Nuclear Accidents
Greenpeace today released an interactive, on-line map showing all operating nuclear reactors around the world and how many millions of people are threatened by a Fukushima-like disaster at any one of these ticking time bombs. With more than 400 nuclear reactors producing electricity in the world, the interactive map highlights that hundreds of millions of people live within areas around reactors that could become highly contaminated and would have to be evacuated in the event of a nuclear accident. The interactive map, with data from Nature magazine, works with Facebook and Twitter to let users alert others to the risk of a nearby nuclear accident.
Greenpeace Press Release 2nd March 2012 more >>
Greenpeace 2nd March 2012 more >>
More than 400 nuclear reactors operate around the world right now. Theres a very good chance that you, your family or your friends live close enough to one to be directly affected by a disaster like the one that happened at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011.
Greenpeace Blog 2nd March 2012 more >>
GDA
Delays in resolving issues coming from the design review of the Areva UK EPR could push final resolution into 2013 and delay planned construction at the Hinkley Point C site, according to the latest update from the Office for Nuclear Regulation. ADDS EDF, ONR COMMENTS, STARTING GRAPH 16. In a statement March 1, ONR told i-NUCLEAR, EDF and Areva have agreed to deploy additional resource, but to meet their original resolution plan delivery schedule would be challenging. ONR said the rebaselining of its work on GDA Issue resolution was the subject of dialogue we are currently holding with EDF and Areva.
i-Nuclear.com 1st March 2012 more >>
Radwaste
Anti-nuclear campaigners are calling on the Government to explain how it plans to compensate West Cumbrian people if a high-level radioactive waste dump is built in the area. The call follows a series of votes taken by Cockermouth Town Council, Seaton Parish Council and Above Derwent Parish Council to oppose the idea of West Cumbria taking part in the search for an underground repository site. Seaton parish councillor Joe Sandwith said he was trying to find out if the Government had set aside funds to compensate home and business owners. Meanwhile, the Radiation Free Lakeland campaign group has asked Tim Farron, Westmorland and Lonsdale MP, to ask the Government how it plans to compensate those not in favour. Marianne Birkby, of Radiation Free Lakeland, said: No compensation in the world can remedy the kind of blight or even worse that would come from a geological dump, but the Government is saying theyll compensate people.
Times & Star 1st March 2012 more >>
ISSUES over West Cumbria possibly taking part in the search for an underground nuclear waste repository will be aired live on the internet next Tuesday evening. Organised by the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safety Partnership, the webcast will enable people to log in on-line to fire questions to a panel of experts. It will take place between 6 to 8pm. Partnership representatives on the panel will be Copeland Council leader Elaine Woodburn and the Rev Lindsay Gray, from Churches Together in Cumbria. Making up the panel are Alun Ellis, the NDAs engineering director for the geological disposal facility; Pete Wilkinson, an environment policy advisor and co-founder of Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK, along with geologist Jeremy Dearlove.
Whitehaven News 1st Mar 2012 more >>
Oldbury
ELECTRICITY generation came to a halt at 11am in a control room at Oldbury nuclear power station after 44 years of helping to keep Britain’s lights on. A procedure completed many times in the station’s life whenever a reactor had to be powered down was carried out yesterday, but this time neither of its two reactors will ever be brought back into use.
Bristol Evening Post 1st March 2012 more >>
Nuclear Engineering International 29th Feb 2012 more >>
Chemical Engineer 1st Mar 2012 more >>
Hinkley
EDF rejects non-French bids for £2.5bn Hinkley Point job. Costain, Sir Robert McAlpine and Hochtief lose chance to win key contract on nuclear power station.
Building 2nd March 2012 more >>
After over 24 hours in custody Theo Simon of Shepton Mallet, and David Jesse of Taunton, appeared before Taunton Deane Magistrates court. Officials were stunned by the packed courtroom as well-wishers and supporters packed into the room to follow the proceedings, one official commented that this was the most people weve ever seen here. Magistrates, after taking into consideration the time theyd spent in custody decided to release the defendants with just a conditional discharge, and no fines or court costs as they accepted that the defendants were men of good character and that they had been engaged in a legitimate peaceful protest for the last two and a half weeks.
South West Against Nuclear 1st March 2012 more >>
Stop Hinkley 1st March 2012 more >>
Talks between Sedgemoor District Council and energy giant EdF over a planning funding issue have this week failed to reach an agreement. Sedgemoor is now looking at how it will tailor its resources after EdF offered a fraction of the £2M it requested to scrutinise the Hinkley Point C planning application, according to a council spokesman.
New Civil Engineer 1st March 2012 more >>
Sellafield
The National Nuclear Laboratory, whose main facility is at Sellafield, has been hit by industrial action. Some 70 staff in the Unite union across the companys sites last week began action including an overtime ban and work to rule. As part of pay offer options, the National Laboratory said that if its workforce declined to work any extra hours up to four a week they would have to make do without any rise for two years.
Cumberland News 1st Mar 2012 more >>
Whitehaven News 1st Mar 2012 more >>
A NUCLEAR exercise will be held at Sellafield next Wednesday, March 7 to test the sites emergency procedures. Cumbria County Council and Sellafield Ltd will be hosting the exercise, named Oscar 10, which will see hundreds of people involved from the plant, the countys emergency services, county and borough councils, the army and other government agencies. It will be based around the Sellafield site and the West Cumbria Emergency Control Centre at Summergrove.
Whitehaven News 1st Mar 2012 more >>
SELLAFIELD has struck a massive £1.5 billion deal covering services to the nuclear site over the next 15 years. And more deals in the pipeline are likely to net contractors £9 billion all told. Although the initial £1.5 billion contract is shared between six international companies in two major consortiums, nuclear chiefs predict that West Cumbrias economy will see the rewards. They say it as a big win for the community as there is to be a commitment, wherever possible, to sub-let contracting work to local firms.
Whitehaven News 1st Mar 2012 more >>
LOCAL people are less concerned about the risks from Sellafield operations than the population nationally, leading MPs have been told. New research, presented to the MPs, showed that thesemore positive attitudes over nuclear were not reflected in national opinion polls or in the media. The findings of research into risk perception in communities was undertaken on behalf of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). It looked into the perceived risks, public opinion and community issues specifically in relation to nuclear power. The research was presented to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.
Whitehaven News 1st Mar 2012 more >>
Nuclear Skills
A company behind plans for a new nuclear reactor in west Cumbria has signed up to become the 100th member of an industry skills group. NuGen, a consortium involving energy giants Iberdrola and GDF Suez, wants to build a reactor on land north of the existing Sellafield site. The firm is currently assessing the financial case for the scheme and will decide whether to go ahead in 2015. Meanwhile, the business has joined the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, a group set up by nuke businesses to coordinate skills programmes across the UK.
Cumberland News 1st Mar 2012 more >>
Areva
Areva, the French maker of atomic reactors, increased its backlog of orders by 3 per cent last year to 45.6bn, in a surprise vote of confidence for the industry after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan last March. It said orders had increased 7 per cent in the last three months of the year. However, the state-owned company, whose operations range from mining uranium to dismantling old nuclear plants, also reported a 1.9bn loss on an operating level, compared with a 423m loss in 2010. Much of the shortfall was related to a 1.45bn writedown on Uramin, a Canada-based uranium miner that was bought by the company during a bubble in the commodity’s price and which has been shown to have smaller reserves than expected.
FT 2nd Mar 2012 more >>
Japan
Chilling new details have emerged revealing the shocking scale of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the incredible bravery of the technicians, firemen and soldiers who risked their lives to avert a total meltdown. For his new documentary – Inside Japans Nuclear Meltdown – American reporter Dan Edge talked to many of the workers who stayed behind at the stricken plant after the tsunami hit and find how the crisis unfolded. While the outside world was being briefed on the dangers of radiation being released into the atmosphere, the technicians were battling to prevent something far more serious – a reactor exploding and scattering nuclear fuel over the surrounding area.
Daily Mail 1st Mar 2012 more >>
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The emerging crisis at the plant was complex, and, to make matters worse, it was exacerbated by communication gaps between the government and the nuclear industry. An independent investigation panel, established by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, reviewed how the government, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), and other relevant actors responded. In this article, the panels program director writes about their findings and how these players were thoroughly unprepared on almost every level for the cascading nuclear disaster.
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 1st March 2012 more >>
A mind-boggling 40,000 trillion becquerels of radioactive cesium, or twice the amount previously thought, may have spewed from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after the March 11 disaster, scientists say.
Asahi 29th Feb 2012 more >>
The first report by a private-sector committee investigating the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which was announced earlier this week, has drawn wide international attention for its detailed research that digs out many facts about what had really happened at the plant. The report was put together by the Independent Investigation Commission on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident, a committee of the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, led by Yoichi Funabashi, a former editor in chief of The Asahi Shimbun. In an interview on Feb. 29, Funabashi presented his view that the Japan-U.S. alliance was in a crisis situation in the first week after the Fukushima nuclear accident. He also expressed understanding for the sense of fear that former Prime Minister Naoto Kan felt about the possibility Japan would have to come under the control of the United States and Russia if it was unable to handle the accident by itself.
Asahi 29th Feb 2012 more >>
Japans Trade Minister says it is possible none of the countrys nuclear reactors will resume operations this summer when electricity demand peaks.
Engineering & Technology 1st Mar 2012 more >>
Japans crisis-stricken nuclear power stations are in imminent danger of terrorist attack and the Government has ignored foreign warnings to improve its defences, according to an independent investigation of last years Fukushima disaster. According to the report, Japans nuclear regulator ignored pleas by its American counterpart to increase precautions at its reactors after the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001. If it had done so, the improved security measures could have prevented the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station. Adding to the terrorism risk, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which operates Fukushima Dai-ichi, has allowed unscreened workers onto the sensitive site, potentially creating openings for terrorist infiltration.
Times 2nd Mar 2012 more >>
India
After being in denial for years, last month the selfsame Department of Atomic Energy for the first time admitted that the deaths of its employees and their dependents at the Kalpakkam nuclear site were caused by multiple myeloma, a rare form of bone marrow cancer linked to nuclear radiation.
IB Times 2nd March 2012 more >>
Russia
The first concrete has been poured for the foundation of the twin-unit Baltic nuclear power plant in Kaliningrad, marking the official start of construction of the first reactor there.
World Nuclear News 27th Feb 2012 more >>
China
Letter Society has built an image of a radioactive bogeyman that is not supported by any real evidence, and it is depressing that this irrational concern has spread to the Peoples Republic of China. If that country, with its huge economic growth and burgeoning energy needs, is forced to abandon nuclear power and revert to burning fossil fuels, it will be a bad day for all of us.
FT 2nd March 2012 more >>
Korea
North Koreas top nuclear negotiator will visit the United States next week after reaching a new nuclear agreement with Washington. Ri Yong-hos visit comes after the deal, which calls for the US to provide food aid in exchange for a suspension of uranium enrichment and a moratorium on nuclear and long-range-missile tests by North Korea.
Scotsman 2nd Mar 2012 more >>
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament welcomes yesterdays announcement of a nuclear moratorium by North Korea. Talks between US and North Korean officials in Beijing have yielded positive developments, including a halt to uranium enrichment as well as the testing of long-range missiles.
CND 1st March 2012 more >>
Robert Gates, the former US defence secretary, had a salty phrase for summing up the problem of negotiating with North Korea. “I’m tired of buying the same horse twice,” he said while attending a security conference in Singapore in 2009. Gates was referring to a familiar pattern that has emerged in America’s dealings with the world’s last Stalinist state. North Korea promises to freeze its nuclear programme in return for US food aid or other concessions. Washington duly supplies the goods, while North Korea breaks the deal.
Telegraph 1st March 2012 more >>
South Africa
The South Africa government’s integrated resource plan (IRP) aims to boost South Africa electricity generation by scaling up nuclear electrical output to 9.6 gigawatts by 2029.
Oil Price 2nd March 2012 more >>
Submarines
HMS Tireless and crew visit Southampton. The last time a nuclear submarine visited Southampton – it led to the death of one of its crew members. Lieutenant Commander Ian Molyneux was carrying out a tour of HMS Astute when he was shot by colleague Able Seaman Ryan Donovan. Today another nuclear submarine – HMS Tireless arrived at the city’s Eastern docks. It will spend six days in Southampton Water giving cadets, students and dignitaries a taster of life at sea. Chris Maughan has been on board.
Meridian Tonight 1st March 2012 more >>
Petersfield Post 1st Mar 2012 more >>
Southern Daily Echo 1st March 2012 more >>
BBC 1st Mar 2012 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
THIS newspaper believes strongly that it would be a mistake for Israel or America to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in order to prevent it getting a bomb. But anyone inclined to be relaxed about containing a nuclear-armed Iran needs to remember how precarious nuclear containment was in the cold war. George Washington University’s excellent National Security Archive has just published a fascinating but hair-raising new account, based on newly declassified documents, of the incident in 1979 when Zbigniew Brzezinski, then Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, was awoken by one of those fabled 3am telephone calls and told that the Soviet Union had launched 250 nuclear missiles at the United States. America had a matter of minutes to decide whether to launch a counter-strike. Not a nice start to anyone’s day. It was, of course, a false alarm. And although America and the Soviet Union later took steps to minimise the danger of a repetition, Harold Brown, the defence secretary, told the president that false alarms remained possible.
Economist 1st March 2012 more >>
SNP is believed to be considering scrapping opposition to Nato membership as part of radical shakeup of defence strategy. The party is still committed to forcing the UK to withdraw Trident submarines from the Clyde, but senior figures accept that could take some years to achieve. Military analysts believe an independent Scotland may have to retain Trident as a price for defence co-operation with the UK.
Guardian 1st Mar 2012 more >>
Renewables
Sewage can be used to generate electricity using a new device revealed by scientists on Thursday. It combines a fuel cell with other technologies to convert waste water treatment stations into power plants, which the researchers believe could provide the power for entire water grids.
Guardian 1st Mar 2012 more >>
This year the UK has already benefited from hundreds of millions of pounds of investment pledged by multinational companies planning to create jobs across the country. Since January, Samsung has announced a £100m project in Scotland to develop its new offshore turbine at Fife Energy Park, which will employ up to 500 people. The wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has submitted a planning application to build a factory at Sheerness, Kent, which could create 2,000 jobs. Siemens wants to build a wind turbine factory in Hull, creating 700 jobs directly, and many more in the supply chain, when it opens. Samsung has also agreed a multimillion-pound deal to design and manufacture gearboxes for the new turbine. No “grinding to a halt” there.
Guardian 1st Mar 2012 more >>
