Scotland
MALCOLM Chisholm yesterday became the first senior Labour minister to declare his total opposition to new nuclear power stations in Scotland. Mr Chisholm, Jack McConnell’s communities minister and a member of the Scottish Executive, also claimed that most Scots shared his view.
Scotsman 17th July 2006
Herald 17th July 2006
North Korea
North Korea has angrily rejected a UN Security Council resolution imposing trade sanctions and condemning it for its recent batch of ballistic missile tests, saying it constituted “a prelude to the provocation of the second Korean War”.
Independent 17th July 2006
G8
World leaders at the G8 Summit in St Petersburg failed to agree common ground on nuclear energy and global warming yesterday. Tony Blair’s struggle to persuade the world’s eight most powerful nations to unite to end climate change produced a disappointing one-line acknowledgement that the issue matters to some countries, but not others. The British delegation had hoped yesterday’s main session of the summit could be used to kick-start informal talks over what the world will do when the Kyoto agreement on climate change runs out in 2012. Mr Blair is adamant that negotiations must begin soon and must involve the US, which notoriously did not sign up to the present agreement.
Independent 17th July 2006
Environmental advocacy groups accused the Group of Eight industrial nations on Sunday of failing to take seriously the problems of climate change and the dangers of nuclear energy.
Reuters 16th July 2006
Nuclear Weapons
At a Trident conference at Chatham House last week, there was no sign of a government presence, even to listen. No “full and open debate” has even started. Yet Blair and Gordon Brown have publicly asserted a determination to replace the missile system. How can any of us respect an administration that, on a complex issue with implications for this country half a century hence, makes up its mind before hearing the evidence?
Guardian 17th July 2006
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has signalled its resurgence by agreeing a 50 per cent increase in its staffing levels and campaigning budget as it fights the Government’s plans to replace Trident and allow a new generation of nuclear power stations.
Independent 17th July 2006
Energy Review
Letter from Steuart Campbell – he calls a technology that re-uses “used fuel” renewable.
Scotsman 17th July 2006
As policy U-turns go, last week’s Government Energy Review was at the more brazen end of the spectrum. Just three years after virtually ruling out a new generation of nuclear power stations in a White Paper, these generators were given the official go-ahead. The Prime Minister was candid about the reason for the reversal, telling the House of Commons Liaison Committee a week before the review was published: “I’ve changed my mind.” That may well be true, but we wonder how much thought Mr Blair has given to the consequences of this decision. There is, of course, the question of how the nuclear waste produced by these power stations (which, we should remember, remains radioactive for thousands of years) will be dealt with. The Energy White Paper had nothing to say about the technicalities of how this waste will be disposed of, or the Government’s involvement in the process. But there is also the significant question of popular opposition to Mr Blair’s nuclear plans.
Independent 17th July 2006
Opinion piece by Ruth Lea of the Centre for Policy Studies: the Energy Review contained a much more balanced package of proposals than the 2003 Energy White Paper.
Telegraph 17th July 2006
British Energy
THE government is expected to appoint investment bankers over the next fortnight to handle the £2.4 billion sale of part of its 65 per cent stake in nuclear generator British Energy.
Scotsman 17th July 2006
Interactive Investor 16th July 2006
Plans for the sale, one of a number of government sell-offs proposed by Gordon Brown, the chancellor, in this year’s Budget, will be set out in a written parliamentary answer this week. The disposal could raise about £2bn as fund managers look to benefit from a revival in nuclear power and the company’s improved prospects.
FT 17th July 2006
New nukes
A petition of 10,000 signatures from the Cumbrian area has been presented to Tony Blair calling on the government to base a new generation of atomic plants on the controversial Sellafield site. But there was also disappointing news for supporters of atomic power with the Finnish energy firm TVO saying its new Olkiluoto 3 plant was now one year behind schedule and the builder – Areva of France – reporting a “sharp fall” in first-half operating results.
Guardian 17th July 2006
