New Nukes
Letter from Councillor Ralph Pryke, Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) English Forum: Don Tallis suggests that nuclear-free local authorities are “whingers”. Nothing could be further from the truth. What we are proposing is an energy policy based on energy efficiency and every type of renewable energy, not just wind. This is a policy which would be cheaper, create more jobs, and could be implemented in time to meet our climate change commitments. It would not take a decade or more, create dangerous waste we don’t know what to do with, and radioactive contamination, nor would it threaten nuclear weapons proliferation. Nuclear energy provides around 78 per cent of France’s electricity (not energy), this corresponds to only 18 per cent of the total energy consumed. Nuclear France still consumes more oil per capita than the UK. If Britain replaces its nuclear fleet this would only save around four per cent of our carbon emissions. We could easily make up for this with extra, cheaper, energy efficiency measures. The French nuclear reactor being built in Finland is three years behind schedule and 50 per cent over budget. Do we really want to repeat past mistakes in this country when there are better alternatives?
Leicester Mercury 24th March 2009 more >>
Three Mile Island
People died–and are still dying–at Three Mile Island. As the thirtieth anniversary approaches, we mourn the deaths that accompanied the biggest string of lies ever told in US industrial history. The public was assured there were no radiation releases. That quickly proved to be false. The public was then told the releases were controlled and done purposely to alleviate pressure on the core. Both those assertions were false. The public was told the releases were “insignificant.” But stack monitors were saturated and unusable, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission later told Congress it did not know—and STILL does not know—how much radiation was released at Three Mile Island, or where it went. Investigations by epidemiologist Dr. Stephen Wing of the University of North Carolina, and others, led Wing to warn that the official studies on the health impacts of the accident suffered from “logical and methodological problems.” Studies by Wing and by Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear industry official, being announced this week at Harrisburg, significantly challenge official pronouncements on both radiation releases and health impacts.
Counterpunch 24th Mar 2009 more >>
Nuclear Research
A consortium has been chosen to run the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) at Sellafield in Cumbria. A group led by facilities firm Serco and including Manchester University, will be responsible for developing the complex.
BBC 24th Mar 2009 more >>
Business Gazette 24th Mar 2009 more >>
Nuclear Skills
JOBS for the future will be the theme of a ministerial visit to Fylde’s nuclear facility this week. John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, will be speaking to bosses at Springfields on Thursday. More than 1,600 apprentices have been trained at the site over the past 60 years.
Blackpool Gazette 24th Mar 2009 more >>
Proliferation
Baroness Williams of Crosby (Liberal Democrat), Director of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (USA), will call attention to the potential for nuclear proliferation and the Government’s plans to respond in a debate this Thursday, 26 March, in the House of Lords.
UK Parliament 24th Mar 2009 more >>
Terror
The Home Office has launched its new counter-terrorism strategy, warning of the threat of a serious attack on the UK. The government said that the threat of a nuclear or chemical attack is “more realistic” than ever.
ePolitix 24th Mar 2009 more >>
Telegraph 24th Mar 2009 more >>
Metro 24th Mar 2009 more >>
Independent 25th Mar 2009 more >>
Obituary
Ed Grothus, who has died aged 86, started his career building atomic bombs, before becoming a committed nuclear abolitionist. He worked for nearly 20 years at the US nuclear bomb factory at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), New Mexico. But in December 1969 he quit, disillusioned with his government’s involvement in the Vietnam war, and thereafter devoted his life to developing a unique campaigning mixture of serious stunts and wacky humour. He became the most interviewed and photographed person in Los Alamos.
Guardian 24th Mar 2009 more >>
In an abandoned, mud-filled Welsh slate quarry near the Powys market town of Machynlleth, Gerard Morgan-Grenville, who has died aged 77, founded a small community on a shoestring budget to show that there were alternatives to high-polluting technologies in energy, food production and construction. Thirty-six years later, the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) has become Europe’s leading showcase and laboratory for low-energy devices and sustainable living, with 90 permanent staff, scores of volunteers and some 65,000 visitors a year.
Guardian 25th Mar 2009 more >>
North Korea
North Korea has threatened to boycott international talks on ending the secretive state’s nuclear weapons programme if it is punished by the United Nations for launching a rocket.
Yahoo 25th Mar 2009 more >>
Japan
Tokyo Electric Power Co and Tohoku Electric Power Co are likely to postpone the start of operations of three new nuclear generators by about a year due to delays in the government safety review process.
Yahoo 24th Mar 2009 more >>
Test Veterans
France on Tuesday offered for the first time to compensate victims of its nuclear tests almost half a century after the first explosion and following decades of pressure from victims who were exposed to radiation.
Telegraph 25th Mar 2009 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
93 year old man who survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki honoured.
Guardian 25th Mar 2009 more >>
Renewables
Britain must revert to greater state control of energy markets to hit ambitious targets on renewable energy and climate change, according to the former head of BP. Lord Browne of Madingley warns that market mechanisms are failing to deliver the necessary growth in clean energy. Crucial offshore wind projects could be cancelled unless there is an urgent rethink of energy policy, he says.
Guardian 25th Mar 2009 more >>
