Scotland
NICOL Stephen signalled his determination yesterday to challenge Labour head-on over nuclear power and make it the defining issue of next year’s election campaign. The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader set out the battleground for the Holyrood elections by insisting it was obvious that the two coalition parties would go into the election campaign with opposing policies on nuclear power.
Scotsman 25th May 2006
Energy Review
The chief executive of ScottishPower, Britain’s biggest wind power company, criticised Tony Blair yesterday for pre-empting the outcome of the Government’s energy review by giving his public backing to a new generation of nuclear reactors.
Independent 25th May 2006
Guardian 25th May 2006
New nukes
Tony Blair has just lobbed a brick into the greenhouse by affirming that nuclear power is back on the agenda with a vengeance. George Bush has made similar noises and, most surprisingly, a growing number of environmentalists like James Lovelock and Patrick Moore (not the astronomer), one of the co-founders of Greenpeace back in the 1970s, have said the same thing: nuclear power is the only viable alternative energy source to oil when it comes to meeting most of the world’s needs. Some investors have already picked up on this theme.
Telegraph 25th May 2006
Iran
World powers made progress but failed to reach consensus in talks on Wednesday on a package of incentives and threats to prevent Iran from being able to build a nuclear bomb.
Reuters 24th May 2006
Guardian 24th May 2006
BBC 24th May 2006
Independent 25th May 2006
The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said on Wednesday he discussed Iran’s nuclear views with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after talks with Tehran’s negotiator, Ali Larijani. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also told reporters it was up to the United States to decide whether it would participate in direct negotiations with Iran on the nuclear crisis.
Reuters 24th May 2006
There is a growing international consensus that Iran will almost inevitably develop a nuclear weapon, a leading think tank said on Wednesday. The International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) issued its assessment as world powers met in London to consider a package of incentives and threats drafted by EU leaders meant to defuse a stand-off with Iran over its nuclear programme.
Reuters 24th May 2006
The White House yesterday ruled out previously authorised direct talks between Tehran and the US ambassador in Baghdad, which were to have focused on the situation in Iraq. The move marks a hardening of the Bush administration’s position, despite pressure from the international community to enter into direct dialogue with Iran.
Guardian 25th May 2006
Fusion
The European Union, the United States, and five other nations signed an agreement today to build the first nuclear- fusion reactor. The aim of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER, is to provide a new, safe energy source that will cut oil demand and curb greenhouse-gas emissions.
PR Newswire 24th May 2006
Vietnam
Russia wants to build Vietnam’s first nuclear reactor, the Russian nuclear agency said after taking part in a nuclear energy exhibition in Hanoi. Vietnam presented its nuclear energy development strategy to 2020 at the exhibition, showing plans to build a first 2000-4000 megawatt nuclear reactor starting 2010, for which construction would be open to international offers.
Interactive Investor 24th May 2006
Heysham
Tony Blair last week announced that nuclear energy was “back on the agenda with a vengeance”. With the most likely place to build new stations being existing nuclear sites, it was immediately assumed by some that Heysham might be pencilled in for a third plant. But as The Visitor reported in 2002, geological problems mean the Heysham site is not suitable for expansion. Heysham 1 is due for decommissioning in 2014, Heysham 2 in 2023.
Morecambe Visitor 24th May 2006
