Hinkley
In a report by Chris Busby and Cecily Collingridge for Green Audit, analysis is presented showing the presence of enriched uranium contamination on the site proposed for the new nuclear reactors. Examining gamma spectroscopy radioactivity data tables that formed part of the Environment Impact Statement EIS supplied by developers EDF Energy, it was possible to show that the 2square kilometer site contained approximately 10 tonnes of enriched uranium reactor fuel. Uranium levels in soil samples were up to 4 times higher than average levels expected in the area as defined by Environment Agency reports. Isotopic ratios for the two key components, U238 and U235, which should not deviate from the value in nature of 21.3 were found to be as low as 12.5 signaling enriched uranium reactor fuel. Both the concentration and the activity ratio trends with sample depth were significant, showing that the excess enriched uranium was on the surface and had been deposited from the air. Deep samples showed only much lower concentrations of natural uranium. There also appeared to be a trend with distance from the sea; Hinkley Point is built on the coast.
Green Audit/Stop Hinkley Press Release 12th Jan 2012 more >>
Wylfa
UK Energy Minister Charles Hendry MP visited Wylfa nuclear power station and Holyhead Port on Monday to meet with Energy Island stakeholders. He said: “What we have seen is that this is one of the most promising sites of those bidding for a new nuclear build.” Horizon Nuclear power’s bid was recently announced as one of government’s preferred sites for new nuclear power stations.
North Wales Chronicle 11th Jan 2011 more >>
Cumbria
Fears have been raised in Parliament over the suitability of west Cumbria to host new reactors following the earthquake last month. Labour Peer Lord Judd also questioned whether the events of December 21 would affect the area’s ability to play home to an underground repository for nuclear waste. The earthquake hit at 10.59pm with the tremor’s epicentre 2km north-north-west of Coniston and registered 3.5 in magnitude, with a depth of 14.3km. Speaking in the House of Lords, Lord Judd demanded to know what assessments would be made of west Cumbria’s suitability following the tremors. The Government insisted the earthquake would not stop Cumbria’s bid to host new reactors on land adjacent to Sellafield nor a nuclear waste storage facility if west Cumbrian communities decided they wanted it.
Carlisle News and Star 12th Jan 2011 more >>
Whitehaven News 12th Jan 2011 more >>
TWO renewable energy projects in Copeland have received cash boosts. The grants, from the EDF Energy Green Fund, will help pay for a hydro-electric scheme at Low Gillerthwaite Field Centre in Ennerdale and a wind turbine at Seascale School.
Whitehaven News 12th Jan 2011 more >>
Sellafield
A SELLAFIELD health and safety advisor who was caught speeding on his way to work, implemented a road safety campaign at the site months later, a court has heard.
Whitehaven News 12th Jan 2011 more >>
A BIG police recruitment drive is under way at Sellafield just as Cumbria Constabulary stands to lose about 100 ‘bobbies’ over the coming months. The Whitehaven News understands that around 70 new officers will be taken on to help protect the site. The Civil Nuclear Constabulary confirmed it was about to start a recruitment drive for Sellafield. It is believed it is part of the government’s strengthening of arrangements to combat potential terrorist threats at sensitive national installations.
Whitehaven News 12th Jan 2011 more >>
Dounreay
A former dump at a nuclear plant could eventually provide habitat for birds under plans to close and cover it over. Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) has proposed filling in Landfill 42 at Dounreay in Caithness at a cost of between £1m to £2m. The work would involve 25,000 tonnes of rock and a top layer of gravel suitable for nesting seabirds. The Atomic UK Atomic Energy Authority was fined in 2006 after radioactive material was found at the dump.
BBC 12th Jan 2011 more >>
Dungeness
DRESSED in her electric-blue overalls, hard hat and steel toe-capped boots, Vicky Mitchell is a force to be reckoned with in the world of nuclear power. Last summer, Vicky, 21, became the first female maintenance technician at Dungeness B Power Station after finishing a four-year apprenticeship. And shes ready to do her crucial bit in the world of green engineering where thousands of new recruits are needed over the next few years.
Daily Mirror 13th Jan 2011 more >>
UK Reactors
The restart of the 660 MW Heysham 2-8 nuclear reactor has been delayed by two days to January 19, while the restart of the 480 MW Hinkley B8 reactor is also scheduled for January 19, data from National Grid showed. The Oldbury-2 reactor will likely restart at the end of this week, a spokesman for plant operator Magnox North said Wednesday.
Platts 12th Jan 2011 more >>
Westinghouse
ONE of the nuclear industry’s best known figures is relinquishing his role as chairman of Westinghouse UK, a company keen to get involved in potential power station development at Sellafield.
David Bonser is well known in West Cumbria for the key part he played in winning government approval for Thorp’s start-up back in the early 90s. Alongside the trade union’s ‘Trust Us’ campaign, Mr Bonser was BNFL’s public face in the successful fight in the face of hostile anti-nuclear opposition.
Whitehaven News 12th Jan 2011 more >>
Material Unaccounted For
Material unaccounted for (MUF) figures for civil nuclear material were published annually from 1977 onwards by UKAEA on behalf of the UK nuclear industry. Changes in the structure of the industry which followed from setting-up the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) meant that figures for 2004/5 and 2005/6 were published, on behalf of the industry, by the then DTI. The transfer in April 2007 of operational aspects of the work of the UK Safeguards Office (UKSO) from DTI to the HSE means that the figures for 2006/7 onwards are published, as a matter of routine, on the HSE website. Here are the figures for 2009/10
HSE 2nd Jan 2011 more >>
Flamanville
The foreign workers – including many Bulgarians and Romanians – on the construction site of EDF’s new-generation nuclear reactor in Flamanville – face severe working conditions, according to French media. Some one-third of the total number of 3 200 workers of the French state energy company EDF on the site in Flamanville are foreigners – mostly Romanians and Bulgarians but also Spanish and Portuguese, reported French news site Europe 1 citing the France Soir newspaper. A few days ago, some of its foreign workers have placed a bumper sticker on the site to express their despair and frustration with their working conditions saying “stress, oppression, despair, we’re tired.” French trade unions have expressed concern over the working conditions of foreign workers. “They are not quite the same as for French workers, but it is now impossible to know how much they are paid and how many hours they actually do,” Jacques Tord of CGT told France Soir, CGT on the Flamanville project.
Novinite 12th Jan 2011 more >>
Iran
Iran warned today that international talks planned for next week in Istanbul could be the west’s “last chance” to negotiate a deal over Tehran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.
Guardian 13th Jan 2011 more >>
Iran will not talk on its “nuclear dossier” at the Istanbul talks with world powers, atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said in comments published Wednesday, reiterating Tehran’s long-standing policy.
Middle East Online 12th Jan 2011 more >>
UK Weapons Sites
Staff shortages and funding cuts at nuclear weapons sites across the UK have put the public and the environment at risk, according to the Ministry of Defence’s nuclear safety watchdog. The analysis, marked “restricted”, points to 11 “potentially significant risks” at bomb-making sites and ports housing nuclear submarines, documents seen by the Guardian show. They warn that efforts to reduce radioactive risks have been “weak”, safety analyses “inconsistent” and attempts to cope with change “poor”. Formal regulatory action has been taken at two naval dockyards: Devonport in Plymouth and Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria. The reports also reveal that there is “no funded plan” for the decommissioning of Britain’s 16 defunct nuclear submarines. Nine are moored at Devonport and seven at Rosyth on the Firth of Forth.
Guardian 13th Jan 2011 more >>
