Trident
Building work, costing £1bn, at a weapons research base and the creation of hundreds of new jobs have sparked claims of new nuclear developments.
BBC 23rd Oct 2006
Israel
EHUD Olmert, Israel’s prime minister, yesterday put a controversial ultra-nationalist in charge of handling Israeli policy towards Iran’s nuclear programme as part of a deal to broaden his troubled coalition.
Scotsman 24th Oct 2006
Times 24th Oct 2006
Iran
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has called for a baby boom to almost double the country’s population to 120 million and enable it to threaten the west, as he boasted that the country’s nuclear capacity had increased “tenfold”.
Guardian 24th Oct 2006
Nuclear research
The Government is preparing to unveil plans for the creation of a national nuclear laboratory which it hopes will ensure key skills in the nuclear sector are preserved in the UK. An announcement in the House of Commons could come as soon as today. The Department of Trade and Industry is expected to say the basis for the new laboratory will be Nexia Solutions, the rump of British Nuclear Fuels which is not up for sale to the private sector.
Telegraph 24th Oct 2006
British Energy
All four reactors at British Energy’s Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B nuclear power plants lay dormant on Monday because of possible boiler problems, a spokesman for the company said, while some of its nuclear power plants were restarted over the weekend.
Reuters 23rd Oct 2006
Proliferation
The US administration’s double standards in dealing with the intensifying nuclear crisis in North Korea further strengthens the argument that President George W Bush’s colonial designs are either exasperated by the vulnerability of his foes or deterred by their lethal preparedness. Considering the US-North Korea protracted standoff, one can only imagine how foolishly disposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein must now feel that he didn’t pursue a more determined programme of weapons of mass destruction.
Middle East Online 23rd Oct 2006
Nuclear Waste
Football managers excepted, we Brits don’t do bungs: it offends our sense of fair play. Given that we don’t like nuclear waste much either, you’d think the government would avoid combining the two. That, however, may not be possible. Over the past 50 years, UK nuclear power stations have amassed 478,000 cubic metres of toxic gunk that has to be safely disposed of in a deep hole somewhere. Given that no one in his right mind is going to actively volunteer to take it, the Government’s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CORWM) has looked abroad and come up with a solution worthy of any football agent: offer the host community a bribe.
First Post 23rd Oct 2006
Energy Strategies
Amory Lovins Interview
Toronto Star 22nd October 2006
The government is facing legal action from the European Commission for failing to implement legislation to save energy and combat global warming. If the rules for insulating homes and offices aren’t brought up to scratch, ministers could end up being fined in court for breaking the law.
RobEdwards.com 22nd Oct 2006
New nukes
More than 3,000 reactors would need to be built worldwide before the nuclear industry could make significant reductions in greenhouse gases, an academic claims. Professor Rodney Ewing, of Michigan University, said that building the reactors would take too long to curb climate change. [One of the editors of “Uncertainty Underground” – see reviews]
Times 24th October 2006
