Nuclear Liability
Poor overloaded taxpayers. Not content with being lumbered with enormous debts to bail out failing banks and huge bills for rising unemployment, the government has just landed us with the potential for an unlimited bill for any nuclear accident or leak from the decomissioning of Sellafield for years to come. In a deal that will thrill private investors, Malcolm Wicks, in one of his last acts as energy minister, caved in to a United States-led private consortium’s demands that it will be freed from any liability should anything go wrong for the next 17 years whilst it decommissions Sellafield.
Guardian 28th Oct 2008 more >>
New Nukes
The UK’s £40bn new nuclear programme could be carried out using a similar model to BAA’s T5 agreement.
Contract Journal 28th Oct 2008 more >>
New nuclear build projects carry substantial risks. Several factors could lead to costly delays if not managed properly. What is the best way to control these risks?
Nuclear Engineering International 28th Oct 2008 more >>
Nuclear Waste
Proposals are being considered for an underground nuclear waste disposal site in Cumbria. Cumbria County Council is considering “expressing an interest” in a formal government process to find a suitable location for a nuclear waste dump. But council chiefs stressed they were not committing to a site and any plan would be subject to the scrutiny of a full public consultation.
BBC 28th Oct 2008 more >>
Planning
Hugh Ellis: The existing system for approving or turning down major infrastructure projects such as runways, ports and power stations is far from perfect, but it has long been based on the public inquiry. This gives people the right to attend a public hearing, to give evidence, to cross-examine, and to call witnesses. A professional inspector listens, assesses, and then reports to government. An elected minister, accountable to parliament, makes the final decision. However, the planning bill now going through parliament, and due to become law in a few weeks, will remove all of these rights and safeguards. The law will mean that a new body, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), will usually make all decisions without public hearings. Government-appointed commissioners will decide whether any part of the process will be heard in public. They will decide which witnesses are heard and who can cross-examine. The public retains only one right: an “open floor” session, at which ordinary people cannot ask questions or cross-examine.
Guardian 29th Oct 2008 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
Letter: no British nuclear bomb has ever been on the table at an international disarmament conference. So, as the redoubtable Bruce Kent once succinctly observed: “A unilateralist is a multilateralist who means what he says.”
Herald 29th Oct 2008 more >>
