Trident
Twelve anti-nuclear protesters have been arrested at the home of the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent. The demonstrators from Coventry were taking part in a year-long blockade of the Faslane naval base on the Clyde.
BBC 12th Feb 2007
Belfast Telegraph 12th Feb 2007
ICScotland 12th Feb 2007
The cost of Britain’s nuclear weapons programme could exceed £100 billion over the next 50 years, anti-nuclear campaigners claimed today. CND said the figure, far higher than any previously published, was based on the Government’s own estimates.
24Dash 11th Feb 2007
Iran
Iran’s top security official yesterday held out hope for a “negotiated settlement” on Tehran’s nuclear programme and said the programme would pose no threat to Israel or any other country. Ali Larijani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, also told an international security conference in Munich that his government was willing to discuss technical limitations on uranium enrichment, to ensure it could not make the highly enriched uranium needed for a nuclear weapon.
FT 12th Feb 2007
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked the 28th anniversary of Iran’s revolution on Sunday pledging to pursue the country’s nuclear programme but announcing no new atomic work that would have riled the West.
Reuters 12th Feb 2007
EU Foreign Ministers are to step up the pressure on Iran.
Sky News 12th Feb 2007
President Ahmadinejad celebrated the 28th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution yesterday by defiantly vowing to pursue his country’s nuclear programme. But he confounded expectations that he would unveil new developments on the nuclear front that would have stoked tensions with the West. Analysts saw it as a sign that the establishment in Tehran was reining in the firebrand leader.
Times 12th Feb 2007
Independent 12th Feb 2007
The Bush administration stepped up pressure on Iran yesterday by producing what it claimed was intelligence that Tehran was behind roadside bombs used by insurgents against US forces in Iraq. It also said the decision to send the arms had been made at “the highest levels”.
Guardian 12th Feb 2007
Independent 12th Feb 2007
New nukes
There’s a nuclear war coming. One in which it will be the smart who pile in and the foolish who stay on the sidelines. And one where the yields will be measured not in megatons, but in pounds sterling. Billions of them. The opening rounds are already being fought and the big boys are already in play – the multinational construction companies, the global engineering groups and, if they too are smart, the law firms hungry for big deals to close. Next month, the government will publish its White Paper on the future of the UK’s energy supply. It is the worst-kept secret in Whitehall that top of the list will be proposals to renew the UK’s commitment to nuclear power.
Herald 12th Feb 2007
Various letters: In a factual world, there is, at present, no realistic alternative but modern nuclear electricity generation plant, if our future clean energy demand is to be met.
Herald 12th Feb 2007
France
In her bid to become the first woman president of France, Ségolène Royal has spelt out her policy ideas. Renewable energy would account for 20 per cent of electricity by 2020, creating 70,000 jobs and reducing the reliance on nuclear and fossil fuel energies. Power utilities EDF and Gaz de France would be merged in a nationalised group.
FT 12th Feb 2007
British Energy
There are going to be plenty of nervous shareholders before tomorrow’s third-quarter numbers from British Energy, the struggling nuclear energy group. The shares have tumbled towards new lows in recent weeks on speculation that the repair work on cracked pipes at the Hunterston and Hinkley Point power stations has again fallen behind schedule. However, should the maintenance work be on track the shares will get a significant boost. The broker Collins Stewart believes that good news on the operational front could translate into another 200p on the current share price and that “the balance of probability is moving towards no more bad news”.
Independent 12th Feb 2007
