Dungeness
As one era of electricity generation comes to a close with the recent demolition of Richboroughs cooling towers, there are calls to revive a new age of power at Dungeness. Both Shepway and Ashford councils are lobbying for a third nuclear plant to be built at the site. Dungeness A has already been decommissioned, and the B reactor is due to stop producing pwer in 2018. Leader of Ashford council Peter Wood said: The decommissioning of Dungeness B, coupled with the Coalition Governments reluctance to approve development of Dungeness C, will have a profound, some claim calamitous impact not only upon Romney Marsh, but also upon much of Shepway and Ashford.
Kent News 25th Mar 2012 more >>
Dalgety Bay
Gordon Brown will today hand over a dossier containing fresh evidence of radiation risks on the coast of Fife when he meets with the Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond. The former Prime Minister and MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, will call for urgent action to clean up Dalgety Bay, affected by contaminated materials thought to date back to the Second World War. He said: There can be no complacency on the part of the Ministry of Defence now that a new fuller picture … has become available. The contamination is thought to stem from radium-coated instrument panels used on aircraft that were burnt and buried in the area after the War. Mr Browns dossier highlights the recent finding of radiation higher than previous levels discovered. It also states that much larger numbers of smaller particles have been discovered than previously reported.
The Times 26th Mar 2012 more >>
Herald 26th Mar 2012 more >>
New Nukes
As Japan mourned this month for the 19,000 people killed or presumed dead from the earthquake and tsunami that also wrecked the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station, India last week overrode six months of local protests to approve the start of its Kudankulam plant. In February, the U.S. gave the green light to build the nations first reactor in 30 years. China is very likely to resume approval of new nuclear projects this year, said Sun Qin, president of China National Nuclear Corp.
Bloomberg 25th Mar 2012 more >>
Terror
Security officials in all of the 5 Declared Nuclear states of the UN Security Council (the US, Russia, China, France and the UK by rank of their declared bomb inventories) are still seeking the most basic information about how much high-enriched uranium and plutonium has been lost or is unaccounted-for. Due to critical lack of clear information, leaders meeting in Seoul on 26 and 27 March will be forced to settle for modest but reassuring measures, adapted to the slender intellectual status of their middle class voting publics, which would seem to protect these key voters from the risk of terrorists obtaining nuclear materials or building and exploding a nuclear weapon.
Market Oracle 25th Mar 2012 more >>
Japan
Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the Fukushima plant, shut down its last running reactor, the No. 6 unit at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant, at 1:46 a.m. on Monday (1646 GMT on Sunday) for planned maintenance, leaving only one of Japan’s 54 reactors online. The one remaining reactor, Hokkaido Electric’s Tomari No.3, is scheduled to go off line on May 5 for maintenance. The capacity of the last remaining reactor is 912 megawatts, meaning just 1.9 percent of the nation’s total nuclear power capacity remains in use, raising concerns about a power crunch if none of the reactors taken off-line after the Fukushima crisis is restarted.
Reuters 26th Mar 2012 more >>
Independent 26th Mar 2012 more >>
Belfast Telegraph 26th Mar 2012 more >>
BBC 26th Mar 2012 more >>
ITV News 25th Mar 2012 more >>
The possibility of a nuclear power-free summer in Japan draws closer when one of two remaining reactors shuts down for on Monday for maintenance, raising concerns about a power crunch if none of those taken off-line after the Fukushima crisis is restarted.
Reuters 25th Mar 2012 more >>
Tokyo soil samples would be considered nuclear waste in the US.
Fairwinds 25th Mar 2012 more >>
Iran
If Israel’s 1981 bombing of Iraqi nuclear facilities teaches us anything, it’s that the quickest way to help the Iranians make up their minds is to attack them.
Guardian 25th Mar 2012 more >>
Korea
It did not take long for North Koreas twenty-something leader Kim Jong-eun to show off a skill perfected by his recently deceased father: how to steal a show. Barack Obama, Hu Jintao and a host of other world leaders are due to meet in Seoul from Monday for a nuclear summit aimed at preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear material.
FT 25th Mar 2012 more >>
South Korea has warned it might shoot down a North Korean rocket if it passes over its territory, as worries about what Washington calls a long-range missile test overshadowed an international nuclear security summit.
Guardian 26th Mar 2012 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
US President Barack Obama issued stern warnings to Iran and North Korea on Monday as he vowed to pursue further strategic nuclear arms reductions with Russia.
Telegraph 26th Mar 2012 more >>
Obama said that he will “pursue a reduction” in US nuclear weapons, during a summit speech in Seoul, South Korea.
ITV News 26th Mar 2012 more >>
BBC 26th Mar 2012 more >>
Submarines
Up to 2,000 jobs will be secured around Plymouths dockyard when a contract for a £350 million refit of a Royal Navy nuclear submarine is awarded today. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will this morning visit Devonport Dockyard to announce a deal which will see HMS Vengeance upgraded, and will mean a major boost to the Westcountry economy.
Western Morning News 26th Mar 2012 more >>
Scotsman 26th Mar 2012 more >>
ITV News 25th Mar 2012 more >>
