Nuclear Waste
Letter from Richard Lochhead, Scottish Secretary for Environment: Contrary to your leader (26 June), the new Scottish government remains fully committed to working closely with the UK government in important aspects of radioactive waste policy and to supporting recommendations of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management on interim storage and further joint research on other management options. What we do not agree on is the long-term geological disposal of such waste. While other countries have opted for geological disposal, few have made any significant progress. We believe this out-of-sight, out-of-mind policy should not extend to Scotland. In the meantime, we will support “near site, near surface” storage designed to the highest safety standards. This minimises transport of nuclear waste across the country and is the safe and sensible option for Scotland.
Scotsman 29th June 2007 more >>
Communities will be able to volunteer to host a nuclear waste dump, but not just yet.
Whitehaven News 28th June 2007 more >>
NDA
A white powder sent to a nuclear agency in Cumbria sparking an alert has turned out to be harmless, police said. The suspect package was found by mailroom workers at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in Whitehaven on Wednesday.
BBC 28th June 2007 more >>
Whitehaven News 29th June 2007 more >>
Whitehaven News 28th June 2007 more >>
Nuclear weapons
Russia successfully tested its newest Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday, sending it thousands of km (miles) away from the White Sea to the Kamchatka peninsula in the Far East, Russian agencies said.
Reuters 28th June 2007 more >>
North Korea
Hopes of a deal to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme were raised yesterday as UN inspectors returned to the state’s plutonium reprocessing plant for the first time in four years.
Telegraph 29th June 2007 more >>
International Atomic Energy Agency officials on Friday said they had toured all key parts of North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear reactor in their first visit in almost five years and confirmed that the plant was still in operation. The inspectors’ visit will bolster hopes that Pyongyang will make good on its pledge to shut down the 5 megawatt reactor and reprocessing plant at Yongbyon, the source of the plutonium used for last year’s nuclear test.
FT 29th June 2007 more >>
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she hoped for a swift shutdown of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs now that U.N. inspectors are in the country.
Guardian website 28th June 2007 more >>
UN inspectors were today visiting a nuclear plant in North Korea for the first time since they were expelled from the country in 2002.
Guardian website 28th June 2007 more >>
Venezuala
President Hugo Chávez yesterday hinted that Venezuela could try to become a nuclear power, during a visit to Russia apparently timed to antagonise the White House. Mr Chávez defended Iran’s right to pursue a nuclear programme and said it might be a good idea if Venezuela eventually did the same thing. Speaking before an audience of communists and other elements hostile to America, Mr Chávez said: “Iran has a right to have a peaceful atomic energy industry, as it is a sovereign country.
Guardian 29th June 2007 more >>
Germany
FIRE broke out in a transformer at a nuclear plant near Hamburg yesterday, but it was brought under control with no injuries and no damage to the reactor itself. The fire in a transformer building at the Kruemmel site burned for two hours and the plant was taken off-line as a precaution.
Scotsman 29th June 2007 more >>
Interactive Investor 28th June 2007 more >>
BBC 28th June 2007 more >>
The closure of two northern German nuclear power stations after problems on Thursday could not have come at a worse time for German operators who seek to extend the lifetime of some plants. Firefighters were still putting out a fire in a transformer substation on the site of the Kruemmel nuclear power generation block some 20 km (12 miles) south-east of Hamburg on Friday. Also on Thursday, a short-circuit at the nearby Brunsbuettel nuclear plant which was built in 1977 switched off that unit, leaving both plants out of action for the time being.
Reuters 29h June 2007 more >>
US
US Deputy Energy Secretary, Clay Sell, says you can’t be serious about climate change without being serious about nuclear power.
World Nuclear News 28th June 2007 more >>
Space
Nuclear-powered rockets could save NASA billions of dollars in launch costs for its planned return to the Moon, a top nuclear scientist says. He argues that the higher efficiency of nuclear propulsion would reduce the number of launches needed to build a lunar base.
New Scientist 28th June 2007 more >>
New nukes
Areva has signed up six companies as possible users of its EPR design: RWE, Eon, Suez, Iberdrola and British Energy.
Whitehaven News 28th June 2007 more >>
