Iran
The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency said on Tuesday it could not confirm if Iran’s nuclear intentions were entirely peaceful and that Tehran was pressing ahead with uranium enrichment despite the threat of sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s report seemed to bolster Washington’s call for Tehran to give up uranium enrichment — or face U.N. sanctions — before it agrees to any talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Reuters 14th Nov 2006
Unexplained traces of plutonium and enriched uranium discovered at an Iranian waste facility prove that Teheran is pushing ahead with its illegal nuclear development programme, atomic inspectors said yesterday. A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna accused Iran of persistently refusing to comply with undertakings it had given on nuclear proliferation. The report, which will be discussed today by the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors, confirmed Iran’s claims that it is well-advanced with its uranium enrichment programme, which many western intelligence officials believe is part of a clandestine weapons programme.
Telegraph 15th November 2006
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad yesterday promised a “celebration of Iran’s full nuclearisation” before the end of the Iranian year next March and said the US and its allies had “finally agreed to live with . . . an Iran possessing the nuclear fuel cycle”.
FT 15th Nov 2006
India
Arms control advocates urged changes in a U.S.-India nuclear cooperation agreement on Tuesday as the U.S. Senate prepared to resume action on the long-stalled deal. The initiative, allowing nuclear-armed India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and reactors for the first time in three decades, is expected to be taken up by the Senate as early as Wednesday, Senate sources said. Meanwhile, a new report by the Congressional Research Service, which examines issues for Congress, found that while India does not want Iran to have nuclear weapons, New Delhi’s “views of the Iranian threat and appropriate responses (to that threat) differ significantly from U.S. views.”
Reuters 14th Nov 2006
Sweden
A Swedish nuclear reactor was shut down, possibly for weeks, after a transformer at a power plant caught fire, but no one was injured, Sweden’s nuclear energy authority and news reports said. “A fire in the Ringhals 3 reactor took place near midnight,” the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate said in a statement on its website. “The reactor was shut down on an emergency basis, and all security systems worked as they should have.”
Interactive Investor 14th Nov 2006
MOX Shipment
The British government today moved to assure Irish authorities a cargo vessel carrying nuclear fuel en route from Sellafield to France will not enter Irish waters. Amid calls for the shipment to be stopped, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche said Britain was under no illusions that the vessel was barred from our territorial seas. Mr Roche said he had raised a number of concerns with UK authorities. “These concerns relate to safety, security and environmental risk from an accident or incident,” the minister said. The ship, the Atlantic Osprey, is understood to be preparing to carry 1.25 tonnes of mixed oxide or MOX fuel, which contains about 90kg of plutonium, to Cherbourg within the next few days. “Nevertheless, the Irish Coast Guard are monitoring the situation.”
Irish Examiner 14th Nov 2006
Evening Echo 14th Nov 2006
ANTI-NUCLEAR campaigners have launched a furious attack on nuclear bosses today over plans to ship plutonium-based Mox nuclear fuel out of Barrow. Normally, the road-hauled 1.2 tonne Mox consignment — carried in a thick steel flask inside a special lorry — is shipped out from Workington, much nearer Sellafield, where the new-style nuclear power station fuel is made. But work on the dock system in Workington saw the special BNG ship Atlantic Osprey temporarily moved to Barrow last week. BNG said it was staying in Barrow until its next assignment, but would neither confirm or deny that it was a Mox run. Now Martin Forwood, head of Cumbrians Against a Nuclear Environment, said he had confirmed that four Mox assemblies from BNG are expected at Cherbourg in France around November 21 on their way to a Swiss nuclear power station. This morning Atlantic Osprey moved from the BNFL terminal to the Anchor Line basin to carry out manoeuvres.
North West Evening Mail 14th Nov 2006
New nukes
As a leading industry player Westinghouse Electric Company is focused on delivering improved performance, reliability and efficiency with existing and new nuclear energy plants worldwide by providing fuel, services, technology, plant design and equipment for the commercial nuclear electric power industry. In addition it is working with the US government to reduce the capital costs of new plants so that they can be more competitive in the energy marketplace.
Engineer Live 14th Nov 2006
Submarines
Babcock’s shares have more than doubled in the past year to an all-time high, as sales and profits have risen sharply across businesses ranging from defence estates and a nuclear submarine base to engineering and plant services in South Africa.
FT 15th Nov 2006
