Hinkley
Protestors fighting the new Hinkley Point C power station this week joined a nationwide group that aims to halt the development.
Burnham-on-Sea.com 29th Dec 2010 more >>
Morning Star 31st Dec 2010 more >>
Shepperdine Against Nuclear Energy 30th Dec 2010 more >>
THE futures of two major projects in Sedgemoor will be under the microscope next week. Somerset County Council’s independent regulation committee is meeting on Thursday to consider plans for the new school at Queenswood Farm in Durleigh to replace Haygrove and Penrose, and remediation works at Hinkley Point.
Bridgwater Mercury 30th Dec 2010 more >>
Hartlepool
RESIDENTS are being urged to have their say on plans which could result in a replacement power station being built in Hartlepool before a consultation comes to an end. The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) carried out extensive consultation about a year ago which resulted in overwhelming support in town for a new nuclear power station in the future. The Government is now re-consulting on this and other documents. The consultation runs until Monday, January 24.
Hartlepool Mail 28th Dec 2010 more >>
Sellafield
THE restart of reprocessing operations at Sellafield has been halted after a fault was discovered in a pipeline at the atomic complex. Engineers made the find as part of a programme of investigations into the conditions of structures at the nuclear plant. While the routine maintenance work was being carried out in November, the Magnox reprocessing facility was closed down. Reprocessing operations were due to start this month but have been put back until the new year while an investigation and repair work is carried out.
Whitehaven News 30th Dec 2010 more >>
Radwaste
Charles Hendry, Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, has come under fire from a Cumbrian campaign group. Radiation Free Lakeland have taken exception to a recent letter the Minister sent to south Cumbrian MP Tim Farron. The Minister (pictured), who is responsible for steps towards implementing geological disposal of nuclear waste, has been severely criticised for his comments. In the letter he said: “The current process is not a reopening of that old site-specific proposal but a completely fresh start. Nirex did not look in detail at the whole of West Cumbria.” Marianne Birkby, for Radiation Free Lakeland, says that Hendry ‘may sincerely believe the lies and misinformation contained in his recent letter’ but the public should be made aware of the true facts. She says: “Allerdale and Copeland Councillors and the public are repeatedly fed the untruth that the Nirex inquiry did not look at the whole of West Cumbria. “For those of us who do not have amnesia (recent amnesia may be due to five fold increase in antimony emissions this year from Sellafield reprocessing), we are grateful that government commissioned geologists such as Professors Smythe and Haszeldine have the back up documentation which led to the Nirex Inspector ruling out the WHOLE of West Cumbria 15 years ago at a cost to the public purse of over £400M. “The letter from Professor Smythe below has been sent to Copeland and Allerdale councillors who are being bombarded with smooth misinformation from Charles Hendry, Doublespeak Czar at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.”
Get Noticed Online 30th Dec 2010 more >>
Proliferation
The last few months have been busy ones for the nuclear express: trucks, trains and ships have been hauling giant protective casks containing highly-enriched uranium, plutonium, and spent nuclear fuel from vulnerable locations to safe harbors.
These delicate operations in the former Soviet bloc point to progress in President Obama’s promise to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials in four years. He may not make the goal, but step-by-step, more and more weapons-useable material is being cleaned out and locked up.
Foreign Policy 30th Dec 2010 more >>
In a secret operation to secure nuclear material, the United States has helped Ukraine return to Russia enough uranium to build two atomic bombs. This week’s removal of more than 110lb (50kg) of highly enriched uranium followed a pledge by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to get rid of all of his country’s highly enriched uranium by April 2012.
The material will be blended down in Russia, rendering it useless for bomb making.
PA 31st Dec 2010 more >>
EDF
Time may be running out for French energy giant EDF to gain a stronger foothold in the US nuclear sector, after it rejected a government loan deal for a new reactor and lost its local partner. Since parting ways with US firm Constellation in October, EDF has vowed to find a new partner for its American subsidiary Unistar, and to press ahead with construction of a new reactor at Calvert Cliffs, Maryland. But according to several sources familiar with the situation, EDF has missed a golden opportunity by refusing the 7.5 billion dollar loan guarantee from the Department of Energy (DoE) to help build the reactor.
Nuclear Power Daily 31st Dec 2010 more >>
US
The latest figures on the growth of the renewable energy industry in the United States has the combined forces of solar, wind, hydro-electric and biomass fuel sources on par with nuclear energy in the electricity supply stakes.
Energy Matters 29th Dec 2010 more >>
Iran
More than three decades ago, before there was an Islamic Republic, the West sought desperately to prevent Iran’s ruler from getting his hands on the bomb. New revelations show just how serious the crisis was — and why America’s denuclearization drive isn’t working.
Foreign Policy 29th Dec 2010 more >>
Israel
British diplomats feared Israel would use nuclear weapons in the event of a fresh war with the Arab nations, according to official papers from 1980. The papers show that British officials expressed concern that a new conflict could erupt, despite a peace deal signed between Israel and Egypt the previous year. A cable from the British embassy in Tel Aviv, dated May 4, warned: “The situation in the region is deteriorating and, with it, Israel’s dangerous mood of isolation and defiance will grow.
Morning Star 30th Dec 2010 more >>