Hinkley
Communities living near the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset are to get £20m. Energy company EDF has increased the amount in its community fund from £1m following criticism from local authorities. But the chief executive of Sedgemoor District Council says the money is not enough.
BBC 25th Feb 2011 more >>
This is the West Country 24th Feb 2011 more >>
Wylfa
CIVIL engineering firm Jones Bros is carrying out landscaping and access work at the site of the existing Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey. The £400,000 contract with Magnox Ltd involves block paving work and the re-alignment of the road leading up to the site, including the creation of a new roundabout.
Daily Post 25th Feb 2011 more >>
Sellafield
A trio of top Sellafield executives have been replaced in a management shake-up at the site. Mike Johnson, director of waste and effluent disposition, decommissioning director Russ Mellor and Tony Green, chief engineer, are all moving on. They will be replaced by Tom Foster, Jim French and Dawn James. Mr Foster and Mr French arrive in west Cumbria from the Savannah River nuclear complex in the US. Ms James is a UK-based employee of Amec.
Cumberland News 25th Feb 2011 more >>
Scotland
Letters: Dr David Purves (Letters, 24 February) berates Professor Trewavas for his non-scientific presentation in support of nuclear power, yet cites the Scottish Government as an authority for the contradictory view. Alas, the Scottish Government view is one of sheer dogma. Any minister questioned on this repeats the well-rehearsed mantra: “dirty, dangerous and expensive”. There is almost nothing in the modern world not associated in some way with nuclear technology, whether this be simply electrical energy, radiotherapy or the bottle of wine on your table. Why, the power companies engaged in the installation of our wind factories (themselves dependent on nuclear technology) also both build and operate nuclear power stations – strange bedfellows indeed for anyone practising an anti-nuclear religion.
Scotsman 26th Feb 2011 more >>
Radhealth
Federal researchers with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that a proposed study of cancer risks around nuclear facilities could improve the public’s trust in existing evidence that radiation doses emitted from those plants aren’t harmful. The study’s senior project manager, Terry Brock, told a committee of 19 independent experts organized through the National Academy of Sciences that the rationale for undertaking such a study would be to obtain credible, and updated, information for the public about possible cancer risks from nuclear plants. The last study on the issue was done in 1990.
The Day 25th Feb 2011 more >>
Companies
Porvair plc in King’s Lynn is playing a key role in the production of new clean fuels from first generation nuclear material. Nuclear industry filtration and remediation looks set to trigger global expansion for the group. Porvair provides very high end filtration techniques ideal for mixed oxide (MOX) fuel production manufactured to demanding international standards. The company has just won an order worth more than £500k from an unnamed international client for a glove box and associated filters essential to the MOX production process.
Business Weekly 25th Feb 2011 more >>
Each new nuclear power station built in the UK will offer an “Olympic Games” scale of opportunity for small and medium-sized engineering firms, the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) has said. MAS made the comments in the wake of a series of workshops it held in Doncaster for small firms hoping to get into the nuclear industry last week. Almost 200 companies attended, MAS said.
Professional Engineering 25th Feb 2011 more >>
Nuclear Space
Small rovers that hop from place to place are being developed for future Mars missions. Powered by nuclear energy, they could map the entire planet in a few years. The idea is under development at Idaho National Laboratory’s Centre for Space Nuclear Research (CSNR).
World Nuclear News 25th Feb 2011 more >>
Iran
In a classified report the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said “new information” it had received had prompted “further concern” about Iran’s nuclear programme. “Iran is not engaging with the agency in substance on issues concerning the allegation that Iran is developing a nuclear payload for its missile programme.”
Telegraph 26th Feb 2011 more >>
BBC 25th Feb 2011 more >>
Bangladesh
Russia has agreed to build energy-starved Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant, which will generate a total of 2,000 megawatt of electricity.
Telegraph 25th Feb 2011 more >>
Spain
We are living in troubled times in Spain thanks to nuclear energy. The incoherence and inconsistency of the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero about nuclear energy in the last few weeks has plunged us into confusion. The nuclear lobby is taking advantage of this situation, proving the Spanish proverb that ‘in troubled waters, fishermen gain’. With much propaganda, but no truth or accurate information, the nuclear lobby was quick to proclaim everywhere that the recently adopted Law of ‘Sustainable’ Economy now allows the Spanish government to ‘extend the life of nuclear plants beyond the 40 years hitherto permitted’. That’s doubly false. On the one hand, it’s not true that Spanish law says nuclear plants could operate for 40 years and, secondly, it’s not true that the Law of ‘Sustainable’ Economy now allows the extension of the lifetime of nuclear plants beyond 40 years.
Greenpeace International 25th Feb 2011 more >>
