Iran
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has defended his country’s nuclear program in the UN General Assembly and accused the United States and Britain of manipulating the world body to further their own agendas.
Interactive Investor 20th Sept 2006
U.S. President George W. Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed over Iran’s nuclear ambitions in long-range rhetoric sparring before the United Nations on Tuesday.
Reuters 20th Sept 2006
President Bush used a UN address today to appeal directly to the Iranian people over the head of Iran’s firebrand leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who stayed away from the chamber.
Times website 19th Sept 2006
President George Bush challenged world leaders and their citizens to “stand up for peace” by spurning extremists, in order to promote democracy and end terrorism and armed conflict. “The world must stand up for peace,” he declared in a speech to the UN General Assembly.
Independent 20th Sept 2006
Ted Turner and Warren Buffet are backing a project to supply enriched uranium to countries wanting to develop nuclear energy to deter pursuit of enrichment technology.
Independent 20th Sept 2006
New nukes
MORE Scots now favour building nuclear power stations north of the border than relying solely on alternative sources of energy, according to a new survey. A YouGov poll commissioned by The Sunday Times reveals that 45% of Scots believe existing stations should be replaced at the end of their working lives compared with 37% who think they should not be replaced. The poll shows support for nuclear has risen since the start of the year when an ICM poll for the BBC found that 51% of Scots were against building new nuclear power stations north of the border, compared with just 33% in favour.
Sunday Times 17th September 2006
British Energy
British Energy Group PLC warned today that there will be further delays to a return to service at Hunterston B and Hinkley Point B in order to complete works to fix excessive tube cracking on boilers at the power stations. These problems are causing output reductions and the group also warned today that these delays, together with other losses, are expected to give rise to around 2.0 TWh of additional unplanned losses. British Energy announced on Aug 16 that a boiler inspection of one unit at Hunterston B indicated a level of boiler tube cracking above that expected and that return to service would be delayed by around one month plus additional work next financial year in order to undertake repair work to a number of boiler tubes.
AFX 18th Sept 2006
FT 19th Sept 2006
Fresh doubts were cast over the Government’s plans to raise some £3bn from the sale of shares in British Energy yesterday after the nuclear power producer warned that output this year would be further hit by cracks in some of its reactors. The warning sent British Energy shares 8 per cent lower, wiping nearly £500m from the value of the Government’s 65 per cent holding in the company.
Independent 20th Sept 2006
Trident
The marchers set off from Faslane five days ago Anti-nuclear campaigners are expected to complete their 85-mile march from Faslane to Edinburgh. The marchers, including leading churchmen, are calling on the Scottish Parliament and Westminster to scrap Trident missiles.
BBC 19th Sept 2006
Britain needs to give up its nuclear weapons if it is to have any authority in telling others not to develop them, campaigners said yesterday. The leaders of Scottish churches, peace campaigns, trade unionists, and MSPs were speaking as they ended their Long March for Peace, which has taken them from Faslane to Holyrood in five days.
Herald 20th Sept 2006
Dounreay
Radioactive particles have been traced in the sea and the shore Dounreay’s boss has warned that new problems at the site may be uncovered as workers enter parts of the complex where no-one has set foot for 50 years. The former centre of nuclear fast reactor research in Caithness is being decommissioned at a cost of 2.9bn.
BBC 18th Sept 2006
Scotland
ALL Scotland’s electricity needs could be met from renewable energy sources by 2050 under a bold vision for a greener future unveiled yesterday by Nicol Stephen, the deputy first minister. In an hugely ambitious pledge, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats vowed to go further than the Executive’s existing commitment to meet 40 per cent of the country’s electricity requirements through renewable sources by 2020.
Scotsman 19th Sept 2006
THORP
SELLAFIELD’S troubled Thorp reprocessing plant will NOT re-open this year because there is still too much to do following a massive radioactive leak which closed it 17 months ago. The news is a further blow for the £1.8bn flagship plant, which was closed when 83,000 litres of highly radioactive liquor leaked from a fractured pipe last April. It went undetected for nine months.
Carlisle News and Star 18th Sept 2006
