With a banking debacle to be resolved this week, the US is trying to revive diplomatic attempts to convince North Korea to take steps down the road to denuclearisation. But just as the first part of the schedule for moving towards denuclearisation was fraught with unexpected problems, the next stage – invigorated by the surprise visit by Christopher Hill, the US nuclear envoy, to Pyongyang last week – will not be a smooth process.
FT 24th June 2007 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/cb4e518a-2269-11dc-ac53-000b5df10621,_i_rssPage=7f5f6b12-2f66-11da-8b51-00000e2511c8.html
A senior official from the UN nuclear watchdog has left for North Korea to discuss how the agency’s inspectors will monitor and verify the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor.
Channel 4 News 24th June 2007 http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/un+nuclear+envoy+heads+for+n+korea/573957
New nukes
This week, Canadian nuclear company AECL will pledge to employ over 10,000 UK workers if it wins the contract to build a new generation of nuclear reactors. AECL will sign a joint agreement with the Unite union on Tuesday to use mostly UK workers, companies and suppliers if it leads the rebuilding programme in the UK. It submitted its Candu reactor design on Friday to the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. Areva of France and General Electric and Westinghouse of the US have also submitted designs.
Independent on Sunday 24th June 2007 http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2699101.ece
Dounreay
TAXPAYERS face a £3million bill in a bungled nuclear deal, which will see radioactive waste shipped back to Scotland. Bosses at the Dounreay plant sold almost three tonnes of heavy-metal thorium to South America in a secret deal almost 10 years ago. But they are now making high security arrangements to bring it back to Caithness after their Peruvian clients discovered it was contaminated with potentially deadly uranium.
Sunday Express 24th June 2007 http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/11052
Iran
A senior Iranian official warned Saturday that further U.N. sanctions over Tehran’s contentious nuclear program could derail ongoing negotiations toward a settlement.
Guardian website 24th June 2007 http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6732050,00.html
Sellafield
Staff at the nuclear complex at Oskarshamn, southern Sweden, held an unusual birthday party last week. Passing slices of cake around the office, they celebrated the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Sigyn, the specially constructed ship that every week transports the country’s spent nuclear fuel to the Clab temporary storage facility. However you look at it, Sweden is at least cleaning up its nuclear legacy. The British Government, which this week launches (another) consultation on its nuclear waste policy, could learn a thing or two. There are currently 470,000 cubic metres of nuclear waste scattered around the UK on 30 temporary sites. The Government and the industry body charged with responsibility for the waste (the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority) need to decide soon what to do with it. Otherwise, public support for plans to build new nuclear reactors could be undermined.
Independent on Sunday 24th June 2007 http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article2699080.ece
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