Scotland
Gazing out to the Firth of Clyde from the picturesque village of Fairlie, it is almost impossible to ignore one of its closest neighbours. Hunterston B power station provides part of the backdrop for the village’s beautiful outlook towards the Cumbraes and beyond. Hnterston B’s nuclear reactors have not been operating since last October hile repairs to cracked boiler pipes were carried out. Operator British Eergy is waiting for consent from industry body the Nuclear Installations nspectorate (NII) to resume normal service. The Royal Society of Edinburgh carried out an inquiry into energy issues for Scotland last year. Its report recommended a “new generation of nuclear power stations should remain an option”.
Herald 25th April 2007
Less than a quarter of Scots support building new nuclear power stations in Scotland, according to a new survey released today. The results, compiled by pollsters 2collaborate for Greenpeace, also show that almost three quarters would prefer to use more renewable energy than energy from new nuclear plants.
Greenpeace Press Release 24th April 2007
Green Consumer Guide 25th April 2007
Daily Record 25th April 2007
Labour risks losing green vote over nuclear power.
Metro 25th April 2007
North Korea
North Korea is likely to conduct more nuclear tests if six-nation diplomacy to disarm the communist state does not succeed, the commander of the U.S. military in South Korea told a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
Reuters 24th April 2007
Guardian website 25th April 2007
Iran
Iran and the European Union held “constructive” talks on Wednesday night over Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme, but each side gave a cautious assessment of the progress made. The talks, held in Ankara at the invitation of the Turkish government, were the most serious attempt for seven months to tackle the international deadlock over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
FT 25th April 2007
Senior Iranian and Western envoys have scheduled a new round of nuclear talks in two weeks.
Channel 4 News 25th April 2007
BBC 25th April 2007
Iran’s nuclear negotiator said he expected the European Union to float “new ideas” at talks on Wednesday over Tehran’s refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Hopes for a breakthrough at the talks between Iran’s Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana were dampened in the run-up by a renewed Iranian vow not to stop enrichment despite increasing sanctions pressure.
Daily Mail 25th April 2007
The United States and other world powers may be ready to allow Iran to keep some of its uranium enrichment program intact instead of demanding its complete dismantling, foreign government officials said Tuesday.
Guardian website 25th April 2007
Herald 25th April 2007
Wales
Anglesey today took its case for a new nuclear power station to the Department of Trade and Industry. Led by the island MP Albert Owen, the high-powered delegation included County Council Leader Gareth Winston Roberts OBE, Managing Director, Derrick Jones, and Amicus Union regional officer, Alwyn Rowlands. They revealed that the meeting with the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Energy, Lord Truscott, had been very positive.
News Wales 25th April 2007
Terror
U.S. nuclear reactor builders will likely have to weigh the potential for a commercial aircraft strike when they design new plants, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Tuesday. The NRC’s proposed rules are meant to protect new reactors against a deliberate hit by a jet like those that rammed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the commission said.
Reuters 25th April 2007
International Herald Tribune 24th April 2007
Nuclear Weapons
THE Bush administration has yet to make the case for building a new generation of replacement warheads and “the role of nuclear weapons” in a post-Cold War, post-9/11 world, a panel of US nuclear weapons experts said yesterday.
Scotsman 25th April 2007
THEY were sent half way round the world to see how the UK would fare in a nuclear war – for some, the battle continues. It is 50 years since thousands of awe-struck servicemen witnessed the first hydrogen bomb explode above the Pacific Ocean. Far more powerful than the weapons that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the air drop was to be the first of seven nuclear bomb tests in the area that year. While the Ministry of Defence has always rejected claims that the servicemen’s health was put at risk, the British Nuclear Tests Veterans Association continues to pursue compensation claims for its members. Here, LINDA SUMMERHAYES talks to some of those whose lives the tests changed forever.
Edinburgh Evening News 24th April 2007
Finland
The newly elected coalition government of Finland comprising 20 ministers includes two members from the Green Party. The party, which is opposed to any additional nuclear developments in the country, will hold the positions of the minister of justice and the minister of labour. In addition, another Green Party member has been appointed to the post of special adviser to the prime minister on climate change.
Nuclear Engineering International 24th April 2007
China
Nuclear power is not the long-term answer to China’s energy needs due to limited global uranium supplies and problems with nuclear waste disposal, state media on Monday quoted a top official as saying. State media reported last week that China intended to set up a strategic uranium reserve amid plans to build as many as three new nuclear power plants annually over the next 10 years. But Chen called the expansion of China’s nuclear power capacity a “transitional replacement” of the country’s heavy reliance on coal and oil. He said the future for China lies in more efficient use of such fossil fuels and expanded consumption of renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and hydro-power. Chen said nuclear waste disposal in heavily populated China remained another check on nuclear power’s growth.
Sustainable Development International 24th April 2007
AFP 23rd April 2007
