New Nukes
Factbox: Nuclear plants being built or planned across Europe
Reuters 23rd Apr 2009 more >>
Letter: Allan Wilson: Scotland’s future electricity generation needs should be met from a balanced mix of all energy sources, which is why new nuclear stations must be a part of the equation. The exact nature of that mix is a matter of debate but must meet three essential criteria: security of supply, carbon emissions’ reduction and affordability. All of which criteria new nuclear generation complies with. Neil Craig: Bill Robertson quotes figures some 50% greater than the 1.7p a unit for nuclear electricity I gave in my letter (April 20), though he was using the same World Nuclear Association site as I used. The figures given there are in cents and I converted them to pence. Mr Robertson has taken the figure in cents and written it as being in pence.
Herald 25th Apr 2009 more >>
Concerns about security of supply and climate change frame the UK debate, and while the government has concluded that new nuclear build is a major part of any solution, public opinion remains deeply divided – not least because of the legacy of costly and inefficient former UK nuclear projects. This paper explores the status and prospects of the British nuclear industry, including its history, UK energy strategy and the evolving regulatory framework, and discusses the continuing concerns surrounding the prospective new nuclear build in the UK.
Centre for International Governance Innovation Jan 2009 more >>
Millom
ANTI-NUCLEAR campaigners have warned wind turbines could be scrapped should a nuclear power plant be built near Millom. Energy bosses have come under fire from action group Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment over the future of the turbines in Haverigg. RWE npower, which is behind plans to build a plant at Layriggs in Kiksanton, has admitted a nuclear plant and some of the existing wind turbines “would not be able to co-exist”.
NW Evening Mail 23rd Apr 2009 more >>
Scotland
BORDERS MSP John Lamont and Conservative Westminster Candidate Chris Walker have expressed disappointment and concern after the Westminster Government last week released a list of 11 sites in England and Wales where new nuclear power stations could be built, but failed to include any options for Scotland. Mr Lamont commented: “This is not the news we wanted to hear, and leaves a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Scotland’s future energy supply and also raises questions over the many jobs dependant on the plant at Torness.
Berwickshire News 24th Apr 2009 more >>
Nuclear Waste
As Sweden debates where to store spent fuel from its nuclear reactors, scientific evidence has emerged to suggest that even if the three protective barriers that surround it are breached, there will be no radioactive contamination of groundwater. Sweden plans to protect its nuclear waste with a shell of copper reinforced with iron encased in clay and buried in surrounded by 500m of granite bedrock.
Edie 24th Apr 2009 more >>
US
Monumental grassroots victory against new reactor in Missouri. Today AmerenUE announced that it has cancelled its plans to build a new 1,600 megawatt-electric French Areva “Evolutionary Power Reactor” at its Callaway nuclear power plant in central Missouri. The project’s biggest stumbling block was Missouri’s anti-CWIP law. “Construction Work in Progress” (CWIP) allows a nuclear utility to recover the construction costs of a reactor before the reactor actually operates. Ratepayers pay this cost through their current electricity bill even though the reactor has not produced any power. Like federal taxpayer loan guarantees, CWIP is a way to overcome private investors’ wise aversion to the large financial risks of new reactor loans. In 1976, Beyond Nuclear board member Kay Drey helped lead a state-wide ballot measure barring CWIP in Missouri which passed by 2 to 1 margin.
Beyond Nuclear 24th Apr 2009 more >>
World’s largest solar power plants with thermal storage to be built in Arizona. What’s the easiest way to deal with the intermittency of many renewable sources of energy? Cheap storage. And what form of storage is much cheaper and has a much higher round-trip efficiency than electric storage? Thermal storage.
Climate Progress 24th Apr 2009 more >>
The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Jon Wellinghoff, said today of new coal and nuclear plants, “We may not need any, ever.”
Climate Progress 22nd Apr 2009 more >>
Protest
Undercover police are running a network of hundreds of informants inside protest organisations who secretly feed them intelligence in return for cash, according to evidence handed to the Guardian. They claim to have infiltrated a number of environmental groups and said they are receiving information about leaders, tactics and plans of future demonstrations. The dramatic disclosures are revealed in almost three hours of secretly recorded discussions between covert officers claiming to be from Strathclyde police, and an activist from the protest group Plane Stupid, whom the officers attempted to recruit as a paid spy after she had been released on bail following a demonstration at Aberdeen airport last month.
Guardian 25th Apr 2009 more >>
Guardian 25th Apr 2009 more >>
Herald 25th Apr 2009 more >>
Independent 25th Apr 2009 more >>
Pakistan
Thousands of Pakistani troops were massing for an assault on Taleban positions 65 miles from the country’s capital last night after giving the insurgents 24 hours to withdraw from their advanced positions or face attack. The threat of force follows a stern warning from American policymakers that Islamabad was doing too little to stem a growing militant insurgency. Washington is worried about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
Times 25th Apr 2009 more >>
North Korea
North Korea said it has begun to reprocess spent fuel rods from its nuclear power plant. The move would allow the communist country to produce weapons-grade plutonium.
Express 25th Apr 2009 more >>
BBC 25th Apr 2009 more >>
THE international crisis surrounding North Korea’s missile programme intensified last night as analysts warned that intelligence agencies have shifted their thinking to acknowledge publicly that the nation has become a nuclear power.
Scotsman 25th Apr 2009 more >>
Times 24th Apr 2009 more >>
Disarmament
Both Washington and Moscow want a new arms reduction treaty, but they want it for rather different reasons to those of the past.
BBC 24th Apr 2009 more >>
Russia and the US began landmark negotiations yesterday to cut their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Officials opened talks in Rome with the intention of replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start), which expires in December. Both sides cut their nuclear arsenals under that treaty to a maximum of 5,000 weapons each, compared with a peak of 30,000 in the Cold War.
Times 25th Apr 2009 more >>
Guardian 24th Apr 2009 more >>
