Trident
ALEX SALMOND has made a major bid to win international backing for his government’s campaign to rid Scotland of nuclear weapons. The first minister has written to 122 countries highlighting the nation’s opposition to the deployment of Trident nuclear warheads on the Clyde, and his determination to try and block the UK government’s decision to replace Trident. Salmond is also asking the countries to support a request for Scotland to be given observer status at future meetings of the parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an international agreement to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.
Sunday Herald 21st Oct 2007 more >>
robedwards.com (with full text of Salmond letter) more >>
Scotland on Sunday 21st Oct 2007 more >>
US Weapons
The United States’ “disturbing” safety standards for its nuclear weapons came under fire last night after 70 US Air Force personnel were disciplined over an “unprecedented” security failure.
Telegraph 21st Oct 2007 more >>
Independent on Sunday 21st Oct 2007 more >>
Sunday Times 21st Oct 2007 more >>
Channel 4 News 20th Oct 2007 more >>
Reuters 20th Oct 2007 more >>
The Sun 20th Oct 2007 more >>
Edinburgh Evening News 20th Oct 2007 more >>
Iran
Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West seemed set to hit new levels yesterday after its chief negotiator resigned in a move that strengthened the hand of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the country’s radical President. Ali Larijani quit as secretary of the supreme national security council after repeated clashes with Ahmadinejad over tactics. His resignation came as a revolutionary guard commander said it will fire back thousands of rockets on ‘enemy’ bases if attacked.
Observer 21st Oct 2007 more >>
The West could face a harder line with Iran over its atomic ambitions following the resignation of the country’s chief nuclear negotiator.
Daily Mail 21st Oct 2007 more >>
View London 20th Oct 2007 more >>
The Sun 20th Oct 2007 more >>
Channel 4 News 20th Oct 2007 more >>
Guardian website 20th Oct 2007 more >>
BNFL Privatisation
AN Italian and a British company are the last in the running to buy Project Services, BNFL’s specialist nuclear-decommission-ing division. Italy’s Finmeccanica and Britain’s VT Group will this week submit their final bids. BNFL, a state-owned nuclear agency, is being broken up. Over the past 18 months it has sold Westinghouse, the power-station builder, and Reactor Sites Management, which operates nuclear plants in Britain. Project Services employs more than 730 scientists and technicians, and specialises in decommissioning nuclear plants and other hazardous sites. It has contracts at Sellafield and other UK civil nuclear-reactor sites, and works for the Ministry of Defence.
Sunday Times 21st Oct 2007 more >>
NDA
More than 200 jobs look set to be axed at Gloucestershire’s former nuclear power station. No official confirmation of the job losses at Berkeley Nuclear Licensed Site, near Dursley, has been received. But it is believed site manager Jim Crocker, announced to staff that the current staffing level of 276 would be reduced to just 80 by next summer. The 204 jobs are thought to be for the chop because of a reduction in Government funding to the National Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
Western Daily Press 20th Oct 2007 more >>
It is the most toxic job in Britain: chairmanship of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the government agency in charge of cleaning up Britain’s nuclear waste. Nearly seven months after former chairman Sir Anthony Cleaver announced his retirement, the Government has still not found a successor. Cleaver left the agency in the summer and the chairman’s role is held on an interim basis by Nick Baldwin. In what industry sources believe is a clear attempt to make the job more attractive to potential candidates, the Government is understood to have increased the basic salary for the position from an initial £80,000 to up to £200,000. At that level, the lucky person who is chosen will be paid more than almost all permanent secretaries in Whitehall and more than the Prime Minister, who was paid £187,000 last year. The increase in salary comes after Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, announced a further boost to the NDA’s budget in his comprehensive spending review a few weeks ago, earmarking an additional £338m for the period 2010/2011.
Sunday Telegraph 21st Oct 2007 more >>
Scotland
POLLUTION FROM Scotland’s major coal and gas-fired power stations shot up last year, threatening to wreck the Scottish government’s plans to combat climate change. The increases are blamed partly on higher gas prices, which made it more economic to burn coal, a situation Sepa says is likely to persist “for the next couple of years”. Prolonged safety shutdowns of the nuclear reactors at Hunterston and Torness also boosted demand for electricity from alternative sources.
Sunday Herald 21st Oct 2007 more >>
