North Korea
Kim Jong-il is credited with a great diplomatic victory over the US following this week’s agreement of aid in return for a nuclear shut-down.
BBC 16th Feb 2007
For all its ‘axis of evil’ rhetoric, the West understands dangerously little about North Korea. The solution may lie with a remarkable thriller, created by an ex-spy. If only our leaders could be persuaded to read it.
Independent 17th Feb 2007
Trident
Two Leicestershire Labour MPs have joined 100 scientists, lawyers, church leaders, actors, writers and politicians launching a campaign against Government plans for a new generation of nuclear missiles. Leicester South’s Sir Peter Soulsby and North West Leicestershire’s David Taylor has signed up to the campaign, which is fronted by figures including scientist Stephen Hawking, the Archbishop of Canterbury, author Zadie Smith, actress Emma Thompson and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.
Leicester Mercury 17th Feb 2007
New nukes
Letter from Prof Freris and others: In your excellent leader (Pretending to Listen, February 16) you refer to the bungled case for the invasion of Iraq as a warning to a government that consistently embarks on ill-thought-through policies. This government has set up a specialist body, the Sustainable Development Commission, to advise it on energy/environmental topics. The commission consists of eminent independent commissioners representing a wide range of interests. Their forensic report published in March 2006, The Role of Nuclear Power in a Low-Carbon Economy, concluded that nuclear power is a choice but not an absolute necessity and described how the UK could meet its CO2-reduction targets and energy needs through other means.
Guardian 17th Feb 2007
Letter: this country no longer has the resource of trained nuclear engineers. Physics education is under threat.
Telegraph 17th Feb 2007
A High Court judge has ruled the Government’s public consultation on a new generation of nuclear power plants “inadequate” and “misleading” with regard to nuclear waste, in response to a legal challenge from Greenpeace.
Edie 16th Feb 2007
Manchester Evening News 16th Feb 2007
Western Daily Press 16th Feb 2007
Copeland MP, Jamie Reed said the High Court ruling would not stop plans for a new reactor at Sellafield.
Carlisle News and Star 16th Feb 2007
Times Comment Forum: The Government is to go ahead with plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations despite an embarrassing rebuff from the courts.
Times 16th Feb 2007
Ministers vowed yesterday to press ahead with a new generation of nuclear power stations despite an embarrassing rebuff from the courts for a key part of Tony Blair’s legacy.
Times 16th Feb 2007
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) welcomes the High Court’s judgement that the government’s Energy Review did not include a sound public consultation.
24Dash 16th Feb 2007
The prospect of a new nuclear power station in the Westcountry was thrown into doubt last night – only days after energy bosses revealed they were looking for backers to build a new reactor.The Government’s decision to support the building of new nuclear power stations has been plunged into chaos by a legal victory in the High Court.
Western Morning News 16th Feb 2007
Mr Justice Sullivan yesterday ruled that the government’s energy review was not the “fullest public consultation” and that it had already committed itself to building new nuclear power stations before the energy White Paper was published in 2003. Sarah North, head of Greenpeace’s nuclear campaign which brought the claim, said: “The government’s so-called consultation on nuclear power was obviously a sham and we’re pleased that the judge agreed with us.
Construction News 16th Feb 2007
British Energy
THE phlegmatic reaction of nuclear generator British Energy’s share price to the legal setback to Tony Blair’s nuclear power expansion plans is instructive. The Scottish company was expected to be a major beneficiary of the plan to build and run a new generation of nuclear power plants and yet the embarrassing slapdown for the government saw BE’s shares close up 1.6 per cent, or 6.5p, at 399.5p. This suggests that investors believe the gnashing of teeth in Whitehall and the nuclear industry is overdone.
Scotsman 17th Feb 2007
Berkeley
A Giant radioactive waste store – the size of a football pitch – is planned for Gloucestershire’s old nuclear power station at Berkeley.Environmental campaigners say the store is the “least worst option”.
Gloucester Citizen 16th Feb 2007
Dounreay
The latest radiation sweep of a public beach near Dounreay nuclear power plant has recovered the most active hot-spot so far detected. It was discovered on Thursday. The fragment of metallic reactor fuel was found by the survey team on the west end of Sandside beach. It is the 85th particle discovered since Dounreay’s operators, the UK Atomic Energy Authority, started monitoring the beauty spot 24 years ago. A UKAEA spokeswoman said the latest find had an activity reading of 500,000 Becquerels. That is 20,000 Bq above the next hottest which was unearthed on January 22. Geoffrey Minter, whose estate company owns the beach, said: “This is a worrying trend and makes it all the more important that UKAEA gets on top of the issue.”
Herald 17th Feb 2007
THE operators of the Dounreay plant were yesterday fined a total of 140,000 for illegally dumping radioactive waste over a 21-year period.
John O’Groat Journal 16th Feb 2007
