Dirty Bombs
More than two tons of radioactive material stored in a rundown research facility in Serbia is an easy target for terrorists seeking to build a “dirty” bomb, according the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog. Nuclear inspectors have branded the lightly-guarded store of highly enriched uranium, from a Communist-era reactor which closed 22 years ago, the world’s most dangerous disused nuclear site – because of the potency of the material present, and because some is prone to leaking.
Sunday Telegraph 17th Sept 2006
Trident
Anti-Trident campaigners, taking part in an awareness-raising peace trek, rallied in Glasgow yesterday and called on the government to “bin the bomb”. The Long Walk for Peace began on Thursday with anti-nuclear protesters setting off from the Faslane naval base on the Clyde. The group, including church and union leaders, is walking 85 miles to the Scottish parliament, where ministers will be asked to oppose any plans to replace the UK’s Trident missiles.
Sunday Herald 17th Sept 2006
Uranium
Utah (AFX) – The last U.S. uranium mill ever built, in this parched landscape near Lake Powell, shut down almost as quickly as it started operating as nuclear power fell into disfavor about two decades ago. Keith Larsen, chief executive for U.S. Energy Corp., picked up the mill 10 years later for practically nothing, banking it for better days. His patience paid off, making Larsen’s company one of the few already taking profits out of a new uranium boom.
Orange 16th September 2006
Fusion
As chief executive of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Shah has to oversee the UK’s role in developing fusion energy at Culham, Oxfordshire. As he leaves the post he has held since 2003, the former BP man is confident. “Fusion is a real option for a clean source of energy. We can bring this in within 25 or 30 years. We’re not tinkering with the physics any more.”
Sunday Times 17th September 2006
IAEA
Tomorrow, representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 140 member states meet at its annual conference in Vienna. Iran should feature prominently on the agenda, not least after last week’s leaked protest over a “misleading” US government report that said Iran had enriched uranium to weapons-grade level, despite IAEA reports to the contrary.
Sunday Telegraph 17th Sept 2006
BNFL Privatisation
Fluor, the US engineering giant, has mounted a last-ditch action to persuade the Government to allow it to buy the clean-up company British Nuclear Group (BNG). Fluor executives are arguing that their acquisition of the state-owned firm, which runs the Sellafield site, would be the best way to safeguard the jobs of its 12,000-strong UK workforce. They also promise to maintain BNG as a British entity.
Independent on Sunday 17th Sept 2006
Areva has expressed an interest in buying the £100m project services arm of British Nuclear Group.
Express on Sunday 17th Sept 2006
