Iran
The IAEA is gloomy about the prospects for an agreement with Iran.
FT 20th Feb 2007
Iran could be just six months away from acquiring the ability to enrich industrial-scale uranium – a key step in building a nuclear bomb – the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned.
Metro 19th Feb 2007
Iran’s key nuclear sites.
BBC 16th Feb 2007
Iran has rejected claims by Russian officials that it has failed to meet payments for work on the Bushehr nuclear plant in southern Iran.
BBC 19th Feb 2007
View London 19th Feb 2007
Reuters 19th Feb 2007
IRAN’S military launched its largest war games in almost a year today, just two days ahead of a UN Security Council deadline for Iran to halt uranium enrichment or face further economic sanctions.
Edinburgh Evening News 19th Feb 2007
Trident
CLYDE Naval Base, which houses the UK’s Trident nuclear arsenal and fleet of nuclear submarines, has been ordered to make £30 million of cuts, sparking fears of massive job losses and reduced safety.
Scotsman 20th Feb 2007
PEACE campaigners will be taking their anti-nuclear message around the country in a camper van, setting off from the Scottish Parliament today. Green MSP Robin Harper was set to see off the colourful Bin The Bomb Roadshow from Holyrood at noon.
Edinburgh Evening News 19th Feb 2007
New nukes
Where it had been stated in a government White Paper that there would be the fullest public consultation before making a decision on a matter of substantial public policy but information as to major relevant issues had emerged only after consultation had closed, then the decision-making process was fatally flawed.
Times 20th Feb 2007
Scotland
IF THE government was actually trying to create a climate of suspicion about nuclear power it couldn’t do much better. Last week, the high court in London condemned its public consultation on nuclear power as “misleading” and “seriously flawed”. It provided virtually no information about the real costs and risks. In fact,it wasn’t really a consultation at all, but a public relations exercise. Tony Blair had already decided what he wanted to do, and the consultation – like the dodgy dossiers on Iraq – were created to fit the policy. We have been here before. The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CORWM) held a similarly empty consultation on nuclear waste before it reported in July last year. It was supposed to find a solution to the most intractable problem of this form of energy. But it rapidly became clear that this three-year inquiry was essentially a PR exercise designed to persuade the public that there was no alternative to deep geological storage of nuclear waste. Which isn’t actually a solution at all. We are supposed to be completing another consultation right now on a new generation of Trident nuclear submarines, though there has been precious little sign of it.
Sunday Herald 18th Feb 2007
Nicol Stephen also told his party’s Scottish conference in Aviemore that he wanted to turn Scotland into the renewable energy powerhouse of Europe. A Scottish energy bill would be published in September containing plans for 100% of electricity to be generated from renewables by 2050.
BBC 17th Feb 2007
I am determined to deliver wave power in Scotland creating millions of pounds of new investment and thousands of jobs. Last year I set up a new fund to support marine energy in Scotland. I was told we would be lucky to get even one or two applications. Next week I will be announcing support for the first projects from the marine energy support fund. Next week I will be announcing nine successful applications, all determined to build a world class wave and tidal industry here in Scotland. Make no mistake, I want to see Scotland become the renewable energy powerhouse of Europe. I am determined to deliver more decentralised energy, with microrenewables in every new development. Let’s see wind turbines and solar panels and biomass boilers in our homes and our schools and our hospitals. And I am determined to set a big and deliberately bold target on all of this. By 2050 the Liberal Democrats want all of Scotland’s electricity to be generated from renewable sources – 100% clean electricity in the lifetime of our children. That is the sort of policy to inspire young people in Scotland.
Speech by Nicol Stephen MSP 17th Feb 2007
Scottish ministers are set to announce funding for what has been described as the world’s biggest wave farm. Leith-based company Ocean Power Delivery has been testing the Pelamis device at the European Marine Energy Centre on Orkney. Scottish Power wants to commission four more at the same site. Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen is set to announce a 13m funding package that will also allow a number of other marine energy devices to be tested. Ocean Power Delivery has already exported the Pelamis for use in a commercial wave farm.
BBC 20th Feb 2007
