Moorside
This map (supported by distance from Chernobyl to the UK, since Chernobyl impacted the UK) helps people to think about the broader impacts of an accident at the Sellafield site, at proposed new nuclear reactors near Sellafield (Moorside), and really of any nuclear reactor in Europe. The best way to stop Moorside is to vote for antinuclear candidates on May 7th. The impacts were especially unfair since nuclear-free countries such as Norway, Denmark, and Austria were badly hit by Windscale and/or Chernobyl. Parts of nuclear free Ireland were also hit by Windscale, as well as Chernobyl.
Mining Awareness 25th April 2015 read more »
Sellafield
Nuclear may not be a renewable source of energy but workers at Britain’s largest nuclear reprocessing and decommissioning site are leading the way when it comes to sustainable transport. More than 700 of employees at Sellafield, in Cumbria, have taken advantage of the company’s Cycle to Work scheme.
Cycling Weekly 25th April 2015 read more »
Uranium
World Uranium Symposium speakers delved deeply into the links between nuclear power, nuclear weapons, climate change and renewable energy. While the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is the most important global agreement limiting the spread of nuclear weapons, it also promotes so-called “peaceful” nuclear technologies in countries that choose not to develop nuclear weapons. This approach dates back to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program. While nuclear power remains a significant part of the global energy mix, Mycle Schneider, lead author of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report, noted that escalating costs of building and running reactors have led to the virtual bankruptcy of France’s main state-owned nuclear power company, Areva. It now has a debt load of over $30 billion, and Standard and Poor cut its bond rating to junk status in 2014. Few reactors have been built in recent years, and an aging fleet means reduced safety and reliability, and uncertain (but potentially large) future decommissioning and waste management costs.
Rabble 20th April 2015 read more »
Japan
Embattled Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been slammed by an independent auditing watchdog for skimping on its computer network, which still uses the Windows XP operating system. Facing multi-billion dollar cleanup and compensation bills from the March 2011 nuclear crisis, Tepco figured it could save a few yen by delaying an upgrade. But the independent watchdog — which usually on the lookout for wasteful spending — warned the nation’s biggest electric utility about its frugality, saying it must replace the outdated computer system because of security concerns.
Japan Times 21st April 2015 read more »
Trident
A new campaign has been launched to scrap the planned renewal of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system in the hope of forcing a Labour-led government to drop its support for the move.
Independent 24th April 2015 read more »
Energy Storage
Elon Musk is a man who likes to make waves. Whether it’s privatizing space exploration or shaking up commuting with the Hyperloop high speed transport system, the billionaire technocrat aims big. Now his electric car company, Tesla, is planning to change the way people power their homes. In a tweet last month, Musk announced that Tesla would be unveiling a new product on 30 April. It is now widely thought to be a large battery capable of powering a house and an even larger “utility” sized power unit. Tesla isn’t expected to spill the beans about its battery system until Thursday, but thanks to investment analyst Trip Chowdhry, we have some details ahead of the big announcement. Built to work in concert with residential solar power setups, the Tesla battery system is basically an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that is large enough to keep refrigerators, routers, lights and other devices powered up when storms and other unforeseen incidents take grid power out of commission.
Guardian 25th April 2015 read more »
