Nuclear Waste
TENDERS are to be invited from town halls to site nuclear waste bunkers in their areas in return for multimillion-pound investment in local services.
Times 26th Oct 2006
Telegraph 26th Oct 2006
Daily Mail 26th Oct 2006
ITV 25th Oct 2006
Carlisle News and Star 25th Oct 2006
BBC 25th Oct 2006
“The UK has been creating radioactive waste for 50 years without any clear idea of what to do with it,” says Gordon MacKerron, who chaired the committee charged with showing a way forward that would end this deadlock. Yesterday, ministers in Westminster, Edinburgh and Cardiff issued a statement accepting the key proposal of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management: to offer communities the dubious privilege of competing to host a hole large and deep enough to accommodate all of Britain’s nuclear waste, estimated at 470,000 cubic metres. The government hopes that by offering millions of pounds of infrastructure investment, communities that have already swallowed their doubts about nuclear safety will be persuaded to volunteer, bringing a new twist to the adage about the relationship between muck and brass.
Herald 26th Oct 2006
The Government began the search yesterday for a site to to store Britain’s nuclear waste in a deep underground bunker.
Yorkshire Post 26th Oct 2006
The UK government’s decision today to subsume independent waste body Nirex into the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) could cause any future waste repository to be blocked by a legal challenge from nuclear protesters, sources said today.
Forbes 25th Oct 2006
The Government’s proposals include giving responsibility for securing geological disposal of radioactive waste to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. GMB has reacted with distain.
GMB Press Release 25th Oct 2006
Taxpayers will be expected to foot the bulk of a bill of up to 20bn for the deep underground burial of -radioactive
waste from nuclear plants, it emerged yesterday. The government’s decision to store and then bury nuclear waste angered environmentalists, who called the strategy “haphazard” and “reckless”. The Conservatives warned of a potential conflict of interest inhanding responsibility for finding a suitable site to the Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority, which owns nuclear facilities. But the biggest concern voiced by MPs was the uncertainty over how the cost of disposal and the construction of a bunker 1km below ground would be met. Although private operators could build new reactors in coming years and would contribute to the bill, tax revenues would provide most of the financing.
FT 26th Oct 2006
Scotland
JACK McConnell has come under fire after saying that Scotland could have its nuclear waste dumped in north-west England. The First Minister’s suggestion was made after a keynote speech about the benefits of devolution. In a question-and-answer session, Mr McConnell said: “Nuclear waste is most likely in the UK to be placed in the north-west of England. And that is part of the partnership that we have here, that we share each other’s challenges for the future. I think those that would throw away that partnership don’t realise the immense dividend we get from it.” But David Miliband, the UK Environment Secretary, said: “We should not have central diktats”, adding that it was for local authorities in Scotland, England or Wales to come forward and volunteer to accept nuclear waste.
Scotsman 26th Oct 2006
Herald 26th Oct 2006
Dundee Courier 26th Oct 2006
BBC 25th Oct 2006
Times 26th Oct 2006
It is unlikely the dump will be in Scotland and Highland Council, whose area includes the Dounreay plant, confirmed they don’t want it.
Daily Record 26th Oct 2006
Iran
Washington wants restrictions on Russia’s construction of an Iranian nuclear reactor as part of a European draft U.N. resolution that imposes sanctions on Tehran’s atomic-related activities, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Reuters 26th Oct 2006
Iran announced yesterday that a second set of equipment for enriching uranium was just days from being completed, deepening its defiance over its nuclear programme.
Telegraph 26th Oct 2006
FT 26th Oct 2006
BBC 25th Oct 2006
Norway
Tougher controls on the slaughter of sheep have been imposed in Norway after they were found to be contaminated with unusually high levels of radioactivity from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) says the problem has arisen because the sheep have feasted on an unusually large crop of mushrooms, which were more plentiful than usual because of wet weather. Previous research has shown that fungi take up more radioactivity from the soil than grasses or other plants.
New Scientist 28th Oct 2006
RobEdwards.com 26th Oct 2006
Nuclear Waste Transport
SUNDERLAND train station was closed yesterday after a train carrying nuclear waste broke down. The station was evacuated by fire crews after smoke was seen coming from the train. An axle on the train, bound for Sellafield reprocessing plant, had overheated. British Transport Police said there was no danger to the public at any time.
Sunderland Echo 26th Oct 2006
Decommissioning
The European Commission has adopted a new recommendation that contains measures to ensure adequate and properly managed financial resources for nuclear decommissioning activities, as well as for the safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste. As there is currently a debate on the revival of nuclear energy in several European Union member states, the Commission recommendation has paid special attention to new nuclear constructions. While a segregated fund with appropriate controls on use is the preferred option for all nuclear installations, a clear recommendation to this effect has been made for the newly established facilities, the Commission said.
Energy Business Review 25th Oct 2006
Hinkley & Hunterston
The future of some of Britain’s ageing nuclear power stations was yesterday thrown into doubt as government inspectors claimed cracks in the graphite cores of the oldest plants were so serious that a safety case for the stations operating much longer could not be made. An assessment report on the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate website stated yesterday that there were expectations that most of the graphite bricks in the core of the 1976 Hinkley Point station, and its twin station, Hunterston, in Ayrshire, would crack in the near future, jeopardising the safe running of the reactors.
Guardian 26th Oct 2006
Questions are being raised about the future of Hinkley Point B nuclear power station in Somerset.
BBC 26th Oct 2006
Problems with British Energy’s nuclear power plants will probably push up UK power prices and could, at worst, pose risks to power supply security, according to consultants Wood Mackenzie.
Reuters 25th Oct 2006
BRITAIN is facing an increased risk of power shortages this winter, analysts warned yesterday. Problems with five ageing nuclear power stations, including Hunterston B in Scotland, combined with a cold winter would put the country’s energy supply “at risk”.
Scotsman 26th Oct 2006
WHILE Britain has been enjoying its hottest summer on record, events have been conspiring which threaten electricity shortages when winter eventually comes.
Scotsman Editorial 26th Oct 2006
BNG Privatisation
The Liberal Democrats have attacked the Government’s proposal to break up and sell off British Nuclear Group and establish a National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) as yet more backdoor subsidy.
Society of Procurement Officers 25th Oct 2006
Trade Unions at Sellafield say they are disappointed about the decision to break up BNG.
Carlisle News and Star 25th Oct 2006
State-owned British Nuclear Group (BNG) has moved a step closer to private ownership after the government decided it wants to sell it off piecemeal.
BBC 25th Oct 2006
