New nukes
In 30 years, more elderly Europeans than ever will be lighting their homes and watching television. Buying electricity for them today at a low fixed price is a simple mechanism to alleviate the coming demographic problem. The British government’s recent energy review sets the scene. The complex economics of nuclear power hinge on the capital intensity of the project. A megawatt of capacity will cost about £2,000 to build: considerably less than the updated cost of Britain’s last nuclear power station at Sizewell but substantially more than the contract price for Europe’s only new nuclear station, due for completion in Finland in 2009.
FT 18th July 2006
Polly Toynbee – The climate change deniers have now gone nuclear. When the rightwing tradition of bad science comes onside, it’s time to look seriously at other energy technologies.
Guardian 18th July 2006
Dominic Lawson: Cameron should be wary of the eco-loons. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament revealed yesterday that it had tripled its membership in the brief period since Tony Blair announced his conversion to the cause of nuclear energy. This demonstrates something I had always suspected – that a surprisingly large number of people think the civil nuclear industry is a front for the nuclear weapons programme. Half a century ago, when the Queen opened the world’s first nuclear power station, that was certainly the case. While Calder Hall was promoted as the dawn of a new era of clean energy, Winston Churchill gave it the go-ahead because it would also supply weapons-grade plutonium. But to imagine that the current Prime Minister is engaged in a similar act of concealment is not just ignorant; it is paranoiac. While I realise that Mr Blair has done much to earn the cynicism with which he is viewed, it takes a truly warped mind to believe he has taken this deeply controversial step in order to produce plutonium which even the military don’t want.
Independent 18th July 2006
Nuclear power is in the news again, and today’s students will need to form opinions about it
Education Guardian 18th July 2006
Eurotunnel’s bankruptcy sounds a warning for nuclear investors.
FT 18th July 2006
Frank Dobson: While members of the existing cabinet are bound by joint responsibility, the Blairites want to make irrevocable and massive spending commitments on identity cards, a replacement for Trident and nuclear power. A legacy of reduced freedom of action.
Guardian 18th July 2006
Sellafield
WEST Cumbria’s nuclear opportunities head has questioned the feasibility of building a second generation nuclear power plant at Sellafield. Rosie Mathisen, manager of the West Cumbria Nuclear Opportunities group, set up to ensure that the area capitalises on the nuclear industry, said a decision not to rebuild here would give the area a chance to reduce its reliance on the nuclear industry.
West Cumberland Times and Star 14th July 2006
Hinkley
British Energy has shut its Hinkley Point B7 nuclear plant because of a fault, a company spokesman said on Monday. The plant was shut on Saturday because of problems with a control rod, he said. The outage was expected to be “short term”, the spokesman said. He declined to give further details.
Reuters 17th July 2006
Opinion Polls
There have been two new polls covering nuclear energy in the past few weeks, one by ICM and one by YouGov. ICM found that the majority (58%) of people thought that nuclear energy was safe…but not so safe that they would be happy to live next to a nuclear power station – 50% said they would be very concerned if one was to be built near them. Unsurprisingly, asked to make a straight choice between different forms of power without reference to cost, reliability and so on – far more people thought that money should be invested in renewable sources like solar (79%) and wind (76%) power than in nuclear (38%).
UK Polling Report 17th July 2006
Northern Ireland
It is doubtful that the Secretary of State, Peter Hain, will ever make a more surreal statement than last week’s, in which he announced that the North would not be getting its own nuclear power station.
Belfast Telegraph 17th July 2006
Torness
FORMER Cabinet Minister Gavin Strang has attacked his Edinburgh Labour colleague Alistair Darling over his support for a new nuclear power station at Torness. The Edinburgh East MP spoke out after the Trade and Industry Secretary made it clear the Government wants to see more atomic power stations built to fill the energy gap. Edinburgh South West MP Mr Darling and East Lothian MP Anne Moffatt have both supported the idea of a new plant on the Torness site.
Edinburgh Evening News 17th July 2006
Iran
That it has become the received wisdom in the US that Iran was directing Hizbollah to deflect international pressure on Tehran’s nuclear programme, is testimony to the Bush administration’s ability to dominate the discourse in the mainstream media. The crisis has also demonstrated how it can rely on the support of the US foreign policy establishment – Democrat and Republican – when it comes to matters of vital national interest to the US and Israel. Challenging these assertions, Iranian analysts and activists in the US – both those for and against the Iranian theocracy – are warning that such simplified arguments may not only be completely erroneous, but will also complicate the process of calming down the crisis while raising the chances of a direct conflict between Iran and the US.
FT 18th July 2006
