UKAEA
A major slice of the country’s nuclear expertise was put up for sale yesterday after the UK Atomic Energy Authority called on would-be buyers for its commercial arm. The authority is looking to sell UKAEA Ltd, its wholly-owned business which oversees nuclear clean-up work at three sites in the UK and offers consultancy work in international markets.
Yorkshire Post 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Society of Procurement Officers 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Newcastle Journal 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Energy Policy
Government policy on renewable energy was derided as “make-believe” by David Heathcoat-Amory (Con, Wells) during a Westminster Hall debate on nuclear energy. Heathcoat-Amory said that it was “irresponsible” to set targets for C02 reduction without committing to similarly rigid commitments on energy production. The policy of “drift and neglect is no longer sustainable,” he added. The government has set a legally binding target to reduce C02 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. The former energy minister said that Britain was faced with a “looming energy gap” due to a combination of “short-sightedness and wishful thinking”. “The emerging gap between demand and supply has arisen because we have been decommissioning nuclear power stations without replacing them.” He said a succession of “anti-nuclear” secretaries of states had ignored the problem of replacing nuclear stations, at the same time as signing up to “ever more demanding C02 reduction targets”
ePolitix 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Isle of Man
The Manx Government has vowed to continue campaigning for the closure of the nuclear plant in Sellafield. Environment minister John Shimmin is also calling for the plant to be cleaned up but said he faces a battle.
BBC 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Millom
FARM land near Millom will be officially nominated to host a new nuclear power plant today. The land at Layriggs in Kirksanton has been chosen by energy company RWE npower as one of two possible sites in Cumbria to host the new facility. But the plans have been hit by mass objections from the 75 villagers living only 200 yards from the proposed land. An action group has now been set up to block the plans. Ninety per cent of Kirksanton residents have vowed to abandon the village amid fears of plummeting house prices and diminished quality of life.
NW Evening Mail 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Nuclear Waste
What if we could build a reactor that ran on nuclear waste – a reactor that generated power by cleaning up the most toxic substance in existence? Tucked among the fertile vineyards of central California is a machine that promises to do just that. Today, work officially finishes on the National Ignition Facility, ahead of its official opening in May. As we reported earlier this year, the NIF contains the most powerful laser in history, a billion-pound machine in a building the size of three football pitches.
Telegraph 31st Mar 2009 more >>
NLFAB
The line-up of the board of the Government’s watchdog to oversee the decommissioning and waste disposal funding arrangements is completed today. The Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurance Board (NLFAB) will scrutinise the financing plans for the decommissioning and cleanup of nuclear waste from new nuclear power stations. This is in line with the Government’s commitment that the taxpayer will not have to shoulder any costs for clean-up.
Wired.gov 31st Mar 2009 more >>
EDF
Two senior executives at French energy company Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR) have been charged on suspicion of industrial espionage against the environmental group Greenpeace, a judicial official said Tuesday. The EDF security executives were charged on March 24 with conspiring to hack into a computer system, the official said, confirming a report on the French Web site Mediapart. Greenpeace France’s former campaign director Yannick Jadot said investigators were probing a break-in on one of his computers, saying that EDF “appears clearly to be involved.”
Fox News 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Yahoo 31st Mar 2009 more >>
North Korea
North Korea has developed and deployed multiple nuclear warheads that can be attached to medium-range Rodong missiles, according to a Seoul-based defence analyst.
Telegraph 1st April 2009 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
When presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev meet today for the first time, they will have an historic opportunity to confront the most urgent security threat to our world: the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the risk of nuclear terrorism. The two leaders can move beyond traditional arms control and, in a bold move, set the world on a course towards the total elimination of all nuclear weapons – global zero.
Times 1st April 2009 more >>
Green New Deal
The UK economy faces a triple crunch: a recession triggered by a major credit crisis, the looming reality of runaway climate change and critical resource depletion. As a result we face serious challenges to our livelihoods and increasing threats to our fuel and food security. Whatever the mistakes that allowed this situation to arise, there is growing international consensus that the best way out is via a green new deal policy package. Parts of the UK economy are in freefall with unemployment rising rapidly. At the same time, with less than 100 months to go before the world enters a new, more dangerous phase of global warming, there is an urgent need for the rapid environmental transformation of the economy.
Guardian 31st Mar 2009 more >>
Over fifty thousand British jobs could be created if the government invested in an energy efficiency programme that would also help tackle climate change, according to a report released today. The report coincides with research from New Economics Foundation (Nef) showing that new funding for greening the economy amounts to just 0.6 per cent of the UK’s total stimulus package.
Greenpeace Press Release 30th Mar 2009 more >>
Greenpeace Report: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/EE_fiscal_stimulus_Impetus_Report.pdf
While the UK government were able to produce support to the financial sector equivalent to 20% of the nation’s GDP, new and additional spending for green measures in the Treasury’s pre-Budget report amounted to just 0.0083% of GDP. The streets of London are filling with thousands of people calling on governments to link their responses to the global recession, climate change and poverty reduction. But, across a range of economic stimulus packages in countries around the world, the average share of spending going to green investments, according to HSBC, is just 15%.
Guardian 1st April 2009 more >>
