Scotland
As the Scottish Labour Party gathered in Oban for the first day of their party conference, green groups were there to urge First Minister Jack McConnell to come clean on his plans for nuclear power. With Tony Blair’s decision to build a new generation of nuclear power stations, Scotland almost certainly faces the threat of new nuclear power stations and a new nuclear waste dump site being built on Scottish soil. But the vast majority of Scots – and the three main Scottish political parties other than Labour – oppose nuclear power. The Scottish Labour party though, doesn’t seem to have a clear position at all on nuclear. Under pressure from English Labour and Tony Blair, the First Minister and Scottish Labour leader Jack McConnell has desperately tried to avoid making any commitment one way or the other. We think it’s time for him to come clean.
Greenpeace Press Release 25th Nov 2006
CONFERENCE DIARY; ENVIRONMENTALISTS decided to take their message to Labour’s Scottish conference by driving a hired van round the Oban conference centre with big posters on the back opposing nuclear power. The only problem was that, by driving round and round the conference hall all day, they were producing more greenhouse gases than anything else in Oban – including the Labour conference.
Scotsman 25th Nov 2006
Iran
Iran has agreed to hand over records of its uranium enrichment work in a boost to UN efforts to determine whether Tehran seeks nuclear weapons, but diplomats and analysts said more cooperation is needed.
Middle East Online 24th Nov 2006
Iran has begun reinforcing its nuclear facility defences with Russian missile systems designed to thwart missile attacks, it was confirmed yesterday.
Telegraph 25th Nov 2006
Decommissioning
THE firm with the largest share of the nuclear clean-up market in America has opened an office in west Cumbria. Washington Group International was the main contractor at the low level waste repository at Drigg for six years until 2005. Now the firm is looking to re-establish itself in the area by opening up at the Westlakes Science & Technology Park.
Carlisle News and Star 24th Nov 2006
Pakistan
China’s president signed a five-year trade pact with Pakistan today, promising to continue joint development of nuclear energy and pledging to play a “constructive” role in resolving disputes between Pakistan and its next-door rival India.
ICWales 24th Nov 2006
Chinese president Hu Jintao yesterday promised support for Pakistan’s nuclear energy programme but stopped short of announcing plans to supply its longstanding strategic ally with further reactors. A senior Pakistani official claimed Mr Hu’s remarks provided tacit confirmation of China’s agreement to help build the nuclear reactors required to achieve the planned tenfold increase in Pakistan’s civil nuclear capacity to about 8,800 megawatts by 2030.
FT 25th Nov 2006
Russian Spy
A radiation alert was declared by the Government last night as it was disclosed that a former KGB colonel who died in London had been poisoned by a rare and deadly substance – polonium-210.
Telegraph 25th Nov 2006
Guardian 25th Nov 2006
What is polonium-210?
Telegraph 25th Nov 2006
Times 25th Nov 2006
