Sellafield
SELLAFIELD’S top security new plutonium store is up and running. The multi-million pound store has just gone into active commissioning – six weeks ahead of schedule – after taking in its first batch of plutonium. It will not be fully operational until commissioning is complete. Officially called Sellafield Product & Residue, it will supplement the existing store which holds the UK’s biggest stockpile of plutonium, a by-product of fuel reprocessing. Sellafield Ltd says it is one of the most advanced nuclear facilities in the world.
Whitehaven News 16th Feb 2011 more >>
A MAJOR workforce review is being carried out at Sellafield to make sure “people with the right skills are put in the right places at the right times”. Some workers might also have to be re-trained for new skills. There has been no suggestion of any more redundancies in the wake of the recent 800 voluntary job losses but unions are keeping a close eye on the situation. The review covers around 10,500 workers both on and off the nuclear site. It is called ORSE – Organisation Review and Self Evaluation process.
Whitehaven News 16th Feb 2011 more >>
SELLAFIELD bosses have had their knuckles rapped over a long-standing radioactive liquid leak which did not come to light until the day former Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited. A drip and ground contamination was detected in January 2009 when Mr Brown was at the nearby Sellafield business centre to give good news about potential nuclear new-build. As The Whitehaven News later learned, the leak had been going on undetected for 14 months. The Environment Agency this week issued Sellafield Ltd with a formal caution over the incident which means that the company will not be prosecuted. An earlier improvement notice from the agency led to Sellafield carrying out urgent actions “to address the shortcomings that led to the leaks occurring in the first place”. Although it caused no impact to the environment or local people the Environment Agency says it made sure action was taken “to ensure this does not happen again”.
Whitehaven News 16th Feb 2011 more >>
Hinkley
The proposal to build two new nuclear reactors in Somerset is one of the most controversial developments being planned here in the West Country. EDF Energy has put in an application for preliminary works on land next to the existing Hinkley Point power stations. Just a few weeks ago the Secretary of State for Energy, Chris Huhne, visited the site to give his backing. A year ago he was opposed.
ITV West Country Tonight 16th Feb 2011 more >>
Wylfa
A PRACTICE emergency evacuation of Anglesey in case of a nuclear catastrophe at Wylfa, has been called for. County councillors quizzed Horizon executives, the company who want to develop a ‘Wylfa B’, at a meeting of the full council last week. The main concern was where spent fuel will be kept. Horizon chief operating officer, Alan Rayment, gave last week’s full council meeting a presentation on the latest developments in the process to build the power station.
Hoyhead & Anglesey Mail 16th Feb 2011 more >>
Electricity Market Reforms
WWF charity officials are concerned that national energy bills will rise thanks to Government proposals to provide £3.43bn for nuclear generators between 2013 and 2026. The plan to not introduce a carbon floor price makes a mockery of the current Coalition’s alleged opposition to any form of public subsidy for nuclear. WWF UK are now urging the government to introduce a windfall tax that could be used to support energy efficiency.
Donations4Charity 16th Feb 2011 more >>
Companies
GE Hitachi, the US-Japanese nuclear joint venture, has formed an alliance with Lockheed Martin to develop high security control systems designed to protect a new generation of reactors against cyberterrorism. The two companies will design and manufacture the main control room systems for GEH’s Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor, its new nuclear power plant being developed for the US and export markets such as India.
FT 17th Feb 2011 more >>
Uranium
The price of uranium, the fuel for nuclear reactors, will jump to a record high as surging demand from China stimulates a decade-long bull market, according to forecasts from CRU, a leading commodities consultancy. Uranium has rallied 75 per cent over the past eight months, with the most commonly-traded form at $72.25 a pound this week, down slightly from the 35-month high of $73 reached at the start of February. Supply will struggle to keep pace with the growth in demand after years of underinvestment in new mines. The trend will be exacerbated by falling supply from secondary sources, such as government stockpiles or decommissioned Soviet-era warheads, which accounted for 26 per cent of total uranium supply in 2010 but which will provide just 13 per cent in 2020, CRU said.
FT 17th Feb 2011 more >>
Iran
Malfunctions at Iran’s Natanz uranium-enrichment plant attributed to the Stuxnet worm have encouraged speculation as to the potential for cyber sabotage to be used in derailing nuclear programmes. But even though Stuxnet appears to have caused some damage to Iran’s equipment, it is essentially a delaying tactic and has not dimmed the country’s resolve to develop nuclear capabilities.
International Institute for Strategic Studies Feb 2011 more >>
US
The attorneys general of New York, Connecticut and Vermont sued the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday, challenging a new commission policy stating that nuclear waste can be safely stored at a nuclear power plant for 60 years after a reactor goes out of service. The three states argued that the policy, adopted in December, violated two federal laws requiring that a full environmental review be carried out at each nuclear site before permission for long-term storage could be granted.
New York Times 15th Feb 2011 more >>
The US National Security Strategy, released by the White House in May 2010, states that “there is no greater threat to the American people than weapons of mass destruction, particularly the danger posed by the pursuit of nuclear weapons by violent extremists and their proliferation to additional states.” This is why the Obama administration is in the midst of an international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years. Republicans and Democrats alike have voiced support for limiting access to vulnerable nuclear materials to prevent nuclear terrorism. Yet the US programs charged with securing fissile materials and thwarting terrorists’ efforts to acquire them are among the victims of this year’s federal budget fights.
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 11th Feb 2011 more >>
Spain
‘NUCLEAR DANGER’ is the message Greenpeace Spain took to the country’s Cofrentes nuclear energy plant yesterday as activists scaled one of the plant’s cooling towers.
Greenpeace 16th Feb 2011 more >>
North Korea
North Korea appears close to finishing a new missile launch site, according to analysis of satellite images taken in the last month, which show an almost completed 100ft tall launch tower, suggesting a step forward in Pyongyang’s inter-continental ballistic missile programme.
Guardian 17th Feb 2011 more >>
Climate
The head of the UN’s climate change secretariat has urged defence chiefs to invest a larger portion of their military budgets in climate change mitigation measures, to reduce the risk of conflict associated with global warming impacts. Specifically, she said the impact of global warming would increase poverty and governments would struggle to meet the basic needs of their citizens.
Business Green 16th Feb 2011 more >>
