Sellafield
An investigation has revealed that radioactivity leaked from a pipe at Sellafield for 14 months before it was discovered on the day the Prime Minister visited. The radioactivity came from an overhead ventilation duct. It was carrying water vapour from the Magnox reprocessing plant for dilution before authorised discharge to the sea. There was a steady drip from a faulty valve flange contaminating a 2m square concrete slab before it was discovered on January 23. A Board of Inquiry concluded that the radioactive water had gone undetected for so long “because managerial controls over the line were insufficient and there was inadequate inspection”.
Carlisle News & Star 14th May 2009 more >>
BBC 14th May 2009 more >>
Whitehaven News 13th May 2009 more >>
PEOPLE earning a living around the Irish Sea are at no risk from Sellafield’s radiation discharges. And the reassurance has come from Ireland’s own Radiological Protection Institute. In an official report, the Institute confirms that Irish people generally are in no danger but goes further by declaring that “even those who eat the most seafood and spend the most time on and around the Irish Sea are exposed to only low levels of radioactivity every year from Sellafield.”
Whitehaven News 13th May 2009 more >>
Bradwell
SAFETY fears surrounding construction of a new nuclear power station at Bradwell will be ironed out by the time plans are given the go ahead. Concerns emerged for a new build in the village after recently leaked documents from the Finnish nuclear safety agency (STUK) showed problems with the design of important safety systems, and a lack of co-operation in resolving these concerns at a site in Finland.
Maldon Standard 13th May 2009 more >>
Millom
TODAY marks the end of the first consultation period over plans to build a nuclear power plant at Kirksanton. NW Evening Mail has been out into the community to ask their views on the proposal.
NW Evening Mail 14th May 2009 more >>
Scotland
The Scottish Government has recognised the importance of the energy sector to the country by setting up a new strategic group similar to that for the financial services industry. The new Energy Advisory Board, which yesterday met for the first time, brings together representatives of every area of industry in the country.
Herald 14th May 2009 more >>
Letter Steuart Campbell: First Minister Alex Salmond’s claim that nuclear power is unreliable and unwanted in Scotland (“Scotland’s energy-rich potential is unrivalled”, Opinion, 13 May) is flawed and seems to indicate that he is out of touch.
Scotsman 15th May 2009 more >>
Nuclear Sites
Ed Milliband: As a first step towards the building of new power stations, we recently published a list of possible sites where a new nuclear power station could be built, which includes Sellafield, Kirksanton and Braystones. We published the list last month because we want to hear your views now and I can assure you that your views will be heard and acted upon. That’s because before any power station gets the go-ahead, we think it’s vital that local communities are heard and have their say, in what is a big decision. We have already vetted the applications against conditions of nominating, such as whether sufficient awareness raising was done in a local community. On the 14 May, the window for public comment will close and the final list of potential sites will appear in the autumn. There is still ample time for readers of The Whitehaven News to voice their views on the sites. They can do this at http://www.nuclearpowersiting.decc.gov.uk/
Whitehaven News 13th May 2009 more >>
Proliferation
The number of potential nuclear weapons states could more than double in a few years unless the major powers take radical steps towards disarmament, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has warned. In a Guardian interview, Mohamed ElBaradei said the threat of proliferation was particularly grave in the Middle East, a region he described as a “ticking bomb”.
Guardian 14th May 2009 more >>
Reuters 15th May 2009 more >>
Dounreay
DOUNREAY Site Restoration (DSRL) has received planning consent for two facilities designed to process and store the low- (LLW) and intermediate-level waste (ILW) produced at the fast-breed reactor site in Scotland.
Chemical Engineer 14th May 2009 more >>
New Civil Engineer 14th May 2009 more >>
World Nuclear News 14th May 2009 more >>
Low Level Waste
A £6MILLION metal recycling plant at Workington is the UK’s first new nuclear-licensed site for 20 years. Studsvik, the UK’s first plant to treat contaminated scrap metal from the nuclear industry, was officially opened in May.
Cumbrian Times & Star 14th May 2009 more >>
CONTROVERSIAL proposals to bury radioactive waste in Keekle have met with opposition from councillors. French-owned company Sita UK plans to drill 24 exploratory boreholes at Keekle Head to see if the area is suitable for disposing of very low-level radioactive waste. However, councillors from Frizington, which neighbours the potential site, have voiced their concerns.
Whitehaven News 13th May 2009 more >>
Higher Level Waste
Copeland and Allerdale councils who have both “expressed an interest” in the possibility of hosting a repository have joined the group known as the West Cumbria partnership for Managing Radioactive Waste Safely. The partnership also includes the West Cumbria Sites (nuclear) Stakeholders Group, the Cumbria Association of Local Councils and local trades unions. All other Cumbrian local authorities have been invited to join while the Isle of Man government and other bodies concerned with the impact a deep repository may have on the area can attend meetings as observers along with the general public.
Whitehaven News 13th May 2009 more >>
National Grid
National Grid expects to increase its spending on the upgrade of Britain’s power network by two thirds, or £2 billion a year, within three years. The company, which operates Britain’s high-voltage electricity transmission and gas distribution networks, was already planning to spend about £3 billion a year between now and 2012, reinforcing the grid and tying in new power stations and wind farms. The increases, which will be funded by consumers through their energy bills, are necessary if the vast wind farms and nuclear power stations that Britain needs if it is to cut carbon dioxide emissions are to be built.
Times 15th May 2009 more >>
Finland
The OL3 European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) project, under construction at Olkiluoto, Finland, is seen by the nuclear industry as the blueprint for a new generation of reactors they’d like to see being built all over the world. Already well behind schedule and way over cost, serious problems were uncovered two days ago in the primary coolant pipes, only a week after documents leaked to Finnish media revealed that designs for the most vital and fundamental part of this untried and untested nuclear reactor – the safety systems – are still not yet in place.
Greenpeace International 14th May 2009 more >>
North Korea
South Korea is increasingly concerned that North Korea’s latest threats about processing plutonium to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal is no longer a negotiating ploy to gain leverage with the US. Policymakers in Seoul believe Pyongyang may have decided to pursue a nonnegotiable strategy of trying to develop nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles by 2012, in an attempt to bolster the ailing regime with a fully fledged nuclear deterrent and secure a domestic propaganda coup.
FT 15th May 2009 more >>
North Korea is widely expected to carry out its threat to test a nuclear device, part of the slow march to developing an atomic arsenal and cementing its position as one of the world’s most isolated states.
Guardian 15th May 2009 more >>
Israel
The mainstream media is already inside the Israeli narrative. Little is made of the fact that the Arab states and Iran have had to live in the shadow of Israel’s nuclear arsenal for the past four decades.
Middle East Online 14th May 2009 more >>
Italy
Italy’s Senate, the upper house of parliament, approved on Thursday measures aimed to bring the country closer to bringing back nuclear energy, which it rejected more than 20 years ago. The only Group of Eight industrialised nation without nuclear power, Italy voted in 1987 to shut its plants and suspend building new ones after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has since made nuclear revival one of priorities for his government.
Guardian 14th May 2009 more >>
Scotsman 15th May 2009 more >>
Faslane
THE scrapping of nuclear weapons from Faslane would turn Helensburgh into a “ghost town” and doom West Dunbartonshire to economic devastation. That was the harsh warning this week from Labour MSP Jackie Baillie over SNP proposals to cut the missile programme and use the money to cushion the budget over the next few years.
Lennox Herald 14th May 2009 more >>
Renewables
Yesterday, Dundee City Council joined forces with companies in the local public sector to announce ambitious plans to make the city “Scotland’s renewable energy capital”. Rival Aberdeen, 66 miles to the north, announced its plans to lay claim to the title seven years ago when the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG) was established with the aim of building on the city’s worldwide reputation as a leading oil and gas centre to front the drive for green energy developments in Scotland.
Scotsman 15th May 2009 more >>