaradei, the United Nations’ chief nuclear inspector, who will pronounce on Tehran’s nuclear activities today.
FT 21st Feb 2007
Iran’s president has rejected international calls for Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment in the face of a UN compliance deadline. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran will only do so if countries seeking the suspension stopped producing nuclear fuel themselves.
Reuters 21st Feb 2007
Reuters 21st Feb 2007
Telegraph 21st Feb 2007
Independent 21st Feb 2007
BBC 20th Feb 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6378289.stm
IRAN last night dismissed threats of force to make it back down over its nuclear programme and Ali Larijani, Tehran’s chief negotiator said only negotiations – without the precondition that it stop enriching uranium – could resolve the dispute.
Scotsman 21st Feb 2007
Iran will today be declared in violation of a UN resolution calling for a halt to its enrichment of uranium, after last-minute negotiations in Vienna failed to reach a compromise in the nuclear stand-off.
Guardian 21st Feb 2007
The White House on Tuesday brushed off Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s offer to close down nuclear fuel production facilities if the United States and its allies do the same.
Daily Mail 21st Feb 2007
Iran’s president says he wants talks on his country’s nuclear programme – but only if there are no pre-conditions. The comments by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comes a day before a UN Security Council deadline for Tehran to stop its uranium enrichment or face sanctions. Iran insists the programme is for civilian use only.
Belfast Telegraph 20th Feb 2007
Iran may be able to enrich uranium on a mass scale in just six months, but it could still be 10 years away from the capacity to build a nuclear bomb, the chief UN monitor said in remarks published Monday.
Middle East Online 20th Feb 2007
Sweden
Following a recent meeting with the National Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate and representatives of the Swedish nuclear power industry, it has been decided to request that the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear power authority, carry out an inspection at the Forsmark nuclear facility.
Energy Business Review 20th Feb 2007
New nukes
Article by Frank Tombs (previous CEO of the SSEB) The past 20 years have seen reliance by UK governments on market forces to provide an energy strategy. The only power stations built during this period have been gas-fired, taking advantage of cheap gas and short construction periods. There has been a government-sponsored programme of wind power, the subsidy for which until 2020 will total £30bn – for energy that is intermittent. As a result, we face some decades of growing reliance on imports of gas, much of it from politically unstable regions of the world. This brings serious risk of interruptions in supply and volatile, probably rising, costs. To build new plant to replace ageing coal and nuclear power stations will take years.
FT 21st Feb 2007
As a result of the High Court ruling, a new and fuller review will now have to be conducted, a move which is expected to take up to three months and which will probably delay a proposed energy White Paper, which had been anticipated to set out a detailed energy strategy including new nuclear plants in late March.
Modern Power Systems 20th Feb 2007
Another opinion piece by Patrick Moore.
Daily Express 21st Feb 2007
Trident
Snow Patrol, Thom Yorke and Razorlight are among more than 50 British artists opposing plans to modernise the country’s nuclear weapons system. The musicians have signed a statement released by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) that urges “peace and justice, not nuclear weapons and war”.
BBC 20th Feb 2007
Sellafield
RADIOACTIVE contamination from Sellafield has been detected on Braystones beach following recently improved monitoring. British Nuclear Group has reported in the Sellafield newsletter that “a week of radiological monitoring was carried out at Braystones beach between Monday January 29 and Friday 2. “The monitoring was in line with an Environment Agency statutory requirement. “As a result of the monitoring we have removed three contaminated items from the beach. These are being fully analysed to determine their source.
Whitehaven News 9th Feb 2007
