Korea
South Korea is planning to step up its ability to detect a nuclear test in North Korea, a government official said on Thursday, amid speculation Pyongyang may soon set off another atomic device.
Reuters 11th Jan 2007
THORP
Sellafield’s nuclear fuel-reprocessing plant Thorp has been given the green light to restart operations almost two years after a radioactive leak led to its closure. The reopening of the controversial plant is expected to safeguard hundreds of millions of pounds of future income from UK and foreign customers, which before the shutdown had been using Thorp to reprocess spent fuel from nuclear reactors.
FT 11th Jan 2007
BBC 10th Jan 2007
Baltic
The heads of the Baltic power utilities that have teamed up to build a new nuclear power plant have agreed to meet with officials from energy outfit Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne with a view to including the Polish company in their venture.
Energy Business Review 10th Jan 2007
Iran
If Bush really wants a safer Middle East, he should stop giving Tehran compelling reasons to acquire nuclear weapons.
Guardian 11th Jan 2007
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, midway through an official visit to Beijing, said he received a candid assurance from China that it opposes Iran having a nuclear arsenal.
Interactive Investor 11th Jan 2007
Germany
Senior members of Germany’s government have suggested retaining nuclear power as a way of diversifying the country’s sources of energy. It follows concern that Germany has become too dependent on Russian fuel.
BBC 10th Jan 2007
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to uphold a government pledge to phase out nuclear power in Germany but said action was needed to secure the country’s energy supply.
ABC Money 10th Jan 2007
Nuclear Waste
Materials that scientists had hoped would contain nuclear waste for thousands of years may not be as safe and durable as previously thought, researchers say. A synthetic material called zircon used for encapsulating plutonium is susceptible to degradation faster than expected and may not be able to contain the waste until it becomes safe. The safe storage of nuclear waste is problematic because of the uncertainties in how materials will behave many thousands of years hence. The findings, reported in the journal Nature, could lead to a rethink of using zircon for the long-term storage of nuclear waste.
Reuters 10th Jan 2007
Scientists developing ways to dump Britain’s nuclear waste underground may have to think again after new research revealed that radioactivity could leak out much earlier than expected. Experts at Cambridge University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in the US have discovered that ceramic materials proposed to seal high-level waste break down much faster than expected when exposed to radiation.
Guardian 11th Jan 2007
India
India will walk away from a civilian nuclear deal with the United States if New Delhi’s concerns are not allayed, its envoy said on Wednesday. It was critical the deal allowed India to reprocess spent U.S. nuclear fuel and did not stop it conducting nuclear tests, Shyam Saran, India’s special envoy to the negotiations, said.
Reuters 10th Jan 2007
New nukes
Business leaders in the West strongly back Government plans to include nuclear power in the UK’s long-term energy strategy, according to research published today.Almost three in four said they believe the nuclear option should remain beyond the lifecycle of existing reactors, including those at Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire and Hinkley Point, Somerset.
Western Daily Press 10th Jan 2007
