Sellafield
Sellafield, the nuclear plant that is Western Europe’s most heavily contaminated industrial site, is facing an unexpected environmental challenge. The 262-hectare (645 acres) plant in West Cumbria is being overrun by seagulls, mice and stray cats, and managers are battling to contain the problem. Things have become so serious that a cull of seabirds is being considered. There are concerns that some have been swimming in open ponds containing plutonium and radioactive waste, some of which date back to Britain’s atomic weapons programme of the 1950s and 1960s.
Times 25th Feb 2010 more >>
NPS
The RTPI, the professional body that represents 22,000 planners has submitted a robust response to the Government’s consultation on a National Policy Statement for Energy, which will determine how proposals to build new energy facilities are decided upon by the new Infrastructure Planning Commission. Matt Thomson, Acting Director Policy & Partnerships at the RTPI said: “The draft national policy statement on energy is not fit for purpose. It makes no attempt to translate the national need for energy infrastructure into guidance on where such development should be located and so provides no reassurance for either potential investors, or indeed local communities.
Royal Town Planning Institute 24th Feb 2010 more >>
House of Lords Debate on National Policy Statements.
UK Parliament 23rd Feb 2010 more >>
Radioactive Waste
Concerns have been raised again over the viability of a deep geological repository for storing nuclear waste because of the build-up of gases within such a chamber. According to an Environment Agency report published last week, “the modelling of gas and its effects [within a repository] continues to present many challenges”. The report found that gases generated by metal corrosion and degradation of organic waste would be likely to accumulate within a geological repository. The main gases produced would be hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. It is thought these could contain radioactive isotopes such as tritium and carbon 14. If gas accumulated within a repository, the report said, there would be a build-up of pressure which could have an effect on the repository’s engineered structure and host rock. Peter Wilkinson of Nuclear Waste Advisory Associates said there were “anomalies” in terms of the development of a repository that needed to be addressed. “On the one hand you have to isolate the radioactivity from the biosphere in a repository, and therefore you want to make it as impermeable as possible, but on the other you need to ensure that some of this gas escapes. It’s a dilemma. If gas is vented, it could significantly alter the risk of those exposed to developing fatal cancers,” he said.
Professional Engineering 19th Feb 2010 more >>
BURYING highly radioactive waste underground in Copeland to solve one of the nation’s biggest problems is not a done deal, insists Copeland Council leader Elaine Woodburn. She told a meeting in Whitehaven this week: “There is no done deal by the government nor has there been any discussions with government over Copeland accepting a repository – neither would it be the case.” It was stressed at a meeting of the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership that at this stage Copeland, Allerdale and Cumbria county council had expressed an interest into the possibility of “hosting” a deep underground repository – that’s all. The Partnership is giving information and advice to the three councils on whether West Cumbria should proceed to the next stage with government. This is when the Nuclear Decommissioning will look at social, economic and environmental criteria needed to identify potentially suitable disposal sites. At Tuesday’s meeting, Partnership members discussed issues with environmentalists Jean McSorley and Ruth Balogh. Ms McSorley said there was an impression that burying highly radioactive waste in Cumbria was already a done deal. “It seems to be a case of Copeland rushing headlong into this, it should not be happening so soon, it is one of the biggest technical problems we face. We are dealing with a highly dangerous environment here,” she declared. Dr Balogh, a leading health researcher, said that addressing engineering and technical issues was paramount.
Whitehaven News 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Low Level Waste
COPELAND’s MP has come out publicly against Keekle Head being used to dispose of slightly radioactive nuclear waste. Jamie Reed told The Whitehaven News yesterday he had told Endecom, the proposed developers, of his opposition. He has called for the former opencast coal site to be cleaned up, restored and reparations paid. Endecom has already submitted a planning application and says it has had a favourable public response locally to its plans. In order to free up capacity at the UK’s only designated disposal site (Drigg), the government is looking for alternatives such as landfill to bury very low levels or radioactive material.
Whitehaven News 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Cumbria
Made in Cumbria members learnt on Monday by email that they will be funded wholly by the nuclear and the arms trade industry. Made in Cumbria was established in 1989 as an economic development initiative by Cumbria County Council to promote the sales of crafts, gifts and local foods.
Indymedia 24th Feb 2010 more >>
NEW nuclear build must happen in Copeland to provide thousands of jobs and more investment in other sectors, MPs have been told. Copeland Council’s deputy chief executive, Fergus McMorrow, said nuclear power was key to regeneration across the borough and west Cumbria. Giving evidence at the north west regional select committee into the future of the nuclear industry in the north west, he told MPs he wanted Copeland to become the country’s centre for nuclear excellence. And he warned without new build 8,000 jobs would be lost through the decommissioning of Sellafield which could otherwise be filled with vacancies created by new sites.
NW Evening Mail 24th Feb 2010 more >>
A HOUSE of Commons Select Committee has been told that Sellafield faces the loss of up to 8,000 jobs in the next few years but a new nuclear power station could help offset the rundown.
Whitehaven News 24th Feb 2010 more >>
COPELAND Council and Cumbria County Council are at odds over where any potential new nuclear reactors should be built in the area. Only days after Copeland councillors voted in favour of all three potential sites – Sellafield, Braystones and Kirksanton – staying on the provisional list, the county council has this week formally called for the two village locations to be struck off.
Whitehaven News 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Copeland Council wants Sellafield to be top of the list but have voted for Sellafield, Braystones and Kirksanton all to stay on the list of “potentially suitable” sites.
Whitehaven News 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Hinkley
Construction’s big hitters are finalising their bids for the first significant contract package at Hinkley Point, set to be the first nuclear power station built in the UK for 20 years.
Construction News 25th Feb 2010 more >>
FEARS over health and damage to the countryside dominated debate on plans to place pylons from Hinkley Point across the Somerset Levels. Executive members of Sedgemoor District Council met last Wednesday to submit a response to a national document on electricity networks, published by the Government Department for Energy and Climate Change. But focus soon shifted to National Grid’s proposals to take electricity away from a new Hinkley C nuclear power plant using pylons.
Bridgwater Mercury 24th Feb 2010 more >>
US
South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster said on Wednesday he would take legal action to stop President Barack Obama from dropping plans to build a nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada. Last month the Obama administration announced it was stopping the license application for a long-planned nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain near Las Vegas, which is opposed by environmental groups. McMaster said that he would file a petition to intervene with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week and plans to take additional legal action in appellate courts in Washington and Virginia on Friday.
Reuters 25th Feb 2010 more >>
Iran
With the Obama administration escalating its diplomatic campaign for a further round of UN sanctions against Iran, a report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week provided an apparent boost to US propaganda that Tehran is developing a nuclear weapons capacity. While the 10-page report is largely a rehash of previous IAEA documents, there was a shift in emphasis, most strikingly in the six-paragraph section headed “Possible Military Dimensions”. For the first time, the IAEA openly raised “concerns” that Iran might have been engaged in research activities related to the manufacture of a nuclear weapon that continued beyond 2004.
World Socialist 25th Feb 2010 more >>
India
The aftermath of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal in 1984 has vital lessons for India as it seeks to commercialise its nuclear industry without an adequate legal framework covering compensation and liability.
Open Democracy 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Israel
Israel’s nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has requested that his name be removed from the list of candidates to the Nobel Peace Prize, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said Wednesday.
Middle East Online 24th Feb 2010 more >>
Ukraine
A year-long assessment exercise carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Commission (EC) has found that safety at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants is in line with international standards.
World Nuclear News 24th Feb 2010 more >>
