Proliferation
Iran and North Korea must accept international demands that they give up their nuclear programs in order to safeguard the future of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, delegates to a conference on the treaty said Monday. The meeting, which runs until May 11, has no powers to change the treaty, but is geared toward generating input for the 2010 review.
Independent 1st May 2007
The leading Protestant and Catholic church leaders in Scotland have renewed their criticism on Britain’s commitment to nuclear weapons and have called for a major non-proliferation effort – echoing similar calls from civic and peace campaigners. Coinciding with a key meeting today between the signatory countries of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT), which gathers in Vienna, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rev Alan McDonald, and the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, have issued a joint statement calling for the NPT to be strengthened and saying that the UK government should renounce its plans to renew Trident.
Ekklesia 30th April 2007
Climate
Leading scientists are today expected to back a major expansion of nuclear power as a way of saving the world from global warming. Other measures in a United Nations report include the use of GM crops to produce biofuels and the “capture and storage” underground of harmful CO2 gases. More than 2,000 scientists have contributed to the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) report and 400 of them met today in Bangkok to finalise it before publication on Friday. The report is the biggest to study the practical actions that could reduce emissions and its findings will play a key role in Kyoto negotiations which will take place in December.
Daily Mail 30th April 2007
China
A five-year plan for energy development in China will accelerate the construction of nuclear and hydroelectric power stations. Under the plan, issued by China’s National Development and Reform Commission, nuclear power will account for 0.9 percent of all first-time energy consumption in China, by advancing the construction of several nuclear projects, including: the first phase of Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in the southeastern province of Jiangsu, the second phase of the Lingao Nuclear Power Plant, the Yangjiang nuclear project in the southern province of Guangdong, and the Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in the southern province of Zhejiang.
Manufacturing.net 30th April 2007
Terror
Islamic terrorists were on the trail of a nuclear bomb which they hoped to buy from the Russian mafia. As efforts were made to negotiate its sale in Europe, a British terror suspect was asked: “Do you want something ready-made, something which will be bigger than 9/11?” But the internet chatroom exchange between Salahuddin Amin in Pakistan and Omar Khyam in Britain in early 2004 was intercepted.
Sussex Argus 30th April 2007
New nukes
This year’s Professor David Hall Lecture is to be given by Tom Burke CBE who will ask “Is Nuclear Inevitable?” Tom Burke has been a professional environmentalist for 30 years, having been the statutory advisor to the Government on biodiversity from 1999-2005, the Special Advisor to three Secretaries of State for the Environment from 1991-97, and formerly the Director of the Green Alliance and Executive Director of Friends of the Earth.
Environmental Law Foundation
