New nukes
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. plans to start talking with General Electric Co. about co-operation in the nuclear business to better compete with the Toshiba Corp. and Westinghouse camp in the rapidly growing market, a newspaper said on Tuesday. The report comes after Mitsubishi Heavy and France’s Areva, the world’s largest maker of nuclear reactors, said earlier this month they would jointly develop mid-sized nuclear power reactors.
Reuters 31st Oct 2006
Electricite de France is ready to spearhead the UK’s nuclear power plant building drive, the CEO of the French power giant’s UK arm said on Monday. Vincent de Rivaz and other speakers at a nuclear energy finance forum in London said a report by former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern on the economic and environmental fallout from global warming, emphasized the need for new nuclear power plants.
Reuters 30th Oct 2006
An American coalition of groups called Grass Roots Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) has launched a new report called “False Promises: Debunking Nuclear Industry Propaganda”. The report is a compelling exposé of the nuclear industry propaganda and highlights misleading public relations attempts while offering cheaper, faster, safer solutions to mitigate climate change. With a foreword by Robert Alvarez, Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy (1993-1999), the new report shows why the nuclear industry’s claims are misleading and why nuclear power is not part of the solution to our energy crisis.
Grace Energy Initiative
Letter from Dr Paul Aron and Duncan McLaren: Nuclear Energy is not the answer. Aron says: I am concerned by the government’s enthusiasm for nuclear power, to which renewable-energy sources are taking second place. This is a terribly short-sighted solution, notwithstanding the problem of radioactive waste disposal.
Independent 31st Oct 2006
China
China yesterday announced that it would sign a treaty establishing a “nuclear weapons free” zone in south-east Asia, a largely symbolic move that signals its increasing willingness to forge closer ties with regional nations.
FT 31st Oct 2006
Nuclear skills
The government will agree to plans for a national nuclear skills academy today as the industry gears up for a £65bn clean-up programme and the possibility of a new generation of reactors.
Guardian 31st Oct 2006
Trident
Pensioners from Bristol have been arrested during an anti-nuclear protest in Scotland.At least four of the 16 Quakers who made the journey to Glasgow were among those arrested at the Firth of Clyde naval base, home to the UK’s nuclear-armed Trident submarines.
Bristol Evening Post 30th Oct 2006
North Korea
The commander of U.S. Forces in South Korea said on Monday he expects North Korea to explode another nuclear device but added the North’s test earlier this month did not change the balance of power on the peninsula.
Reuters 30th Oct 2006
Terror
Morocco called on the international community to tackle poverty and regional conflict as root causes of “nuclear terrorism” during a meeting on Monday on ways to jointly prevent the threat. “The international community must address the profound causes of this phenomenon (nuclear activity by terrorists) by resolving international and regional conflicts and the fight against injustices, frustrations and misery,” the Moroccan representative at the Rabat conference, Omar Hilale, said in remarks published by Morocco’s MAP news agency. The two-day meeting is the first held by the “Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism” — jointly launched by US President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at July’s G8 summit in Saint Petersburg.
Interactive Investor 30th Oct 2006
Climate
Climate change has been made the world’s biggest priority, with the publication of a stark report showing that the planet faces catastrophe unless urgent measures are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Independent 31st Oct 2006
Telegraph 31st Oct 2006
The UK is to use the warnings of irreversible climate change and the biggest economic slump since the 1930s, outlined in yesterday’s Stern review, to press for a new global deal to curb carbon emissions. The government is urgently pushing ahead on the issue because the existing Kyoto protocol runs out in 2012, and there is no binding agreement to extend it. Downing Street is seeking the outline of a package with the G8 industrial nations and five leading developing countries by next year, or 2008 at the latest.
Guardian 31st October 2006
