Uranium
Toshiba is set to buy mining rights in Kazakhstan in an effort to secure a stable supply of uranium that will bolster its nuclear power business. The Japanese electronics and energy conglomerate will buy 22.5 per cent of rights in the Kharassan mine, which gives it access to a maximum of 600 tonnes of uranium a year. Analysts said a deal could be worth tens of billions of yen.
FT 21st August 2007 more >>
India
The storm over India’s new nuclear pact with the US, which now threatens to bring down the Indian Government, illustrates the only good thing about the deal – it is an antidote to anti-Western reflexes in the country that still run deep. Other than that, the deal is a worry, for all the reasons that the US Congress has asserted: it is an extravagant breach of the spirit of non-proliferation treaties, showering the benefits of US nuclear help on India even though it acquired nuclear weapons.
Times 22nd August 2007 more >>
Critics of the deal accused President Bush of driving a coach and horses through the non-proliferation regime by making an exception for India, even as sabres were rattled at two other non-signatories of the treaty, Iran and North Korea. To the critics, these looked like dangerously double standards. However, on one thing it seemed everyone could agree – the deal was a breathtaking diplomatic coup for India, a nation which, less than a decade earlier, had been put under economic sanctions by the Clinton White House, following its test of a nuclear device in 1998. But not everyone in India has seen the deal in such glowing terms; this week, the Communist bloc that props up the Congress-led coalition threatened to pull the plug on the government if the deal was allowed to progress.
Telegraph 22nd August 2007 more >>
New nukes
COPELAND MP Jamie Reed is preparing to woo the Tories over nuclear power — hours after a top Tory voiced his support for the industry’s future. Senior Conservative John Redwood had said he would detail his support for a new host of nuclear power plants as he unveiled his economy policy review. But the admission is not official Conservative policy and Mr Reed believes now is the time to once again push for cross-party consensus.
North West Evening Mail 21st August 2007 more >>
Building more nuclear power plants is too slow, costly and risky to help the fight against climate change and energy security, a UK environmental think-tank the New Economics Foundation said on Wednesday. According to a report published by the foundation on Wednesday, the costs involved in building new reactors is up to three times higher than supporters of such plants say.
Reuters 22nd August 2007 more >>
Wastwater lake could eventually be drained dry if a new nuclear plant is built in Cumbria, an environmental group has claimed.
South Lakeland Friends of the Earth said the lake will disappear “drop by drop” because the nuclear industry uses huge amounts of fresh water in its cooling processes. The pressure group has launched an online petition objecting to plans to build a new reactor to replace Sellafield. Sellafield has a licence to draw four million gallons of water a day from the lake, but typically uses only about 3.25 million.
Nelson Leader 21st August 2007 more >>
The energy minister has suggested that Gordon Brown’s government could abandon Tony Blair’s idea of increasing the UK’s dependency on nuclear power and building new power stations. He even revealed that civil servants are currently looking at alternative strategies if the nuclear option was dropped (Gordon Brown is to decide by the end of 2007 whether to push on with private investment in nuclear energy).
Public Servant Daily 21st August 2007
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Nuclear power is the only realistic option to meet future energy needs, according to a new body representing business interests in Derbyshire. Derbyshire Members’ Council of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber believes it is right to identify nuclear energy as an important part of the UK’s energy provision.
Derbyshire Evening Telegraph 21st August 2007 more >>
Iran
The White House judged ‘encouraging’ but ‘not sufficient’ an agreement yesterday by Iran and the United Nations atomic authority on a timetable for Tehran to answer concerns about its nuclear program.
Forbes 22nd August 2007 more >>
Iranian and IAEA officials did not elaborate or provide more details on the timetable. But the agreement was expected to provide for easier inspection of Iran’s nuclear facilities by the IAEA and urge Tehran to provide detailed answers on remaining questions over its nuclear activities.
Guardian website 21st August 2007 more >>
BBC 21st August 2007 more >>
Interactive Investor 21st August 2007 more >>
France has threatened Iran with “substantial” UN Security Council sanctions if it persists in refusing to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, a foreign affairs ministry spokesman said. Diplomats in New York said France would join the US and Great Britain in pushing for the Security Council to adopt the sanctions next month.
Interactive Investor 21st August 2007 more >>
Scotland
Letter: an independent Scotland can make its own decisions about whether we have a new generation of nuclear generation – but the implication frequently is that we can keep free of the perceived dangerous option. That is so but we shall have no say in the nearness of nuclear installations operated by others. We should always remember that distance is no safeguard against unsafe nuclear reactors – Chernobyl was felt worldwide. We have large installations in our near neighbour, France.
Herald 22nd August 2007 more >>
UKAEA
The UK Atomic Energy Authority faces industrial action after workers at Windscale in Cumbria voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike and an overtime ban in a row over pay.
Nelson Leader 21st August 2007 more >>
US
82% of people living near a US nuclear plant are in favour of nuclear power and 71% would be willing to see a new reactor according to an opinion poll.
World Nuclear News 21st August 2007 more >>
Energy Efficiency
Persimmon, Britain’s second largest housebuilder, yesterday pledged to support the government’s ambitious house-building programme and plans to create a new generation of carbon-neutral homes.
Guardian 22nd August 2007 more >>
Politics
An almighty battle is shaping up in the Conservative party. Just as former environment secretary John Gummer and the party’s green guru Zac Goldsmith polish their plans to green up Britain, John Redwood, leader of the Conservative policy group on economic competitiveness, rides in with his suggestions – advised by roadbuilders, aviation lobbyists and nuclear power companies.
Guardian 22nd August 2007 more >>
Japan
A nuclear plant in northern Japan, the world’s biggest, that leaked radiation after being damaged by an earthquake last month is unsafe and should be shut down permanently, a group of scientists said. “It will be impossible to prove empirically that all of the plant’s damage has been repaired,” the group, headed by Kobe University Professor of Seismology Katsuhiko Ishibashi and Hiromitsu Ino, an emeritus professor of metallurgy at Tokyo University, said in a statement yesterday.
Bloomberg 22nd August 2007 more >>
