Radhealth
The incidence of leukaemia is twice as high in children living close to French nuclear power plants as in those living elsewhere in the country, a study by French health and nuclear safety experts has found. But the study, to be published soon in the International Journal of Cancer, fell short of establishing a causal link between the higher incidence of leukaemia, a type of blood cancer, and living near nuclear power plants. France has used nuclear power for three decades and is the most nuclear-reliant country in the world, with 75 percent of its electricity produced by 58 reactors. The study, conducted by the French health research body INSERM, found that between 2002 and 2007, 14 children under the age of 15 living in a 5-kilometre radius of France’s 19 nuclear power plants had been diagnosed with leukaemia. This is double the rate of the rest of the country, where a total of 2,753 cases were diagnosed in the same period.
Alert.net 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Reseau Sortir du Nucleaire 12th Jan 2012 more >>
ONR
Nuclear ebulletin 11th Jan includes: Stress Tests Report; European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group want feedback; international talks on changes to transport regulations; reports on geological disposal.
ONR 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Radwaste
The Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency have recently published two reports on work relating to possible disposal of most of the UKs higher activity radioactive waste in a geological disposal facility deep underground. Neither ONR nor the Environment Agency has a formal regulatory role in selecting a site for a facility. ONR and the Environment Agency are helping the process by advising and commenting on safety and environmental matters, which would become important should their regulatory roles begin in the future.
ONR 11th Jan 2012 more >>
A first-of-a-kind reactor system has been set up in Belgium by coupling a subcritical assembly with a particle accelerator. The work is a major step in a program to research advanced waste management.
World Nuclear News 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Nuclear Image
The evil villains in James Bond movies are being blamed for casting a long-lasting shadow over the image of nuclear power, says the president of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Prof David Phillips says that Dr No, with his personal nuclear reactor, helped to create a “remorselessly grim” reputation for atomic energy. Richard George of Greenpeace said: “A handful of Bond films haven’t tarnished the nuclear industry’s reputation. They’ve managed to do that all by themselves. “I don’t think they’ve got a top secret fake volcanic island though. But if they did, it would probably be cheaper to build than a nuclear power station.”
BBC 12th Jan 2012 more >>
Sizewell
EDF Energy stopped its 630-megawatt (MW) Sizewell B1 nuclear reactor for planned maintenance work on Wednesday, a spokesman said.
Reuters 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Heysham
EDF Energy stopped its 610-megawatt (MW) Heysham 1-1 nuclear reactor in Britain at midnight for refuelling, a spokesman said on Thursday.
Reuters 12th Jan 2012 more >>
Energy Prices
EDF Energy has raised expectations of widespread cuts in household power bills from other “big six” firms by reducing its gas bills for 1.4 million customers by 5%.
Guardian 11th Jan 2012 more >>
FT 12th Jan 2012 more >>
EDF Energy customers are still paying 16pc more to heat and light their homes than they were two years ago, despite the company’s decision to cut gas bills by 5pc.
Telegraph 11th Jan 2012 more >>
France
Nowhere did the alarm bells sounded by the Fukushima nuclear disaster ring more loudly than in France, which leads the world in nuclear energy. About three-quarters of its electricity comes from nuclear power stations, and it is one of the main exporters of reactors and related technology. Now it is leading the way in setting radical safety standards for the industry, in an effort to ensure that the disaster in Japan on 11 March 2011 could never be replayed on French soil. Last week, the country’s nuclear regulator imposed what are perhaps the toughest safety measures so far in response to the Fukushima accident. In a novel approach, it will require all power plants to build a set of safety systems of last resort, contained in bunkers that will be hardened to withstand more extreme earthquakes, floods and other threats than plants themselves are designed to cope with.
Nature 11th Jan 2012 more >>
A refreshingly frank and forward-looking report on the safety of French nuclear power plants in the wake of Fukushima should spur other countries to take a hard look at regulation of their own reactors.
Nature 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Fukushima
Missing notepads, the naming of electronic document files, language translation and overwhelming public interest were just a few of the problems US nuclear regulators had to deal with during the nine-week run of their emergency operations center during the Fukushima accident last year, the US chief regulator said in a speech January 10. US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko said that during the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi I nuclear power plant in Japan, the NRCs emergency operations center was being staffed 24 hours a day by volunteer responders and managers on rotations.
i-Nuclear.com 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Japan
A test-run is due to resume in mid-January at the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture. The nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 plant led to the current government policy to review the nuclear fuel cycle project of reprocessing and extracting used plutonium for recycling. A report from the Japan Atomic Energy Commission estimates the costs of used fuel recycling at double the costs of the “direct disposal” method of burying unreprocessed fuel underground. Resuming the Rokkasho test-run, just when serious debates on nuclear fuel reprocessing are about to begin on the basis of various available data, can only spell one purpose: to establish an operational “track record” to justify the continuation of the fuel recycling project.
Asahi 11th Jan 2012 more >>
India
Letter: Japan’s Fukushima disaster has spurred public protest in India against government plans to build new nuclear power plants, despite the Atomic Energy Commission’s reassurances. We should instead be considering solar energy a safe and sustainable option. India receives 5,000 trillion kilowatt-hours of solar energy equivalent every year, more than the total energy the country consumes. India could also easily exploit wind energy to meet its power needs. Yet only a fraction of this potential is being used.
Nature 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Doomsday Clock
It is five minutes to midnight. Two years ago, it appeared that world leaders might address the truly global threats that we face. In many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed. For that reason, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is moving the clock hand one minute closer to midnight, back to its time in 2007.
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 10th Jan 2012 more >>
Daily Mail 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Nuclear Security
North Korea poses the world’s greatest risks among nations with nuclear material, according to a new index, while Australia has the tightest security controls. The Nuclear Threat Initiative, in a project led by former US Senator Sam Nunn and the Economist Intelligence Unit, aims to draw attention to steps that nations can take to ensure the safety of the world’s most destructive weapons. Among 32 nations that possess at least one kilogram of weapons-usable nuclear materials, Australia was ranked as the most secure. It was followed by European nations led by Hungary, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. On the bottom of the list, North Korea was ranked as the least secure of its nuclear material, edging out Pakistan. The index, which gave rankings on a scale of 100, also listed Iran, Vietnam and India below the 50-point threshold.
Telegraph 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Economist 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Guardian 11th Jan 2012 more >>
US
The US government has expelled Venezuelan diplomat Livia Acosta Noguera for allegedly assisting the Iranian government in a plot to launch cyber attacks against US nuclear power plants.
Infosecurity 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Iran
An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed by a bomb in his car in what appears to be the latest covert assassination to hinder the countrys nuclear programme.
Press & Journal 12th Jan 2012 more >>
Belfast Telegraph 12th Jan 2012 more >>
Independent 12th Jan 2012 more >>
Scotsman 12th Jan 2012 more >>
Guardian 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Telegraph 11th Jan 2012 more >>
The Week 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Whoever is killing Iran’s scientists is clearly willing to risk catastrophic consequences that could engulf the whole region. A covert war, based on assassinations and sabotage, may appear a better alternative. Individual killings may not seriously hinder a large, wide-ranging programme, but they would certainly deter young Iranians from taking that line of work. However, such a campaign is not without huge risks for the region. Elements of the Iranian establishment seem to be lashing out in frustration. Last October’s bomb plot against the Saudi ambassador and Israeli diplomats in Washington, alleged to be the work of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, was amateurish and reckless. Likewise, the storming of the British embassy, on the anniversary of Majid Shahriari’s assassination, appeared to have gone much further than the leadership intended, and deepened Tehran’s isolation. “The old guys at the top are losing control of the situation,” a senior western diplomat observed, the day before this latest killing.
Guadian 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Whenever an Iranian scientist is killed or a mysterious explosion takes place inside a sensitive facility, the veil is briefly lifted on an intense covert effort to derail Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. In the end, covert action can achieve nothing more than delay. If Iran’s current leaders or their successors are implacably determined to acquire the means to build nuclear weapons, then they will succeed eventually, even if the West were to launch a war to destroy their key installations. Eventually, the world may have to live with a nuclear-armed Iran – or at least a nuclear-capable adversary permanently on the threshold of building the ultimate weapon.
Telegraph 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Like most people, here, in the US or China and Japan, I don’t want to see a war in the Persian Gulf, not least because it will send the price of oil through the roof, and tip all our economies into deep recession. I was vaguely nauseated when the new Defence Secretary, Phillip Hammond, rattled Britain’s little sabre in Washington, especially since the Pentagon is being much more cautious. So on the crisis goes, in all likelihood, resulting in the Iranian regime making some serious misstep, which will result in a war at some point in 2012.
Daily Mail 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Factbox: Incidents involving Iran’s nuclear work.
Reuters 11th Jan 2012 more >>
North Korea
The United States has offered North Korea food aid and a suspension of sanctions in exchange for the country halting its uranium enrichment programme, North Korean officials have said. Experts say the uranium programme disclosed in November 2010 could give the communist state a second way to make nuclear weapons. The disclosure spurred efforts to revive stalled six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations.
Telegraph 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Renewables
Friends of the Earth has urged the government to reveal its contingency plans to protect the feed-in tariff budget, ahead of a Court of Appeal hearing on Friday that will finally determine whether its plans to rush through cuts to solar incentives can proceed.
Business Green 11th Jan 2012 more >>
Plumbers are almost wholly unprepared for the “drastic change” to the way the UK’s homes are heated as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions, leading engineers said on Thursday, meaning householders could need to turn to architects and engineers at a potential cost of over £20,000 per house. In a report published on Thursday, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) also warned that government plants for insulation and green energy are not adequate for the changes needed for a shift to low-carbon heating. They called for a massive switch to renewable energy such as solar water heaters and wood-burning stoves to a street by street effort to upgrade insulation in Britain’s draughty homes.
Guardian 12th Jan 2012 more >>
The “cautionary tale” in a new Royal Academy of Engineering report illustrates that simply installing renewable energy kit might not be the answer to reducing our power demands. Larger-scale renovation overseen by expert architects and engineers will be needed at homes up and down the country to ensure residents get the best combination of low-carbon technologies and insulation for their property. Only by financing such a nationwide upgrade will the government be able to hit its target of cutting carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, with domestic heating currently accounting for a quarter of Britain’s emissions, the report said.
Telegraph 12th Jan 2012 more >>
The UK’s first community-owned ‘high head’ power system is getting closer to becoming a reality in the Pennine villages which make up Saddleworth, an area rich in historic exploitation of hillside rivers through dams. It is one of these, Dove Stone reservoir, which will power around 45 local homes if Saddleworth Community Hydro can raise £120,000 for a turbine through a newly-launched share subscription. The mechanics are simple: United Utilities regularly lets water out of the reservoir into the river Tame the ‘high head’ and it is this controlled flow which will drive the turbine.
Guardian 11th Jan 2012 more >>
IBERDROLAS global offshore wind division in Glasgow has submitted bids for two vast projects in France, in a move that would see all planning work carried out in Scotland.
Scotsman 12th Jan 2012 more >>
Herald 12th Jan 2012 more >>
EDF and GDF Suez, the rival French utilities, are going head-to-head in a battle to secure the lion’s share of a â¬10bn project to build up to 600 wind turbines off the coast of Normandy and Brittany. Three industrial consortia led by EDF, GDF Suez and Spain’s Iberdrola each submitted bids on Wednesday night for a share of five offshore wind farms planned by France, the country’s first, in one of the biggest developments of its kind in Europe.
FT 12th Jan 2012 more >>
Dumfries and Galloway Council is seeking approval to borrow up to £2.2m to spend on installing solar panels on a number of its properties. A report claims saving to electricity costs and income from generation could boost its budget by more than £6m. The council also wants to investigate further renewable energy options which could be exploited. Among the possibilities being explored is a small hydro-electric scheme at the Caul on the River Nith in Dumfries. The report to the policy and resources committee warns that the council must act quickly to ensure the best return on its investment.
BBC 12th Jan 2012 more >>
Obituary
Though the former Labour MP Frank Cook, who has died aged 76 after suffering from lung cancer, always insisted that he was a simple leftwinger, as strong on defence as he was against nuclear war, there was nothing predictable about this veteran maverick. During the 27 years that he represented Stockton North, on Teesside, his views on his specialist subject were well defined, but also changeable. The issue that Cook made very much his own was the danger of the civil use of nuclear power. In October 1983 he campaigned against the dumping of intermediate-level radioactive waste in a disused mine under his Billingham home, and for an independent commission to promote alternative souces of energy.
Guardian 11th Jan 2012 more >>
