Nuclear Research
Manchester is to get a £16m research facility which will make it a centre for the nuclear industry in the UK. The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) plans to invest £4.4m into setting up The Centre for Nuclear Energy Technology (C-NET) at the University of Manchester.
Crain’s Manchester Business 23rd Feb 2010 more >>
World Nuclear News 23rd Feb 2010 more >>
The Business Desk 23rd Feb 2010 more >>
Manchester Evening News 23rd Feb 2010 more >>
Pebble Bed Reactor
Hopes for the development of pebble-bed nuclear reactor technology, long held up as a safer alternative to conventional nuclear power, have suffered a blow. Last week, the South African government confirmed that it will effectively stop funding a long-term project to develop the technology.
Nature 23rd Feb 2010 more >>
Scotland
Letter from Dr Geraint Bevan: Professors Colin McInnes and Ken Ledingham make a strong case for nuclear power, but argue that unspent fuel is perhaps the most contentious issue. Residents of Chernobyl might beg to differ. Nuclear fission brings with it the risk of catastrophic failure and the problem of safe disposal of radioactive waste. Nuclear reactors are relatively safe; they rarely fail. But when they do fail, the results can be devastating. If safety is put above all else, if financial considerations are not allowed to impact on design and operation, engineers can surely minimise the risk of catastrophic failure. Some may believe that we can trust politicians and regulators to ensure that the public good is put before profit and loss accounts. But there is not yet any solution to the problem of toxic waste. Future generations will not thank us for leaving them a legacy of highly radioactive isotopes that will remain dangerous for hundreds of millenniums to come. Proponents of nuclear power must first answer the question: what will be done with the waste?
Herald 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Hinkley
‘HORRIFIED’ parish councillors have decided to join forces with their colleagues in a neighbouring village to fight against National Grid’s future pylon plans. Members plan to oppose the utility company’s proposal to put 400,000-volt power lines near residents’ homes in North Somerset.
Weston and Somerset Mercury 23rd Feb 2010 more >>
Three West Country MPs have joined forces to fight the pylons.
Burnham-on-sea.com 22nd Feb 2010 more >>
Weston & Somerset Mercury 23rd Feb 2010 more >>
Sizewell
COMMUNITIES living near the proposed site for a new nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast face an anxious wait to hear the outcome of a government consultation on the scheme. A public consultation on the ten proposed sites for new nuclear reactors around the UK, which includes a new facility at Sizewell, closes today and the government is expected to use the responses to come up with a finalised strategy later this year.
Beccles and Bungay Journal 22nd Feb 2010 more >>
Four anti-nuclear power protesters have been arrested after a blockade at Sizewell power station today. Demonstrators from the People Power Not Nuclear Power Coalition locked themselves on to the barrier at the main entrance to the site, south of Southwold, at about 6.40am. The demonstration was arranged to coincide with the end of the government’s public consultation about ten potential new sites for nuclear power, which includes the possibility of a new reactor at Sizewell.
Lowestoft Journal 22nd Feb 2010 more >>
East Anglian Daily Press 22nd Feb 2010 more >>
Wylfa
With Wylfa approaching its official decommissioning date that cheap electricity deal came to an end on 30th September, 2009, and the closure of Anglesey Aluminium came very shortly afterwards. Anglesey Aluminium’s own management said at the time that it had “worked intensively with the UK Government and others” to find an alternative power supply, “but had been unable to do so”.
The Druid 23rd Feb 2010 more >>
Uranium
It doesn’t take much effort to realize the French care much less about the human rights of Niger’s citizens than they do about the yield of Niger’s uranium deposits.
Examiner 20th Feb 2010 more >>
The world is running out of uranium and nobody seems to have noticed, contends the Swiss physicist Dr Michael Dittmar, a researcher at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. “Without access to the military stocks, the civilian western uranium stocks will be exhausted by 2013,” he predicts. “It’s not clear how the shortfall can be made up, since nobody seems to know where the mining industry can look for more. That means countries that rely on uranium imports, such as Japan and many western countries, will face uranium shortages.” Access to high-quality uranium deposits could be constrained. Last Thursday’s coup in Niger, for instance, clouds the plans of the French nuclear group Areva to develop one of the world’s largest uranium mines there.
The National 20th Feb 2010 more >>
US
Barack Obama’s new dream of a nuclear renaissance faces a major reality check tomorrow when the state of Vermont is expected to shut down an ageing nuclear reactor with a history of leaks. It would be the first time a state has moved to shut down such a reactor, and follows Obama’s announcement last week of $8.3bn (£5.4bn) in loan guarantees for the construction of two new reactors in Georgia. White House officials said the money would help spur a burst of new construction – the first since the Three Mile Island meltdown. The Vermont Yankee, one of America’s oldest reactors, has had several leaks of radioactive tritium dating back to 2005, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said yesterday.
Guardian 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Spain
Asc , a town of 1,600 people that is already the site of two nuclear power plants, is now hoping to be selected as the location of a repository designed to hold 60 years’ worth of waste produced in Spain’s power plants, until at least 2075. While town leaders have already backed the proposal, it has divided the region and raised questions about whether the debate is really about safety or economics.
New York Times 23rd Feb 2010 more >>
France
GDF Suez SA is seeking to build a nuclear reactor in the Rhone valley in France. The third-generation reactor would be smaller than the EPR version that rival Electricite de France is building in Flamanville, and is slated to be in service in 2020. The company is seeking a benchmark in France to be able to push for export sales of the reactor.
Bloomberg 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Iran
Iran has said it is ready to start uranium fuel-swaps to assuage concerns in the West about its nuclear enrichment activities, but insisted they take place instantaneously and on its own territory, making rejection of the plan by Washington and its allies a near certainty.
Independent 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
Five Nato states are to call for the removal of all remaining US nuclear weapons on European soil, a move that could spur global disarmament. One might have thought it would have been welcomed by a man who was not only a former secretary general of Nato, but is also a leading member of a parliamentary group for multilateral disarmament and non- proliferation. Alas no. George Robertson took the opposite view. Co-authoring a paper for the Centre for European Reform, he accused one of the states, Germany, of wishing to remain under the nuclear umbrella, while exporting to others the obligation of maintaining it; he warned of the consequences for decoupling the security of Europe from that of the US; and he said that Turkey could feel compelled to develop its own weapons.
Guardian 24th Feb 2010 more >>
It’s decision time for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which is confronted by a dilemma over the future of short-range US nuclear weapons in Europe. Until now, the alliance has chosen to ignore calls for change and has eschewed public debate. Nato clings to the outmoded notion that the 200 or so gravity bombs in five European countries are a necessary deterrent (against Russia, which has an estimated 4,000 short-range nuclear weapons). The status quo has prevailed with the US saying it is waiting for an allied request to remove the B61 bombs from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Turkey. But this has never happened, partly because of resistance from some former Soviet bloc states within Nato. They have been virulently opposed to the removal of the weapons which they perceive as a guarantee of a US presence in Europe against Russian aggression. Army chiefs today questioned the usefulness of the Trident nuclear deterrent as they stepped up their battle with the navy and RAF over resources ahead of the impending strategic defence review. Senior army sources warned that many British military capabilities lacked relevance and were structured and equipped for the 20th-century cold war. They said that of all weapons at the disposal of the armed forces, the Trident missile system was least likely to be used.
Guardian 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Guardian 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Daily Mail 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Telegraph 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Coal
A significant number of Tory MPs are expected to abstain today on a vote to cut emissions from coal-fired power stations like Kingsnorth, threatening to tarnish the party’s carefully cultivated green image. The Guardian has learned that Conservative party officials have not imposed a three-line whip ordering MPs to vote for an amendment to the government’s energy bill to avoid a confrontation with those sceptical about David Cameron’s green agenda. It is believed there could be enough rebel Labour MPs prepared to vote against the government to defeat its plans, but only if Tory backbenchers do not abstain. Labour MP Alan Simpson and senior Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have tabled the amendment. It would require energy companies to meet an “emissions performance standard”. This would restrict greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas plants, for example by forcing them to be more efficient or reducing how many hours they could operate. But companies like E.ON and unions have warned MPs that if such restrictions are introduced, plans to build new plants in Britain could be scrapped.
Guardian 24th Feb 2010 more >>
It may be Europe’s biggest coal-fired power station, but Drax’s management is already mapping out a future without coal. Drax, which has pioneered the co-firing of biomass straw or wood with coal as a way of reducing its carbon emissions, has said that it can envisage a future in which it runs entirely on biomass. The amount of biomass that the generator can burn alongside coal is capped at 12.5 per cent, but Drax is lobbying to lift that cap. It said that there was no reason why all six of its original combustion units could not be converted to burn biomass alone.
Times 24th Feb 2010 more >>
