Radwaste
OCTOBER 11 is D-day for deciding whether a massive underground nuclear waste repository might be built in the area. That is the day when Cumbria County Council and Copeland and Allerdale borough councils say yes or no to the question of trying to find somewhere suitable for burying high-level waste. The decision is in the hands of a relatively small number of councillors on the two borough council Executives and the county councils Cabinet. All the meetings (which will be open to the public) take place the morning of Thursday October 11 Copelands and Cumbrias at 10am and Allerdales at its normal 9am. Before this, the full council of each authority will hold special meetings, again in public, to debate the issue and make any recommendations.
Whitehaven News 23rd Aug 2012 more >>
Government body looks for comms consortium to convince public on waste disposal. A Government body overseeing the proposed burial of radioactive waste in the UK has launched a hunt for comms help in a bid to head off a local community backlash. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Radioactive Waste Management Directorate has launched a search for a consortium of agencies as local councils propose waste sites in Kent’s Romney Marsh and three locations in West Cumbria. NDA RWMD head of stakeholder and community engagement Elizabeth Atherton said the agencies would be doing ‘more than easing concerns’, adding the engagement processes were about ‘getting beyond traditional engagement to working in partnership with communities’. But the consortium that wins the brief is expected to face significant local opposition to the waste plans. Last week, a poll by The Hythe Herald of residents in Shepway, which contains Romney Marsh, showed that 55 per cent were against hosting the proposed £12bn national waste centre.
PR Week 24th Aug 2012 more >>
A method of storing nuclear waste normally used only for High Level Waste (HLW), could provide a better solution for the storage and ultimate disposal of Intermediate Level Waste (ILW). This is according to researchers at the University of Sheffield researchers, who tested simulated radioactive waste materials to produce glass and assess its suitability for storing lower grades of nuclear waste. They have shown, for the first time, that that turning this kind of waste into glass, a process called vitrification, could be a better method for its long-term storage, transport and eventual disposal.
Process Engineering 23rd Aug 2012 more >>
Scottish Waste
The NDA has today published a Strategy Paper on Intermediate Level Waste Storage Solutions in Central and Southern Scotland. The publication of this paper is consistent with the NDA’s Integrated Waste Management (IWM) Strategy. A key principle of the IWM Strategy is that centralised and multi-site approaches should be considered where it may be advantageous. Using the NDA’s Strategy Management System a small number of credible options have been identified, which will be taken forward for further assessment. The NDA welcomes comments from stakeholders on the options presented, which will be considered together with the further work the NDA is undertaking to identify a preferred option. It would particularly help NDA if comments are received by Friday October 5th 2012.
NDA 22nd Aug 2012 more >>
Sellafield
SELLAFIELD workers in the vitrification plant say they are going to be forced to work a compulsory 12-hour shift four hours longer than usual the GMB union said yesterday. The union also told The Whitehaven News that any worker who for whatever reason does not want to work 12 hours at a stretch will be shipped out elsewhere.
Whitehaven News 23rd Aug 2012 more >>
Hartlepool
A NEW visitor centre at Hartlepool nuclear power station will give thousands of people the chance to see behind the scenes of one of the country’s largest producers of low-carbon electricity. Planning permission for the centre has gone to Hartlepool Borough Council. If approved, it will be built near the site’s existing training centres.
Northern Echo 23rd Aug 2012 more >>
Belgium
Cracks in the steel reactor vessels of two nuclear plants in Belgium were found in 1979, three years before they came online, but they are unrelated to possible cracks discovered this summer, a spokeswoman for the country’s nuclear regulatory agency said Thursday. Belgium’s nuclear regulator announced this month that ultrasonic tests showed possible hairline cracks in the vessel housing the reactor at the Doel 3 nuclear plant near Antwerp. The plant was offline for a regular safety check, and it has yet to be determined whether it will ever go online again. The Federal Agency for Nuclear Control also ordered the shutdown of the Tihange 2 reactor, 90 kilometers (55 miles) southeast of Brussels, for checks because it had a vessel manufactured by the same company.
Huffington Post 23rd Aug 2012 more >>
Iran
Iran has installed many more uranium enrichment machines in an underground bunker, diplomatic sources said on Thursday, potentially paving the way for a significant expansion of work the West fears is ultimately aimed at making nuclear bombs.
Reuters 23rd Aug 2012 more >>
Renewables
A tidal turbine, which ministers claim will be the world’s first community-owned device of its kind, is to be built in Scotland. The Nova-30 turbine will be used by the North Yell community to power an industrial estate and ice plant in Shetland. It will be built by Scottish firms Steel Engineering and Nova Innovation. First Minister Alex Salmond said it showed Scotland was leading the way in offshore engineering. The Nova-30 will be fabricated for Leith-based Nova by Steel Engineering, which said the deal would help to safeguard and create jobs at its facility in Renfrew. Announcing the contract during a visit to Steel Engineering, Mr Salmond said the turbine would be connected to the grid and provide electricity to people in one of the most remote parts of Scotland.
BBC 23rd Aug 2012 more >>
Times 24th Aug 2012 more >>
Scotsman 24th Aug 2012 more >>
THE public is being asked to comment on new planning guidelines for the growing interest in small-scale wind farm developments in the Highlands. A draft guidance on wind turbine proposals, many of which have caused considerable controversy, has been produced by Highland Council. Thomas Prag, chairman of the Planning, Environment and Development Committee, said: “The council supports the principle of renewables – including wind energy. “Small scale turbines are part of that, but they can cause quite a bit of controversy locally, so we need a consistent approach to judge each application on its merits. “This draft guidance aims to set out the framework on which each decision will be based.
Scotsman 24th Aug 2012 more >>
Climate Change
The planet could be facing a catastropic 5 degree temperature rise, and we are losing time to address the threat of climate change, one of the government’s leading scientists tells Channel 4 News.
Channel 4 News 24th Aug 2012 more >>
