Uranium
The fact that a British jury found uranium to have been the cause of death of a soldier has been labelled “highly significant” by Cumbrian anti-nuclear campaigners.
Get Noticed Online 15th Sept 2009 more >>
Nuclear Status
According to official data released today by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), nuclear electricity generation in OECD member countries has only marginally declined despite the economic downturn. Nuclear power plants provided 21.5% of the total electricity generated in the OECD area in 2008 against 21.6% in 2007.
Nuclear Engineering International 15th Sept 2009 more >>
Hutton
Cumbrian MP John Hutton, who as Business Secretary pushed for a nuclear power renaissance in the UK, could be taking up a job with the world’s biggest nuclear power station operator.
Carlisle News and Star 15th Sept 2009 more >>
New Civil Engineer 15th Sept 2009 more >>
Nuclear Skills
New apprentices at Sellafield’s Gen II have started training at the Energus nuclear skills HQ at Lillyhall, Workington.
Carlisle News and Star 15th Sept 2009 more >>
Companies
Russia is firming up plans to enter the nuclear energy market in the UK. The state-owned Atomenergoprom (AEP) is understood to be considering to team up with Centrica, a part of the British Gas Group, and Rolls-Royce to become a key player in the UK.
Energy Business Review 14th Sept 2009 more >>
Reprocessing
Article by Frank Von Hippel: The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project is now comatose, if not dead. And that puts us back at square one on a crucial question: What are we going to do with all the radioactive waste being discharged by U.S. nuclear power reactors? Many conservatives on Capitol Hill favor the French “solution”: spent-fuel reprocessing. But reprocessing isn’t a solution at all: It’s a very expensive and dangerous detour.
LA Times 15th Sept 2009 more >>
Emergency Planning
SAFETY chiefs have been accused of failing to justify a plan to cut the number of homes in Southampton that would get anti-radiation pills in a nuclear accident. They want to reduce from 2km to 1.5km a safety zone around the berth in the port used by visiting nuclear-powered submarines.
Southern Daily Echo 15th Sept 2009 more >>
Climate
Europe has clashed with the US Obama administration over climate change in a potentially damaging split that comes ahead of crucial political negotiations on a new global deal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The Guardian understands that key differences have emerged between the US and Europe over the structure of a new worldwide treaty on global warming. Sources on the European side say the US approach could undermine the new treaty and weaken the world’s ability to cut carbon emissions.
Guardian 16th Sept 2009 more >>
Telegraph 16th Sept 2009 more >>
Human society faces a global health catastrophe if climate change is not effectively tackled at the UN conference in Copenhagen in December, leading doctors from around the world warn today.
Independent 16th Sept 2009 more >>
Tom Burke: climate change already causes some 300,000 deaths a year and seriously affects 325 million people. It concluded that four billion people were vulnerable to climate change and half a billion at extreme risk. The number of people permanently displaced by rising sea levels, floods and droughts could reach 150 to 200 million by 2050.
Independent 16th Sept 2009 more >>
The World Bank is spending billions of pounds subsidising new coal-fired power stations in developing countries despite claiming that burning fossil fuels exposes the poor to catastrophic climate change. The bank, which has a goal of reducing poverty and is funded by Britain and other developed countries, calls on all nations in a report today to “act differently on climate change”.
Times 16th Sept 2009 more >>
Renewables
Letter from Prof David Elliott: If I am travelling down an “irrational” road to renewables, as Richard Phillips implies then I am not alone. Last year, solar PV generation capacity grew by 70% around the world, wind power by 29% and solar hot water increased by 15%. By 2008, renewables represented more than 50% of total added generation capacity in both the US and Europe, ie more new renewables capacity was installed than new capacity for gas, coal, oil, and nuclear combined; with no emissions, no wastes and no security issues to worry about – and no worries about fuel running out, or increasing in price.
Guardian 16th Sept 2009 more >>
Italy
A shipwreck that could contain nuclear waste is being investigated by authorities in Italy amid claims that it was deliberately sunk by the mafia. An informant told a judge the ship was one of a number he blew up as part of an illegal operation to bypass rules on the disposal of toxic waste.
BBC 15th Sept 2009 more >>
Iran
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said Iran must answer “head on” concerns about its nuclear programme at talks with world powers on 1 October.
BBC 16th Sept 2009 more >>
If Iran gets nuclear weapons, Israel will make a military attack on it. That was the most dramatic pronouncement from the launch of the strategic survey from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), its annual stocktaking of the world’s problems.
Times 16th Sept 2009 more >>
Iran has agreed new terms of co-operation with the UN atomic watchdog regarding the agency’s investigation into Tehran’s nuclear activities.
Telegraph 16th Sept 2009 more >>
Spain
Spain’s oldest nuclear power station filed an appeal on Monday against a government decision to close the 500-megawatt plant in 2013, operators Nuclenor said on their website.
Yahoo 15th Sept 2009 more >>
Trident
The number of submarines in a new fleet designed to carry the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent could be cut from four to three, the defence secretary said on Tuesday. In a sign that ministers are looking at reducing spending on big military programmes, Bob Ainsworth said the government would consider slimming the submarine fleet due to replace the current Vanguard class that carries the Trident-based system.
FT 16th Sept 2009 more >>
