Nuclear Waste
AN Arlecdon councillor has challenged Copeland council over its apparent willingness to host a nuclear repository.“The results [of the Nirex exercise] as far as the government were concerned were disappointing in that the area was heavily faulted and water would seep into any underground chamber. “In view of this history and the opposition at the time from people in the area to the dump, why is Copeland Council entering into discussions with the government to try and explore ways of hosting the dump. Elaine Woodburn’s response was: “Nirex did carry out some exploration work but none of the work carried out was to the depth that a geological repository would be. In fact the whole process stopped when planning permission was sought for a Rock Characterisation Facility. It was this facility that would have proven if the areas being looked at were geologically suitable or not. Therefore factually it was never proven that areas being looked at were geologically suitable or not”.
Whitehaven News 8th Oct 2008 more >>
LOCAL community leaders are involved in high-level talks this week over how plans should proceed to establish the UK’s first underground repository to take nuclear waste. Copeland leader Elaine Woodburn was among those invited by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to put their views at a two-day workshop held in a Leeds hotel.
Whitehaven News 8th Oct 2008 more >>
Companies
Europe’s largest design and engineering consultancy, Atkins, has bought Rotherham-based engineering design business MG Bennett for £2.5 million.
Sheffield Star 10th Oct 2008 more >>
Dounreay
ROBOTS are being employed to help clean up Dounreay. Decommissioning bosses have turned to specialist demolition firm Brokk to supply the remotely-operated equipment that can work inside cells and a pond where radiation levels are still too high for human access.
John O Groat Journal 8th Oct 2008 more >>
Sellafield
SELLAFIELD’s industrial unions meet again today in the hope of trying to settle their pay dispute rather than have to step up industrial action.
Whitehaven News 8th Oct 2008 more >>
SELLAFIELD’S long-term future hinges on a vital piece of kit which will cost hundreds of millions of pounds – double the original estimate. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will now have to go cap in hand to the government to ask for the money. The massive piece of equipment, known as Evaporator D, is crucial to future reprocessing, reducing the risks from high hazard radioactive wastes – and safeguarding jobs. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, which issues Sellafield’s licence to operate, told The Whitehaven News: “Further evaporator capacity at Sellafield is essential for the longer term safe management of highly active liquor.”
Whitehaven News 8th Oct 2008 more >>
A VIRTUAL tour of Sellafield’s Thorp reprocessing plant is available in the company’s latest video podcast. The podcast – available at www.sellafieldsites.com – gives visitors the chance to discover exactly what goes on behind the site fence.
Whitehaven News 8th Oct 2008 more >>
The site which has underpinned the local econoimy for more than half a century now faces a massive change under new masters – Nuclear Management Partners. This consortium of leadin g American, French and British companies won the lucractive Nuclear Decommissioning Authority competition contract to take over from the generally tried and trusted BNFL to operate and manage the UK’s most important civil nuclear complex.
Whitehaven News 3rd Oct 2008 more >>
SELLAFIELD’s prospective new operators, Nuclear Management Partners, has named its top ten people – eight men and two women – who will take charge of the site towards the end of next month.
Whitehaven News 3rd Oct 2008 more >>
India
The deal cuts an exception for India from the international non-proliferation regime (which however flawed, was the framework in existence) which in time will be used against the West. Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, Egypt…take your pick? India has always refused to sign the NPT because it is an ‘unequal treaty’, cooked up, says its detractors, by the world’s self-appointed nuclear guardians.
Telegraph 10th Oct 2008 more >>
Irish FOREIGN Affairs Minister Miche l Martin yesterday denied that the Government had “capitulated” to the Bush administration by withdrawing its opposition to a controversial US-India nuclear energy deal.
Irish Examiner 10th Oct 2008 more >>
Japan
Smoke was detected at a waste processing facility in Tokai Daini nuclear power plant northeast of Tokyo on Friday, but unlisted operator Japan Atomic Power Co said the incident had no impact on power operations or on the environment.
Money AM 10th Oct 2008 more >>
Korea
The US has agreed in principle to accept a North Korean offer on nuclear verification that could complete a key phase in the six-party process aimed at removing nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula. Senior officials have concluded that Washington should accept the North Korean proposal, which Christopher Hill, the US negotiator on the nuclear issue, brought back from Pyongyang last week.
FT 10th Oct 2008 more >>
Reuters 10th Oct 2008 more >>
Japan has rejected a North Korean proposal on nuclear verification, in a major blow to US efforts to reach a deal with Pyongyang towards removing nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula. Taro Aso, the Japanese prime minister, has informed the Bush administration that he cannot accept the North Korean offer, which Washington had urged him to support, two sources familiar with the decision told the Financial Times.
FT 10th Oct 2008 more >>
North Korea banned UN weapons inspectors from its main nuclear complex today amid reports that it was also preparing for a mass testing of missiles at a disputed sea border. The decision to stop the monitors throughout the Yongbyon centre is seen by analysts as a significant step towards jettisoning a deal to dismantle its atomic bomb programme.
Independent 9th Oct 2008 more >>
US
EDF, the French electricity group, is studying a range of scenarios to guarantee its access to the US nuclear market including the possibility of buying out its partner in the Unistar joint venture, Constellation Energy. People close to the French group said buying out Unistar was one of the alternatives under consideration, if EDF decides in the coming days not to press ahead with a bid for Constellation.
FT 10th Oct 2008 more >>
The US must increase its nuclear arsenal in response to China’s growing military might, according to a State Department report.
Telegraph 9th Oct 2008 more >>
Spain
Spain’s socialist government should reconsider its moratorium on building more nuclear power plants, former socialist prime minister Felipe Gonzalez said on Thursday. Gonzalez, Spain’s longest serving prime minister since its transition to democracy and a leading figure in the socialist party, was a staunch defender of Spain’s moratorium on new nuclear capacity when he was in power from 1982 to 1996.
Money AM 9th Oct 2008 more >>
Renewables
Letter from major NGOs: European ministers will meet today in Brussels to discuss the renewable energy directive, a ground-breaking piece of legislation that could kick-start the energy revolution we desperately need to tackle the dual challenges of climate change and energy insecurity. However, rather than wholeheartedly supporting this green energy plan, the UK has until now worked behind the scenes to seriously undermine the agreement – for example by omitting energy from aviation when calculating the renewable energy targets. We hope the creation of a Department of Energy and Climate Change signals a change in direction. We call on the government to support the directive and get behind building a thriving renewable energy industry in the UK that will not only help cut climate change emissions, but also generate millions of pounds worth of investment, hundreds of thousands of jobs and a secure energy supply.
Guardian 10th Oct 2008 more >>
