Dounreay
Dounreay operators could face legal action over the release of radioactive particles. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said it had submitted reports to prosecutors about the Dounreay facility in Caithness. Sepa is now waiting to see if legal proceedings will be brought against the operator of the site, the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
IC Scotland 9th August 2006
THE operator of Dounreay has incurred the biggest financial penalty in the 50-year history of the nuclear site over the spillage of highly active liquor at a waste processing plant. The Nuclear Decommission Authority (NDA) has debited £2m from the annual fee the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) receives from the quango over the fault at the Caithness plant. A similar penalty has been imposed against BNG Sellafield for the leak of highly radioactive fuel from its Thorp reprocessing plant in Cumbria. The £2m penalty imposed at Dounreay followed last September’s spillage. The lid of a 500-litre steel drum was closed when the highly active liquor was piped into a remotely-operated cell, causing it to spill.
Herald 10th August 2006
Scotsman 10th August 2006
Sellafield
A nuclear plant in Cumbria has been fined £2m after breaching regulations which led to a radioactive leak of highly active waste at the THORP plant. Plant operator British Nuclear Group Sellafield (BNGSL) admitted responsibility and has been fined by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The spillage, discovered in April 2005, may have gone unnoticed for eight months. In June, at a hearing at Whitehaven Magistrates’ Court, BNGSL pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching conditions attached to the Sellafield site licence, which was granted under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965.
BBC 9th August 2006
CORE Press Release 9th August 2006
New nukes
Letter: Tony Blair is conning the public into believing that if we don’t take the nuclear route the lights will go out, but this is just a scare tactic to get the anti-nuclear public on his side.
Notingham Evening Post 9th August 2006
GREENPEACE activists are set to ask Horsham residents what they think about nuclear power. A nuclear survey of Horsham residents will be launched at the informal meeting and plans to establish a local group will be discussed.
County Times 9th August 2006
Letter: It is hard to take the latest Energy Review seriously. Alistair Darling says “if you want to be frightened about anything, you want to be frightened about the impact of climate change”. Yet as Minister for Transport, Mr Darling favoured the unrestricted growth of air travel and estimates suggest nuclear will only prevent around a three per cent increase in emissions through 2020.
Gloucestershire Echo 8th August 2006
Letter from Green Party Councillor Stroud: Nuclear power is reliable, we are told. Yet the current European heatwave has forced nuclear power plants to reduce or halt production in Spain and Germany. France has also been affected; it has given its reactors special permits to dump hot water into rivers and had to import power to compensate. Meanwhile, also this week, in Sweden a catastrophic incident was narrowly averted. A former director of the plant said it was pure luck there wasn’t a meltdown.
Western Daily Press 9th August 2006