New Nukes
Article by Sergei Kirienko, Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency: Nuclear power is the key to resolving three global crises – food, global warming, and resource distribution.
Guardian 10th July 2008 more >>
NDA
The cost of cleaning up old nuclear power stations could “significantly” exceed the last estimate of £73bn ($145bn), MPs have warned. Estimates for decommissioning the reactors have already risen by 30 per cent since 2003. “There is a risk that costs may rise further,” says the report by the Commons public accounts committee. Edward Leigh, its chairman, warned: “We cannot be confident that even this figure will not be significantly upped when the estimates are next revised.”
FT 10th July 2008 more >>
Sellafield
Shares in Amec ticked up 2 per cent this morning as the project services and engineering group saw many long months of work pay off by clinching the £6.75 billion contract to clean-up Sellafield. Amec is the British partner in the Nuclear Management Partners consortium, which also includes Areva, the French nuclear giant, and Washington Group, a US engineering contractor best known for working on the rebuilding of Iraq. The consortium partners have not disclosed their relative stakes, but the consortium is led by a Washington executive.
Times 11th July 2008 more >>
Telegraph 11th July 2008 more >>
Independent 11th July 2008 more >>
Suffolk Evening Star 11th July 2008 more >>
Interactive Investor 11th July 2008 more >>
SkyNews 11th July 2008 more >>
One of the most lucrative contracts ever awarded by the Government will be revealed with an announcement of the preferred private sector bidder to run the giant Sellafield complex in Cumbria.
Wigan Today 11th July 2008 more >>
Chester Chronicle 11th July 2008 more >>
Ananova 11th July 2008 more >>
Telegraph 11th July 2008 more >>
Unions have expressed concerns that the change of operator may lead to a major cost-cutting drive which could bring job losses to some of the 10,000 workers, while Greenpeace warns that corners could be cut on safety to increase profits.
Guardian 11th July 2008 more >>
Reprocessing
The Legacy of Reprocessing in the United Kingdom, by Martin Forwood.
International Panel on Fissile Materials July 2008 more >>
Heysham
WORKERS from the 1980s will be among those celebrating the 20th birthday of Heysham 2 power station this weekend. To mark the milestone staff who worked on the site in the ‘80s and many others involved in the Heysham 2 project will join existing staff for a family day.
Morecambe Visitor 11th July 2008 more >>
Sweden
A fire broke out on Friday on the roof of a turbine facility at Sweden’s Ringhals nuclear power plant but was brought under control, rescue services said. A spokesman for the plant said there was no risk to the reactor.
Interactive Investor 11th July 2008 more >>
Iran
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator will meet European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Geneva on July 19 for talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear programme.
Mirror 11th July 2008 more >>
Arab governments are deeply worried about the prospect of war between Iran and Israel and/or the US for the very good reason that several of them would be directly in the firing line if hostilities erupted. Any fallout could have devastating consequences.
Guardian 10th July 2008 more >>
The United States on Wednesday played down concerns about any immediate dangers from Iran’s nuclear program.
Middle East Online 10th July 2008 more >>
North Korea
Negotiators trying to move forward with disarming North Korea began a second day of talks on Friday that aim to agree on methods to verify the North’s own account of its nuclear activities.
Mirror 11th July 2008 more >>
India
Bronwen Maddox: The most important agreement to come out of the G8 summit was perhaps one from the meetings on the sidelines: the resurrection of India’s nuclear deal with the US . The attraction of the deal, both governments have argued, is that it would supply India with the equipment to build more nuclear power stations, helping it to meet its need for energy, while adding less to carbon emissions. It also allows the US to sell nuclear equipment to a country on its blacklist since India’s 1974 nuclear test. But the harm done by the deal – which outweighs the value of the help to a large, poor country, many in the US Congress and other governments have argued – is that it contradicts one of the aims of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It rewards India with civil nuclear help even though Delhi, which has refused to sign the treaty, acquired nuclear weapons. In doing so, it weakens the treaty’s central bargain: that the original five nuclear powers (the US, UK, France, China and Russia) would help non-nuclear weapons states with civil power provided their ambitions stopped there.
Times 11th July 2008 more >>
India moved with unexpected swiftness on Wednesday to submit to the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog a key document required to finalise a civil nuclear deal with the US. India on Wednesday delivered the draft nuclear safeguards accord to the International Atomic Energy Agency for approval by its board of governors, the agency said. “The Indians decided they were ready,” an IAEA spokesman told the Financial Times.
FT 10th July 2008 more >>
Coal
Green activists are vowing to force their way into one of Britain’s biggest power stations next month in what will be the most serious clash yet between the burgeoning climate change protest movement and the authorities. At least 2,000 campaigners from the 2008 Camp for Climate Action are expected to take part in the assault on Kingsnorth power station in Kent, a huge 2,000 megawatt plant that supplies electricity to 1.5 million homes in the South-east.
Independent 11th July 2008 more >>