Low Level Waste
Five bags of radioactive waste from the Sellafield nuclear processing facility were dumped in a landfill site after a faulty scanner wrongly passed them as safe. Environment Agency inspectors have found one of the bags but is still searching for the other four at the Lillyhall landfill site near Workington, Cumbria. The bags contained waste collected in restricted areas of Sellafield where disposal of all items, including protective clothing, is strictly controlled because of the risk of radioactive contamination. The waste should have been sent for storage in concrete vaults at the Low Level Waste Repository near Drigg in Cumbria. Sellafield Ltd, which operates on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, has suspended the disposal of all bagged waste while the agency investigates.
Times 26th Apr 2010 more >>
General Election
Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg have gone on the attack today in an effort to win the environmental vote for what campaigners say will be the last parliament that can save the world from dangerous levels of climate change. Both launched green manifestos, with Labour’s saying the Liberal Democrat ban on new nuclear power would “endanger our energy security and climate change goals”, while the Lib Dems condemned “a party that has had 13 years to deliver on the environment and failed”. The Lib Dems’ key pledge was to set a target for a zero-carbon Britain. “We will set and stick to ambitious targets for a zero-carbon future,” said Clegg. In the first year of a new government, the Lib Dems pledge to redirect 3.1bn from other spending programmes to stimulate the creation of 100,000 jobs in ren ewable energy and home insulation initiatives.
Guardian 26th Apr 2010 more >>
Joint Letter: Whichever party forms the next government will have an unprecedented opportunity – and responsibility – to tackle climate change. Success would mean thousands of new green jobs, a rapid shift to clean and secure energy supplies for the UK and protection of vulnerable people in poor countries from the impacts of climate change.
Guardian 26th Apr 2010 more >>
Letter from David Lowry: David Miliband not only backs the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system of mass destruction (The election interview, 24 April), but along with his brother, energy secretary Ed, and Gordon Brown is a zealous supporter of expanding nuclear power. Last Thursday, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was the only one of the three party leaders in the television debate to reject new nuclear. Both David Cameron and Gordon Brown strongly endorsed nuclear new build – and hence find themselves aligned with the BNP on backing nuclear. Under a Brown or Cameron administration, not only would the nuclear power stations they support be owned by foreign companies – France’s EDF Energy and Germany’s E.On – but be built using foreign companies, of which the leading contenders are Areva (France) and Westinghouse (US-Japan). Not only ownership and operation will be foreign, but 100% of the uranium for the nuclear fuel will have to be imported – from Russia, Kazakhstan, Australia, Namibia, Canada or the US. Brown criticised Clegg’s opposition to nuclear, challenging him to “get real”. The reality is that the two biggest political parties are aligned on nuclear energy, with opposition to this expensive and heavily subsidised technology coming from the Lib Dems, Green party and the Scottish Nationalists.
Guardian 26th Apr 2010 more >>
Companies
Japanese heavy machinery manufacturer IHI Corp said on Monday it is in talks with Toshiba Corp to set up a joint venture to make key components for nuclear power plants.
Reuters 26th Apr 2010 more >>
Italy
Areva SA and Siemens AG have won a contract to supply a nuclear-reactor control-command system to Enel SpA, French daily Les Echos reported, without citing anyone. The contract is to supply the system for two Russian nuclear reactors and has a value in the dozens of millions of euros.
Bloomberg 26th Apr 2010 more >>
Germany
Thousands of protesters across Germany formed a human chain on Saturday to demonstrate against the government’s policy on nuclear power plants. The environmental group Bund said that over 120,000 protesters formed a 74-mile human chain through Hamburg and along the Elbe river in northern Germany rejecting government plans to extend the operation time of nuclear power plants. The symbolic protest stretched from the Kruemmel nuclear plant near Hamburg to the Brunsbuettel at the mouth of the Elbe.
Morning Star 25th Apr 2010 more >>
Trident
The Green Party have welcomed comments by Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party (SNP) over the importance of nuclear weapons as an election issue. Plaid MP Adam Price said that he hopes to see Green leader Caroline Lucas elected to Westminster to add another anti-nuclear voice. The friendly comments from both sides suggest tentative moves towards greater co-operation, but the situation is complicated by the reality that Greens in Wales and Scotland are standing against Plaid and the SNP.
Ekklesia 25th Apr 2010 more >>
