New Nukes
French energy giant EDF will next month start ramping up its £20billion nuclear build programme in Britain by inviting hundreds of potential suppliers to a summit meeting in London. Already 40 contracts worth tens of millions of pounds have been placed for work on four nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk. But preparations are under way that will lead to the tendering of 150 major contracts worth billions of pounds
Daily Mail 16th Aug 2010 more >>
Sheffield Forgemasters’ controversial publicly-financed expansion into nuclear power could still go ahead if a loan is approved from the Government’s £1bn regional growth fund, the city council has said.
Telegraph 16th Aug 2010 more >>
Hinkley
Weekend of activities in opposition to the proposed EdF nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset; 11-12th Septe 2010.
Bristol Indymedia 14th Aug 2010 more >>
DECC
Treasury plans to axe hundreds of millions of pounds from Britain’s renewable energy and nuclear clean-up budgets are being resisted by Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, The Times has learnt. Mr Huhne is understood to be mounting a “robust defence” of spending plans by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, amid concerns that cuts could undermine Britain’s progress towards meeting an EU target to cut UK carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 and accelerating the clean-up of radioactive buildings. One source said the department was “in the thick” of intense discussions with Treasury officials, who view its £3.2 billion budget as among the least damaging options for cuts.
The Times 16th Aug 2010 more >>
Israel
Letter: The 1979 Vela incident in the South Atlantic which Professor Norman Dombey refers to in his letter (13 August) is in fact not the only suspected Israeli nuclear test. There is some evidence that possibly indicates that Israel’s first nuclear test took place on 2 November 1966. This suspected test, if it happened, was a zero or near-zero yield test carried out at Dimona site and intended to validate Israel’s nuclear design.
Guardian 16th Aug 2010 more >>
Iran
Iran’s first nuclear power plant will start generating electricity by the end of this year, after more than three decades of delays in construction, according to a state nuclear official.
Russia announced on Friday that it would deliver 82 tonnes of nuclear fuel to Iran’s Bushehr plant reactor on August 21, ending the test phase of the installation and officially making it a nuclear power site. Iranian officials hope the plant will formally open a few weeks later.
FT 16th Aug 2010 more >>
Russia
Russia on Sunday reported success in reducing fires burning close to its main nuclear research centre but in Moscow shifting winds brought the acrid smell of smog back to the capital.
Yahoo 15th Aug 2010 more >>
Trident
Letter gfrom Former Admirals etc: We call upon the Prime Minister to authorise the Trident replacement programme in its entirety, without diverting any resources from the existing core defence budget. Our conventional Armed Forces are chronically over-stretched and seriously under-resourced; they cannot withstand further reductions in their budget in order to fund the Trident replacement. Forty years of a nuclear deterrent provided first by Polaris, and subsequently by Trident, have proved successful. To be fully effective, the deterrent force must be reliable, secure and available at all times for deployment and use. Only a submarine force can be sure of operating unobserved and undetected by potential enemies. To decide against replacing Trident, or even to compromise by opting for a less certain, less reliable alternative, would be a major change to policies which have served this country well over decades. It presents real risks to our nation in an increasingly dangerous world.
Sunday Telegraph 15th Aug 2010 more >>
Coal
The coalition is watering down a commitment to tough new environmental emissions standards, raising the possibility of dirty coal-fired power stations such as Kingsnorth going ahead. Green groups are aghast that a flagship policy called for in opposition by both Lib Dems and Tories, and which they last year tried to force on the Labour government, will now not be implemented in the coalition’s first energy bill to be published this year.
Guardian 16th Aug 2010 more >>
