New Nukes
The parliamentary Office of Science and Technology has identified the two most likely technical solutions for the next generation of nuclear reactors. The first is the AP-1000 Pressurised Water Reactor designed by the US company Westinghouse. Its safety systems rely on passive processes such as gravity and natural circulation to keep the reactor core cool and safe. Four units are currently under construction in China. The second is the European/Evolutionary Pressurised Reactor developed by Areva NP, Siemens AG of Germany and Electricite de France (EDF), who are currently taking over British Energy.
Eureka 1st Dec 2008 more >>
Post Note November 2008 more >>
British Energy
The deal was worth a massive £12.5 billion, and it will change the face of the British nuclear power industry. Depending on your point of view, it will either ensure Britain a bright nuclear future, or prolong its nuclear nightmare.
House Magazine 24th Nov 2008 more >>
Companies
Hyder are looking towards energy and in particular nuclear as growth areas for the year ahead. ”There has been a strong growth in public transport, renewable energy and nuclear including decommissioning,” said Stewart. “We’re growing in nuclear. We’ve just signed an alliance with Bradtec who will be working with us in an exclusive way. They are close to the technology end of decommissioning. They are specialists who understand how to speed the process of making sites safe. We have a new CEO (chief executive officer) Ivor Catto who has a strong background in nuclear and joins us this week.”
New Civil Engineer 1st Dec 2008 more >>
France
If you thought all was rosy with nuclear power in France, think again. Faith in the country’s nuclear competence has been badly shaken by a spate of accidents and by long delays in the construction of a
flagship reactor. In perhaps the most serious accident, nearly a hundred workers were contaminated with radioactive cobalt after an old pipe leaked. It happened on 23 July 2008 at a major nuclear complex at Tricastin, near Avignon in the south of France.
House Magazine 24th Nov 2008 more >>
Japan
Japan should consider developing nuclear weapons, the former head of the Japanese air force has said.
Telegraph 1st Dec 2008 more >>
South Asia
Mr Zardari, whose wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by Islamist militants last year, warned that provocation by rogue ‘non-state actors’ posed the danger of a return to war between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Daily Mail 1st Dec 2008 more >>
Lithuania
What one god gives, another takes away. Such is the dry humour with which Lithuanians greeted the imminent closure of the Ignalina nuclear power station, a featureless hulk rising from the snowy badlands of the frontier with Belarus and Latvia. The god that gave Lithuania the Ignalina plant was the Soviet Union. “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country!” Vladimir Lenin once proclaimed.
FT 2nd Dec 2008 more >>
Climate
Monbiot: This environmental state of emergency demands a bolder answer than Lord Turner’s. We could start by taking six critical steps.
Guardian 2nd Dec 2008 more >>
Electricity would increasingly come from renewable sources – at first mostly wind, then later tidal power, biomass burning and geothermal energy. Homes and offices would be insulated to minimise energy loss, and efficient appliances would become the norm. Clean electricity would take over home heating and power a growing number of electric vehicles.
Guardian 2nd Dec 2008 more >>
Britain should adopt the world’s toughest climate change target and slash nearly half of its greenhouse gas emissions in the next 12 years, the Government’s new climate advisory committee said yesterday in its first report. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases causing global warming should be cut by 42 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020, as long as there is a new global climate deal in a UN meeting in Copenhagen a year from now, said the Committee on Climate Change. Even though it is controversial for some environmentalists, nuclear power is put forward by the committee as a conditional option for decarbonising electricity generation.
Independent 2nd Dec 2008 more >>
In 2007 the Government decided to go with the bright idea of a legally-binding programme for reducing its greenhouse gases step by step, and a powerful independent committee to oversee the process. Yesterday the committee, chaired by Adair Turner, came up with its recommendations, and it may have caused a few gulps in Whitehall. The targets it proposed are the toughest in the world. The new Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband, must decide whether to accept Adair Turner’s recommendations for targets, which include the strong suggestion that Kingsnorth should not go ahead without a guarantee that its emissions will be dealt with by carbon capture technology being developed.
Independent 2nd Dec 2008 more >>
Homes and businesses will have pay higher energy bills if Britain is to meet the estimated £15bn-a-year cost of its climate change commitments, the government was told on Monday. Household electricity costs could go up more than 25 per cent by 2020 if greenhouse gas emissions are to be cut by a third from 1990 levels, said Lord Turner, chairman of the climate change committee.
FT 2nd Dec 2008 more >>
Telegraph 2nd Dec 2008 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
Within days of coming to power, Gordon Brown had to make a decision with potentially massive consequences for Britain and the world.
BBC 2nd Dec 2008 more >>
In early October, the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) released a report touting the dangers of Chinese military expansion. Chaired by Paul Wolfowitz, the ISAB is part of the US state department, and reports directly to Condoleezza Rice. The report warned of the dangers of Chinese nuclear weapons, and called on the United States to revitalise its nuclear deterrent, continue construction of a missile defence shield, and pursue conventional military programmes designed to ensure dominance over China.
Guardian 1st Dec 2008 more >>
