Hunterston
Hunterston in North Ayrshire could become the dustbin for Scotland’s nuclear waste under plans being proposed by the US company that is decommissioning Britain’s old reactors. (Longer version of yesteday’s Sunday Herald story)
Rob Edwards 14th Nov 2010 more >>
Oldbury
The Environment Agency has completed £35,000 worth of flood defence work along the River Severn. The agency has repaired more than a mile of tidal flood bank near Oldbury Nuclear Power Station, which protects an area of low lying land containing approximately 100 properties. This should be a reminder about why we should not be considering a new nuke on this site – see press release from two years ago – as I said then Climate change can only add to the flooding danger.
Ruscombe Green 14th Nov 2010 more >>
Letter Andy Stirling: Am I alone in noting that UK civil nuclear infrastructures are uniquely implicated in all four “tier one” threats identified in the recent defence white paper? Objectively, this point is as obvious to nuclear proponents as sceptics. First, few “terrorism targets” are more iconic, vulnerable or potentially damaging than domestic nuclear facilities. Second, few targets for “cyber attack” present greater potential for harm than nuclear control systems. Third, few other “industrial accidents” present greater potential for catastrophic damage than a Chernobyl-style nuclear reactor core melt with containment breach. Fourth, the foremost emerging instance of a new global “military crisis” lies in the widely mooted response to Iranian development of nuclear power. It is curious that the white paper makes no mention of this. The conclusions are not automatic. But, since other low-carbon energy options exist that are also arguably preferable on other grounds, we might expect some pretty good reasons to outweigh these concerns. To simply ignore these issues would be truly indefensible.
Guardian 15th Nov 2010 more >>
Scotland
Letter: Extensive coverage was rightly given to the speech at the Scottish Parliament by Rupert Soames, chief executive of energy company Aggreko, in which he implored Scottish and UK politicians to reconsider their current wishful-thinking approach to future electricity needs, namely that building ever more onshore and offshore windmills, plus investment in technologies such as wave energy (which also requires wind), is the answer.
Scotsman 15th Nov 2010 more >>
Letter: Rupert Soames is right to point out the danger of the “lights going out” in the UK if the planned closures of large swaths of existing non-renewable generating capacity are not replaced by equivalent new secure capacity in the next few years. However, he is wrong to cry wolf about the lights going out in Scotland, unless he envisages a situation where power cuts are applied to Scotland by the National Grid, while at the same time Scotland is exporting electricity via the interconnector to England to help stop the lights going out there. Scotland has been exporting large amounts of electricity to England for decades due to excess capacity. With Longannet, Peterhead, Torness, our hydro and pumped storage capacity, and even some electricity from the 2.5GWs of renewables that already exist, Scotland will not run the risk of power cuts until the mid-20s. Any new nuclear station in Scotland at this time would be for England’s benefit only.
Scotsman 15th Nov 2010 more >>
Herald 15th Nov 2010 more >>
Germany
Demonstrations against the German government’s nuclear power policy continued as protesters marched near the Gorleben waste storage site.
Deutsche Welle 14th Nov 2010 more >>
Iran
Iran has carried out military exercises near its nuclear facilities, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted as saying on Sunday.
STV 14th Nov 2010 more >>
Ukraine
Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom has announced the completion of a modernisation program at the Khmelnistky 2 and Rovno 4 nuclear power plants – with enough money left over for extra measures to improve security.
Your Nuclear News 15th Nov 2010 more >>
Lithuania
Lithuania is examining the bids for strategic investment in its planned new nuclear power plant. A majority stake could be available to a power firm able to realise the project.
Your Nuclear News 15th Nov 2010 more >>
Disarmament
Barack Obama today promised to push the New Start treaty on cutting US-Russian nuclear arsenals through the lame duck session of Congress, which begins this week.
Guardian 15th Nov 2010 more >>
Telegraph 15th Nov 2010 more >>
Renewables
Britain is on track to meet its target of generating one third of its electricity from renewables by 2020, according to a report by National Grid. The analysis, released today, shows that 31.95 gigawatts of renewable generation enough to power 20 million homes is scheduled to be connected to Britain’s network by 2020, up from 4.95 gigawatts at present. National Grid said that about 29 gigawatts of installed renewable capacity would be sufficient for Britain to meet the Government’s target that 15 per cent of all the nation’s energy equivalent to 30 per cent of Britain’s electricity should come from renewable sources by 2020. Proposals this autumn for giant windfarms off the coast of Scotland have helped to push the figure higher. Among these were the 1.5-gigawatt Moray Firth wind project, a joint venture between Spain’s EDP Renovaveis and the UK company SeaEnergy, a 1-gigawatt project off Caithness from Scottish & Southern Energy and Scottish Power’s 1-gigawatt Argyll Array, which covers 360 sq km (140 sq mile) off Tiree.
Times 15th Nov 2010 more >>
