Planning
Europe’s new environment commissioner is threatening to take Britain to court over its allegedly undemocratic system for challenging planning decisions. Janez Potocnik said he had issued a “final warning” to Britain, which had agreed to new rules but not implemented them. “All national governments signed up to these regulations and it is in everyone’s interests that the quality of life in a country is preserved. If anyone thinks we are happy with infringements then they are terribly mistaken,” he said. Under European law citizens have the right to know about the impact of industrial pollution and about their potential effects on the environment. The EC first warned the UK in October 2007 that its system for reviewing decisions on the environment were “prohibitively expensive” and individuals or campaign groups felt unable to mount legitimate court challenges against public bodies for fear of the financial impact of losing. The EC warning comes at a critical time: the problems of democratic accountability over decisions that affect the environment are set to soar as both Labour and the Conservatives have promised to streamline planning decisions so new nuclear and other power plants can be built faster.
Guardian 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Heysham
British Energy’s Heysham 1-2 nuclear power unit shut early on Wednesday to refuel.
Yahoo 7th Apr 2010 more >>
Sizewell
Parliamentary candidates for the Suffolk Coastal have given their views on plans for a new generation of nuclear power station – one of which could be sited in the constituency. Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat candidate said it was important that there is a public inquiry into the “risks, costs and benefits” of any plan to build a new nuclear power plant at Sizewell.
BBC 13th Apr 2010 more >>
NDA
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has unveiled its new-look legal panel, with the number of external firms the organisation uses cut back from nine to five. The nuclear clean-up group has signed up Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Pinsent Masons to its roster for the first time, while DLA Piper, Burges Salmon and Field Fisher Waterhouse have all been retained. The NDA’s decision to reduce the number of firms on its legal roster has seen former panel firms Norton Rose and Herbert Smith miss out after failing to be reappointed. Other firms to miss out were Scotland’s Burness and Brodies, as well as Cumbrian firms Cartmell Shepherd and HFT Gough & Co.
Legal Week 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Proliferation
World leaders acknowledged for the first time yesterday the risk that lethal nuclear materials could trigger mass destruction if allowed to fall into terrorist hands. The heads of government gathered in Washington pledged that within four years they would lock down the vulnerable stockpiles, in part left over from the Cold War and found in more than 40 countries, including Britain.
Independent 14th Apr 2010 more >>
There are 130 civilian research reactors around the globe that use highly enriched uranium. Nuclear experts say that running them takes tons of bomb-grade fuel, enough to build many hundreds of nuclear warheads. And most are lightly guarded.
New York Times 12th April 2010 more >>
World leaders have endorsed US President Barack Obama’s call for securing all nuclear materials around the globe within four years to keep them out of the grasp of terrorists. But they offered few specifics for achieving that goal. The threat of nuclear terrorism was the focus of a 47-nation, two-day summit that ended on Tuesday — billed as the largest gathering of world leaders on US soil since the UN founding conference 65 years ago. But it was two nations that were not invited — Iran and North Korea — that attracted much of the attention.
Channel 4 News 14th Apr 2010 more >>
US President Barack Obama has said the world is a safer place thanks to agreements to secure all its nuclear materials within four years.
Sky News 14th Apr 2010 more >>
BBC 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Georgian security forces have foiled a criminal plot to sell weapons-grade uranium on the black market, the country’s president told a gathering of world leaders yesterday. The revelation brought a sense of urgency to the Washington summit on nuclear security, where Barack Obama called on the rest of the world “not simply to talk, but to act” to destroy vulnerable stockpiles of nuclear material, or to safeguard them against theft by terrorists. Last night, the US president welcomed an announcement by his Russian counterpart to shut down his country’s last plant producing plutonium, in the Siberian, formerly closed city of Zheleznogorsk. Obama said it demonstrated “Russia’s leadership on nuclear issues”. Ukraine and Canada said they would no longer use HEU in research reactors, and switch to low enriched uranium (LEU) – which is much harder to turn into a bomb. Canada’s HEU will be shipped to the US, from where it originally came, for safekeeping.
Guardian 14th Apr 2010 more >>
The gaping loophole is the absence of a treaty banning the production of any more HEU or plutonium anywhere in the world. Pakistan blocked negotiations on such a treaty from starting last year, calling on cuts in India’s stock as a precondition for talking. There was no sign this week that Pakistan had changed its mind.
Guardian 14th Apr 2010 more >>
European Union President Herman Van Rompuy on Tuesday said the EU will provide funds to expand a lab at the International Atomic Energy Agency that traces smuggled nuclear materials. As part of international efforts to ensure “the highest level of nuclear security,” the EU supported developing the IAEA’s forensic capabilities “to determine the origin of illicitly transferred nuclear and radioactive materials,” he said at a 47-nation nuclear summit in Washington.
EU Business 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Hosting a 47-nation conference in Washington, Mr Obama called for concerted global action to lock down loose nuclear materials, warning that if al Qaeda acquired an atomic weapon it would be a “catastrophe for the world”. “Two decades after the end of the Cold War, we face a cruel irony of history – the risk of a nuclear confrontation between nations has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up,” he said. “So today is an opportunity not simply to talk, but to act. Not simply to make pledges, but to make real progress for the security of our people,” he told the assembled heads of state and government.
Herald 14th Apr 2010 more >>
This summit is just one part of a drive by President Obama to demonstrate that he and the United States are in the lead in an ambitious, some would say grandiose, quest to reduce and eventually completely eliminate nuclear weapons. Those who have spoken to the president about this say it is a real and fundamental passion. But there are a number of ways to read what he is up to and why.
BBC Blog 13th Apr 2010 more >>
IN 2007 armed gunmen attacked a nuclear facility in South Africa, breaching heavy security before they were chased off (and never caught). The incident illustrated that the possibility of nuclear materials falling into the wrong hands is far from an abstract one. The fears come in three separate but related forms: that nuclear weapons might fall into the wrong hands; that weapons-grade highly enriched uranium and plutonium that could be used to make nuclear bombs might go missing; and that larger amounts of other radioactive material, from discarded X-ray machines to spent fuel, might be used to make a dirty bomb. Securing nuclear material now means getting more states than ever to co-operate. This is what the nuclear security conference that opened in Washington, DC, on April 12th hoped to achieve.
Economist 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Russia and the US have agreed to dispose of tonnes of surplus weapons-grade plutonium under a deal signed at a nuclear summit in Washington. The deal calls for each side to dispose of 34 tonnes of the material. Moscow is to spend $2.5bn (£1.63bn) on the programme with the US contributing $400m to the Russian disposal. Earlier, Mexico pledged to eliminate all its highly-enriched uranium. The country will work with the US, Canada and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to convert the uranium at its research reactor into lower-grade fuel. Ukraine said on Monday that it would ship its high-enriched uranium to protected storage sites abroad – possibly in Russia or the US.
BBC 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Al Qaeda is attempting to acquire nuclear weapons and would “have no compunction in using them”, President Barack Obama has warned at a key nuclear summit in Washington.
New Statesman 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Nuclear Accidents
World’s Top 5 nuclear disasters: Chernobyl; Kyshtym; Windscale; Three Mile Island; Tokaimura
Discovery 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Iran
Barack Obama’s success in reaching a broad international agreement on securing the world’s stocks of nuclear weapons material was dented after the Chinese failed to commit to a strong set of new sanctions on Iran.
Telegraph 14th Apr 2010 more >>
Metro 14th Apr 2010 more >>
China said Tuesday sanctions were not the answer to the Iranian atomic standoff, denting US President Barack Obama’s hopes of sealing a deal to punish Tehran as he hosted a summit on nuclear arms.
Middle East Online 13th Apr 2010 more >>
As pressure mounts for new sanctions against Iran, experts say its alleged nuclear weapons programme is struggling to find scientists and technicians and faces sabotage by Western and Israeli agents.
Middle East Online 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Disarmament
US President Barack Obama’s nuclear-weapons policy represents a delicate compromise that could limit research on new warheads but bolster the workforce of scientists at the national security laboratories. The balancing act came into sharp focus in the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), publicly released last week.
Nature 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Trident
Liberal Democrats have today hit out at Labour and Conservative nuclear policies accusing them of being “stuck in a time warp” harking back to the cold war. As US president Barak Obama makes a concerted effort to mute the threat of nuclear terrorism, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has accused Gordon Brown and David Cameron of failing to follow suit. Mr Clegg has accused Mr Brown of secretly rowing back on his commitment to reduce UK nuclear weapons. In Labour’s manifesto revealed this morning in Birmingham, Mr Brown confirmed his party’s commitment to maintaining British nuclear weapons, dropping plans to reduce the number of submarine-launched missiles, known as Tridents.
View London 13th Apr 2010 more >>
Energy Efficiency
At least one in 10 new homes in Britain do not meet legal requirements for energy efficiency, condemning tens of thousands of householders to higher energy bills, and exacerbating climate change. The government has identified improving households’ energy efficiency as the best way to reduce carbon emissions at the same time as keeping a lid on rising utility bills. Since April 2008, all new homes have had to meet tough standards on draught proofing, lighting and heating. All homes require an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) indicating how they rate. But at least 30,000 of the 300,000 homes built since then do not meet these legal standards, according to official figures just released.
Guardian 14th Apr 2010 more >>
